The dispute centres on the meaning of ‘relevance’, with Cabinet Office determined to hang on to the documents. Meanwhile, Baroness Hallett has a job to do—to examine, consider and report on preparations and the response to the pandemic. Gould asks why Cabinet Office is behaving this way, and on Baroness Hallett’s powers and responsibilities in response. He comments that the Baroness has to date been ’sporting’.
Gould reminds us of the sobering fact that ‘nearly as many people have died in the UK from COVID as British military personnel died in the six years of World War II’. He writes: ‘It is hard to overestimate the importance of establishing the facts of the pandemic, without doubt or spin—not only for the victims, but also so that hindsight may help us when, inevitably, the next pandemic comes.’
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