THE Nepal strain of Covid, why we must get children back on track post pandemic and the great governmental data grab were the topics discussed by columnists in the newspapers.

The Daily Mail

Richard Littlejophn said the Nepal variant had arrived in the nick of time for ‘the science’, which has been searching for any excuse to keep the pandemic emergency going.

“No doubt there will be a couple more along shortly. Like London buses, Covid variants hunt in packs,” he said. “Not that we are supposed to call it the Nepal Variant. Referring to any strain by its ethnic or geographical origin is now considered racist. You couldn’t make it up.”

He said he had been warning for months not to bet on restrictions easing on June 21.

“Boris might be making all the right noises, but when push comes to shove he will defer to ‘the science’”, he said. “More than 30 million people have had both jabs and have nothing to fear from the Nepal Variant or any other variant for that matter. Time to tear up the green list, the amber list and, yes, the red list. We’re perfectly capable of assessing the risks for ourselves.”

The Daily Express

Ross Clark said no negative effect of Covid- 19 is likely to drag on for so long as the suspension of normal school education.

“Gaps in education will, if they go unfilled, affect the life chances of children throughout their careers – more than half a century into the future. There are already signs of huge damage being done,” he said. “A report by watchdog Ofsted last November found that many children had lost stamina in reading and writing, and that younger children had in some cases regressed to wearing nappies. And that was before this year’s lockdown closed schools for another two months.”

He said schools were closed in a panic with little consideration to the effect on children’s education.

“Bringing children up to a good level of educational attainment is just about the most vital investment we should be making,” he added. “The Government should not be skimping on it.”

The Guardian

Marina Hyde said said eight years ago the Government wanted to scrape everyone’s GP records and put them on one central database, where they would be anonymised – partly– then made available for research purposes to third parties.

The plan failed after attracting a host of complainers, including MPs and GPs.

“Eight years on – literally right now – it’s doing the same thing, only in less time, without a public awareness campaign, with a trickier opt-out, and in the middle of a global pandemic. Have you, at some level, got to admire the work?,” she said.

“No. They’re effectively rebooting a failed plan now, with GPs already drowning in a backlog of pandemic-delayed care, it does feel like the perfect moment for the famously competent department of health to do a teeny-tiny thing they in no way need cover for.”