AT this point I'm not only sick of the government's handling of this crisis, but the continued defence of it.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock in January saying the UK was "well-prepared and well-equipped to tackle any contagion" and that we "had a world-leading test for Covid-19".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March saying we have "fantastic testing systems and fantastic surveillance of the spread of the disease", adding he was shaking hands with coronavirus patients.
Crucially the broken 100,000 tests of people a day promise - still not been hit.
And yet even now ministers are not prepared to hold their hands up for mistakes.
Indeed they are not even accepting mistakes were even made.
CORONAVIRUS: A timeline of how a virus spread to bring lockdown to Worcestershire
FAIR POINT: Can we unlock now when '90 per cent' haven't had Covid-19?
Only last week we had the PM saying: "We brought the lockdown in care homes ahead of the general lockdown."
Is this playing Emperor's New Clothes? We can all see the truth. Or maybe the plan is to say these statements enough times and they become true.
For those thinking it's easy to be a PM or a minister in hindsight, remember we are an island nation that would appear to have had a good chance of stopping the spread.
Plus we had at the start of all this something other countries didn't have, time.
We could see what was working elsewhere, what was needed, and be ready.
Why is this all important now? Because the government is not learning from its mistakes.
Lockdown is basically over before workplaces and schools are safe for people to return. Stay at home general message dropped.
In the last few weeks in these columns I mentioned common sense to describe what happens when you lift a lockdown early. The now, what appears inevitable, second wave.
To have prevented it - the way out of lockdown - has always been testing. Test every suspected infection, isolate positive cases, find out who they have been in contact with.
Yet in all the weeks of lockdown the government did not do it, despite talk of "ramping up testing". Instead the government moved to get people back to work and use their common sense in its 'stay alert' guidance.
All this makes me wonder is history repeating itself?
And there is every chance a second lockdown would end up being stricter than the first.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel