I agree with you entirely, Michael. Honesty and openness, under the circumstances, would go a very long way to help gain trust in politicians.
Craig, I agree with you on some things and certainly not on others. That there is unacceptable vitriol going on, it is absolutely unquestionable, I agree. In my view, politicians have not helped themselves much because they have shown no true conviction (backbone if you prefer) but are very aware of political opportunity and gain. Hence, policies or statements have changed directions faster than weather vanes, sometimes at marked angles and sometimes, with no wind blowing. It is for this reason, and I put my hand up, I have called BoJo a buffoon and Trump and opportunist.
But there are other similar reasons and I know, people will groan, but the 2016 Referendum was of no help to unify the country. BoJo headed the Leave campaign because he saw it as a political opportunity — he had been a remainer till the referendum was called. We all know the vitriol commenced then in earnest and has not much improved since then.
As for politicians being human and making mistakes, no question about it. Of course they do, they are human after all! But humility is not an alien concept in a human being and recognizing our own mistakes is very important too!
With COVID-19, I think that Hancock and Sunak are the ones that come across as men with conviction, Raab not so much and I reserve judgement on Gove and Patel. My main question in all of this is the government's response based on previous experiences such as foot and mouth, avian flue, MERS, Zika virus, Ebola, SARS, etc. I am sure that there must be recorded "lessons learnt and precautionary measures" and hopefully kept at the Department of Health. Were all decisions taken in December 2019 and January, perhaps February 2020, all of political nature or were scientists involved too? PPE must be one if the items flagged as most important?
Ivonne Holliday ● 1884d