The Government’s track record on “Track and Trace” gives us no grounds for believing that “Operation Moonshot” will be any different.
“Track and Trace”
The following letter on “Track and Trace” has been sent to many local newspapers, including several in Wiltshire as well as the regional papers, Western Daily Press and Western Morning Press. This is one of thousands of letters and emails to newspapers and MPs which are going unanswered.
There is a danger that our democracy is being bypassed because decisions are being taken unilaterally by ministers and letters like this go unanswered.
Dear Sir,
Beyond the increased restrictions, reputedly the government is desperate to avoid a second national lockdown and stresses there will only be local lockdowns. But the massive obstacle to this strategy is the strict rationing of testing for the Covid 19. There is no way that local hot spots can be identified.
If it is not known where a local lockdown will be necessary, local hotspots will grow unchecked.
The huge problems with the promised “world beating” Track and Trace system, overseen by Johnson’s aristocratic sidekick Baroness Diana (Dido) Harding are totally undermining the government’s whole Coronavirus strategy.
So, are we reverting to the government’s original discredited strategy of herd immunity?
Reputedly Dominic Cummings expressed the view that “if that means some pensioners die, too bad”. Well, pensioners have died in their thousands. Many see that down to the government’s failure to put in place an effective Track and Trace system from the start.
The failures of the present system stem from its out sourcing to private companies, with no experience, run by cronies of Dominic Cummings; large contracts given out without competitive tendering. The failure of Track and Trace is therefore down to the corruption at the heart of government.
England faces a second national lockdown because of the corruption of Dominic Cummings and his former Leave cronies!
Yours faithfully,
Author 23 September 2020
“Operation Moonshot”
The Good Law Project tries to challenge some of the more flagrant assaults on our democracy. Here is their take on “Operation Moonshot” which looks likely to repeat all the mistakes of the “Track and Trace” fiasco.
Jolyon Maugham QC, Director of Good Law Project says:
What we do know about ‘Operation Moonshot’ gives serious cause for concern. Dido Harding, responsible for the failing Test and Trace programme, has revealed that even if these tests become available, they will not be provided free. Instead, the same taxpayers who have funded them will then have to buy them. This is already quite a shift from the original idea of universal provision. We don’t know how any revenues, accruing from public investment, will be shared with the private sector. And we don’t know what this two-tier NHS means for other health services – but we’re the very opposite of complacent.
We also don’t know who stands to profit from this taxpayer-funded gravy train. It has been reported that Serco, Deloitte and G4S are involved and that Boris Johnson’s half brother, Max, is trying to elbow his way to the front of the line.
Source: https://goodlawproject.org/case/operation-moonshot/
Martin McKee, Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a member of the Independent SAGE.
It [Moonshot] transmits unbounded optimism, disregarding the enormous problems with the existing testing and tracing programmes. ….. this [Moonshot] looks less like Apollo 11, which took Neill Armstrong to the moon successfully, and more like Apollo 13.
British Medical Journal 10 September 2020.
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/09/10/martin-mckee-will-boris-johnsons-moonshot-become-lost-in-space/
Professor Anthony Costello, a former World Health Organisation Director and University College London professor, wrote
“The PM’s Moonshot nonsense – no science, feasibility, evidence – has been earmarked for £100 billion, almost the entire NHS budget, with contracts for Astra, Serco and G4S”
Source: Metro newspaper 10 September 2020
https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/10/what-does-moonshot-mean-as-boris-johnson-outlines-covid-testing-plan-13249227/
All the experts are saying that “Operation Moonshot” has no credibility. The government must provide evidence that it will deliver.
