Tag: Covid-19
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Yossi Nehushtan and Megan Davidson: The UK 14-Day Quarantine Policy: Is Public Opinion a Relevant Consideration?
According to the government quarantine policy, that came into force on 8 June, nearly all international arrivals at UK ports must quarantine for 14 days. Elsewhere we argued that the quarantine policy is irrational, unreasonable, disproportionate and therefore illegal. Here we argue that the policy was introduced mainly because of public opinion – and that…
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Simon Halliday, Jed Meers, and Joe Tomlinson: Public Attitudes on Compliance with COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions (Part 2)
In March 2020, the government introduced a set of restrictions to ‘lockdown’ the UK in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the central purpose of which is to protect public health by both containing the rate of infection and protecting the NHS’ capacity to treat a potential influx of COVID-19 patients. As part of our ongoing…
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Christopher McCrudden: Democracy, protests, and Covid-19: the challenge of (and for) human rights
Two excellent databases enable us to track the effect of Covid-19 on political protests and demonstrations. Both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project tell a similar story: that the effect of the virus has been mixed. Some protest movements that were active before the pandemic are…
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Yossi Nehushtan: The 14-Day Quarantine Policy is Illegal
Harsh criticism, mainly from politicians and the travel industry has been expressed regarding the new government policy, according to which, and from 8 June, nearly all international arrivals at UK ports must quarantine for 14 days. It is surprising that very little has been said about the clear illegality of this policy, despite a very…
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Nyasha Weinberg and Claudia Pagliari: Covid-19 reveals the need to review the transparency and independence of scientific advice
The tragedy of Covid-19 demonstrates the profound, life-saving, importance of good advice. It is essential that the governance system enables the best possible provision of scientific advice, a mechanism for correcting sub-optimal advice, and clarity around the difference between scientific advice and political decision making. Quality scientific advice must be grounded in the fundamentals of…
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Jake Hinks: The Coronavirus Act 2020: An Example of ‘Excessive Executive Dominance’
In this post, I consider executive dominance, firstly, outlining ‘natural’ executive dominance, before differentiating this from ‘excessive’ executive dominance. I use the Coronavirus Act 2020 to demonstrate the latter, exploring some of the factors that amount to excessive executive dominance. I conclude by reflecting on the consequences of my novel concept ‘excessive executive dominance’. Natural…
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Mike Gordon: Dominic Cummings and the Accountability of Special Advisers
It is far from new for the conduct of Dominic Cummings to be a matter of political controversy. The man who is Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s current chief adviser was the Campaign Director of Vote Leave during the 2016 Brexit referendum, an organisation which was subsequently investigated by the Electoral Commission and fined for breaking…
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Ronan Cormacain: Instinct or rules: making moral decisions in the Cummings scandal.
How should individuals conduct themselves during a public health emergency, and more specifically how much reliance should we have on “instinct” and “rules”? Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief adviser, has been accused of breaking the social distancing rules. The allegations revolve around travelling from London to Durham to isolate himself and his family, as…
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Ronan Cormacain: Can I go to the park please Dad? Everyday lessons in legal certainty in the English Coronavirus Regulations
This post analyses the changes made on 13 May 2020 to the coronavirus social distancing regulations for England. The criterion for analysis is the basic Rule of Law requirement of legal certainty. Certainty allows us to plan our actions, lets the police know what it is they should be enforcing, and most importantly stops us…
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Tom Hickman: A very English lockdown relaxation
Yesterday witnessed a very English relaxation of the Coronavirus lockdown. I say that not because the relaxation only occurred in England (although it did only occur in England) but because of the nature of the changes themselves. Picnics, tennis, golf, garden centres, country outings in the family car and house buying are all back on.…