New Year, Same Old Shot

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IN THIS BULLETIN:

* RESEARCH: Vaccination, not vacillation: we list 22 ways of speeding the roll-out.
* WEBINARS: The End of the Great Stagnation, Rand on our times, the vital role of innovation in saving our skin.
* ONLINE: Reasons to be optimistic — though MPs and bureaucrats are making people miserable.




** BUT FIRST...
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I realise that I’ve now been in more lockdowns than relationships. This one’s only been going three weeks and already I’m losing track of time. And working from home is no fun—even if you throw a sickie, the golf courses are closed. Still, my mother used to tell me that I’d never achieve anything by lying in bed all day, but now Boris says I’m saving the country! Meanwhile the WHO says it plans on a new naming system to avoid stigmatising countries like the UK, where viruses are found or emerge. (Very thoughtful — though I’d warrant it’s the blushes of their touchy pals in China they are more concerned about!)

In this week’s other news, Dutch customs officials have been confiscating truckers’ ham sandwiches on the grounds that the Brexit deal doesn’t allow imports of meat for personal consumption. (The French customs officials must be kicking themselves that they didn’t think of that one first.)

The Federation of Small Business says a ‘record number’ of small firms will soon close. (Of course, they added the usual lobbyist rider of ‘unless the government steps up support’.) But large companies are shedding labour too. (I just had a decorator in who turned out to be an ex-BA pilot. He made a nice job of the landing.)

Abroad, New Zealand's central bank has been hacked, though it is not known if the hackers got away with any money. (If they tried it here, they’d only find debts.) (Then they’d have lost interest. Geddit?—Ed.) To help close our deficit, HM Treasury is thinking about a wealth tax. (The trick is to stop thinking of it as ‘your’ money.)

But I digress...


** Just as you thought it was safe to go back into lockdown…
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Like the enemies of capitalism, the enemies of stupid ideas and policies (that’s us) never sleep. Last year, 2020 (That’s another £1 in the swear box, please—Ed.) was actually one of ASI’s most productive, with a slew of reports on how to speed up testing and other topics that really made a difference. We posted blog commentaries on 366 assorted daftnesses (it was a leap year, after all) and more on positive ideas for reform, economic growth, less bureaucracy, free trade, choice, competition, lower taxes and all sorts of other good stuff. Our webinars and podcasts with leading experts went from a standing start to getting zillions of views and ear-holes, plus very positive comments from around the planet. We spoke online at schools and universities, helped talented students fund their postgraduate studies, trained up gap year interns, pumped out press information, comments and articles, blogged furiously, wrote books that were translated into umpteen languages, and much more.

We do all this, yet still retain our humility (as Donald Trump might say, “I’m very proud of that. Believe me. We have a team of incredible people. There’s nobody bigger and better. Never has been. Ever.”).

This year, we’re going to be doing even more. There’s a world economy to get back on its feet, and lots of pointless taxes and regulations pinning it down. And once again, we’ll be doing this without taking any government money — which is why we rely on people like you to support our vital work.
Donate to the Adam Smith Research Trust ([link removed])
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** Anti-vacillation plan:
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Worth A Shot: Accelerating COVID-19 Vaccinations ([link removed])


Just as we showed, back in April, how the government could speed up testing by ditching the absurd Public Health England ‘command and control’ strategy and bring in private clinics to help out, now we’ve identified 22 different ways (you can count ‘em) to speed up the roll-out of vaccines in our newest report, Worth a Shot ([link removed]) , by James Lawson, Jonathon Kitson, and Matthew Lesh. And there’s some evidence that once again the Government has listened. As we recommended, pharmacies (who dish out 15m flu jabs a year) are being brought in, closed hotels and venues are being commissioned as vaccination centres, 24/7 vaccination centres are being trialled and (after a lot of bureaucratic nonsense) a volunteer ‘Jabs Army’ is being recruited. We also want to see mobile and drive-in vaccination centres, walk-ins for spare
appointments and doses, all the over-55s being included now, and much else.
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Our webinars feature real experts challenging orthodox thinking on key issues. They get thousands of viewers and win praise from politicians (and normal people) around the world. To see them in real time, just reply to this email and I’ll send you invites.


** PAST WEBINARS:

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Here you can enjoy ([link removed]) recordings of all our live webinars, hosted on Tuesdays at 6pm UK time. Topics include healthcare, stakeholders v shareholders, divisions in the US, healthcare in uncertain times, the makings of an entrepreneur, stopping drug deaths, free trade, the future of cities, rationing, housing, the Union, education, globalisation, psycho-drugs, the wealth elite, cancel culture, greenery, reforming government, Hong Kong, invention, monetary policy, basic income, innovation, China, migration…and much more!


** UPCOMING WEBINARS:
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On 19 January ([link removed]) , Deputy Director Matt Kilcoyne will be hosting our first webinar back from the break. He’ll be bringing us a fascinating discussion on The End of the Great Stagnation — explaining how we’re bouncing back and moving forward.
Register Here ([link removed])
On 2 February ([link removed]) — the birthday of Atlas Shrugged author Ayn Rand — I will be hosting a webinar looking at what she might have made of our current concerns, such as lockdowns, free speech, cancel culture, identity politics, tearing down statues and more. I will be joined by US Rand expert Tara Smith, UK activist Thomas Walker, and other guests yet to be announced.
Register Here ([link removed])

And on 9 February ([link removed]) , my colleague Dr Madsen Pirie will be hosting Dr Anton Howes, a leading economic historian and Industrial Revolution expert on the subject of innovation and its importance in getting us out of our present economic mess.
Register Here ([link removed])


** And if you like our webinars, you'll love our podcast!
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Check out the latest episodes of The Pin Factory at this link ([link removed]) . You'll find ASI staff and guests musings on:
* Vaccines, Palace Intrigue and Adam Smith
* US Election and Lockdown Shenanigans
* Biden vs Trump on Brexit Negotiations
* Covid Purgatory and Taxes

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I’m not quite sure why the weekend papers are still running Travel and Money sections, when we can’t travel anywhere and there’s nowhere open to spend money. I’m also not sure why the Health sections are recommending January diets based on vegetables when most of us want January Lockdown diets based on beer (at least wine is made of fruit––Ed.).

Still, the news pages are packed with good stuff, like the latest reports from us at ASI…

Worth a Shot ([link removed]) was widely covered in the media and online, including features in The Telegraph ([link removed]) , The Telegraph ([link removed]) again, Telegraph Red Box ([link removed]) , The Telegraph ([link removed]) once more, The Daily Mail ([link removed]) , The Mirror
([link removed]) , i Newspaper ([link removed]) , Bloomberg ([link removed]) , The Mail ([link removed]) , The Yorkshire Post ([link removed]) , CapX ([link removed]) , Guido Fawkes ([link removed]) , and medical news websites Medscape ([link removed]) and Healthcare Leader News
([link removed]) . Morgan Schondelmeier even had the honour of appearing on BBC Scotland’s flagship programme The Nine ([link removed]) to discuss the paper.

We featured on the front page of the Financial Times ([link removed]) as Matt Kilcoyne commented on a story that the Government might reevaluate the UK's adherence to EU labour market rules. His comments also featured in The Express ([link removed]) and The National ([link removed]) .

You could also see our Daniel Pryor making the case for why CEOs matter on High Pay Day, with his comments featured on BBC News ([link removed]) , The i newspaper ([link removed]) and more. His comments on the stamp duty holiday also featured in The Telegraph ([link removed]) .

Frequenting the airwaves over the last few weeks was Matt Kilcoyne, appearing several times on TalkRADIO, Times Radio, and appearing on Sky’s Kay Burley @ Breakfast to review the papers.


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** Reasons for optimism
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Despite lockdown, my colleague Dr Madsen Pirie maintains his usual infectious chirpiness with a new series of twice-weekly blog posts on reasons for optimism. For instance, 2020 brought us many scientific advances ([link removed]) :

There were the SpaceX launches of their Falcon rockets and Dragon vehicles. There were major discoveries by archaeologists and paleontologists. Biochemical engineers created new enzymes that can break down plastic bottles within days. Other successful space launches included the Solar Orbiter and NASA’s new Perseverance Mars rover. China executed a moon landing to return lunar rocks to Earth, while Japan brought back samples from an asteroid.

Closer to earth, though, the big scientific event was the fast track development of innovative vaccines to combat coronavirus:

Messenger RNA vaccines, as well as more conventional ones, were able to be developed very quickly, and proved cheap to make and mass produce. Innovations in vaccine technology bring the prospect of eliminating some of the ancient scourges of humankind, and give humanity the edge in rapidly responding to new threats that come along.

Another reason for optimism is genetic modification ([link removed]) , which now allows us to speed up the selective breeding of plants that has gone on since the dawn of agriculture itself:

Humans have done genetic modification for centuries. Our distant, and in some cases, recent, ancestors turned Brassica oleracea into cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale and the others. They turned wild wolves into domestic dogs. We have modified animals, vegetables and fruits to do what we want them to do.

So now — and particularly vital for the world’s poorest:

We have modified crops to give higher yields, to be saline tolerant or drought resistant. In some cases we have made them self-fertilizing, in others insect repellant...Already there is “golden” rice modified to incorporate vitamin A so that children in poor countries can be more protected from malnutrition and blindness. The use of plants as drug factories is well established, with even GM tobacco plants used to produce antibodies against Ebola, but the prospects are literally limitless.

Another joyful thing to look forward to is that a hologram of nonagenarian blob Sir David Attenborough will soon pop up on our mobile phones in order to advertise 5G. That prospect is anything but fun, of course; it’s what follows. Have you ever thrown a mobile phone at the wall? That is fun!


** Anyway, back to work. These electrons don’t move themselves.
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Feet on the ground — ASI Fellow Tim Ambler reminds us that there is a lot that science can’t solve, namely the Great British Bureaucracy, which has turned a vaccination programme into a vacillation programme ([link removed]) :

Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer, said there was no shortage of the vaccines themselves but of the vials to put them in. When we ordered 100 million doses, it seems no one thought of the vials.

Oops. Meanwhile, ex-NHS staff who want to help out:

face 15 hours of online form filling before they can make the first jab. Matt Hancock agreed that wielding a hypodermic did not really require proof of diversity awareness or terrorism policy or many of the other 21 tests, but the mid-level NHS manager who appeared on the programme clearly disapproved, and, one suspects, would be in no hurry…

In the first wave, tomes of pettifogging regulation were thrown out. Isn’t it time to do the same now?

Meanwhile, the government seems determined to raise living costs for the poor. Yes, that’s right, says arch-blogger Tim Worstall. Due to disruptions during the covid scare, the cost of food and some other essentials have risen. But now, on the fantasy that it will reduce obesity, buy-one-get-one-free, three-for-two and other offers are to be banned, snatching better value food out of the mouths of poor families. Bizarrely: ([link removed])

The government is demanding that the poor be poorer. We can’t help but think that this isn’t a reasonable aim of government policy. Actually, we’d mutter that it’s somewhere along the spectrum from misguided through to an aggression upon the poor. But then as Bernard Levin spent those decades pointing out there’s little so dangerous as the Single Issue Fanatic. The groupthink about obesity is leading to this absurdity, that government is actively insisting upon taking the crusts out of the mouths of poor babes and children.

AND FINALLY…

Funny old world department. In a gesture of unqualified support for free speech, Twitter bravely allowed Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran to continue tweeting. That’s the guy who said that Iran will assist any nation that ‘fights the Zionist regime’ — which he describes as ‘a deadly, cancerous growth’. And in a blow for decency everywhere, YouTube heroically suspended TalkRADIO’s account on the grounds that some of their interviewees sometimes say things other people don’t agree with. You couldn’t make it up.

As we reflect on events in Washington, let’s remember the words of Lily Tomlin:

“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.”

Bye,

e

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