Quote of the day 29th January 2021

 Extracts from an Alistair Burt piece on "The Article" website:

"As someone who believed, voted and campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU, and bears a certain number of scars for the effort, I think it would be retreating under fire if I said nothing about the current dispute over vaccines.

So, cards on the table first. The UK Government has played a blinder on vaccines."

"On vaccines and vaccinations, it appears as though many lessons of earlier difficulties were learned."

"By contrast, the EU response on vaccination has been poor. While its processes recognised the need for solidarity between richer and poorer nations, that admirable principle in itself seems to have got in the way of the more important one: just get hold of the bloody stuff."

"With a virus which is indiscriminate, if all are not safe, then no one is safe. Our weakest points are not European delivery chains, they are the neglected health systems of countries without sustainability. I wonder how the row over how we divide up the millions of doses of vaccines rolling towards us looks to those in the poorest communities in the world, who do not know in which year they might receive any vaccine at all?"

"I would advise caution on all sides." 

"This is not a simple trade dispute. There are lives depending on the decisions being made, now and for some time to come."

Those, like Taiwan, who learned the lessons of SARS, understand what humility is in these circumstances. Learn fast, and say less."

(Rt Hon. Alistair Burt. You can read his full article here.)

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