COVID: They think it’s all over

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Institute for Government

News, Politics, Government

4.6 • 252 Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2021

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Government’s rationale for unlocking aggressively is that the vaccine has broken the link between COVID infections and deaths. Is it a gamble, a sensible move or just a victory for the Cabinet’s Economic hawks? We ask special guest John Rentoul, chief political commentator of the Independent. Plus, how much substance is there to the Government’s ‘Green Recovery’ programme? And with England in the Euro 2020 final, does sporting success really give Governments a bounce? “The ‘irreversible’ aspect doesn’t matter. People are quite used to Boris Johnson reversing on anything and everything.” – John Rentoul “We’re now experiencing a major outbreak of infections. The question is how is the Government going to ride the exit wave?” – Tom Sasse “Footballers used to be of interest only for their wives and girlfriends. Now they’re sympathetic tribunes of the people. It’s extraordinary.” – John Rentoul Presented by Bronwen Maddox with Alex Thomas, Tom Sasse and Rosa Hodgkin. Audio production by Alex Rees. Inside Briefing is a Podmasters Production for the IfG. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government. I'm Bronwyn Maddox.
0:16.4	Football is still on course for coming home, but as cases continue to rise, COVID-19 is beginning to feel a little too close to home.
0:23.9	So is this really the time to lift pretty much all remaining restrictions?
0:28.1	We're going to explore the Prime Minister's confirmation that July 19th is the day when the work-from-home order ends, ordering at the bar begins, and the masks come off unless you're feeling
0:37.9	courteous. The government hopes that the ending of these rules means that the country will get
0:42.6	spending and the post-pandemic economic recovery will quickly gather speed. But is it doing
0:47.9	enough to plan for a green recovery? A new report of ours says the government is wasting an
0:52.3	opportunity, that's in the run-up to the big COP26 conference, to show the world how to go greener.
0:58.2	We're going to speak to the report's authors.
1:00.5	And ahead of Sunday's big game at Wembley, we'll end with a quick look at how sport can interact with governments and the fine line between joining a victory parade and scoring some embarrassing political own goals.
1:11.6	Joining me today in our trustee virtual studio, Alex Thomas, who leads our civil service work.
1:17.2	Hi, Alex.
1:18.0	Hello, Bromyn.
1:19.5	Tom Sass, our associate director and the IFG lead on our COVID and Net Zero work is back with us as well.
1:24.9	Hi, Tom.
1:25.8	Hi, Bromon.
1:27.0	And I'm delighted to be joined today as
1:28.8	well by John Rental, Chief Political Commentator at the Independent. Hi, John. Great to have you with us.
1:33.8	Hello there. Are you back in Parliament, by the way? I'm not at the moment, but I will be this
1:40.2	afternoon. Great. How is it there? It's quiet. It's easier to get a cup of coffee and we're
1:48.4	still being assailed by Steve Bray, the shoutsy man, the stop Brexit man. He's now playing loud
1:55.7	music in between shouting through a loud speaker that Boris Johnson is a liar, a cheater, charlatan and a fraudster.
	...

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