Coronavirus update - NO MORE RESTRICTIONS

[the other bob wilson]

There are 4 governments doing their own thing but all of the devolved nations rely heavily on the UK government for most things to do with the pandemic..

The vaccine selection where the UK government selected well by choosing the correct 6 out of the 58 in development is an example. The regional governments had nothing to do with these arrangements.

The detailed advice to various industries, the NHS, education and sports is produced by the UK government and reproduced by the regional governments. All this means is that the UK government's advice is changed slightly. Where there are references to England a minor functionary in the Assembly deletes these and replaces England with Wales. That is how the system works.

In reality the regional governments don't do a lot. Even the vaccine procurement and distribution is organised by the UK government in conjunction with the army, NHS and Kate Bingham's Department.

The regional governments then apply their anything but England analysis to exert their independence. Fair enough but let's not kid ourselves that the regional governments play anything but a secondary role.

The Welsh government it is said is being more cautious than in England. Yes. The WAG did the right thing in locking down last September but ruined it all by making the situation far worse by allowing for a free for all after their initial lockdown. Not exactly cautious in my view. The other changes made have been relatively minor and of little consequence.

Let's face it there is a lot of politicking going on regionally. Several posts congratulate the Welsh government for their role but there is also a case of when things go wrong it's the fault of the Tories and when things go right it's the Labour government doing a better job. That's nonsense.

My recollection is that when it was perceived that the WAG had blundered in only having a two and a half week break in October/November, there weren’t many people trying to blame the subsequent rise in cases and deaths through December on the UK Government, Drakeford was getting it in the neck then and rightly so. It was the same when Wales made a slow start to the vaccination programme compared to the other countries in the new year, so, like much of your post, you’re being very selective in coming to your UK Govermentcentric (Tory) conclusions - no one can say for sure, but my view is that the outcome of the Senedd elections would have pretty different if they’d been held in, say, January.

Going back to the mistakethe WAG made regarding their “firebreak” lockdown in the autumn, they still had announced, and implemented, a rolling back of the planned Christmas programme of opening everything up for a few days before the UK Government did. Johnson cocked up the timing of three lockdowns before he finally, it seems, discovered the comparative caution which has marked the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish approach to such things - in the autumn and over Christmas the Uk Government eventually followed the examples of the other three countries and yet to hear some of you talk on here, their motivations have solely been to cause problems for Johnson and co.

[Vindec]

My recollection is that when it was perceived that the WAG had blundered in only having a two and a half week break in October/November, there weren’t many people trying to blame the subsequent rise in cases and deaths through December on the UK Government, Drakeford was getting it in the neck then and rightly so. It was the same when Wales made a slow start to the vaccination programme compared to the other countries in the new year, so, like much of your post, you’re being very selective in coming to your UK Govermentcentric (Tory) conclusions - no one can say for sure, but my view is that the outcome of the Senedd elections would have pretty different if they’d been held in, say, January.

Going back to the mistakethe WAG made regarding their “firebreak” lockdown in the autumn, they still had announced, and implemented, a rolling back of the planned Christmas programme of opening everything up for a few days before the UK Government did. Johnson cocked up the timing of three lockdowns before he finally, it seems, discovered the comparative caution which has marked the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish approach to such things - in the autumn and over Christmas the Uk Government eventually followed the examples of the other three countries and yet to hear some of you talk on here, their motivations have solely been to cause problems for Johnson and co.

Your post only covers one aspect. Never mind. My conclusions are not Tory. I am now a floating voter having previously been a card carrying member of the Labour Party.

[xsnaggle]

My recollection is that when it was perceived that the WAG had blundered in only having a two and a half week break in October/November, there weren’t many people trying to blame the subsequent rise in cases and deaths through December on the UK Government, Drakeford was getting it in the neck then and rightly so. It was the same when Wales made a slow start to the vaccination programme compared to the other countries in the new year, so, like much of your post, you’re being very selective in coming to your UK Govermentcentric (Tory) conclusions - no one can say for sure, but my view is that the outcome of the Senedd elections would have pretty different if they’d been held in, say, January.

Going back to the mistakethe WAG made regarding their “firebreak” lockdown in the autumn, they still had announced, and implemented, a rolling back of the planned Christmas programme of opening everything up for a few days before the UK Government did. Johnson cocked up the timing of three lockdowns before he finally, it seems, discovered the comparative caution which has marked the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish approach to such things - in the autumn and over Christmas the Uk Government eventually followed the examples of the other three countries and yet to hear some of you talk on here, their motivations have solely been to cause problems for Johnson and co.

In all fairness I don't think there was ever anything wrong with the vaccine roll out. What made people upset and vocal was Drakeford's stupid comment about dishing it out on some kind of drip feed so that there weren't people "Standing idle" implying that people having nothing to do was a bigger problem to him than people not getting he vaccine as quickly as possible.
In reality slowing the roll out was never actually the case.