Catastrophic failures

September 11, 2024

The current UK Covid inquiry is slowly revealing how, during the pandemic, the already overstretched NHS faced ‘catastrophic failures’ and ‘no support at all’ from a science-illiterate government led by a ‘shopping-trolley’ Prime Minister who allegedly would have rather ‘let the bodies pile high’ than impose another economy-crashing lockdown.

The UK inquiry is likely to condemn the spectacular incompetence shown by that scrum of talentless public school yobs whose only qualification for power was their posh backgrounds. But around the world, the short-termism and even denialism of governments was everywhere on display. This is capitalism working normally, always focusing on profits today, not consequences tomorrow. That’s why we’ve got a climate crisis. Don’t expect government solutions for society’s problems. Capitalism and its governments are the problem.