It’s here!. I could barely sleep last night. Excitement at the prospect of our impending freedom and what I would be able to do today that I could not do yesterday had my mind racing at fever pitch. I would be off to work, back in my office, having coffee with colleagues and teaching real live students. In the evening I would wander down to the pub, pop into Sainsburys on the way home for bottle of wine and then sit in my garden and reflect on what a great day I had just had. And all without the need to wear a mask or shuffle round one-way systems…and then I woke up.
Orwellian doublespeak has been one the most used and, perhaps, overused analogies in the past 16 months but there is hardly a better example of the genre than declaring a Freedom Day that has barely a recognisable scrap of freedom about it. The Ministry of Truth (once known as the BBC) may as well be broadcasting slogans such as ‘Restriction is freedom’, ‘Staying at home is going out’ and ‘Conformity is revolution’. I was quite clear that 19 July would not bring us freedom and the government’s interim announcement, having cancelled the original Freedom Day, made it perfectly clear that it would not be. The only change is that pro tem—until the next lockdown is announced in the Autumn as I predict it will be—the government is not taking responsibility for enforcing the restrictions.
This act of moral and political cowardice has led to one major freedom, the freedom of the COVID fusspots, a motley crew of assorted left-wing metropolitan mayors and virtue-signalling supermarkets to impose their own rules. For example, regarding mask wearing and social distancing my vice chancellor at the University of Hull has announced that nothing will change after 19 July. Mask wearing and social distancing will remain in place on the premises of the university indefinitely and the return to work will continue to be staged. I have not set foot in my office since mid-March 2020 and am very unlikely, if ever, to do so until after September this year. I retire in January so I may never see it again. I guess this will be reflected across the higher education sector. After all, they were among the first to get the ‘COVID willies’ way back in 2020 when they sent students home or, for those unable to go home, imprisoned, malnourished and starved them in their halls of residence. Meantime full fees are being charged for a second-rate student experience.
The crisis continues as do the lies. The Ipsos Morons reported last week that three in four in the UK ‘believe wearing face masks in public is very important’. No less an outlet than The Financial Times questioned the propriety of this and other claims. But you hardly need a polling company to tell you that these data are nonsense. I conducted my own ‘research’ the week before last and used a very useful research tool called the television. My sample consisted of 60 thousand people representing a fair cross section of classes, political views, politicians of both major parties and it even included members of the Royal Family. I hardly saw a mask. If the figures for masks are correct, I should have seen 45 thousand of them. Of course, I am referring to the Euro 2020 final but other samples, showing similar results, were available at previous matches and at another major sporting event in South West London. I simply do not believe the polls, but I can also see how convenient they are for the government to help create the impression that most people want to continue masking up. If you are one of the dissenters, then you will be in the minority.
Now we have the ‘pingdemic’ which is making us an international laughing stock. People are being ‘pinged’ on the NHS COVID app through the walls of houses, in restaurants which were deserted and passing folk in the street. The result is that half a million people were ‘pinged’ last week and had to remain off work. Hospital staff are disproportionately affected as hospitals are where many people with COVID go; which boffin did not see that coming? So, what do hospital staff do? They, like all sensible people, disable the app. The initial development of this app cost over ten million pounds. Not exactly money well spent.
Unemployment is rising, those who are working are being ‘pinged’ and off work, many businesses are barely functioning, and the government continues shaking the magic money tree and creating derivatives which will land our children and grandchildren with debt for decades. The result, inevitably, is inflation with the ever present threat of rising interest rates both of which are covert taxes and both of which have a disproportionately deleterious effect on the working classes. I can only suppose that the next government slogans will be ‘Poverty is riches’ and ‘Unemployment is work’. Welcome to Freedom Day.
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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