Of all the 100 countries struggling to cope with the epidemic, surely none has the more difficult task than the UK. With the government at first not appreciating the need for immediate action it has stumbled from error to disaster, uncertain which path to take in a dense forest.
It is a battle on several fronts. The most serious is to stem the second wave with past action, as in most countries, proving ineffective. The second is to keep the economy going as the flood of job losses continues.
Even the political scene is changing with dozens of Conservative MPs demanding a definite, clearly presented ‘exit' plan, the lack of which is causing upheaval in many areas in the UK with local authorities at loggerheads with the government.
Despite continuing inexcusable delay in solving test and trace, the Health Secretary for England is still making excuses, insisting it was doing incredibly well.
Brexit is adding to the confusion, and here too, the government is hoping ‘something will turn up’ to save the day with the old tactic of blaming the EU.
But the UK position is made even worse by the increasing threat of a breakup of the union.
The devolved countries, dissatisfied with the lack of leadership and cooperation by Boris Johnson, are going their own way, making their own decisions.
Even the rare government success, the Chancellor’s moves to save jobs, is starting to be questioned
What a muddled, worrying scene. No one knows the answer- the motley army of academics, health experts, modellers, media pundits and certainly not us public. Like the government, we just live in hope that something will turn up.
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