Nanny must nudge us sheep again – for our own good

 

It seems our dearly beloved MSM are dithering. Suddenly, the current PM is being praised for ‘turning on the charm’ in order to rein in her ‘rebels’, or so most of the Westminster print editions tell us (link). The other news item is of course Putin who has dared to label the attack on the Crimea Bridge an act of Terrorism. Doesn’t he know that terrorism is permitted when it’s aimed at ‘Teh Baddies’? 

Meanwhile, from across the Channel there’s a little report about the French getting stroppy again. They just don’t know how to queue and that petrol shortages will become a fact of French life. Oh wait – it’s actually not the fault of Putin but because workers at French refineries are on strike:

“A petrol shortage in France looks set to worsen after unions pledged today to prolong a strike at refineries. With the government saying that a fifth of the country’s 11,000 petrol stations have been hit by shortages, long queues of cars have formed outside those which still have fuel, often resulting in arguments between motorists. In northern France, where the crisis is particularly acute, police have been called out on several occasions in recent days to break up fights.” (link, paywalled)

Something like that could of course never happen here in Blighty – fights in queues, that is. Meanwhile, M Macron has been trying to appease his countrymen with:

“[…] a €21 billion package of measures designed to offset inflation, fuel is being subsidised to the tune of 30 cents a litre until November. The subsidy will fall to 10 cents before disappearing at the end of the year. Macron […] hopes the move will help to prevent a planned left-wing demonstration against the cost of living crisis next Sunday spiralling into a new round of yellow-vest riots.” (link, paywalled)

Well, if there’s no petrol then surely people won’t be able to go on riots in the first place, correct? After all, they only want to demonstrate against that ‘cost of living’ crisis which is causing the strikes in the first place. There’s also a coy mention of another reason for petrol stations ‘running dry’:

“Belgian, Swiss, Spanish and other motorists from neighbouring countries have been flocking across the border in search of cheaper fuel.” (link, paywalled).

And why not – after all, this is the EU: no borders, people are free to buy the cheapest petrol wherever they can. Funny – there must be a EU-wide ‘cost of living crisis’. Must be an ‘Act of God’, nothing to do with EU sanctions …!

 Meanwhile, over here there’s now proof that, actually, a certain group of people are keen on being given ‘guidance’. The young ‘uns, it seems, can’t live without Nanny State. There’s an opinion piece in The Times, under the inane headlines” 

“​​Truss’s war on nanny state will hurt us all – Far from resenting a public information campaign on saving energy, many want the government to take a lead” (link, paywalled)

The author, the Times columnist Clare Foges, 39 years old, is a representative of that generation of U40s. The covid years must have impressed her and them so much that they’re now frit of even thinking for themselves, never mind doing something without Nanny telling them to.

After a swipe at Truss, declaring that “her doctrine is libertarianism, her nemesis is the nanny state, and her ideological rigidity should worry us all.” (link, paywalled) and bemoaning the fact that some Brits might actually keep their heating going, being stubborn contrarians, Ms Foges’ reason for such a campaign demonstrates what she and her age group really want and why (my emphasis):

“At a time of soaring bills and looming blackouts, having a public information campaign about how best to save energy (and money) is patently sensible. A clear and concise government campaign would cut through, nudging the already willing to change their behaviour and reaching those who haven’t yet got the message. It is almost 20 years since the government launched its “five-a-day” campaign on fruit and vegetables, and still the perfect clarity of it influences my eating habits daily. During the pandemic, “hands, face, space” became an earworm that changed behaviour, as could some equally clear advice on how to reduce energy use.” (link, paywalled)

Why the ‘already willing’ need to be nudged – no, me neither! Even in the face of the ‘success’ of years of ‘five-a-day’ which we unruly plebs are still not doing, Ms Foges declares that actually,

“This is a country primed for national effort. Far from resenting a public information campaign, I reckon many would want the government to go further, as they are on the Continent. In Germany public monuments are unlit, heating private swimming pools is banned and cities are pulling the plug on Christmas lights.” (link, paywalled)

It’s nought but the desire of the Westminster nudgers to re-create the lockdown ‘experience’, with hundreds of local Karen’s checking that nobody dares to heat their homes properly while the streetlights go out. Will they be happy that their schoolkids won’t be able to learn swimming because the pools are icy? Will they be happy when burglaries rise thanks to no street lighting? Oh yes they will, because it won’t affect them! There’s more:

“To set an example, President Macron has started wearing polo necks under his suits, while the prime minister Elisabeth Borne has been sporting a gilet. Rallying the troops, Macron declares that “if we all come together to stick to it, in the worst-case scenario we will get through the winter”. Beyond this, the objective is to cut the country’s energy consumption by 10 per cent over two years. How I yearn for such decisiveness here. Yet while Europe takes action, Britain drifts.” (link, paywalled)

Clearly, the energy crisis is an ‘Act of God’ hitting everywhere – just like covid! Disregard Ms Foges demonstrating her Remainer credentials – ‘do as they do in the EU’ – what she really wants is a rallying cry, accompanied with gilet-wearing, to make us feel good when being told that ‘we’re all in this together’. Every time I hear a politician say this I know it’s about us tightening our belts while they go on doing as they like.

Here’s the final quote – don’t throw your mugs at the wall, you never know if some nudger will grass you up for ‘violence’:

“We just need simple, factual advice on how to reduce energy, and requests for more responsibility from us all. For the modest price of £15 million we could cut demand, avoid blackouts and start to free Britain from the grip of energy imports. Unless she is ideologically opposed to doing anything sensible or popular, Truss must execute another U-turn, and approve the campaign.” (link, paywalled)

Never mind her call for another Truss U-Turn – look at the blatant inanity of her argument. She insinuates that the smartphone generation is too stupid to turn down a thermostat unless told to do so, while being blissfully unaware that the blackouts cannot be avoided, not because we’re in ‘the grip’ of energy imports but because of the facts of life on the energy market thanks to sanctions. 

Expect more ‘demands’ along those lines because Dominic Lawson in the DM is now also calling for government nannying, a.k.a. ‘nudges’ because ‘the Swedes are turning down their saunas’ (link). Given the huge number of home saunas here in the UK he has a point: Truss must U-turn because, according to the Westminster elite, we peasants are too stupid to turn our saunas down unless we’re told to. 

Nudges work – the covid years have shown us that they do. All I want to know is: for whom must we now go out and bang pans and lids? Wind ‘farmers’ and the National Grid?



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