The Times view on the Covid-19 inquiry: Blame Game

British governments are addicted to public inquiries despite their often exorbitant cost and crippling length. Indeed, the latter can be attractive to administrations seeking to kick awkward questions into the long grass. When that door-stopper of a report finally lands on the desks of the hapless few who actually have to read it, the ministers, advisers and officials who presided over the fiasco in question are usually long gone. Those in government seeking this escape route can count on the co-operation of the legal profession, which never knowingly completes in a week what can be strung out for a month. And because lawyers are schooled in an adversarial system, public inquiries invariably become retrospective exercises in apportioning blame rather than opportunities for improving future policy-making.