Test Squad

Test cricket will return in a couple of weeks and England have announced a squad to play Ireland at Lords which gives us an insight into how the selectors are thinking ahead of an Ashes series.  The unluckiest man has to be Ben Foakes AKA the best keeper in the world, who has done absolutely nothing wrong, his omission is to enable Bairstow to be slotted back in behind the stumps.  As a fan of Foakes I’m a bit peeved but it was the obvious move; Harry Brook couldn’t be discarded after the brilliant start to his test career and after the madness of last summer Bairstow was sure to return.  I’m sceptical as to whether Johnny will ever replicate that kind of form again.

The not so obvious move would have been to drop Crawley who must be hanging on by his fingertips.  This move would have meant using Brook or Bairstow to open which wouldn’t be ideal and therefore Crawley is the luckiest man in the squad and needs to make runs.  Another surprise inclusion is Dan Lawrence who is a good player but hasn’t really pushed his case.  Also included is Chris Woakes who has a decent record in home conditions but is surely only there as a swing bowler to cover Anderson.  The other big omission is poor Jofra Archer, injured again and it makes me wonder if we’ll ever see him in England whites again?  Happily Mark Wood is fit and firing.

Team vs Ireland

Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Bairstow, Robinson, Leach, Broad and Anderson.

‘A state of fear’ by Laura Dodsworth

A book that sets out to examine the use of fear and psychology to influence and control the population during the Covid19 pandemic but actually turns into something that attacks all the government policies during the lockdown periods.  Except that is, for the crucial fact the British government started off by doing nothing at all, then by the time it acted, it was too late.  Early on she describes Johnson’s lockdown speech on 23^rd March as fear mongering and claims his words and body language at the time as being designed to put the fear of God into us, the great performer doing what he does.  (Or could it be he realised he was totally out of his depth and was genuinely shitting himself?)

Governments deliberately used fear to control the public during Covid.  So what?  This has been going on since WWII (at least), Orwell told us that a population in fear is one that is easy to control.  (Orwell wasn’t a prophet, he could see it going on around him.)  All of my life I’ve been encouraged to be scared of someone or something.  First it was the Russians then when this threat melted away and we all went a bid mad in the nineties Terrorism became the new fear, Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Isis.  We’ve even been given a fright by diseases in the recent past, SARS and Ebola for example.  Then came the coronavirus and with that now a departing memory we’re told to fear the Russians again.  Whether we like it or not, control by fear is a fact of modern life so why is the author so worried about it being used now and in this context?

Dodsworth repeatedly assures us that this isn’t meant to be an ‘anti-lockdown’ book but that is exactly what it is, more so than a book designed to make us question the methods of fear mongering.  It seems like most of the book is made up of analysing lockdown and its effects, piece by piece which wasn’t the brief.  But to be fair it did make me question my own response to Covid and lockdowns.  Throughout the pandemic I supported the restrictions.  In the beginning I loved being confined to home and garden, I enjoyed watching spring rise around me and was content being out of the rat race.  I was also aware that several members of my close family were more at risk to Covid than the vast majority of the population, I had loved ones that needed protection. 

The author implies that because governments had repeatedly told us not to worry about this Chinese virus they then had to frighten us to get us to comply when lockdown eventually came.  Why the sudden change of government policy?  Why stop the world?  Who stood to gain, was this disaster capitalism on a massive scale?  If so why not write a book about these people?  Plenty of questions but no answers.

But would I willingly go through another lockdown?  Probably not, I recognise that although I didn’t mind being locked down, other people including family members suffered adversely.  This book was written before we knew that government ministers had themselves behaved appallingly while we kept to the rules.  I don’t believe British people would accept another lockdown after that.  Was I more affected by propaganda than I realised?  I must concede that it’s possible that I was.

The author uses interviews to describe people’s lockdown experiences and add weight to her opinion and also talks of being intimidated by police whilst trying to do her job. “Allowing press photographers and journalists to do their work is essential to a free press and democracy…”  After exposing government mind manipulation (aka ‘nudge’) how does she still believe in democracy?   Likewise the ‘free press’, it doesn’t exist now if it ever did and journalists behave as badly as politicians.

‘Nudge’ is interesting, subtle brainwashing techniques used by government through media to influence our thoughts and actions.  I’m surprised, not that it exists – that’s a given, but that it’s been given a name, this implies fact and an owning up to shady goings on.  Whatever you call it nudge has been going on for decades and it is good to have this brought to public attention but once again why now?  I conclude the author isn’t worried about mind control being used to influence democracy or to tell us what to buy but she is concerned when it’s used to confine her to her home.  This book was published in 2021 and a lot has happened since which would explain why the author has barely mentioned the corrupt allocation of contracts or the PPE debacle.

I wonder why didn’t Dodsworth go further and look at the obvious corruption and glaring failures in government?  Is she pulling punches?  Maybe because she’s worked for the Daily Mail?  I don’t know about this book, it was interesting in places and definitely made me think, I had to examine my own reaction to Covid.  But as a book on the tactics of fear it was disappointing, inconsistent and it has to be said, repetitive and boring.