HP Source: Freedom? We can still go to the pub…

 

We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thing, 24^th September 2020; ‘In the truest sense Freedom cannot be bestowed, it must be achieved’ ⁽¹⁾

 

‘It’s getting faster, moving faster now, it’s getting out of hand..’

 

We start with the ‘idiot of the week’, my congratulations go to Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP for Mansfield who, when asked about the governments new Covid restrictions said, ‘Of course from an ideological perspective neither I nor most colleagues are naturally comfortable with ‘big government’ and draconian measures, nor is that what the public voted us in for. I think we’ve perhaps reached the point where we’d find it really difficult to sell much more than this to our constituents.’

There is an alternative, Bob, unfortunately it means many might die. Collateral damage, perhaps?

Second out, its round two, and Johnson has warned us, ‘If people don’t follow the rules we have set out, then we must reserve the right to go further.’

Mercifully that great British institution, the pub will remain open but will have to close at 10pm. I suspect Wetherspoons regulars will still have sufficient time to get wasted.
 

‘Well, we wanna be free, we wanna be free to do what we wanna do

And we wanna get loaded and we wanna have a good time..’

 

And, in yet another U-turn, less than a month after Downing Street said it was planning an advertising campaign to tempt staff back into the workplace, people are now being urged to work from home where possible,

The need for this fresh action was underlined by official figures showing the number of new coronavirus cases across the UK had shot up to 4,926, the highest daily figure since May, though many more tests are now being carried out.

Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the government’s most senior scientific and medical advisers, warned the public on Monday that the UK had ‘turned a corner’ for the worse, and could have 50,000 new cases a day by mid-October.

Whilst Johnson tried in vain to evoke his inner Winston Churchill, the more realistic statement came from the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, who said in his party conference speech that a second lockdown would be ‘a sign of government failure, not an act of God’.
 

‘a second lockdown would be ‘a sign of government failure, not an act of God’’

 

What I found especially interesting was the increasing discontent this has caused within the Tory party, whips have had to canvass support to ascertain what level of fresh restrictions MPs would be willing to support:
 

• Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP for Mansfield, said economic support was needed for affected sectors but MPs could tolerate today’s measure. ‘Number 10 is caught between a rock and a hard place here, and I know that they need to be seen to take action for a variety of reasons,’ Bradley said. ‘What I’m very conscious of though is a general feeling among many of my constituents that they don’t want further restrictions.
• One new-intake Conservative MP said: ‘The mood from colleagues and from my constituents is, ‘this far and no further’.

 

One of the more thought out comments came from Nickie Aiken, the Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, who said the impact on local businesses ‘will now be overwhelming’ and called for an urgent rethink of support available.

She said cafes and bars could be forced to close by the cumulative impact of fewer customers and restricted hours, and that the conference and events sector was ‘reeling from the announcement that their work will not start on 1 October and potentially may not restart for six months’

If we ever needed proof that Johnson simply doesn’t get it, it came when he told Barnsley MP Stephanie Peacock: ‘Testing and tracing has very little or nothing to do with the spread and transmission of the disease. The spread and the transmission of the disease is caused by contact between human beings and all the things that we’re trying to minimise.’

Challenged over why Germany and Italy had achieved lower Covid-19 case numbers without renewed lockdowns, Johnson suggested it was because the UK was ‘a freedom-loving country. It is very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary,’ he added.
 

‘It is very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary’

 

Johnson never tires of telling us we are a great nation. Why then have we handled the pandemic so badly?

Italy puts us to shame. Economically, we are worst than most, too. But then he tells us, ‘There is an important difference between our country and many other countries around the world. Our country is a freedom-loving country.’ Which is why he was ‘deeply, spiritually reluctant to make any of these impositions, or infringe anyone’s freedom. Virtually every advance, from free speech to democracy, has come from this country.’
 

‘Here comes Johnny Yen again

With the liquor and drugs

And the flesh machine..’

 

Oh, please stop, the Greeks and Romans were doing that whilst we lived in caves. This is so ‘little Englander’, but it simply isn’t true anymore. We have a total inability to deal with anything that can be considered out of the norm, an inch of snow brings the country to a standstill.

Liberty and freedom isn’t going the pub, its freedom of speech, of thought, of belief. There must be government, government must lead, without it you have anarchy.

The right-wing anti-vax loonies aren’t anarchists, they are too stupid for that. They are simply people being difficult.

Lockdowns are for the common good, for all of us, it worked last time because we all accepted that fact. If it wasn’t for the harm they would do others I would happily leave the anti-brigade to their own fate!
 

‘Lockdowns are for the common good, for all of us, it worked last time because we all accepted that fact’

 

When Johnson talks about freedom, he means the absence of state power, as in the US, where people seem to think that the opposite of freedom is government.

Freedom-loving Brits are not state-haters, we have historically championed freedom because of ours strong adherence to the rule of law.

Johnson misunderstands this, perhaps deliberately, implying that our love of freedom makes us less likely to follow the rule of law, ‘It is very difficult to ask the British population uniformly to obey guidelines in the way that is necessary.’  Are we then a nation of rule-breakers?

Where we do differ is that our traditionally light-touch approach has defended the freedoms of the rich and powerful at the expense of those of the masses.

For example, by restricting trade unions it diminishes the freedom of employees to organise and obtain better pay and conditions.

Or, limited housing regulations increases the freedom of landowners, developers, and landlords, at the expense of tenants.

Johnson’s interpretation of freedom benefits the few at the expense of the masses. Sending people back to work helps business but not the freedom of employees to protect themselves and their families.
 

‘the cultural fault line between industrial and non-industrial areas is becoming less relevant, the divide is now between the cities and everywhere else’

 

Withdraw state support for the furlough scheme frees people from the ties of government but leave them penniless and powerless.

It is that often said that the virus doesn’t respect borders or regions, however there is evidence to show that it is starting to reshape the country.

The often quoted ‘north-south divide’, or the cultural fault line between industrial and non-industrial areas is becoming less relevant, the divide is now between the cities and everywhere else.

In the 2019 general election, Labour did well in cities such as Liverpool, Cambridge, Bristol and Newcastle, and made modest gains in places such as Bradford West and several London constituencies.

However, their non-metropolitan heartlands the so-called ‘red wall’ seats such as County Durham and the east Midlands, deserted the party for the Tories.
 

‘the conurbations where the remaining pockets of Labour support resides have been worst hit’

 

Whilst Covid-19 isnt selective, the conurbations where the remaining pockets of Labour support resides have been worst hit.

This has led to right-wing commentators portraying them as hotbeds of anarchy and crime, suggesting they are ruled by a sinister ‘woke’ establishment of universities, museums, art galleries, local authorities and other civic institutions.

This has been led by the Tory press linking their fantasies of urban degradation and the impact of coronavirus on English civic life. This is like the US where Republicans suggest that ‘Democrat-controlled’ cities are to blame for an apparent rise in civic unrest and lawlessness.

This is a deliberate ploy which provides the Tories with the opportunity to eliminate the last bastions of resistance to their dominance. They and their tame press paint pictures of left-wing strongholds and discredit the Labour-controlled cities readying us for a future Tory takeover.
 

‘Johnson can begin to repeat last years election campaign of stoking the popular resentment against institutional elites’

 

Whilst this fear of the left is manna from heaven or those in the traditionally Tory rural areas, Johnson can begin to repeat last years election campaign of stoking the popular resentment against institutional elites to make inroads into these urban areas.

He will once again take on the mantle of the insurgent, anti-establishment candidate, a no-nonsense character who would ‘get Brexit done’ despite opposition from the law courts and the Westminster.

Whilst Labour has not been in government for nearly a decade, in many parts of the Midlands and North Labour councils have been the local political establishment for far longer. Bizarrely this plays to the Tory’s strengths, their austerity policy has led to considerable resentment against these Labour-controlled councils, despite the fact that in most cases local government had no way of mitigating the effects of the government imposed austerity.

The first test of this theory will be in next Mays local elections, as Johnson portrays himself as the voice of the silent majority arriving on the scene to restore order and good common sense.

Paradoxically, just at the time when the government should be sinking without trace, there is evidence to suggest that they will tighten their stranglehold on the new English political landscape. Rather like in ‘Jaws’, just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water….
 

‘The change will do you good

I always knew it would

Sometimes I’m thinking that I love you

But I know it’s only lust..’

 

Notes:
 

1. Franklin Roosevelt

 

A totally different feel to this week’s piece – less angry, more analytical, and possibly less hopeful? Last week Philip drew the distinction between what is urgent and what is important observing that Brexit is urgent only to this government and a minority.

In a week where the Freight Transport Association warned of an internal border for HGVs in Kent with 23 miles of trucks parked up three abreast, Brexit doesn’t even get a mention; instead the pandemic is front and centre as it poses an existential and rapidly resurgent threat and most considered Mr Sunak’s ‘son-of-furlough’ scheme insufficient to prevent very many millions joining the dole queue.

Perhaps a second wave was inevitable the moment schools returned and Freshers Week came around, but as frightening as nobody having a handle on what’s coming next is, shouldn’t we be more concerned that many Tories are adopting such a begrudging stance when it comes to further restrictions.

‘Thus far and no further’ may impress your property developer mates waiting to fill their boots after Jenrick gave them free rein, but that’s less palatable if, as a consequence, you find yourself whittling down the list of mourners for your granny’s funeral.

The long-running theme of inequality remains, but with a different twist; a commentator I read this morning said it was fueling the class divide because the working classes are more likely to have to travel to a place of work and be in close proximity than they are to join the middle classes in front of a screen at home. Philip sees the divide as being between urban areas and the rural surroundings and makes a very cogent argument for yet another growing area of inequality.

Perhaps most dispiriting is the fact that seemingly the GBP refuses to comply; Boris would have it that this is a manifestation of our indomitable spirit and hard won freedoms, but it feels much less palatable, and perhaps inevitable given the behaviour of his chief of staff. The fish rots from the head.

Lyrically, four cracking tracks, and as relevant as ever: First up ‘Manchester’s finest are always there’ 1pt for Joy Division and 3pts for Disorder; then ‘the album that started off the 90s in the UK, lets get high and dance’ 3 pts apiece for Primal Scream and ‘Loaded’.

Next ‘perhaps the best-known track from his two solo albums from the 70s – 3 pts for Iggy Pop, 3 for ‘Lust for life’ and a bonus for the name of the soundtrack it appeared on *; lastly ‘the best punk band out of Leeds’ and it’s a belter three apiece for Gang of Four and ‘Damaged Goods’.

No winners last week, so a rollover this week, electronic entries only please; enjoy!

_{* Trainspotting}

 

 
 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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