Can we trust the Government ever again? Lockdown Sceptics regular Jonny Peppiatt asks whether the people's damaged relationship with the political class can ever be restored, given what's happened over the past 12 months.
Spiralling costs and debt, lockdown being lifted agonisingly slowly – yet plummeting cases and deaths, hospitals back to autumn levels, and a world-beating vaccine programme. What is the Government playing at?
by Dr. Oliver Robinson Finland has not implemented a lockdown at any point during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, compared with its neighbour Sweden, which has been in the constant media spotlight for its lack of lockdowns, Finland’s avoidance of them has gone largely unacknowledged. The measures that Finland has imposed have not come close to the OECD definition of a lockdown (i.e., stay at home order plus school closures of non-essential business/venue closures). Finland has never implemented a stay-at-home order, or a limit on household mixing or any restriction on travel within the country, just non-binding guidance. So, what interventions did the Finnish Government make? From March to May 2020, schools were closed, public meetings were limited to 10 people, borders were shut and citizens returning from abroad were put into quarantine. Guidance was given to people with symptoms to stay at home, and over-70s were requested to avoid social contact unless essential (this last measure is notably similar to the Great Barrington Declaration’s proposed approach of ‘focused protection’). On June 1st, the number of people allowed to meet was increased to 50 and public indoor places were opened gradually. Since then, various selective international travel restrictions have been imposed. According to the Blavatnik School of Government’s COVID-19 Response Tracker, Finland’s response to COVID-19 was marginally stricter than Sweden from ...
by Jonny Peppiatt Health Secretary Matt Hancock This essay aims to highlight and address a single issue, and so, for that purpose, let us assume that the Government’s response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus has not set a precedent of how to deal with pandemics that sees the same response occurring every five to 10 years when new viruses emerge with similar pathogen profiles. Let us assume that our economy bounces back in a drastic way. Let us assume that our personal health data isn’t tracked in a truly unnecessary way. And let us assume everything else that would need to be assumed in order for our old normal to be returned to us unfettered. Further, let us assume that the roadmap out of this ludicrous insanity can be trusted, that our Prime Minister can be trusted when he says that this is the last lockdown, and that when we get to June 21st, if not before, we really are entirely done with every tangible aspect of this for good. Even with these SAGE-level assumptions, we are left with one very significant issue that will keep us distinctly separated from the old normal: trust – in all its guises; and that is what I plan to discuss here. We shall meander down two hypothetical paths in this essay: the first looks at ...
A GP from Suffolk has written on the impact of the Government's lockdowns on women's mental health. The fear of catching Covid has prevented many women from seeking medical help for potentially serious issues.
The number of secondary school pupils able to return to the classroom will be limited by the Government's insistence that a positive rapid Covid test done in schools cannot be overruled by tests processed by labs.
Arrests have been made, and fines handed out, following the gathering of Rangers fans celebrating their Scottish Premiership victory. Nicola Sturgeon has branded the scenes “infuriating and disgraceful”.
The debate on vaccine hesitancy has focussed on ethnicity, but new ONS findings suggest variation by age is more significant. Someone aged 16 to 29 is 17 times more likely to be hesitant than someone aged 80 or over.
We've updated the website for Lockdown Sceptics. Henceforth, it will be a rolling news blog, but people who want to see a summary of all the Covid news in the last 24 hours still can – just click on "Today's Update".
Parents Desperate for Schools to Reopen; Teaching Unions Desperate to Close Them Again from Bracknell Forest Council Children around the country this morning will be returning to the classroom – although most secondary school pupils won't go back until later in the week – and for many it'll be the first time they've seen it since the end of last year. According to a survey by the Institute of Fiscal studies, parents are strongly in favour of children going back to school. Here are the key findings: Most parents support the return to school on March 8th. Nine in ten parents say they would send their child back on Monday even if the return were not compulsory. That compares with fewer than two-thirds of families during the staggered return to school last summer. Encouragingly, the differences between better-off and more disadvantaged families have also grown smaller – though gaps remain at secondary school.Among parents who are still reluctant to return to in-person schooling, health concerns continue to be the most important reason. Nearly half of these parents say that the COVID-19 case rate is the key factor in whether they support a return to school. However, around 40% of reluctant parents cite factors that are directly under the control of policymakers (precautions taken at school such as lateral testing or mask-wearing, and progress in vaccinations). Overall, ...
