EP.872: NHS Frontline Doctor- UK Government is Woefully Incompetent, Failed to Plan! (Coronavirus)

On this episode of Going Underground, we firstly speak to Dean Baker, the co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and one of the first economists to predict the property market crash in 2008. He discusses the bailouts passed in the United States by Congress, how they have many giveaways to the richest in society, how the giveaways have nothing to do with the pandemic, why the Coronavirus bailouts are worse than TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), how state and local governments have been left out of the bailout and why this will cause economic crises in the United States, the pointlessness of austerity for the last decade in the US and U.K and why high public debt is not as dangerous as commonly thought. Finally, we speak to an NHS Oncologist who is on the frontlines of the UK’s fight against COVID-19, Dr. Aislinn Macklin-Doherty. She discusses her and her colleagues’ experience catching the Coronavirus and how the virus likely passed to patients, the lack of adequate mass testing putting patients at risk, the widely-reported PPE shortages in U.K. hospitals, the £60,000 government compensation for NHS doctors who have died fighting Coronavirus, the impact of austerity on the health service, why she believes it is hypocritical of Boris Johnson’s Conservative government to join in in clapping for the NHS and more!

STATEMENT FROM THE CHIEF CORONER’S OFFICE:
“The purpose of the Chief Coroner’s latest notes to coroners is to provide them with guidance on how to deal with COVID related issues. Given that there has been new legislation and other new issues that have been raised, the guidance is intended to provide consistency for coroners.

“ It’s important to note that none of this is the Chief Coroner creating new rules or legislation. He is summarising the existing legislation and regulations for coroners so they have got all the relevant information in one place. He makes this point in para 2 of his latest guidance, “"...nothing in this Guidance should be taken as a statement of any policy or indication of the Chief Coroner’s views on the way that coroners should exercise their duties. Likewise, in paragraph 13 he cites a Supreme Court ruling that inquests are not the proper forum to consider the issue of Government policy. The Guidance is an expression of the law as it currently stands."

“ It's also worth pointing out that the Chief Coroner is an independent judge who has been appointed to provide leadership and guidance to coroners. He is not a member of the Government nor an adviser to the Government.”