How do you think Boris has handled it so far ?

[WATFORD zero]

Mid Term report

Increasing NHS capacity to ensure beds/ventilators available A+

The stopping of all regular NHS treatment and the building of the extra Nightingale-style Hospitals has ensured that there have been ICU beds available throughout the Pandemic so far. The Cpap devices and ventilators from the Ventilator Challenge UK Consortium was probably the fastest that these could have been built/delivered. No blame can be attributed to the Government for the fact that Dyson decided to use this as a 'marketing opportunity' and then fail to deliver.

Maintaining PPE supplies B-

I know that there have been shortages of PPE equipment, but AFAIK, these have not been on a massive scale. I believe the Government could have reacted quicker to the ordering and purchasing of this equipment, but I would think the market for this equipment, at the moment is ruthless. Why they announced and then wittered on about that Turkish delivery of a few days worth of PPE, I have no idea.

Increasing Testing Capacity C

On the 16th March, the WHO said the key to this was 'to test, test, test'. On 2nd April, it was announced that we would have 100,000 people tested daily, by the end of April (why 100,000, I have no idea). By 23rd April we were testing 20,000 people per day. On the 29th April we were testing 50,000 people per day. On the 31st April we sent out 122,000 tests. (We actually tested 73,000 people). And it has now dropped below 80,000 tests sent out again. Now 73,000 is a bloody good effort, but please don't lie, we are not idiots.

Keeping Fatalities under 20,000 C-

I don't know why the Government came to this figure, but they stated that keeping below this would be viewed as a success. I believe we will be over 40,000 deaths within the next week.


So a mixed bag. I'm sure that the Government are doing what they can, but I always thought that having the most inexperienced Cabinet (certainly in my lifetime), together with what we know is a significant influence by Political Advisors, was not the best starting position from which to address this Pandemic. I think this is shown by what have been some very poor political decisions, that did nothing but lose focus on the real underlying issues.

 

[rogersix]

What are you banging on about you mentalist!

bj garnering votes with a sob story

 

[Machiavelli]

Mid Term report

Increasing NHS capacity to ensure beds/ventilators available A+

The stopping of all regular NHS treatment and the building of the extra Nightingale-style Hospitals has ensured that there have been ICU beds available throughout the Pandemic so far. The Cpap devices and ventilators from the Ventilator Challenge UK Consortium was probably the fastest that these could have been built/delivered. No blame can be attributed to the Government for the fact that Dyson decided to use this as a 'marketing opportunity' and then fail to deliver.

Maintaining PPE supplies B-

I know that there have been shortages of PPE equipment, but AFAIK, these have not been on a massive scale. I believe the Government could have reacted quicker to the ordering and purchasing of this equipment, but I would think the market for this equipment, at the moment is ruthless. Why they announced and then wittered on about that Turkish delivery of a few days worth of PPE, I have no idea.

Increasing Testing Capacity C

On the 16th March, the WHO said the key to this was 'to test, test, test'. On 2nd April, it was announced that we would have 100,000 people tested daily, by the end of April (why 100,000, I have no idea). By 23rd April we were testing 20,000 people per day. On the 29th April we were testing 50,000 people per day. On the 31st April we sent out 122,000 tests. (We actually tested 73,000 people). And it has now dropped below 80,000 tests sent out again. Now 73,000 is a bloody good effort, but please don't lie, we are not idiots.

Keeping Fatalities under 20,000 C-

I don't know why the Government came to this figure, but they stated that keeping below this would be viewed as a success. I believe we will be over 40,000 deaths within the next week.


So a mixed bag. I'm sure that the Government are doing what they can, but I always thought that having the most inexperienced Cabinet (certainly in my lifetime), together with what we know is a significant influence by Political Advisors, was not the best starting position from which to address this Pandemic. I think this is shown by what have been some very poor political decisions, that did nothing but lose focus on the real underlying issues.

Sounds about right (depending on how far the scale goes as my caveat).
How would you have assessed the 'early term report' (involving general level of preparedness for 'unusual' event/pandemic/etc; timing of response; extent of response)?

Being kind to the government (and that doesn't happen too regularly with me), their messaging has been excellent. They're very good at simple messaging. On this, however, they're about to be tested, because the lockdown was simple whereas releasing the lockdown is going to be anything but.

 

[Machiavelli]

I said I'd shut up about it, but as an aside my intention was never to persuade anyone else not to use the app.

I can shut up about it if you want me to too, but I've just read this and thought it might be of use:

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/04/tech-giants-coronavirus-pandemic-welfare-surveillance

 

[Icy Gull]

Well I am very grateful for the 80% wages paid and the 10k small business grant that appeared in my account this morning. Depending on how long this shit goes on for at least my business has a chance of surviving. I am not joining in the slagging off of the Government in these terrible times. They have got things wrong but overall, as a business owner, it would be very churlish to complain too much.

I could be an American with a critical illness who has lost my health cover due to losing my job.

So much to moan about but also things to be thankful for personally

Team Boris in this household.

 

[beorhthelm]

Mid Term report

answer to the three questions, why the wittering on about Turkey, the 100k target and the 20k target, was to pander to media. handling of the 100k target is an own goal given the effort to ramp up testing, and more diverse testing than other countries have so far. a lot of decisions were by the civil servants that run the department.

 

[WATFORD zero]

answer to the three questions, why the wittering on about Turkey, the 100k target and the 20k target, was to pander to media. handling of the 100k target is an own goal given the effort to ramp up testing, and more diverse testing than other countries have so far. a lot of decisions were by the civil servants that run the department.

The press came up with the turkey PPE story, the 20K and 100K targets, and it's actually Civil Servants who decide on Government policy ?

And there was me blaming poor political decisions, when it was actually all the fault of the press and Civil Servants. That explains it

 

[beorhthelm]

The press came up with the turkey PPE story, the 20K and 100K targets, and it's actually Civil Servants who decide on Government policy ?

And there was me blaming poor political decisions, when it was actually all the fault of the press and Civil Servants. That explains it

just saying the politicans gave in to the clamour for targets.

 

[KZNSeagull]

It was Whitty or Vallance who came up with 20k as an indicator in one of the early press briefings. Not sure it was ever a target was it?

 

[drew]

Mid Term report

Increasing NHS capacity to ensure beds/ventilators available A+

The stopping of all regular NHS treatment and the building of the extra Nightingale-style Hospitals has ensured that there have been ICU beds available throughout the Pandemic so far. The Cpap devices and ventilators from the Ventilator Challenge UK Consortium was probably the fastest that these could have been built/delivered. No blame can be attributed to the Government for the fact that Dyson decided to use this as a 'marketing opportunity' and then fail to deliver.

Maintaining PPE supplies B-

I know that there have been shortages of PPE equipment, but AFAIK, these have not been on a massive scale. I believe the Government could have reacted quicker to the ordering and purchasing of this equipment, but I would think the market for this equipment, at the moment is ruthless. Why they announced and then wittered on about that Turkish delivery of a few days worth of PPE, I have no idea.

Increasing Testing Capacity C

On the 16th March, the WHO said the key to this was 'to test, test, test'. On 2nd April, it was announced that we would have 100,000 people tested daily, by the end of April (why 100,000, I have no idea). By 23rd April we were testing 20,000 people per day. On the 29th April we were testing 50,000 people per day. On the 31st April we sent out 122,000 tests. (We actually tested 73,000 people). And it has now dropped below 80,000 tests sent out again. Now 73,000 is a bloody good effort, but please don't lie, we are not idiots.

Keeping Fatalities under 20,000 C-

I don't know why the Government came to this figure, but they stated that keeping below this would be viewed as a success. I believe we will be over 40,000 deaths within the next week.


So a mixed bag. I'm sure that the Government are doing what they can, but I always thought that having the most inexperienced Cabinet (certainly in my lifetime), together with what we know is a significant influence by Political Advisors, was not the best starting position from which to address this Pandemic. I think this is shown by what have been some very poor political decisions, that did nothing but lose focus on the real underlying issues.

Can't argue with your first score but surely the others are too high.

PPE . I'd give a C. Very average performance.
Testing. Must be a D, possibly disqualification for cheating. How can putting a test kit in the post be classified as carrying out a test!!
Keeping Fatalities under 20,000. Must be an F. If you do a maths paper and the question is what is 2 + 2 and you put 1. That's the wrong answer so you fail. Fatalities are well over 20k so the government failed. Probably stupid of them to state 20k in the first place.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Can't argue with your first score but surely the others are too high.

PPE . I'd give a C. Very average performance.
Testing. Must be a D, possibly disqualification for cheating. How can putting a test kit in the post be classified as carrying out a test!!
Keeping Fatalities under 20,000. Must be an F. If you do a maths paper and the question is what is 2 + 2 and you put 1. That's the wrong answer so you fail. Fatalities are well over 20k so the government failed. Probably stupid of them to state 20k in the first place.

My old School reports only went from A+ to C- (and there was no such thing as GCSE's)

 

[nicko31]

Pretty damning article from the Sydney Morning Herald today.

'Biggest failure in a generation': Where did Britain go wrong?

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe...ere-did-britain-go-wrong-20200428-p54o2d.html

 

[drew]

My old School reports only went from A+ to C- (and there was no such thing as GCSE's)

Well there were no GCSEs in my day, only good old O and A levels plus CSEs. Pretty certain O and A went through As to Fs but then that might just be my report!!!!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It was Whitty or Vallance who came up with 20k as an indicator in one of the early press briefings. Not sure it was ever a target was it?

Vallance said 20K would be a good result. He was right. Sadly we are beyond that now.

I still think we have done quite well given everything, and I say that as a Boris loather and tory skeptic.

Anyway, you can read any quibbles our triggaaar may have with that take; I won't because....you can guess the rest.

 

[GT49er]

Well there were no GCSEs in my day, only good old O and A levels plus CSEs. Pretty certain O and A went through As to Fs but then that might just be my report!!!!

In my day 'O' levels went from 1 to 9, with 1 to 6 being passes, the rest fails. 'A' levels went A,B,C.D,E.O,F - A to E being passes, O being an A level fail, but counted as an O level if you could be bothered ........................................ and F was what you'd expect F would stand for!

 

[Machiavelli]

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...an-states-in-tackling-coronavirus-says-agency


UK behind most European states in tackling coronavirus, says EU agency

Disease control centre delivers blow to Boris Johnson’s claims of successful strategy

The head of the EU’s agency for disease control has warned that the UK is one of five European countries failing to reduce active coronavirus infections, despite Boris Johnson’s claims of success.

Andrea Ammon, the director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), suggested on Monday that the UK had yet to progress as far as the majority of European countries in tackling the disease.

In evidence to the European parliament’s committee on public health, Ammon said Europe as a whole appeared to have passed the peak of infections on Saturday, with only Bulgaria still experiencing an increase in cases of infection.

But she told MEPs that the UK, along with Poland, Romania and Sweden, stood out as showing “no substantial changes in the last 14 days”.

“All the others, we really see this substantial decrease,” Ammon said of the cumulative incidence rate, which provides a measure of the prevalence of active cases in the population. She did not offer any explanation of the differences.

The ECDC monitors all 27 EU member states plus the UK, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

The agency reported that as of Monday there had been 1.2 million confirmed cases of infection, with 136,347 deaths within the territory it monitors.

The UK has recorded 186,599 confirmed cases and 28,466 fatalities, a death count second only to Italy, according to the ECDC’s latest data. Only the US has suffered more deaths.

Last week, Johnson claimed that Britain had gone past the peak and was “on the downward slope”.

In the last week there has been a decrease of around 13% in the the number of people with Covid-19 in UK hospitals. There has also been a decrease in the number of deaths.

The government has warned of the difficulties in making international comparisons, with the Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, insisting that while the government “will have made mistakes” the evidence will need to be assessed in the future.

But Ammon’s suggestion that the UK is yet to show the sustained improvement seen elsewhere in Europe offers some grounds for caution as Downing Street seeks to champion its efforts to reduce the rate of infection.

It has been suggested in Whitehall that a better insight into the relative success of governments will be found in the increase of excess deaths during the pandemic, rather than just those officially recorded as being related to Covid-19.

But an EU-backed project monitoring all excess deaths during the pandemic reported that England had seen the highest rise in deaths over the five-year average compared with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Ammon, a former head of department for infectious disease epidemiology at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, said the lockdowns brought in by governments across Europe as a whole had reduced transmissions by 45% compared with 8 April.

She warned, however, against any complacency and suggested that her agency had little confidence that the reporting of deaths and infections was complete.

A government spokesman said: “The UK’s approach throughout this pandemic has been guided by the latest scientific evidence.

“We have seen a marked decline in both daily confirmed cases and deaths in recent weeks and our published data clearly shows this.

“Other countries may be at different stages of the outbreak and there is variety in how they record and report deaths, so comparisons can be unhelpful, inaccurate and misleading”.

Researchers at the University of Bonn suggested on Monday that more than 10 times as many people in Germany had probably been infected with the coronavirus than the number of confirmed cases, following a field trial in one of the worst-hit towns.

 

[The Clamp]

Sounds about right (depending on how far the scale goes as my caveat).
How would you have assessed the 'early term report' (involving general level of preparedness for 'unusual' event/pandemic/etc; timing of response; extent of response)?

Being kind to the government (and that doesn't happen too regularly with me), their messaging has been excellent. They're very good at simple messaging. On this, however, they're about to be tested, because the lockdown was simple whereas releasing the lockdown is going to be anything but.

Huh?! Their messaging has been awful! Appallingly muddled and indirect. Deliberately so. Johnson doesn’t want to appear too harsh with Lockdown.

Let’s have it right;

Tory’s got re-elected on a Brexit ticket. The type of people that voted Brexit are typically anti-lockdown. But the would also get annoyed at a high death count. Tory solution?;

Send out mixed messages that seem to sort of, kind of fall in line with something sort of resembling a lockdown but don’t really enforce it that strictly.

The inevitable result? Lots of dead people. Tory solution?

Just fudge all the numbers and waffle. They’ll fall for it.


An whaddya know? They have.

Tory’s got re-elected on a Brexit ticket. If they have a hope of staying in power, they have to continue to placate the Leave voters.

 

[Is it PotG?]

The type of people that cited Brexit are typically anti-lockdown.

You really DO make things up as you go along, don't you?

Type and typically in one sentence, no (incorrect) generalisations then.

 

[The Clamp]

You really DO make things up as you go along, don't you?

Type and typically in one sentence, no (incorrect) generalisations then.

I stand by that assertion.

It’s not the truth that hurts, it’s the shock of hearing it.

 

[RossyG]

Go on Twitter and there are plenty of Brexiteers who are on the “pull down the shutters and hide” side when it comes to Covid-19.