Do you want to discuss boring politics? (87 Viewers)
- Thread starter mrtrench
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Deleted member 9744
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I have no sympathy for them. Although they might not have seen anything like this before, they will have received plenty of warning that a pandemic was a real possibility and their lack of planning for one was the biggest failure.
I believe there was a report in 2016 saying that the Government needed a contingency plan for exactly this type of event, but they failed to take heed of that.
I guess there are few votes at the time in making sensible contingency plans but this is where the Government failed us the most. Yes, Johnson 's Government did not respond well to the pandemic but if they had a plan it would have been much easier.
Places like South Korea that did have a plan did much better, both in terms of deaths and in opening up their economies and society.
skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
Okay. I never said they could. I’m suggesting that if they funnelled the money to the NHS they have the expertise and contacts to have contracted out the testing as and when required. Instead they funnelled to Dido Harding, a person with no expertise in the field to do it. I think I read somewhere that NHS labs were under utilised during the pandemic for testing and the testing they did do was far more economic and efficient than outsourced testing. We didn’t have to spend so much money on test element and the trace element was just a pointless waste of money as it never worked. That was a failed political strategy by the Tories.
Same with PPE, give the money to the experts in the NHS. Again I was reading that NHS suppliers with available stocks were sending it abroad while the government was giving millions to pub landlords, Michelle Mone etc for unusable crap. We had it in the country and the government stopped the NHS from buying it. Another political choice.
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skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
You either have a short memory or just wasn’t paying attention at the time. Just one story of many from that period to help jog your memory.
Exclusive: Millions of pieces of PPE being shipped from Britain to Europe despite NHS shortages
Last week five million surgical masks and more than a million respirators were packed on to EU-registered lorries by one UK wholesaler
www.telegraph.co.uk
And it wasn’t the NHS test and trace system. The test and trace system the government used they chose to set up from scratch in May 2020. They called it NHS track and trace to legitimise it. The actual NHS test and trace system was already in place and was under utilised. That money would have gone a lot farther in the NHS’s hands ramping up their own test and trace including outsourcing, employing temporary staff etc when necessary than it ever would have in Dido Hardings hands in a separate test and trace system starting from scratch after the horse had already bolted.
I was talking about having sympathy for people at PHE and NHS but you are right poor all round
You either have a short memory or just wasn’t paying attention at the time. Just one story of many from that period to help jog your memory.
Exclusive: Millions of pieces of PPE being shipped from Britain to Europe despite NHS shortages
Last week five million surgical masks and more than a million respirators were packed on to EU-registered lorries by one UK wholesaler
And it wasn’t the NHS test and trace system. The test and trace system the government used they chose to set up from scratch in May 2020. They called it NHS track and trace to legitimise it. The actual NHS test and trace system was already in place and was under utilised. That money would have gone a lot farther in the NHS’s hands ramping up their own test and trace including outsourcing, employing temporary staff etc when necessary than it ever would have in Dido Hardings hands in a separate test and trace system starting from scratch after the horse had already bolted.
The testing capacity was NHS/PHE. The sites operated externally. I’ve also said about the dodgy contracts but the procurement shitshow was not all on the government. Ministers don’t run public services they oversee them
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
A decade of underfunding and mismanagement Steve, and a Prime Minister who was about the last person you would want leading the government during a once in a century pandemic. Don't think either of those helped.
This is the key one really isn’t it.
I can’t remember who said it, but he was described as a ‘totally unserious man leading us through the most serious time’
We all know he always wanted to be PM and he was fully expecting to have a good old jolly and ride on the coattails of getting Brexit done. Actually having to do some serious leadership was not on his radar and it showed.
Let’s not forget he literally said he was happy for the bodies to pile up.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Cant disagree. Johnson with Hancock at health secretary was not the ideal double act for the times
Another couple of years we’d have been fine though….
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clint van damme
Well-Known Member
I don't that's their first donation though.
skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
It was not and never was part of the NHS, you’re right that it was PHE. But that’s not the same thing especially as PHE contracted it out to SERCO.
It was a combo of both NHS England » NHS to ramp up coronavirus testing labs
It’s irrelevant anyway, my point was that there were failures across the board not just at government level
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
I mean they’re also good at what they do. TBH I’d ban all donations and fund parties based on vote share/seats from the public purse.
skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
Not from the £37B. Which is the point. The £37B went to Dido Harding who contracted it out to SERCO. That was May 2020 when DH was appointed by the government, your link is from 2months prior to that.
It does say interestingly that the NHS upped it’s own testing capacity by 500%, which sort of proves my point that given the funding DH got the NHS was capable of doing it with a combination of their own Laboratory’s and outsourced directly by the NHS instead of lining the pockets of a middle man like SERCO.
Most of the test and trace budget was spent on testing… setting up and running of the labs
£37 billion was the two-year budget for NHS Test and Trace, not how much was spent - Full Fact
Posts questioning where the £37 billion allocated to Test and Trace was spent have been shared hundreds of times on social media.
fullfact.org
Serco oversaw the test sites. They apparently made 60m off 500m revenue for covid contracts. 60m is a lot but a drop in the ocean overall
The nhs had better things to do than run various sites collecting testing kits. The ‘wasted 37bn’ is just a nonsense number thrown around
skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
Nadhim Zahawi ‘agreed on penalty’ to settle tax bill worth millions
Claim over sum imposed by HMRC likely to raise further questions for Conservative party chair
This story is going to keep running and escalating. They’re going to drip it out. Print something, give him enough time to come up with an “explanation” and then report something else that contradicts his explanation. He’s already changed his story more than once in the last year. Old stories also resurfacing regarding him and Jeffry Archer, something to do with forged signatures, a different Gibraltar registered investment firm he’s linked to, loans from that company to buy an equestrian centre.
skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
Not really when it was never ran to anywhere near full capacity and never hit targets. Which again is the point. Wastage to the private sector that never achieved. We could have literally spent half of what we did on testing and achieved the same results.Most of the test and trace budget was spent on testing… setting up and running of the labs
£37 billion was the two-year budget for NHS Test and Trace, not how much was spent - Full Fact
Posts questioning where the £37 billion allocated to Test and Trace was spent have been shared hundreds of times on social media.
Serco oversaw the test sites. They apparently made 60m off 500m revenue for covid contracts. 60m is a lot but a drop in the ocean overall
The nhs had better things to do than run various sites collecting testing kits. The ‘wasted 37bn’ is just a nonsense number thrown around
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
Absolute lying crookNadhim Zahawi ‘agreed on penalty’ to settle tax bill worth millions
Claim over sum imposed by HMRC likely to raise further questions for Conservative party chairwww.theguardian.com
This story is going to keep running and escalating. They’re going to drip it out. Print something, give him enough time to come up with an “explanation” and then report something else that contradicts his explanation. He’s already changed his story more than once in the last year. Old stories also resurfacing regarding him and Jeffry Archer, something to do with forged signatures, a different Gibraltar registered investment firm he’s linked to, loans from that company to buy an equestrian centre.
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
Also chancellor of the bloody exvequer!!!!
I’ve had prrsonal cases where people have been dismissed for errors on tax credit applications ffs
skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
Any excuse to get Johnson back
D
Deleted member 9744
Guest
Didn't he say when he became PM that he would lead a Government of integrity. Then he's the first PM to get two fixed penalty notices.
However, compared to Zahawi's tax affairs this seems rather superficial.
However, compared to Zahawi's tax affairs this seems rather superficial.
Ian1779
Well-Known Member
Exactly this - they are happy with Sunak getting this to deflect from Zahawi.
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
That video is fucking awful - he comes across worse than Johnson ffs.Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime
Rishi Sunak's failure to wear seat belt to be investigated
The prime minister has apologised for removing his seat belt while filming a clip for social media.www.bbc.co.uk
skybluetony176
Well-Known Member
The Independent published a timeline now of their involvement. Hard to see how he can remain an MP let alone a cabinet member. Subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation, National Crime Agency investigation and an HMRC investigation. Pretty clear he tried to play it out in the hope of avoiding paying the tax only paying it when he ran out of options and then making out it was normal and up to date. As someone pointed out, if your taxes are up to date you don’t pay a penalty and interests.
www.independent.co.uk
Revealed: Nadhim Zahawi’s legal threat to The Independent to stop tax revelations
Exclusive: Tory chairman warned he would ‘one hundred per cent take legal action’ if dispute over tax affairs revealed
www.independent.co.uk
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
He’s not helped himselfThe Independent published a timeline now of their involvement. Hard to see how he can remain an MP let alone a cabinet member. Subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation, National Crime Agency investigation and an HMRC investigation. Pretty clear he tried to play it out in the hope of avoiding paying the tax only paying it when he ran out of options and then making out it was normal and up to date. As someone pointed out, if your taxes are up to date you don’t pay a penalty and interests.
Revealed: Nadhim Zahawi’s legal threat to The Independent to stop tax revelations
Exclusive: Tory chairman warned he would ‘one hundred per cent take legal action’ if dispute over tax affairs revealed
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
D
Deleted member 5849
Guest
Sajid Javid calls for patients to pay for GP and A&E visits
Radical reforms needed to tackle waiting times, says former health secretary
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
He’s wrongSajid Javid calls for patients to pay for GP and A&E visits
Radical reforms needed to tackle waiting times, says former health secretary