There is much to chew on in the various announcements from the #LabourParty conference but the commitment to build on the work of the @goodlawproject and expand investigation(s) into the #corruption around #Covid loans & #PPE provision is very welcome...

While the #coronavirusinquiry rumbles on, many of us want to see action on the criminality allowed (encouraged?) by the #Tories during the #pandemic!

So that, at least, looks like a policy 'slam dunk'

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/11/labour-billions-covid-fraud-pandemic

No-one should be surprised by #MattHancock's assertion at the #CoronavirusInquiry that #pandemic 'preparation' in the UK was really focussed on damage management....

For all the positive things one can still say about the #NHS, the shortcomings in its lack of focus on preventative #medicine predates the reign of the #Tory wreckers.

We are a county that always focuses on problem solving not problem avoidance. We see it in health, in our response to the #ClimateCrisis or to #discrimination!

#GeorgeOsborne's defence of #austerity (in relation to the #pandemic) is that it allowed the UK the fiscal 'flexibility' to respond....

This is about as convincing has the man who has just thrown you off a boat, claiming that this puts you in an excellent position to take advantage of the new lifebouy he's going to but with the money he's picked from your pocket.

Osborne is a toxic, callous, incompetent who the #CoronavirusInquiry should establish as a key precursor to Govt's #covid failure(s)

So, the #CoronavirusInquiry has been told that Govt. preparations for a (the) #pandemic were compromised (distracted) by the planning activities ahead of a no-deal #Brexit.... but given the entire Brexit sh*tshow has been patterned by a very clear lack of planning & preparation, one can only then ask, well what the f*ck were they doing?

Its all a bit dog ate my homework, isn't it?

Here's @davidallengreen arguing that the incremental reporting plan of the #CoronavirusInquiry means that 'we may end up up with that rare thing: an Inquiry where the findings & recommendations last longer than a news cycle'!

Let's hope so; so far the #CovidInquiry Chair & team seem to be playing their cards pretty well....

https://davidallengreen.com/2023/06/why-the-covid-inquiry-publishing-reports-as-it-goes-along-is-brilliant-news-and-a-welcome-change/

here's @davidallengreen detailed assessment of the risks (& benefits) facing both sides in the imminent #judicialreveiw of the scope of 'relevant' evidence for the #CovidInquiry;

as he strongly suggests (and has done previously) the result of the review will shape the subsequent #CoronavirusInquiry (and future inquiries) such that both sides - the inquiry team & the Cabinet office - will likely fight hard to try to ensure their view holds.

a long read but worth it!
https://davidallengreen.com/2023/06/a-detailed-explanation-of-the-governments-judicial-review-of-the-covid-inquiry-and-why-this-judicial-review-is-so-significant/

This week at the #CovidInquiry

The TUC will argue that the larger context of the #Coronavirus pandemic & the UK's response was shaped by the prior & ongoing period of #austerity!

This will be an interesting test of the breadth of the #CoronavirusInquiry but makes perfect sense;

the preparedness of the #NHS was crucially undermined by the ongoing programme of defunding;

the #NHS crisis was not caused by #covid; the covid crisis was partly caused by austerity!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/04/cameron-osborne-austerity-years-cost-uk-dearly-covid-tuc-union-claims-inquiry

While the #CovidInquiry is involved in an early trial of strength over evidence, its interesting to have a look at what other countries have been doing (or in a couple of cases not doing); so here's a useful sketch of other national #CoronavirusInquiry efforts from the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/02/covid-pandemic-response-countries-outside-uk-scrutiny

As I hoped we now have @davidallengreen thoughts on the launching of a #judicalreveiw by the #CabinetOffice of the evidential request(s) by the #CoronavirusInquiry - as always DAG offers an authoritative but accessible account of the state-of-play as of this morning.

(by all means rely on me relaying DAGs posts, but I'd definitely recommend following him yourself, even if only for the duration of the #CovidInquiry - you won't get much better insights in one place!)

https://davidallengreen.com/2023/06/understanding-the-governments-judicial-review-of-the-covid-inquiry/

#BorisJohnson's older phone is the one that the #CovidInquiry will be wanting to look at, not the one that he provided to the #CabinetOffice that he only started using well after the #lockdown had ended...

I'm now wondering whether that older phone might (as in the #RebekahVardy 'defence') 'accidentally' fall into the sea while Boris is holidaying on one of his chum's yachts?

Already the early days of the #CoronavirusInquiry are shaping up into a drama waiting for a TV adaptation....