46 Britain The EconomistSeptember 5th 2020
2 Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos mori, a
pollster. Voters—including Labour suppor-
ters—approve of the package of interven-
tions to support workers and businesses
designed by the chancellor of the exche-
quer, Rishi Sunak. A programme of week-
day subsidies for restaurants “was a fantas-
tic idea”, says Ms Rooney.
Tory mps think their vote is holding up
largely because Mr Johnson is aligned with
the values of his base, much as “Teflon”
Tony Blair could brush off scandal as long
New Labour was attuned to the public
mood. Folk in Barnard Castle credit Mr
Johnson with pushing on with Brexit.
When in trouble, he has tickled the coun-
try’s cultural divisions, claiming that Win-
ston Churchill’s statue and the patriotic
songs sung at the Proms are under threat
from censorious forces.
But competence matters, and acts as a
leading indicator of support. In “The Poli-
tics of Competence”, a 2017 study, Jane
Green and Will Jennings show that new
governments invariably enjoy a honey-
moon, before errors accumulate, dragging
a party’s polling lower like a yacht taking on
water. Once gained, a reputation for in-
competence is hard to shift.
Reversals are particularly harmful to Mr
Johnson, who cast himself as the barn-
storming antidote to Theresa May’s cau-
tion and paralysis. Johnsonism promised
to “Get Brexit Done”—and other things,
too, through large cheques, vim and can-do
spirit. The attention to detail and patience
that good governance demands are not part
of the narrative.
All this works well for Sir Keir Starmer,
Labour’s leader. Unlike his ideologically
driven predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, Sir
Keir wants every government policy to be a
test of competence. It suits his lawyerly,
professional image and distracts from the
splits in Labour’s electorate: to ask whether
the Dover customs checks will be ready is
to sidestep whether leaving the European
Union is a good idea at all.
The strategy is paying off (see chart on
previous page). Some polls show Sir Keir
ahead of Mr Johnson as “best prime minis-
ter”. Mr Johnson stirs much more animos-
ity in Labour voters than mild-mannered
Sir Keir provokes in Tories. (“He has his
head screwed on,” says Andrew Alderson, a
Tory-voting retired firefighter in Barnard
Castle, of Sir Keir). Overall, voters disap-
prove of the government’s handling of the
pandemic and do not trust its ability to get
a grip in the future. Most voters, including
more than quarter of Tories, say Britain is
“going in the wrong direction”.
Although the virus is now being effec-
tively suppressed and gdp will bounce
back strongly after the shutdown, winter
will be hard. Mr Sunak is determined to end
the furlough scheme next month. That will
drive unemployment sharply upwards andmayerodethegoodwillhislargessetodate
hasgarnered.MrJohnsonisdeterminedto
helptheeconomyrecoverbygettingpeo-
plebackinto their offices,but inother
Europeancountriesincreasedmobilityhas
pushedinfectionratesup.Whetherornot
MrJohnsonsecuresaBrexittradeagree-
ment,leavingtheeu’ssinglemarketand
customsuniononNewYear’sDaywilldis-
rupttrade. Hispartyis quarrelsome:he
facesa rebellionoverplanstobuildmore
housesinwealthyconstituencies,andthe
prospectoftaxrisestorepairthepublicfi-
nanceshavealarmedhismps. MrJohnson’s
marksinhisfirstyearhavebeenpoor,and
hehasmoretoughteststosit. 7“W
hen i thinkof England, I think of
the queen taking her dogs for a
walk in the countryside,” says Carsten Ha-
ferkamp, a dog-owning German architect
working in London. There may be some-
thing in the stereotype. Data from Tractive,
a firm that provides gpstracking for pets,
show that Britons walk their dogs more
than their European neighbours do.
British dogs get 177 minutes of activity a
day, compared with 160 minutes for slack
German pooches and 170 minutes for the
average French mutt. That could be why
they are slimmer than their European
cousins: the average British labrador
weighs in at 28kg, compared with 29kg and
31kg for its German and French counter-
parts. And it’s not just Europeans that Brit-
ish dog-owners outpace. Research by Carri
Westgarth of Liverpool University has es-tablished that they are beating the foot-
paths more than Americans or Australians
as well.
That continental European pooches are
on the porky side has not gone unnoticed
on the mainland. “Obesity among dogs is
acknowledged as a problem,” says Fleur-
Marie Missant of France’s Société Centrale
Canine. James Serpell, professor of animal
ethics and welfare at the University of
Pennsylvania, suspects that excessive
pampering, as well as under-walking, may
contribute to the problem. “The French are
super-indulgent with their dogs. They tol-
erate them in restaurants. I’ve been nudged
by strange dogs under the table in France.”
The German government is determined to
get the country’s dogs—and dog-owners—
off their sofas. Last month the agriculture
minister announced plans to require dog-
owners to walk their dogs twice a day.
The British devotion to dog-walking
may have more to do with the walking than
the dogs. Britons are big walkers—they
came fifth in the world in a study in 2017,
the highest in Europe. Dogs provide walk-
ers with company and a purpose, so it may
be that walking encourages dog-owner-
ship, rather than vice versa.
But Julien Dugnoille, an anthropologist
at Exeter University, suspects dog-walking
has a deeper significance. Dogs, he sug-
gests, are a useful aid to a socially awkward
nation. “British people...tend to see dog-
walking as a rare opportunity to socialise
with strangers, to have a chat and exchange
a few jokes and comments about the
weather without putting themselves in
danger (ie, without being too committed in
their interaction).” The French, a nation of
flâneurs, have no need of canine props.
A tradition among the British aristocra-
cy of owning and training dogs also leads
Dr Dugnoille to speculate that dog-walking
retains some of its ancient kudos. When
people in the park say “Max is very well-be-
haved,” says Dr Dugnoille, “that is a way to
demonstrate mastery in the art of taming,
an elevation above those dog owners who
are ‘not in control of their own dog’, which
is the ultimate faux-pas in public spaces.”
But it’s not just about showing off, in his
view. A Belgian who has lived in both Brit-
ain and France, he reckons the British are
closer to their dogs than the French. Walk-
ing with one’s best friend “creates a time
and space where dogs and humans meet as
species and connect as individuals”.
Still, the British should not congratu-
late themselves too much on their behav-
iour towards their canine companions, for
they are guilty of a universal hypocrisy. Ac-
cording to Dr Westgarth, “people say that a
dog needs a walk every day, but they will
find reasons why their dog doesn’t need a
walk. They’ll say: he’s got company in-
doors, he’s nervous or he doesn’t like the
rain.” Paw show. 7Why Britons walk their dogs more than
other nationsDog-walkingParading the pooch
A very British intimacy