Opinions on how the Government have handled the coronavirus outbreak

[Copperblue]

The evidence is mounting........

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... are_btn_fb

[Copperblue]

I miss live sport on TV

Looks like: Merkel 4 - Johnson 0

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52379825

[CN211276]

I miss live sport on TV

Looks like: Merkel 4 - Johnson 0

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52379825

It was never going to go to penalties. Think it could be some time before I renew my Sky Sports subscription.

[slinger]

[CN211276]

Widely reported that Demonic Cummings has attended meetings of the senior medical advisors to the Goverment. This seems to be unprecidented as the group is supposed to be politicaly independent. It is a scary situation and goes a long way to explaining why the restrictions came in far too late. He would not want anything making worse the economic damage caused by Brexshite. There should be a Public Inquiry with the Government facing manslaughter charges at the end of it.

[savvypaul]

The risk, for the government, is that the public no longer believe that they are 'being led by the science'.

Seeking to minimise damage to the economy, without dramatic increases in health risk, is a dilemma that all nations will face.

There is nothing criminal about the government's decisions. There won't be any criminal trials. If the public think the government have taken bad decisions, they can vote them out.

[CN211276]

It is clear that there was a lack of PPE, despite warnings for some time that a pandemic was a possibility. Mass gatherings went on for too long, most notably Cheltenham. Locally, two Stereophonics sell out concerts took place in the Cardiff arena shortly before lockdown. The football authorities showed a lot more responsibilty suspending the season before the Goverment acted.

[savvypaul]

It is clear that there was a lack of PPE, despite warnings for some time that a pandemic was a possibility. Mass gatherings went on for too long, most notably Cheltenham. Locally, two Stereophonics sell out concerts took place in the Cardiff arena shortly before lockdown. The football authorities showed a lot more responsibilty suspending the season before the Goverment acted.

Yep. I'd agree with all of that.

[slinger]

In this BBC article on Cummings attending the SAGE meetings, it says that: "A No 10 spokesman said...'Public confidence in the media has collapsed during this emergency partly because of ludicrous stories such as this.'"

I'd say that despite confidence in the media not exactly being high, the real problem is that confidence in the government has plummeted, and two paragraphs below one of the main reasons, in my opinion, is mentioned. "The make-up of the committee has been kept secret - although individual members can disclose they are part of the group - and its advice has been given to ministers but has not been made public."

The lack of transparency allows and even encourages the press to speculate, with no confirmations and no credible denials, for the most part, it's no wonder we're all inclined to think the worst when the horror stories of government ineptitude and apparent cold-blooded disregard for human life appear.

Back to Cummings and SAGE, I was not exactly shocked. For a long time, I've wondered how much of the "scientific advice" that the government keeps assuring us it's following has been written for the scientists, or "interpreted" by SPADS and ministers long before that advice is released publicly, especially when that advice seems to me to change horses midstream or is self-contradictory or is ignoring W.H.O. guidelines.

[savvypaul]

I know where you're coming from, but I don't see any firm evidence that confidence in the government has plummeted among the wider population. The only poll I've seen still showed positive confidence ratings for Johnson (much higher positive ratings for Witty, though).

I think we're still at the stage where the majority of the public are just happy to be told what to do.