Daily: “Democracy isn’t just about voting” – Politics in a Pandemic

The Bunker

Podmasters

News, Politics, Society & Culture, Government

4.6 • 984 Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2021

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

COVID may have suspended parliamentary debate, but important decisions were still being taken behind the scenes. So how did we do politics during the pandemic, and how can we do better? Ros Taylor talks to Aveek Bhattacharya, chief economist of the Social Market Foundation, about co-editing his new book, Political Philosophy in a Pandemic, “zombie governments,” and whether COVID shaming is ever acceptable. “Even if you think you know the COVID guidelines, you might not know the rules around a particular case.” “We have a zombie government, but we have had no option to vote it out.” “Democracy isn't just about voting. It's about experience and debating.” “The rise in tuition fees is a tax on younger people.” “The boom has only benefitted those who got on the property market in time.” “We normally think of children as the most vulnerable. But COVID has shown that that isn't always the case.” “We haven't seen economies behave like this before, so we've have to take calculated risks.” Presented by Ros Taylor. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers: Jelena Sofronijevic and Jacob Archbold. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:05.5	photography but I turn it into earning a living at 60. I enrolled on a day course.
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0:55.3	look after theirs with dental life. Pick up dental life in the pet food aisle. Hello and welcome to the bunker I'm Ros Taylor. One of the ironies of the pandemic is that while most political debate
1:14.1	was effectively suspended, decisions were being taken by politicians, doctors and ordinary people
1:19.6	that had huge philosophical implications. From the way things were debated you'd sometimes think it was just
1:24.4	pro-luckdown versus anti-lockdown in some sort of
1:26.8	libertarian communitarian face-off but it's far more difficult than that.
1:31.3	Who should get all the treatment available and who should
1:34.0	be allowed to die? Should you publicly shame someone breaking lockdown rules? Did we privilege
1:39.2	the nuclear family and treat people who live alone in a particularly unjust way.
1:43.0	These are questions we'd struggle with at any time,
1:46.0	but in the context of a pandemic,
	...

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