CoronaVirus, Nature will find a way Options

[TallDarkAndHands...]

Again, you’re wrong. Matt Hancock’s ok and what he achieved in testing was great. I don’t care if he met the target either. The improvement was massive and stood on its own. So why lie? That’s the bit I don’t understand. Lying is usually a bad thing. Can we agree on that?

Governing is difficult. Labour probably can't remember. Can we agree on that? The response to the pandemic had been far from perfect. I'd have preferred no commercial flights, no immigration, 2 week quarantine for any Britains returning from mercy flights from abroad, and everyone sealed in there house for 3 weeks with no exercise allowed. Anyone found outside would have been imprisoned. It would have been over by now.👍

[Mr Brown]

Again, you’re wrong. Matt Hancock’s ok and what he achieved in testing was great. I don’t care if he met the target either. The improvement was massive and stood on its own. So why lie? That’s the bit I don’t understand. Lying is usually a bad thing. Can we agree on that?

No one has lied.

[Mr Brown]

Today, we had less than 100,000 test requests but we still have the capability to deliver 100,000+.

[je suis Charlie]

So why lie? That’s the bit I don’t understand. Lying is usually a bad thing. Can we agree on that?

Asked Mr Walter Mitty yesterday.

[James_Trinder]

Again, you’re wrong. Matt Hancock’s ok and what he achieved in testing was great. I don’t care if he met the target either. The improvement was massive and stood on its own. So why lie? That’s the bit I don’t understand. Lying is usually a bad thing. Can we agree on that?

I would describe it more as creative accounting than outright lying in this instance since it is unlikely that anybody who was sent a home test to complete would not return it at some point. That said, it was still lying, which is fundamentally wrong. However, if that lie had not been told then the media would probably not have allowed the government to move on to the next arbitrary target of 250,000, or more importantly maximising the number of daily tests that are carried out in general, which is much more beneficial.

[Mr Brown]

I would describe it more as creative accounting than outright lying in this instance since it is unlikely that anybody who was sent a home test to complete would not return it at some point. That said, it was still lying, which is fundamentally wrong. However, if that lie had not been told then the media would probably not have allowed the government to move on to the next arbitrary target of 250,000, or more importantly maximising the number of daily tests that are carried out in general, which is much more beneficial.

No. No one told lies. The 100,000 target was met, not by creative accounting, not by telling lies, but simply by counting the number of transactions to demonstrate we have a capacity to test 100,000.

I detest these weasel words; its this that distorts news. The same effect can be seen when 17 year olds as described as children.

[TallDarkAndHands...]

No. No one told lies. The 100,000 target was met, not by creative accounting, not by telling lies, but simply by counting the number of transactions to demonstrate we have a capacity to test 100,000.

I detest these weasel words; its this that distorts news. The same effect can be seen when 17 year olds as described as children.

They are the same people who will now not download the contactv tracing app, because of their privacy concerns, but will then moan about continuing deaths and nor being treated the same as the rest of the normal people, who have downloaded it. They see conspiracy everywhere and are borderline paranoid

[James_Trinder]

No. No one told lies. The 100,000 target was met, not by creative accounting, not by telling lies, but simply by counting the number of transactions to demonstrate we have a capacity to test 100,000.

I detest these weasel words; its this that distorts news. The same effect can be seen when 17 year olds as described as children.

No, the original target was to actually test 100,000 people in a day, not just to have the capacity to test 100,000 people in a day. There is a subtle but important distinction. Anyway, it is not important either way since it is what we do next as a country that matters. The inevitable public inquiry when all this is over will serve to separate the fact from the fiction but in the meantime a combination of testing and vaccine development should help to bring this pandemic to a timely end.

[James_Trinder]

They are the same people who will now not download the contactv tracing app, because of their privacy concerns, but will then moan about continuing deaths and nor being treated the same as the rest of the normal people, who have downloaded it. They see conspiracy everywhere and are borderline paranoid

Personally I am more than happy to download the contact tracing app and use it as soon as it is available. I see no conspiracies and I do not suffer from paranoia.

[James_Trinder]

No. No one told lies. The 100,000 target was met, not by creative accounting, not by telling lies, but simply by counting the number of transactions to demonstrate we have a capacity to test 100,000.

I detest these weasel words; its this that distorts news. The same effect can be seen when 17 year olds as described as children.

This might help your memory:

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/fac...do-100000-tests

You might also want to withdraw your comment about 'weasel words'.

[Mr Brown]

No, the original target was to actually test 100,000 people in a day, not just to have the capacity to test 100,000 people in a day. There is a subtle but important distinction. Anyway, it is not important either way since it is what we do next as a country that matters. The inevitable public inquiry when all this is over will serve to separate the fact from the fiction but in the meantime a combination of testing and vaccine development should help to bring this pandemic to a timely end.

....and 100,000 a day were tested, albeit some at home, which was all in the plan. If it's not important, then why all the twittering about lying?

[Mr Brown]

This might help your memory:

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/fac...do-100000-tests

You might also want to withdraw your comment about 'weasel words'.

Err, 'Channel 4 news'

[James_Trinder]

....and 100,000 a day were tested, albeit some at home, which was all in the plan. If it's not important, then why all the twittering about lying?

I've made my point now so I'm more than happy to move on.

[newres]

Err, 'Channel 4 news'

This comment says everything we need to know about you.

[SirWilliam]

Back to matters in hand. All of a sudden the roads are full of traffic, "family" groups are wondering around like it's a bank holiday and HM government is proposing that us over a certain age inhabitants spend the next six months behind closed doors without food and water.
Have I missed something? When civil liberties are deemed more important that granny's life I really do despair.

Oh and the medias obsession with everyone having to wear PPE when we can't even fully furnish those on the front line is equally baffling. One of the reasons parts of SE asia coped better than others was the lockdown being rigorously implemented, so why can't we?

[TallDarkAndHands...]

Back to matters in hand. All of a sudden the roads are full of traffic, "family" groups are wondering around like it's a bank holiday and HM government is proposing that us over a certain age inhabitants spend the next six months behind closed doors without food and water.
Have I missed something? When civil liberties are deemed more important that granny's life I really do despair.

Oh and the medias obsession with everyone having to wear PPE when we can't even fully furnish those on the front line is equally baffling. One of the reasons parts of SE asia coped better than others was the lockdown being rigorously implemented, so why can't we?

May as well give up as a certain proportion of society are complete loons.

https://mobile.twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/s...380247890210818

[James_Trinder]

May as well give up as a certain proportion of society are complete loons.

https://mobile.twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/s...380247890210818

I saw this clip last night and the guy giving the commentary on it is Newbury's very own Smiley Dave:

https://twitter.com/smileydaveuk

[James_Trinder]

Oh and the medias obsession with everyone having to wear PPE when we can't even fully furnish those on the front line is equally baffling.

I couldn't agree with you more. In my opinion PPE should currently be reserved for those on the front line having to come into close contact with people all day such as NHS staff/care staff/supermarket workers. This position could be reconsidered as and when there are no longer daily shortages reported for these groups.

[SirWilliam]

May as well give up as a certain proportion of society are complete loons.

https://mobile.twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/s...380247890210818

In China they would be rounded up and shot, which no doubt attributes to their ability to control vast numbers of people. Can't see why it is so hard to just keep one's head down for a few weeks and allow the outbreak to fizzle out

[Mr Brown]

In China they would be rounded up and shot, which no doubt attributes to their ability to control vast numbers of people. Can't see why it is so hard to just keep one's head down for a few weeks and allow the outbreak to fizzle out

One of the reasons why we shouldn't imagine this situation is just like a war. In WW2, our favourite one, people got fined pretty heavily and some imprisoned for breaking regulations. Food hoarding, breaking blackout, spreading gloom and dispondency etc. Perhaps it's time for a reminder of how things really were in 1940.