As a few have stated re the Times article..disturbing..
I was looking at the time-line. Jan 22nd. First meeting of SAGE.(Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) The same day that Chinese scientists were warning that the virus had an unusually high infectivity rate of 3.0.ie one person would infect three.
Jan 24 a Cobra meeting re the onward march of the virus and associated deaths. After just one hour Matt Hancock states risk to UK low despite the Lancet article on the same day suggesting it was comparable to the 1918 Spanish 'flu which killed up to 50 million worldwide. Bosis wasn't at the meeting because..how ironic..he's at a lunar new year dragon eyes ritual with the Chinese ambassador including the Chinese community.
Late January early February dire warnings were being given by the scientists not to mention the same level of warning given to one of governments own key advisory committes a month earlier than had been previously admitted. Over the following weeks a
By Feb 21st the visus had infected 76,000 people and killed 2,300 in Chiuna and was taking hold in Europwe . ttention was now focusing on getting enough PPE.
Feb 26th. 13 known cases in the UK.Another advisory committee advised the government that unless drastic action was taken there would be a
catastrophic loss of life. Feb 28 the virus has taken hold in the UK (now 19 cases)and stock markets have plummeted.
March 2nd Boris attends a COBRA meeting.
Here's the point of my post. It hasn't been mentioned in the Sunday Times article.
March 11th. In the knowledge of all the above how can any responsible person think that allowing a Champions League game between Liverpool and Real Madrid to go ahead with a crowd of more than 50,000 supporters was a reasonable risk to take ? 3000 of them were AM supporters and only the day before Spain had banned gatherings of more than 1000.
March 10-13th. Even worse re numbers. An estimated 250,000 race-goers attend the Cheltenham Festival each year and it went ahead. I said on here at the time that I thought that ministers had been leaned on by the Race Course owners/management and also the betting industry which stood to lose millions. I also said that that it was inevitable that some would contract the virus but that we'd never know. I was wrong. On social media there have been reports of people who have contracted COVID-19 and attended the race meeting. I have to say that the race-goers themselves had a responsibility not to attend. I recall saying to my wife that the government will wait until it over then announce a ban on large gatherings like this and so it was. I think two or three days later.Probably three so it didn't look too obvious.
There was another high profile event,which I can't bring to mind, that went ahead and shouldn't have done. The Bath half-marathon comes to mind March 15th. with 6200 runners.
ancient-mariner sates that there should be resignations and rightly so but in this country it seldom happens, even worse the guilty are either financially rewarded with bonuses (that's the least worst) or promoted at a later date or go on to head up other organisations..but hey..'Lessons will be learned.' For decades we've heard this mantra rolled out from mainly Social Services management....before the consequences of government cuts became the norm should anyone make that point re cut-backs.
The latest example that comes to mind is the Grenfell Tower fire. June 2017. This article dated June 2018
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-conservative-government-labour-a8397506.html
This is a lengthy article but worth a read over time and sheds a light on the way we are governed ."Why is Britain badly governed. Policy Blunders from 1980-2010'. This current debacle is yet more grist to the mill.
https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/why-britain-badly-governed-policy-blunders-1980-2010