West Yorkshire councils are the latest local authorities to consider initiating their own coronavirus test and trace systems – a welcome on-the-ground response to national failings.
The Government’s failure to root tracking in communities and instead establish a spluttering centralised machine was a mistake.
In local areas it is local people, not privately-run call centres, who are far more likely to reach those infected with the virus, and those who were in contact with them.
The clock is ticking loudly with scientists warned schools returning next month could contribute to a second wave deadlier than the first unless more people are traced.
Boris Johnson should swallow his pride and fund every council to set up their own teams.
Back Beirut
Three-thousand tons of fertiliser stored in a Beirut port warehouse for six years created a bomb waiting to explode.
The terrible death toll and huge devastation in the Lebanese capital are rocking a Middle East democracy already reeling from economic meltdown, corruption, Covid-19, the Syrian refugee crisis and clashes between Hezbollah and Israel on its southern border.
While the Beirut authorities investigate how the ammonium nitrate was allowed to languish for so long, it is in Britain’s interests to help rebuild the struggling country.
The humanitarian case is accompanied by the realisation that Lebanon collapsing would be bad not just for the Middle East, but for the UK and Europe too.
Gavin a laugh
THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had a tidy time when they visited Nessa’s Slots from Gavin & Stacey at Barry Island in South Wales.
The royal couple didn’t manage to win any prizes. But Kate and Wills being back in business on their first public engagement since lockdown saw them win first prize at giving staycations the royal seal of approval.
