Opinion

Simon Jones: Turning the tide

It has been exactly 12 months since the Prime Minister said the UK could beat coronavirus in 12 weeks

On this issue’s publication date, it will have been exactly 12 months since Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK could turn the tide on coronavirus in 12 weeks.

I’m not generally one for whataboutery and viewing everything through the prism of hindsight, but you have to wonder where the UK would have been if a few things were handled differently. That the Cheltenham Festival, which started earlier this week with no spectators, was allowed to go ahead last year now seems incomprehensible. The spin on the PPE fiasco that followed just seems reprehensible.

Some would argue that the government was simply caught on the hop by unprecedented events and did the best job it could at the time, but the identities of beneficiaries of government contracts suggests that wasn’t the case. The speed and efficiency of the vaccine rollout in the UK is rightly earning the government some good will credits, but shouldn’t stop a thorough review process taking place.

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