'Covid inquiry isn't Gaza or Ukraine - but it's our war for honest government'

02 November 2023 , 21:24

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Nobody got killed behind the black door of Number 10, but thousands died needlessly while they dithered (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

IT’S called “war fatigue”. Some viewers complain they’ve had enough of bombs, blood-spattered babies and suffering on the box.

Endless gruesome footage of the Israel-Hamas war, on top of two years of carnage in Ukraine, dominates the news schedules.

Rolling coverage of death, destruction and misery fills our screens. Some can’t take any more.

Even a self-confessed news junkie like me, who’s seen more than he would like in a lifetime in this game, finds it hard to take. The hell-vision is numbing.

Of course, we can always switch off, but when the latest fighting takes up virtually the whole of the six o’clock news, then what?

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There must be something else going on in the world, or even at home, that’s worth reporting.

But it’s Gaza or like it, Ukraine or lump it. It’s a relief to watch the other battle – in the public inquiry to establish the truth about Boris Johnson’s failed Covid campaign.

One after another, his sidekicks confess to chaos and complacency in the highest reaches of government. It turns out that Partygate was only the half of it.

When they weren’t suitcasing booze into Downing Street for shirk-related gatherings, they were slagging each other off on taxpayer-funded mobile phones.

Nobody got killed behind the black door of Number 10, but thousands died needlessly while they dithered.

Compared with total war in Europe and the Middle East, the Hallett Inquiry is inconsequential. Who cares if brazen Boris is finally, officially, found to be a lazy, incompetent liar?

We should. It’s not Gaza or Ukraine, but it’s our war, for honest government.

Paul Routledge