Do as I say, not as I do

[cromwell]

Professor Neil Ferguson has resigned from his position advising the government on the covid crisis.
He broke his own advice on self isolating by having his married lover visit him at his home.
He is now being referred to as Professor Cockdown...

[Kaz]

What a hypocrite! Another "Do as I say, not as I do" merchant, who thinks the rules don't apply

[TheOstrich]

You couldn't make it up, could you?

[Workingman]

The whole Covid thing looks like a series crossover of W1A and An Idiot Abroad (but at home) unfortunately it has gone past reality and into tragi-parody.

[medsec222]

I find his behaviour incredulous, especially having witnessed the resignation of Scotland's Chief Medical Officer for breaking lock down rules.. The lame excuse that he thought he was immune from the virus is worse than than Tory MP who drove 150 miles to drop of a bag of groceries for his elderly parents.

[cromwell]

Prof Ferguson has also had his back record come under scrutiny. It doesn't make good reading.

In 2009 he and his team at London’s Imperial College said that swine flu would kill 65,000 British people. It actually killed fewer than 500.

When we had the BSE scare, (Mad Cow Disease) Ferguson and the Imperial said it could kill as many as 150,000 people in the UK. It actually killed 178. Reviews of the crisis said that his mathematical models were not fit for purpose. Ferguson said defensively that they were working under pressure with not much data and that his "broad conclusions were right". The governement's BSE policy, directed by Ferguson's advice, resulted in the slaughter of millions of farm animals and cost the UK economy £10 billion.

Bird flu in 2005. Ferguson suggested that 200million could die from it worldwide.In the end Bird flu killed just 282 people worldwide.

As for Covid-19 Ferugson and Imperial College originally said that 500,000 British people might die of the disease and that Sweden's approach would result in an "R" number of 3 and 40,000 dead. Sweden currently has less than 3,000 dead and an "R" number of less than 1.

So maybe not such an expert expert after all. It doesn't give you confidence does it?

[Suff]

Scientists like to throw the worst case as the expected case rather than the managed case.

In all honesty, dealing with politicians, stating the best, or even managed, case is not the best way to go. We know politicians will do nothing if they think the best case is going to happen.

If you look at the criticism levelled at the government, too late, not enough, too weak action, all of this based on dire predictions, just imagine how it could have been with best case predictions.

The guy is stupid. But let us be honest here. If it were not for everyone minding everyone else's business because the have nothing better to do, nothing would ever have been said or done about it.

It is gratifying that he was not able to pontificate and then ignore his own restrictions when it suited him....

[Workingman]

Are members of government agencies now infected with Incompetence-20?

From the modelling to purchasing.

We now learn that the 400,000 gowns bought from Turkey, to great cheering and flag waving, do not meet British safety standards. Why was this not checked out before the items were purchased? We have had similar issues with ventilators, other PPE and coronavirus test kits. Why aren't checks done before the cheques are written?

"Oh look, these gowns are a nice shade of blue, lets get some, and these white masks are a nice shape and the white goes well with the blue, get loads of them as well."