I will not defend the government unquestioningly because mistakes have been made.
All I would say is that the options available were never binary, as you and others seem to want to suggest. Every policy action has a range of consequences and at the time clearly the scientists and other experts thought they had got the balance right in their advice.
Plus, it is way too early to be making judgments. This is going to run on for at least a year, maybe more, maybe forever. In that context shouldn't we wait and see the long-term outcomes? Hokkaido in Japan has just gone back into lockdown again; Singapore has had to impose tight restrictions. What you're doing is like predicting the result of the football match after a few minutes of the 90.
Isn't it possible, indeed probable, that every country ends up in much the same place, just via different routes?
Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White