Unfortunately I don’t have the divinely inspired powers of Moses to utilise the ten plagues of Egypt upon our modern day despots.

But in the end, as Linkin Park have immortalised, it doesn’t even matter. Our despots seem determined to bring the plagues down us all by their own hubris and design. 

We have all done it I suppose. Made that ill thought through judgment in a moment of panic under pressure, then as it becomes patently obvious that it was a wrong decision, we struggle to find a way to back peddle out and save face. No one wants to admit they made an arse of it.

The difference is, thankfully most of us don’t hold the fate of 60,000,000 people and an entire economy in the balance. But as rank has it’s privileges it also has it’s responsibilities, as Alex ‘Boris’ Johnson should, by now at least, be painfully aware. The plague of fools (not one of the ten) has been upon us all for a long time. Some would say it was ever thus. But whatever else the PM may be, I do not think he’s a fool.

I can’t say the same for our own First Minister who, when she’s not busy creating her Orwellian police state or trying to turn Scotland back into a satrapy of her EU overlord, is about the business of keeping the insidious lockdown in place for even longer than our neighbour might conceivably continue it. For this she seems to be quite prepared to close the border. Set aside how she proposes to achieve this, it would appear to fly in the face of her hitherto professed love of unfettered immigration and freedom of movement.  But let’s face it, if the Tories issued a statement saying sticking your head in the fire was a bad idea, Sturgeon would be admitted to the Royal infirmary with third degree burns to her boat race later that day. (Dancing nurses not withstanding)

That said, #lovethelockdown isn’t confined to Nicky and Co. Indeed to listen to the environMENTALists of all political hues, you would think that Covid19 and the subsequent lockdown was the greatest thing since the completely natural and organic Bubonic plague alleviated our population growth problems in the 14^th century. They shudder to think where our “over populated” planet would be today if the Black Death hadn’t tidied things up a bit. Which is why it’s a bit strange that they seem to want to save lives by getting us all to comply with the longest collective big night in ever. You’d think they’d jump at the chance to purge the planet of more of it’s human infestation. But who said greenos were logical?

But back to Boris, or Alex if you prefer. When Covid first struck these shores, it seemed as though Johnson’s cabinet were going to do the right thing and wait till we knew exactly what we were dealing with. Which we still don’t. Herd immunity was the preferred strategy and a policy toward the outbreak more along the lines of Sweden and the Netherlands was going to be the order of the day. Then a boffin called Neil Ferguson,(No, not him, that’s Niall) an epidemiologist and professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, used computer models (possibly the same one’s that predicted climate catastrophe) to prophesy that if the government went down that road we’d all be dead by Monday. Suddenly the PM was doing impressions of corporal Jones from Dad’s Army, did a volte – face and subsequently ordered the lockdown, in an unprecedented attempt to halt the spread of the virus that has now been in place since 23^rd March.

I’m not playing down the potential lethal effects of the virus. Many people have died ( I’ll refrain from figures as frankly I don’t trust the stats.) and, tragically and unfortunately, it looks like many more will. But the question remains over whether there is any empirical evidence that the lockdown is “working” or that the devastating social and economic effects that it is inflicting on the nation are worth it in the long term. It seems increasingly likely that the economy will never recover. We are constantly admonished to “listen to the experts”. The interminable mantra of the midwit. But always the experts who support their point of view, never the dissenting experts. Of which there are many. Not least of all Germany’s Professor Sucharit Bhakdi. The impact on life and liberty may be even more disastrous yet.

While it is perfectly reasonable to assume that the Conservative government may be imposing the lockdown reluctantly and in good faith, it is by no means a forgone conclusion. What of subsequent government abuse of this handy tool of social control? Governments rarely voluntarily relinquish the powers they grant themselves under states of emergency, even long after that supposed emergency has evaporated. Let’s not forget that income tax was once an emergency measure brought in to combat the Napoleonic menace. 

Sturgeon’s Notionalist Party would be only too keen to impose a lockdown anytime they chose. For instance they might not fancy having to take their chances in a general election in 2021, so I’m sure some far right threat to national security could magically materialise under which they could lock us all down for public safety. Perhaps the plight of the planet could be the catalyst for keeping us all prisoner in our own homes. What could be more important than saving us all from climate catastrophe? After all “human beings are the real virus”. Right?

It’s time to end this perfidious and useless lockdown NOW. If not now WHEN? At what point have we won the war on Covid1984? What does victory look like?  We have been waging war on flu and the common cold for what seems like forever and are no nearer winning. Both maladies are an accepted fact of life despite the reality of the former’s regular death toll. We may have to accept that Coronavirus is yet another one of those facts of life and death we have to deal with for the foreseeable years to come. The sooner herd immunity builds the better, and it won’t build while we cower in our living rooms. Let the people go NOW. Before it’s too late. For all our sake.

Tam Laird is the Leader of the Scottish Libertarian Party