A Labour government would have made a mess of covid too.

It is. I have already added some vowels while reading it I think. It made me smile.

PippaZ

Couldn't we stick with higjly. I rather like it

It's a fairly impossible combination of consonants.

varian

The devolved government in Wales is a Labour led coalition. The higjly respected Minister of Education, Kirsty Williams, is a Liberal Democrt.

Even better!

They've obviously got something right.

Couldn't we stick with higjly. I rather like it

Highly, not higjly. Sorry.

The devolved government in Wales is a Labour led coalition. The higjly respected Minister of Education, Kirsty Williams, is a Liberal Democrt.

Wales has a Labour government. I know there are posters on GN who don't seem to think much of it, but Wales has achieved something today.

Apart from Cardiff, Wales is the only region of the UK where the incidence rate for Covid is less than 100 per 100,000 across the whole region.

Reinforcement for Offa's Dyke needed!

PS. Cardiff is 101.94, so only just missed out.

here hear

I think you are right GillT57. Equally, we often here about the need to get back to "normal" for the sake of the economy but it cannot be safety or the economy, it will have to be both.

Surely it is not a case of just two options; save the money not spent during the pandemic or spend it on small local business when everything opens up? My income already allows me to spend money locally in restaurants, garden centres, hairdressers etc and and when I resume normal life I will be using income, not savings. I would like to see a government bond or whatever it is to be called, and I would like it used to fire up the economy, especially green projects.

GrannyRose15
It’s true there are lots of posts on here implying that some people are too stupid to understand what is being said.

They are best avoided and I mostly skim by, but what would those posters post instead?

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pippaZ

well in Trump world perhaps

I do not object to you arguing against what I say, but comments such as the above are offensive and unnecessary. They are a comment on what you think my politics are.

It is the same when people are dismissed as readers of certain newspapers. Gransnet is littered with such patronising comments.

And others on this thread have implied that some people are too stupid to understand what is being said.

All these sorts of comments are rude and are IMO best avoided,

mollygo

It is certainly to be hoped that politicians of whatever persuasion are taking notes so that the mistakes of this crisis are not repeated when we get another pandemic.

I wonder though if we can even agree on what the mistakes have been.

ppe, track and trace, Nightingale hospitals, lockdown, school closures, masks, quarantine all have their supporters and their detractors.

I wonder if we will ever have the chance to determine what actually worked and what was either a waste of time or more damaging than beneficial.

Oh, I’ve just reread the op and I can’t agree totally with the title.
Not because I have any dispute with Labour, but simply because ‘it’s impossible to know’.

The title was not my belief or opinion. It was a statement that has been made on many threads about Covid, or about the current government. It was intended to draw people to the thread.

The purpose of the thread was stated in my OP. I didn't particularly want to argue with people about it,; I just wanted to know what evidence for it the people who made the assertion had.

I have found that people don't really have any evidence for it, but some do seem to have very low expectations of Labour in that they think that no-one could have done any better...

We're now on to the fascinating topics of economics and state welfare. On which I think I am allowed to argue

Oh, I’ve just reread the op and I can’t agree totally with the title.
Not because I have any dispute with Labour, but simply because ‘it’s impossible to know’.

I can read posts on here about Labour’s plans, watch TV, read claims made in the media, hear about things that this government has done wrong, read endless posts about budgets, spending, etc. etc. ad infinitum but it’s still impossible to know whether or not ‘a Labour government would have made a mess of Covid too’ because they weren’t in power.

Would they do better if they were in power in another pandemic? With the knowledge they have gained I should ??? well hope so but it’s impossible to say. The only certain thing is that, if they are in power, posters on GN would soon identify all the things they are doing wrong.

Sorry! I meant grannyrose.

Iam64

GrannyRose15, how many people on UC can save do you suppose? Very few. Most stagger from week to week

Exactly! It's an anomaly. The only reason I can do it is because I have a small amount of existing savings, as a result of which my Universal Credit is reduced. There won't be many people who are eligible and I don't really understand why Sunak introduced it.

BTW grannygravy I will receive a maximum of £1,200 in interest after four years. I will have received just under £1,000 in Universal Credit by the time my state pension starts, when I won't be eligible for Pension Credit. If you go on to the Government Gateway website, you can work out how much you've paid in National Insurance. The last time I looked, I had paid over £120,000. I don't feel the slightest bit guilty about claiming a little back now.

Dinahmo

Growstuff securer than a high street bank. Remember Northern Rock? The proceeds from the recent sale of a house were sitting there when it collapsed. Luckily I was able to transfer it by being on my computer at 7.55 am. But the govt stepped in anyway, which I knew they would.

Doesn't that prove my point? A state bond would be like a national savings certificate (remember when they paid a decent rate of interest?) The state has to be more secure than Northern Rock.

Yes I have found the thread really interesting. I find being told this is all I need to know quite worrying.

lemongrove

Why not listen to The Archers PippaZ am sure we could all learn some life lessons ( about politics and rudeness) from that, hmm?
It didn't need a thread all to itself btw as very few posters said the words ‘A Labour government would have made a mess of Covid’. All governments both here and around the world have made mistakes along the way in trying to manage the pandemic.That’s all we need to know.

It may be all you need to know lemongrove. Good luck with limiting your knowledge.

The rest of your post makes no sense.

Why not listen to The Archers PippaZ am sure we could all learn some life lessons ( about politics and rudeness) from that, hmm?
It didn't need a thread all to itself btw as very few posters said the words ‘A Labour government would have made a mess of Covid’. All governments both here and around the world have made mistakes along the way in trying to manage the pandemic.That’s all we need to know.

Mollygo

Actually, if *lemongrove’ says ‘it’s impossible to know what Labour would have made if managing the pandemic’ she’s exactly right.
It’s impossible to know.

I think that was the point of the OP Mollygo. Whenever someone says the government, in the time of the pandemic, have done badly in various areas we always get, what many would consider to be the vacuous statement, that "A Labour government would have made a mess of covid too."

Rather than keep challenging this 'statement with no actual meaning' Maizie brought it onto a separate thread. Hopefully, as posters are saying on here that " ... it’s impossible to know what Labour would have made of managing the pandemic.", they will point this out if it rears its head yet again on a thread where the government is being held to account. I am quite sure, having declaimed its uselessness lemongrove (and you) will now do that bringing sighs of relief from others who are trying to debate the governments actions.

It would be good too if it wasn't followed up by people complaining that other posters are being rude by not accepting the empty rhetoric of "A Labour government would have made a mess of covid too.", as a fact, simply because they have said it.

We can but hope

janeainsworth

Should have added, going to the clinic was referred to as ‘going to the Welfare’. ??‍♀️

Our generation (, aged 60+) benefitted massively from the Welfare state; free NHS, free dental care, free supplements for children (orange juice & cod liver oil), free education right through to and including university level. No 'means testing'...

We seem to forget that sometimes.