Drakeford pulled no punches then

[The Lone Gunman]

No, but it's a comparison that's made quite often particularly in relation to hospitality and sport.

Fair enough. What I keep hearing from people who, like me, are sick to the back teeth of the restrictions Drakeford and Co keep imposing is that, now we have vaccines, boosters and Covid passports, we have to start learning to live with this damned virus come what may. And I also keep hearing people asking what the actual justification is for these restrictions when the situation is allegedly so much better now than it was this time last year, and also what the so-called 'science' is behind them. There seems to be a distinct scarcity of that at the moment.

I suppose we should look on the bright side, though. At least the venerable First Minister has downgraded the Omicron variant from a 'tsunami' to a 'storm', so things are looking up.

[Dave Blue]

Fair enough. What I keep hearing from people who, like me, are sick to the back teeth of the restrictions Drakeford and Co keep imposing is that, now we have vaccines, boosters and Covid passports, we have to start learning to live with this damned virus come what may. And I also keep hearing people asking what the actual justification is for these restrictions when the situation is allegedly so much better now than it was this time last year, and also what the so-called 'science' is behind them. There seems to be a distinct scarcity of that at the moment.

I suppose we should look on the bright side, though. At least the venerable First Minister has downgraded the Omicron variant from a 'tsunami' to a 'storm', so things are looking up.

Take a look at the state of English NHS Trusts this Friday evening to see why something had to be done. We all hate restrictions - who does want them in a normal world? - but look at the consequences of this thing running wild.

[Re-sign Carl Dale]

Fair enough. What I keep hearing from people who, like me, are sick to the back teeth of the restrictions Drakeford and Co keep imposing is that, now we have vaccines, boosters and Covid passports, we have to start learning to live with this damned virus come what may. And I also keep hearing people asking what the actual justification is for these restrictions when the situation is allegedly so much better now than it was this time last year, and also what the so-called 'science' is behind them. There seems to be a distinct scarcity of that at the moment.

I suppose we should look on the bright side, though. At least the venerable First Minister has downgraded the Omicron variant from a 'tsunami' to a 'storm', so things are looking up.

Absolutely agree TLG - hospital rates miles lower than last year, the much heralded apocalypse hasn’t arrived (SAGE seem compulsive harbingers of doom; I thought we were meant to be on 1 million cases per day by now because Boris didn’t lock up the English for Christmas. They remind me of the saying in financial services that economists have predicted 15 of the last three recessions).

What started as three weeks to slow the curve and Protect the NHS- seems to have turned into two years of beating us with a stick until no-one is in hospital and every death being a tragedy.

The radio and TV outlets bombard us with the (pretty meaningless) number of cases, number of hospitalisations and deaths, seemingly taking delight when numbers increase. The fact that 15-20,000 people die each winter with the standard flu seems forgotten.

The reality is that illness and death are (sadly) part of life. The NHS is employs 1,400,000 million people - surely they are there to treat us, rather than being a resource that people are made to feel guilty to use.

[splott parker]

Absolutely agree TLG - hospital rates miles lower than last year, the much heralded apocalypse hasn’t arrived (SAGE seem compulsive harbingers of doom; I thought we were meant to be on 1 million cases per day by now because Boris didn’t lock up the English for Christmas. They remind me of the saying in financial services that economists have predicted 15 of the last three recessions).

What started as three weeks to slow the curve and Protect the NHS- seems to have turned into two years of beating us with a stick until no-one is in hospital and every death being a tragedy.

The radio and TV outlets bombard us with the (pretty meaningless) number of cases, number of hospitalisations and deaths, seemingly taking delight when numbers increase. The fact that 15-20,000 people die each winter with the standard flu seems forgotten.

The reality is that illness and death are (sadly) part of life. The NHS is employs 1,400,000 million people - surely they are there to treat us, rather than being a resource that people are made to feel guilty to use.

F*ck me, if the NHS employed 1,400,000 million people we could treat the world

[TWGL1]

F*ck me, if the NHS employed 1,400,000 million people we could treat the world

It’s employs close to that amount , not counting agency staff

It’s the biggest employer in Europe and one of the biggest in the world

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-info...s/january-2021

[lardy]

It’s employs close to that amount , not counting agency staff

It’s the biggest employer in Europe and one of the biggest in the world

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-info...s/january-2021

Think splottparker was referring to 1.4 million million!

[TWGL1]

A whoosh moment then the fact is the NHS is less under pressure now than it was in 2017/18 apparently

In 2017/18 It got so bad that 68 leading A&E doctors wrote to the prime minister to spell out their concerns.
This is not now though. It was the winter of 2017-18 - the last bad flu season when more than 300 people a day were dying from that virus at one point.
And that was not even a one-off. In January 2016 hospitals were cancelling routine operations, telling patients to stay away from A&E if they could, and emergency treatment areas were being set up outside some units - just as they are now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59909860

[goats]

A whoosh moment then the fact is the NHS is less under pressure now than it was in 2017/18 apparently

In 2017/18 It got so bad that 68 leading A&E doctors wrote to the prime minister to spell out their concerns.
This is not now though. It was the winter of 2017-18 - the last bad flu season when more than 300 people a day were dying from that virus at one point.
And that was not even a one-off. In January 2016 hospitals were cancelling routine operations, telling patients to stay away from A&E if they could, and emergency treatment areas were being set up outside some units - just as they are now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59909860

That chart showing UK public spending on health is the stand out one, look how it plummeted in 2010. Glad the current shambles have pledged to bring that back up to what it needs to be. We must have lost a fair few oldies in the last few years going from flu to covid crisis….

[nomad blue]

A whoosh moment then the fact is the NHS is less under pressure now than it was in 2017/18 apparently

In 2017/18 It got so bad that 68 leading A&E doctors wrote to the prime minister to spell out their concerns.
This is not now though. It was the winter of 2017-18 - the last bad flu season when more than 300 people a day were dying from that virus at one point.
And that was not even a one-off. In January 2016 hospitals were cancelling routine operations, telling patients to stay away from A&E if they could, and emergency treatment areas were being set up outside some units - just as they are now.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59909860

Does that actually say it's under less pressure now? Unless I'm misreading it, it seems to suggest the contrary.