Here in the UK

[hobbit.]

A long but interesting read.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/how-did-britain-get-its-response-to-coronavirus-so-wrong

 

[dolf]

Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster
Boris Johnson skipped five Cobra meetings on the virus, calls to order protective gear were ignored and scientists’ warnings fell on deaf ears. Failings in February may have cost thousands of lives

On the third Friday of January a silent and stealthy killer was creeping across the world. Passing from person to person and borne on ships and planes, the coronavirus was already leaving a trail of bodies.

The virus had spread from China to six countries and was almost certainly in many others. Sensing the coming danger, the British government briefly went into wartime mode that day, holding a meeting of Cobra, its national crisis committee.

But it took just an hour that January 24 lunchtime to brush aside the coronavirus threat. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, bounced out of Whitehall after chairing the meeting and breezily told reporters the risk to the UK public was “low”.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Ordinarily such criticism of boris would come from the likes of the Morning Star and Daily Mirror, but this one comes from the Sunday Times.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-38-days-when-britain-sleepwalked-into-disaster-hq3b9tlgh

And if a few pensioners die, so be it...

They didn't give a shit until they were the ones getting ill.

 

[hobbit.]

And if a few pensioners die, so be it...

They didn't give a shit until they were the ones getting ill.

who? pensioners or tories? admitedy usually the same thing, but since UKIP came along.....


next election could be fun with the 'age adjusted' votes. all those dead pensioner votes missing - except the eternal living ones.

the red wall replaced with a cyanose pile of dead pensioners.

 

[DeYaKen]

who? pensioners or tories? admitedy usually the same thing, but since UKIP came along.....


next election could be fun with the 'age adjusted' votes. all those dead pensioner votes missing - except the eternal living ones.

the red wall replaced with a cyanose pile of dead pensioners.

Why do you think they started to take it seriously. The very people on whom they depend for support would be dead.

 

[hobbit.]

I cant normaly stand Piers Morgan, but watching him 'interview' Oliver Dowden this morning was interesting. then switching over to the BBC to see the performimg poodles of the beeb avoid making any waves for boris.

Any Journo not taking the government to task over their handling of this should just resign now.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

The US provided diplomatic support at the UN, satellite imagery and war equipment from NATO stocks.

They also tried very hard to get Argentina to withdraw before and while the task force was on its way. The US put Argentina in the wrong.

they put themselves in the wrong by going for Moody Brook.

then they got a hiding. although it was a close thing due to stretched logistics. subsequently there was a resurgence of parachute capability within the British Army which spawned 5 Airborne Brigade from 5 Infantry Brigade, a capability deemed unnecessary in 1977 and which led to the disbandment of the old 16 Para Brigade.

looks like that cycle is coming around again...

 

[oggbashan]

they put themselves in the wrong by going for Moody Brook.

then they got a hiding. although it was a close thing due to stretched logistics. subsequently there was a resurgence of parachute capability within the British Army which spawned 5 Airborne Brigade from 5 Infantry Brigade, a capability deemed unnecessary in 1977 and which led to the disbandment of the old 16 Para Brigade.

looks like that cycle is coming around again...

We couldn't fight the Falklands War again but neither could the Argentinians.

Next time, if there is a next time, we probably wouldn't have an exclusion zone - just sink any Argentinian naval ships anywhere including in their ports. We have that capability.

But we wouldn't want to go for the nuclear option.

 

[Venice2375]

I guess my point is is that we constantly criticize countries like N Korea, China and a whole host of other countries for violating basic human rights. I ask, what is the definition of basic human rights? Are they rights that a man gives another man, how can that be if all men are created equally. Or do they come from a more omnipotent being. Freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom to move and freedom to pursue happiness are unalienable in nature. They are inherent rights given to us at birth. Man can immorally restrict and violate those rights, even take them away and when they do they violate human kind. These rights were recognized as far back as the year 539 BC and then expanded on with the 10 commandments as a guide to how we treat our fellow man based on our inherent God given rights. The UN dressed up the rhetorical explanation of these rights, they did not give these rights. IMHO

Nobody has the right, legally or ethically, to deliberately put somebody else’s life at risk without agreement from that person. Strip it down and it really is as simple as that.

 

[stickygirl]

A long but interesting read.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/how-did-britain-get-its-response-to-coronavirus-so-wrong

I read another one, that cited that a war-games test for a pandemic in 2016 showed a woeful lack of medical equipment and mortuaries. Yea, I've fallen out of the 'lets stick together' political platitudes tree: Boris always was a privileged idiot. Would you seriously trust a man with PPE when he can't manage a condom?

 

[hobbit.]

I read another one, that cited that a war-games test for a pandemic in 2016 showed a woeful lack of medical equipment and mortuaries. Yea, I've fallen out of the 'lets stick together' political platitudes tree: Boris always was a privileged idiot. Would you seriously trust a man with PPE when he can't manage a condom?

You mean exercise Cygnus - the one after which jeremy hunt blocked extra spending by the NHS intended to fund a response to such a crisis and buy the needed equipment. while at the same time activly cutting NHS funding as a part of austerity. Nice people. HMG are refusing freedom of information requests in relation to it.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2020/03/government-documents-show-no-planning-ventilators-event-pandemic

Looks like Patel is heading for court though on other issues.

 

[Bray123]

Last year the USA held 'Exercise Crimson Contagion' which simulated and predicted with startling accuracy the current crisis. Trump liked it so much he disbanded the relevant expertise that would deal with such a thing.

There's a wealth of material to google, be my guest. Here's one example:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-outbreak.html

 

[hobbit.]

Last year the USA held 'Exercise Crimson Contagion' which simulated and predicted with startling accuracy the current crisis. Trump liked it so much he disbanded the relevant expertise that would deal with such a thing.

There's a wealth of material to google, be my guest. Here's one example:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-outbreak.html

i just edited my post#161 to include this link
https://www.newstatesman.com/politi...s-show-no-planning-ventilators-event-pandemic

 

[hobbit.]

this link https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/board-paper-300317-item-10.pdf simply shows that the NHS admit that excercise Cygnus took place.

 

[stickygirl]

Boris got elected because he and he chums hate the state, hate Europe, hate anything that isn't private enterprise. They remind me of foul-mouthed teenagers berating their parents then asking for their help when things 'aren't fair'.

 

[hobbit.]

Boris got elected because he and he chums hate the state, hate Europe, hate anything that isn't private enterprise. They remind me of foul-mouthed teenagers berating their parents then asking for their help when things 'aren't fair'.

not quite acurate - but getting there

Boris and his spiffing chums stood for election for the very reasons you say, above. Boris always thought he was born to be PM and emulate his hero, Churchill.

He got elected for delvering brexit to the type of people who still think we are living in a britain of the 1950, listening to 3 way family favourites, on a radiogram, live for BFPO troops stationed in germany. that idealistic concept never really existed as they imagine it did. BUT Boris stuck it to fritz and johnny frog so, glossing over the lie pasted on the side of the bus - WHICH SHOULD BE CHEWING HIS BALLS OFF NOW - he got elected.

Largely because of the middle englanders who wanted brexit and partly because the were prepared to risk electing 'bozo the clown' but couldnt vote tory - so voted for UKIP - who only stood in areas where labour stood. so gave the tories, in effect, a clear run at it.

the age demographic of the 18 - 35 year olds population drift away from rural , no future areas - such as the extreme northwest of england and teh extreme north east saw the labour vote there decline. but where the age group moved to the labour vote held, if not, increased.

A lot of those who voted for boris and brexit would have been dead before the true scale of what they had done, ordinarily, came back to bite their arses. Covid-19 caught them out and brought them bang upto speed in the real world of a tory britain. This makes austerity look like a tea party.

 

[hobbit.]

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/7BCA/production/_99609613_8e5e3cfe-4bfe-407a-85d8-4f9526cb0670.jpg

 

[hobbit.]

https://e3.365dm.com/19/05/1600x900/2371905290777720307_4681166.jpg?bypass-service-worker&20190723105620

 

[hobbit.]

still waiting for that PPE from Turkey, wwhich was promised to the NHs yesterday

https://www.theguardian.com/society...t-order-to-set-off-to-collect-ppe-from-turkey

 

[icanhelp1]

Nobody has the right, legally or ethically, to deliberately put somebody else’s life at risk without agreement from that person. Strip it down and it really is as simple as that.

Not breaking the law is something we should all strive for, simple indeed!

 

[ClitlickerMaster]

I don’t understand unalienable, what does it mean?

 

[stickygirl]

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/7BCA/production/_99609613_8e5e3cfe-4bfe-407a-85d8-4f9526cb0670.jpg

I'm afraid that plays right into the "We wuz right see" mentality that voted for Bozza. Doesn't matter how much dosh you've got, if you can't persuade Turkey to part with PPE they need themselves.

Why is no one making those nice starched cotton aprons that can be boil washed? We could have them made in the mills up north and Boz could take credit for regeneration. I'm sure some of them still run on coal and steam.

 

[dolf]

Why is no one making those nice starched cotton aprons that can be boil washed? We could have them made in the mills up north and Boz could take credit for regeneration. I'm sure some of them still run on coal and steam.

The number needed would be through the roof! Every staff member needs a new one after every patient. Who is capable of handling that volume of laundry, let alone to boil wash? Add to that, fluids would soak in and soak through, so it wouldn't even keep the scrubs underneath protected.

I just don't see how that could be workable.

 

[stickygirl]

Now come on - we're all in this together and if we wash hard enough, if we scrub them on the beaches and dry them in the air. We can fold them in the pay & display NHS car parks and the conference halls and if this wave lasts a thousand days, we can say, never has so much been owed by so many to so few in this, their finest nightingale hour! Bozza Winston Johnson

 

[hobbit.]

Britain only made a formal request to Turkey over a consignment of personal protective equipment on Sunday - the day after a cabinet minister announced the "very significant additional shipment" was already heading to the UK, Turkish sources have told Sky News.

Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, said at the daily Downing Street press briefing on Saturday that 84 tonnes of the gear, including 400,000 urgently needed clinical gowns, would arrive in the UK from Turkey the following day.

It failed to materialise, but no explanation for the delay was given.

In fact two sources have told Sky News that no formal request was made to the Turkish authorities - who were not supplying the shipment, but whose help was sought to get it to the UK - until Sunday.
from https://news.sky.com/story/coronavi...er-it-said-it-was-already-on-its-way-11976238

Looks like you really, really, really never should trust a tory.

And as a side point the death figures look to be escalating today with the inclusion of care system (outside hospital) deaths being included.

As for statistics though - london has the highest figures, but the south east has the lowest ! isnt london in the south east? a case of making numbers read how the person compiling them wants them to appear. re the reference to coal powered mills in't north - if this was an outbreak of something needing plasters - in the over paid south they could use £50 notes in place of elastoplasts, meanwhile in the north we could just stick to putting pennies on the eyes of our dead. (only joking - we dont have pennies anymore due to funding the southern softies )

 

[stickygirl]

Tories don't how business (the ones that, I dunno, like make stuff) actually work. Their idea of business is wearing a silly blazer, waving their hands at a stock-value board and topping up on coke for lunch, then the club. That they might have to think about placing an order, checking the delivery time, thinking about import issues and, god forbid, paying for it, is a complete fucking mystery to them.

I'm in the north too, love (expat southern)