Tag: coronavirus

One Letter, Six Prime Ministers and Half A Million Vaccine Doses

Someone please tell prime minister Janez Janša to stop writing letters. Every time he writes one he sets himself up for a fuck-up of epic (epidemic?) proportions. This time is no different. Last weekend, Janša co-authored a sharply-worded letter to European Commission and EU Council presidents. Therein he joined PMs of Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Latvia and Bulgaria in complaining about delivery of Covid-19 vaccine doses, basically accusing Brussels of lack of solidarity.

Photo of letter by PMs of Slovenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Latvia, asking for more fairness in vaccine distribution
First, there were five PMs. Then, there were six. But in Vienna, there were only four.

Fast forward a couple of days and PM Janša finds himself bitch-slapped by the European Commission, thrown under the bus by Viktor Órban, and in serious trouble at home for skipping on buying available vaccine doses. As a result the Glorious Leader had to change his story as he went along, walk-back his statements and side-step accusations to the point of reaching his daily 10,000 steps and 500 calories many times over.

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Invisible Masks And Parallel Parking

One of the things this government made a complete and utter fuckery of in managing the Covid-19 fallout, apart from trying to call in the army, overpaying for medical equipment and gutting public oversight, was messaging.

Government workplace personal hygiene recommendations (source)

From the beginning to the end, the honchos in power produced a steady stream of thinly veiled threats, contradictory information on personal and public hygiene measures and did many a walk-back. The one thing they don’t seem to be capable of doing, however, is staying the fuck on message.

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The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Slovenian parliament is debating a massive legislative package today, aimed at mitigating effects of the covid-19 lock-down is having on the economy and jobs.

With apologies to Mr. Eastwood…

But in what is apparently becoming a world-wide trend, the powers that be stuffed in a couple of provisions expanding police surveillance and investigative powers while circumventing judicial oversight. All in the name of curbing the epidemic.

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The Bane Coalition

It seems ancient history in the light of the covid clusterfuck, but it has been less than a week since Muddy Hollows has had a new government sworn in.

I know, right?! (source)

And while it seems impossible now, the former PM Marjan Šarec and his successor Janez Janša were actually on the same page for about five minutes, projecting a sliver of a possibility for a cross-party consensus on how to deal with the shituation.

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Government Change During An Epidemic

As the coronavirus shit is hitting the fan and the number of cases probably going into triple digits in the next couple of days, Muddy Hollows is gearing for a government change.

Janša and Šarec sharing the stage (source)

After SDS leader Janez Janša was sworn in as PM on Tuesday last week, he put forward his list of cabinet nominees. The vote on the entire cabinet will be held tonight and – given the situation – the whole process is expected to move swiftly.

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