Matt Ridley joined eleven other British peers in sending this letter to The Times:
Sir, It is now clear that a policy of lockdown failed to bring the virus under control while having crippling economic and social side effects. Sweden has achieved a lower death rate from Covid-19 than the UK, with far less economic and social damage, despite being a slightly more urbanised society. If lockdown were a treatment undergoing a clinical trial, the trial would be halted because of the side effects. We suggest the government try a new approach, more in keeping with the Conservative philosophy of individual responsibility. Anyone who wishes to be locked down, whether because they are vulnerable or for other reasons, should be supported in doing so safely. Anyone who wishes to resume normal life, and take the risk of catching the virus, should be free to do so. The choice would be ours.
Lord Ridley; Lord Cavendish of Furness; Lord Dobbs; Lord Hamilton of Epsom; Lord Howard of Rising; Lord Lamont of Lerwick; Lord Lilley; Lord Mancroft; Baroness Meyer; Baroness Noakes; Lord Robathan; Lord Shinkwin; House of Lords
Jonas Herby finds more evidence for the “dry tinder” theory of why Sweden’s covid-19 death count is as high as it is. (HT Dan Klein)
Here’s Robert E. Wright on the John Snow Memorandum. A slice:
Lockdowners and critics of herd immunity have missed a couple of important details. The first is that covid [insert obligatory concession to it being a “serious” disease here] is simply NOT as deadly as once thought. Remember John Ioannidis, perhaps the greatest health scientist alive? He was pilloried for assembling studies that showed covid was not as deadly as once feared. Now the WHO, the World Health Organization not the British rock band, has published his now peer-reviewed piece “Infection Fatality Rate of COVID-19 Inferred from Seroprevalence Data” and endorsed its conclusion: “Inferred infection fatality rates tended to be much lower than the estimates made earlier in the pandemic.”
Ben Zycher writes that the Green New Deal, although truly awful, is thankfully unlikely.
Jeff Jacoby writes intelligently about the ridiculous furor over Gal Gadot being cast as Cleopatra.
Joe Kennedy debunks the now-popular assertion that monopolies in America are eroding labor’s share of national income. (HT Tyler Cowen)
