one thing that Gromit is missing, though, is the trajectory. We've been at something hovering between 100 and 170 deaths/day since the start of September, ie for just over two months. The same period last year saw the UK's death rate climb from 8 to over 400, most of which rise occurred in October. Incidentally, then, the claim that we have even as many deaths currently as last November, let alone more, is false (unless you selected a specific day or pair of days, which is of course artificial given reporting variations).
NJ and I have clashed on the correct response to Covid many times in the past, and will presumably continue to do so, but in this case on a raw figures analysis I can't understand the point Gromit's making, and I can easily understand NJ's. It's either simply wrong, or at the very least a careless misinterpretation.