People in fear can be compliant, but there are questions that should be asked now

Intriguing because it was written before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic which now sees some in the west focusing blame on the Chinese.

The book charts the rise of China in economic terms, overtaking the USA’s traditional top percentage share of the world GDP. The author is not anti-American but he does point out that the US “no longer has an exemplary, just and well-ordered society” and claims power and wealth have become concentrated in the hands of a self-serving elite.

As if the current crisis hasn’t scared us enough, the notion that an authoritarian superpower (where the Covid virus originated no less) would dominate mankind stokes further tension. And fear. Worldwide shifts in power and the decline of influence is resulting in the rise of populist leaders playing on the fears of those hankering after past glories which never really existed for ordinary people anyway.

Such a scenario provides fertile ground for the above-mentioned self-serving elite to control those who don’t want to rock the boat and get them to simply toe the line. So, America and the west good, China bad. Simple.

The battle for world supremacy seems a far, far cry from the issues here during the current virus crisis, but human nature is that when we face issues we are divided into two camps. Those who keep the head down and don’t want to get involved; who can’t handle the truth. And those who refuse to be silent and insist on asking the difficult questions.

As regards the way the UK authorities, including those here in Northern Ireland, are responding to the pandemic, many people are asking questions. Others, who just want to believe that everything is going to be all right, criticise those who say it isn’t.

Questions come from bereaved families, from people who care for them, workers on the front line, independent experts and journalists. This questioning has been met by the establishment with a classic mix of tactics, but best summed up by one commentator as “controlling the narrative".

One tactic is the patronising put down, illustrated this week by Health Secretary, Matt Hancock in the House of Commons in response to the Shadow Mental Health Secretary, Dr. Rosenna Allin-Khan, who asked if he would “acknowledge that many front line workers feel that the Government’s lack of testing has cost lives and is responsible for many families being unnecessarily torn apart in grief".

Mr. Hancock snootily said no and warned her about her “tone".

He got his tone badly wrong; Dr. Allin-Khan knows what she’s talking about. She doubles up her role as an MP by continuing to work on the front line as an A and E doctor in a Nightingale hospital, and has previously spoken very emotionally about “front line workers like me who have had to watch families breaking to pieces as we deliver the very worst news to them that the ones they love most in the world have died".

The picture that Dr. Allin-Khan sees first-hand is a very different one than that the British Government portrays.

In the past few days, Boris Johnson was telling the British people that his Government’s response to Covid-19 was a success and “the country has managed to avoid the tragedy that engulfed other parts of the world". On Tuesday, the death toll in the UK exceeded 29,000 leaving Britain ahead of Italy as the worst in Europe for Covid-19 deaths. Some success.

The British Government’s experts join in the charade. Jenny Harris, the deputy Chief Medical Officer in England is now a familiar face at media briefings at which she claimed the UK “preparedness is an exemplar” to the world.

Well, they should have been ready, but is there anyone who really convincingly argues against the conviction that Britain wasted time with inaction for weeks.

Richard Charles Horton, from the respected Lancet, an authentic voice of the legal profession, told Question Time: “We knew in the last week in January this was coming. The message was absolutely clear that a new virus with pandemic potential was hitting cities. People were dying. We wasted February when we could’ve acted. We didn’t do it.”

He describes the failure to provide front line workers with the proper protection a “national scandal” and says Ministers clapping the NHS is hypocrisy.

Indeed, early in March Boris Johnson was boasting about shaking hands with people in hospital, when scientists were advising against it. Cheltenham went ahead in mid-March and having wasted weeks, there was a dramatic change of policy at the end of that month with a belated lockdown.

Countries like New Zealand and Iceland went into strict lockdown early and are now coming through the crisis. Admittedly, different countries with different conditions, but still.

Questions remain; was the Government ignoring the scientific advice or was the expert scientific advice wrong? Or even worse, was the scientific advice skewed by the inappropriate presence of political advisors such at Dominic Cummings at scientific body meetings?

Northern Ireland appears to have followed Westminster’s lead in most respects, and any dissenting voices here are ignored or discredited. Recent issues have included the muddle over the reporting of figures here; Professor Gabriel Scally says the quality and shallowness of Coronavirus statistics in Northern Ireland is “truly shocking".

Indeed, the UK Statistics Authority wrote to the Permanent Secretary of the NI Department of Health, Richard Pengelly about “serious public concerns” over changes to the way Covid-19 statistics had been changed. It’s hard to get the true picture of Covid cases, and indeed there continues to be obfuscation in the way many of the issues in this crisis are being answered by the Department.

And remember, early in the crisis deaths in care homes were not included. Yet by last Friday, it was estimated that 40 per cent of Northern Ireland Covid deaths were in care homes. The BBC reported this week that 14 people in one care home, Glenabbey Manor, Glengormley, have died as a result of Covid-related illness, and that it’s estimated at least 109 care homes across Northern Ireland are now caring for vulnerable older people with Covid or flu-like symptoms.

So, the Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland, Eddie Lynch, has called for universal testing of all care homes.

Of course, I’m well aware that much of the tone of this piece is focusing on the negative, and there are many positives out there; stories about the generosity of spirit of the community in helping others, of the heroism of front line workers, and of the fact that the majority of those who contract do survive it. And, indeed, that we will get through this and hopefully be better people and a better society for it.

But there are many questions about the way Northern Ireland has handled this whole crisis, and while it may not appear popular the questions must be asked.

The questions remain over the initial response, the lack of testing, the lack of PPE, the delay in lockdown. It’s the media role to ask these questions, and yet there’s a manufactured social media campaign suggesting “journalism has missed the mood of this great country of ours. We do not want constant criticism of our Government".

The press, though, must continue to be robust, to challenge, to question.

And anyway, this article has quoted the questioning of a range of non-media people of expertise with a stake in society who are holding this Government to account. Good on them.

If all else fails in avoiding questions or putting a blatantly positive spin on everything doesn’t work, those in power revert to delay.

Tory Minister, James Brokenshire said this week: “There’ll be plenty of time for questions when we’re through this.”

The next thing, of course, is that a public inquiry will be set up, and it’ll be inappropriate to answer questions ahead of the inquiry.

You can blame the media, blame China, or blame the political motives of those in the front line (Corbyn supporters of course) or blame anyone. Except the people responsible for making decisions.

No. It is right and proper that the decision makers are challenged now.