The BFD | Letter from the North

LETTER FROM THE NORTH

26th November 2020

I have restrained myself from commenting on events in the UK because so much has been happening so quickly and it was hard to decide on what to include in the letter.

The government is now splitting into two camps: first, the Boris Johnson camp who are coming across as mendacious, confused, befuddled, inaccurate and two-faced, who can’t even supply agreed accurate, consistent statistics. Secondly is the Rishi Sunak camp, who are coming across as straight, blunt, truthful, accurate and honest.

It is becoming more apparent that people are deserting the Johnson camp in droves as his credibility is fast disappearing down the gurgler. They don’t like being supplied with confusing information, dodgy statistics, and shoddy explanations.

If it wasn’t for the tier three lockdown looming in London the sound of tumbrils clunking along Whitehall would be heard, accompanied by the mob baying for Johnson’s blood. The peasants are definitely revolting. Only today demonstrators were on the march in London, protesting against the lockdown, resulting in 60 arrests. Unfortunately, the credibility of the demonstration is suspect with one of the leaders being Piers Corbyn, beloved brother of the late leader of the Labour party. Piers Corbyn, serial protestor was to the forefront again and the TV pictures show the mob mainly comprising the usual suspects. A mix of rent-a-mob and lefty middle-class protestors who typically are metropolitan Labour supporters.

The current lockdown expires next week and is being replaced by a three-tier system with varying degrees of restrictions in each tier. There are only 3 parts of the country that are in the lowest (tier 1), being the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Wight and Cornwall. I am fortunate enough to live in Tier One, but it is turning into a mixed blessing. The locals are apprehensive about the impending holiday season as they fear that we will be flooded with incomers escaping from Tier Three zones with the result that we will be elevated to Tier Two. This just illustrates the dilemma of trying to achieve a balance between economic survival and relative free movement.

The introduction of the 3 Tier system was introduced without first being announced in Parliament. This incurred the wrath (again) of the speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle who chastised the government for abuse of Parliament. Sir Lindsay is well respected by all in Parliament, unlike his predecessor John Bercow, and his measured management of proceedings carries so much more weight than the self-aggrandising tantrums of John Bercow.

All this will come to a head next week when the new Tier system is due to be voted on in Parliament and there are reports of 100 Conservative MPs ready to vote against it. This means that Johnson will have to rely on the Labour Party to see the Tier system passed into legislation.

This coincides with severe allegations of corruption and cronyism in the awarding of contracts for the supply of PPE (equipment), and allegations of inappropriate influence on the Prime Minister by his live-in companion Carrie Symonds. It is apparent that MPs are positioning themselves for a challenge against Johnson with Michael Gove offering strong opinions without quite being subversive. Rishi Sunak the Chancellor is the front runner, and he is more and more in conflict with Johnson and more ominously Symonds.

An outsider to watch is Jeremy Hunt, the previous Health Secretary. He is presenting contrary views to the policies of Matt Hancock the current Health Secretary in a measured and statistically justifiable way, having demolished the presentation and statistics emanating from the scientific and medical advisors.

As I said earlier, the tumbrils are getting prepared as Johnson’s credibility and political capital are flushed down the toilet. The bottom line is that despite the best efforts of the BBC the peasantry just don’t believe him anymore and ominously for a politician, they are laughing at him. This isn’t the laugh along with a jolly, avuncular buffoon of a man, but the vicious laughing at someone who is performing atrociously, can’t keep a strategy for more than two weeks and has successfully confused everyone.

I don’t even know what the exact regulations and laws pertaining to my area are. As a result, people will not bother with strict observance and in typical British fashion just please themselves as to how strictly they observe the regulations, laws, or recommendations.

In a frightening development, local councils are adopting a system called Covid One View.

The information is culled from council records and includes family debt levels, living arrangements, income, school absences and exclusions. It is fed into a profiling system called Covid OneView to create a risk analysis for households and individuals who are believed to be vulnerable.

Yeah, right!!

Unfortunately, it was revealed that this is less than transparent and honest with the public: –

Town halls say the aim is to help identify those most at risk from coronavirus. But a council presented slides at a video conference last month showing the information could be used to predict who might break isolation rules.

It was revealed that the information Covid OneView can gather included notes on:

Unfaithful and unsafe sex, emotional health and wellbeing, sleep issues and dangerous pets

Anger management issues and socially unacceptable behaviour

Financial details, including debt, low income and tax arrears

School attendance, low school commitment and free school meals

Source Daily Mail 28/11/2020

This is horrific and shows how originally well-intentioned regulations can be abused by those in power. I am seriously fearful for the UK unless someone gets a grip on the control of the situation and communicates positively to and with the people. Unsurprisingly, resistance is coming from the traditional Conservatives and they appear to be alongside the usual human rights organisations in an unusual alliance.

Added to revelations forecasting 7.6% unemployment by early 2021 and mounting debt levels and subversive control of freedoms the general feeling is that the country is stuffed. The tumbrils and the tricoteuses are waiting in the wings.