To be ashamed to be British

[yesterdayschild]

Every day more and more British deaths. When compared to other countries some of them third world, we have an appalling death rate from Covid 19.
Why oh why did the government allow 3000 Spanish to enter just to watch a football match when Spain would not allow them to watch in their own country.
Why was the Stereophonics concert allowed when other countries had locked down.
Why are thousands of people still entering the U.K. with no checks.
Why are our NHS staff still begging for PPE

I am feeling very very low about all of this and wish I lived in some other country.

And my local hospital is set up as if it has literally been split in half, non COVID and COVID infectés patients. Two of my friends who work there have said that they feel safer in the hospital than in the supermarkets.

I'm a teacher so tomorrow we will find out the terms on which we will return to schools.

Let's see.

No country has handled this perfectly, however I would say I actually think we have managed it well compared to what I thought would happen. I did not envisage the NHS actually managing this so well, nor that people would be so quick to adapt to the lockdown, nor how friendly communities have become.

We didn't have anyone dying on the floors in corridors (that happened almost in every single country - New York, Italy, Spain, China etc) We managed the surge very well.

The food supply chains held up incredibly well, I am very impressed and relieved to know that this is really a great test, and the supermarkets now have a renewed respect from me.

We did not see staff and carers abandoning care home altogether, and the army discovering the dead bodies of those elderly and frail people that were left behind (Spain)

We care for everyone, and everyone is equal here. You don't get to buy your way to a ventilator (Russia)

Nor have the hospital deaths been revised downwards by tens of thousands (China)

I think we do okay, and actually I for one feel more proud to be British now than I ever have before. I had planned to live overseas, and have since changed my mind. I am happy here. I feel safe here. I love the NHS and my fellow country folk much more after this.

OP, I'm so sorry you feel like this. When you feel ashamed to be part of your own country, you there's something seriously wrong.

@IcedPurple brilliant comment. Bravo.
Sits eating my tub of mövenpick **

Fortunately, in Scotland, we have a First Minister who attends all the important meetings, shows up to work every single day and tells her people the truth about what is going on. She's rising to the challenge - I'm proud to be Scottish.

fucking hell, thats probably the funniest thing I have ever read on here!

that's just dumb thing to say, just take care of your family and don't worry about the death rate... we don't even know how many are covid related for sure... in 2018 541,589 have died in england and wales, did u know that? probably not cuz you weren't googling the death rates then !!

does anyone actually realise britain is a much smaller country than most or is that to difficult to understand ? our cases will seem high in relation to the like of the u.s ?

♟

This isn’t the fucking Olympics. There’s no medal tally for winners at the end (as if ‘my country won!’ even matters).

In the end there won’t be a “X country totally rocked COVID-19” headline. Maybe that’s one for the history books.

In the meantime, let’s all just crack on, shall we?

I’m sorry you feel down, OP, and I hope your feelings become brighter.

Fortunately, in Scotland, we have a First Minister who attends all the important meetings, shows up to work every single day and tells her people the truth about what is going on. She's rising to the challenge - I'm proud to be Scottish. Me too and I don't even like Nicola
However she emphasises every single day how the people who die are not just statistics and it sounds genuine. I'm comforted by them all. Jason Leitch with his powerful Coatbridge accent as well. There's more to this than the cold delivery of statistics. You have to engage with people to help them understand the reasons for this misery to continue. I can see the evidence in my wee Scottish town. People are following the rules and trying to keep their sense of humour.

I'm not ashamed to be British...I am utterly sickened by our Government though, and their Tory cult followers.
Dither and delay from Corbyn?? Lol, you got it in spades from dear old De Pfeffel! (cue eye-rolling! Great argument!!)
Sadly, no-one likes to admit they were wrong, so Tory supporters will happily continue to sing for Boris, Pray for Boris, raise Hallelujah for Boris, but he is nothing more than the same posh Bullingdon Bully boy who burned money in front of homeless people, a lying horrible man who uses his 'boyish charm' to appear affable and lovable to the public, when he is neither.
And all those who support all this are either rolling in it themselves so don't give two figs about who this all affects, or take wayyy too many tabloids.
Boris and co let people die. They let them die, and they will forever have blood on their hands.
You can argue, you can roll your eyes, but you cannot deny the facts, and if you do, you truly are lost.

During this lockdown I believe the majority of the British public have behaved really well and gotten behind what the government and the scientists have asked them to do. So no I am not ashamed to be British.

There are questions which the government and scientists will need to answer but I don't believe now is the time. We need to get through this first.

I think you need to step away from Piers Morgan...

Nope, perfectly happy where I am and very proud to be British.
Put yourself in one of those wonderful countries you dream of living in and I guarantee you will find people just as disgruntled as you are.
You can't please everyone.

Our death rate per thousand population is lower than the other big European suffering countries, numbers dont say everything

You are truly lost and need to look up pandemics and covid 19. STOP making this political people are suffering on every level.

We don't know that we have an appalling death rate, as we don't know the level of infections overall. Every single person in the UK would have to be tested for that.

Absolutely. There’s no cure. So actually a percentage of the population are just marking time until they catch it and there was little anyone could do for those that were unfortunate enough to be infected. Without a vaccine everyone needs to hide or accept the lottery of infection.

The U.K. is tiny compared to Spain France, USA, New Zealand with a relatively large population squished in.
I don’t think the government are doing any better or worse than anywhere else.

does anyone actually realise britain is a much smaller country than most or is that to difficult to understand ? our cases will seem high in relation to the like of the u.s ?

No, absolutely no British person knows the size of Britain. Just you.

this thread is a real eye-opener.

Nor do Germans appear to wallow in self loathing over what the Nazis did. So why do some British people see a virtue in beating their breasts about their history?

They don't wallow in self-loathing. They educate their young from an early age about it, have a robust political system that isn't FPTP and they are very quick to ban far right hate groups.

Germans are currently moaning about their regional governments (it's a federal state not everything is run from Berlin) who are sending some children back to school next week, and opening some restaurants under certain conditions etc etc. In short there is a lot of moaning that the lockdown is easing too early. Fair enough there is also a lot of moaning that it isn't easing quickly enough.

And most Germans i know are aghast at both Brexit and the British PM. In fact one asked me on Friday when he saw something in the news about Nicola Sturgeon why she isn't PM.

Britain is a hub but you can't manage temperature/symptom checking on entry? can't handle quarrantine? You know how big Hong Kong is, right?

Finally: the naked German doctors are GPs not hospital staff. They have a legitimate concern about PPE (but most surgeries are handling most consultations by phone). In my little town the hospital staff and those in the hospice and elderly care home have PPE.

Also: why are so many people comparing the death rate in the UK to developing nations. Is the UK a developing nation?

They educate their young from an early age about it, have a robust political system that isn't FPTP and they are very quick to ban far right hate groups.

That must be why the Alternative fur Deutschland - which by any stardards is a far right group - won over 10% of votes and became the main opposition party in the Bundestag in 2017.

Our death rate per thousand population is lower than the other big European suffering countries, numbers dont say everything particularly when you only count the ones you have allowed to have a test.

Well, if you lived in the US you would be embarrassed by the Human Cheeto that we have as a President.

the same posh Bullingdon Bully boy who burned money in front of homeless people

"Boris Johnson vehemently denies claim by Labour MP" Helen Goodman;

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-vehemently-denies-claim-by-labour-mp-that-he-burned-50-note-in-front-of-homeless-a4246736.html

"In June 2014, [Helen] Goodman was invited to give a speech at the opening of a village fayre at Ingleton, County Durham, in the parliamentary constituency which she had represented for nine years."

"During her speech, she praised the village for the beauty of its waterfalls and caves and for its connection with the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. None of these features applied to the County Durham village, but were, in fact, references to the village of Ingleton, situated seventy miles away in North Yorkshire."

"In October 2015, Goodman attracted criticism from fellow MPs over a tweet mentioning Jeremy Hunt's wife. Hunt had mentioned his wife in a speech on Asian economies' work culture, and Goodman's tweet asked: "If China is so great, why did Jeremy Hunt's wife come to England?".The Labour Party issued a statement saying that Goodman's tweet "did not represent its views" and Labour's Shadow Leader of the House of Lords Lady Smith said Goodman's tweet was "absolutely bizarre".

You're being a bit dramatic OP. We are barely started on our Covid-19 journey and have a long way to go before its over and we can judge which country 'won'. Yes we were poorly prepared and the government dithered but then there were severe crises elsewhere. I'm not sure I'd feel terribly reassured if I was Italian or Spanish or American. Or even Swedish.

Maybe focus on something else to keep your mind off it. How will being angry or ashamed help? Keep active, keep learning, connect, take notice give. These are more more positive ways to safeguard your wellbeing than being angry or ashamed.