So, the line is the Government was wrong because it followed scientific advice, with the advice changing significantly in a short period of time?
What's the alternative? Ignoring scientific advice?
I'm not persuaded that's a sensible line....
Where is the scientific advice which says that it is a good idea to discharge coronavirus infected patients from hospitals into care homes ? Which is, disgracefully, still government policy.
And was the advice to delay the lockdown by a week or so scientific ? Given the doubling rate of the infection it (conservatively) quadrupled the number of infections in the community. And as Carlotta tells us, it was driven by the scientists’ belief that the public would not follow lockdown instructions. That was not really a conclusion based on science. We’ve since found out that the public follow the lockdown more assiduously than government has planned for.
Re this: “ Pressing China hard to close down these practices is almost certainly pushing against an open door. It is most unlikely that the Chinese authorities want a repeat of the last few months.”
A little naive I fear. The Chinese closed down these markets before and then when all the fuss had died down quietly allowed them to be reopened again. I would not be surprised to find the same happenIng this time.
There is a much broader case to be made against China than the one based on this virus. There are a number of strategic risks we are not taking into account of or pricing properly, as @AlastairMeeks rightly suggests we do in relation to manufacturing. I will do a header about it.
Let's hope we're not in the middle of another crisis when he inevitably chucks Carrie.
I think custom and practice is for the woman to chuck out Boris when he knocks up his next mistress.
Amusing, but of course he had been chucked out for his philandering long before Carrie was pregnant, divorce proceedings being outstanding is all.
Being more serious I'm surprised at the wide range of people who get moralistic about Boris's personal life. I find he has enough issues in his politics theres no need to dwell on his personal ones (not that it prevents me making jokes about him not knowing how many kids he has). Nor do they need a focus people one reflects the other- it might on occasion, but for most people theres no connection so as a rule its irrelevant.
Never mind the missed meetings. As far as can I see from the ST headlines (haven't read the full article yet), the government is planning to lock up over 70s for a year or more.
Those of that age I know wont agree to it. They just wont do it.
I must say that I am impressed that it has taken about 4 weeks into lockdown before some properly serious political troubles for the government to emerge, with accompanying hyperbole for those whom the gov stumbling and having genuine questions to be asked just isn't enough.
I'll predict that in about 2 weeks the govs ratings will take a sustained hit from the impact of negative stories and, hopefully, the plateau tapering off reducing a rally round the flag effect, combined with the ramping up of lockdown fatigue.
Within 4 weeks ratings will be about where they were pre crisis.
This scary. The government might be tempted to boost its ratings by prematurely announcing successes and relaxation of the lockdown.
Let's see how popular the government is when unemployment touches 7m. Will people still be crying out to be placed under house arrest in their homes? Or will something else matter to them altogether.
The main reason I remain broadly agreeable to the Government's handling of the crisis is that I believe the lockdown, irrespective of it's ramifications was the least worst option.
If Boris feels he is being unloved by the media and his public he may well make a decision that will boost his popularity first and foremost.
Both are unscrupulous lying lazy egotistic wankers as well
Morning Malc. Been digging turnips this morning.? It has not improved your humour.
Unfortunately I have to yet again read about the unscrupulous wankers who rule my country knowing we had a chance to be free of the tossers but were thwarted by similar greedy spineless wankers in Scotland. PS: good morning to you, it is another beautiful sunny day here as well.
Of the innumerable bat-eating Chinese cities, towns and villages, the outbreak started in a market just next to the National Virology Institute in Wuhan.
Talk of coincidence! lol
Same as BSE in UK, same tossers all over it seems.
I wonder who the first political casualty of Wuflu will be? I think we'll shortly have Hancock's testicle shaped head on a platter which will be a laugh.
Hancock's fall from grace clearly demonstrates that Dominic Cummings needs to run the Health SpAds just like he runs the Treasury team. Whether Hancock resigns or swallows this effective demotion depends whether he has the balls of the Saj or Rishi's ambition.
Rishi Sunak is the only minister who is a threat to the prime minister, not because he plans a coup but because his popularity means any other plotters don't need Boris to save their seats. It is hard to move the Chancellor now however, even though Boris's entire recent political career is founded on the Stalinist airbrushing of former Chancellors. He has ousted three already.
It would have been Jenrick but he is safe now because to sack him over 3rd-home-gate would put the spotlight on Boris's own household(s).
I can't get worked up about Pritti Patel stumbling over reading a number which was, I suspect, badly formatted in her script.
Some of the scientifically-trained Cabinet ministers might have been expected to be able to read a graph or a table and know what exponential means, so I'd wonder if any ill-advised told-you-so's might arouse Boris's wrath.
On reflection, how about Boris as first out?
Maybe with a saver on Cummings as the Civil Service will be targeting Dom in the inevitable blamefest.
But what's in it for Boris? He's become Prime Minister, now what?
Boris sees himself as the new Churchill. The old one was often in debt and needing to be bailed out by rich friends in a way that would be unconscionable now, and probably illegal. Boris is not a wealthy man yet has an expensive family life and the cost of nappies will soon be added to any maintenance payments for the old lot. He's no longer getting £250k from the Telegraph and the same again for speeches to bankers. There are book royalties of course, but he can hardly knock out a new bestseller from Downing Street. But when he retires, well, look at Tony Blair.
Boris has no great ideology, and might see beating Covid-19 as his destiny, as Hitler was Churchill's. Afterwards, does Boris need the hassle or would he prefer the acclaim if he walks away at the top, not to mention 6- and 7-figure cheques? Impossible? Unprecedented? Well, no. David Cameron resigned at his first setback, and he did not need the money.
But if Johnson was taking all the mjor decisions, as Gove says, and his briefing papers were reduced to one side of A4, which he may or may not have read and inwardly digested in any case, then it is small wonder that the political side of the Government did such a poor job.
Of the innumerable bat-eating Chinese cities, towns and villages, the outbreak started in a market just next to the National Virology Institute in Wuhan.
Talk of coincidence! lol
Same as BSE in UK, same tossers all over it seems.
I must say that I am impressed that it has taken about 4 weeks into lockdown before some properly serious political troubles for the government to emerge, with accompanying hyperbole for those whom the gov stumbling and having genuine questions to be asked just isn't enough.
I'll predict that in about 2 weeks the govs ratings will take a sustained hit from the impact of negative stories and, hopefully, the plateau tapering off reducing a rally round the flag effect, combined with the ramping up of lockdown fatigue.
Within 4 weeks ratings will be about where they were pre crisis.
This scary. The government might be tempted to boost its ratings by prematurely announcing successes and relaxation of the lockdown.
Let's see how popular the government is when unemployment touches 7m. Will people still be crying out to be placed under house arrest in their homes? Or will something else matter to them altogether.
The main reason I remain broadly agreeable to the Government's handling of the crisis is that I believe the lockdown, irrespective of it's ramifications was the least worst option.
If Boris feels he is being unloved by the media and his public he may well make a decision that will boost his popularity first and foremost.
That's what I'm hoping for. Not wishing to be unpopular is a healthy motivator for politicians. I believe they need to take a good look at Sweden and work out how to get us there.
Both are unscrupulous lying lazy egotistic wankers as well
+1.
But beware the Trump and Johnson fanbois - there's quite a few of these morons who live on this blog!
The issue is it is lazy to paint them as the same or equally bad in my opinion. Its comforting but wrong . I've long thought Boris lazy, egotistical and disagreed with many of his policy choices, but I just cannot equate him with Trumps level of vanity, offensiveness, ignorance and divisiveness.
I dont think one needs to be a fanboy to be wary of the comparisons of the two being taken too far.
I wonder who the first political casualty of Wuflu will be? I think we'll shortly have Hancock's testicle shaped head on a platter which will be a laugh.
Hancock's fall from grace clearly demonstrates that Dominic Cummings needs to run the Health SpAds just like he runs the Treasury team. Whether Hancock resigns or swallows this effective demotion depends whether he has the balls of the Saj or Rishi's ambition.
Rishi Sunak is the only minister who is a threat to the prime minister, not because he plans a coup but because his popularity means any other plotters don't need Boris to save their seats. It is hard to move the Chancellor now however, even though Boris's entire recent political career is founded on the Stalinist airbrushing of former Chancellors. He has ousted three already.
It would have been Jenrick but he is safe now because to sack him over 3rd-home-gate would put the spotlight on Boris's own household(s).
I can't get worked up about Pritti Patel stumbling over reading a number which was, I suspect, badly formatted in her script.
Some of the scientifically-trained Cabinet ministers might have been expected to be able to read a graph or a table and know what exponential means, so I'd wonder if any ill-advised told-you-so's might arouse Boris's wrath.
On reflection, how about Boris as first out?
Maybe with a saver on Cummings as the Civil Service will be targeting Dom in the inevitable blamefest.
But what's in it for Boris? He's become Prime Minister, now what?
Boris sees himself as the new Churchill. The old one was often in debt and needing to be bailed out by rich friends in a way that would be unconscionable now, and probably illegal. Boris is not a wealthy man yet has an expensive family life and the cost of nappies will soon be added to any maintenance payments for the old lot. He's no longer getting £250k from the Telegraph and the same again for speeches to bankers. There are book royalties of course, but he can hardly knock out a new bestseller from Downing Street. But when he retires, well, look at Tony Blair.
Boris has no great ideology, and might see beating Covid-19 as his destiny, as Hitler was Churchill's. Afterwards, does Boris need the hassle or would he prefer the acclaim if he walks away at the top, not to mention 6- and 7-figure cheques? Impossible? Unprecedented? Well, no. David Cameron resigned at his first setback, and he did not need the money.
Au revoir, Boris.
Where is Michael Gove when we need him? Oh wait...
I must say that I am impressed that it has taken about 4 weeks into lockdown before some properly serious political troubles for the government to emerge, with accompanying hyperbole for those whom the gov stumbling and having genuine questions to be asked just isn't enough.
I'll predict that in about 2 weeks the govs ratings will take a sustained hit from the impact of negative stories and, hopefully, the plateau tapering off reducing a rally round the flag effect, combined with the ramping up of lockdown fatigue.
Within 4 weeks ratings will be about where they were pre crisis.
This scary. The government might be tempted to boost its ratings by prematurely announcing successes and relaxation of the lockdown.
Let's see how popular the government is when unemployment touches 7m. Will people still be crying out to be placed under house arrest in their homes? Or will something else matter to them altogether.
The main reason I remain broadly agreeable to the Government's handling of the crisis is that I believe the lockdown, irrespective of it's ramifications was the least worst option.
If Boris feels he is being unloved by the media and his public he may well make a decision that will boost his popularity first and foremost.
That's what I'm hoping for. Not wishing to be unpopular is a healthy motivator for politicians. I believe they need to take a good look at Sweden and work out how to get us there.
When world leaders from Macron to Trump have criticised the Chinese government response it is clear it is not going to be business as usual with Beijing.
Meanwhile, images of a broken seal on a Wuhan lab refrigerator that kept 1500 virus strains have emerged
Honestly! This daily mail stuff is ignorant scaremongering. It is a heat insulation seal. It isn't to secure the viruses. A bit of common sense applies after all you break that seal much more spectacularly every time you open the door.
There's obviously a concerted effort going on now to fix the narrative that it's only China to blame, now that there's a risk of people getting angry with western governments.
The timing of anonymous reports of secret reports from December, the stories planted in tame newspapers and journalists, it's classic stuff. The sudden concern about human rights, and animal rights, in people who previously showed no concern (in many cases more likely to go on bizarre anti vegan and anti ECHR rants).
I say screw China!
But the buck stops at no. 10 (and in the White House for the US).
Tame journalists like CNN?
There are tame journalists within all news organisations. That is the price of having sources in government.
I suspect the "since the outbreak began" in that official response has been carefully crafted to suggest that Boris received briefings earlier than he did. My guess is that it means "outbreak in the UK" while suggesting he's been having personal briefings back when it was a Chinese and then an Italian problem only.
Re this: “ Pressing China hard to close down these practices is almost certainly pushing against an open door. It is most unlikely that the Chinese authorities want a repeat of the last few months.”
A little naive I fear. The Chinese closed down these markets before and then when all the fuss had died down quietly allowed them to be reopened again. I would not be surprised to find the same happenIng this time.
There is a much broader case to be made against China than the one based on this virus. There are a number of strategic risks we are not taking into account of or pricing properly, as @AlastairMeeks rightly suggests we do in relation to manufacturing. I will do a header about it.
They have actually now changed the law on those markets, so we’ll see, as you say.
On China and fraud, you might ‘enjoy’ this article:
Mr. B, that discharging line, assuming it's accurate, seems very foolish.
Given the Nightingales are thankfully under-used, they could perhaps be utilised as a temporary (fortnight, say) place for care home residents prior to being returned on a permanent basis.
That’s why I don’t like the obsession with “cobra” as media branding. It is literally just Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. By convention all meetings chaired by the PM are held there.
But there were multiple Cobra meetings working through the detail of options and consequences. Chaired by the Health Secretary who was responsible for briefing the PM
When it cane to Cobra meeting drew all the threads together and needed to make decisions s the PM chaired it in person.
That strikes me as government working g as it should.
Let me put it another way: would and if those Cobra meetings made different decisions if the PM had been there?
When world leaders from Macron to Trump have criticised the Chinese government response it is clear it is not going to be business as usual with Beijing.
Meanwhile, images of a broken seal on a Wuhan lab refrigerator that kept 1500 virus strains have emerged
Honestly! This daily mail stuff is ignorant scaremongering. It is a heat insulation seal. It isn't to secure the viruses. A bit of common sense applies after all you break that seal much more spectacularly every time you open the door.
There's obviously a concerted effort going on now to fix the narrative that it's only China to blame, now that there's a risk of people getting angry with western governments.
The timing of anonymous reports of secret reports from December, the stories planted in tame newspapers and journalists, it's classic stuff. The sudden concern about human rights, and animal rights, in people who previously showed no concern (in many cases more likely to go on bizarre anti vegan and anti ECHR rants).
I say screw China!
But the buck stops at no. 10 (and in the White House for the US).
Tame journalists like CNN?
There are tame journalists within all news organisations. That is the price of having sources in government.
In UK it is all we have
A little unfair, malcolm. There’s certainly a very large over-representation of them in the most prominent positions.
It doesnt matter to.me whether the govt locks or unlocks or releases the stricture of lockdown. We won't he going anywhere in public until.next year at least. I have a 90 yr old father in.law to consider and i am not in the spring of youth either.
Yesterday's thread by @david_herdson seemed to me to be wrong in that the government is now acting sensibly in relation to the virus, doing all that can reasonably be done, working hard to overcome the shortfalls and achieving its primary objective of stopping the NHS from being overwhelmed with consequential excess deaths.
I was accused by @AlastairMeeks of being some sort of a cheerleader as a result. This is untrue. Where the government very clearly was at fault was failing to grasp the seriousness of the situation early enough. China was, even with its lies, warning enough but Italy really should have resulted in the panic button being hit more quickly. This should have resulted in travel restrictions (still not in place, unbelievably) and a dusting down of the old pandemic plans to see what was actually required and the sourcing of that requirement, including ramping up testing capacity and PPE. This eventually happened, but precious weeks were lost during which time phase 1 of seeking out and containing the virus passed in the blink of an eye. We now see indications that this was not just a consequence of innumeracy but also of a PM distracted by his complicated sex life. Its not a good look and it is a lot more legitimate to criticise the government for this.
While he's right that it appears to be more (to an extent in hindsight) "Poor advice" rather than "ignored advice" Ministers still get to carry the can. What questions didn't they ask? Who did they get to play "devil's advocate" and so on.
Meanwhile, I assume those calling for Hancock's head will also be calling for the heads of his peers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where responsibility also lies?
LOL, you cannot help yourself, unfortunately he who pays the piper pays the tune, they like all the glory and should be the ones in the tumbrils. They have shafted the devolved nations, just a pity we do not have a leader in Scotland who would tell them to GTF and follow our own path rather than lapdogs to a bunch of shysters and conmen. The devolved countries get no seats at Cobra, get no say in what is happening , even if allowed to be on the end of a phone being told what they can and cannot do. I know you are a paid acolyte of the Tory government but maybe give it a rest now and again.
As to what comes next, that’s down to us. The talk should less be of boycotts and more of how we can put in place appropriate insurance against such low probability high impact risks. What premium, if any, are we prepared to pay for them?
We could, of course, start by sourcing our own ventilators instead of joining with 27 other countries in the hope of finding them somewhere in China. But that would be an open-and-shut case of manslaughter, according to Mr Meeks passim.
Both are unscrupulous lying lazy egotistic wankers as well
+1.
But beware the Trump and Johnson fanbois - there's quite a few of these morons who live on this blog!
The issue is it is lazy to paint them as the same or equally bad in my opinion. Its comforting but wrong . I've long thought Boris lazy, egotistical and disagreed with many of his policy choices, but I just cannot equate him with Trumps level of vanity, offensiveness, ignorance and divisiveness.
I dont think one needs to be a fanboy to be wary of the comparisons of the two being taken too far.
No but there are other similarities between the President and Prime Minister: perhaps not unrelated to their backgrounds in television. They have a similar way of speaking in convoluted sentences as their minds wander off-topic; sometimes shooting themselves in the foot as they give voice to an ill-advised joke or addendum that suddenly pops into their heads, like Trump's "not that kind of model" or Boris's hope to see his mother tacked onto his explanation of why he could not see her, to take two recent examples.
Mr. B, that discharging line, assuming it's accurate, seems very foolish.
Given the Nightingales are thankfully under-used, they could perhaps be utilised as a temporary (fortnight, say) place for care home residents prior to being returned on a permanent basis.
Separately confirmed to me by someone who works for Public Health England, and is disgusted by the indifference.
It is utterly pointless locking down the most vulnerable, and then recklessly exposing them to infection.
There ‘there is no demand for testing’ line from a day or so back is also bullshit. My fathers’s care home (of forty to fifty residents) was allocated a total of two swabs.
I think somewhere around forty percent of the resident have died in the last ten days.
(edit) You suggestion is, of course, plain common sense. That it occurred to you in five minutes, and apparently escaped the Health Secretary for five weeks or more, says it all.
Who would pay good money to read the jingoistic trash pumped out by the crap newspapers. maybe if there was a bit of journalism rather than just cut and pasting crap from the government and their paid tossers.
Shocked, absolutely shocked, that the Health Secretary rather than the Prime Minister would chair meetings to discuss a virus the government's scientific advisors were calling "low risk" or "moderate risk".
What kind of government is this in which the Health Secretary could chair a Health meeting? Do they think we have some sort of Cabinet style of government?
I suspect the "since the outbreak began" in that official response has been carefully crafted to suggest that Boris received briefings earlier than he did. My guess is that it means "outbreak in the UK" while suggesting he's been having personal briefings back when it was a Chinese and then an Italian problem only.
A lack of swabs is one thing, but the placing of people who had/have coronavirus in care homes, without an intervening period (which could be readily provided in Nightingale hospitals) is quite another.
Good piece, there's a lot that justifies a boycott of China (not least the Uighur genocide) but it's weird to want to do it over something the Chinese already want to fix
Have they fixed the wet markets?
Yep, they hired security guards to stop people taking photos.
Sounds as if they hired a consultant from Metropolitan Police...
When world leaders from Macron to Trump have criticised the Chinese government response it is clear it is not going to be business as usual with Beijing.
Meanwhile, images of a broken seal on a Wuhan lab refrigerator that kept 1500 virus strains have emerged
Honestly! This daily mail stuff is ignorant scaremongering. It is a heat insulation seal. It isn't to secure the viruses. A bit of common sense applies after all you break that seal much more spectacularly every time you open the door.
There's obviously a concerted effort going on now to fix the narrative that it's only China to blame, now that there's a risk of people getting angry with western governments.
The timing of anonymous reports of secret reports from December, the stories planted in tame newspapers and journalists, it's classic stuff. The sudden concern about human rights, and animal rights, in people who previously showed no concern (in many cases more likely to go on bizarre anti vegan and anti ECHR rants).
I say screw China!
But the buck stops at no. 10 (and in the White House for the US).
Tame journalists like CNN?
There are tame journalists within all news organisations. That is the price of having sources in government.
In UK it is all we have
A little unfair, malcolm. There’s certainly a very large over-representation of them in the most prominent positions.
And we have others who are merely incompetent.
We have very few real journalists comparable to what journalism meant years ago. Little investigation of anything other than whether some z lister met another z lister or government prepared propaganda sheets. They don't even edit the grammar or spelling nowadays.
Shocked, absolutely shocked, that the Health Secretary rather than the Prime Minister would chair meetings to discuss a virus the government's scientific advisors were calling "low risk" or "moderate risk".
What kind of government is this in which the Health Secretary could chair a Health meeting? Do they think we have some sort of Cabinet style of government?
The private sector were already asking people to work at home before the PM got involved. If CEOs can do it, I don’t see why the PM can’t.
I really wish some of you lot would try to be a politician rather than just criticise all the time. I watched a BBC report from Moscow yesterday where ambulance drivers had to wait for 9 hours in a queue with a seriously ill patient in the back. Is that happening here? This is a once in a 100 year pandemic and somehow the Government was supposed to have covered every single base. What they have done throughout is follow the medical professionals advice. This is a disease that no one has seen before and it behaves in the oddest way. The most important thing that the Government has done is to ensure that the NHS was not overwhelmed and they have done that spectacularly well, in fact probably too well. It cracks me up that the slightest criticism of teachers on this site is met with howls of derision yet most of you think you would do a far better job than politicians.
A lack of swabs is one thing, but the placing of people who had/have coronavirus in care homes, without an intervening period (which could be readily provided in Nightingale hospitals) is quite another.
Or any other temporary facility. Quite.
That these mass outbreaks within care homes are happening during lockdown also significantly degrades the overall effectiveness of the lockdown (as well as killing thousands of residents). Care home staff will be, of course, unwittingly vectoring the virus back out into the community. They are and, will be, taking the best precautions they can, but they face a situation as difficult as many hospitals treating Covid. without much of either the equipment or expertise.
On the swabs, you may recall in Friday’s briefing we were told that there was excess testing capacity, owing to a lack of demand. That ‘lack of demand’ is clearly either untrue, or of the government’s making.
I really wish some of you lot would try to be a politician rather than just criticise all the time. I watched a BBC report from Moscow yesterday where ambulance drivers had to wait for 9 hours in a queue with a seriously ill patient in the back. Is that happening here? This is a once in a 100 year pandemic and somehow the Government was supposed to have covered every single base. What they have done throughout is follow the medical professionals advice. This is a disease that no one has seen before and it behaves in the oddest way. The most important thing that the Government has done is to ensure that the NHS was not overwhelmed and they have done that spectacularly well, in fact probably too well. It cracks me up that the slightest criticism of teachers on this site is met with howls of derision yet most of you think you would do a far better job than politicians.
Bless. Let’s have an 8pm clap for the politicians, the true victims of this crisis.
It might answer the question of what sound does one hand clapping make.
Surprised you've included that tweet, since it seems a reasonable defence.
Not all posts are aimed at making a point, some are to air facts. However, if the relevant secretary of state were always only necessary then there would never be a need for the PM to attend. The fact that the PM didn't think it necessary to attend or to refrain from shaking hands with Coronavirus victims does point to him not initially taking the outbreak seriously enough.
When world leaders from Macron to Trump have criticised the Chinese government response it is clear it is not going to be business as usual with Beijing.
Meanwhile, images of a broken seal on a Wuhan lab refrigerator that kept 1500 virus strains have emerged
Honestly! This daily mail stuff is ignorant scaremongering. It is a heat insulation seal. It isn't to secure the viruses. A bit of common sense applies after all you break that seal much more spectacularly every time you open the door.
There's obviously a concerted effort going on now to fix the narrative that it's only China to blame, now that there's a risk of people getting angry with western governments.
The timing of anonymous reports of secret reports from December, the stories planted in tame newspapers and journalists, it's classic stuff. The sudden concern about human rights, and animal rights, in people who previously showed no concern (in many cases more likely to go on bizarre anti vegan and anti ECHR rants).
I say screw China!
But the buck stops at no. 10 (and in the White House for the US).
Tame journalists like CNN?
There are tame journalists within all news organisations. That is the price of having sources in government.
In UK it is all we have
A little unfair, malcolm. There’s certainly a very large over-representation of them in the most prominent positions.
And we have others who are merely incompetent.
We have very few real journalists comparable to what journalism meant years ago. Little investigation of anything other than whether some z lister met another z lister or government prepared propaganda sheets. They don't even edit the grammar or spelling nowadays.
We have some excellent ones on this site. Albeit they don’t generally pursue it as a career.
This is a load of wank. Sorry. I keep waiting for the bit where Brexit gets the blame, as the heroic Beijing Remainers strive to solve the British bug
Underneath that's exactly what he's thinking.
Because he's obsessed by Brexit and that's how he thinks.
Just take a look at the pair of you. I’m used to people replying to what they think I’ve written rather than what I’ve actually written, but this is next level stuff.
I’m reminded of the Woody Allen joke about being thrown out of the metaphysics exam for cheating because he looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to him.
Who would pay good money to read the jingoistic trash pumped out by the crap newspapers. maybe if there was a bit of journalism rather than just cut and pasting crap from the government and their paid tossers.
That’s why I don’t like the obsession with “cobra” as media branding. It is literally just Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. By convention all meetings chaired by the PM are held there.
But there were multiple Cobra meetings working through the detail of options and consequences. Chaired by the Health Secretary who was responsible for briefing the PM
When it cane to Cobra meeting drew all the threads together and needed to make decisions s the PM chaired it in person.
That strikes me as government working g as it should.
Let me put it another way: would and if those Cobra meetings made different decisions if the PM had been there?
COBRA meeting attendance is a convenient summary of the wider accusation, which is that the Government was nonchalant about the pandemic long after it was sensible to do so, and that Johnson allowed himself to be preoccupied with other matters. I'm not especially concerned with who met in Briefing Room A, but the clear signal of consistent non-attendance - borne out by public statements - was that it was seen as a secondary problem best dealt with by the relevant Minister.
Given the obvious spread of the disease - in Italy, if one chooses to shrug off China - that was grossly irresponsible. If a company downplayed obvious risks to its workforce while members of the Board attended to private matters and a large number of the staff died as a result, you would expect rather severe legal consequences, wouldn't you?
I really wish some of you lot would try to be a politician rather than just criticise all the time. I watched a BBC report from Moscow yesterday where ambulance drivers had to wait for 9 hours in a queue with a seriously ill patient in the back. Is that happening here? This is a once in a 100 year pandemic and somehow the Government was supposed to have covered every single base. What they have done throughout is follow the medical professionals advice. This is a disease that no one has seen before and it behaves in the oddest way. The most important thing that the Government has done is to ensure that the NHS was not overwhelmed and they have done that spectacularly well, in fact probably too well. It cracks me up that the slightest criticism of teachers on this site is met with howls of derision yet most of you think you would do a far better job than politicians.
I think we are often too hard on politicians, we expect too much from them (though they also do promise too much). I don't think that means criticism will be unfounded, or even some criticism right now in the thick of things unwarranted, but I do think that even where there have been or will be failures we will need to consider that some failures will have been unavoidable, and that not all failures are of the same magnitude.
But there have been political choices as well, and there willbe political consequences
Diffficult to gauge, so let's gauge it for you with this estimate.
But I am sure it is terrible. It took the media about 3 weeks to start talking about them not being in figures, so a ways to go before how bad it is is known I expect.
That's the failing here, the complacency of our "experts" while other countries were taking this seriously and looking at lockdown and beyond ours were still talking about a moderate crisis and allowing large events to go ahead. The disaster has come from our experts.
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
I really wish some of you lot would try to be a politician rather than just criticise all the time. I watched a BBC report from Moscow yesterday where ambulance drivers had to wait for 9 hours in a queue with a seriously ill patient in the back. Is that happening here? This is a once in a 100 year pandemic and somehow the Government was supposed to have covered every single base. What they have done throughout is follow the medical professionals advice. This is a disease that no one has seen before and it behaves in the oddest way. The most important thing that the Government has done is to ensure that the NHS was not overwhelmed and they have done that spectacularly well, in fact probably too well. It cracks me up that the slightest criticism of teachers on this site is met with howls of derision yet most of you think you would do a far better job than politicians.
I think we are often too hard on politicians, we expect too much from them (though they also do promise too much). I don't think that means criticism will be unfounded, or even some criticism right now in the thick of things unwarranted, but I do think that even where there have been or will be failures we will need to consider that some failures will have been unavoidable, and that not all failures are of the same magnitude.
But there have been political choices as well, and there willbe political consequences
Diffficult to gauge, so let's gauge it for you with this estimate.
But I am sure it is terrible. It took the media about 3 weeks to start talking about them not being in figures, so a ways to go before how bad it is is known I expect.
I think it’s fair to say I’ve made reasonable attempts to give this government the benefit of the doubt on its handling of the crisis. But in some respects (testing and strategy) it is increasingly clear that it is flat footed, and in others (care homes) criminally incompetent.
And worryingly, the former might yet turn out considerably more consequential than the latter.
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
And we now know he ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed painting a costume dragon
Meanwhile wrestling with what to do about father in home with CV19. The home is not communicating at all well, which suggests they are struggling. Phone calls mostly not answered, when you do get through you get carefully worded replies and emails not replied to.
Contemplating busting Dad out, although not sure is that is wise, legal or because of prescriptions etc technically possible.
So play nice on PB, this thing isn’t over.
I don’t know what to advise, especially without knowing your father’s particular circumstances, but you have my absolute sympathy.
+1 - that sounds a really tough dilemma. Perhaps discuss urgently with his GP, who would coverr the prescriptions aspect if (s)he agrees with taking him out of there?
That’s why I don’t like the obsession with “cobra” as media branding. It is literally just Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. By convention all meetings chaired by the PM are held there.
But there were multiple Cobra meetings working through the detail of options and consequences. Chaired by the Health Secretary who was responsible for briefing the PM
When it cane to Cobra meeting drew all the threads together and needed to make decisions s the PM chaired it in person.
That strikes me as government working g as it should.
Let me put it another way: would and if those Cobra meetings made different decisions if the PM had been there?
COBRA meeting attendance is a convenient summary of the wider accusation, which is that the Government was nonchalant about the pandemic long after it was sensible to do so, and that Johnson allowed himself to be preoccupied with other matters. I'm not especially concerned with who met in Briefing Room A, but the clear signal of consistent non-attendance - borne out by public statements - was that it was seen as a secondary problem best dealt with by the relevant Minister.
Given the obvious spread of the disease - in Italy, if one chooses to shrug off China - that was grossly irresponsible. If a company downplayed obvious risks to its workforce while members of the Board attended to private matters and a large number of the staff died as a result, you would expect rather severe legal consequences, wouldn't you?
I think we have to differentiate between 'the government' ie Boris and his gang and 'government' ie the great inertial mass of the bureaucratic state with its leadership of smug, self-satisfied Sir Humphreys.
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
How much do you blame the scientists? If the government was following their advice, it’s hard to be too critical, but like everyone else on here I’d like to think I’d have been a bit more cautious.
That’s why I don’t like the obsession with “cobra” as media branding. It is literally just Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. By convention all meetings chaired by the PM are held there.
But there were multiple Cobra meetings working through the detail of options and consequences. Chaired by the Health Secretary who was responsible for briefing the PM
When it cane to Cobra meeting drew all the threads together and needed to make decisions s the PM chaired it in person.
That strikes me as government working g as it should.
Let me put it another way: would and if those Cobra meetings made different decisions if the PM had been there?
What it tells me Charles is that the alarm bells were not ringing nearly loud enough. By early February it should have been obvious that this was not just a matter for the Health Secretary but a national emergency that was going to involve almost every arm of government. Whether that failure was systemic, with the relevant experts not having a loud enough voice in the decision making process, or a result of innumerate and distracted politicians failing to grasp what they were being told will no doubt be the central point of the inevitable inquiry.
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
I'm pretty sure Theresa May would have turned up to the COBR meetings. Particularly if told the UK was facing an imminent pandemic that could claim 500 000 lives.
I really wish some of you lot would try to be a politician rather than just criticise all the time. I watched a BBC report from Moscow yesterday where ambulance drivers had to wait for 9 hours in a queue with a seriously ill patient in the back. Is that happening here? This is a once in a 100 year pandemic and somehow the Government was supposed to have covered every single base. What they have done throughout is follow the medical professionals advice. This is a disease that no one has seen before and it behaves in the oddest way. The most important thing that the Government has done is to ensure that the NHS was not overwhelmed and they have done that spectacularly well, in fact probably too well. It cracks me up that the slightest criticism of teachers on this site is met with howls of derision yet most of you think you would do a far better job than politicians.
Yes. Before criticizing Johnson you should walk a mile in his shoes.
So I've done that. And what a walk it was. Lovely scenery, GE triumph, construction of the court of King Boris, nice long holiday in the Caribbean, power grab for the Treasury, a father again, nothing to spoil the view at all. OK, some wibbling from a few science bods about that funny sounding virus spreading out of China, but apart from that.
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
How has he "ducked out of a COBRA meeting" when he wasn't due at it?
The Health Secretary chaired a Health meeting as is literally his job under Cabinet government. Is your objection to us having a Cabinet?
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
Any opinion on the lack of restrictions on air travel to this country ?
What it tells me Charles is that the alarm bells were not ringing nearly loud enough. By early February it should have been obvious that this was not just a matter for the Health Secretary but a national emergency that was going to involve almost every arm of government. Whether that failure was systemic, with the relevant experts not having a loud enough voice in the decision making process, or a result of innumerate and distracted politicians failing to grasp what they were being told will no doubt be the central point of the inevitable inquiry.
The spin line now is that BoZo didn't think it was serious enough to attend COBRA, but he was getting 2 briefings a week from the CMO
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
Any opinion on the lack of restrictions on air travel to this country ?
It seems a very simple step for the government to take to signal that no one is outside the scope of these measures. It’s probably more symbolic than anything but it mystifies me why the government refuses to give that symbol.
Also, very good article @AlastairMeeks. The part about risky business practices being bailed definitely rings true. Long, fragile supply chains preferred for cheapness should not have been bailed out by the state. Companies who pursued them chose those at the expense of domestic manufacturing or more shock resistant imports because of cost savings. It should be up to the shareholders who have benefited from those cost savings to now step in and save the companies effected, not the state. They wanted the higher returns in the good times at the expense of jobs in the UK but now they baulk at the losses.
If there is to be any reckoning then it should be with those companies who have pursued these strategies.
Scottish Government having to do it themselves, Carlotta will be raging.
Flight brings vital equipment from China to Scotland.
A charter flight carrying essential personal protective equipment (PPE) and NHS supplies has landed in Scotland.
The cargo which included around 10 million face masks as well as infusion pumps for Intensive Care Units and virus collecting kits for use in health laboratories, landed at Glasgow Prestwick Airport from China on Saturday morning.
Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation Ivan McKee said:
“Scotland’s health and social care system is facing unprecedented demand.
“Protecting staff working on the frontline is an absolute priority which is why we have been working at pace with the NHS and manufacturers both in Scotland and internationally to improve and increase the supply of PPE.
“This charter flight, carrying additional equipment ordered by the Scottish Government, is significant and we will be focusing the distribution of these supplies to health and social care settings over the coming days.
“In these incredibly challenging times the Scottish Government will continue to do all it can to make health and social care staff feel as safe as possible in their workplace.”
Jim Miller, Director of Procurement, Commissioning and Facilities at NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), said:
“This delivery is the result of a painstaking collective effort involving multiple partners working together to provide our NHS and social care colleagues with the PPE they need to keep them safe.
Meanwhile wrestling with what to do about father in home with CV19. The home is not communicating at all well, which suggests they are struggling. Phone calls mostly not answered, when you do get through you get carefully worded replies and emails not replied to.
Contemplating busting Dad out, although not sure is that is wise, legal or because of prescriptions etc technically possible.
So play nice on PB, this thing isn’t over.
I don’t know what to advise, especially without knowing your father’s particular circumstances, but you have my absolute sympathy.
+1 - that sounds a really tough dilemma. Perhaps discuss urgently with his GP, who would coverr the prescriptions aspect if (s)he agrees with taking him out of there?
My son in laws father (87) is being kept in his home by the authorities despite being in terrible health, falling nearly daily, on a permanent catheter, and confused. He has 4 carers a day and when he falls my son in law or his sister have to attend in ppe before an ambulance is called
On each occasions recently the paramedics stabilise him and then leave him with his carers. He should be in a nursing home or hospital but neither will take him.
The really sad issue is his wife is in dementia care in a nearby nursing home but they with not take him to be with her
This catastrophe is changing so many lives and seems neverending
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
How much do you blame the scientists? If the government was following their advice, it’s hard to be too critical, but like everyone else on here I’d like to think I’d have been a bit more cautious.
It is the government’s job to understand the advice it is getting and the assumptions it is based upon. The scientists may well have been at substantial fault. That does not absolve the government from its failure to understand the advice it received.
I really wish some of you lot would try to be a politician rather than just criticise all the time. I watched a BBC report from Moscow yesterday where ambulance drivers had to wait for 9 hours in a queue with a seriously ill patient in the back. Is that happening here? This is a once in a 100 year pandemic and somehow the Government was supposed to have covered every single base. What they have done throughout is follow the medical professionals advice. This is a disease that no one has seen before and it behaves in the oddest way. The most important thing that the Government has done is to ensure that the NHS was not overwhelmed and they have done that spectacularly well, in fact probably too well. It cracks me up that the slightest criticism of teachers on this site is met with howls of derision yet most of you think you would do a far better job than politicians.
Remember also Exercise Cygnus on pandemics, which revealed many of the shortcomings we now face but whose findings the government suppressed rather than acting on. This was pre-Boris btw. His hands are as a clean as if he had just sung Happy Birthday twice, so expect to hear more of this in the post-crisis inquiries. Exercise Cygnus warned the NHS could not cope with pandemic three years ago but 'terrifying' results were kept secret https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/28/exclusive-ministers-warned-nhs-could-not-cope-pandemic-three/
Government supporters offer whataboutery (look at Italy!) or the M&W defence: it is taking all the right measures but not necessarily in the right order, or with any sense of urgency. Conservatives were calling for action in February. As noted at the start of this thread, the government announced today its PPE tsar, called for weeks ago on this very pb. HMG is setting up a website which will be ready "within weeks". It is the lack of urgency that is so depressing and that may well be because, having centralised power at Number 10, Boris and Cummings then disappeared from the scene leaving a vacuum.
Boris Johnson ducked out of a COBRA meeting to be photographed signing a letter so I can’t muster up too much shock that he couldn’t be arsed finding out what might be happening about a pandemic.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
How much do you blame the scientists? If the government was following their advice, it’s hard to be too critical, but like everyone else on here I’d like to think I’d have been a bit more cautious.
It is the government’s job to understand the advice it is getting and the assumptions it is based upon. The scientists may well have been at substantial fault. That does not absolve the government from its failure to understand the advice it received.
Bad advice leaves the government in as damned if you do/damned if you don't situation though. If the government had ignored the advice from SAGE would there not be articles now about how we had overreacted and caused unnecessary damage to the economy against the advice of experts?
That’s why I don’t like the obsession with “cobra” as media branding. It is literally just Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. By convention all meetings chaired by the PM are held there.
But there were multiple Cobra meetings working through the detail of options and consequences. Chaired by the Health Secretary who was responsible for briefing the PM
When it cane to Cobra meeting drew all the threads together and needed to make decisions s the PM chaired it in person.
That strikes me as government working g as it should.
Let me put it another way: would and if those Cobra meetings made different decisions if the PM had been there?
What it tells me Charles is that the alarm bells were not ringing nearly loud enough. By early February it should have been obvious that this was not just a matter for the Health Secretary but a national emergency that was going to involve almost every arm of government. Whether that failure was systemic, with the relevant experts not having a loud enough voice in the decision making process, or a result of innumerate and distracted politicians failing to grasp what they were being told will no doubt be the central point of the inevitable inquiry.
Or perhaps they thought that some things were not a price worth paying to restrict infection.
Its the only reason I can see for their casual attitude to restrictions on foreign travel.
Comments
Which is, disgracefully, still government policy.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/uk-care-home-covid-19-deaths-may-be-five-times-government-estimate
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52341403
And was the advice to delay the lockdown by a week or so scientific ?
Given the doubling rate of the infection it (conservatively) quadrupled the number of infections in the community.
And as Carlotta tells us, it was driven by the scientists’ belief that the public would not follow lockdown instructions. That was not really a conclusion based on science.
We’ve since found out that the public follow the lockdown more assiduously than government has planned for.
Re this: “ Pressing China hard to close down these practices is almost certainly pushing against an open door. It is most unlikely that the Chinese authorities want a repeat of the last few months.”
A little naive I fear. The Chinese closed down these markets before and then when all the fuss had died down quietly allowed them to be reopened again. I would not be surprised to find the same happenIng this time.
There is a much broader case to be made against China than the one based on this virus. There are a number of strategic risks we are not taking into account of or pricing properly, as @AlastairMeeks rightly suggests we do in relation to manufacturing. I will do a header about it.
Being more serious I'm surprised at the wide range of people who get moralistic about Boris's personal life. I find he has enough issues in his politics theres no need to dwell on his personal ones (not that it prevents me making jokes about him not knowing how many kids he has). Nor do they need a focus people one reflects the other- it might on occasion, but for most people theres no connection so as a rule its irrelevant.
Those of that age I know wont agree to it. They just wont do it.
But beware the Trump and Johnson fanbois - there's quite a few of these morons who live on this blog!
The main reason I remain broadly agreeable to the Government's handling of the crisis is that I believe the lockdown, irrespective of it's ramifications was the least worst option.
If Boris feels he is being unloved by the media and his public he may well make a decision that will boost his popularity first and foremost.
PS: good morning to you, it is another beautiful sunny day here as well.
Maybe with a saver on Cummings as the Civil Service will be targeting Dom in the inevitable blamefest.
But what's in it for Boris? He's become Prime Minister, now what?
Boris sees himself as the new Churchill. The old one was often in debt and needing to be bailed out by rich friends in a way that would be unconscionable now, and probably illegal. Boris is not a wealthy man yet has an expensive family life and the cost of nappies will soon be added to any maintenance payments for the old lot. He's no longer getting £250k from the Telegraph and the same again for speeches to bankers. There are book royalties of course, but he can hardly knock out a new bestseller from Downing Street. But when he retires, well, look at Tony Blair.
Boris has no great ideology, and might see beating Covid-19 as his destiny, as Hitler was Churchill's. Afterwards, does Boris need the hassle or would he prefer the acclaim if he walks away at the top, not to mention 6- and 7-figure cheques? Impossible? Unprecedented? Well, no. David Cameron resigned at his first setback, and he did not need the money.
Au revoir, Boris.
https://twitter.com/scottishsun/status/1251595877447274496?s=21
I dont think one needs to be a fanboy to be wary of the comparisons of the two being taken too far.
Of course, if the Government were being criticised for actually following scientific advice it'd make such a petty political manoeuvre more likely...
On China and fraud, you might ‘enjoy’ this article:
Luckin Coffee scandal highlights murky standards of China Inc.
Alleged fraud appears to have been subtler than those elsewhere
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Luckin-Coffee-scandal-highlights-murky-standards-of-China-Inc
Given the Nightingales are thankfully under-used, they could perhaps be utilised as a temporary (fortnight, say) place for care home residents prior to being returned on a permanent basis.
But there were multiple Cobra meetings working through the detail of options and consequences. Chaired by the Health Secretary who was responsible for briefing the PM
When it cane to Cobra meeting drew all the threads together and needed to make decisions s the PM chaired it in person.
That strikes me as government working g as it should.
Let me put it another way: would and if those Cobra meetings made different decisions if the PM had been there?
And we have others who are merely incompetent.
I was accused by @AlastairMeeks of being some sort of a cheerleader as a result. This is untrue. Where the government very clearly was at fault was failing to grasp the seriousness of the situation early enough. China was, even with its lies, warning enough but Italy really should have resulted in the panic button being hit more quickly. This should have resulted in travel restrictions (still not in place, unbelievably) and a dusting down of the old pandemic plans to see what was actually required and the sourcing of that requirement, including ramping up testing capacity and PPE.
This eventually happened, but precious weeks were lost during which time phase 1 of seeking out and containing the virus passed in the blink of an eye. We now see indications that this was not just a consequence of innumeracy but also of a PM distracted by his complicated sex life. Its not a good look and it is a lot more legitimate to criticise the government for this.
The devolved countries get no seats at Cobra, get no say in what is happening , even if allowed to be on the end of a phone being told what they can and cannot do.
I know you are a paid acolyte of the Tory government but maybe give it a rest now and again.
https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/1251800003338780673
The Sunday Times seems to have got a hold of that piece and they have fleshed it out a bit. Utterly devastating expose, is what I'm hearing.
Complacency + Incompetence = ????
The ???? because this is still early days and there is much "fog of war".
As to what comes next, that’s down to us. The talk should less be of boycotts and more of how we can put in place appropriate insurance against such low probability high impact risks. What premium, if any, are we prepared to pay for them?
We could, of course, start by sourcing our own ventilators instead of joining with 27 other countries in the hope of finding them somewhere in China. But that would be an open-and-shut case of manslaughter, according to Mr Meeks passim.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/15/discharging-coronavirus-patients-care-homes-madness-government/
Separately confirmed to me by someone who works for Public Health England, and is disgusted by the indifference.
It is utterly pointless locking down the most vulnerable, and then recklessly exposing them to infection.
There ‘there is no demand for testing’ line from a day or so back is also bullshit. My fathers’s care home (of forty to fifty residents) was allocated a total of two swabs.
I think somewhere around forty percent of the resident have died in the last ten days.
(edit) You suggestion is, of course, plain common sense. That it occurred to you in five minutes, and apparently escaped the Health Secretary for five weeks or more, says it all.
What kind of government is this in which the Health Secretary could chair a Health meeting? Do they think we have some sort of Cabinet style of government?
A lack of swabs is one thing, but the placing of people who had/have coronavirus in care homes, without an intervening period (which could be readily provided in Nightingale hospitals) is quite another.
They don't even edit the grammar or spelling nowadays.
Obviously his girlfriend had nothing to do with it.
"Codswalloper the Correction" rides again, in a new film by George Marshall.
That these mass outbreaks within care homes are happening during lockdown also significantly degrades the overall effectiveness of the lockdown (as well as killing thousands of residents). Care home staff will be, of course, unwittingly vectoring the virus back out into the community.
They are and, will be, taking the best precautions they can, but they face a situation as difficult as many hospitals treating Covid. without much of either the equipment or expertise.
On the swabs, you may recall in Friday’s briefing we were told that there was excess testing capacity, owing to a lack of demand. That ‘lack of demand’ is clearly either untrue, or of the government’s making.
It might answer the question of what sound does one hand clapping make.
Charity estimates 7,500 fatalities so far but says precise figure difficult to gauge
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/uk-care-home-covid-19-deaths-may-be-five-times-government-estimate
However, if the relevant secretary of state were always only necessary then there would never be a need for the PM to attend.
The fact that the PM didn't think it necessary to attend or to refrain from shaking hands with Coronavirus victims does point to him not initially taking the outbreak seriously enough.
https://twitter.com/theobertram/status/1251785650581524480
I’m reminded of the Woody Allen joke about being thrown out of the metaphysics exam for cheating because he looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to him.
Given the obvious spread of the disease - in Italy, if one chooses to shrug off China - that was grossly irresponsible. If a company downplayed obvious risks to its workforce while members of the Board attended to private matters and a large number of the staff died as a result, you would expect rather severe legal consequences, wouldn't you?
But there have been political choices as well, and there willbe political consequences Diffficult to gauge, so let's gauge it for you with this estimate.
But I am sure it is terrible. It took the media about 3 weeks to start talking about them not being in figures, so a ways to go before how bad it is is known I expect.
HMG will need to have answers
Not good
That's the failing here, the complacency of our "experts" while other countries were taking this seriously and looking at lockdown and beyond ours were still talking about a moderate crisis and allowing large events to go ahead. The disaster has come from our experts.
The idea that it was all some hidden mystery is, however, absurd. I was no great seer but I concluded my article on 19 February with the words:
“Right now we are at a crisis in the true sense of the word, a moment when we do not know which course a disease is going to take. The stakes are very high indeed. Those of us who are not experts must hope that those who are find a way to keep Covid-19 tamed. The alternatives are just awful.”
It turns out that the Prime Minister was asleep at the wheel.
But in some respects (testing and strategy) it is increasingly clear that it is flat footed, and in others (care homes) criminally incompetent.
And worryingly, the former might yet turn out considerably more consequential than the latter.
Neither is anywhere as good as it thinks it is.
So I've done that. And what a walk it was. Lovely scenery, GE triumph, construction of the court of King Boris, nice long holiday in the Caribbean, power grab for the Treasury, a father again, nothing to spoil the view at all. OK, some wibbling from a few science bods about that funny sounding virus spreading out of China, but apart from that.
https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1251064925671260161
The Health Secretary chaired a Health meeting as is literally his job under Cabinet government. Is your objection to us having a Cabinet?
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-how-the-pandemic-could-cause-a-shortage-of-beer-and-fizzy-drinks-11975329
Coronavirus: Fears of beer shortage as carbon dioxide supplies fizzle out
https://twitter.com/MichaelPDeacon/status/1251593226915590148
Whether the government has realised this yet is something I'm not sure of.
If there is to be any reckoning then it should be with those companies who have pursued these strategies.
Flight brings vital equipment from China to Scotland.
A charter flight carrying essential personal protective equipment (PPE) and NHS supplies has landed in Scotland.
The cargo which included around 10 million face masks as well as infusion pumps for Intensive Care Units and virus collecting kits for use in health laboratories, landed at Glasgow Prestwick Airport from China on Saturday morning.
Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation Ivan McKee said:
“Scotland’s health and social care system is facing unprecedented demand.
“Protecting staff working on the frontline is an absolute priority which is why we have been working at pace with the NHS and manufacturers both in Scotland and internationally to improve and increase the supply of PPE.
“This charter flight, carrying additional equipment ordered by the Scottish Government, is significant and we will be focusing the distribution of these supplies to health and social care settings over the coming days.
“In these incredibly challenging times the Scottish Government will continue to do all it can to make health and social care staff feel as safe as possible in their workplace.”
Jim Miller, Director of Procurement, Commissioning and Facilities at NHS National Services Scotland (NSS), said:
“This delivery is the result of a painstaking collective effort involving multiple partners working together to provide our NHS and social care colleagues with the PPE they need to keep them safe.
“Together with supply partners and Scottish Government, NSS continues to work 24/7 to source and supply the PPE that Scotland needs to fight COVID-19.”
https://www.facebook.com/scott.mcilwrick/videos/10158412866754740/
On each occasions recently the paramedics stabilise him and then leave him with his carers. He should be in a nursing home or hospital but neither will take him.
The really sad issue is his wife is in dementia care in a nearby nursing home but they with not take him to be with her
This catastrophe is changing so many lives and seems neverending
https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/30/queue-23-ambulances-wait-get-overstretched-ae-11977218/
Remember also Exercise Cygnus on pandemics, which revealed many of the shortcomings we now face but whose findings the government suppressed rather than acting on. This was pre-Boris btw. His hands are as a clean as if he had just sung Happy Birthday twice, so expect to hear more of this in the post-crisis inquiries.
Exercise Cygnus warned the NHS could not cope with pandemic three years ago but 'terrifying' results were kept secret
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/28/exclusive-ministers-warned-nhs-could-not-cope-pandemic-three/
Government supporters offer whataboutery (look at Italy!) or the M&W defence: it is taking all the right measures but not necessarily in the right order, or with any sense of urgency. Conservatives were calling for action in February. As noted at the start of this thread, the government announced today its PPE tsar, called for weeks ago on this very pb. HMG is setting up a website which will be ready "within weeks". It is the lack of urgency that is so depressing and that may well be because, having centralised power at Number 10, Boris and Cummings then disappeared from the scene leaving a vacuum.
Its the only reason I can see for their casual attitude to restrictions on foreign travel.