The projection from @sajidjavid that infections could surge to a record 100,000 a day in a few weeks, as all social distancing and mask-wearing regulations are removed, is especially terrifying for those whose immune systems are impaired or are clinically vulnerable in…
other ways. There are millions of these frail people. For those whose immune systems are compromised or suppressed, the efficacy of vaccines is much reduced. For others among the frail, any residual risk of becoming infected is too great, because for…
them it is literally a matter of life or death. So when you hear politicians and others talking about the important freedom to choose NOT to wear a mask and NOT to keep a respectful distance from others, note that their freedom is felt as oppression by those who…
through no fault of their own are more at risk from this awful disease. I often think about how my late wife, Siân Busby, would have felt about how Covid-19 has turned so many frail people into second class citizens, unable to be in the world properly. Her immune…
system was compromised for years by her repeated chemotherapy. That was hard enough. How she would have felt when hearing and seeing morons bang on about what a terrible thing it is to wear a mask or keep a few feet away from strangers, I shudder to think. The…
prime minister’s freedom day is day of sheer dread for far too many people.

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More from @Peston

28 Jun
Big early issues for @sajidjavid. 1) whether to postpone introduction of NHS reform legislation from next week to the autumn, so he can evaluate it. 2) whether to seize control of social care reform, and drive through plan to put it on stable financial footing. In latter…
weeks of Hancock, all
authority on this was with @BorisJohnson, because Hancock had been so damaged by the Cummings demolition. 3) whether to reduce the financial disincentive to quarantine, to improve effectiveness of…
test and trace. @sajidjavid will presumably know that for a while at least he is unsackable. His maximum power is right now, especially since his sponsor and patron is @carrielbjohnson rather than the PM.
Read 4 tweets
14 Jun
The logical implication of the PM’s statement today about why the full end of lockdown is being delayed by at least four weeks is that no major holiday or business destinations abroad will go on the green list any time soon. Dreams of foreign travel? Forget them. How so? Well…
there are three reasons. 1) The PM, CMO and CSA all said that it won’t be prudent to allow us to mix with lots of others indoors until at least two thirds of adults are double-dose vaccinated. And there are very few other big countries close to that level of vaccination. So…
on the PM’s logic, those other countries are potential sources of new infections. 2) He said that the only serious risk to yet another delay to ending all lockdown restrictions on 19 July is the arrival here of an even more infectious and more lethal new variant. So is he…
Read 5 tweets
14 Jun
.@CMO_England was explicit that the end of lockdown is explicable wholly by the attached chart - which shows the exponential growth in the Delta variant, which was imported from India, and the way it has displaced the less infectious Alpha or Kent variant. And the PM…
was clear himself that the return of our liberties has been delayed by the growth of the Delta variant. So why did no one ask @BorisJohnson and @CMO_England and @uksciencechief the question I put to Johnson on Saturday, which is surely they made a terrible error in…
not putting India on the full quarantine red list weeks earlier than 23 April, because the spread of the virus in India was already alarming in early April. Johnson refused even to say he regretted the late move of India to red list status. Very odd. But there needs to be…
Read 4 tweets
14 Jun
The Committee on Standards in Public Life has raised concerns, following representations by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, that the system of appointing to public bodies may be tilting too far in the direction of ministerial patronage and away from "merit". This...
from the report is resonant: "the Commissioner has warned that the precarious balance between ministerial
patronage and appointment by merit 'is under threat'. Of particular concern to the Committee is the leaking of preferred candidates to...
the media, which may discourage suitable candidates from applying for posts, undermines the integrity of the system and weakens the public's perception of the independence of the regulatory process". You may recall that the PM's preferred candidates...
Read 4 tweets
12 Jun
I am struggling to make sense of the prime minister’s answer to my question whether he is a practising Roman Catholic - which I asked in good faith and with good reason because he was recently married in Westminster Cathedral. His answer was: “I don’t discuss these…
“deep issues. Certainly not with you”. He is aware that - for better or worse (worse for a long time) - this has been a pertinent question for chief and prime ministers since Henry Vlll. More broadly, the professed faith or none of a leader matters to many voters. But it…
was the “certainly not with you” that took me aback. There is nothing in my 35 years as a journalist to suggest that I would trivialise or denigrate religion, or any issue of conscience. If someone had made that remark in that context when I started in…
Read 4 tweets
8 Jun
The prime minister’s road map rules would logically dictate not moving to stage four of lockdown easing on 21 June but delaying by two or four weeks. Because the increase in the R transmission rate to more than one is driven in part by...
the stage two and stage three easings and not just by the greater transmissibility of the Delta variant. As @nadhimzahawi said on the #peston show last Weds, the more significant characteristic of the Delta variant is that one vaccine dose is not terribly effective...
against it, though two doses provides decent protection. And that good protection kicks in two or three weeks after the second dose. So with all vulnerable groups targeted to have both doses by 21 June, the government would want to add a fortnight to that date before...
Read 6 tweets

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