Responsible for nothing

Today, the Education Minister, Gavin Williamson, suggested it was parent's responsibility to ensure their children were tested daily for COVID, and not his or the school's.

This is quite the remarkable statement.

Data from the US suggestes that without masks and distancing, 75% of children will have been infected by COVID by the beginning of December, and Mr Williamson is only to ready to make the sick children's parents carry the can for his own inaction.

Inaction because literally nothing has been done by the Department for Education for the return of children to schools in England and Wales on Thursday. Nothing about open windows, air purifiers, let along distancing, masks or testing.

I don't know what the outcome will be, but I feat it won't be good, and the Government will claim none of it will be their fault.

Figures for COVID have been climbing for several weeks now; infections, hospitalisations and deaths, though that has slowed over the weekend, mainly due to be being a weekend, and a three day one at that. When figures are released at 16:00 today, we will get a better idea of where the country is.

But it seems that between 100 and 200 deaths a day is now so normal as not to be mentioned on news bulletins.

UK forces left Kabul over the weekend, with thousands of locals who worked either for or with the UK left behind. Advice from the Foreign Secretary was for those who could, to make their way across borders to "safe" countries, even though Raab had failed to contact any of them to ensure that this would be allowed.

Any refugee who would travel to the UK in such a way would be subject to repatriation back to Kabul by the Home Secertary, as new laws would make such route to the UK illegal.

And the Home Secretary has passed on all responsibility and costs of intergration of Afgan refugess into UK socety soley the responsibility of local authorities, so now of it Ms Patel's resposnibility, either.

What is the actual point of Ministers and their departments if they have no actual responsibility?