the times | Saturday August 1 2020 1GM 29
Leading articles
had prepared to meet for private festivities have
found their celebrations cancelled.
Such intrusions into the routines of domestic
life deserve sympathy. Yet the government’s
decisive action is necessary. Whatever human cost
the new restrictions inflict is worth paying if the
alternative is another national outbreak and
lockdown. Matt Hancock, the health secretary,
was right to act upon learning of new data that
showed mixing between households was driving
up infections in the northwest.
And, crucially, he acted quickly. That is a test the
government had failed before in the face of local
outbreaks. Ministers failed to respond
expeditiously when infections rose in Leicester at
the end of June. When Mr Hancock came to
announce an extension of the lockdown, he found
himself at odds with the city’s mayor. Whitehall
had failed to communicate an alarming rise in
cases to local authorities. Worse still, Mr Hancock
had to admit that the measures had no basis in law.
The differences in this case are reassuring. The
changes were only announced after regional
leaders had been briefed. Within hours, they
were law.
For that reason, the government should not be
blown off course by criticism of the timing andexecution of Mr Hancock’s announcement. Some
degree of confusion is inevitable when new
measures that apply to some areas and not others
are announced quickly. Given the speed with
which coronavirus can spread, ministers cannot
afford to conceal evidence from the public.
Business owners in areas untouched by new
infections have legitimate cause for irritation. Yet
the country is now the most mobile since it has
been since the initial imposition of lockdown. And
to blunt public health messaging for fear of giving
offence would be a greater dereliction of duty to
British Muslims.
Having learnt hard lessons, ministers are
applying better practice. At the outset of the crisis,
the prime minister preferred to raise hopes than
dish out hard truths. The government and its
advisers were unduly preoccupied by questions of
what might happen. They concluded the public
would tire of a full lockdown and thus delayed its
introduction. Many lives were lost unnecessarily
as a consequence. To mediate their response to
local outbreaks for fear of an adverse reaction now
would be an act of folly. That is why, disheartening
though it may be, responsible citizens should
welcome this act. As Boris Johnson says, we have
come too far to risk anything less.claiming Mrs Clinton owed her additional three
million votes to illegal immigrants. He supplied no
evidence for that claim and dissolved a
commission to investigate it before any
conclusion was published.
Mr Trump is the fifth person to win the presi-
dency without winning the popular vote. Some see
that as a flaw of American democracy, others that
the system by which the founding fathers sought
to prevent small-town America’s domination by
the more populated urban states is working. True
electoral fraud, however, is rare. Mr Trump has
backed off from suggesting the election be post-
poned but declined to withdraw his warnings
about fraud over postal votes. He continued to
insist that the election results should be known on
the same night, raising the prospect of legal battles
over postal votes going on for years.
American democracy has survived such chal-
lenges before. The result of the contest between
George W Bush and Al Gore in 2000 was not
known for more than a month after the Florida
recount and only settled by the Supreme Court.
Even so, election officials should do all they can inthe remaining three months before November 3 to
ensure that postal votes are protected and timely,
so preventing claims of fraud taking root. Earlier
deadlines for their return could perhaps help,
given sufficient notice.
It was no coincidence that Mr Trump’s tweet
came minutes after the announcement of the
country’s biggest ever economic slump and the
steadily rising unemployment figures. The
president has been battered by the pandemic’s
undermining of his economic case for re-election
and voters’ disapproval of his handling of the
crisis. Furthermore his reaction to the Black Lives
Matter movement has been at odds with at least
some of the public mood increasingly mindful of
racial inequality.
Presidential aides speculate whether Mr Trump
wants to win as much as he doesn’t want to lose.
Fears that in defeat he would somehow contrive to
cling on in the White House are overblown. For its
allies as well as its people, America remains, in the
words of the pioneer John Winthrop, a city upon
a hill. Lasting damage would be done if its voters
believe they cannot trust their own democracy.than in orbit. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the
great oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, plans to
establish this marine sanctuary off the coast of
Curaçao in the Caribbean. It will enable scientists
to observe marine life at close quarters and for
long periods without the need to return to the
surface. They will look for new species and study
the effects of climate change.
The underwater centre will not be the first of its
kind but it will be the most ambitious and its work
will be vital. The oceans are integral to Earth’s
system of climate and weather, and are the habitat
of at least half its species. Yet scientific knowledgeof these depths is limited by their inaccessibility.
Oceanography in its modern form, with system-
atic studies of tides and winds as well as species, is
still in its infancy. The centre’s findings may prove
vital for human welfare. Scientists know that the
oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the atmos-
phere and produce oxygen. Climate change is now
causing changes in temperature and endangering
marine ecology and coastal communities.
Researchers need to know more to mitigate these
destructive effects. Giving experts a base in the
seas will not only expand our knowledge of the
blue planet but help to preserve it.Northern Discomfort
Too often slow and indecisive, the government has acted with
welcome speed to introduce new restrictions in the north of England
It might have been a summer of recovery. In recent
weeks, England had taken tentative steps towards
normality. Months of collective sacrifice had
suppressed new coronavirus infections. Pubs,
restaurants and shops reopened. Families forced
to endure prolonged separation reunited in one
another’s homes and gardens. Foreign holidays
had begun to resume. Masks and continued social
distancing have proved tolerable irritations for the
return of life’s small pleasures.
Yet such relaxations were not without risk. The
imposition of new restrictions across the north of
England is a sharp reminder that the virus remains
an indelible fact of daily life. As Chris Whitty, the
chief medical officer, noted yesterday, the easing
of lockdown may have hit its limit.
For many people this week’s news will be
disruptive, if not devastating. Households have
been banned from meeting in private homes in
Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire and West
Yorkshire, while the reopening of bowling alleys,
casinos and other leisure facilities has been post-
poned indefinitely. It will be particularly painful
for Muslims, many of whom live in the affected
areas. The government’s announcement came on
the eve of Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest festivals
in the Islamic calendar. Extended families whoTrump and Trust
Whatever he may tweet, the president cannot delay the election
Nothing in the US constitution gives the president
the power to postpone an election. Yet law and
historical precedent did not prevent President
Trump tweeting the suggestion this week that
November’s election be delayed on the grounds
that widespread postal voting, exacerbated by
coronavirus fears, would result in fraud.
The idea was dismissed by Republicans and
Democrats alike but Mr Trump’s probable real
intention was not to put off the vote. In the face of
poor poll numbers, he was instead preparing for
potential defeat by telling voters they should be
sceptical of an electoral outcome. If defeated, it
enables him to claim he was cheated and to retire
with some dignity, at least in his own mind.
This is not a new strategy from the president but
in partisan times it is a risky one. He raised similar
doubts during the 2016 election, which he didn’t
really expect to win, refusing during a debate with
Hillary Clinton to commit himself to respecting
the result. Until he won, he repeatedly insinuated
that the election might be rigged. However, having
won the electoral college, Mr Trump went on to
insist he had also triumphed in the popular vote,Water World
A study station for the oceans will advance science and help preserve the planet
A robot was launched from Earth this week on a
mission to search for signs of ancient life on Mars.
Its work may prove historic yet the mysteries of life
on our own planet too are immense. More than
two thirds of the world’s surface is covered by
ocean, yet humans have explored only a small part
of this expanse. As the essayist Henry David Tho-
reau wrote more than a century ago: “The ocean
is a wilderness reaching round the globe, wilder
than a Bengal jungle and fuller of monsters.”
Now a famous name in marine exploration is
raising funds for the equivalent of the Inter-
national Space Station, but underwater ratherDaily Universal Register
UK: Shielding advice for the extremely
vulnerable ends in England and Scotland;
free TV licences for the over-75s are limited
to those who receive pension credit.
Sir Sam Mendes,
pictured, stage and film
director, American
Beauty (1999), 1917 (2019),
55; Prof Dame Janet
Beer, vice-chancellor,
University of Liverpool,
64; Derek Birdsall,
typographer and designer of Penguin book
covers, 86; Sir Ronald Cohen, founder of
Apax Partners, 75; Coolio, rapper, 57; Robert
Cray, blues guitarist, 67; Sir Harry Djanogly,
chairman, Coats thread company (1999-
2003), 82; Oliver Dowden, Conservative MP
for Hertsmere, digital, culture, media and
sport secretary, 42; Rt Rev Terence Drainey,
Roman Catholic bishop of Middlesbrough,
71; Adrian Dunbar, actor and director, 62;
Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Linlithgow, SNP
minister for economy, fair work and culture,
56; David James, footballer, England
(1997-2010), 50; Mervyn Kitchen, cricket
umpire, 80; Micheál Martin, taoiseach, 60;
Jack O’Connell, actor, 30; Amber Rudd,
home secretary (2016-18), 57; Laurie Taylor,
sociologist, 84; Graham Thorpe, cricketer,
England (1993-2005), 51; Riccardo Tisci,
fashion designer, creative director, Burberry,
46; Rt Rev Graham Tomlin, bishop of
Kensington, 62; Honeysuckle Weeks,
actress, Foyle’s War (2002-15), 41; Anthony
Fane, Earl of Westmorland, art adviser, 69;
Mark Wright, footballer, England (1984-96),
and manager, 57.
In 1834 the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 came
into force, outlawing slavery throughout the
British colonies.
Rose Tremain, pictured,
writer, Sacred Country
(1992), Rosie (2018),
chancellor, University of
East Anglia (2013-16), 77;
Donna Air, TV presenter
and actress, 41; Isabel
Allende, novelist, The
House of Spirits (1982), A Long Petal of the
Sea (2019), 78; Sir Michael Bibby, chairman,
Bibby Line Group, 57; John Broome, founder
(1980), Alton Towers theme park, 77; Andy
Fairweather Low, guitarist and songwriter,
Amen Corner, 72; Julia Foster, actress, Alfie
(1966), 77; John Gale, theatre producer, No
Sex, Please — We’re British (1971), 91; Sir
Christopher Hogg, chairman, Financial
Reporting Council (2006-10), Reuters Group
(1985-2004), 84; Gundula Janowitz, opera
singer, 83; Sir Paul Marshall, chairman,
Marshall Wace hedge fund group, 61;
Sammy McIlroy, footballer and manager,
Northern Ireland (2000-03), 66; Claire
Moreland, principal, Chetham’s School of
Music (1999-2016), 62; Butch Patrick, former
child actor, The Munsters (1964-66), 67;
Anthony Payne, composer, 84; Prof Sir
Michael Peckham, oncologist, founder of
the School of Public Policy, UCL, and artist,
85; Kathleen Peyton, author, Flambards
(1967), 91; Sir Anthony Seldon, political
biographer, vice-chancellor, University of
Buckingham, 67; Phil Williams, presenter,
Times Radio, BBC Radio 5 Live (2001-19),
46; Dr Jean Wilson, president, Church
Monuments Society (2013-18), 75; Sam
Worthington, actor, Avatar (2009), 44.
“It takes just one awful second, I often think,
and an entire epoch passes.” WG Sebald,
writer, The Rings of Saturn (1995), translated
by Michael Hulse
Birthdays today
Birthdays tomorrow
On this day
The last word