Month: April 2020

Has the Swedish Government Got it Right?

For lockdown sceptics, Sweden is exhibit A in the case for the prosecution. Unlike nearly every other Western government, and not a few governments in the developing world, Sweden has not locked down its citizens. Instead, it is following the mitigation strategy the UK Government was pursuing before it was frightened into changing course by Imperial College's March 16th paper. Restaurants, bars and schools remain open (although schools for over-16 year-olds have closed) and gatherings of up to 50 people are still permitted. Over Easter, Sweden's ski resorts in the North of the country remained open. And to date, Sweden's death toll for the year has remained within the normal range. But there is growing dissent over this policy within Sweden. According to a report in the Guardian on March 30th: A petition signed by more than 2,000 doctors, scientists, and professors last week – including the chairman of the Nobel Foundation, Prof Carl-Henrik Heldin – called on the Government to introduce more stringent containment measures. “We’re not testing enough, we’re not tracking, we’re not isolating enough – we have let the virus loose,” said Prof Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér, a virus immunology researcher at the Karolinska Institute. “They are leading us to catastrophe.” Another reason for not setting too much store by the laissez-faire approach of the Swedish Government is that ...

What is the Exit Strategy?

Further Reading 'This is how to end lockdown and bring the economy back to life' by Gerard Lyons, The Telegraph, April 4th 2020 'We cannot stay in this coronavirus lockdown limbo until a vaccine is found' by Nick Boles, The Sunday Times, April 5th 2020 'Allow young people out of lockdown early to get country moving, say business experts' by Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph, April 7th 2020 'When and how will Germany's lockdown measures end?' by Rachel Loxton, The Local, April 7th 2020 'We cannot leave our coronavirus exit strategy to the experts' by Andrew Lilico, The Telegraph, April 9th 2020 'Has Boris's guru found the key to getting economy out of lockdown! Economist Gerard Lyons to hand Ministers plan to get shops open in weeks' by Helen Cahill, Mail on Sunday, April 11th 2020 'NHS phone app holds key to lifting UK’s coronavirus lockdown' by Tim Shipman and Nick Rufford, Sunday Times, April 12th 2020 'The case for ending the football coronavirus ban' by David Paton, The Spectator, April 12th 2020 'The lockdown is NOT a way of beating this virus' by Doctor Malcolm Kendrick, drmalcolmkendrick.org, April 12th 2020 'Spain loosens coronavirus lockdown, death toll passes 17,000 but pace slows' by Jose Elías Rodríguez, Nathan Allen, Reuters, April 13th 2020 'Could coronavirus crisis be over in 2 weeks?' by ...

Has the Government Granted Itself Too Many Draconian New Powers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMygjm7LF08&feature=emb_logo Steve Baker's emotional defence of liberty Further Reading 'Is shutting down Britain – with unprecedented curbs on ancient liberties – REALLY the best answer?' by Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday, March 21st 2020 'Are the government's lockdown measures proportionate and lawful?' by Francis Hoar, The Telegraph, March 29th 2020 'Parliament must return to defend our liberties' by David Green, The Spectator, April 3rd 2020 'Outdoor exercise could be banned if Britons continue to flout social distancing rules' by Amy Jones and Christopher Hope, The Telegraph, April 6th 2020 'A disproportionate interference: the Coronavirus Regulations and the ECHR' by Francis Hoar, UK Human Rights Blog, April 21st 2020 Further Listening 'Peter Hitchens: Liberty in the age of COVID-19', Podcast with James Delingpole, Ricochet, March 26th 2020

How Culpable are the Chinese Authorities for the Global Pandemic?

Cartoon by Niels Bo Bojesen, Jyllands-Posten Research carried out by a team at Southampton University found that if the Chinese authorities had introduced a range of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) – such as early detection, case isolation and travel restrictions – three weeks earlier than it did, cases would have been reduced by 95%. That would have meant listening to the doctors like Dr. Li Wenliang who first raised the alarm in December, not arresting them and forcing them to confess to "spreading rumours" and "making untrue comments". It's not as if the Chinese authorities weren't aware of the dangers posed by coronavirus. As Niall Ferguson pointed out in the Boston Globe, once it become clear that it was spreading from Wuhan to the rest of Hubei province, China restricted air travel from Hubei to other parts of China on January 23rd but not from Hubei to the rest of the world. As Andrew Sullivan wrote, "It's as if the Chinese Community Party leaders said to themselves, 'Well, we're going under, so we might as well bring the rest of the world down with us.'" Further Reading https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152?s=20 'WHO Says China Actions Blunted Virus Spread, Leading to Drop', Bloomberg News, February 24th 2020 'How It All Started: China’s Early Coronavirus Missteps' by Jeremy Page, Wenxin Fan and Natasha Khan, The Wall ...

Should We Reconsider Herd Immunity?

No product launch in history was botched as badly as herd immunity. Introduced to the public on Friday March 13th in Sir Patrick Vallance’s media interviews, it enjoyed a short life before being pronounced dead and buried by the Sunday morning news shows.  First impressions last, and for most people hearing of the concept for the first time, its reputation was irrevocably tarnished.  But its portrayal as an irresponsible, heartless policy to allow the disease to rampage indiscriminately through the country could not be more inaccurate.   Herd immunity has kept the human species alive for two million years. In the absence of a vaccine, herds (or populations, if you prefer) do not get wiped out by new viruses. Natural barriers are formed within the herd that contain and deprive the virus of space to expand.   Herd immunity is not a policy choice, in that it can't be rejected and put back on the shelf. It will happen eventually, regardless of the interventions we make. It is a human conceit that we can control natural processes. Instead, rather like a martial art, the question is how to channel herd immunity to counter the virus.  As Dr David L Katz argued in his New York Times article 'Is our fight against coronavirus worse than the disease', the specific profile of COVID-19 lends itself to a herd immunity approach. The ...

Are Sceptical Voices Being Suppressed?

Further Reading 'Dissent in a time of Covid' by Brendan O'Neill, Spiked, March 23rd 2020 'We Need the Habits of a Free Mind to Think Through This Crisis – Together' by Pamela Paresky, Arc Digital, March 28th 2020 'I was "cancelled" for criticising the lockdown – but now more than ever we must hold the government to account' by Toby Young, The Telegraph, April 3rd 2020 'Coronavirus: Ofcom formally probes David Icke TV interview', BBC News, April 9th 2020 'Confessions of a COVID-19 truther' by Freddy Gray, The Spectator, April 11th 2020 'Coronavirus lockdown: German lawyer detained for opposition' by Alex Thomson, UKColumn, April 14th 2020 'The corona conspiracies are unhinged – but is denouncing people all that helpful?' by Oliver Wiseman, CapX, April 15th 2020 'Daniel Hannan: The abuse, outrage and viciousness is hurled overwhelmingly at those of us who back ending the lockdown' by Daniel Hannan, ConservativeHome, April 15th 2020 'I have herd immunity' by Lionel Shriver, The Spectator, April 18th 2020 'Covid19: criminalising & pathologising dissent' by Catte Black, off-guardian.org, April 16th 2020 'Letter to Ofcom Following its Decision to Sanction ITV and London Live', Free Speech Union, April 24th 2020 'Why Did YouTube Remove The Doctors’ Briefing?' by Rod Dreher, The American Conservative, April 26th 2020 'Lockdown Critics May Have Some Valid Points' by Joe Nocera, ...

How many Non-COVID Patients are Being Neglected?

There is mounting evidence that people who've been patiently waiting their turn for hospital appointments have had those appointments postponed indefinitely, thereby jeopardising their health. Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, told the Sunday Times on April 5th that some cancers will become "inoperable" if diagnosis or treatment are delayed by the pandemic. "We know that if you operate in most early stage cancers, there is a high chance of a cure," he said. "If we wait tooling before we operate the disease may spread beyond the primary site rendering cures less likely. Delays to surgery are of huge concern for many cancer charities." He added: "If the coronavirus outbreak continues to press resources for months – and it could easily press resources for three to four months – that's a worrying delay to the critical interventions required to diagnose and intervene in early stage cancers. "That risks lowering the rate of survival and that is what we are so worried about at Cancer Research UK." Subsequent stories have appeared claiming the Government has estimated the number of non-COVID-19 patients who'll die as a result of hospitals prioritising COVID-19 patients is 150,000. This isn't necessarily an argument for ending the lockdown since it's possible that would result in the NHS becoming overwhelmed, with even less capacity for treating ...

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