Best of the Spectator LIVE: The Spectator’s Alternative Covid Inquiry
Mar 1, 2026
Tom Whipple, science writer who studies decision-making under uncertainty; Christopher Snowdon, journalist who examines economic fallout of policy; Sunetra Gupta, Oxford epidemiologist known for herd immunity work; Jonathan Sumption, former Supreme Court justice focused on civil liberties. They debate lockdown effects, modelling limits, economic costs, legal and moral trade offs, and how to test policies next time.
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Lockdowns Versus Civil Liberties
- Lockdowns traded fundamental civil liberties for state coercion across large swathes of daily life.
- Lord Jonathan Sumption argued rights to movement, association and work were curtailed without sufficient justification and caused long-term social harm.
Natural Herd Immunity And Seasonality Explained
- Epidemics naturally slow as susceptible numbers fall and seasonality shifts, so declines during lockdowns may reflect immunity and seasonality as much as interventions.
- Prof. Sunetra Gupta noted rapid waning immunity and seasonality produce repeated waves and an eventual endemic equilibrium, complicating attribution of effects to lockdowns.
Prioritise Focused Protection For The Vulnerable
- Focused protection for the vulnerable should replace blanket lockdowns in future responses.
- Prof. Sunetra Gupta suggested state-supported individual risk reduction for high-risk elderly and comorbid people instead of confining broad low-risk populations.