Mr Peter Gordon – Written Evidence (LBC0087) 

My name is Peter Gordon and I live in Hull, East Yorkshire. I want to submit my evidence to this committee for the following reasons.

• I was shocked and appalled by the shear speed that my and the rest of this country’s civil liberties were taken away and by the fact there was no thorough scrutiny or resistance to it by members of parliament.
• That this government has enacted subsequent laws on a whim that have further restricted freedoms (mask wearing for example) without enough evidence and again, a lack of scrutiny by members of parliament and the House of Lords.
• The economic impacts of the lockdown will have repercussions for decades on all of us but sadly, they will affect the poorest and most vulnerable disproportionally.

I would like to make the committee aware that I had two uncles who fought in the second world war to defend us from the tyranny and evil of totalitarian regimes. My Uncle Alfred fought against Franco’s fascists in Spain in the 1930’s, he saw what was coming in Europe. He went on to fight in the war in the British Army, from the deserts of North Africa through the bloody battles in Italy and eventually on to the defeat of Germany. He was wounded several times but each time returned to battle. Despite all this my Uncle Alf was the first person to speak about the futilities of war. My Uncle George never wanted to go to war, but he did so because he wanted to fight the evil of fascism that had descended on mainland Europe. Uncle George never came back, he was killed in Italy.

My uncle Alf passed away a long time ago when I was just a teenager but if he were alive today in this crisis, I’m pretty sure he would say that we as a public are a bunch of babies and the totalitarianism, he fought against is now just around the corner in this country.

In my opinion there are no positives to be taken from this pandemic, I list only my concerns for the future. It is, unfortunately, a view of dystopia.

• Facemasks in public places; despite any solid evidence for their efficacy can we ever stop wearing them? Even if the covid 19 virus disappears there are countless other diseases and viruses much more deadly than covid 19. Given this how can we ever stop wearing them? The precedent has been set.
• The continuing use of lockdowns to force through legislation on the pretext of threats to society. I don’t see any going back once this has been allowed to start.
• No rights to protest. Legislation is now in place to prevent gathering of people to protest and in addition people have been muzzled.
• Continued rollout of mass surveillance.
• Social credit system – behave or you will get no access to the internet and/or you will be cut off from your funds.
• Government controlled media – alternative opinions will not get a platform.
• Mandatory vaccinations and vaccination passports – Those that resist will be social pariahs and treated as modern day lepers shipped off to internment camps.
• The NHS will be scapegoated for its lack of preparedness or handling of the covid 19 crisis leading to its privatisation.

What I hope for

• That these emergency powers are repealed immediately, and sensible measures are implemented to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
• That we have plans for the short term, medium term and long term to rebuild our economy. Whist we rebuild our economy there must be proper means to support all of the people impacted by the financial consequences of the covid crisis.

• That legislation is passed and enshrined in a constitution so that never again will a government be able to implement such draconian laws that so severely impacts peoples lives and most importantly their freedoms.
• That there is an elected upper house of representatives that will provide proper oversight and scrutiny to safeguard the public against any government that seeks to curtail their civil liberties.

12 August 2020