The Covid-19 lab leak hypothesis proves it matters what – and who – defines a conspiracy theory

A year ago, even raising the possibility of a lab leak seemed unacceptable. But public sentiment in the West is shifting.

By Louise Perry

A new Channel 4 documentary has displeased the Chinese embassy in the UK. The film-makers are guilty, according to a statement released last week, of “peddling groundless speculation and hearsay” in promoting a “conspiracy theory”.

The question of the title, Did Covid Leak from a Lab in China?, is put to the various doctors and scientists interviewed for the documentary, and most of them answer that yes, it probably did. But they each insist, one after the other, that they are not conspiracy theorists, despite what the Chinese embassy might suggest.