They must learn from actions

ACCORDING to population data, 70,895 people live in Rossendale.

To put the astonishing death total from Covid announced this week – a total of 100,162 people – that’s the equivalent to Rossendale being wiped out entirely almost 1.5 times.

Of course, that hasn’t happened. But there have been 123 deaths in Rossendale since the start of Covid, due to Coronavirus. That’s 125 families left without a loved one as a result of a pandemic.

And, of course, it’s a pandemic we’re still at the heart of.

Of course, the vaccination is very good news and seeing it rolled out rapidly is very encouraging.

But analysis of what more can be done needs to go beyond the tuttutting of the prime minister, health secretary and home secretary about people not following the rules.

It needs to include a proper assessment of what the government did, what it got right and what it got wrong.

There’s no benefit to society of the government saying it takes responsibility for all the actions it has taken, if it doesn’t then seek to learn from its actions.

A pandemic could strike again – would we be better prepared? Something we should all be asking of our local MPs.