Let's be clear about how the Tories are politicising C-19: all the pressure on them is from the libertarian right to end lockdown and from the financial elite holding complex debts <90 days from default - so what do they do? 1/ Chaotic attempt to ease lockdown in England only...
2/ ...which leads to a new surge in deaths in 4-6 weeks time. Meanwhile "R" becomes not a scientific number but a political football - "between 0.5 - 09" means this was a completely political decision... But when the second wave comes...
3/ ... the Sun/Telegraph etc will conduct a campaign (encouraged by Gove) for "no return to full lockdown"... they don't need to speak the subtext "it's only killing unskilled workers and elderly people" but that's the unspoken narrative...
4/ Labour and the unions will step up to defend workers' rights to say no to unsafe conditions; expect the first walkout to be met with fury by the far right tabloids, creating the narrative of "Labour wants to ruin the economy for the sake of a few 000 excess deaths"...
5/ and then we're back to the culture war. The same enmity against city dwellers, public sector workers and experts will be whipped up as during Brexit - only now with an actual, deep economic slump as the background...
6/ Meanwhile the govt is assuming the trappings of an unchallengeable national administration: "addresses to the nation", sycophantic pressers by insider hacks, briefing straight to the Telegraph, not Parliament...
7/ The way to combat this is to establish a narrative that allows both socially conservative and liberal-left voters to buy in to an alternative solution: permanent state support for the economy, real expert committee calling the shots - with full transparency...
8/ ... Mutual sacrifices by workers and bosses negotiated through tripartite bodies imposed on every sector; and, yes, a bit of economic nationalism... because if you want to switch from debt fuelled consumption to sustainability you have to onshore investment and jobs...
9/ It's time to switch the whole emphasis of the left, the Labour Party, Labour-run councils, and unions to building a counter-narrative and actual grassroots networks for the long-term...
10/ I want my Labour-run council, and e.g. the GLA to play this just as politically as Johnson: let's start calling the shots ourselves where we have power, as @NicolaSturgeon has done admirably in Scotland...
11/ And face facts: most voters don't want to see their elderly relative die; most understand the social injustice of low paid workers being at risk... but a minority will go on cheerleading Johnson - no matter how badly he screws up - as long as he goes on validating racism
