Day: 27 March 2021

Britain recorded just 58 deaths today, the lowest number for a Saturday in six months and a 40% drop compared to last Saturday.

In a new essay for Lockdown Sceptics, philosopher lecturer Sinéad Murphy explains how the work of the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer can throw on the Government's handling of the pandemic over the last 12 months.

by Sinéad Murphy Hans-Georg Gadamer One year later, and the Coronavirus Act that has enabled much of the UK Government’s lockdown has just been renewed for another six months. Debate in the lead-up to its renewal has included admissions from the Prime Minister of his failure last year to introduce measures early enough and ‘hard’ enough, submissions from Tory opponents of the Act showing that cases of COVID-19 are now so low as to make continued measures unnecessary, and ongoing concern by the bravest Tory of them all, Charles Walker, about the health of the population when measures continue in defiance of falling cases. All of these aspects of the debate are important. But it is well past time for scientific analyses and disagreements in respect of measures, cases and health to be supplemented, perhaps even undercut, by a philosophical perspective. These concepts – measure, case, health – have this year been our bread and butter. We have bandied them endlessly, sometimes desperately. But are we fully aware of what they mean? In a short essay from 1990, entitled "Philosophy and Practical Medicine", the German philosopher, Hans-Georg Gadamer, provides us with just what we need: a philosophical account of the concepts of measure, case, and health, which reveals just how truncated has been the understanding and application of them during ...

Spain is set to trail cutting its working week to four days in an attempt to prevent increases in Covid infections – a further indication that work after the pandemic is likely to be very different from that before.

Two more places show that the "more contagious and deadly" Kent variant fails to live up to the hype: Texas and Florida. Both have no restrictions and a high prevalence of Kent Covid, but no surge.

The broadcast media is wrong to focus only on holidays abroad when considering travel restrictions, Lord David Blunkett says. Just as important is the impact on trade.

Equestrian businesses have been dealt a blow by the Government which will not permit indoor riding arenas from opening on March 29th, despite previously agreeing that well-ventilated venues could open to the public.

The virus raged on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in February 2020, but only 17% of passengers tested positive, suggesting high levels of pre-existing immunity. Why was that lesson ignored by the modellers?

A complaint against the BBC for broadcasting an interview with a matron at King's College London Hospital claiming she had a "whole ward" of children with Covid has been upheld. This is vindication for Lockdown Sceptics.

Britain's fertility rate has fallen to historically low levels due to the financial instability caused by job losses and the postponement of weddings during a year of lockdown, creating fears of a Covid "baby bust".