He was happy to hide behind npet when it suited him and to throw it back on the public. Mick Martin, the poor cunt, doesnt have the same security blanket now ā if deaths rise and case numbers keep going up heāll be left looking at Leo and Leo be like - Youāre the T, start T-ing ⦠as he steps into the background.
Leo wouldnāt have been as direct and critical last night if he was still Taoiseach. He went out of his way to do NPHET last night. He had to make a bit of an effort to get the dig in about the 350 at the end but succeeded.
VoxPop on Morning Ireland from the streets of Drogheda.
The interviewees were 4 to 1 in favour of going to level 5 so, as one man said, "we could beat it once and for all "
I felt NPHET needed a good public dig, but most dozy bastards along with the celebrity medics and academics that have courted popularity amongst the masses seem to have taken grave offence at the āgratuitous attackā on our Tony. While a chorus of Leo Leo Leo echoed around TFK, the public mood appears to be different based on morning radio vox pops, twitter etc, albeit this may not be a reliable guide.
Before last night, Iāve been very disappointed with SFās performance. Theyāve been shit scared to take a brave position either way, just generally saying we need to improve testing and tracing. Consistently afraid to disagree with anything specific that the medical junta come out with. There was always going to come a time when ultra cautious public health advice diverged with government actions so it was wholly predictable theyād take the disingenuous and glib angle thatā¦it seems the government think they know more about a pandemic than a panel of 30+ highly qualified medical experts.
As an aside, Varadkarās line of attack last night was equally disingenuous in parts. Like he accused NPHET of not thinking through the economic impact of going to level 5 etc when thatās 100% not their job. They advise on public health and the government is responsible for the rest. While a recommendation to go from 2/3 to 5 in one jump didnāt appear to be backed up by data, surely the government should have some fucking planning done on what will need to happen in practice if we need to go to the highest level.
From what I can see online and on TV there seems to be a cohort of people between 30-40% who are in favour of a complete return to lockdown. There must be a study in that somewhere to see what the socio economic or health factors are for wanting a return to one of the strictest regimes in the world. I think you will get an overwhelming amount of retired people who are comfortable with a good pension and might be approaching the vulnerable age groupings. But also a large amount of young people who are only scraping by and living paycheck to paycheck and who probably want a liveable salary.
Itās called Stockholm syndrome. And weāve been conditioned for a long time by the narrative in Ireland to be afraid of the virus as opposed to finding ways to live with it.