Listening to Matt Hancock on #R4Today he sounds like a mutant Dr Pangloss where everything he does is for the absolute best , irrespective of whether in practice it achieves any of the benefits he claimed
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Thus ignoring Council Leaders in Trafford and Bolton who pleaded with him not to lift Local Lockdown , and reversing his decision 12 hours later ( at point Starmer sat down at end of PMQ's) becomes 'swift and decisive action'
Not muddleheaded Westminster arrogance
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Not muddleheaded Westminster arrogance
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Today Hancock is doing media round to promote Operation Moonshot ( you really couldn't make it up) using new test technologies to roll out mass testing
Wide availability of testing is unambiguously a good thing . But important strategic issue is how used and to what effect
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Wide availability of testing is unambiguously a good thing . But important strategic issue is how used and to what effect
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London Playbook - Talking it up: Boris Johnson claimed to MPs yesterday that Operation Moon Shot (as it is known in Whitehall) could “end the need for social distancing” before a vaccine is found, with No. 10 calling it a “game-changer.”
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Operation Moonshot takes us back to 'Gamechanger' land with strategy shaped by announcement
Steered by Captain Cummings at Bridge of Starship Whitehall - aka 70 Whitehall - rather than being built up progressively and sustainably on basis of what works : Test and Trace
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Steered by Captain Cummings at Bridge of Starship Whitehall - aka 70 Whitehall - rather than being built up progressively and sustainably on basis of what works : Test and Trace
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As @bbcnickrobinson and Playbook both pointed out -
it is 144 days since Tim Shipman’s splash revealing government was pinning hopes on NHS contact-tracing app being launched in May in order to lift social distancing measures. There is still no finished app or rollout date
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it is 144 days since Tim Shipman’s splash revealing government was pinning hopes on NHS contact-tracing app being launched in May in order to lift social distancing measures. There is still no finished app or rollout date
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@instituteforgov on Hancock's :
'commitment to hit 100,000 tests a day, the health secretary did not give enough thought to what target – set without input from local public health officials, diagnostics industry or testing co-ordinator – was intended to achieve and how'
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'commitment to hit 100,000 tests a day, the health secretary did not give enough thought to what target – set without input from local public health officials, diagnostics industry or testing co-ordinator – was intended to achieve and how'
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More from @instituteforgov on lack of strategy:
'The government’s initial response to the Covid-19 crisis was hampered by the absence of a long-term strategy, lack of clarity about who was responsible for what and its poor use of evidence'
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instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/d…
'The government’s initial response to the Covid-19 crisis was hampered by the absence of a long-term strategy, lack of clarity about who was responsible for what and its poor use of evidence'
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instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publications/d…
Doesn't look like Matt Hancock has read the report let alone learned the lessons
To be fair maybe learned one lesson . To be more slippery on dates
But the dominant concern any reasonable observer must have is this Govt continues to be driven by announcements not strategy
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To be fair maybe learned one lesson . To be more slippery on dates
But the dominant concern any reasonable observer must have is this Govt continues to be driven by announcements not strategy
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What we need from Hancock and Govt overall is less Gamechanger announcements and more focus on achieving and sustaining action on the ground
Success will be secured by strategy which resources and backs effective local action
You can only tackle the virus where it is
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Success will be secured by strategy which resources and backs effective local action
You can only tackle the virus where it is
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