![]() ![]() The left genuinely think that obedience to expert judgement in all things is the be all and end all of leadership. We can either have corrupt and incompetent, or the “competent” who let themselves be led by the nose by all manner of quacks and “experts”. We could have ended up like Australia with police beating up old ladies for the crime of quietly sitting on a park bench.Īnd that seemingly is the choice on offer irrespective of Covid. The BLM inspired summer of madness could have been far worse. Had the left been in power we would have seen a relentless stringent lockdown leading to dangerous levels of civil unrest and violence. It has never not been the case that those who make the rules don’t think they apply to them.Īnd yet, for all that it has been a shitshow from the very beginning, under a the “leadership” of a man ill-befitting the role, the alternative would have been a magnitude worse. It’s little worse than MPs voting for green taxes and claiming heating expenses on their second homes. It’s certainly little worse than the global elites telling us to make sacrifices for the climate gods while dashing around on private jets. That, though, is nothing out of the ordinary. That sense of obligation, though, did not weigh heavily on Boris Johnson or his staff. The public had every right to demand better, and those setting the rules had an obligation to follow them. To a large extent it made no difference to me either way, but it certainly did for business owners and it certainly did for those with sick relatives in hospital or in the care system, and it certainly mattered for those with public facing responsibilities. Nobody was in a rush to find out what the latest was from Number Ten, and many simply resigned themselves to staying at home for the duration. By Christmas 2020, most had simply tuned out. Subsequent control measures were often conflicting, poorly explained and at times, wholly illogical. The instruction to wash hands regularly was wholly inappropriate for an airborne virus. Government was unable to deliver a coherent and consistent message, and for the first part of the pandemic was issuing the wrong advice entirely. The ultimate failure, however, was a total failure of government communications. The system rapidly lost the confidence of the public, and ended up a very lucrative failure. Perhaps the greatest scandal of all was the total inability to implement an effective test and trace system, electing to do it on a national basis with electronic gimmicks rather than through tried and tested means administered locally. One might have expected that a first world nation of considerable governmental expertise might have had a pandemic plan and the reserve capacity to implement it but Covid has a revealed a dysfunctional state apparatus and a health “service” that isn’t worthy of its name. The omnishambles that followed, however, will take years to unpick. ![]() The public instinct was right on the basis of available information. ![]() With few understanding quite what Covid was, or when it would peak, people made their own home working arrangements at least a week before the government took formal action. When it came down to it, the public made up their own minds. It all very rapidly formed familiar battle lines and the “Let’s go WTO” brexiteers joined the “let it rip” camp. What’s interesting is the way in which the mouth-foaming end of the remainer community effortlessly slotted into the “obey the experts without question” camp. Though we can be glad that neither side prevailed, if I had to pick a side it would be the former camp. If they’d had their way we’d still be under a strict lockdown. ![]() On the one hand you have cranks who think it’s all a big government conspiracy and a hoax, and on the other, curtain twitching authoritarians who would have buttoned us up tight from day one. The polarising effect of social media, though, does have its uses just so we know where we stand. The debates online have been neither useful nor informative. My views on Covid are about as close to centrism as I’ll ever get. Get ready for the great climate lockdown By Pete North - January 11, 2022 ![]()
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