The Week - UK (2022-02-19)

20 NEWS Talking points

THEWEEK19 February 2022

“OnlyBoris cansaveBrexit?

Bollocks.OnlyBoriscan f***

Brexit upnow.” Soone

arch-EuroscepticToryraged

to metheotherday,saidTom

NewtonDunnintheLondon

EveningStandard–and there

areplenty ofothers inthe

party whofeelmuchthe same

way.Theybelieve that, two

yearsaftertheUKformally

departedfromtheEU, the

Governmentis stillfailing

to takefull advantageofthe

country’snewfreedoms.There

have beentoofewtrade deals,

notenough divergencefrom

EU standards, not enough

scrappingof Brusselsred tape.

Itwasthese arch-Euroscepticsthat putJohnson

intoNo. 10,andthey havethepower tobring

himdown.Hencethe PM’sdesperateefforts to

placatethemwithlastweek’sminireshuffle, in

whichhe appointedJacobRees-Moggto the

newrole ofMinisterforBrexitOpportunities.

Findingthesenewopportunitiesisproving

tricky,said JonathanFreedland inThe

Guardian,which maybewhyoneof Rees-

Mogg’sfirst acts inhisnewrolewastoappeal

to readersofThe Suntowriteintohim with

suggestionsof“ANYpettyoldEUregulation

thatshouldbeabolished”.Alas, it’s adoomed

quest. ThedownsidesofBrexitgrowmore

glaringbytheday:the Public Accounts

Committee reported last week onthe “clear

increaseincosts, paperwork

and borderdelays”;ina

business survey,more than

halfofimportersand exporters

complainedaboutthe

additionalpaperworkand

highertransportcosts. The

upsides ofBrexit, meanwhile,

alltend toproveillusoryor

trivial oncloser inspection.

There aresomebenefitsto

Brexit,saidJohnRentoul in

TheIndependent.Ourrapid

approval ofCovid vaccines,

forinstance,probably

wouldn’thave happenedif we

hadremainedinside thebloc,

evenif there wereno legal

obstaclespreventingEU membersfromgoing

it alone.Andyou shouldn’tdismissthe desire

of the “vastmajorityof people inthiscountry”

fordomesticcontrolofimmigrationpolicy.

In emergingareassuchas artificialintelligence

andgeneediting,theUKmaybeabletotake

advantageofitsgreaterindependence,said the

FT. But therealityisthatanysuchbenefitswill

be incrementaland take timetoaccrue, as

Rees-Mogghimself onceacknowledged: in201 8

he saiditwouldtake50 yearstofeel thebenefits

of Brexit. Theywon’tbe delivered bytryingto

whipup some instant bonfireofEU regulations.

“ChartingacourseafterBrexitto benefittheUK

is possible,butrequires sensible discussionand

painstakingmasteryof detail.”There’slittle

evidenceofeitherin Johnson’slatest campaign.

Pickoftheweek’s

Gossip

Brexit:in search of opportunities

“Itwasanextraordinarywaytoendnearly

twoyearsofrestrictionsandlockdowns,”said

WillHutton inTheGuardian.There wereno

“explanatorybriefings”fromtheChiefMedical

Officer orScientificAdviser,or UK-wide

consultations.Instead,thePMsimplytold“a

surprisedHouse ofCommons” that hewould

unilaterallyliftallCovid restrictions inEngland

on 24February,amonthaheadoftime. Any

requirement to self-isolate if testingpositive

will end.Wearingmasks? Social distancing?

Workingfromhome?Allover.Worryingly

littlethoughthas been given to public health

thereafter. Adocument called “LivingWith

Covid” hasbeenpromised for21February. It

is expected to set out the “scantest of strategies”

to contain thevirus. Even free PCRtesting, it

seems,istoend, along with the ONSinfection

survey,whichscans for“high-riskvariants”.

This policy is crazy, said Victoria Richards in

The Independent. It’s sold as freedom, butit

means the exactopposite for theill and

vulnerable: it’s just not fair to passonthis

disease“like arelay batonat sports day”.

Don’t do it then,saidAndrewLilico in The

DailyTelegraph.Justbecauseself-isolationwill

no longer be mandatory, doesn’t mean people

won’t have the “commonsense”tostayat

homewhen they’re sick.Thisisawelcomestep

towards“fullnormalisation”, especiallysince

cases andhospitalisationsarenowdropping

significantly.Iagree,saidProfKarolSikora

intheDailyMail.Vaccinations havedone

“outstandingwork”.InFebruary2021,about

five infections in100provedfatal.Nowit’sten

in2,000.But“twoyearsof fear”have taken

“aterribletoll”,particularly amongtheyoung,

elderlyandpeoplewithnon-Covidconditions

that wentundiagnosedbecausethey were

too scaredto go nearhospitalsorGPs.

“TheGovernment needs insteadtofocuson

repairing the damage.”

So,officially,the pandemicisover,said Tom

Whipple in TheTimes –but thevirus mayhave

otherideas.“There is genuineambivalence”

withinthe Government’sscientific advisory

group, Sage,althoughfewexpect an immediate

surge in infectionsasaresult: many sufferers are

likely to voluntarilyself-isolate. Yet there are

still morethan1,000Covidhospitalisationsper

dayinBritain.Ofparticular concern arethe half

amillion immunocompromised people for

whom any infection is much riskier.No official

strategytoprotect themin the future, such as

offering access to antiviral drugsof the kind

used in theUS, has been communicated. As

one campaignerput it,the planseemsto be:

“good luck,and God bless”.

Covid-19: is the pandemic over?

MarjorieTaylorGreene,a

right-wingRepublicanwho

in the pastsubscribedto the

QAnonconspiracytheory,

isn’thappywiththe police

presencein Washington.

Lastweekshe lashedout at

the HouseSpeakerNancy

Pelosi’s“gazpachopolice

spyingon membersof

Congress”–apparently

confusingthe coldSpanish

soupwiththe NaziGestapo.

Shewaswidelymocked,but

the podcasterKenWhite

stoodup for her,describing

Greeneas “oneof the most

constantand effectivecritics

of this adminestrone”.

BrooklynBeckham,David

andVictoria’sson,has a

newcookeryshow,Cookin’

WithBrooklyn,inwhichhe

showsoff dishesincluding

afish and chipsandwich.

There’sonlyone problem,

the NewYorkPostreported:

he can’tactuallycook.In

fact,the 22-year-oldis said

to rely on ateamof 62

peopleto helphim,along

withan illustrated“cheat

sheet”to explaintermslike

“whisk”and “parboil”on

the show–each episodeof

whichcosts$100,000.“He

is to cookingwhat[his

mother]Poshwasto

singing,”saidasource.

Joe Bidenis famouslyproud

of his Irishheritage;and his

mother’sbackgroundmeant

she had strongviewson the

English,anew bookreveals.

In an autobiography,British

writerGeorgiaPritchett

recallsmeetingBiden,then

vice-president,whotoldher

thathis mothervisited

Englandand spentanight

in ahotel wherethe Queen

had oncestayed.“Shewas

so appalledthatshe slepton

the floorall night,rather

thanrisk sleepingon abed

thatthe Queenhad slept

on,”Pritchettwrote.

Rees-Mogg:reachingouttoTheSun