Information about the events coming to you shortly. In the interim i am so pleased to welcome Douglas Murray to the event this afternoon. Also in author most recently the 2019 books demint mess of crowds and he was with us in person at the Manhattan Institute i think in early 2018 and that was just after the publication of this book the strange death of europe. Douglas is a Formidable Political critic and im not sure that he knew the subjects of both his most recent book and this one would come into play during this particular moment in time and for that reason and many others it is my pleasure to welcome you to the event this afternoon. Guest thank you very much. Its a pleasure to be with you and all of your members. Host we will talk for the next 20 minutes or so at which point we will turn over the qanda to the audience. If you look at the righthand side of the screen, there is a little triangle with the word question. You can type question anytime you like. And when we turn over to the qanda portion of the event, i will be looking at that list and getting your questions at that time. With that, we are going to jump right in. We are continuing to go through a serious moment in history and we will all be doing a lot of self evaluation on how the government handled the moment. To see if theres something we can learn to handle the moment better than we are and in part for that reason we are so happy to get a little check in with our friends. I would like to start with this sort of political moment that the uk finds itself. I dont need to tell you, but the uk left the European Union and the start of the transition perco which was only a think about 11 months, so it was a short anyway in a moment in time when the uk and the eu were being determined and my question for you is whats going to happen now. In theory, your political leaders are a little bit distrusted from the negotiations of what happened. Got to be complicated in this moment. Are we going to have an agreement by the 31st of december . Guest . Even a minor delay in the process of it is profoundly important for the British Public that did vote for the majority, small majority. But after three and a half years, the parliamentary shenanigans and others factors that were going on that appeared to be trying to delay or reverse the decisions it is absolutely crucial including the government would this cabinet that seem not to be reneging on the process. So even something as major as the current coronavirus crisis, it isnt going to make or persuade that they should in any way move the timeline. Host if no agreement is reached and theres a moment of time where theres even more uncertainty, is that going to be good for the british economy in this particular guest isnt good for anybody. We barely talk to the economies of the moment, so this is just totally unchartered territory. I repeat the point that the crucial thing is we never are in certain times. These may be especially Uncertain Times with a factor thrown in the process has to be separate from that. Its a commitment of the British Government and id be very surprised if it wasnt followed through. There are more trade talks. Theres a lot going on a but the main preoccupation is the virus. Host sweat this stage it doesnt undermine or derailed the transition process. The. They are sort of looking around the globe for potential best practices theyve now got the highest death toll in europe of people who died with the virus so far and there will be lots going over why that came about. Host how are the british people thinking about issues like globalization . I know here in the u. S. Theres been a big question about supplychain and where we are getting all this type o those tf things. Is there a stronger argument now what is happening in the uk . Guest that is happening everywhere, isnt it. Its happening in every single country. In the earlier stages of this crisis, we all saw some things that were extremely alarming. The examples somebody has written an awful lot on European Affairs via tally in public saw an enormous swing in the recent weeks against the eu. When the crisis hits during something with everything they said before there is a lot of looking around and a lot of lessons being taken to the width of the Public Sentiments in the uk right now, here in the u. S. There is a strong divide of people who believe that this moment in time is further evidence of massive government incompetence and then there are those that are taking it as an opportunity to say the government requires more controlled and interventions to be able to handle the situation better. Is that the same thing over in england are you experiencing that same sort of divided . Guest if i can say so theres a particular american thing going on. We have seen a rising trust in almost every institution. That includes parliament, the Government Cut the monarchy, the nhs, scientific experts, academics and so on. Theres a lot of interesting reasons for that, but there is a five was the most interesting things about the uk example has been that although we have been said to have been a divided country much but america has been a. The advice was given it was acted upon a. That is a particular challenge for the country. The. Everywhere else i think it isnt as extreme as the u. S. That divide. Neighbors have participated to keep everyone safe comes from the human to Human Interaction theres been a very quick changeover to. I heard your point on unity but im wondering if right now people are really sending behind not only because of the leadership but also because hes one of the few how is everybody thinking about him these days . Guest the most serious i think that we, the country didnt know quite how serious it was, so it had gone into the intensive care. Im told that over those few days there were certainly moments where they expected to lose him which was catastrophic for the uk not least of which because Boris Johnson is important not just at this point in this period of british life. So it was very close and i think the way that he came out in a very moving message that the doctors that saved his life he said that was something which the public could relate to. Now there is a followup to that politically it means it is exceptionally hard for the labour party is, the left to claim that the conservatives do not care about the nhs. Every election in my lifetime is run on three weeks, 48 hours. Its still there as a hasbeen was created in thwhen it was cre of the world war but its striking the idea that you could pretend after this but its something everybody does not support. It would seem preposterous, but i think that undoubtedly it is something that will be a certain weight on the conservatives with a debt that Boris Johnson himself said he owes to the. It will be good years for the health service. Host he named his new baby after the doctor. Guest yes, very moving. Host for sure. Lets talk for just a second about the monarchy because if here in the u. S. The American Public follows closely the relationship of the royals, i think theres a whole generation of americans whove forgotten the leadership role and a big role in public unity and it seems like this is a moment most people i know watched the queens address and felt comforted by it. Is that the same reaction that you are having . Guest very much so. It was interesting but again in recent years we have had every institution claim to be losing public trust and so on. It was profoundly moving but the worst period of this in the uk, the one person we wanted to hear from was the queen and her address was remarkable not least of which because she is one of the only people i think the best person on earth to draw on the historical aspect of this and to say we have been through bad times before. Weve been through worse times before and weve come through them. Somebody that gave her first broadcast to the nation as a young girl in 1940, it was a moving thing to see her able to draw on this historical memory and to give this reassurance. The media much more inevitably solve things in these catastrophic terms as possible. Many other people do. Theres always the risk of increasing fear in the public that its crucial in a time like this that you have some public figure. In the uk we have at least this one who can draw on the historical feeling and historical experience. To look back and say that they were equal of course the problem and this is the coronavirus lockdown consists with most people sitting around in their pajamas watching netflix, but if this generations challenge is indeed then i suppose they would need encouragement and the queen has certainly provided that. Host when we think about some of the challenges they are not remotely the same that you did name some of those challenges in your recent book, and a big part of the vote was talking about the rise of the social justice and identity Politics Movement into the media, the workplace and i dont know how things work for you both, but here it took i think about two minutes for all of the various advocates and political organizations that exist to unleash the torrent of commentary and content thats reverse engineer the pandemic through their own ideology and it used covid19 as the evidence in the country as a single parent healthcare, family leave, the green new deal. Theyve been fast and sophisticated in its problematic for us in so many ways. Are you seeing that same massive resurgence in the uk . Guest this relates to the globalization critique. My expectation on this is that it makes people double down on what they already sold. That doesnt mean they dont get much reach with it, but thereve been certain figures in the eu have said the coronavirus is evidence. Similarly everyone can do this from every angle and the movements have an exception to that. It took slightly longer here than it did there for the social justice but they started inevitably by saying women suffer more than men in the virus and are disproportionately likely to die of the virus into double down and say the men might b be doing the dying but f the women are doing the suffering and you know, the endless debate about which ethnic minorities may or may not be suffering more from it and the presentation of those questions instead of being questions of why that might be but simply more evidence to the society that we live in so we cant even get a virus in china without justifying the views of america. All of that has been going on. My prediction is people double down as they already have because that is the only game they know how to play. An intelligent person, a more subtle person if something comes along that you never thought about before. Could be justified and vindicated you might think that you need to talk about something else, but those people will not because there would be less public sympathy when an awful lot of people in the country have a declining Living Standards and an awful lot of people have seen unemployment, through a and people have gotten real grievances its fairly unlikely in my mind that they would want to spend very much time listening to people with big grievances. Spin it so yo so you think maybe they are overplayed their hand . Guest very much so. I cant see the celebrities in their mansions. That stuff doesnt play well in the moment anywhere. People that have been saying look at me in recent years. The public reflection isnt somebody that has been doing the look at me narrative, but now 100yearold serviceman who raised tens of millions of pounds by giving these walks. My impression people would want to narratives of it but narrative emerged that wasnt in the case that if you proved you sort of wonder game of life. That has happened very recently said it can change back and i wouldnt be at all surprised if the Current Crisis which will come up after this crisis to which the mail may be the prelude would do something to bring about the death of the movement. Host i am just letting the audience know the moment we are going to turn to your questions, so feel free to take them on the righthand side. Over the weekend, the secretary of state said there is enormous evidence indicating that the pandemic began both the secretary and president of trump accused china of misleading the world about the virus. I thought the defense secretary commented on it and is demanding a response to these allegations. Will the uk participate with the direction of the United States in Holding China accountable if these allegations turn out to be true . Guest i would expect so. The main debate was over the contract providing parts of the years ahead and i thought the major misstep so far was granting that contract. I would hope that wouldve changewould changenow that we w. Yes i would anticipate strengthening the attitudes about this everywhere. To me the most interesting thing is how they respond to. One thing that is noticeable about this. The enormous growt rout in 2012 between the uk and china over then Prime MinisterDavid Camerons meeting with the dalai lama. For about a year there were very rocky relations between the uk and china. China canceled meetings and the government was in a battle on that and decided to bend towards beijings well and asked this to my mind was a very big worry. The government last week called for quite rightly an independent inquiry into the source of the virus and this is absolutely crucial we should not expect to get great cooperation from beijing that even the sight of god would be very important internationally. But the point i wanted to make is the war of the words apart from anything else in the communist party of china and india to the comment from among others the Chinese Ambassador to australia have been exceptionally virulent in the last few days. The description of australia as being a piece of chewing gum on the bottom of the shoe of china that we should just take off, it is extraordinary language that they are using. Australia was in a different position from the uk where is we have a trade deficit with china. This puts them in a better position than us and what would be interesting i think in the days and weeks and months ahead is the extent to and then have a unified response when we think about the italian reaction is anger with the eu for the obvious reason is clear that this is going to be a very complicated time to for america and a Strategic Partners around the world nevermind what they are doing in history in the global terms its something we should really be thinking about. Ive advocated for brexit and believed that britains role in the world was not to remain in the eu. Nevertheless i think we said everything we have to say by leaving the eu and after youve left, its not for you to say what you think that they should or should not do so there is a risk in talking about the sort of willingness to do something wrong in order to vindicate our decision to brexit. I just say by way of preface if it does fall apart, its going to bring havoc to the continent of europe. I do think that a country that is most important to look to hear and i said it twice already, one of the founding members. Others always wanted to keep britain out of what became the eu. It is absolutely crucial to the project. If it goes than this is just a Franco German alliance of some kind. So, it is the one to watch and of course the a couple of years ago i had been there i was speaking to the government who said to me they were doing a horrible job and the audience had the luck to you with horror. If its difficult for you to leave they say we dont think of ourselves as organized or capable than any way. So this part for you, what would it be like for us and that was a very common view in recent yearsthe recentyears, the people critique of the eu said look whats happening to britain. This isnt as easy to do as you have claimed. So the skepticism significantly declined in this period but its definitely on the rise now. Its possible but i dont say that i would well it in any way because the extraordinary turbulence that would come about with other currencies. We have so many questions comquestions asa thank you to t. Im trying to get through them the best that i can. This question is from timothy. Wealthy crescendo of the sentiment translate into any change in the composition of media or communication ideas and im so glad he asked this question because earlier on we were about to Say Something else about why and how it was so swift during this moment. Can you tell us about that . Guest it wasnt what was happening in the briefings question. Essentially the media to do and what to do at the beginning of the crisis. As i say to myself and most people working in the media are humanities graduates and people who studied science and didnt attempt to end up in the media and so there was a serious knowledge gap at the beginning but i think took quite a long time to catch up to. So, what happened is particularly a everyone continued to play games they had been playing for years. Of course anyone that drives a car knows this. If you are driving into a wall, then do you turn would come in handy. It is a morally neutral thing in itself. The media has turned it into this exemplary failure or contradiction and i think what is striking about this once again is the public is more nuanced and capable of nuance than the media that reports to speak to it and after some kind of intermediary. So, i think that the fact that those games went on to a day dont know what questions to ask. Ive had a few rounds with colleagues about this but im at this point if you havent written about the pandemics in the past, you of course have inside you are stuck if you have to present yourself as a pandemic expert in 48 hours. Host everyone has become so accustomed to having a platform anywhere where they can talk about anything in that moment of excitement it seems like everybody got pulled in. Perhaps the upside of this is somewhat of a return. Guest as im sure we worry about this which is as this starts to pass elsewhere, there will be a growing chorus of people saying its not going to be as bad as that and maybe you took the worst projections. It took the strong argument in a projection, some in this country having been some troll of them host a similar question im going to paraphrase a little bit but whether or not the experts or socalled experts that came out very early on whether they wi