Tonight’s Channel 4 Dispatches

Duffman

Duffman

Well-known member
If you have not seen this please try and watch it on catch up. I started with feelings of shock at what I was hearing then moved to horrified and became visibly upset but ended very very angry. This should be played across the whole TV network tomorrow. Appalling
 
Duffman said:
If you have not seen this please try and watch it on catch up. I started with feelings of shock at what I was hearing then moved to horrified and became visibly upset but ended very very angry. This should be played across the whole TV network tomorrow. Appalling
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What’s it about?
 
Quite a few posters on here I mentioned many of the mistakes, however the C4 programme brought them together in date order with old footage of the time.

  • Not treating the virus seriously until March 17th
  • No lock down until March 24th
  • Allowing big sporting events until March 19th
  • Most science experts were calling for a lock down from March 9th
  • Allowing people into the UK from Virus areas in February and early March without any checks or any tracing.
  • Abandoning contract tracing on March 12th
  • Encouraging old people to be sent to care homes without virus test checks
  • Not taking offers of help with testing which contributed to low test figures ("it was like talking to blamonge")
  • Thinking the virus was like a bad dose of flu opposed to pandemic
  • Contact tracing app not working
  • Complete mixed messages going out with some officials wanting herd immunity, while others wanted controls
 
Just watched the program, there wasn't much in there that we didn't already know or suspect. What the program did do was make it clear that scientific advice was not always followed, or not at the point the advice was given.

I have also read the governments response to the program which you can find here : https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/202...-catastrophe-did-the-government-get-it-wrong/

The response is as poor as the response to the times article and the PPE program. At one point, when responding to the criticism of the decision to allow Cheltenham to go ahead, the response says that that was a decision made by the racecourse. That response really threw me. They actually wash their hands of that.
 
We all need to be very clear in the review of this dreadful time the government will absolutely place the blame for anything they got wrong on anybody but themselves. I really hope the scientific and medical advisers have recordings or witnesses to their discussion or as a minimum kept copies of emails that will somehow become lost or redacted. The published guidance is out there, there is nothing they can do about that but the complete responsibility for the decision making behind that guidance will be heaved on scientific and medical advisors. They may have got some things wrong but this programme makes it as clear as day there have been some dreadful decisions taken that didn’t put the health and well being of the nation first and sought to hide and paper over the cracks of historically underfunded and neglected service areas. Equally places like Cheltenham and Anfield will need to have their own evidence of any advice they got. The government can claim lots of people are responsible for the advice that led to their appalling strategic decision making, what they can’t avoid it accountability which can’t be delegated to anybody.
 
Anger, frustration and despair after watching that horror show last night...and as said above it should ,but of course wont be, shown across the whole networks so that everyone can see ,laid bare, the incompetence of this sh itshow of a government...Even had the Italian doctors and ministers looking on in horror at what our " goverment" were up to....and of course you cant say for sure exactly how many preventable deaths there would have been if we had shut down even a week earlier but certainly many thousands could and would have been saved..Just think about it,thousands of people would be still alive today ,thousands of families that WOULDNT be grieving....Liverpool, Cheltenham, just 2 decisions not taken that surely cost many lives and scientists in our own country looking on in horror at what was going on but NOT listened to... it was totally unbelievable that so many things were there in front of their faces but ignored....shame on this government, shame on Johnson and shame on anyone that can give this cabal even a passing of support...the whole thing is disgusting and exactly the opposite of how real leadership and governance should be.....yesterday we had more deaths than the whole of Europe combined due to covid 19 . Well done this Conservative government run by clowns.
 
The cruel reality is the vast majority of people in the North East championed the election of this government and celebrated their victory. Outside of London Middlesborough has the highest per population death rate. Penny for their thoughts now?
 
Have just downloaded this to watch later as Mrs Fufkin insisted on the sewing bee thing last night. I would normally have a pop at her for that choice, but as a sewer in her spare time that would be unfair, especially as I like bake off but cannot cook anything myself, so at least it's her hobby
 
The main thing that p!ssed me off was Jenny Harries explaining why not cancelling Cheltenham and the Champs league match wouldn't have much of an impact. The comment was so out of context it makes her complicit. Yes she is right, the impact of cancelling those events alone, would have had limited impact. Cancelling those events alongside other measures would have had a massive downward impact on deaths.
 
Artie Fufkin said:
Have just downloaded this to watch later as Mrs Fufkin insisted on the sewing bee thing last night. I would normally have a pop at her for that choice, but as a sewer in her spare time that would be unfair, especially as I like bake off but cannot cook anything myself, so at least it's her hobby
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"a sewer in her spare time"

Sounds like a **** job to me, especially if she doesn't get paid for it
 
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They will always claim they took the "right measures at the right times" irrespective of all evidence to the contrary.
It is utterly nonsensical to suggest locking down earlier wouldn't have been beneficial.
The astonishing part was Johnson speaking to the Italian governmnet and telling them he was considering going for "herd immunity" at a point when they were demonstrating the effects of the spread getting out of hand.
 
Shame that this will be likely dismissed as left wing propaganda by alot of people instead of people holding the government to account for their failings
 
I hate the negativity the media are spinning daily, I also hate the s***y mistakes that the government have made.

There's a lot to be answered after this.
 
Evil - I hate the negativity the media are spinning daily, I also hate the s***y mistakes that the government have made.

There's a lot to be answered after this.

Hi Evil

Its been apparent for quite some time that the UK (English lead) Corona campaign has been a horrific series of missed opportunities and wrong, often calamitous decisions, aided by hubris from the govt. The evidence has been there to see from a wide variety of sources.

The defenders of the campaign have at times used a variety of excuses - notably Sweden where the architect is holding his hands up that he it could & should have been handled better. The excuses have run out. The UK or specifically England is a case of what not to have done or be doing.

The Media with some honourable exceptions have also revealed their utter ineptitude of their core requirement to actually inform and evaluate. This again has been apparent for some time at the political level when instead of clearing the fog of finding the truth they are perpetually looking for a gotcha moment whether it its for good or simply to add a notch to the bedpost. Late yesterday and this morning my social media feed/TV and some newspapers have carried the "fact" that the deaths in the UK surpassed the total from all 27 countries in the EU. Newsnight last night attempted to add some caveats at the end of their report using this "fact" but it was still simply too little and its in all probability become a new "fact" that has entered the public consciousness, when in truth as a stat it is total junk.

There is good work out there to help the person in the street really understand what has actually occurred, and what should be occurring. It just never seems to come from either the UK govt OR the media, specifically the English media.
 
Love Sewing Bee - Harmless empty head telly you can just watch without too much effort and Lycette is a funny guy. Hope the Boro lass wins!
 
Laughing said:
Just watched the program, there wasn't much in there that we didn't already know or suspect. What the program did do was make it clear that scientific advice was not always followed, or not at the point the advice was given.

I have also read the governments response to the program which you can find here : https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/202...-catastrophe-did-the-government-get-it-wrong/

The response is as poor as the response to the times article and the PPE program. At one point, when responding to the criticism of the decision to allow Cheltenham to go ahead, the response says that that was a decision made by the racecourse. That response really threw me. They actually wash their hands of that.
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There is something so petty and self serving in reactivating a govt department blog to provide bullet point responses to media reports and programmes, rather than sending out a minister or senior civil servant to answer the claims directly either in the programme in question or follow up interviews. Message board politics isn't it? And as we have seen, blogs can easily be amended to improve the presentation of the author.
 
Piccadilly Day Tripper said:
There is something so petty and self serving in reactivating a govt department blog to provide bullet point responses to media reports and programmes, rather than sending out a minister or senior civil servant to answer the claims directly either in the programme in question or follow up interviews. Message board politics isn't it? And as we have seen, blogs can easily be amended to improve the presentation of the author.
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That is a very good point, the minimum required, you would think, is an accounting. If the PM is afraid to face scrutiny, what does that say about them? Well it tells us that the dispatches documentary is valid.
 
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