The Edition: the Covid farce
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 2 November 2023
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Covid Inquiry has reached its more dramatic stage this week with the likes of Domic Cummings, Lee Cain and Martin Reynolds giving evidence. But in his cover piece for the magazine Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at the University of Oxford and director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, says that the Hallett Inquiry is asking all the wrong questions, and is preoccupied with who said what on WhatsApp. He joins the podcast alongside Tom Whipple, science editor at the Times to go through this week's revelations. (01:43).
Also this week: will Israel succeed in its stated aims?
In the magazine this week Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations, argues that Israel has misjudged growing support for Hamas throughout the Middle East and underestimates how hard the group will be to eradicate. He joins the podcast to discuss. (17:49).
And finally:
Fabian Carstairs, who works for The Spectator’s digital team, writes this week about his surprise at finding himself on the Facebook group, 'Are we dating the same guy?' The group aims to highlight ‘red flag men’ in the hope of protecting women. He is joined by Flora Gill, freelance journalist who investigated the group for the Times. (29:25).
Hosted by William Moore.
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. |
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| 0:17.4 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher. |
| 0:30.1 | Hello and welcome to the edition podcast from The Spectator. |
| 0:33.8 | Each week we look at three pieces from the magazine with the writers behind them. I'm William Moore, |
| 0:39.2 | the Spectator's Features Editor. On this week's episode, we'll be looking at the revelations in this |
| 0:45.1 | week's COVID inquiry, asking if Israel's attempts to wipe out Hamas will be achievable, and learning |
| 0:52.1 | about the curious world of social media dating blacklists. |
| 0:56.0 | First up, the COVID inquiry has reached a dramatic stage this week, |
| 1:00.0 | with the likes of Dominic Cummings, Lee Kane and Martin Reynolds giving evidence. |
| 1:05.0 | We can hear an excerpt of Dominic Cummings testimony, which has been making most of the headlines. |
| 1:10.0 | Unfortunately, a large part of how the system works is that ministers parade up Downing Street, |
| 1:14.7 | the cameras click. People act like cabinet is actually deciding things, but everyone |
| 1:19.4 | behind the number 10 door actually near power knows that that's very rarely actually what's |
| 1:24.8 | going on. In his cover piece for the magazine this week, Carl Hennigan, Professor of Evidence-based |
| 1:30.1 | medicine at the University of Oxford and Director of the Centre for Evidence-based |
| 1:34.1 | medicine, says that the Hallett Inquiry is asking all the wrong questions. |
| 1:38.5 | He joins me now, along with Tom Whipple, science editor at the Times. |
| 1:43.8 | Professor Hennigan, I wondered if you could start by |
| 1:46.2 | summarising for our listeners why this COVID inquiry is, in your view, such a missed opportunity, |
| 1:52.5 | and what is it getting wrong in its general approach? Well, I think you've hit the sort of nail on |
| 1:58.9 | the head there by learning lessons. At the moment, what we seem to be doing |
... |
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