Yes of course we are down on nurses. I have never said otherwise. I'm not ignoring anything. Whatever the current staffing levels in the NHS, expecting "extra staff" to magically materialise in sufficient numbers to handle a massive pandemic is idiotic. The NHS - even with the best of contingency and crisis response planning - is not staffed for massive emergencies.

And yes, of course the NHS would cope better with 50,000 extra nurses. Though what difference it would make to the death rate of covid-19 is questionable given there is no vaccine or treatment. If you get it, you are told to self-quarantine and either you recover or you don't.

Of those who don't recover but make it to medical care, palliative care is all that can be given right now. Either way I fully expect hospitals would be overwhelmed if things escalate massively, mainly because as per usual thousands will rock up with the slightest itchy cough, but that would happen with or without extra nurses.

And there certainly aren't enough beds for tens of thousands of dying patients anyway. Are there plans to implement 'pop-up' wards? Convert sports halls, etc? Or - again, given there is no treatment other than easing some symptoms - send people away?

I'd be also interested to know if A&E are planning to take a harder line with their triage services and send those at less risk away, ideally with police back-up. "You're 25, young and healthy. No underlying issues. You will recover. Go away."

Anyone been looking back at the Prof. John Ashton timeline of events? He basically said exactly what would happen on Question Time back in early March, and was of course ridiculed, especially when he was found to have Labour connections. Many right wing social media accounts jumped straight on him. One described him as a 'loony hardcore Corbynista lefty', so of course, the smears gained traction. There was the usual anti-semitic smear, various pastings in the tabloids, and calls not to politicise the situation. They also got him on the old 'labour activist' smear when he appeared on Panorama. Anyway, turns out he was bang on. It's an interesting rabbit hole to disappear down. Start with Question Time on March 12, then look at social media and news articles from after the show. This article from a month later gives a decent roundup of what happened, there's a clip from his appearance on QT, too. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/p ... ssion=true Here are some tweets from the show on March 12. Have a look at some of the replies. It's 'the public have had enough of experts' in a nutshell. Also check out Fiona Bruce's face of disdain when he mentions care homes in the second tweet's video. https://mobile.twitter.com/bbcquestiont ... 9689631745 https://mobile.twitter.com/bbcquestiont ... 8089369601

Anyone been looking back at the Prof. John Ashton timeline of events? He basically said exactly what would happen on Question Time back in early March, and was of course ridiculed, especially when he was found to have Labour connections. Many right wing social media accounts jumped straight on him. One described him as a 'loony hardcore Corbynista lefty', so of course, the smears gained traction. There was the usual anti-semitic smear, various pastings in the tabloids, and calls not to politicise the situation. They also got him on the old 'labour activist' smear when he appeared on Panorama. Anyway, turns out he was bang on. It's an interesting rabbit hole to disappear down. Start with Question Time on March 12, then look at social media and news articles from after the show. This article from a month later gives a decent roundup of what happened, there's a clip from his appearance on QT, too. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/p ... ssion=true Here are some tweets from the show on March 12. Have a look at some of the replies. It's 'the public have had enough of experts' in a nutshell. Also check out Fiona Bruce's face of disdain when he mentions care homes in the second tweet's video. https://mobile.twitter.com/bbcquestiont ... 9689631745 https://mobile.twitter.com/bbcquestiont ... 8089369601

I don't think she's showing any targetted disdain towards care homes. Remember this is nearly 2 weeks before lockdown. She just looks like she's thinking, "here we go again! He's banging on about care homes now". I just find that particular clip very prescient now we know the extent to which it has ripped through care homes.