Exactly two weeks ago (Oct 17), I taked with @clivebull on LBC.
I said Tiers weren’t working, there should be a circuit-breaker until mid/end Nov to gather back control. Then you’re in position in Dec for an Xmas plan.
Exactly what Govt now doing... but painfully late. Excerpt:
I mean, it’s pretty obvious. This isn’t exactly Nostradamus stuff.
However, that’s the whole point.
Boris Johnson said “a stitch in time saves nine” then provided no stitch as all the scientific advice and rules of sensible management were screaming for simple foresight here.
So what are the issues now?
Obviously, fix t&t, make it local.
But also we need to clear the backlogs of cancer & other time-critical patients, diagnostic screening etc. These backlogs are a product of covid, not lockdown & we need to get on top of them while there’s a window.
Also, there needs to be massive support for mental health, gaps in support financially, children’s nutrition and education.
We cannot let Farage peddle the narrative that lockdown causes cancer, suicide etc. We must address them as part of a full societal package.
One of the things that most angers me about this government’s behaviour is the squandering of the summer lull.
They should have used it to clear the cancer, screening, etc backlogs, put t&t locally, pursue a clear zero-covid plan and prep for autumn school/uni surge.
Instead they decided to make the testing & tracing centralised, attack Public Health England, design a National Institute of Health Protection (for Dido), launch a failed app and discuss a ridiculous £10bn Operation Moonshot for mass testing when they were failing on the basics.
Then they went into autumn with insufficient testing capacity, failing tracing capacity, confused instructions and Dido Harding claiming that no-one anticipated an autumn surge.
It was epic Dunning-Kruger stuff. Operation Moonshot, indeed. kmt.
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He’s v good at questioning (PMQs) but bad at answers (interviews).
A lot of this should be thoroughly pre-prepped stuff that he can knock out of the park.
Here’s how he should have answered, imo... [Thread]
“Is it time for a national lockdown?”
- No. But this govt have a very tight time window to sort out the testing.
“Is £10K fine for breaking self isolation too draconian?”
- Yes. Firstly there’s a risk that it scares people off getting a test. Who can afford £10K? Secondly...
...are you really going to let Cummings off the hook for breaking self-isolation, then drag the public through the courts in a pandemic over huge fines they can’t pay, for doing the same?
“Captain Hindsight”
- The PM needs a big dose of hindsight. Then perhaps he won’t keep...
The EU think UK govt is so incompetent & shambolic that they need a deal just to show basic competence.
However, the UK govt is so incompetent & shambolic that they think they might as well add Brexit mishandling to their pandemic mishandling.
THREAD
The problem is this:
1) Whereas covid-19 damage is a general economic hit, No Deal Brexit screws with people’s lives in very direct tangible ways. Like the A-level fiasco, it’s personal hurt directly attributed to govt.
No-one will assoc new red tape they hate with covid-19.
In fact, when people have to pay insurance companies to travel, get new driving licences/ pet passports, go through painful Home Office regs for EU hires, do customs forms for small orders, see lorry parks...
- Firstly she subtweets @PippaCrerar’s story to undermine it.
- Secondly she comments on the story to undermine it.
Based on? Anonymous “source” in Gov who feeds her lines.
This isn’t responsible public journalism- it’s working for No10.
It’s very telling that Kuenssberg went into attack/rebuttal mode so quickly after that tweet went out.
She clearly 1) has hotline & 2) wants to support Gov.
Would she engage in such rapid-rebuttal behaviour for the Labour/LD/SNP/Green leader?
Time to question BBC impartiality.
How to make a complaint to BBC
Online: Make a complaint
Phone: 03700 100 222* or 03700 100 212* (textphone) *24 hours, charged as 01/02 geographic numbers
Post: BBC Complaints, PO Box 1922, Darlington, DL3 0UR
It's utterly bogus. The lion's share (£176bn) of your £380bn comes from, according to your own report - instantly slashing "Working Time Directive, Climate Change and Renewable Package" etc - with £132bn coming from instant FTAs.
The authors are also claiming that their polling data show Brits don't want an extension, whereas their own data show more Brits than not think it beneficial:
Further, the report sings up the benefit of trading on WTO rules (25 mentions in doc) - without a single mention that the WTO is utterly broken, in financial trouble, chief just resigned, US pulling out & with no capacity left to enforce said rules.
What Boris Johnson was *trying* to say (in a hurried way)...
... is that Covid-19 can be detected in wastewater (not water supply), meaning that if you monitor wastewater from all towns, you get a clever early indicator of outbreak & can swoop in local lockdown measures.
Know what? I think Govt are going to hit their 100,000 tests mark.
Here's how. First, on April 28, Govt opened up the testing to 65+s (millions of people).
Then next morning at 11am, Hancock emails the Conservative Party membership (124K members, many over 65) to apply.
Why is that email important? Because not a lot of people watching the news the day before would know how to go and apply or take the action...
...emailing a database with a big "Apply Now" button does the trick.
A Conservative Party database will have additional reason to act.
This isn't illegal, of course -- everyone should be notified.
However, did the Govt put similar effort into outreach for care home residents and staff, arguably much more important to test - but who were made egible on the same day?