Monty Python’s Flying Circus

By Kevin-James Fenech

Kevin is the founder and owner of JOB Search - jobsearch.mt and FENCI Consulting fenci.eu.

I literally feel like we are stuck in a Monty Python film. The Chamber of Commerce wants a ‘…brief period of heightened restrictions…’ Code for another semi-lockdown?

The Chamber also wants ‘…the reduction of size of public gatherings, wearing of masks at all times outside of homes and active encouragement of remote working wherever possible….’!?

The Malta Union of Teachers is demanding that schools remain closed, so our kids effectively remain ‘home prisoners’ trying to acquire the school experience and learn through a virtual screen.

The government through MITA just launched a COVID19 contact tracing app which will enable ‘proximity tracing’ of Maltese citizens which is reminiscent of the Orwellian ‘Big Brother is Watching’.

We now also have rumours of the rushed vaccine being made mandatory in the EU next year and refusal by a EU citizen to be vaccinated will mean having one’s freedom of movement severely curtailed.

COVID19 restrictions and laws are sprouting everywhere in Europe and we are literally witnessing the greatest infringement on human liberty in recent times yet no one dares raise an objection or ask the big question: Why?

The latest numbers show us that whilst infections are on the rise in Europe, the number of deaths are remarkably low. Furthermore, mortality of COVID19 remains 0.6%. I mean for those under 50 you are more likely to be hit by a bus than contract a fatal dose of COVID19!

Yet governments all over Europe edge closer to lockdowns or semi-lockdowns.

How can you have an economic recovery when ‘economic friction’ is being legislated and institutionalised under the guise of COVID19 public health restrictions and regulations.

In economic theory, ‘economic friction’ is what prevents or hinders the laws and forces of supply and demand from operating freely. You simply can not have a recovery with widespread ‘economic friction’. Fact.

The business owner or investor will not invest; the employer will not employ or maintain a pre-COVID19 headcounts; and the banks will severely reduce their appetite to lend.

You just can not tell workers and school children to all stay at home. You also can restrict peoples’ freedoms and liberties and not expect ‘economic friction’ to derail the economic recovery. Combined, this is bad for the economic recovery.

Yet the Chamber of Commerce now seems to be pushing for ‘heightened restrictions’ as if in cahoots with Dr. Fear. Why!? Whose interests is it representing?   

For those of us from the ‘balanced approach’ school of thought our recommended approach is different and it is based on rational, objective and proportionate decision-making.

We need to adopt a blank cheque approach to protecting the vulnerable and over 60’s; to make their lives as comfortable and safe as possible; money here should almost be unlimited.

Notwithstanding, I would balance this with the rest of the population resuming normal life with barely any public health restrictions (children go to school and workers go to work). The fact of the matter is that 82% of people are symptomatic and the risk of them needing hospital treatment is extremely low.

We therefore must get back to normal life and the very low mortality rate of this virus allows us to do so. Failure to do so, will mean unnecessary economic hardship and a generation of children losing out on their education.

Furthermore, I would like to ask the ‘experts’ what is the top killer in Malta: Is it heart disease, cancer or COVID19? Clue: It isn’t COVID19.

According to official statistics in the UK, flu and pneumonia are roughly ten times more lethal than COVID19 i.e. for every 1 person that dies from the COVID19 virus another 10 die from flu and pneumonia. COVID19 accounts for an average of 11 of 1,687 deaths in Britain every day. By comparison, Heart disease accounts for 460 deaths per day, while cancer kills an average of 450 people per day. You then have dementia (240 people a day) followed by lung disease (84 per day). I am sure that in Malta the top list of killers is similar to that of the UK and more importantly COVID19 ranks low.

Yet we demand or insist on more public health restrictions because of COVID19, further economic friction and/or ‘heightened restrictions’. Give us all a break, pelase. I mean this is equivalent to banning all cars on Maltese roads because ‘x’ amout of people die every year from road accidents.

Personally, I find all this surreal; as if we are living a Monty Python film: “We interrupt this program to annoy you and make things generally more irritating.”

This pretty much sums the matter sadly. Common sense, rational thought and proportionate decision making suspended until we film this Monty Python episode.