Sunday March 22.
Introduction
I’ve been thinking for the last week I need to write some thoughts. Who am I writing for? Perhaps Joe, my gorgeous 7 year old grandson — so when he is my age, he can compare his memories with mine. Perhaps for future grandchildren not even born who will hear about these times. But perhaps just for me. It doesn’t feel as if it matters. It feels important to just write stuff. And record it.
These are ‘strange times’ indeed. After a couple of months where we knew about ‘coronavirus’, and where we probably thought — as we did with Ebola, Sars etc — that this was something that affected Far Eastern countries, this last week has highlighted as one Cabinet minister ‘this is not a game’. It feels as if we are in the foothills of the crisis.
The history of the spread of ‘Covid-19’ in the UK will be told in time. Minutes of COBRA and Cabinet meetings will be released in 2050. Memoirs will be retold. And obviously mistakes have and will be made. The question for me is whether they are honest mistakes, rather than ideological ones.
My reflection right now is that the decision to focus on ‘herd immunity’ in the early days (the words can’t be unsaid, however much some wish them to be) will cost countless lives. The decision not to close pubs and other public buildings will cost countless more. The decision not to lockdown (even now) … the delay in closing schools … the delays in preventing panic shopping.
How South Korea communicated the threat
Confusing messaging hasn’t helped — one day, Johnson announces schools will be closed, the next he reverts to type and tells everyone we will beat this thing. The next day he announces pubs to be closed. And then the weekend hits and all the second homers (with surfboards in their back pockets) drive off to Cornwall, putting irresponsible pressure on local shops and services. Contrast this to the messaging in the Brexit referendum — ‘Take back control’ or in the 2019 election — ‘Get it done’. Always feels as if the government is a week behind the curve. Which ordinarily you may forgive, but as they have the Italian and Spanish models to see how the curve is likely to go vertical, this feels irresponsible. Even negligent (see below for my brother in law’s definition of malfeasance).
I intend to write this from a personal perspective — reflecting on the personal, the local — but always reflecting that through the prism of what is happening nationally and indeed globally. CJ Wright-Mills’ ‘The Sociological Imagination’ makes clear the link between private troubles and public issues. Never has there been a time where that feels clearer.
I hope I can cover some of the following in future days and weeks
How may Covid-19 change the world and the way we live our lives
The foodbank model — coming into its own or showing its limitations?
Has technology helped or hindered our response to #Covid-19?
The political response — would a Government of National Unity help?
Are there positives that may come out of Covid-19 — what may they be?
Is there a role for football (and sport) in combatting Covid-19?
Behavioural science — a help or a danger to suppressing #Covid-19?
Does this change what people think of as the role of the state? Or the size of the state?
That’s a starter … but let me know if you have any other suggestions…
