I'm with Tim on this one!

 It’s very rare that I find myself agreeing with Tim Martin, founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoon, especially after his support and enthusiasm for a damaging, hard Brexit, but on the issue, I am about to relate, Mr Martin is spot on.

The case in question concerns a statement made by Richard Pennington, Professor of Bacteriology at Aberdeen University, in which he claimed there is a link between drinking indoors in pubs and a recent rise in Coronavirus cases. The Wetherspoon’s chairman has subsequently demanded that the scientist should publish hard evidence to back up his claim.  

The professor was referring to the recent spike in cases seen in the city of Aberdeen, which has led to the imposition, by the Scottish government, of a localised "lock-down" shutting all pubs, bars and restaurants in the area. Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the professor said that pubs were risky places for the spread of Coronavirus, as “hot and steamy” environments help Covid-19 to “get about.” Tim Martin has now challenged Professor Pennington to publish his findings so they can be “properly peer reviewed.”

A statement from Mr Martin in the Morning Advertiser, said that whilst some JDW outlets had experienced “individual cases” among staff and customers, they had not experienced an outbreak. He added there was nothing which could be described as an outbreak, and so far, there had not been a case of transmission from person to person among staff, or from staff to customers, or vice-versa.

In the light of this, Tim Martin stressed the importance of the pub industry to staff, customers and the treasury, and reiterated his call for an in-depth analysis of Professor Pennington’s findings and challenged him to publish the basis of his assumptions about any possible link between pubs and Coronavirus.

Now I doubt very much whether the professor will put his money where his mouth is; especially as his pronouncement seems little more than an assumption, but putting two and two together and making five is something that has characterised the Coronavirus saga since the beginning of 2020.

If anything, the use of science to drive a certain political or behavioural agenda has accelerated over the course of the past eight months, with dozens of so-called “experts” all eagerly chipping in with their own thoughts and comments. Some, of course, have been well-thought out and have helped our understanding of this novel-virus, but far too many have been sensationalist or misleading.

As a scientist, this "politicisation" of science makes me very cross, especially as good science (and there is still plenty of that out there) is working hard for the benefit of us all, but bad science is leading us in the opposite direction and it is not somewhere we ought to be travelling to.

Now I don’t intend on getting bogged down here, as this is a subject in its own right, but I do want to mention briefly,  the mathematical modellers, whose predictions (not always, by any means accurate),  have influenced, and in many cases driven, government policy from the start. Pandemics, such as Coronavirus, don’t always behave in the nice, neatly ordered way that computer-generated modelling says they should, and neither do populations, and this is now starting to show in various parts of the world.

Unfortunately, false assumptions, based on flawed science, attract the attention of the mainstream media, which remains obsessed with anything remotely connected to Coronavirus, especially if they can put a negative/sensationalist spin on the story.

So, to return to Tim Martin, who is quite right in calling for studies into virus spreading within pubs, to be published, along with proper scrutiny of the type of generalised statements put out by scientists and politicians to suit their own agendas. Given the measures put in place by licensees and pub owners throughout the country, to keep people safe and mitigate any risk – real or imagined, why should pubs and restaurants be regarded as less safe than say travelling on crowded buses and trains or shopping in a busy supermarket?

Pubs have received more than their fair share of bad publicity during this outbreak and seem to be used as scapegoats every time there’s even the merest hint of Coronavirus. It’s almost as if the powerful health lobbyists, at Public Health England are using the situation to promote their own anti-alcohol, "kill-joy" message, which sadly is being taken up the UK government. And in Scotland, just yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was once again singling out pubs for criticism, virtually repeating Professor Pennington’s words. 

We would all like this situation to be over, as soon as possible, and for a degree of normality to return to our lives.  Properly managed businesses, whether they are factories, distribution centres, retail outlets or pubs and restaurants are helping this process along the way, whilst at the same time ensuring employees and customers remain safe. Why then single out certain sectors of our struggling economy?

Politicians are very keen on stressing that we are all in this together, so stop playing politics and get people behind what you are doing, instead of alienating them. That way we can bring about an end to this pandemic, that little bit sooner.