To be flabbergasted by this Government’s incompetence.

[Cam77]

*2000 of 500,000 NHS staff tested.
*Germany performing nearly TEN TIMES the number of tests as the UK. despite the WHO saying for weeks and weeks that they key is to “test test test”
*Continuing shortages of basic PPE for health workers (who are being threatened if they speak out)
*Thousands of people still cramming on to public transport, with not one metre let alone 2 metre distance.
*The Government failing to sign up to the EU ventilator scheme.
*Being one of the last Western countries to close schools and implement any kind of lockdown.

I know it’s tough for everyone but this is a level of criminal negligence from the British government. Absolutely shocking.

Friginella. You are the epitome of all that is wrong with your country.
Entertainment? You absolute fool.
Will you be entertained when the bodies are taken away in trucks. Cos there arent enough hearses. When loved ones are held in an ice rink cos the morgue is overflowing.
You are a disgrace.

If the Germans are the first with a vaccine will the U.K. buy it/ accept it? Or would it be too humiliating for the Britain First brigade to take foreign medicine/ admit that we are not THE best in the world 🙄

Yep they have made a total arse of it. I suppose the only comfort compared to the US is that Boris knows he’s out of his depth so will do what he’s told by his advisers. I fear for how the US will end up :(

No they will probably pretend it was them in the first place.

I think the testing issues were explained very well today

I should add, I don’t think the government have made a complete mess, I just have a couple of concerns re international flights and the PPE and the idea of this being something “unpredictable”.

@Alsohuman The NHS is "extraordinarily bad" at procurement because their hands are often tied behind their back and they are only allowed to use certain suppliers for many things who are on the purchasing framework. The process to become an NHS supplier is tortuous and some aspects truly absurd. Unfortunately NHS staff can't just order things on Amazon (as an example) even if they're much, much cheaper. So yes, it seriously DOES need sorting out. But the political will has to be there too, from the top.

For now, I'm trying to put my political views to one side, despite the fact it was political decisions based on personalities, not policies or track records, that have got us at least partly into this mess, and concentrate on trying to get through the next two weeks in particular with gritted teeth.

Living with a nurse who's also a rabidly keen historian has its downsides and its advantages right now!

I know exactly how NHS procurement works, I worked in it for 20 years. My husband is a logistician who knows the system intimately and despairs. It’s not the political will, changing their cumbersome processes is operational. They need a logistics expert on the board of NHS England, until that happens nothing will change. Hopefully this will be the wake up call.

Germany has 40% more critical care beds then Italy or Spain and they both have more than us - I don’t have proper statistics but the gap is so massive I don’t even need to be accurate. Tories stopped bursaries for nurses. Austerity has fucked everything.

And the crisis has proved that the only way out of shit like this is to behave like a labour government - we’d all be dead If the tories followed their natural ‘I’m alright jack’ herd immunity policy.

opposition mps have done a sterling job trying to hold the government to account

Just can’t get my head round Tory voters - Socialists get up thinking we’ve got a lot of work to do to make the world a better place, Tories get up saying ‘our work here is done!’

YABU to think all Conservatives are the same.
But there is a type whose sole focus is how much money can I make, and how can I ensure my family is okay. They only care about others if it starts impinging on their life e.g. too many street homeless "spoiling" the views.

I get what you are saying but really I’m not being unreasonable enough considering the state our country is in with these clowns

And they can’t seem to wash their hands.......the government not tory voters

Why are people banging on about Mr Corbyn? He has several days left as party leader of the Opposition. The Conservative Govt. and Boris Johnson are leaders in this crisis. Yes, they’re doing what they can but they ignored the 2026 trial run for a health crisis findings, they sucked money from the NHS/social care and they wasted weeks on end listening to Dominic Cummins and his herd immunity theory. Now, HE is a man who ought to have been irrelevant in all of this. An unelected advisor with zero scientific background whatsoever.

They’re doing what that can to “catch up” but frankly, they buggered up with austerity in the first place. And when this is all over, Priti Patel and Mr Hancock will need to review their unskilled workers point system because WHEN we leave Europe, we’ll have no staff to run our NHS, what with the number of frontline staff who STILL don’t have their PPE.

2016 trial run

We’ve known for a long time that a pandemic was long overdue.

In fact I don’t dislike Boris or how he has handled this given he wasn’t leader back in 2016 and is dealing with the fallout of the failure to listen at that point. Yes he has probably made mistakes but I defy anyone to find a leader who hasn’t.

Comparing him to how Corbyn might have run things is irrelevant. Corbyn isn’t PM and like Boris had no say back in 2016.

I see also that Boris will continue self isolating as he has a high temperature...must admit I thought he looked very unwell when he last posted a video message. Hope Chris Whitty who is older is okay

We’ve known for a long time that a pandemic was long overdue

I thought so too but then why was everyone so woefully unprepared? It's like there was no firm plan whatsoever.

Why are people banging on about Mr Corbyn?

'cos their fucking idiots with nothing constructive to say? That would be my guess.

I made one comment about Corbyn and the people that have carried it on and on and on are those who love the guy! Like dogs with a bone!
Not those people relieved that a duff Labour shadow cabinet did not win the election.

And it's 'they're'

So it is. 'They're'. Oh the SHAME!

I thought so too but then why was everyone so woefully unprepared? It's like there was no firm plan whatsoever.

There's a long list of incidents that the authorities should have been prepared for but weren't.

People stranded for hours in traffic jams or broken down trains.
Grenfell Tower
Airport/flight delays
Terrorist attacks

However much you "plan", there are always going to be unforeseen events that foul it up. We're all pretty good at planning but really crap at changing those plans when something unexpected happens.

Of course the other way to view all this which is to say the first duty of a government is to protect its citizens.

That includes emergencies like this. Saying it was all unexpected is to really abdicate responsibility for what a government should do.

Whenever there is criticism of how the government are handling something as monumental as this crisis, why are the first responses always "well at least he is not Corbyn"

Is this visceral hatred of someone who has never been in charge of the country going to be the get out of jail free card for the government forever?

Who gives a fuck what Corbyn would or wouldn't't have done. He doesn't hold people's lives in his hands.

And the vast majority of people working for the NHS, which everyone is out clapping for every week will yell you that consecutive Conservative governments have left them ill equipped to deal with this crisis.

Was listening to radio 5 earlier and they did an excellent dissection of Hancocks “pillar” speech. The govt stated a week ago that 100,000 Covid tests were being done which was proven to be a bare faced lie. They know say that it is a “target” number for the end of April. Of course listeners objected to the criticism. They would prefer to swallow outright lies seemingly.
I now know many people seriously ill with this virus, some will die. Why would I want to believe lies told by the govt over actual facts? I need to protect my family?
NHSwprkers now being told they will be disciplined if they post anything on social media regarding PPE or working conditions. We are becoming more like China every day.

I do wonder what the Tory trolls will do when they have no longer got Corbyn to try and distract people with.

The government has run the NHS into the ground. It's no wonder that the current situation is the way it is. The fact that the buggers keep lying and blaming other people is the thing that pissed me off. I'm glad that those industries who get a Tory finger jabbed in their direction are calling it out.

Germany spends 11.2% of GDP on healthcare; the UK spends 9.8%. South Korea spends 8.1%.

It's HOW the money is spent that makes the difference. The NHS creaks along inefficiently, but no political party dares to challenge whether it is the right model for delivering universal health care, knowing that if they were to voice that criticism they would be accused of wanting to follow the US example. Which delivers superbly for folk with a job, because the first question you ask when offered one is about the health care package that comes with it.

Most of Europe delivers universal healthcare via a partial insurance system, with income-related contributions and modest fees for consultations. Last time we needed a GP in France, to get an ear infection sorted, it cost 15 euros, then about £10 plus the antibiotic.

A global pandemic should surely be high up the list of events governments plan for? Especially after an exercise highlighting all the flaws in your plan. But no, fuck it, plan for Brexit instead, never mind the health of the population.