Editors note: Due to technical issues yesterday that prevented our articles from being viewed by most of our audience I have made the decision to republish them today.
LionRed
The author is based in the UK at the moment (ex-pat Kiwi) and travels the world as a consultant in developing countries working on business development. As a result, he is totally cynical about NGOs, the UN and WHO etc. He is regularly exposed to contacts with governments and diplomatic agencies. He has regularly commuted to Myanmar and South East Asia over the past three years so is able to understand what China is up to in the world.
April the 3rd, and you’ve guessed it, the sun has stopped shining. It’s a grey, nondescript day; which seems to sum up the mood in the country.
I have difficulties trying to decide how to start this letter. I am torn between being upbeat about things getting done, but extremely concerned about the excessive usurping of powers by the authorities. The generally warm collective feeling and acceptance in the country seems to be slipping away as people try to get to grips with the new laws and limitations on personal freedom.
Generally, people have no issues with what is required of them but they are getting disenchanted with the heavy-handed and sometimes illegal application of the new laws. By overstepping the mark and either over-zealously applying the laws or even inventing new interpretations, the police are in danger of losing the goodwill of the public at large. Due to this approach they are changing from being police to becoming an enforcement agency and it is not going down well. At least the media here are reporting occasions when the police have been caught out.
The Scottish government tried to rush through a bill abolishing all jury trials for the duration, theoretically for the safety of jurors and the prevention of backlog of cases jamming the legal system. To assist the judges sitting alone, they would have been allowed to take pre-recorded witness statements which could not be challenged under cross-examination. Thankfully the Scottish Criminal Bar association got involved and surprise, surprise, the proposed changes to the trial system were dropped.
It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that the government is losing its grip on the situation. They introduce policies and guidance and it either keeps changing (understandable as it is a dynamic situation) or it’s being confused in its application. The legislation on COVID-19 introduced last week states what the law is regarding shops opening, self-isolation and so on. Unfortunately, the way in which it was implemented was a total shambles. Some police forces started to apply the laws before the legislation had been given royal assent which is absolutely illegal and worrying.
Then we had the police forces dictating what shops can and can’t sell. One spectacular case had police raiding a corner shop (dairy) and banning them from selling Easter eggs as they didn’t consider them essential. This was way beyond their powers as the legislation specifies that certain shops can open (corner shops being one of them) but nowhere does it stipulate what they can and can’t sell once allowed to open. Then a police sergeant stopped a deli owner from spraying degradable chalk on the pavement to mark 2-metre gaps to show customers where they could stand whilst queuing. He charged her with criminal damage!
For some strange reason this frightens me as much as the awful pandemic that is sweeping the country. The pandemic will be fixed one day, but only after deaths and tragedies and personal disasters. I am not belittling that in any way, and the economic damage from the personal isolation and cessation of business will be fixed one day. The changes to the law and enthusiastic application in areas where it is not intended to be used will prove far harder to claw back. They are using drone surveillance at beauty spots, dyeing a lake black to stop people wanting to visit it. Who makes these decisions and with what authority?
I could spend the rest of my day getting crabby about the messy application of the lockdown but there are other things to report. It is generally thought that the UK imports about 50% of its food, but as this doesn’t include raw materials imported for further processing, the true figure is closer to 80%. At least New Zealand is a net exporter of food. The concern in the UK is that the current volume of importing may not continue if the supply chain can’t be kept moving, either through lack of HGVs or a shortage of drivers who are self-isolating. How will they handle the movement of foreign trucks and drivers? Will they need certification before they enter the country? If that happens rationing can’t be far away. I can’t help but think that Mike Bush would be in his element here in the UK.
And yes, the sun is still not shining.
I do have genuine concerns for the country. They are doing a very good job in trying to support businesses and ensure that they reduce the hurt for as many people as possible and I do believe that they are genuine in trying to do this. It is in the application that issues arise. It was proving difficult to get short term unsecured loans to businesses as the banks were not being co-operative until yesterday when the government strong armed them and suddenly that log jam has gone. The government were guaranteeing the loans to 80% of the value but the banks were still refusing them unless personal guarantees were in place as well!
I have had time to reflect on the past month and the actions of the government and I am sure that their original reactions were based on a cost-benefit assessment of the cost of deaths versus the costs of different actions. They are now looking at triaging patients and making a value judgement on the prognosis. This, of course, will allocate scarce resources to the young and that is a moral and political judgement which they have to make. It is not helped by a GP surgery sending a letter to patients with existing serious conditions asking them to confirm that they will not contact emergency services if they contract Covid-19 and sign a do-not-resuscitate form. The letter contained the following “scarce ambulance resources can be targeted to the young and fit who have a greater chance.”
What a wonderful, compassionate way to treat people nearing end of life.
Enough of the depressing news. My adult children who were here in the UK for a family funeral, had their return flight cancelled by Air New Zealand but have managed to get a flight home. Two days ago they managed to get a flight with Qatar Airways and are on the way. I managed to get them to Heathrow and what a wonderful time that was. Few vehicles on the road, motorways devoid of traffic, no jams or queuing, what a pleasure it was to drive them to the airport and drive myself the nearly 300 miles home. I didn’t even see a police car, let alone a road block.
I see that the German government has arranged a repatriation flight with an Air NZ plane from Auckland to Frankfurt via Vancouver. Why couldn’t the New Zealand government have waved some magic fairy dust and got the plane to go from Frankfurt to London and backload with Kiwis in the UK? It would have been a wonderful PR opportunity for our beloved leader to demonstrate her compassion and care for her people. Think of the photo opportunities if she went up on the Frankfurt flight (as part of the crew so that she wasn’t robbing a German of a seat home) and flew back with her beloved subjects. I can just visualise her leading them down the steps from the plane at Auckland pausing only to wave to the cheering crowds on her heroic return. The MSM would love it.
And no, the sun hasn’t come back yet, it’s still miserable.
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