ARE OUR LEADERS FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS

Our leaders have got themselves locked in the moment. They know that the damage being done to ordinary people, businesses, education and the economy in general is far worse than the number of deaths which will occur from the coronavirus. They know we need to open the economy fully, not partially but they won’t do it. Instead they will fudge the situation, try to keep everybody happy and we will all end up in no man’s land whereby society is destroyed anyway and the number of deaths from the virus turn out to be no worse than had we adopted the Swedish model for instance.

Peoples anxiety levels are such that they are not thinking rationally. That is when we need our politicians to show courage and leadership. This crisis has now reached a point where decisions need to be made. The politicians can no longer hide behind the medical advisors and the emotion of the whole circumstance. I believe we now have two groups, those who know that the strategy adopted was misguided and those who are enjoying the additional powers they have as a result. Neither can they see a way forward that protects the stance they took in the first place which is a priority for both. So now we have a whole new crisis. It’s called the EXIT CRISIS.

The science supporting social distancing and wearing masks is at best flimsy. On the face of it to us ordinary folk it makes sense until you look a little closer. The face masks for instance we are now told do not protect us from the airflow or even particles. In fact what happens is that people touch their face a lot more as a result of adjusting the masks which in fact increases risk. The social distancing is a purely arbitrary thing. One person says 3 feet, another 6 feet etc. There is no science to this. It is obvious that the further you stay away from people the better protected you are.

Professor Michael Levitt of Stanford University believes that social distancing and extreme lockdown are unhelpful in dealing with the virus. Countries that have not gone the extreme route are not showing any higher a rate of death but are closer to herd immunity as a result of their policies. He has the numbers to back this up. It is not just opinion.

We will develop herd immunity at some stage. It’s just a question of how quickly. Whilst this is happening, is the virus dangerous enough to destroy the economy and the functioning of society by imposing restrictions that are impractical and costly. The problems for travel, tourism and catering are obvious. Imposing social distancing in offices is also impractical. The percentage of those dying not related to nursing homes or the health workers is very small.

It is likely that the virus has contaminated many more people than are recorded emphasizing that while it is very contagious it is not that lethal. There is enough data from credible sources to now suggest that the death rate will be less than one in a thousand and that this virus is much more prevalent amongst us than was originally thought. This is increasingly looking like a mild disease with very few exceptions. In fact there are more deaths from the ordinary flu for those under 65 than from the coronavirus.

Scientists and other medical people who disagree with the declared narrative are finding themselves side-lined in the conversation. Stories of doctors being encouraged to put the cause of death down as the virus when at all possible is not uncommon.

It is now clear that certain decisions must to be made by our politicians and they are floundering somewhat. Many of us have felt for a long time that politicians are too removed from what’s going on at ground level. The politics of forming a government, negotiating Brexit or campaigning for a general election are still uppermost in their minds despite the media and the rest of us giving them a free pass just for the moment.

The original idea of trying to insure that the health services were not overwhelmed made sense. However as a result the hospitals are empty and many sick people are going without treatment with consequences that we have no data on but it can’t be good. It is clear that our health system will not be overwhelmed.

Shutting people away is only going to delay rather than prevent the spread of it. When you release people it will spread anyway. Many have had the virus and are unaware as the symptoms were so mild. Staging the opening of the economy will not prevent the spread. It will just stagger it if they’re going to get it but most people that do contract it will have a mild reaction.

I don’t recall when last our rulers acknowledged getting something wrong. They have a way of just moving on as though it never happened. We need to hold our law makers to account and protect our hard won freedoms and society in general.

Emergency legislation has been passed to mandate when we can leave our houses, how far we can travel, whether we have to wear masks or when we are allowed to visit friends & neighbours. This legislation entitles the authorities to reprimand or fine us for any transgressions. They are now talking about closing our businesses if we don’t adhere to certain guidelines. Haven’t they done enough to destroy the economy. They are legislating to over 70’s when they can go out. I find that appalling. If we allow them to treat us as children we deserve what we get. This is totalitarianism by any definition.

The last I checked we live in constitutional democracies in the western world. What entitles our politicians to merely make it up as they go along under the guise of emergency legislation? Legislative processes are there to protect us from the very type of authoritarian leadership that we have been subjected to since the lockdown strategy was adopted.

I say this to raise awareness that we are no longer living in constitutional democracies but rather totalitarian regimes. The ease with which we adapted to a police state should frighten us all. The so called free press are acting as the voice of the state much as they do in China or North Korea. There are too many examples of authoritarian overreach in Ireland, the UK and the US for it not to be worrying.

Trying to protect us will inevitably mean that when we do open up there will be a spike in cases identified. This is unavoidable but 99% of those that get it will not die from it and most cases will be very mild. Of those that are dying 65% are in care homes and have at least 2 underlying conditions.

No death or illness should be treated lightly but we do need perspective. Were we to focus on heart disease, diabetes or even the common flu giving hourly updates and bombarding us with statistics on a daily basis it would be far more frightening than the implications of this virus. What steps would our politicians propose then?

After all the great depression killed more people than the Spanish flu. The crash in 1929 led to sudden and extreme poverty which was followed by a depression that gave way to the rise of Hitler and ultimately the second world war. I’m quite sure that in January of 1929 nobody thought that it could happen to them either. That’s what extreme and sudden poverty did then.

To the first group of lawmakers I say that we must open up our economies fully and immediately if we are to mitigate the damage done from the policies that have been imposed on us so far. The SME sector will be the hardest hit as a result of the lockdown. There will be no way back for many of them. This is despite providing more jobs to the economy than any other sector.

To now talk of opening businesses in stages is the equivalent of death by a 1000 cuts. You can’t open a business up 30% or 40%. Most businesses operate on a margin of less than 10%. What governments are proposing is going to worsen the financial state of those businesses because their losses will increase. They’d actually be better off to stay closed until such time as they are allowed to operate at 100% if they are still there.

Take a café with 40 seats. Ask the owner to operate on a 20 seater basis. He or she can’t. the business is setup to operate on a 40 seater basis. There obviously would be certain things they could do to mitigate the situation, the first being staff reduction. However there will be many things that they can’t mitigate such as rent, insurance etc. So they end up continuing to lose money and adding to the unemployment que. The owner and their family are now under increased pressure and so are the staff and their families as result of job losses. 

The socio economic impact of this example can be extrapolated across society. We need to open up fully with some restrictions on large gatherings, trust the people and manage the consequences which we now know the health services can handle.

The second category are those who are enjoying the power surge and they should not be dismissed as fringe, far from it. The idea of having such sweeping control suddenly over the populace gives them food for thought. Overreach is the first and most obvious consequence and there are many examples which I’m sure we are all aware of. However there are also those who will be opportunistic. The opportunity to play to their audience whether it be on tax policy, climate change or basically anything that will further their political agenda will inevitably become a priority when decisions are being made.

Politicians generally think they know best. The sweeping authority they have assumed in the last few months will encourage this. That is why we have legislative processes and we vote on things to curb the worst excesses of our leaders. Overly concentrated power leads to over control and the ultimate collapse of the very environment one is trying to protect. That’s human nature and nothing to do with ideology or political viewpoints.

We need people to speak up and speak often.