There are a few threads on Twitter documenting the monumental incompetence of the government - eg this one detailing how they went about procuring ventilators
https://twitter.com/pmdfoster/status/1251434219139665920
There’s another somewhere from a small manufacturer who could have supplied PPE but was just ignored.
Apparently firms have made PPE but since it’s the first time they’ve made this product it has to be “approved” as meeting the standards before they can sent it out, and guess what, they are waiting for the government to approve it. Might be BBC or Guardian, can’t remember which, I’ve looked at both today.
But they’ve been busy setting up government Taskforces which are somehow supposed to fasttrack the development of a vaccine. You might have thought things would move faster if the government would just let the researchers get on with it, but they seem to think a Taskforce is needed. Probably its main function will to be to take the credit if Britain wins the vaccine race.
Well, when one considerers that the PM is a devious, lying bastard and that he selected a cabinet of sycophantic underachievers it’s not surprising that they’ve screwed up at every turn.
Hancock’s latest answer to the PPE gown issue is that he needs a magic wand. Just like Teresa May needed a magic money tree to pay nurses fairly. Theresa May prompts anger after telling nurse who hasn't had pay rise for eight years: 'There's no magic money tree' | The Independent | The Independent
He boasted at the Select Committee that 55,000 gowns were on the way. He neglected to mention that 150,000 are required daily. I have long despised the way ministers deflect by giving absolute numbers that have no relevance to the actual requirements.
Raab looks like a rabbit in the headlamps. Gove got his daughter tested when doctors and nurses were not. The drive-thru testing centres seem empty.
Apart from IDS, Trump like, advocating opening up ASAP the ERG seems strangely quiet.
How come Bojo got to go to his holiday home when normal punters didn’t? If he was able to run the Country from an ICU bed surely he should be contributing more from the luxury surroundings of Chequers. Is he self isolating from the inevitable fallout from this shambles? Hancock and Raab would make wonderful scapegoats. Is they why cunning Priti Patel is hiding out od sight?
Bizarrely, Hunt who wrecked the NHS from 2012 to 2017 is the only senior Tory making any sense. His interview on Ch4 news last night was interesting.
… and as someone pointed out - he even managed to “pop in” to Downing Street to do a video before risking life and limb in a Police escorted dash to Buckinghamshire 
I’m not sure many governments are going to come out of this with much credit.
I heard this as well. It is total incompetence. What is the point of giving themselves huge powers if some petty civil servant insists on following ‘the rules’?
It makes one feel physically sick.
I have heard that both Burberry and Barbour are making gowns. One would have thought that, given the pattern ,their machinists could follow that just as well as when they are turning out high end clothing.
II I think NZ are the only ones handling this anything like competently, their PM is doing an amazing job.
She handled the mosque killings as well. I think you are right, she is doing an amazing job. She told it to them straight, not like BoJo who listened to those who said that a lock down would cause huge mental health problems. I wonder how they feel now we have more deaths than other countries and still mounting?
As I understand things the gowns have to comply with WHO standards so whilst Burberry and other suppliers can produce thousands daily they have to wait until these are approved before production can begin. Similarly Dyson’s ventilators haven’t got approval so cannot be used and it took several weeks before the Mercedes F1 consortium’s CPAP device was given the okay and this is now in production.
You would have expected Sweden to have a massive death toll as they didn’t lock down at all, but looks like that is not the case. I guess comparing countries responses is the least important thing right now. The worlds focus has to be on vaccine as experts seriously doubt people have immunity, finger pointing should come very much later!Oops, I’ll try that again a bit later, looks like I had a glitch!,
Just edit the post, take out the redundant spaces at the start and it will reformat correctly…
I think it’s time to get the OH to look at it, I appear to have done something odd, which is quite normal for me.
Can’t find it now but didn’t someone post that total deaths in the uk in March weren’t significantly up? Strange why the figures in France are so different - 35%, 50+% higher week on week.
Closer to home, the Irish PM has done an amazing job too IMO. I suspect the fact that he’s a doctor allowed him to recognise the extent of the risk early on and mobilise quickly and shutdown early.
I feel so, so sorry for the brave, dedicated people in the NHS front line and the carers. More lions led by donkeys.
There is no time to wait. they need to get their finger out!
Are you confusing the average figures for U.K. deaths in March and the 2020 deaths including COVID-19?
I’ve no idea what I’m confusing it with. The internaute piece rang a vague bell with a post from yesterday or the day before but I’ve slept since then 
And the 1st week in April shows 6000 excess deaths - your point is?