We may look back on this as the week when the global wave of coronavirus lockdown hysteria recedes, as more sensible voices and experts come to the fore, including a key WHO adviser condemning the use of lockdowns as a primary means of control for the coronavirus.

The historic Great Barrington Declaration led by Professor Sunetra Gupta (Oxford) and Jay Bhattacharya (Harvard) replaces lockdowns with “focused protection” to protect the most vulnerable people from the virus, while allowing those at much lower risk to work and/or return to school and life generally. How well does this map in Australia’s unique context to IPA Research calling for a strategy based on “Medical Capacity”? Report co-author Asher Judah joins regular panellists Scott Hargreaves and Chris Berg to discuss.

For months the IPA has been pointing to harm and suffering caused by the lockdowns yet the Victorian government is only beginning to admit this, and that “roadmap” goals are unachievable.  As we survey the destruction of the State’s once great health system, its economy, and its people’s mental health, is there finally scope for a U-turn?

This week’s culture picks include four-part docuseries, Before the Web by Jim Epstein; The IPA’s Climate Change: The Facts 2020; and George Friedman’s novel, The Storm Before The Calm. (45:08-59:15)

Show notes:

The Great Barrington Declaration

https://gbdeclaration.org/

Reaching Immunity | A Private Summit of Epidemiologists Against Lockdowns; AIER

https://youtu.be/jtiInz1DWuA

Medical Capacity: An Alternative to Lockdowns; Daniel Wild and Asher Judah

https://ipa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Medical-Capacity-An-Alternative-to-Lockdowns-IPA.pdf

Support for eased restrictions grows as Melburnians reach breaking point (IPA Research), Shannon Deery

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/coronavirus/support-for-eased-restrictions-grows-as-melburnians-reach-breaking-point/news-story/ddcdfbf189ee8c8cf330753546bb3dad

The Australian Century, Asher Judah

https://www.connorcourtpublishing.com.au/The-Australian-Century-_p_14.html

Culture picks:

Before the Web: The 1980s Dream of a Free and Borderless Virtual World, Jim Epstein

https://reason.com/video/before-the-web-the-1980s-dream-of-a-free-and-borderless-virtual-world/

Climate Change: The Facts 2020 (Chapter 19); IPA

https://climatechangethefacts.org.au/

The Storm Before the Calm, George Friedman

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/252382/the-storm-before-the-calm-by-george-friedman/