People are baffled as government has failed

AS the death toll from Covid-19 continues to mount, please don’t be taken in by “we are all in this together” and “we mustn’t criticise the government” nonsense. Instead, please keep these points in mind:

■ The government had three months to prepare. This was a train coming down the tracks.

■ At first we were told the plan was herd immunity. Then it wasn’t.

■ As the first few people started to die, Boris Johnson boasted of shaking the hands of hospitalised coronavirus patients. This was a week before the lockdown.

■ Why weren’t we in lockdown like other European countries? some asked. Trust us, they said.

■ Then we got the lockdown order. What did they say? The initial government advice was only “essential workers could travel to work”. A day later this was changed to “essential travel for work.” See the difference? There are screenshots of this.

■ They told us to practise social distancing as MPs crowded around each other in the House of Commons.

■ They said only the old and immuno-compromised were at risk. Then healthy twentysomethings started dying.

■ They said the NHS could cope, then they started building field hospitals in stadiums.

■ They said the NHS had the protective equipment it needed, then we logged onto social media.

■ They said we were in it together, then they got tested before the frontline workers.

■ They said there was no such thing as society and it was survival of the fittest, then said we needed to show solidarity.

■ They clapped when they voted against a pay rise for NHS nurses in 2017, then they clapped for the NHS.

■ They spent a decade telling us cuts were needed to save the economy, then they said the only way to save the economy was to spend trillions.

They spent a decade insisting £94 was enough to live on, then admitted it wasn’t.

They got us to vote for Brexit by rubbishing “experts,” then told us to trust experts.

They told us retail workers were low skilled, then said they were key workers.

They said homelessness was sad but inevitable, then they order it ended overnight.

So we, the people, ended up a little confused.

Because our so-called leaders have utterly failed to lead.

They don’t know what they stand for; they couldn’t believe the world could change so quickly; they resisted “alarmism” when the only proper response was to be alarmed; they had no idea how to use the power of the state, having spent a decade dismantling it; they were arrogant and complacent, wallowing in privilege. The fundamental duty of government is to keep us safe. That’s what we pay them to do. They have failed.