Let’s call the whole thing off
I was having a small birthday celebration in the Museum of the cricket ground at Hove this Sunday.
All week the event was under pressure but my attitude was that it would proceed provided the event company did not have to call it off and I was well.
In the event – a not inappropriate phrase – I was contacted by the museum curator as the ban was being declared to be told that it could not proceed.
Some invited were surprised that I had not made the decision earlier.
My rationale to proceed was grounded on a inherent reluctance to cancel, something I know my late mother – hostess of hostesses – would never sanction; to help Sussex CCC as its event revenue has tanked; to give everyone a lift and – if you do postpone – would there have to be a another and subsequent one?
Respecting the government is not made easier by the type of comment made by Tory MP Tobias Elwood who seemed to be telling off the nation for being flippant.
Perhaps he is of the Geoffrey Dickens rent-a-mouth school.
This was the the MP who told the press before telling his wife that he was leaving her.
Generally speaking I have been impressed by Boris Johnson as he has kept cheerful but followed the advice of the boffins.
However,in one area they are deficient.
That is behavioural science. The Poll tax riots showed the extreme difficulty in enforcing a law the public don’t want.
The longest you can cage people up for is a couple of months.
The measures do not carry the force of law as they have not been enacted.
The courts are all but closed.
Enforcement is big problem as an anarchic city like Brighton these measures are not going to be respected.
And all the time a voracious press starved of news will pounce on any story to sensationalise and social media will fuel the panic.
In the last war Mass Observation kept a careful eye on the nation’s morale and Myra Hess’ lunchtime concerts at Wigmore Hall became legendary in maintaining it.
Boris Johnson’s hero is Winston Churchill; he could and should follow his spirit better.
