Platty: “Is scepticism of the official government line / advice not allowed?”
Indeed it is most definitely allowed! For instance, telling people they shouldn’t wear masks early on in the pandemic, with the Welsh government positively opposed to masks, was a terrible idea. In the case of the UK government, they _lied_ to us to prevent the unwashed masses hoovering up PPE supplies. The Welsh government was just stupid, insisting that the Welsh behave entirely differently to everyone else in the world, and wearing a mask would make everyone feel immune from the virus, and so take greater risks.
The UK government welcomed tens of thousands of people through UK airports from Covid-19 hotspots early on in the infection, and has only just decided that maybe people coming from heavily infected areas might need to be quarantined, and not just have self isolation imposed on an advisory and self monitored basis.
The “track and trace” system was – and is – totally inadequate, not fit for purpose. The UK government seems to be more concerned with handing fat contracts to their mates than tackling the virus.
The “eat out to help out” scheme was a fantastic success – for the virus. It helped out the virus to an enormous degree, while taking money from the taxpayer to do so. Takeaway? Nah. That’s no good at all. You have to “help out” the virus by staying inside a restaurant while you eat.
What about cajoling people to return to their offices, post-haste? You might be first in line for firing if you don’t, government ministers warned.
And so on. There is a great deal to criticise the government about. Pretending that criticising the useless, slow, half-measured and self-defeating policies of this government is “not allowed” is – frankly – silly.