Driven by fear, the government of the UK has poured hundreds of billions of pounds into fighting the coronavirus pandemic, reinforcing the NHS, supporting the economy and waging a propaganda war. Despite war-gaming a pandemic in 2016, the government were poorly prepared for what hit them, and it was clear that they had little idea what to do. Through poor judgement and constant tactical (rather than strategic) change, much of the money spent by the government has been wasted. It would surely have been better to spend money on properly funding local Public Health teams, protecting care homes with a ring of steel and shielding the vulnerable who wanted to be protected.