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Nick Ferrari: Time to follow Sweden's lead and free up our economy
17 September 2020, 15:35 | Updated: 17 September 2020, 15:57
LBC's Nick Ferrari highlights the stark differences between the coronavirus response in the UK and that of Sweden, where the approach has been "saner."
AT FIRST the world laughed at Sweden when it refused to toe the line and follow the worldwide accepted policy of a virtual total lockdown as the Covid 19 crisis unfolded.
Now, more than six months on, there's an undeniable and scientifically backed argument that those same nations should look at this liberal Scandinavian country - and weep at the misguided, draconian and possibly calamitous restrictions they raced to bring in.
Ludicrous modelling in the UK from Imperial College predicted there would be 260,000 deaths in the country if no action were taken. Apply the same rationale to Sweden, and the death toll there would have been 85,000.
In the UK the government panicked, shut down the country and last week we learnt 695,000 jobs were lost in just the FIRST phase of lockdown. More, sadly, will follow.
In Sweden however, a saner approach reigned supreme and the government advocated what they called a "common-sense code." Businesses, schools and factories remained open.
The death toll so far is 5,851 and the Swedish economy, while dented, is far and away the healthiest in Europe.
This week in England the palpably risible Rule of Six was introduced. Want to know what they did in Sweden? As of this week you can have up to 500 people in any one gathering.
Quite some birthday party, and through the entire pandemic the number permitted never fell lower than 50.
As local lockdowns in the UK increase, talk of curfews is in the air and Christmas is on the verge of being cancelled, surely it's time to look to the Swedish example and ease up on lockdowns in the future.
