 |
| I I asked Gareth how, as a photographer, he would capture the idea of ‘freedom’. “Dogs running over a hill”, he said. (My photo effort here) |
If you’re a libertarian (just had to check my spelling there as ‘librarian’ wouldn’t make sense) and you become leader of a government just as the country, the world even, enters a pandemic (real or invented - let’s not go there), how would you deal with it? To begin with, I guess you’d cautiously let people know what’s going on and give some advice as to how to protect oneself and ones loved ones. And that’s how it was at first, wasn’t it? Boris phwawed and mussed up his hair as he asked us all to wash our hands etc. Then, formulated Guidelines started popping up all over the place and became progressively more proscriptive as people asked for more detail; questions like “If I’m to stay within 5 miles of my home and the nearest supermarket is 5.5 miles away, what am I to do?”, “Is it ok to walk my neighbour’s dog?”, “Can I play golf/go surfing/drive to a walking spot”, “We’ve got five kids, so should I get rid of one to stay within the rule of keeping group sizes to no more than six?” “Should I report someone sitting on a park bench?”etc. (I’ve made those up, but they’re close to reality).
The barrage of questions required refinement of the guidelines; a process that continued until they became a set of rules, laws even, that were often enforced enthusiastically with fines and prosecutions (there are always the conscientious sorts who like getting others to stick to ‘the rules’). I mean, imagine the frustration of those trying to manage things. However lenient a parent’s style might be, when kids seem incapable of working things out for themselves, and an occasion calls for it, boundaries and rules are laid down and have to be enforced And just as kids do, some people were busily disobeying the rules, whether for devilment or on principle. Whatever.
I doubt, though, whether Boris sat at his desk every night fine-tuning the guidelines so that every Tom, Craig and Jemima could find an answer as to how they in particular should behave in the circumstances. Our Covid-19 regulations were drawn up, I imagine, by committees of committees and you’ll possibly be familiar with the old reference to committees being like camels. Or, maybe it was some poor little person in a windowless office with a laptop, churning out rules; straw into gold, like in the Miller’s Daughter fairy tale (I wonder who might Rumplestiltskin be in such a scenario - your guess). And, I seriously doubt whether Boris even read much of those regulations. He was busy making babies and having his flat redecorated.
I think we easily forget that government is a two way process. People react to how government behaves and vice-versa. Rules and legislation came about in the pandemic because so many of us demanded them for our safety. For many people freedom means protection, with rules that ensure the behaviours of others don’t impact on ourselves. I myself have bristled in shops when people seem blithely ignorant of the need for social distancing, stopping myself short of actually demanding more policing of it. I have to remember that my first response to being told that a killer virus was abroad was to exercise common sense. I soon discovered that everyone has a different notion of common sense in which case there’s nothing common about it at all! And then what?
I’m not a Boris fan, but I think his initial task was simply to get us on board with protecting the sadly neglected, under-funded, under-resourced, under-staffed NHS and I doubt he thought much further than that about how human behaviour works. Or am I underestimating him? Brexit? He’s been said to have some talent in ‘reading the mood of the public’….No….that was Cummings et al, surely. Winning the election? You can always win with nice promises. But as everyone knows, you have to keep them if you want others to remain on-side. You have to be seen as honest, sincere and trustworthy. Hmmmm. It looks like he’s been telling porky-pies. Naughty Boris!
Oh dear. This is turning into a ramble through the brambles of the pandemic again and the thorny issue of whether our government has made a hash of it. But I’ve started so I’ll finish. Those parties at Number 10 - If the rule-makers enforce the rules but don’t follow them themselves, what are we to make of it? Well, we can react angrily and demand resignations. After all, so many people lost loved ones without being able to spend last moments with them…..because of the rules. People across the country were being dutiful rule followers while our rule-makers were having parties. I very much doubt (in fact I know) that it wasn’t just Number 10 having parties. Not everyone was following the rules. Nor was it a rule that all happiness be forbidden because of the tragedies befalling others. I had moments of transgression myself though I was careful not to offend or to be a risk to others. I know that to be free I must not intrude on the freedoms of my fellows, but I believe that such deviances were and are necessary to remind ourselves of our individual sovereignty; in a world full of joys as well as hazards. I hope I’m not coming across as callous, but what really is the best way to behave when at any moment we could meet death? Do we shrivel and hide away in darkness, or do we live in the light?
To be honest, I’m not much bothered about whether the gang in Number 10 gathered together in the garden after work for a wee drinkie or two with cucumber sandwiches, canapés or take-aways. Are we still a free country? It’s best not to say one thing and do another, though, as most parents quickly discover, and as as our governors are now discovering, too. However, I’d be much more concerned about our leader if he was an authoritarian autocrat. Maybe that’s what he is - a bully. Certainly there are some, now standing in the wings of government, who could emerge as fully fledged tyrants. Or is he still, in his peculiar bumbling way, maintaining loyalty to libertarian principles……. even if those only apply to himself and his wealthy friends?
In my eyes, Boris is a clown and I didn’t vote for him but I think the furore over parties in Number 10 is a big distraction from the erosion of our freedoms going on elsewhere in government. Look to the Home Office for example and the creep of legislation there. The House of Lords can’t hold it back forever. And who will replace Boris when he falls? Uh-oh.
It’s a farce.
Note that I’m in Wales and have made no mention of Welsh government through the pandemic. Simply put, our Welsh government has a little bark and doesn’t bite very hard. Also, Wales is a lovely land so most of us haven’t complained too much about being locked down in it.
There are of course much bigger issues we can and will fret about, like an impending WW3 if Russia decides to impose itself on Ukrainian liberties, the creep of AI, new virus variants, Climate Change. There’s so much other stuff, but this little blog isn’t the best place for all of that, not at the moment, anyway.
So there I am, dear reader. A little clearer where I stand in relation to the pantomime of our UK government and a bit surer of what freedom means to me at least….I think. I chose not to be boosted for instance but that’s another story, so until next time - please ‘like, share and subscribe’ (only kidding - that’s apparently what you’re supposed to add at the end of blogs and vlogs).
No comments:
Post a Comment