Bahama Times

Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Lockdown is a new way of life: Many in UK see little value in freedom & public life – and that is a big problem

Lockdown is a new way of life: Many in UK see little value in freedom & public life – and that is a big problem

The government’s use of scare tactics to convince people to comply with lockdown rules have worked too well, with many Britons now unwilling to go back to normal. And that is a symptom of a deep malaise affecting our society.
“I secretly pine for another lockdown,” claims a commentator for The Guardian. Of course, there is nothing secret about publishing a lengthy statement about the benefits of a lockdown lifestyle. On the contrary, this advocate of lockdown culture puts forward an eloquent case for turning his Stockholm Syndrome into a virtue.

Idealising the simpler life of living under lockdown, the Guardian’s commentator paints a picture of domestic bliss with the “three people I adore the most in the world.” He is worried that he will “no longer be able to watch a movie snuggled together beneath a blanket in the middle of a weekday, or dawdle over a long lunch around our table, or wander aimlessly through the woods behind our home for hours on end, with no commitments to rush home for.”

What a life! No wonder the article’s author praises the lockdown on the grounds that it “gave us permission to slow down, and to re-evaluate how we want to live when this is finally over.”

Judging by recent reports, it seems that hundreds of thousands of British people have drawn similar conclusions and, upon re-evaluating their lives, have concluded that the lockdown is just too good to leave.

It is evident that employees have ignored Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s call to return to city-centre offices. Despite government advice and the arrival of Freedom Day, workers have chosen to stay at home; according to figures from Remit Consulting, the proportion of staff returning to the workplace remained stagnant at 11.7% at the end of July.

Business analysts hope that the numbers returning to work after the summer holiday will pick up because it is simply not possible to run offices at the current low levels of occupancy.

The reluctance to return to the office is highlighted by figures from the ONS, which suggest that, last month, the number of UK adults who travelled to work at least one day a week dropped from 61 to 57 percent.

The influence of the lockdown lifestyle is particularly pervasive in the civil service. Up to three out of every four civil servants are still working from home and, judging by statements made by their union leaders, they are quite happy to stay put in their bedrooms.

Is it any surprise that the civil service is fast becoming detached from its supposed ethos of public duty? Try getting anything done by the civil service: it takes at least 10 weeks to get a new passport, there is a huge wait for a driving licence and you can wait up to six months for a tax rebate. Home working may be good for some but not for ordinary members of the public, who are now facing a long delay in getting their hands on vital documents.

So how do we account for the reluctance of so many people to leave their home and embrace public life? When it comes to the office, there is an obvious element of opportunism and pragmatism. It is, after all, summertime and many workers will understandably grasp at any excuse to avoid going to work. They may feel that they deserve a longer-than-usual holiday, especially if they receive financial remuneration for ‘working’ at home.

However, there are also darker forces at work. Many people have internalised the relentless scare stories that they have been subjected to. Alarmist accounts about Covid have framed this crisis as a threat to human existence. Understandably, many members of the public fear social contact and therefore routinely avoid public gatherings and indoor interaction with others.

Now we know that official scare tactics have worked only too well and the government understands that levels of compliance with lockdown rules have exceeded its expectations. Consequently, they face the problem of getting the people they’d scared away back to work.

Unfortunately, people’s understandable fears have also been reinforced and validated by public health and mental health professionals who continually warn about the psychological impact of returning to normal life.

The normalisation of a lockdown lifestyle is also encouraged by the media, which often presents the lockdown as an opportunity to reflect on what’s important about life.

The implication of praising the lockdown for providing an opportunity to re-evaluate life is that there is something unnatural and unhealthy about working at a set and communal place of work. This message has gained considerable traction and has served to provide cultural legitimation for turning the lockdown into a lifestyle.

The influence of lockdown culture is a symptom of a deep malaise affecting society. It indicates that a significant section of society sees little value in freedom and public life. That is a serious problem for all of us.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Bahama Times
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×