I predicted that 19 July would be a damp squib; now I have little doubt. Boris and his henchmen in their briefing yesterday were certainly laying the groundwork for continued or even more stringent restrictions. Boris’s opening line was a giveaway as far as I am concerned. He said that he wanted to show the British people what the situation ‘would’ look like ‘if’ they decided to lift restrictions. Yesterday, 5 June, was supposed to be the day of a definitive announcement of what was going to happen on 19 June. But apparently the decision and final announcement will now be made on 12 June. The damp squib has been moved forward. We are only on the verge of taking ‘step 4’ on the roadmap. I was unaware we had taken steps 1 to 3. The Downing Street announcement was a veritable feast of doom-laden figures, predictions of more doom and quite a few ‘But…and this is an important but’ type provisos if ever the news seemed hopeful. The word ‘risk’ was used repeatedly, a third wave is on the way and the ‘doubling time’ of the virus is shortening.
All the mainstream mediocrities could do was ask if this talk of lifting restrictions was not putting people in danger. I heard nothing in what Johnson, Witless and Unbalanced said that remotely suggested lifting restrictions. The questions were clearly planted. Boris even let slip the phrase ‘control human behaviour’ regarding what they had been trying to achieve to date, amply justifying Laura Dodsworth’s thesis in her book A state of fear. None of the three horsemen of the COVID apocalypse really had any intention of ditching their masks. Boris bumbled about perhaps wearing one on a crowded tube but not on an empty train and the other two could barely point to an instance when they would not be wearing a mask. Plus ça change.
This morning the mainstream media is replete with reports of how cautious firms may maintain mask wearing indefinitely and Paul Nuki in The Daily Telegraph reports how the government has left itself with plenty of ammunition to justify a U-turn on 19 July. The Today programme on BBC Radio 4 (OK – someone must listen to it) was simply end-to-end mask mania today with a stream of people being reported as ‘urging caution’, ‘greatly concerned’ and almost begging the Prime Minister to maintain mask wearing. If these people want to wear masks, then let them but the government should be clarifying that it will fully support those who do not wish to wear a mask and throw the weight of the law behind them. Essentially, they propose a free-for-all situation where the public will be left to fight it out on the streets. Possibly literally. And, just in case you had forgotten, there is not a shred of evidence that wearing face-coverings or disposable surgical masks—in fact COVID restrictions in general—has any benefit and plenty of evidence that it is harmful. Cast your mind back to March 2020 and then forward to where we are now…and weep.
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