Toby Green , The Covid Consensus: the new politics of global inequality. London: C. Hurst & Co. (hb £14.99 – 978 1 78738 522 1). 2021, 294 pp.

Abstract

The ‘collateral damage’ Green documents covers a broad spectrum: from drastically exacerbated poverty and inequality through lost educational opportunities and life chances for young people, isolation of the aged and global increases in domestic violence and gender inequality, to the accelerated erosion of democracy and a growing acceptance of authoritarian rule. Green is most persuasive when discussing: the exclusion of the social sciences – and social considerations more generally – from crucial early decisions to embrace lockdowns;how the early Chinese lockdown strategy became palatable to Western public health officials despite its violation of previously shared principles;and the catastrophic effects of lockdown policies in the global South. [...]Toby Green’s argument remains relevant on many points.