why is the UK gov now making the same mistakes that delayed Lockdown 1.0 despite having unambiguous scientific advice (thread)

we already know the new coronavirus variant is above 10 per cent prevalence across the whole country already, and will overwhelm our existing lockdown measures everywhere soon https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/flights-from-britain-banned-as-fears-of-mutant-virus-grow-zzxghvsc8

so why is the government not extending its actions nationally in the run-up to Christmas, despite widespread public concern and pressure from the media at the last press conference this evening?

when exactly this happened before Lockdown 1.0, @MWStory identified that the whole government including its scientific advisers was acting with a peacetime mindset, when the situation was much more like a war

so, with that analogy in mind, it’s time to tell a story

it’s mid December 2020, just before Christmas, when the United Kingdom suddenly comes under attack from a foreign power, with the lives of hundreds of thousands of our people threatened

fortunately the government of the UK has anticipated this attack could happen, and has built a weapon that its best scientists believe can successfully defend the country

there are just a few last minute hitches to deploying this weapon, defending the country and saving the lives of tens of thousands of people

what should the government be doing in this situation? talking about moveable barriers on the M20 at national press conferences? explaining that school children’s education is our national priority? trying not to interrupt people’s Christmas celebration?

of course not! we’ve been attacked, we can almost defend ourselves, we just need government to focus every effort on getting the weapon deployed, and buy whatever time we can to delay the enemy.

this mutated coronavirus is the enemy that’s about to kill multiple tens of thousands of our people, and unlike a foreign power it can’t be bought off or talked into signing peace terms

… but we can defeat it, because just when it thinks it has the upper hand, we have the cure almost ready

if the government acts like the country has been attacked (which it has!) and focuses every effort on this last push to buy time and get mass vaccination going, we’ll save many many lives and maybe some respect from the rest of the world too

here’s the five things that need the total attention of all arms of government now to repulse this attack, everything stops until these are sorted https://twitter.com/declamare/status/1341059645889273856

I’ve had enough of collaborators with this virus

it’s attacking our most vulnerable people, we can almost defend them but our leaders are choosing not to

this has to stop now