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How do you think Boris has handled it so far ?

How do you think Boris has handled Covid 19 so far ?

  • Superb

    Votes: 27 10.8%
  • Very Good

    Votes: 63 25.1%
  • Good

    Votes: 56 22.3%
  • Average

    Votes: 22 8.8%
  • Poor

    Votes: 44 17.5%
  • Very Poor

    Votes: 39 15.5%

  • Total voters
    251
  • Poll closed .


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,734
The Fatherland




nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
18,581
Gods country fortnightly


Seagull27

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2011
3,368
Bristol
Exactly. There's some though that won't ever give it up - as shown on here. I suspect that, as on the Brexit thread, the 2 to 1 split will remain to the end, with no-one switching from their entrenched position (which to some extent makes discussion pointless).
When this is all over, and grandparents have been reunited with their children and grandchildren and the dead have been buried, there will still be voices crying out, "Yes, but we got through it in spite of Boris!"

I suspect you may be right on that front. One positive I have noticed in all this is that people have finally forgotten about their Brexit arguments and are (mostly) united again, helping each other through difficult times - but maybe I'm being naïve to hope that will continue once it all settles down!
 


sparkie

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
13,276
Hove
Last edited:


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,188
Gloucester
I suspect you may be right on that front. One positive I have noticed in all this is that people have finally forgotten about their Brexit arguments and are (mostly) united again, helping each other through difficult times - but maybe I'm being naïve to hope that will continue once it all settles down!

Well, this current thing about whether we did or did not discuss with our friends in the EU the idea of bulk buying has rather brought the Brexit schism back on to this thread, for some anyway. Hopefully it will pass, and we'll get back to the more positive scenario you and I had both noticed.
 




Mr Banana

Tedious chump
Aug 8, 2005
5,491
Standing in the way of control
Exactly. There's some though that won't ever give it up - as shown on here. I suspect that, as on the Brexit thread, the 2 to 1 split will remain to the end, with no-one switching from their entrenched position (which to some extent makes discussion pointless).
When this is all over, and grandparents have been reunited with their children and grandchildren and the dead have been buried, there will still be voices crying out, "Yes, but we got through it in spite of Boris!"

Do you think there is any level of preparation a government should undertake for a public health crisis that it has months of warning for?

What is going to be the tipping point where you start to feel they might have contributed to the catastrophe?
 


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,188
Gloucester
Do you think there is any level of preparation a government should undertake for a public health crisis that it has months of warning for?

What is going to be the tipping point where you start to feel they might have contributed to the catastrophe?
We are facing a real crisis. Why waste time asking hypothetical questions about something which they had 'months of warning' for. Let's stick to discussing Coronavirus, which took the whole world by surprise, without warning.
 


sparkie

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
13,276
Hove
I suspect you may be right on that front. One positive I have noticed in all this is that people have finally forgotten about their Brexit arguments and are (mostly) united again, helping each other through difficult times - but maybe I'm being naïve to hope that will continue once it all settles down!
That is because those Brexit arguments were never as important as the constant Brexit overload forced into peoples' heads on a daily basis made out.

Once the Brexit overload was vastly reduced, guess what ? People don't care so much about it anymore.
 




Bakero

Languidly clinical
Oct 9, 2010
14,908
Almería
We are facing a real crisis. Why waste time asking hypothetical questions about something which they had 'months of warning' for. Let's stick to discussing Coronavirus, which took the whole world by surprise, without warning.

We watched it unfolding in China, Italy and then Spain.
 


vegster

Sanity Clause
May 5, 2008
28,273
We watched it unfolding in China, Italy and then Spain.

Once we saw the explosion of cases in Northern Italy the government should have effectively activated a war footing.
 


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,188
Gloucester
We watched it unfolding in China, Italy and then Spain.
No we didn't. It had already happened in China before we knew anything about it. The WHO first recognised it on 31st. December; the first case in the UK occurred in late January - less than a month later. The first death was recorded 6 weeks further on. Some people's definition of 'months of warning' is seriously skewed by their own agenda..
 






Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,734
The Fatherland
No we didn't. It had already happened in China before we knew anything about it. The WHO first recognised it on 31st. December; the first case in the UK occurred in late January - less than a month later. The first death was recorded 6 weeks further on. Some people's definition of 'months of warning' is seriously skewed by their own agenda..

If you want to be pedantic then you are probably correct. But, whilst the first case/death etc occurred weeks after China rates of infection and death were low for a longer amount of time....enough to plan and prepare for the levels of testing, getting the appropriate equipment ready and also working out the best strategy.
 


Bakero

Languidly clinical
Oct 9, 2010
14,908
Almería
No we didn't. It had already happened in China before we knew anything about it. The WHO first recognised it on 31st. December; the first case in the UK occurred in late January - less than a month later. The first death was recorded 6 weeks further on. Some people's definition of 'months of warning' is seriously skewed by their own agenda..

I didn't actually say months but to claim we didn't have any warning would be disingenuous. The whole of February and deep into March the British government seemed to pulling off the impressive feat of sitting on their hands whilst having their fingers in their ears. I had countless conversations with people about the lack of action in both the UK and Spain.
 




Seagull27

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2011
3,368
Bristol
I didn't actually say months but to claim we didn't have any warning would be disingenuous. The whole of February and deep into March the British government seemed to pulling off the impressive feat of sitting on their hands whilst having their fingers in their ears. I had countless conversations with people about the lack of action in both the UK and Spain.
This was at the advice of chief scientists. Do you think they should have disobeyed what the experts were telling them? When the scientific advice then changed, the government changed the strategy.

And of course, we still don't know whether our current strategy - or that of any other country - will turn out to be the correct one yet. But the best thing to do is always to follow the advice of the experts, as they have a better chance of getting it right than the media or general public.
 


CheeseRolls

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 27, 2009
6,233
Shoreham Beach
Well, this current thing about whether we did or did not discuss with our friends in the EU the idea of bulk buying has rather brought the Brexit schism back on to this thread, for some anyway. Hopefully it will pass, and we'll get back to the more positive scenario you and I had both noticed.

Reading your posts today, it feels like we are having a debate over the leadership of the local Rotary Club. The implication is they are trying to do the right thing and it is somehow unkind to criticize well meaning amateurs. Before anyone jumps down my throat I am not describing the government and their experts as well meaning amateurs, more the reaction of some on here to criticism of their actions.

Strangely we ARE in a crisis and we should be EXPECTING excellence from our elected representatives.
 


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,188
Gloucester
I didn't actually say months but to claim we didn't have any warning would be disingenuous. The whole of February and deep into March the British government seemed to pulling off the impressive feat of sitting on their hands whilst having their fingers in their ears. I had countless conversations with people about the lack of action in both the UK and Spain.

No, you didn't, but some people (as stated in my post) did.

The idea that the Government spent weeks sitting on their hands with their fingers in their ears is almost on a level with the bloke who claimed they had years/decades to prepare :)facepalm:). They were following the advice of the experts. Surely you didn't expect the Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak to be virology experts? - it's not one of the normal qualifications one would expect for the leaders of a country.
 


GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,188
Gloucester
Strangely we ARE in a crisis and we should be EXPECTING excellence from our elected representatives.

Yes, we know, and two thirds of us think the government is doing OK or better (see the poll). No idea what all that stuff about rotary clubs is all about.
 




Si Gull

Way Down South
Mar 18, 2008
4,690
On top of the world
No, you didn't, but some people (as stated in my post) did.

The idea that the Government spent weeks sitting on their hands with their fingers in their ears is almost on a level with the bloke who claimed they had years/decades to prepare :)facepalm:). They were following the advice of the experts. Surely you didn't expect the Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak to be virology experts? - it's not one of the normal qualifications one would expect for the leaders of a country.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ncovered-pandemic-warnings-buried-government/

Operation Cygnus would appear to give a lie to the fact that the government had no time to make preparations. It was warned in October 2016 that the NHS wouldn't cope in the event of a pandemic but chose to ignore it.
 


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
56,210
Faversham
This was at the advice of chief scientists. Do you think they should have disobeyed what the experts were telling them? When the scientific advice then changed, the government changed the strategy.

And of course, we still don't know whether our current strategy - or that of any other country - will turn out to be the correct one yet. But the best thing to do is always to follow the advice of the experts, as they have a better chance of getting it right than the media or general public.

This.

Even now it is not clear what the best strategy might be, either in political or scientific terms. It is deffo a case of suck it and see. The modellers show that a complete lockdown would have suppressed the size and delayed the hight of the peak massively. But with that there would be a late second massive peak in October/November. That means restructions well into 2021. Politically untenable in my view, and apparently theirs.

With no restrictions there would be 100s of thousands of deaths (not the 20 thousand that is the present 'target') but the pandemic would be over by August, possibly sooner, millions recovered and immune and back running society. Also politically and socially unacceptable, in anyone's view aside from nutters. Avoidable deaths.

Our government took the advice, which could not be made till quite recently, to escalate restrictions so as to not trigger panic and chaos, with the aim of being as restrictive as society would tolerate, reviewing the situation daily, with the hope of delaying and reducing the peak without leaving so many unexposed to the virus and vulnerable that it would all come back and bite us on the bum in the Autumn.

They have also been quite honest, Boris himself saying people will die, rather than doing a Theresa May and saying 'we will do everything possible to prevent a single man, woman or British child dying' - then failing.

I disapprove of Boris but I remain persuaded he is doing everything correctly (by finding and following the best advice, and without making it party political - aside from his inevitable wisecracks that can hardly be viewed as considered strategy).
 


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