In the words of Adam Wagner, a professor of law
“One of the things this crisis has brought home to me is how illiberal outcomes are inevitable when hugely important decisions are made by a small group in secret and without parliamentary scrutiny. Biases and personal preferences of those in the room are inevitably amplified”.
For me, that sums up how these Covid regulations are consistently formed and then imposed on us. It is not just about not bypassing Parliament, or local authorities, any more or allowing us a say in improving the regulations; it is about understanding that a small clique of people deciding things for the rest of us is a really unhealthy way of going about things, and is absolutely not democracy.
As a result of their dismissal of critical voices they have failed to absorb the four key lessons of the first lockdown:
1) Going in late makes everything worse.
2) Coming out early makes everything worse.
3) Not having a locally based Test, Track & Trace in place makes everything worse.
4) Unclear messaging makes everything worse.
This winter, the UK will suffer the consequences of having a government that doesn’t even try to listen
Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb 