Do other countries bitch relentlessly about their governments?

[Sodamncold]

Listening to radio. On and on the callers come on and complain about how the government has messed up.

All over mumsnet - posters complaining and whinging about Boris etc

For what it’s worth - I think the gov has done a good job overall. Yes there’s been mistakes but I don’t expect perfection. I think that many don’t realise how lucky they are to live in this country.

So curious as to what’s going on in other countries?

By "bitch" do you mean "hold the government to account, sometimes passionately"?

And yes, obviously they do. Pretty much the only place where people don't is countries like China and North Korea and that's only because you don't hear about them as they are disappeared asap.

No. I mean bitch.

Obviously!

For what it’s worth - I think the gov has done a good job overall. Yes there’s been mistakes but I don’t expect perfection. I think that many don’t realise how lucky they are to live in this country.

I cant work out if youre being serious or not.

You can’t think the Government ignoring other countries reactions, ignoring the Who, Not reacting with any sort of leadership or decisiveness is positive? Second worth death toll in the world, worst in europe. Youre happy with that?

Im finding the opposite. people excusing the governments pisspoor handling of this because it mostly affects those with underlying health conditions. The sick dont count. The sick dont matter. If healthy people were dying in their thousands every week, that would be worth criticising. This is surely just survival of the fittest!

Im actually angry that so many people wont criticise the government because it is ‘only’ the most vulnerable in society who will die.

They certainly do - I have cousins living in the States, and you should hear what they say about Trump's administration.

I’m in New Zealand, (originally from the UK ) and everyone I know has been right behind our govt- posting all these positive posts on social media etc. I read that Jacinda has the highest approval rating of any leader right now.

The sick dont count. The sick dont matter. If healthy people were dying in their thousands every week, that would be worth criticising. This is surely just survival of the fittest!

Oh come on. We went in to lockdown. The cast vast majority of people will have mild symptoms or no symptoms. We went in to lockdown because the sickest are indeed more vulnerable.

I think the gotcha journalism practised by lobby reporters is particularly British. A friend in France who works in British and French news says this is a British thing. They’ve had all the same problems in France as here but there is more journalistic effort to understand the background. And of course we wouldn’t know that they are also struggling for PPE in France because none of our news outlets are properly reporting on what is happening elsewhere - what are common problems and what are specific to the UK.

I don’t think the BBC has contributed to public knowledge as well as it should have done. The government should certainly be held to account t but I’ve given up looking for proper analysis from the BBC. The thread on Coronavirus stats and trends on here is better.

I am now in a country with a deferential media and honestly, you wouldn’t want it.

Could any leader in New Zealand possibly have failed to get this under control? NZ has half the population of London in an area roughly the size of the U.K. Must be a damn sight easier than for other leaders.

Maybe their governments haven't done such a shit job as ours? I don't expect perfection either. I do expect them not to be negligent, or stupid, or to lie about what they've got wrong or not been able to do. And as we have free speech here I can say so if I want.

The ‘gotcha journalism’ is only really confined to the Daily Tabloids in the UK and USA

In India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh it often comprises the whole of the media and it isn’t uncommon to turn to foreign news services when someone really wants the news — during this Coronavirus epidemic a lot of people are turning off Indian news and searching the BBC instead.

I’ve got friends in New Zealand, France and Spain and they have all said that in their countries, some people are complaining about lockdown being released, others are in support etc so there is definitely still divides in each country as to whether they think their government are doing the right thing. Reading our media though you would think we were the only ones and every other country is handling it perfectly!

FFS, I’m so sick of these Boris fanboys and girls who think he shouldn’t be held to account or criticized in anyway. The god they weren’t around when Spitting Image was on, they’d have exploded with rage.

We went in to lockdown because the sickest are indeed more vulnerable.

We went into lockdown to try to prevent cataclysmic spread of the virus.

I don't think the government has handled this particularly well, but we will never know how any other government would have behaved or what the outcome would have been.

I'm curious about Chief Medical Officers - are they chosen by the sitting government, or are the same people in the post for a given time regardless? I only ask because although mistakes have undoubtedly been made, would another party be given the same advice by the same people and therefore taken the same steps at the same time?

For what it’s worth - I think the gov has done a good job overall.

😂

At the time we should have locked down the PM was blustering around like the buffoon he is and waffling about shaking hands with Coronavirus patients. How is that doing a good job?

Perhaps especially those being run by tin-pot populists, whose shambolic administrations are playing fast and loose with the health of their populations?

I think the government has handled this poorly but because our media ‘bitch’ rather than really educate the public and themselves about the issues and challenges so that they can ask informed and truly challenging questions of the government. Consequently , it has turned into a binary argument you are either for Boris or against whereas in reality this is a very complex and nuanced situation.

The media in this country use a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel which means those in power find it easier to escape scrutiny and the general public are generally very poorly informed and therefore are unable to judge the rights and wrongs of alternative policies.

I don’t think many in North Korea bitches about their leader

I may be mistaken though

Yes, its the public thats out of touch, not you.

Yes, except in the places where doing so will result in you dying suddenly under mysterious circumstances.

Isn’t it a good thing that we can criticise the government and hold them accountable?

Remember when everybody told you Boris was an incompetent, lazy, lying man child, then he turned out to be an incompetent, lazy, lying manchild?

If they, just for one moment, stopped with their constant lies, we might find something positive and less bitchy to say about them.

I think that many don’t realise how lucky they are to live in this country.

I certainly do. Freedom of speech and a free press are nice things to have!