and now the point perhaps where people were starting to feel the health service was able to get back into routine, some of it very important, some of it life saving routine, it s kind of going to be pushed back into a kind of reacting to covid situation. i mjust remembering a year ago now when also, you had a new variant that was the kent variant, that was discovered here in britain, was galloping through the country. and the uncertainty that people felt. and now, just exactly 12 months later, we re having a bit of a rerun of that with with omicron. i think the scientists are still saying the jury is out. the data are trickling in in places like south africa, where it was first detected. but here in britain, the scientific advisers are saying it won t be until the end of the month and possibly well into january before we have a really strong picture as to whether omicron, which does appear to be more transmissible, is actually less virulent. now, as you said, if it s less virulent, but
of years, back to normal. here we are 12 years later, and they were at 0.0%. i still incredibly low, - and i think a lot of people thought that, blimey, if 5.1% isn t enough i for the teeniest little| increase up from 0.1, then what is? the bank of england were expecting to do it last month. they held off and then the omicron virus, a lot of people thought - they would hold up again. i think they have got to be seen to be in the price stability- game as the ft put it, - which is kind of their mainjob. what i would say. what are they therefore otherwise? other people would say, what is this really going to change? also, when it comes to inflation, this is a global phenomenon. - you ve got supply chains. will raising interest rates right now have will raising interest rates right now have any will raising interest rates right
that it might be that actually, he is still their best option? well, first of all, i think a prime minister who himself was a journalist as a livelihood before he became a political figure really doesn t have much to say in terms of criticising journalists. so let me just say that that feels a little rich, to begin with. but in terms of being the great communicator, it s no doubt that borisjohnson has a particular kind of charm that really resonates with voters, that he s really more like a great cheerleader. and that was of great benefit back in the election campaign two years ago when brexit was looming and it was a great project that the country was embarking on, a leaping into the unknown. and so, here was borisjohnson in his blustery bluff fashion, reassuring the electorate and telling everyone that great things lie ahead. well, this is a little bit different. people voted for brexit, they didn t vote for the pandemic, and this is something he needs to manage much more effectively
happened in this country, it was focused on that defeat this week on covid vaccine certificates, which will come in anyway because the opposition parties largely supported the prime minister, even if many of his backbenchers did not. the prime minister says we re not going to lockdown christmas, we re not planning any lockdown. in a sense, the public seems to be acting with their own. voting with their feet, as i said before, they seem to have taken it on themselves to decide when it s good to take the risk and when not. that s quite an encouraging sign, isn t it? i think it is. the people have been more sensible than this government, right from the very beginning. the queen herself has started cancelling christmas events. she doesn t want her family meeting together in too many numbers before christmas, and that s what other people are doing round the country. they are cancelling, to the great hardship of restaurants, they are cancelling office parties and family parties. i think ther
was somewhat out of control, notjust borisjohnson himself. henry, all prime ministers have difficult periods. some are able to bring themselves are able to bring themselves back from those and after a few months or years, everyone has almost forgotten because by the time of the next election, they ve got themselves back into public favour. i mean, even margaret thatcher had some rough, very rough periods during her first four years as prime minister, and then won a stunning victory. but i suppose the difficulty here is that borisjohnson is the great communicator, and if the great communicator can t get his message through despite irritating people in the media, then that potentially is a problem, isn t it? that might cause them to change leader, although one tory mp said to me earlier, he s probably got six months to pull things around because we don t want to do anything in haste and we still hope he can do it. but there is a kind of practical question here, isn t there,