Two weeks on the roads of post-lockdown Britain

Voyage dans une Angleterre en pleine transition...

Durant deux semaines, un journaliste de The Guardian a parcouru le Royaume-Uni pour observer, sur le terrain, les conséquences de la crise du coronavirus. Des petites villes pro-Brexit à la très moderne Bristol, il constate les dures conséquences de la récession – mais aussi de nouvelles initiatives écologiques et solidaires.

Britain is crying out for a better normal. Communities across the country are emerging from lockdown with a new sense of what is possible and what is necessary – and the answers to both go a lot further than Westminster’s efforts to drive the country back to business as usual. That was the overriding impression from a two-week reporting trip around Britain, asking people in different regions how they view recovery and whether there is an appetite for more fundamental change.

2. Travelling by campervan, which doubled as a mobile office, hotel, restaurant and toilet, I interviewed more than 50 people. The Guardian [also conducted] a survey of more than 1,600 people. The poll, carried out at the height of lockdown in May, found that the British public believed the pandemic had been bad for mental health (41% [said it was] negative) and bad for individual finances (31% [are] worse off), but good for family relations. They also said it had been excellent for air quality and the overall health of the planet (75% [agreed]).

''TO BE KIND AGAIN'' 3. The journey revealed how quickly local communities had adapted to ease the worst impacts of lockdown and build on the benefits. Social centres, community-owned pubs, food banks, green groups and art cooperatives repurposed themselves within days to distribute food and medicine, set up online counselling and cooking classes, and provide emergency financial support – sometimes in the form of £50 in an envelope – for the many zero-hours contract workers who were suddenly unemployed but not immediately able to claim benefits.

4. “The virus gave us permission to be kind again,” said Sacha Bedding, manager of the Annexe community centre in Hartlepool. “We should celebrate the way communities have responded. Millions did a good thing.” 5. While communities have shown speed and strength, the national government has proved slow and inept. The UK has so badly botched its response that the country is now recording more weekly deaths than the 27 EU nations combined. Britain’s economy has suffered more than that of any country in the G7. Harder to calculate is the emotional wellbeing of the nation, but the survey found higher levels of stress and many interviewees expressed concern about a looming wave of mental health problems.

6. The reporting trip revealed how low-income Hartlepool has been less affected economically than affluent, globalised Aberdeen. In Hartlepool, a third of families were workless even before the pandemic struck. This meant the town had less to lose and its community support networks were already hardened by previous crises.

7. After the financial crisis of 2008, the government put the onus for recovery on individuals by slashing public spending and encouraging UK consumers to splurge. That is less of an op

1. to cry out for avoir un besoin urgent de / normal normalité / across ici, partout dans / sense perception / both les deux / a lot further bien plus loin / Westminster siège du Parlement/ici, gouvernement britannique / to drive, drove, driven back to inciter à retourner à / business travail, activité économique / overriding prédominant / around ici, aux quatre coins de / to view percevoir, envisager / recovery ici, reprise (aussi, récupération, rétablissement) / whether si (oui ou non).

2. campervan "camping-car" / to double as faire office de (également) / to conduct mener (étude) / survey étude, enquête, sondage / poll sondage (aussi, vote, scrutin) / to carry out mener, effectuer, réaliser / height pic / to find, found, found ici, conclure, révéler / health santé / to be worse off être plus pauvre (worse pire) /

overall global, mondial.

3. journey voyage, périple / how quickly à quelle vitesse / to ease atténuer, limiter / to build, built, built on sth progresser sur base de / benefit effet bénéfique / to own détenir / food bank banque alimentaire / to repurpose oneself se trouver une nouvelle vocation/réorganiser / within days en l'espace de quelques jours, rapidement / to set, set, set up mettre en place / counselling ici, séances de soutien psychologique / to provide fournir, assurer, offrir / emergency (d')urgence / support aide (financière), soutien (financier) / to be able to ici, pouvoir prétendre à / to claim demander.

4. kind gentil, soucieux / way façon, manière / to respond réagir, intervenir.

5. while tandis que / to show, showed, showed or shown ici, faire preuve de / strength force, résistance / to prove s'avérer/se révéler (être) / to botch bâcler / interviewee ici, personne interrogée/ayant fait l'objet de l'enquête / concern inquiétude, crainte / looming imminent / wave vague.

6. low-income à faible revenu, défavorisé / affluent riche, prospère / globalised mondialisé / even même / to strike, struck, struck frapper, sévir / to harden endurcir, aguerrir.

7. onus responsabilité / to slash réduire (considérablement) / spending dépenses / consumer consommateur / to splurge dépenser (beaucoup) /

tion now. Many people are still wary of entering shops and other public spaces. Despite the easing of the lockdown, most shopping centres were eerily empty. Angela Arnold, a coffee shop owner, said mindsets had shifted during lockdown. “I think it has changed people’s perceptions of shopping. We don’t just buy what we want. We feel like we have to justify it is what we need.”

8. The survey found that many people plan to improve themselves. Compared with life before the pandemic, the survey found people expect to keep in better touch with family and friends, visit parks, do physical exercise, socialise with neighbours and eat healthily. Respondents also said they aspired to drink less alcohol, produce less household rubbish and recycle more.

9. There is also hope that lockdown will be good for the environment. But these good intentions could fade quickly without a strong sign from the government that the UK will not drift back to environmentally destructive economic habits. For all the prime minister’s talk of a “fairer, greener recovery”, he seems more interested in pouring concrete, laying tarmac and encouraging consumption.

10. During the trip, mayors and academics said more could be gained if the state opened its wallet with investments to modernise the economy, create jobs and cut emissions. Car manufacturers need a jumpstart to switch production to electric vehicles. Across the country, the biggest employment boost could come from converting home heating systems. Although this may be less politically attractive to the prime minister than building “Boris hospitals”, it will do more to end fuel poverty and create jobs. The nation needs to convert 2,000 home gas boilers every day until 2050 to reach its legally binding net-zero carbon goal.

11. At a community level, this is already happening. In Wales, the “land army” of volunteer workers are sharing their first harvest among the needy, promoting a “buy local” movement. In Bristol, the working-class community of Lawrence Weston plans to build its own wind turbine.

12. This could be a building block for the future. Lucy Stone, a Dorset-based social entrepreneur, believes collective local initiatives are creating a culture of “commoning” – sharing ownership, risks, benefits and decision-making. “You literally give people a stake. You don’t just consult them,” she observed. “This approach could accelerate action on climate.”

13. That is a far cry from Boris Johnson’s “build, build, build” attempt to return to business as usual. But it could bring people together, focus more on wellbeing than profit, and make the country more resilient to future shocks. It would also represent change on the scale the public desires.

still encore / wary hésitant / easing assouplissement / eerily étrangement / empty vide, désert / mindset état d'esprit, mentalité / to shift changer / to feel, felt, felt like avoir l'impression que.

8. to plan to avoir pour projet/intention de / to improve (s')améliorer / compared with contrairement à / to expect to s’attendre à; ici, compter (fig.), avoir l'intention de / to keep, kept, kept in touch rester en contact / to visit ici, se rendre dans / to socialise with fréquenter / neighbour voisin / healthily sainement / respondent personne interrogée / household rubbish déchets ménagers, ordures ménagères.

9. to fade disparaître (progressivement) / to drift back to [bad] habits reprendre ses [mauvaises] habitudes /

for all... malgré / fair juste, équitable / to seem sembler / to pour ici, faire couler (aussi, verser) / concrete béton / to lay, laid, laid tarmac goudronner, macadamiser; ici, construire des routes.

10. mayor maire / academic universitaire, expert / to open one's wallet mettre la main au portefeuille / to cut, cut, cut réduire / manufacturer fabricant, constructeur / jumpstart ici, aide financière / to switch to passer à / to convert ici, remplacer, moderniser / heating (de) chauffage / (al)though bien que, même si / fuel poverty précarité/pauvreté énergétique / boiler chaudière / to reach atteindre / legally binding ici, auquel il s'est engagé / net-zero carbon (de) neutralité carbone.

11. to happen se passer/produire / Wales (le) Pays de Galles (capitale: Cardiff) / volunteer (worker) bénévole / to share partager, distribuer / harvest récolte / among parmi; ici, avec / (the) needy (les) nécessiteux / working-class ouvrier / own propre / wind turbine éolienne.

12. building block composante de base; ici, source d'inspiration / ownership propriété / decision-making prise de décision / literally concrètement, réellement / stake part(icipation).

13. that is a far cry from... c'est bien loin/différent de... / attempt tentative / to bring, brought, brought together fédérer / to focus on être axé sur / profit bénéfices / resilient résistant, apte à rebondir / scale échelle.