Test and trace is no laughing matter, so don't turn it into a farce | Zoe Williams

Matt Hancock may want to make a joke out it, but if the new measures are to be taken seriously, the health secretary has to act accordingly

Has there ever been a more unsettling sight than Matt Hancock, laughing? Nominally, it was because Kay Burley had asked him why test and trace was being rolled out so fast, when it didn't appear to be ready. One minute we were calling him too slow, he wheezed. And the next we were calling him too fast! HAHAHAHA. Oh, my sides.

Whatever it was coursing through his noisy face, it definitely wasn't mirth. He looked as if he had been taught to laugh by the goats that had unaccountably raised him, and was trying it out for the first time. But that isn't the question. Will test and trace be ready?" isn't even the question, since given any opportunity to outsource a complex and vital process to a monolithic and incompetent services company, the government will take it, and we have to make our peace with that.