The Covid Inquiry: A “Clouseau” Style Inquiry Fiasco Reporting On A Deadly Money Wasting Lockdown Fiasco
It would appear that the former Chief Advisor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, has something of a bee in his bonnet regarding Baroness Hallett’s Inquiry into one of this countries biggest fiascos, a combination of Dunkirk (without the evacuation), the Dardanelles, Hillsborough, Aberfan, Grenfell, Post Office, and infected blood, all rolled into one. Cummings has invoked the might of Peter Seller’s Clouseau character from the Pink Panther series to describe the lack of merit of the inquiry.
On top of this the cost of the pandemic (£500bn), which almost certainly would have gone away on its own without intervention, is something which continues to ruin the economy and has not been addressed by the Baroness and her cohorts. As for the NHS, protecting this white elephant / infinite financial black hole, was arguably the reason for thousands of more deaths than would have occurred, far more than the 23,000 claimed by the inquiry.
Of course, like most inquiries this one was run by one of the fuddy duddy Law Lords brigade, people who are so out of touch with reality they probably are yet to find out who The Beatles are. They are also people who we now know in the 21st century are at the pinnacle of the Liberal Metropolitan Elite, and even before a question is asked would side on the concept of more intervention, more control, quicker lockdown and for longer to restrict personal freedom.
Lockdown, face masks, social distancing, and surprisingly quickly produced vaccines would almost certainly have made no difference to the outcome, if Covid had been truly contagious or affected all ages equally. Indeed, all the measures would have been as effective as a chocolate teapot. In the end, after all the cost, all the deaths and all the illicit gatherings, it was herd immunity that triumphed, not government intervention. Yet the inquiry has criticised all and sundry, as well as Boris Johnson for not being draconian enough quickly enough. Has it not heard of the Swedish approach? And what about all the poor / developing countries that either could not afford to, or did not do anything against Covid? How are the people there even alive?
In fact, the only good thing about the Covid Inquiry is that some years later, and £200m wasted on it, a line can be drawn on an affair where whatever was the worst thing to do was done. A sieve-like lockdown, paying people not to work via furlough (something they want more and more of), and the ongoing erosion of civil liberties. The powers that be must be so upset that we did not have digital ID cards and enforceable Local Traffic Networks to really ratchet up the curfew.
Trump: Ukraine’s “Zero Gratitude”
On the face of it, the latest comments by US President Trump appear harsh, very harsh given the efforts of the country to defend itself, and how it has been going. All of this comes in the aftermath of a 28 point plan, which obviously almost everyone apart from the US and Russia are unhappy with. Of course, Europe is particularly against it, something which once again highlights one of the less highlighted aspects of the 3 year affair. This is a brutal war, with deaths and casualties ongoing. Alas the powers that be seem to be talking about it as if it were a debate as to whether bad light should stop play at a county cricket match. Whether the 28 point plan is the winning one or not, this human aspect, which Trump is always at pains to point out, has to be the focus. It obviously is not. Instead, we have the traditional armchair generals, politicians playing chess, and of course Putin and Zelensky looking for immortality in the history. All of this at the expense of the mortality of those involved.
Of course, President Trump has his motives too. A Nobel Peace Prize would be great, and almost guaranteed after the Gaza peace “win”. This even though one would assume that the Nobel committee would choose giving a peace prize to Genghis Khan, than Trump. The good news is apparently that Trump has other multi-point plans, so we can perhaps dream of something positive by Christmas, especially if his threat to cut off arms to Ukraine is followed up on.
