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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)...
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
