I'm unsure why you have referred to these articles as neither deal with the points I raised which indicated:
1. that it was too early to compare death rates with other countries due to the way statistics are collected An ONS report indicated the following:
"Given the widely differing practices between countries in recording and reporting deaths relating to COVID-19 it is not possible at this time to conduct accurate international comparisons of deaths involving COVID-19 specifically."
(I gather the above means that some countries record deaths as pneumonia which is a consequence of COVID but the UK record deaths as pneumonia associated with COVID) and ;
2. the fact the UK has a higher roll out rate of the vaccine meaning our figures are likely to be lower statistically over a longer period.
All this will come out in the wash when the inevitable inquiry takes place.