Coronavirus diary, Sunday 21 June

While health and the economy have been dominant themes of the crisis, an equally important subject is education.

It is being been passionately debated with conflicting views about when it is safe to open schools.

The make-do-and-mend teaching efforts over the past three months have proved a poor substitute for what will be a lost six months. 

Difficulties: Gavin Williamson

The Education Secretary for England, Gavin Williamson, has already had difficulties - parents' reluctance to send their children to school too soon, the opposition of teachers' organisations and obstinacy of some local authorities, ,and again he is accused of poor organisation and failing to give clear instructions and advice.

His original plan to get schools in England operating this month failed and he is at risk by asserting that all schools will be open and running in September.

Weeks have been slipping past with children steadily falling behind in their work and with many losing their  enthusiasm to go back to school.

Private schools have shown initiative and skill  providing high class tuition by internet with teachers continuing lessons with their pupils. 

With the summer holidays looming, the new plan is summer camps which the Daily Mail said were 'so kids of parents can have a break before schools reopen in September'. 

The Prime Minister differs. To him they represent a 'massive catch up operation by offering lessons and activities' with an army of  volunteers assisting.

Like all the government's initiatives it has run into trouble. 
Judith Blake, chair of the Local Government Association's children and young people's board, said there had been no consultation and the scheme had not been clearly explained.  

The plan to have all pupils back in September, with rigid rules on distancing, is also likely to prove difficult, especially for secondary school pupils.

Once again this country has been accused of  muddling along, of not following other countries whose return to school plans seem to be working well. 

While the loss of six months schooling is obviously serious for most children and probably life changing for some, by far the worst affected are the teenagers about to go to university.

It is a sorry fact that it is the youngest generation hardest hit.
My generation had to adapt, survive and even flourish; it is  they who will have to deal long term with the drastic social and economic changes caused by the pandemic. 

They face a much more difficult life than we did. 

They need all the help and encouragement we can give them to cope with the challenges ahead.

Coronavirus diary, Saturday 20 June

Welcome news from the First Minister

'The end of the lockdown is in sight'. 

Welcome words from Mark Drakeford, the First Minister, giving the most positive news so far. 

With infection levels across Britain falling and the alert level reduced from four to three, a return to something approaching normal life is imminent.

Mr Drakeford indicated, with his usual touch of caution, 'if it is safe to do so', that in two weeks time we will be able to go as far as we like, when like, to do what we like. Freedom! 

Except, of course, the elderly the vulnerable and, like me, care home residents. We have to be more patient. 

All children in Wales will go back to school on 29 June. We can go into churches for private prayer.

Shops in Wales reopen next Monday and people can enjoy outdoor sport including tennis. 

Professional football is back, with Cardiff City, still with a chance of promotion to the Premier League, playing their first game for months on Sunday, against front runners Leeds United.

It will be  strange, no crowd, no atmosphere. No Clarks pies! 
Not like the happy times when Robert and I watched from the directors' box and  enjoyed a half time drink in their restaurant.

A first hesitant move to salvage the summer tourism season is the opening of bookings from 18 July for outdoor attractions and self contained holiday accommodation but no date yet for reopening pubs, restaurants and  hotels.

Hairdressers, too, are still waiting for permission to open up.
In England, laws are planned to allow pubs to sell take-away drinks and to serve outside on pavements. As expected, there have been  immediate objections.

Looking out of my window into Cyncoed Road I see a livelier scene than for months; more cars, cyclists and pedestrians. 
It all looks more purposeful, energetic, as though we are all waking up from some nightmare.

Coronavirus diary, Friday 19 June

We probably have all put off making decisions, especially important ones.

I remember in my office days putting the most difficult subject at the bottom of my daily jobs list.

Over the years British governments have made procrastination an art form. 

How? By ordering reviews, royal commissions and, the modern approach, public inquiries.

An early example: Lord Denning's report on the Profumo scandal, 1963

Our prime minister and his cautious ministers have excelled themselves in the battle against coronavirus.

Scarcely a week goes by without a decision being put off -  to use current jargon, they have kicked the can down the road or into the long grass.

The latest 'let's play for time' ruse is over the vexed two metre distance rule.

The PM has ordered an enquiry, to report its findings in two weeks. This, despite being bombarded with advice and the experience of other countries.

Then, no doubt, he will dither over his decision.

Our political history provides countless examples of the call an enquiry technique.

In modern times public inquiries have been the most popular, and effective way for governments of all political hues to play for time.

They have offered months, even years of respite. In the past fifty years there have never been fewer than nine running in one year.

According to the Institute for Government, between 1990 and 2019 sixty nine were launched, compared with thirteen  in the previous thirty years, at a total cost of more than £630million - and not all published their cost.

The peak year so far, 2010 saw thirty. 

Public inquiries, recognised legally by the Inquiries Act of 2005, are notoriously slow moving.

Few could match the snail like progress of the  hyponatraemia inquiry into the hospital deaths in Northern Ireland of five children which led to a new law, named Claire's Law after one of  them. That finally reported in 2018 after thirteen years.

Speaking volumes: the Bloody Sunday inquiry report

The Bloody Sunday enquiry into shootings during the Irish troubles cost £210 million.

The recent Grenfell inquiry into the London tower block fire disaster that killed 72 is the latest attempt to find answers.

All the inquiries have three basic objectives: what happened, why did it happen and how can it be stopped from happening again (what lessons can be learnt).

By far the most complex and important inquiry of all times must be the investigation into the coronavirus pandemic.
Britain's will be no doubt be one of many undertaken by affected countries.

It must not be as snail like as many in the past.

Coronavirus diary, Thursday 18 June

Another day, another embarrassment for the government.
The much vaunted trace and check system, promised to be fully operational by the end of this month, has been deferred until October, and may be dropped altogether. 

Announcing it as if with a drum roll, the Health Secretary for England Matt Hancock hailed it as a life changer.

It would be world class, he promised, and all be done in what for this government would be lightening speed. Just  like his promises on testing, it was bravado. 

While other countries have gone ahead and produced workable systems to trace and follow up people who have been in contact with confirmed cases, the British one has so far failed. 

The pilot scheme in the Isle of Wight was to have gone nationwide but, as was predicted, not enough people took part, partly because not everyone had smart phones and because some were reluctant to take what amounted to orders to self isolate. 

As usual, the government, rather than accepting responsibility for the failure, is blaming Apple for not cooperating which the company denies. 

Leading by example: Marcus Rashford

Yet another slip, minor, perhaps, but indicative of incompetence is the PM's response to the campaign by footballer Marcus Rashford for the government to restore school meals to children in England this summer.

Pitch perfect...

Announcing another screeching policy u-turn, he admitted he had not heard of it until that day although it had been headline news for days.

Even the Times has been telling him repeatedly to 'get a grip'.

The news that President Macron is ignoring his and Britain's travel quarantine rule to pop over for a chat is, well, almost laughable.

Piling up on Mr Johnson's in tray is the potent subject of schooling  -  1,000 paediatricians have warned him he 'risks scarring life chances of a generation'.

On the two metre rule, Mr Hancock puts his foot in it again, he tells us days after his boss announced an enquiry, due to report next week. 

Otherwise, there is quite a lot of good news about, the most heartening that two thirds of health authorities in England have reported no Covid deaths.

Coronavirus diary, Wednesday 17 June

Cash in the past: the pre-decimal threepence piece

Do you think cash has a future?

A long debated subject, becoming more relevant with the pandemic.

At the height of the lockdown, cooped up indoors, not allowed even to pop along to the corner shop, we could not spend a penny. 

Yesterday there were queues at the newly opened stores in England, shoppers coming away with bulging bags. Most had not paid by cash.

Dirty coins were dangerous, and with the fear of coronavirus still potent that will surely be the trend. If the end of our cash society is nigh it will be the end of a long road. 

Coins were introduced in the 5th or 6th centuries BC - the date is uncertain. Notes followed, the first £1 in 1797. 

Over the centuries  they became the economic basis of countries throughout the world.

Many favourite notes and coins disappeared - remember  farthings, guineas, sixpences, our £1 note?

A penny coin proved the most expensive so far - £72,000 at auction for a 1933 George V coin, made by the Royal Mint of which only a handful were made for ceremonial purposes.

The first £1 million cheque was signed, no doubt with a flourish, in 1904 at  the  Coal Exchange in Cardiff, then the hub of the international coal trade.

The biggest development for centuries came in 1971, the introduction of decimal currency. The 1980s saw an equally  significant innovation, debit cards, joining their 1960s wallet companion, the credit card.

The deluge of spending increased even faster when we discovered the joy of getting money from 'holes in the walls', ATM machines. 

Two years ago there were 65,000 in the UK, since when 5,000 have been removed, an 8% drop, and with more banks closing the decline will continue.

Spending our hard earned money has now been made even easier, with cards and smart phones. No need ever to dip into our pockets or purses. 

The revolution has made life easier, too, for the shopkeepers, from supermarkets to corner stores, and safer, although there are rich pickings for fraudsters and scammers via the internet.  

I would not regret the passing of our notes and coins. 

Over the past year I have not needed to spend any as my care home fees are inclusive.

I have added to Amazon's billions by regular buys painlessly deducted from my account. Other payment methods, including PayPal, make it convenient and safe to part with your cash.

I  am looking forward to getting out on my scooter after lockdown to go shopping - by card. 

Royal Mint staff from London visit the site of the new Mint in Wales

Another step towards the death of cash, and perhaps, in time, the closure of Britain's Royal Mint at Llantrisant.

Coronavirus diary, Tuesday 16 June

The death of the black American George Floyd has led to mass protests in the USA and Britain. 

London protests. Photo: Twitter, Benny Hunter via ITV

In London many thousands, ignoring the lockdown, poured into the city centre.

And, unsurprisingly, a peaceful demonstration developed into a violent confrontation, a battle, between hooligans and violent activists and hundreds of police officers.

An all too familiar story.

I have never joined a protest march and never would, whatever my feelings on any subject, but I was once involved in one.

I was public relations officer for Hounslow Borough Council when a massive new council housing development was under way. 

The workers were on strike, demanding action by the council. Having lost patience with us, they organised a march on the town hall, setting off with drums beating, home made placards held high.

It was a frightening scene outside the town hall with hundreds milling around. Even more frightening for me when my boss, the chief executive, Don Mathieson told me to go down and tell them he would discuss their grievance with a small group.

The leader chose six whom I escorted up to the mayor's office where my boss was waiting.

As soon as the angry men sat down he played his trump card. Going to the mayor's well stocked drinks cabinet he produced a bottle of scotch.

'Come on, lads', he said, 'let's see what we can do'.

The men eagerly accepted large glasses of whisky. An hour later, reassured by promises of council action, the men left to report to their workmates.

Satisfied, they marched back to work. 

A brilliant example of public relations, crisis management, but I don't think it would work with a riot in Westminster.

Coronavirus diary, Monday 15 June

The extent of the tragedy of Britain's care homes during the coronavirus crisis and the reason behind it are set out in a damning report from the National Audit Office into the situation in England.

First, the facts. To date over 30,000 care home residents have died in the UK, almost a third of the total toll. 

The reason, says the report, is the lack of preparation, going back over twenty years when the need to integrate the HHS with social services was recognised. 

Since then, says the report, there have been 12 government white papers, green papers and consultations and five independent reviews (not a partridge, in a pear tree?).

No action. As a result Britain was unprepared for the coronavirus crisis with care homes the worst victim. At the start of the pandemic, 25,000 untested residents were discharged from hospital to homes where infection spread like wildfire. 

Meg Hillier, chair of the Commons public accounts committee, said homes were at the back of the queue for PPE and testing. Residents and staff were an afterthought, yet again out of sight and out of mind'.

One result of the failure to prepare for the crisis, says the report, was the lack of data from social care, with about 20,000 individual suppliers. Only a fraction of supplies needed reached the homes from central stocks.

Frontline health workers had been badly let down by the government, Ms Hillier said.

Public health services have changed over the years. 
When I was a reporter, county councils and urban district councils in Wales had much greater responsibility, through Medical Officers of Health and District Public Health Inspectors. 

I used to report meetings of the Penarth mothers and babies  and child welfare committees.

Conversely, in the 1960s, when I was working in local government, integration  of departments with chief officers, including child care and care for the aged, took responsibilities away from local authorities. 

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, responding to the report, said it was extraordinary that no-one seemed to recognise the risk to care homes, pointing out that Hong Kong and Germany had moved to safeguard theirs weeks earlier. 

Over the wasted  past twenty years the subject has been 'kicked into the long grass' time after time. Perhaps the next enquiry will be heeded and lives saved.