Resist

It won't have escaped your notice that our freedoms have been significantly curtailed over recent months, without much scrutiny from either Parliament or mainstream media. Whether or not you think this justified to manage Covid (I don't), it's worrying because what's taken away by governments is rarely given back without a fight. It's easy to think there's nothing we, the little people, can do about this, with the full range of government, civil service, opposition, lots of the media, the police and so on apparently on the same side. I've thought that for a while. But this week I've had more time for thought than usual, being forced to rest for periods as I let a broken rib and bruised spleen mend from a silly domestic accident (messing around with the dog on the stairs). And I've realised there are little things we all can and should do to resist the insidious creep of control over our lives.  They might not win us the war, but they might buy us some time while opposition forces gather for a counter-attack.

So, here goes, here's the list. I'm not going to provide a full explanation for each of them, or I'd be here forever, but the theme that runs through them is how to get the state and large corporations - including badly/poorly regulated private ones to play a smaller part in our lives.

In rapid fire mode, here are the Covid ones:

1. Don't download the govt's Track & Trace app
2. Don't use any shops/restaurants that insist on you having it
3. Don't agree to having a vaccine if one becomes available in the next 2 years - it won't have been tested properly
4. Don't snitch on your neighbours or anyone else; not only is it bad form, but it's probably preventing us from developing herd immunity

I hesitate to say don't use masks. I loathe the damn things, partly because I think the evidence indicates they're counter-productive from an infection point of view, and partly because I think they're dehumanising. However, if wearing one helps keep small, local shops and restaurants in business, so be it. 

Here's the broader list, in no order of logic or significance whatsoever:

1. Pay cash wherever you can
2. Don't have a smartmeter - apart from not being transferable between suppliers, they'll probably be used to turn off supplies in future years when there's not enough power being generated because of our ill-advised reliance on renewables
3. Don't give to Big Charity - by which I mean organisations that either or both pay their boss more than £100k p.a. or get more than 50% of their funding from government. Give to small, local charities instead
4. Don't visibly support the NHS - venerate its employees if you must, believe in free-at-the-point-of-delivery healthcare, but don't be so narrow-minded as to assume that lots of countries don't have better delivery mechanisms with much better average outcomes; they do, and our viewing of the NHS as some kind of shining beacon is utterly bizarre. Demand better
5. Avoid tax, legally - only by minimising our tax bills will we shine a light on how much money the government both takes off us, and squanders. Use your ISA allowances, write everything legitimate off against tax if you have your own business, substitute pension contributions for salary to pay less income tax, and so on. Read the money pages of newspapers to learn what to do
6. But do pay your taxes and do your returns on time - don't give HMRC or any other authority an excuse to delve into your affairs
7. Don't think ID cards are ok, or subscribe to the "if I've done nothing wrong, I've nothing to worry about" school of thought. "Papers please" will be the next step, to do the most day-to-day of things
8. Don't pay for a TV licence
9. Don't invest in pension funds that buy government debt - tough to achieve that one, but if a job's worth doing
10. Don't complain about "things the government should do something about", but then through your actions support their continuation. Examples - don't buy at Primark if you think the conditions the clothes are made in are wrong; don't complain how much footballers are paid and then take out a Sky Sports subscription; don't moan about the fuel price at motorway service stations and then fail to plan your journey well enough to mean you can't avoid using them
11. Don't buy extended warranties on anything, ever. Complain if things break
12. Don't use illegal drugs - the knock on effects in terms of crime and anti-social affect you and your friends. Your cheeky line of coke or harmless spliff is not victimless
13. Use the mechanisms central and local government have deigned to create in order to demand feedback and action, e.g. petitions, pothole filling 
14. Don't buy into the Green agenda unquestioningly - who doesn't want a nicer, cleaner planet? But when unlikely bed partners exist, large landowners and eco-Marxists in this case, you should ask why and how much it's costing you
15. Pick litter
16. Don't see university as an automatic goal for your kids - they may end up smarter and richer taking a different route
17. Try not to buy stuff made in China - before you press 'buy now' on that bargain from Amazon, see where it's made
18. Avoid unconscious bias training, and anything labelled 'diversity' or 'inclusion'. If you can't avoid it at work, at least don't take it seriously. If you understand the development of Marxist thought and strategy over the last century, you'll know these are the vehicles for the subtle undermining of the societal pillars that have served us well till now...
19. But do treat everyone, regardless of any traits of race, sexuality, or any other innate feature, as you would wish to be treated yourself.  Straying from the point a bit with this one, so back to it:
20. Buy local if you afford to....butchers, bakers, candlestick makers...
21. Clearly differentiate in your mind before every purchase between things you need and things you want
22. Don't support the police unquestioningly, or at least their leadership. When it comes to public order policing, they've clearly taken sides. We will remember
23. Apply for a shotgun licence - if enough of us do, they might begin to wonder why and get worried

There are probably others, and I'd be pleased to hear them. 

Finally, as if it needs saying, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't think there's some grand plan to undermine how we live. There's a multitude of explanations for why this is happening; weak politicians, careerist 'experts', bad risk assessment, wanting to seem virtuous, cowardice, money making scams. But as I said at the start, we can and should resist. Start with the list above.