THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT has been forced into a u-turn as the full scale of its calamitous coronavirus policy finally began to penetrate minds in Number 10. Boris Johnson has been subject to enormous criticism over his handling of the outbreak with a growing number of health professionals and scientists questioning his refusal to implement social distancing and the stringent safety methods adopted elsewhere.
The UK were pursuing a different course of action, or rather inaction, which its government claimed was backed up by science. Given how little is still known about the virus, the World Health Organisation emphasised in response that “while theories can be talked about, the current situation requires action”. Number 10 however remained reluctant to even share the evidence on which their assumptions rested and faced mounting accusations of a lack of transparency.
Tory hubris is not the only culprit, however, Johnson’s response was greatly influenced by a piece of seductive thinking that has been widely embraced by management consultants and policy makers in recent years. Underpinning the UK approach is the so-called. “nudge theory”, a piece psycho-babble from the field of behavioural science popularised by legal academic, Cass Sunstein. Like economic policies similarly hatched at the University of Chicago, the theory favours individual action over government intervention and is right at home with governments of a certain persuasion in Britain, America and elsewhere. Readers may recall that Ireland’s own Climate Action Plan was launched last June with Leo Varadkar claiming his government will “nudge people and businesses to change behaviour”.
Instead of following any sort of established science, Johnson’s government were engaging in an ill-advised experiment and one with grave consequences for millions of people.
Sunstein himself is no stranger to these shores having visited UCD and Trinity College, while his research is the stuff of daytime radio fodder on Newstalk. The Irish connections don't end there as professor also is also the spouse of Samantha Power, who worked as America’s ambassador to the United Nation under the Obama administration. A distinguished thinker, no doubt, but Sunstein’s brand of liberal assumptions appear flimsy in the face of the present crisis and Johnson should have known sooner. Writing about the need to avoid fear last month, Sunstein insisted that “most people in North America and Europe do not need to worry much about the risk of contracting the disease. That’s true even for people who are travelling to nations such as Italy that have seen outbreaks of the disease”.
