The stark contrast that hits me right between the eyes is the diametrically opposed ridiculous situation with the tories in that after 10 years now there is no PPE on the NHS shelves, but yet we have stockpiles, standby supplies, reserve supplies of useless guns, bullets, missiles, bombs, all sat on shelves doing nothing.

And the even more ridiculous situation is that when all these armaments become out of use date, they are re-stockpiled without hesitation

But NHS service PPE? Typical tories

With Boris Johnson acclaiming the NHS now, it isn’t going to go down very well with the ERG and the right wing 1922 committee.

The knives will have been made in China

What will they do with the two specifically named nurses coming from New Zealand and Portugal. I bet Farage is disgusted that they could not find Nurses from the U.K. after all we don’t need these workers from outside the U.K.anymore.
We have and we will always needs workers from the EU but by the time Priti Patel gets off her box the government’s immigration policy will be passed and home they go, unless of course they have sadly died protecting our family members.

So if they don't die they get sent home?

Wasn't Nige married to a foreigner?

He was and strangely his two children have dual nationality U.K. and German. This unfortunately does not detract from the fact he hates everything EU related with the exception of women in his personal life.

Had to laugh at the quote from one of the parents of the nurse looking after Bojo.

"I just find it incredible she, any nurses, can do this for 12 hours," Caroline MGee said.
"Sit and watch a patient, and twiddle away with all the different knobs to keep their patients alive."

Bumbling Boris is definitely a full-on knob.

Thought we'd had enough of experts according to Gove.

What a miraculous recovery. Looks very wel for someone’s who just come out of the ICU. Also ignoring advice (again) to stay clear of people for two weeks after recovery.

Like I said a few weeks ago, too many here are too biased or not paying attention.

In almost every briefing I've seen attended by Whitty and Vallance, they have openly and honestly referenced the global shortage of PPE and the difficulties in distribution and supply, as well as the difficulties faced by procurement. You must have somehow missed all of this. Yes, as you mention, China was in lockdown - but that's just part of the issue.

The initial issue wasn't supply, it was local distribution. We had plenty of stock but getting it out there effectively and efficiently was the challenge. Still, as of a few days ago 761 million items of PPE had been delivered to 58,000 different settings across the UK. Has it been perfect? No. Has any nation managed a perfect supply chain throughout this? No (except possibly those producing PPE en masse). Was this ever going to be perfectly managed, anywhere? No. But - not disregarding instances of shortages - have the vast majority of NHS staff had access to PPE equipment? Yes.

But let's also look at supply. The main producers of PPE - China, South Korea, Japan and others - were not only in lockdown, but they also blocked exports of PPE at various stages to protect their own interests (understandable). China even effectively nationalised the Shanghai 3M plant - and others - to prevent exports. Furthermore, China actually IMPORTED 2.5 billion pieces of PPE equipment in Feb/Mar from the EU, Australia and others - stockpiling. Add to that the billions of masks purchased by the public across Asia and later the world, and immediately available stocks are almost wiped out globally.

As an example of the challenges being faced, we have the current issue with gowns. Sufficient stock has been ordered (surprise, surprise - from China). But some has been mislabelled at source and others have failed safety tests and so supplies are low in some areas. Another example of the reliance on cheap but poor quality goods from China backfiring - as we have also seen with equipment and indeed tests across Europe, where millions of Chinese COVID19 tests had to be binned after being found to be useless.

Yes, in an ideal world every nurse, doctor, carer, etc, etc would have an unlimited supply of the very best PPE on tap - and by saying that in absolutely no way do I underestimate the challenges and dangers they are facing. Our NHS staff are outstanding and deserve every plaudit being sent their way (as well as a pay rise). But this is far from an ideal world; it's a feckin global pandemic and the entire planet is stretched. To expect everything to run perfectly is naive.

If there's one thing we must learn from this, it's that reliance on globalisation and cheap but shoddy Chinese/Asian markets is damaging. We've shipped our industries and jobs over there, leaving us exposed when it matters.

You do say some good stuff, but you also roll out some rubbish.

"Boris Johnson chose to flank himself with 2 health experts, so that he couldn't be blamed if things didn't go to plan"

Imagine what you'd come out with if we went to war, "Boris chose to flank himself with the military so he couldn't be blamed, etc..."

And let's imagine the government had dismissed SAGE and its sub-committees and formed their own strategy, ignoring the science - what would you say to that? Let's face it, you'd complain whatever happened. You always do.

In terms of observed cases the UK is currently tracking along the same death rate as Italy, and way below Spain. However we haven't tested as much as some other countries so the rate per confirmed case can appear higher. In reality our deaths per head of population are much lower than most, a more accurate metric given the disparity in testing albeit some countries are at slightly different stages of the pandemic. Spain, Italy, Belgium and France have far higher death rates per head of population, not that it's a competition, but important to point out our strategy is not off track.

That said, frankly I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with the highest number of deaths in Europe, having witnessed the behaviour of large sections of our society who think the law doesn't apply to them. And despite demanding a lockdown only weeks ago, when the police clamp down the press go on the attack, somehow forgetting the fact this is literally a life and death situation. Yes there are isolated incidents of improper police enforcement - but these are isolated.

There is also a massive question mark over whether COVID19 was the cause of death, or whether the victim happened to be infected when they died. I know anecdotally of a couple of cases in which COVID19 has been named as the cause of death where it seems unlikely - one person with late-stage terminal cancer, another with heart disease who suffered a fatal heart attack. Whether someone died of COVID19 or with COVID19 can be two different things. Many countries have different reporting criteria - the numbers are therefore a guideline but whether they are accurate or comparable is debatable.

And in what world have you been living where the UK has ignored climate change scientists?