Rant of the day 19/12/2020:
I have an idea.
Let central government set and publish a policy and let local government implement it.
Radical I know but it should be possible shouldn’t it? Especially in an environment where we are told that the government is following “The Science”.
My response to Johnson, Hancock, Gove, Whitty, and the Van-Tam man is: Put your money where your mouth is!
Following “The Science” the way my dear old Gran followed Astrology just doesn’t cut the mustard.
The government claims that it bases its Tier and Lockdown policies on a number of key factors and it has “kinda” published some of them.
So, if they are taking numbers of infections (plus direction of travel, up or down), R number range (plus direction of travel), infection rate in various age bands, hospital capacity and caseload, and anything else they care to throw into the mix; and then applying some kind of judgement criteria to come to a conclusion, then any trained person can do it. Right? I mean if The Great Vacillator can come to a decision, anyone can.
Your government must be doing this, otherwise they would not be following a scientific approach would they? They would be allowing some kind of prejudicial elements to creep into what happens to their citizens.
Now, I suggest that local authorities have the capacity and probably the willingness to apply any old set of rules to nationally provided figures, to publish the results locally, and crucially to implement the decisions that the Central Government sausage machine pops up with.
No arguments, no equivocating, no political flimflam, just facts, conclusions and resulting actions.
What could possibly go wrong as long as they all do it?
Maybe such an approach would flounder and maybe even founder on the basic inequalities between areas – maybe some areas are underrepresented in terms of hospital beds, equipment or other health facilities.
Maybe it would highlight other causes for concern around poverty, education, and inequality issues, but hey, we are following “The science”, right?
Maybe it would highlight that no such process actually goes on and that these decisions are basically political but are “Guided” by the science – in the same way that your satnav begs you to “turn around when possible” but, in your heart, you know that you know best.
From a central government point of view, they would surely love Greater Manchester to have to take the flak for that great City staying in Tier 3 so what’s stopping them from doing just that? They would have loved the Mayor of London to be the one who had to implement the policy of putting London in Tier 4 and cancelling Christmas – all they needed to do was to publish the numbers and the precise method to be used. Couldn’t be easier could it? Who could argue with the outcome then?
Sure, central government would have to justify the factors to be used and the weightings to be given to them, but it would be manifestly open for all to see.
I have a sneaking feeling that might be the problem. There just may be other factors at work here and some buggers somewhere want to keep the rest of us in the dark. Some other mysterious factor may need to be invoked the next time the vacillators need to justify their ineptitude, so they have to cut themselves some slack.
No guys, that is simply not good enough I’m afraid.
I don’t believe a bloody word you say! You had your chance and you well and truly blew it.
So off you go, wash your hands of it, hide your face, and give me space by getting out of my face.
Mickey take and more 