Don’t blame software for missing tests – it’s down to a lack of basic data handling skills

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The BBC suggested that “the badly thought-out use of Microsoft’s Excel software” was at fault and that “the problem is that PHE’s own developers picked an old file format”. Of course the real focus, at least on the basis of government statements, ought to be the lack of basic data handling skills. Besides, the real problem, obscured by this focus on using “old Excel” versus “new Excel” – or some other software variant – is an obsession that has bedevilled our anti-coronavirus efforts from the start.