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For what it's worth, here's my diagnosis of the government's response to the virus.
At the start, it was faced with conflicting advice and opted for the most alarmist option out of fear of a backlash from the media and the electorate. 1/
At the start, it was faced with conflicting advice and opted for the most alarmist option out of fear of a backlash from the media and the electorate. 1/
After lockdown began, it became evident that only a tiny proportion of the population would require hospital treatment and that the NHS could cope. By then, the most vulnerable had been bundled into care homes, causing the majority of Covid related deaths.. 2/
…and the healthy had been put under house arrest, dooming the economy and causing huge psychological trauma. From this point, government strategy became a face-saving exercise. 3/
Anything other than a slow retreat would look like proof of incompetence. Mention of protecting the NHS was dropped & evidence that the virus was less deadly than first thought was ignored in favour of implying that it had the potential to cause widespread illness and death. 4/
Once lockdown was relaxed, pointless social distancing rules remained, primarily as an in-your-face endorsement of the government's original arguments, but also because ministers had grown fond of having the population on the short leash. 5/
Supposedly conservative politicians discovered an appetite for flexing their big state muscles, and envisaged a world living in a constant state of fear and crisis, which would allow them to roll out socialistic policies they would not have previously entertained. 6/
Still terrified of the 'nasty' jibe directed at them by Labour and its media allies, the Tories determined to string out the lockdown for as long as possible, as proof of their concern for public health. 7/
Rather than allowing growing evidence that the virus was relatively harmless to guide its response, the government allowed its determination to be seen as cautious and compassionate to inform its portrayal of the virus. 8/
The government has now painted itself into a policy corner. It knows the moment it ditches the last of its illiberal Covid regulations, its opponents will pounce and accuse it of murderous recklessness - its greatest fear. 9/
If it persists with its policies much longer, however, they will do irreparable damage to society. Boris and co are faced with an urgent choice between destroying a nation and abject humiliation. 10/
Many of Boris's opponents insist that Boris didn't go far enough in stealing our liberties, so are unlikely to expose the virus as a big nothing. Others, however, will look to publicise the reality of Covid-19 and portray the government's response as an unmitigated disaster. 11/
Whether they are allowed the oxygen of publicity by our obnoxiously authoritarian media is another matter, but let's hope for all our sakes they succeed.12/
