Forum Topic

Project Moonshot

Very disturbing to read that the government's plan to spend £100 bn (£100 billion!) on their fantastical (in the traditional meaning of the word) scheme to test the entire population for Covid-19, using technology that has yet to be invented, has been undertaken without consulting the National Screening Committee (the country's experts on screening). The reason given for not consulting them? Department of Health officials say it is because it was a testing programme not a screening programme. The utter nonsense of this statement is clear when you look at the definition of screening: "The concept of screening usually refers to laboratory tests, physical examination, or radiologic tests performed on asymptomatic patients in the hope of discovering subclinical disease." (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025712505701693). So any remaining idea we might have been able to cling on to that the government had a clue what it was doing flies out of the window. I despair !

Richard Carter ● 2030d10 Comments

Apart from obeying the guidelines on keeping safe, I don't take any notice of what they say any more.... just more BS.

Bunny Payne ● 2029d

Johnson's track record shows he's duplicitous enough to try something like this. However, it's not a good strategy if  he wants the young to follow his laws regarding Covid. A law abiding culture has to be set by example from the top. Look at the Covud mess in the US ...

Michael Ixer ● 2029d

Sadly, when our current government talks of Moonshots I think of Apollo 13; although, perhaps not, that was a fantastic example of how to recover from a disaster - maybe, Beagle II. We achieve Brexit but it fails to work after landing?

Michael Ixer ● 2029d

Calculated, possibly.  Clever?  No. Signing international treaties with no intention of sticking to them is the sort of thing we used to accuse other countries of doing, eg China, Iran, Russia.  Very much not a good look. A combination of Lords, outraged Tory backbenchers and the judiciary all stand in the way of this bill becoming law. It will probably be the judiciary that stops it so a renewed constitutional clash with the Supreme Court could be just around the corner. This is not right v left, or Leave v Remain, it is rule of law v rule of executive  fiat. Check out Lord Michael Howard’s comments, yes the arch Brexiteer who advocated sending gunboats to defend Gibraltar against a non existent threat by Spain to reclaim the Rock.

Jonathan Callaway ● 2029d

"A very calculated and clever plan" for the party of law and order to propose a bill that even they admit breaks the law ?

Richard Carter ● 2029d

@JonathanOr perhaps a very calculated and clever plan?

Sue Hammond ● 2029d

Michael, there seems to be a growing body of opinion that Johnson knew exactly what he was doing and had no intention of sticking to it. In fact the hardline Brexiteer backbenchers are now saying they were assured it was OK to vote for it because it would be changed later, hence the repeated Johnson statements that there would be no border in the Irish Sea. This suggests a level of cynicism and bad faith hitherto thought to be a step too far even for Johnson.

Jonathan Callaway ● 2029d

https://theconversation.com/boris-johnsons-moonshot-mass-testing-plan-is-not-the-way-out-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic-145960

Philippa Bond ● 2029d

And Oneweb looks a great buy. One assumes during due diligence they checked for a y potential liabilities?https://www.lastminutestuff.com/content/Virgin-Orbit-asks-OneWeb-bankruptcy-court-to/6417393.html

Michael Ixer ● 2029d

To quote Sir Keir, yet again, serial incompetence. The test, trace and isolate programme seems to be collapsing if one has to go from Lands End to John O'Groats to get a test;the R number seems to be escalating again - hardly surprising when there's such confused messaging and it's seen as ok to break the rules as senior advisors can do that with impunity; and, finally, Johnson doesn't seem to understand the implications of the Withdrawal Agreement he negotiated, agreed signed - it sound like he was really ignorant of how the EU works and therefore how the WA would operate in conjunction with the GFA: so now he's using the usual public school arrogance and bullying tactic to try and get around his own mistake. So its his own ignorance that risks the integrity of the UK - he might hoodwink a few Tory MPs but the Scots, Irish, Welsh and Europeans won't be that naive. Yes, we should despair!

Michael Ixer ● 2029d