The government's "roadmap" out of Covid, was meant to be based on "data, not dates". But when the government manufactures the evidence itself, then it can certainly claim to follow it!

    Whether this fools anybody is another question... But this is what was behind the government choosing to delay the designation of the so-called Indian variant as a “variant of concern”. So for another few weeks, passengers could fly in from India without quarantine restrictions and trade deals could be negotiated between Johnson and Modi...

    Not only that, but Johnson wanted to avoid becoming the butt of criticism yet again, for making a U-turn over Covid restrictions. So stage 2 of the “irreversible roadmap out of lock-down”went ahead. On Monday indoor hospitality and other indoor pursuits opened: mask-wearing is no longer compulsory for schools, but we are told that “people must exercise caution”! That is, show some of Johnson’s “British common sense”...

    However in the meantime, the Indian variant is rapidly becoming the main variant: it’s already the case in 86 postcode districts where cases are spiking among schoolchildren. And (hand-picked) “experts” claim they still do not know whether the new variant is worse than others - whether it’s more infectious, more dangerous to younger people, more lethal, nor how good it is at evading antibodies from previous infection or from vaccination. Yet other experts point out that, despite surge vaccination, "too few adults have been vaccinated to prevent a significant Covid resurgence”!

    In fact it has been clear ever since the latest Covid wave swept India, that this variant was at least 50% more transmissible. It infects the already-vaccinated and although they are less likely to need hospitalisation or to die, they can infect others who might...

    This is not the message the government wants the public to hear. Obviously and as always, the economy comes first - and now, in particular, the £200bn or 9% of GDP that travel and tourism represents. So the traffic light system for travel abroad, designed to be open to interpretation, will see to it that this money is recouped!

    As so many times before in the course of this pandemic, to save billions for capital, the government errs on the side of recklessness.