Dido says that no-one prediced the rise in requests for testing. Really?

It doesn't take a scientist to predict that once schools go back, universities open, pubs and bars welcome back customers, that numbers of infections will rise, and with it the need for tests, I don't buy the 'we didn't see this coming' argument.

Yes - I have just said all this as well on a another thread - you are quite right. The hackneyed phrase "it's not rocket science" springs to mind.

So, so true.
No one predicted a rise? Well they damn well should have.
What are they paid for? ???

MawB2

So, so true.
No one predicted a rise? Well they damn well should have.
What are they paid for? ???

I've just posted this on another thread, do read them both:

This thread:

twitter.com/JeremyFarrar/status/1306641671690555396

And this blog post:

www.duncanrobertson.com/2020/09/17/civil-servants-write-things-down/

Today Dido Harding claimed that no-one had foreseen the sharp increase in cases which is driving the shortage of tests and testing.. These two links show that there have been repeated warnings from the scientists over the summer..

Actually, any one of us could have told her what would happen with pubs and restaurants open, then the children returning to school.

It's going to be a scary winter...

It doesn't surprise me at all that Dido et al have taken aback by the "sudden" increase in reported infections and test requests. They're so stupid, short sighted and out of touch with what's going on that nothing they do any more is a surprise.

And who handed her the job on a plate? You know who she’s married to, you know his vision for the NHS, you know she’s implicated in lobbying for Cheltenham to go ahead, you know she failed at TalkTalk and Johnson gifted her first of all T and T and then promoted her again. Who on earth thought she would be able to do the job? She’s a patsy for Cummings and Johnson and her failure is their failure - except of course neither of them care whether she fails or not.

It doesn't take a scientist to predict

Perhaps she should have listened to the scientists though.

No one predicted a rise? Well they damn well should have

They did. I watched an ICU consultant months ago on TV and he said that he had spoken to the scientists and they predicted a spike in July and a far bigger one in October.
In which case they would be in worse trouble (he was less polite than that).

They really can't be that thick! Of course they knew demand would increase. The point is - that they don't care.

As far as the population is concerned this government is superfluous, and I would go so far as to say that they are making everything far worse than it should be.

What is the point of this government?

Dido has been successful in all her previous roles. A couple of us mentioned this when she was appointed. It gives me no satisfaction that she has proved me right.

Why is she still in post ?
Failing that she should be on probation and if there is not an sharp turn about she should be sacked. It was as clear as the nose on your face that there would be an increase when things opened up.

Of course they are now blaming people for demanding too many tests. Well tell that to those who can’t go to work or school till they've had a test and can’t get one. Funnily Eton managed to test everyone of their pupils before they returned so the Rees Smugg children are ok. Dodo is a close friend of the Tory elite which is why she got the job - it’s a real chumocracy we’ve got at the moment.

John Crace surmises (Typhoid Dido is his pet name for her)

“what on earth made her think she was the right person to head the new National Institute for Health Protection?

Typhoid thought for a bit. It could have been that she had been chief executive of TalkTalk when it suffered a massive data breach resulting in her ignorance being described as a lesson to us all.

It could have been that she had been on the board of the Jockey Club that gave the go-ahead to the Cheltenham festival.

It could have been that she had been in charge of NHS test and trace, a service in which many employees made just two calls a month.

Or it could just have been that she was a Tory peer, married to a Tory MP, who was prepared to step up to the plate when her country called. An expert in logistics and key performance indicators who “could act faster over a broader landscape”. It now became clear she saw that her main asset was to be able to talk bullshit – though not particularly convincingly.

‘Why is she still in post’ ? Well yes but also why are Johnson, Cummings and Hancock, the men who gifted her the job out of their sweet shop (aka the UK) still in post?

Furret, thanks for the John Crace piece, it made me smile despite the absolute horror show that is this governments approach to the covid testing crisis.
Yes yes yes we all accept this is unprecedented, that mistakes and re-thinks are inevitable. When Dido Harding was appointed the groans around the country could be heard. She made a disaster of everything she touched previously, pretty much guaranteed that she'd mess this up.
This week we have Mogg accusing us of 'carping' and now Harding insisting no one could have predicted the rise in the demand for testing in September 2020.
A friend in a very high risk area waited four days for a test, despite her GP saying she needed one. All the parents, grandparents, teachers, nursery staff and health staff I know have been predicting a huge increase alongside schools re-opening. Oh yes, then there are all those scientists predicting this rise.

This article is about what's happening in France

Sounds exactly like us

www.thelocal.fr/20200909/covid-19-why-testing-one-million-people-a-week-is-giving-france-a-real-headache

no one could have predicted the rise for testing in September WTF!

John Crace is correct that her ability to bullshit is up there with the rest of the gang Boris and the Buffoons.

And your point is Oops ? FGS . We get it - JRM is right.?????????

Oops looks like Italy has a grip on it though.

30 minute testing

Only slightly less accurate, but results in 30 minutes being used at airports and drive in (no appointment needed) centres.

I suspect that they are all, once again, gung-ho on what Donald Trump called herd mentality, although, of course, he should have said herd immunity. If that is the plan in the UK, then lots of Brits are going to die before their time. Their attitude is suck it up buttercup.

I wonder if Oops cares about countries that are getting it right - or at least more right, than us. Doesn’t quite fit the Johnson-as-God narrative- English exceptionalism narrative does it ?

Surely not? What matters, the only thing that matters, is that less people die.