UK Society – The New Observer

Over zealous policing and under zealous policing

I am sure that many police officers have been policing the Covid-19 restrictions in the UK responsibly and lawfully.

That cannot be said of everyone. Consider these comments from the Chief Constable of Devon Cornwall:

Asked about the guidance around travelling for exercise, Mr Sawyer suggested getting in the car to travel for exercise should be “exceedingly rare” in Devon and Cornwall, which is largely rural. “I’m expecting too many people to get Covid-19 and die if we carry on. That’s what I’m expecting. So let’s not make that happen,” he said. …

The Chief Constable is clearly proposing to put people in his cells for doing something which is not against the law. The Regulations are clear: there is no restriction on how far you can go to exercise and how you get there. [1]

The Chief Constable is confusing the ‘guidance‘ with the law. He can of course claim in his defence that the government has set him up for this confusion by issuing two parallel strands of instructions – guidance and law. Nonetheless really he should be able to tell the difference.

Advice on Covid

The government is now advising people to “act like you’ve got it [Covid-19 infection]”. [1]

This is actually quite good advice. Covid-19 is a respiratory infection with significant asymptomatic transmission.

One point I guess the government is hoping no one mentions too loudly is – if the advice is “act like you’ve got it” then that in effect renders the £22 billion Test and Trace system redundant. Oh, not to worry – most of it went to our friends in the private sector which was the whole point anyway…

Notes

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/government-covid-19-ad-campaign-public-act-youve-got-it/

The language of power 2

This is a major theme in its own right and regrettably I just have time for a quick copy and paste.

One of the reasons for the growth in the child protection industry is to provide a distraction from questions of poverty and unequal distribution of wealth. The whole victim ideology cultural impetus of which child protection is a subset is about individualising people – and thus shoring up power.

The vulgarity of power

Power in the UK is becomming incrasingly crude and unpleasant in its naked and brash self-confidence. It is rampant. It knows it has won. (The last battle has been againt ‘authority’ and it has won that battle soundly). It no longer needs to make itself sound decent.