Spot the only country in Europe which didn’t go in for lockdowns of any kind. Draconian lockdowns are ongoing in the rest of them. Sweden, economy and liberty intact, is now reaping the rewards of having stood firm in the face of global opprobrium. Lockdowns are not the answer.

In response to replies that ‘Sweden is different’, no it’s not. Sweden has a large immigrant population, and its people mostly live in a handful of large cities, Stockholm, Malmö, Gothenburg. Demographically, Sweden is in fact nearly identical to Belgium.

Incidentally, it is the very same people saying now that Sweden is different, and never needed to lock its people down, who last spring were calling Sweden a pariah state for not imposing a lockdown.

Another interesting chart. Spot the only country with no lockdowns.

For Leftist governments the lockdowns were an easy decision. Authoritarianism and the imposition of ‘nanny state’ control over people’s lives is their default setting. It is hard to see how, in democratic countries, liberal conservatives could have chosen not to follow the herd.

Knowing what we know now, it is time for liberal conservatives around the world to be true to their instincts and join the call to end the lockdowns.