Anyone understand why Johnson is so far ahead in the polls? ( 2)

They have not been managed well. The vaccination programme has been managed well. What else has been managed well?

I said overall which encompasses many things.The fast building of the Nightingale hospitals in case they were needed,
Keeping workers in paid jobs via furlough, ordering the vaccines early and paying big sums into the Astra Z research and vaccine making, finding out what the NHS needed to cope.
PPE was a problem early on, but by then other countries who had vast numbers of Covid patients had ordered so much it was hard to get hold of.No doubt that will be gone into in an investigation, having an early prepared-ness for a pandemic.
We weren’t the only country struggling to get enough PPE in any case.
Our vaccine orders/ roll out has been fantastic, and we are in the happy position of hardly any patients dying, week on week, whereas France and Germany ( often cited as paragons)
Have had over 250 deaths each this week.
So yes, the government has done quite a lot well!

Chestnut

Casdon

Who’s the enemy Chestnut?

The many people who try and destroy him. I would have thought that was obvious.

So the citizens of the UK who don't agree with you and Johnson are now to be "the enemy" -

5. Create and defeat a common enemy.*

*7 Steps to Becoming a Dictator

They shouldn’t have had to find out what the NHS needed in the event of a pandemic. There was always going to be a pandemic one day and plans were in place for one but the government let important PPE etc go out of date. The Nightingale hospitals were a waste of time and money and no one seemed to realise that there weren’t enough experienced nurses to man them anyway, made worse by less and less money going into the NHS. PPE contracts were handed out to mates. Food supplies weren’t affected which is good. And Johnson is now refusing to be pushed into opening up sooner than planned even though the parliamentary covid group ( the one that morphed from the ERG) are constantly pressurising him to do so. I’ll give him credit for that.

Boris is ahead in the polls and the ballot box because he gets the job done. Communism and it's timid sister 'socialism' are dead and buried in England.

Kapitan

Boris is ahead in the polls and the ballot box because he gets the job done. Communism and it's timid sister 'socialism' are dead and buried in England.

I expect that's why 11 of the 13 newly elected Metroplitan Mayors are Labour...

Hi Maizie.

PippaZ

Chestnut

Casdon

Who’s the enemy Chestnut?

The many people who try and destroy him. I would have thought that was obvious.

So the citizens of the UK who don't agree with you and Johnson are now to be "the enemy" -

5. Create and defeat a common enemy.*

*7 Steps to Becoming a Dictator

1/ I didn't say people who 'don't agree with him', I said those who try and destroy him, very different.
2/ I didn't say I agreed with him. I was quoting why people support him. I never said that included me.

lemongrove
The number of deaths in France is still well below that in the UK - at the last count just over 107,000.

I don't understand how you can state that that the Conservatives have managed things so well in the UK, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Dinahmo did you know that France has a smaller population than the UK, despite being 2.6 times larger in size? We are a tiny overpopulated country, so the potential for the virus spreading is therefore greater.

lemongrove The Nightingale Hospitals were a knee jerk reaction to the situation and ill considered.

The UK is not the only country to be financially supporting those people who were in danger of losing their jobs. The UK are not unique in doing that.

PPE was a problem early on, but by then other countries who had vast numbers of Covid patients had ordered so much it was hard to get hold of.

Perhaps you could explain how the other countries had the foresight to order so much PPE that the UK couldn't get hold of it?

As far as I can see, the two things that the have been organised efficiently in the UK has been the roll out of the vaccinations - carried out by the NHS and volunteers. Kate Bingham was suggested by the scientists as a person who was capable of leading the vaccine campaign.

The other, the development of an anti covid vaccine was carried out by the Oxford Vaccine Group. This was set up in 1994 in order to study new and improved vaccines for children and adults. The govt gave the Group additional funding in order that it could continue its work on a new vaccine.

I don't see that Johnson had a lot to do with it, other than to hand out money and to continually boast.

Chestnut

Dinahmo did you know that France has a smaller population than the UK, despite being 2.6 times larger in size? We are a tiny overpopulated country, so the potential for the virus spreading is therefore greater.

France has about 2.5 million fewer people.

The virus has spread in areas that are as densely populated as those in the UK - the major cities and the south - Marseilles to the border with Italy. In fact London with 9.4 million has a smaller population than Paris with 11 million (metropolitan areas).

The percentage of urban dwellers in France is 80.1% and in the UK is 83.6%,

So there's not a lot in it apart from those of us living in rural areas have a lot more space around us.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing ( especially on GN!)?
The Nightingale Hospitals were set up in case of need, we didn’t need them in the end, thank God.
You cannot compare countries and populations, but if you do
Then you really have to take size/ space of country into consideration. France had 250 deaths this week, we had how many? Was it even in double figures! All due to the slow vaccination programme there.
Don’t hold up France or Germany as wonderful examples of how things should have been done, they are still doing badly there, regardless of how fast they sourced PPE or whatever.
Put Party Politics aside and be honest as to the fact that the UK is doing really well.Those who live in France ( on GN) naturally feel defensive, but the posters who live in the UK and dislike Johnson/ Conservatives have no excuse to constantly rubbish everything here.

They announced how well the UK is doing here on our tv. I think congratulations are in order. The NHS has done very well and whether Boris has anything to do with it or not he is the PM so I guess some credit is due.

France had 250 deaths this week

Hmmm .... check your figures.....

“ Put Party Politics aside “
?

250 is more like the daily Covid death rate in France at the moment. The worldometer site gives a daily update of new cases, deaths, etc. The new daily cases there are high.

If we hadn't had the vaccine roll out we would still be doing badly.
The fact that we have done well with it doesn't negate a year of vacillation and incompetence that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths.

And the fact that the NHS has risen magnificently to the challenge of vaccinating the population so fast and efficiently doesn't negate tory neglect and underfunding over the last decade. And don't forget the contemptuous 1% pay rise NHS workers have been 'offered' after a year of dedication in the face of overwhelmingly difficult circumstances.

grandmajet

250 is more like the daily Covid death rate in France at the moment. The worldometer site gives a daily update of new cases, deaths, etc. The new daily cases there are high.

Daily cases here in the UK are not diminishing. Only (thank heaven) deaths. We still face the prospect of many people suffering from Long Covid, which can be life altering, and the possible rise of a vaccine resistant mutation.

but the posters who live in the UK and dislike Johnson/ Conservatives have no excuse to constantly rubbish everything here.

Is this an attempt to get them to shut up?

growstuff

*but the posters who live in the UK and dislike Johnson/ Conservatives have no excuse to constantly rubbish everything here.*

Is this an attempt to get them to shut up?

Quite a futile one, I think...

Dinahmo The Nightingale Hospitals were a knee jerk reaction to the situation and ill considered.
I'm sure they could do with a few of those in India at the moment, so not ill considered at all. It was done in anticipation of a mass outbreak and showed foresight. I'm sure you would have been even more outraged if people had been dying in the road as there were no hospital beds.

nanna8

They announced how well the UK is doing here on our tv. I think congratulations are in order. The NHS has done very well and whether Boris has anything to do with it or not he is the PM so I guess some credit is due.

We are doing well, and I think we're all grateful for it nanna8. The vaccine program is going great guns and Boris is PM, but I'm not sure that those things are causally linked

Johnson put Kate Bingham in charge of the vaccine task force on the recommendation of Patrick Vallance, and Hancock made the money available to get the procurement bit done. Johnson stood around and ruffled his hair. Oh, and uses the vaccine program to trumpet how well the Conservatives have done, at every opportunity.

^ Johnson stood around and ruffled his hair.^ ?
I'm sure Boris does a lot more behind the scenes that we don't see. Don't forget he worked through his bout of covid last year as well.

Chestnut

Dinahmo The Nightingale Hospitals were a knee jerk reaction to the situation and ill considered.
I'm sure they could do with a few of those in India at the moment, so not ill considered at all. It was done in anticipation of a mass outbreak and showed foresight. I'm sure you would have been even more outraged if people had been dying in the road as there were no hospital beds.

We did have a mass outbreak, people who needed ventilation were left to die on wards because there was none available for them. People were left to die at home...

The Nightingales were useless because there was no-one to staff them. The NHS was already short staffed and was stretched to breaking point and beyond. You may be able to make a hospital substitute in a few weeks, but recruiting and training staff takes considerably longer.

What is so difficult to understand about this?