funerals 53, 168–9
Furedi, Frank 251
‘gasping for air’ imagery 66
Gates Foundation 212
GAVI (The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations) 40–1, 247
GCHQ 63, 72–3
Germany 40, 52, 66–7
goalposts, moving 48
‘going viral’ 21
Golding, William 122
good cop, bad cop 116
Good Morning Britain 27
Google 191
Gove, Michael 250
government-media-public relationship 27–8, 109, 256
‘granny killing’ 54, 86–7, 106, 107
graphs 115
Grappenhall conga 172
grassroots organisations 71, 94–5, 99–100, 120, 123–4, 127
Great Barrington Declaration 191
‘Great Reset’ 211–12
‘greater good’ 84, 90, 223, 235, 267
Greenhorn, Dave 240
grief 87, 126, 229
Gript 65
Grose, Anouchka 174–5
groupthink 26, 55, 83–4, 85, 90
Grupp, Stefanie 255
Guantanamo 51
Guardian, The 71, 126, 156, 174–5, 191–2, 263 headlines 31, 33, 34, 35
Guatemala 42–3
guidance versus regulation 219–21, 225
Guido Fawkes 28
guilt 120, 198, 216
Gupta, Sunetra 182
H1N1 162
Halpern, David 20, 59, 61, 63, 104, 109, 111, 114, 237, 259, 260, 262
Hancock, Matt 24, 48, 53–4, 68, 111, 112–13, 115, 116, 117, 153, 248, 249
Handmaid’s Tale (Atwood) 110
‘hands, face, space’ 49, 101
hand-sanitising as symbol 180
hashtags 126, 127
headlines 18, 23, 25, 31–6
Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 109–10, 219
health risk communication 236
Heneghan, Carl 159, 182, 191
herd immunity 20–1
heroes 105–8, 199
Higgs, Robert 45, 128
history of uses of fear to control populations 41–56
Hitchens, Peter 197, 249
Hoar, Francis 225–6, 227
Holden, Amanda 137
Home Office 163 see also RICU (Research, Information and Communications Unit)
homelessness 232
hope 90, 95, 235, 264
horror film references 18, 118, 120
hospices 165
hospitality 68–9
hospitals see also NHS
counting hospitalisations 149, 154–6
discharges not reported 29, 115
hospital admissions statistics 29
hospital-acquired infections 115
ICU beds 154
nosocomial infections 115, 150, 155, 192–3, 200, 273
‘overwhelmed’ 155
House of Commons Science and Technology Committee 159, 173, 259–60
House of Lords 61
How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, not Engaged Argument 19–20
Hoyle, Lindsay 79
Huddy, Leonie 257
hugging 4, 39, 40, 171, 225, 264
human rights 49, 53, 82, 225–6, 267, 271
Hunter, Paul 175
hyper-partisan politics 69
hypocrites 28
iatrocracy 85
ICU beds 154
imagery 105, 108
immortality, expectations of 44–5
immune responses 28–9, 235, 239
Imperial College London 84, 151–2, 268, 271, 273, 276
imprinting 12
Improving people’s health 60
incentives/rewards 101, 107, 202, 243
Independence Day 107, 173–4
Independent, The 32, 173
Independent SAGE 86
independent science 188
individual action 257–8
inequality 207, 209
infantilisation 114, 198, 243
Infection Fatality Rate (IFR) 47–8, 268–9
infectiousness 51–2, 53
influencers 87, 129, 203
information see also censorship; propaganda
challenging the 85
disinformation 63, 72, 181, 191, 203
fact-checking 18, 19, 24, 130, 132–3, 181, 252–3
‘facts’ 84, 85
‘false’ information 191
misinformation 19–20, 29–30, 154, 186
overload 281
placebic information 116
verification 18, 21, 24, 255–6
informed consent 132, 134, 135, 136, 238, 246
Infotagian 138
inquiries 69, 153, 202, 213, 253, 256
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries 157
Institute of Government 61
investigative journalism 28
Investigatory Powers Act 2016 46
‘invisible government’ 265
‘invisible killer’ 99
Ioannidis, John 151, 273
Iraq war 47, 203, 223, 241
Ireland 65
Irish News, The 33
Irreproducibility Crisis of Modern Science (NAS, 2018) 83–4, 90
ISAG (Independent Scientific Advocacy Group) Ireland 65–6
Israel 52, 132, 206
Italy 20, 23, 90, 266, 273
It’s a Sin 99
ITV 26, 124, 135
Jackson, Stephen 225, 226
Jarvis, Sarah 48
Jenrick, Robert 129
Johnson, Boris
23 March 2020 speech 8–9, 10–12, 99, 105, 208, 219, 263
attempts to channel Churchill 40
body language 8, 10–12
‘Clap for Carers’ 124–5
and the environment 79
experience of Covid 25, 68
‘lockdown was too late’ 201
paternal imagery 44
populism 27
on the second lockdown 116
vaccine passports 247
journalism
at anti-lockdown protests 50
and conspiracy theories 202
impartial journalism 22
investigative journalism 28
journalistic ethics 25–6
journalistic language 188
journalistic rigour 21–2, 24, 26, 187–8, 256
journalists’ pay 25, 27
political journalists 28
and science 191–2
Judicial Review 225–6
Jung, Carl 213, 215
Karim, Fariha 220–1
Kawasaki-like disease 64
Kentish variant 116
Kerber, Markus 66
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 149–50
Khan, Sadiq 111, 153, 154, 173
‘killer bug’ 18
‘killing grannies’ 54, 86–7, 106, 107
killing others, responsibility for 107, 118, 175
Klein, Naomi 213
Landmark Forum 196–215
language
BBC Charter 22–3
biopolitics 52
body language 8, 10–12
brainwashing 198
of cults 198, 202, 213
dehumanising 54, 106
intended to bamboozle 108
journalistic 188
prison terminology 53
slogans 105–8
vaccines and the language of coercive control 245–50
of war 40–1
of world leaders 210
Law or Fiction 225
Le Bon, Gustav 280
le Tissier, Matt 139
left-wing politics 183, 192
legislation see also rules
anti-vaccine information 138
Coronavirus Act (2020) 164, 205, 219, 221
emergency legislation 52, 53, 70, 82, 162, 218–28
guidance versus regulation 219–21, 225
; Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 109–10, 219
Investigatory Powers Act 2016 46
lockdown 218, 219
Online Harms Bill 138
Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 205, 218, 219, 226
Terrorism Act 2000 46
Leicester Mercury 35
lethality of Covid 47–8, 157, 268–9
LFT testing programmes (lateral flow tests) 93, 159, 176, 272
liberty
abusive control of 142–4
conditional 142
dehumanisation 267
‘justifiable incursion’ of lockdown 69–70
respect for individual freedoms 260
restrictions on 47, 49, 62
sacrifice of 44–6, 93, 266
tyrannical restrictions on 218–28
Livermore, David 157
living with Covid 85
lockdown see also anti-lockdown protests
alternatives to 271–2, 277
anti-lockdown protests 50–1, 54, 82, 173, 203
based on ‘cases’ 159
behavioural science 62
and Biderman’s Chart of Coercion 142–4
China 21
effect on death rates 274
efficacy of 163, 201, 236, 270–8
evidence for 45, 270–8
excess deaths 167
exit plans 80
fear of riots 127
as framework 26
future uses of 78–9, 110
‘getting away with it’ 266, 273
harms of 141–2, 163, 220
Italy 20, 266, 273
‘justifiable incursion’ 69–70
leading to tunnel thinking 257
left-wing politics 183
legal challenges 225–6
legislation 218, 219
mental health 140, 167, 229
morality 183
and the ‘new normal’ 49
non-Covid excess deaths 163, 230
November 2020 116
pandemic planning 164, 190, 254
popular opinions wanting harder 149, 201, 254, 273–4
and the precautionary principle 9
prison terminology 53
propaganda 115
quarantining the healthy 49, 202, 218, 272
scepticism about 106, 184
and SPI-B 78–80
and suicide 168
Sweden’s lack of 208–9
WHO (World Health Organization) 21, 163, 272, 275
zealots 107
Lockdown Sceptics 157
logic, circumventing 146
London Bridge terror attacks 2017 126
longitudinal research 86, 87
‘look him in the eyes’ 120
Lord of the Flies 122
love-bombing 199, 202
Mail on Sunday 197
Mail Online 17, 18, 35
Main Street One 137
Maitliss, Emily 23
Manchester bombing 126
man-made, virus potentially 206
masks
behavioural psychology 111–14
British Medical Association 153–4
compliance 79
dehumanising 91–2
disregarding as soon as
possible 258
efficacy of 110, 112–14, 188–90
evidence for 29, 92, 112–13, 180, 237
‘foot in the door’ technique
110–11
keeping the fear alive 237
mandating of 110–11, 112, 189–90, 237
media stories about 29
non-mask wearers 107
psychological warfare 205
in schools 91–3
as a signal 112, 180, 205, 237
sub-conscious priming 101
Mason, Paul 191–2
Masons 206, 210
mass delusions 214, 215, 252
mass hysteria 214, 252
mass testing 93, 159
May, Theresa 156
Mayer, Milton 266
McNally, Alan 159
McVey, Esther 152
media see also advertising; journalism
avoiding 257, 281
balanced coverage 22, 25–6, 99, 201, 252–3
cautionary tales and case
studies 108–9
Clap for Carers 123, 127
clickbait 18, 29, 253, 256
fear spread through 17–30, 108–9, 115, 187–8, 191–2
future responsibilities of 255–6
government-media-public relationship 28, 109, 256
headlines 18, 23, 25, 31–6
media owners 27–8
and mental wellbeing 252, 255
news agencies 24
relentnessness of 240
suppression of dissent 204
Media Hive 130, 135
Medical Examiner systems 163–4
Menninger, Karl Augustus 6
mental health
children 91, 167, 170–1, 231, 239–40
collateral damage 239
of dissenters 203–4
and government advertising 120
lasting effects on 230–1, 239–41
lockdown 140, 167, 229
masks 121
and the media 255
and the psychology profession 87, 186
rebuilding our 87, 258
suicide 140, 167–8, 181–2, 184, 194, 229, 231, 239
Merkel, Angela 40
MERS 162
messengers, authoritative 100, 137
metaphors 40–1
metrics 115, 146–60
Metro 31, 33, 35, 41
Metro Online 17, 18
MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) 130, 132
Michie, Susan 86, 88, 90, 174
Middle East Eye 126, 127, 202
military 73–4
mindfulness 234, 281
MINDSPACE: Influencing behaviour through public policy 61, 100–2, 103, 259, 260
miscarriages of justice 220–1
misinformation 19–20, 29–30, 134, 154, 186
modelling 84, 151–2, 271, 272, 273, 276
mood congruence effect 102
Moore, Captain Tom 124
moral authority 47, 241–2
Moralisation of Covid-19 health response: Asymmetry in tolerance for human costs 182–3
morality 182–3
Morewedge, Carey 279
Morgan, Gavin 91–2, 237, 261–2, 265
Morgan, Piers 27–8
mortuary capacities 163–4
motivating, fear can be 235 see also evolutionary purpose of fear
Murphy, Naomi 10, 12–13, 83
National Association of Scholars (NAS) 83
National Institute for Health Protection 48
National Institutes of Health (NIH) 188
National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies 9
neighbours, reporting your 88, 200
neo-liberalism 89–90
NERVTAG (New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group) 74
neutralising an opponent 60
‘new normal’ 49, 78 New Statesman 191
new variants 48, 116–17, 175
New Zealand 65, 78
news agencies 24
News UK 27
NHS see also hospitals
behavioural science/behavioural psychology 59, 61, 246–7
capacity 254, 272
Clap for Carers 68, 94–5, 122–5, 199
fact-checking with 130, 132–3
fear of overwhelm 218
guidelines 52
metrics 150–1, 154–6
pandemic preparedness 163, 193
people’s inability to access 167, 230
and politics 67–8
‘protect the NHS’ 100, 105
psychocracy 262
QALYs (Quality Adjusted Life Years) 150–1, 219, 274
rainbows 94, 127, 180
‘save the NHS’ 127<
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slogans 105
statistics 115
surge capacity 163
vaccines 245–6
NHS Charities 119
Non-pharmaceutical public health measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza (WHO, 2019) 271
non-verbal communication 10–12, 91
no-platforming 181
norms 101, 103, 105, 107, 111–12, 122
nosocomial infections 115, 150, 155, 192–3, 200, 273
Nudge Unit see Behavioural Insight Teams (BIT)
nudging
behavioural science 58–60, 61, 248, 258–62
and democracy 242–4, 267
ethics of 100, 103, 104
long-term damage of 131
Patrick Fagan’s essay 279–81
public opinion polls 249
tactics to fight 279–81
Number 10 press briefings 26, 105
obedience, being trained for 205
obesity 54
O’Brien, Neil 181–2
O’Brien, Richard 59
Ofcom 30, 191, 256
Ogilvy ‘Nudgestock Conference’ 253
Online Harms Bill 138
ONS (Office for National Statistics) 25, 157–8, 175, 222
opinion polls 149, 249
Optimising Vaccination Roll Out – Dos and Don’ts for all messaging, documents and “communications” in the widest sense 132
Organisation for Propaganda Studies 55
Orwell, George 122
othering 54, 106, 120
outsider, fear of being an 67
Overton window 110–11
Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine 52, 153, 182, 275
Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government 271
Packard, Vance 44
paid promotions 137
pandemic planning 9, 62, 162–3, 169, 205, 253–5, 271
Papyrus 167
parliamentary scrutiny 221–2
Patel, Priti 173
paternalism 62, 243
patients, defining 160
‘patients admitted’ metric 149–50
Paton, David 147, 148, 153, 276
Paxton, Roger 186
PCR test 52–3, 158–9, 272
Pearson, Allison 23
peer pressure 198, 200, 246
Pennington, Hugh 116–17
performativity 47, 122
personal responsibility 54, 250, 267
Pfizer vaccine 132–3
phantom enemies 47–8
pharmaceutical contracts 212
physical health effects 231–2, 239
placebic information 116
Plas, Annemarie 94–5, 123–4, 125
pleasure principle 42
police
administering fines 110
at anti-lockdown protests 50
block policing 88
enforcement of legislation/guidance 220, 221
public doing the job of 114
technology 224
political accountability 26, 241
political journalists 28
politicians’ own fear 24
polling 117, 149, 249
Portugal 52, 158–9
posters 108, 117, 120, 127, 264
power
abuses of 223
accretion above democratic oversight 71
A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic Page 33