So proud of the UK today

[1stDecember]

So, the UK is the first in the world to approve and roll out a Covid vaccination programme. (If another country had done this, say Germany, everyone would be going on about why can't we be as good as the Germans? )

The UK had bought and tested a major amount of the right vaccine - it didn't get here by chance!

The UK Army (which really is world-class) is going to enable the largest vaccine programme ever.

It looks like a Brexit Deal is about to be struck.

And - next year, the UK will be banning the live export of animals. (We couldn't do that in the EU.)

Just feeling really good about the UK today

It doesn't often happen, so I thought I would appreciate the moment

I’m proud of many things in the UK; wonderfully supportive neighbours, friends as well as family; the Community Groups who made sure everyone in the town got help if needed; those who’ve run various activities for all ages and Councillors making positive decisions to give support. Proud too of our local surgery, Superdrug pharmacy and local hospital who have kept us going through difficult times in recent years.

But I’m not proud of a man who was so deceitful as a journalist he was sacked by the Times for making things up. Max Hastings described him, “would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade.“

When Johnson was elected leader of the Tory Party, Mathew Parris, one time MP resigned from the party.

Neither can I be proud of someone campaigning to leave the EU holding up some bananas and saying everyone knows the EU prevents us from selling these in more than two or three. He lied. And told us Brexit would be so easy, the deal was oven ready. And lied again.

I can’t be proud of a British Prime Minister who, whilst our citizens were already dying, stated on television we should all follow his example and shake hands with everyone.

Neither am I proud of our Government who frequently declares what we’re doing in world beating, when it clearly isn’t. Or who continue to employ men like Grayling and Williamson in important positions.

And takes credit for the vaccine, which wouldn’t have happened without international co-operation.

well said

Morechocolate the farmers were warned, and warned and warned over and over again for 30 years, what else do you want me to say to them? if people are determined to throw their life off a cliff what am I supposed to do? I have to stop my own life from going over

@ListeningQuietly - If the UK bans the movement of livestock across its international borders farmers in Ireland whose fields cross the border will have a few problems

Doing so would contravene the GFA. Of course, we know how much breaking an international treaty worries the tories.

user - I'm concerned about everyone else - not just the farmers. Their land will be sold off to wild west large American companies no doubt, and they will produce rubbish and dangerous food, with bad treatment of animals and stuff the environment.

Brexiters don't give a shit about the UK, so you can't expect them to give a shit about Ireland, no.

Carrie has just handed her best friend a £350 a day givernment job without advertising it. What will these lot have to actually hand to their friends from the public purse before we stop being 'proud'?

I really don't want to get involved with this but I can't help myself. I've heard it mentioned a few times about how the government badly handled the pandemic, im not going to dispute this but I am curious as to
A) what aspect specifically you feel was badly managed
B) what you would have done/ how you would have managed it better

I guarantee anything anyone says will be opposed by some and supported by others. I think the government are in a bad situation and they can't do right for doing wrong. I'm not a tory supporter by an stretch but I don't think its been necessarily badly handled, I think some members of the public should take more responsibility for their own actions.

@user1472151176

I really don't want to get involved with this but I can't help myself. I've heard it mentioned a few times about how the government badly handled the pandemic, im not going to dispute this but I am curious as to A) what aspect specifically you feel was badly managed B) what you would have done/ how you would have managed it better

I guarantee anything anyone says will be opposed by some and supported by others. I think the government are in a bad situation and they can't do right for doing wrong. I'm not a tory supporter by an stretch but I don't think its been necessarily badly handled, I think some members of the public should take more responsibility for their own actions.

Refusing to use local expertise - particularly local public health teams

Refusing to let GPs and district health teams manage local situations

Refusing to let the experienced local track and trace teams manage COVID T&T and testing

Handing contracts to unqualified mates for massively inflated prices

Refusing to close borders and test on entry in February

Not enforcing quarantine from February

Not enforcing mask wearing from March

Eat out to Help out one one big expensive superspreader event

Extending the furlough scheme beyond June rather than spending less money to increase Universal Credit to a sensible level

shall I go on ?

Oh, and refusing to ask for a Brexit extension in June when it was obvious that the combination of COVID and Brexit would be disastrous

@JFM27

Proud of Uk. How can anyone be proud of Uk.We didnt create vaccine, or produce it.We j just bought supplies possibly because we think Brexit might muck up supply chain.

Surely noone can be proud of a country,run by a load of lying shysters like our present government.They have totally mishandled the whole virus situation,dragged us out of EU on false pretences,and with no proper plan except to make their friends richer and they care little for the Uk. Personally i think they should all be arrested for fraud,as they have defrauded the British people for four years with their lies and giving contracts and jobs to Tory doners and their Tory mates who have made fortunes out of it.

Sadky UK at moment has very little to make me proud of it,im ashamed to be British,especially English.

Yes, this exactly.

@1stDecember I’m not sure why you feel proud but many of us don’t. We’re not a beacon of justice and fairness any more.

@user1472151176

I really don't want to get involved with this but I can't help myself. I've heard it mentioned a few times about how the government badly handled the pandemic, im not going to dispute this but I am curious as to A) what aspect specifically you feel was badly managed B) what you would have done/ how you would have managed it better

I guarantee anything anyone says will be opposed by some and supported by others. I think the government are in a bad situation and they can't do right for doing wrong. I'm not a tory supporter by an stretch but I don't think its been necessarily badly handled, I think some members of the public should take more responsibility for their own actions.

We did not stand for election, we are not paid rather a lot to manage the current situation, and we do not have the information and advice available to us that the government had. It is therefore slightly ridiculous to ask this. What we can do, however, is point to the fact that other comparable countries, with a couple of very badly-run exceptions, have done considerably better, and ask why our government has failed to meet those standards.

What we can also do is point to all the incredibly expensive Covid and Brexit related contracts that have gone to the friends and relatives of members of the government without anything resembling a proper tendering process or due diligence and say that that is certainly something that is so far beyond what could conceivably be described as good management as to demonstrate deeply entrenched corruption.

I'm not a tory supporter by an stretch but I don't think its been necessarily badly handled, I think some members of the public should take more responsibility for their own actions

The deaths in care homes really is unforgivable, we knew CV affected the elderly the worst, saw the errors made in Europe but discharged patients in CH's with no testing, even telling CH's that they and their residents were at v low risk of CV.

Many aspects of the govt;s handling of CV can be batted away with the Hindsight defense but we knew the risks and did nothing, 10s of 1000s of the most vulnerable died needlessly.

None of this is down to the "public" who have been feed a mash up of mixed messages from January onwards, the leadership provided by Johnson has been non existent

of course brexiteers do care. its just they tend to be a bit older and wiser and the remoaners have such a tiny memory, they have nothing to compare there life style too, etc etc etc

i soo agree with you. you are bang to rights

I'm old and wise and the lack of basic competency from our elected leaders is by far the worst I've seen in my lifetime. By a lot.

I'm old enough to remember the day my house was changed from Town gas to North Sea Gas

I'm old enough to remember the days when macaroni was on the 'foreign foods' shelf in Central London

I'm wise enough to know that the world has moved on
and will keep moving on even if the UK goes backwards

[quote OchonAgusOchonO]**@ListeningQuietly* - If the UK bans the movement of livestock across its international borders farmers in Ireland whose fields cross the border will have a few problems*

Doing so would contravene the GFA. Of course, we know how much breaking an international treaty worries the tories.[/quote]
Its only live exports for fattening and slaughter that will be banned, and and its only England and Wales thats affected.
There doesn't seem to have been any investment in UK slaughterhouses to help us cope with the change either.

''Sending live animals abroad for slaughter will be banned in England and Wales under new government plans.''
voxique.com/2020/12/03/live-animal-exports-to-be-banned-in-england-and-wales/

Its only live exports for fattening and slaughter that will be banned, and and its only England and Wales thats affected.

So the op's claim that it UK is banning export of live animals is factually incorrect then. The UK is banning the export of some live animals from some parts of the UK is more accurate.

@ListeningQuietly

Oh, and refusing to ask for a Brexit extension in June when it was obvious that the combination of COVID and Brexit would be disastrous

They did that because they are cunts.

@doctorhamster

Boris? Is that you?

love this!

A) what aspect specifically you feel was badly managed
Test & trace
Giving contracts to chums that were clueless
B) what you would have done/ how you would have managed it better
Got test & trace working from the start April 2020 that way people would isolate rather than spread the disease round - look to Taiwan for this or Singapore
Not given contracts to chum but to people who could preform the task

@ListeningQuietly and @ivykaty44 list most of the most important failures in response but I will add:

A) what aspect was badly managed
Large events like Cheltenham & Twickenham and football matches being allowed to go ahead when countries in Europe had cancelled them
B) how could it have been handled better
Cancelling these large scale events in light of the lockdowns occurring around us in Europe (look at the WHO meeting minutes expressing their shock and dismay at the UKs cavalier approach at that time)

A) badly managed
Forming a protective ring around Cummings when he left London for a second home and he and his wife failed to disclose it in their published accounts. This majorly damaged confidence in public health messaging.
B) how could it have been handled better?
Told Cummings his position was untenable as it had brought the Government into disrepute. Not allowed an aide to host his own press conference from No 19 Downing Street

A)badly managed
School returns in June to cherry picked years only
Results farce and ‘mutant algorithm’
B) handled better:
could have been a fairer rota system, checked the results before the release / sacked Gavin Williamson for incompetence

But first and foremost would anybody think it’s a sensible policy to release anyone from hospital into care homes untested, or worse still, who had tested positive for Covid. That really is negligent.

I could go on...Definitely Government policy failures not only due to public non-compliance!

*No 10 Rose Garden