The First Minister had to explain this over-and-over yesterday to a gaggle of bairns posing as journalists and now the Herald thinks we’re interested in more, well two, questions from those deeply unconvincing ‘determined wimps’, Jackson Carlaw and Ian Murray, leaders of the Labour and Conservative Coalition (LACC).
There were only a handful of Scots at the Nike conference. If there had been an announcement, they would have been exposed to maltreatment by any number of balloons over-reacting to the news and turning up at their homes with torches and pitchforks,
A professional group advised the Scottish Government not to release the details into the public domain and got on with the job of contact tracing. I’m guessing no one died because at least one relative would have been onto the press looking for money.
If either Carlaw or Murray had been in government, don’t laugh, it’s cruel, does anyone really believe they would have over-ruled expert opinion and risked the criticism they would have got if one or more of the attendees had then suffered abuse or trauma as a result?
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
So why were these people visiting Scotland in the first place in the middle of a pandemic? Why is BBC Scotland still suggesting that Scotland could have done its own lockdown earlier?
The answer to the first question is that the UK governments and all other devolved governments seem to have been acting on planning that assumed the next pandemic was going to be a flu pandemic.
“As for some of the other seemingly inexplicable actions of the government – such as allowing the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead – its stance had been long agreed, going back to 2011 when the “science” was settled and the rationale published.
Here in the “Scientific Summary of Pandemic Influenza & its Mitigation”, we see the Department of Heath state that “there is no convincing evidence that major organised sporting events are associated with significantly increased influenza transmission in those attending the event”, which was precisely the finding that guided ministers.”
http://eureferendum.com/
That would account for the foolishness of the UK government in allowing unrestricted travel into the UK and the ability of Nike to host this conference, or sales promotion.
What about the utter fatuity of those attending such events and then getting exercised about a public health body trying to pick up the pieces?
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Even with flawed planning to guide it, there was still time for the UK government to prepare better for covid 19 by observing and following the actions of countries successfully addressing the pandemic.
“The UK is world-leading (almost). According to the Global Health Security Index (GHSI), the UK is the second best-placed country in the world to fight a pandemic. It’s one of the wealthiest countries in the World, ranked in 5th place in terms of GDP. Britain has the NHS, regarded by many as the world’s best health system. It has some of the best universities and scientists in the world; first-class scientific advice is on tap. The country, unlike for example Italy, was hit fairly late by the virus and had plenty of time in February and early March to prepare.”
http://www.progressivepulse.org/brexit/covid-19-how-is-the-uk-doing
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So how does the UK and its component parts compare?
http://www.progressivepulse.org/brexit/covid-19-how-is-the-uk-doing
“International comparisons are difficult, as testing and reporting regimes vary from country to country. Other governments are not above putting a gloss on their data. Fortunately just as the UK has the ONS, all European countries have an independent statistics office and other bodies free of political spin…..
….The z-score is effectively the number of standard deviations the measurement is away from the expected value….
…At the height of the pandemic, the top five in terms of peak z-score were England 42.75 (Wk 15), Spain 34.41 (Wk 14), Belgium 29.91 (Wk 15), Italy 22.16 (Wk 14) and France 21.17 (Wk 14)….
…England is also the worst-performing country on these islands. The peak z-score was 19.71 for Wales (less than half that of England), 8.90 for NI, 7.03 for Scotland and 3.95 for Ireland all in week 15.
What is more frightening, however, is that the English z-score is still around 20 in the latest data – easily the worst in Europe. All other countries are below five. The next highest is Sweden at 4.8.
Something must have gone very badly wrong. In a fast-moving crisis, mistakes will naturally be made by all governments, but HMG seems to have failed on nearly all fronts….
….England is relaxing lockdown at a time the z-score is the highest in Europe without a fit for purpose TTI system in place. The potential for things to go catastrophically wrong is high, and even more so in a potential 2nd wave as summer winds down and people spend more time indoors. If the z-score of 20 is correct, this is only marginally lower than France’s as the height of the pandemic.
Few countries have responded worse than the UK. The major exception has been the US, which under Trump’s leadership has been truly disastrous. As Fintan O’Toole has written, the US is to be pitied rather than envied. This sadly gives some limited cover to HMG. The superiority of the UK’s Covid-19 response to that of the US is evident. Doing less badly than the US may be perceived as a success by many Brexit fans.”
http://www.progressivepulse.org/brexit/covid-19-how-is-the-uk-doing
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Re Z score then i would set the target to achieve at 2.5 %
Then you have a fighting chance of success
One van but only wonder as to the cohesion between Westminster and SAGE exactly is
D.Cummins having massive malignant influences unbeknown outside their inner circle
But something is very seriously wrong
I am not religious
But Please Lord I besiege you
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“Right…lastly, on Nike or anything else…, Kieran Andrews from the Times” summed up not only the the FM’s frustration but that of almost every viewer watching this fiasco unfold.
It is standard protocol for a review to be conducted after any incident, the Nike one will have been raked over by specialists.
Politicians are in public facing roles acting on the Incident Team’s direction, not the other way around, the public know this, the journalists know this, yet this “cover-up” is paraded as “in the public interest” when it serves only the interests of political manipulators ?
If journalists wilfully partake in this propaganda war they are myopic. The “seeking answers” to dead children, pigeon droppings and contaminated water in QEUH campaign wiped out what little credibility Anas Sarwar and Pacific Quay had left, this is going the same way…
The politically orchestrated media onslaught on SG is blatantly obvious in Scotland, England and abroad, but the irony of the “shock and awe” strategy is that in seeking to bludgeon the FM into submission, her standing has been enhanced by her resistance to doing a Janey Godley impression of a virtual toe up the crack…..
Journalist, the media, and the Tories have done themselves no favours north of the border or elsewhere.
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I saw on Twitter yesterday and the UK Government were informed about the Nike conference at the same as Holyrood. I bet that won’t be publicised anywhere.
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Perhaps Carlot could tell us why, after the viral outbreak in Wuhan was announced, flights from China/Wuhan were not curtailed. There was no quarentine or testing of passengers. The English Health Minister asserted there was, at best, a “low risk” of infection in the UK.
Perhaps Leotard could inform us, why, two weeks AFTER the NIKE conference (and the first Welsh case), the Labour government in Wales insisted (after a COBRA meeting) that the rugby international between Wales and Scotland was safe to play, and was only cancelled on the eve of the game, after thousands of Scots had travelled, and after England cancelled sport in their country.
The under-twenty international went ahead on the Friday night.
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There is quite a long list of questions for the UK government to answer. A media that was functioning well rather than acting as propagandists might already be asking these questions.
“A full-blown enquiry is needed however a few mistakes seem obvious.
February and the first half of March was a golden opportunity for the UK to prepare, particularly in the building up of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and a fit for purpose Test Trace and Isolate (TTI) System. This time was largely squandered.
Rather than keeping ahead of the exponential curve, the UK locked down very late in comparison to most European countries, who looked on in horror as major events such as the Cheltenham Festival were allowed to go ahead.
Whereas it is true that the NHS has coped brilliantly, this has been at the expense of in particular the Care Home sector, where lack of testing before discharge from hospital, lack of PPE, training and resources has produced an unfolding tragedy, and has taken a terrible toll of lives of, in particular, BAME NHS staff.
The Elective Dictatorship nature of the British constitution may work when competent Prime Ministers, Cabinet and advisors are in charge. This seems far from the case and both Germany and Ireland for example have handled the crisis far more competently.
Far from having a cabinet of superstars, we seem to have one filled with sycophants and incompetents; probably the least talented cabinet in living memory.
The”Scientific Advice” coming from SAGE seemed so far from international best practice that it was suspected, rightly, as having been politically constrained all along. So much so, in fact, that the former and highly respected Chief Scientific Advisor Sir David King felt it necessary to set up his own independent SAGE committee.
The abandonment of TTI and the decision to go for “herd immunity” in mid-March is so totally at odds with WHO best practice it needs to be singled out as a catastrophic error.
Communication has been a disaster. Industrial-scale dishonesty may be par for the course now but the sheer ineptitude of the “Stay Alert” messaging has been breathtaking. It was described as An Unholy Shambles by Ian Dunt.”
http://www.progressivepulse.org/brexit/covid-19-how-is-the-uk-doing
P.S.Anyone in this little group getting unsolicited emails?
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Boris deliberately filled his Cabinet with low grade, inexperienced people, none of whom would challenge him.
He has two problems + another.
First-he is, and always has been, heart lazy, skimps his home work and relies on bluster instead.
Second–he got sick, doesn’t look like the old Boris at all. This compounds his lazy streak.
+ another–his Cabinet are simply not up to the task, and are only saved by a right-wing English press (the majority these days), and a broadcast media which has been warned off, and now slavishly does his bidding.
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