Stan

I mean these are better than the videos we saw earlier.

There will 100% be inquiries. Boris alluded to as much yesterday in PMQs when questioned about the care home crises and deaths that have arisen from that. There'll be mounting pressure from the outset (if not now already) for there to be an inquiry in to how the government managed this right from the start, probably dating back to Jan/Feb when it was first talked about the potential of there being a global outbreak and why UK wasn't readily prepared for it. I saw earlier today that in 2016 the government pushed back or cancelled pandemic preparations in favour of sorting out preparations for a no-deal Brexit. To the point where it was concluded back then that there would be a serious shortage of PPE if a pandemic was to strike...

If I remember correctly, over the past few weeks and mainly towards start of April, there were several suppliers and manufacturers offering their supplies & services to the government but they didn't even get replied to or acknowledged. Now I appreciate they were probably overwhelmed and there could well have been logistical issues but also financial implications as to why they weren't used. Having said that though, it continues to portray a total lack of organisation from the government. Let's order 400k of a product which we don't know what it'll be like, but it's cheaper so let's go with it. If you go local, it's perhaps easier to sample or easier to test and ensure it is fit for purpose and meet such standards for protection. Then at least you know what you're getting. Surely you'd rather pay more for a quality, fit-for-purpose product as opposed to pay less for something that you can't use at all?! Just doesn't make sense how they've got this so wrong.

Good to hear from you and glad you're safe. Must be quite relieving to be able to go out and about. That age group thing sounds quite good and I get the feeling Spanish community will be more tolerant of that than people over here!

I would love for the government (or those responsible within) to be held accountable, but they'll pass the blame on to the scientists or anyone/everyone they can without taking the blame themselves.

Dutch rules... Long thread here.

This is definitely inexcusable behaviour. And just downright stupid. Why the police didn't shut it down earlier I do not know. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicestershire-pub-boot-inn-caught-4108810

200k tests/day is now the figure for end of May, Johnson has announced. Relates to labs to process the tests in the main. Guessing they'll get a lot of the tests they sent out in the post returned with samples which would go towards the figure.

Anyone remember that voodoo guy from Nigeria

It was a government target published. Whoever said it doesn't matter. It's still relevant .

what about this one?

Positive news! A week without 0 cases is fairly significant in the world picture I would say. Hope that continues. Can't imagine when that will be the case here in UK. Even if lockdown is maintained I can still see case numbers being fairly high.

Nah I know you weren't calling me one mate, just didn't think it was right that any criticism of it means you'd be a Labour activist. Anyway, that's besides the main point. As far as I'm aware, the home tests being sent out in their daily tally up to end of April were not included. So it's quite blatantly been added to push them over the 100k number. I think I mentioned here or COVID19 thread - I'd actually have more respect for them or just politicians in general if they were honest. Like you say, if they said they'd hit 85k by end of April (which is great!) and were on course to hit 100k with the general trend of numbers going upward I really wouldn't have minded, personally. Given they stated, almost arrogantly, they'd hit 100k I don't see how it can be treated as arbitrary. The day it was announced they'd opted for 100k by end of April they hadn't even reached other targets before that. It seemed to be like a macho statement in comparison to seeing how other countries in Europe were perhaps testing in good numbers. Like a British stiff upper lip attitude of 'anything you can do, we can do better'. While that may be true in certain things it was the wrong tactic to employ just to go for 'we're better than you'. Now we just look embarrassing for 1) missing the target and 2) carrying out some 'creative accounting' to make the numbers work. I understand that's not how the media would have treated it but sadly the media run the narratives these days and has been the case for years. Look at yesterday's news - UK has the highest reported death toll in Europe now (absolutely huge news in the grand scheme of things) and some newspapers decide to go with the Ferguson breaking lockdown story (still very big, but not in comparison to the death tolls). Totally missing the big picture. I also saw on Telegraph (?) front page that they went for the Ferguson story and in a tiny little box at the bottom there's a small snippet from Vallance saying they may have been slow in their testing strategy...

(I did read the rest of your post and agree with it, just selecting the bit I want to discuss). When did they get to 100k tests? Capacity was there but they fudged the numbers to get include tests they'd sent out just to 'reach' their target... You mention 'labour Twitter activists getting antsy' but isn't this name-calling what you alluded to in your post in the COVID19 thread?! I get you're probably generalising but it's fair game to be called out on missing the deadline. Don't think it matters if it screams 'labour activist'. It's actually one thing I'd rather the media did focus on as opposed to anything else!

Where did you read this about stopping at the halfway point? It's the principle of it all. What makes them better than anyone else to allow them to go for a ride? Why such a long ride and not around their own local area? Why, in particular, must they ride 100 miles which is quite an excessive amount to go for even if it is just for wellbeing reasons? Exercise is a risk but there are clear guidelines about where, why and how you should do it to minimise that risk as much as possible. The same can't be said for bikers - while I get it may help their wellbeing, it doesn't excuse their 100-mile each-way trip for it. Also, if we're talking well-being, going for fish and chips kind of negates that !! Hardly the healthiest of meals...

Gonna have to disagree on this one. Cheap shot, easy answer or whatever, I just don't think there was any need to mention the tone (because there was nothing wrong with it in the context). Keir Starmer managed it perfectly well the other when responding to Raab the other day, even though Raab's 'tone' (and facts) were off the mark. I don't see 2 teenagers at all. I see one person laying it down thick about her own experience on the front-lines, and almost expressing a need for some empathy from her opposition about the desperate situation the public and key-worker staff are in. I think the strategy should well be brought in to question anyway, regardless. The numbers speak for themselves. The fiddling of figures the other day to make it look like they reached a target they never met (yes it's great there's an upward trajectory of tests and that so many tests in the tens of thousands are being done. But set yourself a target and miss it and that in itself is an easy chance for scrutiny to be brought about - there's no 2 ways about that if you miss your targets which were overly ambitious to start with in my opinion). On the other hand, in response to her, I see a man who's probably under an immense amount of stress given his position and (not sure if I mentioned on here, mind) for someone who's probably done a lot of good work in dealing with this pandemic, it unravelled a bit with his retort to her. I see someone who, as you say, has faced a lot of questions (utterly stupid and misguided ones at that at times) and perhaps could be getting fed up. I don't even think he's responded as a teenager would. I think he's tried to deflect in some ways at some very real points she made, by telling her to 'amend' her tone and almost like a 'get back in your box and don't question our authority' kind of way. It was disappointing to see such a kind of response. If it was such an easy thing to answer back to (the testing strategy), come back with some facts to put someone in their place. Let the numbers or strategy do the talking. No need to make it personal (to an extent).

Is that 2 guns she's holding?

Really? He could have responded better even if it was a question that played right in to his hands (I don't think it was anyway). He was very rude and dismissive and went beyond a line, for me.

Going for fish and chips is now work purposes? Good to know. Original banter good one.

Stop talking sense, it doesn't work mate.

Nah I wonder how someone can be so fucking stupid to break their own rules

Ffs.

It's exactly the news we've been waiting for for ages.