An illustration of just how limited our democratic space has become
With Kier Starmer's press conference on October 13 the consensus that accompanied the first lockdown has officially broken down. In addition there is widespread talk of Covid-fatigue at the same time as some recognition that it is multi-faceted Note: Covid Fatigue . One might expect northern (Labour) mayors to challenge central government for bypassing them, but at the same time we have Jake Berry MP for Rossendale and Darwen setting up a “trade union” of 27 conservative MPs as the Northern Research Group Note: Northern Opposition .
In this piece I look at track and trace through the lens of a politics that the state is a human activity system operating for the benefit of its citizens
In this letter Professor Nigel Harvey lists many putative reasons for non-compliance, including reduced trust in authorities, decreases in perceptions of risk, increased complacency and changes in values (eg, an increased emphasis on libertarianism). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/11/resistance-to-lockdown-rules-is-not-just-fatigue
This article covers the extent to which northern Labour local government has and is being consulted and also covers the creation of the Northern Research Group which is named as a self conscious copy of the ERG as well as being self described as a sort of trade union for northern Conservative MPs. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/11/northern-england-mayors-given-noon-deadline-to-submit-covid-plans
I have no specialist knowledge of epidemiology, I am qualified to identify the characteristics of a system, my profession was Systems Analyst, I worked as an IT Project Manager and Consultant and have an MBA from Leeds University Business School.
The Great Barrington Declaration expresses the libertarian view, which can be summarised as let it rip to get herd immunity just protect the vulnerable vs. more stringent public health approaches within which we can include the idea of a circuit breaker, see https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/07/why-herd-immunity-strategy-is-regarded-as-fringe-viewpoint
In a bad year seasonal flue kills 600,000 people or so worldwide, so far from Covid-19 we have had over 1,000,000 deaths in 9 months. Figures for the UK published by the ONS show covid is three times as bad as seasonal flu https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8818575/Covid-19-killed-THREE-TIMES-people-flu-pneumonia-year.html
“North of England leaders vow to oppose lockdown without financial support” https://www.theguardian.com/p/f3jhc/sbl
In response to comments by Boris Johnsons an article in the Guardian appeared https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/sep/23/are-britons-too-freedom-loving-to-follow-covid-rules. This was also picked up by other news media.
Good businesses note, of course there are those that exploit their staff and use raw power to impose what is going to generate profits power to but the difference is business don’t claim to be democracies.
In the tradition of Owen, Rowntree, Salt and many others
So that I am not misunderstood it is quite an achievement to build what has been built so far from a standing start in less than 6 months. That isn’t the point, the NHS a public body was also able to switch on a huge amount of additional resource at short notice. It isn’t a case of public good private bad its rather a case of how you conceptualise the problem and then manage the implementation of the solution – good design and good delivery vs poor design and poor delivery. The management process matters, in a democracy it also matters that it is open.
The real extent of local involvement https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/coronavirus-local-lockdowns
On Covid https://www.ft.com/content/d45d8540-7bc0-4faa-aeda-a1ed73ed82f7
And as a longer term trend drawing criticism from the National Audit Office https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Use-of-consultants-and-temporary-labour
In April this was the situation, the WHO did not think immunity passports were feasible https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/immunity-passports-in-the-context-of-covid-19
Just one example https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/16/government-ignores-uk-textiles-firms-desperate-to-make-ppe.
The government wants to use business but apparently only big business because it can scale. The problem is this; most government is massively bigger that anything private companies attempt - so the large corporate firms chosen for centralised solutions fail, to make matters worse they are not democratic and push for commercial confidentiality, we continue to assume they have the expertise and that that the civil service and local government do not. I am reminded of the comment Norman Tebbit is reported to have made when asked about Archie Normans chances of becoming Conservative leader – just because he can run a supermarket does not mean he can run the country. But small companies used in local situations wouldn't have this problem, they would have specific contracts tailored to be part of a bigger solution being put together by people close to the work in their areas. Using small companies in these circumstances might actually help local economies.