Weekender 9: lockdown was lockdown

What shape will society take moving forward, as inexorably we must? More importantly who gets to decide that? Right now - well, last Sunday, actually - the Tories are deciding that. Their stupid 'stay alert' mission change has had the effect of shifting the onus onto the rest of us.

While personal responsibility is obviously important and we must make sure to take care of ourselves and each other (because god knows the Tories won't), this is an abrogation of statutory responsibility. I feel it's deliberate; it's typical of the Tories. They tell everyone else how to behave while shirking any responsibility themselves. Given they are the government it seems irresponsible to do this. The obvious consequences will be legal; the ability for bosses and landlords to compel the rest of us into unsafe work and life conditions from which they alone benefit.

This isn't about morals or character (eg the Chancellor's bullshittery regarding the "dignity of labour"). It's about the ruling class using its power to abrogate its duty of care. This means a lss of rights vital for essential workers to survive at this time. The only legitimate claim a government can make is this duty of care: that it will take care of people. Of course that has long gone. The NHS (no top down...) reforms of 2012 removed from the secretary of state the very same. We are cast ever more adrift.

I think lockdown at this point has been so watered down, partly intentionally and partly through Johnstwat's wiff waff mental meanderings. People are out and about now, Pandora's box of covid has been opened and it can't be closed again. Once there's a slight whiff of normality, the masses will be drawn out likes moths to a flame. Inertial will build and with it people forgetting or casting aside the idea of social distancing.

I don't say that to be dismissive or arrogant. It's just a fact: people will get a sniff of normality and understandably old habits will kick in. It wont' just be idiots crowding out pubs, but real people craving, even if subconsciously, the human contact of The Time Before. This is natural. With the government, thanks also to the media, stepping aside, what will happen? Chaos wearing a summer dress, sipping a cool drink on a hot day.

When is a lockdown not a lockdown? When it's a Tory lockdown