As many report this morning, Boris Johnson is writing to all households in the UK at a cost of £5.8 million. The reason is to get his excuse for his failure on coronavirus in early. The letter will say:
If too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to cope. This will cost lives. We must slow the spread of the disease, and reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment in order to save as many lives as possible.
That is why we are giving one simple instruction - you must stay at home.
In other words, ‘if people you know die of coronavirus don't blame me: it will all be your fault for not doing as I say'.
And this from the man who led a party that deliberately undermined the NHS and denied it necessary resources, who reacted too late to data on coronavirus and who thought it best to create herd immunity whilst not ordering the equipment the staff in the NHS needed and still need, and whose government did not notice an EU invitation to cooperate on ventilator building and decided instead to strike out on its own with people who had never made them before because ‘buying British' is best.
Many people are quite reasonably worried about coronavirus right now. But Boris Johnson might be most of all, because what is about to happen could quite reasonably be laid at his door. If we get away with 20,000 deaths in the UK that will be a disaster, but he can say it was the best possible outcome, and he might just have a case. Many more than that and he is in deep, deep trouble, and he knows it.
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Clearly, there are some people who are ignoring government advice on social distancing. Many of the most vulnerable in our society don’t have internet access, so in writing to people, surely some action by the government is better than no action?
And I think it’s a little premature to judge whether Johnson has failed on coronavirus; none of us can really know how this is going to play out. He may yet succumb to it himself.
I am certainly not cheerleading for the government, but I think they’re doing a better job in tackling the crisis than some other countries, the USA for example. Yes, before this crisis, health care, social services, education, and local government were already dire, and yes, they could have and should have been better funded.
I hope that following this crisis, there will be a major re-evaluation of how society functions, and we emerge with a better understanding of how bad we are collectively treating the planet and each other.
Wishing you and yours good health Richard.
To premature to judge if Johnson has failed, are you joking? We are already seeing more people in the UK dying everyday than have died throughout the whole period in South Korea. And within 2 weeks the daily number will get up near if not higher than 1,000 everyday.
He failed at protecting the people and he failed at protecting the economy.
And I don’t know why you want to compare us to the USA. We should compare ourselves to countries doing the best, not countries doing the worst.
With regards to Dave’s post there is why we have 72% of the population who think bojo and his government are doing a good job. Dave thinks is unfair to criticise the government because it has not a long time to deal with it. He ignores many factors and events but again give bojo et al free pass. This is what the population does – if you believe the polls -they always give the tories a second or third chance, it is just in their make up to be so. People like dave could have family members die, lose their jobs, the economy crash but he would still gove boris a second chance. I have had the same conversation with people who are literary losing their livelihood but do not connect it the tory government’s policies. Instead they blame labour and their policies, it does not matter if the were in power 10 years ago.. They are the boogy man. Till there is a disaster of epic proportions, the people of the country will not stop the love in with boris and the tory government . There no chance of a sea change, despite what people think on this site. it is just ignoring the obvious. Even if there were riots, the government will quickly blame the rioters. We have seen this kind of behaviour when the govt caused panic buying or people just ignore them. So the government turned on them. There is no navel gazing from the government, no self assessment to how they gone wrong. If you can tell a tory voter the government wanted them and their families to get covid 19 for herd immunity, they will just think your nuts. It does not matter if you show them the articles, the video, they just will not believe it. There is no chance the tories will embrace a new form of politics and the same goes with the people of this country once this crisis is over. Both will go back to austerity on stilts and the people will love.
Darren,
You almost hit the bullseye
“There no chance of a sea change, despite what people think on this site. it is just ignoring the obvious. Even if there were riots, the government will quickly blame the rioters”
If you replace ‘government’ with ‘media’ you hit the spot!
People believe everything they are told by the msm they consider it authoritative.
They trust Laura and Neil and Robert and their daily papers and their radio talkshows. They consider these to be their independent arbiters.
That is not an accident. It has been well prepared over the decades.
If the msm do not hold the politicians to account and hound and scapegoat the opposition instead what do you expect?
Remember Blair only got and stayed in because he had Murdochs support (and the others).
It is as simple as that.
I can’t take either reply seriously. When the first word is a spelling mistake, it doesn’t bode well. The second reply is word soup. Fellers, try editing your posts before hitting ‘submit comment’.
Not everyone can see their own spelling mistakes
It does not mean their opinions should not be heard
A little more understanding would be appreciated
Oh Richard…
“Richard Murphy says:
March 30 2020 at 7:21 am
Not everyone can see their own spelling mistakes
It does not mean their opinions should not be heard
A little more understanding would be appreciated”
Well, if those engaging in public debate are not using language accurately, how else are we to judge the quality of their thinking? By the discourse presented on this blog post, it is certainly not by the quality of their arguments.
I understand that some people have trouble with spelling and grammar, but with all the modern tools available, surely they can indulge us all with a bit of editing and filtering before adding their tuppence?
Would you extend your argument to right-wing polemicists? ‘Not everyone can see their own… mistakes. It does not mean their opinions should not be heard. A little more understanding would be appreciated’. I find that poor control of language is a proxy for poor control of ideas and I am not interested in opinion couched in sloppy language.
I stumbled across this blog a couple of days ago while looking into the background of the film ‘The Spider’s Web’. I am always interested in listening to, and learning from, people with views I either haven’t engaged with before, or views I disagree with. So far, I’m disappointed.
You can be disappointed that I am tolerant of dyslexia
I am disappointed that you are not
Presentation before policy. All that seems to be important is to look good rather than do good. Nice example from Craig Murray blog on trying to get business interruption loan, suggesting that the scheme should be called Covid 22. You have quite rightly drawn attention to its shortcomings. One fears that all the other schemes will not work. Auspices not good.
Now is probably not the time for apportioning blame but that time will come and serious questions will require answers that are more than a spin doctor’s fabrications. In 2010 Dame Deidre Hine produced a report on the management of the H1N1 virus epidemic.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61252/the2009influenzapandemic-review.pdf
Warnings about management of an epidemic included highlighting the demand for, and the shortage of, ventilators (Sect 6.44).
The epidemic was predicted and those predictions were accurate.
Daily Express May 15 2018
“Health officials warn while they are convinced a deadly pandemic is coming, they still have no idea what it will be. However, experts believe the disease or virus is likely to be respiratory, as not enough research is being put into this area and respiratory issues are difficult to spot once they have begun spreading. A report has been released and backed by 120 scientists who give their ideas of the predicted traits of a future pathogen that may be hard to prevent.”
Independent March 11 2018
‘History tells us that it is likely the next big outbreak will be something we have not seen before’ “…most likely developed through zoonotic transmission, where an infectious disease which usually afflicts animals jumps to humans.”
This scientific and medical advice was totally ignored by the Conservatives who have spent the intervening ten years stripping the NHS of all contingency in equipment, staff and facilities. The question they have to answer is Why?
The sad fact is that, even if we doubled the size of the NHS (twice as many beds, doctors, nurses, ventilators, etc) but did nothing of address the exponential transmission of the disease, the doubled system would still be overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, just three days later. As the situation in Italy demonstrates, you have to stop the disease spreading. The contrast between the US and say South Korea or India is marked, and we’ll see which approach works better.
More staff? Doctors in the Guardian in London are suggesting that the Nightingale hospitals are expected to be additional work for the existing work force.
Regardless of if its overwhelmed or not.
Twice as many beds mean twice as many people potentially avoiding death.
Not with a triage system in place it doesn’t. Savvy?
Fair point about the NHS, but. This is not just about ventilators etc but overall preparedeness. Interestingly, the Torygraph has been running a couple of articles on the Tory govs unpreparedness:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/28/exercise-cygnus-uncovered-pandemic-warnings-buried-government/
readers of this blog will doubtless be amused to know that BTL for this article and others like it – have been disabled.
& for articles covering the police & their antics – the tory BTL crowd get very agitated when it is pointed out that the rozzers are only following tory gov orders.
Be interesting to see if the narrative of tory gov incompetance is sustained once things calm down.
For those that want light amusement during the lock-down the Torygraph provides free entertainment – btl.
Many people are quite reasonably worried about coronavirus right now
Excellent line. I envy the intellect and composition skill of the writer of it. Should be required reading for every economics, social and political studies student and every aspiring politician. We live in a critical time facing combined ecological, economic, social and political melt downs. To prevent mass global poverty, resource depletion, irreversible global warming and major social unrest we must get to grips with this and then move on.
Has this been done by any other national Government? This seems a bit bizarre to me.
I noticed that the relief hospitals they are setting up are called ‘Nightingale hospitals’ after old Florence herself – honestly, don’t HMG know how to portray themselves. Florence was a damn sight more proactive than Boris.
The Tories have been running a ‘de minimus’ state for far too long. They have been caught out. So have the people who voted for them. HM Opposition need to be ready for this – and so do we. We know that for the last 10 years the Tories have been killing people and now Covid-19 might make the dilatory nature of Tory rule self-evident.
Sorry – I meant ‘de minimis’ state.
“de minimess” would also do!
@PSR
France has constructed field hospitals outside normal hospitals and Germany has undertaken to accept French patients and (as the East is most affected) they have sent Covid 19 patients by specially prepared TGV to Aquitaine where currently few are affected and there are spare beds. But of course France is 2.5 times the size of Britain!
Prof, trust you have had enough rest, listen to the body.
Anyway I see it slightly differently.
If you consider the whole event and its handling as some stage play. This is act III – where Bozo makes his great Churchillian speech – his version of blood, sweat and tears.
Unfortunately for his handlers he can’t carry the practiced gravitas of Winnie – being a inveterate ‘Just William’ rogue he can’t keep the levity out of his voice or visage – hence he has fortuitously got the lurgy to keep him away from the gaze of millions as he struggles to keep a straight face – so we get a ‘personal’ Churchillian letter instead!
The whole purpose of this charade is to unleash the new powers and get us used to the idea of martial law by police, military and drone.
The Observer plays its part with their favourite Opinium pollsters providing ‘proof’ that ‘People want more control upon their lives’. Lol
This will be followed by an Epilogue a week or so down the line – with a declaration of victory over the virus and the elevation of bozo to saviour and no doubt a quick knighthood too!
…….
By the way it seems we are using our EU partnership to import billions of masks from China using Airbus aircraft!
Hows that for ‘better off out and going it alone’ (are you surprised that the so called pro EU Groaniad completely ignores the open goal of calling off the brexit?)
Btw I looked at some of the proposal by Sunak for the Self Employed – looks like it’s a con. As is his grants/loans for businesses (except for the usual suspects) but I’ll wait for your assessment and when the HMRC actually get any detail out.
My expectation is that following the declaration of victory all bets will be off and everyone will be told that the emergency is over and if they are having problems then just use the basic Universal Credit like all othet paupers.
Meamwhile the usual suspects will have wondered off with their barrow loads of too big to fail wonga.
Given that social distancing is our only defence against this vrius right now, I think the letter is understandable.
What is clear is that the failure to put in place early cotingencies for ventilators, and additional hospitals with ICU beds could cost many lives. Once we saw reports of China building a hospital in 10 days it should have been clear to experts what was coming, but vital weeks were lost. It remains to be seen if Boris didn’t know, or whether he did ignore expert advice.
However, what’s hurting us most at the moment is the lack of testing capacity, which has been so vital in keeping the death rate in Germany 10 times lower. This is a lesson we MUST take on board for the future.
In the absence of a vaccine (which is at best 12-18 months away) the only way out of this crisis is 100% testing, testing, testng. We need to know who has the virus (maybe without symptoms) and is spreading it. And for critical workers we need confirmation that either they don’t have it, or have recovered and now have immunity. Getting testing capacity is vital to relieving the pressure on the NHS, as currently we are tracking Italy with deaths doubling every 3 days.
Finally rich countries MUST support UN aid programs for Africa and poorer parts of Asia to fight this virus successfully. If we allow Covid19 to rip through poorer countries it will bounce back on us. The more people that contract any virus, the greater the risk that it will mutate into something more deadly. This is exactly what happened with influenza in 1918. As the first wave subsided a new mutation emerged that both spread and killed faster. We must now move beyond “them and us” thinking in #TheGlobalRace and finally recognise the truth. That when it comes to fighting our greatest Global challenges, including infectious disease, there is only one “us”.
I’m not sure where the £5.8 million figure comes from, but I make 30M households times 65p for a second class stamp £19.5M. And that’s before the cost of printing all those letters.
Still I guess a Tory advertising campaign counts as essential working. I really hope all those essential letters don’t carry the Coronavirus into thousands of households. It wouldn’t surprise me given how incompetent this government is.
Binning mine on arrival using disposable gloves and mask and then cleaning door and floor. Or maybe slapping a return to sender label on it is better. Hmmm
Once the ‘dust has settled’ after such an existential crisis, the government will get off lightly in the short-term because there will be a spirit of general relief, exploited by the right-wing dominated MSM. In the present moment it is to be expected that Johnson will personally ‘enjoy’ the sympathy vote. Even a virus-free Trump is riding high in the polls.
In the longer term the public will be more open to a critical analysis of how well or badly the government performed. And, as after WW2, its opinion will be reflected in the result of a GE. At this stage I think it’s very difficult to predict what that might be. Once again, the MSM will play a crucial role. Social media might not be so forgiving, despite predictable manipulation.
Regrettably for the nation as a whole – and for history – there is currently no effective, well-organised and co-ordinated opposition. At least after WW2 the trades unions were a powerful force in influencing popular opinion.
I hope you’re now seriously on the mend. Your insights and analyses are evermore important. We live in ‘interesting times’.
I’d still like to be less tired…..but that requires me to stop thinking
I wonder..
During WWII did Churchill send letters to every household saying ‘Do not go out Germans may drop bombs on you!
Never in the field of human conflict have so many letters been sent out by so many to so many?
Good to see the title and substance of this blog nailing this exactly for what it is, Richard. It’s exactly the first thought that went through my mind when I saw the story in The Guardian this morning.
I also note another line of defence beginning to emerge from Tory spokespersons: that we should focus on what needs to be done now and in the future rather than keep on about any potential mistakes from the past. This in the full knowledge that given the size of the Tories majority in parliament getting any inquiry into the Covid 19 crisis after the event will be difficult, and no doubt heavily circumscibed if one is allowed to go ahead.
I also find it very convenient for the optics of the situation that both Johnson and Hancock have supposedly tested positive for coronavirus. If I were a conspiracy theorist I might be inclined to wonder about that, particularly as so few of those who seem to have interacted with both men in the days before their ‘positive’ tests seem to be self isolating (see the story and excellent graphics in yesterday’s Guardian).
Two final points also worth noting.
Shortly after The Guardian first ran the story about the UK not participating in the EU produrement scheme for ventilators and asked the Government/No.10 for comment I’m sure if was reported that the response was: ‘The UK is no longer in the EU.’ Or something very similiar. Consequently all the recent guff about ‘communication breakdown’ and ‘the email wasn’t received’ is just a smokescreen. This was a decision driven by Brexit dogma.
Second, before coronavirus hit the UK wasn’t it Hancock who got very upset about a Guardian report that the NHS only possessed 5000 ventilators? I seem to recall that he reacted very strongly and in so doing strongly insinuated the story was a fabrication. But we now know that the NHS did indeed only have 5000 ventilators, and that it was Hancock who was the fabricator, as he’s subsequently been on various other matters such as testing.
So, no wonder Johnson and co want to get their excuses in early.
Thanks Ivan
Now is not the time to blame but if you are it surely must start in China.
For all the Boris haters who would you prefer Jeremy Corbyn? He’d side with Covid-19!
Shit journalism by a shit journalist.
Stay safe .
PaulTosser writes
“Now is not the time to blame but if you are it surely must start in China”
Proving that the propaganda machine is in full flow. With an added dig at JC who has been proved right about the election manifesto – doh its about the NHS stoopid.
And shirley the blame is daily being shown to be elsewhere.
https://ahtribune.com/world/covid-19/3994-us-did-bring-covid-19-to-wuhan.html
Now shut up and go away as your spiderman tory would say.
Readers may be aware that Johnson the UK prime mincer has written a letter. PWR intelligence sources obtained a version of it before his controlling intelligence Dom Cummings edited it. it makes for sad reading – clearly drafted by a man out of his depth and out of his tiny mind. Those easily offended should not read on.
I am writing to you to update you on the steps we are taking to combat coronavirus.
In just a few short weeks, everyday life in this country has changed dramatically. We all feel the profound impact of coronavirus not just on ourselves, but on our loved ones and our communities. (Dom does this sound OK – I don’t really have any loved ones…)
I understand completely the difficulties this disruption has caused to your lives, businesses and jobs (Dom I think this is wishy washy – after all – “fuck-business” is what I think). But the action we have taken is absolutely necessary, for one very simple reason.
If too many people become seriously unwell at one time, the NHS will be unable to cope. (Blojo: cos after all we the tory party under funded the NHS for decades) This will cost lives (Dom: we need to deflect people’s attention away from this reality). We must slow the spread of the disease, and reduce the number of people needing hospital treatment in order to save as many lives as possible.
That is why we are giving one simple instruction — you must stay at home and play tiddlywinks or something.
You should not meet friends or relatives who do not live in your home. You may only leave your home for very limited purposes, such as buying food and medicine, exercising once a day, I exercise several times a day with Carrie – it’s good fun I can recommend it.
These rules must be observed. So, if people break the rules, the police will issue fines and disperse gatherings. & quite right to, can’t have the proles getting together.
I know many of you will be deeply worried about the financial impact on you and your family. The Government will do whatever it takes to help you make ends meet and put food on the table provided you are reasonably well off, labour voters and crusties can pissoff – you won;t see a crumb.
The enclosed leaflet sets out more detail about the support available and the rules you need to follow. They have been designed to be as simple as possible so even working class thickos can understand.
From the start, we have buggered around trying to put off doing anything meaningful cos the economy comes first & proles very much second. We will not hesitate to go further if that is what the scientific and medical advice tells us we must do (Oh Dom do I have to put this in?).
It’s important for me to level with you even though I have a lifetime of telling lies left right & centre – I wouldn’t know level if it fell on me – anyway stuff will get worse before it gets better. Out preparations are shit – but the private health sector is doing OK & it’s only the plebs that will suffer & they have never counted.
So too all you people in the NHS – keep on working & try not to die although to be honest I really don’t care that much if you do or don’t. Afterall, us Tories made sure that you lacked all the gear needed to protect you why spend money on those that don’t count. That said, I’m glad to see loads of mugs i.e. retired doctors and nurses are returning to the NHS, to help and in some cases to die. That is why, at this moment of national emergency, I urge you, please, to stay at home, protect the NHS in ways that successive tory governments never have and save lives
I’d be much happier if they’d spent £5.8 million on a stock of surgical face masks that had been sitting in a warehouse ready for distribution when the virus arrived here,
in the Czech Rep. they’re making face masks at home and distributing them to friends and family,
you don’t go out in public without covering your mouth or nose,
the selling line is: I protect you, you protect me,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhNo_IOPOtU&feature=emb_logo
I’ve not seen one person wearing a face mask in the UK yet,
they’re ubiquitous in asia since H1N1 & SARS,
they can’t cost more than pence each when they’re produced en masse,
I’ve dug out the shemag I would use in the desert,
my intention is to use it to cover my nose and mouth the next time I’m out in public,
if covering your face swiftly became the new normal here we might be able to make life a bit less fraught for the essential workers still in regular contact with the general public.
There’s a lot of comment on here about ‘the government’ not providing PPE & ventilators etc. No-one seems to even discuss the idea that NHS procurement maybe should have been doing this. Neither does anyone publish the number of people on the ventilators, or in ICU & so on.
This is not me supporting the current government but merely asking for some perspective.
Can anyone of your commentators provide this information?
Masses of this on Twitter etc
“And this from the man who led a party that deliberately undermined the NHS and denied it necessary resources”
https://www.ghsindex.org/
The UK is rated second out of 195 countries.
There are other indices available
And just open your eyes
So you are fan of Michael Gove and you don’t believe in experts then?
Your opinion is superior to that of the world renowned Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health?
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/these-are-the-countries-best-prepared-for-health-emergencies/
October 2019
“The 195-country study finds national health security to be “fundamentally weak” around the world. No nation is fully prepared to handle an epidemic or pandemic.”
“The Global Health Security Index lists the countries best prepared for an epidemic or pandemic.”
“These are the countries best prepared for health emergencies.”
“On this scale, the US is the “most prepared” nation (scoring 83.5), with the UK (77.9), the Netherlands (75.6), Australia (75.5) and Canada (75.3) behind it.”
And as you are well aware, I am sure, I was noting ample other reasons why the NHS was not prepared
You say “as you are well aware, I am sure, I was noting ample other reasons why the NHS was not prepared”.
That’s a different discussion. I was challenging one particular statement. You said that Boris led a party that had deliberately undermined the NHS and denied it the necessary resources. The world authority on the matter said that as of October 2019 the UK was the second best placed country in the world to cope with a pandemic and that is in contradiction to what you were implying.
I would in any case challenge your statement that he reacted too late to data on coronavirus and he thought best to create herd immunity. His policy was to follow the advice given to him to by the Chief Scientist and the Chief Medical Officer. The timing and direction of that policy was determined by those experts. If you disagree on these matters then you disagreeing with those experts and not with the PM. The PM has as little expertise on epidemiology as you. He had little discretion but to follow the advice he was given. In particular, Gina Miller is taking him to court over the appointment of the Governor of the Bank of England. If the PM had deviated from the advice of his experts he would have been open to legal jeopardy.
Read The Lancet and the opinion of its editor, Richard Horton
Informed opinion is very firmly on my side
Yours is just politics
“Yours is just politics”
In what way is a report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health “just politics”?
I have already answered that
Politely – go and play in your corner – it’s on the far right
“Politely — go and play in your corner — it’s on the far right”
I am not on the far right. I didn’t vote in the election because there was no one I could support. I normally go down to the polling booth and write “None of these” on the ballot paper but in this case I just couldn’t be bothered.
“My corner” is that I am a scientist. I have a PhD in Mathematical Statistics and I have better background from which to judge these issues than amateurs like you.
But you’re not judging them
You’re taking one index and says it says all we need to know
I am saying there are other factors you’re ignoring
I suggest the broader view is wise
You are politically saying you disagree
But are then saying I am wrong based on your judgement
“I suggest the broader view is wise”
You seem to be disagreeing with everything the past Tory governments and the PM have done. You are assuming that anyone who disagrees with you believes that everything the past Tory governments and the PM have done is right. That is not the case I am undecided on much that they have done recently. Time will tell. I was disagreeing on specific points. I don’t have to take a wider view since at this time I am only disagreeing on certain specific points.
Sorry to butt into your little joust with TeeJay, but isn’t the point here that the report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health is a prediction before the event that is presumably drawn from modelling scenarios, in other words theoretical or notional data? On the other hand, what we are seeing now is real data and reflects the leadership (or otherwise) of the anti-virus campaigns and the preparedness (or otherwise) of the respective nations’ health services. So, on paper and before reality strikes, USA and UK look better placed to cope than any other countries. However the reality presents a rather different picture. I know I’d rather base my judgement on real, probative data than on estimates which have almost certainly been based on criteria which were radically different from the real criteria.
My reading of this is that the high US and UK ratings in the report by the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health result from it failing to consider the possibility that competent leadership in both countries would be absent/incompetent/misguided (take your pick) and/or that Government policies had hobbled their health services (in the UK starving the NHS of funds and the US having hundreds of separate bodies responsible for health delivery)?
Good points Ken
@TeeJay
Hmm, smartest fish in a small pond syndrome?
You actually started out arguing against
“And this from the man who led a party that deliberately undermined the NHS and denied it necessary resources”
Following it up with a source which said that no country was ready for a pandemic, but that the U.K. was “second best” prepared. Which rings kind of hollow to me, but whatever.
I don’t think there is any sensible argument available to deny that the Tory/ConDem governments of the past decade have systematically and intentionally starved the nhs of the required resources. If you have such an argument, I’d love to hear it.
Just to add my own two pence, regardless of how well prepared the U.K. was, the tardiness of our current government to spin up their response (to a threat which we had due notice of) is inexcusable. Obviously now is not the time to replace an incompetent government, but I think it is now a civic duty to remember what a cluster Johnson et al have made of the situation…
(I realised after writing this that I have echoed much of what Ken has written)
Richard you were at this lecture where Bill Mitchell says why the tories and other right wing parties are heading the polls. They pollute the discourse and the public just follows along with the it. The labour party aalso is a problem because they too adopt the language of neoliberalism, thus reinforcing it to their own detriment (Bill says New Labour was dangerous in this regard). Bill also says you do not need to tax the rich to get funds and i agree with him. The funds are already there in central government hands though he is not saying do not tax the rich but that is for different reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOMo3xuSyWM
I was not to impressed by Bill at that lecture
Sorry, but he is not a man whose political antennae I much trust
I am not alone within or outside MMT
Fortunately for us ( the humans) there are probably more scientists and researchers alive today than in the whole of history put together (no proof).
The science on this is fast and full genome sequencing equally so — and getting quicker by the day!
In such an environment the only way of covering-up the truth is by a full spectrum narrative construct and quick management of the countering truths. Limited hangouts become more frequent as real knowledge escapes into the wild uncontrolled world media as a consequence trying to fool their audiences that some exclusive investigative journalism is taking place …i mean people quoting the Sun ffs! Never mind the many controlled sites.
Japanese scientists for example cannot be as easily dismissed as other non-western ones.
If they are proving that the multiple strains around the world are evolutions of a single source, from a single place then identifying that zero point becomes easy by tracing it.
Like following foot prints! Easy when you know which ones you are looking for.

It becomes inevitable. It is inevitable. The footprint is identified. The hunt is afoot. The culprit is in sight …
Over a 100 non peer reviewed papers from around the world just TODAY at this one site by intrepid sherlocks
https://connect.medrxiv.org/relate/content/181
Get reading folks!