Cancelling the NHS charge to migrant workers may be one U-turn, but it's also a clear sign of systemic incompetence
Friday, May 22nd, 2020The Johnson government has suffered its first, and quite humiliating, U-turn. As has been widely reported, despite Johnson’s staunch defence on Wednesday of the charge
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The treatment of Transport for London is the surest sign that the government wants the economic damage from this crisis to last for as long as possible
Friday, May 15th, 2020I suspect that if there had been a prize for guessing the first publicly owned institution to fail because of the coronavirus crisis few would
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The Johnson mindset is hopelessly out of touch with the needs of this country
Thursday, May 14th, 2020When John Crace became the Guardian’s Political sketch writer I wondered how he could possibly fill his predecessor’s shoes. It takes considerable skill to be
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If the Treasury view prevails we will be back in the 1930s - which is precisely why their 'balanced budget' demands must be rejected
Wednesday, May 13th, 2020As the Financial Times has noted this morning: Ministers will have to raise taxes sharply in the coming months to deal with an estimated £337bn
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Deaths have fallen, but mainly in hospital, and not elsewhere - and I'm not sure that counts as a healthcare policy
Tuesday, May 12th, 2020I have just looked at the death data from the ONS for England and Wales for the week to 1 May. This is the plot:
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Johnson’s tests fail the test of credibility
Monday, May 11th, 2020Johnson announced five tests for ending lockdown yesterday evening. They were: 1) Making sure the NHS has capacity; 2) A ‘sustained and consistent’ fall in
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The government may be about to take the most massive gamble, and the stakes are hundreds of thousands of lives
Thursday, May 7th, 2020I have been thinking about the story of Neil Ferguson, the Imperial College epidemiologist who became known as Prof Lockdown. I feel sorry for Ferguson.
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The government’s naive belief that it is in charge of a compliant population might be tested quite soon
Monday, May 4th, 2020I am worried by the way that the government is handling the coronavirus crisis. The crisis itself has clearly been mismanaged. Some still try to
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Something has gone very wrong in the NHS in England
Friday, May 1st, 2020David Spiegelhalter had an article in the Guardian yesterday in which he claimed we should not compare international variation in death rates from coronavirus as
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