The virus has made us all decision takers; seldom can a decision to buy a bag of flour have involved the calculation of the risk of death.
The concern of public law is not so much what the decision is, but rather how it is made. When the stakes are high, as they are now, the scientific considerations esoteric, and the evidence uncertain, we need it to be obvious that the way government decisions are taken is at least of the minimum standard required by law. Lawful public decision making should be more like skilful chess than snakes and ladders.
A very senior judge once said to me that judging is a serious business, and so it is. In our present circumstances we need good judgement from our decision makers more than ever. Over the last decades the courts have established, through judicial review, the characteristics of a sound decision. The paradigm is of a rational and reasonable person
