The British schools debacle continues apace as the BTEC awards are withdrawn a few hours before release, but this is just one example of multiple U-turns in the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among a long list of reversals since March we have had repeated changes of message on face coverings; failure to fulfil a commitment to open all primary schools in June; failure to bring in a crucial app to aid contact tracing, having previously said it would be “world-beating”; reversals on bereavement schemes and visa fees for health-service foreign nationals; reversal of policy on centralisation of national testing and tracing; reversal of the free school-meals policy; collapse of the policy to force the physical presence of MPs in Parliament and return to virtual attendance; reversal of the 12 March decision to limit community testing; and then, to cap it all, the current major reversals in school assessments.
These are in addition to repeated failures to address the pandemic itself that have been documented in great detail, especially since February, by openDemocracy. These more fundamental problems have occurred despite numerous warnings from the World Health Organization, especially over the crucial requirement for an efficient mass testing system. The UK has also ignored the rapid and relatively successful action taken in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, New Zealand, Vietnam, Thailand, Finland and several others.
