- Location
- Hereford
Personally I think the GVT have performed brilliantly. No-one could have foreseen this . I dread to think what Corbyn , McDonald and Abbot would have done .
Clap for carers
- Thread starter JP1
- Start date
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
Couldn’t agree more !
But who would want to be a politician in their position right now?
Didn’t this country learn something over the whole Brexit shambles?
After all the media hype and shite stirring the opposition parties caused, finally we put it back to the country in the GE and got rather a conclusive answer.
But no, now they switch to having a go at them precisely at the time of a National Emergency. I had to turn of Question Time on Thursday, it made me so angry!
What makes it worse is that Cressida Dic - the most senior police officer in the U.K. - was among them
Hmmm. Mutterings among senior Tory MPs that there are monumental f**k ups going on behind the scenes and great arguments about exit strategies.
Personally I think they are wobbling and desperately need Johnson back front and centre.
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
Not sure that they are wobbling and no doubt that in hindsight, they will discover a few mistakes were made.
However, they have to rely on Scientific advice at the time.
Yes, Boris back at the helm would be a good thing.
But to imagine that any of our politicians aren’t doing their utmost to sort any problems out is utter poppycock!
Then to have the utter ars-holes that our media and opposition MP’s have become, still think it fair game to criticise and point score in a time of National Emergency is an utter disgrace!
Trouble is is that at the moment they are ruling by public consent. Without a clear exit strategy, they risk losing that consent. You only need to see how the government had to come down on plod when plod started to “misinterpret” lockdown rules.
There has been a distinct lack of clarity and too much reliance on scientific advisors who seem to contradict each other on a daily basis
- Location
- sw scotland
Very difficult for them but the feeling just now is that they are trying to keep up with events and lagging 24 hours behind the news.
First it was testing, then PPE use, then spreading through care homes ( having not counted them yet in England at least) and now PPE again.
The problem is that we do not make much in UK any more but some of the changes show that we still have lots of clever scientists and engineers. The PPE cannot be difficult to produce from a few clothing factories who just should have been given the green light 6 weeks ago.
The distribution of PPE should be the easy bit. A driver told me that when the food shelves were cleared Heinz shifted 8000 pallets of baked beans in 24 hours from any lorry available to empty the warehouse.
First it was testing, then PPE use, then spreading through care homes ( having not counted them yet in England at least) and now PPE again.
The problem is that we do not make much in UK any more but some of the changes show that we still have lots of clever scientists and engineers. The PPE cannot be difficult to produce from a few clothing factories who just should have been given the green light 6 weeks ago.
The distribution of PPE should be the easy bit. A driver told me that when the food shelves were cleared Heinz shifted 8000 pallets of baked beans in 24 hours from any lorry available to empty the warehouse.
The reality is that the government were caught with their pants down. As soon as the virus crossed the Chinese border they should have started preparing not when it touched down in the U.K.
Any f**king “model” should have predicted that the global movement of people on the scale that it was was going to spread the virus pdq
You do wonder what goes on in Westminster sometimes
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
There might be a distinct increase in clarity and public consent if our media would stop shite-stirring. There can be no exit strategy until the virus comes under better control.
I see no risk whatsoever of our government loosing its consent. In fact, quite the contrary!
Just look at the shambles of the Labour Party having just got its new leader is in.
Even the likes of Jess Phillips, who I must admit I quite respect, on the Peston program on Wednesday, did herself absolutely no favours at all.
Everything we do comes down to scientific advise. Yes there is bound to be conflicting advise. But blaming our politicians for not following it when they clearly are, isn’t right.
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
It puzzles me why anybody expects the government (no matter who they are) to be competent at anything. They are not politicians that have suddenly appeared from somewhere, they have been in the limelight for long enough for us all to know what to expect of them.
I am very relieved it wasn't Corbyn and his crew though.
As with all major events we will see afterwards just how many cockups there were and there will be plenty.
I am very relieved it wasn't Corbyn and his crew though.
As with all major events we will see afterwards just how many cockups there were and there will be plenty.
Yes, they were too slow. Or maybe not severe enough starting off. Overcrowded free for all in supermarkets, London parks full during the first weekend of the lockdown, and twa-ts visiting beauty spots in North Wales and Cumbria en mass.
Planes should have been grounded sooner, and the lockdown started earlier, but a lot of the blame has to fall on the behavior of the general public. Even now some don't seem to be taking the lockdown seriously.
- Location
- Limousin
The government was too slow reacting to this epidemic, just as the Labour government was too slow reacting to 2001 FMD outbreak. Both relied on epidemiological advice on how to react, from the same group at Imperial college. 
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
It is easy to lay blame at the governments door but looking at the hard facts tells a different story.
Firstly, the Chinese did no reveal till far too late , the real extent of the problem. For a long time sticking to the story of no person to person infection. Then and fairly certainly now, drastically under reporting the scale of deaths.
Wuhan should have been shut down in December at the latest. Flights should have been stopped etc.
Sadly governments in the West followed the official advice from WHO for far too long. Trump is correct, it appears the WHO leadership is kow towing to the Chinese, cannot think why except probably back handers.
Believing this epidemic would be relatively easy to contain as SARS, MERS were action was slow. The outbreaks across Europe took all by surprise, in their ferocity and speed, only one government seemed to be in a serious position to contain it, possibly helped by having large stocks of equipment and chemicals in store. also their population has a historic notion of doing things as they are told.
At the end of the day , how many people die of this virus , will be the true test and whether the German , Italian , British or even the Swedish response will be judged the best, it will be a long time until we know.
sadly many people will lose loved ones and many peoples dreams and futures will be destroyed
Firstly, the Chinese did no reveal till far too late , the real extent of the problem. For a long time sticking to the story of no person to person infection. Then and fairly certainly now, drastically under reporting the scale of deaths.
Wuhan should have been shut down in December at the latest. Flights should have been stopped etc.
Sadly governments in the West followed the official advice from WHO for far too long. Trump is correct, it appears the WHO leadership is kow towing to the Chinese, cannot think why except probably back handers.
Believing this epidemic would be relatively easy to contain as SARS, MERS were action was slow. The outbreaks across Europe took all by surprise, in their ferocity and speed, only one government seemed to be in a serious position to contain it, possibly helped by having large stocks of equipment and chemicals in store. also their population has a historic notion of doing things as they are told.
At the end of the day , how many people die of this virus , will be the true test and whether the German , Italian , British or even the Swedish response will be judged the best, it will be a long time until we know.
sadly many people will lose loved ones and many peoples dreams and futures will be destroyed
Couple of points .... or more
1. Any government believing Chinese figures is - shall we say - being a tad foolish
2. South Korea would have been a better example for establishing veracity of the infection rates etc
3. WHO is increasingly funded by China. In fact they have already stated that they will make up the shortfall in US funding hence why WHO soft soaped and should have been marginalised from the outset
4. Modelling the epidemic has produced too much conflicting science AND it is important in my opinion to note that the modellers are almost exclusively London based universities with institutes from further afield such as Liverpool being marginalised ... ear of the Government etc
caveman
Member
- Location
- East Sussex.
Isn't the Bill Gates Foundation the second largest or so contributor to the WHO?
Now then. No conspiracy theories needed.
Now then. No conspiracy theories needed.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
The proportion of funding the Chinese have pumped into the WHO is minimal they don't even make the top 9
USA and the UK dominate the funding with US contributions 10 times Canada's the 9th largest.
There has been an intriguing situation at the top of the WHO which has been dominated by the African Nations. One suspects this has been allowed since they are by far the largest recipients of the WHO largesse, accusations of Colonial domination would be likely.
The present director had a very interesting choice for Health Ambassador for the WHO to the UN but pressure stopped him appointing that most famous professor of Medicine a certain Robert Mugabe, and I think that says lot about the organisation.
China's influence there is purely political and most likely bribery , nothing to do with funding of the WHO!
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
They are by far and away the largest voluntary contributor having given something like 1.5 billion over 10 years which I think comes close or more than most European countries
Not so. Assessed payments (non voluntary)
US net payable 2020/21 $230m
China. $114m
Germany $58m
U.K. $43m
And so on
How WHO is funded
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
My figures, I believe are the latest, fully correlated and refer to actual payments for 2018. There is a huge disparity between assessed and actually paid
Not going to argue old bean but Trumpy’s inward navel gazing is creating a power vacuum on the world stage in to China is stepping with some alacrity
Instead if shouting “Yee Ha”, we’ll be yelling “Ah so”