Miscellaneous
THE ROLLOUT of the Covid vaccine has been an enormous success story. The United Kingdom now leads the world in terms of the speed and efficiency in which the population is being vaccinated. Boris Johnson’s Government decided not to join the EU vaccine procurement programme last year, and the decision was widely vilified at the time, yet the events of the last few days have shown that the decision not to join was absolutely the right one. Less than a month into the new Brexit deal and it’s clear that not being part of the EU is quite literally saving lives in the United Kingdom. In this podcast, Marcus Stead and Greg Lance-Watkins discuss the extraordinary spat between AstraZeneca and the EU. They assess the reckless language and behaviour from Brussels bureaucrats in relation to the vaccine and with regards to Northern Ireland. With Greg due to receive his vaccine in the days ahead, they discuss the importance of having the vaccine, though they question whether it will, in itself, lead to the return of normality. Towards the end of the podcast, Marcus and Greg discuss the dangers of misinformation on the internet, and the urgent need for new legislation to regulate social media. The podcast is available on the Talk Podcasts website, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Spotify and the TuneIn app.