I’ve always thought Vietnam was a good example of how Communism can work. They kicked the US’s corrupt-arsed invasion out - Ho Chi Minh - (a) won - (b) ran/developed the country without plunging everyone into famine.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese people are spiritual, resilient, funny, respectful, artistic, brave, community-based. Plus the food is great - and it’s geographically beautiful.

Hard not to like that. But it’s not just the Vietnamese people you rave about - you especially lavish praise on the ”remarkable” achievements of Vietnam’s political system, saying it “offers such hope of where a country can develop and change, and embrace the modern world.”

But hang on, Jeremy, Vietnam is, after all, a totalitarian regime. I found this, actually ‘found’ is too fancy, it was the first entry on the search page for 'Vietnam political persecution’. It’s a World Report on Human Rights in Vietnam (there’s a lot of similar reports). It seems at odds with your impression:

World Report: Those who criticize the one party regime face police intimidation, harassment, restricted movement, physical assault, detention, and arrest and imprisonment. Police detain political detainees for months without access to legal counsel and subject them to abusive interrogations.

Pretty sure you’d be safe though, right? In fact they awarded you two medals of honour - the same number Lipkin received from the CCP.

Interestingly, the 2nd listing on the search page, the Amnesty site, also documents “punishment for distributing “disinformation” on the pandemic” , including the censorship of anyone questioning the official origin and/or draconian lockdowns (with the help of Facebook of course.)

As someone who is big on lockdowns and censoring origin talk, i can see how you would love that - how you would enthuse that the Vietnam regime “offers such hope of where a country can develop and change, and embrace the modern world” without being slowed down by accountability.

Yeah - no. I'd still rather Taiwan as a symbol of ‘hope for embracing the modern world’ - it’s a free country for a start.

But Taiwan’s not your favourite topic is it? I know that coz i tried searching ‘Jeremy Farrar Taiwan’ - Captain Covid, architect of the world’s Covid response/cover-up(?) - and - Taiwan - the country that was by far the most successful in the world at containing it - without draconian lockdowns. Surely there would be some cross-over mention…?

But nothing. Nada. That simple word, ‘Taiwan’ has never left your lips in public.

Why is that, Jeremy?

As a world health expert - could you not bring yourself to ‘take the politics out’ for five minutes? To analyse whether the world had/has something to learn from Taiwan’s investigation of the origin of Covid - it’s exemplary handling/control of the disease? What happened to the 'common-good'?

Sorry, those are rhetorical questions. We both know why. Idealistically, you prefer totalitarianism (with yourself near the apex) - one planet and all that. A democracy like Taiwan where people are still allowed to question you, is only going to mess that up.