Coronavirus update - NO MORE RESTRICTIONS

[the other bob wilson]

The whole thing is turning into a mess. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and Boris, Raab, Hancock, Drakeford, Gethin have failed.

Track and trace started well then all change. Rugby internationals, Cheltenham festival etc deemed OK because they were outdoor events. Rubbish, we all know the damage is done when we are toe to toe in the bars.

Eventually, after football clubs and similar had taken their own action because they could see the issues, the government takes action. Lockdown arrives as cases escalate.
After earlier messages that the NHS was set up to handle whatever was thrown at it, the realisation that it wasn't. Not enough beds, ventilators, PPE, doctors, nurses. So instead of the NHS saving us we are asked to save the NHS.
The daily briefings fill me with dread as they bumble through the agenda, and not just in England. Gethin and Drakeford tell us daily that we can do 5000 tests a day and we manage 800. Chaos in administration so sites like CC stadium are underused. Drakeford says no PPE issues in Wales. Nurses and care homes tell us otherwise.
Public Health bodies prove to be bureaucratic autocracies, reluctant to engage with the expertise in the private sector. I read recently of a local welsh company diverting its production and making face visors. All ready to go but waiting for them to be approved.
And finally today's papers talk of easing the lockdown in May when we are still not seeing a decline in daily cases in UK, and marginal in Wales. We could be setting ourselves up for a second wave as blustering leadership continues.

Good post.

I watch the politicians on the daily briefings and think back to how everyone used to take the piss out of the Iraqi Defence Minister back in 2003 with his blatant and ridiculous propaganda and while I'm not saying that our politicians are in his league, there are similarities.

About a month to six weeks ago I decided that it wouldn't be fair to be too political about the outbreak because I thought Governments were on a hiding to nothing on it, but, with each passing week, it's being proved that I was wrong to think like that. Here is another damning piece that has been published in a newspaper today - this time the Observer;-

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...virus-so-wrong

As for our Prime Minister, the thing that occurred to me when I first heard about the story of his five missed Cobra meetings this morning was "maybe it's not true, but can anybody really put their hand on their heart and deny in all sincerity that it could well be based on what is known of the man?" - after all, although there has obviously been very genuine reasons behind some of his absences from the workings of Government in the last three months, he has been "missing in action" for an awful lot of that time.

[Jordi Culé]

The Times is behind a paywall, here's the article. Johnson and co getting absolutely savaged

http://archive.vn/ofnfS

Oh, but Boris is such a character

[ninian opinian]

Oh, but Boris is such a character

He only missed 5 Cobra meetings mun. What’s wrong with that. I mean he had more important stuff to sort out like divorcing his cancer suffering wife because his girlfriend was pregnant. Go Boris

[A Quiet Monkfish]

He only missed 5 Cobra meetings mun. What’s wrong with that. I mean he had more important stuff to sort out like divorcing his cancer suffering wife because his girlfriend was pregnant. Go Boris

Hilarious

[Jordi Culé]

He only missed 5 Cobra meetings mun. What’s wrong with that. I mean he had more important stuff to sort out like divorcing his cancer suffering wife because his girlfriend was pregnant. Go Boris

He then gives us a shining example of how easy it is to contract Covid19 through an individual’s utter stupidity. He should’ve stayed hidden in the fridge.

[surge]

The Times is behind a paywall, here's the article. Johnson and co getting absolutely savaged

http://archive.vn/ofnfS

The prime minister had been sunning himself with his girlfriend in the millionaires’ Caribbean resort of Mustique when China first alerted the World Health Organisation (WHO) on December 31 that several cases of an unusual pneumonia had been recorded in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in Hubei province.

Things that are perhaps being but on pause and/or forgotten during this crisis: (as reported on 12/02/2020), we still don't know who paid for this holiday; (as reported on 21/02/2020), a leak of report into the Home Office states it's "institutionally racist" before this is edited out of final copy; (as reported on 16/03/2020) report into garden bridge not released despite FOI request to project now liquidated trust; (as of 19/04/2020), report into Russian interference into UK politics still delayed.

That's a lot of information we don't know from a government that used the excuse that CCHQ is so commonly known to be conservatives that they can't be accused of misleading public by tweeting out political statements presented as facts, with Michael Gove then accusing Channel 4 of being ready to doctor the twitter feed when questioned about it.

What we do know: Brexit will happen no matter what.

[CCFCC3PO]

The Times is behind a paywall, here's the article. Johnson and co getting absolutely savaged

http://archive.vn/ofnfS

FIVE COBRA meetings MISSED? Incredible stuff, but sadly not unexpected.

[Heisenberg]

Hilarious

What do you make of the fact that he missed the meetings, Monkfish?

[A Quiet Monkfish]

What do you make of the fact that he missed the meetings, Monkfish?

Not sure what point is - if he wasn't well enough it would make sense. Bit like that NHS director asking the BBC the contact numbers for PPE suppliers.

[lisvaneblue]

Not sure what point is - if he wasn't well enough it would make sense. Bit like that NHS director asking the BBC the contact numbers for PPE suppliers.

The BBC corrected that. It was not someone who worked for the Trust and they issued an apology.

Not to say there isn't an issue.

I'm dismayed that so far nearly 10% of all Covid deaths reported worldwide are in the UK. What is going on?

[A Quiet Monkfish]

The BBC corrected that. It was not someone who worked for the Trust and they issued an apology.

Not to say there isn't an issue.

I'm dismayed that so far nearly 10% of all Covid deaths reported worldwide are in the UK. What is going on?

What's going on in Belgium ? The worst death rate per head of population in the world.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

What's going on in Belgium ? The worst death rate per head of population in the world.

Belgium records even suspected cases of Coronavirus in their COVID-19 death count. That may be one factor.

[CCFCC3PO]

What's going on in Belgium ? The worst death rate per head of population in the world.

Whataboutism is alive and kicking, just a shame it's coming from a "skeptic".

[Taunton Blue Genie]

What's going on in Belgium ? The worst death rate per head of population in the world.

Apparently, the problem is mainly in the north of country where they are Flemish to start with.

[cyril evans awaydays]

Not sure what point is - if he wasn't well enough it would make sense. Bit like that NHS director asking the BBC the contact numbers for PPE suppliers.

I think the point being made was about Boris Johnson putting his feet up when he was fit and able and skipping a number of COBRA meetings, which are only called at times of National crisis to chill at Chevening. What makes you think that he was ill in February and early March?

[A Quiet Monkfish]

I think the point being made was about Boris Johnson putting his feet up when he was fit and able and skipping a number of COBRA meetings, which are only called at times of National crisis to chill at Chevening. What makes you think that he was ill in February and early March?

He was putting his feet up ?

[Tuerto]

I think the point being made was about Boris Johnson putting his feet up when he was fit and able and skipping a number of COBRA meetings, which are only called at times of National crisis to chill at Chevening. What makes you think that he was ill in February and early March?

I reckon that he was his 'Normal' self during February and early March, which i hindsight, is a huge part of the problem.

[CCFCC3PO]

Not sure what point is - if he wasn't well enough it would make sense. Bit like that NHS director asking the BBC the contact numbers for PPE suppliers.

Whataboutism again.

[MOZZER2]

iain duncan smith getting a bit rattled earlier on sky news trying to defend his government

Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith has claimed the world did not initially realise the extent of the #coronavirus outbreak as China "suppressed and hid information", and the WHO did not make countries aware that it was likely to spread globally.#COVID19 latest: https://t.co/k7mEctqKyp pic.twitter.com/XcyaSaJ4bD

— SkyNews (@SkyNews) April 19, 2020

[surge]

iain duncan smith getting a bit rattled earlier on sky news trying to defend his government

Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith has claimed the world did not initially realise the extent of the #coronavirus outbreak as China "suppressed and hid information", and the WHO did not make countries aware that it was likely to spread globally.#COVID19 latest: https://t.co/k7mEctqKyp pic.twitter.com/XcyaSaJ4bD

— SkyNews (@SkyNews) April 19, 2020

2 observations:

i) IDS describes what happens early in January then skips February and half of March to get to where we are now.

ii) Imagine if media were willing to scrutinise IDS and others of his party like this before December? Unless there are a series of detailed and well explained reports into past 5 years before the next election then most of the public are going to be voting mostly blind leaving these Fidesz wannabees to romp home yet again.

[the other bob wilson]

2 observations:

i) IDS describes what happens early in January then skips February and half of March to get to where we are now.

ii) Imagine if media were willing to scrutinise IDS and others of his party like this before December? Unless there are a series of detailed and well explained reports into past 5 years before the next election then most of the public are going to be voting mostly blind leaving these Fidesz wannabees to romp home yet again.

[goats]

We need to get any people with virus into the said hospitals for them, hearing of people going in without it and then coming down with it in there..... the amount of people missing important ops and appointments etc must be staggering....

[the other bob wilson]

We need to get any people with virus into the said hospitals for them, hearing of people going in without it and then coming down with it in there..... the amount of people missing important ops and appointments etc must be staggering....

I was speaking to someone who.is in his seventies and has lived in this area for nearly all of his life yesterday - he is living proof of that notion that everyone knows everyone in the valleys. He said he was only aware of two people who have had the virus in this village. One died of it a month ago and he'd heard the other one was very poorly on Thursday night - in both cases, they caught the virus in hospital after being admitted to hospital for treatment for an unrelated condition.

[ToTaL ITK]

I was speaking to someone who.is in his seventies and has lived in this area for nearly all of his life yesterday - he is living proof of that notion that everyone knows everyone in the valleys. He said he was only aware of two people who have had the virus in this village. One died of it a month ago and he'd heard the other one was very poorly on Thursday night - in both cases, they caught the virus in hospital after being admitted to hospital for treatment for an unrelated condition.

very sad that this is happening...same here where i live .

[Heisenberg]

I think the point being made was about Boris Johnson putting his feet up when he was fit and able and skipping a number of COBRA meetings, which are only called at times of National crisis to chill at Chevening. What makes you think that he was ill in February and early March?

I think that it's safe to say that Monkfish knows more about this subject than the rest of us. He's of the 'sceptical' generation, apparently. He's obviously read and comprehended the Boris Johnson/COBRA stuff at a level that's beyond us and is rightfully sceptical about why BJ should be attending those meetings. I mean, it was bats that allegedly transmitted the virus anyway... not cobras.