Do you think the government is doing a good job? If so, why?

[mattDP]

Was astonished to see an opinion poll this morning that put the government up by six points, with 51% of the share.

As far as I can see, they've mismanaged pretty much every single aspect of this crisis. I won't go into the details as that would derail the purpose of this thread. But given my view of near-total incompetence, I felt I had to be missing something. Some view of what the politicians are doing that's escaped me and my media bubble.

This seemed like a good place to reach outside that bubble and find some that 51% that thinks Johnson is doing a bang-up job. I feel the need to understand why so many people are so positive about his performance.

So: if that's you, and you're happy with what's going on, could you please explain why? I'll try not to be judgemental here, I just want to get to grips with a whole segment of political views that I can't otherwise understand right now.

I think Westminster is doing a good job. There are places it might have done better but you can't get everything right.

Take the farce in Scotland - Sturgeon objects to "stay alert" we have to "keep vigilant".

10 million pieces of PPE stuck at Prestwick Airport while Freeman announces it is okay they aren't needed yet.

Twice the death rate in care homes as England.

Sturgeon knew about the 25 cases at the Nike conference while telling us we only had 23 cases in the whole of Scotland.

Small businesses compensated on a per site basis in England, on a per business basis in Scotland.

I don't think they are doing an amazing job but I don't think they are doing terribly either.

If you look every European country has people complaining about how their Gov has managed the situation. German Doctors protesting about lack of PPE, someone sueing the French Gov, Protests in Switzerland.

To the pp with the total vitriol against Scotland? I think that's unnecessary. I'm not an SNP supporter but I think her message has been clear, concise and consistent. She right to say "stay at home". It's too early to change that message. She's doing the right thing.
The messages coming out of Westminster are confusing and contradictory.

I do think that the government could have handled the crisis so much better. We are emerging as one of the worst affected country, if not the worst. So of course there will need to be accountability for all of us.
In saying that, the JRS and various other financial support measures have been greatly received.

I don't think the government have been doing a good job. I think they are a national disgrace and so are the polls putting them on 50%+. If this is what English voters want (their vote share would be even higher and there would be permanent Tory rule if Scotland went) then they will deserve the political vacuum, economic catastrophe, inequality, despair and isolation from Europe that will follow this awful year.

I think this situation is unprecedented and as they have been following the advice of experts, I'm not sure what more they could have done/do. Of course the left wingers on here will never acknowledge that and will say otherwise regardless.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

No.

RainMustFall totally agree Things have gone wrong which are talked about but never a mention of the good bits
I never expected a Conservative government to splash so much cash
The NHS didn’t go under like it did in Italy
I do think we should have closed our boarders we are an Island we don’t have to let anyone in
The carehome figures are abysmal but I wonder why did doctors send people out of hospital if they were infected surely they have the final say and if they did why didn’t care homes isolate these residents My dad was in a care home for a short time and at over £1000 a week I would expect them to ensure his safety

There are certainly some people who will ignore all the good decisions and focus on something small just to get their point across.

I agree with Rosie. Why did the Drs let people go back to their homes? They ultimately have the final say. The government doesnt control a DR's decison. Additionally I thought they were bashed regarding testing yet getting a test is really easy. There is always available slots if you can drive to a test centre and there were Home Tests available when I looked yesterday.

Yet.... it doesnt seem there is a real demand for these tests. I was laughing at the news yesterday when I saw the queues for the tip! Yet the queues for a test were tiny.

Sturgeon is a nightmare. She is definitely media savvy something others could learn from but WHY does she have so many deaths in care homes? No one - not even Piers Morgan is questioning her on this. I used to quite like him. Now he is getting silly. Its all about him, talking over his guests and the savvy ones let him rant and then suddenly the interview is over. All we hear is Morgan. No wonder the government wont go on. Why would they? I wouldnt!!

I dont think they've done a bad job. They've done what they can, they've consulted experts throughout, they've run daily briefings alongside experts so people know why things are happening, they've tried to protect peoples income as much as possible (far more than other countries). People complain about lack of PPE but I'm not sure it was there to buy in the first months of the pandemic. The demand world wide far outstripped the supply. They were concerned about the NHS being over run so they built new hospitals in weeks. We could have gone into lockdown sooner, but would that have meant more deaths when we came out the other side?

I think they’ve done as good as job as possible given the sudden global explosion of a new disease no one knew anything about. Most people are adults and can understand that.

I think that in a crisis situation like this, government popularity ratings usually go up.

I think they're doing an awful job but the fact is, with the outbreak starting in London, it was always going to be a lot worse than almost everywhere else - certainly not comparable to New Zealand or Oz (Germany may be another matter, only about 20-something more people per sq km density).

Also, it was believed that swine flu and then that SARS were going to be pandemics, and both ran out of steam before they spread very far, so having had those 'false alarms' I can understand the gov not proceeding to high alert straight away, although honestly once the situation in Italy became clear they ought to have come down hard.

Nope, they have made a total and utter fucking arse of it. Not surprised that people think they are doing a good job though, what else do you expect from a country that voted for Brexit.

I'm not a Tory, but I think they are making a better job of it than Labour would have done.

No.

How would a bunch of money-obsessed politicians with no medical background be able to do a 'good job' of things anyway? Seems impossible to me.

I agree with other posters, the NHS didnt fall over and new hospitals built very quickly. Daily briefings. Not much they could do with ppe shortage across the world did the best they could.

All the financial help far beyond what some other countries have done, 80% furlough pay when other countries are giving far far less.

pretty sure most politicians are not money obsessed if they were they wouldn’t choose being a MP
Most could earn far more in the public sector

The evidence suggests Westminster is doing an excellent job given that the media has spent hundreds of hours on Dominic Cummings acting lawfully. I get the impression many reporters and some politicians would leave an autistic 4 year old out for the wolves.

Oddly it seems to have overlooked the media attention that Ian Blackford popped back to Skye from London, using ferries and then returned.

It is a bit harsh calling Dominic Cummings an autistic 4 year old.

@cyclingmad

Don't you imagine that the generous financial help is going to cripple this country for years and years?

And when the furlough scheme ends there will be mass redundancies. If you have ever run a company you'd realise that paying people to do nothing does not work financially.

Sunak is so scared about the cliff edge he has created that the contributions he suggested from employers yesterday were scaled back dramatically. My best guess is that by October he'll have come up with a reason to extend it as the looming redundancies will be politically unacceptable.

Meanwhile Government borrowing is rising exponentially to pay for it all and if we are not careful we'll end up with a sovereign credit rating on a par with Argentina!

OP - your thoughts are correct.

If 51% disagree I can only imagine they have their heads in the sand or are enjoying lying in the sun and drinking large amounts of alcohol while on furlough?

@rosie1959

NHS doctors were told to clear beds - Government policy / directive - because they were panicking like hell.

Did they think about whether it was dangerous to send elderly people back into care homes with the liklihood they would infect other elderly people - apparently not? Complete lack of proper planning.

Anyone remember Johnson stood there justifying NOT doing things because it was important only to do things at the right time?

The results of this inaction are evident now.

I think they've tried very hard to do the right things at the right times, I feel they are genuinely trying to help us all. Having said all that, they have made some mistakes, but a lot of what people complain about was out of their hands to a certain extent. So, I think they did....okay?

OP - the polls suggest that the rest of the country is starting to agree with you.

www.thearticle.com/polls-show-johnson-has-lost-the-country-he-may-never-get-it-back