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

Aleg the government had a choice to agree to implement the plan or not ( not an easy choice as other countries were not doing it.)Fortunately they did agree to.

On lockdowns...that wasn’t an easy choice either ( for any country) and they all did different things at different times.
Nobody knows what the best time is/was.It was trial and error for all countries.So easy for the armchair critics to pontificate on what was right or wrong.

Another storm in a teacup that the BBC is having to apologise for.

What about very recently lemongrove- the delay and prevarication on closing flights from India- when it was clear the Indian variant was a real problem and could pose a challenge to the whole vaccination programme.

Would it be pontificating to say flights from India should have closed much quicker?

Casdon

Yes, the UK did get vaccination right, which has saved many lives, and no, the attempt to delay lockdown on the second wave was disastrous when the government ignored the scientific advice, and that cost many lives. What’s so hard about acknowledging we did well on some things and badly on others?

The delayed lockdown in December wsd disatrous, too. So much of the next few weeks recording over 1,000 deaths a day.
Vaccination success doesn't negate that.

It was pretty obvious last year that we should have gone into lockdown earlier. And giving people warning each time so they could have a few super spreader events was pretty stupid. We’d started shielding ourselves ages before we were told to because we kept an eye on what was happening. Letting people jet off on their skiing holiday to Italy and then bring the virus back was pretty stupid. The Italians were begging us to see what was happening in their country and take action and yet the government ignored it. Some people have short memories when it comes to the start of the pandemic.

Possibly kali ?
Closing air traffic isn’t an easy choice is it? Since we have a large Indian population here who may have been visiting relatives for marriages or funerals there, if we had left them , they would be stranded in India.Am just glad that I don’t have to decide these things.
If we had just decided that we were closing everything to beat Covid then we could all just have stayed indoors, possibly for another year, but no country can do that.So, it’s constant choices to be made all round.

I posted earlier on this thread could you imagine the headlines
UK Nationals stranded in Covid hot spot India the Government would have been condemned from every quarter, especially if it was found that Doctors and Nurses were amongst the numbers?

lemongrove

Aleg the government had a choice to agree to implement the plan or not ( not an easy choice as other countries were not doing it.)Fortunately they did agree to.

Nope, sorry. The roll-out was purely based on medical recommendation and medical authorities in other countries did not make the same recommendations. You don't get Brownie Points for doing what your medical authorities tell you to do.

Bolton now has very high Covid rates of the Indian variant. Surge vaccination is being suggested in that area as it seems to be amongst those in their 20's who are affected most.

That area around Manchester is densely populated so easy for the virus to affect other parts.

I don’t know if people in other countries are grumbling about their own governments responses to Covid over the last year or if they aren’t, but moaning in the UK seems to be a national sport.Still, as long as it makes them feel better, eh?

Aleg... the last time I looked, medical recommendations, whilst admirable, are not mandatory for the government to act on. So that being the case, the government does get Brownie points.

We elect our politicians not our scientists or medics, who are advisors to this and any future Government.

It is the Governments place to act (or not) on advice given the buck stops at the Governments door, the scientists will just resume their research once this living hell is over (or at least diminished to a level whereby we cohabit with Covid)

When the 12 week thing came up, the few of us who supported it were saying that it was unfair to blame the government, they were doing what the experts said they should do. So now that the experts have been proved correct, its unfair to say the government are responsible for doing the right thing and not going against expert advice. Or even Joan Bakewell's advice.

I love the idea that the scientists will just go back to their research after all this is over. ? Back to the lab, Igor......

Alegrias1 I hope that they do go back to their labs as the research and analytical work they do is immensely important for the population of the world along with the planet.

They are still in the labs GG13. They've never left.

Alegrias1

They are still in the labs GG13. They've never left.

I should hope so, other than various TV / Radio interviews / COBRA meetings of course

The virus can only enter the country from abroad, so I do feel that arrivals to this country should have been stopped much sooner right from the very start. Freight only, no passengers from covid countries except returning Brits who should be locked up in a hotel on arrival. Inconvenient yes, but a stitch in time saves nine. Australia and New Zealand have been very strict in this respect. If this had been implemented we might have had very few deaths all along. So in my opinion that was the worst mistake of all. I'd have blocked entry from China in January 2020 for a start. China's mistake was not closing its borders, which allowed the virus to spread across the world.

GrannyGravy13

Alegrias1

They are still in the labs GG13. They've never left.

I should hope so, other than various TV / Radio interviews / COBRA meetings of course

The people doing most of the work are the people we've never heard of.

The NHS and the scientists have worked so hard with vaccinations and have been let down by the Indian variant being allowed to enter the country.
If those who live here had to come home from abroad they should have been made to isolate in hotels.

Alegrias1

GrannyGravy13

Alegrias1

They are still in the labs GG13. They've never left.

I should hope so, other than various TV / Radio interviews / COBRA meetings of course

The people doing most of the work are the people we've never heard of.

Yep, I am aware of that.

It is the Governments place to act (or not) on advice given the buck stops at the Governments door,..

And if the government doesn't take their advice and it results in thousands of unecessary deaths then we have every right to criticise and blame them for it.

Let's have a look at the, yet again, late December lockdown results

Deaths in one week in January (government figures). I was crying many times when I recorded these.

Starting on Thurs 14th Jan.

14th Jan 1,248
15th Jan 1,280
16th Jan 1,295
17th Jan 671 (Saturday)
18th Jan 599 (Sunday)
19th Jan 1,610
20th Jan 1,820

8,523 deaths in one week.

It started to diminish in February, coming down to about 3,000 a week at the end of Feb.

All because the irresponsible government wouldn't take the scientists' advice.

Why anyone should think that prolonged lockdown and deaths on this scale helped the economy at all is completely beyond me.

GrannyGravy13

I posted earlier on this thread could you imagine the headlines
UK Nationals stranded in Covid hot spot India the Government would have been condemned from every quarter, especially if it was found that Doctors and Nurses were amongst the numbers?

Perhaps sometimes we could introduce common sense in discussions here? The Government could have easily allowed UK residents to return from India, with resident status checked and proper testing.

But no, flights continued for anyone, without proper checks- just walking in at airports. In fact, at airports, ever since the first lock down- there have been no checks ar airports, no signage to explain what to do, etc, for most of the time. And not just from India.

We need an enquiry to start soon about the handling of the pandemic. It could take years.

I am more concerned about what is happening now. The same mistakes again.

As for Labour not being trusted with the economy

''Brexit hit: City of London suffers £2.3 trillion derivatives loss in a single month ''

and that is not counting the massive loss of 'normal' commerce, billions as well.