The Economist 04Apr2020

22 Britain The EconomistApril 4th 2020

A

generation ofBritish troops who cut

their teeth in Helmand and Basra are

now seeing action in east London. In con-

trast to several continental neighbours,

Britain’s army is not enforcing the lock-

down, but troops are being put to use in

other ways.

Army engineers and medics have

helped turn the excelconvention centre in

London’s Docklands into a hospital, with

more to follow. Troops are driving oxygen

tankers and delivering medical equip-

ment. Logisticians, accustomed to moving

tanks into war zones, are helping to get bis-

cuits to pensioners. Though gun-toting

soldiers will not confront citizens exceed-

ing their allotted bout of once-daily exer-

cise, they will be used as guards to free up

armed police for other duties.

The armed forces have over 10,000 per-

sonnel in the Defence Medical Service, in-

cluding combat medics and reservists. Yet

only a fraction may be available due to

overseas deployments, failed fitness tests

or parental leave. Doctors have already

been recalled from exercises in Europe, but

it is trickier to pull medics back from de-

ployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. On

April 1st Britain called up 3,000 reservists,

though it was careful to avoid pulling out

those who work as civilians in the nhs.

Amid this heightened attention, the

army has been keen to show how unaffect-

ed it is by covid-19. In a promotional video,

Drill Sergeant Rae of the 1st Battalion Scots

Guard wields a 76cm pace stick, before

striding three paces (2m and a bit) across

the parade ground, the stick flicking up be-

hind him. “There you have the perfect de-

monstration for social distancing,” he says

turning toward the camera.

Squaddies are less than convinced. Doc-

uments seen by The Economistsuggest that

orders have hardly been uniform. Fill Your

Boots, an online forum on which troops

share their troubles, has been inundated

with complaints. At Catterick, a military

town in North Yorkshire that is the largest

British Army garrison in the world, one sol-

dier says that training is carrying on as nor-

mal. A senior soldier was overheard telling

others to “crack on”, saying that “it’s just the

flu—if we get it then we get it”. More scru-

pulous commanders have told soldiers to

attend parades on Skype, so that officers

can check on whether squaddies have

washed and shaved without getting too

close for comfort.

Sandhurst, Britain’s officer academy, is

also drawing much flak from trainees. The

military school has claimed that all physi-

cal training is cancelled, but photographs

sent to Fill Your Boots show cadets carrying

out close-contact mock casualty evacua-

tions. “It’s a bit of a clusterfuck,” says Alfie

Usher, a former paratrooper who runs the

forum. “Commanding officers are taking it

on themselves to interpret the rules.”

The Ministry of Defence insists that its

training follows Public Health England

guidance and that service personnel who

experience symptoms are moved to sepa-

rate parts of their camp. Cadets have been

barred from leaving at weekends and team

sports and gym use have been cancelled.

Unlike the Pentagon, British officials

will not say how many cases of covid-19

have been found in the ranks. At least five

personnel at Britain’s military base in Cy-

prus have tested positive. But even as the

virus pulls soldiers to the home front—

troops have been ordered back from exer-

cises in Europe and operations in Iraq—

there is no let-up on traditional duties.

Russian bombers probing near British

and Irish airspace sent Royal Air Force jets

scrambling twice last month, and on

March 26th the Royal Navy said it had de-

ployed nine vessels to shadow a flotilla of

Russian warships in the English Channel

and North Sea. Britain’s armed forces will

need to stay in tip-top health. 7

The army is essential in a crisis, but

keeping soldiers apart is tricky

The army

War, or something

like it

A

nybody walkingpast the British

Library over the past week—admit-

tedly a small number of people—would

have noticed something missing. It is not

just the harried commuters, the hungry

scholars and the suitcase-toting tourists

that have vanished, but a more reliable

presence. Many of the homeless people

who bed down for the night along this

stretch of the Euston Road have dis-

appeared as well. Where did they go?

On March 26th the government wrote

to local authorities asking them to move

homeless people “into appropriate ac-

commodation by the end of the week”.

Thousands remain on the streets, but

impressive progress has been made.

Some 4,000-odd rough sleepers in Eng-

land have already been housed in hotels

where “they are being brought three

meals a day, have a warm comfortable

bed and are being supported by profes-

sional staff”, says Matthew Downie, who

heads policy for Crisis, a homelessness

charity, adding that “the government

target to end rough sleeping moved from

2024 to ‘by the weekend’.”

Much work remains to be done. Near-

ly 4,300 people were found to be sleeping

rough on a single night last autumn, but

many more stay in night shelters, where

people share space and are at high risk of

infecting each other. Homeless people

are particularly vulnerable to the virus:

according to Pathway, an organisation

that works on health care for the home-

less, they are 2.5 times as likely to have

asthma as the general population, and 34

times likelier to have tuberculosis, con-

ditions that often make covid-19 fatal.

Homeless men have a life expectancy of

44, half the national average.

Charities and local authorities face

their own challenges. About a tenth of

staff at St Mungos, London’s biggest

provider of beds for the homeless, are off

sick, says Howard Sinclair, its boss, who

is himself recovering from the disease.

Night-time patrols by staff have been

slashed as deserted streets are deemed

unsafe. And putting people in hotels is

not as straightforward as it sounds. “It is

ponderous getting people who are not

used to living indoors to live indoors,”

says John Bird, who slept rough before

founding Big Issue, a social enterprise

working with homeless people.

Despite the difficulties, charities are

looking at the crisis as an opportunity.

Once it is over, “it would be a tragedy to

say ‘off you go’,” says Mr Sinclair. But for

now, the focus remains on ensuring the

streets of London—and Britain—become

just a little bit more deserted.

Shelter from the storm

Rough sleeping

For thousands of rough sleepers, the crisis is good news

Last man out