The Costs of Taking the Rules Less Seriously

The supposed hypocrisy of a key decision-maker largely seeped into people's awareness because of the relentless focus on it for more than a week. Boris Johnson could and maybe should have sacked him, and the story would have faded away. But equally, if the story had been published, followed up and then dropped, or even held until the virus was no longer a significant threat, that 7% would have been closer to 0%. I think it's possible to imagine that happening 30 or 40 years ago,. Now, it is utterly unthinkable. The democratic spirit can be too zealously applied.