Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson 'bamboozled' by science, COVID-19 inquiry told

[Kennah]

Source: ABC News

Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister, struggled to come to grips with much of the science during the coronavirus pandemic, his chief scientific advisor said Monday.

In keenly awaited testimony to the country’s public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic, Patrick Vallance said he and others faced repeated problems getting Johnson to understand the science and that he changed his mind on numerous occasions.

“I think I’m right in saying that the prime minister gave up science at 15," he said. “I think he’d be the first to admit it wasn’t his forte and that he struggled with the concepts and we did need to repeat them — often.”

Extracts from Vallace's mostly contemporaneous diary of the time were relayed to the inquiry. In them, he wrote that Johnson was often “bamboozled” by the graphs and data and that watching him “get his head round stats is awful."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/former-british-prime-minister-boris-johnson-bamboozled-science-105030844

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Damned bamboozlers

Probably were a few hornswogglers in there too

[CrispyQ]

1. Not unlike Jared, who when the pandemic hit only blue states first, advised Trump to not do anything.

I'll never understand what part of "It's a contagious disease & we don't know how it's transmitted yet so be cautious" they didn't get? JFC!

[not fooled]

2. This is what scientific illiteracy and not listening to experts

gets a country. Why do so many people want to devolve?

[Kennah]

3. So was it a Stupefy spell or a Stupidify spell?

[Skittles]

10. repukes made a freaking VIRUS a political issue

they convinced a lot of their idiotic base to trust the opinion of politicians over the advice of doctors and scientists

[IronLionZion]

15. Because they think viruses will stop at the state border?

Sure it started out in large blue cities but it quickly engulfed red states who were less likely to mask and social distance. Disproportionate COVID deaths in those states may have already had an impact in some elections.

[moniss]

4. So the competence provided by an education at

Eton and Oxford comes to be so little? Does it really amount to mostly a fee for a sheepskin?

[peppertree]

6. And, of course, the right to network in all the right British circles.

Which is all young Boris cared about (besides standing up for the Apartheid regime).

[reACTIONary]

8. I think there is a phrase...

.... "upper class twit".

[moniss]

9. Yes indeed

Boris graduated with an upper 2nd class degree rather than a 1st and he was miffed. I think he grabs things fine but he plays things off as "dumb" in order to avoid making a decision/taking an action because he then would rather obfuscate and claim he was improperly informed etc. rather than having to defend the basis for an action or policy. He sure knows the numbers game when it's about Sterling in the pocket.

[Hekate]

13. Compare that to Dubya's diploma from the hallowed halls of Yale -- and Harvard...

Many fine minds come out of those universities — and then there’s intellectually lazy clods like Dubya, who got in because of his daddy and granddaddy and for all I know his great-granddaddy.

Everyone who goes hopes to make a lifetime of valuable connections — but not everyone applies themselves to gaining knowledge as well.

[IronLionZion]

16. He has admitted he pretends to be dumb as a political strategy

so that the bar would be low when he screws up. That's in contrast to Trump who genuinely is as dumb as he seems.

[vanlassie]

19. Stunning ignorance. Life or death decisions

and they are actually stupid. Ought to be forced to wear dunce caps.

[peppertree]

5. The Brits have a great song for someone like Boris:

(asylum and all)

[Novara]

7. It's not fucking rocket surgery, man.

It's a contagious virus. What's so hard about that? If you had the flu, would you go around coughing on your spouse and kids and friends? No? Well, that's one way viruses spread. It isn't that hard.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

11. The classics never die, do they?

This one's for you, BoJo

[PlutosHeart]

12. Thought this was brought out

nicely in the mini-series on Netflix This England. It was a tough watch but included a lot of facts.

[Ford_Prefect]

14. By reputation Bo Jo is not a detail guy, nor is he any deeper than the puddle he crawled out of.

He is nearly as dim as W. He's a one-and-a-half trick poney whose art is in dancing before the camera while braying all the right sounding syllables.
He's another knowing Putin stooge who sold Britain and NATO out.

[Celerity]

17. Send in the clowns

[Sailingdiver]

18. Not unlike the stupidest person in the US

Who was completely flummoxed by science, thought he knew more than those educated in the disclipines of medicine and science, and suggested bleach or bright light as a treatment for COVID.

[Baitball Blogger]

20. Chilling.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Elect idiots, get idiot policies and idiot behaviour. . . . . nt