Quite sad really.
I was consoled by chewing on this delectable morsel until I had sucked all the juice out of it, but it’s on my bed-post for another chew if my mood flattens again.
Have a lick…
“You can’t convincingly lay claim to world hegemony if you’re descended from a bunch of farmers speaking what is in effect a French-German creole.”
Throughout the pandemic the British (or rather the English Westminster) government seems to have expended more effort on shaping the media narrative and its so-called ‘optics’ rather than just dealing with the real situation and keeping its citizens and society ( significant that these terms are no longer generally used in the UK) in the picture. Instead there have been silly slogans on podiums/lecterns, new enamel badges for care-workers (!) and faux Churchillian posturing from Johnson. The UK government seems to have expended more effort on controlling the PR than on the actual epidemic!
Nevertheless, apparently 60% of UK respondents feel their government is doing ‘a good job’ as against only 40% in France. I get a similar feeling by talking to les voisins (who of course don’t read or watch international news). Consequently, I’m put in mind of the old adage that the French live in paradise, but think they’re living in hell
Absolutely Mark. A government that is based on spin and spin alone cannot rise above a form over substance response to any problem. Tell the punters what they want to hear and hope the problem will go away.
Excellent articel Beth, thanks for posting.
Gullible morons.
I detect a tiny lapse of impartiality in your response as a Team representative! 
Douglas Hurd remarked in 1993 that membership of NATO ‘…allowed Britain to punch above its weight in the world’. This was happily taken as a compliment rather than the warning it ought to have been seen as, and has been a central theme of British foreign policy ever since.
And there is more …
aljazeera.com ? Really? There are more reliable sources, but nevermind you will probably get liked here, just because it slags off the UK government…
But President Trump is a big fan of the Old Jazz Era! 
That’s even more reason to give it a wide berth. 
I’ve always found Aljazeera to be informative and well rounded.
It’s an independent report. Authors are credited at the end of the article.
Al Jazeera can be a useful source of info and alternative perspectives. I’d like to thank Beth for her link, even though I don’t wholly agree with the comparisons made in the article (I’ve been familiar with Arendt’s writing for several decades).
However, I not only read the article, but followed some of its links, including the one below to an account of a London Muslim centenarian who’s walking round his garden for UK and Bangladeshi charities, whilst also observing the Ramadan fast! Despite being a voracious consumer of international news platforms, I hadn’t previously come across this story - I hope, but don’t expect it’s been covered by the Sun, Mail and Mirror, and I haven noticed it in the Guardian.
So why the detrimental comments towards Aljazeera?
Sorry folks but I have to agree Al Jazeera is also in my view one of the better news channels.
It’s funny. I have no strong political leanings, I sometimes wish I had , I enjoy seeing the passion and the eloquence that comes from intense beliefs. The other week I bought two books from a charity shop ( before lock down) written by doctors. They both are saying how things have never been as bad before in the NHS. Strapped for money increasing demand etc. The thing is they were written during the last Labour government
Well, they’d have a field day now. 