, an international coalition of politicians, business leaders, public intellectuals and cultural commentators, will help ensure that a broader range of perspectives can be heard globally. Consider the world's response to the pandemic. A panic-stricken lockdown orthodoxy far too soon took hold, and those whose policy proposals deviated quickly were labelled 'Covid deniers'. The obvious downsides to universal lockdowns were ignored by those striving to garner credit for simple-minded immediacy of response. Thus, we saw increases of inequality in income distribution and wealth, widespread loss of employment, substantive declines in spending, and general deterioration in economic conditions; serious declines in mental wellbeing, delayed and diminished access to healthcare, and record high levels of domestic violence. The education of children was particularly affected: school closures on average robbed children of more than 7 months of education, which could end up costing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings. We need to have a serious conversation about our manner of response before the next crisis to ensure that the cure is not much worse than the disease. Consider the alarmist treatment of climate change. Campaigners play up fear, while neglecting to mention that reductions in poverty and increases in resiliency mean climate-related disasters kill ever fewer people: over the past century, deaths have dropped 97 per cent. Heatwaves capture the headlines. Globally, however, cold kills nine times more people. Currently, higher temperatures result in 166,000 fewer temperature-related deaths annually. Fear-mongering and the suppression of inconvenient truths are pushing us toward the wrong solutions: politicians and pundits call for net zero policies tha){kind=link}
Our new forum will seek to find practical and positive solutions to the global problems we all face
The meaningful exchange of truly diverse ideas and perspectives has withered over recent decades. We need to foster and promote critical thinking and constructive discussion. Our new Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), an international coalition of politicians, business leaders, public intellectuals and cultural commentators, will help ensure that a broader range of perspectives can be heard globally.
Consider the world’s response to the pandemic. A panic-stricken lockdown orthodoxy far too soon took hold, and those whose policy proposals deviated quickly were labelled “Covid deniers”.
The obvious downsides to universal lockdowns were ignored by those striving to garner credit for simple-minded immediacy of response. Thus, we saw increases of inequality in income distribution and wealth, widespread loss of employment, substantive declines in spending, and general deterioration in economic conditions; serious declines in mental wellbeing, delayed and diminished access to healthcare, and record high levels of domestic violence. The education of children was particularly affected: school closures on average robbed children of more than 7 months of education, which could end up costing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings.
We need to have a serious conversation about our manner of response before the next crisis to ensure that the cure is not much worse than the disease. Consider the alarmist treatment of climate change. Campaigners play up fear, while neglecting to mention that reductions in poverty and increases in resiliency mean climate-related disasters kill ever fewer people: over the past century, deaths have dropped 97 per cent. Heatwaves capture the headlines. Globally, however, cold kills nine times more people. Currently, higher temperatures result in 166,000 fewer temperature-related deaths annually.Fear-mongering and the suppression of inconvenient truths are pushing us toward the wrong solutions: politicians and pundits call for net zero policies that will cost far beyond $100 trillion, while producing benefits a fraction as large. We need to have an honest debate of costs and benefits to find the best solutions.