I think it's the wrong decision. Johnson has zero sense of moral responsibility and zero concern for the wellbeing of the population. He couldn't care less how many people die, so long as the economy keeps running smoothly. Indeed herd immunity was his initial strategy, and I suspect that the reason he eventually backtracked and implemented lockdown was that he realised that thousands of deaths might cost him some votes. Johnson appears to be a fool, and this coupled with his egotism makes him dangerous - the parallels with trump are striking.

The main problem is the endemic short-termism in modern politics, and this is another reason why lockdowns are implemented too late. They wait until cases are really high, and then decide to act. That's not the way to respond to a problem that has exponential growth. It was a dereliction of duty back in March to not bring in early restrictions and quarantining of new entrants to the country. If he'd done that, we likely could have avoided full lockdown altogether. It was a dereliction of duty the first time. But to then repeat the same behaviour later in the year is not just inept, it borders on the criminal.


I might agree on the liberty point, but disagree profoundly on the other two. Exponential progression is not a difficult thing to understand, but Johnson has either failed to do so, or simply doesn't care. I would argue that the only sense he possesses is self-interest.