The Government’s Incoherent New Measures in the North
I didn’t think the Government’s management of the pandemic could get any worse, but I was wrong. The measures announced last night, imposing new restrictions in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire, are a new low.
They were announced by Matt Hancock in a Twitter thread at 9.16pm – no, I’m not making that up. He really did announce restrictions affecting millions of people on Twitter less than three hours before they were due to come into force. Or should that be farce? It’s as though Matt Hancock’s script is being written by Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It. Oh, and the Government then published the new guidance two hours later – less than an hour before it came into effect – and then published further guidance this morning.
Let me see if I can get this straight. In Greater Manchester, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale, Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees, people from one household won’t be allowed to meet people from other households in their homes or gardens. That seems relatively clear, but the Government then added the caveat that you are allowed to mix with a person or persons in another household if the two households have formed a “support bubble”. A “support bubble” “must include a single adult household, i.e. people who live alone or single parents with dependent children aged under 18”.
Clear?
When asked about this rather complicated rule on breakfast television this morning, Hancock only added to the confusion.
“The law that we’re bringing in is that two households cannot meet in the area defined, but obviously any two households that are meeting should follow the social distancing guidelines,” he said.
Not only did that fail to make the advice any clearer, but by using the words “in the area defined” he muddied the waters even further. In its published guidance, the Government specified that people in the these areas should not “visit someone else’s home or garden even if they live outside of the affected areas”. So has the Government changed its mind about that? Or does Hancock not understand his own guidance?
Perhaps Hancock’s confusion isn’t surprising since the guidance is borderline incomprehensible.
For instance, someone from outside an “affected area” is not allowed to visit someone inside an “affected area” unless they’re attending a wedding or a funeral, in which case they can provided there are no more than 30 people in attendance. Oh, and you’re allowed to travel into an “affected area” if you’re “holidaying” there.
Clear?
There’s more of this gobbledegook. People in the “affected areas” will be allowed to visit pubs, restaurants, cafes, shops, places of worship, community centres, leisure and entertainment venues and visitor attractions, but only if they remain with members of their households while in those venues and don’t “socialise” with anyone else – unless they’re in their “support bubble”, of course.
In Leicester, where a local lockdown has been in place for the past month, pubs, cafes and restaurants will re-open on Monday, but the no-socialising restriction will apply, as will the other new rules.
You are allowed to meet people in the open air, provided it’s not in a private garden:
In line with the national guidance, you can continue to meet in public outdoor spaces in groups of no more than six people, unless the group includes only people from two households.
What if one of the two households includes someone from another household in their “support bubble”? And why public parks but not private gardens? Who knows.
The new law mandating these restrictions is going to be called “The Dog’s Breakfast Act”. Or is it the “Whack-A-Mole Act”?
In his Twitter thread, Hancock said this decision was “based on the data” and referred to “an increasing rate of transmission in parts of Northern England”.
The main evidence that the number of cases is increasing comes from the ONS, which claims it has discovered a slight increase in the number of people testing positive based on a nose and throat swab in recent weeks. Here’s what the BBC has to say about those data:
The figures are based on its infection survey, which takes swabs from people selected at random in homes in England.
The ONS estimates that about 1 in 1,500 people in homes in England are infected (roughly 36,000 people in total) with 4,200 new infections each day.
Both figures are up on last week, when it was estimated there were 2,800 new infections each day and that one in 2,000 people (28,000 total) were infected in homes in England.
Unfortunately, the ONS hasn’t disclosed whether it re-tested anyone to ensure the first test result wasn’t a false positive.
Even though these data show a slight uptick in the number of cases in the past few weeks – from 0.05% of the population to a whopping 0.07% – the overall number of cases is far lower than it was at the end of April (0.34%):
Can these data be used to justify the new measures? No. The ONS has produced a breakdown of the percentage of infected people per region, but it shows that the North West has fewer infected people than all but one other area (the South West) and lower than Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands, the East of England, the South East and London, which is way out in front. If I lived in Manchester, I would ask why I’m having to endure these additional restrictions when a smaller percentage of my city is infected than London.
The BBC also published some data from PHE showing the number of new cases per 100,000 has increased in some parts of Greater Manchester, although it has fallen in Bolton and Rochdale:
Can this be used to justify the local lockdowns? Not really. In Germany, the trigger for a local lockdown is the number of new cases climbing to above 50/100,000. The only part of Greater Manchester that’s happened in is Oldham. Why are the people of Manchester having to suffer all these new restrictions when the infection rate is only 25/100,000?
As usual, there’s no rhyme or reason to the Government’s handling of the crisis. They’re just making it up as they go along. No wonder more than half of the British public don’t understand the lockdown rules.
Stop Press: A reader has emailed to point out that anyone from one of the affected areas who’s currently visiting someone in another area is now breaking the law and could be fined £100.
My mother-in-law is staying with us. She lives in Manchester. Now, according to the hapless Hand Cock, she’s breaking the law unless we make ourselves her support bubble. Whatever that means.
Boris “Squeezes the Brake Pedal” (Mistook it For Woman’s Thigh)
There was more bad news this morning. Boris held a press conference with Chris Whitty in which he announced that he was going to “squeeze the brake pedal” on the planned easing of lockdown restrictions on August 1st. Here’s the BBC’s summary:
On July 17th, the Prime Minister set out plans to further ease lockdown rules from 1 August to:
* Reopen most remaining leisure settings, including bowling, skating rinks and casinos
* Allow live indoor theatre and concert performances to resume with socially distanced audiences
* Reopen all close contact services including any treatments on the face, such as eyebrow threading or make-up application
* Allow wedding receptions for as many as 30 peopleThese changes have now been postponed for at least a fortnight, with the Prime Minister saying at a Downing Street press conference that “we should now squeeze that brake pedal to keep the virus under control”.
The changes to the guidance for employers, allowing them to make decisions about how and where their staff can work safely from tomorrow, will remain in place.
In addition, fans will no longer be permitted to attend the sporting pilot events allowing limited numbers of spectators at Goodwood, the Crucible and the Oval in coming days.
Again, no evidence was presented to show that the virus isn’t under control. On the contrary, PHE published data showing that the number of people turning up at hospital Emergency Departments with Covid-like symptoms has declined since its peak in early April:
It also published data showing the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 being admitted to hospital and ICUs has declined since early April and is continuing to fall:
SAGE Member Says Project Fear on Steroids Must be “Ramped Back Up”
A reader sent me this extraordinary comment made by Professor Robert West from University College London, a member of the behavioural science group that feeds into SAGE, on the Today programme. You really couldn’t make it up.
Round-Up
Here’s a round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘Starkey and Cherry – cancelled for being old, white and male‘ – Strong piece by Andrew Mahon in Conservatives Global
- ‘One factor explains most of the differences in COVID-19 deaths across countries‘ – Good analysis by Lars Christenson in which he points out that the different Covid mortality rates can be almost entirely explained by the percentage of the population that’s male and over 80
- ‘When did the policy of “flattening the curve” so the NHS would not be overwhelmed turn into ruining our lives and wrecking the economy so nobody catches Covid, ever?‘ – Strong piece by Janet Street-Porter in the Mail
- Newsnight – There was a good report from Health Editor Deborah Cohen on Newsnight last night on whether the local lockdown in Leicester has been effective. Starts at around the 5m 25s mark
- ‘US GDP Suffers Record Collapse‘ – GDP has fallen by 32.9% in Q2, the biggest drop in US history
- Round-up of HCQ Studies – A round-up of the evidence from 65 different countries on the effectiveness of early treatment of COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine. It works
- ‘Deputy Chief Medical Officer For England: “Masks Not A Good Idea”‘ – “For the average member of the public walking down a street, it is not a good idea,” says Jenny Harries OBE, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England
- ‘Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet defy coronavirus to post better results than expected‘ – Amazon posted the biggest profit in its 26-year history, while Facebook, Apple and Alphabet all beat estimates
- ‘Do you have FOGO (that’s Fear Of Going Out)?‘ – Judith Woods points out that not going out could kill more people than the virus
- ‘When theatres reopen they’ll resemble prison camps‘ – Depressing piece by Lloyd Evans, the Spectator‘s drama critic
- ‘Anti-lockdown campaign raises £230,000‘ – Cheering piece in the Times about how much money Simon Dolan has raised for his JR of the Government. I get a mention towards the end, but Delingpole gets a photo!
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A couple of months 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 re-opened, 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 re-opened – or most of them, anyway – we’re now focusing on pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as other social venues. As of July 4th, many of them have re-opened too, but not all. 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 – particularly if they’re not insisting on face masks! Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
Forums Back Up and Running
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.
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums that are now open. Initially, they became a spam magnet so we temporarily closed them. However, we’ve found a team of people wiling to serve as moderators so the Forums are back up and running. Any problems, email the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster Ian Rons here.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
I thought I’d create a new permanent slot down here for people who want to buy (or make) a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and it has the advantage of not explicitly claiming you have a disability. But if you have no qualms about that (or you are disabled), you can buy a lanyard from Amazon saying you do have a disability/medical exemption here (although it’s showing a delivery date of Sept 4th to 14th). The Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. You can get a “Hidden Disability” tag from eBay here and an NHS exemption notice for just £2.99 from Etsy here (see above).
And don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face nappies in shops here.
A reader has been in touch to tell me about his wizard strategy for avoiding wearing a mask on his Ryanair flight to Crete:
Masks are to be worn on board Ryanair flights, of course, but not if you are eating or drinking. €27.50 seemed a bit steep for a toasted ham and cheese croissant, two half litres of still water and a double Hendriks and Britvic, but we had a tail wind down to Crete and they lasted the three hour flight.
Worth every pfennig.
Shameless Begging Bit
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And Finally…
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I think I’m just going to get very drunk. It seems the only logical thing left to do.
Or you could go litter picking and enjoy the fine weather.
Now that society has ceased to exist in any meaningful sense, and 90% of people are the de facto enemy, why in God’s name would you invest time and effort in anything that involves civic responsibility?
Agree. Am on a second glass of wine already. So, if I understand correctly. A small upturn in positive test results (that could just be false positives and is for sure within the error rate for the tests) is being treated as the portent of the apocalyptic second wave that will overwhelm us. But, very few people are actually ill and hospital admissions stay super low. But, hypothetically that could change. I guess a nuclear war could happen too so we ought to prepare for that. At the same time, the awesome health service continues not to treat other real illnesses properly and this will lead to real deaths. The government are fighting a war that cannot be won. The virus will do what it will do. I even believe that having lots of young people get it is even good news. As it infects people who suffer limited effects from it, it mutates and it learns how to co-exist with us and our immune systems learn how to deal with it. That is how we have managed viruses over millions of years of history. In he meantime just try to keep it away from the really vulnerable old people.… Read more »
Spot on Sir, i’m on my second Gin .
Beer 4 here. It’s done wonders for the hangover.
Bottle or glass?
Worse, it’s a sham. Demic.
The Boris cabal need a perpetual crisis, a Forever War, or the truth will catch up with them. 0) this is not a very serious virus 1) they put vulnerable people in harm’s way, and they died in their thousands 2) thousands more are dying, and will die, as a direct result of their policies. Mine’s a Duval (9%). Cheers.
We have always been at war with coronavirus comrade.
x
“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
Think you nicked that from 1984 🙂
‘Forever War’ is scifi by Joe Haldeman, but yes, “The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
Possibly that was the point.
If we’ve got to wear goggles, I’ll make sure mine are of the beer variety.
Both. Even a 2 year old can manage this Country better
That would include my two year old boxer and boxers aren’t the brightest of dogs.
So people in Manchester can happily visit a pub full of random other people, but they can’t sit in a family member’s living room (or even their garden) because this would be “too dangerous”?
How the f**k does that make any sense?
It doesn’t. Logic is so last decade.
It is farcical.
Indeed this whole Covid affair is nothing to do with logic or even science, unless you are seeing things from Bill Gates’s viewpoint.
It’s because it’s Eid al Adha today/tomorrow (the most important Muslim festival in the year) and most Muslims don’t drink or use pubs, preferring to celebrate by visiting friends and family. We can’t have that, can we?
Leicester, with a tame South Asian population including many Hindus, was an experiment. They submitted to their arbitrary lockdown with hardly a murmur so now the Govt is going for the Muslims in the North. Divide and rule, oppress and humiliate. This is fascism, make no mistake.
Boris’s rules don’t seem to have stopped masses of Muslims going to the houses of families that live in areas unaffected by the ban.
Lots of cars from out of the area appearing outside houses in Birmingham, London, Slough etc…
What’s wrong with that?
I never said anything was wrong with what those people are doing – on an individual level, it makes perfect sense.
It merely illustrates that Boris’s rules are useless, naive, ill-considered and most likely counterproductive, practically forcing the cross-country movement of a group of people who are now apparently the locus of infection.
Fair enough and thanks for explaining. Except that the vast majority of them will not actually be infected anyway. They have probably submitted to a test which showed a false positive or they are really are ‘positive’ (whatever it means) but asymptomatic i.e. not ill.
Not that that will stop the Government using this as a pretext to up the ante yet again.
It is absolutely inconceivable that Muslims could in any way be connected to this, I am truly shocked at any insinuations to the contrary!
In India, Modi blamed muslims (tablighi jamaat) for the spread of coronavirus in the whole country. Looks like Boris is inspired by it.
Yes and no. The problem is that everybody who tests “positive” (whatever that really means and if it’s accurate) becomes a “case” and the lie of omission is that it is not explained that a “case” does not mean dying in a hospital bed. They deliberately let the dross think the worst because that’s what they want. It’s about money and power.
Quite so.
Good for them! Hours spent prepping food, cost of that food plus buying presents, new clothes etc. It was just like cancelling Christmas on Christmas Eve. What would you do?
Don’t give them ideas 🙁
I know what I would do. Karen would NOT approve.
Christmas just might be cancelled this year.
Lockdown spreading next week then…..
So those areas will be next.
Yes, I rather fear they will…
Please stop calling him Boris. He”s not your friend
It’s common usage. I doubt you’d prefer me to call him here what I call him at home.
Or perhaps you would? Let’s try that by restating my point from above.
That fat, entitled, spineless, hooray c**t’s rules don’t seem to have stopped masses of Muslims going to the houses of families that live in areas unaffected by the ban.
Do you mean Boris ?
Good for them I say. What disappoints me is how many indigenous Britain’s are quite happy to sacrifice their family members because “the virus”. Maybe the Muslim community is better at weighing risks and benefits, values family togetherness and aren’t afflicted by the decadent Western idea that death is an affront that we shouldn’t ever have to deal with!
May God be good to them all.
Said as a Christian.
We are All In ThisTogether.
Spoken like a true Christian, Annie!
Does that mean sometimes god isn’t good to some people? What happens there? Is he sitting on his golden throne and thinks to himself i know Biker he’s a bit of a bastard so i think the next time he’s out riding i’ll have him fall off and get ran over by a combine harvester turning him into a bale of hay.
Sounds like a strawman argument to me …
Some Christians have never read the Old Testament… God is not a mincing lefty. He will f*** you up if you cross him.
Indeed. I tend to find Leviticus 26 resonates quite well at times like this.
“But if ye will not hearken unto me… I will appoint over you terror, consumption and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of the heart… they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.”
God is a ‘she’. Twice as nasty.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7.15)
Just saying….
We most certainly are not all in this together. I’m not in this with anyone who agrees with any of what’s going on, either actively or passively.
Not the bed-wetters, not the Karens, not the sportscasters with their stupid branded masks, not the businesses who are cutting customers’ noses off to spite their face, not the media who are all evil over-educated conformist morons. Not the idiots on Facebook and Twitter screaming blue murder any anyone who doubts all this is wise. Not anyone who uses the phrases ‘in these times’, ‘if it saves one life’, ‘socially distanced’, ‘covidiot’, ‘new normal’ or anything at all like that.
The only people I’m in this with are people who refuse to allow this shit to continue, and will fight it tooth and nail on every front. And there ain’t that many of *us*. Perhaps 2-5% of the entire adult population if we’re lucky.
Bring on the meteor strike, the solar flare and the big tsunami.
Yes, just a few percent it seems. The majority are scared witless, through fear porn led by the vile BBC.
The witlessness preceded the terror.
I hope our muslim neighbours up North go about their celebrations and if anyone says anything, shrug the shoulders and say “inshallah”
Because in the end you have to live your life
I hope so too. And, if so, everyone else needs to take some heart from them.
Because they need people to keep spending money.
People don’t spend money in their own homes.
If the community who are testing positive don’t go to the pub…..
Do NOT get tested ever. The test is unreliable, many false positives, picks up debris from previous viral infections.
The Government no longer refers to Covid-19 but coronavirus. Why?
Covid is only one of many coronaviruses. We have been exposed to other coronaviruses for a very long time.
COVID is the illness. Coronavirus is the virus.
As you say, there are many coronaviruses. This supposedly new one is referred to as SarsCoV2
They presumably don’t refer to the cases as COVID cases, because most of the people aren’t actually ill. They just have the virus. Supposedly.
Except the tests are spectacularly unreliable and give out a very high proportion of false positives. The reason, apparently is the tests only test for a sample of the genetic material of the virus. A very small sample. 200 parts of the genetic code out of a possible 30,000. So the chances that those 200 parts coincide with a part of some other coronavirus in your body that is not SarsCov2 is not small. Quite large actually given that coronaviruses are quite prevalent.
Sorry that is factually incorrect. COVID-19 is shorthand for ‘Coronovirus disease 2019’. It’s proper name is SARS-COVID-2.
“It’s proper name is SARS-COVID-2.”
Wrong.
The name of the virus is SARS-CoV-2.
That’s the same thing, nitwit.
Everyone loves a pedant but Jane is right. The ‘d’ in Covid stands for disease and that’s why it’s not there in the name of the virus.
Now, for bonus marks, who knows the proper way to pronounce “clostridium difficile”?
See-diff?
diff-i-kill-ey. It’s Latin, not French.
Yes and you score 1/1 for that answer. But the rabbit hole runs deeper… What are the rules for pronouncing Latin in English as English? It’s not the same as how they teach us in school to pronounce Latin. When people get divorced, for example, they get a “decree nigh sigh” not a “decree nee see”. That’s probably because we used to pronounce all Latin in that dreadful way back in the day. So maybe when a new word is coined into English we use the current convention? But the lack of consistency bothers some people. But then again we say “Paris” but “Cal-ay”. As you can see this is just the tip of a huge iceberg of pedantry.
Oh blessed Annie! Ventosa viri, restabit.
It’s not necessarily that bad a test in general but with prevalence now so low you need an extremely specific test to get a useful result.
Suppose for the sake of argument it was 99% specific. It’s unlikely to be that good and nobody knows exactly how good it is.
With prevalence at around 0.05%, testing positive would then still mean you had only a 5% chance of actually having Covid.
“Coronavirus is the virus.”
Wrong.
“Coronavirus” is a generic term.
Coronavirus does not cause the disease Covid-19 (for COrona VIrus Disease-2019)
SARS-CoV-2 causes Covid-19.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:
co·ro·na·virus noun \kə-¦rō-nə-¦vī-rəs\ plural coronaviruses
: any of a family (Coronaviridae) of single-stranded RNA viruses that have a lipid envelope studded with club-shaped projections, infect birds and many mammals including humans, and include the causative agents of SARS and MERS <
… a lethal cattle pneumonia called shipping fever was caused by bovine coronavirus … — Debora Mackenzie, New Scientist, 12 Apr. 2003>
<Coronaviruses can cause a variety of illnesses in animals, but in people coronaviruses cause one-third of common colds and sometimes respiratory infections in premature infants. — Rob Stein, Washington Post, 25 Mar. 2003>
<Feline infectious peritonitis is caused by a coronavirus. — Cat Fancy, May 1996>
<Another viral gastroenteritis is caused by canine coronavirus. — Mary Warzecha, Dog Fancy, November 1991>
So is he now telling everyone to get tested with his new slogan? This is looking more and more like the creation of a Global DNA database as each day passes.
There is also a question over whether the test is “pre-contaminated” with the virus. There is no chain of evidence to prevent tampering. When having a test you should be allowed to choose your own kit from a pile plus another at random which you can keep. These could be sent to a “charity” testing centre to check if it’s tainted.
This might cure one aspect of fake results.
But the ‘test’ is irrelevant. I think someone said on here this week that they queued for a test but after a length of time she gave up and went home. Got a letter couple of days later that she had ‘tested positive’. Is that a rat I can smell?
https://uncoverdc.com/2020/04/07/was-the-covid-19-test-meant-to-detect-a-virus/
Which is why it has become mandatory in Bavaria today, when you come back from your vacation abroad, and soon in other German states as well.
Covid-19 is the disease. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus.
Using a broad generic term, coronavirus, to refer to a specific virus is totally unscientific and misleading. Like referring to Homo sapiens as Homo.
Is this usage change away from scientific accuracy done on purpose?
To get people to freak out about any coronavirus, including those that cause the common cold? And maybe get them all confused?
I haven’t seen “SARS-CoV-2 virus” used for a long time.
What I’ve seen would suggest that because of its proper use as a tool for replicating large amounts of DNA, the ‘test’ cannot distinguish between different coronaviruses anyway. I don’t know that this is true, but it would not be surprising, as it is not designed (or supposed) to be used for medical diagnosis.
Who gives a fuck what it’s called?! We are getting royally screwed by a bunch of incompetent psychopaths. Time to put them in their rightful place, the trashbin of history.
Boris also announced that face masks would be mandatory in more public places, with more police enforcement 🙁 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2020/jul/31/uk-coronavirus-large-areas-of-northern-england-put-back-in-lockdown-after-rise-in-cases?page=with:block-5f23ff4b8f08bb338d709510#block-5f23ff4b8f08bb338d709510
Note to Boris:
Man up – Shut up – Bugger off
https://twitter.com/C3PMark/status/1289064375861383168/photo/1
This is an interesting tweet with a photo, WHO peer reviewed research Covid-19 dated 5th June. I have no idea if this fake or real but it seems to be some form of a document relating to face masks and probably discussion of asymptomatic spread. All comments are dismissive of face masks but below the comments are authors of related publication in 3 of the 4 quotations. I don’t know if this means the authors have perhaps been approached and sent their responses.Why the interest? Remember the BBC report that the WHO has taken a decision that face masks should be used (contravening their earlier stance). BBC reported that this was a political decision and that the scientific board was not unanimous. Is this now some form of document showing the different opinions? I am surprised that an investigative journalist has not ventured into this area. Must be extraordinary that WHO takes such a fatal political decision when their scientific advisors were not agreeing at all. We all now live under consequences of this political decision taken without any scientific agreement.
great info thanks
Absolutely real. The WHO does not recommend masks.
This was actually reported at the time. However it was completely misrepresented.
The WHO said that there was no evidence to recommend the use of masks in the general public, but they were open to the idea that in some special circumstances, such as very crowded closed environments, airborne transmission MAY occur and that masks MAY be useful in those special cases, but that more research was required.
This was taken by the media worldwide and twisted around to say that the WHO recognised that masks could be helpful.
The rest is history.
This is all happening in broad daylight in front of our very eyes. But for some inexplicable reason, the media is completely refusing to ask any proper questions.
Maybe the media have always been pretty useless, but this is the first time that the consequences have been worldwide and of such import?
Here’s a thought regard the mask hysteria. I am still smarting over a run in with a member of the mask stasi when I was in the office last week. He, a biologist, nominally speaking anyway, insisted that the mask was to protect him from me and any asymptomatic transmission I might be guilty of. Hang on, if it is asymptomatic spread he is worried about then, absent submitting to a daily test himself, how does he know he does not or has not already been infected? How does anyone know?
The bedwetters are running around assuming that they are “clean” and virus free and everyone else is “dirty” and asymptomatic spreaders. But given the high rates of asymptomatic infection, how would any of them know this? Wouldn’t a healthier mature response at this stage be to assume everyone who is going to be infected has been infected and we can stop treating others as polluting untouchables?
‘Investigative journalist’. What’s one of those?
Also known as “Belmarsh internee”.
“Remember the BBC report that the WHO has taken a decision that face masks should be used (contravening their earlier stance).”
One of the studies, a metastudy/review of existing literature, used to document the new (as of I think June) CDC guidelines to wear a mask contained the statement that the study had been undertaken at the request of the CDC because it was changing its policy on masks.
At Boris’s press conference, Chris Whitty also said that the restrictions can’t be lifted any further due to the virus https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8580329/Professor-Chris-Whitty-warns-ministers-pushed-lockdown-easing-measures-limits.html
Does anyone want to live the rest of their lives in this dystopia? I don’t!
Well done Janet Street-Porter for asking this question. It should have been asked months ago? Where are all the business leaders, why are you not asking this question and put pressure on the Government?
Also bear in mind that the Covid-19 virus will be with us forever, it cannot be eradicated. We will need to learn to live with it. This includes improving our health and immune systems (incl. optimised Vitamin D levels) and doctors being allowed to treat critical patients with cheeper drugs such as HCQ with zinc and the antibiotic, etc.
Luke Johnson is the only businessman apart from Simon Dolan who is standing against this nonsense. And people don’t like him as they think he is a typical business owner who is putting the economy before lives.
What they probably don’t know as I didn’t is that he has medical qualifications and is on a cancer trust board so is used to questioning sciencetists about their findings and decision making.
He’s probably more qualified than the idiots in govt!
Like his erstwhile business associate, Hugh Osmond, Luke Johnson did the UG part of the medical degree at Oxford. Neither completed medical exams, though. Luke Johnson was a stockbroker prior to Pizza Express in the early 1990s. Other doubting fully-qualified Medics – Dr Michael Burry (of Big Short fame), and Drs Ron and Rand Paul (US politicans).
Osmond is a sceptic and spoke out very clearly when interviewed a while back.
Yes, as did Sir Rocco Forte (on Question Time). Easy to dismiss them as ‘from the hospitality industry’ but they are much more than that.
It’s all good news for businesses leaders as it’s providing an exercise on how many staff they can actually operate with, and allows them to sack people without having to provide a genuine excuse. It’s a win-win for them.
Shame that theory can’t be applied in Whitehall departments and county council offices across the land.
100%. Their turn will come but regrettably not for some time.
This is not true. Businesses (halfway competent ones, anyway) always have a fairly good idea of how many people they need to operate their business and how many they can afford. More people means more productivity, means more business, means more money, so in theory, the more people you have doing (productive) things, the more money you can make – limited by the total size of the market for your goods or services – given an infinite size of market and if they could afford to do it, a company would try to employ everyone useful in the world if the could (hypothetical thought exercise, clearly). That last bit is the key thing, because most businesses are now looking at a reduced total potential market, they are now having to think of who they can operate without, because they simply can’t afford to keep all the people that they have. The other key word is “useful”. Someone is only useful if their activities can generate more money than they cost, either through selling products or delivering things that have already been sold.
In theory but it’s rarely that efficient in practise as it’s often quite hard to judge who is actually good at their job (especially for a clueless manager) and also hard to sack people for not being good.
Ao usually when these big crunch times come loads of people get sacked mostly at random often including some of the best people.
The flip side is some of them go on to found successful start ups which they wouldn’t otherwise have bothered to do. The whole process works a bit like a forest fire.
The system’s far from perfect and I’ve seen many, many incomprehensible hiring and firing decisions in my time. My point is that businesses aren’t typically sitting and looking for excuses to fire people. Specially not en masse
Yes I certainly agree with that.
There is a big difference between figuring out the smallest number of employees needed to run your business efficiently and profitbbly, and laying off people because *there is no business to conduct*.
The tension is between bringing in as much money as possible and spending as little money as possible. That’s true whether it’s employees or paper clips. What I’m trying to say is that a business will always want as many _productive_ employees as it can have, but I can never have more than it can afford.
Has there been any digging done on the effect of lockdown on cancer (and other) research? Cancer kills about 10m people per annum, so presumably every three months the cure/s is/are delayed by will kill about 2.5m people at some point in the future.
I was going to say that surely the government can see with such incomprehensible guidance / laws / whatever, that they will just alienate everyone & no-one will take a blind bit of notice.
But hang on – this government is just completely incomprehensible, so no, it won’t have and has not got any clue what it is doing.
Anarchy anybody?
Anarchy would actually be far better than this government. Everyone could decide for themselves the appropriate level of risk they were willing to face and act accordingly. We’d probably have no more Covid deaths and no lockdown deaths.
I dunno it was pretty bad in CHAZ
It was better in CHOP though.
Nobody believes it’s incompetence anymore do they. It’s totalitarianism plain as day. We have under our Constitution, the right to revolution. I suggest we use it.
It’s not incompetence. Every new move seems to be precisely calculated and timed to cause maximum bewilderment and further weaken all those events and institutions which express and sustain our common humanity.
Everything seems to come out as a rumour, which is to gauge the publics response to it, and then if there isn’t to much kick back it’s put into place around 2-3 weeks later.
This is what worries me about the cat with COVID-19 story from a few days ago.
I sincerely hope you’re wrong. Keeping pets ( like meeting friends, elderly parent, going to sports event and concerts) are a real source of comfort and solace for millions.
However, given what has already happened, nobody can be surprised if, in the name of “safety”, they will rob us of all that makes life worth living as human beings.
The kind of future society they seem to slowly conditioning us all to will be inhabited by a very different kind of person.
They couldn’t come for the pets in this country. I’m surprised people have allowed them to take their faces, but anyone coming near my dog is not leaving alive. He’s my only kid (even though he’s older than me in dog years).
And anyone attempting to go anywhere near my horse will not leave my yard alive either. I’m pretty handy with a pitchfork.
I don’t know. They killed the pets in the Skripal’s house and no-one batted an eyelid. I did tweet the RSPCA suggesting they prosecute but they responded that they didn’t consider it appropriate.
Well, let’s keep a sense of proportion. There is a difference between putting down a small number of animals who have almost certainly been exposed to an extremely lethal radioactive substance and killing all of the pets in the nation because they may possibly be carrying a fairly mild virus that has anyway almost completely disappeared.
Huh? You believe the Skripal story? That is, that the whole house was contaminated and that’s why it was demolished/burned down?
Bollocks.
Hi Jane
You need to remember many on here are sceptical of lockdown, but may not believe that the British establishment would get involved in false flag events.
I’d suggest that some whose eyes have been opened somewhat by the coronapanic to the sheer depths of mendacity to which our ruling elites are willing to sink, might wish to reconsider their assumptions regarding some past incidents over which they might have been inclined to believe the official version of events. Especially those that have results that suit the said ruling elite’s foreign policy objectives.
The Skripal nonsense would be high on the list, imo.
Mark, am I imagining things or are you more amenable to ‘conspiracy’ stuff than when this site kicked off? Back in the ‘good old days’ (ha!) I’m sure you were more reticent about ‘intrigue’. 🙂
Cannot reply for Mark but it does seem that many who poo poo’d us “conspiracy theorists” a few short months ago, have seen a bit of the light.
No, I don’t think so. Remember I’m a decades old dissenter on foreign policy (going back to the Yugoslavian wars), and I don’t selectively approve or disapprove according to which party is in office at the time, as some do. When you oppose the wars and confrontations our elites manipulate us towards and into, you get to see them at their very worst (well, worst until this coronapanic, perhaps). I was aware of the imbecility of the Skripal story at the time it was being pushed, and argued against it then much as I argue against the coronapanic now.
I have no issue with there being conspiracies. I’m just sceptical about an over-arching one.
Well, regardless, there’s a big difference between killing one household’s worth of pets and killing all the pets in the country.
That’s a fair point, of course.
Exactly or photographs accompanying news stories
Anyone tries taking my Ragdoll cats or my son’s Siamese…. that motherfucker will be on my dinner plate that night. Police taste like pork, right?
Actually though, that will be it.That will be when the escape plan gets executed. It’s in place and we’re ready when the time comes. I really don’t want it to come to that, but forced vaccines or the possibility of any member of the family being taken away (including the cats), and we’re gone.
I am afraid the civil servants really are a collection of thickoes who are out of their depth. I would not credit them with the ability to make a workable plan for anything.
Au contraire, their plan seems to be working very well. Deceive and frighten the populace, the better to control them, control the narrative and cover up the mistakes and the lies told to cover up those mistakes, and so on…
They don’t write the plans they just execute them. The plans are written by think tanks just like all bills and legislation.
I do. Just.
(The rules are far too ridiculous)
The rules are indeed ridiculous, and people know that, but that doesn’t stop people from going along with the basic premise that we’re dealing with a public health threat of unprecedented dimensions that requires extraordinary action. Most people still believe that.
There are elements of incompetence in this, but do you honestly believe the government don’t know it’s all unnecessary?
I don’t know. I posted this the other day – it’s scarily possible that they don’t, because they aren’t bothering to work things out for themselves and their advisors have tunnel vision.
Well, I find that hard to believe but hope you are right because it means we might get out of this sooner, when the penny finally drops.
I know what you mean, but I don’t share your optimism. Assuming they don’t know what a colossal f up it is yet, if and when they do realise, they’ll just go straight into trying to make sure nobody else works it out.
Maybe it’s already been agreed by Boris that when most people begin to realize that we’ve all been had big style, then he’ll just fall on his sword and disappear to write his memoirs in opulent splendor. My view only, is that he’s essentially lazy and the sooner he can bail himself out of his ‘job’ the better
This is what I’m wrestling with daily.
Just how much do they realise what they’ve done?
I find it hard to believe that they don’t. They just don’t know how to get out of it without admitting wrongdoing – hence the absolute ridiculousness of the rules.
Do they show much sign of wanting to get out of it? Leicester and now the others are a clear sign to me that they don’t. Masks, they can say they were following other countries and making people feel relaxed, but Leicester and now the others, no-one made them do that – no-one was clamouring for local lockdowns and no-one was pointing at high infection rates in those places. I wish I could believe it, I really do. I have never gone much for conspiracy theories, but this one stinks.
Again, I posted the other week (when Leicester happened) that there would be more. It’s a manufactured demonstration that they know what’s going on and can control it. It’s designed to create an illusion of competence to 1) reassure the public that the situation is improving and more importantly 2) Save their own reputations.
Hmm. Did they need to do MORE after Leicester. Just about plausible, but it’s a stretch, for me.
Yes. It could never be a one-off because people wouldn’t realise that they _still_ had things under control. And Johnson’s announcement today as good as told us he was doing it to prove that he could. He several times said something along the lines of “I have said before that all of the easing of measures is contingent on success against the virus and now we have to react.” Translation: I am demonstrating that we do know what we’re doing by changing my mind about what we should do.
Except the more they do it, the more incompetent they look. Surely, it’s going to get to the stage where people are just going to ignore the advice?
It’s a judgement call, I grant you. I’m not entirely convinced that they don’t actively want people to start ignoring them. That way they’ve got all bases covered – the economy starts getting back to normal and nobody can blame the government if there is after all an autumn/winter ‘spike’.
And keep the fear and obedience levels up. That is the point of the quote circled by Toby in red.
Yes – because if they don’t economic armaggeddon happens, and they get hung on the steps of Westminster. Well, that’s gonnahappen anyway but they have to pretend they didn’t cause it at least.
The need not to completely destroy the economy, because they want to get re-elected, may save us from the very worst fate…
I tend towards this view too Matt. The advisors are stuck in group think, the govt are not that capable and the sheer advance of events means that they dont have the time or foresight to check out other opinions.
Most of us who comment on this site have had the time and the foresight to check out other options. What’s their excuse? That’s their job. If they are not capable or competent enough to do as we have been doing than they don’t deserve the positions of power that they currently hold and should all resign in shame.
I share you view on this. Any investigative journalist worth his/her salt would visit sites like this and rub their hands in glee at the plethora of analysis that’s been/being done to expose this whole charade. What a scoop for some gnarly editor to be handed an even bigger story than the phony pandemic. But it seems HMG is obviously controlling the media too
Of course they know. Well….. some of them know at least.
They just don’t want *us to know.
Doesn’t mean there’s a worldwide plot to subjugate us all. It just means politicians lie on a daily basis in order to maintain power. Welcome to the world.
Ultimately knowing which it is would be interesting and possibly useful, for now I guess which it is doesn’t matter too much, all that matters is trying to alert people to reality (we are close to herd immunity and that’s the only sensible approach). If conspiracy theories put neutrals off, we should keep them to ourselves as a matter of tactics, because I don’t think they change the immediate imperative. Just my view – I know others may feel strongly this is wrong.
Well, there’s that and there’s the fact that if it’s really a global takeover, there’s almost certainly nothing we can do about it beyond future underground armed resistance. What we can do now doesn’t change depending on the answer to the real motives.
That’s the big problem with the conspiracy side of things I find – it is not happening worldwide, there are too many differences, big and small, between the approaches taken by different governments. The conspiracist view seems to be in a bubble (sorry for using this now ridiculous word), thinking that for the sake of what’s happening in just one place means there’s a global plot.
Politicians have never been a particularly competent bunch, but there’s ample evidence to show they have been worsening for decades, and scientific background, let alone medical background, is virtually unknown among them, so they are easy for immoral personages like Ferguson to corrupt with pseudoscientific claptrap. That said, I blame the politicians just as much as their scummy advisors, as it is their responsibility to LEARN in depth about their portfolios, but they never seem to bother – in any other job you’d be let go after the probationary period if you failed to learn essential information about the job you are doing.
Definitely part of it, definitely. The fact that you don’t actually have to have worked in education to be secretary of education, you don’t have to be a doctor to be secretary of health etc. etc.
One word (OK acronym!): SPI-B
Here’s the link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/882722/25-options-for-increasing-adherence-to-social-distancing-measures-22032020.pdf
It’s all there and working just fine and dandy.
Occam’s Razor says it absolutely is incompetence. It is a manifestation of all that is broken with the West – the crowning glory of 50 years of accrued willful stupidity, paying stupid people to breed and shielding them from the consequences of their actions.
Indeed. Incompetence with an injection of megalomania from outside actors (Gates etc.)
Incompetent politicians are very easy to take advantage of.
I would love to believe the incompetence theory.
However, there is too much evidence of planning: Event 201, the Behavioural Insights Team (SPI-B), the censorship, the deliberate confusion and obfuscation, the suppression of so much gold-standard science in favour of dodgy modelling which just happens to fit the Government’s agenda. Add in the ‘political pressure’ (admitted even to the BBC) on the WHO to change its advice on masks and asymptomatic transmission and, above all, the fact that so many countries and US States are following exactly the same script.
And much, much more. . .
If I am wrong, I would be delighted because it might mean all these governments working in lock-step would start standing up to Gates et al and we might get our lives back (for now, at least).
I think that some of the suppression of alternative views (from FB, Twitter, etc) is coming from the USA. Our govt is just a little bitty part player, but going along with it for their own reasons. Doesnt mean that the big ‘reset’ idea isnt a valid theory, but I dont think it is coming from Boris et al.
Very true. The one world agenda could indeed be a thing and it’s just pouncing on this situation.
We will see in the autumn I think.
Neither do I and I think the US election may be part of the story.
As soon as Trump has won in November (which BLM and PantiFa have ensured that he will), I do hope he pulls the USA out of the UN and all of its sub-agencies, and puts complete 100% permanent sanctions on China.
I think it is incompetence too. I don’t think they have got the intelligence to implement this world order thing people are talking about. It is sheer incompetence & the more they come out with statements like they have done today, the less people will listen & toe the line. For what the government have got coming to them, they fully deserve it.
I don’t think you need to believe the govt are following some NWO agenda to think that they are knowingly deceiving us. It could simply be to cover up their own initial mistake, and because they enjoy the power that the fear gives them.
‘Knowingly deceiving us’, I will go along with that quite happily.
You never know the names of the people in actual power. You don’t know their faces. You wouldn’t know them if you passed them on the street. Fame, Money, Legacy, Power, Freedom…. these are the basic pillars people strive for, and they don’t overlap the way you think they do.
Listen to this talk from Derek Sivers at the 2015 World Domination Summit.
https://sivers.org/wds
Can I just point out to you…. THERE IS A WORLD DOMINATION SUMMIT!!!
It’s everywhere in plain sight. There is being a sceptic, and there is trying to argue that water isn’t wet just to be contrary and obtuse.
You mean like the Johnson’s in their Eton toppers?
That’s my view as well (we might disagree on some of the details of what went wrong, but probably not on the big picture).
Nice to see you back, AidanR. Is it just me being inattentive, or have we missed your pungent and well directed hostility around here recently?
Thanks Mark.
It wasn’t doing my state of mind much good, so I blocked all news media, social media and anything related to covid from my Internet connection.
Last night’s little announcement compelled me to unblock things to see what’s up.
I expect by the end of the weekend I’ll have pulled the shutters down again until the next time.
In the two scenarios of
1 – nearly every nation on the planet cocking up massively and in pretty much the same fashion versus
2 – all of them being bought, paid for and ruled by an elite with an agenda….
the agenda satisfies Occam’s Razor better than incompetence.
Neither rational behaviour nor human empathy can be expected of a psychopath. Our problem is that this now seems to apply to the entire political class we elected to represent us.
The Crucible snooker pilot being suspended is devastating for all theatre, not just sport. So much effort has gone in to it for nothing. Vague ideas that spectators might be allowed for the final weekend in a fortnight’s time – fingers crossed.
Only the first three words of today’s LS title are needed, the rest are redundant!
‘incompetent’ is miss spelt
Bettys, Harrogate—tea shop par excellence. Went into Bettys last Monday to buy bread and was challenged outside by a member of staff and inside by another to wear a mask. Breezed by both with the words:–‘No thank you–I can’t’. Placed my order and was served OK. I was the only non masked customer in there (apart from the adjoining cafe where nobody was masked). When I got home I decided to write to the customer services manager explaining that it was against the Government regulations for Coronovirus 2020 that they challenged me at all and I enclosed a copy of same regs: http://laworfiction.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Face-Covering-Exemption-Notice-with-Law-Explained-24-July-2020.pdf Within a day, I received this reply: Dear Mr. Hopkins, Thank you for your email and very valued feedback. I am sorry to hear about the disappointing experience you have had. Exceptional customer service is at the very heart of all we do at Bettys. We aim to delight our customers in every way and we really do want to hear from our customers, it the only way we learn and grow. Again I apologize profusely if the team at Harrogate has offended you in any way I am confident that it was not their intention. I… Read more »
Excellent, my wife is from North Yorkshire and we visit Betty’s whenever we’re up there, I shall spread the word!
I gave the LaworFiction guide to the shopkeeper in our village store. We had a good conversation about, and he seemed generally appreciative. He’d already been told not to challenge anyone by the shop owner, so there is some hope with the smaller businesses.
Well done!
In the Iliad Achilles is a dauntless warrior who accepts an early death and everlasting glory. Whereas Daunt is…
A pillock of the first order with a ridiculous name. A bit like Alexander de pfeffel Johnson! (that is his REAL name in case anyone doesn’t know).
Well done for the letter to Betty’s!
I have been boycotting Waterstones since 15 June and probably looking to extending my boycott for life. I used to enjoy browsing at bookshops but never again.
Waterstones announced redundancies two days ago. If they continue with their zealous approach they won’t be around much longer.
And this time they won’t be able to blame Amazon for their demise.
But they still will. And people will believe it.
Unfortunately you are right. Some people have passed the point of no return.
I went to my local Waterstones in South London without a mask last Friday and nobody said anything.
Waterstones clearly want everyone to shop at Amazon.
Went to Wilkinson’s in Kingston today. Total chaos. You have to scan your own purchases, even though there is a worker at each till. The workers seemed scared to scan things. Another person was then marshalling the queue. It was chaos.
I asked what the logic was. She said the queue gets too long if she does not Marshall it and her manager is responsible so she cannot change anything with respect to the scanning nonsense.
I told her that her role was most helpful. She had helped me decide not to go back to the shop and to carry on using Amazon for most purchases. Clearly, Wilkinson’s must be pleased with that.
For the last 15 years, Waterstones has increasingly looked and felt like the hobby business of some dim, upper-middle class woman whose husband subsidises it from his job in the City.
This crisis has had the silver lining of devouring a vast range of zombie businesses, and I would not be surprised if Waterstones is eaten before the end of it.
OMG so true lol
although there’s a great one in Lancaster where they get your books signed by the author for you and send them out to you in the post.
The smaller branches are pretty much a waste of time – more like a gift shop rather than a book shop. I mostly go to the branch in Piccadilly but since this madness I have been avoiding the place, simply buying books off Amazon.
That said I recently received a book token as a belated birthday present – will simply use it online.
Recently Waterstones Southport took David Ickes Books down due to one complaint something to do with anti semitism, I don’t know as I don’t read him
but both volumes of Mein Kampf available!
Embarrassed to say I voted for this shower of s***e in December. Absolutely laughable, they couldn’t run a bath. Cowardly and incompetent, I despair, when will this lunacy end.
Been to Toni & Guy’s earlier without a mask. Pleasant, only two hairdressers (with plastic visors) working far apart, doing everything.
I thought T&G policy was masks for all customers – certainly where I am, they insist on it.
Went to town today to run some errands. Said shitty town is usually like a scene from the Walking Dead in normal times due to the dopeyness of many people, but I was shocked to see a number of children wearing masks while just walking around outside.
Do you live in Hereford?
Matt le Tissier is a full on sceptic judging by his Twitter. Good man.
Him and Peter Ebdon
So footballers do have brains.
One of those footballers with brains is Gary Linekar.
Lol no.
He might well not use it for anything positive, but I don’t think you’d find Rooney or the faggoty one married to the stick insect moving to Japan and learning the language.
Intelligence doesn’t seem to be a good correlate for reasonableness in this context.
He moved to Japan and learned the language?
Well…. kudos.
Yes indeed I agree. Frank Lampard is a member of MENSA and could probably be curing cancer but instead he kicks a ball around for a living – there’s no accounting for intelligence 😉
My guess is he out-earned most members of MENSA, certainly in this country. If you are one of the few who make it to the top of a star economy, the rewards are immense. And the societal kudos of being a top footballer is amongst the highest available in our culture.
So my feeling is he made intelligent use of his assets and contacts.
Crisps!
Well, he is Le God, so he should know (gladdened Saints fan)
News from Spain:
It has just been revealed on one of Spain’s main TV channels that the “committee of experts” apparently advising the government on the management of the health crisis as they are calling it DOESN’T ACTUALLY EXIST.
For weeks there had been calls for the government to reveal the names of the people on this committee and the government was refusing to inform the public who they were. It’s now clear why. They just made the committee up.
That’s pretty heavy stuff.
that’s f*cking hilarious!
Why not send them our SAGE team single ticket
That’s fantastic, can you share a link? That’s the sort of gross incompetence alongside the England and Wales death count that shocks people into questioning things.
https://www.facebook.com/104801191175105/posts/168858034769420/?sfnsn=scwspwa&extid=EdZQwNWChI51HIYW
It’s in Spanish…
Its interesting from a scientific point of view. It shows that a government without ‘expert’ advise can fcuk their country up just as well as a government with ‘expert’ advice
Experts are not required – Gove was right
Belgium ran itself without a government for the best part of a year.
Ireland.
You couldn’t … but they did!
I smell riots.
Like bonfires. But kinda tangy.
FFS
Source please? Google isn’t ready to corroborate your story.
The link below doesn’t work for me. Facebook is blocked on my network because it’s malware.
Here is a news article about it.
https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2020/07/29/5f21d3abfdddff0c3d8b45bd.html
The Facebook link was to a clip from the news on TV.
Please send to Simon Dolan and Peter Hitchens – they’ll love this!
This article says the lie was ferreted out by the Spanish opposition party.
Pity we haven’t got one.
Interesting detail in same article: Spain inflated its Covid corpse count by including anybody who died before being tested, or before their test results came back. Article doesn’t say if this was all hospital deaths, or only patients who had been admitted for suspected Covid, but it shows the lie machine working busily.
I’ve heard that the ‘second wave’ doesn’t exist either. And ‘the science’ is looking a bit nebulous at the moment as well…
The government are Socialists, aren’t they?
Socialists lie. It’s what they do.
I’m starting to wonder about Hancock and Boris…
Spanish and UK governments are in competition for which one can be the most stupid and muck up their countries the most. It’s even stevens at the moment but Johnson has form so I am sure he will “win”.
Just in case you don’t know yet how this works, you can bet your house on the fact that ‘they’ are already discussing imposing a lockdown on 24th December – starting at night after the shops have taken your money.
It’ll be seen as an act of penitence for spoiling Eid, and as proof that ‘they’ weren’t targeting Muslims.
I agree with that. It is why Dear Leader backed off his ‘it will all be normal by Christmas’ in favour of the ‘we will be past this by the middle of next year’. It’s akin to shifting from ‘WMD’ to ‘WMD programmes’. The vaccine trials are not going well!
Oh dear, AidanR and TT. I fear you are both right. And I do mean fear. That sign has come on inside my head again. It says “Violent insurrection”.
Some hope! More like blubbering acquiescence.
It doesn’t need a majority. Most civil wars only directly involved small numbers of people.
Just saying. 🙂
Is it time to shoot the bastards?
(Asking for a friend…)
Tell your friend yes, it is.
Already got my toilet rolls!
There is considerable accidental or deliberate blurring of the boundary between recommendations and laws in the details of the new rules for north-west England on the link below. Note the wording – you should not do x and y (without saying it is illegal), then “The Government will pass laws …” and “It will be illegal to … ” (not covering everything you are told you should not do, and all in the future tense, so perhaps not in force/illegal yet, and of course Parliament passes laws and the Government only makes regulations under powers conferred by those laws):
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/north-west-of-england-local-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do
So now the whole of the Western world, from California to Berlin, is scared of that ‘2nd Wave’. It must be very serious indeed because even the German Health authorities are warning that the country is ‘woefully ill prepared’ for that 2nd wave.
They use similar numbers, i.e ‘cases of infection’ detected through testing. A comment poster under the relevant German report remarked that the number of ‘infections’ reported for different weeks was astonishingly similar, around 4,300, while the actual test numbers had increased by nearly 100%. Given the practically non-existent hospital admissions, that question ought to be asked here as well, by one of our ever-so-intrepid ‘health reporters’.
And all hail the Union, innit, where Sturgeon forbids travels to England while Wales is to remain mask-free with less restrictions …
I received two emails from the Aldeburgh Festival today. This is the first, sent at 9.43 am: Britten Pears Arts <snapemaltings@r1.arts-mail.com> Unsubscribe09:43 (5 hours ago) to me Antonio Pappano, Vilde Frang, Ian Bostridge, Christian Blackshaw, Imogen Cooper and more. Does this email look wrong? View in a browser Live Music is Back What a thrill it will be to be able to have live music AND live audiences back at Snape Maltings Concert Hall from next weekend. Welcoming some of the musicians who would have been at the Aldeburgh Festival and Snape Proms, as well as other star performers, there will be two short concerts every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We are grateful to the performers for generously joining us on this journey and to supporters who have made these first steps back into live music-making possible. Free outdoor events will also pop up on site throughout the summer and in the autumn we plan to broaden the range of music and artists. I hope you will join us as we re-open the Concert Hall doors. Roger Wright Chief Executive, Britten Pears Arts Keeping you safeThe safety of audiences, artists and staff is our top priority, and this may mean that performers, capacity, pricing and other matters, have to… Read more »
They’re twisting ma melons man
Call The Cops!
“Hello, police? There are some men here who aren’t taking my personal safety entirely seriously. My name? Yes, it’s Karen Colostomy.”
A lot of the lyrics from that song are all too appropriate…
Gonna stamp out your fire, he can change your desire
Don’t you know he can make you forget you’re a man
You know he’s gonna take away your promised land
Hey good lady he just wants what you got you know
He’ll never stop until he’s taken the lot
He’s gonna step on you again, he’s gonna step on you
https://genius.com/Happy-mondays-step-on-lyrics
Copied these QUESTIONS from another discussion board (thanks Darzoum) Why the concerted efforts to exaggerate fatalities? Why the concerted efforts to suppress alternative, life-saving treatments? Why the draconian measures to lockdown the world? Why the unprecedented move to stop the world economy for a disease whose death rate is around 0.26%? How did Neil Ferguson and the Imperial Model gain such influence? Why the official indifference to how the Imperial Model could be so colossally wrong? Why is the response so strangely consistent around the world? Why instate the extreme social measures that are unproven to abate viral spread? Why do the pandemic efforts satisfy long-held agenda items of Technocratic Globalism? Why the nonstop propaganda effort from mainstream news sources to continually build-up the crisis? Why the coordinated efforts to censor and shutdown legitimate alternative news sources? Why the coordinated efforts to censor and shutdown legitimate, credentialed scientists and healthcare workers whose message deviates from orthodoxy? Why does Bill Gates have such an oversized role in policy making? Why are blockbuster revelations of lying and deceptions in reporting the COVID story met with indifference from media? When did we decide Constitutional rights could be suspended for health safety reasons? Why… Read more »
The main media outlets are not asking any of the important questions.
They are simply amplifying government communication.
They are being paid to.
Incompetents and proven liars have been in charge for my entire life. It’d be far stranger if things were different in this moment, wouldn’t you say?
I disagree on this.
In days past, I would expect far more pushback from sections of the media against the government, and for there to be sharing of the news that there’s an effective, cheap treatment. That’s been thrown out the window purely because of Trump, because he suggested using HcQ early on. The MSM have been captured by left-wing activists, who prefer to suppress this good news and let people die rather than credit him with being right about anything. The level of cover-up and outright lying is unprecedented. The level of governments in lockstep over this is unprecedented. It’s because of the far greater reach of international bodies who now act above local governments, which have become deeply corrupt, and acting in the interests of global corporations and governments such as China.
This is the dark underside of globalism, now exposed to those who are looking.
I think you’re viewing the past with rose tinted spectacles…
The BBC was always the advocate of the government of the day, as was the Times.
Some of the more ruthless tabloids may have had their wings clipped, but there never was a golden age where the media truly held the government to account – they were always approved controlled opposition.
That said, I agree with your point about globalism.
Agenda 21, that’s why.
Thanks Victoria, that it the most focused summary of this ‘crisis’ that I’ve read for some time. Unfortunately it also chilled me to the core
As part of a well planned and orchestrated campaign all influencers have been ‘captured’ (ie scientists, media, governments) so that everyone sings from the same songsheet, even if the facts show a completely different story. Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Yes it does. When you drill down to the facts? Maybe not.
From another discussion board, thanks Edistone71 According to Dr Rashid Buttar “The Vaccine coming down the pipeline is a retro-virus RNA type vaccine, the first commercially available in that category and basically: RNA ‘repairs’ or rewrites our own DNA.* It is to be produced by Moderna, a company which recently went bankrupt losing 1.5 Billion dollars before being bailed out and set up to do this job. It was earmarked by Dr. A Fauci after being rescued by Bill Gates. The vaccine has never been tested on animals, Moderna has never made any vaccine before, 6. It has never made anything consumable by humans before If this RNA vaccine is used, our children may not be able to have children and any children which may be born will have an altered Genome which would not be human anymore. The people being used in testing this vaccine have already been told they must not have sexual intercourse during the testing. They don’t want anyone giving birth whilst this experiment with the vaccine is taking place. The only reason I can think of for this is that they don’t want anyone giving birth to a child with serious abnormalities. These type of vaccines take… Read more »
This is the US one. There are a few different ones being developed and our Government seems to be ordering millions of doses of each one.
Del Bigtree has successfully sued the CDC to ensure they use a saline placebo this time and not just another vaccine like they do in the UK.
The Moderna vaccine is not a retrovirus and will not modify your DNA.
It’s a bit of RNA that encodes the SARS-COV-2 “spike”. It goes into some of your cells where enzymes in the cell make the spike proteins. This happens in the cytosol, not the nucleus where your own DNA lives, and it is quite safe both from a real SARS2 infection and from the Moderna vaccine.
Some viruses (retroviruses) do integrate themselves into your DNA. HIV is one. SARS2 is not. The Moderna vaccine is basically an extremely genetically cut-down and simplified version of SARS2.
And HIV does not integrate into the germ line. Newborns contract HIV in the birth canal, which is why ART works so well for prevention at the time of birth.
As for the precautions in the Moderna trial. They won’t have the reprotox studies yet to provide any refutation of potential harm. So precaution is merited. It is standard practice for any new drug without such tox studies. They tend to come later in development.
I’m pretty skeptics of the untested technologies to deliver any products of value or protection, but we shall see.
If you go in a branch of KwikFit now, you should find the signage and the staff are amenable to the idea that there are people who legitimately do not have to wear a mask, and who need staff to remove their masks so they can communicate.
And that’s because two weeks ago I had a stand-off with a KwikFit manager about this point, so I went to have words with the HQ organ grinder.
Within 5 days, said organ grinder called me back to say that new signage had been rolled out in all 800 branches along with new guidance for all staff, and he expressed his gratitude to me for highlighting the issue with the way their edict had been rolled out.
It’s a very small victory, but I have to respect KwikFit for being able to acknowledge their initial heavy-handedness and lack of consideration for people with disabilities etc, and to act on it, putting things right.
Excellent! I used a train the other day and noticed that Northern Railway now have this on their website and it’s displayed at some stations:
Know before you go
You must wear a face covering
Non-visible disabilities and medical conditions may mean not everyone can. Please be mindful of others.
Well done to Northern Railway. Hope TFL follows suit.
similar message in the co-op earlier on a TV screen
and some good news – one other non-muzzled in said co-op! they’ve all been muzzled recently so that was good to see
I can concur – was in our local Coop this afternoon (unfortunately the only one unmasked), but heard the wonderful announcement that not all people can wear masks & please be considerate! It means I will be much more confidant about going there again.
Fantastic, thanks to you and anon. I have posted previously a couple of times re: my email battle with the Coop Customer Care to get them to publicise mask exemptions. I’m really pleased that they are doing this.
certainly cheered me up so thanks for your galant efforts Miriam!
Thanks, anon. I suspect I wasn’t the only one although Coop Customer Care told me that I was the only person to complain. Well, they would, wouldn’t they?
Nice one!
Great stuff and well done!
I’ll have to do the same with our local Jewsons. They were very officious about not wearing a mask.
The words ‘disability’ ‘discrimination’ and ‘Equality Act’ are very powerful when used judiciously.
Good work. We need more people doing stuff like this.
I’ve written to my local MP many times since this pantomime started, haven’t ever received a response so I just can’t fathom why more public figures aren’t calling out this blatant buffoonery. Surely Cabinet members can see through this charade? Where’s Rees-Mogg on all this? I am now at a total loss as to what can be done to stop this chokingly obvious clap trap. Maybe for my health and welfare I should just ignore it (?)
Why would Rees-Mogg be anywhere on this? The fetishisation of this self-interested buffoon is just as absurd as the erstwhile deification of Corbyn.
My MP is Raab. I email him every so often to let him know that I will vote for whomever has the best chance of beating him at the next election. Whoever that person is.