I think the experts have been played Ed. No shame on them but they were outmanoeuvred by the politicians. Since I was a kid I’ve realised that cute (as cute hoor ) beats clever. A few have stood their ground, notably Devi Sridhar. She hasn’t failed to speak truth to power (and tell them they are blithering idiots in the nicest possible way).
As did a young female professor (who’s name I cannot remember) on CH4 news last night. She barely managed to contain her anger and contempt for a Crombie clad Tory MP still wittering on about shielding the vulnerable. That might be feasible in the detached five bedders in leafy Toryland but not so easy for the three generations jammed into a council flat. Even though he had been made look a fool the MP seemed delighted at the end. He’d been on " the telly" and the Tory faithful in his constituency would have lapped it up.
I see Michael Gove has said that the EU will be to blame if brexit causes border chaos in January because of its “rules are rules” approach…
(Sorry - wrong thread!)
But wasn’t that if the virus was left unchecked? I believe there has been further restrictions and a lockdown since then. Hardly surprising that the 4,000 deaths per day never materialised.
Izzy x
Agreed but why on earth come out with such an outrageous comment ?
It caused undue fear into an already worried UK public. Mr Whitty actually commented a few days later that he had overestimated the possible death toll.
It reflects my total lack of respect for him.
I can apologize if it will make you feel better ?
Though there must be more important things to worry about.
Just what we all expected. Geof. I saw an interview with Johnson yesterday where he said “there’s a deal there if our European friendss want it”. He’s in take it or leave it mode. I think any deal agreed at this stage won’t be much different that a no deal. One way or the other negotiations and disagreements will continue for years to come.
IMO absolutely Jane, and the 70% which was based on the 90% too.
The only thing they actually understood at announcement was the 62%. They could have said that they see the potential to improve on that when they understand the 1½ dose impact and when they test that 1½ dose impact on over 55s. Instead the actually pre-announced the 90%.
Come on Edward, Chill as my daughter would say Next you’ll be scolding me calling the Home Secretary Shitty Patel. Let’s face it, it describes her perfectly
Wow - I would love to agree but unfortunately the approach of the UK government has been an absolute shambles. There are so many countries in the world that have handled this better (New Zealand, South Korea, Japan etc) - the UK has the fifth worst deaths per capita in the world - see: COVID-19 deaths per capita by country | Statista
The testing element and PPE approach has been appalling and has only served “friends” of the government with a small number of people getting very rich indeed.
I would have loved UK to have performed brilliantly with Covid - but unfortunately and all too predictably this current government has not.
I have to say that, although it won’t drive me away from reading items on the forum, I do share the view that some of you are anti-UK as a matter of course. I also dislike the childish misspellings of people’s names, even if they are politicians for whom I have little respect. Perhaps your prejudice against your former country is a way of reinforcing the feeling that you made the right decision in leaving the UK because “look at the state it is in now”. I am not a supporter of either Brexit or Johnson!
Good comment Ronald. That certainly isa well known phenomenon, which applies to everyone and every decision, whether consciously or not.
However, I think you are conflating (I love that word) a hatred of the UK leadership with a hatred of the UK. It’s arguable that people are so incensed by the UK (as opposed to the competent Scottish example) leadership is because they are very fond of Britain and lament what is being done to her.
If it upsets you I won’t write Shitty Patel anymore but I will write that I and many, many other people all over the UK, including Sir Philip Rutnam and Sir Alex Allan, think she is a total shit.
It’s nothing short of a tragedy to see Britain beimg steered by a bunch of lying, selfish under performers just when she needs the brightest and the best to steer her through Covid and Brexit.
Given what that shower are up to a think a spot of, albeit childish, name calling is quite a minor issue. But as I say, from now on all my misspellings will be unintentional.
There may be an element of reinforcing the feeling that we’ve made the right decision - but another factor - in my case at least - is that we saw the UK messing up politically and economically over a long period, and this was among the factors that led us to move - ie. the problems we see in the UK are not a rationalisation after the move, but a contributing cause of the move.
The UK took a wrong turn in 1979 with the election of Thatcher. Fair enough - all countries make mistakes, but it never really corrected it (as Gove has recently said, it is only now that the Tories are beginning to abandon neo-liberalism). This failure was the main factor in the UK being worse affected by the 2008 financial crash - the response to which should have been massive public spending (when the private sector contracts the public sector must to expand). When the Tory/LibDem coalition embarked on austerity - ie. taking the very opposite of a rational course - I despaired of UK politics (in large part because it was the LibDems, who I had occasionally voted for in the past, as well as the Tories).
This was not, obviously, the main reason for emigrating - there were many other factors and circumstances involved in the decision - but it was one factor.
I don’t have any bad feeling towards the UK or its people - but I have thought for a long time that it has got itself into an awful political and economic mess.
The other side of this particular topic, of course, is the question of why some people take criticism of the UK government to be anti-British - it reminds me of those ‘leavers’ in the brexit debate that saw any positive comment on the EU as unpatriotic…
What an excellent post Geoff, it sums up most of my views . I have GB and French nationality having family in both countries. I have spent most of my life in France since 1972 but spent my formative years in GB. I have paid my fair share of taxes to HM as well as France and retain the right to criticise and praise them accordingly. I am NOT unpatriotic but do despair at times when I see either country being badly run.
Boris via his inept advisors has made a pigs ear of running the country in his short time at the helm. Macron has done better but has also made errors which he at least has had the guts to admit.
) beats clever. A few have stood their ground, notably Devi Sridhar. She hasn’t failed to speak truth to power (and tell them they are blithering idiots in the nicest possible way).
but I will write that I and many, many other people all over the UK, including Sir Philip Rutnam and Sir Alex Allan, think she is a total shit.
