Christopher Whiteside MBE is a Conservative activist. He was Conservative candidate for Leeds North East in the 2024 General election
He has served as a County, City & District, Borough, Town and Parish councillor, and has also been a school governor and health authority member. He is currently an Egremont Town Councillor.
He lives and works in the North of England, particularly dividing his time between Cumbria and Yorkshire.
Quote of the day 13th May 2020
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Anonymous said…
We are approaching the WWII civilian death toll in just two months of Corvid-19. It didn't have to be this way.
Its fine saying "it coud have been so much better" and for what its worth, I agree that this crisis has not been handled so well.
But can you elaborate on why? and what should have been done better.
Also if you sign a name, it shows that its the same person and also makes your points carry more weight.
It does not have to be your full name, or even your real one, a youtube style nickname will do.
Anonymous said…
I said it weeks ago but Chris kept deleting it. The only way out of this mess is by doing what should have been done originally, but from a much worse starting position. We will get there eventually, in the meantime the body count will keep rising.
If Mr or Ms anonymous had written any remotely constructive suggestions about what should be done, instead of repeating like a broken tape-recorder the words "It didn't have to be this way" I would not have deleted such a post.
Just as I don't delete yours, Jim, even when I violently disagree with them, because I can tell the difference between someone who is trying to be constructive and someone who is trying to score points.
We will never now be able to prove whether a different approach would have worked better in this country: I don't think even the government would dispute that there have been mistakes and not everything went perfectly to plan but if you look at countries remotely comparable to us, every one has had a horrendous death toll and dire effects on the economy, whatever strategy they followed.
Some of the Far Eastern countries seem to have managed a bit better than ourselves, by treating COVID-19 more like SARS and less like the flu, as Jim and others have pointed out, and that's probably an important lesson for us for the future, but if you follow what's been going on in those countries it hasn't by any means been plain sailing for them either. Some of those initially held up as successes have subsequently hit problems.
One statistician who knows more than any of us about it, when asked how well Britain was doing replied "ask me in December."
And we need to be ready for any eventuality - no point having a plan which is only any good against SARS or COVID-19 if the next bug that comes along turns out to be different again.
I will be fascinated to see whether Mr or Ms anonymous takes up Jim's challenge but my money is agin it.
Comments
It was always going to be bad, but that's true in the sense that it could easily have been even worse.
But can you elaborate on why? and what should have been done better.
Also if you sign a name, it shows that its the same person and also makes your points carry more weight.
It does not have to be your full name, or even your real one, a youtube style nickname will do.
I mean I started my case about the flu plan and its effect on both test trace and isolate capabilities and on equipment (ppe) going back to 2005.
But what's your opinion on what should have happened?
Just as I don't delete yours, Jim, even when I violently disagree with them, because I can tell the difference between someone who is trying to be constructive and someone who is trying to score points.
We will never now be able to prove whether a different approach would have worked better in this country: I don't think even the government would dispute that there have been mistakes and not everything went perfectly to plan but if you look at countries remotely comparable to us, every one has had a horrendous death toll and dire effects on the economy, whatever strategy they followed.
Some of the Far Eastern countries seem to have managed a bit better than ourselves, by treating COVID-19 more like SARS and less like the flu, as Jim and others have pointed out, and that's probably an important lesson for us for the future, but if you follow what's been going on in those countries it hasn't by any means been plain sailing for them either. Some of those initially held up as successes have subsequently hit problems.
One statistician who knows more than any of us about it, when asked how well Britain was doing replied "ask me in December."
And we need to be ready for any eventuality - no point having a plan which is only any good against SARS or COVID-19 if the next bug that comes along turns out to be different again.
I will be fascinated to see whether Mr or Ms anonymous takes up Jim's challenge but my money is agin it.