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I thought the immediate reaction (including mine) to Matt Hancock’s mention of the new virus strain was very revealing. People on both sides of the lockdown debate assumed it was at least in part a form of political positioning.
The correct answer (AFAICS) is that while there is currently no clear evidence that the new strain is more infectious it is certainly worth careful investigation. In other words, there’s no cause for panic & the existence / prevalence of a new strain is not in itself newsworthy.
And yet. This announcement led the news bulletins and caused considerable negative discussion. My view is that in the absence of clear information Hancock should either not have focused on new strain or should been much more circumspect in his choice of words.
Whatever the motivation for this part of the announcement, I think commenters on all sides (professional and amateur - myself included) should have a bit of a think about how they react to new information, especially when presented with zero confirmatory evidence.
An entirely different (and in all circumstances much more egregious example) is the Australian rules Brexit nonsense. This formulation is entirely disingenuous and deliberately designed to obfuscate the truth and lead people to the wrong conclusion.
Every time ‘Australian’ style is repeated, in this context, the atmosphere of truthlessness is reinforced until (and not just due to this) we find ourselves in a strange state of existence where an initial reflex is not to believe the government.
I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking this is a very bad state of affairs. Especially during a pandemic. And responsibility lies on all sides. At some point we are going to need a root and branch reevaluation of how we do things.
People talk alot about the economic impacts of Brexit and Covid. Much less about the impact of the decline of public trust. Don’t be surprised if we are only at the beginning of a period of profound and unsettling change.
It’s worth considering what happens if people start to think they’re living in a state of truthlessness. A pretty obvious conclusion is they don’t obey the rules. Less obvious, perhaps they just do less. What’s the point of investing in anything?
Government disingenuously describes no deal as Australia style ... it’s not exactly a positive sign for individuals and businesses looking to make long term investments in the UK...
