You couldn't make it up

According to the Microsoft news feed both the Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph reported today that a key government committee charged with the task of preparing for, among other things, pandemics, was scrapped six months ago. ‘According to the Daily Mail, the group - called the Threats, Hazards, Resilience and Contingency Committee (THRCC) - was suspended by former prime minister Theresa May on the advice of Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill so that civil servants and ministers could focus on Brexit.’ It seems it was actually Johnson who authorised the abandonment of the THRCC, a few days after being elected. The more one hears about our incompetent (and overstretched) government the more one despairs. But this story deserves attention for its linking Brexit to the Coronavirus. It illustrates one of the unintended consequences of Brexit, and I’m willing to bet many more will be unearthed after the transition period ends, which for some chauvinistic reason the government will not delay, pandemic or not. Ironic too that this story should first appear in the pages of two of the main cheerleaders for Brexit, and indeed that their elderly readers have a higher than average chance of suffering from Covid-19. Let justice be served.