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?

'not locking down early enough to start with'

We were always 2 weeks behind the rest of Europe and locked down at the same stage as they did.

Look at compliance! You only have to have read threads on mn to see people were not going to stick to it for long, civil liberties, stasis etc etc so it had to be at the right time for the greatest effect.

The nhs has practically had a blank cheque, massive resources and some staff allowed to take the year off/shield. I really can't criticise the response at all except perhaps the reporting of 'deaths' instead of 'deaths per million' which gives context.

The issue or one of the issues with this type of question is you will have quite a few people say this should of been done or that should of been done, and in some cases that may of been correct, however unless you know all the specific details from behind the scenes ect, then most people will only have part of the information as to which ever situation it pertains to.

@JaniieJones

'not locking down early enough to start with'

We were always 2 weeks behind the rest of Europe and locked down at the same stage as they did.

Look at compliance! You only have to have read threads on mn to see people were not going to stick to it for long, civil liberties, stasis etc etc so it had to be at the right time for the greatest effect.

The nhs has practically had a blank cheque, massive resources and some staff allowed to take the year off/shield. I really can't criticise the response at all except perhaps the reporting of 'deaths' instead of 'deaths per million' which gives context.

And all the time with the experts screaming that we should be locking down sooner. Which happened again with lockdown 2.

We had the advantage of being able to see it coming, to know what to expect and we completely fucked it at the beginning.

You can lock down very early and still it’s difficult. Eastern Europe for example.

Another factor too, would be how many people would actually follow the instructions from the government to begin with, yes you can argue the gov't should have done x,y,a etc, but then it's also up to the public themselves to also follow suit, and yes you can argue there was conflicting advice, but still better to take prevention methods when in a pandemic.

'We had the advantage of being able to see it coming, to know what to expect and we completely fucked it at the beginning.'

Well I disagree. Having said that I do think they should have advised people not to go on their easter skiing holidays to northern Italy, some people did seem to need spoon feeding every step of the way. However gov did too little! or did too much!/they are dictators! seems to be the widely varying opinions online.

The vaccine rollout is a success. Furlough might also be but not if it has merely postponed job losses.Everything else is riddled with problems.

I'm not in the UK so have watched from a much safer environment. I cannot believe that some of my friends in the UK think the government handled Covid well. I still cannot understand why people didn't get angrier.

@ZaraW

I'm not in the UK so have watched from a much safer environment. I cannot believe that some of my friends in the UK think the government handled Covid well. I still cannot understand why people didn't get angrier.

It’s hard to know what it’s been like if you’re not here.

Some are angry on mn anyway - see thread.

But most are looking forward and away fro the negative - elections show this

Added to which, Australia and New Zealand have been slow to roll out the vaccines and there is a low take-up because people have become complacent, thinking that there is essentially no COVID there.

I would love to know where people get this stuff from. NZ has only just started vaccinating group 2 (of 4) - how do you know there is a low take-up? I haven't heard of anyone who is complacent, and in fact many people who have family in Australia are not even willing to travel there until vaccinations are further ahead. The rollout is slower simply because there was no immediate need to vaccinate. I've just had my first jab, and will have the next in three week's time - we don't have the long wait between that you seem to have in the UK.

I'm not sure if you are joking OP.

Right at the start of the pandemic Madrid was covid central, it hadn't really hit here so what do you do when a football team from Madrid is scheduled to play Liverpool?

a) cancel all tickets for Madrid fans and stop them entering Britain and compensate them?

b) Put on a special flight or two to keep the Madrid fans isolated, possibly with temperature checks and limit to one hotel or flights back immediately after the game?

c) Just let any fans from a lockdown city to travel by car/train/air/ferry and as many combinations of those as you like, then let people into any and every pub in Liverpool?

d) Block all fans and have the game played behind closed doors?

Boris obviously went for c. He then went and shook hands with people in hospital who had covid, exposing himself and eventually leaving him in hospital and unable to do the job he is paid for.

Finally let more sporting events and gatherings going ahead claiming that we would be better off with heard immunity, without knowing that having covid leaves you immune.

We were always 2 weeks behind the rest of Europe and locked down at the same stage as they did.

No we didn't, hence football fans from Madrid being allowed to travel.

Did I miss something?Is Covid non-existent anymore?
On a serious note,the way it was handled (and we are not out of the woods yet) was horrific and only shows all the flaws of our current government.Not fit for purpose.

@3JsMa

Did I miss something?Is Covid non-existent anymore? On a serious note,the way it was handled (and we are not out of the woods yet) was horrific and only shows all the flaws of our current government.Not fit for purpose.

Then if there was a complete full scale lockdown very strict rules ect, some would then be saying the government is too strict

@Nesbo

“Jobs for the boys” is the nice euphemism for corruption. We should care about that and be willing to hold people to account.

It’s utterly dispiriting that we seem to have followed the US model, where a large proportion of the population seemingly don’t care how corrupt or incompetent politicians are, they will vote for “their” team regardless. Our standards and expectations are so low, we truly seem to get the politicians we deserve.

So much this. I'm less shocked by the politicians who couldn't lie straight in a bed and embrace cronyism and corruption than by the apparent majority of people who welcome it and vote for more.

I think this country is rotten to the core. 😔

they will vote for “their” team regardless.

The bigger issue is that Labour are losing people who used to vote for them and they are not looking at why.

I think the OP has a lower tolerance than me of corruption, incompetence and lying. Being an island nation should have made it far easier to control the virus. Look at Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Our death rate is truly appalling.

I love the bit about skipping over giving millions of pounds of taxpayers money to your mates for bogus contracts - I mean, anyone would do the same, wouldn't they? Bless 'em

@MasterBeth

I think the OP has a lower tolerance than me of corruption, incompetence and lying. Being an island nation should have made it far easier to control the virus. Look at Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Our death rate is truly appalling.

Why don’t you look at more comparable countries?

'Look at Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Our death rate is truly appalling.'

Look at France, Italy and Spain. Our deaths per million are sadly similar.

As I linked earlier there are some theories that as Japan did little but had a 'good' result perhaps there is some widespread immunity from previous SARS infections in the far East.

It is telling that people criticising the gov rarely point out the devolved administrations, doing things their own way, have had exactly the same experiences. Infact one might suggest that Scotland with its low pop density and small population should have done rather better.

Apart from not shutting down 2 weeks earlier, I think they've done a good job. Air travel should have stopped immediately. I think the island being so overcrowded and our love of travel, and other countries desire to travel here, was a recipe for disaster, but apart from that, furlough, supporting businesses, vaccine rollout, adequate rules re masks and so on, have saved their bacon. This country was majorly impacted early on because of widespread air travel and seeding widely, and then the development of a wildly infections strain of the virus, sweeping through here, was just overwhelming.

I have seen criticism of timing of lockdown for the North as being too early, due to being linked with higher cases in South.

So earlier doesn’t always give better results.

74year old relative in France still hasnt been vacinated.

Vaccination is open to anyone over 55 so if they’re not vaccinated then presumably they haven’t sorted it for themself.

74year old relative in France still hasnt been vacinated.

Vaccination is open to anyone over 55 so if they’re not vaccinated then presumably they haven’t sorted it for themself.

This . My 56 year old friend and 58 year old relative have had both vaccinations.

We’ve had a worse outcome than the USA and they had Trump in charge for much of last year

The Tories had decimated this country before the pandemic hit and have been twisting the knife more and more since it started.

Anyone who thinks bojo and co have done even a halfway decent job since the first confirmed cases of covid is fucking clueless. No wonder you name changed OP.

I’ve actually just voted Conservative in my local elections because of it
An odd choice - what have local Tories done to win your vote?