NEWS 3
12 September 2020 THE WEEK
...and how they were covered
Whatnext?
TheGovernmenthasengagedinsomedecidedly“bombastic”rhetoriclately,saidHeather
StewartinTheGuardian.“Iwillnotbackdown,”pledgedJohnsoninanemailmessageto
Torysupporters,echoingtheclaimofhischiefBrexitnegotiator,DavidFrost,that“wewon’t
blink”.Butit’sunclearjusthowwillingthePMistocountenanceano-dealBrexit.Onthe
onehand,itwouldinflictanotherblowonourCovid-rackedeconomyand beseizedon
asfurtherevidenceoftheGovernment’sincompetence.Ontheother,thePMandhisteam
believesomethinggenuinelyimportant–Britain’sabilitytodivergefromtheEU–isatstake.
HowstrangetoseeToriesprioritisingtherighttosubsidiseindustryoversecuringtradedeals,
saidRobertPestoninTheSpectator.ItreflectsDominicCummings’s“passionateconviction”
thattheGovernmenthastoacquirefulldiscretiontoinvestinhigh-tech,digital,artificialintel-
ligenceandotherelementsoftheso-calledfourthindustrialrevolution.ForNo.10,freedom
fromrestrictionsonstateaidisthe“bigprize”ofBrexit,agreedStephenBushintheNew
Statesman.Sinceit’shardtoseehowthatcanbeaccommodatedbyanytradeagreement,
theGovernment’smovestowardsano-dealBrexit“shouldbetakenseriously”.
Ano-dealBrexitwouldrepresentaneedless“failureofstatecraft”,saidWilliamHagueinThe
DailyTelegraph.Onthefirstofthestickingpoints,fishingquotas,“anyfairobserverwould
havetosaytheEUhasadoptedanindefensibleandunreasonableposition”.Itmustdropits
ridiculousinsistencethatthingscarryonexactlyasbefore.Asforstateaid,“bothsideshave
becomeirrational”.TheEUshouldknowbynowthattheUKisnotawildsubsidiser:in 2018 ,
Britainspent0.34%ofitsGDPonstateaid,comparedwithGermany’s1.45%andFrance’s
0.79%.Butequally,theGovernmentshouldknowthatstateaidisn’tthekeytoturningBritain
intoahigh-techpowerhouse.WhyisLondonalreadytheworld’stoplocationfor“fintech”,or
financialtechnology?It’snot becauseof subsidies.It’s becausethe city is “awash with venture
capital,has acriticalmassof skills, is afun place tolive, andisclosetotop universities”.
What the commentators said
TheEuropeanCommission
hascalledanextraordinary
meetingtodiscussthebill
publishedthisweek.The
Scottishgovernmentsaysit
won’tconsenttothedisputed
clauses,arguingthatthey
wouldunderminedevolution.Negotiatingofficialsarenext
duetomeeton2 8 September,
twoandahalfweeksbefore
thecrucialsummitofEU
leaderson15October.The
EuropeanParliament,which
willneedtoratifyanydeal,
isworriedthattalkswilldrift
closertotheendoftheyear,
whentheUKissettoexitthe
singlemarketandcustoms
union.MEPsinsistadeal
mustbestruckbytheend
ofOctober.Anythinglater,
theyargue,wouldleave
insufficienttime for detailed
democraticscrutiny.Whatnext?
Novichok –Russian for“newcomer” –hasbeen asource offear amongexperts fordecades,
said Richard Pérez-Peña in TheNew YorkTimes. Developed in the Soviet Union, itcan take the
form of liquid, powder oraerosol (inSalisburyitwas smeared onadoorhandleasagel)and is
said tobemore lethalthan morecommon nerve agents likesarin. Along with excruciating pain,
it causes catastrophic organ damage and can lead to deaths which look no more “sinister thana
fatal heart attack”. Itsuseis aclassic Kremlin callingcard, saidLuke Harding in The Guardian:
it’s “less ofahintand more ofaflashing neon sign” indicating Russian state involvement. Not
only does its use convey “a message of menace”to domestic critics likeNavalny (whosename
Putin refusesto evenutter in public), it alsodisplaysPutin’s contempt forthe West. In thiscase,
Russia’s decision to allow Navalny to betreatedabroad–where Novichok wascertainto be
detected –can mean only one thing:“Moscowwantsthe world toknow” whatit has done.
Putin and Merkelhavelonghadafrostyrelationship, said John Kampfner inThe Times. The
“patternof distrust” between themdates backto2007 when Putin, knowingthat Merkel fears
dogs, flasheda“mischievousgrin”and had his large labrador run to herduringameeting at
his Black Sea palace. ButMerkel–who herself speaksRussian–didn’t flinch,and haslong
been willingtogotoe-to-toewithRussia’s leader. Now,havingdemanded answers from the
Kremlin over Navalny’s poisoningthat sheknows shewon’tget, she’sgearing up foranother
fight. ButRussia andGermany share deepeconomicties, saidMark Almond in theDailyMail
–not leastthanksto theNord Stream2pipeline, which is dueto bring Russiangas directly to
Germansoil from 2021. Merkel is now facing growing pressure to scrap the project,which is
vital to future Germanenergy supplies. Putin, meanwhile, can sit comfortably in the knowledge
that Navalny has been removed from the political stage and “won’t be returning any timesoon”.
What the commentators said
Dozens of local elections
are due to beheld across
Russia on Sunday,
including in the Siberian
city ofNovosibirsk,
whereNavalnyhadbeen
campaigning before his
poisoning. On Tuesday, the
city’s oppositionHQwas
evacuated and twopeople
were takentohospital after
abottle of an unidentified
chemical wasthrown into
the building.Nato has calledon Russia
to disclose its Novichok
programme to international
monitors and to cooperate
with an impartialprobe
into thepoisoning,and the
EU is considering imposing
fresh sanctions onRussia.“Don’t kill granny.” Preston Council deployed thatsloganfirst. Now
Matt Hancock is using it too. Contact tracing, he says, has shown
that young people meeting in pubs and bars is partly behind the
recent rise in infection rates (see page 24). This is something the Government has to take seriously,
but it seems harsh all the same, to place suchaheavy moralburden on the young, atatime when
the Government is also encouraging them to return to school or university, eat out, and live life as
normally as possible. The young may be more likely than older people to attend illegal raves, but
they are also likely to be living in shared accommodation; using public transport rather than cars;
and if they are not at university, going out to work. Even in normal times, they could be transmitting
lethal viruses. Flu kills thousands of elderly people every winter. Now, though, the Government is
making sure that if their grandparents fall ill, the young will know that they are to blame.
Some older people may be anxious to keep shielding; others may be longing to see more of their
families. Next weekIwillmake a12-hour round trip, involving six trains, to spend 30 minutes with
my father in his care home (unless he has had to visitahospital, and has been confined to his room
for another two weeks). There is little chance of me killing Dad. We will sit some way from each other
in a“pod” in the garden, separated byaplasti cwall. There will be no touching, let alone hugging.
Such rules are keeping him, and many like him, alive, but it’s not much ofalife.THEWEEK
Caroline Law
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