Boris MISSED 5 COBRA meetings

aren't doing too badly, not are, though it may not be perfect.

the PM does not need to chair Cobra meetings all the time.

Presumably a small cog in a very large machine Jabberwok

I think we do and he's not! Since the war, apart from Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, this country has been beset by incompetent,weak vasilating leaders from both parties! Boris is no worse than all, and he could well prove to be better than some!

To reply as you have done, confirms my opinion

It’s just a shambles don’t know how it will end sadly I think. So sorry for all of the people who’ve suffered and will continue to suffer over this.

I totally agree with M0nica and lemongrove.

This is not the time for political scoring.

sharon I would have agreed 3 weeks ago as I was content to wait for this incompetent government to show its metal and buck up after such a shaky start which caused thousands of unnecessary deaths.

It hasn’t - and I am not prepared to allow this to continue without drawing attention to the shortcomings.

To not do so may result in even more tragic deaths.

I think that thousands of tragic deaths are now inevitable.
Even the UK Government's belated attempts to deal with the situation are pathetic.

It’s amazing his fans still find excuses for him.

Europe and Europe's governments haven't done that well either! (Not sure we've hear much from eastern countries..) Or is it only the UK that is constantly criticised?!

jabberwok yes because we live here and our families are being directly affected by this incompetent government.

I thought you thought sovereignty wasn’t important?

Political point scoring is idiotic particularly as there is not even a remote sign of a credible opposition and unlikely to be in the foreseeable future. Labour members seem to hate each other even more than they hate Boris. Doesn’t that give you a clue why you are unelectable? Who wants such a hate filled party running things?

Who is unelectable? I had no idea that we had someone on GN that was hoping to stand for parliament

Why does everyone assume that Boris critics are Labour Party supporters?

Well the U.K. is on track to be doing the worst in Europe for CV so we are leading the way there,

Every country is different though. England has a massive population for its size. Maybe the most densely populated in Europe ( I think the Netherlands may be similar). London is massive compared to places like Rome, Paris, Berlin. We can see from the daily graphs that London followed by The Midlands and the North West have many more cases than the less populated areas. If we do end up having the worse figures in Europe surely this will be a major factor. No government can change this.

As far as I am aware no one in need of a ventilator has failed to get one in the UK. In Italy and Spain doctors were having to make choice about who got a ventilator.

I think this government (guided by top scientists) have done the best it could. We can all be experts in hindsight. We can now say those who allowed the race meeting at Cheltenham or those who went skiing at half term were wrong. Looking back no one should have been leaving the country or gathering in large groups.

No one could have foreseen this.

I do realise that England is not the only country in the UK. But it does have the largest population by far. It is England's figures that push the total up.

I’ve already said this on another thread but I’ll say it again on here. My daughter sent me the article from The Times today, MaizieD posted the link up thread. It confirmed what I have felt all along, we were far too slow off the mark with this, everything was done too late. The advice from SAGE which includes Chris Whitty, but we are not allowed to know who else is on this committee, apparently it’s top secret, I’ve no idea why, but anyway the advice from SAGE was that the country should be allowed to acquire ‘herd immunity.’ It’s being denied now, but I sat and watched the press release, it was televised and I watched them telling us that the SAGE scientists had advised we be allowed to develop herd immunity. It was completely the opposite of what the WHO was advocating, and it was not in line with any other country in the world. We continued down that irresponsible role for a week or two, before thankfully changing course when it was realised just how many deaths there would be and how overwhelmed the NHS would be. I blame SAGE and Chris Whitty for their callous advice to the government. How could anyone expect the government to behave responsibly when being advised by a committee with so little respect for life.

And now, to add insult to injury, we have a pack of journalists and Keir Starmer pushing for a date for the end of lockdown. It’s unbelievable! They want to know when schools will reopen!!! You cannot have social distancing in schools! You cannot run schools safely with large numbers of staff unable to attend! I think it was GagaJo who said on another thread that anyone who thinks social distancing is possible in schools either has never been in a school or doesn’t have children, or both!

Keir Starmer is not pushing for a date for the end of lockdown, maddyone. Will you stop making up fake news.

He is asking for a clear exit strategy. It's a perfectly reasonable request.

Keir Starmer needs to back the elected governmet and the experts.

He needs to sort the Labour party out and make them electable again. That is the only way they will become an effective opposition.

I want to see a Labour government again in my life time. If corvid 19 spares me!

Although “herd immunity” is not what we want to hear, that will probably happen before a vaccine becomes available. The lock down is meant to slow down transmission, at present we seem to be on a plateau, following the infection profile that Italy and Spain had. The NHS is managing to treat those that need hospitalization, so from that point of view the strategy has been correct, even if PPE is inadequate.

Belgium is the most densely populated European state and they are having major problems too, Germany and particularly Austria are doing much better and are beginning to return to work.

With hindsight the UK should have closed its borders more quickly, on the other hand there were so many Brits overseas that was probably impractical. The next 6 week will be critical let’s hope and pray control is maintained.

Although “herd immunity” is not what we want to hear, that will probably happen before a vaccine becomes available.

Well, I'm afraid, David that herd immunity by means of the greater proportion of the population catching the virus is not looking at all promising. Research I've seen reported has found either very few antibodies, or no antibodies at all in a significant number of recovered Covid19 patients. This leaves them wide open to re-infection.

It also doesn't auger well for a vaccine as vaccines depend on the body making antibodies to be effective.

At best, it seems that we may have to be constantly vigilant and live our lives a bit differently for a considerable time...