Tory/Boris.
1: It is way, way too easy to be "wise with hindsight". None of us, including the government and its advisers, scientific and otherwise, here or abroad, fully understood (nor do we still, really) the novel virus, its propagation, its hugely varied effect (from zero to death) on those who catch it; and thereby nobody could realistically manage it pro-actively. We can only be reactive. I HUGELY sypathise with anybody who is faced with having to manage a country in these circumstances, a substantial proportion of whose population are evidently not very "bright" - witness gatherings on beaches, outside football grounds and the reluctance, despite recent guidance, to wear masks in enclosed spaces; witness the rammed full pubs the night before lockdown despite what we supposedly knew....and so on. In the circumstances I sincerely doubt anyone would have done a better job. Different, perhaps, but not - in the broad scheme of things - better.
2: Starmer is clearly a better proposition than his predecessor. But to me, he let himself down by presenting himself on the TV fairly early on as someone who was not going to "political point-score" but would work with the government to get the Covid issue managed/solved - yet then immediately proceeded to call the govenment out for all the could have/should have matters - and that is, again, a matter of 20/20 hindsight and hence nothing short of political point scoring. There is nothing useful in criticising the past - all that's beneficial is to design the future. And I have seen little useful input from Starmer on that.
3: It is way, way easier to be in opposition than it is to govern. Unlike the party in power, what they say or do or promise has no material effect. Thus they can say anything they like, pretty much with impunity, and with the sole objective of sounding popular and/or discrediting the other side.
4: Or to put it another way - if the Labour Party had woken up to his predecessor earlier and elected Starmer before the General Election; and had he won a majority - then I believe we would right now be in an exactly parallel situation; one where the actions of the government could have/should have been done differently. One where the effects on people or the economy or the NHS etc., would be just as flawed and incomplete as they are - just different. Because, quite simply, there is not, was not, nor will there ever be, a flawless RIGHT approach.
