To think the Government have done a reasonable job of handling this pandemic?

[EmbarrassedButIAdmitIt]

I’ve actually just voted Conservative in my local elections because of it . Not for Boris I might add who I cannot stand but the people actually doing the work behind him.

Considering we have not had a worldwide pandemic in over a hundred years, and the world has changed beyond recognition in terms of people movement since then, obviously it has been a massive learning curve, but I think on the whole we have been pretty well looked after with furlough, self employed support. top up benefits, vaccine production and rollout, etc.

I know there’s been ‘jobs for the boys’ but I don’t think any other political party would have been any different sadly.

We have had a higher death rate than other European countries but TBF we are a small overcrowded island populated by people who don’t like following rules and are stupid enough to believe hysterical conspiracy theories.

I am so grateful that I live in the UK and not somewhere like India, Brazil or even the US.

So AIBU?

[TSSDNCOP]

I am a Tory voter, and have been appalled by the way that the Govt has responded to the pandemic crisis right up to the point of the vaccination roll-out.

[CarrieAntoinette]

So do the people who think the government has done a pretty reasonable job with the new circumstances of a pandemic think the government have learned from experience over these past 16 months, know what they are doing, and will stop another wave and the need for any more lockdowns?

It's been 16 months right? It's not a new situation any more. It's the third wave.

So surely they won't make the same "mistakes" as last year of doing nothing for ages then doing things that don't work, while spending obscene amounts of our money on useless stuff that doesn't help instead of employing the public health basics of an effective Test Trace and Isolate system and border quarantines?

[WowIlikereallyhateyou]

@JaniieJones

'Astonished that people STILL vote Tory, frankly.'

Yes I'm sure forensic Starmer and his rag tag band of misfits would've done a much better job. Not.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record we are 4 nations, Wales, Scotland and NI have had similar stats, it was a pandemic you see. Look at Europe! It wasn't just us.

And don’t forget Starmer wanted us to be part of the EU vaccine programme.
Thank goodness we aren’t!

[Kazzyhoward]

@TSSDNCOP

I am a Tory voter, and have been appalled by the way that the Govt has responded to the pandemic crisis right up to the point of the vaccination roll-out.

Likewise a Tory voter, and I think generally they've done OK, but I reserve my anger for Rishi who has been utterly incompetent with the self employed support schemes. His illogical rules have flung money at huge numbers of people who didn't need it but meant others, a whopping 3 million, havn't been eligible. He's been told time and time again, by MPs and professional/trade bodies of the errors he made with qualifying criteria etc., but is too stubborn to accept he made mistakes and bring in corrections. If he becomes leader, it'll be the first time in decades that I'll stop voting Tory! He's a disgrace.

[beguilingeyes]

Countries with more right wing populist governments, USA until recently, Brazil, India and I'm including BJ in this as the Tories are now basically the Brexit party...have done particularly badly. We're pretty near the top of the death rates per capita chart.

[beguilingeyes]

And then there was Eat Out To Help Out, which was almost as disastrous as Boris 'saving Christmas'. The problem with BJ is he's more concerned with being popular than doing the right thing. Hence Christmas and being obsessed with getting the pubs open.

[HarrietPierce]

"
And don’t forget Starmer wanted us to be part of the EU vaccine programme.
Thank goodness we aren’t!"

OR
As the chief executive of the MHRA swiftly pointed out, Mr Hancock
was wrong to say that the UK could approve the vaccine early because it was no longer subject to EU rules. The MHRA’s decision was taken in accordance with the relevant EU legislation, which allows member states to grant temporary authorisation for a medicinal product in response to the spread of infectious diseases (among others). [1] This legislation still applies to the UK until the end of the transition period. Any EU member state could have used the same provision of the legislation to approve the vaccine. They decided not to for political and technical reasons, not legal ones.

Similarly, the member states were in no way obliged to take part in the EU’s joint vaccine procurement scheme. The EU has very limited competences for public health under its founding treaties: it can take action only to “support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States”. The EU member states in this case voluntarily decided to opt into the joint procurement scheme. If one or more of them had decided to follow the UK’s path and procure its own vaccines, no one would have stopped them.

[baroqueandblue]

Am I the only one who thinks the sudden totemic shriek of "Hartlepool!" from Tory death squad apologists isn't just cringeworthy, it's downright fucking sinister?! Personally I couldn't care less about Labour (and for the first time decided not to put my cross to a broken system), but the political football shirt waving and denial of the abject misery BJ and Co have caused hundreds of thousands of people in this country is shameful. I'm not stupid, I noticed this society darkening long before the referendum (and the small minded xenophobia that largely fuelled the result), but we have really hit a new low since the beginning of last year.

I have zero respect for anyone who looks back on the last 15 months and thinks we had the government we needed, and can only defend their willful ignorance by comparing it to something that never happened. Insanity.

[MarshaBradyo]

@baroqueandblue

Am I the only one who thinks the sudden totemic shriek of "Hartlepool!" from Tory death squad apologists isn't just cringeworthy, it's downright fucking sinister?! Personally I couldn't care less about Labour (and for the first time decided not to put my cross to a broken system), but the political football shirt waving and denial of the abject misery BJ and Co have caused hundreds of thousands of people in this country is shameful. I'm not stupid, I noticed this society darkening long before the referendum (and the small minded xenophobia that largely fuelled the result), but we have really hit a new low since the beginning of last year.

I have zero respect for anyone who looks back on the last 15 months and thinks we had the government we needed, and can only defend their willful ignorance by comparing it to something that never happened. Insanity.

Do you think it’s a one off switch from Labour to Cons then? After 47 years. Nothing for Labour to fix?

It’s a shame Labour / left is so blind to own faults. I’d like them to improve not just hurl insults as they’re so good at doing.

[baroqueandblue]

@MarshaBradyo

I don't know why you're asking me, I said I don't care for the system itself anymore, not least because it's aided and abetted by a similarly corrupt, self-serving media. But people generally won't face up to that unpleasant reality, part of the reason so many lost their lives this last year or so.

[Serin]

@beguilingeyes

Countries with more right wing populist governments, USA until recently, Brazil, India and I'm including BJ in this as the Tories are now basically the Brexit party...have done particularly badly. We're pretty near the top of the death rates per capita chart.

Not all, South Korea is as capitalist as they come but out of a population of 50.5 million, it has lost less than 2000 people to Covid.
It acted swiftly (out of prior experience with SARS). We should have done the same.
Also the population were compliant with mask wearing, hand washing and restrictions from the start, a lot of us treated it like a big joke or denied its existence at all.

[therearenogoodusernamesleft]

I'd hate to think where we'd be if you think this was handled well...what on earth would bad look like?!

[therearenogoodusernamesleft]

A year into the pandemic, we were still letting people arrive into the country with no testing or quarantining.

[ladygindiva]

Are you on glue op?

[CarrieAntoinette]

@therearenogoodusernamesleft

A year into the pandemic, we were still letting people arrive into the country with no testing or quarantining.

We still are.

Famously an entire trade delegation from India recently.

So no danger there then.

[VaVaBoom]

@therearenogoodusernamesleft the absolute clowns still insist on letting people travel to and from known Covid hotspots:

Indian delegates attending the G7 summit this week in London have tested positive

metro.co.uk/2021/05/05/g7-covid-safety-concerns-as-two-india-delegates-test-positive-14522123/

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9507877/Did-Boris-Johnsons-aide-spread-Covid-19-Whitehall-India-trip.html

@MarshaBradyo I think its obvious to everyone that Labour are in disarray so can completely see why people would say there is a lack of proper choice at the ballot box, but does that then make the default choice a good one? What I can't fathom out is how people think this is a good government? By which measures? I'm glad they procured the vaccines of course and they are to be commended for moving swiftly on that - but surely it doesn't cancel out the incredibly high Covid death rates, u-turns, exams debacle, personal backhanders sought, contracts awarded to their friends for billions of public funds without competitive processes, the deteriorating relations between the countries within the UK (most worryingly unrest in Northern Ireland) & souring relations between us and our European neighbours, ffs this week we had Johnson sending out gunships to loom over French fisherman near Jersey! It's evident none of this matters to so many people (voters) but I just can't understand why not? Why aren't they saying I want this Government to be accountable and to improve not sour international relations and to not condone bullying within their own organisation(in the case of Patel)?