Consumer society is too precious to fall victim to this loathsome ‘new normal’

‘Ithought I’d miss shopping, but I’m amazed by how little I actually need,” a friend said as we walked in the park the other day. Both furloughed, she and her boyfriend have settled into cosy domesticity; cycling around London in glorious weather, baking, reading, enjoying the simpler pleasures. As she waxed lyrical about the spartan life, I felt almost guilty when I imagined a trip to a department store, trying on clothes, spritzing perfumes, breathing in the scent of soaps, and felt a pang of loss. I bitterly miss shopping – the proper sort, not the coldly utilitarian Covid variety – as I miss convenience of all kinds.

This pandemic has brought a loathsome new lexicon of its own. “Social distancing” is one; pure Orwellian doublespeak for something innately anti-social. Yet I particularly despise the phrase “the new normal”. At best, it demonstrates stoicism. At worst, brainwashing, designed to convince a wearied public to tolerate, even embrace, a dystopian lifestyle that overrules centuries of progress. Already, this underlying complacency has left us slumbering at the wheel while profoundly abnormal things happen.

Last week, the Government extended some of the most draconian laws in our history for three more weeks, a phenomenon that passed largely unnoticed as the nation convulsed over that fateful trip to Durham. Yet how extraordinary that condemning a nation to semi-house arrest required neither a parliamentary debate nor vote. It sometimes feels as if we are meant to be grateful for each droplet of freedom the Government sees fit to grant with its “baby steps” out of lockdown. Garden centres? Yay! Car showrooms? Whoopee! Lockdown fanatics remind critics to count their blessings, “it could have been worse,” they say, “had we gone for a ‘proper’ lockdown like Italy or Spain.”

Of course, any loosening of the economy is welcome, such as the latest announcement that nonessential shops may open from June 15, but under the terms of the “new normal”, what do these relaxations really mean?

So far, the Government has been excessively cautious; clinging rigidly to the 2m rule, despite the lack of real scientific justification for it, heralding a more atomised society and inevitably decimating swathes of retail, hospitality and tourism. Some shops are contemplating bonkers strategies in order to comply; shoe-sellers are talking of “quarantining” shoes for 24 hours after they’ve been tried on. Yes, you heard that right. I’ve seen the “new normal” and it’s stupid.

Likewise, queuing may be a national virtue, but a little goes a long way. In a capitalist society, it should be abnormal and wrong to stand in line for basic essentials – lines that, in normal times (actual normal, not the satanic “new” variety) would be found only in communist dictatorships or outside Alton Towers in June. And thanks to the 2m rule, these queues are far longer than necessary. We should also refuse to accept a long-term future that involves public mask-wearing.

The irony is that individuals are steaming ahead of the Government in their behaviour, even if it doesn’t always show up in opinion polling. When Ministers announced that small groups could meet in parks, they merely made official something that had operated below the radar for weeks.

In reality, most of us, bar lockdown zealots registering a Force 10 on the Piers Morgan scale, have grown more tolerant of infringements, one reason why government advice on when one can visit the lavatory and precisely how many can gather outside sound increasingly silly compared to the reality. Yet politicians’ words have serious consequences for businesses in the complex world beyond Westminster – and growing “comfortable” carries inherent risks.

Food rationing famously limped on for a full nine years after World War Two had ended. The pushback against freedom continued throughout the Fifties; many on the Left despised Britain’s journey towards consumerism – railing against the refrigerators, washing machines, cars and other vulgar American trappings they felt were corrupting the body politic.

As then, many left-wing thinkers see this pandemic as the perfect opportunity to realise their collectivist visions. Apolitical people, like my friend, comfortably furloughed (for now at least) and heeding the siren call of a “simpler life”, may ignore the enormity of what they are giving up. It took hundreds of years for a consumer society to develop. We cannot just sit back and accept its destruction.

We are meant to be grateful for each droplet of freedom the Government grants us. Garden centres? Yay! Car showrooms? Whoopee!