Class warriors FOR weeks Boris Johnson has fought to get kids back to school. He has been held back by the intransigence of the unions, parents’ Covid fears and Public Health England’s advice which, as so often, now looks dubious. Labour, true to form, backed the unions over our children, especially the most disadvantaged who […]
FOR weeks Boris Johnson has fought to get kids back to school.
He has been held back by the intransigence of the unions, parents’ Covid fears and Public Health England’s advice which, as so often, now looks dubious.
Labour, true to form, backed the unions over our children, especially the most disadvantaged who are suffering worst.
The Left threw up endless roadblocks, claiming it wasn’t safe to return.
Then, when the Government had little choice but to U-turn on getting all primary kids back before the summer, Labour squealed that a generation was being betrayed. What a hypocritical shambles.
But the bigger problem is PHE’s advice to cap class sizes at 15, making normal school life all but impossible in terms of staffing and space.
Its two-metre social-distancing rule is virtually impossible to maintain too, especially in playgrounds.
And the reality is that now looks hugely overcautious and is sabotaging both schools and businesses desperate to reopen.
The WHO only recommended one metre. Our scientists doubled it for good measure.
Fair enough, perhaps, when infections were soaring.
Not now that less than one in 1,000 people in England — and falling fast — has Covid.
Yes, the virus can kill in extreme circumstances.
But our chances of getting it are tiny at two metres and STILL tiny at one.
Especially with routine mask use.
International studies show reopening schools has barely any effect on increasing infections, among kids or adults.
The Government is on the ropes, only prepared to make timid and incremental changes which lead to chaotic and baffling new rules like the new “bubbles” for people living alone.
It simply has to be bolder, starting by relaxing the two-metre rule.
Now, before it does any more damage.
IT’S quite the confession.
The same Sage scientists who unanimously advised the Government against an earlier lockdown now say it came too late and may have killed thousands.
What, then, should Boris have decided after receiving that advice on March 13?
Perhaps he should have told Britain’s finest epidemiologists: “You clueless clowns don’t know what you’re talking about”, as his prominent critics apparently believe.
Instead he deferred to their expertise.
Imagine the howling rage of Remainer MPs, journalists and pundits if this Vote Leave Government had not done so.
These same champions of hindsight — who had a hissy-fit both over Dominic Cummings attending Sage meetings and over Boris attending too few — now suggest No10 dithered. But they didn’t.
The advice was clear and unanimous. They followed it.
The mental gymnastics necessary to blame the Tories for doing both too little and too much, too fast and too slow, would win gold at every Olympics.
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