The Hallett Inquiry - Eminence-based medicine Part 4

Assumptions, assumptions and more assumptions

We continue with our series of brief posts focussing on the transcript of Professor Dame Angela McLean’s testimony on November 23rd, 2023.

Dame Angela was a leading light in SAGE and is currently the UK Government's Chief Scientific Advisor.

Here, Lady Hallett is asking her to clarify the rationale for so-called circuit breaker lockdowns.

Like the previous statements, this is disturbing in many aspects.

First is the assumption that you have to do something, anything - the so-called “headless chicken principle”.

Second, the belief that short lockdowns “keep infections low”.

Writing in the Spectator, Ros Clark on 9 November 2020, asked if Wales’s ‘circuit-breaker’ made any difference. It didn’t.