Toby Young And A Decimal Point

Those who look in from the outside to the hermetically sealed world of the Media Establishment long ago concluded that one thing they could see clearly, and those inside the bubble could not, was the total lack of self-awareness in the inmates. Worse, as this was a sealed world, there was ultimately no penalty for bad behaviour or intellectual inadequacy. Hence the presence of the loathsome Toby Young.

Tobes can letch at under-age girls, indulge in crude and puerile LAD BANTER, and talk well while lying badly, but those broadcast media bookers keep on inviting him back. So it has been with the Coronavirus pandemic: as has now been immortalised by Private Eye magazine, he infamously claimed last June that there would be no second wave, adding “The virus has melted into thin air”. Yesterday, another 598 deaths were recorded.

He has continued the idiocy this morning by taking a speculative study reported by the Daily Mail as fact (not always a good idea) and concluding “New study suggests more than five million Britons have had the coronavirus. Given that ~50,000 people have died from it, that means it has an IFR of <0.1%. That’s roughly the same as seasonal flu”.

But here a problem enters: 50,000 is not 0.1% of five million, but 1%. Which makes Covid-19 ten times more lethal than flu, which is sort of the point. Rob Davies of the Guardian let him down gently: "50,000 expressed as a percentage of five million is 1%” MP Toby Perkins added “His sums are out by a factor of 10, but it’s deaths we’re talking about so no biggie, eh? This is the sort of idiot the government think we should be listening to”.

And so it went on, with Brian Moore musing “I take it Toby Young didn't do a maths degree”. Andrew Parnall asked “Dear Toby Young, I am appallingly bad at maths but isn't the IFR actually 1% or 10 times seasonal flu not <0.1%? Was this 'study' done on all of your fingers and all of your toes?” One Tweeter added “‘Toby Young’ trending is usually good for a laugh, and today is no exception”. And there was more.

Brexit Buster put it in perspective. “If numerically challenged Toby Young had 0.1% more brain function he would be 1% less of a complete knobhead - not a lot, but still statistically significant”. Will Black added “The fact that thicko Toby Young hasn't even deleted this embarassing tweet is telling. The Tories wanted him as a university advisor. He got into Oxford by 'administrative error' - perhaps after daddy called his college”.

Chas Newkey-Burden was on the same page: “Toby Young there, showing that an expensive education and all the connections in the world can't stop you being a fool”. Alexander Clarkson concluded “Again, the key question is not ‘why does Toby Young says stupid things?’ The key question is ‘what structural dysfunction in the British media and political system has enabled Toby Young to get so much attention and influence through saying stupid things?’” Got it in one. The media establishment circle jerk strikes again.

Tobes so wants to believe the drivel he spouts about the pandemic that he just can’t help himself doing something stupid. Yet his opinion continues to be sought out.

Toby Young is not yet irredeemably stupid. But you can see it from there.

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