Difficult question. Would it be fair to meet some families, i.e those represented by the complaining group,and not the thousands of other bereaved families.
Not really a question of fairness, Danny. On live tv he said he would meet them. "I am not aware of those letters but I will of course write back to every letter we get. Of course I will meet the bereaved." If he didn't mean it, he shouldn't have said it.
C'mon folks.... you've all missed the opportunity to titter at piggy's wordplay.
However, personally, I don't see what is to be gained by any such meeting. I am not sure the PM needs to hear 1,600 different versions of "What went wrong?" or repeat 1,600 times "I am very sorry for your loss."
The U-turn (if it was such) was clumsy but his time would be better spent dealing with the 'here and now'.
Agree with JTH.
Same in the US. When Trump finished his 'press conference' in Kenisha last night all you could get out of the press was 'Are you going to meet that family, this protest group, etc'
I don't know who's worse, the parasitical press or the slimy lawyers.
Neveracrossword, It seems that this group representing just 1600 out of 40-odd thousand victims is demanding an independent inquiry into what they see as the government’s mishandling of pandemic. Boris, in his letter, has promised that such an investigation will be held at the appropriate time and has asked them to address any further correspondence through their legal representatives. I can’t help thinking their real purpose is to stir up trouble.
Obviously, with the current Covid situation, such a meeting involving a group of unrelated people would not be appropriate. Perhaps next year sometime.
I agree with jackthehat at 09.26.
I also agree with JTH regards the effectiveness of any such meeting. However I do believe that heads of state should stick to the script and not ad-lib. Just gets them in trouble.