"He's done his best in a very difficult situation"...

[fatherbrianeno]

There's a narrative around that our spiralling Covid death rate is due partly to people not obeying the rules properly. Do people who believe this think that New Zealand has only had 25 deaths because their population is so well-behaved? While we head to 100,000 dead?

I think we need reminding that one person alone is to blame - the man whose earliest ambition was to be 'world king', Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Johnson locked down too late while seemingly following a herd immunity strategy.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/13/coronavirus-science-chief-defends-uk-measures-criticism-herd-immunity?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

After the public began independently locking down, forcing him to make it official, Johnson reopened the economy without a working test-and-trace system.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/21/outsourced-firms-miss-46-of-covid-test-contacts-in-englands-worst-hit-areas?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

All while allowing people to enter and leave the UK without testing. And giving out over £17 billion of public money in government contracts without tender to his pals.
www.ft.com/content/ee4f2220-9b22-4a4d-87c2-85e8034f8e8c

The blame for situations like this -
www.hsj.co.uk/acute-care/exclusive-london-will-be-overwhelmed-by-covid-in-a-fortnight-says-leaked-nhs-england-briefing/7029264.article

• should be laid at Johnson's door.

If you think "he's done his best in a tough situation", you've been had.

Can anyone name something - anything - that Johnson has done right, and on time?

Three money and support at the people creating vaccines.

Threw not three.

They've ordered plenty of different vaccines. Hedged bets.

The NZ figures are also due to the small and sparsely located population. I’m not sure the government can take the blame for metropolitan population density on our small island.

I doubt it was Johnson's idea though.

I don’t think our government has done a good job. However, I don’t think they are comparable to NZ because of population and density etc.

We are doing well with vaccines. I know vaccines aren’t for everyone but this is a decision they made that I am pleased with.

Couldn't agree more @fatherbrianeno

We are where we are due to utter incompetence on the part of this government.

And we also gave Brexit on top, due to Johnson and cronies, who will all benefit from it,one way or the other. That's if they are affected at all.

Agreed if this is his ‘best’ It’s simply not good enough.

One week ago today he was on the TV recklessly encouraging primary school pupils back in for one days mixing before he called a national lockdown - how many new cases will arise from that? He’s taken to calling Starmer ‘Captain Hindsight’ but Johnson is the PM with ‘Zero Foresight’.

I agree - doing your best is fine if what you are doing doesn't have the potential to cause tens of thousands of excess deaths, ruin people's mental health and livelihoods etc
If you are elected Prime Minister I think you have to step up and be a leader. And if you can't, then you should resign!

@eurotrashed
I don't think we have 4,000 times the population of New Zealand here in the UK, so that wouldn't explain the vast difference in deaths. If it did, then we'd have about 425 dead. Perhaps strong leadership is a factor though?

Ridiculous to compare Nz to the UK. They are a much more isolated Island, three hours of flight time away from Australia, very sparse population and only a couple of very large cities. Much easier to control a virus in these conditions.

The government - not just Johnson, but yes him more than anyone - have done a dreadful job. Mind you, I think Labour under Corbin may have been worse - likely better under Starmer.

However, I don't think we'd ever had had a comparable number of deaths to NZ. She's done a great job, but it's a tiny, scattered population - in contrast to the UK's huge urban centres and global traffic.

Being far too fair to the man, his best is a laissez faire / hands off approach to leading.

Not the right approach for public health.

What about the HUGE sums that have gone to their cronies under the pretence of providing desperately needed supplies and services to manage the pandemic? That alone is enough to counter any arguments in favour of them. Grotesque.

While I agree they have been both incompetent and corrupt, we have vaccinated a third of the over 80s. Hospitalisation and deaths are surely going to plummet in about a month (that's a hope/plea rather than a prediction).
Anecdotally everyone who has been for a vaccine has had positive things to say about their experience.

@EngineeringFix

Being far too fair to the man, his best is a laissez faire / hands off approach to leading.

Not the right approach for public health.

While I agree, there is a huge proportion of the population who want a hands off approach and individual responsibility. Eg headlines about the nanny state.

Johnson is an incompetent, say-anything, do-anything morality-free wanker who hasn’t got the skills required to run a primary school, let alone a country. He’s clearly slow-witted in the sense that he can’t make quick, dynamic decisions and he’s surrounded by a cabinet of absolute clowns who are literally only there because they’re Yes Men or as duplicitous as he is. He dithers, he delays and he makes a hash of things at every turn.

I said in 2008 when the city I live in was stupid enough to vote this wolf in clown’s clothing as it’s mayor that we were starting something very ugly by elevating him to such high status. Even I didn’t foresee how disastrous it would end up.

Our country isn’t compatible to NZ in terms of its population, population density or transport links, and perhaps we would never have had a shot at having so few dead from Covid, but it could have been a lot less than it is had someone with more integrity and better leadership skills had been in charge.

As for the poster who said that they still thought that this display was better than what might have happened under Corbyn.... wake the fuck up. Corbyn has faults- as does anyone- but he is an empathetic and hardworking man who’d be looking for ways out of this for the benefit of the population at large, not just thinking of ways to slip his hedge fund bloody mates a few quid.

If his starting point hadnt been “how can I make sure my cronies make as much money out of this as possible while I dint make any decisions that might make me unpopular “ hasn’t been his starting point I am sure he would have done much better.

Another uneducated thread where the op has no grasp of basic geography

UK and it’s dense housing and population, old infrastructure. Older care homes and attitude towards aging. Loads of other reasons.
Kind of like comparing quince and bananas.

Initially I felt the government were doing a good job in an unprecedented situation. However, it rapidly became clear that everything they do is too little, too late. The same pattern every time. The piss poor handling of the school closures was textbook Johnson.

I agree that you cannot compare the UK and NZ in terms of 'Covid success' in any meaningful way. I'm also a bit at NZ's strategy of 'we are going to completely isolate our country and cross our fingers that someone else comes up with a vaccine that we can use, and they had better do it quickly'.

Having said that, I get the impression that Jacinda Ardern does actually give a flying fuck about the people of New Zealand and about her own legacy, and wants to try and do a good job - which is not the impression I get from our own Prime Minister.

@hayleyfails If only the 'world king' had had a basic grasp of, for instance, the benefits of making everyone self-isolate on entering the country. As they did in... (checks notes) New Zealand!

BBC News - How did New Zealand become Covid-19 free?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-53274085

Another reply in which the poster lacks a basic grasp of Johnson's disastrous personality.

... well the government isn't doing brilliantly, but neither is the UK population.

Crowded beauty spots, no social distancing in Supermarkets and meetings with friends and family...

Johnson said he could rely on British common sense.