Sir Francis Walsingham, England’s first spymaster, takes us back to a time when it was understood how power…

Sir Francis Walsingham, England’s first spymaster, takes us back to a time when it was understood how power and influence works. There was no tosh then about needing to route information or education through a fictitious ‘people’, to get collective outcomes. /1 https://t.co/oTGwqQ5eW4

The Elizabethans understood what all of the ancient and even semi-modern world understood. That power and authority comes from status, from the tiniest handful of high-status individuals. Societies are networked. ‘Power’ is the hubs in these networks. /2

Walsingham’s often brutal but targeted executions of enemies of the Crown were fundamental to Elizabethan England surviving. Nobody tried to launch education or awareness campaigns, under the delusion that it’s ultimately ‘the people’ who steer the car. They don’t. /3

No group of people of any size, from the tiniest committee to a full nation State or international organisation, operates as some sort of group mind. Groups are always led, by the tiniest number within them. Usually up to about 5% of the membership. /4

Also why I think we have Covid strategy wrong, not just in the public health sense but in the way those who want to see action think about it. Covid has the same networked structure as human society, because it’s *spread by humans*. It has hubs, which are what sustains it. /5

Those hubs are mostly places like schools, or any large enclosed crowds with a mixture of people. All easily identified and targeted, with very precise, ‘surgical’ intervention. But instead we all wallow in the apocalyptic ‘Covid is everywhere, all the time’ framing. /6

A framing invented by particular influence hubs, who want to destroy public health (and public everything). The well-meaning who agitate for us all to mask up and rise up are whistling into the wind. Groups don’t work that way. /7

Identify the anti-public health hubs, particularly online and on social media, and shut them down. Not actually a terribly difficult task. There won’t be many, and they’re easily traced because social interactions are made visible by social media. /8

Don’t waste time trying to ‘educate’ millions of members of the public to do public health. Public health was never designed as something the public did. Don’t wail about how stupid everybody is. Be a Walsingham, target the hubs. Forensic shut downs. /9

There isn’t a modern public issue that doesn’t follow the same social networked logic. Trumpism is almost entirely a creation of social media platforms and their networking structure. Again the ‘influencers’ are the tiniest minority. Quite easy to identify and shut down. /10

Twitter did it to Trump himself. And what did he do? He immediately set up another social media platform. He was telling us the source of his power. Social media platforms are like fossil fuel interests. Acting with arrogant and ignoring disdain for nations’ wellbeing. /11

Australia is one of the few nations to take them on. The influencers scream freedumb murder. Shut them down, send them thoughts and prayers. They’re conning us. /12

Renewables another obvious case. Furious rhetoric from influencers has led to the perception we need more ‘community consultation’ before rolling out renewables. We did that, it was called an election. The anti-renewables crowd were pulverised. /13

We don’t need to bog it all down now in endless waffle-fests of consultation. The anti-renewables crowd know they can poison that well every day of the week. We just need to forensically shut down the anti-renewables hubs. Many set up by opposing political parties. /14

As always, they will be very small in number, representing tiny numbers of people. Time to call out the con, and act. /end