Andy Richardson: Who will get the blame? Do the math
One plus one is two. Two plus two is twenty-two. Three plus three is thirty-three and ten plus nought is a hundred. Those appear to be the maths used by the Government when counting PPE.
The left hand of a glove and the right hand of a glove have been counted as two items. Unless our NHS staff are all forearm amputees, that’s a smoke and mirrors con.
We’re aware of the global demand for masks, gowns and gloves, but as one of the richest nations on earth there’s no excuses for not supplying frontline staff. Private businesses have shown the chutzpah and determination to manufacture or purchase more supplies. That the Government has failed key workers is a national shame.
Baby maths have also been used on the issue of testing. Health Secretary Matt Hancock seemed to pluck an arbitrary 100,000-a-day figure when asked how many tests would be carried out. It’s a good job he’d not eaten three Weetabix that day, or else the figure would have been higher. Plainly, we should follow the example of such countries as New Zealand and South Korea, where testing has been high and deaths low.
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The true scale of care homes deaths is latterly emerging. It is shocking. Lives are being lost unnecessarily as ministers make basic mistakes. They have failed to listen to those on the front line and the elderly are dying as a result. We have been too slow to react. We were too complacent for too long.
Minsters are, however, making sure it’s the scientists who are thrown under the bus when a public inquiry inevitably follows. Every answer to every question is prefaced with: ‘We’ve been guided by the science’. And so scientists, not elected officials, will have to take rap in the post-covid-19 shakedown. There’s the simplest of answers to that: Advisers advise, ministers decide and ministers decide on their advisors. The buck stops with those in Parliament.
While South Korea has shown the world how to manage Covid-19, rumours swirl about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The dictator has a private train that serves lobster, fine wines and a harem of girls for entertainment but has not been seen. Bookies have started taking bets on who will replace him. And pundits have asked where they can get tickets for the pleasure train, which sounds like one hell of a ride.
