Isn't it a bit odd that we're halfway through a General Election and yet the political parties have not sought to discuss their or their opponents' record during the pandemic, asks Brian Monteith.
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer appear to have an understanding not to mention the costs of Covid measures, says Dr Tom Jefferson. And no wonder, as leaders of the lockdown and lockthemdownharder parties.
Three charts show the devastating impact that Covid lockdowns had on U.K. public finances as the IFS think tank warns that neither Labour nor the Tories have any room for tax cuts or spending splurges.
The Institute of Economic Affairs has calculated that the Government's expected 'Plan B' restrictions could cost the British economy £4 billion per month.
Why did so few economists speak out against lockdowns? Mikko Packalen and Jay Bhattacharya note that economists are members of the 'laptop class', and that over the years, the field has become more technocratic.
Two economists have estimated that the world lost 48 million life-years due to people dying from COVID in 2020. "Every year", they note, "at least twice as many life years are lost due to children dying of diarrhea."
The Daily Mail has totted up the lockdown bill: £500 million a day in lost output, pubs and restaurants losing £1.7 billion a week, 15,000 shops never to reopen, NHS waiting list now at 4.6 million... it's a catastrophe.
