Just a bit of a temp
Johnson and his people have been lying a blue streak.
There was a rumor on Thursday that he was on the point of going into hospital, but they denied it.
Johnson’s aides were emphatic. His condition had not deteriorated, he still had only “mild symptoms”, he hoped to be at work from Friday when his coronavirus isolation period was up – and he had not been admitted to St Thomas’ hospital for treatment. When on Monday evening it emerged that contrary to reassurances about him getting on with his red box, he was being admitted to intensive care, the denials were coming under increasing scrutiny.
FDR and polio. Kennedy’s extremely bad health and addiction to uppers. Reagan’s dementia. Woodrow Wilson’s stroke. They keep doing this.
Thursday lunchtime, having denied the first round of rumours about St Thomas’, Downing Street floated the idea that Johnson might not be back at work on Friday as planned if his temperature remained high.
A cough was not mentioned, but his official spokesman told a daily briefing with journalists that he would only go back to work the next day if his temperature came down.
That evening at 8pm, despite his isolation, the prime minister appeared at the door of No 10 to applaud the work of NHS workers. Despite the appearance, the health rumours did not go away: St Thomas’ was on standby because Johnson’s condition had worsened, the first source insisted – only for Downing Street, when pressed, to deny that he was about to be admitted that night.
On Friday lunchtime, the situation began to unravel. An unkempt, gravelly-voiced and clearly unwell Johnson released a video in which he said, somewhat implausibly, “I’m feeling better,” before conceding he could not fully return to work. “Alas, I still have one of the symptoms, a minor symptom, I still have a temperature,” he insisted.
That’s ok, it’s none of our business if heads of government are dropping like flies, we just work here.
Shortly before 8.30pm on Monday, further news came: the prime minister had been admitted to intensive care at St Thomas’ 90 minutes earlier.
Several sources say Johnson has required oxygen to help with his breathing following his admission to hospital – an assertion that was not denied by Downing Street – although his official spokesman said that Russian reports that he was on a ventilator were “disinformation”.
He’s not on a ventilator yet.
Some Conservative MPs are worried that Downing Street’s evasiveness on the seriousness of the prime minister’s condition will undermine trust in what they say going forward.
Ya think?
The American examples that you gave at least have the excuse that, with the exception of Reagan, they all took place before there was a mechanism other than impeachment and permanent removal to deal with an incapacitated President.
What’s so bizarre about the Johnson government’s mishandling of this is that the U.K. system is actually fairly well set-up to deal with this kind of thing. Or would have been had Johnson bothered to designate a deputy/successor, as Justin Trudeau did in Canada.
It will be stiff upper lip, spirit of the Blitz… A 1066 and All That sort of thing.
(Hope Johnson recovers soon.)
Trump and Adderall? Stephen King asks (yesterday) “Does Donald Trump really abuse Adderall, or is that just a rumor?”
https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1246832627765608449
Certainly seems possible.
He ticks off a lot of the boxes:
https://www.addictioncenter.com/stimulants/adderall/symptoms-signs/
From an article in the Intelligencer (and Johnson’s behaviour has been documented elsewhere):
‘Weeks before testing positive, he had boasted of shaking hands “with everybody” and that the virus had not stopped him from greeting hospital patients with the gesture. “I think it’s very important,” he said. Last week, the Guardian reported that the prime minister was “more seriously ill than either he or his officials were prepared to admit, and that he was being seen by doctors who were concerned about his breathing.” Johnson’s fiancée Carrie Symonds, who is pregnant, has also reportedly had coronavirus symptoms for about a week.’
So by flaunting his coolness under fire & lack of concern (for his own or anybody else’s safety) out of a narcissistic belief in his own charmed life, he has passed the disease on to his pregnant partner in addition to finding himself in intensive care. He has probably passed it on to a number of other people, too, including patients, doctors & nurses with whom he insisted on shaking hands in relentless, blustering, bonhomie.
A bit of good news is that Keir Starmer has been elected leader of the Labour Party by a large margin. He has shown, among other things, an unwillingness to institute a party-wide purge by getting rid of members who don’t sign up to a pledge that trans-rights trump everything. Starmer is a good man, and not a querulous stander on principle,any principle, in the manner of Jeremy Corbyn.
I’ve read that symptoms of the virus can fluctuate, and seem to be improving before suddenly taking a turn for the worse. Something like that might conceivably have happened here — though I guess there’s also evidence it’s been gradually going down hill and covered up.
At any rate, wrong arrogant, unwary, foolhardy world leader.
YNnB @ 5 – some important boxes not ticked though. Excessive weight loss, loss of appetite, social withdrawal.