Read on Twitter
Because this thread is getting shares and commentary, I just wanted to clarify a couple of things. First of all, nowhere do I claim the UK has done comparatively 'well'. Such an assertion would be utterly ridiculous. Things have been tragic - literally and metaphorically. 1/6 https://twitter.com/philwoodford/status/1339226696499802114
2/6 After Trump and Bolsonaro, Boris Johnson is the most ill-suited person in the world to be leading a country through this crisis. And his cabinet of third-rate bumblers with their jobs-for-the-boys culture is a national embarrassment.
3/6 What I'm saying is that whether countries have done 'well' or 'less well' is a question for *after* the pandemic is over. I sense that Germany will sadly not, for instance, be able to look back with the sense of pride that seemed well deserved earlier in the year.
4/6 There has been a prevailing commentary that the UK is uniquely awful because of the incompetence and ideology of its government. But Spain, Italy and Belgium have much more competent leaders and have higher per-capita death rates. We need to be honest about this.
5/6 My point about South Korea is not that they're comparable with Europe. They have clearly done far, far better. It's that their *system and approach* - which was supposed to be exemplary - is *not* now working and they are having to consider a lockdown.
6/6 When we look at Covid rates in different countries, governments, systems, tracing etc are all important. But so are a host of other factors - some now known (demographics, density, border control) and others we probably don't even yet understand.
