Welcome to the IEA Weekend Newsletter!

• WHO's to blame?
• Webinars of the week
• IEAsolation
• Covid opportunism
• i on the media

Welcome to the IEA Sunday Newsletter. We hope that, despite the lockdown, you're having the best Easter you can.  

WHO's to blame?

Earlier this week Donald Trump threatened to freeze US funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) – placing the agency under increased scrutiny. 

Repeated lapses of judgement throughout this crisis throw up questions around whether the WHO is fit for purpose. It took China’s reporting in good faith, parroted misinformation around human-to-human transmission, and claimed as late as March that the “stigma” around Covid-19 was “more dangerous than the virus itself”. Its actions may have led to greater human suffering and a higher death toll.
 

Responding to Donald Trump’s statement, Christopher Snowdon, IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics, said:

“Donald Trump is right to consider suspending funding of the WHO. Its mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic means that it can no longer be given the benefit of the doubt.

“This unaccountable organisation makes FIFA look like boy scouts. It spends half its time obsessing over sugary drinks, vaping and drinking while repeatedly dropping the ball on infectious diseases.

The WHO urgently needs reform. As one of its biggest funders, the British government should demand changes or withdraw its support.”



Christopher also wrote on the topic for The Telegraph and our Director of Communications Annabel Denham for CapX.

Webinars of the week

Our next IEA webinar will be with Karin Svanborg-Sjövall, Chief Executive of Swedish Think Tank Timbro, from 1pm-2pm on Wednesday 15th April. She will be discussing ‘The Impact of Coronavirus on Populism and Democracy’. The event is invitation only but if you would like to request a place, please email [email protected].

And we are delighted to announce that on Thursday 16th April, from 6pm-7pm, the IEA is holding a webinar with Patrick Basham, Founding Director at the Democracy Institute, to discuss the WHO’s failings and future. The event is invitation only but if you would like to join, please email [email protected].

IEAsolation

Elsewhere, IEA Digital Manager Darren Grimes hosted the third episode of our #IEAsolation series, with our Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson and Matthew Lesh of the Adam Smith Institute.

They discussed the implications of Covid-19 testing, combined with track and trace, on our civil liberties.

Catch up on discussion on our YouTube channel here.

Covid opportunism

With the country in lockdown, you might imagine the public health lobby would take a bit of a back seat on non-coronavirus issues.

But as Christopher Snowdon points out in an article for the Spectator USA, public health groups have realised the public are willing to temporarily sacrifice liberty for safety - and seized the opportunity to push pet policies as a help or solution to the coronavirus crisis. 

Examples include South Africa banning the sale of alcohol and tobacco during their lockdown, and the US Surgeon General linking vaping to the virus with no evidence to support his claims.

Christopher noted: “there is something almost heroic about single-issue pressure groups insisting that their longstanding pet policies just happen to be the solution to a black swan event in a world turned upside down.”

The IEA has long been sceptical of the efficacy and, indeed, desirability, of hastily implemented public health measures.

And a new IEA paper, ‘Short term impact of minimum pricing of alcohol in Scotland’, publishes for the first time data on the effects of the policy in the eight months immediately after it was introduced in May 2018. 

Christopher says of the findings: “We were told that the impact of minimum pricing on health outcomes would be almost immediate, but these new figures suggest there has been no impact whatsoever.” 

“Rates of alcohol-related mortality in Scotland have followed the same pattern as the rest of Britain and the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions has risen. The financial cost to moderate drinkers has been much greater than predicted and low income households have been hit particularly hard.” 

“All in all, this is more evidence that minimum pricing has been an expensive failure.” 



Our video on the study can be found here. Christopher also discussed it on BBC Radio Scotland and talked about wider opportunism from lobby groups during this crisis on our IEA Podcast.

Read the full briefing paper here.

Your one-stop shop

Webinars, podcasts and vidcasts are just part of our new and enhanced online offering.

In case you missed it, we've also introduced iea DAILY, a sister publication to this Sunday newsletter.  Monday to Saturday, iea DAILY brings you the key stories of the day - plus the latest on all our online activities and recommendations on must-reads, must-listens and more.

i on the media

Whitehall’s Ponzi scheme… Dealing with an unforeseen crisis is a challenge for any government. But as the IEA’s Director General Mark Littlewood pointed out in his biweekly column for The Times, our national insurance is no longer fit for purpose. 

Instead of providing a safety net, Mark argues, it’s now simply another form of general taxation, used to fund everyday expenditure. In effect, he says, the government runs it “like a Ponzi scheme”.

In order to weather future crises, we must rediscover the social insurance model and adopt “a more prudent approach to budgeting.”

To discuss this, Mark joined our Media Manager Emily Carver on the IEA podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Podbean.

Changing direction? Also on the IEA podcast this week, our Head of Transport Dr Richard Wellings joined IEA Head of Communications Emma Revell to discuss how the pandemic is transforming the way we travel - and whether this will have any lasting impact on demand for transport infrastructure.

Big state seduction…When once in a blue moon events such as coronavirus occur, it is right that the government does all it can to protect lives.

But as Mark argues in an article for the Institute of Arts and Ideas, our leaders “must ensure that any economic measures are put in place only to help their citizens and do not impede future economic activity”.

Corona trade-offs… Writing for the IEA blog, Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson warned there may be unintended consequences from the drive to test, test, test for Covid-19 on privacy and civil liberties.

Meanwhile historian and sociologist Dr Rainer Zitelmann warned on our blog of the “Coronfirmation Bias” of socialist intellectuals during this crisis.

IEA Senior Academic Fellow Professor Philip Booth appeared on Money Talks, where he discussed the news that the Bank of England will directly finance the UK government's Covid-19 crisis spending. 

Seed of fury… Writing for Free Market Conservatives, IEA Media Manager Emily Carver argued that we must relieve the “excessive administrative burden” of the EU plant passport scheme on garden centres. Emily also appeared on talkRADIO with Mike Graham.



Harm, not protection… IEA Policy Advisor Alex Hammond spoke to Chris Hattingh of the Free Market Foundation about the potential impact of Covid-19 on global trade. He warned that a return to nationalist protectionist policies could have a hugely damaging impact on our economic recovery. You can catch up on their conversation here. 

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