A Feast of Contradictions

There has never been a time in history when we have had the opportunity to be better informed about the world around us and the events that affect us than today. Yet there has also never been a time when we have been so misinformed either. The plethora of news sources that are available to us constantly contradict one another; sifting the wheat from the chaff, fact-checking stories and dismissing the fake news is harder than ever.

During the 2016 EU referendum campaign it was possible to read convincing cases for either side of the argument, which was why many of us had such a hard time reaching a conclusion as to which way to vote, and why the outcome was as close as it was. The news stories that we hear and read about coronavirus are equally as contradictory, but while the EU referendum had one of two possible outcomes, there are multiple possible consequences of the current pandemic.

On 1^st May, Boris Johnson said that Britain had passed the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, and was “on the downward slope.” He said that Britain had avoided the tragedy seen elsewhere in the world. At that point there had been over 26,000 COVID-19 related deaths in Britain, one of the worst death tolls in Europe. Today (6^th  May) Britain’s death toll is in excess of 32,000 and the worst in Europe; only the USA has had more deaths than we have so I am unclear as to what the tragedy was that Johnson was pleased we had avoided, unless it merely not emulating the number of deaths on the other side of the Atlantic.

We have been assured throughout this pandemic that the Government is following ‘the science’; I would be more reassured if I was clearer on what this rather abstract concept is since other countries have adopted different approaches while also apparently following ‘the science’. We have also been told that it is too early to make comparisons with other countries – Johnson said as much last week – yet, when our figures were well below Italy’s, that was exactly what was being done. It’s likely that comparisons are futile since not only are the figures for deaths in the UK probably inaccurate – that 32,000 could be as many as 13,000 higher – comparing them with other countries that have calculated their figures by different methods is thoroughly misleading.

Then we come to the possible second wave. An Imperial College London projection suggests that coming out of lockdown will result in a second wave of infections deadlier than the first in Italy, yet former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, speaking on LBC radio, says that advice he has received from Patrick Vallance and Jenny Harries left him “optimistic” the UK can now avoid a second wave. Since we seem to be following a similar path to Italy’s these stories are contradictory in the extreme. They expose the possibility that no one really knows what they are talking about.

There has been much contradictory talk about testing. Supporting the notion that anything can be proven with statistics, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that the Government’s target of 100,000 tests per day had been met last week. Then it was revealed that the target had only been met because the figure included some 40,000 test kits that had been sent out in the post; the number of tests that had actually been conducted was therefore much lower. The self-imposed target has not been met since.

When it comes to testing there is a good deal of righteous indignation about who is being tested. Michael Gove’s daughter was tested on the grounds that it was to enable Mr Gove to not be limited to working from home. Broadcaster Piers Morgan has been tested after displaying symptoms, and the question has been asked as to how vital testing either of them actually was. Morgan’s test was justified on the grounds that broadcasters and journalists are essential workers. On that basis is Nigel Farage a key worker? The former UKIP MEP and now LBC radio host was visited by police after complaints about him breaching lockdown restrictions after he travelled to Dover to report on migrants arriving there. Last week Farage travelled to another part of Kent to record a similar video monologue about illegal immigrants. I hold no brief for Farage, but given the crowds of people sunning themselves in parks, holding barbecues and parties, and generally not following lockdown guidelines, I question what harm Farage filming himself riffing on what he perceives to be the evils of illegal immigrants, was actually doing. At least it seemed that he was observing social distancing guidelines, albeit that his journeys to the South Coast to do so were not strictly necessary.

There are anti-lockdown protestors in the UK and the USA wearing masks while claiming that COVID-19 is a hoax. There is opposition to the NHS tracking app that is being trialled on the Isle of Wight on the grounds of Government snooping and control, some of it tweeted from smartphones which have logged as much, if not more data about the user than the NHS app will. Unless the protestors are free of smartphones, home broadband, bank accounts, supermarket loyalty cards and the like, they have already given up vast amounts of data about themselves, voluntarily, and not even in a good cause.

Boris Johnson’s much-publicised bout of coronavirus is another contradiction. There are the inevitable rumours that he never actually had it. Then there were stories that despite his illness, he was in good spirits and able to read important documents; now there are stories that he was at death’s door, and that contingency plans were made for his death. I’m confident that he did have coronavirus, but as I’m sure many people have worked with colleagues who have had convenient illnesses at times when they were due to undertake tasks they wanted to avoid, I can understand why some hold the opposite view. How badly ill Johnson was only he and his doctors truly know, and while I understand why the seriousness of his illness might have been understated – for morale purposes, perhaps – it’s another example of the contradictory stories that have been such a feature of this crisis.

Finally, the lockdown. We locked down too late; we locked down too early. It was too strict; it wasn’t strict enough. It hasn’t been effectively enforced; the police are enforcing it too rigidly. While Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned that the lockdown will not be eased “overnight” his Conservative colleague Iain Duncan Smith has said that it’s time to “unlock the lockdown” saying that we should trust the common sense of the British people. Rees-Mogg has said that the British people had imposed on themselves a stricter lockdown than the Government had called for (it’s been patchy, but I agree with him to some degree). If the British people have sufficient common sense, they will continue to observe a personal lockdown where possible, even if the official one is relaxed.

 

Drivers queue at KFC in Swansea after the fast-food chin re-opened its drive-through 

But, trusting the British people to display common sense is the biggest contradiction of all. Someone should remind Iain Duncan Smith that he’s including people who phoned 999 because KFC ran out of chicken and have been queuing at the same restaurant chain in droves since they reopened their drive-throughs.