Channel 4 Dispatches: Britain’s Coronavirus Catastrophe

Stuart Wright

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Wow. Everyone should watch this programme.
Boris Johnson has been criminally arrogant, ignorant and negligent. The government have hugely screwed up the response to the coronavirus leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths.
Astonishing to have it laid out in such a stark way.
 
It's shocking the way this country has dealt with the pandemic.

It's nothing to do with allegiances to any particular party and the people who use it to point score are wrong.

The people in charge need to be held accountable and a full investigation needs to done after we are over the pandemic.
 
I suspected this might get it's own thread. I can see people talking about it elsewhere, and has already been mentioned in the government thread here.

Not watched it yet myself, but will certainly do. Dispatches have done some very good and well researched investigations.
 
I suspected this might get it's own thread. I can see people talking about it elsewhere, and has already been mentioned in the government thread here.

Not watched it yet myself, but will certainly do. Dispatches have done some very good and well researched investigations.
It's shocking, some of the things they've said in the documentary are unbelievable.
 
Usual msm bs I expect. I've given up watching any of the propaganda spewed out by the main media channels, especially the BBC
 
Watched it last night. Nothing in there will be a surprise to anyone who’s been closely following the govt response, but when collated into a single episode like this it's pretty damning, and would I imagine be staggering to watch for someone who hasn't been following this closely.

(Not a fan of the dramatisation either; the facts of what happened are enough to scare the bejesus out of anyone, we don't need a musical score playing behind hammy ominous voiceovers to get the message across.)
 
There wasn't anything I wasn't aware of, other than the alleged herd immunity comments to the Italian PM. Johnson probably thought he was discussing cows and mozzarella production.
Here is the predictable government response (for balance:D)


Likewise, none of it was revelatory, beyond details of Johnson's conversation with the Italian PM, but it was useful to get a coherent timeline through early to mid March.

Those sounds and images of inaction, crowding in parliament, complacency and error seem staggering looking back. People talk of hindsight, but we had foresight. We had clear vision of how this was playing out elsewhere, along with unequivocal warning. We were told, repeatedly, "hell is coming."

There was a three week period when the government could have acted decisively and saved thousands of lives, possibly tens of thousands of lives. That's not hyperbole.

It's said that the economic cost will prove just as dangerous as the virus. I agree. Surely we would have been better able to restart the economy if we hadn't allowed the virus to take hold to the same degree. We're now reopening the economy as an act of desperation, at a time when our daily mortality figure exceeds that of the rest of the European continent combined.
 
It's said that the economic cost will prove just as dangerous as the virus. I agree. Surely we would have been better able to restart the economy if we hadn't allowed the virus to take hold to the same degree. We're now reopening the economy as an act of desperation, at a time when our daily mortality figure exceeds that of the rest of the European continent combined.

I agree, and that is what worries me, that our numbers are still high really for what we are doing, but at same time there isn't much choice if thinking of the economy, but it's still potentially very dangerous too right now and I think the government know that, too.

Hopefully the virus has burned itself out soto speak peak wise, like some articles suggest, but also when the weather turns again that's when a 2nd wave could happen.
 
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Here is the predictable government response (for balance:D)


The statement's full of deviation, obfuscation and non denial denials: on testing strategy and capacity; on ventilator procurement; on failure to respond to offers of help with testing; on Johnson's absence through February; on Johnson's insistence on public handshaking.

Beyond that the government is keen to push responsibility onto SAGE.

I note the explicit references to SAGE and not senior government advisors. I find it telling that the government is seeking to make a clear distinction. Neatly separating Westminster from scientific groups makes for easier attribution of blame: "it wasn't us, it was them." This stands in stark contrast to Johnson's insistence at PMQs yesterday that he takes full responsibility for the government's Covid-19 response.
 
Hopefully the virus has burned itself out

We still have 8,000 infections per day (and that's with lock down and social distancing measures in place). I'm afraid there's no sign of burnout.

The virus is no less contagious or deadly. That fire can spread very quickly indeed.
 
We still have 8,000 infections per day (and that's with lock down and social distancing measures in place). I'm afraid there's no sign of burnout.

That is what worries me, a lot.
 
I watched it as well. Like others have said, there was pretty much nothing we weren't aware of but seeing it all laid out like that was pretty damning.

I wasn't aware of the conversation with the Italian PM or the irate telephone call from Macron.
 
This article provides a good summary to C4 Dispatches programme:

Britain’s Coronavirus Catastrophe: Did the Government Get It Wrong?, Channel 4

Nobel prize winner Sir Paul Nurse claimed that his offer of 2,000 tests a day was ignored. He described speaking to UK government ministers as like “talking to a blancmange – you sort of poke it and it wobbles for a while and then more or less goes back to the original shape it had”.

‘Perhaps the most unsettling moment arrived when health analyst George Batchelor estimated that, had the lockdown been enforced 11 days earlier, 13,000 deaths could have been avoided.

So did the Government get it wrong? I’ll leave you to make up your own mind’

Dispatches' Coronavirus Catastrophe documentary shamed Boris Johnson ★★★★
 
AKA Doctor Nurse ;)

I particularly liked Sir Paul Nurse's quote that speaking to UK government ministers was like “talking to a blancmange – you sort of poke it and it wobbles for a while and then more or less goes back to the original shape it had”
 
Boris Johnson has been criminally arrogant, ignorant and negligent.
Boris Johnson was elected in December on the biggest electoral mandate for many years. I think the vast majority of people knew exactly what he was when they elected him - to which I would add to your list dishonest, opportunist, vengeful and a blatant promotor of cronyism - but they still elected him. Even after all the obviously failings of the COVID-19 response, he is still riding high in the polls. Competency, performance or honesty count for nothing in modern day Britain. The Dispatches programme is interesting but will not make one jot of difference at all.
 
Boris Johnson was elected in December on the biggest electoral mandate for many years. I think the vast majority of people knew exactly what he was when they elected him - to which I would add to your list dishonest, opportunist, vengeful and a blatant promotor of cronyism - but they still elected him. Even after all the obviously failings of the COVID-19 response, he is still riding high in the polls. Competency, performance or honesty count for nothing in modern day Britain. The Dispatches programme is interesting but will not make one jot of difference at all.
The first part is answered in one word - CORBYN!

As for riding high still, so was Churchill during WWII, then came the election on 26 July
1945.....

No Labour fan but I think Keir Starmer has a lot more charisma than the vast majority of previous labour leaders, which isnt difficult :)
 
As for riding high still, so was Churchill during WWII, then came the election on 26 July 1945.....
If you draw that parallel, it is rather confirming my suggestion that the majority of the British public think Johnson is a great pandemic time leader.
 
Echo most of the other sentiments in here.

I'd consider myself pretty clued up on the timeline of events, which is why I've always pressed my case for mismanagement and inadequacy. So none of it came as much of a surprise to me. I'm sure to others though it will have come as a shock.

I would agree @Nick74 that the response statement was also very poor. It was the same for The Times article, no surprises there either.

There's a simple reason for that though. It's not possible to rebuke much of what has taken place.
 
Boris Johnson was elected in December on the biggest electoral mandate for many years. I think the vast majority of people knew exactly what he was when they elected him - to which I would add to your list dishonest, opportunist, vengeful and a blatant promotor of cronyism - but they still elected him. Even after all the obviously failings of the COVID-19 response, he is still riding high in the polls. Competency, performance or honesty count for nothing in modern day Britain. The Dispatches programme is interesting but will not make one jot of difference at all.

I agree. I honestly believe there's nothing Johnson could do or say that would cause his base to waver (to use a Trumpian term). I mean really, how much more could he screw up?

That base would seem sizeable enough for this government to retain power under our first past the post electoral system. It would appear these voters will stick with Johnson to the end, whatever and wherever that may be. Death or glory (and I see no sign of glory).
 
Likewise, none of it was revelatory, beyond details of Johnson's conversation with the Italian PM, but it was useful to get a coherent timeline through early to mid March.

Those sounds and images of inaction, crowding in parliament, complacency and error seem staggering looking back. People talk of hindsight, but we had foresight. We had clear vision of how this was playing out elsewhere, along with unequivocal warning. We were told, repeatedly, "hell is coming."

There was a three week period when the government could have acted decisively and saved thousands of lives, possibly tens of thousands of lives. That's not hyperbole.

It's said that the economic cost will prove just as dangerous as the virus. I agree. Surely we would have been better able to restart the economy if we hadn't allowed the virus to take hold to the same degree. We're now reopening the economy as an act of desperation, at a time when our daily mortality figure exceeds that of the rest of the European continent combined.

His actions beggar believe at times :(
 
Finally watched this yesterday and it really is interesting and quite revealing. I agree, well worth watching.
 
If you draw that parallel, it is rather confirming my suggestion that the majority of the British public think Johnson is a great pandemic time leader.
he's milked it to the max, but got it a tad wrong ...

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