Category Archives: Coronavirus crisis

Two more interesting articles on covid mass hysteria

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Paul Frijters

Guess which crackpot started his article on covid in that notorious right-wing publication ‘The Guardian’ with the sentence “The virus has been used as a pretext in many countries to crush dissent, criminalise freedoms and silence reporting”? It’s that obvious … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Democracy, Health, History, Inequality, Political theory, Politics - international, Science, Social Policy | Leave a comment

Interesting new articles on mass hysteria and medical morality

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Paul Frijters

While the hysteria marches on here in Europe, an interesting economics article came out in a decent journal on the political economy of that mass hysteria. Their abstract: In this article, we aim to develop a political economy of mass … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Death and taxes, Democracy, Health, History, Science | 34 Comments

Covid-congestion effects: why are lockdowns so deadly?

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Paul Frijters

Consider the picture below of two hypothetical Accident and Emergency departments (A&E), one that has no covid-regulations and simply has the available nurses trying to help all comers as fast as possible. In the other one the nurses try to … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Death and taxes, Education, Health, Science, Society | 29 Comments

Are the covid lights going on in the States?

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Paul Frijters

An important rule in politics is that you adopt the best policies and slogans of your opponent only after you have destroyed that opponent. Till that moment you pretend he is the devil, but afterwards you re-label his best ideas … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Death and taxes, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Geeky Musings, Health, Humour, Politics - international, Social, Social Policy | 30 Comments

Can you spot the countries with high vaccinations? Or recent lockdowns?

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Paul Frijters

I am all for effective vaccines and have been impressed with how fast vaccines have been developed against covid, but I never expected them to be the wonder weapons some promised them to be. After all, the yearly new vaccines … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Health, History, Innovation, Medical, Politics - international, Politics - national, Society | 12 Comments

Historical analogies for the covid-mania

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Paul Frijters

“men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses more slowly, and one by one.” MacKay, 1841. Right now, London and much of Europe … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Death and taxes, Economics and public policy, Employment, History, Libertarian Musings, Political theory, Politics - international, Science, Social Policy, Uncategorized | 49 Comments

7 Questions and hypotheses for 2021

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Paul Frijters

2020 was certainly a roller coaster for a social scientist, full of surprises. Let me not once again bemoan the increasingly coordinated attack on all sources of vitality in Western civilisation, but look ahead and openly wonder about what 2021 … Continue reading →

Posted in Coronavirus crisis, Cultural Critique, Democracy, Economics and public policy, Humour, IT and Internet, Medical, Politics - international, Politics - national, Science, Social, Social Policy, Uncategorized | 20 Comments