Lifestyle

From a certain perspective life in the West can seem bleak. Can you remember what life was like before 9/11? I can, it was not like this. As someone living in relative prosperity I can confirm that the situation has degenerated. People my age used be to buying houses and starting families, now we are content to get whatever dilapidated property we can rent. A mixture of inflation, cost of living rising and stagnant wages meant that people who cannot work in a booming sector such as tech and the like are facing a great deal of economic pressure.

Many people I know seem to be living out a sort of perpetual adolescence: living in shared housing indefinitely, barely owning anything of significant value, flitting from one romantic situation to another and working a low level job indefinitely. Some have clearly chosen this lifestyle self consciously, others have been forced into it by economic factors. For me the opposite choice: a mortgage, 2.2 kids in suburbia is equally unappealing.

Concerning those still living out an adolescent existence (myself included), the thing that causes me some sadness when I see such cases is that many of the people I speak do not seem to perceiving that anything is wrong, they remind me of the pig that wants to be eaten in Douglas Adam’s The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, they seem to deliberately want what is worse for them. Perhaps there is an element of snobbery behind these thoughts I still think there is truth in them.

However there are many positive aspects to our current situation, in the world in world of technology and cyberspace new almost utopian possibilities of communication and access to information have opened up that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Although it is impossible to compare such incommensurable factors such as sociological change and technological innovation, I think it is fair to say that compared to previous generations our the situation is a mixed one. The next recession that is coming will certainly force people into difficult choices it is unclear what the ultimate consequence of it will be.

The pandemic has changed how I view life, things that may have seemed valuable: a promotion, a new house and keeping up with the Jone’s may have lost their allure in the face of the devastation that Covid-19 has caused around the world. In the face of death what is truly important is brought into focus. The hubris of those who had made plans for 2020 based on a conception of all things being equal have had their illusions shattered. This can lead to the further realization that there is no reason something as catastrophic as the pandemic could happen again at any time. In the face of such uncertainty it is difficult to know how to react. To operate in state of perpetual preparedness is exhausting, especially given the infinite number of possible scenarios that one could be faced with. To do nothing seems ridiculous, but what to do is not any easy question to answer. Those who do not have the head space for such deliberations simply move forwards automatically, like fish going downstream.

Work

A positive side effect of the pandemic is that for those that can work remotely a large vista of options has opened up without having to escape 9-5. Being able work remotely means that the employee can access vast extra swathes of time to do whatever activity they please which they would have had to use commuting. Perhaps there will now be a renaissance of people using these opportunities to expand their lives and engage in interest that would have previously been impractical. The compromise between having to live somewhere near the office and somewhere that is pleasant place to live has been removed. The balance of power in between the employer and employee has decisively shifted in the employee’s favor. Once working from home has been conceded the expectation that the employee be constantly at their desk during office hours is no longer reasonable. People no longer have to subjected to the smells, small talk and interruptions of co workers they were forced to spend time with in the office. Further, it is now possible to work multiple jobs at the same time without anyone knowing and double your income. This new situation also benefits many businesses as they are able to save money on renting large office spaces and travel due to remote work. In light of this, I do not see an enforced return to the office in the future.

The waves of resignations made by employees around the world is a clear signal that they want a better deal and are no longer satisfied with their work. The precise reasons are somewhat unclear but this excellent video sheds some light on the topic:

During the pandemic I asked myself what I was doing with my life many times. Countless others may have thought the same. Difficult times remind us of the shortness of life and how we must sometimes take a risk to escape a bad situation. Further, it is my belief that the amount of stress the pandemic placed on people has meant they had less tolerance for things they would have otherwise put up with. One of these being a job they dislike. In addition, in western world due to imbalance of young versus old people the actual labour force has shrunk leading to in some cases more pressure on fewer people to do the work required. Contrastingly, the increase in remote working has lead to the labor market for many jobs becoming truly global for many sectors. This dynamic gives workers more negotiating power than before. Companies that have a bad culture and are unable to retain staff will be punished by people leaving. When so many people’s agency was taken away by government restrictions they could at least still exercise their will by choosing who they work for. Further, those that can may have sought to leave the labor force altogether. However, I am not trying to glamorize the pandemic, whilst some have been blessed with new opportunities, others have suffered death, loss of work, self esteem and devastation.

In conclusion, I think the legacy of the pandemic is yet to be decided. Although most of the world has now mostly recovered there have are major outbreaks recently in China and elsewhere, so Covid-19 may still be with us for some time to come. I wish I could travel forwards in time to see what historians of the future will think of this time and us; I fear they will have few positive things to say. Especially in light of our decisions during the pandemic to so easily trade liberty for the perception of safety.

The Situation

I usually avoid writing about political matters as I feel that discussing such topics often generates more heat that light. However, I think the recent debacle surrounding Boris Johnson’s flagrant breaking of his own government’s rules concerning social gatherings during lock down has brought the more ludicrous aspects of British politics and the pandemic into focus.

The common interpretation of Johnson’s breach of the rules I hear endlessly repeated, namely, that the public were morally right to follow whatever ludicrous rules the government imposes on them so long as the prime minister also follows them also. The prime minister’s dishonesty is clearly worth of rebuke but should not our attention really be focused on the inhuman restrictions lock down imposed on society? Even if the prime minister were following the rules he would be doing so from his mansion Chequers, which is presumably well staffed. Simply put, he is already living a gilded lifestyle. The idea that any sacrifice he makes would have anything more than a purely symbolic value is an illusion.

There is something of the theatrical in this whole situation, Johnson has failed to play the role assigned by society as a person who must follow his own ridiculous edicts. This failure has generated a level of outrage that is beyond the ordinary. Boris Johnson has stepped out of character and revealed that the luxury of being a law maker is not having to follow rules you create. There is also something curiously roman about his rule of the country via edict although apparently supported by “the science”. This said, appealing to Apollo or Zeus a source of authority is far more honest and transparent than using science as a shield.

I have never held public office but I imagine the job of being prime minister must be very stressful, if he wants to let off some steam and have some booze he should be allowed to. Although, his dishonesty is clearly reprehensible it is the rules themselves that are deserving of far greater censure. Can a society be said to be free when it is an item of law under what circumstances I am allowed to leave my house? The discourse around the virus and the constant messaging we are subjected to word “safety” is endlessly repeated, what is ignored in this rhetoric is that the vast majority of adults are not at risk of serious health issues from the virus. Instead of focusing on shielding vulnerable individuals the government instead opted for the dubious strategy of making everyone’s lives equally miserable. It is this logic which is at the heart of socialism: all people must be leveled down to the point where we are all existing in the same reduced state. The government than proceeded to micro managed what people could and could not do on a daily basis: pubs were allowed to open, but had to close after 10pm, you had to wear face mask in restaurants, but not when you are sitting down, face masks were mandatory on planes and trains, but food and drink were still served. Such double think is an intrinsic part of the new regime we must all live under. The government had to be seen to be doing “something” no matter how stupid it is. We must observe the rules even if they are contradictory.

Neil Oliver sums up the situation very eloquently in this speech:

Another feature of this new order is that instead of dividing people by class or by the religion we instead divided by whether our occupation is “essential” and “non-essential”: health workers, public transport employees and other such professions are “essential”. These people were allowed to leave their house more than the prescribed limits. Most other people were not able to enjoy this privileged status.

The virus does not care about our societal notions of “equality”. A great deal of fuss has been made in media about how the pandemic has had an unequal effect on people’s lives, the rich mostly escaping unscathed are able to spend the duration of lock down in relatively luxurious living conditions. Again, there is clearly something wrong with people living in deprivation and poverty (something the government created by making it impossible to for people to work due to the restrictions). However, would it be better if the virus had been more lethal and virulent and killed larger swathes of the population? That would clearly be a more equal distribution of outcomes but it is not better.

The British like to style ourselves as a freedom loving people. After the shockingly high levels of compliance to the government pandemic restrictions I am not so sure we can do so anymore. What people do not remember is that one of ways any evil regimes takes power is not through force alone, but also through the passive compliance of the majority¹ . This brings me to another point that is often ignored, that the best defense against the virus is being healthy. However, for a government in love interfering in people’s lives simple advice advocating a healthy lifestyle, loosing weight and getting enough time outdoors was obviously not a going to be popular as these are not interventionist measures. None of legislation brought in during the pandemic was give proper scrutiny. Shouldn’t people who pay for all of the state apparatus have some say over how it is run? We get to vote every four years but beyond this our participation is generally not required. It both farcical and disgusting to have my civil liberties taken away by a service I pay for. Although on this occasion our overlords have deemed that we can have some of our rights back; perhaps on a temporary basis.

Taxation represents year of my life in service of a system that does not even help the people most in need. The homeless were housed temporarily only to be turned out onto the streets again. Much of the money that is taken is lost in layers of bureaucracy or the inflated salary of public servants. Where accountability is lacking, wastefulness grows. The various government measures surrounding the pandemic have in a large part been funded by money printing and debt. Further, there is no clear end in sight to the social ills of inflation, in my grand parent’s day £100 could buy you a house; today it would barely buy a decent pair of headphones. It seems likely that the UK will see hyper inflation at some point if it continues on its current trajectory. However, nobody knows when this will happen so for now The Bank of England is happy to play fiscal chicken, for what can be the harm in devaluing other people’s money? The rule makers themselves are doubtless already insulated from the downside.

Fatigue

My overwhelming feeling as we come out of this crisis is fatigue, fatigue from the gradual erosion of normality and the layers of uncertainty that have been exposed, financially, emotionally, and spiritually. I have been living in the interests of survival for so long that is only now as we lurch out of one crisis into another that I have time to take stock and try and understand what has happened.

The pandemic has also taught me to be more grateful for what is right in front of me. So often we are carried away by future plans that we miss the only thing we will ever have, the present moment. Such talk may sound platitudinous but it is true. The pandemic has also shown me the fragility of things that appear to be stable and permanent. Our hard won liberties are very fragile and can be quickly be evaporated by the powers that be. This has clearly happened in the case of the pandemic in the name of our “safety” whist vast numbers of people die from other illnesses that could have been treated and the NHS not been commandeered to only focus solely on Covid 19.

To return to the discussion of the government, the problem with our current situation is that the state is not treated as a mere means to and end with limited power. Instead it has become an end in itself. It is hard to know when (if ever) the tide will turn towards a more liberal society. It is my hope that I will see the change in my lifetime, if not on these shores then perhaps on a new land yet to be born. I would encourage all of you to weigh up your options.