I would read that as an admission that 19 days (or whatever) into lockdown and however many days into this crisis we are still asking people in critical roles to work in highly infectious environments using equipment that is not fit for purpose.
Seems like failure on a huge scale over a sustained period of time already really.
Between this time last week and today, say, what should he have done differently to go from a situation where front-line workers didn’t have the PPE then to one where they would all have what they need now (the answer “Well if it were down to me I wouldn’t start from there” can be quite a funny punchline in Englishman-and-Irishman jokes but is not much help in a real-world crisis) ? And why do you think he hasn’t done it ? Possible answers to the second question include
He doesn’t care if health workers die (indeed maybe he enjoys it when they do)
He doesn’t think anyone else will care when the day of reckoning comes
The Treasury is too tight-fisted to let him buy the PPE in the market, which clearly has plenty available
Health workers everywhere else have plenty of PPE but it’s important that we keep our staff under-supplied so we can legitimately claim ‘The Brits do things differently’
There’s a global shortage of PPE and a need to husband at least some stock here so we don’t run out completely during what’s clearly going to be a long campaign
My money’s on 5 but I’d be interested to know if anyone thinks it’s one of the others, or has a better explanation.
VB
The issue as I see it is that he has set a ‘goal’ of 100,000 a day by a date X, that he has absolutely no hope of achieving. Or if he does he’s not willing to share how.
This is known in the trade, as bullshitting.
He has done it solely to get the press and public off his back for a few days.
You missed 6. We failed to learn from the pandemic simulation a few years ago and opted to use the money we should have spent stockpiling medical PPE on Brexit leaflets and Big Ben, then we didn’t bother trying to buy any when China got sick and now we expect nurses and other carers to make do with bin bags
In my world, if you have a goal then you need a plan to achieve it, otherwise you are just wishing.
I’ll go with five, prefixed by a complete failure of early risk identification and mitigation. Put it simply, should have been buying in Jan.
Fuck me, you’ll probably insist on that being funded as well, with money available to manage risk. That’s so not the public sector way.
Yep, set the goal/ outcome and work back from that to understand what it will take.
Rather than set the target and then crash around from one excuse to another when it’s increasingly apparent that it’s infeasible 
We could have made those points a week ago. Indeed everyone did. And we can make them again when this is over. I expect everyone will. But my question is, given that we are fighting the mother and father of all fires, 'What should he have been doing differently this week ?". Because if all we can do is repeat the same criticism as last week then we’re not really being part of the solution, I feel.
VB
His fucking job, a few months ago.
Nadine Dorries, the gift that keeps on giving.
The country can breathe again
FFS
Holding a useless government to account is vital, you can already see them spinning the figures in the graphs to suit their narrative.
As for being part of the solution, that’s easy, am just staying at home, I can’t do anymore than that.
Are we sure they’re reading this ?
VB
Yes.
Well you would say that, wouldn’t you !
VB
Nice touch by Hancock of blaming the nurses and Dr’s of using to much ppe
Yes - Out of his depth and appears to have a poor grasp of how to react and so is saying exactly what he thinks his boss wants to hear.
I simply can’t understand the logic behind 5.
There is going to be some explaining to do/a massive shitstorm when/if there is a huge excess of PPE after the Covid-19 crisis is declared over and there is an even bigger shortage of staff to wear it because the existing staff are either dead, buggered off home with the hump, or demoralised.
Do you mean a huge excess hidden in an NHS store somewhere ? I don’t imagine there’s a huge global excess.
I should be clear that my speculation about holding stock back is a complete guess. It doesn’t affect the basic argument much. I think the root problem is that there isn’t enough PPE worldwide to meet demand. Yet people seem surprised that every front-line worker can’t have all the PPE they’d like (maybe not even close). I think the shortage is A Bad Thing. But given that demand has punched a biblical hole in the stratosphere, I can understand it.
VB
