It’s March 1996 and the UK Government announces that mad cow disease has been linked to human cases. Within days beef consumption falls by half, public confidence is non-existent, and ministers begin meeting in chaotic quasi-cabinet groups sometimes twice a day.

In this episode we discuss:

How to brief best in the chaos of things changing by the hour
Whether policy should change when the risk hasn't changed, but risk perception has.
The policy process where decisions are not weighed but whittled down by what’s acceptable to industry and public
Why what seemed like an extreme policy response on Monday suddenly felt inadequate by Thursday
Whether scenario planning is useful when public sentiment in unpredictable and irrational
Why in a crisis it is better to stop complaining about constantly changing decisions and simply focus on being useful
How the EU's hardline and indefinite export ban politically wedged the UK
The difficulty of restoring public confidence when there is no clear wrongdoing to find and fix, and the crisis is largely the product of uncertainty
The realities of how much the contemporary populace can realistically sustain engagement with multiple complex risks at once

New Species of Trouble by Kai Erikson
https://www.amazon.com.au/New-Species-Trouble-Experience-Disasters/dp/0393313190

Any Ordinary Day - Leigh Sales
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/any-ordinary-day-9781760893637

This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land, and we recognise Kaurna elders past and present. Always was, always will be.

Now for some appropriately bureaucratic disclaimers....

While we have tried to be as thorough in our research as busy full time jobs and lives allow, we definitely don’t guarantee that we’ve got all the details right.

Please feel free to email us corrections, episode suggestions, or anything else, at thewestminstertraditionpod@gmail.com.

Thanks to PanPot audio for our intro and outro music.

'Til next time!

Mad Cow Disease part 3 - too much on Monday, too little on Thursday