The Brits - Brave, Barmy, or Both?

As a journalist I was taught to never write a headline ending with a question mark because 99 times out of 100 the story you write will not answer the question. 

I’ve done it here because I mean it more as a rhetorical question. I’m genuinely puzzled at what Britain is doing with regards to Covid as I sit here in Taipei, secure in the knowledge the government has managed to get a small outbreak under control and there is not much to worry about. 

How would I feel if I was still living in Britain? Frankly terrified. If you look around the world, the evidence of the numbers and what is happening elsewhere, it really does reinforce how lucky we all are to be living here during this global emergency.

With so-called Freedom Day on Monday, Britain will lift all restrictions imposed during Covid. I can’t help but recall that famous poem by Alfred Tennyson about a suicidal cavalry charge during the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.

The most quoted line is... Into the valley of Death. Rode the six hundred. But the poem also contains the line... “Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew. Someone had blundered.

When you look at numbers it does appear the Government has blundered. Now it's promising Freedom Day to the population and it will end up being a disaster. Take a look at the UK numbers…

  

Now compare that with Taiwan...always remembering that the UK has only three times the population

So the latest figures for Thursday show new cases in Taiwan at 18 and the UK at 47,891.   

The worrying thing for Freedom Day is that huge spike in cases Britain is experiencing at the moment and it is that which is getting the scientists worried. 

Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty warned yesterday that this spike in cases might mean the country is plunged into lockdown again in as soon as five weeks. There have been three UK lockdowns of varying degrees but it’s fair to say the country has been subjected to some form of lockdown for well over a year. Compare that to what we have experienced in Taiwan during the entire global pandemic in terms of impact to our daily lives.

Total UK Covid cases (adjusted for population difference) =  5,332,371(1,777,457)

Total Taiwan Covid cases = 15,390

Total UK Covid deaths (adjusted for population difference) = 128,642 (42,880)

Total Taiwan Covid deaths = 764

The British Government has rightly come in for some heavy criticism over its handling of Covid. A Prime Minister who caught it through his own stupidity and a sacked Health Minister who broke his own lockdown rules by groping his advisor in the office and trying to swallow her head. The whole thing has been an embarrassment for the Government. 

If you are unaware, the mop-haired idiot Boris Johnson boasted on May 5 last year...“I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were a few coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you will be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands,” he said. “People obviously can make up their own minds but I think the scientific evidence is … our judgment is that washing your hands is the crucial thing.” 

This was on the very day his top scientific advisors told him shaking hands was a bad idea and he ended up in hospital with the virus. Many see Johnson as a fool, it’s easy to see why. 

My own feeling is on Monday a lot of Brits will head to the pubs, clubs, shops and restaurants and that top graph above will quickly start to look even worse in terms of the latest spike. 

Brave, Barmy, or Both? You see - it doesn’t work. Who knows at this stage? 

One thing I would say is anyone who looks at the evidence and openly states the Taiwan Government has done anything less than an excellent job in controlling the virus is either a fool or so politically motivated as to willingly ignore reality for purely political ends.

Sure, the one thing you can point to that Britain has done well is rolled out the vaccine with now over half the population covered. But if you look at the graph of new cases you have to wonder if that is actually making much of a difference. 

Taiwan has indeed not got close to what it needs to do in terms of the vaccine but most sensible people understand the huge issues Taiwan has with such things on the world stage. Many countries are struggling to secure enough vaccines, Taiwan is certainly not alone in that regard.

That said, Taiwan has just topped 20% of the population vaccinated which has happened very quickly.     

But I’m extremely glad I was here, not in the UK for the past 15 months.

Tinkerty Tonk..

《英國人 － 勇敢，愚蠢，還是兩者皆是？ 》 作為一名記者，我受的訓練告訴我不要寫以問號結尾的標題，因為這樣的新聞，100 則裡面有 99 則沒有答案。 現在我這麼寫，是因為這不過是個修辭罷了。當我四平八穩坐在淡水河畔的台北家中，我對我的母國應對新冠病毒方面的所作所為，其實是感到非常困惑的。尤其我知道台灣政府已經控制住一場小規模的疫情爆發，我沒有什麼可擔心。 如果我還住在英國，我會有什麼感覺？說實話會是嚇壞了。如果你環顧世界，看看疫情的數字傳達的證據，以及其他地方正在發生的事情，你應該更加確認在病毒危害全球之際，我們生活在台灣是多麼幸運。 明天是英國所謂的自由日 (Freedom Day)，政府將取消在 Covid 期間的所有限制。我不禁想起丁尼生 (Alfred Tennyson) 寫的那首關於克里米亞戰爭期間，巴拉克拉瓦戰役中騎兵自殺式衝鋒的名詩。 最常被引用的是：進入死亡之谷。六百騎兵。 這首詩也包含了這幾句：“前進吧，輕旅！” 有任何一個人感到沮喪嗎？騎兵們當然不知道。應該是有人搞錯了。 看看英國疫情數字，政府確實是搞錯了什麼吧？政府現在跟人們保證取消所有限制的自由日，但自由日終將成為一場災難。看看英國的數字……我們再看看台灣的數字……記住，英國的人口只有台灣的三倍。(圖表請見以下原文連結) 週四的最新數據顯示，台灣新增病例 18 例，英國新增病例 47,891 例。 自由日之下的事實是英國目前病例激增，而這讓科學家們感到擔憂。 英國首席醫療官惠緹 (Chris Whitty) 昨天發出警告，病例激增可能意味著最快五週之內，英國將再次進入封城狀態。到目前為止英國已經經歷三次不同程度的封城，也就是說過去一年多來，英國一直是在不同程度的封城之中渡過。 你可以比較在全球疫情大流行中，台灣日常生活受到什麼影響。 我手邊的數字顯示，英國確診數字為 5,332,371，三分之一是1,777,457，而台灣的確診數字為15,390。英國死亡病例為128,642，三分之一是 42,880，台灣死亡人數為 764。 英國政府處理 Covid 的政策遭受嚴厲的批評，這是理所當然的。 有個首相在疫情期間因自身的愚蠢而染疫，還有個衛生部長在違反自己的封城限令後下台，因為他在辦公室和他的女性顧問纏綿交頸親吻，幾乎要把她的頭吞下去一樣。這些再再都讓政府感到尷尬不已。 如果你不知道的話，那個拖把頭的白痴首相強生，去年 5 月 5 日大放厥詞：“那天晚上我拜訪了一家醫院，我想那裡有幾個冠狀病毒確診者，不過我和大家都握手了。你會很高興 知道，我繼續握手，”他說。 “人們應該可以做出自己的決定，但我認為科學證據是……我們認為洗手是非常重要的。” 就在同一天，他的頂尖科學顧問告訴他握手不是個好主意，然後他因感染病毒而住院。許多人認為強生是個傻瓜，應該很容易理解為什麼。 我自己的感覺是，週一會有很多英國人前往酒吧、俱樂部、商店和餐館，而上面那個英國疫情圖表，很快就會開始變得更糟。 勇敢，愚蠢，或是兩者都是？ 不會是這樣的，但是現階段誰知道究竟是前者或是後者？ 我要說的是，任何看到全球疫情的證據，還要公開表示台灣政府在控制病毒方面做得不夠出色的人，要不是傻瓜，就是出於某種政治動機，蓄意忽視現實以達到他們的政治目的。 當然你可以指出英國做得很好的一件事，是推出疫苗並且為超過一半以上的人口施打疫苗。但是如果你再看看最新的曲線圖，你也不免要懷疑這是否真的產生了很大的不同。 台灣在疫苗的供應方面確實和應做到的還很遠，但大多數明智的人都明白，台灣在國際間面臨了什麼樣的巨大問題。許多國家都還在辛苦地設法取得足夠的疫苗，在這方面台灣不是唯一。但即使如此，我聽說台灣剛剛為超過 20% 的人口接種疫苗，而且這個比例發生得非常快。 我非常高興過去的 17 個月我在台灣，而不是在英國。 Tinkerty Tonk... 掰掰。