Anyone on here really think ‘the government did all it could’?

[BlackDogBlues]

Re covid and it’s response.

No, clearly they didn't. But the gaslighting starts now, while vaccine roll out is going ok.

In March last year I thought they were doing as well as anyone could do given the unprecedented circumstances. Then ... Cummings happened and they gave all their inept mates lucrative jobs. that's when I gave up all hope in them. Other countries have their problems too because nobody really knew all the answers but I can't forgive those things.

Absolutely not. They didn’t take it seriously at all when it first kicked off here. Allowing mass events to go ahead. I believe the accounts of the meetings where Cummings said something to the effect of ‘who cares of a few old people die’. Boris was in his thrall. It’s all be downhill from there really.

No def not. Acting too slow throughout, giving billions to their rich aquiantances on a useless track and trace, so many u turns, stupid ideas like eat out to help out. Does anyone really trust them anymore. Thank goodness they aren't in charge of the vaccine rollout, because that's the only thing that's been a success.

Hell no

Pull the other one! This time last year I was ordering myself face masks from eBay because I thought the news headlines were concerning and at the same time Johnson couldn't event be arsed to go the the COBRA meetings. Disgraceful behaviour and a complete lack of any leadership qualities which sadly continues.

There was a great analysis on the Politico website yesterday on this. When you read back on the actions from March it is pretty shocking.

"8 March 2020: Amid calls for tough measures to get the COVID-19 outbreak under control, a senior U.K. government source briefed the media that the Italian government’s lockdown approach was based on “populist, non-science based measures that aren’t any use,” adding: “They’re who not to follow” … 11 March: Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries insisted the U.K. government was “following the science” by not banning mass gatherings … She also said wearing a face mask is “usually quite a bad idea” and “doesn’t help” … 13 March: SAGE gave its unanimous verdict opposing “heavy suppression” of the virus, warning it would be counter-productive and cause a second peak … It also expressed its skepticism about the merit of school closures … Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance told the BBC the government’s “aim” was to “build up some kind of herd immunity” … 23 March: 10 days later, with the virus surging, the PM announced the first national lockdown …"

I think it was a very difficult set of things to manage but I dont think they did everything they could with regard to care homes. I also think they have done nothing at all in schools! Just close them or open them.

No absolutely not. I think my Dad kind of thinks they have. He knows on one level they haven’t but I think the magnitude of their complete fuck up is a bit hard for him to comprehend so he suppresses it as it is easier for him to cope with thinking it is just what happens in a pandemic rather than the Government have messed it up badly and that Johnson who he likes, is a complete fuck up.

After the debacle of ‘schools being safe’ on Sunday 3rd January and then being closed on the evening of the 4th, any thoughts I had of them doing a reasonable job have completely left me. So many issues all the way through, but that was a catastrophic error on the government’s part.

No, but I don’t think any government has. It’s their job to balance everything and keep the country running. I don’t think they’ve done amazingly well but can also appreciate how hard a job this is and I don’t envy them doing it.

I think BJ is a natural optimist, which made it hard for him to foresee all this shit. I can't stand the man but he has had a difficult job for sure.

I think they have done the job to the best of their ability. The problem is the main politicians have very little ability or knowledge of pandemics. Hence many things went wrong and many bad decisions were made.
The worst thing they are guilty of is not listening and learning from others (countries, experts) who have experience and are more knowledgable.

Even Vallance said in a live Q&A last week, that many mistakes were made. We should have gone into the first lockdown earlier and harder. His words.
I also think when we lifted restrictions late summer it should have been much slower.
Boris is too much of a people pleaser - his dithering affected outcomes.

I dont think any Government (except New Zealand or Australia) has managed their country's infection control situation well in this unprecendented global situation. However individual personal responsibility in sticking to the rules (when they were eventually implemented) must be factored in. The impact of allowing families to meet up for Xmas is being seen in the high infection and unfortunately death rate now a month later. It's a shitshow on every level as the virus has impacted in so many everyday matters some of which must have been impossible to predict.

No.

Handshaking when they should not have been.

Big events right up till the last minute.

Travel restrictions, quarantine, temperature checks at airport, following up on arrivals should have been put in place in March, almost 11 months ago. Other countries were doing.

Entering into lockdown at least a week late. My company was in lockdown a week earlier DH’s a week before that. If businesses could see the issues, I fail to understand why Government couldn’t. Before anyone brings up ‘hindsight is 20/20’), these were decisions made at the beginning of the pandemic, when the government had more information than any of us.

Those mysterious laptops that were promised last year for online learning didn’t come to fruition. Then they came up with ‘kids need to be in school’, and ‘schools are safe’ when they can’t possibly be as schools are overcrowded. We’ve now got a situation where local bbc radio stations are asking people to donate spares.

The vaccination criteria doesn’t seem to be working and also doesn’t make sense if the first thing we want to do is get children in schools. Surely alongside 80+ year olds there needs to be vaccinated school staff so they could get back to work by 8 March. Yet last week they announced 70+ when a 99 year old hadn’t even been called yet. Then there is the untested (at least for AstraZeneca) 12 week gap between vaccine and booster, when there are likely to be shortages. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Eat out to help out? Failed track and trace system. Returning Covid contagious elderly back to care homes.

Assuming common sense is common, whereas it’s subjective.

Could go on re: Domestic Violence, Christmas, free school meals, PPE, Cummings. U-turns galore. Seriously I could go on and on.

@Cosyjimjamsforautumn

I dont think any Government (except New Zealand or Australia) has managed their country's infection control situation well in this unprecendented global situation. However individual personal responsibility in sticking to the rules (when they were eventually implemented) must be factored in. The impact of allowing families to meet up for Xmas is being seen in the high infection and unfortunately death rate now a month later. It's a shitshow on every level as the virus has impacted in so many everyday matters some of which must have been impossible to predict.

I would add to that list Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and although it’s a very unpopular opinion on here, China.

It depends.
Did they do all they could to save life - no.
Did they do all they could to save money - yes.

Definitely not.
However, I wouldn’t want to be in government right now, it’s been an impossible job, and yes with heinsight it’s easy to say what should have been done differently.
Half the people calling for Boris’ resignation couldn’t run a PTA never mind a country, and i’m not sure who they’d rather have as PM if he did!

I think that whatever they did it would be wrong. I think that by the time this is done, the UK will have done OK by the end, and I mean in 3 or 4 years, not by the end of this year. Harsher, earlier lockdowns would have meant more financial problems. Track and trace with the amount of virus circulating wouldn't have worked. If we hadn't had a summer to relax we wouldn't be (mainly) complying now. Cases were always going to spike in the winter. They knew that. The vaccine is a massive achievement, especially in comparison to the EUs efforts and we will be out of it a lot sooner and I think they knew a long time before the public it would work.

On mn you see mainly people who agree with and support lockdowns and school closures. The real world is very, very different. The only way to suppress the virus is lockdowns (unless you have a vaccine). Unless we had been under strict lockdowns since march it was always going to peak again this winter and no one would have tolerated schools not going back in September.

And I am not a tory voter or a bojo fan. If bojo had been on tv on the Sunday and said 'er we don't know if schools are safe, but take them in tomorrow' it would have caused mass panic. The first day back after 2 weeks off for Christmas is probably the first chance teachers get to check vulnerable or at risk dcs after probably the worst time of year for them. If bojo had dithered no one would have taken them in and even if they had decided not to close schools the vulnerable kids wouldn't have been in for weeks.

We only see a tiny bit of what is happening behind the scenes. I've decided for my own mental health to trust them because if not, it's damaging in the middle of a pandemic to worry about things I can't change.

No.

I think it's easy to point fingers and say how awful Boris is, hindsight is a wonderful thing. How do we know that any other prime minister would've handled things better/differently? We can't say for sure.

People blaming Boris for Christmas mixing but those who did are equally as culpable aren't they? They had a choice to mix or not no one forced them. Many many people looked at the risks despite Boris saying it was fine and decided the risks were to high and chose not to mix on Christmas Day.

There was a group of people on here watching China this time last year and preparing for potential problems. I bought school workbooks in early March as I was expecting schools to close.
This was just from what was in the news with no scientists advising.
The government had a much wider view but left everything to the last minute. It’s taken 10 months to close borders.

@Frouby

I think that whatever they did it would be wrong. I think that by the time this is done, the UK will have done OK by the end, and I mean in 3 or 4 years, not by the end of this year. Harsher, earlier lockdowns would have meant more financial problems. Track and trace with the amount of virus circulating wouldn't have worked. If we hadn't had a summer to relax we wouldn't be (mainly) complying now. Cases were always going to spike in the winter. They knew that. The vaccine is a massive achievement, especially in comparison to the EUs efforts and we will be out of it a lot sooner and I think they knew a long time before the public it would work.

On mn you see mainly people who agree with and support lockdowns and school closures. The real world is very, very different. The only way to suppress the virus is lockdowns (unless you have a vaccine). Unless we had been under strict lockdowns since march it was always going to peak again this winter and no one would have tolerated schools not going back in September.

And I am not a tory voter or a bojo fan. If bojo had been on tv on the Sunday and said 'er we don't know if schools are safe, but take them in tomorrow' it would have caused mass panic. The first day back after 2 weeks off for Christmas is probably the first chance teachers get to check vulnerable or at risk dcs after probably the worst time of year for them. If bojo had dithered no one would have taken them in and even if they had decided not to close schools the vulnerable kids wouldn't have been in for weeks.

We only see a tiny bit of what is happening behind the scenes. I've decided for my own mental health to trust them because if not, it's damaging in the middle of a pandemic to worry about things I can't change.

Okay by the end? 100 000 people have died to date. How can this ever be okay by the end? Back in March Vallance and co stated that 20000 deaths would be a worst case scenario. We are at five times that level.

@TheDrsDocMartens

There was a group of people on here watching China this time last year and preparing for potential problems. I bought school workbooks in early March as I was expecting schools to close. This was just from what was in the news with no scientists advising. The government had a much wider view but left everything to the last minute. It’s taken 10 months to close borders.

Indeed. I arrived in Australia exactly one year ago to day and all border staff were wearing masks. We were slow to take any action.