The Critical Commentator

 ... It was in February   that the seeds of   Independent Sage   began to germinate.   That was when King   (Chair of Independent  Sage) first noticed our   divergence from the   rest of the world.   "I was a little bit   puzzled by the fact that WHO (World Health Organisation) advice had gone out, but we weren't following it." The orders from the World Health Organisation were to "test, test, test", but there seemed, he felt, to be no urgency. Elsewhere, it was not the same. "I love Greece; I go there often. And I know quite a few people in the government and the British embassy. I called them up to find out what Greece was doing. "They were following every bit of WHO advice. In February, they started sending ships to China to buy equipment for their hospitals to handle the pandemic. They were preparing everything in advance, getting themselves in a position where they could test and trace an...

  Immunity A Physician Wearing a Seventeenth Century Plague Preventive Costume unknown artist Photo Credit: Wellcome Collection  [Public Domain]  There is a simple question that the experts who study viruses do not always relish being asked. The question is this: what is it that makes one disease give you lasting immunity, while in another it is fleeting. "That is complicated," says Shane Crotty, from the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California. "That's really difficult," agrees Deenan Pillay, professor of virology at University College London. "You would have to speak to a geeky immunologist about that." Dan Davis is professor of immunology at Manchester University ... and a fully accredited geeky immunologist... And his answer? "The truth is, it's a little bit mysterious." There is no shame in this - scientists happily admit that sometimes they operate at the edge of knowledge. But it is, nevertheless, a shame. Because as Profes...

  Admitting Ignorance Wisdom,   John Francis Rigaud (1742-1810) Photo Credit: City of London Corporation [CC BY-NC] ... I have a pet theory that much of what is wrong in the world derives, one way or another, from our inability to admit ignorance. You are far more likely to get hired, promoted or elected if you spin seductive stones to answer complex questions rather than expressing doubt and ignorance. The upshot is that the upper tiers of business, politics and the media are stacked with bluffers. They assail us with catch-all narratives to explain Britain's level of excess deaths. The most popular is that it is all down to lockdown being imposed too late. That might have made a difference but is it really the primary explanation? Why, in that case, have those countries which have now lifted theirs not seen a sudden resurgence in cases and deaths? Why is Norway wondering whether lockdown made much difference at all to its Covid outcome? Japan had no formal lockdown. Nor did ...

  Mandelson and Cummings Morgan-le-Fay, Frederick Sandys (1829-1904) Photo Credit: Birmingham Museums Trust [CCO} … As an editor, I had dealings with Mandelson. No one doubted his brilliance: a much more substantial figure than Cummings, he was foremost among the inventors of New Labour. The issue was always that of trust. One day in 1998 our news desk told me that he had borrowed a large sum of money from his cabinet colleague Geoffrey Robinson to buy a house, and failed to declare this. Robinson's business affairs were already controversial. Then I received a phone call from Peter himself, who had become secretary of state for trade and industry. "I hear you've got hold of a story about me getting money from Geoffrey Robinson," he said. "I can tell you categorically that it is untrue. I borrowed the money from my mother." I called in  the staffers running the investigation and told them to hold publication. They remonstrated furiously. Our political editor...

  Food                                            Some recipes from Nigel Slater. Kitchen Utensils, Meat and Vegetables ,   Floris Gerritsz. van Schooten (c.1585-after 1655) Photo Credit: The Fitzwilliam Museum [CC BY-NC-ND]   Mustard Guacamole, Mozzarella, Bagel – A surprisingly substantial sandwich, and one that requires a couple of perfect avocados. Not just a point, but unblemished. A sandwich to be eaten within minutes of the avocado being crushed. Chickpea, pea, sprouted seeds – one of those everlastingly useful “suppers in minutes”. Paneer, Aubergine, Cashews – Gentle spice for a summer’s evening. Freekeh, Peaches, Feta – A substantial salad of warm, chewy grain, salty cheese and sweet, juicy peaches. (The Times, 2019) Thanks but no thanks. How about a home-made beef curry? National Crime Agency T hree London properties worth more than £80 million have been...

  Shaking Hands Sign for the 'Salutation Inn' ,  unknown artist Photo Credit: Heritage Doncaster [CC BY] Schools are letting down young people by not teaching them the basics of interviews, including how to shake hands, according to Nilesh Dosa, a youth mentor at the accountancy firm Ernst and Young. “We’re churning out academically able students who just aren’t equipped for work,” he has said. The etiquette consultant Jo Bryant agrees. “You can have all the qualifications in the world, but if you go in with a poor body language, poor eye contact and a poor handshake you won’t get the job.” (The Guardian, 2019) Does it need an ‘etiquette consultant’ to state the obvious? MPs and Expenses Nearly 400 MPs including nine cabinet ministers and Jeremy Corbyn, have been blocked from using their parliamentary credit cards for breaking expenses rules in just over three years. …Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the committee on standards in public life, said: “It shows there is eithe...

  Sport: “In football as in life, events occur at the juxtaposition of noise and signal, contingency and agency.” (Matthew Syed, The Times – quoted in Private Eye 1491                                    What? Any Wintry Afternoon in England ,  Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889-1946) Photo Credit: Manchester Art Gallery [CC BY-NC-ND] * Liverpool and Tottenham fans are being charged sky-high prices to attend the Champions League final next month. The price of scheduled flights from the UK to Madrid has increased to more than £1,300 return. …Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram expressed his anger at easyJet’s prices, tweeting: “Hiking up prices by 683 per cent for return flights to Madrid is quite simply profiteering from the passion of football fans. This is nothing new but entirely shameful. EasyJet responded: “We use a live pricing system and when it’s busy many people are booking...

  Foreign Intervention The Libyan Desert, Sunset ,   William Blake Richmond (1842-1921) Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] … So I return to Libya. In that single sentence from Cameron’s 2011 victory speech in Benghazi – “Your city was an inspiration to the world as you threw off a dictator and chose freedom” – we can find the answer to the question “why then, the debacle of the new Libya?” Our prime minister was making two assertions. First, “you threw off a dictator”. This was true. Second, “you chose freedom”. This was false. The cheering mob had not “chosen” freedom.    They’d chosen only to be rid of somebody. They weren’t focusing on the future. It would not be long before some of them would “choose” one militia, some another, and many, terrified choose to cower. Some would even be missing their former dictator. It was not they but we, their supposed liberators, France and Britain, who had chosen freedom for them. It never took root. …Foreign intervention tends to...