Military Technology 06/2020

MT 6/2020 · 3 to travel, explaining that he has behaved “legally and responsibly.” And nobody believes it. Durhamgate (you saw it here first!) may yet become a point of catastrophic failure for Boris Johnson’s government. It may have short-term Parliamentary consequences and will certainly provide fuel for extended partisan campaigns in the media on both sides of the argument. That much is uncertain – though probable. What is far more serious, however, is that which is certain… Trust is dead. Or, if it has not finally expired, it is certainly on life support. Trust in government, that is – but also trust in our fellow citizens. There is a sense of impending doom abroad on our streets, inspired in part by witnessing the sauve qui peut attitude seen so many times since the initial panic deriving from an imminent and unexpected assault against which there was no known defence: hordes of individuals hoarding household supplies, knee-jerk hostile reactions to seemingly sensible suggestions for better behaviour, openly hostile questioning of official reactions, measures and decision-making processes. If this continues, then we enter a zero-sum game or, at least, a period of zero-sum thinking in which there are no winners. If we continue to see issues against a background of ‘us and them’ – a state of existence in which the people at large have the right or even the duty to cavil, to protest, to resist the attempts of government to resolve the challenges and difficulties, even if some of those attempts are ill-informed or ill-advised – then we risk descending towards anarchy in a vicious spiral. Far better – and far more productive – to reassess the way in which we reach the decisions that affect us all, to support better mechanisms of support and communication and to indulge in a ‘whole of nation’ effort to do better. Trust has to be earned – that much is certain. Previously held so-called certainties have to be questioned, re-assessed and modified. But hence- forth it should no longer be acceptable merely to protest without suggesting a viable remedy. Partisan politics will remain with us – that is an inevitability Eight weeks and counting, at the time of writing – and the world seems no less complex, no less fractured and infinitely less certain than it did when we went into lockdown in late March. Commenting in this column at intervals of a month means that events and circumstances conflate to generate broader-brush outcomes: commenting on individual daily events, incremental statistics or ephemeral political posturing is neither possible for this magazine, nor germane to its raison d’être. But that very reason for being – the fundamental objectives of why this magazine exists to serve the defence and security communities – may be changing. That will not necessarily come as a surprise to readers. It may, however, have an effect on them as well as on this organ’s parent company. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed fracture lines in the body politic, weaknesses in social struc- tures, immaturity in public expecta- tions and fundamentally flawed thinking. Certainties of just two months ago have been swept away by the attitudes, aspirations and actions of individuals of whom we have the right to expect better. Established norms and expecta- tions of predictable behaviour have disappeared beneath tidal waves of personal insecurity, arrogance or self-denial. Who could have expected the governments of nations as diverse as the United States and Belarus, for example, to demonstrate the degree of similarity they have in their respec- tive leaders’ apparent treatment of the pandemic as a relatively unimportant passing event that would have little lasting effect – at least in the early days? In Britain, political stability is teetering at the time of writing. The government’s chief spin-doctor – an unelected maverick consultant and chief architect of the campaign that swung the 2017 referendum in favour of Brexit – a man who prides himself on his ability to know what the ‘man in the street’ is thinking – appears to have made a classic error of judgement. Accused of breaking the rules he himself had helped create on social distancing and remaining at home, his back is against the wall – to the extent that he has just given the first public television interview in three years in an attempt to justify and legitimise his behaviour. The Prime Minister has backed him: ministers have come out in support of his decision Zero-Sum Thinking Editorial prompted by the arrogance of the human condition. But politicians need to recognise that the moment to provide temperate, well-considered leadership – the time to start rebuilding trust – the time to start changing the way we shape our society – is now. This is the point from which we can move upwards, from which we can implement lessons learned and from which we can aspire to better things. Our industry has been as affected by the changes and uncertainties in commercial behaviours as any other. On the whole, it has adapted well, adopting alternative practices and methods of communication, showing flexibility and innovation in addressing the challenges and – above all – showing itself willing and resourceful in developing countermeasures for the virus or assistance to the wider medical efforts. Fracture lines and societal stresses notwithstanding, the community has shown a degree of mature, rational thinking that supports the hope we may start a change in the way we operate – and bodes well for a more seri- ous appreciation of the need for comprehensive preparedness – for defence against the unexpected. Better communications will be needed at all levels, for better decision-making comes from better intelligence. There is hope. And with that hope comes ambition – the human condition. Which is what will neatly sidestep the trap of zero-sum thinking. Perhaps. Tim Mahon Managing Editor