Conspiracy theory rise is no surprise when the State keeps letting the public down
The infected blood scandal is the latest in a long-line of failures covered up by the institutions the public put their trust in.
For medical experts to play Russian roulette with the lives of patients is unforgivable, but for the State to repeatedly cover it up is wicked.
Yet again people in positions of power abused the trust placed in them by the public for the sake of their own careers.
Children were cynically used as guinea pigs to indiscriminately test out blood products.
Innocent young lives blighted seemingly without a second thought.
Some 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis.
Many were given blood transfusions even though the doctors knew they could be fatal.
They were never informed of the risks.
Don't miss... Rishi Sunak apologises after infected blood scandal exposed - 'Day of Shame' [LATEST]
Secret tests were carried out on some to test for infections and the results were sometimes kept from them for years.
Blood-clotting plasma was imported until 1990 despite the risks being known as much came from prisoners and drug addicts.
Patients at their most vulnerable, their lowest ebb, putting their trust in the revered NHS to look after them at their time of need.
As early as 1982 the government knew that Aids could be transmitted through blood but dismissed the dangers.
Documents that revealed the truth were destroyed. The NHS “closed ranks”.
Successive governments were more concerned about “reputational damage than openness and honesty”, the inquiry found.
Don't miss...
Inquiry finds more than 3,000 dead in contaminated blood scandal 'cover up' [LATEST]
'Absolutely wrong' for victims of blood scandal to wait decades for answers [LATEST]
Rishi Sunak leads global drive to protect us all from AI [LATEST]
The inquiry explicitly ruled that there has been a cover up.
Another in a long line of scandals where the State, NHS, the Post Office, the police and the public institutions at the heart of British life have looked after themselves instead of the people they are there to serve.
It cannot be a surprise that more and more people are captured by conspiracy theories.
When the State and its institutions have let down the public so badly, so many times.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer were heartfelt in their apologies but it will take action, not words, to right the wrongs of this tragedy.