Sweden avoided the lockdowns; two years later, it is not doing badly

… one word is conspicuously absent from the debate. That word is not “freedom” or “proportionality” or “vaccines.” It is “Sweden.”

… Most European countries … curfews, closures, and even mandatory vaccination

… the consensus was that inoculating the vulnerable would mean the end of such petty prohibitions

… Yet, all along, there has been a control in the experiment. Sweden never locked down

… Lockdowns … were sold as the only alternative to catastrophe

… “Heading for disaster,” was the headline in Britain’s right-wing Sun

… “Leading us to catastrophe,” agreed the left-wing Guardian

… Time … “probably end in a historical massacre.”

… “We fear that Sweden has picked the worst possible time to experiment with national chauvinism,” chided the Washington Post

… “Dangerous,” said Italy’s La Repubblica

… When the forecast calamities failed to materialize, international observers tried to find reasons why Sweden was a special case

… for example, that it had low population density

… But … 85% of its people occupy 2% of its territory. Swedes do not live evenly spaced among the birch forests

… Then we were told that Sweden was doing less well than Norway and Finland

… Now, the world’s media simply ignore the stolid Scandinavian state altogether

… And the worst of it is that, by refusing to admit their mistake, they condemn their own countries to repeat it