NEWS 3
13 February 2021 THE WEEK
...and how they were covered
Whatnext?
Britain’svaccinationprogrammeisspeedingahead,yetwe’renoclosertoknowingwhen
normallifewillreturn,saidJanetDaleyinTheSundayTelegraph.TheGovernmenthas
sensiblyavoidedofferingspecificdatesfortheeasingoflockdown.Butitwouldhelpifitat
leastclarifiedthecriteriaonwhichthedecisionwilldepend.Isthe“R”ratetheultimatetest,
ortherateofhospitaladmissions,orthenumberofnewcases?
Itseemsthe situationcouldgotwowaysnow,saidSimonKuperintheFT.Themostlikely
outcomeisthatCovidgraduallyweakens,asmorepeoplearevaccinated,and“becomesat
worstanastycold”.Thescarierscenarioisthatvaccine-resistantmutationscause“yearsof
massdeath,repeatedlockdowns,economicdisasterandpoliticaldysfunction”.Toreducethe
oddsofthathappening,weneedtoensurearapidglobaldistributionofvaccines.“Thequicker
humanityachievesherdimmunity,thelesstimethevirushastomutatebeyond
control.”Thebiggestbarriertoareturnto“normality”istheslowpaceof
vaccinationinpoorercountries,agreedStephenBushintheNewStatesman.
Undercurrentplans,only 6 0%ofAfricawillbevaccinatedinthreeyears’time.
Covidislikelytobewithusasaseasonal,endemicvirusforalongtime,said
ProfessorDavidFismanonReaction.life.ButI’moptimisticaboutourprospects
inthemediumterm.Pandemicshaveanaturallifespan.Eveninthedaysbefore
modernmedicine,theycametoanend.Peopledevotealotofattentiontothe
bugsbehindpandemics,butthey’reakintoadiscardedcigarettethatdepends
ondroughtandanabundanceofdeadtreestocauseaforestfire.Thefactorthat
reallyfuelsthesehealthcrisesiswidespreadsusceptibility.Asmorepeopleare
exposedtovariousformsofthevirus,eitherthroughinfectionorvaccination,that
fuelwillinevitablydeplete. “So beconfident.The ideaofaforever-pandemicis
about asplausibleas the idea ofaforever-forestfire. Notgonna happen.”
What the commentators said
TheNHSisplanningamass
campaignofboosterjabs
againstnewCovidvariantsas
earlyastheautumn,reports
theFT.Officialsexpectthese
jabstobecomeanannual
event,withtheextrashots
beingdeliveredalongsidethe
flujabslongofferedtothe
over-65s.Intime,thetwo
couldbecombinedintoa
singlevaccine.Researchersin
Oxfordhave
launchedatrialto
assesstheefficacy
ofgivingpeoplea
“mixandmatch”
doseofdifferent
Covidvaccines.
Theyhopethat,as
wellasallowing
moreflexibility,it
mightprovemore
effective.Whatnext?
“NorthernIreland was alwaysthe Achilles’ heelof the Brexit project,” said Dan Hodgesin The
Mail onSunday.But the problemsintheoperation ofthe Northern IrelandProtocol have been
made infinitely worseby petty interpretationsof EUrules.To give oneexample,adigger from
Great Britain wasrecently banned from entering NI incase itsmucky tracks broughtEnglish
soil intotheprovince. TheEUalso blundered appallingly intrying to blockvaccineimports
intothe UK,saidDanielHannanin The SundayTelegraph.Never mindthat the move–which
effectively risked imposingahard border on the island of Ireland–was swiftly reversed. “Aman
can drophis trousers inapub for only afewseconds,but hewillalways afterwards bethe man
who dropped histrousers.” It’s no surprise that the EU is doing its best to make Brexitapainful
experience for the UK,said LindyMcDowell intheBelfastTelegraph. “But it has ended up
taking it out on the one small part of the UK where [...] it was vital to tread carefully.”
Warnings that Brexitwould leadtodelays atborders and hefty coststoexporters were once
dismissed as“Project Fear”, said AndrewWoodcock inThe Independent. Yet,forall the talk
of “Global Britain”, leaving the customs union and single market was always going to lead to
trading barriers. And the consequences are being felt most acutely in trade across the Irish Sea,
said Walter Ellis on Reaction.life. Manufacturers’ supply chains are in “disarray”; and some
British firms have given up sending products to NI altogether. Meanwhile, Northern Irish
businesses–which can still trade with the EU as before if they go via the Republic–have
started bypassing ports like Liverpool in favour of Dublin and Rosslare, so as to avoid onerous
paperwork when crossingtheIrishSea. Northern Ireland is especiallyexposed to Brexit’s harsh
realities,said DavidPhinnemore in The Guardian. But the Protocol is the only viableway of
managing thedisruption.TheUKand EU mustnow focus on makingitwork.
What the commentators said
Michael Gove was due to
meet European Commission
vice-president Maroš
Šefčovičfortalkson the
operation of the NI Protocol
on Thursday. Britain has
called forgraceperiods
aimed at enabling smoother
trade invital supplies
between Great Britain and
NI to be extended until
January2023. Existing
grace periods are due to
start expiring from April.Apetition by Northern
Ireland’s Democratic
Unionist Party (DUP) calling
for theNI Protocol to be
scrapped couldsoon be
debatedinParliament after
it was signedby 138,
people in less thanaweek.Whatever you might have enjoyed on Netflix last week, I’d wager it
failed to rival–for pure entertainment–the YouTube recording of
the Handforth Parish Council meeting (see p23). It was the perfect
mini drama, as The Sunday Times called it,aplay from which each of us could extract our own
moral. For some it was the insufferability of power-hungry middle-aged males; for others the English
obsession with petty rules. Resisting the temptation to sneer,Isaw it more asaparable of local demo-
cracy’s intrinsic flaw: why it so often degenerates into farcical acrimony. It’s not due,as Sayre’s law
would have it (see Wit and Wisdom, p23), to the“little” people getting over-excited over “little”
issues. That’s more witty than it’s wise. The real reason is that the smaller the locality, the more zero-
sum the issues and the sharper the distinction between winners and losers.Anew bus route down
the quiet local street? The town’s non-swimmers having to pay for the new swimming pool? The
more visiblyaspecificcost is tied toaspecific benefit, the fiercer the disagreement, which is why
central, not local government, has always been the more efficient tax collector. It’s also why–for all
our allegiance to the local democratic ideal–Parliament, since 1888, has swept away thousands of
locally elected bodies: Improvement Boards, Burial Boards, School Boards (in 1902)–the list goes
on. When measured by their impact, “all politics is local”, as Tip O’Neill wisely noted (also on p23).
But if you want to get things decided, best to ensure all politicians aren’t.THEWEEK
Jeremy O’Grady
©MATT/DAILY TELEGRAPH
“You’re in for Morocco?
I’m doing ten years for a
holiday in Cape Town”Subscriptions:0330-333 9494; [email protected]©DennisPublishing Limited 2021. Allrights reserved.
The Week isaregistered trademark. Neither the whole of this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored
in aretrieval systemortransmittedinany form orbyany meanswithout the writtenpermissionof the publishersEditorial:Email: [email protected] 3787
THE WEEKPlace, London WC1E 7DP. Tel: 020-3890 3890Ltd,asubsidiary of Dennis, 31-32 Alfred
ProductioSophie GriffinnManager:Newstrade Director:Maaya MistryDavidBarkerProduction Executive:
Direc tMarketing Director:AccountManager/Inserts:Abi SpoonJackReadererClassified:Henry
HaselockHattie WhiteAccount Directors:AdvertisingManager:Jonathan Claxton, Joe Teal,Carly Activille
GroupAdvertising Director:CarolineFenner
Founder:Jolyon Connell
ChiefExecutive, The Week:Kerin O’Connor
ChiefExecutive:JamesTye
DennisPublishingfounder:FelixDennisEditor-in-chief:Editor:Theo TaitCaroline Law
Deputy editor:HarryNicolleExecutive editor:LaurenceEarle
City editor:Contributing editors:JaneLewisSimon Wilson, RoAssistanteditor:bMcLuhan,Robin de Peyer
Catherine HeaneyWilliamSkidelsky,DigbyWarde-Aldam, ToEditorial staff:Anoushka Petit,mYarwood,
Tigger Ridgwell,Sorcha Bradley, Aine O’ConnorEditorial
assistant:Art director:Asya LikhtmanNathalieFowlerPicture ed itor:Sub-editor:Xandie NuttiTomCobbeng
Productioneditor:AlannaO’Connell
Editorialchairman and co-founder:Jeremy O’Grady