Things go wrong in other countries, too

[avenueq]

I don't think it's helpful how irate people get about the UK government's failings. Yes there are plenty but this is a whole new situation and there are plenty of other countries making mistakes.
Before you ask - I'm not from the UK, but that means I have insight what happens elsewhere,
So to start -
The Eu has been slow in vaccine acquisition

In Austria, vaccinations could not start yet in some areas as not enogh needles (!) had been ordered

Countries with the most severe lockdown did not necessarily solve the Problem (Spain)

Countries who had supposedly excellent track and trace also had a second wave (Germany)

Anyone got other examples?

@ceibatre what about all the lorries that come in by road and the euro tunnel , its hard to shut those borders if we want to eat and trade and feed nearly 70 million people

@apollo3 so have italy and spain and what country are you from?

I live in a Portuguese destination popular with British and Irish visitors. The news here is of course dominated by domestic affairs, but because Brits are so important to the local economy and relations are close, there is some coverage and discussion.
I’ve had lots of bafflement over Brexit but all discussion of Covid is dominated not by the U.K. government’s incompetence, but by the comparative lack of compliance with social distancing and mask wearing of the U.K. population.
As far back as March people here were queuing outside shops and supermarkets 1.5 m apart, there were strict maximum numbers in shops, and I’ve only ever seen small children and infants without masks. There have been a few well publicised and punished parties involving younger people, but in day to day life people are following advice.
Local friends and acquaintances are puzzled by British lack of compliance, it doesn’t fit with their idea of us, more with common stereotypes heard here about the French.
I don’t hear or read much criticism of the national government over here, but as a non-native, I might be missing it.

I agree. However MN love bashing be it the Government, teachers, Brexiteers, or anyone else they feel the need to pick on at any point in time

They have no interest in what’s happening in other countries and how they are, or are not handling the pandemic

,

As far back as March people here were queuing outside shops and supermarkets 1.5 m apart, there were strict maximum numbers in shops
Yes that's the norm here too. Has been for ages

Why do people keep blaming the government? It's ridiculous

None of this would be happening if each of us decided once and for all to engage our brains and act responsibly

People comparing Britain with Italy and Spain should look at GDP per capita. The UK’s peers economically are France, Japan, Canada. We would expect poorer countries to struggle more in a crisis.

Given its resources and healthcare system, the UK has underperformed at best.

I remember a British poster living in Spain posted in the first lockdown absolutely berating British people for not following guidelines. (Obviously she meant all other British people, not herself.) She'd seen it on social media. Annoying when you live in an area where people are pretty good at following guidelines which the local police have commented on a few times. (Probably plenty of other areas are doing well too)
I know Spain had very severe lockdown where people weren't allowed to leave flats to exercise at all. But given that Spain had higher death rates than the UK for ages until very recently (didn't hear from her during that period of course) I'm not sure that putting people under house arrest was worth it. You are always going to see sensational stuff in certain news outlets about people breaking guidelines, some of it exaggerated. I'd recommend Le Monde French paper. Very balanced, interesting articles. They comment on the British government but don't tend to slag off English people for the sake of it like some of the news sources that some are looking at abroad. Equally they commented on swedish handling of the pandemic and people breaking guidelines in their own country. Much more balanced

(Le Monde translates to English on your phone quite well)

France is twice the size with a similar population isn't it? Lower population density. And Canada...

@trulydelicious

Why do people keep blaming the government? It's ridiculous

None of this would be happening if each of us decided once and for all to engage our brains and act responsibly

Well there are definitely some things that the government have balls up on but yes you are right too

@HeidiOfTheAlps

France is twice the size with a similar population isn't it? Lower population density. And Canada...

Spain isn’t comparable to Britain either yet it’s used as a benchmark despite being significantly poorer.

Japan is quite densely populated and has a huge elderly population.

It's not only about how much money people have though.

People that brought it back from italian ski resorts or got it on cruises weren't exactly poor.

At the moment the main discussion about the UK in mainland Europe seems to be a mixture of "oh no they have a lot of cases, hope they manage to get the new strain under control soon" and "wow they are vaccinating people really fast, wish we could be more like that". Mostly the latter because a lot of EU countries are having big problems with vaccine distribution (mixture of procurement problems by the EU as a whole and the usual type of national government errors and incompetence) so that's currently the biggest covid story over there.

A lot of people on here seem to be under the impression that Europeans hate us and are rubbing their hands in glee at the thought of lots of British people getting ill and dying. Luckily most people aren't actually dicks like that in real life!

Yes lots of countries haven’t dealt with this perfectly so I’m not being too hard on the government.

...& because we are dealing with a virus with a CFR of ‘only’ ca. 0.5% it has led to some agonising over government strategy & timing not just here but around the world, and also differences in public opinion.

Everything would have been a lot clearer if this was killing 10% (or more) of people who were being infected wouldn’t it? No Eat Out to Help Out during the Black Death I don’t think.

It’s like some devious bar steward up there thought, we’ll give them that one, they won’t really know whether to stick or twist or exactly when.

@HeidiOfTheAlps

It's not only about how much money people have though.

As a nation and economy of course money matters. You would expect wealthier nations to be able to deploy more resources to dealing with the pandemic. Britain is wealthier than Spain and has some of the best universities and business leaders in the world, it should have done better. Whether other counties have also messed up badly is irrelevant.

It’s like a student predicted all A*s getting posed instead of revising and getting BBB. Then someone comes along and says well Johnny only has GCSEs so it’s alright, you’ve done just fine.

People have commented on Spain and other European countries in response to the oft repeated incorrect claim that "Britain has the highest death rate in Europe." Normal to refute incorrect claims. Also normal when there have been people claiming that the British public are doing it so much worse than other countries to question whether that's really the case. People don't have to just quietly agree with any criticism, whether it's true or not.

All round we are one of the most preferable countries in the world to the living in

hdr.undp.org/en/content/latest-human-development-index-ranking

It depends where you are coming from. I don’t envy anyone living in the UK, and yes we were baffled by Brexit. There is relief that’s it’s finally done and dusted and the EU can stop wasting so much time on the UK and can return to more pressing matters.

I find this thread trying to find countries who are worse off than the UK distasteful and pointless and on par with the notion of putting the ‘Great’ back in ‘Great Britain’. There will be plenty of time for analysis of what went wrong and how we might react differently to future pandemics but right now we are focussing on getting through the pandemic and wondering what kind of emotional, health and not least economical future we and our children might have.

and "wow they are vaccinating people really fast, wish we could be more like that"
????
We are actually waiting to see how giving one vaccine works out to see if it’s viable or not. Other countries seem less intent on partial vaccinations but if it works in the UK then maybe we will follow suit if we don’t have any other options.

I find this thread trying to find countries who are worse off than the UK distasteful and pointless
Merely balancing the constant unjustified whingeing about the U.K. / our Gov/ our rule following being worse than elsewhere.

I find this thread trying to find countries who are worse off than the UK distasteful and pointless and on par with the notion of putting the ‘Great’ back in ‘Great Britain’.

The thread is not about other countries being worse off, it's about acknowledging that we are not unique in making mistakes in the way we've handled things. It feels more about having some perspective on how difficult it is to make good decisions when you don't have all the information you need but the situation requires an urgent response.

I would feel alienated by anyone who thought about anything we did as a country as putting the Great back in Great Britain but then nationalism of any description is baffling to me, I've never understood how my place of birth should be a source of pride, I could have been born anywhere.

I live in the UK, and I have the right to critique the government here on any subject I choose.
What other countries have done better or worse is not relevant.

My main criticism is on the U-Turns, rapidly changing and confusing advice and that they are only NOW "considering" pre-entry covid tests for people entering the UK. Most countries have insisted on a negative test within 48 hours and an additional isolation period for months.

@avenueq - to be fair to Austria, bulk purchases for needles got competitive back in June, so they weren't necessarily all that late trying to buy some - just later than other countries.

It feels more about having some perspective on how difficult it is to make good decisions when you don't have all the information you need but the situation requires an urgent response.
This.
It doesn’t help that our information comes from media which are mostly focused on the negative whichever party is in government. It’s a shame in a time of national crisis and not very good for morale as is evident from many of the comments here. We could do with more balance.