Let's understand the twin delusions behind Johnson's latest Covid-19 fiasco: libertarianism and market worship 1/ On 3 Feb he said Britain would not "go beyond what is medically rational to the point of doing real and unnecessary economic damage"...

2/ ... by delaying lockdown against the scientific advice Johnson was in fact following pointless anti-social libertarian principles and trying to "protect the economy". Result: worst death rate and worst economic outcome... and now?...

3/ Since easing began Johnson has tried to sell it as a one-way process; Tories briefed senior business leaders there would be "no second lockdown" - but because UK transmissions remained high, test and trace useless, and no real quarantine - what then happened? Yup....

4/ We are now seeing the *possible* start of a second wave alongside the definite fat tail of the first one. Let's be clear: saving the economy means stopping any second wave with a hard, national lockdown - with mass test and trace, quarantine, the works...

5/ Saving the economy makes the difference between 25% growth Oct-Dec 2020 and a predicted 21% FURTHER collapse (OECD). If the second wave is rising in September, schools won't reopen - never mind SAGE: teachers will not teach - and Cummings, Mirza and Toby Young can't force them

6/ So while the elite clique award each other knighthoods and peerages, something like 3 million people's jobs are being risked by withdrawing the furlough scheme. If you only move in the world of Downing St-Tufton St it's hard to feel how outraged people are...

7/ The Tory instinct is to divert the outrage towards Muslims, migrants and rave party organisers... but the SAGE subcommittee warns: "the conditions for serious
public disorder in multiple locations is likely to develop" and fascist messages are proliferating online (see 8)...

8/ This is a sober but obviously self-censored account of social tensions in the UK (and typically paranoid about 'hardcore elements' in BLM). Short summary: there will be unpoliceable riots if Johnson screws up the next 3 months https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/904677/S0578_SPI-B_Public_Disorder_and_Public_Health_-_Contemporary_Threats_and_Risks.pdf

9/ So the Tories are once again paralysed and screwing up: they said lockdown was a one-way process, now it's in reverse; there's local lockdowns but no local furlough or business support; their own experts are warning Tory racism will lead to disorder...

10/10 Labour is right to focus on jobs; but there is a widespread and rising sense of social injustice - we are approaching the point where there is no HMG strategy to critique. For a left strategy see this... https://medium.com/@paulmasonnews/the-left-the-party-and-the-class-1ca7b6a959e6