Well, dry bum me with a fish fork. I could not be more surprised. Also, look at their laughable use of language ‘we can’t have an EARLY lifting of restrictions’. You mean - you can’t be less late than you’ve said you’re going to be. Absolute truth twisters.
https://english.alarabiya.net/busin...es-double-amid-post-lockdown-spending-splurge Bit of a conspiracy theory but are they deliberately extending lockdown to try and keep a lid on inflation ? The minute we fully open up demand will go through the roof further putting stresses on already stretched labour / commodity markets . Of course the cure to inflation is to raise interest rates from the current 0.1% levels but with everyone up to their eye balls in credit things could go south very quickly should they be raised . Pump your economy full of cheap money then there is a price to pay eventually .
How much of 300 billion spent was actually squandered and misappropriated? I'm sure an official enquiry into the covid response will remove from its terms of reference anything linked to financial dealings. Or it'll certainly be watered down.
I cannot wait to hear how they justify another couple of weeks when hospitals are coping fine and barely 250 people in the entire country are on a ventilator.
Good, because let's face it, anyone who questioned lockdown and the ongoing restrictions on normal life are just really selfish and only want to go to the pub. Everyone else can sleep soundly, comfortable in their own virtue. Stillbirth rate rises dramatically during pandemic (nature.com) UK government is at risk of failing babies and parents during the coronavirus pandemic | NSPCC The impact of COVID-19 on child abuse in the UK | NSPCC Learning Inequalities in responses to school closures over the course of the first COVID-19 lockdown - Institute For Fiscal Studies - IFS Predicted grading during COVID-19 could limit young people's futures | Equality and Human Rights Commission (equalityhumanrights.com) How Does Socialization Affect a Child's Development? – San Diego – Sharp Health News Families in lockdown: mental health concerns | Save the Children UK Missed Check-Ups and Rise in Tooth Decay in Children | CK DENTAL Unicef-UK-Children-In-Lockdown-Coronavirus-Impacts-Snapshot.pdf
I find it a shame that this gets so binary when it's one of the most complicated things we've been faced with as a country. The answers aren't easy, either in terms of behaviour, science, or even just making the decisions themselves. Even if we'd had the most honest and competent government in charge (and we're quite a way from that!) there would be a whole host of trade offs and mistakes. But we're back in brexit territory. Where someone who is cautious for their own reasons are made out to be a selfish scaredy cat bedwetter and benefitting hugely from it and charges the other way. None of what we're having to do is ideal. Nobody wanted this. Everybody would rather this virus had never occurred and the scarring from it, in so many ways, will last a long long time.
