With one voice?

Source:  BBC website 30th May 2020  www.bbc.co.uk/news





Students of emergency and crisis management will be familiar with the idea that we have reached the stage of consensus breakdown in the current pandemic.  This might be true of the government's relationship with the public and is a position that could have been predicted – indeed what else are such theories for?   However the same students and, especially practitioners, would point to consistency and clarity as the two essential requirements of crisis management.  This is easy to say, and in complex circumstances, like those we now find ourselves in, difficult to achieve.

One of the reasons it is difficult at the moment is that when the Prime Minister mounts the rostrum to announce the latest changes in pandemic policy he is, in reality, speaking as Prime Minister of England not of the UK.  No such post exists.  There is no English electorate and no constitutional niche that allows him to wear an English and a UK hat at once.  On first listening to him one could be forgiven for not understanding that his writ does not run as far as his title suggests it should.  His personal style belies his partial impotence.  A friend of mine describes him as looking like Lloyd George doing a Winston Churchill impression. Such a cutting description may have elements of truth but they are not relevant to this discussion.

The result is clear to see in the chart published by the BBC.  Clarity and Consistency?  No chance - just read the first line.  A virus is not interested in the historic and much disputed boundaries between England Wales/Scotland.  A barbecue in Carlisle must now be managed differently to one in Gretna.  Why? – for reasons of politics.  All politicians claim to be led by the science (with the possible exception of the so called leader of the free world), but advice requires interpretation and that is the job of leaders.  One option open to those in power in London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff would have been to agree to follow a UK (NOT an English) path but I suspect that there is much to be gained by promoting difference and by the flexing of devolved muscles. Some agenda are longer lasting than a novel virus.

The biggest crack in approach came with the adoption of the new STAY ALERT slogan in England.  This marked a parting of ways with Scotland.  It matters not which strap line is better (the Scottish one).  It is evidence of the divisions between two countries in the same union fighting the same disease.

Of course there has to be a flexibility to react to local needs, especially at this stage of the pandemic, but the definition of local in this context should be defined by the nature of the outbreak and not by concepts of nationhood.   The boundary between England and Scotland is as relevant to this crisis as the boundary between Hereford and Worcester.

How big is this issue?  I would say big, but not enormous (I have my own scale for such things).  There are plenty of things that are more important.  The newspapers may love the story of the golf course that straddles the Anglo-Welsh border but even in proportion Covid-19 has exposed the divisions that are growing in our island.

Perhaps one of the lesser lessons for the future is that in national (UK and NI) wide emergencies devolution should be voluntarily, and partially, set aside.  I doubt that there will be many supporters for this suggestion.  Indeed, future historians may chose this crisis as a milestone on the route to federalisation or even to the break up of the UK.  I make no comment about what the future should hold but I note the direction of travel.

Philip Trendall

31 May 2020

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not represent the views of any client of Scott Trendall Ltd. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Annual Easter Rant

  Welcome to my annual rant about Easter.   It took a long time this year but the inevitable happened to me yesterday when somebody asked:   ‘when is Easter this year’, this was followed by the question: ‘is it early or late?   The answer to the latter question is always so unhelpful that I don’t know why it is asked. Look, it is quite simple.   In the western Christian tradition Easter Sunday falls on the Sunday after the paschal full moon, which is the full moon that falls on or after the spring equinox meaning that Easter Sunday can fall between the 22 nd March and the 25 th April in the Gregorian calendar.   Of course this has a knock on and back effect on other festivals such Ash Wednesday and Whitsun.   For years I wondered what happened to the Whitsun half term, but having Easter on castors meant that it sometimes fell at times that were far from convenient for schools and their pupils. Easter has always been problematic.   The current arrangements were worked out by the C
Read more

Being a personal reflection on the importance of anniversaries

Image
  As anybody who reads my blogs knows, I think that that anniversaries are important.  One piece of feedback I received was to stop ‘banging on about them’.  I value feedback but I reject this suggestion because I have seen that recognising anniversaries can be a strong force for good.  This is true emotionally, but also practically.  They serve as landmarks in the temporal landscape.  They are an aide memoire of the lessons from major events and a benchmark to mark our progress or decline.  They also allow us to respectfully reflect on lives lost and loss endured.  Of course for those with personal connections with disasters anniversaries have a deeper and rawer significance. From a professional point of view we do well to remember the contributions of our forebears.  Their efforts are no less important than our own. Today my appointments took me through Moorgate station in the City of London and as always my thoughts turned to the horrors of 28th February 1975.  Next year will see th
Read more

Retired Staff in Crisis - A Follow Up

I have received quite a lot of interest in the discussion around using volunteers and recalling recently retired staff.   In response I would make a couple of suggestions – largely aimed at the emergency services. There are distinct areas of need within an organisation and no way of knowing who will be available and who will be afflicted.   For convenience I would suggest that organisations concentrate on the point of delivery and on the command tier. Increasing availability at the point of delivery is not easy but solutions need to be considered before the peak of the contagion is reached.   It is hard because delivery requires the most up to date skills, certifications and fitness – the later not being the universal hallmark of the retired.   Ex staff need to be approached, assessed and brought back into the organisation.   They could be paid a retainer and left until they are needed but it would be better if they got used to the workplace and used the time for training and ref
Read more