O/T:- Impressed with the leadership

[sidders]

Still impressed with the leadership, Banjo, or are you now starting to feel a little embarrassed? Or maybe you think topping the Euros table for COVID-19 deaths is an accomplishment. This might just be why it's happened -

But between January and March 23 - when lockdown came into force - more than 18million entered Britain without screening for the deadly disease.

Although the figures include arrivals from all destinations, the Home Office believes tens of thousands of these would come from countries ravaged by the disease.

Labour MP and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Stephen Doughty, said the startling figures "beggar belief".

He told the newspaper: "On what scientific basis were a handful of flights from Wuhan and one from a Tokyo singled out for extreme attention? But not a single flight from Northern Italy, Spain or the US?

“The fact that many of these people then likely arrived and travelled onwards across the UK with little or no adherence to social distancing, and with no checks or protections at the border – barely a whiff of hand sanitiser – is deeply disturbing. Let alone the arrival of 3,000 fans from Madrid as the pandemic picked up speed.

“Yet arrivals continue to this day – with no formal quarantine requirements. It is simply staggering. Who made these decisions? And on what basis?”

NO CHECKS ON TRAVELLERS
It comes just weeks after Matt Hancock revealed at least 15,000 people a day are flying into the UK without health checks.

The Health Secretary said the equivalent of 105,000 passengers a week were entering the UK from countries including those with serious coronavirus outbreaks - including the US, China, Spain and Italy.

Pressure has been mounting on the government over its failure to impose health checks or an isolation period for people arriving at UK airports.

But the government insists routine health screening for all passengers on arrival would do nothing to halt the spread of the disease because of the scale of the outbreak in the UK.

[navypie]

Still impressed with the leadership, Banjo, or are you now starting to feel a little embarrassed? Or maybe you think topping the Euros table for COVID-19 deaths is an accomplishment. This might just be why it's happened -

But between January and March 23 - when lockdown came into force - more than 18million entered Britain without screening for the deadly disease.

Although the figures include arrivals from all destinations, the Home Office believes tens of thousands of these would come from countries ravaged by the disease.

Labour MP and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Stephen Doughty, said the startling figures "beggar belief".

He told the newspaper: "On what scientific basis were a handful of flights from Wuhan and one from a Tokyo singled out for extreme attention? But not a single flight from Northern Italy, Spain or the US?

“The fact that many of these people then likely arrived and travelled onwards across the UK with little or no adherence to social distancing, and with no checks or protections at the border – barely a whiff of hand sanitiser – is deeply disturbing. Let alone the arrival of 3,000 fans from Madrid as the pandemic picked up speed.

“Yet arrivals continue to this day – with no formal quarantine requirements. It is simply staggering. Who made these decisions? And on what basis?”

NO CHECKS ON TRAVELLERS
It comes just weeks after Matt Hancock revealed at least 15,000 people a day are flying into the UK without health checks.

The Health Secretary said the equivalent of 105,000 passengers a week were entering the UK from countries including those with serious coronavirus outbreaks - including the US, China, Spain and Italy.

Pressure has been mounting on the government over its failure to impose health checks or an isolation period for people arriving at UK airports.

But the government insists routine health screening for all passengers on arrival would do nothing to halt the spread of the disease because of the scale of the outbreak in the UK.

Do you know if those arriving via the Royal Navy cross channel ferry service are tested?

[Elite_Pie]

For me, the 'leadership' hit a disturbing new low the other day, when the utterly useless Matt Hancock actually did a great Donald Trump impersonation! He congratulated himself profusely for achieving what he described as an "audacious target" of 100,000 tests per day. His claim was proved to be a complete lie, but it was the self-congratulatory tone that was sickening. It seemed a definite move towards Trumpism, where you make a complete f@ck up of the situation but tell people you have done a brilliant job in the hope that some dimwits are sucked in. I just wonder whether this outright lying came from Hancock himself, or whether it is now a strategy decided by the leader (Dominic Cummings).
With the failure by our government becoming more apparent by the day*, expect to see and hear more of this.

* Note to Soccerman, seriouspie, TheBlackHorse & Co. I know you will never, ever consider that a single word of criticism against this government might be valid, so allow me to help you out with your excuses:

1. We are the only country being honest with the figures, all the others are lying.
2. It would have been even worse with Corbyn in charge.
3. Typical whinging from lefty losers.

Are there any I've missed?

[magpie_mania]

For me, the 'leadership' hit a disturbing new low the other day, when the utterly useless Matt Hancock actually did a great Donald Trump impersonation! He congratulated himself profusely for achieving what he described as an "audacious target" of 100,000 tests per day. His claim was proved to be a complete lie, but it was the self-congratulatory tone that was sickening. It seemed a definite move towards Trumpism, where you make a complete f@ck up of the situation but tell people you have done a brilliant job in the hope that some dimwits are sucked in. I just wonder whether this outright lying came from Hancock himself, or whether it is now a strategy decided by the leader (Dominic Cummings).
With the failure by our government becoming more apparent by the day*, expect to see and hear more of this.

* Note to Soccerman, seriouspie, TheBlackHorse & Co. I know you will never, ever consider that a single word of criticism against this government might be valid, so allow me to help you out with your excuses:

1. We are the only country being honest with the figures, all the others are lying.
2. It would have been even worse with Corbyn in charge.
3. Typical whinging from lefty losers.

Are there any I've missed?

4. We are having to sort out the mess Labour left us with (10 years ago!)

[queenslandpie]

For me, the 'leadership' hit a disturbing new low the other day, when the utterly useless Matt Hancock actually did a great Donald Trump impersonation! He congratulated himself profusely for achieving what he described as an "audacious target" of 100,000 tests per day. His claim was proved to be a complete lie, but it was the self-congratulatory tone that was sickening. It seemed a definite move towards Trumpism, where you make a complete f@ck up of the situation but tell people you have done a brilliant job in the hope that some dimwits are sucked in. I just wonder whether this outright lying came from Hancock himself, or whether it is now a strategy decided by the leader (Dominic Cummings).
With the failure by our government becoming more apparent by the day*, expect to see and hear more of this.

* Note to Soccerman, seriouspie, TheBlackHorse & Co. I know you will never, ever consider that a single word of criticism against this government might be valid, so allow me to help you out with your excuses:

1. We are the only country being honest with the figures, all the others are lying.
2. It would have been even worse with Corbyn in charge.
3. Typical whinging from lefty losers.

Are there any I've missed?

To be fair Elite it probably would have been worse with Corbyn in charge, although it does look a right bloody mess. Would you have wanted that lot looking after this mess? Diane Abbot managing the procurement of facemasks. Bloody hell!

[Mapperleypie]

To be fair Elite it probably would have been worse with Corbyn in charge, although it does look a right bloody mess. Would you have wanted that lot looking after this mess? Diane Abbot managing the procurement of facemasks. Bloody hell!

In fairness QP you have to hold the government of the day to account for their actions, not some theoretical government with imagined outcomes.

This government has failed miserably with COVID-19 and way more people in this country have died than ever needed to with adequate planning - especially given the head-start we had.

There is no leadership to be impressed with or otherwise, it's just a series of measures to pass-the-buck and distract the public as the death toll rises.

[Notts78]

In fairness QP you have to hold the government of the day to account for their actions, not some theoretical government with imagined outcomes.

This government has failed miserably with COVID-19 and way more people in this country have died than ever needed to with adequate planning - especially given the head-start we had.

There is no leadership to be impressed with or otherwise, it's just a series of measures to pass-the-buck and distract the public as the death toll rises.

Thankfully Starmer is a bit more supportive of the initiatives and steps the Government has taken. He is probably relieved that Corbyn isn’t running the show as the UK would certainly be in a much worse place. Dianne Abbott giving daily updates congratulating the government on achieving its target of 8 billion tests a day.
All staff furloughed on 110% of normal salary. 800 new hospitals built in recorded time and (wo)manned accordingly. Hang on a minute we shouldn’t have needed the 800 hospitals because less people would have been infected under Labour so wouldn’t have needed hospital treatment.
All joking aside, sitting at the top of the tree in the EU for the number of deaths is sad to see. This government has clearly made mistakes, as I am 10000% convinced any government would have. However, we should put this League table in to context as we ordinarily sit near the top of the mortality tables in the EU along side Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
It’s easy for us all to sit here with hindsight and zero pressure of people’s deaths on our hands or how businesses will function when this is all done, or whether our economy recovers and provide could’ve, should’ve and would’ve opinions.
IMO it’s worth seeing the end result rather than where we sit now before assessing the Government’s performance in all of this. It’s a bit like getting up/down on where Notts sit in the League when there are still games to play.

[Disturbed]

There have been mistakes made by the government and no one can deny this, but when looking at the number of deaths and comparing them to other countries, then these figures can not be compared, since each country has a different way of reporting (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...y-rates-differ). The only way to compare the numbers is if all countries reported in the same way.
We can argue all day about the rights and wrongs, but no matter what, the government needs to learn from this in case a second wave of COVID hits and implement a better approach.

[Notts78]

There have been mistakes made by the government and no one can deny this, but when looking at the number of deaths and comparing them to other countries, then these figures can not be compared, since each country has a different way of reporting (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...y-rates-differ). The only way to compare the numbers is if all countries reported in the same way.
We can argue all day about the rights and wrongs, but no matter what, the government needs to learn from this in case a second wave of COVID hits and implement a better approach.

What would be a better approach though? (Waits for ‘not this one’)

[sidders]

If this is the best that care homes can do, how bad would it be with careless homes?

It's not just about the UK's mortality statistics, bad as they are. To those of us with long experience of how 'care' homes have been treated over the past generation, it is no surprise that deaths are occurring in them at such an awful rate.
How many Tory MP's have ever visited a Care home in their constituency? Why haven't 10 years of Tory rule seen any willingness to tackle social care at the end of people's lives?
This government will never learn, Disturbed, because they have no soul. Indeed, had Boris not been a victim of COVID-19 himself, things would have been dealt with even more callously.
Hancock's half hour? You're having a laugh. Even his own party have nicknamed him 'Hand job'.