Whatever the problems with the lead time due to China, we still had more time to prepare than we used. Not mention that “herd immunity” rubbish.
And whatever the lead time on PPE, it doesn’t change the fact that the government reduced the stockpile.
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Simple solution… get off of facebook.
We know its filled with the most detestable types.
So little of any value on it, its really not worth engaging with.
Not this one.
Happened after the end of the cold war… about 1997 in fact…
Our regional laboratory system was broken up.
Our national stockpiles of medical equipment were sold or scrapped.
Our bulk food reserves were wound up.
Perhaps,
But a 40% reduction took place in just the last 6 years:
Can’t blame Labour for that.
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Can’t read the full article but the headline says “Value” - is that amount of stock, depreciating (age) value of stock, or creative accounting to assist in budget control somewhere?
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It appears that value is a marker they use. Despite questioning, the department refused to reveal how that related to stock… (Which is Govt speak for its less IME, because govt is great at making stats say the answer they need, unless they can’t.)
It appears that the value actually went up under the Coalition, but has gone down since.
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Based on my experience with other national PPE assets (CBR(N)) the spending tends to be cyclical,. The equipment has a shelf life (usually around 10 years) and because it was all bought in one go initially they end up spending for replacement all in one go (rather than replacing a tenth every year). This will lead to years with much bigger spends than others.
I can’t say that it’s the same for this stuff but it certainly wouldn’t shock me.
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Sometimes it’s like watching US Senators questioning Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg.
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Not as simple as that - firstly because Facebook is a mass/local communication tool like no other.
Where I live it’s the difference between older people living on remote farms/small-holdings/houses getting food and prescriptions and not getting food and prescriptions.
Secondly it has an impact on people who aren’t on it - one of the local Stasi/loon groups have egged each other on with their deranged rantings to the point where they (and I mean 50+ people) are calling the police when they see people outside, and screaming at people walking past their houses. In the local ‘big’ town, one old lunatic who is prominent on a couple of local pages and who’s spittle-flecked ravings are on every thread on the subject has been seen throwing eggs at cars.
And no, the police aren’t interested - they love the local police Facebook pages because they are full of deranged fascists begging to be allowed - and I tell no lie, and quote directly - to be allowed to shoot any ‘scum’ who haven’t bricked themselves up at home.
And yes, you read that right…
‘Value’ is different to amount though.
After all if for example every other country were stockpiling (before) then the value would probably fall.
Either way.
It’s an omnishambles we are in.
Real people to blame… Civil Service. They put these things into play.
Stand up and be accounted for!
Oh wait they did that and half of us have to go now apparently.
Wait… I’ve got a meme for that…
Yeah I said that. And when the Guardian asked the Government whether the amount had also fallen, they got no comment.
Which means it is more likely that the amount has also fallen, because, like I mentioned, when the government spokesperson has a statistic which follows the party line, they parrot it endlessly, even if that statistic is one which distorts reality in the way only a government spokesperson can. Ergo, the amount has also certainly fallen as well.
It’s all in the article, the one I posted above.
Yeah. I didn’t read til end before posting is all…
Cos we’ve all never done that!
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The media in general have been loving this enabling them to fill hours of TV and pages of print with drivel. WTF the BBC needs more than a 30 minute slot for their TV daily update is beyond me, most of which will have been repeated ad nauseum by the same ‘experts’ and correspondents. When this all kicked off I tried to watch it and lasted 40 mins while doing a crossword, when you’ve heard what could almost have been on about a 15 min loop, you begin to lose the will. Such that now I watch the BBC from 0655ish to 0700 for the weather and look at the BBC website twice a day. I have long lost interest in the numbers game, the sensationalist reporting that seems to have become the norm over the last 3 weeks and the endless posing of questions that no one can answer, that some “reporter” even less equipped to answer starts giving their opinion.
Once we’d had the election last year with such a resounding win for the Conservatives meaning that the first stage of getting out the EU was a done deal, there must have been a few journos wondering how to fill their time, then this comes along and they can fill their timesheets with ease. Kerching
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You would think the smart play there would be to try and back track - economy is going to be ruined enough with out the extra impact of that too. Won’t hold my breath though!
It’s going to be a “simple” equation of economy versus number of deaths.
We seem to have effectively “flattened the curve” so that the NHS can cope, it’s a logistical calculation to look at how long / how extreme the Govt wants things to be. Less deaths but a wrecked economy, or more deaths & a slowly recovering economy? No immediate vaccine? More deaths. Keep the population locked-in = economy dives even more.
There will be huge costs either way. I suspect the the longer-term (financial / welfare / mental health, etc, etc) costs of a tanked economy will be far worse than a higher number of deaths.
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Somebody somewhere will be performing some grim maths.
Aircraft design improvements = tombstone technology 
This.
DV is going through the roof, unemployment is going through the roof, MH is falling through the floor - and capacity to deal with it is being diverted in to C-19 - and the consumption of booze is at stratospheric levels.
Lots of kids are not getting fed properly, and lots of families who were in the ‘just about coping’ basket have seen large drops in income and it will take years of ‘good economic times’ to put them back on an even keel.
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