Off Topic The Politics Thread

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

  • Stay in

    Votes: 56 47.9%

  • Get out

    Votes: 61 52.1%
  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
Stroller said:
The government deserves credit for vaccine procurement, credit for the roll-out goes to the NHS and all the other agencies involved.

The fact remains that this government has presided over the worst Covid death-toll and the worst economic outcomes of any major nation, whilst managing to line the pockets of its backers to the tune of £billions. If they're doing their best, it ain't good enough. Worse than that, it's a scandal.
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I'm not a fan of this Government by any stretch, but I do take issue with the idea that the high death toll is all their fault and yet the success with the vaccine is all down to the NHS. (I appreciate your post was more nuanced than that, giving Government some credit for procurement).
 
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Quite Possibly Raving said:
I'm not a fan of this Government by any stretch, but I do take issue with the idea that the high death toll is all their fault and yet the success with the vaccine is all down to the NHS. (I appreciate your post was more nuanced than that, giving Government some credit for procurement).
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The government definitely deserves credit for vaccine procurement (even if it was expensive), but do you think the vaccination roll-out would have been such a success if the government had subbed it out to Serco or some other of its backers? Test and Trace failed, and continues to fail, because they wouldn't entrust it to local health authorities. I suppose you could say that they deserve some credit for not ****ing this up like they have everything else.

The Comptroller at the National Audit Office told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the government didn't know the whereabouts of PPE worth £billions. The NAO is trying to work out where the PPE is because some of it may have an expiration date.
 
Stroller said:
The government definitely deserves credit for vaccine procurement (even if it was expensive), but do you think the vaccination roll-out would have been such a success if the government had subbed it out to Serco or some other of its backers? Test and Trace failed, and continues to fail, because they wouldn't entrust it to local health authorities. I suppose you could say that they deserve some credit for not ****ing this up like they have everything else.

The Comptroller at the National Audit Office told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the government didn't know the whereabouts of PPE worth £billions. The NAO is trying to work out where the PPE is because some of it may have an expiration date.
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:) I still think you're being a little harsh on the Government here. They have absolutely excelled on the procurement, by ordering early, ordering big, and spreading their bet. They then put pressure on the regulators to get these approved ASAP, which was a risk. They set a big and early target to reach 15m people, which the Chief Exec of the NHS pushed back on openly; the government ignored him and insisted on the 15m target by mid-February. They have provided all of the funding required to roll this out ASAP and have bent over backwards to amend regulations to get a workforce trained up quickly enough to deliver the vaccine. They took a risk in deciding to increase the gap between the first and second shot to maximise coverage. Yep, having a centralised healthcare system has been a huge help in enabling all of this, but the level of political pressure from central Government can't be ignored.

There will be huge questions to be answered about why our death rate is so high. Some of that is because our population density is so high, because we have such a major airport, and because we have a service based economy, but that simply doesn't account for some of the major errors we've seen imo. Test and Trace being one which you cite. The vaccine roll out doesn't get the govt off the hook for those questions, but I'm also not going to let that prejudice my view of the vaccine roll out as a major success.

As for the contracts...something dodgy as hell is going on there. It's baffling and I hope there is some explanation I'm missing. I try to take a balanced approach when I can, but it just seems overtly corrupt the number of large contracts being awarded to companies that were created yesterday, with no infrastructure, who happen to have links to the Tory Party. This from someone who was a member of the Tory Party until 24 July 2019.
 
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Goldhawk-Road said:
Increasingly, I am impressed with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin. He is currently telling the more belligerent members of the EU who want a to spawn a trade war and an operation of obfuscation and non-cooperation with the UK, to dial down the belligerent rhetoric.

At last, there is a voice of sanity from within the EU.
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I've been thinking exactly the same.
I like him.
 
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kiwiqpr said:
amonn Butler

@eamonnbutler

Much Schadenfreude around that Amsterdam has (just) overtaken London as an EU share trading centre.
So are firms now choosing EU over Brexit Britain?
No: it is simply that Brussels has banned EU enterprises trading in London.
Pure protectionism rather than customer choice.
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Not a ban. It’s called lack of mutual recognition of licenses. That is what the UK rushed to vote...
 
Let me put it differently. With a UK FCA authorisation you can work with UK , luxembourg (through a bilateral treaty) and Irish clients. With a Lux licenso you can cover Europe and the UK. If you were running that business what would you do ?
 
QPRoma said:
Let me put it differently. With a UK FCA authorisation you can work with UK , luxembourg (through a bilateral treaty) and Irish clients. With a Lux licenso you can cover Europe and the UK. If you were running that business what would you do ?
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Personally I’d operate from London and moan about being treated in exactly the way I’ve demanded we be treated for years while eating langoustines but that’s just me.

It’s great though. Anything good that happens demonstrates how strong we are outside the vicious grip of the EU and anything bad that happens is proof the the EU insist on punishing us for leaving thus justifying the belief of clueless noddies in the Home Counties.
 
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Saw this on faceache

To misquote General Melchett (of Blackadder fame) “If Brexit doesn’t work, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.”
 
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kiwiqpr said:
what on earth is going on in london


LBC News
@LBCNews

A 19 year old has been stabbed to death during a fight near Parsons Green tube station in south-west London which has left another teenager injured.
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Well....
You can rest assured that the usual suspects will blame, in this order.....
The Tories;
Brexit;
Jacob Reece Mogg;
Boris.
 
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