i cannot improve on the glorious words of professor sirjonathan van—tam, who says in his statement, "" whatever, however you describe the protective processes you put in place around the care sector, they did not form an unbroken circle, did they? it is quite clear from the evidence that professor van—tam is right. this inquiry is about learning lessons from the pandemic to help us in the next one. it's also about the decision—makers then defending their reputations now. mr hancock is back here in the morning. chris mason, bbc news, at the covid inquiry. leaders around the world have been paying tribute to the former us secretary of state, henry kissinger, who's died at the age of 100. us presidentjoe biden said in a statement that they often strongly disagreed but said "his fierce intellect and profound strategic focus was evident." the german born diplomat served as washington's national security adviser during the cold war but was also a polarising figure in international politics. much more on his legacies and impact especially here in southeast asia in the next hour of news day.

do you acknowledge that the evidence from professors chris whitty, sir patrick balance, sirjonathan van tamighly likely to increase transmission and whilst of course it's a policy matter over which they wouldn't have had the whip hand, it was an issue on which they would have expected to be consulted given the behavioural aspect of the scheme, the bringing together of more people from different households. do you acknowledge that? but different households. do you acknowledge that? but they've not said that to me. _ acknowledge that? but they've not said that to me. they _ acknowledge that? but they've not said that to me. they had - acknowledge that? but they've not said that to me. they had ample . said that to me. they had ample opportunity to raise those concerns between the announcement of the scheme and its implementation and none of them chose to do so in any forum they were in. all of them have said on the record as the evidence conclusively demonstrates that this was in no way responsible for a second wave which was predicted by the cmo and csa as early as my first conversation in m