Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Not So Cautious

Peter and I were having a natter this morning about the UK's plan (if that's what it can be called) to shed all their covid-related restrictions by 21 July. We both registered a mixture of bewilderment and astonishment regarding what we can only see as a supreme act of folly. Given the fact that most parts of the UK are still experiencing pretty high rates of infection and the potential for variants to develop in these circumstances is obvious it seems counter-intuitive (to say the least) to throw caution to the winds in this manner so soon.

In startling contrast, the rational, calibrated approach to dealing with the pandemic, as evidenced in this Far Place, struck us as supremely sensible. As far as we can gather, a significant number of our countrymen cannot deal with covid-fatigue and their voices must be heard - even if what they are saying is daft. Possibly the oddest aspect of all this is that countries who've obviously got this very wrong resolutely ignore models of good practice.

I'm reminded of Dominic Cummings, in his testimony before the select committee, referring to Singapore's successes in the early stages of the pandemic and how those in government resolutely ignored the framework that had resulted in those successes despite all this being easily available in English. Makes you wonder if some kind of false sense of superiority is at work here.

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