The D-Word

One problem with the coronavirus debacle is settling on good words to describe it because naturally enough the situation keeps changing.

I stuck with the word ‘debacle’ from the early stages because that seemed to convey at least some aspect of the UK bureaucratic bungling, the grotesquely expensive and destructive policy and the unwillingness of government to make use of natural adult caution in the general population. Admittedly ‘debacle’ does not convey the grotesque nature of the decision to stamp on civil liberties.

So where are we now? Much official data seems unreliable in the sense that it is not as relevant as it could be. Much seems exaggerated, presented in misleading ways, too simple or just missing. So much so that we are perilously close to the d-word – deceit. Some may say that has been there from the beginning, but to my mind the coronavirus debacle hasn’t been particularly deceitful until fairly recently.

Deceit here is not necessarily a deliberate attempt to deceive apart from the usual political tendency to find unflavoured truth unpalatable. Yet there is an obvious issue around finding some way to back out of current restrictions. Assuming there is an ultimate intention to back out of current restrictions. Even that is far from clear.

All of which allows deceit to take the strain but won’t lead us anywhere useful. To my mind this is what is happening now. Deceit is being allowed to take the strain of failing to formulate a rational exit from this debacle because absolutely nobody is willing to carry that particular can.

Not only that, but we can be moderately sure that intransigent blockheads on the inside of government deliberations are likely to block the way to a rational exit. They are also likely to stir up a media sensation if they are left out of exit deliberations. It’s the nature of the beast.

As coronavirus deceit becomes more obvious, it becomes more plausible to suggest that other narratives have infected the debate. The obvious one is the ten point plan which has deceit written into its genes. Here we may certainly surmise that coronavirus deceit could be our first taste of the green industrial revolution. Our first taste of the wholesale deceit it is bound to entail. At times it certainly feels like it.