We were not prepared; we are not prepared - that is what expert witnesses and core participants of the UK's COVID-19 Inquiry have claimed in its first week.

As the hearings started, bereaved families of some of the 227,000 people who have died with COVID gathered outside the same Victorian-era Dorland House building in north London that heard from the families of Grenfell fire victims, grieving families once again calling for answers and accountability.

 

They came from across the UK, dressed in red and holding photos of their loved ones, united in their grief but each with their own heartbreaking story of loss.

Together, they reflected an unequal and at times unorganised response to an unprecedented threat.

Hancock (the UK health minister) was a joke, handing out PPE contracts to his friends in the pub (quite literally the owner of a pub), but realistically what else could be done, the restrictions in the UK like most places in the world were far overreaching, illogical, and totally unnecessary, yielding almost zero benefits but having huge economical ramification that will take decades to recover from, and disrupting a generation of young one's learning. Lockdowns in any form were just such a bad idea.  Still at least the UK is looking back on it as part of history, not a mask in sight, rather than time warp Thailand where 80% are still behaving like its 2021