Emergency State: How We Lost Our Freedoms in the Pandemic and Why it Matters

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Reviewing in The Critic, Yuan Yi Zhu describes Wagner's lack of comment on the merits as "narrow proceduralism", accusing Wagner of trying to criticise lockdown regulation procedurally while avoiding the public criticism of being seen to criticise the policy. It illustrates how easily our freedoms were taken from us by the rulings of a small but powerful group and how important it was that professionals like Adam were there to challenge some of these decisions.

Emergency State begins by offering a quick theory of the nature of government and its laws in a time of crisis, highlighting the way power is concentrated and freedoms curtailed to tackle them.Wagner admits that restrictions were more, not less, rigorously enforced in some other European countries with written constitutions. It was already being assailed, particularly from the left, where it is clear Wagner’s sympathies lie, for not having imposed stringent restrictions even sooner. But sex was not being targeted any more than meals or wine were—there was no criminal offence of having sex, or criminal law penalisation of sex, as he implies even if he doesn’t seriously mean to. My only slight criticism I would have of this excellent book is that I would like to have seen more comparative work about the countries that did manage a more accountable approach.

Wagner then gives a short account of the legal, political, and historical underpinnings that enabled the creation of the Covid-19 ‘Emergency State’, from the restrictions of the Second World War to the power of the Public Health Act 1984 to detain HIV and AIDS patients, and on to the precedents established by this century's SARS, Ebola and swine flu outbreaks. We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from. Northern Ireland was mentioned once, Scotland a few times although I don't think Wales was even mentioned once throughout.For me, during the thick of the pandemic, a planned wedding was delayed and then rapidly slimmed down. Had ministers needed to explain their laws in parliament, for example, they might have been clearer and more accurate in their public pronouncements. Either way, you will come away from this book horrified at the government's emergency powers and believing in reform for future emergencies. However, just because Emergency State is imperfect, does not mean it is not important; more developed books on the civil liberties implications of lockdown will be written, but for the time being Wagner's is a first draft I hope every politician in the UK reads.

This is ultimately a question that goes beyond the legal and institutional metrics this book approaches it with. Robert Low of The Jewish Chronicle says that it is hard to disagree with the books conclusions that the UK came as close to a police state as in living memory. Sumption felt Wagner was qualified to do so and that human rights lawyers had a role in protecting basic freedoms. The emergency was supposed to be short but lasted for 763 days, allowing ministers to bring in, by decree over 100 new laws restricting freedoms more than any in history - laws that were almost never debated, changed at a whim and increasingly confused the public.He’s absolutely right to criticise the Johnson government’s tendency to authoritarianism and arbitrariness, and its contempt for Parliament and law. It has been reckoned that for every single Jew who escaped from Gerrmany, ten people were involved - hiding, providing falst documents, food, transport etc. This resulted in unclear and frequently changing regulations, which were frequently misunderstood by the public and by the police, resulting in many wrongful prosecutions, and which were at odds with human rights law. Wagner often approaches such, but ultimately shies away from them, to reassert that he is simply offering a legal walkthrough.