Downing Street is in the grip of a groupthink that delegitimises independent voices. The country is paying a heavy price Mon 21 Sep 2020 19.24 BSTLast modified on Mon 21 Sep 2020 21.56 BST Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on 21 September 2020 ‘Boris Johnson has not yet shown that he can weigh the seriousness of the crisis and act appropriately.’ Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images The United Kingdom is facing a Covid calamity, and it is a situation that was made in Downing Street. Infections and hospital admissions are rising rapidly. An exponentially growing epidemic is outpacing the rate at which the testing regime is expanding, meaning that it is not possible to properly track the spread of the disease. If nothing changes, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, warned on Monday, there could be 200 deaths a day by mid-November.