THE reality of mandatory vaccine passports rumbles ever nearer. Although vaccine-peddler extraordinaire Nadhim Zahawi MP (co-founder of market research firm YouGov) promised a few months ago that they would not be introduced, by the end of September a ‘double-vax’ will be mandatory for nightclubs and other indoor venues.
It’s almost as if you can’t trust the word of a politician. Whatever next?
Throw this together with the push to jab children without the need for parental consent and you have the most mendacious combination of policies imaginable.
Historically, it is communist regimes which have sought to tear apart the bonds of the family, dividing children from their parents. The mother and father, knowing best for their offspring, are regarded by the Marxist moulders of society as an impediment to creating utopia. Conservatives are supposed to be the defenders of the family, it being the foundational building block upon which civil society is constructed.
Our nominally ‘conservative’ government, however, is happy to rush headlong down this alley of societal vandalism, for which they will surely pay dearly in time.
It is, instead, societies which have had their fill of Marxist mumbo-jumbo over the last century which have proved more resilient in the face of such arbitrary exercises of power.
Take, for example, Moscow. At the end of June, the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, announced that Muscovites would require a QR code to enter restaurants and cafes.
One could receive a valid QR code if one was vaccinated against Covid, had recently tested negative or had proof of antibodies. As such, it was far more generous than the vaccinated-or-nothing approach adopted by the British government, in a move which can only fuel suspicion as to their true motives.
Exactly three weeks after the rules were introduced, however, Mr Sobyanin announced that citizens of Russia’s capital would no longer need a vaccine passport to eat at their favourite restaurants.
The rapid collapse of the scheme came about due to diners’ refusal to frequent establishments that were enforcing the rules. They simply went to restaurants which ignored the requirements instead.
Within no time, the mayoral office was inundated with calls from business owners whose takings had fallen through the floor. In the absence of government support, such as existed throughout lockdown, they could not stand the losses.
In an attempt to save face, the mayor declared the situation in Moscow had improved so markedly (and conveniently) that the restrictions were no longer deemed necessary.
Given their history, the Russians have had more experience with dictatorial, unaccountable government. It has bred in them a healthy scepticism about the powers-that-be.
If we are to succeed in stopping the government from enacting unnecessary and divisive laws which are corrosive to civil society, all we need to do is say ‘no’.
That’s all it takes.
