the times | Saturday December 18 2021 41
Leading articles
the HS2 railway line and to proposed planning re-
forms. This time no such excuses were available.
Instead Mr Johnson appeared to blame the media
for focusing too much on “politics” rather than the
government’s achievements.
There’s no question that a string of stories re-
garding the government’s conduct have been
damaging both to Mr Johnson’s authority and the
Conservative brand. The Paterson affair, revela-
tions about Downing Street Covid-busting parties
and the Electoral Commission’s findings over the
funding to redecorate his Downing Street flat
have all raised doubts about Mr Johnson’s honesty.
In the wake of previous scandals, including
Dominic Cummings’s trip to Barnard Castle and
Matt Hancock’s breach of lockdown regulations,
Mr Johnson gives the impression he considers
himself above the rules that apply to lesser mor-
tals. That has made him toxic to many voters.
Even so, Mr Johnson’s biggest problem is not
sleaze but the government’s patchy record.
Although he delivered on his promise to get Brexit
done and has largely succeeded with the vaccine
rollout, many other manifesto pledges have been
broken.Taxes are being raised to levels not seen
since the 1960s, the pension triple lock has been
broken and in the north promised new high speedtrain lines have been abandoned. The government
appears to lack solutions to some of the most
urgent crises facing the country. A plan to fix
social care turned out to be a plan to inject billions
more into an unreformed NHS. Flagship reforms
to planning rules have been scrapped. Levelling up
remains a slogan in seach of a policy. Overall there
seems a lack of a firm grip on government and of
a serious, competent person in charge. Back-
benchers are being alienated by the sense this is a
big state government antithetical to more tradi-
tional Conservative values.
That does not mean Mr Johnson is under immi-
nent threat of removal. Assuming Simon Case, the
cabinet secretary, and Lord Geidt, the adviser on
standards, do not find that he misled them over
the Downing Street parties or flat redecoration, he
is likely to ride out the scandals. In the absence of
any obvious successor who could unite an increas-
ingly fractious party, the prime minister is wound-
ed, but not fatally so. The party has asked for a re-
set and for more accommodation with the back
benches. That is not Mr Johnson’s style. He will
bulldoze on. The party will move against him only
when they conclude he is no longer an electoral
asset and they have a better candidate. We are not
there yet. But it is getting closer.who are vulnerable are never exposed to it. Some
people have genuine medical reasons why they
cannot be vaccinated. It is for their protection that
everyone else who has no legitimate reason to ob-
ject should accept being jabbed as a civic obliga-
tion.
In spite of all evidence showing the risks of
harmful side effects are minuscule compared with
those of contracting Covid-19, some segments of
the population are refusing to get their full dose. A
third of Londoners have not had even a single jab.
Polls suggest that one person in five aged between
18 and 44 does not plan to get a booster shot. And,
as we report today, the fantasies of conspiracy
theorists are spreading.
The government’s tightening of the rules
prompted a big backbench rebellion this week.
Even so, those measures, including mandatory
proof of vaccination to enter venues with large
crowds and making vaccination compulsory for
frontline NHS staff, are eminently defensible. The
evidence suggests that as more people get vacci-
nated, so vaccine hesitancy declines.
Medical professionals, not least those practisingamong ethnic minority communities, are doing
valiant work in highlighting the efficacy and
safety of vaccines. It would be ideal if people who
hold out against the jab on grounds of deep-seated
beliefs could be persuaded they are wrong, but not
all can be. Conspiracy theorists who maintain that
the pandemic is a hoax concocted by Big Pharma
are immune to rational argument. The respons-
ible course is hence to ensure that vaccine refuse-
niks bear the costs of their beliefs rather than act
as free riders on others.
To accept a pathogen into one’s body, which is
how many vaccines work, does scare some people.
It is right to demand stringent safety standards, as
with all medicines. But once the scientific evi-
dence is in, and with Covid vaccines it is over-
whelming, then continued resistance turns to
dangerous superstition. The world before vaccines
was a bleak place, with average life expectancy at
birth in England in the mid-18th century at about- Almost 150,000 people in Britain have died of
Covid-19. That tragic statistic will mount inexora-
bly unless the forces hampering the vaccination
campaign are confronted.
business. New research from the Higher Educa-
tion Statistics Agency reveals that the university
with the most recent graduates setting up busi-
nesses with the backing of their alma mater is the
Royal College of Art (RCA). The University of the
Arts comes sixth in the list and the Conservatoire
for Dance and Drama eighth.
Not so long ago such institutions were a little
sniffy about private enterprise. These attitudes are
now, mercifully, a thing of the past. Art school
graduates are more likely than their peers from
Russell Group universities to deploy their talents
in business start-ups, whether those focus on de-sign, technology, social media, fashion, marketing,
branding, textiles, advertising or the old-fash-
ioned showbusiness platforms of stage and screen.
Britain has become a world leader in many of
these sectors, which are an invaluable means both
of projecting soft cultural power and garnering
export earnings. Thanks often to a more vocation-
ally-oriented art school education, those with cre-
ative gifts are increasingly acquiring the commer-
cial nous to maintain the country’s comparative
advantage. Sir Jony Ive, the celebrated Apple de-
signer and chancellor of the RCA, along with fel-
low visionaries elsewhere, deserves great credit.Wounded Johnson
A thumping defeat in the North Shropshire by-election leaves the prime minister
badly damaged. He may not have long to restore confidence in his leadership
Earlier this week it became clear Boris Johnson
had lost the confidence of many of his backbench-
ers, almost half of whom rebelled against his
policy on vaccine passports. Yesterday it became
clear he had lost the confidence of a large swathe
of Conservative voters too. The North Shropshire
by-election was a contest that need never have
happened if the prime minister had accepted the
Commons Standards Committee’s conclusions on
Owen Paterson’s lobbying, rather than trying to
rewrite the rules to get the former MP for the con-
stituency off the hook. It is certainly a by-election
the Tories should never have lost. The party was
defending a 22,949 majority in a heavily Leave
voting seat that had been Conservative for 200
years. Instead it crashed to a 5,925 vote defeat to
the Liberal Democrats in the biggest swing against
an incumbent government since 1993.
All governments lose by-elections, sometimes
as on this occasion spectacularly, and it does not
always prove terminal for either the government
or the prime minister. Nonetheless this is the
second such thumping defeat in quick succession
in what was previously considered a rock solid
seat, following the party’s loss in Chesham &
Amersham in June. On that occasion the govern-
ment blamed local factors, including opposition toJust Jabs
People who remain unvaccinated should bear the costs of their refusal
Pestilence is an ancient evil that is being tackled by
modern science. When a novel coronavirus
emerged at the end of 2019, scientists developed
effective vaccines within a year. The evolution of
new variants of Covid-19 does not render those
vaccines obsolete but makes it still more urgent for
people to be jabbed. It is a threat to public health
that a stubborn minority of the population is re-
luctant to get vaccinated. The government and
businesses are entitled to insist that voluntary
non-vaccination should carry costs.
Interviewed in The Times today, Michael
O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, urges that
vaccination be a precondition of air travel and also
of entry to such venues as supermarkets, pharma-
cies and hospitals. He is right. Those who refuse
vaccination are not some unjustly persecuted
minority. It is their right in a free society to exer-
cise choice, but they have no plausible complaint
if they find there are unwelcome consequences.
Remaining unvaccinated imposes heavy social
costs. Vaccines work by creating herd immunity.
When enough people are vaccinated the inci-
dence of that disease falls to the point where thoseSmart Art
Creative degree courses are providing the next generation of entrepreneurs
There was a time when a youngster announcing
they were going to art school would horrify their
parents, fearful of an impecunious future for their
offspring. And indeed, unless the student turned
out to be John Lennon, Keith Richards, David
Bowie, Pete Townshend, Roger Waters, Freddie
Mercury, Brian Eno, Sade, Joe Strummer, Lady
Gaga, Rita Ora or Damon Albarn, or became a
very famous artist rather than a musician, mum
and dad may well have been right.
Not any more. The false distinction between
creative innovation and entrepreneurial flair is
being eroded, which is excellent news for BritishDaily Universal Register
UK: Anti-mandates protest in Parliament
Square, London; London Underground
drivers’ strike on the Central, Jubilee,
Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines
Billie Eilish, pictured,
singer-songwriter, No
Time to Die (2020), 20;
Christina Aguilera, pop
singer, Beautiful (2002),
41; Sir David
Chipperfield, architect,
River and Rowing
Museum, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire
(1989-98), 68; Rear-Admiral Martin
Connell, rear-admiral (Fleet Air Arm) and
director, Force Generation, 53; Lizzie
Deignan (née Armitstead), track and road
racing cyclist, 33; Rachel Griffiths, actress,
Muriel’s Wedding (1994), 53; Katie Holmes,
actress, Batman Begins (2005), 43; Ray
Liotta, actor, Goodfellas (1990), 67; MM
McCabe, emeritus professor of ancient
philosophy, King’s College London, and
author, 73; Michael Moorcock, editor of New
Worlds (1963-80), 82; Tom Parker Bowles,
food critic, 47; Jacques Pépin, personal chef
to three French heads of state, including
Charles de Gaulle, 86; Brad Pitt, actor, Fight
Club (1999), 58; Stephen Pollard, editor, The
Jewish Chronicle, 57; Keith Richards,
guitarist, the Rolling Stones, 78; Charles
Chetwynd-Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury,
president, Gun Trade Association (2000-18),
69; Steven Spielberg, film-maker, 75; Anne
Wood, founder (1984), Ragdoll Productions,
84; Lucy Worsley, historian, joint chief
curator, Historic Royal Palaces, 48; Jonathan
Ye o, portrait painter, 51.
In 1997 a bill to give Scotland its own
parliament was unveiled by Donald Dewar,
the secretary of state for Scotland.
Jake Gyllenhaal,
pictured, actor, Brokeback
Mountain (2005), 41;
Jennifer Beals, actress,
Flashdance (1983), 58;
Béatrice Dalle, actress,
Betty Blue (1986), 57;
Steve Double,
Conservative MP for St Austell & Newquay,
assistant whip, 55; Angela Flowers, gallery
owner, 89; Richard Hammond, presenter,
52; Steven Isserlis, cellist, 63; Richard
Leakey, palaeoanthropologist and
conservationist, head of the Kenya Wildlife
Service (1989-1994, 1998-99), 77; Limahl,
singer, The NeverEnding Story (1984), 63; Syd
Little, comedian, 79; Kathryn McDowell,
managing director, London Symphony
Orchestra, 62; Sean O’Brien, writer, It Says
Here (2020), 69; Tim Parks, author, Europa
(1997), 67; Pratibha Patil, the first woman to
serve as president of India (2007-12), 87;
Bridget Phillipson, Labour MP for
Houghton and Sunderland South, shadow
education secretary, 38; Karen Pickering,
swimmer, four-time world champion (1993,
1999, 2000-01), 50; Ricky Ponting, cricketer,
Australia captain (2004-11), 47; David
Douglas, Marquess of Queensberry,
ceramics designer, 92; Sir Peter Roth, High
Court judge, president, UK Competition
Appeal Tribunal (2013-Nov 2021), 69; Lord
(David) Rowe-Beddoe, chairman laureate,
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama,
and life president, Wales Millennium Centre,
84; Prof Christopher Smout,
Historiographer Royal in Scotland, 88.
“If children are not introduced to music at an
early age, I believe something fundamental is
actually being taken from them.” Luciano
Pavarotti, tenor, A Gift of Days (2009)
Birthdays today
Birthdays tomorrow
On this day
The last word