Mark Andrews on Saturday: Buzzword bingo, folly by the busload, and Brussels flexes its muscles

It is 12 months tomorrow since the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in the UK.

Now I'm not one of these armchair experts who, with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, takes great pleasure in putting the boot into every failed attempt to get the virus under control. And I think comparisons between the UK, the 21st most populated country in the world, and a remote, rural backwater like New Zealand are specious.

However, one thing I've never been able to understand was the decision a year ago this week to 'repatriate' 83 British nationals who were living in Wuhan.

The decision was made when, as far as we knew, Britain was virus free. I remember watching in disbelief as television footage showed three coachloads full of people from the epicentre of the virus being driven through the British countryside by blokes without so much a as a hi-viz jacket for protection.

Sure, they were put into isolation on their return, but why couldn't they have done that in China? They were not refugees fleeing persecution, they were not even holidaymakers stranded abroad. They were people who had chosen to live in another country, Wuhan was their home.

It struck me as incredibly foolhardy at the time, and nothing that has happened since has changed that view.

Working with experts at Oxford University, the British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has developed a vaccine which could potentially bring the coronavirus out of control. Not only has the company agreed to supply it on a not-for-profit basis, but is also distributing it free of charge to millions of people in developing countries.

So how did our good friends in the European Union respond to this philanthropy? By raiding the company's Belgian factory to check it wasn't lying about the reasons why EU countries weren't getting the supplies they wanted.

Fair enough, if it makes them happy, I guess. I suppose we should be grateful that the muscles in Brussels didn't decide to do something really petty and vindictive. Like confiscating lorry drivers' sandwiches.

Announcing its new vision for the future of Shrewsbury, the town council said: "The Masterplan project has engaged a wide range of local stakeholders over the past year and puts forward a range of exciting opportunities for future development."

Is this some kind of buzzword bingo? 'Masterplan', 'engaged', 'stakeholders', all in one sentence. That's quite a feat. All we need is 'reaching out' and 'blueprint', and it's a full house.

I can't comment on merits of the plan itself, though. I'm afraid they lost me at 'stakeholders'.

Meanwhile, a developer has outlined plans for a 'vibrant addition' to Walsall town centre. And the development in question, was it: (a) a new theatre, attracting top shows from around the UK; (b) a giant exhibition centre cum music venue, bringing in thousands of new jobs; (c) a glittering new retail development to rival those of Milan or Paris; or (d) a block of flats on the site of a car wash?

That's vibrancy for you.