It's happened again...

[Seeker]

...I've found myself agreeing with Piers Morgan.

https://tinyurl.com/yymdqgh5

[Bri w]

Hindsight never makes a mistake. Getting ahead of the curve about something that no one has ever experienced before is extremely difficult.

Is Piers Morgan right? He will be about some of it but he has that benefit of saying what should be done AFTER the fact. Its not hard at that point.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Bri w

Hindsight never makes a mistake. Getting ahead of the curve about something that no one has ever experienced before is extremely difficult.

Is Piers Morgan right? He will be about some of it but he has that benefit of saying what should be done AFTER the fact. Its not hard at that point.

True, as the Americans say: "hindsight is always 20/20"

However, BoZo has constantly been slow to react during this crisis. He didn't show up for the early COBRA meetings, he was still telling people he wouldn't stop shaking hands, he never closed the borders, he introduced the tier system not expecting people to drive from a high tier area to a lower one to get to a pub. Transferred patients from hospitals into care homes (with no testing), didn't supply PPE to care homes. Insisted that schools remain open. Resisted listening to the science... whilst claiming he was. Gave confusing messages about lockdown rules. His government (Priti Patel) then started a campaign to blame the public. We had two deputy Chief Constables on our local BBC channel and neither of them could say what "local" meant in terms of exercise.

They have been talking about quarantining arriving visitors since Friday and still not implemented it.

Piers was correct.

[DJ123]

Originally Posted by Seeker

True, as the Americans say: "hindsight is always 20/20"

However, BoZo has constantly been slow to react during this crisis. He didn't show up for the early COBRA meetings, he was still telling people he wouldn't stop shaking hands, he never closed the borders, he introduced the tier system not expecting people to drive from a high tier area to a lower one to get to a pub. Transferred patients from hospitals into care homes (with no testing), didn't supply PPE to care homes. Insisted that schools remain open. Resisted listening to the science... whilst claiming he was. Gave confusing messages about lockdown rules. His government (Priti Patel) then started a campaign to blame the public. We had two deputy Chief Constables on our local BBC channel and neither of them could say what "local" meant in terms of exercise.

They have been talking about quarantining arriving visitors since Friday and still not implemented it.

Piers was correct.

100% agree.

And this is only what you've heard - consider everything that hasn't been privy to the Public.

The quarantining visitors is laughable - why are you being forced to pay £100 a night in a $**** hotel, because i very much doubt your food is included in that price and will be on top of it.
As people are doing now when coming from banned countries they will do a stop off elsewhere so they come in under the radar.

[Bri w]

Originally Posted by Seeker

True, as the Americans say: "hindsight is always 20/20"

However, BoZo has constantly been slow to react during this crisis. He didn't show up for the early COBRA meetings, he was still telling people he wouldn't stop shaking hands, he never closed the borders, he introduced the tier system not expecting people to drive from a high tier area to a lower one to get to a pub. Transferred patients from hospitals into care homes (with no testing), didn't supply PPE to care homes. Insisted that schools remain open. Resisted listening to the science... whilst claiming he was. Gave confusing messages about lockdown rules. His government (Priti Patel) then started a campaign to blame the public. We had two deputy Chief Constables on our local BBC channel and neither of them could say what "local" meant in terms of exercise.

They have been talking about quarantining arriving visitors since Friday and still not implemented it.

Piers was correct.

Looking from outside the UK, I couldn't believe the Cheltenham Festival went ahead. But in terms of when the UK imposed its first lockdown and travel restrictions the UK wasn't that far behind other European countries.

Cobra meetings; does a PM attend every Cobra meeting? No they don't. Should he have been at all of them? Not sure he should but, again, in hindsight maybe he should have gone to more.

Transferring people out of hospitals into Care Homes to free up bed space; right idea but appallingly handled. Who is to blame for the implementation? BoJo? Hancock? Local health boards and Trusts?

Not getting PPE to Care Homes; 95% of Care Homes are private. Surely they are responsible for what's in their store cupboards.

Poor public response to the Tier system and the lack of responsibility shown by members of the public; over here in Spain the police powers of enforcement are stronger but there were €10m worth of fines in the first lockdown. People get fined more, and then more again if they argue. People have custodial sentences over here for breaking lockdown, and still there's people breaking the rules. How people respond is up to them, not Boris. Having rules and people following them is two very different things.

Quarantining visitors, or even allowing them in in the first place; you can't get into Spain without a Residencia permit, or are Spanish. Once here the Police visit every day to ensure you are self-isolating. Fined if you don't. Can people come and go in the UK as they please. I know of Brit Expats who have gone back to the UK and have been tracked every day.

As for talking about stopping people coming in and implementing it; Same here in Spain. It doesn't happen overnight. The current lockdown being a prime example. Notified on a Wednesday that there would be a meeting on the Friday. Announced on a Sunday - should say confirmed really. And implemented at midnight on the Tuesday night.

I'm no Boris fanboy. Personally, I think he's Trump-lite, and I'm shocked that the UK is daft enough to have its own version of Trump. But to blame him for everything, and out of the lips of someone like Piers Morgan...

In terms of enforcing lockdowns I'm happy to be here in Spain rather than the UK. As for the vaccine rollout, I wish I was in the UK.

But everything wrong? No, and definitely not from the lips of that waste of oxygen, Piers Morgan.

[Dave20046]

If I was in Boris' boots I'd just copy whatever Scotland or Ireland do and keep my job but noooooo

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Bri w

But in terms of when the UK imposed its first lockdown and travel restrictions the UK wasn't that far behind other European countries.

1 month: Italy 21st Feb, UK 16th Mar (but didn't start till 23rd)
At which point there were no checks on people coming into UK. The "R" rate was already above 1 at this point.

Kier Starmer repeatedly asked BoZo to tighten controls and lockdown but was mocked by PM who said he (Kier) was trying to destroy UK economy.

Then we had the "eat out to help out" campaign to boost the economy. It did, and the virus.

We were given vague rules and the government seemed surprised when people interpreted them to their own satisfaction. Anyone who has kids knows that rules have to be clear and unambiguous - and Boris has plenty of kids.

We haven't mentioned the corruption, and cronyism. Test and Trace (ahem: world beating) called the NHS T&T but actually Serco run by Dido Harding the woman who was in charge of TalkTalk when they had an enormous hack. Still not working properly and it's cost £22 billion so far.
PPE contracts given to Tory supporters with no experience yet a local (Hull) company had PPE equipment and was exporting it and couldn't get anyone in government to return their phone calls.

It also brings to light the chronic underfunding the NHS has had over the years - but the Tories have been in power for the last 11 years and we have the fewest ICU beds per 100k population than most western countries.

The Tories continue to fight within their ranks - some of them won't accept a legal mask requirement, others are demanding the schools re-open or a definite time frame - yet it seems obvious to me the time frame is determined by virus rates, hospital admissions and deaths. The virus isn't running to a time table.

Vaccinations? Great (thanks NHS) but 12 weeks between jabs when manufacturers said 3 weeks and now the BMA are also saying 12 weeks is too long and 6 weeks should be the maximum (but also not tested at that spacing). Even the scientists are unsure about this plan.

Like I said, Piers was correct, this could have been handled much better (and I'm definitely not a fan). There are 100,000 reasons showing him to be right.

Edit/update: we now have a quarantine plan but only for 22 countries. I mean, there's no way an incoming passenger might switch their flight to a non quarantine country and then come in by a different route.

[Bibio]

its not the gov thats the problem... the general public wont behave and that's the biggest problem. blame who you like but the public only have themselves to blame wanting restrictions lifted so they can go out and get their daily dose of 'whatever'.


its easy to blame those in power but you have to remember its not bojo or his benchers that make these rules its the people (advisers) in the background who you dont vote for that have messed things up. politicians are only a face and are told what to do and say.

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Bibio

its not the gov thats the problem...

so whose fault is it when lockdown was slow to be implemented, borders weren't closed and rules were vague?

The media is keen to show 150 people at an illegally held wedding but what percentage is that compared to the UK population? It is the government's job to lead and set an example - the Dominic Cummings debacle showed they did neither. (imho)

[redtrummy]

Well put Seeker