Northern Uproar and Overloading the Lords

The Government’s emergency lockdown of Greater Manchester took the public by surprise and left them confused and resentful. Special guest Jennifer Williams of the Manchester Evening News describes the disarray and what Government needs to fix, fast.

Plus: How fit were public services for coronavirus? Not very, says a new IfG report. What needs to happen, and why didn’t the Government act on the learnings from Operation Cygnus? And as Boris Johnson loads up on Lords, is the Upper Chamber becoming the Crony Express?

• “People can’t follow the logic. If you can’t sit in a friend’s garden but you can meet them in a beer garden, it’s little wonder people are confused.” – Jennifer Williams
• “Boris Johnson’s honours list touches all the bases of cronyism.” – Hannah White
• “The Government went for private contracts because they could scale up fast – but whether that leads to effective track and trace is another matter.” – Jennifer Williams
• “Lords reform needs something a bit more fundamental than moving some Lords to York.” – Jennifer Williams

Presented by Bronwen Maddox with the IfG’s Hannah White and Nick Davies. Audio production by Alex Rees

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