If I had said to you, at the beginning of 2020, that you might soon be barred from seeing your children and grandchildren by the government. You would have responded with very straightforward advice. You should go to a darkened place and lay down.
But in the days that followed, we accepted this sinister decree on the grounds that it was an emergency – a short, three-week emergency we were told.
Many were overcome by panic from the virus that swept through the country after Boris Johnson (a freedom-loving individual) discovered his true nature and abolished Christmas.
We are now two years in the past to implement emergency measures that are doing untold harm on our society’s fabric.
It’s a very dangerous situation, and many have been coerced into accepting it.
Even with new concrete evidence that the Omicron variant will not cause the devastation first predicted, there are very real fears that, if this year’s Christmas has been reprieved, New Year could be cancelled instead.
This cannot happen. It is time to stop.
Even with new concrete evidence that the Omicron variant will not cause the devastation first predicted, there are very real fears that, if this year’s Christmas has been reprieved, New Year could be cancelled instead. That must not be the case. It is not enough.
There must be no new unnecessary restrictions this week whether the PM sees fit to recall Parliament for an emergency session or whether he resorts simply to more ‘guidance’.
We need to shake off the panic-driven groupthink gripping the nation – and our political masters.
Charles Mackay, the great thinker, observed almost two centuries ago that humans go insane in groups.
Sadly, as Mackay noted in his book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, they only recover their senses ‘slowly, one by one’.
This was back in an era when the penny post and the printing press were the primary engines for mass communication.
What would he think of Twitter broadcasting alarmist messages in our living rooms?
Is it possible to terrorize the herd of humans faster? So it proved.
How much slower will be the return of sanity and calm reasoning amid the electronic fog of confusing data and ‘daily Covid deaths’?
The concept of context is very rare. For example, weekly figures from just two weeks ago reveal that there have been 661 deaths due to Covid in England or Wales.
The Chancellor had no choice last week but to add another billion pounds of aid to the £400 billion already spent on Covid measures. However, real money is not as easy to come by when you add a billion here or a hundred billion there. Pictured: A empty House of Fraser, Bond Street in London
This is an awful picture. It is sad that Covid was the only cause reported for death when 11269 other causes were used in the same week.
Why don’t our broadcasters discuss the wider context? Why don’t they contribute to a more rational discourse, including the balance of risks involved?
Is it because Covid can be the only driver of policy that is being discussed so rarely?
Their fear-mongering, blinding coverage should be shamed.
Of course, I do not blame the public for this groupthink – or for being totally confused, as diktat is swapped for guidance at the drop of a hat, and guidance for diktat.
The self-isolation period in positive cases has been cut from ten to seven consecutive days just a few days before.
We have not been that long since Omicron, the largest threat from pandemics to date was mentioned by Dr Susan Hopkins at the Health Security Agency.
Yet just a few days ago she was talking about the ‘first signs of cautious optimism’ as the data came in proving – as predicted – that the variant is in fact less virulent.
In the past few weeks, we have seen mandatory isolation for people ‘suspected’ of being in contact with an Omicron case introduced and then replaced with a much more benign regime of testing.
What has happened to millions of schooldays and work hours that were lost to an isolation program now recognized to be longer than needed?
Constant and bewildering rule changes could have been designed to habituate people into waiting for instructions from our ‘betters’ in Whitehall.
Constant and bewildering rule changes could have been designed to habituate people into waiting for instructions from our ‘betters’ in Whitehall. Pictured: London’s Soho, once bustling for Christmas has fallen into a Christmas sleep in 2021
This has been the fate for families and businesses across the country in the lead-up to Christmas.
You were unsure if you should buy a turkey or goose. Or did you wait to see if there are 12 people or two.
Are you ready to book your train ticket or wait for the word at No. 10?
How would you feel if your restaurant has been closed for six consecutive months?
How would you feel if the Christmas season was a big success? You’ve taken on extra staff and ordered stock, only to find most of your bookings cancelled.
It’s a disaster.
What sane bank manager would extend credit to a business that is turned on or off at the click of a Minister’s fingers?
Three million-strong hospitality industry is dying from confusion and restrictive policies.
Cancelled parties can hit the salon and dress shop as quickly as the restaurant or pub.
The loss of demand ricochets back up the supply chain – and adds to the fearsome economic woes to come.
The Chancellor had no choice last week but to add another billion pounds of aid to the £400 billion already spent on Covid measures. However, real money is not as easy to come by with a few billions here or there.
Further subsidy is needed to stop the collapse of airline companies that had managed to claw their way to two-thirds their usual business. However, passengers who decide to not take the chance will see cancellations.
There must be no new unnecessary restrictions this week whether the PM sees fit to recall Parliament for an emergency session or whether he resorts simply to more ‘guidance’
Thomas Paine (18th century liberty advocate) urged American colonists in a piece titled Common Sense to think about whether it might be more beneficial to decide for themselves rather than wait for a London colonial government or London to give them laws.
‘A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom,’ he wrote.
After nearly two years of Covid the damage is done.
It is now our ‘custom’ to accept orders, to wait until we are told what we are ‘allowed’ to do.
It is acceptable for a government to tell us what and where it can be done. They will tell you who can be seen.
Even ‘snogging’ under the mistletoe has fallen under the ambit of Government guidance.
It might have been possible to accept this in an emergency situation with a new virus.
It isn’t. We must now regain control of our lives. The Government must rediscover British values like liberty and respect.
We have been reminded by the Socialist government in Wales and the Nationalists of Scotland that even more restrictive restrictions than the ones in England are not making any difference.
This is a lesson we must all learn. In terms of infections, the Swedes were not afraid to let their people go and kept schools open. This is a similar outcome as what we’ve seen here.
Comparatively speaking, the economy of these countries has been successful.
Leaks from Cabinet meetings are always concerning, such as last week’s leak in which Ministers gathered to resist new restrictions, just before Christmas.
But if those reports are true, it suggests that senior figures in the Government are now ‘recovering their senses, slowly, one by one’.
That would make the perfect Christmas gift.