Too many layers. Too many agendas.It's nuts that central and local government aren't working closely together.
The government doesn't believe that the number of people tested is a relevant or useful piece of information... By Hancock's logic 100k tests carried out is a more relevant statistic even if those 100k tests are carried out on the same 10 people. This is insanity.The government needs to explain why it’s Covid tracker has omitted 90% of recent cases such as those in Leicester?
The government doesn't believe that the number of people tested is a relevant or useful piece of information... By Hancock's logic 100k tests carried out is a more relevant statistic even if those 100k tests are carried out on the same 10 people. This is insanity.
Johnson at PMQs today was asked why Pillar 2 data was not shared with local authorities for 11 days as in Leicester’s case? He just lied by stating all data has been shared with local authorities despite him being told categorically this was not the case. How can anyone trust this liar?I wish I could say I was shocked, but I'm not.
Full pillar 1+2 data is being shared w/ local public health bodies, so some health officials know what’s going on in different bits of the country, but this data is not shared with local councils, mayors, MPs, who’ve had to ask for it & wait weeks. Useless in fast-moving pandemic.
The rest of the public, whether it’s school governors, local business owners or journalists writing about the presence or absence of new outbreaks, are being fed data that is ultimately garbage, and the people publishing that data know it.
It's a wonder we even know what day it is to be honest.
Johnson at PMQs today was asked why Pillar 2 data was not shared with local authorities for 11 days as in Leicester’s case? He just lied by stating all data has been shared with local authorities despite him being told categorically this was not the case. How can anyone trust this liar?
Johnson at PMQs today was asked why Pillar 2 data was not shared with local authorities for 11 days as in Leicester’s case? He just lied by stating all data has been shared with local authorities despite him being told categorically this was not the case. How can anyone trust this liar?
There could have been an easy way to streamline the process, bypass WM bureaucracy and ensure the positive test result data got to PHE and the local authorities but they didn't think to write it into the contract with Deloitte
I thought I had become inured to the tsunami of ineptitude and falsehoods from our govt, but this latest episode has hit me hard. I almost wonder if this was not a 'simple' oversight, but very much by design?You couldn’t make this level of ineptitude up if you tried?
They aren't clever enough to work out a conspiracy like that. They are reacting to everything as it happens.I thought I had become inured to the tsunami of ineptitude and falsehoods from our govt, but this latest episode has hit me hard. I almost wonder if this was not a 'simple' oversight, but very much by design?
I thought I had become inured to the tsunami of ineptitude and falsehoods from our govt, but this latest episode has hit me hard. I almost wonder if this was not a 'simple' oversight, but very much by design?
I'm back at work now, so have less time to pay attention. Still, watching footage of today's PMQs made me angry.
Johnson smirked through his exchanges. The virus is still out there. People are still dying, while our prime minister smirks in response to important questions. As though nothing serious is happening. As if we can make light of so many excess deaths.
He only wants the fun stuff and the adulation. Not the responsibility that comes with leadership. To use a metaphor, Johnson's leading us into no man's land, under heavy gunfire, then stopping midway to do the conga.
I don't want to follow a man like that into battle. If forced into battle I want a leader to who appreciates that our lives are in his hands. A leader that understands the gravity of the situation.
See my post above. It's the next phase we've moved into. Hopefully we don't go the same way as over the pond, and hopefully most people aren't stupid enough to fall for the idea that we're out of the woods.
Although I do fear the morning after the night before (Sunday), many people will think the virus has magically disappeared because they're able to get smashed again.
On the subject of data, or more specifically the lack of data where it's needed, it's hard to tell if this is ineptitude on the government's part, or deliberate.
If we think back several months (to a time when deaths outside hospital weren't reported, yet it was apparent we weren't getting anything close to the full picture), my heavy suspicion was that Johnson's government hoped to suppress the numbers for as long as possible. Limiting short term reputational damage became the focus. Even though they understood the illusion couldn't hold for long.
All that mattered was how things looked in the moment. They'd worry about the fallout later. If they had to. If they were lucky, people would forget. This government has lived day to day since this crisis began. There is no long term plan. Or even a middle term plan.
Why do I say all of this? Keeping the numbers in Leicester under wraps, if only for a short while, kept the government's poor handling of easing lockdown measures off the front pages for a week. Doing so hid the reality that this virus is no less virulent or dangerous.
Yet Johnson encouraged us to "show some guts" and get back out there. It was the wrong signal from a prime minister who's taken a cavalier approach to public health.
There ends the mini-essay.