One thing does strike me, what about Chris Whitty? He was the voice of level headed seriousness a week ago and even on here some people were reassured that policy was being run off 'the science'. But increasingly he's looking out of step with other scientific voices.
He was and is coherent, and there was logic to his explanations. And people also liked some of the things he said because he was prepared to talk about certain things the government would probably do in future.
But many rational and coherent positions can be suggested in science, without necessarily being correct. Scientific understanding isnt monolithic and rigid, and genuine scientific consensus can be elusive. And you can get the theory right but still fail if you get certain parameters wrong, such as the timing.
Also, he could carry on talking a lot of sense, even if the actions the government were actually taking on a particular day were not a perfect fit with what he would choose to do or what the ultimate logic of their stance would really dictate should be done. After all he goes on about balancing things quite a lot, which means political and economic considerations. And we know that one of the sciences they are using is behavioural science.
There are various complaints about the government I could make that I'm saving for now, at least until I see how far they are actually prepared to go with measures during the 'delay phase' which appears to be rather imminent.
It is tempting to say they are politically doomed even if their approach leads to the results they are hoping for. Because I'm not sure even a 'successful' outcome will resemble anything people will really think of as a success. And they have really nailed themselves to the mast in terms of going for what now resembles their own distinctive strategy. They can try to hide behind words like science, and point to WHO declaring a pandemic and suggest their own timing was in step with WHO, but I dont really think the way they've gone about things so far genuinely gives them that cover. Not judging by what the press, parliament and people more broadly have started saying this week. Mind you, maybe still too early to tell, unclear what sort of politics and criticism will be considered appropriate during the darkest weeks of the first epidemic wave.