It feels grossly irresponsible for media and now apparently the opposition to be focusing on WHEN WILL THE LOCKDOWN END as the key (only!) question to ask of government. https://twitter.com/keir_starmer/status/1250310526036398081

Not “when will health workers get adequate PPE”, not “when will care homes be allowed to test more than their first five patients with coronavirus symptoms”, not “when will PAYE contract workers get UC”, not even “when will online food delivery be accessible to more people”.

But WHEN CAN WE ALL GO OUT TO WORK AGAIN

Ignoring the fact that Britain has shown more support obeying these rules than most other European nations, not because of some innate rule-following quality but because people are scared by the government’s slow and inadequate response.

People are mostly right now compliant, because they are both sensible and scared. But the press — and now the opposition — saying PEOPLE WILL RIOT SOON is going to drive up discontent.

And sure, it would be good to have a sense that there is a clear plan for exiting the lockdown. But that just speaks to a wider desire for all this to be over, rather than being the most important way to hold the government to account.

As @EmmaKEdDev points out here, these questions are important alongside the others — it’s not about ending lockdown but about what the next year, two years? looks like for us all. https://twitter.com/emmakeddev/status/1250328838896095236?s=21 https://twitter.com/emmakeddev/status/1250328838896095236