Covid inquiry: The week that science became both bamboozling and a millstone

PM was bamboozled and confused over sciencePatrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser (CSA) during the pandemic, gave evidence to the inquiry on 20 November. He was asked about the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s understanding of scientific concepts. The inquiry was presented with several extracts1 from Vallance’s personal notebook which gave an illustration of his thoughts. One diary entry from May 2020 described Johnson as being “clearly bamboozled” by discussions about modelling on schools. Another extract from May 2020 said Johnson was “confused” about the different types of covid tests. And in June 2020 Vallance wrote, “Watching PM get his head around stats is awful. He finds relative and absolute risk almost impossible to understand.” Vallance told the inquiry, “I think he’d be the first to admit [science] wasn’t his forte and that he did struggle with some of the concepts and we did need to repeat them…
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