Coronavirus - is enough being done to contain it?

I know there a national cycle Highway isn't there, but bloody hell how many cyclists have actually used the damn thing or even know it exists?
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/national-cycle-network
I think there is stretch of it near me that supposedly links my town to Luton and I don't think I've seem much work done to extend it, let alone anyone use it (!) and looking at the map, it looks pretty fragmented in places to me. If they are really serious about this being a fit and proper highway more money needs to be invested in getting more the network linked up so people can cycle. And I would think many wouldn't want to cycle to work in winter either mate when it's cold and snowing and like you say pissing down with rain. and how much is it going to cost to : -
A) make town centres have one way systems if thy don't have them?
B) how much for employers to provide install shower rooms for their employees?
The only way Government U& councils will be able to raise that money is by raising council tax bills which means less in our pockets and
wages. I would say if this Government took the FA's fit and proper test for club owners, I bet it would fail miserably on all counts.

(09-05-2020 08:39 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  ... but I think pretty much all governments right across the world were caught on the hop ...

Not really the case for us was it, there was fair warning in January that a nasty and contagious virus was on the loose.
Throughout the early stages, and to this day, there has been no attempt to test or contain anyone entering the country, only now are they talking about quarantine for anyone entering the UK.
Italy was putting the worst affected region centred around Milan into lockdown while we welcomed Inter Milan and their supporters into Liverpool for a footie game.
The virus was well reported while Boris was attending a rugby match at Twickenham with thousands of fans in early March.
Three days or so later Cheltenham festival went ahead, with a couple hundred thousand in the crowds.
Again, this was early March, the virus was well known, and other countries were in lockdown, and the peak of the virus here in the UK was to be just a few weeks later in early April.

(09-05-2020 16:00 )Tractor boy Wrote:  ... We need a proactive Government, ours is far too reactive.

I've been saying this from the start, everything seems to be a reaction to something happening, or to popular opinion, doesn't seem to be any real leadership, no real getting ahead of this situation and taking control of it.

Even the testing situation was more of a PR stunt responding to criticisms, rather than actually understanding why testing is important to see the spread of the virus, and get people back into critical work, and isolate those infected to minimize spread, and also to reduce fear among the population.
No, it was all about throwing a random number out there for a soundbite, then fiddle the figures to hit it. No real attempt to make testing readily available where it is actually needed. I have a hospital 4 miles down the road, a main hospital for the local area and surrounding towns and the whole county, but there is no testing facility nearby, the nearest place is some 30 miles away. How does that make any sense whatsoever!

(10-05-2020 05:33 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  I know there a national cycle Highway isn't there, but bloody hell how many cyclists have actually used the damn thing or even know it exists?
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/national-cycle-network
I think there is stretch of it near me that supposedly links my town to Luton ...

Ha, I've seen some of the Luton end of that network, it's a right lottery, Some of it is proper off-road cylcle path, great, really good, but then some is less good. There's stretches that are just pavement shared with pedestrians, and one section that uses old back alleys, barely wide enough for two people to walk past each other let alone a cyclist going one way, and if you meet a mother with a pram!
When they built the local busway a while back, it included a cycle path alongside, which they initially covered in loose gravel! Mind-boggling!

It's been reported that 50,000 of the tests taken recently have been sent to the USA for analysis because we don't have the capacity here.

(10-05-2020 08:39 )munch1917 Wrote:  

(09-05-2020 08:39 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  ... but I think pretty much all governments right across the world were caught on the hop ...

Not really the case for us was it

I agree.

Badly let down by Boris and his cronies.

I had friends who traveled through London en route from Italy in February. They could not believe how easy it was to get through Gatwick. No warnings, no signs, no one there to take their temperature, etc. They were obviously already anxious from what they were seeing in Italy, so they effectively quarantined themselves in a Gatwick hotel for a day-and-a-half until they caught their connecting flight.

Britain will have the highest death rate in Europe despite being an island nation with plenty of warning and a later contagion that Italy, France and Spain. Forget about the discomfort of lockdown, a pending economic crisis, and coming austerity. This government should be held directly responsible for a death toll that will end up being far, far higher than it should have been.

(10-05-2020 09:33 )SecretAgent Wrote:  It's been reported that 50,000 of the tests taken recently have been sent to the USA for analysis because we don't have the capacity here.

You can bet your last dollar Trump will try and ensure they don't get sent back quickly and use them as a bargaining chip to make us hand over the NHS to him....

^ Don’t talk bollocks mate

The UK Government is receiving strong criticism for it's updated message of STAY ALERT. CONTROL THE VIRUS. SAVE LIVES

The new message seems to indicate that people are more free to go out, "stay alert" has connotations of being out and about. Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, was asked by Andrew Marr what "Stay Alert" means "stay alert by staying at home as much as possible but stay alert when you do go out by maintaining social distancing, washing your hands, respecting others at work.” So stay alert means stay at home, apparently the previous message by the government was not convincing enough, that message being, checks notes: "STAY AT HOME" Yes very vague

The Scottish Government has already rejected the "stay alert" message & The First Minister has reiterated the original STAY AT HOME. PROTECT THE NHS. SAVE LIVES. The Welsh government has also refused to change it's messaging. As with Brexit the government fails to include the devolved institutions in it's decisions making.

In other news, Sir David Spiegelhalter, statistician and Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge (great title), a man frequently cited by cabinet members was asked about the governments performance & he had this to say:



"not trustworthy communication of statistics"

He has also had this to say:

"Coronavirus deaths: how does Britain compare with other countries?

It’s tempting to try to construct a league table, but we’ll have to wait months, if not years, for the true picture"

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...-countries

Stay alert ! If when out and about you see anybody who looks a bit under the weather, run for your life.

This has been a Government information message.

Ms Sturgeon has rejected the slogan