Tag: COVID-19

If 30% of the public did not comply with lockdown then what good will future lockdowns do?

Here is a nugget from the Telegraph’s COVID-19 live feed. “Only 71 per cent of Brits, Americans and other English speakers around the globe followed guidelines set by their governments during the Covid-19 lockdown, according to a new study from Durham University Business School. This was drastically lower than French and Italians – where 89 per… Continue reading If 30% of the public did not comply with lockdown then what good will future lockdowns do?

Herd Immunity – on avoiding conspiracy theories

If as Christians, we want to engage with the world around us, it is important that we engage with the facts and stay clear from conspiracy theories.  Conspiracy theories ask us to believe that we cannot believe the evidence in front of us because secret, malign forces are at work. A good example of this… Continue reading Herd Immunity – on avoiding conspiracy theories

Coronavirus – did we set the wrong priorities?

I am continuing to think about how we have done so far during the coronavirus pandemic. As I said in an earlier post, one measure of this is how we are doing against the objectives the Government set out. However, we should also step back and ask whether those were the right objectives.  One issue… Continue reading Coronavirus – did we set the wrong priorities?

Asking the unreasonable questions – Coronavirus

A little while back, I pointed out that we don’t ask the seemingly unreasonable questions and so we don’t get to do the real deep analysis that helps us solve problems. In that specific context, I was talking about the investigation into PHE’s reporting of COVID-19 related deaths outside of hospital.  I suggested that we… Continue reading Asking the unreasonable questions – Coronavirus

Like a thief in the night – local lockdowns and something of far greater importance

If you live in Greater Manchester or West Yorkshire, new localised lockdown measures were introduced at midnight yesterday. This news was released at 930pm.  There have been a lot of complaints since about the lack of notice. This has been presented as bad communication. My personal view is that the objections have been overplayed and… Continue reading Like a thief in the night – local lockdowns and something of far greater importance

local lockdowns and the local church

When Leicester went back into “lockdown” the Government explained that their strategy would be what they referred to as “whack-a-mole” acting quickly with local lockdowns to supress new spikes. Last night, we saw the most significant example of this yet as parts of West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester had new restrictions imposed. This is something… Continue reading local lockdowns and the local church

Behavioural Fatigue -did we get tired of lockdown and did the Government correctly predict this?

A lot of journalists spend their time tweeting these days and it is perhaps a better insight into their thought process than the edited results on TV.  Here for example is the BBC’s Lewis Goodall. Now, the first thing that springs to mind reading the thread is “wouldn’t that have been a good thing for… Continue reading Behavioural Fatigue -did we get tired of lockdown and did the Government correctly predict this?

Fighting a pandemic, how have we done so far?

As life begins to return to normal, it is perhaps a good opportunity to look back on the past few months and reflect on how the UK has done so far in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I say “so far” because we are still not out of the woods yet. The virus is still… Continue reading Fighting a pandemic, how have we done so far?

When did lockdown really start (or “Is Matt Hancock re-writing history?”)

When did the lockdown really start? Does it really matter? Well, potentially yes. You see there’s been some heated discussion in the last week or two about whether or not the Government delayed entering lockdown and whether or not this cost lives? There seem to be two potential answers to this. The common answer is… Continue reading When did lockdown really start (or “Is Matt Hancock re-writing history?”)