 |
| Bloomberg: (Original Source EuroMOMO) |
Clearly, despite the claims of our government, something has gone catastrophically wrong.
Now, on the other side of the virus, I find myself once more being highly critical of the government for their haphazard response to reopening the economy.
Based upon the number of people lounging in parks, beaches, and other public spaces, regardless of what the government wishes, the lockdown has already ended. This change has been catalysed by a number of factors:
1. Freedom of Movement - The restoration of allowing travel to visit Beauty Spots (not just to test your eyes) has increased the willingness of people to travel, and this trend has been accelerated by the good weather.
2. Smaller deaths and infection numbers now make people feel safer, and reduce the risk. This is particularly true for certain regions. For example, Gloucestershire is reporting close to zero new cases per day (with some discrepancy occasionally).
3. The Cummings debacle. We even made international news with this scandal. The New York Times has been covering the entire debate over Cummings impartially and in great detail. The scandal has also turned the public against Johnson for the first time. Clearly, if he has broken lockdown restrictions to test his eyesight, then why should anybody else follow the restrictions?Thus, regardless of whether the government believes lockdown should be ending, it is ending. Therefore, rather than hopping from half-hearted easing measure to measure, the government should instead allow a much wider opening of the economy, but with very strict regulations. In this way, there can be sufficient control over important social distancing measures, while still allowing the economy to fire back up again.
There are many people (particularly those who choose to call into radio shows) who would like to see the lockdown extended for a plethora of reasons, largely due to fears about health (or maybe intrinsic laziness), but these people are now outnumbered by those who wish to see a return of their civil liberties.
The conclusion of my article is that normality must eventually return to society, and we are in a far better place now in terms of tracking the virus, mandating those who have symptoms to self-isolate, and in treating the virus. Likewise, the prospective vaccine continues to make progress, and this will be what truly frees us from the intolerable length of the lockdown.
Nonetheless, I stand by my original article. The only reason why our lockdown has been required to continue for so long is because of the failure of our government to act which caused catastrophic increases in deaths. Now, we have this meaningless expression of "stay alert" which reminds me of the meaningless catchphrases from the May government such as "Brexit means Brexit". It appears, finally, that the allure of the BoJo government is ending, and rightly, his approval ratings have collapsed.
The time has come for our freedoms to be restored, safely and rapidly. Then, we can only hope that this government does not fail us again.
