Like many people, I find it easy to criticise the government’s handling of the Coronavirus outbreak. At the same time I also believe that no matter who got the job of steering the country through the crisis, mistakes would have been made. It’s the easiest thing in the world to identify errors using the handy tool of hindsight and then say what you would have done differently. However, there is one area where I think the government fell unforgivingly short: communication.

I am not talking here of the often muddled and chaotic Downing Street briefings, woeful as these appear to have been. Rather, I believe the government could have been much smarter with their advertising of key messages during the pandemic.

I thought that perhaps Anatomised could have a crack at dealing with one of the key issues. I put the idea to David Hughes and together we created this poster. As you see it is designed to encourage the use of face coverings. Whether you like it or not, I am sure many of you will agree with us. When it comes to government advertising the comment on their end of term report should read as follows: must try harder.

Photo credits: Alexander Droeger.