Postcard From Dystopialand
I’ve had a very busy day and unfortunately don’t have time to do a proper update. So I thought I’d just publish this marvellous postcard I’ve received from Disneyland Paris. Disneyland has become Dystopialand.
We all need a little normalcy in our lives. And a little fun. Hence, with lockdowns threatening to make a comeback in the winter months, it was quickly determined in our household that it was now or never to get our fill of the Disney themepark experience. It is still not popularly acknowledged, but such attractions are genuinely at risk of permanent closure due to the appalling economics associated with low capacity operations. I had run the numbers on the airline sector. They were bad enough. But theme parks like Disneyland were equally vulnerable. (Do see South Park’s Cartmanland episode to get the basic idea). V-shape or no v-shape recovery, the economic damage is such that in the long run only government bailouts or nationalisation are likely to preserve such assets. A nationalised Disneyland, however, is not something I can realistically stomach. And so it was we decided to set off to Paris and bear the consequences of quarantine.
Unfortunately, what we encountered upon arrival was worse than anything I could ever have anticipated. Disneyland Paris is no more. What used to be a beaming beacon of American enlightenment values, liberty and human potential has been radically shifted and morphed into the exact opposite. Disney is now dystopialand. A corporate conditioning exercise promoting the new normal. Merchandised, to boot. Which means you get to go to dystopia and keep the face mask.
Annoyingly, I’d missed the clues to Disney’s capitulation to this state of affairs. Or the scale of the dystopia they were now peddling.
A few weeks ago Disney had put out some exceptionally creepy mask-ridden propaganda in a bid to present the illusion things were business as usual. I only caught the video once we were already here. (Had I seen it before I might have saved myself the €1000.)
My rationale for going had instead been misguided by an absolutely delightful trip to Peppa Pig World earlier in August where normalcy, common sense and fun had properly prevailed. Plus, I had wrongly assumed that outdoor mask-wearing, while recommended, would somehow be rationally and compassionately enforced.
How wrong I was.
There is nothing quite like the Disneyland experience in France, a country that is now enforcing mask-wearing everywhere, to make you realise the extent to which the rule has absolutely nothing to do with virus suppression and everything to do with social control, population conditioning and the normalisation of a Nazi-like mentality among those entrusted to police the standard. And that, really, is what’s truly frightening.
Control is asserted via a hierarchal top-down formation.
At the top of the pyramid lie the mouse gestapo – intimidating-looking private security guards bearing what appear to be either guns or at a minimum a taser arsenal. They monitor the outdoor areas demanding full compliance with the company’s mask-wearing protocol at all times. The usual exemptions that work in Britain simply do not apply. Don’t bother telling a stormtrooper you have asthma or a visceral fear of masks. You will be escorted out of the park pronto. The only exemption comes by way of a signed off medical release which entitles a visitor to a coloured exemption wristband. No wristband, no exemption.
The active enforcement of this standard on people simply peeking their noses out while walking many metres apart is what’s really gut wrenching. If the stormtroopers don’t get you, it will be the park employees that do – they’re the next down in the structural enforcement order. “EXCUSE ME!” they shout, if they spot a stray nostril. “Please put on your mask properly. It must be worn over your mouth and nose at all times or else it is not effective and you will put other visitors in danger.” The shaming is very loud, clear and self-righteous.
Eating and drinking is a key park revenue generator. So there’s obviously an exemption for that. But here is where even greater madness lies.
Word from staff is that after outdoor mask wearing was first mandated, people were buying bottles of water and carrying them around to avoid the masks. But this is now verboten. A mask must be maintained on your chin – literally, on your chin – at all times even if you are walking and drinking or eating. The only time you can remove it is while sitting down to eat or drink (or in the privacy of the public conveniences).
The walking rule is perhaps the most egregious example of the disingenuous norms at hand. If this was really about virus control nobody would be encouraging people to keep a mask on their chin while scoffing popcorn or ice cream.
Defiance of the system however is hard. I had brought visors with us. But they were also soon deemed verboten and “dangerous”. We then thought a good workaround might be the consumption of lollipops. That worked okay for a while, but eventually the sugar intake began to take its toll. And even then you could feel the watchers – i.e. all the other visitors – judging you all the time. The watchers represent the final rung of the enforcement pyramid. It is they who ultimately give the control system its strength. The system works because even those who don’t believe in masks end up watching everyone else, just to ensure they are not being unfairly disadvantaged by others who are getting away with not wearing them.
All of this leads to a highly dystopic and sinister experience. The reality is that without the feedback of smiles or happy expressions, there is no fun or laughter to be had. The human spirit is highly sensitised to such feedback. Without it, everything becomes miserable. All there is is permanent scrutiny of others and dutiful compliance with orders. It’s a process-oriented experience focused on working your way through the rides. You become an automaton. De-sensitised. Disempowered.
After the sixth or seventh time of being told off for not wearing a mask properly, you begrudgingly begin to conform just for the sake of some peace and quiet. And then you realise this is exactly how liberty dies and how everything we as humans value in life becomes eroded. You also realise this is undoubtedly the same process by which perfectly normal people allowed Nazism to take root in their communities.
When this realisation sinks in all you can do to stay sane is try to identify other potential allies who might rally to your cause in the event you finally lose your shit. Look there, you think to yourself, that chap has his nose out! Quickly, give him a look of knowing support and solidarity. Oh darn it, he thinks you’re scolding him because you can’t effectively express solidarity with the power of eyebrows alone. It is then you realise the dissidents in the park need their own secret way of signalling to each other. Ah ha! The Winnie the Pooh balloon. Surely that’s the most effective show of disdain for authoritarianism at Disneyland? But does anyone else get the Xi Jengping reference? How about hanging around the liberty court on Main Street in quiet protest against authoritarianism bearing said Winnie the Pooh balloon? If only we dissidents could get the message out.
Oh bugger, you then realise, even Winnie’s been repressed. There he is caged off in a character safe-space because a full-on character hazmat suit has been deemed not enough to protect workers from the hazard that are masked-up parents with children. Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Pluto – they are all caged or cordoned off.
That’s the sadness of it all. It’s not just that they’ve cancelled all the character meet ups, all the parades and all the fireworks. It’s that even when you are taking a selfie five metres away from Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse you get scolded for the audacity of trying to take a maskless picture. This surely is insanity?
Other mad procedures in play include no housekeeping, no room service and no buffets. Many rides and shows remain closed or not operational, and half of the park’s hotels never opened to begin with. Not that there are any significant discounts!
To sum up: Don’t go to Disneyland Paris. The magic is gone. Disneyland is now a horror show.
Round-Up
- ‘Should we be worried about the uptick in Covid cases? Almost certainly not‘ – My piece in the Telegraph pooh-poohing Matt Hancock’s talk of a second wave
- ‘Covid Dystopia Comes To Melbourne‘ – Great piece by Gideon Rozner in the American Conservative about the hellscape that is Melbourne
- ‘My mission to keep Britain free, by Simon Dolan‘ – Interview with Simon Dolan by Kathy Gyngell in the Conservative Woman
- ‘Our Parliament is a Dead Parrot. Write now and ask your MPs what they are being paid for, since they are not doing their jobs‘ – Peter Hitchens’s column in the Mail on Sunday in case you missed it
- ‘UK BLM leader banned from Twitter‘ – Twitter has taken down a tweet by UK BLM leader Sasha Johnson (no relation) saying: “The white man will not be our equal but our slave.” Shame
- ‘Legal lockdown challenge by the English Democrats‘ – More detail on the Judicial Review against the Lockdown Regulations and the Coronavirus Act being brought by Robin Tilbrook and the English Democrats
- ‘My boy’s own adventures all pass the woke test‘ – When Giles Coren is good, he’s very, very good
- ‘Northeastern University Dismisses 11 Students for Breaking Virus Rules but Keeps Their Tuition‘ – Eleven freshmen at Northeastern were caught having a party in temporary accommodation and they’ve all been expelled, with the University keeping their $36,500 annual tuition payments!
- ‘Northwestern University president apologises and reduces tuition after shifting 1st- and 2nd-year students to remote learning: “I understand that anger”‘ – Imagine signing up to a four year degree, shelling out $36,500 or thereabouts, and then being told that you’ll be learning remotely for the foreseeable future
- ‘Italy’s face mask rules make as much sense as a peeing section in a swimming pool‘ – Excellent piece by Oliver Smith, the Telegraph‘s Digital Travel Editor
- ‘There’s no good reason why Sweden isn’t on our quarantine-free list‘ – Another great article by Oliver Smith
- ‘Caerphilly county to go under local lockdown‘ – Hopelessly unreliable PCR testing indicated there are 55.4 cases per 100,000 population in Caerphilly so it’s back on the naughty step for the Welsh borough
- ‘Seven Greek islands axed as Government announces new quarantine policy‘ – Just to add to the confusion, Grant Shapps has decided to change the quarantine policy so areas are differentiated by region, not national borders. Lesvos, Tinos, Serifos, Mykonos, Crete, Santorini and Zakyntho have now been red-listed
- ‘What does RCGP surveillance tell us about COVID-19 in the community?‘ – The latest post on the Centre For Evidence-Based Medicine blog looks at GP data. Turns out, only 0.48% of patients think they’ve got the virus and of them only 1.7% actually tested positive
- ‘COVID-19 and the end of clinical medicine as we know it‘ – Here’s another from the saintly Carl Heneghan, this time with Tom Jefferson in the Spectator
- ‘We’ll pay a high price for Covid complacency‘ – Bedwetting nonsense from… Melanie Phillips of all people. Et tu, Melanie?
- ‘Evidence Not Fear‘ – Another plug for this well-curated sceptical website
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Two today: “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” by Bob Dylan and “There Aint No Sanity Clause” by The Damned
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention. We’ve also just introduced a section where people can arrange to meet up for non-romantic purposes. We have a team of moderators in place to remove spam and deal with the trolls, but sometimes it takes a little while so please bear with us. You have to register to use the Forums, but that should just be a one-time thing. Any problems, email the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster Ian Rons here.
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A few 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 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 (and some of them are at risk of having to close again). 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! If they’ve made that clear to customers with a sign in the window or similar, so much the better. Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a 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 (now showing it will arrive between Oct 9th to Oct 19th). 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 “exempt” card with lanyard for just £3.99 from Etsy here.
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 (now over 31,500).
A reader has started a website that contains some useful guidance about how you can claim legal exemption.
And here’s a round-up of the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of mask (threadbare at best).
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. Doing these daily updates is a lot of work (although not so much today). If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links we should include in future updates, email us here. (If you want us to link to something, don’t forget to include a link).
And Finally…
This satirical squib by a YouTuber calling herself WhatsHerFace is brilliant. Not sure who she is, but she’s a committed lockdown sceptic and has a razor-sharp tongue. Not everything she does is intended to be funny. In this video, she lets Kim-Jong Dan have it with both barrels.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
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https://brandnewtube.com/watch/i-039-m-back-september-6th-2020_ZREIFY8auhMpzzQ.html
I’m Back! (September 6th 2020)
Dr Vernon Coleman
06 Sep 2020
did he get banned by the perverts at Youtube?
Almost. They kept taking his stuff down. He explains all in the linked video.
Dr Coleman was on the Richie Allen show yesterday and he explained where he moved. Something tube.
“OUR MOVEMENT, WE CAN WIN” Says Piers Corbyn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bjCkG6n0RI
This is someone I can get behind.
I don’t care too much what his thoughts are about other things.
There is nothing in that speech I disagree with and if that what he is going to fight for, I’m right behind him.
I like his optimism and definitely support his stand against the Covid Police State.
But it looks increasingly like our future has already been decided by powerful people months or perhaps even years ago behind closed doors – they are certainly going along with the Event 201 and Lockstep plan. There needs to be a mass awakening to avoid dystopia.
Its in our hands, as in we the people.
I think a lot of people just want to obey the law (as they see it), but think the whole thing is utter bullshit. They would be the ones who might push back.
There are us on here who know its bullshit.
Some are genuinely scared and/or are genuinely in at risk groups.
The rest are just bedwetters and lockdown/face nappy zealots and are lost souls.
It already is Dystopian. It’s just getting worse by the day.
Why Are Covid-19 Cases Soaring In NZ? PCR Test Update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcONxyAJ8S4
Dr. Sam Bailey
87.8K subscribers
SUBSCRIBE
Dr Sam talks about what is happening in NZ in regards to COVID-19 and important information you should know about the COVID-19 PCR Test.
Cases are not soaring in NZ. And Dr Sam doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know. The UK uses several lines of evidence, e.g. the Covid symptom study tracked the daily cases numbers (~75%). The uptick in cases has been matched by an uptick in symptomatic cases.
She’s anti lockdown, anti social distancing and anti testing. She says cases are only going up because testing’s going up.
I’ve never been remotely tempted to visit Disneyland but that description of how it now operates is very saddening.
It reminded me of the young woman who visited Weston Super Mare for the August Bank Holiday. From going through the turnstile onto the pleasure pier she was obliged to wear a mask even though the purpose of such a pier is to be able to enjoy bracing sea airs while greeting fellow visitors with a cheery smile.
That would not be possible anyway since visitors are obliged to walk up one side and return down the other like a herd of donkeys, each following the arse of the one in front.
It sounds truly horrifying, and seems like the definitive example of the negative social and psychological effects of compulsory mask-wearing.
The Telegraph article on Italy linked below isn’t quite so crushingly depressing by comparison, but it does show very clearly how farcically pointless it is, masking up to walk through a restaurant crowded with unmasked diners for example.
Such a pity Toby didn’t enjoy Disneyhell.
But he failed to enjoy it for all the wrong reasons, as explained by this post on Trip Advisor:
“To conclude… if you are thinking of going I would wait until the pandemic is over as exposure to the virus is high risk here. Definitely feels very profit orientated which I find very sad when children are involved. However, Disney do not care as they know they have guaranteed custom but our family definitely won’t return and will encourage others considering not to either unless the park can up their game and make health a priority!”
Vive Disneysanté!
PS. Posted on 1 September,
(Pst… it wasn’t Toby sssh).
Good, maskoid miseryguts like that ‘trip advisor’ deserve to to stay home long after this is all over.
It wont be over unless we get together and do something about it. See my earlier post
I’m not entirely sure it isn’t Toby writing half of these postcards himself. I don’t know anyone other than the Toadmeister who consistently writes ‘normalcy’ when ‘normality’ will do…
Lots of people do it. It’s very irritating almost as irritating as people who say ‘disinterested’ when they mean ‘uninterested’.
“I am uninterested in writing interesting stories and disinterested in the reactions of others.”
For example.
or people who reach out instead of contact.
Stakeholder🤔customer
I always call my wife let a brand manager for LinkedIn when I hear such ludicrous terminology applied in a telephone call/zoom
I was upset about that but even more so by Fowler’s acceptance of the usage.
Fowler be damned. Disinterested is not the same as uninterested [yawn].
It appears to me that if Disneyland Paris, or anywhere else, carries on like that the visitor numbers will drop and it will have to close. No tears from me.
Capitalism in action. You can no more prevent it than prevent a viral inspiratory infection like covid from spreading through the population.
Ultimately, whether the mask zombies know it yet or not, people have a choice.
Exactly. People have the power – it’s their cash and their feet.
Where I work is experiencing the same as well. My colleagues think its because people are still scared to venture into Central London but I always point out two factors that they seem to overlook all the time:
I remain convinced that this garbage is going to break on the rock of economics. Numbers, like facts, are stubborn things.
And unfortunately many people are economically illiterate. They will keep on shouting “people before profit” even when everything is falling down around them.
This kind of reaction seems like the precise reason why the likes of Disney are taking such a hardline approach, they’re afraid of being shamed on social media and review sites for putting “people before profit”. Though when have Disney not been “very profit orientated“, anyway?
But if even taking a police-state approach to mask enforcement doesn’t appease people like this, what’s the point? (And what would appease them? Every visitor in a spacesuit with their own oxygen supply?)
Disneysantépublique. Health Fascists.
I saw two “No Mask, We wont ask” signs on my local high street yesterday! Thank you Lockdown Sceptics!
Good to hear! We need some better news… The past few days’ updates have been depressing.
Have you got a local 6th form College?
If so go and see if their students are behaving like ours are.
No masks
No Social Distancing
No Problems
That is very cheering.
We need the positive reports.
I posted about it on Friday Annie with a response to ConstantBees on Saturday who witnessed conformist Compliance at Bournemouth Uni.
I just passed a mixed group of about 30 school kids waiting at a bus stop, all maskless; the only distancing going on was that the girls tended to be to one side of the stop with the boys to the other, twas ever thus.
Local sixth form no social distancing, masks optional in corridors and halls, heard a story of one group of boys essentially bullying one of their friends for wearing a mask, which I normally wouldn’t encourage but I think it has to be done to get through the stupidity of it all. There is no way schools can continue with the measures. Teachers not allowed to mark books, having to stand in little squares so unable to look over people’s shoulders at their work, limiting photocopying so there is a week long backlog, won’t be long before everything is completely ignored and back to normal I expect.
I’ve just been reading the local community FB page – lead post is from a parent complaining that the school bus from local town was crammed full, no social distancing or muzzling. Followed by 40ish (probably more by now) comments all wailing about how dangerous that is, why is there only one bus, why aren’t the rules enforced, contact the council, contact the local MP. Sigh of despair.
Add a comment that BTP Officers shouldbe on board to get them in head locks after a liberal dose of mace.
as soon as these parents have to pay for the extra buses I am sure they are happy with one.
Same here in my area – school kids not wearing masks and no social distancing either. When a group of them boarded a bus, it was the usual gaggle all trying to get in simultaneously. The driver just let them get on with it and not one of them were wearing muzzles.
I hope that Whitty is scaremongering. I don’t think that pubs and restaurants will stand for anymore nonsense with many of them extending the Eat Out to Help Out out of their own initiatives. That said I do wish they start fighting back by binning the Test and Trace nonsense for a start.
It will have to be soon because furlough is ending and more and more redundancies and bankruptcies will follow. I have been amazed at how cowardly and supine business leaders have been and many of them have treated customers appallingly since June. If and when they go bust I won’t shed any tears for them. They had the means to fight back, why didn’t they?
Virtue signalling that backfired.
Whitty’s a twitty.
He did that quite deliberately so that virtue signallers could wail
“so you think getting pissed is more important than my kids ejukaition!”
There is a word for this that I can’t remember.
Fuckwittery ?
BTW what about his recent promise to resign? Come on, Whitty old bean, don’t disappoint us! Although it will be a shame not to see pictures in the paper of a man with a head like a light-bulb.
Actually chuckled at that one. Haha.
Bloody hell had to re-read this twice on first read I thought I saw ejaculation!! Haha
Wash your vocabulary out with soap tonyspurs
I call it moral blackmail or emotional blackmail.
My daughter’s school said masks in class were optional so I told my daughter not to wear one and I would back her up if challenged. She was the only one not wearing one in tutor group and the corona-karen teacher tried it on with a load of ‘I get sick etc…’ but she resisted and it’s all fine. My son is older but in the same school and none of his classes are wearing masks.
She will get sick, we all will. I adore that an Educator thinks a piece of cloth will prevent illness!
In a secondary school near me they were behaving normally outside. But things may be different inside the buildings.
Good news!!! A beacon of positivity and hope more shops follow suit.
That was exactly my reaction when I first saw it on Friday Bart.
The College students are keeping it up, I just saw a large group coming from the main train station, they might have been wearing on board but they were gone asap.
Wearing masks is definitely UnCool or whatever word they use these days.
Good point about college students – either not muzzled or if they have them its clear that they’re taking the piss.
Even the large chains like Pret aren’t policing it. The other day I was getting something to take away, there was a small queue and not one of us were muzzled and no one was following the dots on the floor either.
Well, this gets difficult. Not wearing a mask is well, ‘sick’. Though not as you would normally ‘sick’ to mean. Think the reverse of sick and you have the idea!
took a walk down Portobello road market yesterday. Everywhere mask wearing,information registration was being rigidly enforced.
Thanks for the heads up. I’m going to London for a few days next week. I will be wearing an exemption lanyard but even so, places like this are too much hassle. Is there any other places with this rigid enforcement that I should avoid?
Any places that say “No Mask No Sale” should be avoided at all costs.
Apart from that, I think its been OK. Was in Foyles the other day and I didn’t get any looks when I went in without a muzzle.
Is there somewhere you can report shops like that, for Disability discrimination?
That is an excellent point it’s exactly the same as saying ‘no guide dogs’
The local council would be a good place to start, ask for Licensing or Safeguarding.
Local councils or trading standards I suspect would be the place to go.
I understand your point, but the loss of business is what will cause those signs to be removed.
Also shops saying ‘card payments only’.
The other day I met an off duty Subway lady. She said
‘we don’t see you so much these days’.
“You don’t see me at all because you insist on card payment and you closed your toilets to customers”
‘Oh, it’s the Covid, head office…’
“Stabucks next door didn’t so they will be getting my custom now.”
Never been keen on Starbucks but needs must.
I would recommend Caffe Nero as well – toilets open, accept cash and have no problems stamping your loyalty card.
It depends on the individual cafe. In Edinburgh, for example, the one on Lothian Road is pretty much hassle free; the one at the West End is all “no cash” and lots of messing around.
The ones I’ve been to here in London have been OK so far. I used to go to the one in Lothian Road quite a lot when I lived there.
I was in a Caffè Nero which only took cards, but apart from that and the perspex screen it was OK. I told the assistant that I would pay by card didn’t approve of not taking cash. Of course she said it wasn’t her decision but every little helps in making one’s opinion known.
Agreed and when they asked me to scan a code on my phone, I pointed out that I was take away and wasn’t planning on scanning anything, they explained they were contracturally obliged to ask me – no further hassles. The two maskless guys in front (one using his t shirt as a mask at till point) got served, no questions asked.
Thanks. I really don’t understand the card only thing because it actually costs the business to process the transaction. I was in a local independent gift shop near Glasgow last week and as per usual I asked if they would prefer cash or card. The lady serving said “cash please because it doesn’t cost me anything”. It’s almost as if the ones not accepting cash want to put themselves out of business. 🤷♀️
The only reason it wont cost her anything is if she is not declaring it for tax – banks charge businesses to lodge/withdraw cash.
Not if she then pays her bills with cash. Only costs her if she pays it into her bank. Nothing illegal if the transactions are recorded in her books either.
Thigs are mostly logged by the till nowadays.
Card companies charge shops to process the transactions and it adds up.
The transaction costs are probably tax deductable as a business expense but that won’t help a small business much.
After what the government has done to businesses they shouldn’t be paying any tax. Why would they want to support the Nazi’s who ruined them. Let the government see what it is like to have no budget to hand with which to maintain day to day operations.
The banks charge for depositing cash, so only no cost if you can spend cash at wholesalers or deposit in personal account (perfectly legal but a bit messy for accounting). I was charged 1 percent of cash deposited when I owned a pub ( long sold thank goodness).
Card companies charge something more like %5 of transactions though, if I remember rightly. And can back-charge the seller in all kinds of really inconvenient, money-all-gone-in-a-moment, ways if transcations go wrong.
Well it’s full insta’s these days, so that explains it
I wish more shops would follow your lead. Where I am, the masking seems to have increased over the last couple of weeks, with even shop staff wearing masks when they were not before.
Your shop is clearly a hotbed of circulating Karen killers!
We’re you doing loud, open mouth coughing at the time? Just wondering?
Twitter should not ban that BLM leader Sasha Johnson, I agree with Ewell Gregoor— it’s her right to say what she likes, so that people are able to see what she’s really made of.
The final test of truth is ridicule. Very few dogmas have ever faced it and survived.
Indeed, give her enough rope…
I agree, and I defer to no man in my contempt for BLM, its zealots and its dupes. In fact, Toby should message this other Johnson to offer Free Speech Union support. In the full expectation of being spurned of course, but nevertheless.
There’s a legitimate argument that those who don’t uphold freedom of speech for others don’t deserve it for themselves, of course, but in the end the only real defence is a hard principle with no (or as few as possible) exceptions for the censors to exploit.
Twitter should be forced to choose between being a neutral message carrier, with appropriate protections, or a censored political advocacy platform with no protections, and if it is to be the latter then it should be actively boycotted by those who dislike its censorship policies.
I can’t be bothered to hold an opinion on BLM’s organisation, views or aims, but I’m blodoy furious how they can run massive disruptive marches unopposed while the uniformed thugs arrest a 73 year old peaceful anti-lockdown protester for calmly addressing a small crowd.
Agree. I suspect they censored her not because they fundamentally disagree with her, but because they saw her message was beyond the pale and likely to do more harm than good to the movement.
My thoughts exactly. It was a step too far.
And now we discover that the Infection Fatality Risks frequently quoted for influenza are total nonsense ‘The consistent estimates of the infection fatality risk at around 1 to 10 deaths per 100,000 infections identified in our review (Figure 3) may represent the seriousness of H1N1pdm09 in developed countries where data were available. Similar estimates for seasonal influenza viruses, however, are not available for comparison, and neither are estimates from less developed countries in which the seriousness profile would likely be higher.’ ‘The use of the term “infection fatality” differentiates this risk estimate from the case fatality risk since the asymptomatic, undetected and undiagnosed infections included in the denominator would not appear as “cases” under typical case definitions.’ ‘…updated pandemic plans must clarify how severity will be estimated and interpreted.’ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3809029/ ‘The highest mortality rates were estimated in sub-Saharan Africa (2·8–16·5 per 100 000 individuals), southeast Asia (3·5–9·2 per 100 000 individuals), and among people aged 75 years or older (51·3–99·4 per 100 000 individuals).’ ‘These global influenza-associated respiratory mortality estimates are higher than previously reported, suggesting that previous estimates might have underestimated disease burden.’ Estimates of global seasonal influenza mortality 14 December 2017 – Publisher: The Lancet So IFRs and CFRs for covid 19 we… Read more »
Instaant dismissal for most of the world’s governments, then.
Can’t happen too soon.
Return of Sweden as a world power?
Given the alternatives,, I think anarchy in the UK is the only answer. 😉
Looking at the economic devastation the lockdown has caused I don’t think we are far away from hyper inflation and everything that will bring in its wake
Knew the Sex Pistols were onto something – are the youth listening? You do not understand the power you have oh young ones. Seriously change so often is driven by the young – we need them to find the rebellious spirit of former generations. Can you imagine a latter day Johnny Rotten being so supine as the current generation?
But when was Sweden a World Power??
When it took on the Holy Roman Empire and won the 30 years war?
There was a sci-fi novel, Tau Zero, in which the worl’d governments had all given up and just given Sweden power as they were the only ones who could be competent with it. i wish that could become reality today.
I suspected as much when reading that Malcolm Kendrick article. The influenza mortality rate – nobody – NOBODY – seems to know how it is calculated and whether it’s an IFR or CFR.
I’ve googled until I am blue in the face.
Hello Sophie123, I believe 17000 people die every year of flu/pneumonia the average for last five years. This means the infection fatality rate is 0.1% in other words one in four of us will get flu. Where it becomes complicated is when we talk about case fatality rate. So in March the government was only counting those people with covid symptoms. These are what the CFR is based on of which 5% died overall,today that rate is down to 0.8% and will continue to drop as more younger and healthy people are counted as cases. If want to see where all this is heading cast back to when the cruise ship Diamond Princess suffered an outbreak of covid. Then 19% of the crew and passengers became infected of which seven sadly died or 0.2% of everyone on board, this is the IFR. I mention this because ships are a great place for studying the spread of infections. I believe one in four of us will get covid and just like flu 0.1% will die. To me when you think of covid you should think atomic bomb a lot of people will die quickly followed by less and less dying as… Read more »
One in four of us gets flu when? I don’t know anyone who had flu! Or do you mean asymptomatically? How do we know that one in four of us gets flu?
Exactly. I had flu a couple of years ago. I was the only person I know who got it. The reason I got it was because my husband had recently died, after a gruelling couple of years and my energy and immune system were tanked.
I didn’t contact any medic. I just made a date with my sofa for a couple of weeks and took various supplements etc.
Most people know what to do when they get flu and it doesn’t involve medics unless there are serious complications. Surely only those who land in hospital become statistics?
I don’t know that the flu IFR’s quoted are nonsense. There are studies of flu in the population covering the whole cohort, see e.g. this Lancet article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(14)70034-7/fulltext ‘Flu Watch is one of the largest and most comprehensive studies of its type since the 1980s…Using preseason and postseason serology, weekly illness reporting, and RT-PCR identification of influenza from nasal swabs, we tracked the course of seasonal and pandemic influenza over five successive cohorts (England 2006–11; 5448 person-seasons’ follow-up). On average influenza infected 18% of unvaccinated people each winter. Up to three-quarters of infections were asymptomatic and about a quarter of infections had PCR-confirmed disease. Panel On average, based on rates per 100 person-seasons, PCR-confirmed influenza was identified in 4% (95% CI 3–5) of the cohort each winter: On average, based on rates per 100 person-seasons, influenza infected 18% (95% CI 16–22) of the unvaccinated population each winter season. Most infections were asymptomatic. Most people with PCR-confirmed influenza did not consult and among those who did, influenza or influenza-like illness was rarely recorded in medical notes. Primary-care-based surveillance greatly underestimated the extent of infection and illness in the community. In children aged 5–15 years, protective antibodies were mainly acquired as a… Read more »
Hello,
I don’t know what I do know is 17000 die every year of flu/pneumonia and that the mortality rate is one in thousand. So if we multiple 17000 by 1000 we get 17000000 or about one in four of the population. A mean I’ve never heard of anyone dying from flu but it’s the pneumonia which does the damage.
Trouble with finding the IFR is that for flu we aren’t so paranoid as to try to track every case, so we haven’t a clue how many people get it, all we can properly count is the smaller number that die with it. As pneumonia goes, its pretty similar for covid really, viruses don’t kill directly, but by making the immune system do things which result in death. Given the size of the excess deaths spike we’ve seen (on a par with some of the worse flu seasons of the last few decades, smaller than some, bigger than others) it make sense to say covid and seasonal flu have similar levels of danger, and affect similar groups of people.
The demographic for cruise passengers is hardly a representative cross section of the population!
Hello,
totally agree cruise ships usually don’t have many children on board as it’s usually retired folks who can afford such luxuries. For a scientist ships are ideal for carrying out research on the spread of infections. As said earlier 19% of the crew and passengers became infected of which seven sadly died or 0.2% of everyone on board. These facts are known and indicate how bad covid could get and possible outcomes.
Intriguing how on a ship, a very confined and recycled enviornment, shared ater, lose proximity… only 19% got it. Does imply that it burns itself out afetr a fairly small proportion of the population get it. As far as working out IFR goes, the CDC estimates 0.26% (on a par with measles) for populations as a whole. In groups of younger people (military bases, homless shelters, jails, german villages, aircracft carriers) there has been a MUCH lower death rate observed.
Hello,
this 19% figure is an approximate for all places. Wherever you look around the world once this percentage of the population is exposed to covid you see this burnout. In Sweden unlike the UK and Europe case numbers are lower than lockdown neighbours Denmark and Norway. This is because they allowed they population to build up immunity.
With lockdown you suppress not only covid but all other infections which make our natural immunity lower. So we will see an increase in infections but hopefully not too many deaths.
Nobody ever knows the IFR for anything, you can only ever estimate it, because you never know how many people were infected. The study Sylvie posted below (which I think you first mentioned actually) is the best I’ve seen. People are still arguing over what the IFR for the Swine Flu was, and the estimates vary by at least a factor of 10.
The CFR is much better defined but now that we do so much PCR testing of people with few or no symptoms we’re stretching the definition by calling those “cases”.
The only thing you can say for sure is that the IFR is lower than the CFR. If you did antibody studies you can get a better estimate of the IFR, but the testing does have to have been calibrated properly against mild cases.
It does seem that many in charge use data and say what figures mean when there is no historical precedent and so many gaps in our knowledge. Sometimes I think you would might as well use Tarot cards or get a tea leaf prediction from the lady at the local fairground!
There has been too much arrogant and pompous talk about what might happen as if ‘they’ are in charge of what this virus does! Rather than all this high handed soothsaying there should be more focus on the actual facts; ONS registered death figures-now settled around average, Covid 19 hospital cases-now very low and Covid 19 hospital deaths now very low.
There also needs to be more care with language and terminology;
A SARS-Cov2 +ve test result is not a case, at a stretch you could call it an infection.
A Covid 19 case is where the above virus has caused significant disease symptoms requiring medical intervention.
Politicians and medical experts all seem to muddle up their terminology which just ramps up the panic.
there should be more focus on the actual facts; ONS registered death figures-now settled around average, Covid 19 hospital cases-now very low and Covid 19 hospital deaths now very low. As an argument, though, it cuts no ice. They’ll just say it is evidence that the lockdown and social distancing worked; to relax now would be to throw it all away and risk a second wave. We knew that would be the argument before the lockdown was even imposed. Sweden was our last hope, but a huge propaganda effort has now discredited Sweden in the public’s eyes: the death rate is huge (compared to its neighbours, it says in the small print) and anyway, they effectively locked down, too, because they are more mature than us and have fewer Covidiots (it’s always a good move to accuse 52% of our own population of being irresponsible idiots whenever possible). I just don’t think that empirical data on its own is a viable way to argue against the measures. The best argument I have seen is Malcolm Kendrick’s: we can show that Fauci mixed up IFR and CFR, and we then see where Neil Ferguson got his ‘IFR’ figure from. As Kendrick… Read more »
Also correct. The British government, in the throes of Brexit, is at the mercy of international pressure, U.S. politician (Brendan someone……) threatening Britain only this morning……
Post 03 Nov, Brexit and U.S. Presidential election pretty much done and dusted, British MPs must be pressurised to clamour for an independent public inquiry so that this debacle, licence for charlatans, never happens again.
Correct. More drivel on all broadcast media this morning. The off switch is almost worn out now…….
I have forgotten how to turn on the TV or the radio.
BBC R2 7am news.
“Companies employing more than twenty workers have indicated that they would lay off 305,000 workers to the end of July…. as the worldwide Pandemic continues to cut a swathe through British industry…”.
Come on BBC, you’ve all been on the course about how it’s best not to lie to your viewers.
It’s not the Pandemic cutting a swathe, it’s the Lockdown.
The DBC=Drivel Broadcasting Corporation
I prefer Bed-wetting, Bullsh**ing, Corporation
They are deliberately using the worng terms to keep the fear ball rolling. The Bastards.
This. The opening statement of the infamous model, suggests it is based on influenza. I think going down the route of witch hunts against scientists, is a dangerous path. But there are extreme circumstances such as this, where catastrophic errors need to be accounted for.
A technical point, Things move on so quickly, I sometimes see a comment on here then try and find it again but cannot. Someone once told me how to do a search but I have forgotten, I would be grateful if someone could remind me (I use a Chromebook Computer).
I find I can only do it on a laptop, then you open comments, wait a while for it to fully download, then use the three little dots in top RHS of browser and use the find function. It doesn’t always work.
It’s annoying as I am always looking for stuff! now when I see something interesting i copy and paste it directly into the notes on my ipad.
I just use CTRL + f on my chromebook, if that helps.
Yes, thankyou
ctrl+f should work in all browsers on all laptop and desktop operating systems, very common shortcut
try control plus the “f” key to search – it should produce a box you can type your search text into
Or the three dots top right corner, gets you there. I can never remember those ‘ctrl’ commands. Often lots of ‘scrolling down’ needed to load everything.
Could try closing the replies if the comment you want is an opening one.
Copy and paste it in a text editor. I use my PC’s Wordpad.
My mission to keep Britain free, by Simon Dolan The Conservative Woman September 7, 2020 https://conservativewoman.co.uk/my-mission-to-keep-britain-free-by-simon-dolan/ Kathy Gyngell interviewed Simon Dolan over the weekend about his one-man battle for Britain’s freedom from the illegal lockdown imposed by this government. She began by asking him what drove him to this action. Kathy Gyngell: You started legal proceedings on May 1 to challenge the Government’s lockdown decision. Why, and why you? Simon Dolan: The measures imposed by the UK Government in March were the most draconian in living history, instantly making life unrecognisable from what the British public once knew. Within weeks the devastating effect lockdown would have on the economy and the livelihoods of thousands of people was clear, and the longer it went on, the more outraged I became. It is now widely recognised that lockdown has sentenced tens of thousands to death, millions of children have and continue to be deprived of an education, the economy has been left in ruins and we are experiencing the largest fall in employment in generations. All this due to measures the Government chose to take. I do not believe these measures were legal – they were completely disproportionate to the problem and to… Read more »
My mission to keep Britain free, by Simon Dolan – Continued The Conservative Woman September 7, 2020 K G: What is the current position on your appeal? S D: I started proceedings for the judicial review in April, appointing a legal team to amass evidence against the legality of lockdown. We gathered 1,200 pages of evidence and our case was heard by a High Court judge over video link on July 2. The case was denied, as the judge came to the decision that Parliament has the power to do what it wants. In no way did the judgement engage with, or consider on any analytical level, the vital issues we set out in the case. Nor did it take into account the impact all this has had on ordinary people. So we put in for an appeal straight away. This was heard by Lord Justice Hickinbottom, who agreed that the lockdown measures are the most draconian in living history and that our case raises important points on the relationships between politicians, lawyers and the judiciary. It was decided that a rolled-up hearing would be held at the Court of Appeal at the end of this month and we are awaiting… Read more »
I would make one correction the the last section about bending to public opinion, and add perceived public opinion, by very skewed polls usually of about 2000 people. Pity they hadn’t had a peak at the comments here.
Or the comments in The Telegraph and The Mail. Love it or loathe it The Mail has a much the largest readership of any MSM publication
Regrettably* it doesn’t, that “honour” goes to The Sun, and depending how you define “publication”, the BedwettingBullsh**ingCorporation (BBC).
*I say this having always hated the Mal before, but now being very glad to see that it has the sense to host some anti-lockdown articles, today I find the Mail much better than the Guardian (which I favoured in a distant pre-coronapanic age)
Gordon Brown lives near me in a massive ten bedroom house with a huge garden and lives as a millionaire. He has never had a proper job and for the life of me i can’t work out how he could have made so much money. It’s as if he was bought off like Blair. Everyone round our way knows about Brown and knows why he did what he did to keep the story quiet, off course the money helps but the silence is golden.
Doesn’t he get paid massive amounts for making occasional boring speeches to audiences of bigwigs? (though presumably that’s not happening at present).
Like Obama.
Thank you Stephen. I might not have got around to reading that if you hadn’t posted it.
It’s interesting that Simon Dolan thinks that not many people think that lockdown has saved lives. That’s not my experience, I know quite a few who think we should have locked down earlier and saved even more lives.
Suggest to them like Belgium and Peru?
From the Heneghan piece:
The patient has become a prisoner of a system labelling him or her as ‘positive’ when we are not sure what that label means. Physicians have been completely bypassed in the biotech decision making machine that now makes and reports the diagnosis.
That is such a good point. In fact we (with independent thought) can sense that our entire lives are now controlled by dumb ‘systems’ and their attendant technicians. And the media have become just another part of the machine, too.
I don’t think people quite grasp the magnitude of the change in our lives since March 2020.
Until March, we were all 100% free and responsible for our own health and wellbeing. If you got sick it was entirely up to you how you responded and dealt with it. You could stay home, you could try to push through it, if you needed treatment it was ultimately up to you whether you wanted to go through with it.
Since March, that freedom has been taken from us. Now if you get sick, it is no longer your decision or choice. It is the state’s. You will do as the state says. The vaccine will be the culmination of that new process. The precedent will be set and from henceforth, if the state declares a disease a national emergency it will tell you what you have to do, submit you to whatever measures it deems necessary “to protect society” including vaccinating you.
Much like livestock.
I saw one article that concluded that it was the existence of the NHS that made this inevitable. Because we all own the NHS supposedly, it justifies wider society (in the form of the government) imposing its will regarding our own health on us.
I like that as an argument. It reveals a built-in self-destruct mechanism once you go down the route of ‘socialism’; the inevitable imposition of, well, fascism at some point in the future no matter how benign your shared resource appears to start with.
Seemed to work ok for 70 years, no? Doesn’t it depend on the constraints society wants to put on state authority?
Depends what you mean by “work”. What it does is change the basic structure of the debate around what limits “society” wants to put on state authority, in the way Barney described. Part of the problem is that once a change has been made, unless there’s a prompt disaster attributable to it, most people obviously think the new situation is normal, because they become used to it. Seems no reason not to have made the change, and why were all those people objecting? In the early C20th it was generally assumed that government has no place running details of people’s own lives for their own supposed protection. Now it’s accepted that seatbelts can be enforced by law, for people’s own good (and the argument that personal injuries are now society’s concern because our taxes pay for the treatment was probably decisive in getting it through – certainly that’s usually the first resort of those defending the law). People have gotten used to it, and mostly can’t understand why there should be an issue over it. but for those who stood against it on principle, their principles have been overridden by force, much as those of us here are faced with… Read more »
Totally agree. And the fundamental problem at the heart of it all is that the right to liberty argument is understood and considered important by only a small part of the population.
I think a lot of people feel “safer” not having to make decisions for themselves, or take responsibility for themselves.
Pathetic wastes of skin that they are.
The NHS was formed by nationalising existing assets that already provided health care to 90%+ of the population.
My mum, as a newly qualified State Registered Nurse, was proud to be a part of that process whichwas launched on a Tsunami of goodwill from both the staff and patients.
Mum saw the bean counters take over and milk that goodwill to death, she took retirement early because of it and spent 5 years ignoring ‘return to nursing’ begging letters.
Despite Management treating all levels of staff like shite the NHS still only staggers on through their goodwill but if they went on ‘Work To Rule’ it would collapse faster than our confidence in Johnsons fitness to rule.
As I have said before this was always going to happen when they took us down the path labelled ‘Public Health.
cf the French Revolution and their Committee of Public Safety.
Public Health by Stealth.
You might like Matthew Crawford’s latest book, kh, which was linked here a while back:
Why We Drive: On Freedom, Risk and Taking Back Control
Cheers, kh, was away for a week on a family holiday. Still no sign of farinances, it seems. Did she give a farewell or just vanish, did you notice?
Yes, she could be very ..pungent, when she wanted to, and made some great comments. I last remember seeing her here around the time you were having internet problems at home iirc.
I’ve missed her ascerbic wit and astute comments.
I was hoping it’s because she’s in Greece with her family.
It’s been couple of weeks. I miss her too!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54066831 “cases” rising exponentially again
I am wondering whether we can make a link to the rise in cases on the testing of school children. The local schools here have a policy, which I think is based on government advice, that if any child has any symptons, which could literally be a sneeze, they must go home and must have a test. As we know these tests are designed as a diagnostic tool and should not be used for screening, potentially unreliable as they pick up any strands of genetical material, so more young people being tested combined with more false positives. But then, they will have their second wave. We even have the UN spouting this to be an opportunity for embracing equality and inclusiveness.
Just saw this rather worrying post on Twitter showing the attitude of some schools:
‘I just hauled my son out, little over 30 mins of him arriving for 1st day back. I advised mask exemption due to distress. Deputy head told him ‘school decides exemptions’ that masks are ‘not about him’ and without one he would have to be escorted around school. I cant allow it’
Treating children like convicts in a prison yard. Beyond absurd. Criminal.
An acquaintance has a child with a high temperature. They’ve been told they must get a test before child and siblings can return to school. Nearest test centre – 100 miles away.
How does that work if you are a single parent on benefits then? Utter madness.
Spend hours in a car with sick children. Genius.
Assuming you have a car!
They ended up going to local test centre, on spec – empty!
Three of our local school have children who have tested positive. Those children had in fact never returned after the holiday, so why were they tested. Other children who had been with the out of school have been asked to isolate but the schools remain open. It seems 9 positive tests in our town yesterday after a long time with none.
Climate Change all over again.
2988 Sunday, 2948 Monday . That is not an exponential rise. And from a professor and from a Sage member. What hope is there?
Yet none of the other main news websites lead with this today (not even The Guardian). Most have turned their focus (rightly, in my view) back to Brexit.
Couldn’t help but notice that under the BBC’s scamdemic headline this morning, further down the billing, was an article about the 300,000 redunancies that businesses began planning in June and July. Wonder why they didn’t lead with that, since it will affect 300,000 people, not just a few hundred at worst.
Decent update from The Mail.
Daily positive articles now.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8707341/SIR-JOHN-BELL-live-terror-cut-world-Britain-open-again.html
I’m not sure a compulsory testing regime is particular “positive”; it’s just the latest evolution of the carrot-and-stick game.
See for example the recent stories floated about testing at airports (your way out of random quarantine pain, airlines will even push for it), 24-hour-valid tests to get into theatres (your way out of the cultural desert, artist will even push for it), the test-on-exit strategy of Rome (why can’t we do it like Rome, maybe even between individual cities, city councils will even push for it), and so on.
It ultimately all still resolves to the justification for a system of societal gateways and behavioural constraints linked to a scoring system, to be enabled by the comprehensive and centralised surveillance of all individuals. The general format of the “solution” has remained consistent throughout, even as the arguments for it have shifted relentlessly as each (ad hoc, disingenuous) justification crumbles and is forgotten.
“This is the plan and I am selling it to you right now.”
Exactly!
starts off sensible, but then goes down the compulsory testing route. Despite PCR being useless as screening tool.
It’s the “gold standard” according to the prof!
He says, rightly: Now we need to get more people back on public transport, and into offices, back into coffee shops and sandwich bars and shopping malls. We need to claim back our old lives However, he’s preceded that with some pretty scary language: The spike in infections reported in the past few days was to be expected as life slowly returns to our streets and workplaces. They are concerning and, yes, we must be prepared for a second wave of Covid-19 …. As summer turns to autumn, cases will continue to rise and clearly, university towns face potential dangers as thousands of new students I’m glad he pointed out that: Much of the increase in infections is among the young, who tend to experience moderate or no symptoms. Crucially, we have not yet seen a jump in hospital admissions or deaths. But he uses the dodgy R number argument and claims that the PCR test is the gold standard! This is just plain ridiculous: Regular testing needs to become the norm for most of the population – and I have no doubt it will. Now we get to it: But it will take time to vaccinate larger populations, whole… Read more »
The Welsh Deputy Dictator, and Minister for the unhealthy has announced a new term of internal exile for the the residents of Caerphilly
Apparently the second wave of the virus is rampant amongst the cheese makers
He has further announced that a spike in deaths will occur in “two to three weeks”
This is concerning as I know how much they like to hit targets.
In my opinion the only way the required additional deaths can be achieved is if the dictatorship poisons the water supply, or starts abducting and executing it’s own citizens
I think we know the answer, it’s their way of forcing masks inside without making it look like a U-turn. Give it a few days…
Continue withholding medical treatment, destroying peoples livelihoods, terrorising them and eventually the death rate will start to increase.
Of course it may not rise quickly enough for these psychopaths and now that we have established the the government can tell any lie, commit any outrage with complete immunity to consequences it does make you wonder what they will do to us next.
Continue withholding medical treatment…
How are they getting away with that? Where are the human rights experts on this?
Bill Gates did say “they will notice the next one” (a second virus)
This is for Bill & Melinda:
And when the end of the world doesn’t happen in two to three weeks, the prophet of doom will revise the date.
Is anyone still alive in Leicester?
I have some caerphilly in the larder, should I tell The Council ?
Yes, then take it to the local disposal facility wrapped in 2 layers (please consult council website for details of permitted materials). An operative will meet you at the gate and escort you, socially distanced, to a secure environment where you may place the item. You will then be escorted back to the gate. Please do not engage in conversation with the operative, or sing, or attempt to shake hands.
Stay safe, stay alert.
I would be very caerphil if I were you.
No more double Gloucester.
If the welsh state does not use genocide to manufacture the death sike they lust for then they’re going to have a rude awakening when it DOES NOT COME. We’ve seen cases rising a fair bit throughout summer, but no spiking of deaths, that isn’t going to change even if spikes get bigger and even if there are spikes caused by an increase in spread rather than increased testing.
https://twitter.com/simondolan/status/1303207481573814272?s=20
We are well beyond ‘huge mistake’ at this point.
Disney is evil. They pump out social justice propaganda, encourage sodomy and perversion and is designed to destroy the mind of your children. Walt must be turning in his grave, that man called a dwarf a dwarf.
I’m not sure why you think that it acceptable to use that kind of bullshit and offensive crap. This is supposed to be about Coronabollocks and where it is leading, Not about how you personally want to decide people’s sexuality. Please just go away.
I said it so it would expose people like you. We can say what the fuck we want and that is the point. You’ve exposed yourself for a censor. What gives a nonentity like you the right to stop me saying any god damn thing i like? I wouldn’t stop anyone reading the piss poor post you made. So pal fuck off you utter cunt.
I will not be feeding the troll any further.
good, cause one, i’ve been here from day one and i’m no troll and two that’s what a lefty does, they just can’t deal with anyone who doesn’t do what they want so they put their podgy faggy fingers in their ears and go la la la la. You do this no matter what someone says who you “disagree” with. You’re exactly the problem
You should go to Disney Land
“Not about how you personally want to decide people’s sexuality. Please just go away.”
If you disagree with biker’s implicit opinion on sodomy and perversion (which seems a reasonable inference from your response), you have two legitimate responses available to you, and one illegitimate one, given that the owner of this blog has set no limits to the topics that can be raised here.
1 You can choose to ignore his expressed opinion.
2 You can choose to debate his opinion.
These are the only acceptable responses in a civilised and tolerant society.
If you choose the route of intolerance (which is what you did in this case), you can choose the third option:
3 Try to silence his expression of his opinion.
You probably ought to reflect on this and why you thought this intolerance of dissent on your part seemed acceptable to you, because you are far from alone in resorting to it. Indeed, your approach of intolerance of dissent is arguably the majority one in our modern society, and that’s a real problem, to which you are evidently contributing.
What if he called them midgets?
Funnily enough there was an item on Woman’s Hour today about Dwarfism the managed to bring coronobollox into that too.
Well guys and girls, message received, assuming that the troll hasn’t up-ticked himself ten times I’ll be following Biker’s advice and fucking-off from these forums.
Obviously some of you have become so hateful (understandable given the pressure we are under) that you think it acceptable to use phrases like “faggy fingers” and choose to attack Disney not based upon its disgraceful credentials but based on “encouraging sodomy”. Honestly it’s as bad as the fascists that we are supposed to opposing. I suggest you redirect your hate towards the criminals Hancock and Johnson.
I’ll continue visiting the news section of course and will continue financially supporting Toby. I’ll miss peoples’ amazing contributions to this such as the excellent data from Swedenborg and the positivity from Poppy. It is nice to have an affinity with similar people, it is a shame that it has now been spoiled by bigots. Once they have alienated all the reasonable people they can consume themselves. Cheerio.
Just to clarify this situation. You have chosen to exclude yourself, because you were incapable of tolerating the expression of opinions you dislike, in terms you dislike.
That’s absolutely your prerogative.
(Though I can’t help but add that “it’s as bad as the fascists that we are supposed to opposing” is pretty embarrassing on your part. Biker expressed an opinion, which you are free to ignore or disagree with. He isn’t making laws to control your behaviour, or trashing the economy, culture, and society of the nation. A sense of proportion failure here, I think.)
Well, I suppose if I found a large majority of posts here offensive, or stupid, or uninteresting, I suppose I would be tempted to stop looking.
But there’s enough here for me to keep coming. I just ignore stuff that doesn’t interest me, and either debate or ignore stuff I don’t agree with depending on the person involved and how I feel.
Baby please don’t go, i’ll miss you. I’ll let you into a little secret, i don’t dislike Gays in any way shape or form and fully respect the right of any individual to stick their genitals anywhere they please save children, i also support their right to get married and have very single protection under the law as i do, i even think children should be told about gays in sex education. But if i choose to consider them sodomites then that’s up to me. You lefty fucks need to listen close because i’m sick to my fuckin back teeth of being censored by snivelling tossers like you. Don’t you understand that one day it will be you that is censored and i won’t be around to say let the blue pill say what the fuck he wants, it might be total pish but god damn let him speak it.
You’re right when you say there are loads of amazing contributions on here – I never cease to be amazed at the scale and scope of what’s posted on here.
I grew up with the Mickey Mouse Club and Annette Funicello. M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E.
Never mind sodomy, if consenting people want to f*ck each other I’m happy to let them. But I’m against civil liberties and the economy being f*cked by lockdown.
…And lockdown is f*cking all those things without our consent.
More covid porn from the BBC
Two of the UK government’s scientific advisers have given stark warnings over the increase in coronavirus cases.
Prof John Edmunds, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said cases were now “increasing exponentially”.
And England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van Tam, said people had “relaxed too much” and must start taking the virus seriously again.
Any mention that hospital admissions and mortality figures were flat lining? Just a little nod no more?
Twice now I’ve heard it said whilst the number of cases is going up it has not happened with figures for hospital admissions and mortality. No, it hasn’t they’ve been going down.
A lot is being staked by these advisors on the number of deaths increasing. They are so low now it is about the only way they can go. They should really be asked to put a number on it.
What would it be if their suggestions weren’t followed? What is the most t could be if they are?
I am quite prepared to believe that we will see an increase in deaths of older people who happen to test positive (putting aside that that in itself is meaningless at the moment). More vulnerable people depart this world during Winter. There has still been no explanation of how that justifies ongoing destruction of our collective future and a dogged commitment to ignoring death and misery from every other cause. I have no idea how so many individuals in power have failed to understand what makes us human and what makes life worth living
All of 3 yesterday according to R2 Jeremy Vine show, it would only take a small batch of mislaid fatalities to produce
“Shock as Covid Deaths Double Overnight ! ! “.
“relaxed”? no one is relaxed about this bullshit. I despise these people. Are they enjoying the destruction of our lives? What do they think they are saving? When are they gonna stop? And when are we gonna do something other than make posts on a website? When are we gonna burn these motherfuckers to the ground? How come the lefty wankers are rioting about fake shite like racism and not rioting about this lockdown?
I have to agree with you..I fucking bled for this country ( 2 tours in Afghanistan) only to see all that my brothers and I have fought and died for going down the toilet. We are a step away from what France is and if that happens fine they will just have to arrest me as I’m not fucking wearing a piece of cloth to virtue signal to the public that I have been beaten down by the people in power.
”I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees”
Good on you bro, i spent many a year in bilges fixing submarines and minesweepers to help defend our nation and we have a bunch of fuckers in charge who hate us, claim we’re all evil and everything we have is built on the back of slaves. We are the greatest nation to have ever been and it’s about fucking time we stood up again and proved it.
Pretty soon we’ll BE the slaves upon whose backs stuff gets built, ensuring NEVER AGAIN to lockdown is the only way to stop that.
They are using coronavirus to bring in a police state. I think we need to move away from discussing the medical side of all this now, as the underlying political goal of track and trace and removal of rights is emerging so clearly now.
I think you are right – we can moan all we want about the insanity, the stupidity, the incompetence, the arrogance or the impropriety of the way the politicians are handling the virus but we are just being distracted while tyranny tightens its grip.
I agree with you Kate. The government’s lies and deception are being exposed nearly every day. They could care less, they are not on our side. Time to revolt.
The problem is, the cat is now out of the bag. I’ve had two conversations with people in the last week, who had become housebound with fear and I was convinced they would be lost causes. In both cases, I couldn’t get a word in, as I was bombarded by “it’s deaths with, not from ” etc.
While the masks are everywhere, I think they’re hiding the massive level of scepticism in the community. People like Van Tam are so wrapped in their self important world, that they’ve not noticed the sea change. People haven’t relaxed, they just know they’ve been had.
I agree, almost every conversation I have now is about how much nonsense it all is, with two provisos; 1) skepticism is most prevalent among working blokes;
2) I tend to avoid talking to people in face nappies, sometimes they make me feel sad, other times I want to laugh but that would be rude.
Latest HSE Covid-19 report is a BOMBSHELL:
Total number of deaths with no underlying conditions in Ireland = 100
https://twitter.com/Credalytics/status/1303100491828809728
5.6% of the official 1,777 total for the Republic.
Surprisingly similar to the US’s 6%. Who’d have thought it!
That postcard from Disneyland Paris is depressing. I was glad I went to Disneyland years ago when sanity prevailed.
This is an example of how amusement parks and heritage sites will go under if they don’t fight back – people will vote with their feet and wallets and go Never Again.
Is that what they want?
I want to see state-run amusement parks. I really want to see it.
It would be interesting to see what they will look like.
On this site we could design one.
My first idea was a good old fashioned ‘House of Horrors’.
Oh yeah and various rides and experiences to go along with the whole horror show.
You’re living in one right now.
The Soviet Union would give you examples to look at. Pripyat (near chernobyl) in Ukraine has a well preserved one, and although the radiation level in the town area is safely low nowadays, it is still much more dangerous than covid.
I don’t understand why the state stepping in would even be on the table and why we would think this is a way to save the park. If the state steps in the reason will be to bail out vested interests and/or creditors and it will actually prevent the assets of the park from being properly priced and hinder not help its long term survival.
Allow the park to go bankrupt on the other hand and the assets will have to be sold at a price at which there is an actual buyer, a buyer who in theory has decided what they are actually worth in the present circumstances increasing the possibility of the business being operated in a long term viable way.
Sounds like an abomination, pity everyone doesn’t say at the entrance, forget it and walk away, that usually works.
It is an abomination and bizarre how people have simply keeled over without a murmur of protest.
Paid upfront!
A big issue going forward is authenticity from any politician, business, speaker, etc who supported the lockdown.
How will they talk about rights, freedoms and anything to do with justice when they were collaborators?
I don’t care what excuses are made. We did not need to do this. And even if the effect was small for many, your rights were trampled on. The very heart of why you live in this country was trampled on. And the irony: it wasn’t down by aristocracy or a regent.
It was done by democratically elected people.
I suspect there will be an extension of the Covid bill and powers because why not? Once you’ve tasted the drug it’s hard to get off it.
Any smart politician will get back to normal as quickly as. Then resign.
The “exponential” increase reported by the BBC will be the justification in a fortnights time to extend the powers for at least 6 months.
That ““exponential” increase” will need to be backed by some sort of increase in mortality figures in a fortnight’s time to justify the renewing of the “Enabling Act”.
So the experts, the advisors and politicians should be held to putting a figure on it now.
Also, we need to keep asking them for the medical dictionary definition of a “case”. And make them use the term “positive swab” instead.
Yrs, a distinction needs to be made i.e. case equals requires medical intervention, and more than a paracetamol.
Totally agree. The exponential increase is a fiction due to testing at the tail end of the infection curve. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sars-cov-2-rna-testing-assurance-of-positive-results-during-periods-of-low-prevalence/assurance-of-sars-cov-2-rna-positive-results-during-periods-of-low-prevalence#recommended-actions
And even if the effect was small for many
It hasn’t even started yet. Even if they reversed all the measures tomorrow, the effect would not be small…
I was referring to during the lockdown itself. As in you might not have been that inconvenienced. Others though? A lot
We cannot begin to heal until collaborators are on trial.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This is my first time posting here and would like to offer some hope. I have just spent the night in my local maternity hospital and they were very easy going about face nappies.
Although the staff all wore masks some were nose free and one had it hanging off her ear walking through the corridor.
I was even more shocked when they moved my wife into the theater and dressed me for the part including hairnet (not got much) but no mask, even took a photo of me and baby in there.
I won’t name the hospital because I do not want to get the staff in any trouble but it is in southern England.
There may be hope for the NHS yet.
Welcome to the world of sanity – sort of. And congratulations! Hope mum and baby are doing well.
Congratulations and well done to the staff for treating you and your family as decent human beings.
Welcome to this oasis of sanity.
The NHS have downgraded the need for PPE in various procedures. Essentially it’s returning to normal now. Funny how that isn’t being reflected in the public.
That’s so good to hear. Hope my daughter’s hospital regains their sanity before her baby is due.
Thanks for the post. Great to hear. Big congratulations. Life goes on.
Welcome and congrats! I’ve seen a few celebs who have had babies recently recount how they spent 20+ hours in labour wearing a mask. Appalling! I can’t wear one for 2 minutes. So glad to hear that at least one hospital isn’t torturing labouring women!
Welcome Andy, pleased to hear that you did not face some of the horrors we have read about here.
One poor chap had to wait outside maternity in his car.
I wonder at what level of NHS management is the decision made to relax rules or make them more draconian?
It depends on who’s running the show.
I understand why you can’t name the hospital, but I wish there was a forum for lockdown sceptics to which only genuine sceptics have access. Somewhere that we can be sure busybodies are not watching us. Somewhere that lockdown sceptics could set up a community of our own, an independent state within Britain, knowing which businesses you could given your patronage too and be assured of no coronaphobic bollocks in the process, knowing where jobs are going which are only willing to hire anti-lockdownists, knowing which hospitals are performing actual treatments as opposed to performing dances for online videos, ensuring we can live under our laws, not HandyCock’s.
Another boost for positivity here:
A friend of mine who should have claimed exemption from the word go has ordered her exemption lanyards. She has been complaining of headaches, bad sinuses and chest infections for awhile now.
I have been telling her to ditch the muzzles, get an exemption lanyard and just go barefaced and looks like my message has come across.
Result!
Yes, but as the price, she has to wear a symbol that literally says “Keep your distance from me”, and indirectly says “Have a good look at me. Can you guess my medical conditions? Or am I just lying to avoid wearing a mask?”
True however it is a first step. She wore muzzles because she didn’t want confrontation but the price has been her condition has worsened.
The one positive is that when other people see that non-mask-wearers are ‘not* dropping like flies, they may start to question why they themselves need to wear them..
You are missing the genius of the propaganda.Their mask protects you.You are a selfish physcopath for not wearing one and are putting them at risk.
I’m coming to the conclusion I am a psychopath , because I no longer care.
I’m not a granny – but I’m older than a lot of grannies. And my own advice to youngsters yea, even young adults, wouldn’t be Matt Hancock’s it would be:-
Do what you bloody like, your lives have been blighted enough by this carry on. My generation has had a very good whack, thank you very much. And it’s us that should be making the sacrifices if there is any to be made.
One conclusion we can already draw from the great covid experiment: if we ever do face ‘the big one,’ a really contagious and deadly disease, there will be nothing to do but prepare for death.
Nothing the state has done, not a single measure, can be credited with any impact on the spread of covid – except to accelerate the spread to vulnerable groups and worsen the impacts. Maybe this is why Devi et al. are frit. We have seen the efficacy of what they are selling.
It is just that. it’s the ultimate call. They went all in and had nothing but a random hand.
Ha, so true. At least I won’t have to suffer through their attempts at stopping it if it is really deadly..
I find that Sweden vs Peru flaws most arguments.
And for that matter Belarus vs Belgium.
The government need to do an experiment, after banging on about getting the country up and running, remove the compulsory mask THING and see how it comes back to life.
The government has no intention of permitting things to come back to life. If that is what they see they will take whatever measures are necessary to stamp it out.
This can now only be a plot to destroy the economy.No one can be this stupid and cannot see the carnage they are causing,by trying to eradicate a not very dangerous virus.
It could be that the financial system was about to collapse anyway (I have been waiting for the big collapse since 2008) and they are performing a controlled collapse which will funnel all the wealth to the elites and blame the ensuing devastation on coronavirus.
I’ve heard that theory before,it is obvious that an economy cannot function with social distancing measures.The virus is almost gone and is definitely not a major threat so why the reluctance to open up.The government have had many opportunities to roll back but have instead doubled down so it leaves the question.Incomptence just won’t wash anymore,why?
Deliberate and in pursuance of a predetermined end.
Almost 6 months. The U.S. might rebound but I doubt the U.K. will.
Very worried to see the Caerphilly local lockdown in Wales. Wales is an oasis of sanity for us, especially for shops; quick whizz across the Severn and joy, no shop masks. This lunacy is going to be ramped up as winter comes, we’ve all said that. Just what on earth else can we do? I’m in North Somerset, where over 90% of people are obediently wearing their control-gear, it’s like living in an asylum.
Can we for one, heavily lobby MPs to overturn this corona virus bill at the end of the month to end this rule by decree/diktats which basically renders us under authoritarian rule.
Definitely needs to be done!
Lobbying your MP is an exercise in futility. All the MP’s are just going to back up the bullshit narrative, they don’t want to stand out. The Bastards. I can’t think of ONE MP that is saying anything against the evil that has suffocated the world to death.
I’m afraid I wasn’t listening to the radio that closely just now – but some bod overseeing the health of Wales gave a figure of 4% in relation to Caerphilly. A 4% positive result from random tests I think he said. I can’t recall if he mentioned the number of tests undertaken. Does anyone recall?
I read 19 positives from 450 tests. That’s their 4%. County population about 180,000 by the way…
Again, the numbers don’t match:
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/cases
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54064915 -why the bloody masks? It seems to be the knee jerk reaction despite them not working.
The thing that mystifies the most about these zealots is this. If I genuinely believed that a Black Death style, apocalyptic plague was sweeping the world, taking one in ten of us at random, I would be barricaded in my house with enough cans of beans to survive for a year. My child would not go to school. I would not go to work, regardless of the consequences. Life would be my priority.
I would not place a sock over my nose and mouth and get into semantic debates over the angle it would be safe to sit facing somebody at work, or whether 15 minutes in a room was safer than 16 with open windows.
My point is, if I genuinely believed all of that, and the biblical plague was upon us, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t one day look at my family, hiding terrified in our attic like Anne Frank, and say “Disneyland anyone?”.
Good point. It is because the hypothesis is unprovable. Wear a mask to stop other people from getting infected. How do you prove it is NOT required?
Anyone with any intelligence would realise that at the height of the so called pandemic, no one was told to wear a mask, and here we still are, weeks and weeks later.
And of course the current rise is entirely due to the wearing of masks spreading infection. Proof that they don’t work. (this aspect never mentioned by the media)
Thanks for this point, as it is something I have thought. Yep, if Ebola was out there or an equivalent nasty, no one would have to tell me to social distance, stay indoors, I would voluntarily have the drawbridge up. That’s another aspect of zero critical thinking by the sheeple – we are humans with a brain, and if there was a real risk, we wouldn’t need rules, signs and tape to make us protect ourselves, but then again the public have been infantisised with a risk averse society.
I wouldn’t go to Disney for a teachers pension. Surprised at Toby there. I would expect it is a two tier system in France. The authorities won’t be queuing up to enforce the diktat’s of state in Saint Denis and the like, you are never too far from a ZUS zone in a French city. I think I would rather spend a day there than Disney
ZUS zone ?
(Do we work for the same acronym-addicted company ? 🙂 )
i don’t see how this can end soon. There is no possibility of a government choosing to go against the advice of the public health professionals, especially when other countries are not. The health professionals have too much invested in this, but anyway they seem to have moved to a zero-death absolutist position regardless of cost.
I think the vaccine is the political way out. Get a vaccine, even if it is a placebo, and they can back down without losing face. That’s what it is all about now.
Yes, I mentioned the possibility of a placebo vaccine some time ago. The issue I see is this: the zealots are going to want to see evidence that the vaccine works, because they really do believe that granny’s life is at stake. This would be a big obstacle in the way of a placebo vaccine.
I suggest this: the government uses the media to ramp up disapproval of the publication of “dangerous misinformation” (e.g. even extending it to real science like Gomes’ and Gupta’s), eventually preventing all public analysis of the vaccine(s) – for our own good. The pharmaceutical companies will obviously be happy to keep their ‘data’ secret, and perhaps the government simply stops testing the population for Covid after the vaccine is administered.
I believe they will stop testing after mass vaccination also, will keep quiet about death’s just as they did in 2014 and 2017/18.
You are right that the political aim is to save face and avoid accountability for the lockdown. But the vaccine does not look like a light at the end of the tunnel.
For good reasons, too few people will voluntarily accept the vaccine to make it credible that the vaccine has defeated covid. So Bojo will be forced into mandatory vaccination, and that opens up a whole new can of shit.
Attacks on G.P. surgeries and/or vaccination centres, followed by curfews to ‘protect the NHS’ in a whole new way. More reliance on policing. A further economic downturn in that context. No, the vaccine does not look like the Hollywood ending, it does not allow Bojo to do his Churchill impression and declare victory.
I think that enough people will take the vaccine voluntarily – I’m guessing 85%. A propaganda campaign is already underway to ensure that ‘anti-vaxxers’ are shunned by society.
I think not; they will be forced by dint of certain services (benefits?) being linked to having had the vaccine.. Like in Australia, ‘no jab, no pay’…
Well I’m not saying they won’t do that, too. Just that it wouldn’t be necessary.
This is my better half’s view too. Lets hope that’s the case so the the not stupid enough people to take a rushed untested vaccine will hopefully be able to give it a miss.
Just found this link in a comment on a Mercola article: https://ise.media/video/exclusive-covid-vaccine-patent-warned-of-31.html
Apparently Moderna applied for a patent *months* before the pandemic (suspicious?) but they may not actually be able to use their vaccine now due to another company’s application.. the plot thickens..
I watched Brian Rose’s interview yesterday with David E Martin, one of the main contributors to the recent “Plandemic: Indoctornation” film (which is absolutely worth watching, and you’ll find it on the London Real website – it’s been deleted from all other social media platforms). David Martin said much the same thing from the patent papertrail, which he’s been following for many years. https://freedomplatform.tv/david-e-martin-exposing-moderna-the-star-of-plandemic-indoctrination-reveals-the-truth/
It doesn’t help with the virtue signalling that this is the most unprecendented crisis in current history (or words like that).
Yes it is. It’s self inflicted. It’s the most unprecendented action of self-harm ever done by a government to its country.
Where’s the helpline for that?
good news from one area of London. Two pubs 50 yards apart re opened a month ago. Both with rigid entry requirements. One has now closed again and the other has relaxed the entry to voluntary writing down of name and number.
There appears to be a pattern of after 3 weeks a scaling down of the security.
Yes, although a pub closing isn’t immediately obvious as ‘good news’, we don’t want people and businesses to tolerate the ‘new normal’. A pub closing sends a signal, and reduces a local authority’s funding. Hopefully telling TPTB that they need to drop this BS.
Yes I’ve noticed that, as each sector opens up it goes full on Covid safety crazy and then relaxes I thought more like a month.
I think it’s more to do with keeping the Council inspectors happy rather than a belief in the measures themselves.