The state of the UK

[JimC]

My dad's country can beat your dad's country.

Well, as of March this year the Netherlands are ranked the sixth happiest country in the world. Only in Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway are people happier. That means it is ahead of the UK!

This is puzzling. How did they make it that far up the ranking if Scott Dutchy is an example of happy Netherlanders?

Without him they would be number one!

(sorry, Scot...)

[Scot Dutchy]

I am a very happy man taking everything into account. I live in a great country which was proven by the King's speech and the Dutch approach to this crisis. The British approach will only benefit one group in society and allow them to make a killing; the silver lining. We wont mention the American approach as only 1% will benefit.
The fact that the Northern European Social Democracies are the happiest in the world is not surprising as they are the only real democracies which is where it all starts. Corruption is an incredible evil and when it takes place trust suffers. Without trust you are already losing.

[rainbow]

My dad's country can beat your dad's country.

Well, as of March this year the Netherlands are ranked the sixth happiest country in the world. Only in Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway are people happier. That means it is ahead of the UK!

This is puzzling. How did they make it that far up the ranking if Scott Dutchy is an example of happy Netherlanders?

Yebbut, Poms are only happy when they are moaning. So that skews the result.

[pErvinalia]

My dad's country can beat your dad's country.

Well, as of March this year the Netherlands are ranked the sixth happiest country in the world. Only in Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway are people happier. That means it is ahead of the UK!

This is puzzling. How did they make it that far up the ranking if Scott Dutchy is an example of happy Netherlanders?

Not to mention how did they do it with an authoritarian government that makes up statistics to scare its population?

[Sean Hayden]

Imagine being depressed there...what's wrong with me?

[Scot Dutchy]

Imagine being depressed there...what's wrong with me?

In the UK. I know it must be terrible with the stat of care service.

[Sean Hayden]

Who says that in response to that joke? Come on Dutchy: you're depressed, in the happiest country in the world! Can you imagine?

[Brian Peacock]

Dutch depression is the most depressing kind of depression.

[Sean Hayden]

It's fucking art.

[Scot Dutchy]

They dont call it depression in the UK. They call it normal living.

[Scot Dutchy]

Johnson giving away more government money to friends and cronies.

England's test and trace is a fiasco because this government hates the public sector

Boris Johnson and his ministers chose early – and unwisely – to outsource their Covid response to big private companies

A friend texts: his five-year-old daughter is sick. On hearing the symptoms, the NHS helpline adviser says she must be tested for Covid. So he and his wife have been trying for two days straight to book her a test, with almost nothing to show for it. All they are offered is a 120-mile round trip to Gatwick ­– a long drive for a feverish child. Meanwhile the family stays in the flat, its walls throbbing with their worries about sickness and school and work.

Similar stories are unfolding across the country this month. Westminster columnists may huff and puff about the rule of international law, but at the school gates people are furious about self-isolating for days on end and losing pay while waiting for the all-clear.

The most dangerous example of politicians breaking promises while a system fails its people is the utter collapse of what the prime minister calls the “world-beating”, “superlative” test-and-trace regime. Trust in a government seeps away when hundreds queue up in Bury for up to five hours for a test. Faith in the fairness of a scheme dwindles when a nurse in the south-west of England drives his daughter 50 miles for a booking – only to find they haven’t been sent the right QR code; oh, and the next available slot is in Dundee.

==========================
Still, failure pays: Serco’s initial fee for running tracing was £108m. Then there are the consultants buzzing around this cash cow. Accenture pocketed more than £850,000 for 10 weeks’ work on the contact-tracing app ­– the one that still hasn’t been launched. McKinsey scooped £560,000 for six weeks’ work creating the “vision, purpose and narrative” of a new public health authority.

Nice one squirrel.

[Alan B]

See my latest post in the coronavirus thead.

[Scot Dutchy]

I saw that Alan.

[Scot Dutchy]

The tit is always giving;

UK ends rail franchising as Covid measures extended

Labour says government is ‘papering over the cracks’ and handing more money to private firms

The UK government has extended its multibillion rescue deal for train operators with “recovery contracts” that will keep the railway running while ending the franchise system, in what it called the biggest shake-up of the industry in 25 years.

Emergency funding for rail companies has been agreed for periods from six to 18 months to help them get through the Covid-19 crisis, as a first step towards an overhaul of the railway system.

The Department for Transport said the new contracts were a better deal for taxpayers, and heralded the end of franchising – but unions and Labour criticised the move as “papering over the cracks” and handing more money to private firms.

So far the government has spent up to £3.5bn covering train companies’ losses since the pandemic started. It effectively nationalised them in March when rail franchise agreements were suspended. Rail travel collapsed by 95% of pre-pandemic levels during the coronavirus lockdown in late March and April, and is still down some 60%-70% from 2019.

[Scot Dutchy]