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Matt Hancock taking questions from committee of MPs

Started by Fambo Number Mive, November 24, 2020, 01:48:51 PM

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Fambo Number Mive

Part of a joint inquiry by the health and social care committee and the science and technology committee.

Hancock trying to shift blame to the people

QuoteMatt Hancock then talks about the main lessons he's learned while handling the pandemic.

He says he wants to see "a change in the British way of doing things" where 'if in doubt, get a test' doesn't just refer to coronavirus but refers to any illness you might have.

"Why in Britain do we think it is acceptable to soldier on and go into work if you have flu symptoms or a runny nose thus making your colleagues ill?

"I think that is something that is going to have to change. If you have in future - I hope - flu-like symptoms you should get a test for it and find out what's wrong with you and if you need to stay at home to protect others then you stay at home."

He goes on to say: "We are peculiar, unusual and outliers in soldiering on and still going to work."...

I'm fairly sure it isn't only people in Britain who do this, I think it happens more often the more neoliberal a country is. British politicians seem obsessed with the idea that Britain is different to everywhere else, maybe it's related to Brexit.

I agree if you have a cold or flu symptoms you should stay at home. People would be more likely to stay at home if working from home was an option, given how strict some workplaces are. Yet the media and talking heads are all against people working from home.

Also, this:

QuoteThe next question for the health secretary - was the eat-out-to-help-out discount scheme, which gave diners up to 50% off their bill in August, a mistake?

Matt Hancock explains there was a need to balance the economy with the impact of social distancing.

"That's what we do all of the time," he says, and supporting the hospitality industry has been part of this.

He added that infection rates were "incredibly low" in the summer so people were allowed to eat outdoors.

Did Eat Out To Get Covid only apply if people were eating outside? I don't remember that being the case.

Blue Jam

Where am I supposed to get a flu test, exactly? And what would be the point? If I've got flu-like symptoms I ain't going to make it to werk anyway.

idunnosomename

no, the irony of eat out to help out is if you went somewhere like Pret, you only got the discount if you ate in.

partly this was a fuck up to cover for Govey not wearing a mask in a pret and thus them having to classify sandwich shops as restaurants


hahah ahh. imagine if you'd voted tory.

Fambo Number Mive

Why aren't the MPs picking him up on this? Aren't select committees where the proper scrutiny happens?

I.D. Smith

Maybe I've taken this wrong, but this bit annoys me:

Quote"Why in Britain do we think it is acceptable to soldier on and go into work if you have flu symptoms or a runny nose thus making your colleagues ill?

I can only speak for my work, I guess, but the reason I tend to go into work with a "runny nose" is because if I took time off every time I got a runny nose, I'd very quickly be getting an "assessment" from work (which pretty much is a glorified disciplinary) for having too many sick days in one 12 month period. I'd also lose my bonus top on my wages which I pretty much rely on to pay my bills. Therefore, I effectively save up sick days in the bank for when something truly ghastly takes over me.

I certainly don't go in with a runny nose out of some form of stoicism or misplaced loyalty to the company. If I could stay home with no effect on my wages or record then yeah, I'd happily stay off to save spreading illness around.

EDIT - I should probably add this is me just ranting into the air. Not at anybody in this thread :)

Fambo Number Mive

Quote from: I.D. Smith on November 24, 2020, 02:09:57 PM
Maybe I've taken this wrong, but this bit annoys me:

I can only speak for my work, I guess, but the reason I tend to go into work with a "runny nose" is because if I took time off every time I got a runny nose, I'd very quickly be getting an "assessment" from work (which pretty much is a glorified disciplinary) for having too many sick days in one 12 month period. I'd also lose my bonus top on my wages which I pretty much rely on to pay my bills. Therefore, I effectively save up sick days in the bank for when something truly ghastly takes over me.

I certainly don't go in with a runny nose out of some form of stoicism or misplaced loyalty to the company. If I could stay home with no effect on my wages or record then yeah, I'd happily stay off to save spreading illness around.

EDIT - I should probably add this is me just ranting into the air. Not at anybody in this thread :)

This is it, Hancock is totally ignoring reality. If he said "Businesses need to be more flexible and allow people to work from home if they have cold/flu symptoms without penalising people" (or give them time off without adding them to the sick record if people can't work from home or aren't well enough to do that) and add something in law to back it up, he'd offend the business community so instead he shifts the responsibility onto the worker, most of whom wouldn't want to come in with a bunged up nose or cough anyway but have to drag themselves in.

Hancock is an utter melon and it is terrifying that this man is Health Secretary during a pandemic.

Fambo Number Mive

BBC now reporting this on their front page with the headline "Don't go to work when sick, 'peculiar' Brits told"

Doing the government's bidding by making it look like it was the people's fault there were so many UK coronavirus cases as they all went to work when sick, which is nonsense. Shifting the blame away from venal incompetents like Hancock. No matter how pro-Tory the BBC get though, the Tories will still use it in their culture wars, so they are wasting their time.


SpiderChrist

Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on November 24, 2020, 03:38:13 PM
BBC now reporting this on their front page with the headline "Don't go to work when sick, 'peculiar' Brits told"

Must've taken it down - can't see it there now.

Yeah, I've ended up on the wrong end of disciplinary hearings due to taking too much time off sick. Hancock is an out of touch bellend. But you knew that...

Fambo Number Mive

The story is still there, fourth down on the right hand column.

I don't think it's so much that Hancock is out of touch, he knows he is talking rubbish and doesn't care. I mean when he was an economist at the Bank of England he must have realised that ringing in sick for a cold wouldn't be accepted. That seems to be the only non-political job he's had that didn't involve working for his family.

Some interesting information about Hancock on his Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Hancock

It's also very worrying that Hancock is the one in charge of health policy affecting millions of vulnerable people.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

This is what I knew would happen when they went from red chevrons and concrete advice to green chevrons and blather. It's up to the public to "use common sense" and not spread COVID-19, therefore it's up to the public to "use common sense" and not spread any other disease.

BlodwynPig


Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on November 24, 2020, 02:18:21 PM
This is it, Hancock is totally ignoring reality. If he said "Businesses need to be more flexible and allow people to work from home if they have cold/flu symptoms without penalising people".


One place I worked at had this expressly forbidden by HR, probably to cover their arse or to stop shit bosses pressuring ill people into working.

Menu

Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on November 24, 2020, 03:55:22 PM


Some interesting information about Hancock on his Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Hancock



What's the fucking point of having middle names if the best you can come up with are 'John' and 'David'? I mean, what's the fucking point of that?! The bloke's got two middle names - TWO! - and they are even more fucking boring than his fucking shit first name.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Menu on November 25, 2020, 05:44:26 AM
What's the fucking point of having middle names if the best you can come up with are 'John' and 'David'? I mean, what's the fucking point of that?! The bloke's got two middle names - TWO! - and they are even more fucking boring than his fucking shit first name.

I share two thirds of my name with half of his name. Beige will rise!