The Hallett Inquiry - Now we have the mask double flip flop

The long read.

Our readers must be punch drunk with policy flip flops, transformations, kevlar armour, modelling and other poor science. As they all say, “It ain’t us guv, it’s them”. 

You asked us to continue documenting the chaos at the heart of government from our perspective, so this will be another post along the same lines. It will be a bit long, unfortunately, but stay with us.

We follow the trajectory of the statements on the use of masks made by Dame Jenny Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer at the height of the pandemic and now chief executive of the United Kingdom Health Security Authority (UKHSA). We also document the efforts of an MP to clarify what is going on and some of the personal attacks we have come under for sticking to using good quality evidence as the precautionary principle entails.

At the pandemic's beginning, Dame Jenny had a cosy fireside chat with Mr Boris Johnson, the then Prime Minister (PM). Dame Jenny reassured the PM that mass gatherings were not a danger t…