Thank you for taking the time to tune into this event today with the general membership. Im so sorry we cannot all be together in person but in the meantime its nice to connect and stay tuned the Manhattan Institute is putting together virtual content over the next few months so look in your inbox those coming to you shortly so in the interim slow pleased to welcome our guest Douglas Murray this afternoon a journalist and i am sure many of you if not all have read his work in the National Review and associate editor also an author and is with us in person at the Manhattan Institute in early 2018 just after the publication of this book the strange death of europe. And a critic and while an observer of all things come im not sure he knew the subjects of those most recent book would come into play so much during this moment in time but they have. And for that reason it is my pleasure to welcome you to this event this afternoon. Its a great pleasure to be with you and your members. We will talk for the next 20 minutes and then we will turn over q and day to you look at your right hand side of your screen there is a little triangle with the word question type it in anytime you would like when we go over to q a i will pull your questions at that time. We will jump right in so were going through a rather serious moment in history and we are doing a lot of self evaluation how our government handled this moment in looking across nations if there is something we can learn to handle it better than we are. So i like to start with a political moment on januar janut the uk left the European Union starting a transition. That it was short and a moment in time the future relationship between the uk and the eu is determined so what will happen now . And theory your political leaders are distracted with negotiation that would normally happen and is complicated so will we have an agreement by the 31st of december . The agreement, i dont know but the government wants to buy then absolutely a question came up even just earlier today questioning michael and said there is no delay even a minor delay in the process by the way i think thats right taking on to brexit and the eu it is profoundly important for the British Public with the small majority nonetheless but after three and a half years of parliamentary shenanigans and other factors going on that appears to delay reverse the decisions it is absolutely crucial the government led with this Prime Minister and cabinet do not renege on the promise. So something as major as the Current Crisis will not make them dissuaded on that timeline. But if no agreement is reached and we enter a moment in time when there is more uncertainty, is that good for the british economy . Its no good for anyones economy we barely have economies at the moment in some countries. It is totally unchartered territory. The biggest point is the crucial thing is we never are in certain times possibly Uncertain Times but the Brexit Process has to be separate from that it is a commitment of the British Government but just this weekend the formal trade talks from the uk and america, there is a lot going on with the main preoccupation is the virus. The coronavirus at this stage in your mind has not yet derailed the transition process. Has there been any other fundamental changes you see as a result . No more than challenges every other country is going through. All of our countries are looking around the globe for the potential practice figures came in an hour ago suggesting the uk has the highest death toll in europe of those that died with the virus so far and they will be going over how that came about it does seem its a bit premature. How are they thinking of issues like globalization . I know theres a big question about supply chains and where we get our drugs. Is there a stronger argument anti globalization happening in the uk . I think its happening everywhere in every single country because in the early stages of the crisis we all saw things that were extremely alarming. The example thats been written a lot is to see the early days of the crisis when italy was suffering worse to see the french government to going protectionist on certain products like masks and oxygen in the italian public has seen and enormous swing against the eu and weeks but those that lecture people most on protectionism in recent years and actually when the crisis hit for something that was completely against everything they said before so there is a lot of looking around and liberties taken but it will be sometime before we see the effects of that with the voting. Lets talk about general public sentiment right now. Here in the us is a strong divided people that believe this moment in time is evidence of government incompetence and those that take the opportunity to say it requires more control and intervention. It doesnt matter what camp you were in the trust is at the all time low to create a number of problems for us are you experiencing the same sort . No. Thats an american thing going on that is unique to america sadly at the moment we have seen a rise of cost of almost every institution that includes parliament, the monarchy, nhs academics, scientific experts. It doesnt please me to say but im not surprised the institution as foreign is the media which is coopted the public trust. But that aside with the uk example even though we have been a divided country like america has been, in fact when a scientist got together and the advice was given with a lockdow lockdown, that was acted upon and there was not the ongoing divide certainly that is going on in america that even with a Global Pandemic is seen through the pro or anti trump prism and that is a challenge to your country. Because of Something Like this cannot bring a common cause or to show people the common wellspring to draw upon, then imagine what it would take. But everywhere else not as extreme as the us. It is amazing to see walking the streets how nicely all of your neighbors have participated to keep everyone safe. From the human to Human Interaction there has been a very quick changeover. But with the political divide everything is seen right to that trump but when youre Prime Minister certain parts of the country were controversial i hear your point but i wonder if people are really standing behind them not just because of that leadership but one of the few Global Leaders who had personal interaction so well does everybody think of him . In the most serious. The country he doesnt know how serious it was until it was announced he went into intensive care but we were told there were moments they could have lost him which would have been catastrophic for the uk not the least he is important in this period of british life. So it was very close he came out of the hospital with a very moving message that they saved his life and that is something the public could relate to. Now there is fallout politically this means it is exceptionally hard for the labour party on the left to claim in the future the conservatives do not care about the nhs every selection on election in my lifetime they go save the nhs but now since its been created it is very striking the idea that you can pretend after this it is something that you do not support would seem preposterous. But undoubtedly is our weight on the conservatives. These will be good years for the health service. And now named his new baby after his doctor. Yes. Very moving. For sure. So lets talk about the monarchy. I think there is a whole generation of americans that have a leadership role to play and a big role of public unity and many watched the queens address and are comforted by it. It is interesting. Again come in recent years every institution claims to be losing public trust. It was profoundly moving the one person we wanted to hear from was the majesty her queen it was remarkable because she is the best placed person on earth to draw on the historical aspects to say we have been through bad times before. We have been through worse times and have come through them. And as somebody who gave her first broadcast to the nation as a young girl in 1940 with the children of Great Britain and the empire, it was a very moving thing to see her to draw on the historical memory and to give the reassurance the media like to see things and catastrophic terms as possible. Theres always the risk of increasing fair one fear but it is crucial in the uk we have this one who can draw on our historical feelings and to say as she did its a way for people to say they were equal to their forebears but that lockdown most people are in their pajamas watching netflix its not like the beaches of normandy but if this generation and is challenged at least they need encouragement to do so and the queen provides that. Thinking of the challenges that our generation will be facing is not remotely the same but you talk about those challenges in your most recent book and a big part of that book talks about the rise of the social justice and the movement of mainframe politics and the workplace. I dont know how things look for you but here, it took about two minutes for all the various advocates and Political Institutions that exist to use the crisis to unleash content that reverse engineer the pandemic through their own ideology using covid19 as evidence for family leave and healthcare they were fast and sophisticated and its problematic in so many ways do you see that massive resurgence . I think its part of the phenomenon of the critique my only expectation of the virus it makes people double down what they already thought the doesnt mean he gets much reach but there are figures who always want to have sovereignty and have said this is evident on evidence why we need to pull sovereignty and others who advocate tighter borders and the justification of that policys everybody can do this from every angle and with the movements and the social justice and there is an exception to that. It took slightly longer here than it did there for people to play the social justice identity warrior game but they started by saying women suffer more than men but then it shows statistics males are disproportionately more likely to die may be the men die but women do the suffering. And then the debate about which ethnic minorities suffer more and the presentation of those questions instead of why that could be backed more evidence of the racism of the society that we live in so if we get a virus from china that we can event justify the views of america as a racist society but all of that has been going on. My prediction is people will double down because thats the only game they know how to play. They dont know how to look at the world if they dont have the spectacles another person may work out something may come about that you have never thought of before. And it may not be justified with the arrival of the virus. But those people will not but what i would expect and the sympathy for the claims made when an awful lot of people in the country with that Living Standard with a lot of people have seen unemployment come to their families but a lot of people have real grievances. And those that have made up grievances. So maybe they are overplaying their hand . Very much so. I cannot see the celebrities who sit back in the house complaining about spending all this time. That doesnt play well anywhere. The people that say look at me in recent years. But in the uk the person who has public affection isnt someone who does the look at me as a victim but now 100 yearold ex serviceman who sponsors these walks and my impression is people want narratives of resilience and suffering and victimhood it wasnt the case even in the 19 nineties that you won the game of life and that happened recently. So we can change back i am not at all surprised the crisis that will come after this crisis and what it do something. And just a minute we will turn to your questions i want to cover one more thing and thats china hours secretary of state mike pompeo says there is enormous evidence at a lab in wuhan that they had accused china of misleading the world of the virus the us also commented demanding they respond to the allegations. How do you feel about china from this point at least to hold china accountable . I would expect so until the crisis came along the main debate was over the huawai contract providing parts of the 5g. I thought the soul major misstep was in the contract i thought that at the very least for change but we will see. But i would anticipate strengthening the attitudes of this everywhere. To me the most interesting thing and if we need to stick togethe together. One thing dad is noticeable about this is that if you remember in recent years in 2012 between the uk and china in the meeting with the dalai lama. There was rocky relations between the uk and china they canceled meetings with the trade envoy and much more. They decided to bend toward beijings will. And this was very worrisome. This is a very important thing. The Australian Government last week quite rightly called for the independent inquiry into the source of the virus. And this is absolutely crucial. We will not get that cooperation but that would be very important internationally but the point i wanted to make was this but the war of words from the communist party of china and the journals and the comments from the Chinese Ambassador to australia have been virulent the last few days like australia is a piece of chewing gum