Official COVID-19 megathread

[Worcester Owl]

15 minutes ago, whittles left foot said:

Easy to say but has anybody in this country shown a way of how it's done? No.

Areas with lowest incidence are all low population areas.

At least Burnham has stood up for 'The North' by trying to get increased money to support local business whilst London merrily continued in Tier 2 and now it is suffering for that.

The North/South divide is alive and kicking despite what Boris and his sycophants tell you.

I was thinking more of Burnham doing nothing about GMP and its failure to record 80,000 crimes in a year. 80,000 !!!

[disjointed]

1 hour ago, Worcester Owl said:

Could be worse. Apart from the dread thought that comrade Corbyn would have been running the country into the ground, we've had the shining examples of Anderson in Liverpool and Burnham in Manchester to show how it's (not) done.

Think I would have rather had Corbyn than this lot of self promoting wankers. And don't get me started on fucking Priti. 

[kowenicki]

37 minutes ago, whittles left foot said:

Easy to say but has anybody in this country shown a way of how it's done? No.

Areas with lowest incidence are all low population areas.

At least Burnham has stood up for 'The North' by trying to get increased money to support local business whilst London merrily continued in Tier 2 and now it is suffering for that.

The North/South divide is alive and kicking despite what Boris and his sycophants tell you.

Burnham is a charlatan. His record in politics is a disgrace. How he is still involved is a mystery. The Staffs Hospital debacle should have seen him off. 

 

1 minute ago, disjointed said:

Think I would have rather had Corbyn than this lot of self promoting wankers. And don't get me started on fucking Priti. 

 
.  Ah well. Maybe next time. 

[whittles left foot]

20 minutes ago, Worcester Owl said:

I was thinking more of Burnham doing nothing about GMP and its failure to record 80,000 crimes in a year. 80,000 !!!

Should this not fall under the jurisdiction of The Police & Crime Commissioner for GMP?

The Chief Constable has been in charge since 2015-no doubt once the enquiry is completed he will 'retire' on full pension and there will be no repercussions.

[kowenicki]

6 minutes ago, whittles left foot said:

Should this not fall under the jurisdiction of The Police & Crime Commissioner for GMP?

The Chief Constable has been in charge since 2015-no doubt once the enquiry is completed he will 'retire' on full pension and there will be no repercussions.

https://www.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/what-we-do/police-and-fire/

 

Police and Fire

By working together with local people and partner agencies, we want to build the safest communities in Britain.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, now has responsibilities around the governance and budgets relating to Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime

Baroness Beverley Hughes is Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire. She is responsible for making the police and fire services accountable to local people and consulting with you on what your priorities are for community safety in Greater Manchester.

Working closely alongside the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, the Deputy Mayor will also make decisions on how much of your council tax needs to go towards policing.

 

 

[whittles left foot]

Kow.

 

Thanks for that. 

[Pidge]

2 minutes ago, whittles left foot said:

Should this not fall under the jurisdiction of The Police & Crime Commissioner for GMP?

The Chief Constable has been in charge since 2015-no doubt once the enquiry is completed he will 'retire' on full pension and there will be no repercussions.

Exactly.  Until the numbers are reported, how does anyone know that some crimes were not reported. Once they are reported someone has to look into the fact that figures were less then expected. Surely that is the stage the Mayor becomes involved.  It is what Barnum does now that counts.

 

There was a conservative MP trying to stick the knife in saying these unreported crimes were not investigated and hence everyone was put at risk. That was rubbish.

 

We had this in Stockport some years ago.  They did not report crimes which probably would not be solved, theft of a garden ornament.  Or if technicality two crimes eg assault and criminal damage occurred together one would be recorded.  All to make figures look better.

[kowenicki]

30 minutes ago, Pidge said:

Exactly.  Until the numbers are reported, how does anyone know that some crimes were not reported. Once they are reported someone has to look into the fact that figures were less then expected. Surely that is the stage the Mayor becomes involved.  It is what Barnum does now that counts.

 

There was a conservative MP trying to stick the knife in saying these unreported crimes were not investigated and hence everyone was put at risk. That was rubbish.

 

We had this in Stockport some years ago.  They did not report crimes which probably would not be solved, theft of a garden ornament.  Or if technicality two crimes eg assault and criminal damage occurred together one would be recorded.  All to make figures look better.

Was that intentional? Either way... very appropriate.

[al_bro]

6 hours ago, BP1960 said:

 

I think Bury spoiled it for Greater Manchester to go into tier 2 as their covid rates went up while others went down.

Might have been better to make it Borough by Borough.

 

Even though the numbers are decreasing, people are still being admitted to hospital. I heard a report the other day that Oldham Royal is full to bursting.  What happens in January is down to joe public. If people decide to travel around the country, or visiting too many others and possibly spreading, or contracting the virus, we will have a full lockdown. If people behave sensibly, it can be avoided.

 

6 hours ago, disjointed said:

The problem is that when you make it Borough to Borough it makes it easier for people to visit restaurants etc nearby whilst being in a tier 3.

They tried that earlier and it was condemned by the very people who are now advocating it. Notably HM's opposition party, saying that people were to confused by it. 

[whittles left foot]

2 hours ago, whittles left foot said:

Should this not fall under the jurisdiction of The Police & Crime Commissioner for GMP?

The Chief Constable has been in charge since 2015-no doubt once the enquiry is completed he will 'retire' on full pension and there will be no repercussions.

Sorry for quoting myself but I see the Chief Constable has now stepped down and is also on sick leave. 

Medical retirement here I come methinks. It stinks.

Nobody able to get an official comment out of GMP so far.

[ShireBlue]

Some people get very defensive when you criticise the current government

[Magic Mikey]

43 minutes ago, ShireBlue said:

Some people get very defensive when you criticise the current government

Indeed. With the total and utter fuck up this lot have made of everything, their only "defence" seems to be that it might have been worse under Corbyn. 

[Bobledgersheart]

12 minutes ago, Magic Mikey said:

Indeed. With the total and utter fuck up this lot have made of everything, their only "defence" seems to be that it might have been worse under Corbyn. 

Nearly right there, their defence is "it would have been worse under Corbyn".

[Dave_Og]

6 minutes ago, Bobledgersheart said:

Nearly right there, their defence is "it would have been worse under Corbyn".

God knows what the Labour Party were doing electing him as leader. Zero qualifications for the job. His equivocation around the Brexit referendum was probably enough to swing the result the way it went and he was demonstrably unelectable as Prime Minister. Political suicide. 

[disjointed]

2 minutes ago, Dave_Og said:

God knows what the Labour Party were doing electing him as leader. Zero qualifications for the job. His equivocation around the Brexit referendum was probably enough to swing the result the way it went and he was demonstrably unelectable as Prime Minister. Political suicide. 

Of course it was, the Labour Party has a history of shooting itself in the foot, I only hope Starmer unites the party, as a morally bankrupt tory party is creating so many divisions in the country. 

[Dave_Og]

Just now, disjointed said:

Of course it was, the Labour Party has a history of shooting itself in the foot, I only hope Starmer unites the party, as a morally bankrupt tory party is creating so many divisions in the country. 

The reaction after the report into anti-semitism suggests they have a long way to go before they can generate trust. 

[rudemedic]

8 hours ago, kowenicki said:

Burnham is a charlatan. His record in politics is a disgrace. How he is still involved is a mystery. The Staffs Hospital debacle should have seen him off. 

 

 
.  Ah well. Maybe next time. 

Except Andy Burnham wasn't Secretary of State for Health during the months in question. He was the Secretary of State for Health who commissioned the Francis Report into Mid Staffs, but by that point previous reports had already been completed, notably by a body responsible at the time, the Healthcare Commission. Alan Johnson was the Secretary of State for Health during the scandal (Patricia Hewitt may have been Secretary of State for Health during some of the initial period covered in the investigation). 

 

The issues at mid Staffs can be traced back to the creation of NHS Foundation Trusts, the brain child of Alan Milburn. Andy Burnham hadn't been MP for Leigh for 12 months when Alan Milburn announced the creation of Foundation Trusts. 

 

COVID-19 has highlighted a lot of the issues in the Health and Social Care sector. I can only think of 1 that can be partially traced back to Andy Burnham's 11 months as Secretary of State for Health^. Some issues, like those around equity of resource across England* pre-date his time. Lots are from after his tenure under various Tory led governments. In fact it seems very feasible that if COVID-19 had been COVID-18, the PPE issue from earlier in the year wouldn't have been as damaging as some of the PPE may have still been in date, as that PPE may have been purchased by the NHS during Andy Burnham's tenure as Secretary of State for Health. 

 

*This is one of the reasons why London was able to avoid Tier 3 initially as they have an unequitable share of resource. 

 

^Edit - Forgot the one of the more recent published issues - in Maternity at Shrewsbury & Telford which some cases may have been under Andy Burnham's tenure

[Matt]

16 hours ago, ShireBlue said:

Some people get very defensive when you criticise the current government

 

Don't they just. It's always been not so much the idiots that are selling, but the idiots that are buying.

 

The fact that we've pretty much got a National Front/UKIP hybrid Government seems to sit well with those who pretty much let it ride in the eighties. The English Exit masqueraded as something that would be better for the below average worker, when looking back at it it was a trojan horse for all sorts of fuckery like flag-shagging Patriotism, and therefore privilege.

 

Anyway, there was a thread here started in earnest - can we respect the OP's wishes? Me included.

 

I've moved this away...

[LightDN123]

In fairness to our government, what we have achieved on both testing and vaccines is incredible. 

[Matt]

1 hour ago, LightDN123 said:

In fairness to our government, what we have achieved on both testing and vaccines is incredible. 

 

...what can be achieved with something that has a whiff of decent funding and resource thrown at it.

 

 

[Matt]

15 hours ago, Bobledgersheart said:

Nearly right there, their defence is "it would have been worse under Corbyn".

 

...but straw man arguments aside...

[LightDN123]

29 minutes ago, Matt said:

 

...what can be achieved with something that has a whiff of decent funding and resource thrown at it.

 

 

Yeah true, but can’t be argued we are leading the charge which will be saving lives for years to come. 

[disjointed]

1 hour ago, LightDN123 said:

In fairness to our government, what we have achieved on both testing and vaccines is incredible. 

I personally think that whoever was running the country, would have let the scientists and doctors get on with it. 

[Chaddyexile84]

21 hours ago, disjointed said:

Think I would have rather had Corbyn than this lot of self promoting wankers. And don't get me started on fucking Priti. 

Her smirk makes me want to stick my foot through the tv 

[LightDN123]

1 minute ago, disjointed said:

I personally think that whoever was running the country, would have let the scientists and doctors get on with it. 

If you did that you would only consider the health consequences, and not take into consideration any economic and the knock on effects of neglecting that side. The exact reason it’s unwise to do as you said.