Hail Our World Beating Panjandrum

European Excess Deaths over Previous Years

Well, after many spurious claims, Boris Johnson's Government has been crowned as 'world-beating' or at least European beating by his own Office of National Statistics for having the highest number of excess deaths during the first wave of the Covid pandemic. In the months until 29 May 2020. England had 7.55% more deaths compared to the previous five years, the second was Spain (6.65%) and the third was Scotland (5.11%). The PM had always said don't make comparisons until we have emerged from the pandemic. Presumably, when he announced the ending of lockdown and encouraged people to get back to work, shopping and eating out, it was in his addled mind that we were emerging from the pandemic.

However, fresh from the failures resulting from the government's slow responses, poor procurement, and confusing messages, we now appear to be teetering on the edge of another wave or series of spikes. Confusion and anger are again raging as 4 million people in the north of England on both sides of the Pennines have had a partial lockdown reinstated. Already government ministers are blaming the public for not following their higgledy-piggledy guidelines or the failure of Asian communities to keep to social distancing. What a bunch of hypocrites they have become. They claim that the scientific advisers are being listened to with more attention than hitherto but listening is not following. Getting this government to apologise and devise clear policies or messages is never going to replace their tendency to sloganise their response with more empty rhetoric.

In Scotland, we have been better led by the first minister who has had the stamina and determination to communicate effectively daily. She has also shown greater caution and the rate of infections rate has fallen dramatically, there have been no deaths for 12 days. It has helped that she has taken advice from the impressive Professor and Chair of Global Public Health at Edinburgh University, Devi Sridhar, who has usually been well ahead of the curve and prepared to call truth to power when advising appropriate actions. Despite this Scotland still emerges as the third-worst European country for excess deaths. This largely stems from the Health Minister, Jeane Freeman's obsessive focus on protecting the NHS whilst failing to understand or accept the consequential impact on the care sector. 

Scottish Government ministers have fared no better than Westminster in failing to engage councils in tackling Covid, this means that local intelligence in tracing the outbreaks is too dependent upon centralised systems and non-operational civil servants to second guess the transmission and protection of its citizens. The obvious delight of the Scottish Government in being better than England is not worth a hill of beans. 

With Boris Johnson as the Grand Panjandrum and his policy-light, slogan-rich ministers running the show, it is impossible not to perform better. Even the much-blamed UK scientific advisers are beginning to follow Devi Sridhar's example and calling time on the government's lack of veracity over its management of the pandemic.

Northern Towns levelled down even further