This government has some very distorted priorities.
Their offer to nurses of just a 1% pay rise shows this.
They spent £22 billion on a Test and Trace system to avoid further lockdowns. Then they had two more lockdowns.
That Track & Trace system employed 2,500 private consultants. Some were paid more than £6,000 a DAY. Yet the Public Accounts Committee of MPs stated there was no clear evidence that this massive £22bn cost had contributed to the reduction in coronavirus infection levels!
The government want to spend £15bn more on this ineffectual system – yet it took nearly a month to find the missing person from Brazil who slipped through the net by simply not filling in his form! No one bothered to check! Where were the lucratively paid consultants when this happened?
All these billions are largely being handed to government cronies (Dido Harding, in charge of Test and Trace, is married to a Tory MP and went to school with the prime minister’s sister). Yet there is not enough money to give NHS workers a decent pay rise?
The substantial private sector involvement in Test and Trace is partly why it is so expensive and ineffective.
In stark contrast, the vaccine roll-out is carried out by GP surgeries and NHS staff familiar with an annual flu vaccination. They have a database of patients who require vaccination, expertise and experienced staff.
The delays in lockdowns, the U-turns, the waste of money on inadequate PPE from inexperienced suppliers, came from the government. The NHS have been on the receiving end of the 4.2 million Covid cases and is now working hard to fight back against coronavirus.
Boris Johnson’s obedient Yes-men MPs were given a 3.1% pay rise last year, taking their salaries to £82,000. Again in stark contrast to the nurse’s offer of 1%. MPs did not risk death fighting Covid!
MPs have received over three times what the nurses have been offered – they are not the NHS heroes, daily putting their lives on the line.
Pete Milory.
Free press
In response to GB, who would like Frank Gilfeather to stop using his column to attack Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, then in the interests of political balance, Scott Begbie should cease criticising Brexit, the Tories and Westminster.
Actually, Frank (and Scott as well) please continue to hold our politicians to account (and occasional ridicule) – your columns remind us of the benefit of living in a country that has a free press.
Jonathan Mitchell.
New leader
As much as it pains me to say this, my wife came up with a cracking suggestion for the new Aberdeen manager. David Robertson anyone?
s cunningham.
Is Stephen Glass the right choice for Aberdeen FC? He has been out of the Scottish football scene for nine years with no proven track record.
T Shirron.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.