Carole Cadwalladr Profile picture
Late adopter. Late giver-upper. Guardian & Observer writer.

Oct 11, 2021, 11 tweets

My God. This lede.

‘Britain’s early handling of the Coronavirus pandemic was one of the worst public health failures in UK history’

This parliamentary report is embargoed until midnight. But its contents is utterly devastating

‘PM could have saved thousands by locking down earlier’

Pretty much every single person who made such an obviously deadly & flawed decision is still in power now.

‘Groupthink, British exceptionalism & a deliberately “slow & gradualist” approach meant the UK fared “significantly worse” than other countries’

If the UK media had any collective integrity, we’d also have a report into what happened. Every single word of this also applies to it

‘Despite being one of the first countries to develop a test for Covid in January 2020, the UK “squandered” its lead & “converted it into one of permanent crisis’

The report is utterly damning. But will there be any actual consequences?

And a neat summary of links & analysis by @richardpreston_ here:

If you want to understand import of today’s devastating report, please please do not rely on @NickTriggle’s BBC report.

It’s a stark illustration of how the govt’s failures were facilitated by a press that failed - & still fails - to hold it to account
bbc.co.uk/news/health-58…

‘Herd immunity “group think” led to “public health failure”

- Covid strategy cost lives

- Scientific advice not challenged

- Ministers accused of fatalism

Read @IndependentSage’s @martinmckee & his response for @bmj. ‘Darkness’ ‘secrecy’ data supplied only on a ‘need to know basis’, the government’s corrosive lack of transparency a key factor in our catastrophic response

blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/10/12…

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