Holiday bookings have exploded on the eve of the Government’s “air bridges” announcement, according to the Daily Mail.
Over the weekend, Britain’s biggest travel websites saw inquires for some European destinations rise by 350 per cent and bookings were up by as much as 80 per cent on the week before.
Travellers are being tempted by promised savings of up to 76%.
The reductions mean it is possible for a family of four to save more than £500 on the headline price of a sunshine break.
Such was the surge in interest that the Eurostar website ground to a halt under the weight of bookings.
I looked at booking a family holiday in Santorini in July on Sunday, but when I checked Greece was still conducting port-of-entry screenings and insisting that new arrivals who test negative quarantine themselves for seven days. Doesn’t sound like a barrel of laughs.
Beware the Jabberwocky Second Wave
So how worried should we be about a second wave? Readers will know my answer to that question, not least because I wrote a piece about it for the Telegraph on Friday.
Let’s start with Sweden. At this point, I’m going to hand over to Freddie Sayers, the editor of UnHerd. UnHerd‘s coverage of the pandemic has been consistently excellent. Freddie had a good article in the Sunday Telegraph about his home country.
Sweden, my normally uncontroversial motherland, is again at the front of this battle between the Pollyannas and the pessimists. Because of its more laissez-faire strategy, it must be finally proven to be either a triumph or a catastrophe. The truth is somewhere in between. Charts of newly recorded cases in Sweden or maps of new cases per 100,000 population look bad, as if that country is suffering a plague out of proportion with the rest of the continent. But look at a chart showing admissions into Swedish intensive care with Covid-19 and you’d think the epidemic was pretty much over – sharply falling from its peak in mid-April to under 200 people nationwide today.
The answer to this confusion lies in testing. Starting from a low base, the Swedes have now doubled tests, and so have started picking up large numbers of mild cases that previously went undetected. Case numbers look bad, but hospitalisations and deaths continue to come down. They have no excess deaths compared with what would be normal for this time of year.
It’s the same story across the rest of Europe: no second wave.
The real story across Europe has been that, despite country after country opening up, none has yet been hit by a genuine second wave. There have been big local outbreaks, such as in a meat-processing plant in Gütersloh in Germany and in Lisbon, but while they have understandably caused concern and led to local lockdowns, there have not been national surges or significant increases in hospitalisations or deaths.
What about the United States? The bedwetters’ line is that states that re-opened early have seen a “surge” in infections, although that’s not actually true since several states that re-opened early – such as Ohio – have not seen an uptick in infections and infections have continued to decline in those seven states that never shut down at all. Another difficulty with this hypothesis is that infections are rising in 22 states, not all of which re-opened early.
Partly, the rise is due to more people being tested, as this graph makes clear:
However, there’s no denying that in some southern and southwestern states, case counts have been climbing in a way that can’t be fully explained by increased testing. Last Friday, for instance, 25% of Arizona tests were positive, up from around eight percent on Memorial Day, when the rise began. Florida had a record single-day case count last Friday, and about a quarter of Alabama’s total cases have come in the last week. Scary stuff, right?
No, not really, because there’s been no corresponding rise in deaths. The daily death tolls are continuing to drop in Texas, Florida and Arizona, as they are for the whole of the United States, as this graph from the New York Times makes clear:
And before you say, “But what about the lag time between infection and death?” let me point out that cases started to rise in southern and southwestern states five weeks ago, so if the rise in cases was going to cause a proportionate rise in deaths we’d have seen that by now. Why haven’t we? Because most of the people getting infected since those states re-opened have been young people. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the median age for new cases in his state is 37, while in Texas Greg Abbott says a majority of new cases are from people under 30. And as we know, the infection fatality rate for people under 50 with no underlying health conditions is close to zero. A recent seroprevalence study in Sweden found that among 36,000 sero positive cases, only two deaths were detected, giving an IFR of 0.005%.
And in the extremely unlikely event of an infected young person requiring critical care, we’ve got a lot better at treating the disease – Dexamethasone really does work.
Another complicating factor is that Arizona’s rising death toll is partly due to deaths that occurred much earlier only just being reported. On Wednesday, for instance, it reported 79 “new” deaths, but they weren’t really new at all, according to azcentral.
The 79 deaths, while included in Wednesday’s report, did not all occur in the past day. According to the health department, 53 of those deaths were from “death certificate matching” for deaths that occurred previously and the department is just identifying as Covid-related. Arizona’s death total now is 1,463.
1,463, incidentally, is low. Worth remembering that over 17,000 people have died in New York.
Meanwhile, across America as a whole daily deaths are 90% lower than they were at their peak (see graph below). Weirdly, though, the British media isn’t reporting that story.
Will All Schools Really Re-open in September?
In spite of the Government’s expressed intentions, I’m sceptical that all schools will re-open in September, at least not in full. A reader passed on this email from the headteacher of Highgate Woods School in Haringey which I fear is pretty typical.
Planning for September return – an update
I shared the table below with you last Friday. You may recall that we are planning for each of the four scenarios below, but that we are particularly focused on scenarios 2 and 3 as we think they are the most likely.
Scenario 1 COVID-19 disappears completely over the summer and the risk of contracting COVID-19 has been eliminated. Full school return in September
Scenario 2 The risk level of contracting COVID-19 is lower than now but not eliminated. This would probably mean that we could have half the school in at any time
Scenario 3 The risk level of contracting COVID-19 is something like now. This is likely to see Year 11/Year 13 in school significantly more than other year groups, whose main provision would be remote learning
Scenario 4 The risk of a severe second spike is high. School would be closed to all students
Since then you will probably be aware that the Prime Minister has announced that the Government plan to open all schools fully in September (scenario 1). However, at the moment, this is just a stated intention and from experience, we have seen such statements alter and in some cases get retracted. There has been no official guidance.
My view is that this is a highly ambitious objective by the government and although I welcome this, I am also clear that we will proceed with caution. Until such time that we receive official guidance from the Government, we will continue to plan for all four scenarios. The emphasis for us at HWS is safety first. Irrespective of the Government’s position, I want to reassure parents that we will make decisions about how we re-open based on our ability to do so safely.
At first glance, it’s hard to understand. He makes no attempt to explain why the school won’t re-open in full if there’s the slightest risk of the children contracting COVID-19, given that it poses less threat to children’s safety than a thunder storm. Mystifying. Then there’s a chink of light. He says he “welcomes” the Government’s objective of re-opening all schools in full in September but will only re-open his school if he receives “official guidance” to that effect. Well, of course. God forbid that a headteacher should take any initiative himself. That’s a bit clearer, I suppose: official guidance = school re-opening. But then the sky begins to darken again. He adds: “Irrespective of the Government’s position, I want to reassure parents that we will make decisions about how we reopen based on our ability to do so safely.”
In other words, he’s not going to reopen the school in full even if the Government orders him to do so.
My favourite bit is this line: “The emphasis for us at HWS is safety first.”
Forget about putting the welfare of the children first or, God forbid, their education. No, the critical thing is to put “safety” first.
Gawd help us.
Do Asda, Not As I Say
Got an encouraging email from a reader about how relaxed his local supermarket has become. I expect this is true of many shops that have embraced all the social-distancing bells and whistles.
My local Asda has all the lockdown features even the most fanatical virus paranoid could want: stickers, signs, screens, one-way lanes – you name it. No-one, not even the staff, now takes the slightest notice and there is zero enforcement. They’ve even stopped having a Brian Hanrahan on the door to count shoppers in and out. Nearby, the queuing lanes, once packed with the living dead waiting their turn, are empty with just the miles of tape flapping in the breeze.
Sceptic of the Week
A clear winner this week: Ralph Findlay, CEO of Marston’s, a pub chain that has 1,400 sites. He told the Mail that he will re-open 90% of his pubs on July 4th and not only will customers not have to register, he won’t insist on anyone having to wear face masks either.
The brewer will spend several hundred thousand pounds on personal protective equipment for employees who want to use it for “their own peace of mind” but not as a matter of course.
The Wolverhampton-based group, which owns the Pitcher & Piano and Revere chains, said it would leave pens and paper for customers to fill out their details if they wanted to.
It means this voluntary information, and potentially the records of those making digital bookings, will be the only data it can provide to help the Government’s track and trace efforts.
Unleashing the Welsh Dragon
For my Welsh readers, a crumb of comfort. Nicola Sturgeon, it seems, is acting even more ridiculously than your own First Minister. On Sunday it was announced that Scotland may introduce mandatory quarantine for those travelling from England if cases begin to rise once again. That won’t do much for the Scottish tourism industry. Bear in mind it’s worth £10.5 billion a year to the Scottish economy and employs approximately eight per cent of the working population.
A Rig Pig Writes
Got an excellent email from someone who works on a North Sea oil rig – sort of a Postcard from the North Sea. Sounds like he’s had to put up with less social distancing balls than most, but even in the middle of the North Sea there are still some face mask Nazis…
I work offshore in the North Sea, and work has continued as normal – we have gone to four weeks on/four weeks off instead of our normal 3/3 – ostensibly to reduce the amount of time spent in heliports and traveling. But the rig has actually been busier than ever, with more people on board than normal. Gotta keep the gas flowing! We have established token social-distancing: removing every other seat in the mess room, or spreading out in the locker-room for our pre-shift briefing instead of sitting shoulder to shoulder. We also don’t meet our back-to-backs face-to-face on crew change day (you used to get a quick ten minute chat while the helicopter was turned-round). All perfectly reasonable, and non-intrusive. We still work very (physically) closely, it just goes with the job – my mate is holding something in place while I bolt it up.
The “authorities” have come up with some rather daft policies, needless to say.
My first “lockdown trip” was just after the full lockdown started. After taking the crew of 12 in half at a time to watch a rousing video from our head honcho – “You may ask why you are still going out to work when the whole country is in lockdown? The answer is because YOU are powering the country” – we then went into separate departure rooms to get our survival suits on and watch the safety video. Six people together is surely safer than 12! Then all got on the same helicopter to fly out to the same rig to live and work together for four weeks! (No masks required that time.)
The following trip out (so eight weeks later) was much the same, but we had to wear these stupid snoods whilst on the chopper, which I found extremely annoying, and couldn’t help keep faffing with it and itching my face.
I do accept wearing this during the helicopter journey though, out of politeness to the pilots if nothing else. However…
Coming home from that trip, we were out on the upper deck, in the North Sea wind, 30 yards away from the helideck, waiting for the helicopter (with blades turning) being refueled. I had my snood around my neck, and was told that I MUST wear it right now. “If the pilots see you, we will get a snotty email from the helicopter company,” I was told. I asked: “Do you think viral transmission is likely in the middle of the ocean next to a running helicopter?” and was given a “rules are rules”-type reply.
The final stupidity was that we were explicitly told we were not allowed to remove these muzzles whilst walking across the Aberdeen tarmac, only when we were INSIDE the terminal!
All in all, I feel like one of the lucky ones. When offshore, things are almost completely normal, working away and surrounded by friends. But these completely random rules from the heliport did my head in, as did not being able to go straight to the Spider’s Web boozer for a traditional back onshore pint.
Is Anything Not a Symptom of COVID-19?
According to Fox News, the CDC has added yet more items to its already very long list of COVID-19 symptoms. It’s just as well the pubs are closed because everyone waking up with a hangover would think they had the virus.
Why Aren’t We Allowed to Go to Ethiopia?
A reader who went to Ethiopia recently on his hols got a heart-rending note from the guide he hired to take him round the Simien Mountains National Park. The advice from the Foreign Office is to avoid the country. But why? People are literally dying in Ethiopia because the tourism industry has collapsed. My correspondent writes:
To begin with, the number of deaths from COVID-19 in Ethiopia has been 89 in a population of roughly 109 million. The peak was in April. The FCO is of course advising against all but essential travel to Ethiopia, and the Government is not planning to include Ethiopia in its initial “air bridge” scheme. It’ll probably be one of the last countries to get its tourism industry back. Yet the infection rate has been much higher in those countries that are part of the air bridge scheme. The only rationale for this policy (playing into perceptions of the country) would be that Ethiopia has under-reported deaths, or can’t properly test people so doesn’t know. But the reverse seems to be the case, and they are getting praise for their response (e.g., here and here). Is it that they are not screening people coming in to Addis Ababa? Apparently not. They seem to be doing screening and also requiring a 14 day quarantine in a hotel of their choice. So it seems that Ethiopia ought to be high on the list of countries with whom we could run an air bridge scheme. Apparently “some Caribbean islands” are high on the list, so it’s not like the GDP of the nation in question or the likely demand for flights is all that much of an issue – after all, demand for flights to Ethiopia was enough that Ethiopian Airlines was (until COVID-19) going to begin direct flights from Manchester to Addis Ababa (they already fly direct from Heathrow). It does make me wonder whether “some Caribbean islands” are on the list for other reasons.
The Great Awokening and the Second American Revolution
I interviewed Professor Eric Kaufmann for the Quillette podcast on Friday. He wrote an absolutely spell-binding essay about America’s Mao-ist moment for Quillette last week and this was an opportunity for me to explore some of his ideas in more detail. Professor Kaufmann believes America may be going through something akin to China’s Cultural Revolution in which many aspects of American society, from the constitution to the name of the country, could change. I’m not quite as alarmist as him, but his argument is persuasive.
Propaganda Poem
A mum of two primary school children sent me this poem that was set for her 10 year-old in Year Five last week. The poor little mite was expected to learn this abominable propaganda by heart! She quite rightly told the school to get knotted. Message: The Lockdown has brought about a spiritual awakening that has made people realise the error of their planet-destroying ways.
Round-Up
And on to the round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘Second national lockdown not needed – Neil Ferguson‘ – Some common sense from an unexpected source
- ‘Why Tearing Down Institutions is Almost Always Bad‘ – Good Medium post by AKA hollymathnerd
- ‘Masks Don’t Work: A Review of Science Relevant to COVID-19 Social Policy‘ – Excellent summary of the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of face masks in preventing infection (tl;dr: there isn’t any)
- ‘Weddings off until September, as councils are yet to make venues “Covid secure”‘ – Bad news in the Telegraph for those hoping to get married over the summer
- ‘UK on “knife edge” amid fears of second spike‘ – Bedwetting balls from Sir Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Welcome Trust and a member of SAGE
- ‘Beach-goers are the new Brexiteers for Remainer snobs‘ – Nice piece in the Telegraph by my old mucker Julie Burchill
- ‘The double-think of the woke elite blinds them to their own ridiculousness‘ – Madeline Grant on Dr Priyamvada Gopal, Cambridge’s newly-appointed Professor of Wokeness Studies
- ‘Long periods of lockdown could weaken the immune system and leave people more vulnerable to dangerous viruses, Oxford epidemiologist warns‘ – Professor Sunetra Gupta with a piece in the Mail on Sunday. She’s said it before but it can’t be said often enough
- ‘Much-hyped contact-tracing app a terrible failure‘ – Cheer up, Matt. The contract-tracing app in Australia is a car crash too
- ‘City centres “face disaster” unless office staff return‘ – In 12 months time, city centres will just be lawless zones in which large groups of feral youths pass the time by lobbing bottles at police officers. Oh no, wait. They’re already like that
- ‘Britain’s childhood obesity crisis made worse by lockdown‘ – Depressing story in the Sunday Times
- ‘Stop Firing the Innocent‘ – Yascha Mounk in the Atlantic on the innocent bystanders being cancelled by the Woke mob
- ‘You Say You Want a Revolution?‘ – Andrew Sullivan with another must-read column in New York magazine
- ‘‘Volunteer’ Hawaiians Turn “Paradise On Earth” Into An Island Of Snitches‘ – Another bucket-list holiday destination gets red-lined
Theme Tune Suggestions From Readers
Just one suggestion today: “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M. Can’t believe we haven’t had that one before. Or have we?
Small Businesses That Have Reopened
A few weeks ago, Lockdown Sceptics launched a searchable directory of open businesses across the UK. The idea is to celebrate those retail and hospitality businesses that have reopened, as well as help people find out what has opened in their area. But we need your help to build it, so we’ve created a form you can fill out to tell us about those businesses that have opened near you. Now that non-essential shops have reopened – or most of them, anyway – we’re now focusing on pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as other social venues. Please visit the page and let us know about those brave folk who are doing their bit to get our country back on its feet. Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
Note to the Good Folk Below the Line
I enjoy reading all your comments and I’m glad I’ve created a “safe space” for lockdown sceptics to share their frustrations and keep each other’s spirits up. But please don’t copy and paste whole articles from papers that are behind paywalls in the comments. I work for some of those papers and if they don’t charge for premium content they won’t survive.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the last 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. It usually takes me several hours to do these updates, along with everything else, which doesn’t leave much time for other work. If you feel like donating, however small the amount, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here. (Please don’t email me at any other address.) I’ll try and get another update up on Tuesday.
And Finally…
Jonathan Pie’s latest rant – about cancel culture – is well worth a watch. When he’s good, he’s very, very good.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/28/beach-goers-new-brexiteers-remainer-snobs/
Beach-goers are the new Brexiteers for Remainer snobs
True!
Local lockdown fears after Covid spikes in Leicester ONE OF THE COMMENTS
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/local-lockdown-fears-after-covid-spikes-in-leicester-zkg0s2q37
Fiona M
5 HOURS AGO
The Mayor of Leicester, age 71, breached lockdown in April to spend 4 nights with his lady friend, and again later when he was caught. This was reported in Leicestershire Live and has been admitted to by the Mayor who is quoted as being “angy”. Apparently the April stay was because she was unwell. Tragically my council tax pays for this selfishness idiot, and had I breached lockdown in April for 4 nights, my Dad could still be alive. I am also angry, but of course I don’t matter. Oh, and he is a Labour politician yet my Labour MP, Liz Kendall, hasn’t demanded his resignation..one law for some…rather like ‘Mr Teflon of Leicester.’
had I breached lockdown in April for 4 nights, my Dad could still be alive
Clearly a total idiot!
Unfortunately, this is what we’re up against.
Hard to understand this Fiona M’s comment. We would need to know how her father died, did she think she could.have saved him if she had broken lock down? Confusing.
Recommend you just ignore it.
You didn’t have to be a genius to work out Matt Hancock is front of the queue to mete out this punishment.
https://twitter.com/simondolan/status/1277538163406311424?s=20
Mayor is Sir Peter Soulsby. Always name & shame. 🙂
Six hospitalizations in a city of 250,000. They can’t handle it?
Leicester is 550,000
Risk of measles outbreak after children miss vaccinations during lockdown, experts warn
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/28/risk-measles-outbreak-children-miss-vaccinations-lockdown-experts/
Wow, experts. The best big pharma can provide, doubtless.
Must have a load of measles vaccines that are close to their death date.
Surely not?
Coronavirus: why can hairdressers open but not nail salons or gyms?
Two of the comments:
Antony Martin
15 HOURS AGO
Lovely to see all those people in the parks and on the beaches enjoying their lives. You know, life, that thing that we once did? Now of course many no longer seem able to rationalise between buying into this mass hysteria and understanding that part of the gift of living is accepting that it comes with inevitable risk. The battle cry is no longer, ‘we want to be free to enjoy the things we want to do.’ The new credo is, ‘I’m not doing that unless someone tells me I’m not going to die.’ Wake up people. If you think this is living, you’re already dead.
Rustyboy
15 HOURS AGO
My word! When did we become such a nation of scaredy-cats? Please look beyond the hysterical press and do your own research. This thing is blown out of all proportion and the lockdowns have caused untold damage; the problem is we just haven’t felt the brunt of that damage yet, but we will.
Project Virus Fear has been all too effective https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/project-virus-fear-has-been-all-too-effective-v9j2v95k0 One of the comments: Gregg 15 HOURS AGO I don’t believe that the general population is scared of Covid. You only need to look at Bournemouth beach last Thursday. The reality of people not wanting to return to work is that the furlough scheme – whilst helping – has helped too much. The average person on furlough is better off. No travel costs, no incidental spend and still receiving at least 80% pay. Who wouldn’t want to indulge in new activities – online courses, picnicking in the park, spending extra time with loved one and to cap it all off being paid to do this by the govt. I do agree with furlough, but it needed to be staged better, 80% April, 70% May, 60% June and then held at 50%. Unfortunately the longer you are on furlough the more likely you are to lose you job. The reality is that people need to return to work, there should be no question of schools returning and businesses need to re-open. The logic of gyms being shut is ludicrous given the fact that you are more likely to die by dropping a weight on… Read more »
Saw that comment and thought it was spot on.
I’m very convinced that all will change once the furlough scheme is rolled back by July-August and finally wound down in October. As the country slowly wakes up to the reality of the economic damage caused by the lockdown and antisocial distancing there will be massive discontent. People who have lost their jobs or business and homes will think they have nothing to lose and take matters into their own hands.
It’s created a new divide of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’
To say it’s created a feeling of resentment in me toward those who’ve been enjoying a load of leisure time on my tax money wouldn’t be untrue. I understand the *need* for it once the lockdown was in place, and I understand *some* people haven’t enjoyed it as they knew their jobs were not likely to return… but it’s been far too generous and there was obviously no justification for this never ending shutdown anyway, and thus should never have been a need for furlough in the first place.
There’s a third category: us contractors that get the short end of the stick no matter which end we grab.
If i end up furloughed that means i also lost my contract, so there’s nothing to come back to. Not to mention all the crap HMRC will probably throw my way after this is over.
I have been lucky enough to get to keep my job through all this, but i don’t get paid holiday at all. I don’t work, i don’t get paid, and i have to take days off no matter what.
and the lockdown has killed the contract market
One must not forget the all-important fourth category: MPs, civil servants and all local government employees on full pay while “working from home” till the end of the year
I agree. And don’t forget that the “haves” and “have nots” also include the following:
I have noticed that many of the rabid lockdownistas fall into the “haves” category as this current situation doesn’t really affect them. But I’m angry at the “have nots” who have brought into this whole propaganda hook, line and sinker. Trying to reason with them is like trying to bang my head against the wall several times.
Yes. After 10 years of “austerity”, you’d think the havenots would see what’s instore for them.
Boris is carefully avoiding the word – his latest is that it’s what the public like to call it.
“But in the end what you can’t do at this moment is go back to what people called austerity, it wasn’t actually austerity but people called it austerity, and I think that would be a mistake.”
Boris at his disengenuous best: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/29/boris-johnson-calls-for-rooseveltian-approach-to-help-uk-economy-recover
Let’s face it, the man who burned £50 notes in front of homeless people, wouldn’t recognise austerity if it bit him on the bum.
However’ I’m pretty sure “austerity” was a Tory euphemism for swingeing cuts and the creation of deep poverty and depleted services.
At least Thatcher’s lot were honest about what they were doing.
Cameron called it austerity and I had no time for him either. Yes, Thatcher’s lot were honest about what they were doing, including sheltering murderous bastard war criminals like Pinochet.
No mention of good old Tony “Middle East peace envoy”?
I think it was a bribe to induce compliance and therefore enhance the narrative. There would have been far more resistance if it had been less generous. But why dig into the truth and jeopardise a four month paid holiday? Yes, and I pretty much resent it too. (No resentment towards those forced out of work through no fault of their own, but the way the government packaged it.)
I never understood why schooling had to stop. Even without kids being in school. Almost every house has a laptop, smart phone or tablet. Why couldn’t the teacher just stream what they were going to teach in class.
Can’t think of any good reasons
Some bad ones:
Teachers want an extra holiday
Teachers don’t want us to see what they are teaching
Would be interesting to see what public schools provided during lockdown vs local comps
Exactly.
I agree schools should never have been shut, lewi. But you might be able to think of a good reason why a skype session for 30 kids would be, to say the least, impractical,
We did Zoom lessons for 9 weeks. Eventually the children are no longer engaged. It also depends on the age of the child and the subject.
Children should be at school – online lessons are not a good enough substitute.
My experience with university students is that you can’t get them to engage if they’re not in the same room. The energy is too dissipated. I had an occasion to compare one project done locally – aka in the room – and one done remotely (over two years) and the difference in quality was astounding
As you say, ALMOST every house!
Many don’t have broadband and rely on PAYG phones. The Labour manifesto promise was met with jeers from the affluent middle classes whose kids have their own smartphones and tablets.
Many children are still waiting for the essential tablets that were promised them back in April, so they could keep up with schoolwork. Their teachers are true herose in all this, making sure that work was printed, available, not merely marked by a robot and that the kids were ok.
My granddaughter stayed last week and all her schoolwork was done on her iphone with no teacher interaction whatsoever. No queuing for the computer, no broadband problems here either.
We might not be super-affluent but must take care not to lose sight of how relatively privileged many of us actually are and try to imagine what life has been like for “the other half”.
An iphone ! At what age, Cheezila ?
I only ask as when my granddaughters (3 and 7) visit, I tell daughter no electronics, no junk food, and no ‘effin unicorns. 🙂
She’s 14.
Thanks. Gets trickier in teenage years. Back in the 90s/00s, I made my kids wait until 16 til they got a mobile.
That was then. Mobiles were fairly new to most adults in those days.
My nephew goes to a private school. Up until Easter he had classes online until 1pm but after the Easter hols he had a full online school day every single day.
Sturgeon. Closing border. Wannabe dictator, idiot, or mis-quoted?
27 Apr 2020 · Nicola Sturgeon asked by @ petermacmahon about her … And the first question to Jeane Freeman on the border issue … She said she had no power to close borders
Transcript on Marr BBC interview addressing issue.
https://mobile.twitter.com/chrismusson/status/1254743461510725632
Get on and investigate the care home deaths Sturgeon.
Well said
You could try “Goodness Gracious Me” as a signature tune, but someone is bound to say it’s racist.
https://youtu.be/P3A7B6qtUpU
FOR TOBY – Greece are changing their regulations for incoming international travellers on the 1st July. Visitors will have to fill in an online form 48 hours before arrival with travel details and contact details of where they are staying. They will get a QR code by email which they show at the place of arrival into Greece (airport, ferry terminal, car border crossing). This QR code will either let them into Greece without testing or will mean they have to have a Covid test on arrival. They say they will be assessing who is most likely to be a Covid carrier and their QR code will show this. They can do up to 100 tests a day at the island airports I believe, so not everyone will be tested. Luck of the draw! They can then travel on to their accommodation. Results will be available within 36 hours. If negative they hear nothing. If positive they will have to go into quarantine in a hotel bedroom for 14 days. The Greek government have procured hotel bedrooms specifically for this purpose. This system will last until 31 August at the moment. Greece may not allow direct flights from the U.K.… Read more »
Holidaying in the new norm. I sell holidays and don’t want to anymore!
https://youtu.be/BfLv4G0-l04
You sell holidays? Poor you, I think you need a change of career!
I’m tempted to try to get a Covid test before I fly back out to Greece, just to make sure I don’t end up incarcerated in a hotel bedroom somewhere for 14 days after testing positive. Knowing my luck, my room would be south facing and the July sun would be beating through the windows and I’d have the air conditioning on all the time, with all the health risks that entails! But how we get those tests in the U.K. within 72 hours of flying, I have no idea. The world has truly gone mad. I think the problem with Greece is the same as New Zealand. They have had very few Covid cases because of their severe lockdown, so now are hitting problems on opening up, with nobody having any immunity. I think it is as Professor Giesecke said, if you look at the Covid results after about 18 months every country is going to have the same % figures roughly. All a total lockdown does is push the problem further down the road, as you have to open up again sooner or later. I love Greece, so I don’t like to criticise and I’m not sure they… Read more »
If you’ve not got any of these then you are extreemly healthy and suffering from nothing…
I usually have 1 or 2 of these at any one time…
That list is as long as the Causes of Death Worldwide in 2020 list is short, in the eyes of the MSM: Cornonavirus.
I coughed once yesterday. Do I need to get a covid test?
Get a coffin. You surely Have one foot in it already
How long before breathing is added to the list of symptoms?
I get the feeling the people pushing the plandemic agenda are not getting the results they want, so they are pushing for more people to get tested.
Notice how MSM are talking about the number of people with cv19 are going up, they are not saying people are getting ill with cv19.
Keeping the fear alive.
The number of hospitalisations and deaths is dropping, so the number of ‘cases’ is all they’ve got to keep the panic going. Of course, there is the issue that it’s only a case if they need medical intervention, so ‘positive tests’ is actually what they’re banging on about, which doesn’t even tell you how many people are ill.
I think they missed out strange skin rashes, mine were on my wrists – i also had chills, an all over stiffness where i felt really heavy, strange bowel pains like trapped gas pressure, the shits for no good reason – but no fever or cough – didnt slow me down – if it wasnt c19 then I dont know what i had but it was gone before the prison sentence started
(forgot to mention loss of smell – noticed this during the morning constitution – I wasn’t gagging!)
Yet people think Im mad to link this virus to Greta and her climate change loons. Holidays will be made so difficult to arrange you’d not bother going. When you read what hoops you have to jump through and what you’d have to forego in order to keep you ‘safe’ why bother? It’s already been discussed how certain people will be exempt from quarantine, those deemed front line workers get a free pass that doesn’t include the plebs! Look around you to see how difficult they are making our lives all for a virus that is dying out.
Yes, Boris is turning Great Britain into Greta Britain!
I think there is a huge green agenda tied in to this. Our local council have just stated they want to cancel all festivals that are not 100% carbon neutral and want to ban fireworks night. They state this is in line with the agenda to be 100% sustainable by 2030.
Time I start looking for a new job I think! Only spent the last 18 years building a successful business but hey ho!
Yes the Green Agenda is all around us but there are still so many in the thrall of this virus that are unable to see what’s really behind it all. Logic tells us this Plandemic is no more serious then the flu epidemic on 1968, something I hadn’t realised was a problem at the time yet far more people died back then yet there was no fuss nor panic a nd yet here we have a nation petrified of living their lives over a virus most of us wouldn’t know we had! I thought I despised May’s government the most but this one should be imprisoned for what they are doing to us. Its monstrous!
Here’s the bigger picture on all this as I see it:
There have been two Agendas at large in the world for the last 30 years. One is ‘Woke’ which has been focused on USA and Canada. This site explains it brilliantly https://newdiscourses.com/
The other agenda is zero carbon, which has been focused here and in Australia. These two both refuse objective truth. See here again https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-science/ explaining the Woke opposition to objective science.
What we see now is the two Agendas being forced together.
There is zero actual science in “climate science” https://www.beautyandthebeastlytruth.com/
Both aim to destroy society. See also that dreadful ‘poem’ down the page ‘The Great Realization” that sounds to me like a Maoist slogan as well. All these things slot together. Zero Carbon and Wokeland are opposite sides of the same coin. See the entries here on 27 and 28 June https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/
See the World Economic Forum’s ‘Great Reset’ for an idea on where this is going.
How true, yet how hard to believe that it has ALL been downhill since Major. You think it is as bad as it could get (May), then Johnson shows that there is a long way to go!
as i mentioned yesterday re Yorkshire Tea and BLM. Yorkshire Tea recently advertised that they were now 100% carbon neutral.
It is amazing how there are so many links between lockdown, BLM & climate change
Funny you should say that as I’ve just contacted my family in SE Asia telling them that our plans to visit them in two years time is shelved.
Its not just the economic uncertainty but also the insanity and hassle associated with travelling – if the quarantine is still in place, no way would I be able to afford to take so much time off from wok.
We had a holiday in Portugal booked for this year which was cancelled because of the virus then we looked to rebook and guess what, another outbreak has occurred which puts paid to that idea.
I can see why people think that this is all connected to the green movement who want to drag us back to the Stone Age. It does make sense.
Bill Gates sponsors Greta and is a big cheese in the frankenmeat takeover bid.
Funny how ‘outbreaks’ are occurring at meat packing plants. Also Al Gore is behind Greta.
This Plandemic IS about driving the world into compliance with the UN Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals. That’s the bottom line. The global lockdown was the primary objective, a global reset. All the rest is pure propaganda to make it happen.
Restrictions on travel are very much part of the agenda. Aircraft being seen as one of the main contributing factors to CO2 emissions, which in the world of the crazies at the World Economic Forum will cause the sea levels to rise and the climate to warm. Even although CO2 is at a concentration .04% in the atmosphere and will have little effect on anything.
The nonsense about the virus comes from the same people that brought us all the propaganda about CO2 causing climate change.
Its all LIES.
Please explain a bit more detail – what is the UN Agenda 2030 and what is the connection between that and Agenda 21?
Hi Rosie, Agenda 21 is the precursor to Agenda 2030. 21 sees control of the people and talks about ‘Lockstep’ measures in the event of a pandemic amoungst other things. Available here – https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/outcomedocuments/agenda21
Agenda 2030 is the end game of a depopulated and sustainable world:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf
There are some sinister concepts within.
Well said Two-Six.
If you want to look at atmospheric gasses that might cause climate change then water vapour is far more prevalent and far more effective too.
Does Auntie Greta have a plan to eliminate water too?
Writing that sentence has given me a eureka moment for the ‘final solution’, we just need to drink all the oil we produce instead of burning it – problem solved.
Seriously though, climate change is a fact of life – a bit like death and taxes. It has existed since the dawn of time and will exist until the end of time in fact it will be the end of time for the human race unless we have moved planets by then. It exists throughout the universe, life or no life, and it is driven by cosmic forces and laws of nature over which puny humans have zero control. The belief that we can control the forces of cosmology and nature is simply religion and religion is and always has been one of the most destructive and repressive forces on the planet. This is why green politics is so seriously dangerous.
Yep. Apart from that, CO2 is heavier than air so it will not “go up” and form a greenhouse type covering around the planet as they want us to believe. It get absorbed by the ocean and land and plants which actually benefit from increased Co2. The idea that the atmosphere is like a shell round the earth is nonsense. The atmosphere gets thinner and thinner until there is just NOTHING. Actually as a side line, helium and hydrogen do not exist in the atmosphere naturally as they travel up and out into space.
oops bad science check: I think the free hydrogen would combine with oxygen and form water. I think I am right about helium. Actually I am sure I have read that Helium is only made by the USA in one plant. It is exported for all kinds of other uses world wide. I think I read that the corona
projectpandemic has affected its production or distribution recently. So perhaps no more party balloons. I also don’t think it exists as a free element in the environment unless it gasses out the ground perhaps.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJwayalLpYY
Yes it is such a miracle that these ‘front line workers’ do not pose the same risk as rest of us.
just seen some of the interview on BBC iplayer between Justin Rowlatt (BBC chief environment reporter) and Greta.. Sorry not an interview but a piece of hagiography. However they do specifically link “climate justice”, “social justice” and “racial justice” via lockdown and BLM.
Also come across an interview of same Justin Rowlatt by the BBC social editor. This is just repeating the same message of linking covid and climate change.
I dont think people realise how far BBC has gone down this Rabbit hole.
There was some point to reducing single use plastics and other forms of pointless pollution. Replacing them with face masks, rubber gloves and hand sanitiser, and of course all the medical/PPE waste, not so much
Better to stay at home – imagine being ‘unlucky’ and have to quarantine for 14 days in a hotel bedroom. Keep in mind for most people getting infected with cover is the same as having flu.
*Covid*
Anyone know what happens at land borders within the eu at the moment ? Wondering whether one could get a ferry to France and then drive to other places ?
A personal scientist contact of mine set off to drive to Eastern Europe on Saturday.
Their prepared reason for any questions was repatriation.
Sadly this same person believes the covid lies. Duality of thought from a scientist. Not related to Calderwood, Cummings or picnicing Varadkar.
Heh, thanks Basics. How did he/she cross the Channel, please ?
Ferry was the plan but more I do not know.
Intelligence, professional accomplishment, and personal integrity off no automatic protection against wishful thinking and self-delusion. –Ray Hyman
Thanks Carrie. Sounds a bit risky! If we were to go, our flight would leave on July 18th. Presumably you mean a PCR test not an antibody test? I guess the thing to do is to book it and make sure you’re insured in case flights aren’t possible.
Travel insurers are mostly staying well clear of Covid. The only one currently covering for cancellation due to quarantine (either through T&T or positive testing) is Trailfinders. Others will cover for medical expenses (including Covid now) overseas but that it is it.
My recommendation, either book an ATOL protected holiday if flights and hotel as operator then responsible for refund if cancelled. If booking separately, book a fully flexible hotel rate in case the flights are cancelled but the hotel is open.
If flights only, you should get free change of dates, credit or you are legally entitled to a refund should the flights be cancelled.
Staysure are sort of covering Covid. They say:
“The only cover your new policy will give you for coronavirus (COVID-19), is emergency medical expenses and repatriation if you catch the virus during your insured trip.”
They won’t cover cancellations etc.
Hi Toby – Yes, a test to see if you currently have Covid, a PCR test. Greece have just announced that they aren’t accepting any direct flights from the UK until at least 15th July. The ban is extended on Sweden and the USA too. My family live out there and I’m trying desperately to get over there to see them and my house!
Insurance is difficult to get for Coronavirus cancellations right now, although some companies will offer medical cover. As Offlands says, if your flights are cancelled, the airline/tour company must refund you. easyJet are taking up to 3 months to process refunds now though for cancelled flights, although a much shorter time if you will accept a voucher instead.
Toby: This is a good page to keep an eye on if you are still considering going to Greece although it hasn’t yet been updated with today’s news:
https://www.mfa.gr/en/current-affairs/statements-speeches/greece-welcomes-the-world-update-15-june-2020.html
And here is the arrival protocol:
https://travel.gov.gr/#/
Hi Carrie, and all, Apologies for a negative note but beware the PCR test: ‘The CDC 2019-nCoV Real-Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Panel has been designed to minimize the likelihood of false positive test results. However, in the event of a false positive result, risks to patients could include the following: a recommendation for isolation of the patient, monitoring of household or other close contacts for symptoms, patient isolation that might limit contact with family or friends and may increase contact with other potentially COVID-19 patients, limits in the ability to work, the delayed diagnosis and treatment for the true infection causing the symptoms, unnecessary prescription of a treatment or therapy, or other unintended adverse effects.’ https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/Factsheet-for-Healthcare-Providers-2019-nCoV.pdf ‘even the mainstream medical journal Deutsches Ärzteblatt reports that the so-called SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests may have “a shockingly low” PPV. [] an assumed prevalence of 3%, the PPV [Positive Predictive Value] was only 30 percent, which means that 70 percent of the people tested “positive” are not “positive” at all. Yet “they are prescribed quarantine,” as even the Ärzteblatt notes critically.’ and ‘How declaring virus pandemics based on PCR tests can end in disaster was described by Gina Kolata in her 2007 New York Times article Faith in… Read more »
Thanks Miriam, good to know. I do wonder about Greece though . . . if they start to find that too many of their tourists are testing positive, it’s not going to look good for their tourist industry and would certainly put people off booking!
So that’s me not going to Greece for the first year in my life ever then!
Any situation where they may enforce a test shall be judiciously avoided.
I am not a case. I am a human.
Well Greece have just announced that they have extended the ban on direct flights from the UK flying into any part of Greece, until at least the 15th July. Apparently they aren’t happy with the way the UK government is handling the pandemic and don’t want their country reinfected. So my flight is cancelled yet again. They have continued the ban on flights from Sweden and the USA too. At this rate, by the time I get back to Greece, my very sick elderly relative there will have died. I am so utterly fed up of Johnson and his bl..dy government and all this Covid nonsense messing up my life and the lives of millions of people. It is causing untold misery . . . for what? The Green Agenda? That idiot of a teenager who thinks she knows it all – Greta? Big Pharma? Who the hell knows. I know I don’t anymore.
I can empathise with your frustration (I was supposed to be getting married this year but we are instead stuck thousands of miles away from each other because of this farce) and Johnson definitely receives a big fat X from me over his ridiculous decisions relating to coronavirus, but I do wonder why you’re blaming him for the equally foolish decisions of the Greek government.
I guess because with the feedback I’m getting from Greece, is that the continuing ban is due to the fact they don’t trust the U.K. government and think we’ve done a really poor job with all the dithering, Whatever, I’ll just have to wait it out and pray my relative hangs in until I get there. I really hate this virus nonsense! It is causing such pain and heartache and general chaos for so many people.
Is there is the possibility of flying to another country, Carrie, then flying on to Greece from there ?
I’m looking into that, maybe Heathrow – Paris – Athens – Greek island. But I may have to quarantine for 14 days on arrival if I do that or I may not be allowed into the country. Greece have much stricter controls than we do here, and everything is monitored closely. This is all so crazy, for something that in reality causes less deaths than a bad flu bug!
Maybe train to Paris would be better, to avoid leaving a flight record anywhere …
Not the best of news Carrie:
https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/greece-extends-ban-on-uk-flights-due-to-covid-risk-23719?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Evening%20Bulletin
Any thoughts about Iran? They seem to be having an actual second wave with deaths back up to previous levels. My thought: both waves are very small compared to the size of the country (82 million people). What I’d really like to see is analysis of what this means for our understanding of the virus and lockdowns. Why did lockdowns have no effect on curves in March-May but now in a few places lifting them seems to allow a surge especially among younger people? Is it because lockdowns did prevent spread among the younger population in the community but that had little effect on deaths because they didn’t stop the spread among the vulnerable in care homes and hospitals?
I think C19 is really just a very complicated, statistical chimera; essentially the very elderly have just been finished off four weeks early.
The average age of death – world wide – is about 80. So when you say there is a “surge in Iran” – there may appear to be a surge now but probably in one year’s time, some obscure Iranian health statistician will notice that the total annual death toll from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 was roughly the same as it was in the previous 50 years.
That is essentially what is becoming apparent all around the world – there literally has been NO excess death anywhere. It is embarrassing because some of my closest friends here in New Zealand have been deeply supportive of our leader’s total shutdown. And yet there is no reason for it.
Our idiotic leader has still refused to say how she will pay back the debt – 50% of GDP. And maybe that is yet another cause if this crisis. Does today’s generation just not care about the generations to come?
Do women suffer more from c19 in Iran than elsewhere, they can’t get much natural vitamin D from the sun because they are all covered up when they are outside – Anybody know?
Just a cursory flick through the BBC homepage today and we have the classic amuse-bouche of fear porn (500,000 dead globally! Cases rise in USA! Panic, Panic!), then we move swiftly onto further prognostications of doom “Coronavirus Survivors are at risk of PTSD” (how many people suffer PTSD after a bad bout of the flu? Surely this is down to the Government’s draconian NPIs than the virus itself). There’s a headline shrieking about China locking down 400,000 people due to a new spike in infections (that’s not even 0.03% of the country’s enormous population, but never mind. Panic! Panic!) Then, there is an whole article dedicated to a green think tank who argue that we need an extra £14bn/yr(!) to tackle climate change in a post-Covid UK. That’s exactly what we need when millions more families will soon be relying on food banks – a few thousand miles of new bike lanes. This is the kind of elitist tripe that is supported mostly by the professional, middle-class disciples of St Greta, who no doubt can comfortably work from home and would certainly like to see far less grubby builder’s vans passing through their trendy suburbs. We round our depressing Beeb… Read more »
“Two young, beautiful women reclining on an empty beach…wearing muzzles.”
Imagine the lovely tan on their faces – top half tanned, bottom half not – not a good look
Brainwashed idiots
What is it with people? Stupid or something else? It is child abuse. The poor little child not having his mother around, he is sure traumatised by not having his mother around.
And we all know how good 2 yos are at logic and reasoning, thinking things through and understanding abstracts… not.
Given it’s mother, I think the experience for the child might not have been strange or distressing, and actually a nice time with its grandparents. I am a bad person …
Charlotte Cole’s family are all built like the proverbial out-houses. Maybe she had a point?
That headteacher is appalling. The UK needs to follow the lead of Scott Morrison here in Australia. The teachers’ unions would have kept schools closed in perpetuity if they could and they were very persistent in their demands. Morrison insisted that schools had to reopen, repeatedly explained that the evidence showed it was safe, and also insisted that schools reopen without any social distancing. I’m not sure whether the UK Cabinet is capable of the same leadership, but it is desperately needed.
If they stopped paying these lazy sods they’d soon get back to work. Now is the time to find an alternative method of teaching children because they’ve become far too politicised.
It is a national crises for kids not to receive education. They should get the army in to teach kids if teachers are too scared to do that.
Remember the good old days where you were fined if you took your kids out of school for a few days to go on holiday. Reason: No child can afford to lose one day of education.
And the controversy when the fashion for home schooling became apparent? Standards would fall etc etc. At the moment thanks to the intransigence of teaching unions, all parents are expected to home school, and teachers are no longer concerned.
They just don’t like competition, in case they get caught out.
That was always about control, though, Victoria. As if the bad guys care about education of children.
Bring in the army is a worrying battlecry! You’ll be wanting to flog the teachers next.
It isn’t education that’s so vital, it’s the socialising. Young children need to play and teenagers need their peers.
I’m more worried about the social and psychological damage that’s being done than missing a chunk of the infamous National Curriculum.
My son, year 2, is doing three day weeks at local primary with half capacity- 15 places. 8 kids showed up! Very low ‘cases’ where we are.
It’s up to Boris – don’t hold your breath!
Well that’s one good thing SCOMO has done since being in office
Just a cursory flick through the BBC homepage today and we have the classic amuse-bouche of fear porn (500,000 dead globally! Cases rise in USA! Panic, Panic!), then we move swiftly onto further prognostications of doom “Coronavirus Survivors are at risk of PTSD” (how many people suffer PTSD after a bad bout of the flu? Surely this is down to the Government’s draconian NPIs than the virus itself). There’s a headline shrieking about China locking down 400,000 people due to a new spike in infections (that’s not even 0.03% of the country’s enormous population, but never mind. Panic! Panic!) Then, there is an whole article dedicated to a green think tank who argue that we need an extra £14bn/yr(!) to tackle climate change in a post-Covid UK. That’s exactly what we need when millions more families will soon be relying on food banks – a few thousand miles of new bike lanes. This is the kind of elitist tripe that is supported mostly by the professional, middle-class disciples of St Greta, who no doubt can comfortably work from home and would certainly like to see far less grubby builder’s vans passing through their trendy suburbs. We round our depressing Beeb… Read more »
Even if there was a second wave, Lockdown etc. will not be the proper way to deal with it, nor was it ever a reasonable idea in the first place.
I think that this is something to keep in mind when discussing whether there will be or not a second wave: we have to be careful to not tacitly agree that lockdown wasn’t a mistake. Saying it is no longer necessary in a way accepts that it was necessary.
Let’s not tacitly agree with this.
You make an interesting and important point.
I think there are various arguments (which are not mutually exclusive):
1) Lockdown isn’t an acceptable response to a pandemic as dangerous as this one was first thought to be, not so much because it doesn’t work but because the cost (and I am talking about more than the economic cost) is too high, given that the only viable exit strategy (assuming you believe it was actually that dangerous) is a vaccine, which is uncertain
2) Lockdown isn’t an acceptable response to a pandemic as dangerous as this one was first thought to be, because it doesn’t work
3) Lockdown isn’t an acceptable response to this pandemic because it is nothing like as dangerous as it was first thought to be
I think (2) and (3) are easier arguments to make because telling someone that 500,000 people are going to die will most likely shock them. Ultimately if we want to avoid making the same mistakes in the future, I think we are better off with argument (1), but at this point I’d take any of them if it meant we could exit from the “new normal” and start to rebuild.
I just wish the government had taken my line. When people at work whinged at me about how kids should be taken out of school and that there should be a lockdown, I just told them to grow a pair and get on with their lives.
Lost a few friends maybe, but I have even less patience for the nonsense now, never mind back in March when they were all whining and crying.
I think losing friends is part of being an honest genuine thoughtful person these days. I lost friends over daring to vote for Brexit and even more over this. Its sad in a way but you have to ask yourself what sort of friends are they when they are happy to ditch you for holding an alternative view to theirs. My pets make better friends than these charlatans so f____ to them.
Maybe another angle would be to discredit the idea that you can be held responsible for being part in a chain of infections that resulted in a death, even if you had no symptoms. That could be by making it clear to everyone that if this is allowed to stand, we’ll do lockdown every flu season.
Personally I am against lockdown because I don’t think the gov should have much say in what risks I take.
Good point. The flu analogy is powerful. Easier to get across once it’s accepted that covid-19 is not the black death but is possibly akin to a very bad flu strain such as 1957 or 1968.
So enjoyed the Jonathan Pie rant. It was excellent. Utopia indeed! I hope those who have manipulated this hell live a long and miserable life. They deserve nothing less.
I’d be in favour of a short and miserable life.
They can have a long and miserable life, just so long as it was silent.
Sturgeon likes to talk and talk while saying very little other than vaguely hinting at all sorts of continuing forms of imprisonment for the people of Scotland.
When this Covid 19 mess is all over the UK Government needs to take a long hard look at the actions of the devolved governments and consider to what extent in the guise of health these governments have far exceeded their devolved authority. Boris needs to wake up to the fact that he is Prime Minister of th UK, not just England.
He would say that, wouldn’t he?
https://wellcome.ac.uk/news/vaccine-journey-idea-immunisation-covid-19-coronavirus
“Conflict of interest”? What’s that when it’s at home, then?
I usually look at Wikipedia for COVID data every couple of days, I have noticed how little data for the UK is shown on the site
For my country of residence (Romania) I can find the daily number of new cases, daily number of deaths, daily number of recoveries, number of active cases, number of daily tests and also 7 day rolling averages for most of the those stats.
I can also find the number of cases and deaths per day for each county in the country going back for a few months.
If I look at The Netherlands on Wikipedia although they do not publish recoveries I can also see the number of hospitalizations per day and some demographic data, the German data is also very good
However, for the UK I can only see number cases per day and number of deaths per day, that is it, does anyone know why this is, is this data available and no one can be bothered to put it on the wiki or is it not available?
I have randomly been through a few countries and UK data is the lowest I can find
That’s because this government is deliberately manipulating the Covid statistics to maintain the fear factor and control over us. They have taken away our human rights because of this virus and are loathe to give them back.
That’s right. The government is lying to us every day, they are evil beyond belief. Absolute psychopaths.
I blame this chap, the Duracell Bunny:
Priti Patel’s “party” outfit.
There was me thinking it was Matt Hancock when he takes his fake skin off.
Post of the year!
The U.K. government agreed to publish recovery data many weeks ago. They still haven’t done it, nor do they look like doing so 😡
Test numbers (note – numbers of tests carried out or posted out, not numbers of individuals tested); positive test numbers (unclear whether this is positive tests or individual infections), hospital admissions, ICU bed occupancy are all also available – these are distributed across the NHS, ONS and gov.uk websites. I believe latest estimation of total number of infections and latest estimation of past infections (based on population surveys through antigen or antibody testing) are also available at gov.uk.
I guess you could work out the number of recoveries from using the hospitalisations number, the ICU occupancy number and the deaths, at least for a reasonable approximation, but I’ve never seen it published.
Yes it’s there, but you have to look for it. The media never talks about any number but ‘cases’ these days. Presumably because the death numbers are now tiny, and people have worked out that the ‘daily’ totals are formed from daily reports rather than actual deaths on that date.
Unfortunately they haven’t. I constantly have to explain this to people. They think I’m lying and that hundreds are still dying every day.
Comparison of UK death rates over the last 20 years:
https://hectordrummond.com/2020/06/29/this-is-what-we-shot-ourselves-in-the-foot-for/
The DefundtheBBC campaign is getting traction and has started a GoFundme. I suspect folk on here may be interested in supporting it –
https://www.gofundme.com/f/defund-the-bbc
Cancelled mine last month.
Me too.
Just a comment to say how easy it is to not pay licence if you do not require one. Simply give them a bell, tell them. They then read a script to you telling you how rods of hot iron will be inserted if you do require one and you say you dont. You say fine with that they send you a letter every two years seeing if you now need one. That’s it.
Why anyone would require them and their families pay for the functions of the BBC is beyond me. Their local news used to be of merit once.
Covid84 channels are all working to fear our nation and beyond. Why would anyone require that service?
They send you a letter every two years seeing if you now need one. We gave up our TV in about 2005 and told them we’d let them know if we ever needed a licence. Two years later we got a letter asking if we now needed one, along with the usual ‘hot iron’ threats in case we were watching TV without one. We decided not to answer it on the grounds that we had already let them know and nothing had changed. Ever since we receive spectacularly threatening letters every month. They rotate several versions. I have lost count of the number of times we’ve been told ‘A case has been opened and here is a list of the documents you will need to bring with you to court’, or words to that effect. Nothing ever comes of this. We have had 3 visits in 13 years at various addresses. The first 2 times we let them in; they just walked a few feet in and then went out again. The 3rd time my husband told the man to ‘just go away’ (quite polite for him!) and he did. They have the power to forcibly enter your home but… Read more »
TV Detector vans…the biggest lie ever. There has never been prosecution for not have a TV licence brought about by somebody having their TV “detected”. There never ever were any detector vans. Another huge governmental lie that has been perpetuated on the public for a very long time.
Actually I was looking into the history of the Radio licence. Introduced in about 1920. It was to ensure that only “right and proper persons” were allowed to have a radio receiver and the applicant needed to be verified as such by a notable person, like a doctor, bank manager, solicitor or some other worthy.
The government could not have just any old herbert tuning into foreign radio output. Who knows where that would lead them.
The TV licence stems from this.
Seek out the FOI re detector vans the weasel words of it basically say that if we were to tell you how many van we had then that would undermine the myth of the vans.
Again. Logic. Why is no one ever seeing them? No one sees Nessie and all agree nonsense. Why believe in detector vans?
Also, I can’t see any realistic way that a detector van could tell the difference between a TV and all of the multiple other screens that people now have in their houses – there’s no practical difference between a TV and a monitor and there’s absolutely no necessity at all to have any means of receiving programming through anything other than the internet. Although I have a Virgin Media contract that includes TV, for at least 2 years now, absolutely every single piece of programming anyone in the house has watched has been streamed, either through an AppleTV onto the TV screen or on an iPad screen.
Its all about the ‘live’ aspect. Oz news live being watched in UK required you pay a fee to the BBC or more accurately TV Licencing.
I do not care to know how online services are exempt or not – skype, live youtube, zoom? Millions watching a workout session live on youtube. I don’t require the service.
Cheers.
I know that’s the theory, and now that you have to register for iPlayer and other UK TV streaming platforms, I suppose they might technically be able to work out that you were in fact streaming that content live. Oz news? How could the BBC possibly know? And either way, it makes the vans meaningless.
Oh but they were ever so cute, especially the Dormobiles.
The principle is any reception of any live broadcast requires a licence fee being paid. Regardless of origin. Hence ITV (or OZ) etc require a licence. Its not a BBC TV licence. It is a TV licence for the reception of live broadcast. So programme repeats that are broadcast (“on telly”) require a licence.
Analogue how can they tell? I’ve no idea
Digitally to set up a method to watch BBC iplayer there is a requirement to input a TV Licence code number, with postal address if my memory serves.
ISP data would be easy to trawl I would guess.
All of which gets away from how simple it is to inform them you do not require the service!
Yes, but I was saying the vans were an irrelevance. But somewhat off topic, I’ll grant you.
i think in the old days there were some electrical impulses generated by CRT tvs receiving a signal that could be picked up by appropriate equipment in a van parked outside that would indicate that there was a tv in use.
(for those under 30 CRT is Cathode Ray Tube – how TVs worked before flat screen LED)
they also used to be given details of all tv’s bought.
But today you are correct. How do they know if i am watching BBC via internet
They don’t. ISPs are not allowed to share your information with the BBC. There is no way they could know. It’s easier just to never watch the BBC, firstly because it’s shit, and secondly, because then there is nothing to catch you doing.
Very interesting history.
Re: detection, our first visitor from Crapita came in an old Dormobile van with curtains drawn all round it. I have never actually believed that they work.
I found this fun site:
http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Detector%20vans.htm
Do not tell them. If you are not watching live TV you are under no obligation to have anything to do with the BBC (TVL is just one of their trading names, adopted in order to distance themselves from the “enforcement officers”). You have no contract with the BBC. If a goon turns up, just tell him to leave (politely, I would suggest) and shut the door. Bin the letters; they are spewed out by a computer and mean nothing. Warrants cost the BBC time and money. It is much easier for their bagmen to go elsewhere. They target council estates in the daytime, hoping to find clueless single mothers on the doorstep who will incriminate themselves: this is the principal demographic on the conveyor-belt of TV Licensing convictions in the magistrates’ courts. Last time I looked, a goon gets a bonus of £18 every time he (and it’s usually a “he”, a C- who can’t find any other form of employment, except perhaps as a traffic warden) extracts a confession; it may be more by now. His line manager is under pressure from the übergoons to meet targets. That is why your typical doorstepping goon so readily gives up… Read more »
One of the things that keeps people from declaring they don’t require a licence is the thought of agressive goon on door step.
It is easily avoided by declaring to them you don’t require a licence. It takes the stress away.
Yes, but it also takes away the expense for them of a letter every month or so. Plus some of us thrive on that sort of stress. 🙂
We look forward to them.
Cannot argue with that John!
Not so. If you declare you don’t need a licence they do not believe you, especially if you come over as not very bright or well educated. To wit: the lecture they give you about red-hot irons, etc., as you say above (or below?). That was what got my goat in 2005 when I made the mistake of telling them we were going telly-free.
See my comment above. The effect on a vulnerable person could be serious.
I repect your point. Good discussion.
My point is that there is an option to tell them you do not require their service, that works. My reason for saying so was that doorstep threaths are intimidating. I accept the telephone script is forceful sounding and may be threatening for some.
Spend my life hearing about how hot irons might fit my person so found the phone script aspect no trouble at all. I agree it may not be a pleasant experience and ultimately is wrong to go through. But it is easy.
Perhaps I hear the sound of pingu whenever a script is read out to me. It’s a simple healthy technique.
I think we are agreeing the whole thing is wrong. Our situation management has valid differences.
Thanks for your response. We are on the same page — the BBC’s bullying tactics are a national disgrace. I remember feeling anxious when we first got rid of the TV set (visions of having the door kicked in), which is why I educated myself as much as I could. In a way it’s a bit like this Covid nonsense. I was fooled at the very beginning and nervous like everyone else. Then I looked into the matter, so now I am not in the least bit worried about catching it. The truth sets you free and is very good for your head!
What does worry me about Covid is the agenda behind it and what it bodes, but I’m learning about that too.
If you use the website, there are just a couple of boxes to tick and a sentence about maybe sending goons to check.
No tinny musak to drive you insane while on telecoms hold and no lectures, involved.
When we seceded (2005) the website was very basic; I notified them by mail. I got an insulting letter back telling me they would, at some random time convenient to themselves, send someone to check.
A mistake!
The problem is that this is exactly what Cummings wanted. Not that the BBC doesn’t deserve it of course!
You can do it online. Easy!
I wondered why everyone was so scared of this virus, as I never watch the BBC, or any other mainstream media, any more. Then I saw some of the wall-to-wall fear porn, and adapted a little Gilbert and Sullivan: When first I heard of the Covid germ My faith in the BBC was firm, So I socially distanced two metres or more Whenever I went shopping at the superstore. (Chorus) Whenever he went shopping at the superstore. I kept my distance carefully, Adhering to the guidance of the BBC: (Chorus) He kept his distance carefully, Adhering to the guidance of the BBC. I never visited a beach or a park, And on Thursday evenings I made my mark, As we gathered on our doorsteps in a gesture grand, To give the hospitals a great big hand. (Chorus) To give the hospitals a great big hand. I cheered and applauded with a hand so free, Like the people that they showed us on the BBC. (Chorus) He cheered and applauded with a hand so free, Like the people that they showed us on the BBC. Each day the news was much the same – Spreading fear and panic seemed to be the… Read more »
Brilliant!! Well done.
Might I suggest the rogue MPs would be anti-lockdown.
Maybe a sheep MP?
Theme Tune suggestion: ‘Life Gets Tedious Don’t It’. From late 40s (so you yung’uns won’t know it – check it on Youtube) but highly relevant today.
That poem was shit. I thought i’d have a go and see if i could do better
If only everybody was as virtuous as me
if they did exactly what i told them how they’d be so free
with all their thinking done for them they’d have so much more free time
if only everybody was as virtuous as me we’d all get along just fine
If only everybody knew how much empathy i have
then they’d see how BBC comedy can still make you laugh
i don’t want to blow my own trumpet but you gotta bend the knee
If only everybody could be as virtuous as me
i really am a hero for more than one day
i can make your life safer by the words i choose to say
so lets all be a little nicer i think that’s the key
you really would benefit from being as virtuous as me
so everyone just give up and surrender to my plan
it’s in your best interest i hope you understand
and when i’ve taught the world to sing the exact same song as me
then i have absolutely no doubts you can be as virtuous as me
I liked your version.
There is a YouTube video of the original poem that was doing the rounds in WhatsApp groups and social media. I saw it about week 7 or 8 of the lockdown. Watching it was rather like having a nasty illness made significantly worse by a dangerous drug. I’m all for criticisms of modern life (eg. phone addiction etc..), but the idea that I ought to be greateful for what has happened didn’t go down well with me.
I received it via WhatsApp a while ago. From a sceptic perspective it was nauseating. Told the sender it was nonsense and deleted it.
Poem not bad, but I like your style of literary criticism more.
A POEM, TO BE LEARNED BY HEART BY ALL CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS ARE NOT ZOMBIES By Annie, Covipoet Laureate and Composer of Deathless Verse for All Occasions (fee scale sent on request) There was a boy called Johnny Who as a general rule Lived a normal, quiet existence Between home and play and school. But when the lad was seven His whole life turned to bad: Some people caught a flu germ And all the world went mad. They took our little Johnny And every other kid, And slammed them in a dungeon And then screwed down the lid. Johnny went into the garden But the policemen came and said There was virus in the garden And our John would soon be dead. Mummy took him to the playground, But all the slides and swings Had hazard tape all round them And other dreadful things. His granny came to see him Most secretly one day, But the next-door neighbour dobbed them And the police dragged her away. John’s mummy said the police were right, And Johnny he should not Even dream of hugging granny Or she’d drop dead on the spot. When mummy went… Read more »
Excellent, Annie, could do with some poems on my site if you would like to donate (I pay for my site myself so sorry I can’t afford anything, not by the time that Common Purpose finished off our income 12 years ago.) It’s here https://www.beautyandthebeastlytruth.com/
I have to wait on inspiration ( Muse dies not work to order), but if I get a suitable one you’ll be welcome to it!
Great poem!
Brilliant Annie. Will post in the next update.
Are you looking for part-time work? Could use someone with your writing skills at the Free Speech Union. If you are, email me at lockdownsceptics@gmail.com
Well done Annie, you’ve been head-hunted ! 🙂
can we get BBC Breakfast and Good Morning Britain to feature this poem in the same way as they apparently featured the “realisation” poem back in May or would that just be p*ssing in the wind ?
Another gem, Annie.
That is so very moving and terribly true – I don’t think the true cost of young children’s mental well being has even begun to rear it’s head yet. Shame on our disgusting cowardly inept political and media class.
That propaganda poem “The great realisation” was doing the rounds on YouTube and FB in April, enacted by father and son at bedtime. I seemed to be alone in finding it so whitewashingly creepy and rewriting history in the making yet friends were sharing it with heart emojis and “love this.” Chilling that the 10 yr old had to study it for a lesson! On FB people tell me I’m heartless for suggesting the statistics are manipulated and that I’ve now got it in for people with health-conditions. I’ve given up with FB as it seems to be part of the problem, sending suggested posts of nano-masks and remote learning tech. The world has gone insane and why no one smells a rat I cannot conceive- it seems so obviously contrived the more you look at it. And I cheer all the people at beaches and in park! Rant over.
As a society people have difficulty questioning circumstances around death, to do with poeples personal insecurities about the subject I think. Doesn’t appear to come from peer pressure, people feel a need to defend the first thing they hear about death. Only sick and vicious people point out thr corpse has a knife in the chest and perhaps didn’t die of covid. Just an observation.
It is exceptionally creepy.
The 10 year-old should learn Annie’s poem instead!
I second that.
It’s creepy, but also appallingly badly written, an affront to anyone with half a brain. Sentimental, childish nonsense.
Someone sent me the video back in May, describing it as “something beautiful.” I was so outraged by the content that this is how I replied: “To tell the truth, I find it utterly disgusting and nauseating and had to watch it through gritted teeth. But hey, I’m sure that those who have lost their jobs or had to trash the businesses they’ve spent years building up, or those trapped in a high-rise with abusive partners will be *really* glad that they’ve discovered the simple joys of singing and dancing and phoning their parents… Not to mention the thousands of cancer (and other) patients who have had potentially lifesaving referrals postponed until heaven knows when; the charities that are going under; and the millions in East Africa whose crops are being wiped out by a locust plague but who’ll be lucky to make it to the middle pages of a newspaper, let alone any deeper into the international consciousness. As there is now only one thing deemed worthy of media attention… Bet they’re all glad of it too. Oh, and the people being harassed by the police for sitting on a park bench. Bet they’re delighted too. And those who… Read more »
To be extraordinarily pedantic, ‘Jabberwocky’ is the title of the poem, not the monster, which is the Jabberwock, with no ‘y’. So the headline should be ‘Beware the Jabberwock’.
We are in a completely looking-glass world, though, aren’t we?
Ah, but Jabberwocky is also the title of a 1977 film by Terry Gilliam, in which the monster is call the Jabberwocky
Surely times have moved on and it should now be the JabberWoke.
In which we shun the frumious BanderSnitch next door.
Frabjous idea!
HWS blatantly lying that it’s safety first. If that was the case then schools would be shut for months each year during the annual flu season. Does nobody in the education sector understand the concept of relative risk and that you can’t have a life without risk?!
Indeed. Also interesting that they suggest they will make their own decision ultimately as to whether and to what extent to reopen. I guess that’s the price you pay for giving schools degree of autonomy, which in general ought to be a good thing. The trouble is, I think this has or will become political rather than educational.
The average age of coronavirus related deaths is just over eighty. Life expectancy in the UK is just under eighty. So the virus is having zero effect on mortality. And in order to deal with this (non-)problem, the government has violated all our rights and liberties and decimated the economy causing far more harm, including fatalities, than the virus ever could. This is either a case of collective madness or a case of massive crimes against humanity.
I fear it’s more a case of collective stupidity and sheep mentality on the part of many governments around the world.
No one could be that stupid.
Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, admitted on 10 April that the government had not made any attempt to assess how many people would die as a result of the government’s lockdown measures. Even the most stupid policy-maker would know that before implementing a policy one weighs potential benefits against potential harms. The failure to consider the potential harms of the lockdown measures cannot be explained as stupidity. The failure could only be the result of fear and panic or an ulterior motive.
Hancock is hardly the sharpest chisel in the toolbox at the best of times.
He was speaking, at the Coronavirus Daily Update, on behalf of the whole government.
That’s a bit disturbing, seems there’s more than one of us. Are you the same Mark that posted a couple of comments over the past week or so? (I’m the Mark that posted the vast majority of the Mark comments so far.) Fortunately your comments have seemed pretty sensible so far.
I only posted 1 before this article cos it got stuck in moderation. There might be 3 of us?!
Going forward, I shall post as ‘Mark the Third’
Looks that way. You probably should be aware that I’m generally considered a racist scumbag by certain sections of the LS community, so you might prefer not to be confused with me 🙂
The second of you should definitely use Mark Twain …
We can be Mark I and Mark II. I might have misremembered about there having been more than one previous post, or the other one(s) might have been just one off drive-bys All I’m certain of is that I saw at least one Mark post that was not mine, which might easily have been your first post, a few days ago
TOBY: Is it possible to change settings so that usernames can only be used once. Sounds as if we have 3x Mark. Might get very confusing.
Another John B has appeared too – he uses a space though. 🙂
I agree with Mark
From Dr Kendrick ” GPs often put Covid on death certificates. with no test, masking the deaths that are due to lockdown A&E visits are down by 50%, a proportion of this large number will die NHS staff have NOT been working extra hard; A&E has never been so quiet ” Correct. I will clarify a little for laymen as well. I am familiar with deaths in the local EMI ( senile geriatric )homes because they are the only Covid fatalities I have seen, I have seen none in the community . The poor souls mainly in their late 80 s have a prolonged existence ( not a life ) due to frequent courses of antibiotics for chest or water infections which would have carried them away if not given. The pressure to prescribe in such situations comes from the fear of complaints from often absentee relatives which is very real . Even with 24/7 care life expectancy from date of admission is about 18 months. When Covid19 struck due to NHS discharge seeding about 20 % of residents died in four local EMI homes over about 6 weeks. They passed away peacefully and none died with the assumed classic… Read more »
Thank you for that calm and rational statement.
Pity it’s no good sending it to any person in a position of power and influence.
Tony Heller on top form blowing up the ‘lockdowns work because WuFlu is back’ nonsense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqUwpqjG_jM
The free press is supposed to be our protection against lies and corruption. The main stream press are now promoting lies and corruption.
Where are the checks and balances?
There is no such thing as checks and balances in a despotism.
You racist with that “WuFlu” name. You are disgusting
lol
that was the worst put down ever
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-haven-t-we-seen-a-post-protest-covid-spike-