Day: 2 June 2021

We're publishing a new postcard today on Lockdown Sceptics, our first in a while. This one is from Catherine Brennan in Toronto, which has been in lockdown in one form or another since last November.

We're publishing an original essay today on Lockdown Sceptics by Donald S. Siegel and Robert M. Sauer, two professors of social science, about what we can do to push back against "the public health police state".

by Donald S. Siegel and Robert M. Sauer Cardinal Mindszenty In 1970, Harvard economist Albert Hirschman published his classic tome, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. In this book, Hirschman theorises that some agents in an economic system may experience lapses from efficient or rational behaviour. If the system functions smoothly, forces exist that will rectify this inefficient activity: More specifically, private or public institutions that fail their customers or constituents provide their victims with three options. The first option is to vote with their feet and go elsewhere, which he called “exit,” in the spirit of Adam Smith's “invisible hand”. The second option is to ‘voice’ their dissent, by complaining, protesting, lobbying, or taking direct action. Exit is an economic response, while voice is, by nature, political and possibly confrontational. The third option is to do nothing and remain loyal to the firm or government institution. In a free market, voice can sometimes be quite effective. An example was intense customer opposition to Coca Cola in 1985, when it introduced a new formula for Coca-Cola, known as “New Coke”. The consumer outcry caused the company to bring back the old formula, now re-branded as “Classic Coke”. In a political context, voters who are dissatisfied with their party’s policies can vote for another party ...

Covid was recorded as the underlying cause of death in just over 60% of recent registered "Covid deaths". For the rest, the virus was not listed as a major cause.

Evidence suggests that care homes achieved a degree of focussed protection in the second wave. Perhaps if more attention had been paid to shielding in the first wave, Britain's overall death toll would be lower.

Government adviser Sir John Bell says we must "move on" with ending lockdown on June 21st, warning that, "if we scamper down a rabbit hole every time we see a new variant we are going to spend a long time huddled away".

The U.K.'s human rights watchdog admits that forcing care home staff to get vaccinated against Covid would be a "significant departure from current public health policy", but has endorsed the move anyway.

Almost a quarter of Britain's pubs and restaurants have yet to reopen since the partial easing of hospitality restrictions and 7.4% of the country's pre-lockdown total have already closed for good.

A summary of all the most interesting stories that have appeared about the virus in the past 24 hours – not just in Britain, but around the world.

In its third weekly vaccine surveillance report, PHE revises down its estimate of AZ efficacy to a lower bound of 65%. Are Government scientists becoming worried about the fitness of their "workhorse" vaccine?