A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic
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This happens because much of our thinking and behaviour is influenced by external stimuli of which we have little-to-no awareness; messages take hold subconsciously. For example, product placements make people more likely to buy the brand even if they don’t consciously remember having seen it; similarly, priming research has consistently shown that subconscious or incidental exposure to symbols influences thinking (with, as just one example, people voting more conservatively when polling is held inside a church). Since these effects bypass conscious systems, it is difficult to think one’s way out of them.
As a result, messages still shape your mind and influence your behaviour, even if you view them critically. As Gustav Le Bon noted in his classic, The Crowd, persuasion occurs not through rational thought but through affirmation, repetition, and contagion. Do you think, for example, that anyone would watch an advert for Lynx body spray and rationally believe wearing it would cause buxom women to chase after them? And yet the subconscious associations are made, and behaviour is influenced. To make an analogy, an expert nutritionist will get fat and poorly from eating McDonald’s every day, even though they are consciously aware of the food’s nutritional make-up. We ought to take as much care with what we put into our minds as we do with our bodies.
All this is to say that the second tactic for fighting nudges is simply to avoid them – or else they will get you eventually. As the saying goes, if you hang around in a barbershop long enough, sooner or later you’re going to get a haircut.
Of course, it is important to keep well-informed, but this is achievable without being manipulated. Avoid highly-emotional or sensationalist sources of information; in particular, avoid video content as much as possible. The moving image is more attention-grabbing, emotionally engaging, and persuasive than text; it engages pre-conscious brain systems. In short, unlike reading, video doesn’t give you the breathing room required to think critically. What’s more, reading improves cognitive function – that is, books make you smarter.
3. UPLIFT
This brings us to the third and final tactic: raising your level of consciousness. There are steps you can take in life to give yourself more conscious brainpower, enabling you to make more reasoned decisions and better resist external manipulations.
Namely, reducing cognitive load will free up your rational mind to make better decisions. To avoid being manipulated by the news, for example, be sure to avoid consuming the information when you are tired, hungry, stressed, or distracted: approach it with a clear mind. Similarly, reduce decision fatigue by minimising the amount of inconsequential choices you have to make throughout the day, and avoiding being overwhelmed with information; limiting emotional overstimulation will likewise make you less prone to emotional thinking. This means cutting down your consumption of ‘dopamine hits’ throughout the day – use social media less, eat less indulgent food, watch less television, and stop watching porn. The word decadence is derived from the word decay: the more decadent you are, the less structure you have in place, and the more liable you are to be blown this way and that by external forces. As for internal distractions, obsessive thoughts and negative emotions can be cleared away by mindfulness meditation.
Ultimately, the goal is to give your brain room to think by reducing chaos in your life. To paraphrase William H. McRaven and Jordan B. Peterson – make your bed and clean your room.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to everyone who allowed me to interview them while researching this book. I can’t publicly thank the anonymous contributors, but you know who you are. I hope that everyone I interviewed feels that I have done justice to their expert contributions or personal stories.
In addition, I’d like to thank Patrick Fagan for providing an excerpt from an essay on how to combat nudge. Piers Robinson kindly helped me understand how the UK’s laws changed as a result of the war on terror. Gary Sidley was particularly helpful when I researched Chapter 7, ‘The tools of the trade’, and within that chapter I have referenced an excellent article by him. The ‘scientific advisor deeply embedded in Whitehall’ generously gave me lots of time, insight and information while treading the careful line of never revealing any official secrets. Thank you R. Whitehead for providing expert insight into public health and propaganda.
My thanks to all readers of this book in its various drafts for their time and suggestions, especially Lucy Easthope, Zoe Harcombe, Harrie Bunker-Smith, Piers Robinson, Fergus Drennan, Joanna Williams, and Francis Hoar.
REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION
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2.www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
3.www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/monthlymortalityanalysisenglandandwales/january2021
4.www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/government-chief-scientist-explains-lack-of-eyecatching-measures-incoronavirus-fight
5.www.kekstcnc.com/media/2793/kekstcnc_research_covid-19_opinion_tracker_wave-4.pdf
6.www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55631693
7.www.kekstcnc.com/media/2895/kekst-cnc-covid19-opiniontracker-wave-5.pdf
8.www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/uk-public-most-concernedabout-coronavirus-more-than-spain-or-italy-study-suggests
9.www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/britons-least-likely-believeeconomy-and-businesses-should-open-if-coronavirus-notfully-contained
10.www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/research-projects/coronavirusgovernment-response-tracker#data
11.NHS England stats to 20th January
12.Computed from Office of National Statistics data by experts at Oxford’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford University. Reported: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9157627/One-six-hospital-patients-caught-Covid-19-treated-illnessesfigures-show.html
13.www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8539541/200-000-people-diedelays-healthcare-report-warns.html
14.www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-the-cost-of-another-lockdowntoo-high-
CHAPTER 1: FRIGHT NIGHT
1.Operation Cygnus referred to influenza, but the planning would also translate to and be effective for coronavirus. As veteran disaster planner Lucy Easthope told me, ‘There are review documents for SARS and MERS. It is a common misapprehension that we weren’t prepared for coronavirus. The effectiveness of Operation Cygnus would be effective for either. For instance, the National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies lists coronavirus and SARS in the ‘New and emerging infectious diseases’ section. Interestingly, it notes the need for contact tracing and isolation of affected individuals but not ‘lockdown’: assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/211867/NationalRiskRegister2013_amended.pdf Additionally, after the SARS outbreak in Toronto, the SARS commission was published in 2007 and was known to disaster planners: www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/e_records/sars/index.html
2.www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/04/coronavirus-infectionsengland-wales-hit-peak-days-lockdown/
CHAPTER 2: FEAR SPREADS IN THE MEDIA LIKE AN AIRBORNE VIRUS
1.Video of people collapsing in China, Daily Mail: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7923981/Coronavirus-Disturbing-videosclaim-people-collapsing-Wuhan.html
2.www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-sciencereview/article/how-the-chinese-government-fabricates-socialmedia-posts-for-strategic-distraction-not-engaged-argument/4662DB26E2685BAF1485F14369BD137C/core-reader
3.www.propublica.org/article/how-china-built-a-twitterpropaganda-machine-then-let-it-loose-on-coronavirus
4.www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/china-covidlockdown-propaganda
5.www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51828000
6.twitter.com/HuXijin_GT/status/1238864397713305600
7.www.the-sun.com/news/378365/coronavirus-patients-weldedinto-homes-in-china-as-death-toll-spirals-to-813/
8.‘Section 11: War, Terror and Emergencies - Gu
idelines’ from the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines
9.www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/grimmilestone-need-glimmerhope/
10.lockdownsceptics.org/the-future-shape-of-things/
11.www.lbc.co.uk/news/matt-hancock-tells-lbc-how-filmcontagion-alerted-him-to-global-vaccine-scramble/
12.www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54598728
13.www.pressgazette.co.uk/poll-journalists-have-not-donea-goodjob-at-covid-19-briefings-majority-of-respondents-say/
14.www.pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazette-poll-shows-half-believetrust-in-journalism-has-fallen-since-covid-19-outbreak/
15.www.pressgazette.co.uk/coronavirus-public-distrust-journalistsdespite-relying-on-news-media-for-daily-updates-surveyshows/
16.order-order.com/people/piers-morgan/
17.www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54696873
18.www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/19/many-could-immunecovid-despite-never-having-infected-study/
19.www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817
20.www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/britons-scaredcoronavirus-infection-rest-world/
21.www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/govt-spent-184m-covidcomms-2020/1708695
22.www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/193075/Note-tobroadcasters-Coronavirus.pdf
23.freespeechunion.org/letter-to-ofcom-following-its-decision-tosanction-itv-and-london-live/
CHAPTER 4: FEAR IS A PAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT PLAYBOOK
1.www.bi.team/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BIT-Behavioural-Government-Report-2018.pdf
2.www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-global-vaccine-summitclosing-remarks-4-june-2020
3.www.city-journal.org/the-politics-of-fear
4.ibid
5.academic.oup.com/ia/article/96/3/691/5813532
6.www.cato.org/blog/chance-being-murdered-or-injured-terroristattack-united-kingdom
7.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/eci.13554
8.www.who.int/bulletin/online_first/BLT.20.265892.pdf (The professor behind this study published by the World Health Organisation, Dr John Ioannidis of Stanford University, assessed IFRs with age specificity which proved very accurate by the end of the year.)
9.www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzmcHAbcoqg
10.Two discussions of the evidence: 1. ‘A city-wide prevalence study of almost 10 million people in Wuhan found no evidence of asymptomatic transmission.’ - www.bmj.com/content/bmj/371/bmj.m4851.full.pdf 2. lockdownsceptics.org/has-the-evidenceof-asymptomatic-spread-of-covid-19-been-significantlyoverstated-2/
11.www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-deradicalize-israel-scovid-insurgents-before-they-incite-a-civil-war-1.9529626
12.www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-officials-hunt-mystery-personwho-tested-positive-for-brazilian-variant-then-vanishedxj3m6ksbp
13.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/926410/Understanding_Cycle_Threshold__Ct__in_SARS-CoV-2_RT-PCR_.pdf
14.www.cebm.net/covid-19/infectious-positive-pcr-test-resultcovid-19/
15.www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-management-ofexposed-healthcare-workers-and-patients-in-hospital-settings/covid-19-management-of-exposed-healthcare-workers-andpatients-in-hospital-settings
16.www.theportugalnews.com/news/2020-11-27/covid-pcr-testreliability-doubtful-portugal-judges/56962
17.www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/12/05/freedom-lovingconservative-cant-wait-get-us-back-living-personal/
18.www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/27/it-is-only-amatter-of-time-before-we-turn-on-the-unvaccinated
19.www.express.co.uk/news/world/1385597/Germany-Covidangela-merkel-eu-news-coronavirus-lockdown-detentioncentre-refugee-camp
20.www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8681001/People-wont-wearface-masks-likely-sociopaths-study-claims.html
21.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5789790/
CHAPTER 5: THE BUSINESS OF FEAR AND THE UNELECTED PSYCHOCRATS
1.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/744672/Improving_Peoples_Health_Behavioural_Strategy.pdf
2.www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3202652/The-hidden-hand-pulling-financial-strings-secretive-governmentnudge-unit-tries-manipulate-behaviour-help-sinister.html
3.www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/MINDSPACE.pdf
4.eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/79061/2/Nudge_final_.pdf
5.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201012/ldselect/ldsctech/179/179.pdf
6.www.itv.com/news/2020-04-27/coronavirus-related-syndromeamong-children-may-be-emerging-alert-suggests
7.www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-52373829
8.www.societi.org.uk/kawasaki-disease-covid-19/answering-yourquestions-24-may-2020/
9.www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-childrenhospitals-intensive-care-pims-b1796419.html
10.www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/19/children-admittedhospital-mental-health-medical-reasons-leading/
11.www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2021/02/21/the-nudge-unit-ottawas-behavioural-science-team-investigateshow-canadians-feel-about-vaccines-public-health-and-who-totrust.html
12.www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/124400849/jacindaardern-is-a-great-communicator-but-clearly-not-everyoneslistening
13.gript.ie/look-for-ways-to-increase-insecurity-anxiety-anduncertainty-zero-covid-document/
14.www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/plus225868061/Corona-Politik-Wie-das-Innenministerium-Wissenschaftler-einspannte.html
15.uncommongroundmedia.com/clap-for-carers-a-show-ofsolidarity-or-sinister-submission/
16.www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2020/09/21/No-evidencehospitality-responsible-for-Coronavirus-transmission-spike
17.www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/21/england-to-enterstronger-three-tier-system-after-lockdown
18.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/944823/Analysis_of_the_health_economic_and_social_effects_of_COVID-19_and_the_approach_to_tiering_FINAL_-_accessible_v2.pdf
19.www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nudge-unit-davidhalpern-brexit-a8293061.html
20.www.tni.org/en/article/going-global-the-uk-governments-cveagenda-counter-radicalisation-and-covert-propaganda
21.webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20200203104056/gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/news/alex-aiken-introduces-the-rapidresponse-unit/
22.www.gov.uk/government/news/government-cracks-down-onspread-of-false-coronavirus-information-online
23.www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gchq-in-cyberwar-on-anti-vaccinepropaganda-mcjgjhmb2
24.www.middleeasteye.net/news/twitter-executive-also-part-timeofficer-uk-army-psychological-warfare-unit
25.www.gov.uk/government/groups/independent-scientificpandemic-influenza-group-on-behaviours-spi-b
CHAPTER 6: THE SPI-B ADVISORS
1.www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54421489
2.www.nas.org/reports/the-irreproducibility-crisis-of-modernscience/full-report#ImplicationsforPolicymaking
3.www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/25/two-thirds-patients-diecoronavirus-would-have-died-year-anyway/
4.www.gov.uk/government/publications/role-of-communitychampions-networks-to-increase-engagement-in-context-ofcovid-19-evidence-and-best-practice-22-october-2020
5.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Michie
6.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/948607/s0995-mitigations-toreduce-transmission-of-the-new-variant.pdf
CHAPTER 7: THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE
1.www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/sep/04/how-we-made-dont-die-of-ignorance-aids-campaign
2.www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9183957/NHS-workerswatching-Sin-recall-horrifying-ignorance-faced-AIDS-patients-80s.html
3.www.ft.com/content/38a81588-6508-11ea-b3f3-fe4680ea68b5
4.www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nationon-coronavirus-23-march-2020
5.www.bi.team/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MINDSPACE.pdf
6.www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/sep/04/how-we-made-dontdie-of-ignorance-a
ids-campaign
7.Drawn from MINDSPACE Influencing behaviour through public policy
8.www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/MINDSPACE.pdf
9.www.coronababble.com/post/how-the-mean-psychologistsinduced-us-to-comply-with-coronavirus-restrictions
10.www.ditext.com/packard/19.html
11.www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-55396770
12.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11228916/
13.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/2d0e5df7-cb15-434c-89a5-579c051aa8ec
14.www.spiked-online.com/2020/10/06/the-new-covid-fines-coulddestroy-your-life/
15.assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/882722/25-options-for-increasingadherence-to-social-distancing-measures-22032020.pdf
16.news.npcc.police.uk/releases/update-on-national-crime-trendsand-fixed-penalty-notices-issued-under-covid-regulations
17.www.independent.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-news-facemasks-increase-risk-infection-doctor-jenny-harries-a9396811.html
18.royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/set-c/set-c-facemasks.pdf
19.www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/face-maskscould-compulsory-shops-18598438
20.www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9181135/amp/Government-funding-EIGHT-vaccine-passport-schemes-450-000.html
21.www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-uknews-professor-chris-whitty-no-masks-advice-a9374086.html
22.www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRa6t_e7dgI
23.apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/337199/WHO-2019-nCov-IPC_Masks-2020.5-eng.pdf
24.www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/covid-19-face-masks-community-first-update.pdf
25.www.independent.co.uk/news/health/face-masks-coronavirusdeath-rate-covid-matt-hancock-today-a9618306.html
26.www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-towear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own/face-coverings-whento-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own
27.www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817
28.unherd.com/2021/01/inside-the-covid-ward/
29.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53498100