Oh, Boris, not again!
Boris is about to commit the same mistake twice.
The government got the sequence wrong in March by not announcing a lockdown early enough; it is now about to make the same mistake in reverse by “strongly encouraging” people to get back to work. Boris, get out your old Greek exercise book: hubris brings about the downfall of many a tragic hero. The tragic hero thinks he (for it is almost always a he) is above the perennial laws that other mortals are subject to, and often brings about the destruction of those around him.
The vague, confusing guidelines of “getting back to work if you cannot work from home”, at the same time avoiding public transport “where possible” are symptomatic of a government teetering over the fine line between preserving public health/not overwhelming the NHS on the one hand, and preventing a catastrophic turn for the country’s economy on the other. This is an artificial dilemma, useful for rhetoric, but specious.
Since the announcement of the guidelines on Sunday evening, indignation superseded confusion, as it became clear what the guidelines meant: those who cannot work from home are on the whole manual workers: drivers, factory workers, cleaners, shop assistants — in short, the foot soldiers of the economy. As in a war (that frayed, tired metaphor again!), it’s the foot soldiers that face the enemy, are expendable and replaceable, and they do so “for the common good”. But even during a war, front line troops are transported by army vehicles and use protective equipment; they are not left to fend for themselves.
The economy — every economy — is buttressed by these foot soldiers. All sectors of the economy are interrelated. If there aren’t enough fruit- and vegetable-pickers, packers, lorry drivers, shelf stackers, there isn’t enough food on supermarket shelves. Transport workers, factory workers, hairdressers, hospitality staff, cleaners: all are needed for the cogs to keep turning. The key workers who have kept the country running for months now are all workers who can’t work from home. They must be protected and cherished.
And this is where the crux of the issue lies. The dilemma is not between safeguarding the health of all workers and citizens, and re-starting the economy: the former is a prerequisite of the latter. We talk about the “economy”, as if it is an entity independent of the individuals that keep it going. But if workers are exposed to the virus without adequate protection and testing, and many are incapacitated or — God forbid — die, the economy will take a more severe blow. Life will not return to normal in a hurry (whatever “normal” will mean), so let’s focus on getting more testing done before we strongly encourage return to work.
And now that you are flicking through your old textbook, Boris, you may come across Menander’s aphorism “making the same mistake twice is not a sign of a wise man.” How will you square this particular circle? But then, you also promised to get Brexit done.
