Today was sunny and cold. We set off for a long walk along to our next village and back. We sat and had a sandwich watching a huge flock of crows foraging in the fields.
Back home I’ve been playing Bob Dylan’s Another Side Of album. One of his brilliant 1960s acoustic albums. So good.
Meanwhile out there in Coronaland Trump is unrepentant. It seems that he thinks it’s OK to incite insurrection. The ransacking of the Capitol, at his command, is fine. He called the move to impeach him a witch hunt – the biggest witch hunt in history! The man is unhinged!! It makes it even worse that he does not recognise the enormity of his actions!
Hopefully he won’t press the nuclear button before he leaves office.
It seems that their is a real threat of armed militia, his fanatical supporters, storming state capitals next week. Incredible!!
The sooner Trump has gone the better.
I thought it would be useful to do a couple of tables. By comparing how countries like the USA and UK with countries such as Vietnam and New Zealand it is starkly clear how badly we have performed. This is simply because of Trump and Johnson. Their poor management have killed hundreds of thousands.
It was all about being prepared, acting swiftly, shutting borders, testing, tracking and isolating.
We didn’t do any of that. The countries that are doing well did.
| Country | New Cases yesterday | Deaths yesterday | Total deaths |
| USA | 222,902 | 2048 | 376,000 |
| UK | 46,169 | 529 | 82,000 |
| Brazil | 25,822 | 480 | 204,000 |
| New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| Vietnam | 1 | 0 | 35 |
Based on the number of deaths per 100,000
This too is very salutary. This isn’t comprehensive but it is still worth looking at. Again, the differences are stark. Some countries (such as the USA and UK) have been appalling. Other countries (such as New Zealand and Vietnam) have been doing very well.
What is sobering is to look at some of the African and Asian countries that we imagined might have been in serious trouble have come out of this really well. The western countries that, being wealthy, you might expect to handle this well have done terribly.
Why is that?
Personally I think it is arrogance. We weren’t prepared. We didn’t act. We dithered, denied and failed to shut borders, test, track and isolate. We had this macho attitude that it wouldn’t effect us.
We fell flat on our faces.
| Countries doing really badly | USA, UK, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Bosnia, Macedonia. |
| Countries doing really well | Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Morocco, Japan, UAE, Egypt, Malaysia, Qatar, China, Kenya, Nigeria, Algeria, Ethiopia, Singapore, Norway, Denmark, Ghana, Uganda, Finland, Zambia, Australia, Uruguay, Sudan, Congo, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Thailand, Mali, Trinidad, Niger, Somalia, Vietnam, Chad, Mongolia, Cambodia. |
So our hospitals are stuffed, our crematoriums are stuffed, our governments continue to act incompetently!
They need to be held accountable!!
Stay safe! The end is nigh!!! Over two million people have been vaccinated!! Freedom looms!
