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Wednesday, 10 February 2021

The furtive stink of precedent

 

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Obvious enough but there is the furtive stink of precedent being established with this story. A vastly disproportionate punishment imposed for lying to officials. When the coronavirus debacle is finally allowed to fade, assuming it ever is, the precedent remains as a few more clicks of the totalitarian ratchet. A hint of groundwork being put in place for the ten point plan. 

Mr Shapps also cast doubt on whether Britons would be able to enjoy a summer holiday this year, either in the UK or abroad, amid the concerns about new COVID variants.

"I'm afraid I can't give you a definitive 'will there or will there not be' the opportunity to take holidays this next year, either at home or abroad," he said.

6 comments:

Ed P said...

Shapps obviously does not book his own holidays, or he'd know the leisure industries need months of planning - everyone waiting until the summer to book will cause huge logistical issues for travel & accommodation providers.

Graeme said...

They are discovering the hard way that telling us what we are allowed to do is a lot more onerous than just telling us what we can't do. It's not a great advertisement for graduates from what are supposed to be world-leading universities

Sam Vega said...

Of course, for some people "lying to officials" is the most serious imaginable crime. Where they can't electronically track us with algorithms, phone and card use, and cctv, those little unsupervised gaps must look quite scary and need some pretty serious laws.

And does this have anything at all to do with Covid hotspots? How do you even try to lie at an airport, when you've just got off a plane which has been tracked from its destination, which is also on your ticket? "Honestly officer, I know the wife and kids look a bit suntanned and jetlagged and are all wearing sombreros, but I've just come back from a vital business meeting in Belfast".

Doonhamer said...

Just go to the French North East coast and catch a rubber dingy.
Claim to be 14.

DAD said...

Correct Doomhamer. Also FREE hotel and no 10 years in clink if you abscond.

A K Haart said...

Ed - that's a good point. Maybe they have been given some kind of assurance.

Graeme - yes it seems to be the "everything is forbidden or compulsory" approach. I'm sure universities have caused an enormous amount of political damage to the rational political outlook.

Sam - that's the puzzle - how do you even try to lie at an airport? It feels so much like a precedent being set rather than some practical regulation.

Doonhamer and DAD - and claim to be from somewhere which doesn't breed terrorists.