Way beyond my pay grade but quite an interesting read.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1354995265426616321.htmlRather counters the idea that ‘Oh, the UK was unlucky with the variant, poor Boris Johnson is just a victim of circumstances’. Those circumstances were created by the failures of the UK government.
Not sure it was an interesting read to be honest. The main point is that we may have to vaccinate everyone worldwide and join together to rid the world of COVID-19. If we don't we will have to change our way of life and stop travelling abroad or stop people coming here and be completely xenophobic.
I don't like political points scoring when there is a pandemic on. The fact of the matter is that who ever is in charge would struggle with this stuff and would make a number of mistakes along the way. It doesn't matter what political party they are from.
We are a massively cosmopolitan outward facing country, which is why we are so vulnerable. Things have got to be pretty damn serious to turn the economy off, lock the country down and close all of the borders. Its common sense not to go to the nuclear option first off - Try everything else that you can first and then relent if you have to. Everyone gets that, surely?
We're a small island too with high population densities in poorer areas. We allow multiple cultures to flourish on our island and we have communities (that it turns out are vulnerable to this disease) living in close proximity to each other. We have a very good health service that has kept many vulnerable people alive that may not have survived in other countries. I think that might account for at least a bit of the high death count.
I've watched people argue about Brexit on here too - Looks like we got a head start on vaccination over Europe. Looks like Europe wants to stop us from getting vaccines and protect themselves first. I wanted to stay - we didn't. We move forward, but I don't see many giving any credit for our preparations on that front.
Anyway, without all of the information to hand at the time decisions are made, internet 'heroes' (and I don't mean you horlock, I'm just quoting a bit from your post) cannot possibly productively second guess key decisions.
Leadership is all about making a decision (when there is no clear choice) and then performing course corrections when you get it wrong - Because, often you will. The best leaders make fewer mistakes and correct errors quicker. But, just like with many diseases, nobody in immune from mistakes!
(Sorry, just in a ranty mood this morning....Made me feel better getting that off my chest!)