Love the edit Stirling

I have no time for the cesspit of identity politics currently emerging in the Labour party.

However I think the notion that this is all representative of "the left", as if "the left" is some sort of homogenous cult is simply disingenuous.

There are many elements to a traditional left wing movement that are admirable & at certain times during society absolutely necessary to filter out the more brutal sides of capitalism. An Attlee style government is one I would've almost certainly voted for & could absolutely vote for in the future.

I say this all as someone who wouldn't touch the Labour party or anything related to the modern left with a 10 foot barge poll.

We're the Arthur over ere!

I reckon your cabbie mates with their self employed buddies fleeced a lot more than that. Hope you are as quick to condemn them. BTW what would you have done? Had a meeting about a meeting about a meeting whilst all the while allowing the transfer of this virus to carry on. Something being done was certainly a best option whomever benefitted, and don't forget that state workers including nurses earn a good salary alongside a hefty pension on retirement. Their work is appreciated throughout this pandemic and imo they would prefer the people to keep to the rules, that may be enough thanks I reckon.

Actually we haven’t - per capita we’re fourth behind Czechia, Belgium and Slovenia.

I’ve lost my dad to Covid. Ive also seen the business side of things as an accountant:

Seeing how quickly and how much of the PPE is used it’s no surprise there is a shortage. Everyone wants it and it’s easy to say “I’d buy it at normal price”.

This isn’t a right or left issue. Has the Government got things wrong - yes. But I’d take them over the clowns running elsewhere at the moment.

To be fair, I think it is perfectly reasonable to question why our death rate has been so high when compared to say nations like France and Germany.

What did they do so right? Or how did they get less wrong than we did?

Personally, I feel the issues such as population density and so on will emerge as at least part of the reason why (and lets not forget that for the UK that figure is skewed by the face that you go much further north than the Glasgow/Edinburgh line then the UK becomes virtually uninhabitable and that's a big chunk of land).

But, and here is where I expect the Left to suddenly change their tune, maybe its because the NHS is not fit for purpose?

That simply put it has become this ludicrous behemouth of an organisation that operates almost with impunity in terms of any serious criticism and that perhaps if it had been structured differently it might have saved more lives?

Maybe not the entire problem but given my own mixed experiences of it, certainly a huge part of what needs to be examined in the outcome of all of this.

I notice that during this second lockdown we have been spared the co-ordinated dance routines on Tik-Tok and so on. Perhaps they have wised up a little then.

Did the Tories mess up early on? Then yes, huge mistakes were made. But structurally the lessons that require learning from this (and that is a turn of phrase I usually detest but in this case it is of vital national importance that for once it truly matters) need to involve all aspects of how the UK responded and that includes a long and hard look at how the NHS did. And clearly, based on the death rate, not very well at all.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.