Why are people not more angry about the government's handling of the crisis?

[jobhunter7]

Or are the newspaper not giving an accurate picture of people's feelings?

33,186 deaths recorded so far.

Surely plenty of these people had families and friends?

I suppose they can't really march at the moment.

[Laiste]

Can you list specifically what you're angry about OP?

[PleasantVille]

Maybe they accept that the world was in a totally new situation and no one country has done everything right.

I'm not a fan of BJ but having a leaderless Labour party in charge would have been much much worse imo.

[bellinisurge]

There will be a reckoning for this government. Especially as there is clearly now a competent opposition respectfully querying the bullshit.

[HunterAngel]

Because we’re just trying to get through it?

I have a active one year old, a husband waiting on an serious operation and I’m still working my normal job, having shuffled shifts around to manage childcare. I don’t have time to be angry at the government’s handling of a unprecedented situation

[jobhunter7]

Maybe that'll teach us in the future as to who we elect as our leader:

[Laiste]

Yeah - like we had a fantastic choice last time ...

[catinb0oots]

Apathy

[Redolent]

Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, has been fiercely critical the UK government. What could they have done differently? According to him:

“They didn’t isolate and quarantine. They didn’t contact trace. These basic principles of public health and infectious disease control were ignored, for reasons that remain opaque,” Mr Horton wrote.

Mr Horton said he had drawn attention to Lancet publications on the severity and “pandemic potential” of Covid-19, the danger of human-to-human transmission and the need for intensive care treatment, and the next day had asked why there was no discussion underway of the “urgent clinical challenge” of responding.

By 26 January, he said he was tweeting that the “needle is moving towards the affirmative” on the need for declaring an international public health emergency.

Meanwhile, the prime minister had “skipped” five meetings of the government’s Cobra emergency committee to discuss the outbreak, instead concentrating on Brexit and the cabinet reshuffle and spending a fortnight with fiancee Carrie Symonds at countryside retreat Chevening.

[Nquartz]

I know a few people who are but an equal number who say stuff like 'poor boris, he's trying his best etc'. I'm angry but feel like I don't have anything constructive to do with it!

You might want to read the Westministenders (sic) tnreads, there's plenty on there

[Redolent]

It’s perfectly possible to get angry at the government without having to caveat that with ‘oh but he was up against Corbyn...’ Ffs. Not asking for a justification of your voting record.

[SquishySquirmy]

From February onward, they have been in "crisis management" mode and were initially very effective.
Except the crisis they were managing was NOT the right one.
In February/early March huge effort was spent downplaying the risks, reassuring the public ("I shook hands with everyone in the hospital!"), keeping Britain open (Cheltenham, Crufts, the Madrid game...) and talking up their oven ready Brexit. When the Coronavirus crisis eventually became impossible to ignore they were forced to switch: Huge effort was then spent trying to avoid criticism, deflect blame, and change history.
We can only speculate on what might have been achieved had this attention and effort been directed elsewhere...

The potential crisis they were trying to avoid? A loss of power and popularity and abandonment of Brexit ideology.
To some extent they have been successful in avoiding that crisis - they have managed to convince some that they are blameless and confuse many others to such a point that the collective memory of their messages and inaction in February and March has been wiped.
Many people believe that the current state of the country was inevitable. It wasn't.

It is hard to focus on more than one crisis at a time, and they prioritised the wrong one in my opinion.

[Jeffersona]

I think if it was Labour the right wing press would have the country baying for blood and rabid.

The Tories are masters at spin and passing the blame and their cheerleaders in the press help on the PR front.

[NoCaseToAnswer]

Because it's a pointless waste of energy and emotion.

[TabbyMumz]

I dont think they've done so bad. This was a new situation that could never have been expected and I think they've pulled things together pretty quickly and professionally.
Over 30000 deaths is terrible, but it's still only a small proportion of the population thankfully, and we cant trust figures from other countries as we dont know what they've been counting in their figures.

[TabbyMumz]

I also think some people keep looking for fault all the time.

[IrisAnon]

We're busy trying to cope. But I think we are becoming more angry as the facts unfold. However, I'm very glad that Corbyn wasn't in power.

On the basis I've just found out how out how little I get from the HMRC payout to help the self employed......I'm now very cross! I've spend three years building up a business, so obviously my first year of trading was at a loss. My payout for three months has equalled the amount I generally receive in one/two weeks when working normally. Why can't I be on 80% of income based on one year?

But I was also annoyed that flights weren't closed down quicker - what can you do?

[MarshaBradyo]

What do you do after you get angry? Go on SM, something else

I’m not convinced another path would have been better. Lock down like NZ? Even possible for us?

Op what path would you have chosen?

[GhostofFrankGrimes]

Loads of reasons;

Apathy, ignorance, quiet embarassment at voting for this government, blaming Corbyn (like blaming Labour for the global economic crisis in 08), culture wars.

[SquishySquirmy]

Previous elections and ex-leaders of the opposition have nothing to do with whether or not Boris and co handled this well.

We are allowed to criticise the government however we voted.
We should all demand our leaders are held to account, even those who voted for them should demand it.
It is not a football team. It is not a virtue to stay loyal to your "side" until your dying day no matter how badly they perform.

Some of the defences of the government remind me of terrible Apprentice candidates, where the losing team leader will whine that it was everyone else's fault for allowing them to be leader even if they begged for the position and promised the world...

Set the bar higher!

[Reginabambina]

Too tired to care? Simply not impacted enough to care? For instance we don’t know anyone who’s been seriously ill with it and have not lost any money. Yes, homeschooling has been a pain in the arse but we don’t really have an personal reason to be angry. I’m critical obviously (naive morons!) but I just don’t have the energy to be cross over this.

[Reginabambina]

@GhostofFrankGrimes how is Corbyn responsible?

[ChaBishkoot]

You can dislike Corbin and think BoJo has done a shit job.

• the PPE scandal
  
• the lack of contact tracing
  
• the mixed messages including that disastrous press conference on Sunday
  

Yes, at the start this was an unprecedented crisis but other countries were telling us what was working for them and we chose to ignore it. And now we are many weeks into this, you’d think the government would have its act together but the shambles over the lifting of the lockdown indicates otherwise.

Also finding fault with the government in question is also known as a...democracy.

[Hercwasonaroll]

Because they recognise that hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[MarshaBradyo]

I did feel annoyance at the underhand change of condition 5. That kind of lack of rigour irritates a lot.

Obviously there’s a lot of other stuff that’s a shambles, but broadly the mix between keeping R low, building up NHS and getting people back to work is what I’d go for.