Novara Live: The Worst Public Health Failure Ever
An official report has judged the UK's delayed lockdown to be Britain's worst ever public health failure. Michael Walker and Dalia Gebrial breakdown the key findings.
Tag: Matt Hancock
Opinion: This Isn’t Just About Universal Credit – Our Entire Benefits System Is a Joke
Andrew Fisher
While the campaign to cancel the £20 cut to Universal Credit is welcome, we risk atomising our struggle against a broken system, argues Andrew Fisher.
Opinion: Universal Credit Is a Symptom of Britain’s Broken Jobs Market
Andrew Fisher
Boris Johnson seems to think that cutting the £20 uplift to universal credit will enable him to create high-paid jobs, writes Andrew Fisher. He's living, as Adam Curtis would say, in a dream world.
Opinion: Hancock’s Resignation Shows Just How Much Johnson’s Government Can Get Away With
Samuel Earle
Boris Johnson was once described as approaching public life “as a game in which he commits sackable offences as a way of demonstrating his unsackability.” It now seems he’s instilled his entire cabinet with the same sense of fun, writes Samuel Earle.
Novara Live: Why Sajid Javid Is a Danger to the NHS
Sajid Javid has replaced Matt Hancock as health secretary, is a lockdown sceptic and a banker at JP Morgan. Should Britons trust their health in his hands?
Novara Live: Matt Hancock Caught Having Affair With Advisor
Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani discuss the hopeless health secretary Matt Hancock after he was caught having an affair with a key aide hired to tackle the pandemic.
Opinion: The Tories’ Covid-19 Strategy Pits Young and Old Against Each Other
Ameya Tripathi
The government is using its widely condemned 'focused protection' strategy to stir up a culture of fear between generations in a cynical and dangerous bid to retain political power, writes Ameya Tripathi.
Opinion: Cummings’ Inquiry Hearing Was a Chance for Centrists To Do What They Do Best: Rehabilitate Rightwingers
Jamie Medwell
The man who just a few months ago was public enemy number one is now a harmless whistleblower. It's a frightening sign of how willing the centrist media is to let the right off the hook, writes Jamie Medwell.
Novara Live: Matt Hancock Fights for His Job After Cummings Testimony
Matt Hancock has come out fighting after his honesty and competence was attacked by Dominic Cummings. With a renewed focus on failures over care homes, can the health secretary survive?
Novara Live: Jail Time for Travel Breaches
Michael Walker and Aaron Bastani discuss the health secretary's announcement of 10 year-jail sentences for breaching Covid travel restrictions.
The Bastani Factor: “This Is the Worst Interview I’ve Ever Seen With a Politician”
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Health Secretary Matt Hancock gave the worst interview by a politician Aaron Bastani has ever seen. What does it say when after 100,000 people have died a leading politician can get away with such a performance?
Novara Live: Life After Cummings
Love him or loathe him, Dominic Cummings was the driving force of Johnson’s government. It was Cummings that masterminded the election campaign that pitched the people vs politicians and won Johnson his majority. Then, by combining culture wars with promises to ‘level up’ the country he transformed the Tories too. So, now he’s gone what […]
Novara Live: Lockdown Reloaded
10 million people in the UK now live under local restrictions, and a nationwide lockdown looks to be incoming. Will the government come to regret bullying us into our offices, and giving us all discounts in pubs? Plus: why no-one understands government testing figures (including Matt Hancock); Priti Patel’s War on Cocaine; Joe Biden’s Beef […]
Opinion: Boris Johnson Wants to Blame Young People for Coronavirus. He Has Nobody to Blame but Himself
Liam Young
The government has settled on a scapegoat for the recent spike in Covid-19 cases: young people. Yet from rushing children back to school to breaking their own rules with impunity, it's clear who's really at fault, writes Liam Young.
Novara Live: Homophobe for Hire
Nothing says Global Britain more than hiring an ex-Australian PM to be a trade envoy. But what about if he’s a noted misogynist, homophobe and climate sceptic? Plus, Corbyn-Coyle WhatsApp leaks and Gary Lineker enrages xenophobes. We also remember and discuss the life and work of world-renowned anthropologist David Graeber. With Michael Walker, Dalia Gebrial […]
Novara Live: Racism Review: Spiked
Munira Mirza is to lead the government’s racism review. Are the Tories trolling anti-racism campaigners? Plus, Joshua Virasami on the police crackdown on BLM protestors, Laura Pidcock on shielding, and Matt Hancock claims Marcus Rashford’s victory as his own.
The Burner: The Burner Episode #228: Boris Johnson’s Two Bodies
Ash Sarkar ponders whether the media's elevation of Boris Johnson to symbol of the nation's health is a sign of something rotten in the state of politics. Plus, Matt Hancock's testing pledge comes a cropper as South Korea's test, trace and isolate strategy bears fruit.
The Burner: The Burner Episode #217: a Tech Exit to Covid-19?
James Butler asks: what would a tech-led exit from lockdown look like? And James Meadway tells us what we should make of the OBR’s ‘bouncing ball’ scenario on the economic shock.