Alec Hogg: Nick Hudson’s “freedom” award first of many

Later today the Free Market Foundation will bestow an award on PANDA's Nick Hudson for offering an alternative to the politically-driven Covid-19 narrative. It comes at a time when the world is slowly appreciating how many falsehoods were fed it during the pandemic. Holman Jenkins, a member of the editorial board at the Wall Street Journal, highlights some of these in his excellent piece. In essence, officialdom, aided by useful idiots in mass media, treated society like mushrooms – keeping it in the dark and feeding it muck. Anyone questioning the politically-driven narrative was ridiculed or, worse, censored ("de-platformed"). At BizNews, we strive to provide rationality in often emotional debates, so for us this stuff really matters. Mostly because it crystalises the Culture Wars dominating intellectual discourse in the Western World – a battle which pits elites who believe they know what is best for the rest of us against those, like Hudson, who champion a questioning society.

• In all the noise, little credit has yet been afforded Australia's competent handling of the pandemic. This was helped by it questioning, early on, whether Covid-19 was created in a Lab rather than evolving from animals to humans. As of today, Australia has had just over 30 000 cases and 910 deaths (SA: 1.8m cases; 58k deaths). But Canberra has paid a price for an approach the rest of the world is belatedly following. Australia's call last year for an investigation into the Lab-Leak theory so angered Beijing it choked off Australian exports to China. Now, in a preview of what is likely to happen elsewhere, there's a retaliation as Chinese-owned businesses in Australia are being squeezed.
• Well, it was fun while it lasted. But in recent days excitement around the supposed commodities "super cycle" has waned. Indeed, evidence is growing that commodity prices may have peaked – highlighted by the decline in the copper price. As the Rand is closely correlated to commodity prices, this could turn out to be one of the last opportunities for South Africans wanting to use Rand strength to increase offshore portfolios.
• Given our continuous warnings, I'd be surprised if many members of the BizNews community are exposed to crypto currencies. But its price halved in a couple of months, some might be tempted to follow "bargain hunters" now buying Bitcoin. Our advice: stay away. Regulators have cryptos in their crosshairs. Where China has led the way, others will to follow.

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