2020: The End

The end of another year.

I am going to end my public criticism of most things that have occupied me in 2020, it is not productive and doesn’t achieve anything worthwhile.

The end of calling the Prime Minister, Bumbling Boris. He is, and even with the Brexit deal done, he is history once the Conservative Party decide he will not win the next general election, or he decides it is more lucrative than working out of Downing St.

No more Hapless Hancock. He is, everyone can see it. He is toast as soon as the COVID pandemic eases and / or Boris goes, see above.

Calling Scientists Mad. I think they mean well, they just do not accept they are hopeless at forecasting, everyone is. I hope they have learnt they would be much better at applying their knowledge and skills at understanding COVID from the evidence they have accumulated, and in the vaccination process, so we don’t have a repeat next autumn of this year’s lockdown madness.

The end of Moyes bashing. I have been highly critical of West Ham United’s Manager David Moyes. I still don’t think he’s the right man to take the Hammers forward as a team. However, the club’s owners are a much bigger problem.

I also want to see these things end.

The end of Lockdowns

There is still no evidence they achieve v much and in my view scientists and the government are interpreting the data incorrectly, mainly to justify their singular focus on lockdowns as a weapon to fight the virus.

The end of the war on COVID

This is an unwinnable war without total isolation of all household units, something not even the maddest of mad’uns advocate. They should concentrate on rolling out vaccines to control it and communicating the importance of hygiene and social distancing in helping to prevent infection in the first place.

The end of the Test, Track and Trace shambles

TT&T is still not where it should be after 9 months, particularly in trying to determine who people caught COVID from and where. Had they managed this properly, it is likely they would not have needed to closedown huge swathes of the hospitality and leisure industries.

The end of Future projections

Using “could” and “might” as justification for any policy decisions affecting people’s futures is wrong. Measuring the right things and looking at trends, not subjective extrapolation, would be far more effective. This does not just apply to COVID.

The end of NHS manager’s blame games

COVID is not the sole reason for the current shortage of hospital beds and the declared crisis. In England there are around 100,000 acute and general hospital beds. Today there are around 23,000 people in hospital with COVID. Although nearly 90% of hospital beds are occupied this week, this is lower than the corresponding period in 2019. They have had five months to prepare for the inevitable increase in COVID and other viral infections as winter approached. Hospital-acquired transmission may account for 20% of all COVID in-patient cases. Managers should have prepared for this by establishing COVID secure units within hospitals.

The end of NHS underfunding

Historical underfunding of the NHS has greatly reduced capacity. This pandemic has taught us that running a health service (badly) with zero spare capacity for unexpected health crises is a false economy full stop.

The end of Brexiteers and Remainers.

We left the EU at the end of January. An exit deal has been done. Whatever your views on this, it’s over.

The end of Government cronyism and jobs for the boys

That!

COVID has dominated news since the Spring. I learnt new data analysis and storytelling skills on the back of the pandemic. Zero paid work made it clear that without retraining, I would also be toast. I still publish a daily dashboard (here). That will end of when all the 2020 data is published. A new one for New Year focussing on tracking vaccinations, death rates for COVID and other forgotten diseases, and a greater Worldwide view comparing the UK to other countries.

I hope it is also the end of assaults on our civil liberties and suppression of the Parliamentary democratic process. The laws being used to control us do are nothing other than dictatorial, and would not stand-up to thorough scrutiny by Parliament, even when the Conservatives have such a large majority.

That’s the end of 2020, excepting tonight when I’ll be seeing in the New Year ‘wiv ‘me @Julieballoo and #DIYCocktails.

Cheers. COYI⚒