FRIGHTEN them to death.
That was the recommendation to Government from its behavioural committee in March last year.
“The perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard hitting emotional messaging,” Spi-B advised.
So, there we have it.
Terrifying us witless has been policy.
Sixteen months on, after a barrage of grim news, they have overwhelmingly succeeded.
The latest poll shows that more than half the country still backs restrictions and, on Wednesday night, Parliament waved them through, despite numerous, heated objections.
Freedom Day is now 19 July, or so it’s claimed.
All this when, at the latest count, only one per cent of hospital beds hold Covid patients.
Evidence shows the Delta variant is largely controlled by inoculation, despite rising cases.
And new medications have cut serious illness by a third.
We know the virus is here to stay and we must – and can - live with it.
Yet the finish line, on which so many hopes hinge, recedes daily.
Why?
Monday’s scientific graphs, justifying the delay, showed stratospheric percentage rises in cases, a subtle way of hiding the plunge in raw numbers.
The predicted death rates were also, according to Thursday’s Telegraph, based on out of date modelling, underestimating vaccine effectiveness.
This is unacceptable; as is the never ending stream of scientists freelancing their doom-laden messages to any available news outlet.
This reluctance to open up is threatening the country’s recovery and, frankly, our morale.
Those who work in the NHS, supermarkets and public transport have soldiered on, so there is no reason now why we can’t join them.
Our personal liberty is the most precious ingredient of any democracy and we want it back.