David Ritchie Author

How is it that the people running Britain, whether in government, many of the regulatory bodies, advisory groups, etc., are so catastrophically inept? The COVID-19 pandemic really highlighted the matter. A compulsive liar occupying 10 Downing Street, who behaved outrageously; supported by a health secretary with no understanding of what was happening; advised by SAGE, a committee of "experts" who, if you read the minutes of their meetings in the first months of 2020, were not taking the matter particularly seriously, along with NERVTAG, which was supposed to be on the ball with new and emerging respiratory diseases; and chief medical officers who delayed taking action until far too late. How come we have a governor of the Bank of England who shows no aptitude whatsoever for the job, and a Monetary Policy Committee which went to sleep for more than 12 years and when compelled to take action delivered hammer-blows of rate rise after rate rise, when it could all have been done so much better with quarter per cent increases once or twice a year from 2012 (or even earlier). It was obvious rates would have to rise, so why was it not done in an appropriate way and time? And why do regulators such as Ofwat even exist? It has been catastrophically hopeless, as has Ofgem with its rate "caps" which it keeps changing; and Ofcom, which simply looks on as GB News breaks its rules almost every night of the week. And HS2, poorly thought out from the start, will stand as a memorial to Britain's inability to get its act together. There's so much more that needs sorting out. Surely the country deserves better?

Home The best, acurate account of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. A diary of what happened, when it happened and who said what during the Covid-19 pandemic. Compiled by David Ritchie, author of Time's Up.

With the Covid inquiry under way, it's worth remembering that there have already been inquiries – by parliamentary committees. One, in July 2020, by the health and social care select committee, heard the CMO, Prof. Whitty, state that there had been no huge delay in the government taking action on coronavirus. What he didn't say was why he and the CMOs from the devolved governments waited 42 days after WHO stated that the virus was a high risk to the world before raising the risk level in the UK to high. By the time they did, the virus was well-established in the UK. Let's hope the question is put to him during the current inquiry. Later that month, the HoC's public accounts committee described the release of 25,000 people from hospitals into care homes in the early weeks of the crisis as "an appalling error" and accused the government of throwing care homes to the wolves. In early August 2020 the Commons home affairs select committee said that a failure to quarantine travellers arriving in the UK in the early days of the pandemic accelerated the spread of the virus. The government ignored all these reports. [For more, see www.diaryofcovidpandemic.com]

Home The best, acurate account of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. A diary of what happened, when it happened and who said what during the Covid-19 pandemic. Compiled by David Ritchie, author of Time's Up.

Just how relevant is this poem, written by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 2007 (he turned 100 in 2019), today in much of the world and, sadly, in Britain:

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.

Two years ago today, Boris Johnson attended his first COBRA meeting on the coronavirus (having missed the previous five) and acknowledged for the first time that it was “more likely than not that the UK will be significantly affected”.

Two years today since the first coronavirus cases appeared in the UK. A day later the WHO declared a PHEIC (a public health emergency of international concern) and the UK's four chief medical officers raised the perceived risk level in the UK from low to medium. It was another 42 days before they raised the risk level here to high – a delay yet to be explained.

Two years ago today (24th January 2020) a paper in "The Lancet" entitled “A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern” assessed the lethal potential of the virus, suggesting it was comparable to the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, and advised: “Every effort should be given to understand and control the disease, and the time to act is now.” But this and other calls to action were ignored by the government, the DHSS, SAGE, NERVTAG, and almost everyone else in the UK who should have known better.

Fascinating that Sue Gray, usually described by the media as a "senior" civil servant, presumably to give some gravitas to her inquiry, is suddenly the most powerful person in the country with, apparently, the power to seriously rebuke the PM and possibly precipitate his downfall, even though she has no powers to ensure the people she speaks to tell her the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Her own track record falls short of impeccable and although we are told her inquiry is "independent", we are never told what or who it is independent of. She is, after all, a civil servant who will report to the PM about what he already knows - and he will then decide what to do with the report. It is all actually a delaying tactic designed to buy the PM and his cronies some time to mount a rearguard action against their wrongdoing. C'est la vie.

It has been widely publicised that Boris Johnson wishes to remain as head of the UK’s government for at least another decade, with the aim of surpassing the periods in office of Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990) and Tony BlaIr (1997-2007). It’s a given that, once achieving power, leaders are very reluctant to give it up.
The Times reported on 11th September that a cabinet minister had said that Boris will want to go on and on and on – reminiscent of Mrs Thatcher’s “on and on and on” speech which precipitated her downfall.
The Times also reported that Mr Johnson viewed his announcement of a rise in national insurance to fund the NHS and social care as a critical part of his legacy. In 2019 he stated that he had a ready-made plan to fix the social care system. Two years later it turned out there was no plan at all so, to give the appearance of taking action, he rushed through a swingeing tax increase on workers and employers. The tax was described by former chancellor and now health secretary Sajid Javid, and treasury officials, as “progressive” but it is anything but. And the chances of the £12 billion it is set to raise annually having anything other than a minimal impact on social care are little better than nil.
Mr Johnson will eventually be called upon to explain his dereliction of duty and abdication of responsibility from mid-January to mid-March 2020 as COVID-19 spread around the world. Not all the blame attaches to him, as any official enquiry will show. SAGE performed poorly, the then health secretary showed little understanding of the problem, and the four chief medical officers need to explain why they ignored warnings from the WHO, and others, to take action and why, after the WHO declared on 30th January that the virus posed a high risk to the world, it took another 42 days for them to decide it was a high risk to the UK, by which time it was firmly established here [see www.diaryofcovidpandemic.com].
But back to leadership. All heads of government – be they presidents, prime ministers or monarchs (excluding those with ceremonial and limited constitutional functions) – have a “best before” date, but this is often not appreciated unto too late. A look back over leaders around the world over the last 50 years shows that most reached their “best before” date within seven years of taking office – with many before that. Mrs Thatcher reached hers in 1986 and Tony Blair in 2003-04. It could be argued that Mr Johnson has already passed his – if he ever had one – but it will certainly be before 2026.
There’s much more on “best before” in Time’s Up! What brought us to this? (available from gbpublishing.co.uk or Amazon) which reviews the appalling state of world leadership through much of the last half-century. This quotes the French philosopher and diplomat Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821) who said: “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” Can that be true? Does this country deserve Boris Johnson? Are there any citizens left who believe him to be honest and honourable? Will he not eventually be counted among the corrupt, domineering and self-serving leaders – and worse, far worse – who have governed so many countries for so long? At least there will be an opportunity to vote him out of office – a luxury which the citizens of many nations do not have.
Recommended reading: Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s 2007 poem entitled Pity the Nation, which begins: “Pity the nation whose people are sheep, and whose shepherds mislead them, Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced, and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.” It’s both poignant and relevant and should be read by everyone – leaders and led.

www.diaryofcovidpandemic.com

A year has passed since we were told that the PM, Matt Hancock and Prof. Chris Whitty had tested positive for COVID-19 and were self-isolating - after pointedly ignoring their own advice on social distancing. Prof. Susan Michie of University College London told us: "There are many reasons why those in leadership positions, including in government, should practise what they preach." Wise words!

One year since lockdown and the PM said today that at the beginning it was like "fighting in the dark". An odd thing to say as from 12th January (2020), the government, the DHSC and all the advisory committees, etc., knew they were dealing with a highly dangerous, highly infectious virus, 80% similar to SARS, spread by human-to-human contact and by the aerosol route, SAGE flagged up the likelihood of asymptomatic transmission and the WHO issued guidelines on how to handle it. By the end of that month more than 50 medical and scientific papers on the virus had been published, with five in "The Lancet" and the editor stating "The time to act is now." The PM, preoccupied with other matters (particularly Brexit), ignored all this, as did others who should have known better. The WHO raised its risk level for the world to "high" on 30th January but it was another 42 days before the UK's four chief medical officers raised the threat level for the UK to "high". Fighting in the dark? NO. It was a case of not fighting at all until far too late.

It's the first anniversary of Chinese scientists notifying the US National Centre for Biotechnology Information – and thereby the world's health ministries – about the novel coronavirus and uploading the genetic sequence, describing the virus as 80% related to SARS and highly dangerous, more dangerous than influenza and Asian Flu. And the WHO issued a comprehensive package with advice on how to detect, test and manage potential cases. Few people in the UK took much notice, certainly not the PM, his Cabinet, the DHSC, or their advisers. It wasn't until 12th March that the four CMOs in the UK raised the perceived risk level to "high", by which time the disease had gained a strong foothold. Those 60 days of inaction and ineptitude led to the colossal cost in both lives and money we have been left with. Sadly, the ineptitude continues... (see diaryofcovidpandemic.com)

With all this talk about a reduction in foreign aid, does anyone know what has happened to the £9 billion plus deposited into obscure World Bank trust funds, with an admin fee of more than £240 million, in 2016 to meet that year's target of 0.7%. This was reported in "The Times" at the end of the year and nothing has been heard of that money since. Not even "The Times" has looked into it. I think we should be told.

On 5th March (2020), Boris Johnson told ITV: “Things like closing schools and stopping big gatherings don’t work as well as people think in stopping the spread.” So where does that leave us now?

One of the great “ifs” in all that has taken place is what if the Prime Minister, his Cabinet, scientific advisers and others had been rather less complacent in February, taken serious note of what was happening in other countries, read the published papers on the virus and followed the guidance issued by the World Health Organization, particularly the paper "COVID-19: what is next for public health?" by David L. Heymann and Nahoko Shindo, on behalf of the WHO Scientific and Technical Advisory Group for Infectious Hazards, published on 13th February? If only…

Which one would you prefer as the leader of your country? Both were born in New York, both have short attention spans and pay little attention to detail, both speak ill-advisedly and both are womanisers. And there's a special relationship. Take your pick!

On 10th January 2020 WHO issued a comprehensive package of technical guidance online with advice to all countries on how to detect, test and manage potential cases of the coronavirus. So why does the UK still not have an effective system in place? (see diaryofcovidpandemic.com)

What's your opinion of Boris. Is he a brilliant, charismatic leader in the mould of Churchill? Or a narcissistic, philandering, bumbling incompetent who lies his way to success? Or is he is somewhere in between? Is he the best man to lead us through a crisis and into a wonderful and prosperous post-Brexit future? Or is he simply the UK's version of Donald Trump? What do you reckon?