London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Lockdown is a new way of life: Many in UK see little value in freedom & public life – and that is a big problem

Lockdown is a new way of life: Many in UK see little value in freedom & public life – and that is a big problem

The government’s use of scare tactics to convince people to comply with lockdown rules have worked too well, with many Britons now unwilling to go back to normal. And that is a symptom of a deep malaise affecting our society.
“I secretly pine for another lockdown,” claims a commentator for The Guardian. Of course, there is nothing secret about publishing a lengthy statement about the benefits of a lockdown lifestyle. On the contrary, this advocate of lockdown culture puts forward an eloquent case for turning his Stockholm Syndrome into a virtue.

Idealising the simpler life of living under lockdown, the Guardian’s commentator paints a picture of domestic bliss with the “three people I adore the most in the world.” He is worried that he will “no longer be able to watch a movie snuggled together beneath a blanket in the middle of a weekday, or dawdle over a long lunch around our table, or wander aimlessly through the woods behind our home for hours on end, with no commitments to rush home for.”

What a life! No wonder the article’s author praises the lockdown on the grounds that it “gave us permission to slow down, and to re-evaluate how we want to live when this is finally over.”

Judging by recent reports, it seems that hundreds of thousands of British people have drawn similar conclusions and, upon re-evaluating their lives, have concluded that the lockdown is just too good to leave.

It is evident that employees have ignored Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s call to return to city-centre offices. Despite government advice and the arrival of Freedom Day, workers have chosen to stay at home; according to figures from Remit Consulting, the proportion of staff returning to the workplace remained stagnant at 11.7% at the end of July.

Business analysts hope that the numbers returning to work after the summer holiday will pick up because it is simply not possible to run offices at the current low levels of occupancy.

The reluctance to return to the office is highlighted by figures from the ONS, which suggest that, last month, the number of UK adults who travelled to work at least one day a week dropped from 61 to 57 percent.

The influence of the lockdown lifestyle is particularly pervasive in the civil service. Up to three out of every four civil servants are still working from home and, judging by statements made by their union leaders, they are quite happy to stay put in their bedrooms.

Is it any surprise that the civil service is fast becoming detached from its supposed ethos of public duty? Try getting anything done by the civil service: it takes at least 10 weeks to get a new passport, there is a huge wait for a driving licence and you can wait up to six months for a tax rebate. Home working may be good for some but not for ordinary members of the public, who are now facing a long delay in getting their hands on vital documents.

So how do we account for the reluctance of so many people to leave their home and embrace public life? When it comes to the office, there is an obvious element of opportunism and pragmatism. It is, after all, summertime and many workers will understandably grasp at any excuse to avoid going to work. They may feel that they deserve a longer-than-usual holiday, especially if they receive financial remuneration for ‘working’ at home.

However, there are also darker forces at work. Many people have internalised the relentless scare stories that they have been subjected to. Alarmist accounts about Covid have framed this crisis as a threat to human existence. Understandably, many members of the public fear social contact and therefore routinely avoid public gatherings and indoor interaction with others.

Now we know that official scare tactics have worked only too well and the government understands that levels of compliance with lockdown rules have exceeded its expectations. Consequently, they face the problem of getting the people they’d scared away back to work.

Unfortunately, people’s understandable fears have also been reinforced and validated by public health and mental health professionals who continually warn about the psychological impact of returning to normal life.

The normalisation of a lockdown lifestyle is also encouraged by the media, which often presents the lockdown as an opportunity to reflect on what’s important about life.

The implication of praising the lockdown for providing an opportunity to re-evaluate life is that there is something unnatural and unhealthy about working at a set and communal place of work. This message has gained considerable traction and has served to provide cultural legitimation for turning the lockdown into a lifestyle.

The influence of lockdown culture is a symptom of a deep malaise affecting society. It indicates that a significant section of society sees little value in freedom and public life. That is a serious problem for all of us.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×