The Hard Conversation

There’s something very sinister going on behind the scenes in the world present. I haven’t wanted to believe it but everything that’s happening currently indicates that it is so. We cannot and should not ignore it any longer. There is a famous line in a Clint Eastwood movie- “ Don’t P..s down my back and tell me it’s raining “ It’s very apt when considering what’s going on at present. Society is at serious risk of never again being able to interact as we did 8 or 9 months ago. All this for a disease that is no more threatening than the flu about which we do nothing because we realised long ago it wasn’t appropriate.   The simple social interactions such as giving somebody a hug or shaking hands could be a thing of the past. We may never again be able to enjoy different cultures or even different customs and atmospheres within our own country. It will all be controlled and sanitised to the point that it is unnatural to us making us more robotic in an unnaturally controlled environme...

  “Imagine if you are as free now as you will ever be for the rest of your life” Most people are not even considering this and refuse to countenance that it could actually happen. Governments have a pretty good track record in making a bad situation worse, the financial crisis of 2008 being a recent example. There are those amongst us who would like to control our every move and this pandemic has presented them with a golden opportunity. In the 1950’s under the threat of an atomic bomb children were taught Duck and Cover Techniques to protect themselves. This typically meant hiding under their desks as if that would protect them from an atomic bomb landing nearby. Nevertheless teachers and pupils alike did it religiously. This was a fear based response which made people feel they were doing something to protect themselves when clearly they weren’t.   The measures being adopted by society today in terms of the lockdown are similar in nature. The mask has become the ultimate sym...

The most significant death that could emanate from this pandemic is that of the free world. To the flat earther's I suggest “maybe the world is round after all “. Extreme levels of fear make us hysterical. Hysteria makes us irrational and leads to the kind of reaction we might expect from people who are prepared to trample on their friends and relatives in order to get out of a burning building. Conversely when we are in control and being rational we make perfectly good decisions every day balancing risk and reward. Will I cross the street here? Will I buy that car? What restaurant should we eat in? we balance our decisions based on whether we might get run down or can I afford that car or will we like the food in that restaurant etc. etc. For the past three months the world has been in a state of hysteria. We are not processing any risk and reward calculations because of fear. Since the fire alarm went off we are convinced that the building is burning to the ground and no...

We must lift the lockdown with immediate effect which means we should aim for June the 1 st . Meanwhile we should allow people to move around freely from a social perspective. Over the next 2 weeks businesses and other organisations should prepare themselves to open. This requires leadership and courage. Our leaders must balance the risks and the  implications of all options. Any sensible scrutiny will establish two things. Firstly that we can’t afford to keep the economy locked down and that it must be opened up fully, not partially. Secondly that the people will not agree with you initially because of the level of hysteria that has been generated in the past two months. We must all dig deep and have courage but the leaders must lead. They don’t have the luxury as has become common practice to check if the people will agree with them before doing anything. The initial reaction by governments was understandable. People wanted action and they needed to do something to sat...

They say you should always listen to your gut. Well with every fibre of my being my gut is telling me that this pandemic strategy is dangerous.  Nevertheless it has been adopted by virtually every country in the world with a few exceptions. I may be right. I may be wrong. But is there even any serious discussion taking place on this level. My concerns are – Is the strategy justified and when it’s all over will they give us back our freedoms. The WHO denied in late January that the virus could be transmitted human to human. Many now suggest that they were in league with the Chinese, trying to spin what was happening to accommodate the CCP. Recent information suggests that five million Chinese left Wuhan before they locked it down yet we hear that neither Beijing nor Shanghai were seriously affected. Why have Milan and New York been so badly affected. The pandemic coincides with the signing of phase one of the trade deal with the US. This raises all sorts of ...