Still impressed by BJ?

It's because we haven't signed up to the agreement that the EU offered us membership of; we have effectively refused the equipment.

Are you talking about the Republic of Ireland?
Why are they prioritising other EU countries before their own country?
Very altruistic but?

Newcastle in NI?

That message tells me that EU countries were unprepared too, the same as Ireland.

This is a message from Ireland; I can't give further details as it's a private facebook page..
'We have a ventilator factory in Galway, Ireland, that's going from an 8 hr day to a 24 hour day to double (possibly triple production).
But since you guys wilfully refused the EU's medical assistance not more than four days ago, those machines are going to the 27 other EU countries as first priority.
Think about that when your relatives are going to a ward to die in 4 weeks time'
I don't wish to be political at a time like this but the government need to be held to account if this is correct. And I've just read that a hospital in Newcastle are sending patients home because the hospital is in lockdown due to the number of coronavirus deaths..

Thanks Hetty....

'Journalists have been trying to discover whether the government has indeed decided to shun this route to providing desperately needed equipment to save people's lives, and if so how it can possibly justify this. The government has not been responding to their enquiries'.
...this is at the end of the article which I have now found. I can't print it in it's entirety because it is on a private page. The full article was written by a doctor.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-uk-update-boris-johnson-ventilators-eu-procurement-a9411741.html

The man appears to be a complete idiot - my opinion of him has not changed. He wants to gamble on UK production of ventilators (gamble with our lives - nice!).

www.wired.co.uk/article/car-manufacturers-ventilators

GNHQ

Why has my post been 19.22 been deleted?

Labaik

POGS

'Can I also point out again that your tone when addressing people is downright abusive and I shall therefore stay away from here. Thank you'
--

Can I also point out you asked the following question on an open forum.

Labaik Thu 19-Mar-20 16:02:33
'Has anyone heard if this is true?'

My tone is not / was not downright abusive! I asked the question to try and answer your question which was interesting. Had you not posted obviously addressing my post to another poster I would not have returned to your original post but you were obviously viewing the thread so I thought it was reasonable timing.

Everyone said in 2008 we bailed out th6e banks and didn't look after you this time will be different.

We're going to really make sure to look after the people who suffer economic consequences of what we're asking them, we're going to look after the people first.

Big from Boris. If he delivers this he has a huge legacy. This is the context of his entire Prime Ministership. His problem is that 50% of his party will see it as as a success if he does it and 50% will see it as a success if he doesn't. So far it seems the second 50% is winning as all the money is going directly to businesses.

Profuse apologies POGS. I've been feeling rather tired and stressed so had a sleep [how dare I]. As has happened before [which had a similar reaction from you] I did not have the time to find the article. I did try for a while but then fell asleep. The reason I asked it in such a way was because I didn't know if it was true and I was hoping that someone might know. Can I also point out again that your tone when addressing people is downright abusive and I shall therefore stay away from here. Thank you....

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

And how do you know that he didn't.....

Daisymae Thu 19-Mar-20 15:58:54

'As for what Johnson is doing behind the scenes, well he had a nice long weekend last week.'
----

How do you know?

Labaik Thu 19-Mar-20 16:02:33

'I've also read [but don't know how true it is] that the government are refusing to participate in a joint EU procurement programme for ventilators and medical equipment, even though it's open for them to join. Has anyone heard if this is true?'
---

Where did you read it?

Labaik Thu 19-Mar-20 15:29:41

'At times like this the leader of a country should be communicating with it's peoples.'
---

Have you not informed yourself of the fact there have been daily media updates and if you stopped politically playing football with COVID 19 you might switch your tele and watch Boris Johnson doi g so this minute!

It seems to me he has, so far, assembled a good team and been prepared to back them Labaik. He is also communicating with us on a daily basis so I am not sure what your post - Thu 19-Mar-20 15:29:41 means.

I now want to see him use quantitative easing directed to the citizens of the country to keep them going over what is going to be the most difficult period for most of us.

I have a feeling he is running out of steam when it comes to being a grown-up but, for our sake, I hope not.

I've also read [but don't know how true it is] that the government are refusing to participate in a joint EU procurement programme for ventilators and medical equipment, even though it's open for them to join. Has anyone heard if this is true?

It's plain to see that the government had a complete 180 degree turnaround on Monday. Went from doing virtually nothing to closing down the country. As for what Johnson is doing behind the scenes, well he had a nice long weekend last week.

At times like this the leader of a country should be communicating with it's peoples.

We have no idea what Boris is doing behind the scenes Labaik

So, what has BJ actually done himself other than initially say he was still shaking hands [a la Trump]with people; call an emergency COBRA meeting, but in several days time. Have a father that says he'll ignore his sons advice and still go to the pub if he wants to. And now defer to the knowledge of 'experts'; the very experts that he and his political allies told us to ignore. Oh, and, the BBC, the one he'd like to get rid of, is now planning to do special programmes for children due to the enforced school closures. Cometh the hour, cometh the man; and that certainly isn't Johnson.

varian

I am content to watch/listen to the daily updates from OUR own specialists and the PM for information relating to OUR handling of the COVID 19 crisis if when they give media updates and do a Q & A session for example. . I hope they continue to do so.

For those who do not trust the following experts then I suppose they will hold different opinions but the following are the holders of the research and information collated for OUR 4 countries in the UK and I back what they are doing :-

Professor Chris Whitty who is the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, the UK government’s Chief Medical Adviser and head of the public health profession.

Chris Witty is also Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), with overall responsibility for the department’s research and development, including the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
---

Sir Patrick Vallance FRS FMedSci FRCP is Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) and Head of the Government Science and Engineering (GSE) profession. His personal research was in the area of diseases of blood vessels and endothelia

Sorry about the ridiculously long link but it seems to sum up our government's attitude compared to just about every other country.