COVID inquiry: Boris Johnson says he has reflected on whether lockdowns ‘did more harm than good’

Published

2 years ago

November 3, 2023

admin

Boris Johnson has told the COVID inquiry he “would be surprised” if he’d said he was “manipulated or pushed” into implementing the first lockdown.

Written evidence that the former prime minister submitted to the inquiry in August has been published, with Mr Johnson saying he had reflected on whether the lockdowns “did more harm than good”.

It comes after those close to Mr Johnson during his time in Number 10 gave evidence to the inquiry in person this week.

Dominic Cummings, his former chief aide, told the inquiry about the decisions made in the early days of the pandemic and claimed scientists tended to be resistant to the idea of lockdown in late February or early March.

Politics latest: Sunak criticises pro-Palestine protests on Armistice Day

In his documents to the COVID inquiry, Mr Johnson said: “I would be surprised if I ever said that I had been manipulated or pushed into the first lockdown or that I had been ‘gamed on the numbers’ or anything to this effect.”

He went on to say that he has “reflected (no doubt out loud and no doubt many times) about whether the lockdowns would do (and did do) more harm than good”.

The former PM added: “I believe that it was the duty of any pragmatic and responsible leader to have such a debate, both with himself and with colleagues.

“We were between a rock and a hard place, the devil and the deep blue sea.”

Mr Johnson is expected to give evidence in person to the COVID inquiry later this year.

In his written evidence, he said: “We simply had no good choices, and it was necessary at all times to weigh up the harms that any choice would cause.

“I was very worried about the economic harm caused by the action we took against COVID-19 and whether it would do more damage to the country than the virus itself.

“But I always attached the highest priority to human life and public health.”

Mr Johnson said that while it may have been “possible” to avoid a lockdown, he could not think how this would have been done without a vaccine or drugs and thought it was “highly unlikely”.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

In his evidence to the inquiry this week, Mr Cummings said: “Many journalists now write about March 2020 as if public health experts were longing to do lockdown and bullied the PM into it.

“This story is totally false.

“In fact, public health experts in February-March were overwhelmingly hostile to lockdown, thinking it should not be tried and if tried could not work. Most public health experts only supported lockdown after it was done.”

Politics

Nasdaq files for 21Shares Sui ETF, kicking off SEC review

Published

2 hours ago

May 28, 2025

admin

Nasdaq files for 21Shares Sui ETF, kicking off SEC review

Nasdaq has filed for crypto asset manager 21Shares to list a spot Sui exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US, initiating the Securities and Exchange Commission’s review process.

The stock market’s May 23 19b-4 filing, which asks the SEC to list the 21Shares SUI ETF, follows 21Shares’ April 30 submission of its S-1 registration statement to the SEC, which asked the regulator to approve trading of the proposed fund.

Both regulatory filings are needed for the Sui (SUI) tracking fund to gi live, with the 19b-4 filing kicking off the SEC’s review process. The agency must decide whether to accept, reject or delay the application within 45 days and it can delay its decision multiple times, for a maximum review period of 240 days.

The SEC must decide on 21Shares’ application by Jan. 18, 2026, at the latest.

21Shares proposed BitGo and Coinbase Custody as the custodians to hold SUI on behalf of the trust, however, the filing did not include details on a management fee or ticker.

Canary Capital is the only other asset manager that has submitted 19b-4 and S-1 filings to list a spot Sui ETF, filing the forms on April 8.

21Shares said in its 19b-4 filing that the SUI token powers the Sui network and serves four main purposes: it can be staked to earn rewards, used to pay gas fees, function as a liquid asset for Sui applications and serve as a governance token.

The Sui ecosystem is largely focused on decentralized applications and has been dubbed a potential Solana killer.

SUI is the 13th-largest cryptocurrency, but its $12.3 billion market cap remains a fraction of Solana (SOL)’s $92 billion market cap, according to CoinGecko.

21Shares aims to add to SUI offerings

21Shares already lists a Sui exchange-traded product in Europe, on the Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam stock exchanges.

Those listings have contributed to SUI-based exchange-traded products having $317.2 million in assets under management (AUM), according to a May 26 report from CoinShares.

Flows into SUI ETPs increased by $2.9 million between May 16 and May 24, and only trails Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana and XRP (XRP) in terms of net assets.

Magazine: TradFi is building Ethereum L2s to tokenize trillions in RWAs: Inside story

Politics

Growing BTC reserve requires Congressional legislation — VanEck exec

Published

5 hours ago

May 27, 2025

admin

Growing BTC reserve requires Congressional legislation — VanEck exec

Building a permanent US strategic Bitcoin reserve would likely require targeted legislation rather than executive action, according to VanEck’s head of digital assets, Matthew Sigel. Speaking at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas, Sigel said the most viable path forward may involve inserting Bitcoin mining incentives into the congressional budget reconciliation process.

According to Sigel, the most effective path to growing a US strategic Bitcoin reserve would be through targeted amendments to congressional budget legislation. These could include tax credits for mining companies that use methane gas and other incentives aimed at encouraging miners to share a portion of their mined BTC with the federal government.

He argued that such an approach would allow the reserve to grow organically over time. Sigel also highlighted the limitations of executive actions in achieving this goal:

“The problem with executive action is that it’s going to prompt lawsuits. And anything over $100 million is going to get sued by the Elizabeth Warrens of the world. So, I would say start with something maybe in the Exchange Stabilization Fund for $100 million.”

US President Donald Trump established the US Bitcoin Strategic Reserve through a March 7 executive order. According to the order, the US government can only acquire Bitcoin through budget-neutral strategies or asset forfeiture, prompting a range of different ideas on how to add to the government’s stockpile of nearly 200,000 BTC.

Bitcoin Regulation, US Government, United States, Bitcoin Reserve, Bitcoin2025 — *From left to right, Alex Thorn, Matthew Sigel, Matthew Pines and Fred Thiel. Source: Turner Wright/*Cointelegraph

Lawmakers, officials pitch different ideas to grow strategic Bitcoin reserve

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, the US lawmaker who introduced legislation for a Bitcoin strategic reserve in July 2024, proposed converting a portion of the gold certificates held by the US Treasury to Bitcoin.

Converting gold to Bitcoin would allow the US government to purchase more Bitcoin without incurring a cost to the taxpayer, Lummis said.

Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, echoed the idea in March 2025.

Hines called on the US Treasury to revalue its gold holdings, which are currently priced at just $42.22 per troy ounce, and convert a portion of those gains to Bitcoin. This strategy would also be budget-neutral, Hines said.

The price of gold reached an all-time high of $3,500 per ounce in April but experienced a minor pullback to around $3,300 on May 27.

Magazine: TradFi fans ignored Lyn Alden’s BTC tip — Now she says it’ll hit 7 figures: X Hall of Flame

Politics

Trump supports bill to buy 1 million BTC — Senator Lummis

Published

5 hours ago

May 27, 2025

admin

Trump supports bill to buy 1 million BTC — Senator Lummis

US President Donald Trump supports the BITCOIN Act and has a team of experts in the White House working to roll out landmark digital asset legislation in the coming weeks, according to Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis.

Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lummis said she is bringing the BITCOIN ACT to the “attention of the American people and the world,” adding that, “President Trump supports the bill.”

In March, Lummis reintroduced the BITCOIN Act — landmark legislation that directs the US government to acquire 1 million Bitcoin (BTC) over five years. The acquisitions would be financed using existing funds within the Federal Reserve System and the Treasury Department.

As Cointelegraph reported, the Trump administration has reiterated the need to use “budget-neutral ways” to acquire Bitcoin without burdening taxpayers.

At the Bitcoin Conference, Lummis said the Trump administration has a team working on “digital asset issues,” including legislation on stablecoins, market structure and the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.

“They will probably roll out in that order,” she said.

“The Senate Banking Committee has passed the stablecoin bill out of committee,” said Lummis, adding:

“We’re getting close to being ready to have it on the floor. We’ve worked for untold hours with the minority party to satisfy them, and we should be voting on it the week before we get back from this break.”

GENIUS Act on stablecoins is “going to pass,” says White House crypto czar

The White House seems to be in alignment with Senator Lummis.

Last week, Trump’s top crypto adviser, David Sacks, said the GENIUS stablecoin bill is “going to pass” the Senate with bipartisan support after clearing a key procedural vote on May 19.

GENIUS refers to the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, possibly the most comprehensive federal push to establish a legal framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins.

Stablecoins have become one of the most prominent use cases for blockchain technology, with some industry advocates arguing that they could help extend the US dollar’s dominance as the global reserve currency.

Collateralized, dollar-backed stablecoins like Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) account for more than 85% of the $250 billion market, according to CoinMarketCap.