Quote Originally Posted by Geoff Parkstone View Post
Im not sure quite how "economic giant status" - sarcasm noted - is relevant to covid death rates since low per capita death rates also occur in less economically advantaged places such as Namibia, Lebanon and Kosovo.

Yes we could have done better, others did. We made mistakes, in some cases acted too late, and arguably could have sustained lower death totals perhaps. But also bear in mind we have an average older population as well which will spike our numbers upwards.

My point is that you simply picked a number to support your argument, which is no way to win the debate, even in rArA Land. You have to test your argument against a statistical data set, not just leap on the first number that matches your desired outcome.

IMHO no-one can get an A rating in fighting an unknown pandemic, there were no rules to follow. No matter how much you think other major economic powers did better than us, no-one really did significantly better, nor adopted much different policies. So I'm sorry I cannot and will not accept the "Boris done bad" argument other than in a very minimal way.

I'd rate us maybe a B-/C+ overall on a scale of A to E where no-one gets an A. But that's using a measured data analytics approach rather than an emotional based politically driven motive!
I think it’s not unreasonable to suppose that financially well off countries are in a better position to protect themselves against the various causes of various diseases than the poorer ones...although I accept that the USA seems to be doing its best to disprove this theory.

I didn’t in any way ‘pick a number’. The numbers are out there...157,730 was the total number of Covid related UK deaths earlier this afternoon...Fact. That was the highest number of such nation defined deaths reported throughout Europe also earlier this afternoon...Fact. It is higher than all the comparable EU/Western European nations...Fact.

There is no ‘emotional based politically driven motive’ in saying so. Where there is a ‘politically driven motive’ is in Johnson repeatedly avoiding questions about his own behaviour and ‘leadership’ by deflecting and entering self back slapping mode to tell us all how brilliantly he and his Government have handled the pandemic.

It’s not true. They did well as far as the vaccine roll out is concerned...B+ in your terms...but having the highest number of Covid related deaths in Europe is not at all good...D- if you like...and we haven’t even got into the other Covid related scandal yet. So ask yourself who’s being selective with the stats?