O/T:- ⚠️Impressed with the leadership [The UK Party Politics Thread]

[Mapperleypie]

If a foreign country has a lot of deaths it's because they've massaged the figures upwards to get bailouts. If they have low figures it's because they're massaging the figures downwards to look better.

The only country telling the truth is good old blighty, and probably some of the ex colonies because they also inherited the Anglo-Saxon honesty gene.

Yep, that's the argument. Good old British exceptionalism - partly why we have one of the highest tolls in the world.

As the bodies were piling up in Italy and Spain they were easily dismissed as just being poorly managed backwaters.

[TheBlackHorse]

... still don't quite get it do you Mappy ... lies, damn lies and statistics, oh, and Uncle Jo ...

[pingu_pie]

Yep, that's the argument. Good old British exceptionalism - partly why we have one of the highest tolls in the world.

As the bodies were piling up in Italy and Spain they were easily dismissed as just being poorly managed backwaters.

I've mentioned him on here before, but once again the column by MD in the latest Private Eye is well worth a read for anyone prepared to / has the ability to read and think critically.

A week late on the recommendation as I have a subscription and the post is only being delivered weekly at the moment where I'm living, but, honestly, the magazine is worth buying even just for his columns alone right now.

[BigFatPie]

I've mentioned him on here before, but once again the column by MD in the latest Private Eye is well worth a read for anyone prepared to / has the ability to read and think critically.

A week late on the recommendation as I have a subscription and the post is only being delivered weekly at the moment where I'm living, but, honestly, the magazine is worth buying even just for his columns alone right now.

.

I’ve been meaning to subscribe to Private Eye for a while, but your post has spurred me into action. It seems as good a time as any, cheers.

[pingu_pie]

... still don't quite get it do you Mappy ... lies, damn lies and statistics, oh, and Uncle Jo ...

I think he does get it, he's just wondering why you think all the other countries are lying but our government (yours, really, now I've left) - full of proven speakers of truth, of course - are telling it straight.

Same thing the rest of us will be wondering, I imagine. I'm not really sure what Yoseb Vissarionovich Dzhughashvili's comments regarding the gulags has to do with coronavirus either, but hey ho.

[TheBlackHorse]

... ping ... I didn't say our Gov was telling the truth. Uncle Jo - words to the effect that once you get past 20m dead the numbers don't matter ...

[pingu_pie]

... ping ... I didn't say our Gov was telling the truth. Uncle Jo - words to the effect that once you get past 20m dead the numbers don't matter ...

So why single out "other countries"?

So far, the only data we have is the data we have. The UK doesn't exactly look great. Nor does the USA. Others look suspiciously low; China and Russia spring to mind. Brazil looks amazingly high, considering their President doesn't even seem to think it exists.

However, New Zealand and Australia look to have done a very good job. And Germany is looking a lot better than us, and they don't even have the benefit of being an island. So, there is a question to ask there. Maybe the UK is counting cases the Germans wouldn't, and it's a purely statistical aberration as you want it to be. Maybe it's that those countries decided to be proactive instead of trying to use bluster and not missing out on holidays that has led to actual success. So it's a fair question, ne c'est pas?

[Elite_Pie]

So far, the only data we have is the data we have.

And based on the data we use, the government's chief scientific adviser said that if we limit the death toll to 20,000 we will have done a good job.

Seeing as the death toll is 26,000 and rising, that must mean the government have done a bad job.

[drillerpie]

I think the UK govt's slides say which countries count deaths from the virus and which ones deaths with the virus (from memory, Germany from and most other major countries with).

You can also find out which countries count deaths in hospitals only, and which countries count deaths in hospitals and care homes. Since yesterday the UK has added deaths in care homes, previously it was just hospitals.

From memory I think France and Belgium have always counted deaths in care homes in their figures, but may be wrong. All the info is out there anyway.

[Old_pie]

And based on the data we use, the government's chief scientific adviser said that if we limit the death toll to 20,000 we will have done a good job.

Seeing as the death toll is 26,000 and rising, that must mean the government have done a bad job.

Bit like saying we would do well to keep the score down to 0-3 v Man City then losing 0-5 ain't it?