The British scientist
known as Professor Lockdown has undermined the draconian policy he unleashed on
the world by confessing that Britain hasn’t fared any better in tackling the
disease than the laid-back Scandis.
Professor Neil Ferguson
probably woke up this morning breathing a massive sigh of relief because he
hadn’t been ripped to shreds again in the British newspapers for this second
time in just under a month – this time over his startling admission that there
has been no significant difference in the levels of Covid-19 suppression when
comparing the UK and Sweden.
During his evidence to
the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee on Tuesday, he said: “They [Swedish scientists] came
to a different policy conclusion based really on quite similar science. I don’t
agree with it but scientifically they’re not far from scientists in any part of
the world.”
He then acknowledged that the
Swedish authorities had “got
a long way to the same effect” without a full lockdown.
In other words, in the type of roundabout waffling way you’d
expect from a bumbling boffin, the scientist – dubbed ‘Professor Lockdown’
after he cajoled Boris Johnson into bringing the British economy to a
screeching halt – reckons Sweden has essentially coped very well without
being forced into any draconian lockdown, thank you very much.
So where was the indignation
about how his recommendations f**ked up the economy and made people prisoners
in their own homes? It certainly wasn’t to be seen splashed across any British
front pages. Indeed, it was hard enough to find much, if any, coverage of this
very significant news story on Wednesday.
It was buried inside the
Daily Telegraph on page seven, running across a third of a page or less, with a
very accurate subheading stating in
clear black and white: “Professor admits radical
Scandinavian policy worked as well as British policy of shutting down.”
The evidence from
the two countries’ differing approaches has left the professor with little
escape route. UK (full lockdown/businesses shut down): 579 Covid-19 deaths per
million of population. Sweden (softer restrictions/businesses kept open): 442
deaths per million.
But why make such a startling
confession now, when he could have wriggled away by saying it’s too early to
assess the data as the disease is still running its course? The cynic in me
wonders if Dr Ferguson’s matter-of-fact admission that a full lockdown probably
didn’t make a blind bit of difference was fueled by ulterior motives. Seeing as
his own reputation is already in tatters, was it a warped act of revenge
against Boris Johnson for being forced to fall on his sword after being caught
breaking lockdown with his married lover?
Or here’s one for conspiracy theorists: instead of wanting to
throw BoJo under the bus, could it have been a case of wanting to hide
something else that’s about to come down the track? With America now burning in
the wake of the atrocious murder of George Floyd, the confession at this juncture reminds me somewhat of
how a British government spin doctor sent out a memo only 30 minutes after the
second plane hit the Twin Towers on 9/11 with the cynical recommendation that “it’s
now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.”
At the moment, the biggest
accusation they could face is needlessly making a hames (for those of you who
aren’t Irish, this means a ‘big mess’) of the economy. Even Sweden’s state
epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has since said that,
while he regrets not implanting stricter measures to stop the spread of
Covid-19, he “still
would not have gone as far as other European countries did.”
But the Swede being plagued
with self-doubt sounds much more like someone racked with guilt about “what ifs?” like
an Oskar Schindler type of character who was pictured crying at the end of the
Spielberg film because he was convinced he
could’ve done better.
According to Aric Dromi, CEO of the Sweden-based Tempus Motu Think Tank,
both the UK and Sweden’s response to Covid-19 is “ego driven and lacking in
strategy.” He told me: “Differences
in the social structure between the UK and Sweden should have made a bigger
impact between the numbers infected. The Swedish economy, for example, far from
being protected by remaining open, has still been badly damaged as it relies
heavily on exports, despite the lack of a lockdown. For both countries, it
represents a human sacrifice on the altar of economics, and it is wholly
unacceptable.”
It all reminds me of when John Cleese in the ‘Gourmet Night’
episode of ‘Fawlty Towers’ told guests
that there were only three different types of duck on the menu that night –
with orange, with cherries or “surprise,” which
turned out to be “duck
without oranges or cherries.” And if you don’t like duck? As
Basil Fawlty quipped, “Ah, well, if you don’t like
duck, uhhh, you’re rather stuck.”
At the end of the day, it
might still be too early to fully know which was the right way to go, which
begs the question: Why did Prof. Ferguson jump the gun and heap such fulsome
praise – no pun intended here – on the Swedish model? Whatever way you spin it
here, he has, once again, “undermined” the lockdown just
like he did “after violating
quarantine he designed to meet married lover.”
He might’ve been dubbed “Dr Strangelove” after
that embarrassing slip up – but now he just comes across as a nutty professor
after his latest confession. These strong words might just come back to haunt
BoJo when he next goes before the electorate. With a crippled economy thanks to
the draconian measures, he’s going to find the next election will be all about his mishandling of Covid-19,
and specifically, “the
economy, stupid.”
The statements, views and
opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of RT.
Jason O’Toole, who has worked as a senior feature writer for the
Irish Daily Mail, a columnist with the Irish Sunday Mirror and senior editor of
Hot Press magazine. He’s also the author of several best-selling books.
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”
Copyright © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”
