Dido Harding

[Cpl654321]

What is the actual point of her. She's in the news again today saying there was no way to know these new variants are coming. What?? Plenty of scientists were saying just that before it happened.

Why has she not been sacked yet. It's infuriating.

If only Mr Johnson had implemented the universal flights quarantine that Labour called for on the 4th of january?

Back in September - Labour wanted to reduce the time holidaymakers had to spend in self-isolation (after returning to the UK) because it was harmful to the travel industry.

@Clavinova

If only Mr Johnson had implemented the universal flights quarantine that Labour called for on the 4th of january?

Back in September - Labour wanted to reduce the time holidaymakers had to spend in self-isolation (after returning to the UK) because it was harmful to the travel industry.

We've moved on, there is now a new far more transmissible variant.

Needs different measures, thats down to the Govt, not Labour.

As i said, the tories are in charge, with a very covid sceptic number of MPs.

Would be nice if you could, just once, acknowledge the tories have got things wrong.
Just as they have also done brilliantly over vaccines.

Just a point of order. Captain Tom's fundraising for NHS Together is not funding for "the NHS". The money does not go on treatment or equipment. The focus of Charities Together is the comfort and wellbeing of staff and patients. So, extra to anything that may be funded by the taxpayer, or any other focused fundraising exercise.

@BigWoollyJumpers yes I'm sure you're right and obviously that isn't quite as bad as if he were fundraising to pay the (far too low) nurses wages. But on the other hand, I used to live in a country where the health service actually considered the comfort and wellbeing of staff and patients as a core element of their business, and it wasn't something for charities to fund.

A bit like how they also gave starving children food and that wasn't considered something that charities like food banks should be doing.

Thing is, I think this pandemic, and Dido and the rest, has brought into sharp focus a lot of shit that was happening before covid. For which the entire political class are to blame (there are decent politicians IMO in both Labour and Tories but far, far too few - most of them seem to be interested in power and money for themselves - not necessarily in that order).

The Tories say they're all about market forces, but there are what ...40,000... nurse vacancies across the UK. Surely if the market was working they'd be offered more money until the vacancies were filled and yet surprisingly nurses salaries don't go up by much and yet politicians doing relatively well.

And Dido the disaster being paid God knows how much.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-nurses-coronavirus-patients-birmingham-b1797061.html

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/mps-get-8-pay-rises-in-10-years-while-nurses-salaries-are-slashed/12/08/

I have some experience of this person, her underlings are absolutely shit scarred of her, she's an absolute nightmare to please, and let's be honest, she's someone's mate so there's no way she'll ever lose her job

This link is the one saying there are 40,000 nurse vacancies.
www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-nurses-coronavirus-patients-birmingham-b1797061.html

It also says nurses in one Hospital Trust had 17 patients to one nurse during this covid surge.

That is partly because of the failure of test and trace (particularly the trace part - if you don't contact people either at all or until they've been spreading it for days, this is what happens). So partly, directly, Dido's failure.

And partly the failure of the government to pay the market rate that would ensure all the vacancies are filled. I know plenty of ex-nurses who've left because of the conditions, and who can blame them. And I'm sure if they were paid 81k like MPs then if we couldn't fill those positions from within the UK, immigrants might be tempted.

Honestly I am in awe and admiration of nurses still going to work and doing their best for patients when they're working in these conditions.

Well, it seems Jeremy Hunt is in favour of a South Korea style test and trace system too. Last I checked he isn’t a bleating Labour politician

In an interview with the Guardian, the former health secretary and current chair of the health select committee said the government should aim at suppressing Covid sufficiently to make a South Korean-style approach of intensive contact tracing possible

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/04/jeremy-hunt-covid-restrictions-should-stay-until-cases-fall-to-1000-a-day

@marieantoinehairnet

I have some experience of this person, her underlings are absolutely shit scarred of her, she's an absolute nightmare to please, and let's be honest, she's someone's mate so there's no way she'll ever lose her job

Not a surprise.

She also doesn't seem worth pleasing (other than for keeping one's job), since she clearly doesn't know her arse from her elbow.

I mean, there are people who are immensely difficult in person but inspired in their specialist area and very, very right about where they want a project or company to go. Steve Jobs springs to mind.

And then there are talentless, pointless people who blight everything they touch...

Agree with pp. What is the point of her except to waste money and be inept?

The most surprising thing I’ve seen is when she has been questioned re her many failings during various enquires and I was expecting her to be embarrassed or at least open to the richly deserved criticisms/probing questions around the T&T failings, but she has a real brass neck and seemingly unaware/apathetic of the catalogue of shite over which she’s reigned, to the detriment of the whole country.

She needed to be sacked last summer; no idea why she’s still there!!!

I've got to say I simply don't understand how anyone who's lived through the last year in the UK can be an apologist for the government, unless they're in the pay of the government.

And here's Clavinova.

@marieantoinehairnet sadly probably you are correct.

Tavannach

Somewhat surprising then, that Labour are not romping ahead in the polls?

mouldygrapes
Well, it seems Jeremy Hunt is in favour of a South Korea style test and trace system too. Last I checked he isn’t a bleating Labour politician.

Jeremy Hunt lived in Japan for 18 months and he has a Chinese wife. However, the cynic in me points to the fact that he would very much like to be our next prime minister. His main rivals are in Boris Johnson's cabinet - and he is not - therefore, he can make as many helpful suggestions as he likes without having to implement any of them - much the same as Keir Starmer.

In March last year, Jeremy Hunt suggested we use a Covid App similar to the one used in Singapore;

Addressing the civil liberties implications of that, he [Jeremy Hunt] said all data is encrypted and destroyed after 21 days and said Singaporeans "have had their liberties curtailed far less than countries which have had to go into full lockdown".

5 Jan 2021;
Singapore has admitted data from its Covid contact tracing programme can also be accessed by police, reversing earlier privacy assurances.

Officials had previously explicitly ruled out the data would be used for anything other than the virus tracking.

But parliament was told on Monday it could also be used "for the purpose of criminal investigation".

Close to 80% of residents are signed up to the TraceTogether programme, which is used to check in to locations.

The voluntary take up increased after it was announced it would soon be needed to access anything from the supermarket to your place of work.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55541001

Incidentally - South Korea have banned/restricted nursing home visits, imposed a 9pm curfew on bars and restaurants in Seoul, closed schools at short notice, declared U-turns as necessary and good policy, named, shamed and fined religious/minority groups for spreading coronavirus, relaxed customs requirements for food imports because of shipping delays...Apparently, we don't like any of these ideas, but let's copy what South Korea are doing...

IloveJKRowling
This link is the one saying there are 40,000 nurse vacancies.
It also says nurses in one Hospital Trust had 17 patients to one nurse during this covid surge.

In fact, the article in your link says this;

Managers at the University Hospitals Birmingham Trust have been criticised over poor governance and management of patient safety incidents after inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found multiple examples of errors in patient care and risks that had not been tackled.

I can't see that the Hospital Trust have blamed the Government in their statement.

Clavinova
Jeremy Hunt lived in Japan for 18 months and he has a Chinese wife

What is the relevance of this comment??!

Apparently, we don't like any of these ideas, but let's copy what South Korea are doing...

Who is the “we” in this context? According to you it’s the opposition and non-cabinet members who want a South Korea style system

mouldygrapes
What is the relevance of this comment??!

Seems obvious to me - Jeremy Hunt has close connections with East Asia - which may be one reason he has looked at what they are doing in South Korea. He lived in Japan for 18 months - apparently I can buy a direct flight from Tokyo to Seoul for £64 return in June. And China appears to be a relatively short ferry ride from South Korea. Goodness knows why you were in favour of the European Union - we clearly have no geographical connections with the rest of Europe.

Who is the “we” in this context? According to you it’s the opposition and non-cabinet members who want a South Korea style system.

The general public/the media/experts/politicians who have criticised bans and restrictions to nursing home visits/the 10pm curfew for bars and restaurants/government U-turns etc...

@Clavinova That last post is incoherent, you'll need to expand.

It is the CRG that want less restrictions and they want them relaxed asap.
Looks like they are prepared to bin their PM if they don't get what they want.

Jeremy Hunt is one reason why the NHS was in such a sorry state by 2020, he is just an opportunist.

That’s a completely ridiculous argument. You know Japan, China and S Korea are distinctly different countries, right? With completely different cultures? Who’ve all handled COVID differently? As have others e.g. Vietnam and Thailand. You can’t just lump all of “East Asia” together as one and suggest some tenuous links are the reason he’s looking to their response. As you keep telling me, Labour are keen on it too - do Starmer and Ashworth have “obvious and close connections” with “East Asia” too?

If you’d have said “he’s lived in Japan so favours the Japanese approach” I might believe you, but your first comment was bizarre and your justification even more so.

Goodness knows why you were in favour of the European Union

When have I mentioned the European Union?

Bluethrough
It is the CRG that want less restrictions and they want them relaxed asap.

I think you mean the ERG.
Labour's Andy Burnham was just as critical of the 10pm curfew and Yvette Cooper is campaigning against restrictions to nursing home visits. My point exactly - who wants to copy South Korea?

Remember also that Jeremy Hunt was foreign secretary. Perhaps he had to know some geography and deal with other countries in that role?

@Clavinova

Bluethrough It is the CRG that want less restrictions and they want them relaxed asap.

I think you mean the ERG.
Labour's Andy Burnham was just as critical of the 10pm curfew and Yvette Cooper is campaigning against restrictions to nursing home visits. My point exactly - who wants to copy South Korea?

No i meant the Covid recovery group, headed by Steve Baker MP i believe.

Ask the 110k dead whether they'd prefer a more invasive approach?

We have lost freedoms and have a very high death toll.

mouldygrapes
You can’t just lump all of “East Asia” together as one and suggest some tenuous links are the reason he’s looking to their response. As you keep telling me, Labour are keen on it too - do Starmer and Ashworth have “obvious and close connections” with “East Asia” too?

I posted; "which may be one reason."
In my previous post I said; "However, the cynic in me points to the fact that he would very much like to be our next prime minister."

You know Japan, China and S Korea are distinctly different countries, right? With completely different cultures? Who’ve all handled COVID differently?

Oh, I see - so Jonathan Ashworth is a bit dim like me?

Jon Ashworth Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care 3:46 pm, 4th November 2020

We also need tracing teams, led locally, doing the detective work to identify super-spreading events with retrospective tracing. East Asian countries are avoiding lockdowns with this cluster-busting approach. We should institute it here.

When have I mentioned the European Union?

My mistake - a fellow leave voter. Although I almost voted remain at the time.

Jeremy Hunt as well - 4 days ago;

“The lesson of this virus is that the countries that were most successful were the countries in east Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Hong, Singapore, and they imposed travel restrictions very, very quickly.

However, the cynic in me points to the fact that he would very much like to be our next prime minister

He at least has some ability, unlike the present incumbent.

a fellow leave voter. Although I almost voted remain at the time

Really? thats astonishing, based on your posts, you seem more anti eu than Peter Bone or Johns Redwood combined or maybe you are fisherman? now full of regret.

Bluethrough
No i meant the Covid recovery group, headed by Steve Baker MP i believe.

My apologies - Steve Baker was previously the chairman of the ERG.

Bluethrough
Really? thats astonishing

Honestly - I almost voted remain - I didn't shift to leave until mid 2018.