The sequel is always worse than the original.
On Thursday, an exhausted nation returns to a lockdown much like the first one, except with schools remaining open and the sun setting at half past three.
The news was leaked first late Friday night, then again yesterday afternoon.
The rushed press conference set for four o’clock finally began at a quarter to seven. This did not scream ‘world-beating’.
By the time The PM took his stand we knew most of the detail.
The Evening Standard has always maintained that the capital should stay open unless the NHS were in danger of being overwhelmed. And the graphs last night painstakingly set out that if we don’t act now we will reach that moment before Christmas, with hospital capacity set to be breached in some parts of the country within two weeks.
We have also been resolutely clear at the Standard that schools remain open whatever it takes, that parents retain access to childcare and that no one be prevented from visiting their dying loved ones.
There were mistakes in the first lockdown that must not be repeated: urgent operations cannot be cancelled; local councils should make every effort to continue to home visit the most vulnerable.
Support bubbles are needed so those living alone do not have to endure this darkest of autumns in isolation, and that as much commerce as possible be allowed to operate safely, so we can minimise the worst of the economic scarring that threatens our long-term futures.
For many, last night meant rushed last-minute freedoms before the nightmarish closure again of businesses across the country and capital this week, for which the Prime Minister with some remorse said he was ‘very sorry’.
In July he had promised never again to a lockdown but this pandemic has upended most world leaders and their hopeful predictions.
When we interviewed the Prime Minster last July he also said furlough must finish in October but extending it another month was a u-turn that had to happen and will be gratefully received by employees and desperate employers. And Rishi Sunak’s scheme has been a success that should be applauded and has been rightly admired in other counties.
Track and trace however is a shambles that has not ever gained world beating momentum.
Ministers must take the time a lockdown provides to bring the full resources of the Government and the full reach of the Prime Minister himself to deliver an effective system.
The government is close to reaching 500,000 tests a day – though note that is capacity, not actual tests taken. But it is the ‘trace’ part that has proved so much more challenging. In a crowded field, the absence of a functioning test and trace operation is the Government’s most serious failure.
Without a high-performing test and trace operation, the virus will spread once more as soon as lockdown is lifted.
The Government should not take its bruising encounters with metro mayors as reason to recoil from local action. Talk of bringing in the army is cheap.
It must instead empower local authorities – staffed by people who truly know their local areas – to help track and trace operate more effectively.
The Prime Minister needs to get a grip, demonstrate to the country he is not merely at the mercy of events.
The distractions must stop.
Hard Brexit – a policy choice of this Government, cannot be used as an excuse for missed targets. It also means no more wasting crucial bandwidth on attacking senior civil servants.
Londoners, like the rest of the country, understand the need for sacrifice. Not just the joys of life like holidays or spontaneous nights out, but the everyday things – seeing friends and hugging relatives. But these sacrifices must count for something. Or we cannot reasonably expect the public compliance necessary to suppress the virus.
Through error and endless promises, the Government has sapped the goodwill and benefit of the doubt it enjoyed in the spring.
A lockdown is not a strategy – it is a failure of strategy. It simply buys a country time to suppress the virus and protect health services.
The second wave is now a second chance for the Government to get test and trace right. There is unlikely to be a third opportunity.
