PEOPLE’S LOCKDOWN IN UIRERJUNE 2021 What Price Lockdown? WE ASKED PEOPLE ON THE FRONT LINE here will undoubtedly be academic studies and data research for years to come, examining aspects of how Tpolicymakers responded to Covid-19. But most urgently and immediately, we need to start discussing the non-measurable, qualitative impact on society. This PEOPLE’S LOCKDOWN INQUIRY hopes to kickstart that discussion. Whether you supported the UK government’s lockdown measures or were more sceptical, one worrying development has been the demonising of dissent and the explicit and implicit attempts at silencing questions and inquiry. It is important that this chilling effect does not stifle a full and frank discussion about what the costs of lockdown were and what lessons we can learn for the future. The PEOPLE’S LOCKDOWN INQUIRY aims to create a legacy to reflect on once lockdown measures ease. Rather than suggesting that the costs of lockdowns outweighed the benefits, the aim of this project is to assess the (often hidden) collateral damage of policy decisions. Even if people believe these policies were necessary to deal with the pandemic, we must not forget what has happened over the past 15 months. peopleslockdowninquiry.co.uk at Commissioned by CONTENTS 04 WELCOME TO THE INQUIRY CLAIRE Fox and Laurence Fox 08 LIFE UNDER LOCKDOWN A PERSONAL reflection by Neil Oliver 12 UNDERSTANDING LOCKDOWN OFFICIAL messaging . Data and statistics . Media 24 EDUCATION SCHOOLS . Children . Further education . Universities . Lecturing 38 PRODUCTIVE LIFE AND WORK THE ECONOMY . Investment . Working life . Hospitality 51 HEALTH CANCER . Dentistry . Social work . Mental Health . The Care system 66 CULTURAL LIFE SOCIABILITY . Sport . Cultural sector Visual arts . Religion 78 WHERE WE LIVE HOUSING . Neighbourhoods . Prisons 86 FREEDOM FREE speech . Civil liberties 96 STORIES ON FILM 97 REFERENCES 102 FACT CHECKING THE INQUIRY Welcome to the Inquiry HEN THE ACADEMY OF Ideas institutional embrace of the precautionary principle was approached by the Reclaim means that, despite reassuring data and the success Party to curate this project of of the vaccine roll-out, everywhere from GP surgeries Lockdown stories, we thought to university campuses continue to delay resuming the idea prescient and inspired. normal, face-to-face service. Any enthusiasm for the medical wonder of the vaccine is dampened by The past 15 months will have left long-lasting W unethical arguments for coercive measures, and scars. Some will be dealing with the grief of losing the demonisation of those who do not consent. The loved ones to Covid-19 or battling illness from this prospect of domestic vaccine passports or ubiquitous potentially lethal virus. Everyone, sick or well, has testing regimes to guarantee access to all areas of been affected by policy decisions taken to tackle the society does not bode well. pandemic and the resulting climate of fear. As we approach so-called Freedom Day on 21 June 2021, we But the long-lasting outcome of the Lockdown is a hope people will resume normality with a renewed script not yet written. It will not be determined by zest for life. But we should never forget what was done those in authority, but by the millions of citizens in the to society, and the huge costs it has extracted. More UK. To do this, we all need to reflect on the collateral importantly, we need to debate what lessons we might damage of any further extreme measures brought in learn from the experience of the pandemic. This under the guise of public health. The Academy of Ideas collection of testimonies and insights is a contribution hopes this initial Inquiry will help inform a full and to our collective memory and a means of trying to frank debate on what happens next. understand what happened. There will no doubt be a myriad of Covid-related Claire Fox inquiries. Ours makes no pretension at ‘scientific’ director, Academy of Ideas; analysis (although the Academy of Ideas has taken professor, University of advantage of its new project base at the University of Buckingham Buckingham to ensure the content is fact-checked). This is a People’s Inquiry, with a narrative form, to Twitter: @instofideas reflect the experiences of grassroots campaigners and ordinary citizens - not exclusively reliant on ‘experts’. CLAIRE FOX DIRECTOR, ACADEMY OF IDEAS The editorial decisions, commissioning and framing of the printed edition of the Inquiry, are the sole Claire Fox is the director of the Academy of Ideas, responsibility of the Academy of Ideas, warts and all. which she established to create a public space where Contributors were given free rein to respond, resulting ideas can be contested without constraint. For over a decade, she convened the yearly Battle of Ideas festival in a mix of styles. We asked them to consider any and also initiated the Debating Matters Competition for positive lessons learned, as well as costs, rather than sixth-formers. She also co-founded a residential summer indulging in listing grievances or playing the blame school, The Academy, with the aim to demonstrate game. Most completed their contributions during April, ‘university as it should be’. In May 2019, she was elected as an MEP for the North in the early stages of the Prime Minister’s ‘roadmap for West England constituency of the UK in the European easing lockdown’. While there are insightful additional Parliament elections. In 2020, she was made a visiting testimonies on film (see peopleslockdowninquiry. professor in professional practice at the University of Buckingham. In September 2020, Claire became a co.uk), inevitably not all stories or sectors are member of the House of Lords as Baroness Fox of Buckley. represented. However, we hope to give a flavour of Claire is frequently invited to comment on developments what issues need to be considered. We want this to in culture, education, media and free speech issues on constitute a foundation for a more expansive archive TV and radio programmes in the UK such as Newsnight that can be developed in months to come. and Any Questions? She has been a regular newspaper reviewer on Sky News and is a monthly columnist for There’s always a lot more to say. We know that there are MJ (Municipal Journal). She was the longest standing panelist on BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze for over 20 influential figures who want to make ‘temporary’ and years until 2020. She is author of a book on free speech, ‘emergency’ measures a permanent ‘new normal’. The recently republished as I STILL Find That Offensive! (Biteback, 2018). Follow Claire on Twitter: @Fox_Claire Foreword HE LOCKDOWN of affluent societies I spoke to Baroness Fox about this idea. To move across the world as a result of the Covid away from data and move towards people. To create a Pandemic has been the greatest social ‘People’s Lockdown Inquiry’ so that future generations and public health experiment in history, may relive what we currently live in. Claire and the repercussions of which will take her wonderful team at the Academy of Ideas and many years to unfold. Buckingham University accepted my commission to T assemble this moving, informative and in many cases There are many wonderful companies across the globe heartbreaking report. digging deep into the data surrounding the efficacy of this Lockdown policy. The inconsistencies of the data One thing that bothered me deeply and continues to between countries or states which did lock down and do so throughout this time, has been the suppression those which didn’t are not in the purview of an actor of full debate around these policies. The countless and fledgling politician with a pretty rudimentary stories and conversations that became forbidden as we grasp of maths, data and graphs! charged headlong into coping with Covid. My interest is people and their stories. I want future It is only through the broadest possible debate that generations to have a living time capsule of the effects human beings can come to the most informed and on their lives and professional disciplines of the events sensible solutions. An individual’s inalienable right of these past many months. To have a to question narratives and be sceptical of enforced glimpse into the hearts of the people diktats, however uncomfortable, will be of benefit to who have contributed to this report mankind. Too often important questions, ideas and and to judge for themselves how eminent experts with the ‘incorrect’ views have been they feel about it. silenced during these dark months, and as their voices once again begin to sing, so the truth will find its way out as well. LAURENCE FOX Freedom of speech, thought and inquiry is the best way LEADER, RECLAIM PARTY mankind has found to prevent using other more brutal tools to make his point. Our shared commitment to it Laurence Fox is an English actor and political activist. has seen peace given its longest reign for centuries. We He was born in 1978 in Leeds, the third of five children, and enrolled at Harrow School at the age of 13 before dispense with it at our peril. moving onto the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Laurence graduated in 2001. I am so grateful to all our contributors for their words He is probably best known for playing DS James here, and blessed that in each of our own small ways Hathaway in the British TV drama series Lewis from 2006 our voices have combined to give you this inquiry. An to 2015. inquiry of the people, by the people and for the people. He has appeared in numerous films, first appearing in I hope it nourishes your heart and mind, as it has so The Hole (2001), and been in national television features deeply affected mine.