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Many probably knew this already, but now the Public Accounts Committee have revealed the cost of covid measures will be beared by taxpayers "for decades to come":
They also criticised the government's spending on unusable protective kit and called for an urgent inquiry.
www.bbc.co.uk
What will be interesting to see is if this increases levels of anti-restriction sentiment for being a huge reality check on the financial costs of support measures and shutting the economy down.
Although (by those who thought that we should have been locked down all last summer), it could be argued that it wouldn't have been so costly if the lockdown had been harder and shorter and/or much more restrictive international travel.
I should imagine they will just deny everything and bury their heads in the sand, or try to blame the government for not locking down harder and earlier.
Many probably knew this already, but now the Public Accounts Committee have revealed the cost of covid measures will be beared by taxpayers "for decades to come":
They also criticised the government's spending on unusable protective kit and called for an urgent inquiry.
www.bbc.co.uk
What will be interesting to see is if this increases levels of anti-restriction sentiment for being a huge reality check on the financial costs of support measures and shutting the economy down.
I don’t think it will make much difference in terms of opinion.
Those who are already dumb enough to think that their new leisure-oriented lifestyle is sustainable in the long-term will continue to keep sleepwalking. We’re already seeing price inflation, and I think that is going to get much worse.
Do we really think that Boris “doesn’t do detail” Johnson has a plan for how this is all going to be squared up?
They will blame it on the virus, and say that 'if we'd just closed borders in mid Feburary' ( spoiler alert, it'd have had to be early January, before international students came back), and pretend like they'd been calling for that since December 2019.
Although (by those who thought that we should have been locked down all last summer), it could be argued that it wouldn't have been so costly if the lockdown had been harder and shorter and/or much more restrictive international travel.
I should imagine they will just deny everything and bury their heads in the sand, or try to blame the government for not locking down harder and earlier.
I think there is enough circumstantial evidence circulating to suggest that China knew about COVID-19 several months before it alerted the rest of the world.
Whether the virus escaped from a laboratory or through natural means, COVID-19 would not have been so serious for the world if China had notified the World Health Organisation a couple of months earlier than it did.
The long term economic consequences of all these measures have been swept under the carpet, but cannot be kept hidden for much longer.
We are going to be in for a period of austerity (or "economic adjustment" or what ever you want to call it) much like the austerity that followed the Second World War. (Certain foods were rationed after the war that were never rationed during the war, and rationing didn't end completely until 1954.)
But I think that people are growing increasingly restive. There were anti lockdown protests in the UK, and you only have to look across the Channel to see how the French are reacting to the compulsory "Pass Sanitaire".
Even in locktivist countries like Australia, people have had enough, and we are beginning to see more and more anti lockdown demonstrations.
If the UK is not well on the road to recovery, then the Conservatives could well lose the general election, with some papers even reporting that Boris Johnson could lose his seat, due to the number of jobs in his constituency that depend on the travel industry, which has been wrecked by his policies.
I should imagine they will just deny everything and bury their heads in the sand, or try to blame the government for not locking down harder and earlier.
Exactly what I was about to say. It will be everyone else's fault. It will be the fault of holiday makers, sports fans, pub goers, schoolchildren, anyone and everyone but them. And yes they will tell us that we should have locked down longer, harder, sooner, because other countries did.
And they will continue to ignore all the growing evidence that lockdowns, masks, travel bans, business closures, hiding behind the couch will not make the virus go away.
Although (by those who thought that we should have been locked down all last summer), it could be argued that it wouldn't have been so costly if the lockdown had been harder and shorter and/or much more restrictive international travel.
The way things are going in Australia that argument is becoming much harder to sell. If things keep going the way they're heading there, those against restrictions can very strongly cite them.
As above, Australia is a stronger example in the making, but also some east Asian countries that initially had success with zero covid and/or test and trace policies, until covid mutated to be too infectious for those strategies to work.
I should imagine they will just deny everything and bury their heads in the sand, or try to blame the government for not locking down harder and earlier.
I imagine they will claim the only thing that matters is stopping Covid, at any cost. No more lives can be lost due to Covid. It doesn't matter to them about lives lost Or ruined by other reasons, including anti Covid measures. All that matters is keeping Covid out. They are willing to let future generations pay for this of course.
I imagine they will claim the only thing that matters is stopping Covid, at any cost. No more lives can be lost due to Covid. It doesn't matter to them about lives lost Or ruined by other reasons, including anti Covid measures. All that matters is keeping Covid out. They are willing to let future generations pay for this of course.
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www.bbc.co.uk
