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Tuesday 31 March 2020

Toby Young Goes Full Nazi

While most of the UK understands the very real risks of contracting Coronavirus, and moreover of passing on the virus to others, those out there on the libertarian fringe, now cast adrift by broadcasters who have belatedly realised the value of pundits who actually know what they are talking about, have begun jostling for position in the quest for More And Bigger Attention Seeking Gestures For Themselves Personally Now.
There are many variously undeserving contenders for Most Off The Wall Libertarian Idiocy, with the likes of Peter Hitchens, James “saviour of Western civilisation” Delingpole, and of course Brendan O’Neill of Spiked, so called because it should have been many years ago, but upstaging them all today has been the loathsome Toby Young, going full Logan’s Run and declaring that, in order to preserve the economy, the old and vulnerable must die.
Tobes has accomplished his full-on Nazi eugenicist excursion in an article written for, and to its shame published by, The Critic, titled “Has the Government overreacted to the Coronavirus crisis?” QTWTAIN. But we do not need the link, as Tobes has set out his arguments, lame though they be, in a tediously long Twitter thread.
He wants to end the lockdown “on April 14th, the day after Easter Monday. Or if the Government must extend, by the following Monday so children can return to school after the Easter holidays” and goes on to tell “I make three main arguments. First, that the cost of the economic bailout Rishi Sunack [sic] has proposed is too high. Spending that kind of money to extend the lives of a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people with underlying health problems by one or two years is a mistake”. So spoke Tobes 94.
We are talking hundreds of thousands condemned to die a slow, agonising and painful death not unlike drowning - and we can see from available information that many of them will not be elderly. Moreover, the “one or two years” is bullshit. Many would continue to serve their country, and contribute to its economy, for decades to come. But do go on.
Second, this isn't a trade-off between public health and economic health, but between saving lives now and saving them in the future. When economies contract, life expectancy declines, due to, among other things, a rise in poverty, violent crime and suicide. During the global financial crisis of 2007–09, the suicide rate in Europe increased by 6.5% according to the [WHO]”. Why is Tobes assuming continued economic contraction? Plus, 650 deaths by suicide in the UK versus hundreds of thousands by Covid-19. Ri-i-i-ight.
But more significant is his third argument. “There's growing evidence the [Imperial College] team over-estimated the demand for hospital care and under-estimated the surge capacity of the NHS. According to Sunetra Gupta and her team at [the University of Oxford], 50% of the UK population has already been infected. That means the demand for hospital care will be far lower than anticipated”. No. Just no. This is a total non sequitur.
Saying “I found some other research which says something different to the research the Government is following” does not mean there is “growing evidence” of anything. What it does show is that there are some out there on the right so desperate to polish their own specialist turds that they will say anything, no matter how outrageous, as a result.

The stupid is strong with this one. No change there, then.
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15 comments:

Burlington Bertie from Bow said...

Radio 4 'More or Less' this morning demolished Hitchens's nonsense in the Mail yesterday (Sunday?) showing him to be either deliberately misusing figures (lying) or too stupid to understand them.
Any retractions or corrections since? You decide........

Anonymous said...

Softshite Young is 57.

That means HE'S fucked.

With some luck and a helpful contact.

Arnold said...

"When economies contract, life expectancy declines, due to, among other things, a rise in poverty,"
Not necessarily. Austerity AKA the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer wasn’t inevitable but a Tory choice.

J said...

Who'da thunk it... the eugenist loving tobes is all for eugenics. Nazi's gota nazi, and corona is one hell of an excuse to put on the uniform and heil your way down the garden.

Anonymous said...

I do hope Tobes has explained all this to his parents or his wife's (if living) that they are expendable for the common good! I'd like to have been in on that conversation!

Anonymous said...

10 grand short of a picnic.

Sam said...

Crikey has Rupert Murdoch heard of Toby's plans to bin the oldies?. The old bastard's nudging 90. And what about Her Majesty?. He's basically demanding she be sacrificed. Can't he can be sent to the Tower?

Crispin Fisher said...

Professional gob-shite Toby Young has built his career around slagging off and belittling teachers yet after a week of homeschooling his own kids he is begging the government to reopen the schools as soon as possible. What an embarrassment. Education expert my arse!

Anonymous said...

@Crispin Fisher

Quality Control (QC) isn't what it used to be...

They keep on talking without authorization.

Anonymous said...

Hold on. Economic contraction will lead to an increase in suicide and crime? Haven't the tories been telling us for decades that there is no link between poverty and crime? Crime isn't caused by people being poor, it's caused by moral laxity, according to the vermin party.

dropkick55 said...

A few years back, after appearing on a BBC show, Toby Young was bundled off in a cab on the Beeb's account. Not long after he'd arrived home, the perpetually furious Young rang the taxi company to inform them that he'd left his phone in their cab and wanted the driver to come back to his house immediately.

The company explained that, as the driver was no longer on the BBC's time, Mr Young would have to pay for that journey himself – which prompted some ranting and raving, saying that it was "fucking outrageous" he be asked to pay.

Eventually the cab came back, and he and the driver searched it from top to bottom but found no phone, inspiring yet more effing and blinding – this time directed at the driver, who Young appeared to blame for the entire incident.

A short while later, the cab firm took another call: this time from the BBC, asking if someone would mind coming back to collect Mr Young's phone and delivering it to his home – as he'd absent-mindedly left it behind in the studio...

Anonymous said...

Im normally a very calm and passive person, but as someone who is immune compromised because of my cancer but otherwise healthy and quite likely to live for another 5-10 years, I’d be quite willing to come out of my self imposed quarantine to punch Young in hIs stupid fat face. How dare he tell the world my very survival isn’t economically justifiable?

Anonymous said...

There's a contest going on between Young, Delingpole and Hitchens to see who can be the most stupid about this. It's instructive that they use much the same tactics they use in denying climate change: "there's no scientific consensus" gets another run, meaning they've found one person prepared to disagree with the overwhelming majority of scientists.

Actually, Delingpole edges ahead in the Stupid Olympics (which, sadly, have not been postponed). He begins by saying that he has had Covid-19. He wasn't diagnosed by an actual doctor, of course, but he got a cold after getting in a lift full of Chinese people, so what more proof do you need? (Truly, I am not making this up: it's in the Spectator, but don't read it, it only encourages them.) He claims he's "high risk" because of his "Lyme disease" (he claims to have "chronic Lyme disease", a condition which actual doctors say does not exist), and he's fine now, so what's the problem? again, the climate denial tactics are on show: it's cold where I am, so how can there be global warming?

What sad, attention seeking bullshit merchants. But they're also dangerous, because there are morons out there who believe this shit.

grim northerner said...

There are no old people in logans run because everyone is murdered by the computer BEFORE they grow old.

The Toffee (597) said...

D'ya know what?

If someone was to run up and beat the living shite out of young, I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

Honestly, I could not give less of a shite over whatever misfortune becomes that thoroughly obnoxious lickspittle.