Get a grip

Our politicians and the civil servants that support them have been off-form over the past fortnight, deferring too much to the huge brains of COBRA to run the country. Collectively, our leadership seems to have been looking the other way, and forgetting the observational skills and messaging know-how that slowly but surely 'got Brexit done'.

Matt Hancock, and those at the trio of podiums briefing hacks in Downing Street, have consistently denied issues with PPE equipment; today he acknowledged there was a problem, which anyone who's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or WhatsApp could have told him last week. It wasn't fake news.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park warned people to stay away on Friday; on Saturday, walkers, bikers, caravanners and more ignored that advice in their thousands. Social distancing - pah. And the local shops in Dales were systematically stripped by tourists. The scene was repeated around the country. It took until 9.51pm last night for a twitter of mild admonition from the Government to appear, and then it came from the DCMS (followers 225k) and not Boris Johnson (followers 1.7m).

Where was the No 10 Nudge Unit, when the first maps of regional occurrences of covid-19 started appearing ? What did they think would happen when, a full seven days ago, Boris said London was "a few weeks ahead" ?  Around 1 in ten adults have a second home; most have their principal residents in  Greater London.

How many fast-turnaround videos has the mighty press machine of No 10, with the support of the Civil Service, made in the past month ? I've seen one, with Chris Whitty, and the one below, which appeared at 8.30am on Friday.  How many Facebook messages did the Kiwi whizz-kids make during a month of the election campaign ?

We want to protect you. But to do so, we need you to do your bit. #StayHomeSaveLives pic.twitter.com/oSAzFF5AWk

— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) March 21, 2020