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COVID-19: Where next for policy?


I am hoping to write some micro blogs over the coming weeks. Two rules: I must produce them in no more than fifteen minutes and they must raise more questions than answers. Expectation management done; here is attempt number one.

The future is already being written. I was struck today, as many were, by the announcement on free school meals from the Government: “the voucher scheme will not run over the summer.” This is a small amount of money. If children cannot eat, they cannot learn. Simple.

From 2010, there were lots of cuts. Few now doubt the damage it has done. The biggest mistake would be to start the public inquiry into the handling of COVID-19 from when it was first identified in China late last year. The starting point is closer to 2010 than 2010.

So, I have three main reflections.

Firstly, the policy agenda for the next decade is taking shape. There has been a tendency to separate response and recovery into different phases: they are two sides of the same coin. We are laying the foundations for the years ahead. But what do we want?

Secondly, there is no going back to how things were. There is some nostalgia in the air. It is hard to see clearly in a storm but we’re living through history and this is a reset moment. Leonard Cohen wrote that “there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in”.

Thirdly, as ever, tone and language matters. The political discourse is heating up and the blame game has started. We don’t have to play it though. Acknowledge the hurt, heartache and pain COVID-19 has, and will, cause. Swap the hubris for humble.

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