December 12, 2023 - 3:45pm
As the Covid inquiry continues, the prevailing narrative seems to be that Britain locked down too late. Meanwhile, the Centre for Social Justice has just released a paper, “Two Nations: The State of Poverty in Britain”, which lays bare the ills for which lockdown can be held accountable. The gap between those who can get by and those struggling had long been widening in Britain, but according to the CSJ the successive lockdowns implemented during the pandemic were the “dynamite that blew it open”.
The paper found that, during lockdown, “calls to a domestic abuse helpline rose 700%; mental ill-health in young people went from one in nine to one in six, and nearly a quarter amongst the oldest children; severe school absence jumped by 134%; 1.2 million more people went on working-age benefits.” What’s more, “86% more people sought help for addictions, prisoners were locked up for more than 22 hours per day, and a household became homeless every three minutes.”
Executive Director of the CSJ Andy Cook joined Freddie Sayers in the UnHerd studio to talk through the paper’s findings, from the impacts on mental health to economic activity, drug abuse and crime.
Having spent months looking into the effects of lockdown on the most vulnerable in society, Cook found it bewildering that more focus has not been drawn to the issue during the Covid inquiry. How to mitigate any harms caused by the policy barely gets a look-in at the hearings, and Cook believed that this sets an unpromising precedent for the next crisis, whatever that may be.
“We’ve nowhere near got back to where we were [pre-pandemic],” he told UnHerd. “The scale of response does not match the scale of need, purely on policymaking terms. It terrifies me that you’ve got an investigation going on into what happened, and they’re not even analysing this kind of stuff. It genuinely terrifies me.”
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SubscribeI submit that anyone who still believes in 2023 that lockdowns were (1) necessary (2) based on scientific methodology and (3) net-effective is living in a cognitive dissonance that is unbridgeable with reality. This policy was based on made-up data, erroneous assumptions driven by short-sighted politicians and was bound to fail miserably from the very beginning.
It was not exactly driven by short-sighted politicians. It was driven by the politician’s fear of a completely hysterical press and their lack courage to face the press down
And by an Orwellian public, demanding it be cared for by Big Brother, and telling on anyone who defies Big Brother.
It seems to me the general consensus in the US is lockdowns caused more damage than good. In Britain, it appears the consensus is lockdowns should have been harder and earlier. Why the difference?
A defining moment for me during Covid was the reaction of public health officials following the death of George Floyyd. Thousands of them signed a letter supporting widescale protests, arguing that systemic racism was more dangerous than Covid.
It laid to bare the lie that everyone should be locked at home. It exposed the lack of scientific rigour for lockdowns in the first place.
Why the difference? Well of course I don’t really know, but it may be cultural – America is very keen on individual liberties (which is perhaps why the trans, guns, drugs over-reach problems are more pronounced); whilst the UK/Europe is keen on community efforts/sacrifice ‘for the greater good’ (hence the NHS, safe driving standards, higher taxes).
This makes sense
Don’t mistake the reportage in the msm or in the proceedings of this deeply flawed inquiry for “the consensus”.
I wasn’t aware that people still believed this. How extraordinary!
Not everyone believed such nonsense and fortunately a former Supreme Court Judge, one Lord Jonathan Sumption was able to lead the crusade against such rubbish!
That’s the Narrative that will be maintained at all of costs, since those with most to lose are running the show trial.
That said, Rishi Sunak’s evidence on the topic has been remarkably candid.
Apparently the polls show majority support for the lockdowns even now. I cannot explain why myself, the only thing I can think of is that millions of people simply liked a year’s sabbatical on 80% pay, and they’re hoping another excuse will emerge for a repeat.
Fear of virulent diseases has very deep evolutinal roots. You’d be amazed how malleable are people who live in the state of constant fear, hence high levels of cortisol that dampens their rational and long-term thinking. Vast majority of people still believe that they lived through the dealiest plague in human history, while in fact it was the most benign pandemic in the recorded history.
Ssshh. We’re not supposed to talk about this stuff. Nothing to see here.
I took the trouble to listen in full to the video, and all I can say is that it’s well worth the time. It will, if you possess any reason at all, make you very angry though.
It certainly did me: it reminded me of how I felt in 2020/21 watching the government abuse society and the economy in ways that revealed a spectacular combination of arrogance and stupidity. A bit like a firework display, but seen from the perspective of the guy on the bonfire.
Effectively, we had two years of lockdown in the UK while a vaccine was available after one. It was a massive power grab by the new left-liberal powerholders in our culture: the UK parliament, civil service, public sector, media and NGO sector.
There is detailed analysis on the Institute Of Government website on the periods of lockdown. If my counting is correct, it shows the complete lockdown ( on 3 separate occasions) lasted for a total of 24 weeks and the phased opening lasted 18 weeks ( 2021). In total around 42 weeks and not the 2 years that is often quoted. Of course lessons have to be learned in case of another manufactured virus appears.
Does that make the consequences any more palatable?
Some of you will remember I lived in New Zealand for eighteen months on the South Island and life went back to normal, after a few weeks, when after a BLM march in Auckland, which drove a coach and horses through the rules, Ardern was forced to re open on Monday afterwards.
On the South Island, there were no cases after 1st May 2020 until I left in the spring of the next year.
85% of Kiwis, described by the other 15% as sheeple, believed they were all going to die based on MSM. Trying to explain that the death yield was going to be 3 to 1 Flu got you nowhere.
New Zealand’s great contribution to the truth is they did not open up until the population was ‘fully vaccinated.” Since the fully vaccinated population has opened up they have played catch up and the average death yield is the same as Victoria, Sweden, UK, Spain and Italy, 3 COVID deaths for 1 flu, using the identical metric of dying with COVID-19.
In an interview with Freddie in April 2020 Johan Gieseki suggested to Freddie the death toll would be 2 3 times the flu and all you could sensibly do is wash your hands and keep your distance.
I have absolutely no belief in the West following this debacle and it will ultimately fail because it cannot accept the death of elderly people, pursuing a policy of assisted living which robs people of their dignity.
2020 should have got right-thinking people to understand the consequences of large frail elderly populations instead we bemoan the fact that some of their lives should have been saved, people who had an average 3 years in a nursing home.
20,000 died of COVID-19 in homes in 2020. Out of a total of 170,000 deaths.
There were 800 excess deaths a week in England for a year from May 2020 only 2% of them related to Covid. No health system is capable of protecting such a large body of unwell elderly. Let them die with pain-free dignity. Then you can focus on a few unfortunate fit and health people who get these new viruses who can be admitted to fever hospitals of excellence.
Ironically my mother bed blocked late 21 to 22 was brought home a cackling DTI-ridden husk and mercifully died 12 weeks later. Thank God I was able to speak to a Urologist who said we should stop.
Bravely written, thank you.
Does no one else feel there is another dimension to this? Lockdowns, digital tracking, psy ops and propaganda, forced medications, the myth of masks, wealth transfer… All based on totally made up numbers (which were obvious to some of us even in early ’20) – it just couldn’t be an accident or a “error of judgement” – this feels planned. And the current deafening silence about these issues and excess deaths in the MSM. When is that actual penny gonna drop?
The fact Covid and Lockdowns had a v negative impact on society one of those ‘no sh*t Sherlock’ moments. And certainly we must learn lessons.
But the idea many of the Lockdown critics were that interested in poverty, domestic abuse, mental health problems rising in line with smart and social media technology, and the unequal life chances of millions, before or much now in truth, cobblers. Much of it is deflection strategy and finding an excuse that alleviates the responsibility of folks to tackle the fundamentals behind these problems.
Thank you
Excellent interview! We need more of this quality in Australia. Thank you.
It was we, the public, who fiercely demanded Big Brother care for us, no exceptions. Have we forgotten?
And I’m well-versed in the absolutism that is senior Public Health, having grown up in the grounds of our country’s only quarantine hospital, within hundreds of acres of buffer territory, surrounded by chain link fences.
Quarantine is a good idea for Ebola, not for the flu.
Re sick pay and absenteeism from school and work: I have worked in primary schools with parents and children since the pandemic and the persistent lockdowns, and I have observed that many primary schools have become more draconian environments. It’s not uncommon for children to be expelled at age 7 or younger in a way that never happened before (not when my millennials kids were at school anyway). One school I worked in, described as a ‘nice’ school, was so quiet during lessons that you could hear a pin drop . At break time, the children walked single file into the playground with their hands clasped behind them; It was horrifying to behold. Compliance became normal during lockdowns and children were expected to mask up and do what they were told or risk contributing to the daily death rate. It feels as if some primary schools have capitalised on this response and they are presiding over rigid, judgemental safeguarding prisons.
If you are a child who struggles with this, or a parent who isn’t able to meet required norms, you are singled out for sanction or special treatment. Diagnosis for ASC &/or ADHD, or awaiting diagnosis are rapidly rising, often, I feel consequential of the child’s inability to conform in an intolerant environment.
If your child is being excluded (sometimes onsite), you may prefer to keep them away or feel that you have no alternative; there is almost no alternative. I can imagine some parents are forced to decline work and opt for sick pay to protect their children from daily stigmatisation or institutional bullying.
NB: nobody goes to ‘the job centre’ to find a job anymore.
The harm was not just done to Britain. What Britain and other countries did strongly influenced countries like South Africa, which did not have and does not have the same kind of social protection net. To name but one issue, public school children did not return to school full-time until 2022.
A young researcher from another country took it upon himself to announce a new “strain” (Omicron) just as the recovery was about to begin in late 2021 and destroyed another tourist season. It will take decades for the country to recover.
The response to Covid-19 is one of those issues on which it seems impossible to shift opinion.
I am fervently anti lockdown but I did find the chap from CSJ rather weak as a presenter of his research. When he said he had no context for how large the money spent on Covid was I lost interest in this conversation.
On 28th January 2020 my flight from the UK was held on the tarmac for five hours in the central Chinese city of Xi’an until fully hazmat clothed medics came on the plane, took everyone’s temperature twice and collected a 40 question form, before allowing passengers to leave. Some were directed into a quarantine area. This was three days before the first Covid case in the UK.
Two days after I got home over 800 miles away from Wuhan where the virus originated, there was a total lockdown for just 22 days. No one was prevented from going out but only open air markets and a few supermarkets where you might have to queue two metres apart were open. On 22nd February buses were back on the road, the metro was working again, workplaces opened and everything gradually got back to normal, other than having to wear a mask on public transport and before entering some buildings. Later tracking software and proof of vaccination was required.
Within days of the lockdown starting capitalist entrepreneurship meant you could order a normal shop online with delivery to the gate of the complex and pay using WeChat.
On 1st March 2020 there were just 97 cases and 2 deaths in a province of over 47 million people.
The 22 day lockdown I experienced was infinitely preferable to Boris Johnson’s dithering that resulted in three lockdowns lasting almost 16 months.