Tracking the virus before schools return
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 August 2020
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Boris Johnson’s government has been warned by the opposition that it has less than a month to fix the test, track and trace system to get pupils back into schools, while avoiding another coronavirus outbreak. Can it be done? Plus, we delve into the biggest shake-up in England’s housing planning rules since the second world war and whether it will lead to beautiful new buildings or ugly eyesores.
Presented by Sebastian Payne, with George Parker, Sarah Neville, Robert Shrimsley and George Hammond. This episode was produced by Anna Dedhar. Our sound engineer is Breen Turner and our editor is Liam Nolan. Theme music by Metaphor Music. Review clips: BBC and Parliament.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Britain has just one month to get its test track and trace system up to scratch or it risks further |
| 0:07.0 | outbreaks of coronavirus and another nationwide lockdown. |
| 0:10.5 | The government is running out of time. We've got schools reopening in |
| 0:14.3 | September. We've got outbreaks of the infection across the country and the |
| 0:19.5 | government's got basically the months of August to get a grip on this. |
| 0:25.4 | Welcome to Payne's politics, your essential insider guide to what's happening in British |
| 0:30.2 | politics from the Financial Times Times with me Sebastian Payne. |
| 0:34.8 | At the top there you heard Labour leader Kias Stama calling for the government to get the UK's |
| 0:39.2 | track and trace system in better condition. |
| 0:41.9 | In this episode I'll be discussing the challenges facing |
| 0:44.7 | the UK about containing COVID-19 and where the schools are actually going to return in |
| 0:49.7 | less than a month with our political editor George Parker and health editor Sarah Neville. |
| 0:56.4 | And later I'll be delving into the Johnson government's bold reforms to the planning system |
| 1:01.2 | and whether it can unlock economic growth with our columnist |
| 1:04.3 | Robert Shrimsley and property correspondent George Hammond. George Parker and Sarah Neville |
| 1:09.6 | welcome back. Morning, Sepp. Morning, Morning. |
| 1:15.0 | Now, aside from the main political news this week, one other development I want to mention with you both is about |
| 1:20.1 | prominent women representing the British state. |
| 1:23.1 | Dane Barbara Woodward was appointed to be our permanent representative in New York, |
| 1:26.8 | and I think there's now prominent diplomat in D.C. Canada, China, Germany, Australia, |
| 1:32.0 | New Zealand, the UN. |
| 1:33.0 | It's all quite impressive. |
... |
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