Why are people not more angry about the government's handling of the crisis?

[jobhunter7]

Or are the newspaper not giving an accurate picture of people's feelings?

33,186 deaths recorded so far.

Surely plenty of these people had families and friends?

I suppose they can't really march at the moment.

Honestly, I don't believe there have only been 4 deaths from CV in Kerala. I believe there have been 4 reported deaths from CV in Kerala. I've travelled in India and Kerala and seen the lack of running water, abstract poverty and not everyone having a mobile phone.

Good on them for all they have done though.

The Guardian's reporting on this has been a disgrace, headline after headline claiming other countries are laughing at the UK. This is a pandemic nobody is laughing at anyone.
And the Guardian is the paper that was horrified when university lecturers in northern Italy suggested quarantining students returning from Wuhan before the pandemic took hold in Italy. Waffling on about personal liberty etc and took exactly the same line when UK citizens returning to the UK from Wuhan were forced to quarantine.
Loony liberals quote the Guardian like it is some kind of bible, at best it is a mirror to the Daily Mail and sometimes I think that may be aiming too high and the Daily Express is a better comparison.

Someone voted for a clown and this is the circus he gives us all. I think the people who are supposed to be angry with this situatuon - such as myself- didnt expect anything better from him ... bar is sooo low right now...

I agree. The Gov and BJ are very well known for lying. They'll just lie their way out of any responsibility for this and their voters will lap it up (see numerous posters on this thread) and they'll stroll away whistling without a care in the world.

headline after headline claiming other countries are laughing at the UK

I really don’t think this is true, you know. I look at the Guardian most days. Some of their opinion pieces have been - as usual - a bit holier-than-thou and self-righteous, but the actual reporting has taken a broad approach.

I think that in times of danger, like now, people feel that they want to trust those in charge. What other choice do they have?

Come a lull in that danger, a different attitude may arise. During the 2nd world war people trusted Churchill. Afterwards they voted otherwise.

Stockholm syndrome.

I am angry. I do think that they've mishandled things from early on.

But right now I've got too much on my plate, I have little other choice than to follow what I'm asked to do and hope.

Back in Feb/March there were people I work with saying how everyone was overreacting/it's only flu. They are the same ones who are now calling for lockdown forever.

I remember watching Jeremy Vine back in February and people were calling for the borders to be shut. There was an expert on who claimed that would be the wrong thing to do and would cause a recession. How it would be quite fine to go on holiday at Easter. A lot of people just did not see this coming and if we'd locked down earlier people would have thought the government had gone insane.

I believe that there will be a day of reckoning for the way that this has been handled. It isn't now though.

If the Guardians reporting is your idea of taking a broad approach then you are seeing the world through Guardian blinkers.

Oh great the Momentum lobby are out.

During the 2nd world war people trusted Churchill. Afterwards they voted otherwise.
Yes. After the war the people voted for a decent quality of life for all. Just as this pandemic has once again shone the spotlight on health and housing inequality - and the devastating consequences of that, so did WW2.

Atlee offered a major council housing build, the NHS, and the welfare state. A country fit for heroes. Will we see a repeat. Decent housing and a restored welfare state for today's heroes - who include the low paid care home workers, the transport workers, the healthcare staff, the shop workers, delivery drivers.

I agree with you OP btw. The largely passive acceptance of our appalling handling of the pandemic, worse than most of the world, is exactly why in several months time things won't be any better. We can't go back but we could take measures now to prevent things getting worse and save lives and further economic damage. Will we?

I can only speak for myself but I'm certainly not a member of or supporter of momentum. I don't do aggressive militancy. I'm a floating voter. I don't give a shit about politics here. I simply want to prevent many more needless deaths and a slower more difficult economic recovery.

Exactly Toffee. It’s not about left or right. A swifter and more decisive response (and a better funded/prepared NHS) would have saved lives AND prevented a large part of the economic devastation that we are now facing. I would have thought most on the right would be in favour of that.

Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, has been fiercely critical the UK government. What could they have done differently? According to him...

Richard Horton 23rd Jan:

"A call for caution please. Media are escalating anxiety by talking of a “killer virus” + “growing fears”. In truth, from what we currently know, 2019-nCoV has moderate transmissibility and relatively low pathogenicity.There is no reason to foster panic with exaggerated language."

If I was to be angry it wouldn't be at my government it would be at China
Yes I agree with this. Giving the world two pandemics in less than twenty years is not acceptable.

If the Guardians reporting is your idea of taking a broad approach then you are seeing the world through Guardian blinkers

You on the other hand seem to have hallucinated ‘headline after headline’ about other countries laughing at the UK.

After the war the people voted for a decent quality of life for all. Just as this pandemic has once again shone the spotlight on health and housing inequality - and the devastating consequences of that, so did WW2.

I'm not optimistic. The financial crisis didn't change anything, the Panama papers didn't change anything, I don't think this will either. I remember during the last election TV visited a food bank, people collecting food because they couldn't afford to feed their children were saying they would be voting for Boris. The Tories have put you in a food bank ffs, how bad does it have to get before you stop voting for them? Now their incompetence/disinterest has killed you nan, I bet they still get voted for. I guess Boris was funny on HIGNFY though so that's what's important.

@Clavinova

By 1st February he was writing:

‘Important elements of the management of this global health emergency—and it is an emergency of major international concern—are becoming clearer. As the outbreak accelerates, there are early lessons to be learned. The transmissibility of 2019-nCoV—or at least its geographical distribution—seems to be higher and broader than initially expected...’

I've been in a permanent state of rage since mid to late February.

I'm particularly angry about the situation in Nursing homes after watching a sky news documentary, it was heart breaking. One of the residents had only gone to the Nursing home for rehab following a hospital stay and ended up dying. Some of the carers had no PPE and no testing for staff. It has shocked me that this has been allowed to happen to the most vulnerable.

@cakeisalwaystheanswer I read the guardian everyday and that’s the most ridiculous exaggeration I’ve ever seen. They did like one article collating media from abroad as they have done for other issues in the past. The article showed concern from abroad not laughing and not everyday.

jobhunter7 the gov didn't kill them - there's a virus going around. Do tell us how you'd have prevented it happening. A vaccine and a time machine perhaps?

If a labour government had done this I’d be equally outraged. They wouldn’t get my vote at the next election much as Blair didn’t in 2005 because I was outraged with his handling of Iraq.

My outrage isn’t because of disliking Tories it’s because they’ve handled this so appallingly and heartlessly lie to save their own skin

Why be angry? It won't get you anywhere and is very divisive when we're all in this together. Wait until the public enquiry afterwards (if we've still got any money left to have one). I'm using what energy I've got just to get dressed each day and remain positive when skyping the family - I'm too scared for their safety to waste energy on being angry.

I think the mishandling of the nursing home situation will come to be a national scandal, rightly so. Sending untested residents with CV symptoms back home was unbelievably poor judgment at best.

Wait until the public enquiry afterwards

It took 30 years for the Hillsborough enquiry, 40 for the Contaminated Blood enquiry. I will probably be dead by then so I'm not waiting 30 years to express how I feel about the dimwits in this government and how badly they have failed.