Civil Protection Miscellany

  Parliamentary select committees often work quietly in the background only occasionally breaking into the limelight.   Taken together their output is amazing.   With very few staff and members from all parties they make an important contribution to Parliament’s duty to hold the government of the day to account. Today’s reports by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee are important ones.   The first report considers the Parliamentary Scrutiny of the Government’s Handling of Covid-19.   The second looks at the question of a Public Inquiry into the response.   At the time of writing this I do not know the scale of the media interest or what the government’s response will be.   Both reports will not be welcomed by the government – whatever they say officially. The first report obviously dwells on the early days of the crisis.   Even so the report has been produced quickly.   The volume of evidence taken was not large but the committee were very selective about

Another report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) featuring serious problems in the management (not the misuse) of level crossings.  It is the third such report highlighting these problems ON THE SAME LINE.  Let's hope that it is the last. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-digest-072020-worlingham/near-miss-at-worlingham-user-worked-crossing-suffolk-8-june-2020

     Lockdown Protest in London:  Photo Metro newspaper The polymath Thomas YOUNG (1773-1829) has been described as the ‘last man to know everything’.   The message being that after his time there was too much knowledge for one person to hold in their brain.   While reading about him my thoughts wandered to the current pandemic and the UK response.   Until a couple of months ago I thought that I was up to date with government guidance and with the Regulations made under various pieces of legislation (I was kidding myself of course).   Now I doubt that anybody has a grip on what the rules, regulations, guidance and advice are on this subject. There is just too much. A quick search on Legislation.gov.uk returns over 450 pieces of legislation.   Much of this is of a highly technical nature but even the ‘mainstream’ legislation runs to scores of items.   This is legislation, guidance and advice is another matter.   The helpful weekly summary produced by the Institute of Civil Protection