The Sunday Times - UK (2022-06-05)

28 The Sunday Times June 5, 2022

COMMENT

Lockdown clues

were plain to see

Rod Liddle is right to feel he

was a mug for obeying the

lockdown restrictions

(Comment, last week). One

must hope his fellow citizens

who were just as credulous

and servile develop his self-

awareness. But he dates his

awakening to reflection on

the prime minister’s

disgraceful conduct: the signs

were there much earlier.

Lockdown was announced

on March 23, 2020. On May 5,

Professor Neil Ferguson

resigned from his role as a

government adviser on Covid

because, even as he achieved

national prominence urging

the lockdown policy, he

broke the regulations, and in

a way that would have

directly endangered another

person if the risk was serious.

What more should it have

taken for us to see that

lockdown was an exercise in

self-aggrandisement by a

group of scientists, medical

practitioners and officials?

This matters now, because

the totalitarian way in which

criticism at the time was

suppressed is still a dominant

feature of the formulation of

government policy.

David Campbell

Professor of law, Lancaster

University Law School

Brutal errors

History will judge that some

lockdown measures, such as

working from home, were

effective at flattening the

curves of various waves and

NO

Knees-up at No 10

Your headline asks, “Whose

jubilee street party will be the

most happy and glorious?”

(News Review, last week). It’s

obvious: the best bash will be

in Downing Street. I’m told

they have great experience in

organising parties.

Andrew Joseph

Yateley, Hampshire

Putting the boot in

Robert Shotton is appalled

that the NHS told him to “bin”

his Vacoped boot after ten

weeks’ use (Letters, last

week). Would he be happier

placing his recently repaired

Achilles tendon, and healing

wound, in a boot previously

worn for that purpose by

several other patients ... or

would the idea of “single use”

become more appealing at

that point?

John Butcher, NHS and private

physiotherapist, Pontefract,

West Yorkshire

Deserved retirement

You implore “50-somethings”

to “get out of your gardens:

Britain needs you” to boost

the workforce (leading article,

last week). Most of those 50-

somethings have, like myself,

worked solidly since leaving

university, raised families,

paid taxes, and have taken

early retirement for whatever

reason they choose, often to

care for relatives or

grandchildren. Do not think

we are just sitting in the

garden sipping coffee. I’m

sure there are thousands of

students looking for casual

work to help fund university. I

suggest the recruitment drive

is focused in that direction.

Diana Mahon, Kent

Driving me crazy

Jeremy Clarkson is

discombobulated by a Korean

car because it thinks it can

steer better than he can and

frequently tries to do so

(Driving, Magazine, last

week). My new German car

also does this: to turn the

system off I have to scroll

though endless menus and

submenus, which means

taking one’s eye off the road.

The default setting switches it

back on next time I get in.

This move towards self-

driving cars is dangerous,

spookily alarming and totally

unnecessary.

Martin Henry

Good Easter, Essex

Cold shoulder

Kirsty Lang and Liam Kelly

ask if it is for our museums to

help the poor survive the

cost-of-living crisis (“Keep

warm and carry on”, Culture,

last week). No, it is not. While

I appreciate the museum

directors’ desire to help their

local community, how will

those who come to see the

exhibits do so when the place

is crowded with people trying

to get warm? Crowds make it

difficult to appreciate an

exhibition, and will stop

many art lovers from visiting.

Marcia MacLeod

Northwest London

Rosé among thorns

Beating a speedy path to the

hospitality tent at the Chelsea

Flower Show, Jeremy

Clarkson says he downed an

English róse wine (News

Review, last week). Is he sure?

The only offering I could see

was a South African róse

being supplied by the show’s

sponsors. Maybe the best

stuff was only being brought

out to discerning farmer-

journalists?

Roy Patey

Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Last week we asked:

Should Ukraine cede territory to Russia for peace?

was unable to say where and

when we had met.

James Burton Stewart

Hook, Hampshire

Quiet optimism

If Liddle is turning his

attention to tired idioms, “the

silence is deafening” surely

deserves consignment to the

dustbin of history. Oops.

Peter Saunders

Salisbury, Wiltshire

Dead annoying

The most offensive by far is

“lived experience”.

Isaac Mockton, west London

Brings tears to my eyes

Any large amount, price or

statistic being described as

“eye-watering”. Really?

Gill Moss

Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire

One of a kind

“Very unique”. “Rather

unique”. “Absolutely

unique”. How about

“Uniquely unique”?

David Henderson

Guildford, Surrey

occurrences were only half as

worrying as plain old

emergencies, because they

took twice as long to say.

He never used my services

again.

John Fuery

Roscommon, Ireland

View from the tool shed

Two hijacked corporate

words that consistently

annoy me are “toolbox” to

describe resources and

“workshop” for a training

session. They need to remain

the preserve of describing a

stout container for spanners

and screwdrivers and the

location where they are

generally used.

Roger Newark

Doddington, Cambridgeshire

Friends reunited

I share Liddle’s exasperation.

However, the good news is

the number of “buddies” one

appears to be accumulating.

In a call with my mobile

phone provider, the operative

addressed me as “buddy”.

Sadly, when challenged he

Give the gift of

proper English

I wish Rod Liddle success

with his campaign to end the

mangling of the English

language (Comment and

Letters, last week). He might

ask why the word “given” has

been replaced with “gifted”.

The word “gift” is a noun.

The verb is “to give”. You give

a gift. You can’t gift a gift. Is

there some strange logic that

I have somehow missed or is

it plain bonkers?

Arline Fisher, Barnes, London

To the point

I mean, what is the point of

starting a sentence with these

two words?

Kay Bagon

Radlett, Hertfordshire

Crisis management

“Emergency situation”. I am

a freelance writer and once

had a client who insisted on

using this odious expression.

Eventually, I cracked and

asked him if such

Decent Tories must

bring down Boris

Your brilliant exposure of No

10’s interference with the

Gray report (News, last week)

leaves prevaricating Tory MPs

with nowhere to hide. They

can no longer claim to be in

any doubt about the prime

minister’s dishonesty and

corruption. If they do not

bring him down now, they

will share his guilt.

If left in office, however,

Boris Johnson will not only

destroy trust in politics: his

addiction to Corbynite levels

of taxation and spending will

cripple the economy. The

Conservatives’ reputation for

both decency and

competence will be shattered

for a generation.

Francis Bown, east London

MPs are spineless

Conservative MPs are as bad

as their leader. They are the

only people who can get rid of

this law-breaking narcissist

and they are too spineless

and self-interested to do it.

Lorraine Allen-Jones

Pulborough, West Sussex

Spending unleashed

I would be interested to know

whether taxpayers’ money

has been spent on the prime

minister’s personal crusade

to “Save Big Dog”.

There are numerous

instances where arguably

unnecessary expenditure

has bolstered his image, not

least the foreign excursions

to enlarge his Ukrainian

“fig leaf ”.

Graham Lane, Argèles, France

Mistakes add up

Johnson is emboldened by

the mindset of his supporters.

They and the wider public are

gradually desensitised to

small mistakes because their

guy delivers on some higher

agenda. The mistakes add up

and become more egregious.

The process is like watching a

train crash in slow motion,

and you only need to look at

Turkey and Russia to see

where it ends up.

Abhi Khurana, Reading

Disgraceful staff

Gray’s report serves to

highlight — as if we didn’t

know already — that Downing

Street is staffed by a coterie of

“kidults”, for whom boozing

on the job, throwing up at

parties and being rude to

perceived underlings is

simply par for the course.

Whence came these

people? Who appointed

them? Why are they so

indulged? Our country

deserves and requires

government by people of

integrity, probity and, above

all, maturity. This shower are

a national disgrace.

Philip J Ashe, Leeds

Poor judgment

As Dominic Lawson points

out, Johnson again

demonstrates poor

leadership by supporting

another failed leader,

Bernard Hogan-Howe, in his

bid to be the head of the

National Crime Agency

(Comment, last week). The

cronyism is insidious.

Judy Oliver

Potton, Bedfordshire

Can I have my op, PM?

I have read reports of the

prime minister using his

influence to secure Evgeny

Lebedev a peerage and Lord

Hogan-Howe the leadership

of the National Crime Agency.

Is there any possibility of

him securing me an

appointment for a cataract

operation, after waiting

nearly four years?

John Farrow, Newport

I gave up my guns

after Dunblane

Writing of the massacre at a

school in Uvalde, Texas, Piers

Morgan recalls the school

shooting at Dunblane

(Comment, last week).

Before that occurred, I

legally owned a .22 Webley

revolver, a 9mm semi-

automatic pistol and a Colt

Python .357 Magnum

revolver. When I looked at

other hand-gun owners at the

time, something made me

wonder about their (and my)

motivations for owning such

weapons.

I approved of the ban on

hand-gun ownership, even

though it meant that I had to

give up my weapons. I have

never regretted that loss. I

had no real need for them.

Once the option of owning

such weapons is removed,

the desire is too. The USA has

yet to learn that lesson.

Duncan Cunningham

Chichester, West Sussex

Safer schools

Donald Trump says that guns

can stop massacres (News,

last week). The facts refute

this.

After Dunblane, we

tightened restrictions on gun

ownership. UK school

shootings since then: zero.

America has not done so. US

school shootings in that time:

more than 300.

Olga Swan, Birmingham

A memorial to victims of the school massacre in Uvalde

1981 Report on five cases of

pneumonia in US leads to

identification of Aids

1989 Chinese man filmed

blocking column of tanks in

Tiananmen Square, Beijing

Mark Wahlberg is 51 today

LETTERS

TO THE EDITOR

JOIN THE CONVERSATION ONLINE

Do we have any Italian men

with us today? You should be

on your best behaviour,

because Bee is watching you.

Responding to our sartorial

dispatch from Rome, she

confessed: “We were in

Venice in December and had

breakfast at a café where

Italian men would meet for

an espresso at the bar. As

their backs were to me, I took

some photographs to work

out what made them look so

well put together.

“I agree with the article.

They all had a good haircut

(no shaved heads). They were

slim, and their clothes were

fitted, not baggy, in subtle,

earthy colours. The shoes

were all leather, dark, and not

scuffed or worn.” But don’t

worry, signori: “I did delete

the pictures later.”

Mike Branson had

“worked in Kazakhstan in an

office shared with various

nationalities. What I

remember about the Italian

men was they spent an

inordinate amount of time

grooming themselves in the

washroom mirrors.” null

customer recalled “great

hilarity in business meetings

in 1990s Italy over British

men’s socks. They couldn’t

understand it — immaculate

suits and shirts ruined by the

trousers not meeting the

socks.” But there are graver

sins, warned Mr Mussughah:

“Italians would be more

upset by someone ordering a

cappuccino after noon.”

Geraldine Hennigan is

“sailing for Galicia from

southwest Ireland on a 40ft

yacht”. Mindful of the orca

attacks we reported, she said

there was evidence “it’s a

game for mischievous young

males”. Perhaps, said Dekka,

it is “oceanic quidditch, with

extra points for rudders of

different colours”. DAT 1

advised: “Take some tuna

and be prepared to hand it

over.” Mrs Sarah Rees said:

“Whales have clearly hired

the bruisers in dinner jackets

to do their ‘wet work’.” Yes,

“orcastrated attacks”, agreed

Caroline Attwood. A feeding

frenzy of fish jokes was put to

the sword by Bonto 747, who

pleaded simply: “Fin.”

Rob Nash

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BIRTHDAYS POINTS

READERS’ POLL

From a poll of 12,794 Times and Sunday Times readers

This week’s question:

Should the UK remain a monarchy for another 70 years?

Have your say at sundaytimes.co.uk/poll

18% 82%

YES

Laurie Anderson,

performance artist, 75

Martha Argerich, pianist, 81

Dame Margaret Drabble,

novelist, 83

Ken Follett, novelist, 73

Sir David Hare, playwright, 75

Ross Noble, comedian, 46

Mark Wahlberg, actor, 51

CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS

We wrongly said that 67 per

cent of Britain’s potatoes are

imported from the EU (News,

last week). In fact 70 per cent

of potatoes consumed here

are grown in the UK.

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how to lodge a complaint.

essential to avoid the Italian

situation of an overwhelmed

health system. Others, such

as people dying alone and

care home residents being

denied visitors for years, will

be seen as brutal, inhuman

and frankly hysterical errors

of judgment.

Jocelyn McNulty, Cheltenham

Party on

Most of us feel the same as

Liddle about government

hypocrisy over parties. No

doubt any further restriction

of our liberty in the future

would be widely flouted.

Unfortunately, that could

have dreadful consequences

as we do not know how

infectious or life-threatening

any future pandemic may be.

Clive Jacobs

Aldenham, Hertfordshire

A measured dose

of madness

Regarding the consultation

on bringing back imperial

weights and measures (News,

last week) — why stop there?

Why not bring back the old

medicine dosing units of

grains, drams and minims?

(Unless, of course, you pay

regard to the fact that it would

increase the already high

rates of medication errors.)

We’re nearly there! Brexit,

weights and measures — roll

on sepia land!

Professor Jonathan Cooke

Manchester Pharmacy School,

University of Manchester

Rolling back the years

While we’re at it, let’s get rid

of seat belts, breathalysers,

lead-free petrol, airbags,

MOTs, colour television,

digital radio and the internet;

and bring back steam

engines, the Home Service,

telegrams, phone boxes with

buttons A and B, compulsory

churchgoing and the national

anthem when television stops

at 10.30pm.

Geoff Hughes

Queenstown, New Zealand

CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP

Tom Newton Dunn

a good old shoot-out, with enough time

left to bed in a new guy or girl?

It gets more worrying for Johnson still,

for one further reason. Although the

whips will never say so publicly, they

also know full well what happens to

prime ministers who have faced

leadership votes and won.

Thatcher had gone within eight days

of winning hers in November 1990.

Major suffered a landslide defeat to Tony

Blair two years after winning his, and

May resigned within six months of

seeing off her challengers.

The political reality is prime ministers

are fatally damaged by public

demonstrations of such overwhelming

disloyalty, for the simple reason that

they cruelly expose the collapse in their

authority. Leaders who can barely lead a

majority of their own MPs don’t remain

leaders for long.

That’s why No 10’s strategy right now

is to avoid a confidence vote at all costs.

With defiance, contempt, bombast and

bravado — and all in a desperate attempt

to bluff Johnson’s critics into not daring

to go there. If they do, Johnson’s demise

will have begun and his end will be only

a matter of time.

Tom Newton Dunn presents The News

Desk on TalkTV, weeknights at 7pm.

Robert Colvile is away

public) has gone down the list of all 358

of his colleagues and judged what they’ll

do in a confidence vote, based on what’s

in it for them.

He did a similar exercise during

Theresa May’s 2018 confidence vote, and

was accurate to within ten. This time he

thinks the numbers are so close he can’t

call it. The cabinet is a good example.

How many of them can Johnson rely on?

Is it really in Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak’s

interest to keep him in power, and

deprive themselves of a shot at the

crown? How about Brandon Lewis? Does

the Northern Ireland secretary think

he’ll go any higher under Johnson?

The greased piglet, as David Cameron

calls Boris, still holds one ace: the card of

incumbency. As stubborn as all his

predecessors, Johnson knows

possession is nine tenths of the game,

and Tory MPs must weigh up what

damage the fresh chaos will do to the

party’s already wobbly reputation. What

will voters think of this vainglorious act

of introspection at the very moment

they want problems solved?

Countering that is the argument

reinforced by a big date next week. A

week today, June 12, marks the exact

midpoint of this parliament, when the

date by which the next general election

must be held is as far away as the last

one. What better moment, then, to have

Friday — a scene that would have been

unimaginable six months ago.

So the key electoral question Tory

MPs wrestle with is can Johnson rebuild

voters’ lost trust, or is it gone for ever?

The second question they never stop

pondering is, will Johnson promote me?

Leaders only three years into their

tenures should still have a wealth of

hungry MPs hanging on for their shot at

a good government job.

Yet Johnson hasn’t. He has already

sacked, snubbed or slighted a

staggeringly large number he just

doesn’t trust having anywhere near him.

One MP (another Johnson backer in

troops has always been purely

transactional. That makes the

calculation for Tory MPs this time much

more binary, and based largely on self-

interest: what is this guy doing to do for

me personally? 1, is he going to keep me

in my seat? And 2, what are my chances

of advancement under him?

On the electoral question, the public

numbers aren’t great, but they certainly

could be worse. Labour’s eight-point

lead should be far higher against a mid-

term government presiding over an

economic quagmire.

Privately, Johnson’s own numbers are

quite a bit worse. One party official who

has seen Conservative Campaign

Headquarters’ internal polling says the

PM’s favourability rating is minus 35 per

cent. Among women aged 35 to 54, a key

demographic, it’s minus 70 per cent.

Anecdotal evidence from MPs who

have been back in their constituencies

over the half-term recess is grimmer still.

They are disturbed by the growing

number of angry emails in their inboxes

and the vitriol they now receive from

constituents and friends. “I’m sick of

going to dinner parties and being

embarrassed about being a Conservative

MP,” one said. They won’t have been

comforted by the boos that Johnson and

his wife, Carrie, received from the

monarchist crowd outside St Paul’s on

E

arly during the last Conservative

leadership contest in the warm

summer of 2019, I asked a Tory

MP I liked if he’d pledged his

vote yet to any of the array of

candidates running.

“Absolutely,” he said resolutely.

“I’ve pledged it to every one of

them who’s asked so far.”

That MP is now in the cabinet, and to

this day I don’t know if he was joking.

As the Conservative Party prepares

for yet another season of blood-letting,

the story is a salutary reminder to

today’s Tory whips.

It exemplifies one of the only cast-iron

rules of British politics: Tory MPs are the

most perfidious electorate in the world.

A confidence vote in Boris Johnson’s

leadership, provoked by (but not only

because of ) the Downing Street parties

scandal, is now a betting certainty some

time this month — be it before or after

the loss of both by-elections on June 23.

Yet right now No 10 is publicly very

bombastic. Bring it on, the whips tell the

rebels. You’ve got no credible

alternative, the numbers aren’t there

and you’ll lose. Then Boris is safe for

another full year under the new rules for

the 1922 Committee of Tory

backbenchers.

Even if 54 letters are scraped together,

it’s “impossible” (for that is the word the

whips are using) that 180 Tory MPs will

then vote against the prime minister — a

simple majority of the 359 total.

Today’s bloated government payroll

vote of 173 ministers, envoys and

assorted bag carriers will get the PM over

the line almost alone, the whips argue.

Really? I’m not at all sure.

For one thing, the reasoning forgets

the biggest threat to all Tory leaders

down the ages: a confidence vote is

anonymous. It also doesn’t tally with

what the shrewder observers on the

Conservative benches think. Which is

that Johnson’s premiership is under the

gravest threat it has faced.

The truth is Tory MPs will be telling

precisely nobody the truth about what

they will really do in the privacy of the

1922 Committee’s ballot booth. Not their

political allies, nor their few real friends

in Westminster, and definitely not the

whips. It only weakens them.

Then factor in how this particular

attempt at prime ministerial

defenestration — a summer sport loved

by Tory MPs even more than cricket — is

quite different from previous ones.

For once, it’s not about policy. It’s

about Johnson’s style of command, his

personality. Also unlike previous

challenges, Johnson doesn’t have his

own political tribe that is loyal to him.

His relationship with his parliamentary

Prime ministerial

defenestration

is a summer

sport loved by

Tories even more

than cricket

Johnson’s bluster and bravado will be no

match for perfidious MPs and a secret ballot