Telegraph journalist says coronavirus ‘cull’ of elderly could benefit economy

[Northerner]

A Telegraph journalist has suggested coronavirus could ‘prove mildly beneficial’ to the UK economy by killing off elderly Britons.

In his column last week, Jeremy Warner analyses the US making an emergency interest rate cut to protect the economy against coronavirus.

It went largely unnoticed when the Telegraph – whose average reader age is 61 – published it on March 3, but one of the assistant editor’s economic reflections has since sparked an outcry on social media.

Warner compared coronavirus with Spanish flu, and how the 1918 pandemic ‘disproportionately affected’ young people, unlike the Covid-19 strain which ‘primarily kills the elderly’.

Telegraph journalist says coronavirus ‘cull’ of elderly could benefit economy

He wrote: 'From an entirely disinterested economic perspective, the COVID-19 might even prove mildly beneficial in the long term by disproportionately culling elderly dependents.’

metro.co.uk

What an utterly disgusting thing to suggest

 

[Eddy Edson]

Ewwww.

Hopefully, he's now toast.

 

[Ljc]

Totally disgusting, still their is one consolation , he’s going to get old himself one day
I have just told my 94 year old dad and his reply is unprintable.

I hope he’s now toast.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Gotta love that people are merely an economic factor and not valuable in their own right 🙄🙄🙄

 

[grovesy]

I was reassured slight seeing a Doctor from the ITU Drs association this morning, saying all hospitals with ITU beds are planning for increasing the number of ITU beds and giving training to staff to train up more to be able to look after ventilator patients.
He also said they already assess people already to see if they would benefit from being admitted to ITU.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

But the comment's surely true, isn't it?

From an entirely disinterested economic perspective it probably is mildly positive. That doesn't mean that we should consider it as positive; merely that from this one narrow perspective (certainly not the only perspective that actual humans hold) it probably is.

 

[nonethewiser]

Wonder if meathead parents still alive + in laws, are they included.

He forgets, one day he will be old, comes around quicker than you think.

 

[trophywench]

Well the original post war boom quite a lot of the time was limited to a couple of kids (Like me and my older sis cos mom wasn't getting any younger let alone Dad, so sis was born in 1946 and I in 1950.) However - the boom children had no such events to limit their offspring so 3s and 4s are not at all unusual and I don't think their kids - our grandkids - will either Benny.

I had none with first husband by choice and deliberately, but husband #2 and his first wife had 2, one had 3 and her sister had 4. Between those 7, so far they've produced another 4. The two youngest are 16 and 8, so heaven knows!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

An aging population does impact the economy. Surely this is not a surprise.

Yes, it seems like the article's not saying anything particularly controversial so I'm not sure why anybody's upset by it. (Maybe in the rest of the article the author explains why it's an excellent thing and we should celebrate it as perhaps making the problem of social care for the elderly a little easier to fix, but the phrasing of this one comment doesn't suggest that view.)

 

[trophywench]

It is just that word! Whether it's awful pics we used to see of eg dead seals having been massacred, a photo of someone's pet ferret whilst knowing what they are prone to do naturally, or the scenes on farms as a consequence of F&M - that's simply what the word conjures up to most people.

I sincerely hope everyone we know actually and virtually doesn't find themselves being culled! I sincerely hope eg our kids/grandkids don't think it needs doing anyway. If it should happen - who the hell can they 'borrow' (euphemism) money from then?

 

[Ralph-YK]

I'm not in my 60s yet. If I was to die today, that would be one less drain on NHS, and society generally.
Personally, I've still got things to do before I die. *{checks list, ticks off 66, adds 192 & 193. Underlines 42}*

 

[mikeyB]

I can tell you that although at 67 I might be considered elderly, but I have more disposable income than around 80% of the population. And I dispose it liberally.

Needless to say, I don’t read the Telegraph. Which is losing money hand over fist. Their journalists are forbidden to stray from the Boris line, and they aren’t happy, so don’t blame the journalist too much.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

It is just that word!

The word being "culling". I tend to agree, as does the editor, apparently. The word was an unkind choice. And as a general rule, I'd assume I'd disagree with anything written by a Telegraph journalist. (Much as I assume that anything that the leader of the free world says or writes is probably false.) But I still think the comment (that there may be an economic benefit in the long term from disease that tends to kill older people rather than younger ones) may well be right, though not a particularly useful one (I don't see what we'd do differently if it's true or false).

 

[mikeyB]

As ever, Bruce, a thoughtful considered comment. I agree.

The only use of such a comment by a journalist is that the elderly may leave the Telegraph high and dry with no readers.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

The only use of such a comment by a journalist is that the elderly may leave the Telegraph high and dry with no readers.

We can hope. Though I suspect not much help is required by this point. Even more than other newspapers, the Borisgraph seems to spiraling downwards.

 

[trophywench]

Question then - in what newspaper can one benefit from reading proper unbiased journalism on the whole?

 

[grovesy]

I suspect none are truly, unbiased.

 

[mikeyB]

I read the Guardian, mainly because nobody stinking rich is pulling the strings. I also read The National, which is about as biased as you can get - at least in terms of Scottish independence. And the Washington Post, which is a great read for those who think Trump is a complete fool🙂

 

[mikeyB]

By the way, never mind truth and lies, I can do the Telegraph cryptic crossword in twenty minutes. It obviously knows its readers. Concrete thinkers.

 

[Drummer]

I will be 69 next month - last night I was teaching morris dancing and pointing out that the modern sides don't do it the way I learned 50 years ago - so I know I am old but not ready for the knacker's yard yet.