Open Letter to New Zealand MP Simon Bridges - Covid-19 and Government Malfeasance Bordering on Criminal Negligence
I sent this email today to New Zealand Member of Parliament, and erstwhile leader of the largest opposition party, Simon Bridges. Simon recently lost the leadership of the National Party in a coup d'état of colleague cowardice (to someone who has since resigned - you couldn't invent this stuff) because he dared question the NZ government’s draconian response to the covid-19 virus at a time when the country (and especially the media) was in a hysteria of over-reaction (many still are).
Because the government and media had done such a great job of panicking most of the population, Simon’s and National’s polling took a hit. Not good in an election year. That the role of an opposition party in a liberal democracy is to do exactly that – challenge the government narrative – was tossed aside. Simon was doing what the MSM wouldn’t. I even heard a few journalists saying the coming September election should be postponed. So much for their meme: champions of democracy.
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Hi Simon
For several years in the 2000s I worked as an advisor to Jim Anderton MP. So obviously I am not a supporter of the National Party. Politically, you and I probably have little in common. However, one thing I am sure we would agree on is the direct correlation between economic health and personal health. This is not controversial. Until you were rolled I was considering voting for National for the first time because of the critical stance you took over the dystopian response of this Labour-led government to the covid-19 virus.
Never in modern history has a NZ government shown the extent of malfeasance, bordering on criminal negligence, that we’ve been subjected to over the past four months (this includes the neo-liberal devastation imposed on NZ by the 1984-1990 government. Labour again.). They have unleashed their authoritarian longings and given them free reign.
Over the past few months, and at the behest of a handful of public health officials, using epidemiology models of dubious value, with a back drop of a continually changing W.H.O. message, the government panicked and stopped the lawful activities of most New Zealanders. The old addage “keep calm and carry on” was thrown away. Ironically they panicked at the very moment evidence was emerging that the academic medical profession as a whole was not panicked; there was a vigorous and appropriate debate going on.
And data was coming in. That data also supported the “keep calm” message. By mid-March Italian data strongly indicated [edited 12/8: link added; it was 'late-March'] that though lethal to some (the elderly with underlying conditions for example), the impact of covid-19 on the general population in good health was minor. This happened around the time we were going into lockdown.
This government has successfully turned a sector crisis into a nationwide crisis. Though they cannot be held responsible for the collapse in tourism, their subsequent actions in closing borders and imprisoning visitors just doubled down on the problem. But they must take full responsibility for the hits to SMEs in the retail, and food & beverage sectors; the loss of education opportunities (irretrievable for some children and young people); the spike in domestic violence; damage to people’s mental health ... the list seems infinite ... and unforgivable.
If one was planning on destroying an economy, Labour have provided the template (twice now in my lifetime - the 1980s and now the 2020s). They undertook this action apparently without weighing the costs (how long have you got) against the benefits (I can't think of one).
They did all this in the absence of evidence; first that covid-19 was deadly for most people, and secondly that lockdowns even work to reduce deaths [edited 27/7 - replaced 'contain viruses' with 'reduce deaths']. In both cases the evidence is now in. Covid-19 is not deadly for most people and the vulnerable can be easily protected. And lockdowns do not reduce deaths. The Lancet recently published a paper in which the authors state:
Rapid border closures, full lockdowns, and wide-spread testing were not associated with COVID-19 mortality per million people.
In fact the paper is explicit on death causality:
Increased mortality per million was significantly associated with higher obesity prevalence ... and per capita gross domestic product ... Reduced income dispersion reduced mortality
In other words, death rates are ‘significantly associated’ with an individual’s underlying health condition, and economic inequality. There seems to be a growing consensus converging to this conclusion.
What disturbs me the most was how the NZ government, along with many of the so-called liberal democracies, used a totalitarian dictatorship as a model for how to respond. I can understand China’s response from their perspective. With only about 6% of the population actual members of the CCP, they need to use all of the malevolent Hobbesian/Machiavellian playbook to control the other 94%. Is that really who we want to model our behaviour on?
New Zealand's current political management have shown a unique immaturity and unsuitability for leadership; they are not fit to govern. The current Prime Minister is a victory of spin over substance. She may be lionized today but I’m sure this is a passing phase. I wouldn’t be surprised if the expression “ ... done an ardern” becomes a future simile/synonym for taking an action with minimal consideration of the consequences. That anyone can be seriously thinking about re-electing these people beggars belief.
I’m lucky. I am over 50, not trying to establish a career, family, or accrue assets. Nor am I burdened with debt (probably not that dissimilar to most of these decision makers). As Heather Mac Donald recently wrote
To a person, every elected official, every public health expert, and every media pundit who lectured Americans about the need to stay in indefinite lockdown had a secure (“essential”) job.
Replace 'Americans' with 'New Zealanders' and you have it. To find myself agreeing with ultra-conservative people like her on this issue, people who I would normally have little, if anything, in common, is almost dispiriting.
I’m glad I’m not 20 years younger. This could have been a disaster. It will be for many. My generation had our own disaster thanks to Labour in the 1980s and National in the early 1990s. Now we’re visiting something similar on our own children and grandchildren.
In the preface to his 1852 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles MacKay observed
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.
I hope that people, especially younger New Zealanders who have been disproportionately harmed, and disproportionately mesmerised by the Labour spin-factory, recover their senses sooner rather than later, for their own sakes.
Anyway, this is all a long-winded way of me thanking you for trying to stand up to those crazies in the government, public health sector, and media. Unfortunately you were punished for it when your colleagues blinked. You were right to challenge the government’s covid narrative. Right philosophically (the role of opposition), and right technically (the science was not even close to being ‘settled’ when these unprecedented decisions were taken).
Have a good election.
Best wishes
Craig Hutchinson