It was a hostage to fortune for Hancock to adopt that target, although it has certainly galvanised the testing effort. It’s not a surprise to find that a significant number of people who claimed to desperately need a test can’t now be bothered to go out and get one. Unfortunately, our beloved media inevitably adopted the target as an easy-to-understand number with which to beat the Government, irrespective of its actual significance in combatting the disease. Their disappointment when the target was seemingly met was palpable.
Neil John
4 years ago
In any numbers game it’s always going to give someone a stick to beat you with, and with our venomous hateful press even achieving it won’t help.
Adrian Smith
4 years ago
What is most sad about it is how gutted MSM was when the figure exceeded the target on 30 Apr and 1 May and how obsessed they are now with pointing out it is below target. What matters is whether we have the testing capacity and associated logistics to support the testing strategy for the next phase. It is fairly clear we have the capacity, there are clearly still many wrinkles to iron out with the logistics, but they will get ironed out.
The really key question though is whether test, track and trace will really contribute to getting our country back to work, whilst avoiding overloading the NHS. I have my doubts. Indeed I fear the greater visibility it might give of how the virus starts to spread a bit more (as it is bound to do) will lead to rescinding of relaxations, which in turn will slow our path towards herd immunity, which without a vaccine is the only way back from a dire economic situation.
Jonathan Bagley
4 years ago
I was astounded when he came out with this. Hasn’t he taken Politics 101? I can only guess it was a most unpolitician-like attempt to motivate people: more befitting of a football manager, but showed a lot of b****, for which many people gave him credit. It was very funny when he announced 122k. Starmer must have been sick in a bucket. He should have stuck at 98k. He might have been a plucky loser and got away with it. The Government doesn’t need to do this. It should play with a straight bat. Most people know that Starmer and the MSM are Monday morning quarter backs. If Boris turned lead into gold, they’d say it was too heavy and too shiny, but for some reason, a large section of the public has a great affection for him.
It was a hostage to fortune for Hancock to adopt that target, although it has certainly galvanised the testing effort. It’s not a surprise to find that a significant number of people who claimed to desperately need a test can’t now be bothered to go out and get one.
Unfortunately, our beloved media inevitably adopted the target as an easy-to-understand number with which to beat the Government, irrespective of its actual significance in combatting the disease. Their disappointment when the target was seemingly met was palpable.
In any numbers game it’s always going to give someone a stick to beat you with, and with our venomous hateful press even achieving it won’t help.
What is most sad about it is how gutted MSM was when the figure exceeded the target on 30 Apr and 1 May and how obsessed they are now with pointing out it is below target. What matters is whether we have the testing capacity and associated logistics to support the testing strategy for the next phase. It is fairly clear we have the capacity, there are clearly still many wrinkles to iron out with the logistics, but they will get ironed out.
The really key question though is whether test, track and trace will really contribute to getting our country back to work, whilst avoiding overloading the NHS. I have my doubts. Indeed I fear the greater visibility it might give of how the virus starts to spread a bit more (as it is bound to do) will lead to rescinding of relaxations, which in turn will slow our path towards herd immunity, which without a vaccine is the only way back from a dire economic situation.
I was astounded when he came out with this. Hasn’t he taken Politics 101? I can only guess it was a most unpolitician-like attempt to motivate people: more befitting of a football manager, but showed a lot of b****, for which many people gave him credit. It was very funny when he announced 122k. Starmer must have been sick in a bucket. He should have stuck at 98k. He might have been a plucky loser and got away with it. The Government doesn’t need to do this. It should play with a straight bat. Most people know that Starmer and the MSM are Monday morning quarter backs. If Boris turned lead into gold, they’d say it was too heavy and too shiny, but for some reason, a large section of the public has a great affection for him.