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If you don't live in the UK, it may be a bit difficult to understand just how badly the UK's Conservative Government handled the pandemic up until the vaccine r

If you don't live in the UK, it may be a bit difficult to understand just how badly the UK's Conservative Government handled the pandemic up until the vaccine rollout. The level of ineptitude, dishonesty and croynism is simply off the scale. How they got away with such incompetence remains utterly baffling and deeply depressing. (A largely Conservative-supporting national press probably helped to some degree.) The number of COVID deaths speaks volumes about the government's record in tackling the pandemic: more than 127,000 people dead. Back in March 2020, the medical director of National Health Service England, Stephen Powis, said that if the UK was able to keep deaths below 20,000 then "we will have done very well in this epidemic."

kmlx 5y ago
you would then be surprised that it's the same everywhere else.
jonathanstrange 5y ago
I don't live in the UK and had no trouble understanding that. The UK and US were both terrible at it in the beginning (Q1 and Q2 of 2020). Afterwards, those countries did pretty much the same as everyone else and they ramped up vaccinations much faster than other countries, so the later response masks the total incompetence of the initial response.
- SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
  No, the UK was still terrible at it in Q4 2020. it was a grim winter, and actually largely avoidable. Lockdown happened anyway, but late in the day. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55379220 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55379220 https://www.itv.com/news/2020-12-20/covid-19-millions-in-england-and-wales-wake-up-under-new-lockdown-as-uks-christmas-plans-cancelled https://www.itv.com/news/2020-12-20/covid-19-millions-in-eng... https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk-records-highest-ever-daily-coronavirus-deaths-at-1-325-fatalities-12182575 https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk-records-highest-ever-...
iso1631 5y ago
> A largely Conservative-supporting national press probably helped to some degree. People don't really read newspapers any more. In Jan 2020, newspaper circulation was about 10% of the country [0]. In Jan 2021 this is down about 35% (far fewer people commuting or even going to shops to buy a paper -- the Metro lost 60% of its readers) The left always complain about the power of the Daily Mail - but it reaches fewer than 1 million people a day. How do you explain the other 67 million people in the UK? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation#2020_to_present https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_Unit...
atc 5y ago
> How they got away with such incompetence remains utterly baffling and deeply depressing. What do you expect from such a unique, chaotic situation such as this? > (A largely Conservative-supporting national press probably helped to some degree.) Plenty of people say the absolute opposite.

kmlx 5y ago

you would then be surprised that it's the same everywhere else.

jonathanstrange 5y ago

I don't live in the UK and had no trouble understanding that. The UK and US were both terrible at it in the beginning (Q1 and Q2 of 2020). Afterwards, those countries did pretty much the same as everyone else and they ramped up vaccinations much faster than other countries, so the later response masks the total incompetence of the initial response.

SideburnsOfDoom 5y ago
No, the UK was still terrible at it in Q4 2020. it was a grim winter, and actually largely avoidable. Lockdown happened anyway, but late in the day. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55379220 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55379220 https://www.itv.com/news/2020-12-20/covid-19-millions-in-england-and-wales-wake-up-under-new-lockdown-as-uks-christmas-plans-cancelled https://www.itv.com/news/2020-12-20/covid-19-millions-in-eng... https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk-records-highest-ever-daily-coronavirus-deaths-at-1-325-fatalities-12182575 https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk-records-highest-ever-...

iso1631 5y ago

> A largely Conservative-supporting national press probably helped to some degree. People don't really read newspapers any more. In Jan 2020, newspaper circulation was about 10% of the country [0]. In Jan 2021 this is down about 35% (far fewer people commuting or even going to shops to buy a paper -- the Metro lost 60% of its readers) The left always complain about the power of the Daily Mail - but it reaches fewer than 1 million people a day. How do you explain the other 67 million people in the UK? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_United_Kingdom_by_circulation#2020_to_present https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_Unit...

atc 5y ago

> How they got away with such incompetence remains utterly baffling and deeply depressing. What do you expect from such a unique, chaotic situation such as this? > (A largely Conservative-supporting national press probably helped to some degree.) Plenty of people say the absolute opposite.