The political logic of the Prime Minister’s choice is solid enough. But we’re past the stage where his Sunday statement can simply be taken on trust.
Although NHSX’s approach involves a degree of centralisation, it is important to remember that the identifiers uploaded to the server will remain anonymous.
I just think that it is better to be cautious for a few weeks more, be clear that we are over it, and are not risking a second wave now, or during the winter.
One way would be through a time-limited Department of Virus Legacy, much as DExEU did for Brexit, able to ensure that opportunities are grasped.
The latter led the charge to build 300,000 homes a year – but the Health Secretary’s real achievement is to help create a new industry from scratch.
Of course our employers should provide us with safety equipment. But as health and care workers, we also need to think about how to help ourselves.
Following this road will require a transformation of how we work and live on an expectation-defying scale.
It will require up to 50,000 people, not 18,000. Or else we’re set to be in shutdown for the duration – with baleful economic consequences.
Until Ministers set out their thinking on answers, the future will be less clear than it might be. They should so this week.
The idea that we should not seek the closest commercial relationship with the United States is unconscionable.
The mass of the public will demand answers to questions that previously had relatively limited appea – such as: why the postcode lottery in healthcare?
How prepared are we for strict social distancing for the forseeable future, compulsory masks, closed leisure facilities – and a semi-functioning economy?
The Health Secretary’s defence of his department’s pro-lockdown stance has made him a target for those who want it eased.
But there is no simple split between the Left and Right of the Party, and no sense of rebellion, at least yet.
These savings were desperately needed to make Darling’s books balance. They were put in Labour’s 2010 manifesto.