Politoblog

conspiracy theory noun [ C ] /kənˈspɪr.ə.si ˌθɪə.ri/ a belief that an event or situation is the result of a secret plan made by powerful people [1] In 1969, what started as a phone call to an American chat show became a worldwide rumour that The Beatles’ Paul McCartney had been killed in a car accident and replaced by a look-a-like, William Campbell. The Paul Is Dead rumour spread across the world like… wildfire. [2] When asked whether believing that Paul was dead was fun, Professor Diane Purkis replied: “I think all conspiracy theories are dangerous. […] I think conspiracy theories and the mentality that they bring with them are one of the worst things in the world. And they’ve also excused most of the genocide that took place last century, the idea that the Jews are conspiring against everybody else is a conspiracy theory. Stalin’s Purges were part of a conspiracy theory. Eventually, you decide to take action against the evil people who are oppressing you. […] I've got very v...

Under the circumstances A few days ago, I noticed with some disbelief that China had reportedly fewer cases of the coronavirus than France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In the distant past, I could have believed that China’s figures weren’t that distorted, because it was still tens of thousands of cases ahead of the rest of the world, and was slowly rolling back the lockdown measures it had imposed (surely they wouldn't do that if the number of cases was still high, would they?). Today, however, it is hard to believe the figures released by the Chinese government. On the 25th of March, Mike Pompeo criticised the “intentional disinformation campaign that China has been and continues to be engaged in”.[1] It seems to me that what’s important is not how many cases each country has, but how many cases they have per million inhabitants, and equally how many tests each country has carried out. Interestingly, out of the 35 countries reporting the most cases of COVID-19, China is the only on...

In May 1996, journalist Alistair Cooke remarked, “I thought I knew everything about the physical condition of President Kennedy and how much of it was, by an unspoken agreement in those days, kept secret.” Cooke describes a “code, unwritten, never brought up, which would have made it tasteless to mention such things”. [1] He describes how, during the 1960 Democratic primary campaign, then Senator Lyndon Johnson’s team suggested that then Senator Kennedy had Addison’s disease. At the time, this was a “foul accusation” (although true) which was quickly denied by the Kennedy camp. However, secrecy regarding the health of our leaders can be dated to much further back. For example, in October 1919, President Woodrow Wilson, with 18 months left in office, had a stroke which left him bedridden and partially paralysed. First Lady Edith Wilson became the intermediary between the President and his Cabinet, deciding which matters were important enough to be brought to her husband. The President...