The Reader: Ministers must deliver a clear Covid message

As the Covid outbreak grinds on, the UK Government is creating the unfortunate impression that it is not certain what it wants. The public know and understand the Government will make mistakes and has to put out multiple messages. On the one hand there is the essential message “stay at home”; on the other, necessary talk of “five tests” that might unlock a return to normality.

What is not inevitable is blurred messaging. Some ministers seem to be briefing about a relatively rapid return to “business as usual”. This is unlikely. A cycle of looser and tighter controls is probable. No one should be talking about exactly when “exit” from present controls should happen. But the Government should be starting a conversation about how it can happen, rather than leaking and speculating — just as they should sharpen up those “five tests”.
Glen O’Hara

Editor's reply

Dear Glen

I’ve sympathy for ministers and officials. If they cancel press conferences, they’ll be accused of hiding the truth. If they hold them, they’ll be accused of mixed messages — only a robot could say exactly the same thing every day. If they stick to the five tests, we’ll ask if they mean anything. If they don’t, we won’t have a clue how lockdown will end. The Cabinet is mostly inexperienced and the best potential ministers were driven out by Brexit: but testing is up, the tracing app may work and maybe we’ll muddle through.
Julian Glover, Associate Editor

Justice at risk​

Michael Newport’s excellent article last week on the plight of publicly funded chambers will, I fear, fall on deaf ears. Courts are closed since the lockdown. With no income but with contractual overheads, the situation is dire and there is no government grant help. Access to justice, never a priority, may now be of even less importance. Ironically, we remain key workers.
Stuart Stevens, Head of Chambers, Holborn Chambers