Covid Inquiry set for Spring 2022

[elbows]

Scotlands own inquiry was hit by resignations earlier in October, and I havent seen much detail about the underlying causes.

A new chair has now been announced:

Scotland Covid inquiry: Lord Brailsford appointed new chair

Lord Brailsford will take charge of Scotland's Covid-19 inquiry after the resignation of Lady Poole.

www.bbc.co.uk

An example of the suspicion over the resignations:

John Swinney denies 'political interference' in Scottish Covid inquiry following resignations

There has been "absolutely no political interference" in the Scottish Covid-19 public inquiry, John Swinney has insisted, following a string of resignations which has left bereaved families feeling “betrayed”.

www.scotsman.com

 

[elbows]

Some details have been announced for module 2, looking at the political decision making:

Covid: Boris Johnson WhatsApp messages requested by inquiry

The messages, alongside other documents, are part of the probe into political decision-making.

www.bbc.co.uk

The Covid public inquiry has asked to see Boris Johnson's WhatsApp messages during his time as prime minister as part of its probe into decision-making.

Counsel for the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, said the messages had been requested alongside thousands of other documents.

He said a major focus of this part of the inquiry was understanding how the "momentous" decisions to impose lockdowns and restrictions were taken.

He said it would look at whether lives could have been saved by introducing an earlier lockdown at the start of 2020.

But he also said it would assess the quality of advice ministers received, and whether too much weight was given to modelling.

The identity of the core participants for this module were also unveiled.

These are the individuals and organisations which will have enhanced rights to see documents and make submissions.

Alongside government departments, they will also include a host of groups representing some of the most vulnerable in society, including people with disabilities, children, women at risk of domestic violence and those who developed "long Covid".

From my perspective they have left room to muddy the waters with this module, eg they might fudge things if they can put a lot of focus on inadequacies of modelling and other advice, and the 'tradeoffs and need for balance'. When evidence sessions take place next summer I suppose I will be paying attention to whether they ignore the fact that they were not actually left reliant only on UK modelling and advice, but also the way the reports from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control evolved in early March. Stuff that was sponsored by the actual real world happenings and hospital realities in countries like Italy that actually provided a lot of the impetus to think the unthinkable in terms of lockdowns.

 

[existentialist]

Of course, Johnson is inevitably going to be unable to find the specific phone/insert other excuse.

 

[MrSki]

So starts hearing evidence today and expecting to last two years.

I expect it might take longer.