[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

I know “overwhelming success” is the default for those who enjoy a dose of British exceptionalism but I doubt Pierre thinks it’s an overwhelming success if we keep having to postpone freedom day, keep masks, distancing and so forth alongside some of the highest (and rising) Covid case counts in Europe.

It’s a good practice run for the Autumn boosters though.

I know you don’t like your holidays in Europe but Old Boy has Benidorm he wants to get to.

You do like chucking in unwarranted (though amusing) barbs!
A sort of evolved version of one of the members who likes taking potshots at me.

On your substantive point, politics gets in the way of pragmatism. Freedom Day is being postponed out of an over-abundance of political caution. The vaccine programme is an "overwhelming success". The Guvmin has not publicly taken into account the ratio of cases to tests (as compared with December) and doesn't seem to trust the lowish (though mounting) hospital figures.
They also don't emphasise the number of people in hospital with Covid when there were roughly the same number of infections recorded per day.

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

June 27 2021: 1527

Jan 18 2021: 39254

So you can see why people, especially if they have researched the numbers, are angry about the delay. I'm not angry for myself as it has n impact on what I or my family can do.

On top of all that is the external political impact of some countries desperate for tourists and others desperate to keep the Brits out. All sorts of stuff tips into this mess.