How a united and resolute Britain will win the day
ONCE renowned for his ebullience, the Prime Minister was at his most sombre when he gave his televised broadcast about the Government’s renewed drive to contain the virus.
As infections and hospital admissions rise here in Britain, all hopes of a return to some kind of normality this autumn have been dashed.
Instead, the Government is to impose a series of tough new restrictions, including pub and restaurant curfews, heavier fines for non- compliance, an extension of compulsory maskwearing, and new limits on social gatherings.
The tentative push to allow the resumption of spectator sports and live entertainment will be abandoned, as will the campaign to encourage workers to return to their offices.
Boris Johnson’s announcement was depressing but realistic. Given the scientific predictions about the potential spread of Covid, it would have been impossible for his Government to do nothing. If the virus is allowed to spiral out of control, the very fabric of our society will be ripped apart.
Some sceptics urge that only the vulnerable and elderly should be shielded, while restrictions are lifted for the healthier, younger population, most of whom are at far less risk of fatal contagion. But such an approach would be cruel, divisive and ineffective.
MILLIONS of innocent citizens would be trapped in lonely isolation but would still be in mortal danger from a terrible disease raging like wildfire through society.
The Prime Minister himself demolished this irresponsible argument when he said in his broadcast that “your mild cough could be someone else’s death knell”.
All the indications are that the overwhelming majority of the public agrees. One opinion poll yesterday showed 77 per cent approved of the Government strategy, while just 13 per cent were opposed. Such figures demonstrate the habitual British willingness to accept adversity and sacrifice for the perceived wider good.
As Winston Churchill once put it, “The British nation is unique. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst.”
Despite its rigour, this policy is not as draconian as many expected. It is nothing like a second lockdown, and is accompanied by some signs of optimism. In the fight against Covid, our country is now in a far stronger position compared to March. Huge advances have been made towards a vaccine, while better treatments are available because of greater knowledge about the disease.
Moreover, the most alarming scientific forecasts may turn out to be unjustified. As the Prime Minister pointed out in the Commons on Tuesday, a feasible estimate of infections doubling every 20 days would produce 8,400 new daily cases by midOctober, far below the grim warning of 50,000 new cases set out by Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer on Monday. So there are grounds for hope that the tide may be turning by next spring.
But the new measures have to be given a chance. The Government should ignore the eager voices calling for even heavier restraints on the public.
A second lockdown would be disaster, a supposed cure worse than the disease. Our economy has already suffered grievous bodily harm this year, and the new restrictions are bound to cause further serious damage.
The blow from a renewed wholesale state of emergency could be terminal, not just for commerce but also for the debtridden public finances.
The same is true of our freedoms, which have already been drastically curtailed.
IT IS a process epitomised both by the official encouragement for neighbours to spy on each other and by threat that the Army could be deployed in the enforcement of Covid regulations. In the land that pioneered Parliamentary democracy, it would be a catastrophe to go further down that oppressive path.
Ministers must also resist the ugly temptation to blame the public for any rise in Covid cases because of a perceived failure to obey ever more complex official orders. Such fingerpointing is, unfair, hypocritical and counter- productive.
Most of the British public has proved remarkably stoical throughout the crisis, while the Government has built a lengthy catalogue of failures, like the testing regime, and the supply of protective equipment.
Rather than hectoring, the Government would do better to adopt a tone of humility.
To come through this unprecedented ordeal, the nation has to be resolute and united.
‘ The British nation’s unique, the only people who like to be told the worst’