Failures of State: The inside story of Britain’s battle with coronavirus (Pt 1)
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2021
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last year, a Sunday Times investigation exposed failures at the top of government which may have cost thousands of lives. Now the team behind those revelations has written the first major book telling the inside story of Britain's battle with coronavirus.
In the first of three episodes this week, we examine what went wrong between January and March 2020.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.
Guests:
- Jonathan Calvert, Insight Editor, The Sunday Times.
- George Arbuthnott, Deputy Insight Editor, The Sunday Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Links:
- Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle with Coronavirus by Jonathan Calvert and George Arbuthnott.
- Audiobook of Failures of State.
- '38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disaster', The Sunday Times, April 19 2020.
Clips used: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky News, CNA, The Sun, Daily Mail, Met Office, ABC News, DW News.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This month marks a year since COVID turned all of our lives upside down. |
| 0:08.0 | How can we make sure a year like this never happens again? |
| 0:13.0 | And now as ever to the front pages. |
| 0:16.0 | In April, the Sunday Times exposed the dither and delay at the top of government |
| 0:22.0 | that caused so much pain across the country. |
| 0:25.0 | And taken all in all, it is a pretty devastating piece of journalism. |
| 0:29.0 | According to a report in the Sunday Times, it's a pretty damning investigation by the paper |
| 0:33.0 | saying that the government lost five weeks in the fight against coronavirus. |
| 0:37.0 | Now, the team behind those revelations, two of the countries leading investigative journalists |
| 0:44.0 | have written the first major book piecing together the full story of a disastrous year. |
| 0:53.0 | You're listening to stories of our times from the Times and the Sunday Times. |
| 0:57.0 | I'm Manvin Rana. Today, failures of state, part one. |
| 1:03.0 | Sleepwalking into disaster. |
| 1:11.0 | I'm Jonathan Calvert, I'm the Insight Editor of the Sunday Times. |
| 1:15.0 | And I'm George Abuffnot, Deputy Head of the Insight Team. |
| 1:19.0 | Here on Stories of Our Times, we're going to be talking to you both today, |
| 1:24.0 | tomorrow and on Friday about your new book, Failors of State, |
| 1:28.0 | in which you pieced together the behind-the-scenes story of the last year. |
| 1:33.0 | Today, we're focusing on the early decision making in Westminster |
| 1:38.0 | and tomorrow we'll look at what happened over summer. |
| 1:41.0 | Some people might say we're gradually emerging from lockdown. |
| 1:45.0 | Vaccinations seem to be working. Start and see the early signs of spring. |
... |
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