Brexit and Corona -- both produced by 'booming bluffers'

Some valiant attempts to say I told you so from the Observer this week. First :

Brexit means coronavirus vaccine will be slower to reach the UK

And it will cost more here because of the UK pulling out of the European Medicines Agency on 30 December
• Three experts explain why Brexit leaves the UK less able to respond to pandemic

Boris Johnson’s determination to “go it alone”, free of EU regulation, after Brexit means the UK will probably have to join other non-EU countries in a queue to acquire the vaccine after EU member states have had it, and on less-favourable terms....The UK has already withdrawn from the EU’s emergency bulk-buying mechanism for vaccines and medicines, under which member states strike collective agreements with pharmaceutical companies, which speeds up their access to the latest products during a crisis.

So where do we start. (1) there will be a shortage of a yet-to-exist vaccine, even after December, (2) the UK will be dependent on EU supplies of this vaccine.(3) The EU would be happy to see the UK awash with Covid-19 because the virus will not cross borders or mutate.

There are some other 'ifs':

“The UK could, in theory, choose to recognise any approval decision made by the EMA to prevent delays, but this seems at odds with the UK government’s pledge to ‘take back control’. If the UK authorities instead choose to set up a separate review and approval process for medicines and vaccines, then it might delay access to a new coronavirus therapy.

The UK Government seems a bit unmoved, maybe for reasons uncovered by A Rawnsley (below) :

 A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The UK and our friends and partners across Europe are part of a concerted international effort to combat the threat of COVID-19. We are confident that our current close working relationships will continue as we ready ourselves for all eventualities. We’re fully supporting the UK’s world-leading, disease research sector to play a key role in the global effort, with £40 million of new funding for rapid research into the virus.”

The same story appeared earlier (but with different hacks). Both are rendered as 'news',reporting the publication of the actual article above:

 Another go:

 Britain and the EU are facing calls to back away from a “game of chicken” and extend the Brexit transition period immediately, as both respond to the coronavirus pandemic....[These calls come from]...an SDLP politician in Northern Ireland’s assembly...“Right now, I’m loth to even mention Brexit,” he tweeted. “But, as of today, the UK government is still ruling out extending transition. That is lunatic. The world will soon be recovering from a huge economic shock. No one – not the EU or even Trump’s US – will have time for Brexiter fantasies.”

 and a very funny cartoon

A Rawnsley pursues the anti-Johnson line in the usual way, by comparing his populism to Trump's -- and then ridiculing Trump's

The prime minister has been flattered by comparison with Donald Trump...[a man whose] ... multiple flaws are being pitilessly highlighted by a crisis [that] ..a man who does not believe in scientific evidence or international cooperation is hopelessly ill-equipped to handle....Mr Johnson has often aped Trumpian populism [and thus must ape his incompetence as well]...[but] he is smart enough to grasp that something more grown up is now required.

So he is a smart incompetent, who is a populist 'listening intently to the science'. Even D Cummings apparently is 'a fervent admirer of science'. This poses a problem for Rawnsley, focused on the decision not to follow other European countries's policies -- widely seen by liberals as a part of Johnsonian arrogance and Europhobia but based on:

...scientific reasoning... that more draconian steps won’t make that much difference at this stage, are not sustainable over the longer term, and may well turn out to be counterproductive because it will lead to a second wave of infections when restrictions are eased...My conversations have convinced me that the British approach is rooted in scientific logic and a careful calibration of the different risks.

 Thank goodness we still have the hope that Trump will not do as well:

 One of the possible positives to come out of this crisis – I put it no higher than possible at this stage – is that it will decrease the public appetite for bombastic charlatans and increase demand for serious leaders who respect expertise. If it does, that will be bad for populist hucksters more generally.

Finally N Cohen is quite revealing about the npb take on risk:

Only the unlucky think about luck. Lucky people can fail to realise that luck exists. They think they have succeeded on merit, or they have thrived because of their good character or lovable personality. As comfortable people, they revolt against the thought that their comfort can ever end and their lives are contingent.

 But he puts his finger on a real anxiety here, a worry that:

the greatest divide is not between rich and poor, but between the healthy and the sick.  

This ignores the link between health and wealth -- but 'evidence' on economic inequalities has never been a particualrly strong point and flakey anxieties are well established in so many other areas.

So N Cohen wants a daddy to reassure him, a strong man to take charge. It might not work, but the npb will need to take fewer organic calming herbal remedies and reduce the risk of them running out in Waitrose:

I’m simply saying that if you are sick and facing the prospect of death, the state is the only institution with the means and responsibility to help you....The British government believes we are still the country of last month’s booming bluffers [no mention of scientific advice]. It fears that, if it orders lockdowns now, fatigue will set in and the public will be breaking the curfews as the illness peaks....My Italian friends say that, even in a country where suspicion of government is imbibed from childhood, 80% back the government’s decision to lock down the country. They support it because “we’re so frightened”.