COVID Lockdowns and Liberty: What Did Britain Get Right (and Wrong)?

On 19 November 2025, the Committee for Academic Freedom hosted an expert panel discussion at Worcester College, Oxford, examining how Britain handled the pandemic and what might have been done differently. Bringing together perspectives from science, medicine, history and economics, the discussion explored questions including: Could more lives have been saved through earlier and longer lockdowns? What have been the global ramifications of the pandemic and the pandemic response? Could the Great Barrington Declaration’s “focused protection” strategy inform future pandemic preparedness? And what lessons can history teach us about balancing public health, personal freedom, and societal impact? 

Speakers: Professor Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, University of Oxford (signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration); Professor Hugh Montgomery, Chair of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London; Dr Toby Green, Historian, King’s College London; and Dr Mark Honigsbaum, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, City St George’s, University of London (author, The Pandemic Century).