In a post written back in August, I said the following: “To my knowledge, no Western government has published a cost-benefit analysis of lockdown (presumably due to what it might show).”
While this may have been technically correct – since I said “published” – it appears that at least one Western country did carry out a cost-benefit analysis (though that analysis was never published).
According to Dutch newspaper Het Parool, documents obtained via freedom of information request show that the Ministry of Economic Affairs carried out a cost-benefit analysis in March/April of 2020. (Hat tip to Michael Senger for bringing the Dutch newspaper article to my attention.)
The FOI request was apparently made by a 66 year old lockdown sceptic by the name of Jan van der Zanden, who just assumed the Ministry of Economic Affairs would have tried to gauge the costs and benefits.
What did the Ministry conclude? In short, that the costs of lockdown far outweighed the benefits.
They assumed that one year of lockdown would prevent the loss of about 100,000 QALYs (quality-adjusted life years). And they attached a value of €80,000 to each QALY, which is the typical upper limit applied in analyses of this kind. Hence the expected benefits of lockdown were €8 billion.
As to costs, they projected an economic contraction of €40 billion, a loss of €25 billion due to the cessation of regular healthcare, plus a loss of €5 billion due to the “psychological consequences” of lockdown. Total expected costs were therefore €70 billion – almost nine times greater than the benefits.
The authors concluded that the “costs are disproportionately high”. They also said that “a one sided focus on mortality should be avoided” and the “health of the elderly should not be given an indisputable priority”.
The authors even proposed an alternative to lockdown, which involved expanding care and testing capacity to “get society going again”. Widespread testing would mean that infectious people could be isolated “in a targeted manner” and those who had “built up immunity” could return to work.
In the end, of course, the analysis by the Ministry of Economic Affairs was ignored. To date, the Dutch have endured 144 days of curfews and stay-at-home orders, along with assorted other restrictions. And the country has just entered another “partial lockdown” in response to rising infections.
Het Parool contacted Eric Wiebes, who served as Dutch finance minister through January 2021. However, he “declined to respond to questions” about the cost-benefit analysis. This suggests the original probably conclusion probably hasn’t been overturned.
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Many people support Hamas.
“I support Hamas.
Simply because I can’t ever again support Israel.
And if you continue to support Israel after witnessing its actions in Gaza, you’re more than simply an idiot.
You’re an immoral facilitator of genocide.
Sort of like the modern equivalent of a Nazi.”
Scott Ritter
https://t.me/ScottRitter/2218
Hamas declared war on the Jewish people and state by their actions in October, in wars innocents are killed, Hamas is no different from Germany, or the Japanese when they declared war on other nations then there was retaliation. Unfortunately as in all wars it is the innocent who are harmed. Hammas knew this, but they do not care.
Well said
War is something that’s supposed to involve soldiers fighting other soldiers and not mass murder of civilians. Insofar this happens in war, it’s considered a war crime. And there was no war between Hamas and Israel to begin with as these guys aren’t soliders. Just terrorist murderers.
You’ve got it the wrong way round.
The Jews declared war on the indigenous Palestinians 76 years ago.
The Palestinians are fighting back just as the French Resistance did against their foreign German occupiers.
Is Scott Ritter recommended reading?
He’s very good on the Ukraine war. I don’t agree with him with regards to Israel.
Aye same with Galloway. Great on the Deep State, but I remember him on the radio ridiculing anyone that questioned the World Order. I remember he was a champion for mass immigration but has seen the light over that too.
He told someone on the radio “so you think there are men in cloaks sat around a table in some shady room do you”. He did read out some TXTs from me around 2009 when he was on TALKSPORT. He didn’t take kindly to me questioning or the significance of a ‘Chalk Board” but happy about a TXT I sent over the expenses scandal. “My boiler is broken, wish I could claim for that, getting used to clod showers”….Nice little bunce if you can get it, the boiler cost me 2K.
Scott Ritter is a lunatic.
‘Ritter is an example of a typical disgraced American – often a man – who discredited himself in the US and now wants to be perceived as a source of “honest analysis” in Russia as a means to achieve renewed or increased glory.
Desperate men like him have frequently come to Russia to get a fresh start. It’s true that Russians will overlook anything as long as you’re useful to them. They don’t care
If you follow the local Russian news as it reports on Ritter’s grand tour of Russia, in local outlets such as the Kazan or Izhevsk news, none of them mention his arrest record and conviction……
They don’t even say, ‘oh this man was wrongfully imprisoned, it was a conspiracy against him.’ They just don’t mention it at all…..(He) “gets a chance to reinvent himself and feel good about himself again, and the Russians will let him do it’
Natalia Antonova
Scott Ritter criticised US foreign policy and was adamant at the time that Iraq did NOT have WMD.
The US use a sex trap against him by a young looking detective on an over 18 website.
If it had happened in the UK he wouldn’t have been arrested as the age of consent is 16.
It can only happen in the US.
It hardly makes him a “paedophile”.
It doesn’t alter the fact that he is an experienced military expert who is still actively and accurately analyzing current world events.
“Scott Ritter. is a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer. He served with the United Nations implementing arms control treaties, with General Norman Schwarzkopf in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm, and in Iraq, overseeing the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), as a United Nations weapons inspector, from 1991 to 1998.”
I think you’re perhaps in the wrong forum to post that sort of vile hatred.
Anyone supporting terrorism is in the wrong bloody country! Not to mention they’re a completely dysfunctional human being.
It is MindHalfFilled.
“You’ll never let it lie.”
I will rephrase that for you “I think you’re perhaps in the wrong echochamber to post that sort of vile hatred.”
You don’t need to rephrase things for me, thanks.
Oh don’t worry, it is no problem. I assumed that youi just want an echochamber.
I have no idea what you are on about
You are mistaken. This is not a “forum”. It is the “comments” section for comments about the relevant article in The Daily Sceptic, the publication founded by Toby Young, founder of The Free Speech Union.
Freedom of Speech includes “vile” hatred, one of many normal human emotions, though that word “vile”, like the word “feckless”, is only ever applied to Ethnic Europeans, usually by Leftists.
Why are the Admins on here allowing this antisemitic racist to post?
“Why are anti-vaxxers allowed to tweet?
Why are we platforming climate deniers?
Anti-maskers need to be silenced!”
No. You, I, may disagree with what they say, but requesting that he is silenced is not what we do here.
Hear, hear!
Upvote!
As idiotic as his (I’m assuming male) opinion is, he’s entitled to it. In fact, I’d argue society is in the mess it’s in now because people hid their real opinions. Let people say what they want and let society judge.
I’m happy that people post what I assume they believe they think. It is educational to realise that some of us on here wer percetive enough to understand the whole Covid plandemic and its implications but were taken in by the Ukraine and now Gaza.
I do however agree with Mogwai “Anyone supporting terrorism is in the wrong bloody country! Not to mention they’re a completely dysfunctional human being.”
And yet there are millions of Irish people who supported the IRA terrorists in the UK and Ireland, and even put them in the government.
In which country do all those “dysfunctional human beings” belong?
I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to manage major project work over 2 years in Belfast in the latter years of the troubles. I learned that whatever I had read in the then MSM hopelessly oversimplified the issues which were nested and complex. Dysfunctional human beings were massively overrepresented on both sides and the process had taken over the original issues that separated them. Same in several other conflicts i had some experience with and, as I hear from others who have relatives there, same in Ukraine. Lethal madness, borne of intransigence, creates such dysfunctionality that encourages a bifurcation in a previously reasonably accepting social group, town or nation and it takes a great deal to de-fuse these situations.
Of course, given time, the previously homicidal combatants mellow or mature and the sides turn to the complexities of political conflict over what was simply an indulgence in murder.
What no society needs, is such madness being embraced by dysfunctional idealogues embracing an apparent cause they barely understand and imposing their side of a conflict on those of us remote from its origins.
There are always those globalists who will encourage both sides of this process while their own nefarious objectives are benefitted.
Not all Terrorism is the same though. The IRA mostly targeted infrastructure and state agents.
I’m not sure I agree Ron. One man’s terrorism is another’s freedom fight. Other than the viewpoint, both are the same. And targetting is not even precise, nor casualty free. I remain haunted by the experience of a young hotel receptionist in Co Down whose parent’s house, in which she lived, was burnt down one night, because they were living on the wrong side of the sectarian divide.
What a f*ckin stupid thing to say. And I say that as someone who does not get even close to condoning Israel’s actions. What do you mean by saying you ‘support’ Hamas? What is it, exactly, you’re supporting? The rape and murder of civilians – oh, let me guess, that’s all made up? Do you support the growth of an Islamist state, which will see your wife and daughters treated like second class citizens, and will brook no dissent? Do you support the actions of terrorism as long as it’s a worthy cause? Do you support the protests by hundreds of thousands of Muslims on British streets? Do you support the raging antisemitism that’s sweeping the West? Do you support the eventual destruction of Christianity? What is it that you support? Because it sure as hell isn’t as simple as saying the idiotic words “I support Hamas”.
Permit me to address your points.
What do you mean by saying you ‘support’ Hamas? – He is quoting Scott Ritter, a US military analyst, who worked with the Israeli military in the past. Scott is aware of the devastation to civilian life caused by the Israelis and calls Gaza an open-air prison. He considers 7th October was a pure military operation and that a very large number of civilians were killed by ‘friendly fire’ due to the uncoordinated Israeli reaction.
The rape and murder of civilians – oh, let me guess, that’s all made up? – Actually, yes, it is Israeli propaganda, except that there are now sources saying that IDF personnel have raped Palestinians, besides of course murdering countless civilians – both Palestinian and Israelis.
Do you support the growth of an Islamist state … – What has that got to do with anything here?
Do you support the actions of terrorism as long as it’s a worthy cause? – That is a difficult one! If something is a worthy cause, there should be no need for terrorism.
Do you support the protests by hundreds of thousands of Muslims on British streets? – They are protesting a genocide, which I consider to be a worthy protest. They would stop protesting if a politician or two had the courage to openly criticize UK’s unquestioning support of Israel in this matter.
Do you support the raging antisemitism that’s sweeping the West? – Now I think you are exaggerating because all mainstream media in the western world only print articles favourable to Israel.
Do you support the eventual destruction of Christianity? – Again, I think you are a bit off-topic. All religions claim to be exclusively right, but that is hopefully a discussion for another day.
If you are interested in learning alternative viewpoints to those presented by the mainstream media, I recommend antiwar.com, thegrayzone.com, electronicintifada.net, ukcolumn.org, and on YouTube The Duran and Judge Napolitano. Scott Ritter has his own websites but also appears regularly on Judge Napolitano.
I personally take the attitude that everything presented on mainstream media is untrue, but maybe I am extreme. All mainstream media only print what the government allows them to print, which makes everything very one-sided.
Look at the photographs of the destruction taking place in Gaza on the websites I recommended. It is simply disgraceful. Imagine UK had fought the IRA by carpet bombing all of Northern Ireland – not really acceptable, surely.
The Daily Septic blocked me from seeing these replies for 24 hours.
So much for freedom of speech.
Wow, they’re even more mongtarded close-up than I thought. Have they been collectively lobotomized? Well at least it makes a change from yelling your hatred of Jews and love for terrorists ( 2mins );
https://x.com/AzzatAlsaalem/status/1791469928731586720
Articulate little buggers, aren’t they?
So what her visa has been revoked, most ilegals here don’t have a passport much less a visa and they get to have free housing, benfits, NHS, etc, etc, and the Government hasn’t removed them, what do you think the chances are that this woman will still be here spouting her hatred this time next year.
Another example of meaningless virtue signalling by our Government
To be fair, I’d totally forgotten about Houthi and the Blowfish. Classic;
https://x.com/ShutupLyle/status/1767590984529899854
Well done. More!
I trust that as she is without a visa she is no longer enrolled at UoM?
Ha, so there we go. Now we know why Egypt reinforced their already big-assed wall. The human shields must be kept at bay at all costs to perform their sole function whilst the terrorists get to scurry through to safety via the tunnels. I’d imagine ‘Big Lugs’ and his family is already safe and sound in Egypt then;
”Israel has found 70 tunnels in Rafah so far, 50 of which cross the border into Egypt.
That’s what Egypt was hiding. These tunnels were used to smuggle arms and ammunition to Gaza. Mystery solved. No wonder Egypt and Joe Biden were against Rafah invasion.
One can speculate that Yahya Sinwar with other Hamas militants together with some hostages are already in Egypt.”
https://x.com/ImtiazMadmood/status/1791408030795391443
And soon she will no doubt realise why she left that hell-hole to come here… She won’t be allowed to say anything about Hamas, or rather she will only be able to say it once..
I feel a taxpayer-funded appeal in the wind.
In the words of the great Terry Wogan ‘..is it me?’
There would have been a predictable response to this action.
When does she leave then? Terms have pretty much all ended and she has no Visa, so when is she on a plane? Vote Reform and she’d have already gone.
Visa revoked. Nothing states that she has been shipped out.
I wonder why?
We don’t “ship out” —-We “ship in” more and more sectarian clutter
I know but we live in hope.
I think the horse has bolted. The clutter is taking over.
Actually I wholeheartedly agree with this point of view.
Well I might not be around to see the Islamification as I might only have a quarter of a tank of life left in me, but it is sad when you compare this country in the 50’s and 60’s to now and what will soon be.
I bet she’s bombarded with offers of well paid work from all the usual suspects.
All who come on here, born in the UK, are more likely to actually be deported than she is.
“46 comments” but I only count 18.
Tut, tut. Has the DS censor been active? No critical comments allowed against Israel? That has little to do with free speech.
When it comes to censorship the DS just as guilty as the BBC/Guardian etc who don’t allow criticisms of mRNA jabs, Ukraine, climate change etc.
Hypocrits.
Comments by a few on here have advocated the extinction of Palestine.
But that’s ok
My comment was removed and The DS expect me to carry on paying £5 a month for the privilege of being censored.
I was the first to comment and when I checked this morning it had been removed.
Here was my comment ……
Many people support Hamas.
“I support Hamas.
Simply because I can’t ever again support Israel.
And if you continue to support Israel after witnessing its actions in Gaza, you’re more than simply an idiot.
You’re an immoral facilitator of genocide.
Sort of like the modern equivalent of a Nazi.”
Scott Ritter
https://t.me/ScottRitter/2218
Going, going……
She won’t be going anywhere. We can’t even depart rapists, so she’s not going to be frogmarched onto a plane.
This country is crying out for strong leadership, something we haven’t seen for 35 years, and even then she was a one-off.
Going on a self-deating killing spree in Israel is neither resisting oppression nor war, it’s senseless murder. That the other guys are morally just as bad, but with jet planes, doesn’t excuse this. At best, this so-called war is a pretty pointless dicksizing contest between a shrew and a grizzly. At worst, it’s just what Netanyahu needs to win the next election, as per the old recipe Trouble at home? Make war on some foreign country!