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SubscriptionsSection: Argument
Honestly held opinions and provocative argument based on current events or our recent reports.
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PANDEMONICS: The False Choice Between National Wealth and National Health
Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at King’s College London, explains why we don’t need to turn a health crisis into an economic depression.
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Did Experts Fail to “Speak Truth to Power” Over ‘Targeted Herd Immunity’?
Hardeep Matharu speaks to a NHS consultant about how the politics of inevitability infected the UK Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Coronavirus: We Must Resist this Exercise in Hypernormalisation
Hardeep Matharu warns against becoming numb to the constructed reality being created by politicians as the UK gets to grips with the immense human cost of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Germany – Another Country Whose Approach puts the UK to Shame
James Melville contrasts and compares Britain to the fast testing and community outreach approach of its European neighbours.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Does COVID-19 Prove Women Are Best Suited to Lead in a Crisis?
New Zealand and Germany have been commended for their approaches to tackling the Coronavirus pandemic – does the fact that both are led by females hold the key to their success?
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Exploiting a Pandemic: Billionaire Press Owners Want Your Tax Money
Brian Cathcart argues that, while journalism is in crisis because of COVID-19, subsidies to untrustworthy newspaper proprietors are not the answer.
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Democracy in the UK – How Worried Should We Be?
Mike Buckley observes how authoritarian takeovers are often led by elected incumbents and finds worrying signs in Boris Johnson’s populist approach.
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Keir Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet: Talking About a New Generation
Former Labour MP Ian Lucas explains how the party’s fresh frontbench team is not Ed Miliband revisited.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Hit it Hard. Hit it Early. New Zealand‘s Response to COVID-19 Puts the UK Government to Shame
James Melville on the fast response of Jacinda Ardern’s Administration which puts the UK Government to Shame
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Disinformation Rings True As Our Pandemic of Untruth Continues
Musa Okwonga explores why conspiracy theories are finding such an audience and what this exposes about the worrying state of our democracy and the social contract.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: We Must Confront Grave Matters No Matter How Uncomfortable They Are
Dr John Ashton, a former director of public health, explains why it is wise to give thought during the COVID-19 pandemic to those life and death concerns we never usually want to confront.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Idyllic Indonesian Island of Bali is a COVID-19 Catastrophe Waiting to Happen
CJ Werleman considers the impact of the Coronavirus on tourism and how this may be one crisis too many for Bali to recover from.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: A “Distraction” of the Government’s Own Making – Why ‘Herd Immunity’ Won’t Go Away
A concept first discussed publicly by the Government itself, the Health Secretary is trying to put the genie back in the bottle – something which must not be allowed when people’s lives are the cost.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Statistics are Patients with the Tears Wiped Off
Dr John Ashton, a former director of public health, considers the fateful legacy of the Atlético Madrid-Liverpool football match and the Cheltenham races.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Christian Right Becomes A Suicide Cult
CJ Werleman explains why President Donald Trump’s support from the Christian Right is proving deadly in the US’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Government Must Go Much Further to Protect Workers and Business
Mike Buckley considers the disadvantages of the Government schemes announced to support the employed and self-employed and whether a universal basic income might be the way forward.
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Why Fortress Europe and the European Union Can’t Coexist
Joey Ayoub explores a big dilemma facing the EU, involving a desire to dissolve borders within while promoting them without.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Is the US Using COVID-19 to Topple Venezuela’s Leader?
Steve Shaw reports on the US Government’s announcement of charges against President Nicolas Maduro for drug trafficking and questions the timing of such a move during the Coronavirus pandemic.
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Editorial: The Nation’s Immune System and the Cost of Lies
On Byline Times’ first anniversary, a big thank you to all our readers and subscribers for your support.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Can Rishi Sunak Win the Peace, Not Just Fight the War?
Gareth Roberts argues that the Chancellor must not revert to type after the COVID-19 pandemic eases and preside over the continued under-funding of public services.
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‘Behind Closed Doors Johnson and his Cabinet Do Not Applaud the NHS – They Ideologically Oppose It’
From his time working with Brexit and Conservative lobby groups, Shahmir Sanni argues that the people in power in the UK actually despise social services, despite their praise of them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Already Vulnerable Groups Should Not Be Forgotten in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Dr John Ashton with his update on UK developments on the Coronavirus and the side-effects we are overlooking.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Why Are Lies More Attractive than Science?
Sarah Haque explores the gap between expert and public understandings of science and why this poses such challenges in times of public health crises such as the Coronavirus pandemic.
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Twitter Cannot Keep Hiding Behind Blanket Anonymity
Why are social media companies so reluctant to accept the harm caused by allowing users to set up anonymous accounts?
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The Coronavirus Crisis: China Capitalises on COVID-19 By Blaming Foreigners
CJ Werleman looks at the international conspiracy theories being thrown around about the Coronavirus and how the Chinese Communist Party is using the pandemic to further its geopolitical goals.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: More Austerity Doesn’t have to be the Answer to a COVID-19 Recession
Stephen Colegrave on why using austerity to justify the right-wing claim that the ‘cure is worse than the disease’ is so damaging in the fight against the Coronavirus.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: What Should Happen Next in Hospitals, Homes, Prisons and the Community?
Dr John Ashton explains how the threat posed by the Coronavirus will be amplified in closed settings and communities.
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The Trial of Alex Salmond: What Only the Jury Knows
The former First Minister of Scotland was cleared of all charges against him at Edinburgh’s High Court on Monday. Here, court reporter James Doleman shares his thoughts on covering the trial.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Trump is Choosing Mass Graves Over Social Distancing to Save the Stock Market
The lives of Americans are being put in grave danger because of the President’s incompetence, misinformation and narcissism, says CJ Werleman.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Obnoxious Stupidity of Flag-Waving Patriotism
CJ Werleman argues that those flocking to beaches at the weekend and flouting social distancing measures to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak cannot be called patriotic.
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Help, I’m a Teenager, Get Me Out of Here
Sofia Overton sets out how Generation Z is in a near constant state of anxiety as existential crisis after existential crisis seems to unfold.
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Can Rishi Sunak’s Budget Satisfy the New Red Wall Conservatives?
Mike Buckley provides an analysis of why he believes the Government’s first budget – and the pressures of the Coronavirus outbreak – will be unable to satisfy its new Red Wall Conservative voters.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Cloud of Unknowing and the Veil of Ignorance
Hardeep Matharu explores how the uncertainty around the Covid-19 pandemic has reanimated forgotten philosophies of social justice and mutual aid.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Crisis of Incompetence
Paul Niland explores how the global Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the weakness of populist politics and unprincipled power.
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You Cannot Sing ‘Rule Britannia’ to a Virus
Musa Okwonga on why the British notion of exceptionalism can be seen in the country’s handling of the Coronavirus outbreak and why it should just admit that it’s not really that rebellious – despite the myths it tells itself.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Is £330 Billion Going to Get to the Right People?
Stephen Colegrave investigates whether the new UK Government support package is going to help the working population or just prop up big business.
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Stalinist and Reductionist: How the UK Government Created the Worst-Case Scenario
John Ashton, the former senior public health director who first questioned the UK Government’s response to COVID-19 on the BBC, finds a ray of hope.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Mistake Over ‘Herd Immunity’ Has Cost Us Vital Time
Mike Buckley sets out the Government’s strategy towards the COVID-19 outbreak so far and explores why its handling of it already raises much bigger questions about the country’s governance – concerns which have been there all along.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: We Need to Bail Out the British Public
Stephen Colegrave considers those who are vulnerable to the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and how important it is for the Government to support them.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: Journalists Should Not Pick Sides
Brian Cathcart on why reporting that helps people form a balanced understanding of the Coronavirus outbreak so that they can make up their own minds in an informed way is absolutely vital.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: The Danger of America Being a ‘Me’ Country Not a ‘We’ Country
CJ Werleman explains why a national philosophy of selfishness and a President who willingly spreads disinformation is such as a threat to America as it tackles the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Turkish Delight? Putin and Erdogan’s Complicated Relationship
After the Turkish and Russian Presidents met in Moscow to discuss the situation in Idlib, Stephen Komarnyckyj looks at the current relationship between the two countries.
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The Coronavirus Crisis: We Are Right to be Concerned About the Government’s Response
Mike Buckley explains how Boris Johnson’s administration has one of the laxest responses to the pandemic compared to other countries and believes it is unnecessarily putting lives at risk.
