In the United States, it was a week when the charters of freedom were thrown back to the time of Paine, Franklin and Jefferson: that all men weren’t created equal; that ‘we the people’ didn’t have a constitution for all; and that the bill of rights had become a bill of goods.
In the UK, it was a week in which ministers stopped being led by the science and started taking direct control – losing the plot, the moral high ground and much of the public’s confidence.
For Wokingham Borough Council, it was a week in which the first Audit meeting of lockdown needed the Mayor to act as a defibrillator to get it started and keep it running.
The Great Dictator
By raising a copy of the Bible in front of a church instead of a copy of the Constitution in front of the White House, did Mr Trump back away from his pledge “to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”?
By getting teargas, flash-bangs etc (aka ‘riot control agents’) fired on peaceful protesters in order to clear a path to that church, did Mr Trump put himself and his personal ambition above the Bill of Rights which provides for the “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”?
By ordering unidentified riot control officers onto the streets, along with uniformed special forces and airborne troops (later denied), did Mr Trump turn America back from the land of the free and into the home of the slave, ruled by a secret police force ?
And when those unidentifiable officers attacked journalists, reporters, and camera crews, had Mr Trump let slip the future use of force against any person reporting police brutality, thus “abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press” ?
When the United States’ Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said this week that “active-duty military troops should not be sent to control the wave of protests”, and when his immediate predecessor Jim Mattis described Mr Trump as “the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us”, did those words have any effect on the F.R.O.W.G. in the White House ?
Or is this the mutation of the United States of America into the Police State of America – now made visible?
The S.S. Great Moribund
Closer to home the sight of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (aka Alok Sharma, Con. Reading West), frequently wiping his forehead and face with a hanky while giving a mid-afternoon speech in the Commons was alarming.
Rushed into self-isolation, then into testing, the results were out in good time for the morning’s papers. He hadn’t got Coronavirus at all. No, sirree no. He definitely wasn’t infectious and the MPs who Mr Rees Mogg-atishoo coerced into conga democracy wouldn’t have to go into total isolation for 14 days – because that would make a mess of parliament wouldn’t it?
Instead, every one of them are still free to “use their judgment”.
Luckily, (or sadly depending on your point of view) Dominic Cummings wasn’t there. You’ll recall that peak Cummings was 229 articles published on Tuesday, May 26 about his actions under lockdown and the daily count had been declining. However, the it jumped back up to 123 articles on Monday, June 1, since when it’s dropped (70, 56, 63, 43, 36, 27) but the issue hasn’t gone away.
The BBC were at pains to say that they could have done more to explain to viewers that Ms Maitlis’ introduction on Newsnight the previous week regarding Mr Cummings was in fact a summary of the questions that the programme would go on to examine. The explanation didn’t describe that intro as a biassed diatribe by a knowledgeable presenter, so roughly 50% of the country was pleased and 50% wasn’t.
Meanwhile, over in Drowning’s Treat the schlep-ons have realised, as the rest of us did some time ago, that all they’re achieving with daily briefings is to boost the ratings of Pointless – now running simultaneously on BBC Two and BBC One. In the absence of anyone else who’s willing for a grilling, they’re trotting out the scapegoat of the year and have cancelled the weekend briefings.
From this week, Ministers are now presenting the data on the slides, so that’s going well then.
As for the transcripts, they’ve managed to up the weekly coverage to 60%, but that’s by reducing the number of days rather than publishing more transcripts. This week the public’s been deprived of whatever pearls of wisdom the Prime Minister dropped into Wednesday’s briefing, possibly because of what had happened at Prime Minister’s Questions a bit earlier.
The PM had received a rebuke from Sir Kier Starmer (Lab.) over the government’s lack of response regarding the death of George Floyd the previous week. Sir Kier went on to ask “This morning, The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the Prime Minister has decided to take “direct control” of the Government’s response to the virus, so there is an obvious question for the Prime Minister: who has been in direct control up till now?”
Now this really isn’t on. For once the hon. gent. has announced via the Torygraph that he’s actually doing something useful and is taking responsibility for it too. Having it questioned in the afternoon before he’s got Dominic’s advice on how to respond just isn’t on. It really isn’t.
He’d barely recovered before Ian Blackford (SNP) launched a pair of expertly aimed riot control questions at the bewildered Boris. The first one denounced the PM’s response to Sir Kier’s opening critique about George Floyd, asking “what representations he has made to his ally” in the USA?
The second was worse – denouncing the PM’s reply to the first question before going on to ask a follow up about the sale of “millions of pounds worth of riot control equipment to the US, including tear gas and rubber bullets. The Prime Minister must have seen how these weapons are used on American streets. With the Government’s own guidance warning against equipment being used in such way…”
Quite how Scottish Nationalists think tear gas and rubber bullets should be used is unclear, but the PM lost this round too.
Things got worse when the Member for Maidenhead launched the last question of PMQ with only the slightest hint of irony in her voice “My right hon. Friend has rightly been focusing on keeping people safe, but that task goes beyond covid-19…” before making the real point using lots of complicated words as regards the UK’s future access to Euro-data.
The PM was nearly overcome. Not only didn’t he know what a Prüm was, but he didn’t appear to be able to tell his SIS-2 apart from his sis-ter, so his answer left everyone suspended, just like the sitting was a minute later.
Scrutiny in the Borough
As Lord Chief Justice Hewart remarked in 1924, “justice should not only be done, but should … be seen to be done”.
Locally, we face a dilemma and It probably won’t be, but he probably will be. Done that is.
And it’ll all be appearing in public, later today. Or possibly not, but that’s up to the keepers of secrets to decide.
Difficult things – secrets.
Borough ‘In Briefs’
Wokingham Borough Council’s social media channel has continued to publish information and guides on giving and receiving help during the pandemic along with other important matters. Here’s a look at what they said last week.
With a total of 172 Likes, Comments and Shares the “We are here for you” video led by Susan Parsonage (WBC’s Chief Executive) got the most attention with lots of comments, showing that you enjoyed and appreciated it.
But while you liked the video, it was the Speed Limit Review (132) which provoked the most discussion this week with over 80% of those who commented calling for speed limit reductions or enforcement of the existing limits. Reading the comments in detail, it appeared that many of your concerns focused on areas where housing has been built up since the original speed limits were put in place. While there were a very few that expressed concerned about journey times to work, if WBC only follows opinions from those that want speed limits to be reduced – then travel times to work are going to be a lot, lot longer by and by.
Meanwhile the various “Thank you Volunteers! #VolunteerWeek2020” postings (123) had much appreciation as did the Emergency Path Closure (120) – warning about a split oak tree which had forced the closure of part of the Thames towpath walking route.
In fifth place, COVID-19 Symptoms – Compared with hayfever and common cold (99) gained attention, leaving the Carnival Pool and Fitness Centre Demolition video and the M4 weekend closure in sixth and seventh place as the only others with a rating above 50 since posting.
What the Neighbours said
Our neighbours are very cross. The expensively gilded parrot cage isn’t as secure as they’d believed and the bird’s weak squawking and loss of even more plumage has convinced them that more than one cat’s having a go at the poor thing.
Excepting a couple of moribund exaggerations and all of ‘ce spus vecinii’, that was the twelfth week of lockdown, that was.
