Shelagh Fogarty debates caller who blames poor leadership for huge crowds in Liverpool
14 October 2020, 15:56
Caller claims poor leadership led to Liverpool revellers on streets
Shelagh Fogarty challenged this caller who claimed that the Government's poor leadership is what led to the huge crowds gathering in Liverpool city centre two hours before new Covid-19 restrictions came into effect.
Huge crowds were dispersed from Liverpool city centre last night as pubs closed ahead of tier three restrictions coming into force.
Pub-goers spilled onto the streets at 10pm as the government's curfew was enforced, with revellers keen to get their last bit of fun ahead of the stricter rules.
Videos posted on social media showed hundreds of people - many not wearing masks or adhering to social distancing rules - chanting and dancing in the streets.
However caller Dean said that fundamentally the rejection of coronavirus rules is a reflection of leadership: "These people are paid at the top of their flight to deliver decisions that need to be made and if they're not capable of making those decisions, they shouldn't be in power, it's as simple as that."
Liverpool revellers party on the final night before covid restrictions
Dean likened it to running a company: "When you're leading anything you should be considering integrity, confidence and you should be delivering it in a human way that educates people.
"When people don't understand what it starts to create within environments like that is resentfulness and resistance and what we saw last night was anarchy."
Shelagh had branded the crowds on the streets "idiots" and Dean responded that the youths may not have understood the restrictions.
Chief Constable responds to Liverpool revellers
"If you get to the age of 20 and, given the last six months that have happened, and you come from a family...nothing makes what they did last night excusable. Certainly not youth," Shelagh said.
Dean also said that MPs are insisting in Parliament that they don't want a divided nation yet "they are putting one rule in one area, one rule in another"; Shelagh responded that if there was a fire in Manchester, you would not hose down London.
"Instances such as last night, we can label them as idiots but what you start to do is actually look a bit broader than that and say...is everything clear? And the answer is no," Dean said.
While he conceded the behaviour of the crowds was not due to confusion, it was a mounting resentment against the Government.
