You didn't expect me to actually read it, did you?

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Officials have drawn up 3-stage plan for easing lockdown

Phase 1: Small shops & outdoor workplaces reopen

Phase 2: Larger shops, shopping centres reopen

Phase 3: Pubs, hotels, restaurants, bars, leisure facilities last to reopenhttps://t.co/zWe4yKTBca

— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) May 6, 2020

I wish Russia would let 'their little secret' out of the bag as to why they have such a low death rate compared to cases.
Today's new cases 10,559
New deaths 86

One would say they are being a bit 'economical' with the truth on reporting deaths. Or perhaps the way they process deaths on the books takes 1-2 months perhaps!

Remember those images a few weeks back of ambulances in jams queueing for 9 hours just to admit patients. That's when the new cases figure was much lower around 4k.

Ministers going down with the virus like flies, over 100 doctors and nurses dying with some influential ones also managing to fall out of windows.

Just waiting for a massive story to be leaked by someone over there just how really bad it is, and the cover up.

I don't agree with all of it but it is an interesting piece. Clearly there is blame enough to go round - for instance, were NHS managers responsible for ensuring that frontline staff had enough PPE for an epidemic on this scale or were ministers? I imagine these are questions which only a public inquiry will be able to answer.

I think it's clear from the discussions we've had previously on here that HMG actively prevented NHS managers from buying PPE. That, after having sold off our stockpile. It's ridiculous to try to blame managers who have no power to make a purchasing decision, for a shortage.

Looks as though Ferguson has made the same kind of error of judgement that Dr Catherine Calerwood made in early April in not adhering to lockdown rules.

Furlough is the only thing they have got right. To cut it so soon would be a catastrophic error, leading to mass unemployment. 

I thought it was "safe" to print money at the moment with no inflationary consequences

But he was banging a hot blonde, so I think it was worth it!

And as Brian says, a career in reality TV beckons, perhaps even Celebrity Love Island

#CoronaVirusUpdate 🇩🇪

GERMANY: expected to continuing easing lockdown

Plan is to reopen hotels, restaurants, all schools and Bundesliga, behind closed doors

Though bans on large gatherings and travel outside of Germany remain

— Darren McCaffrey (@DarrenEuronews) May 6, 2020

Came across this article on Facebook last night re the response of some members of the scientific community to the government's handling of the crisis:

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2020/05/05/scientists-issue-a-direct-challenge-to-the-government-over-its-shambolic-coronavirus-response/?fbclid=IwAR2YwBCVX00AIfD2NtnEGv1NQhg9gZQYig5zDpynL9flaoHdaDjEx-tBotg

Doesn't make good reading for the government at all, in my view.

FWIW I don't disagree with you in any way John; I guess I was trying to be too diplomatic when I described it as an error of judgement.

What I think we can agree on for sure is that both Ferguson and Calderwood acted very irresponsibly, to put it mildly, when they failed to adhere to the same lockdown rules that they were both instrumental in helping the UK and Scottish governments to put in place in March. That's what cost Calderwood her job as CMO for Scotland a few weeks back.

COVID-19 deaths.

Brazil - Highest in South America.
Usa - Highest in the world.
Britain - Highest in Europe.

What do the leaders of these three countries have in common?

— SomeTimesImFunny (@SomeTimesImFun2) May 5, 2020

They're all incompetent?

I don't think it reflects well on our society and its values where someone has to resign over a misjudgement that has little to do with their ability and skill in their role. I agree 100% that he was foolish and made an error of judgement but I don't see how removing an acknowledged world-leading expert in his field at a critical time in the pandemic is anything but negative.

Nor do I think the label 'hypocrisy' is correct in this case: it seimoly does not fit the definition of the word at all.  Definition:  'Hypocrisy is the contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character traits or inclinations'. Sorry, but that is not what he has done.

A lapse of judgement is a lapse of judgement. Does it affect his ability to do his job? Is the threat of being hounded by the media the yardstick by which judgements are made or should, properly, be made?  

By any reasonable standards this is another poor reflection on how our media operates and how we allow it to colour our judgement.

Russia's death figures are not the lowest in proportion to new cases. In any case bear in mind that deaths lag new cases by 2-3 weeks; 2-3 weeks ago Russia only had 1-2,000 cases per day.

Current country totals include:

Russia 165,929 cases, 1,537 deaths (0.9%)
Saudi Arabia 30,251 cases, 200 deaths (0.6%)
Chile 22,016 cases, 275 deaths (1.2%)
Singapore 20,198 cases, 18 deaths (0.1%)
Belarus 18,350 cases, 107 deaths (0.6%)
Qatar 17,142 cases, 12 deaths (0.1%)
UAE 15,192 cases, 146 deaths (1.0%)
Kuwait 5,804 cases, 40 deaths (0.7%)

I haven't noticed you calling out Singapore or Qatar?

Worth reading in full, whatever you might think of Staines:

https://order-order.com/2020/05/06/experts-respond-government-nhs-app-rebuttal/

I don't like to see any person have to resign from their job under any circumstances. However, I do think that with this country and the rest of the world in the middle of an major health emergency, it is very important that they adhere to, and are seen to be adhering to, the same rules and conditions that they were instrumental in helping to put in place which every member of the public has to live by right now.

On the point of semantics the term "error of judgement" is a term bandied around all too frequently IMO. It's sincerity has become diluted - if you don't really want to qualify what is wrong about a decision you've willingly taken then just put it down to an error of judgement - easy! Perhaps "hypocrisy" was not the most apt terminology, but neither was the one used.

I'll have to flick through my well thumbed copy of Roget's Thesaurus unless you can come up with one off the cuff, Peter 

I don't know whether this is true. Have you got any sources for the claim that HMG actively prevented NHS managers from buying PPE? Thanks.

Roger.

I've arrived late to this and the comments made are excellent. Statistics can always be interpreted in a way which suits the persons opinion. With the death rate for Coronavirus this obviously applies. One point I will make and I am not giving an opinion here. The 4 most sizeable  countries in Europe with the highest population densities are  1.The Netherlands, 2.Belgium and  3. United Kingdom 4. Germany.

However of these 4 the United Kingdom also has the largest share of remote areas, therefore it is likely that the urban areas of the UK are actually more densely populated than the other 3 countries. As far as I know this hasn't been mentioned in the comparisons.

Brian

He won't have any reliable sources, that is certain.

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/nhs-procurement