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?

No one cares what we are doing.

In France only 350 people have been vaccinated so far.

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

Yes lets do that :)
I said highest EXCESS death rate in europe, 9th in the world per capita death rate... both nothing to be proud off, agree per capita is useless with very small populations.

Countries in the EU (apart from the UK and Hungary, we were still in transition so subject to EU rules) decided o go for a collective approach and its gone wrong BUT each country was completely free to order whatever vaccine it wanted and to approve it under EU emergency rules.
For all our sakes, we need europe to massively improve (as the UK does too) but enjoy making fun of them....... and making up brexit shite

Back to the UK, why has the Govt rebuffed Pharmacies doing vaccinations? fair enough with Pfizer but the AZ one is stored normally......

@HeidiOfTheAlps

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

Population density probably goes some way to explain the spread in Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Germany. All countries with some cities that have high population density. (Only cities are relevant when studying epidemiology v population density, which is why many people talk about Britain being a small island or Australia being massive when that's irrelevant)

I work with people from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Bulgaria. On Zooms we've spoken at length about Covid and those countries' responses, and, unlike the first wave when really everyone was more or less behind their own government response, this time they are generally all critical. Because each and every country knew that a second wave was not just probable, but inevitable unless measures continued. No country in that list can pay itself on the back and, apart from being the first to roll out the vaccine, neither can the UK.

The two things they've all commented on, from seeing news reports and obviously working for a British based employer is schools being open, and masks not being mandatory.

We all need to remember as well, that MN is full of astroturfers (on both sides of the UK political divide) they come for every election, they came for Brexit, they're here for Covid. There's a pretty well-known one on this thread. More recently we need to factor in Us4Them of which there's a not insignificant number of posters.

Not everyone posting on MN is Sarah from Surrey who joined MN for a bit of banter about the kids and the MN haircut. and we'd do well to not rise to the (fairly obvious) bait of the politico-trolls.

Jasjas1973 www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pharmacistss-offer-speed-up-covid-23267964. Sounds like the current drive is on large capacity settings, but community pharmacies will come onboard - from the article -

"Boots, Lloyds and Superdrug have been involved in setting up vaccination centres, and NHS England said community pharmacists would be utilised, but it was finalising details of how many.

A spokeswoman said: “As more supply becomes available, community pharmacists able to administer large numbers of vaccines will be the first to play a role."

Sounds reasonable to me.

jasjas1973 - sorry - I put a rogue capital in your username in my post.

We all need to remember as well, that MN is full of astroturfers (on both sides of the UK political divide) they come for every election, they came for Brexit, they're here for Covid. There's a pretty well-known one on this thread. More recently we need to factor in Us4Them of which there's a not insignificant number of posters.

@SOLINVICTUS interesting. What is an astroturfer?

Someone who is asked/paid to post political points of view on social media. It's like the paid reviews on Amazon etc.

Here's another good example from today:

"Coronavirus: Arrivals in UK could soon need negative test" on bbc news.

I had to do a double take. You're one of the worst affected countries in the world and you still haven't done this yet? TONS of countries with much less of a current problem than the UK did this weeks or months ago!

Things go wrong in other countries, too

Insight of the century and whataboutery at its finest. Of course things can go wrong, anywhere, people can make mistakes, anywhere, and selfish and unscrupulous people can take advantage of any situation, anywhere. But what should matter to us is what is going wrong here in this country and why.

@SOLINVICTUS

Someone who is asked/paid to post political points of view on social media. It's like the paid reviews on Amazon etc.

They make me grind my teeth because they're good at what they do. Professional irritants.

Professional irritants.

There are certainly no shortage of those on Mumsnet!

Many of them were posting nonstop on the Brexit board - then when Brexit took a backseat to Covid, those usernames immediately began popping up on the coronavirus board. I’ve always wondered how they have the time to post so frequently but now I know they’re professionals, that explains it!

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/01/05/changed-utterly-changed-vaccine-blunder-shook-europe/

@Dongdingdong

Professional irritants.

There are certainly no shortage of those on Mumsnet!

Ain't that the truth. And some of them aren't even paid What I always find interesting is the party political divide. It's like because I vote Y I'm not allowed to say Y was a bit rubbish in a particular context, and because I vote X, I'm not allowed to say I think Y handled it better. Makes me remember my best friend at university, poles (polls ) apart, both canvassing for two opposing groups. But had the most interesting conversations. Whereas someone else who was of the same leaning as me was just an empty mouthpiece who couldn't believe I was friends with the other one. It's like when you read the anecdotes about late at night John Major going for a whisky with Neil Kinnock, and Tony Blair and David Cameron having a Horlicks together late at night.

I digress. But it's rarely black or white in any of these situations.

Ain't that the truth. And some of them aren't even paid grin
What I always find interesting is the party political divide. It's like because I vote Y I'm not allowed to say Y was a bit rubbish in a particular context, and because I vote X, I'm not allowed to say I think Y handled it better. Makes me remember my best friend at university, poles (polls wink) apart, both canvassing for two opposing groups. But had the most interesting conversations. Whereas someone else who was of the same leaning as me was just an empty mouthpiece who couldn't believe I was friends with the other one.
It's like when you read the anecdotes about late at night John Major going for a whisky with Neil Kinnock, and Tony Blair and David Cameron having a Horlicks together late at night.
Well said. It's impossible to have a reasoned and reasonable discussion on here about certain subjects.

Woohoo that Telegraph International Business Editor really hates the EU. Pretty choice language in all his articles. It’s difficult to take anyone seriously when their bias is so evident. Poor journalism, but unsurprising from the Telegraph.

It reflects some of the articles I've been reading in Der Spiegel (with google translate, my German doesn't extend beyond a handful of excuses about why I was late for class) but obviously the assumptions that follow are his own opinions but the frustration is there to see. But the frustration is evident and clear, go look for yourself.

www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-planning-disaster-germany-and-europe-could-fall-short-on-vaccine-supplies-a-3db4702d-ae23-4e85-85b7-20145a898abd

Evidence of frustration isn’t evidence of being right, or even reasonable. Anyone who can’t control the language they use is a poor reporter of facts and likely to be cherry picking/exaggerating/ misrepresenting them.

I don't know what you think I'm inferring beyond the fact that all countries are hamstrung by their own circumstances at the moment.

The issue is bigger than the UK. We need to address western neoliberalism and the rise of China.
^^^^
This with huge bells on!

I have family in the Netherlands. Mass vaccination has not started. There is an outrage in the country how long it is taking.

People who think the U.K. is the “laughing stock” give the U.K. far too much importance. In almost every country there are people unhappy with how the Government has acted in some way at some time during this Pandemic.

In Italy people were roundly pissed off that the first vaccine went to a woman who happened to be extremely attractive!

Agree about the political posters on here. They had some scrape mechanism over at Momentum and up popped an agitator any time the word “Corbyn” appeared. Even if “Corbyn” appeared in the recipe section or style&beauty - it was like magic!

@ATieLikeRichardGere

I think the idea that the UK is a laughing stock is interesting as I doubt that people in other countries really are interested in what’s happening in the UK. My relatives abroad ask when they phone, as they don’t know. It’s our exaggerated sense of self importance that makes us think people in other countries are even paying attention, when they’ve no doubt got more relevant issues taking up more space in their minds!

What planet are your family on? I'm in the US and the UK debacle is in the news every day

The UK government has not only failed in their reaction; communication has been abysmal. Totally inept. We're a laughing stock

That's funny because I know people in Spain who think our communication has been a dream compared to there!

It's just the usual anti UK sentiment (from within the UK).