Boris Johnson and the Optimism Delusion

A little over five weeks ago, Boris Johnson bounded toward the central podium in 10 Downing Street for his daily coronavirus press briefing. At the time, 144 people had died in Britain after contracting COVID-19. Johnson opened with a joke about journalists in the room spacing themselves out in compliance with new social-distancing guidelines, then went on to say that he recognized the need to give people an idea of how long the crisis would last. The country would not be put under lockdown for another four days, but Johnson was already conscious of morale. Families were being kept apart, businesses were suffering, and people were dying. Britain, he appeared to have decided, demanded optimism.

Flanked by his chief medical and scientific advisers, Johnson said he was confident that Britain could, in 12 weeks, “.” With the public’s help in slowing its spread, he asserted, scientific progress would be able to catch up. Closing the press conference, Johnson made a revealing remark. “I’m often accused of being unnecessarily boosterish about things,” he said. “But, I genuinely think that by the combination of these two things, we will turn the