Utopia, you are standing in it!

I noticed last evening that the Bank of England had released its Monetary Policy Report with some rough and ready GDP estimates/forecasts.  They reckon UK GDP probably fell by about 3 per cent in the March quarter (which would be a smaller fall than in quite a few other big European countries) and then by about a further 25 per cent in the June quarter.   In previous comments both the Bank of England and the Office for Budget Responsibility had estimated that during the lockdown itself GDP would be perhaps 35 per cent less than normal.

The Bank of England described their numbers as rough and ready.  I pulled out an old envelope and sketched out on the back of it some week by week stylised “rough and ready”) numbers for New Zealand.   In part I was curious to see what it would take to produce a similar…

Ideologies never die, they metamorphose and are reborn in a new form just when they are thought buried forever.

– Pascal Bruckner, French philosopher and writer (2006)

In 2010, sociology professor Rick Fantasia, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, struggled to explain the results of US Congress elections that were disastrous to democrats and that, at that time, brought a majority to the republicans.  Fantasia was part of a Social Forum, a 15,000-strong army of left activists who gathered in Detroit, Michigan.  Observing this convention, he noted that most people who arrived at this convention mostly represented various minority organizations that were either involved into identity politics or represented immigrant workers.  Fantasia also noted a heavy presence of countercultural and environmentalist elements, including New Age seekers.  Yet, the activist scholar pointed out that one important element was missing: working-class people, especially white workers.  With frustration, Fantasia noted…

They seemed to be  busy, busy, busy in the Beehive yesterday (or some of them were),  using the flow of press statements as our measure.

But much of what emerged related to the same issue – the prospect that Covid-19 constraints on what we can do will be lowered to Level Two.

The PM said Cabinet on Monday will consider moving to the next stage of the Covid-19 response but cautioned that the virus has bounced back in some countries where restrictions have been relaxed. 

Her detailed statement emphasised the need to continue to playing it safe, noting that public health measures remain unchanged, the border remains closed except to Kiwis, and the government wants us to stick to the social distancing rules. But – 

The Palace of Versailles was the principal royal residence of France from 1682, under Louis XIV, until the start of the French Revolution in 1789, under Louis XVI. It is located in the department of Yvelines, in the region of Île-de-France, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of the centre of Paris.

The site of the Palace was first occupied by a small village and church, surrounded by forests filled with abundant game. It was owned by the Gondi family and the priory of Saint Julian. King Henri IV of France went hunting there in 1589, and returned in 1604 and 1609, staying in the village inn. His son, the future Louis XIII, came on his own hunting trip there in 1607.

Henri IV, King of France and Navarre.

After he became King in 1610, Louis XIII returned to the village, bought some land, and in 1623-24 built a modest…

Across the globe, all manner of businesses have been forced to shut their doors and their owners and employees now find themselves in forced lockdown at home, devouring Netflix and junkfood delivered by Uber-eats.

The COVID-19 responses might vary in severity country by country, but the wholesale reduction in air-travel, transport, traffic, the movement of people and goods should give punters a taste of what a net-zero carbon dioxide emissions target will look like.

Except that weather-worriers are pursuing that object, as well as their broader plan of delivering (occasional) power from subsidised windmills and solar panels that’s so expensive as to be prohibitive to all but the elite. Well, that’s the plan anyway.

For now, though, electricity is still being delivered, and a fair proportion of those lucky enough to be still hooked to the grid can still afford it.

But, as Dr John Constable details below, Boris Johnson’s…