The Week - UK (2020-09-12)

24 NEWS Talking points

THEWEEK 12 September 2020

Thereisnodoubtastothe

“contempt”inwhichDominic

CummingsholdstheBritish

civilservice,saidSeanO’Grady

inTheIndependent.Backin

2014 ,hewroteawholeblog

about“Thefailuresof

Westminster&Whitehall:

wrongpeople,badeducation

andtraining,dysfunctional

institutionswithnoarchitec-

tureforfixingerrors.”Now,

asthePrimeMinister’schief

adviser,heisputtinghisgrand

plansforreformintoaction.

Nofewerthansixpermanent

secretarieshavelefttheir

postsinthepastsixmonths,

includingtheheadofthecivil

service.Recruitmenthasbeenopenedupto

anewbreedofexperts andtechnocrats.And

lastweek,Cummingsmovedhistopaides

into“akindofNasa-stylemissioncontrol”–

agleamingnewopen-planspaceover theroad

in70 Whitehall,“albeitlinkedvialabyrinthine

tunnels to10 DowningStreet”.Theidea isthat

real-timedata, aboutCovid orflood risks,will

be displayedonlarge TVscreens,and that the

newlayoutwillhelpsmashthrough “traditional

silos andbureaucraticghettos”.

It’seasy tolaugh,saidCamillaCavendish inthe

FT: the new command centrehas alreadybeen

dubbed“StarTrek”bystaff.But “deficienciesin

thewiring”oftheBritishstatearewell-known,

and haveonlybeenfurtherexposed duringthe

pandemic.Mostbiggovern-

mentprojectsgowellover

budget.Obsceneamountsof

moneyare wastedonpoorly

runITprogrammes.Thereis

an“endemictendencyto

repeatmistakes”.Cummings

mayhaveapointwhenheasks

formoredatascientistsand

diversityofthinkinginthecivil

service,where“thecultofthe

amateur”reigns.Whitehall

istooslowand“insular”,

partlybecausepeopleseldom

leave.ThePMcertainlyagrees

withhischiefadviser,said

CarolineWheelerinThe

SundayTimes.Asonesenior

politicianputsit:“Borisissick

ofpullingtheleversofgovernmentandfinding

outthatnothinghappens.”

Thisisn’taboutreform,saidMartinFletcherin

theNewStatesman.It’smore todo with shifting

blameforadisastrouspandemicandgrabbing

powerthanaboutpromotingbetter governance.

Thisgovernmentof Brexit“zealots”doesnot

appreciatethecivil service’scommi tmentto

objectivityandimpartiality.As forthemission

controlidea,saidMarinaHydeinTheGuardian

–well,there’salwaysanelementofmake-beli eve

and dressingup inpolitics,butthat takesit too

far.What arethechances ofthislotbringinga

spacecraftsafelybacktoEarth,when they“can’t

evenbring yoursisterbackfromtheAlgarve

without threedaysofconfused hokeycokey”?

Pickoftheweek’s

Gossip

Cummings: mission control on Whitehall

“Thefeared second waveofcoronavirus

infections has becomearealityacrossseveral

Europeancountries,”saidChloe Maughan in

TheIndependent.Francerecordednearly9,000

newcaseslastFriday,anewdailyrecord for the

country.Onthe same day,casesin Spain

exceeded 1 0,000forthefirst time.TheUK had

appearedtobefaringbetter,butthingshave

takenaworryingturnheretoo. Close to 3 ,000

new Covid caseswere recordedin th eUKon

both Sundayand Monday–abig jumpfrom

the 1,000or so daily tallyover most of August.

The risehas been pinned on youngpeople not

observing socialdistancing (athir dofall cases

recorded in England last weekwereamongthose

aged20to29),but th eGovernmentdeserves

much of the blame forthe “mixedmessag es”

it ha ssent out. Whoever’s atfaul t, the trend

spells trouble.Keep ingcases down is only

going to getharder now thatchildren areback

at school,studentsarereturning to un iversity,

andpeopl eare spending more time indoors.

The good news is that the huge increasein

casesin Europe has not beenaccompaniedbya

corresponding rise in hospitalisationsordeaths,

said Matthew Campbell andTony Allen-Mills

in The SundayTimes. These remain at very low

levels. InSpain, forinstance,Covi ddeaths are

running atabou t40aday,down fromapeak

of almost1,000.That’spartly because mostof

thenewcasesareamongtheyoungandfit,and

partlybecausedoctorsknowmore abouthowto

treatCovid.Butthediseaseitself isnot“fizzling

out”or becominganylessnastyforthose most

vulnerabletoit.Indeed,saidDrJeremy Farrarin

The Observer,there’severy chancethat soaring

infection rates overthewintercould pushdeaths

up againin hospitalsandsocialcare.Weneed

“urgentaction”tostop the current increase in

community transmission.

It’s true that our immune systemsareas

defencelessas everagainst Covid, andthatwe

coul dsee a“massive rise”inthe disease, said

Dr Ellie Cannon inTheMailonSunday. I’m

optimistic,though.Alot haschangedsince the

virusemerged.Back then, oneinfected person

couldeasil yspread itin aroomoften.Inthe

equivalentgroup today,twopeople willhave

hadthe virusand probablybe immune,one

wouldprobably stillbes hielding,and th erest

wouldbe social distancing,washing theirhands

andcovering their faces.Thatgreatlyreduces

the chancesoft ransmission. What’smore, social

distancingmeasures seemtohavethe effect

that,when the disease is passedon,peopleget

infectedwithalower doseand get less ill. As

long as we stay vigilantandkeeptesting,“I

believe we’ve gotlittle tofear this winter”.

Covid-19: infection rates soar

ThePM’schiefadviser:grandplans

AntandDec’sfirstvisitto

BuckinghamPalaceleftthe

TVduodisappointed.“What

struckuswasthatthere

wasn’tmuchtonick,Imean

liberate,”writesAntinthe

pair’snewbook,OnceUpon

ATyne.Thenhespotted,in

acorner,aChristmastree

adornedwithcrown-shaped

baubles,andseizedhis

chance.“I’dhaditinmy

handfor2.6secondswhen

afootmanappearedbehind

meanddelicatelybutfirmly

whisperedinmyear:‘Don’t

eventhinkaboutit.’”

TheFrenchphilosopher

RaphaëlEnthovenhascast

lightonhisaffairwithCarla

Bruniinanewautobio-

graphicalnovel.Hemetthe

singer,whoisnowmarried

toNicolasSarkozy,in2000,

whenshewasdatinghis

father,andfellowphilo-

sopher,Jean-Paul.Hewas

marriedatthetimebut

sayshewasimmediately

attractedtohisfather’s

“latestconquest”.He

admiredBruni’sgrace,

intelligenceandspontaneity;

but what sealed it was “her

bottom”.“I had never seen

anything like it,” he says, in

a23-line homage.

Donald Trumpurged his
press secretary to move to
North Korea after Kim Jong
Un “hit on her” atanuclear
summit in Singapore. In a
new book,Sarah Sanders
described being “stunned”
when, in the middle of a
meeting, Kim “nodded and
appeared to wink at me”.
Adevout Christian, she
pretended not to notice, but
her boss teased her about it
in the presidential limo later.
“Kim Jong Un hit on you!”
Trump allegedly told her.
“He did! He f***ing hit on
you! That settles it, you’re
going to North Korea and
taking one for the team.”
©B

AB/LFI