Hanging On

The high winds over the last few days have stripped many of the trees and shrubs in our gardens bare.  The purple acer, which has pride of place in front of the conservatory, has just a few leaves left, all now a fiery red colour.  The sun only enhanced the colour this morning as I was working in the conservatory.

The announcement on Saturday caused us to receive dozens of enquiries from businesses as to whether the new lockdown would affect their ability to open.  It is now apparent that the Prime Minister had no intention to announce it on Saturday, but a leak to the news media meant that he had to step up and give a press conference before the news was splashed over the TV and Sunday papers.  As such the regulations that will need to be enacted to make the lockdown law are still not available, making our job of interpreting it for all of these enquiries doubly difficult. In many cases we've had to say to them that we'll have to come back when the regulations are published, which may not be until the end of Wednesday.

It also made me think about the role of the media in our modern society at a time of national emergencies.  If you look back to World War II the news media were part of the propaganda machine, working with the Government to ensure a consistent message, which helped the British people pull together at a time of need.  One cannot help but compare this with the current situation, where every action is deconstructed and scrutinised.  It breeds distrust and while I believe that the 4th Estate is an important mechanism for holding Government's and other bodies to account, there are times when their editorial judgement should be focused on the common good.  I'm no defender of this Government, but you can't help but see the way society is affected by this constant challenging and undermining of authority.