As i said , mistakes have been made by the government , which have directly cost lives . Thats the black and white of it . Early on in particular we were slow to react and that lead to death .Putting people into care homes without testing , led to death. For comparison , other countries in europe acted more strongly and suppressed the 1st wave , i,m thinking of germany and france in particular as they have similar populace and demographics , and also similar experience of pandemic. They also , at the time ( germany in particular ) were heralded for their test and trace systems. Im not blind to the fact the government have made mistakes here , and rightly they are getting called out for that . ( Though i will say , the opposition have been abject in almost every way . Nicola Sturgeon though has been consistent and clear throughout , to her credit )
Regarding from the middle of the pandemic to date , i do believe the government have acted better ( not perfect by any stretch , and the xmas idea was a complete clusterfeck ) , but the testing system , from my own experience worked really well and was ramped up to beyond that of our neighbours in germany and france . Germanys heralded system fell apart and was overwhelmed when hit with the numbers we had in the first wave . Given the progression of time and the lower deaths and cases initially , i could also argue Germany have performed worse during this second wave than we have . I know you will argue that your point was not about how other countries are performing but about our gevernment , but i think mental comparison does play a part in our thinking that " We " are doing well or not .
For example " We seem to have been ahead of the game regarding vaccinations and that is something that should be lauded , some bright in the dark .
Ive commented before that the media have acted very irresponsably throughout , though i have not seen much positive/ negative Tory or labour spin on it to be honest , just bad , lazy , dangerous knee jerk clickbait style stuff that in worse than fake news in many ways. i ,m going to use the highest death rate in the world quote as an example of that . looks good on a headline , but according to world of meters , other countries do have higher death rates per million , belgium being one .
People are an issue though i,m afraid , and we will just have to agree to disagree on that . Part of it is demographic , we are old and fat as a nation , so the fat part at least we have to take ownership of . Large numbers of people have chosen to ignore the advice not to mix unless essential , Black lives matter protests and gatherings , shisha bar groups , weddings in jewish schools spring to mind . Thats the people mate , choosing to say feck it , and dominic cummings going for a drive as an excuse does not cut it with me .
Ive no doubt after this there will be heads to roll , a fall guy here or there , a dodgy deal being uncovered . ive also no doubt that some of the people saying ' well they deserve it " will be the same people who went to a new years party then went home and killed an aunt or uncle or mum or dad