Make us free to own our decisions. . .
IF THE Government used emergency powers to make it illegal to walk on the cracks in the pavement or to stop people from eating chicken on a Tuesday, would that be OK, or would it make you really angry?
Some might say watching where you step is always a good thing and being forced to vary your diet isn’t really a hardship at all.
This would be missing the point. If you allow ministers to make arbitrary rules and laws, it won’t stop there.
Why not require bald men to wear hats in winter? Or fine people £100 a day if they don’t do their 10,000 steps?
This would reduce chapped heads, obesity and heart attacks – who could object? Simple answer: we all should.
In the darkest days of lockdown we all remember the police moving people on for sitting quietly on a park bench, a toddler’s birthday party in the garden being broken up and people walking in the countryside being pursued by a
‘We risk losing
our humanity’
drone.we were simultaneously told that we would be safer from Covid if we kept fit and spent time outside and that we should only do one form of exercise and mustn’t play sport outside.
When these idiotic rules were reimposed in the second lockdown, I asked a minister why on earth outdoor golf, tennis and bowls had been banned and was told that, “if we let people do those things, they might think they were allowed to do other things too”.
So it really doesn’t matter whether you think a particular measure or restriction makes sense or not.
If government is allowed to interfere in our lives and make decisions for us, we lose something special – the autonomy that defines our humanity.
It was one thing to take extreme emergency powers in March 2020 when government wanted a three-week lockdown while NHS capacity was increased. But as we approach the second anniversary of Covid measures, we should return to a world where government offers advice and support, but we make decisions for ourselves.
This week face masks have been made compulsory in shops and buses but not in pubs or restaurants. And a new law requires us all to self-isolate for 10 days if we have contact with someone suspected of
having the Omicron variant.what might it be next week?
Enjoy your chicken supper ontuesday while you can.