Governments need data about us despite privacy fears | Larry Elliott

Governments need accurate and detailed information about citizens to tackle anything from Covid to climate change

Next slide please. We soon caught on to the way it worked. Chris Whitty would give the word and up would pop a chart detailing the progress being made in the fight against Covid-19. There are memes and mugs to commemorate the catchphrase of England's chief medical officer.

Whitty's presentations detailed infection rates, hospitalisations and deaths. Within weeks of the pandemic's arrival in early 2020 the public knew about the R number - a way of assessing how fast the virus was spreading.