People who protest against COVID restrictions on the basis that their rights are being trampled represent what is wrong with today’s liberal democracy. There is 100 per cent focus on rights and none on obligations. In reality, rights and obligations are two sides of the same coin. For society to function, each person has the obligation to give up part of their right to do whatever they please. If not, life for everyone in society would be “nasty, brutish, and short”, as the English philosopher Thomas Hobbs succinctly put it.

If the fundamental rights of the people are permanently disregarded, if a corrupt gang of politicians permanently lies to the people, then it is no wonder when the people protests.