Sunak: Important that we learn the lessons of Covid
BBC NewsJun 05, 2023
The Facts
Headed by former appeal court judge Lady Heather Hallett, the UK's inquiry into its handling of the COVID pandemic began Tuesday. The four topics opened to hearings so far are resilience and preparedness, core UK decision-making and political governance, the impact of the pandemic on healthcare, and vaccines and therapeutics.
Though the probe is expected to last three years, Hallett said she would release findings after each section ends, with the first section due to look at whether government planning adequately considered the pandemic's risk.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
It seems this inquiry has been created to play out just like the government's response to COVID: have a bunch of so-called experts give their advice on what should or shouldn't have happened until the public loses interest and accepts the status quo. Not only is the government planning for this to last years and cost over £114M (~US$126M), it has already required negative COVID tests to attend the hearings — a national policy that has been defunct for a year. Those in charge don't seem to care about science, good governance, or justice.
Pro-establishment narrative
While families of those who died during the pandemic understandably feel their voices are falling on deaf ears, Heather Hallett's goal is to conduct an incredibly thorough investigation into any of the government's potential failures and obtain as many answers and as much justice for them as possible. This inquiry covers a lot of ground, so, unfortunately, everyone must wait patiently so she has the time to get to the bottom of each and every botched pandemic policy.
