Twitter, as we know, is a world full of foghorn debate, denunciations, virtue signalling, misplaced vanity and hugely misplaced certainty. We've seen it with #Brexit and debates within @UKLabour. But, Jeez, #covid19 is really next level. 1/19

2/19 Is it just me, or is there something quite Orwellian about the way sentiment shifts around here? People who swore blind a few weeks ago that Oceania was at war with Eurasia, will quite happily tell you something different now. But with equal conviction.

3/19 I was one of the people on this platform who questioned the actions of the UK government over #Covid19 at the point a month ago when there was disastrous dithering. I'm talking around the time we decided it was OK for an event like Cheltenham to proceed.

4/19 Although there were of course many people who shared my concern, there was also strong pressure for us to shut up. Because even folk who generally were no fans of Boris Johnson were telling us we should 'follow the science'. Who were we to challenge Whitty and Vallance?

5/19 Yes, I was one of those 'armchair epidemiologists' - much derided on Twitter at the time, who was pointing out that the British had no monopoly over the science and that we were completely out of step with the WHO and the advice given to other governments.

6/19 I co-host a radio news review show and do reserve the right to ask intelligent and difficult questions. In the process, I'm trying to establish the facts and help listeners interpret the big stories. I ignored people telling me that I should leave it to the experts.

7/19 Anyway, we know the UK government did pivot dramatically in the light of the Imperial College report and moved towards active suppression of the coronavirus. This fairly quickly led to the lockdown and active social distancing etc, with which we're all now familiar.

8/19 But fast forward to where we are now and I feel I'm in a parallel universe. The consensus on Twitter is that the British government made a disastrous error of judgment in not imposing a lockdown sooner. Isn't hindsight 20/20, eh? How could Boris Johnson have been so stupid?

9/19 And I'm thinking, hold on a second. Isn't this the same Boris Johnson who - understandably - took the advice of his Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser? The guys we weren't supposed to question? Who were allowing the government to be 'guided by the science'?

10/19 And then people express surprise when I don't rant and rave about Boris the way they do. Sure, the guy is the last person on earth I'd choose to have elected to deal with a crisis like this. (Well, maybe last equal with Corbyn.) But here we are. C'est la vie.

11/19 And I'm thinking that for all his bluster and failings, he was following the advice that would have been given to *any* government. And, yes, he had surrounded himself with Cummings and the weirdos, for sure. But the scientists were onside too, weren't they?

12/19 Notice how Twitter is consumed with the idea that there will be 'reckonings' over the death toll and people held to account. And notice the complete disconnect with polling evidence showing the public to be broadly happy with the handling of the crisis.

13/19 Anyone check the Tory poll lead recently? It is larger than at any time since 1979. This completely mystifies and discombobulates people here. But to me, it's quite explicable. Yes, we rally as a nation in a national emergency. But actually, there's more going on.

14/19 People in the UK realise that this is an impossibly difficult problem. That no one else in government would probably have done anything hugely different. That they too would have taken advice from experts. That experts sometimes get things wrong.

15/19 I think that when the British people see Johnson, Raab and Hancock, they don't see ideologues, fools or charlatans. They see people appearing to do their best against very difficult odds. And they think ** I would not want their job **

16/19 And I think this attitude will extend into the lifting of the lockdown restrictions too. The British public (barring some idiots) understand *why* we're doing what we're doing. They know we are trying to protect elderly and vulnerable people from an awful disease.

17/19 At the same time, they know that the lockdown has caused huge economic and social dislocation. They hope and pray that we can get back to normal. They worry about their jobs and finances.

18/19 The British public grasps the dilemmas ahead. Lift the restrictions too early and the bug maybe surges again, sinking the NHS and causing more deaths. Leave them too long in place and the economic and psychological consequences become too great.

19/19 They know that to resolve this tension will take the judgment of Solomon. They know that this might be a long haul. They don't know what's for the best themselves. And, to the astonishment of Twitter, they will continue to empathise with the people having to make the calls.