Dominic Cummings Covid evidence

[Newtonianmechanics]

Is anyone going to watch this man give evidence today?

Apparently there is a vigil in Barnard Castle ahead of this.

The shopping trolleys emoji seems to mean they think Carrie was controlling Boris from the last few days. Wonder if this will feature.

The inquiry will cost money. Having functional government costs money.

As a country we have had too long worrying about £100m here or there - these amounts are tiny in the scheme of things.

Can we not have an inquiry? No. So let's not begrudge the money.

You can add another 100 million by the end of it I should think.

We should all be asking ourselves why other countries have

a) already done their equivalents
b) are getting on with making changes and
c) why the UK is content to make public inquiries that will have recommendations inevitably rejected or ignored.

There is no guarantee here this current government will make any changes. Indeed I assume it won't because of its ideology.

For context - the legal fees (paid by the state, quite rightly) for the Hillsbrough inquests was £80m+. The COVID inquiry is a bigger/longer process.

If we do not pay for inquests, for inquiries, it just means the powerful are protected from answering for their actions.

This money being spent by the state is not being spent because Johnson etc. want it - they would have preferred no inquiry.

I agree this particular government will not make changes.

But we can hope for a change of government, no government lasts forever. We can also always hope for a population mood change towards wanting government scrutiny.

I agree other contries have got on with things in a much more timely fashion.

Less tax money would be spent if the government didn't obstruct the Inquiry so much with their refusal to hand over communications.

I have no problem with my tax money being spend on this.

Quite clearly local councils, which is why the government took Greenwich to court to keep schools open and then a few days later shut all schools.

Now if only there had been a Cabinet Minister for Children instead of an Education Secretary, the government would have behaved completely differently and continued to ignore the needs of children.

So many posts now. You’d think you’re concerned

Why would that be.. Not about unions I suppose

As a parent do you not want children to have a voice in gov?

Why not?

Remarkably, but not the least surprisingly STC is saying pretty much what the teaching unions were saying, not surprisng because teaching unions represent their members who all most always care deeply about children's wellbeing.

You can’t still be as fearful of Covid now we’re back to normal

Or one of the few to be so idk

Adults prioritising themselves should really be passing by now

There was a Minister for Children in 2020, they were a woman.

I know £100 million is a lot of money.

But to put it into perspective, one (small) cost of Covid was the Furlough Scheme - so this is the scheme businesses could claim the Coronavirus Job Retention Grant from the government, to pay their employees, whilst they were on furlough.

The cost of just the Fulough Scheme was £70 Billion

And the Furlough Scheme was only one small part of the total Covid costs. There were many other schemes for self employed, Eat Out, Small business grants, Bounce Bsck Loans. And i havent even gone into all the Procurement contracts for PPE and other medical equipment.

We are talking eye-watering amounts of money spent for Covid.

I think £100 million for the Inquiry to look what happened, seems reasonable.

Adults may well have to accept children have a stronger voice in gov and schools classed as essential infrastructure

Plus closed as last resort

The push back is obvious, but hopefully STC will get what they propose

Do not worry next year we will have a competent government and children will have a voice in it, in the same way they have done in previous competent governments.

Who wanted harsher lockdowns… no thanks

Yep get a voice for children in place and essential infrastructure for schools. Even more pressing then

My point is that this process which the UK goes through as a matter of form regarding public events and failures is very costly and is very likely to be ineffective.

COVID did cost a fortune. And now we are really in the proverbial because of that spending. But what accountability will there be, really, for these decisions? What consequences?

My view is that likely very little. No one will be prosecuted. The report will languish in a cupboard until political expediency allows it to become useful. No practical changes are likely to be made by this government.

Is that accountability or the appearance of it. I think the latter. I don't diminish the integrity of the people who are doing the work. But the important thing is change to actual deal with the political and policy failures and do it fast.

I’d like the STC implemented and that’ll be worth it, and I think it’s a waste in other ways but I don’t mind my tax on that item

The biggest lesson for politicians will likely be get tf off WhatsApp and swear about people in a better way

Somehow Scotland have managed to get their WhatsApp out of the picture this time

For others they’ll switch platform next time as a priority learning

But how else can the government be held accountable?

@DuncinToffee - please take this the right way, it's plain to me that this won't actually happen.

You only have to look at the evidence given. The political class who were apparently responsible are gone. The civil service remain. And without actual change, which is not mandated, how much better off will the UK be in practical terms?

Also I’m glad to see harms to women and children raised generally

No doubt there will be more on that damage.

The harms were downplayed by mostly everyone, which was a mistake.

The public were fearful granted, but anyone who faces next pandemic needs to factor in damage from restrictions

I understand what you are saying and I am not arguing against it but we can't just sit back and accept it as a foregone conclusion.

If we don't hear this stuff, things will never change.

Yesterday at BBC QT, a Tory MP was defending the Johnson governemt with 'they tried their best'. The audience weren't having it. Small changes but they are there.

Sorry to jump in and join this point

I get what you're saying.

I think for me, the benefit of the Covid Inquiry is that it is a public.
This is now an official public record and is now part of history.

It might seem petty, but for egoist such as Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock they will hate that history will now show, they are incompetent, useless politicians. This isn't an "opinion" but part of the UK's official public record.

Future generations will use this Inquiry as part of history.

I also, get your point about prosecutions. I completely agree with you

Other countries, such as France and Italy, are much better about holding politicians to account from a criminal perspective.
Something maybe the UK needs to start doing.

There is nothing in the Save The Children report that wasn't widely said by loads of people, including Labour/Lib Dems/Greens, the teaching unions, parents. The Children's Commissioner. Charities.

This is not an anti-lockdown report - as they say on their website This isn’t about being anti-lockdown. Far from it. It is a 'how to support children better if we ever have to lockdown again' report.

The Tory government ignored all the voices trying to support children, and staged a phony, and ideological, war with the unions - which unfortunately some people who don't understand politics swallowed hook, line and sinker.

You'd have to view things through a rather special lens to think that report is written by people who wouldn't be glad to see a Labour government next time. Labour have always invested more in supporting children.

You want politicians to be prosecuted for deaths from a virus?

Good luck getting a government together, maybe you would offer taking that role with that risk?

Yes, Vicky Ford iirc.

Change is very slow in this country.

But our choice is to have this inquiry, or not have this inquiry.

This inquiry is important and all the evidence is public. We are discussing it now. https://covidfamiliesforjustice.org/ will keep fighting I am sure.

I understand why you feel cynical, but cynicism is a trap that lets the powerful off the hook. I do not think there will be radical change as a result of having an inquiry, but I think any truth is better than none.