Downing St trails in wake of events

Views from around the world. These opinions are not necessarily shared by Stuff newspapers.

Last March, as the public clamour for stricter measures to combat Covid-19’s spread became impossible to ignore, the government fretted over the country’s willingness to sign up to a national lockdown. It turned out most people were far more hawkish than the government in supporting draconian restrictions.

As the new Covid variant strengthens its grip, it has become clear that the lessons of March were not learned. Boris Johnson has prevaricated and procrastinated. The tougher restrictions for England are finally being introduced when for over a week, a host of statistics have demonstrated the need for swift action. The spread of Covid is out of control and the existing tier system is failing to cope. In the south-east of England, there are an estimated 50 per cent more Covid patients in hospital than during the April peak.

Since before Christmas, the government has trailed haplessly in the wake of events. The chaos over this week’s return to schools carried eerie echoes of the early spring. Then, as now, schools simply began to close their gates. The best form of crisis management is to anticipate and pre-empt, even if that means making unpopular decisions. But in Downing Street there is a persistent refusal to confront and act on the worst-case scenario before the worst has actually happened.