Governments are rich in intelligence but not capability

Nada Kakabadse | 13th May 2026 | Comment

Photo by Hannah McKay - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Our governments are simply not designed for the challenges we face in the modern day, warns Professor Nada Kakabadse.

In 2016, the UK ran one of the most comprehensive pandemic simulations in its history. Nearly 1,000 officials took part. The conclusions were stark, but accurate.

The system would struggle to cope, hospitals would be overwhelmed, PPE stockpiles were insufficient, and coordination across government was likely to ultimately falter.

Four years later, COVID-19 proved every one of these warnings to be correct. The real story here isn’t that government got it wrong. It’s that it got it right, and yet still chose not to act.

Knowing isn’t the same as being ready

This project, known as ‘Exercise Cygnus,’ did exactly what it was designed to do. It stress-tested the system and exposed vulnerabilities with clarity and honesty. Those involved were all capable, serious professionals, but the end analysis was not the problem. It was what followed that was at issue.

Recommendations were made, documented, and then left mostly untouched. When the crisis eventually hit, it didn’t surprise the system, it simply exploited the weaknesses which had already been mapped.

This gap between insight and action is not unique to the UK. It is, increasingly, a defining failure of modern governance.

Governments today are rich in diagnosis but poor in delivery. Their reports accumulate, key lessons are identified, and then implementation stall, until the next crisis arrives to validate what’s already …

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