For those Covid sceptics and deniers, who are doing such awful damage, there is a one argument that seems to carry some weight, especially with the Government. The claim that the UK economy is being so damaged by lockdowns that we would be better off opening up and accepting a higher death rate in return for economic growth.
Laissez faire economics can often seem callous but this time it is just plain wrong as well. The reasons the UK has suffered more than most in terms of deaths and economic damage are so closely linked, that you couldn’t get a cigarette paper between them.
A slow Government response, a failure to lockdown early enough and then a far too rapid and completely irresponsible opening up of the economy; have meant that the UK has needed longer and deeper lockdowns to try to limit the resulting damage.
High death rates and economic damage, both caused by the Government listening to the wrong people, hoping for the best and failing to take difficult decisions.
https://jonty.substack.com/
Capitalism was never designed to work in a pandemic situation, it needs the opportunity to trade continuously. A pandemic forces a trading model to halt in order to prevent further virus transmission and slow the virus so called reproduction rate. Laissez Faire economics does not have a licence to kill.
The slow UK government response was almost an initial culture shock. The failure to lock down early enough was we were all reeling from what was happening. It is alleged that the Germans got lucky by watching the South Koreans and copying them. If that is true well done them.
Not all decisions can be science lead sometimes they need to be politically led and therein is a risk for the politicians involved. On a 50:50 flip of a coin hindsight is a great thing. You also need to carry the people with you, if the people oppose you how do you deliver better virus health statistics.