Second Wave of Hysteria Arrives
Here we go – brace positions. The UK’s “Rule of Six” ban on social gatherings over six people comes into force today, and the Government confirmed yesterday that it includes children in England (unlike in Wales and Scotland).
Denmark – the country once lauded for its coronavirus response – has been placed on England’s quarantine watch list due to rising cases (even though on most days since June it’s had no Covid deaths at all). Countries around Europe tighten restrictions. Israel locks down again.
SAGE scientist Professor Sir Mark Walport warns that the UK is “on the edge of losing control” while Professor Peter Openshaw (of, you’ve guessed it, Imperial College) intones that the public must “act fast” and fall into line or face a second lockdown. Panic is back.
“You’ve only got to look across the Channel to see what is happening in France and what’s happening in Spain,” says Professor Walport. “The only way to stop the spread of this infection is to reduce the number of people we all come into contact with.”
And what is happening in France and Spain? Let’s see.
A huge rise in cases positive tests, and little else. Hospitals in some areas such as Madrid have seen a gentle rise in COVID-19 admissions, but nothing they can’t handle or to indicate runaway growth like in March. Sweden, meanwhile, is seeing an ongoing decline in deaths and cases and a strong economic recovery – the most likely explanation for which is the emergence of population immunity at lower than anticipated antibody levels, as Professor Sunetra Gupta has long argued.
Time to get a grip before we find ourselves plunged into a dismal and economically devastating winter. The facts are these. No country has yet seen more than 0.1% of its population die with COVID-19 – Peru is currently the worst hit with 925 deaths per million (even though it has the world’s most severe lockdown), while most others are well below that. Sweden’s death toll stands at 578 deaths per million, around 0.06% of its population, 75% of whom were residents of nursing homes or receiving at-home care. The average age of death in most countries is over 80 and in general countries are worse affected when their recent flu seasons have been mild, suggesting this epidemic is little different in form or scale to the annual seasonal round of flu.
Crucially, no country has yet seen anything that could be called a “second wave”. Florida and the southern United States experienced a delayed first wave in the summer along with South America but that now seems to be on its way out. Spain, France, Denmark and others are seeing an Autumn ripple, presumably as a result of having full herd immunity deferred by lockdown, and which we can assume will be larger or smaller depending on how far the country still has to go.
The fear is that these ripples will become new waves as winter sets in. But that is pure conjecture, and Sweden’s experience suggests it is baseless. We can’t keep wrecking economies, undermining livelihoods and stunting lives out of an abundance of caution when all the evidence suggests the fear is unwarranted.
Time for our political leaders to learn from Sweden and lead us out of this mess, not deeper in.
Casedemic Grows
A rise in “cases” (positive tests) is not always down to a rise in infections. It could be a result of doing more tests or it could come through testing more people from higher risk groups. A nurse has got in touch to flag up a potential new source of such second wave “cases”.
I work as an acute medical nurse delivering care to patients in the community. Thought you might like to know that the trust I work for is now asking that we swab all care and nursing home patients on admission to our service. If this is being replicated across the country then I expect we’ll soon see a ‘second wave’ caused by false positive results. The moronic inferno continues.
Since the Government still appears to be basing policy on raw case numbers regardless of the number of tests and other key indicators, expect the idiocy to continue.
Delingpole Battles Mask Hysteria
James Delingpole has written a great piece for Lockdown Sceptics about his recent trip to Greece and the absurdity of having to wear masks on planes – but only when you’re not eating or drinking.
I do feel half-sorry for the airlines, caught between a rock and hard place. They have to give the appearance of strictness in order stop Covid bedwetters like the woman in the above story bleating to the press. At the same time, though, they cannot be too strict because flying would simply become unbearable: how could you eat or drink if you had to wear your mask for the entire journey? So what you end up with is a ridiculous fudge. Or, if you prefer, a canny compromise. The bedwetters get to satisfy their Stasi urges by seeing the head steward tell people like me off for wearing their mask incorrectly as they board the plane. And people like me get their revenge by making one packet of crisps and one bottle of water last an entire three and a half hour flight, aware that if you’re visibly drinking or eating– or on the verge of doing so – no steward or stewardess is going to tell you to pull your mask up.
Tell me, any epidemiologists or virologists reading this: is it true that coronavirus never infects people who are removing their masks for the purposes of eating or drinking, only those who have removed their masks just to be obstreperous, disobedient sods? I’m no scientist, but my gut feeling is that viruses make no such distinction and that therefore the whole exercise in enforcing masks on aeroplanes is utterly fraudulent. Even more absurd was the announcement after the plane landed ordering us to make sure that as we disembarked we should be sure to maintain two metres social distancing in the aisles. R-i-g-h-t. So the cunning virus lies dormant when you’re sitting for three and a half hours six inches away from the passengers either side of you – biding its time ready to strike as you leave, the moment you are foolish enough to close the two metre gap between you and the person leaving ahead of you? Truly we are living in Clownworld. But the really scary thing is, most people don’t seem to know we’re living in Clownworld. They’ve accepted the insanity as normal and think that people like you and me are the weird ones.
We’ve given it pride of place on the right-hand side under “Masks: How Effective Are They?”.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Listen to James Delingpole interviewing Douglas Murray for the Delingpod.
Kim-Jong Dan Sends In The Storm Troopers
Lockdown protests in Melbourne, capital city of the People’s Democratic Republic of Victoria, ended in 74 arrests and nearly 200 fines yesterday. News.com.au has the story and footage.
Riot police were seen holding shields, attempting to separate the “hostile crowd” chanting “freedom”. Several people were arrested and issued with fines, with police escorting more protesters away as they contained the demonstration. Peel St where the protesters marched was completely blocked off. In its statement, police said they were disappointed that many protesters were aggressive and threatened violence towards officers. However, there were no injuries to police identified so far.
Police say they expect to issue further fines once they confirm the identity of other individuals. “Anyone thinking of attending a protest can expect the same swift and firm response from police as has consistently occurred in relation to such behaviour,” the police statement said. “We again urge people not to leave home to protest.”
Hundreds of protesters showed up but they struggled to gather and were overwhelmed by the police. The organisers say they hope to have larger numbers in the coming days and put the police on the “back foot”.
Shocking to see such hard-line and disproportionate treatment of people merely for exercising their democratic rights in the face of the most extreme curbs on liberty the Western world has ever seen (including during wartime). Depressing how quickly democratic Governments can turn monstrous.
A Professor of Economics Writes…
Gordon Hughes, a former Professor of Economics at Edinburgh, has emailed to say how good he thought yesterday’s analysis by James Ferguson of the false positive rate of the PCR test was.
I am glad that you have published the piece by James Ferguson as it covers almost exactly what I had thought of writing up when the Boris plan of testing everyone daily was first mooted – not so much moonshot as moonshine!
Since anyone with some undergraduate training in probability or statistics should be able to spot the consequences of mass testing when prevalence rates are lower than test error rates, it is astonishing – and sad – that the whole of the UK’s official establishment gets stuck on an approach that is simple statistical nonsense. In part this reflects the absence of serious consequences for failure. The NBA in the US realised that false positives might jeopardise their TV revenues from the current play-offs and rapidly introduced a two-test procedure (using different labs) before excluding participants who tested positive.
There are two points that might interest you – the first ironic, the second important.
A. Matt Hancock has an M.Sc in Economics from Cambridge which includes compulsory course in statistics, etc. He was at Christ’s College, where I taught maths and statistics for economics for 15 years, though I moved on before his time. It is often argued that more mathematical or scientific education would ensure that policymakers have a better grasp of scientific and technical issues. What this example shows is that both politicians and senior civil servants are the archetypal victims of group-think, displaying a complete incapacity to apply independent judgement even when they are in a deep hole.
B. It seems possible – even likely – that local or regional clusters of new covid “cases” are no more than artefacts of differences in testing procedures across different labs leading to differences in false positive rates. Any competent and responsible body managing a decentralised program of mass testing should carry out and publish cross-validation tests – this is elementary quality control. Differences in Ct values is one example but there are other potential sources of spurious differences. In current circumstances any public health body should publish aggregate statistics for each lab on a daily basis – differentiated by date of swab and date of test.
In any area where a positive test – e.g. drug testing – may imply large personal or social costs it is a fundamental principle that a single positive test may be suspicious but consequences only follow if it is confirmed by a separate test carried out at a different lab. The concern to minimise transmission means that it may be reasonable to ask people to self-isolate on getting an initial positive result but it should be the obligation of testers to organise a second test within 48 hours (easily manageable for a few thousand daily positives). No-one should be asked to put up with a 14-day quarantine period unless an initial positive test has been confirmed by a second positive test at a different lab.
It will please Professor Hughes to learn that James Ferguson has a degree in Economics from Edinburgh.
LinkedIn Again – But Gagged
Following our story on Saturday about the LinkedIn user whose account was summarily shut down merely for posting a link to a mainstream lockdown sceptic, the reader has been in touch to say his account is back – but with a heavy price.
Holy s***. LinkedIn just responded and said they would restore my account only if I agree not to post content which may “interfere in or improperly influence an election” or “directly contradicts guidance from leading global health organisations and public health authorities”.
In these hysterical and censorious times social media censorship is one of the big challenges Western civilisation faces. When free speech dies, so does truth. Tolerance of dissent is at a low ebb right now and the public health “emergency” has only supercharged the efforts of the thought police.
Freshers’ Week Without the Fun
Sunderland University have invited its new intake to get their avatar ready for “Virtual Freshers Welcome Week“. I’m sure they can’t wait.
Write To Your MP
It is always encouraging when readers send us copies of the letters they’ve sent to their MPs explaining why the Government’s Covid suppression strategy in all its lamentable manifestations is so misguided. Writing to MPs is great way of doing something to make sure our political representatives are aware of the facts and counter-arguments and that not all their constituents have been brainwashed by Project Fear on Steroids.
We can’t publish them all, though they are all a delight to read. Here’s one we received today, which is worth quoting at length.
My feelings towards the policy the Government has taken over COVID-19 are the same as they were in March. I am totally against Lockdown and the effect it has on the population, and especially the younger generations.
I am a fit retiree of 65 years, and Lockdown has not affected my life particularly, as indeed it hasn’t with many other retirees I know. However, I would like to illustrate some close personal cases:
– My cousin of 68 years, who lives on her own, was due a double hip replacement in May. It was delayed because the hospitals in her area (Midlands) were closed to all elective surgery in preparation for Covid. She is in pain, and can barely walk despite using crutches. She still has no date for her much needed surgery.
– My daughter, aged 34, a lawyer with a charity in London, has recently been made redundant because of redundancies within the organisation. She and her husband, who also has job insecurities as he is a Theatre Manager in London, have been working from their small home in London since March. Their plans to move, with mortgage now impossible, have put their lives on hold.
– My father in law’s funeral is taking place tomorrow in north Norfolk. Many of us, in the 20 strong group, are travelling 100s of miles for the ceremony, and yet because of the ridiculous and arbitrary rule of six are not able to have a reception afterwards.
– An elderly friend of mine, in her 80s, living on her own, is suffering with isolation. She does not have family living nearby and relies on the game of bridge for her connection with others. This is not possible now because so many of her friends are terrified of socialising over cards etc. The successful online bridge is not easy for many elderly folk, and they are suffering.
– Yesterday I met with a young single friend in her 40s who is in despair as she says it feels like her life is imploding. She works in the finance sector in London, and her job is insecure and now she is unable to proceed with the mortgage for the purchase of her first home, which she had set her heart on.
– Last week, my husband and I were up in London. We caught a rush hour train from Surrey, which was all but empty, and it was utterly dispiriting, in walking from Leicester Square to Piccadilly, to see the empty restaurants and tourist shops open, but with the staff pleading with us to come in. London life is totally unsustainable in its current state.
And yet the Government persists in this collision course. What don’t you get? Why don’t you listen to the increasing evidence that says that Lockdowns don’t work?
As far as I can see, this Government’s only success has been in scaring much of the British population witless. I am appalled at the way the Government and the BBC revel in figures of pending doom.
I quote Professor Carl Heneghan from the Spectator, in today’s online version: “Admissions for Covid, critical care bed occupancies and deaths are now at an all-time low. There are currently 600 patients in hospital with Covid compared to over 17,000 at the height of the epidemic. An average of ten patients a day die with Covid registered on their death certificate, compared to over 1,000 at the peak.”
At the start of Lockdown in March, I registered as an NHS volunteer responder. Like many in our area, I logged on every day for 2 months, and was never called. I also joined a local Scrubs sewing group to “help”, and it was farcical (pattern drafting, fabric selection etc… and was akin to “Dad’s army”) and this has since closed, as the demand for scrubs and gowns is not required.
I quickly became a very disillusioned but caring and concerned citizen of Elmbridge.
When I received a recent email from NHS volunteer “ we urgently need your help Louise “ I despair. Who is funding this campaign and how much is it costing the taxpayer?
Given the personal cases I have noted and the misery this Government’s policy is causing you should be ashamed of yourselves.
I joined the Conservative Party under Theresa May, and whilst not a Brexiteer wanted to help and supported you. I met you briefly at a local function a few years ago and liked what you said. Like many, I wanted things to work for you and for the country.
However, I can never support this Government who appear intent on complete destruction of the fabric of our society. I suspect I am not alone.
Indeed you are not.
Government Consultation on Vaccine Roll Out
If you haven’t responded to this Government consultation on the roll out of a Covid vaccine, you probably should, particularly if you’re a scientist. It begins: “COVID-19 is the biggest threat this country has faced in peacetime history…” and it’s all downhill from there.
To give you a taste of what it is the Government is “consulting” about doing, read the section on liability.
The current legal framework already recognises that if manufacturers or healthcare professionals are asked to supply an unlicensed medicine in response to a public health threat, it is unfair also to ask them to take responsibility for the consequences of the use of that medicine in the way that they normally would.
The deadline for responding is September 18th.
Round-Up
- “Millions at greatest risk from coronavirus may be told to stay at home again” – Government prepares to advise the vulnerable to stay at home for the entire winter and not see anyone. What could possibly go wrong, except thousands dying for want of medical attention, and from loneliness and despair?
- “No ‘rule of six’, please, we’re British. We can make our own decisions” – Lord Justice Gumption on the money again in the Times. Make that man Prime Minister
- “Chris Whitty’s science says, ‘Stay indoors and hide.’ Jeremy Clarkson says, ‘What a load of tripe’” – Some clear-headed sense in the Times from the outspoken petrolhead
- “Past generations would have toughed this out” – Luke Johnson in the Times sees in this a crisis born of our generation’s sentimentality, hypochondria and decadence. He’s not wrong
- “The Omnibus Party” – Hugh Willborn has an intriguing idea for a new party
- “Evidence shows that transmission by schoolchildren is low” – New myth-busting analysis by Nic Lewis. Excellent as always
- “A way to control COVID-19 (for now)” – Dr Malcolm Kendrick proposes protecting the vulnerable by letting the virus spread widely through the low risk population. Good idea – though I suspect Sunetra Gupta would say he overestimates how far we have to go to herd immunity
- “Britons ignore warnings to enjoy last ‘blowout’ before new rule of six comes into force” – Gives you hope
- “‘We’re going to have to learn to live with virus,’ says EU health boss” – Not, though, by going back to normal (fat chance), but by making social distancing permanent. Give me strength
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
One today: “You Failed” by We Are Scientists.
When sending in a theme tune don’t forget to include a link to the video so we don’t have to go searching for it. Thanks!
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums that are now open, 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.
Stop Press: Nice piece in the Telegraph by Anna Moore about the difficulties of dating in the current climate. Love in a Covid Climate gets a mention.
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 will have had to close again thanks to the Rule of Six. 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 14th to Oct 23rd). 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 £1.99 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 32,000).
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
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And Finally…
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Need to look out for this in the morning. Will be interesting to see how people respond to the story:
Revealed: Lockdown Blow to UK Health
Hospital admissions for seven major non-Covid illnesses down by 173,000
http://Www.covid19assembly.org
Virologist who fled China says Beijing is lying about COVID — and she has the evidence to prove it ‘It comes from the lab— the lab in Wuhan and the lab is controlled by China’s government’ https://www.theblaze.com/news/virologist-who-fled-china-says-beijing-is-lying-about-covid-and-she-has-the-evidence-to-prove-it?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200913Trending-VirologistBeijingLying&utm_term=TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News A Chinese virologist who escaped to the United States earlier this year claims the coronavirus is man-made — and she says she has the evidence to prove it. Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who was formerly based in Hong Kong, explained on British talk show “Loose Women” last Friday that she was one of the first Chinese scientists to conduct research on the novel virus. She claimed the Chinese government, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, is lying to the world about the origins of COVID-19. Officially, the Chinese government claims the virus originated from a wet market in Wuhan. But Yan called the claim a “smokescreen” — and said the virus actually came from the infamous Wuhan bio lab. “It comes from the lab— the lab in Wuhan and the lab is controlled by China’s government,” Yan said. Yan, who holds both an MD and a PhD, said she obtained her intelligence about the virus from the Chinese CDC and local doctors… Read more »
The Chinese Centre for Disease Control needs to review their security protocol. Level Four not good enough.
All they need to do is wrap the lab building in some left over textile material – maybe with a pretty pattern print
3 layers is enough
Take a photo and send it to VistaPrint.
Nothing new here.
My main concern about this is why such big news would find it’s way to Loose Women instead of mainstream media.
Of course. Obviously this person would have no axe to grind whatsoever.
I emailed Covid19Assembly a couple of weeks ago and have heard nothing more except for a brief acknowledgement. Has anyone been able to become involved?
I did too, funnily enough, and got no response at all. I assumed it was because I asked them, before proceeding further, to clarify who their leaders, trustees and advisers are, what their corporate status is, and what their source of funding is. Their website still reveals none of these things, which you might think it would be important to set out before asking people to donate their time and money. I assume it’s a bright idea which someone dashed off a few web pages for and then lost interest.
Perhaps someone reading these comments is able to provide that information?
Approximately 450 people will have died of cancer yesterday, this time next year it’s likely to be 500+ because lockdown.
Nice one boris.
Charge him with premeditated murder to the nth degree.
Only 500+? I’d suspect more like a doubling at the very least.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8728693/Lockdown-blow-UK-health-Hospital-admissions-seven-major-non-Covid-illnesses-slump-173-000.html
Includes some terrible personal stories, and a hard-hitting essay from Dr John Lee.
Thanks, I’ll buy the print version to read over breakfast. First paper I’ll have bought since March as a little reward for the Mail telling some of the truth at last.
70p bargain ! Less than half the price of the Telegraph.
The comments give hope as well. Is the tide now turning? The DM is read by thousands of people,even up here in Sturgeon land.
I found young father Sherwin Hall’s story particularly upsetting: 16 doctors later and he’s now been told to be prepared for the delayed treatment to fail.
Why did no one listen to his reports of such troubling symptoms? In such a young patient, they should have been investigated immediately.
And young mother Kelly Smith who died aged just 31,angry,frightened and frustrated.
Dr John Lee is becoming one of our most effective leaders in the fight to restore normality and stop this inexcusable madness.
I’m also going to buy the daily mail (never thought I’d say that!). Its incredibly powerful.
There is a great CS Leis quote at the end of this article. Here is the full version:
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”
Excellent – though I’d like to have been able to ask him why he thought they were “more likely to go to Heaven.”.
Is it to do with confessing their sins? Like with Jimmy Saville, most people say he’ll be rotting in hell now, but actually if there is heaven and hell he won’t be if he confessed his sins before he died which he most likely would have.
Puts me in mind of Solzhenitsyns observations about the behaviour of fully committed Communists who fell foul of the Soviet Regime.
Instead of turning against their tormentors many concluded that since Party ruled for the benefit of The People he himself must somehow be at fault though not knowing what that fault may be. Being imprisoned must therefore be the correct position.
protect the NHS… Dont bother us .. just die at home
“But all practices will today receive a letter warning them that many patients ‘are experiencing difficulty in accessing their GP’.
The letter instructs family doctors to remind all patients that they can come in for appointments if they need to – and warns them not to send people to A&E instead.”
Finally!!!!
My own GP practice has been fine, car park always full.
I am an infrequent user despite COPD and Asthma for which I did not receive shielding instructions (which I would have ignored, rightly as it turned out).
“The UK’s epidemic had forced many GPs to move most of their services to phone calls or Skype to avoid coming into contact with patients unnecessarily.
But all practices will today receive a letter warning them that many patients ‘are experiencing difficulty in accessing their GP’.
The letter instructs family doctors to remind all patients that they can come in for appointments if they need to – and warns them not to send people to A&E instead.”
What utter hypocrisy. Hancock had given a speech not that long ago saying that GPs should continue with telephone and online consultations , even after the CV19 “pandemic” was over.
Now they’re lecturing GPs to say they must offer appointments at their surgeries. And don’t send anyone to hospital and A/E…
Dr John Lee has a conscience and an abundance of positive empathy. PM Johnson, on the other hand, appears to have misplaced his consicience and natural empathy towards others on the day when he left the emergency ward.
He certainly left his brain behind.
At least it is front page news.
Hmm, I am not yet convinced this is a positive sign. There was a near identical headline re Australia in Daily Mail a day or two ago. (Australian edition) I noticed another surprising headline – this one condemning the stereotyping of protesters as conspiracy theorists. This from the chief culprit ! A complete 180 degree turn from it’s coverage of the protests a week ago. The last week has seen a sudden and unified change in the MSM narrative about the Victorian premier Dan Andrews, he has been condemned by everyone – PM, the security services, all major media outlets and business leaders. I sense some sort of agenda or propaganda strategy in such seamless unanimity. Mainstream newspapers have very little to do with news.
Indeed. What are they up to?
I’d like to know !
Paying heed to the overwhelmingly sceptic/anti-Johnson views of their commenters.
I’m thinking this may be the start of an attack on the current world leaders in order to facilitate wholesale, NWO changes. Hope I am wrong.
I do too !
This is the article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8729387/Anti-lockdown-protests-brought-coalition-freedom-advocates-Melbourne.html
However, the article is listed under the “Killer Coronavirus” category on the front page! – kind of mixed messaging…
I agree that a sudden 180′ change amongst all the media and authorities is a bit suspicious. But the situation in Victoria seems to be getting more nightmarish by the day (am I correct that people have been arrested for liking Facebook posts by protest organisers?) so I’d say anything that gets “Kim-Jong Dan” out has to be a good thing.
The godawful modelling has been called out and it might be twigging for people and the media. There was a radio interview that exposed him. People want a straight answer why there was a curfew after the CHO and police came out and said that they didn’t request it.
This is a satisfying read.
https://www.zerohanger.com/luke-darcy-goes-head-to-head-with-daniel-andrews-over-victorias-extended-lockdown-60339/amp/
Whoda thunk it eh ?
I could cry, these absolute morons all need to get thrown in the tower.
Yep, immoral spineless morons.
When they get there, I hope that the Ghost of Anne Boleyn will give them all a visit. In the midnight hour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch-XRnPhNkw
http://Www.covid19assembly.org
I’m just back from a trip ‘home’ to Glasgow (from London) and it’s seriously depressing how compliant the sheep are up in Scotland.
Once I arrived back in London, other than a cabbie that didn’t understand mask exemptions, I was genuinely back HOME! I went to the pub and didn’t even think about going to the bar and ordering a pint!
I was born and bred in Scotland (first 25 years of my life!) but it’s now a land of cowards and I weep for the country of my birth…
That cabbie will have had Disability Awareness Training, tell him he needs a refresher. Refusal to accept your “ì’m exempt, thank you” is the same as refusing to allow am assistance dog on board.
Do like Braveheart.
As one of London’s finest Id say mask wearing is about 50/50 among the drivers who are still working.
We have have an edict from TFL to say drivers must wear a mask at all times,passsengers the same.No mention of any exemptions for driver or passenger.
A friend has been reported to TFL for not wearing a mask while being alone in his cab.They must be worn at all times while plying for hire.
You probably were not going far enough for the driver which is why he made a fuss.
Do TFL take written responsibility for Hypoxia?
What if you gave a lung condition and your Dr recommends not wearing a mask?
To the “one of London’s finest” – thanks for identifying yourself on this thread, and for all you do to tread the impossible line between what you are required to do and what you feel it is right to do. Posting here helps people remember that some of you are not at all the enemy
Same here. Sturgeon has hypnotised the masses. Awful.
I wish I knew! No signs as yet.
Definitely agree. I live in Glasgow but I’m having a short break in London just now and I’m happy to say I wasn’t the only one unmasked on the tube but overall I’d say about 80% are masked.
Excellent news and round-up, Will!
All it took was an online petition with 1700 “signatures”. So let’s start a petition to change the name back.
If I’d known who David Hume was when I was a student there I’d probably care as much about the name as I do now, which is not at all.
Skeptic was David Hume’s middle name and his claim to fame.
Bragging about your ignorance is not as clever as you seem to think it is.
Can’t imagine how I’ve survived this long being so ignorant. Bet you check yourself in the mirror regularly and wink at yourself for being so clever.
Must agree with that sort of thing, named buildings seem grand, but nobody who uses the building ever pays attention to the namesake. I hate to think how much moey will be wasted changing over the signage though.
My first undergraduate degree is in philosophy. It’s offensive to me that the university caved to 1700 “woke” idiots.
So, it’s probably being run by woke idiots. Disgrace to the international reputation of that university. I hope enrolment plunges.
The whole of Scotland is pretty much being run by woke idiots.
They didn’t use the full name so in the fullness of time it will become just another George Square named after dead Kings.
Laid out in 1766 so named after George III. Who was of course white privileged gammon who reigned over a nation of colonial institutional racists enslaving africa. As most of the square is occupied by the University i am sure they can get the name changed by a compliant council. Sturgeon Square anybody?
Mad king George ?? He would be bloody livid!!!
Snap. 🙂
Salmond Square.
Kings who ruled during the time of organised slavery ?! Bloody hell !
I don’t know, I think the new name is quite fitting. The David Hume Tower is a monstrously ugly building which would be greatly improved by non-existence. Floyd was a monstrously ugly character who has been greatly improved by non-existence. I’d only want it named after Hume if it was to be demolished and rebuilt in a more handsome style.
I agree to a certain extent about the building, but they might have the idea of pulling down the statue on the High Street next.
First chuckle of the day – thanks Ben.
No one deserves to be murdered like George Floyd was whatever sort of person he was and no country wants police that kneel on people’s necks to arrest them. It could be protestors against lockdown next.
One consolation: it’s a hideous building.
The named changed from an Empiricist to a drug fueled career criminal who holds pregnant women at gunpoint and never contributed anything to society!
Yep! That’s the logic of Black Lives Matter for you. Cuckoo!
They have changed the name for silly spurious reasons, but 40 George Square is just its address. It has been George Square for decades.
A bit of fact checking on this website’s part wouldn’t go amiss sometimes…
Actually correct that, it has been George Square for literally hundreds of years…
there is a modern day equation
1 woke person = 100 normal people
Edinburgh Councik held a petition that got one signature to start flying the European Flag a top city chambers. An actual searchable fact.
https://www.scotsman.com/education/university-criticised-removing-david-humes-name-amid-racist-distress-concerns-2970050
Scotsman recording academic disapproval of the change. Back in June when BLM was causing damafe to the streets it was being said Hume’s racism was found in one footnote in one single instance of wording that is taken to be a racist comment. The rest of his work irrelevant because of the footnote.
Said it yesterday, overseas students stay away from Edinburgh University your education will be blighted by griup think baises and woke authorities. Go somewhere better and live an unblighted life.
Live an unblighted life in Blighty.
For anyone lucky enough to have the choice of where to go and not be tied to this shitty nation by various commitments and having been in the culture too long to imagine going elsewhere, live unblighted outside blighty, pick Sweden.
So who can you support? Labour isn’t much better. The British public needs to understand that the two party false dichotomy must end.
You can’t support any of the other major or minor parties either: Lib Dems, Greens, SNP, all full of lockdownists.
I was in Hampstead on Sunday. In the window of GAP there was a sign saying FACE COVERINGS ARE COMPULSORY with no reference to exemptions. Is this legal? If not, can anybody give me the right things to say legally (Equality Act etc) and I will complain to them. Might do it anyway just to waste some of their time – they won’t like being accused of discrimination.
It’s probably legal, but you’re well within your rights to complain. The sign Toronto businesses have to post uses the term “required” but does make reference to exceptions for people who can’t comply in the small print. You should look up whatever businesses in your area are required to post and see if the GAP has conformed or gone rogue. I find it hard to believe there’d be no requirement to reference exemptions.
Regardless of their sign, one
word,”exempt” is all you need to say, “thank you” makes it more polite but is optional.
My local McColls newsagent/convenience store gives equal prominence on signs asking customers to wear a mask and saying that there are exemptions for people with disabilities, including hidden ones.
Think all shops should be doing this
From what I’ve seen the major American brand retailers in the U.K. are the worst for their demands. Disney, Apple, GAP etc
I’ve noticed that as well. Spanish ones such as Zara and Mango are bad as well, Bimba y Lola went one step further by decreeing “no mask, no sale”. Surprise, surprise they’ve been devoid of customers.
I’ve been quite shocked at the lack of sensitivity towards customers from a few local businesses displaying that “no mask, no service” that in person give pretty good service. It’s as if Covid gives makes them forget all about customer relations. Businesses need to wake up and fast.
Agree with you on that. Certainly good customer service has gone out of the window since this madness started. I recently wrote to the National Trust to complain about the lack of good customer service in the cafe of one of their properites and in the end all I got was a non-apology parroting the usual line about prioritising the safety of their staff.
Memo to all businesse and institutions: “Caring” for the safety of your staff is not an excuse to treat your customers and visitors abysmally. If that’s your logic then don’t be surprised if customers and visitors desert you in droves and you go bust!
We need to be establishing a netwrok of businesses that respect the welfare of customers instead of the diktats of government. A lockdown sceptics economy.
Vote with your feet. I minimise my visits to shops, but those I do visit have not given me any trouble so far for not wearing a face covering.
Had my first argument with a cafe today. Went to go in and was met with a raised hand “Not more than one inside at a time!” I wandered out and saw a table outside, completely empty. Shrugged and wandered back towards my car. Owner (muzzled, of course) rushed out and said in a panicky voice “There’s a table there, just wait a minute!” I shook my head.
“I perfectly understand, you’ve made your decision and you are perfectly entitled to do so, I’ll find somewhere else.” Then in a much louder voice “That’s perfectly OK, you’ve made your decision”. Then walked off.
A few more of those and we’ll see who cracks first; me with my money still in my pocket, or them wanting my business.
THey may say that, but when I went in Bimba y Lola and demanded to buy a handbag without wearing a mask (told them I was exempt), they backed down. It was probably their only sale of the day, given it was dead quiet on South Molton St.
I am also a bossy looking middle aged woman, and it was staffed by early 20s people. So there is that.
Well done you. You must have scared them and they probably know that deep down they haven’t got a leg to stand on not to mention the “no mask no sale” diktat would mean no sale and the end of their jobs.
I love to reply “Well, [pause] you do understand that in the end, you have to make enough sales to cover your wages, don’t you?”
The only place I’ve seen that mentions exemptions on the main signage is Iceland, it’s in small print right at the bottom, but it is there.
There are plenty of others. Both on the tube and at our local train station the announcements say ‘must wear a mask unless you are exempt’ and plenty of the TFL posters do as well. We need to get the message out.
(Engage big smile) “Exempt” (Walk on in).
FYI
Nick Abbot on LBC has been absolutely excellent regarding Covid recently (i.e. sceptical) – unlike almost all other presenters on that station. Tonight he quoted Peter Hitchens at length and with approval.
He is on Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10pm to 1am. Listen again and podcasts available.
Jeremy Vine is also going that way publicly, not that anyone believes me 😪.
I feel the same. Not one of my ‘friends’ can even be bothered to look at the Ivor Cummins presentation. They don’t even want to look at anything that is contrary to what they have been brainwashed into believing. I am beyond hope now and seemingly have no friends left. Except patronising ones who think I have gone mad.
We’re all mates on here, CGL.
Indeed. It’s the sunk cost fallacy in operation I am afraid – we’ve invested so much, if we stop now it will all have been for nothing.
Also some measure of psychological self-preservation. They probably know there might well be an awful truth waiting for them, which they would rather not face.
Same here…apparently one of my so called close friends (best man at my fucking wedding) has messaged my wife on the down low, to tell her I have been posting anti-mask stuff on my social media and that my friends are worried that I have had ” a mental breakdown” and maybe need help…My wife was so shocked that even she lost her temper and I guess now I have no friends anymore…I hate this shit and the brainwashing that has torn communities and families apart..There will be a day of reckoning for all these scumbags or I and the people here will be in rounded up in camp somewhere
What?!!! Even the goons advising the government have said that at best masks make a marginal difference. I think it’s your friends whose mental stability has been badly affected by the fear porn.
”Friend’ will mean something different.
Like ‘safe’.
May be for the better.
That is awful. Still, if this hadn’t happened you would never have known what a scumbag your “best” man really was …
Ditto CGL. I watched Ivor’s video with with my kids. They can see what is going on.
P’s. I’ll be your friend… 🙂
Aah thank you.
On the bright side, more and more in the MSM and politics are waking up to the fact that, as a country, we called this one wrong. Eventually, the zealots will have no choice, the tide has turned and is running our way.
We can’t get our kids or their partners to watch either Ivor Cummins or Dave Cullen. It seems a clear explanation of what is going on is a step too far for them. They only believe what Facebook tells them and they prefer to think it’s all just ‘stupid’ or ‘idiotic’ when the latest tyranny hits and it puts their plans out. We will keep trying though…. MW
Hi Miriam-sometimes-AlanAG.
Thanks for your length and interesting reply to a post of mine yesterday. I was subsequently offline for 18 hours so was unable to respond which might have appeared impolite.
btw, I grew being able to see Thorp Cloud from my bedroom window, not quite High Peak but close enough.
Hi, Karenovirus, I didn’t think you were impolite at all – life goes on (somehow) so I thought you’d got better things to do! 🙂 Sorry my reply was a ramble as usual and I’m glad you got your connection back. I thought your point was important i.e. that people are getting accustomed to the restrictions – masks and all – and it’s very worrying. As AG said to me as we walked home from a depressingly mask-ridden trip to our local Morrisons today – the worst so far, ‘This really is the New Normal – we’re in it, aren’t we? What will ever convince people that it’s safe to go without masks? The insane idea of ‘Zero Covid’? the questionable vaccine? getting tested every single day?’ The conversation turned to how we would dodge the tests and the vaccine when the time comes. It’s hard to see a way out of this when people seem almost to welcome their oppression, something I believe is called Stockholm Syndrome. It was a lovely day anyway and, although sadly, we can’t see Thorp Cloud, we have fine views of Kinder and some other landmarks and, when the local bus passed us before… Read more »
So called intelligent friends of mine are the same, they want bite sized chunks of easily digestible info, yet still follow the party line
We are your friends.
Hopefully but he is still an odious prick
I believe you, it’s just that Vine is untrustworthy given his background of opinion guiding programming. Woukd not surprise me if he’s on a mission to capture free thinkers by lasso and then start on about having a vaccine just a little one just for your own good, etc. Nothing to trust in certain bbc employees.
Other than that good luck to him if his message is geniune and remains so.
At the beginning of lockdown there was Outrage in the press about 9,000 Londoners Invading ( I think) Brockwell Park.
JV crunched the numbers on air and came up with 1 person per Acre per daylight hour.
“Hardly an invasion” he concluded.
He can have the first jab.
Sweden/Switzerland/Germany/France Mortality Deaths Per Months 1980-2020: No Pandemic
Graphs here:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1282030657062002690.html
The United States is in free fall. This was occurring long before Covid Mania was engineered but now it is moving with great velocity.
The collapse started in 2008 and attempts to salvage this Leviathan have been failures only delaying the inevitable. Here in 2019 the crisis began to unravel again. There was a dramatic decrease in industrial production and then showed up in the banking crisis of August of 2019- the so-called Repo crisis when suddenly banks started to refuse US sovereign debt instruments as collateral of overnight loans forcing the Federal Reserve to step in and basically print money to cover this massive shortage.
So by the time the “Corona virus” magically appeared in 2020 the economy of the United States and many other Western countries were in full blown collapse.
The “Corona virus” has proven to be very useful by political leaders to mask what was going on- that’s why it was invented. The economic destruction that it is being blamed for it is absolutely extraordinary.
This is fascinating do you have any more references?
Great charts, but I already know what the reply will be if I try to argue with them: “tHaT’s BeCaUsE wE lOcKeD dOwN tHiS tImE”.
I heard the same thing. Which was that the coronavirus is a cover for financial collapse, that the banks will be recapitalised as far as possible on all the bankruptcies that will follow lockdown.
It is bound to be about money – what else could it be.
Our government is also completing the process by extracting any remaining assets from the country under the guise of Moonshot testing and sending it to their cronies. We will have nothing left once this is over and the elite will have taken everything.
Here is a link to explain the bank crisis last september
https://www.cadtm.org/Another-look-at-the-Federal-Reserve-s-panic-in-September-2019-and-solutions-to
https://www.cadtm.org/The-Credit-Crunch-is-Back-and-the-Federal-Reserve-Panics-on-an-Ocean-of-Debt
https://www.cadtm.org/No-the-coronavirus-is-not-responsible-for-the-fall-of-stock-prices
Good stuff in there.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/09/14/zero-covid-makes-zero-sense/
Spiked
Read that earlier, similar piece in the Speccy. Doesn’t say much that we don’t already know but the more columns like that the better.
Agreed: ‘from little acorns oak trees grow’,so let’s hope that a veritable forest of dissent will shoot up before free thinking, rationality , mature personal responsibility and acceptance of risk are chucked into the lost and found, never to be seen again.
Zero covid makes zero sense but that’s precise what appeals to DELVING devi. Masked hamsters makeno sense to but DELVING devi swears by them. There’s something consistent about DELVING devi.
I am now scared for my young children’s future. The scenes from Melbourne, Australia are too raw. A defining moment in my life was when, as a young boy, my father took me to one of the concentration camp museums in Germany. The gas chambers were still in place along with the fences and the whole infrastructure of the holocaust including piles of harvested gold teeth and photographs. The place still smelled of death 15 years after it was closed. My father said to me “you see this, its horrifying, but I warn you it can happen again”. I did not believe him at the time but throghout my life I have seen genocides happen again and again. He was right. Genocides are carried out by ordinary people whose minds have been twisted by hate. They see no logic or reason, they do not question why they are carrying out these atrocities against people who just a little while ago were friends and neighbours, they just act on their instilled hatred. The majority in conservative Melbourne who have drunk the coronavirus cool aid clearly now hate the protesters on the streets and have deployed the whole apparatus of the state… Read more »
I couldn’t agree more. The shift to totalitarianism, and the desire for it by the majority, is the scariest thing about this. On another note, the BBC did have a couple of pieces about the environmental damage the enforced mask wearing is doing – another catastrophic unintended consequence – and again those normally piously concerned about the environment seem not to give a toss…it’s the most bizarre collective insanity in the history of mankind, and it’s unlikely to end well….
You write beautifully for someone who has been drinking! I wish I could disagree with your analysis, but being of Jewish descent I know fascism when I see it. I was never naive and saw this for the debacle it has turned out to be right from the beginning. I was hoping to be wrong and that people would wake up, but no amount of data or rational appeal is getting through to the hysterical masses. World governments, who stoked the fear in the first place now can’t put the genie back into the bottle and so double down on stupidity and destruction. It’s going to be a long winter.
I grew up sort of fearing intolerance coming from the Left, internally or externally, now I see it coming from the Middle which is bizarre.
There are no divisions between Scots and English, just Sturgeon creating political divides in her pursuit of Scottish independence, which to be fair, is central to her manifesto.
The targeted arrest of 70 year old dissenters and the rash of videos showing police roughly treating ordinary members of the public will backfire on our governments, far from cowering the response will be to increase our outrage.
Journalists have drunk from the trough of government advertising and it is not in their interests to downplay the Covid and blame all the bad stuff on it rather than lockdown.
I talk to lots of people every day and it’s clear that more and more if them understand that at least some of lockdown is absurd, yet still they comply. Sheepwalking (word !) towards tyranny perhaps.
Towards the proverbial gas chambers in truth Karen. Wake up people!!
Sheeple
Being of Asian ancestry where the culture is essentially authoritarian and born and grew up in a country that was in thrall of a dictatorship for 20 years, I had a feeling that this was going to happen from the word go and looks like I wasn’t wrong.
You wonderful post sums up the tragedy we are facing now and while it despairs me to see young people especially millenials cave in without so much of a whimper what really saddens and angers me is how many of the boomers those who were born not long after WW2 ended are some of the biggest cheerleaders of these draconian policies all in the name of “health” and “safety.” Which begs the question – Why? What’s in it for them?
Rather than admit that they were wrong, governments around the world double down their stupidity by even more insane and draconian means. I can say that this won’t end well as more and more people realise that they will have nothing to lose by protests, riots and unrest.
The governments will reap what they sow.
Quarantine tags are being used in Western Australia. Exactly tge same as criminal tags but quaratine. Search if you want to read about them.
They’ve also been installing CCTV cameras watching the homes of people who are being held hostage by the government psychosis surrounding positive tests.
I wish I could say that you are wrong Bob. But I cannot. All I can say with any certainty is that you have underestimated the problems that we now face.
I agree with you. The only possible positive outcome is that as it becomes increasingly evident what it happening, people will wake up in unprecedented numbers. It is starting to happen, whether it will happen quickly enough I don’t know.
Last week my wife told me that the only place she feels safe now is at home,not because of any virus or so-called pandemic but because of the growing sense of menace she feels in every public place.
She is the only unmasked person in 90% of the shops she goes into and the snide comments and dirty looks she receives have increased hugely in the past couple of weeks.
She said it feels like we’re almost at the point when masked zealots are going turn violent and no-one will do anything to stop them.
You are right,this is looking like Nazism,with the state using a fully brainwashed,compliant and frightened population to do their bidding.
I feel it everyday while riding the bus. My allotment feels safe, but only because I avoid conversations with the other allotment holders. I’ve overheard things that make my blood run cold. I feel like I have to hide my scepticism there for fear of losing the only thing that makes my life worth living.
Have the lunatics taken over the asylum?
Well, that is a depressing start to the week. Meanwhile, in the US, things (minus the idiotic masks) are starting to feel a bit more normal. I think people are tiring of this. Maybe they will finally revolt…
I’m counting on freedom loving Americans to get us out of this! The Canadian sheeple just keep begging for more “safety” in exchange for civil liberties. Please lock me down nanny state and pay me to stay home and watch Netflix, and please force all those covidiots to wear a mask so that I’ll feel better when I come out from under my bed to venture outside. I used to feel so lucky to have been born here. Now I wish I were Swedish.
Sit down and watch a few episodes of
‘The Forest Rangers’ Lisa to remind you how proper Canadians should behave.
Not from the people I know there unfortunately. A whole flock of sheep.
We need thousands of sheep dogs. They can herd all the muzzled muttons to another part of the world far away from the rest of us.
I sometimes wonder if the reason I insist on using my mask exemption is because I’m American (I’ve lived in the UK for decades). I look around me at all the mask zombies and wonder if they’re wearing their masks because they’re English – and I’m not. We do have a rebellious spirit, although I still fear the potential civil war coming in the US.
Looks from a far that Manhattan is wrecked. Best resistence in that city is dancing in Union(?) Square, you done know who you’re going to meeter there, you gotta run run run run run take a drag or two.
So much business empty and boarded up. U-haul vans fully booked with people leaving the city. Night time street saftey gone. Looks on the very bleak side of things from a far.
Yes saw a report recently that suggested 2/3 of all eating establishments could be permanently shut, in the near future…crime of course is soaring thanks to Hollywood luvvies like Mark Ruffalo demanding $1 billion cuts to NYPD budget – well they got it alright. Interview recently with a couple of Sopranos actors; Michael Imperioli & Steve Schirripa, where they tore into the Mayor and pointed out the devastation… On the flip side, I saw on TV that Governor Cuomo did a press junket where he promised to cook a dinner for New Yorkers who had left town, if they came back. So yes, unfortunately, the city is spiralling out of control, but a few people might get a steak meal. That’ll turn it around.
But no after dinner cigars.
Seattle and Portland going the same way. See how antifa/blm* fare once the ‘middle classes’ flee with their taxable incomes.
* Lower case thank you auto correct.
A comment on Dr Kendrick’s excellent blog introduced me to a new word: nosophobia.
“Nosophobia is the extreme or irrational fear of developing a disease. This specific phobia is sometimes simply known as disease phobia.
You might also hear it referred to as medical students’ disease. This name stems from previous assumptions that nosophobia tends to mostly affect medical students surrounded by information about different diseases. But some 2014 evidence lends less support to this idea.
It’s common to feel some anxiety when serious health conditions spread through your community. But for people with nosophobia, this anxiety can be overwhelming, affecting their everyday life.”
https://www.healthline.com/health/nosophobia
There’s our pandemic.
Does that cover borisphobia ?
Don’t think so, that fear is not irrational.
It’s not so much fear, more like anxiety about what nonsense he’ll come up with next.
Cows spread the Covid so countryside out of bounds ?
I am waiting for the announcement on the “necessary” cull of domestic cats. THAT will be the tipping point, when it looks like Tibbles is going to get it.
(I love cats, we have a cat, I don’t want a cull…but all the articles on cats with corona have got me thinking)
There was some talk about that early into lockdown when it was reported that a tiger at Wuhan zoo had got the Covid from its keepers.
Anxiety and fear are the same thing.
I think anxiety focuses on something that could happen in the future.
Fear is of something right in front of you, like a lion.
Watch CNN, their news programs are laced with adverts for the latest miracle drugs. Pfizer spends billions on advertising every year.
There was a pharmaceutical company in Quebec, Valeant. Really crooked. Bought out companies and raised the prices 200 to 300 percent. Didn’t need R&D.
Spot on! Having suffered truly dire side effects from a number of widely prescribed drugs, and having subsequently had the comparative good fortune to sort myself out with the aid of dietary changes and extensive research, I would caution folk to think carefully before asking for prescriptions: witness the widespread overuse of antibiotics and the inevitable consequences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5780&v=F8uradn98Ls&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=ParentsForHealthcareRights
Note the article on the EU and living with the virus. No surprise in the statement that even if a successful vaccine is found, we will still need to be careful. So that’s it … according to that statement, we can assume no return to normal human and social interaction is the long term intention, businesses and economy to remain in ruins. So what’s the point of the rush for a vaccine, if by this logic it does not impact on the virus spread, and secondly can we rethink the idea that government’s actions are completely down to fear, incompetence and hole digging, there is too much emerging evidence to challenge this imho. The comment by BobT about monetary bribes by the IMF for lockdowns to be maintained similarly that Belarus was offered 750 million to impose a lockdown, but refused – these examples alone should prompt questions besides the many examples highlighted in comments and links on this sight. I am still astounded by the limited scale of negative press coverage on Melbourne. Remember Hong Kong demos and the umbrellas, about 4 years ago, wall to wall media coverage for weeks, and now this, in a supposed established democracy,… Read more »
I’m going to start learning Swedish.
Why aren’t Amnesty International and the Red Cross going against Kim Jong Dan? I’m starting to fear that all these organisations have decided that human rights only matter when the person abusing them is someone that The Guardian doesn’t like.
As previously posted, the teenagers at The College have decided that both face nappies and social distancing are uncool so I’d like to know what the Police are going to do about it as 2k of them arrive to go into any of a dozen nearby buildings.
They arrive by bus, from two train stations or on foot from all directions so, unlike going into a Nite Spot or football ground, they cannot but avoid crossing paths en mass.
Most will be more interested in chatting with their friends than worrying about more stupid lockdown rules.
Same will occur as they move between buildings when they change classes, lunchtime when they swarm s local park* and local takeaways/sandwich bars and once against Hometime (not a word I’ve used in some decades).
See some soppy Covid Marshal shouting
“Come on boys and girls, groups no longer than six . . .:
*said park was a burial ground for a proper epidemic of Cholera 19C but not alit of people know that.
Three loud cheers for the college kids.
From someone plenty old enough to be their grannie.
Drove past a load of teenagers crammed together waiting for the bus this morning. Out of a huge group only a couple of oddballs wearing masks. Very nice to see!
Then popped into Tesco Express to find I was the only unmuzzled shopper… brought back down to Earth with a crash!
I made a point of being near The College 08.45.
It was as though the Rule of 6 ‘law’ had not come into force this morning. The students behaved exactly the same as last week. Perhaps 1 in a hundred wore a mask, not cold shouldered by their peers but comfortable within groups, perhaps they are now the brave ones. More likely they have a condition that makes wearing advisable and their friends accept that.
I avoid the convenience store near The Collegel as it’s always full of bloody students but I pulled up over the road to observe.
As each of 8 or 9 went into the shop they put on their mask as they waited in the queue then whipped it off before reaching the exit threshold and slipping it into their back pocket.
They do not want to be seen on the streets in a mask and, of course, they were pushing and shoving each other as they passed through the door, as teenagers do.
Great. Which college, Karen ? Would like to congratulate them somehow, if poss.
Probably the same at one near you
The university near me is the opposite. Masks everywhere. I have yet to see an unmasked student near it and I go to their bus station every day.
I have explained this in an earlier post. College students arrive in life-long friendship groups so they can rely on backup in the event of confrontation.
Uni students will arrive as singletons having spent 6 months cooped up far away at home. Conformity may appear the sensible option.
Tsunami!
Public Health Zealots are a menace to the health of human society.
You are getting it! Public Health is the new force of our times being used to shape our future. Matters and extinction are mere pups compated to the intended social change intended to be brought down upon us via Public Health. Years in the seeding of the profession.
Does anyone have a copy of the welsh government’s previous advice on mask wearing that stated that the scientific evidence for their use is weak? I foolishly did not save a copy and low and behold today when they mandate them this paragraph seems to have been removed from their guidelines.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200803074432/https://gov.wales/face-coverings-frequently-asked-questions
Matt Hancock seems particularly impressed with anything that destroys our freedom.
The peculiar Covid logic where the Virus carries a clock and a tape measure and will not infect anyone in a pub before 10pm, but will swoop once the clock strikes 10.
The virus has also mutated into something that only strike people if they are in groups of 7 or more, but only if they know each other. In England it counts children in these groups, in Scotland and Wales is spares the child.
It also spares people at work in groups of 7 or more, coroni respects work ethic and understands that people have bills to pay. It really doesn’t like shoppers but is a big Sunday league football fan.
Hancock is a Dolt.
Is it because the virus appears to be smarter than dear old Matt?
Must be humiliating for him.
One is a piece of half-alive organic detritus, with no known thinking apparatus. The other is (allegedly) a virus.
You’re average brick wall is smarter than Hancock. Talking of brick walls…
The group of six rule seems a bit like an attempt at a neutron bomb – make it look like you are doing something without affecting the economy. Of course we know it will affect the economy as far as hospitality goes (less people will go to the pub), but prohibiting private socialising is economy-neutral and all it does is push us further towards a situation where people’s interactions are all in regulated, organised contexts where there is the opportunity for more state intervention and control – a bit like how the Nazis forced civil organisations to sign up to their agenda.
Back in the day politicians told us that the Neutron bomb was more humane because it only killed people.
Wasn’t that one of those huge cold war projects that absorbed masses of tax money but never achieved a result? Like lockdown I suppose, only less destructive to private enterprise.
Had that conversation with three people this morning, how the Covid sneaks out at 10pm to get us, caused a few giggles.
Authoritarian regimes that make themselves the butt of jokes never do well.
Like Dracula.
Fantastic article. My daily dose of sanity, thank you.
The Omnibus Party… really like that, and all of Hugh’s reasoning.
Absolutely, pragmatism and a reversal from the current ‘clusterfuck’, I’m in…….
Just don’t put £300k to the NHS on the side of it.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09/13/gps-told-give-patients-face-to-face-appointments-investigated/
“Health chiefs have warned GPs that failure to offer appointments in person is a “breach of contract” and may heap pressure on Accident and Emergency departments.”
Is the tide beginning to turn?
I was surprised at the widespread cowardice of GP’s
I once regarded them as the best people in our society
Life is full of disappointments
Look at that survey of 8,000 Doctors today, 63% do not think the backlog of care is a priority. This to me is very concerning that two thirds of them basically are just happy for people to die.
I think that is the Core problem with an NHS.
The GPs see themselves as dispensers of care to supplicants who beg for treatment, the GP may or may not give treatment if they feel like it.
This attitude problem does not exist in more effective health care systems such as Germany,Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan etc etc.
Its observed behaviour, if you watch what they do, not say, but actually do, that tells you what most Drs think of the taxpaying public.
Gormless Prats.
As they are on the “frontline”, and seeing firsthand that the virus is barely a threat to the young or healthy, this cowardice is even more shameful.
BBC 07.30 R2 News
BMA survey of X,000 doctors”, 87% of them expect Second Wave sometime in the next 6 months.:
I try to avoid saying “you couldn’t make it up.”
“6 months” is depressing. Realistically, if there were going to be a second wave, it would be in the autumn, that being the seasonality of coronaviruses. 6 months implies that if it doesn’t happen in the autumn, we’ll just have to remain oppressed through the early spring, just in case.
They’ve been expecting it for the last six months as well.
The Second Coming us postponed.
I hadn’t thought of that analogy, Neil Ferguson as the head of an apocalyptic cult. The zealots have been so obsessed with a second wave, even before the first began, every time their predictions are ludicrously wrong they say “oh it’ll be here soon”.
And then another 6 months after that. Once you’ve started lying and no-one is noticing, you just carry on.
It means that 6 months is the minimum they think they can keep this charade going.
They are looking to extend it by two years. Tell your MP to stop them.
It depends what they mean by a second wave. Waves come in all sizes. Ask a surfer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDb303T-B1w
Beach Boys Surfin’ USA
In areas like North Devon where I live there has been so little Covid19 that we have not really had a first wave which is why much of the local population believe we will get our first wave this autumn.
Precsiely. There’s a load of mush being spouted by the likes of Professor Sunetra Gupta who claim we have achieved or are near to achieving Herd Immunity. We aren’t. There are still large swathes of the country that have had little exposure.
Either that or most of the country had T cell immunity to start with, 30% got an asymptomatic infection and the remainder got a wee sniffle they barely noticed.
Oh I see. By a remarkable coincidence everyone in Devon had T Cell immunity.
Err … No I don’t think so. In any case actual SYMPTOMATIC cases are increasing rapidly according to the Covid Symptom study. Numbers are up from 18k on Aug 25th to 45k on Sep 12th. (+150%)
Are you sure those are symptomatic COVID cases, or just symptom reports of ordinary winter cold and flu starting to emerge in autumn?
The virus has spread from John o Groats to lands end i think it’s safe to say it’s been thru the entire country
And every whisky distillery as well.
We’re pretty sure that 15%, perhaps a LOT more, have had covid. Depends which model of herd immunity you think is most plasuible, but some say it can take hold between 10 and 20%, by recognising that unlike vaccine induced herd immunity (scattered at random in the population) naturally induced immunity fills up the kinds of interpersonal paths in the social web that the virus would try to follow. Or if some of the “epidemiological dark matter” hypotheses hold, which rely on a fair proportion of the population being non-infectable (we know that previous exposure to some coronaviruses can induce this for some people for a reasonable length of time), the herd immunity threshold is also well below the very high 60 or so % which crude models assume. I couldn’t say with certainty either way whether we’re at herd immunity yet, but the fact that, with all the mingling over summer, deaths and hospital admissions haven’t risen certainly implies we are heading in that direction (rising cases can be largely discounted as testing capacity keeps shoooting up and as deaths occur as a proportion of infected cases the fact we’re seeing so few means that the number being infected… Read more »
The survey was for 8000 doctors (no indication of grade of doctor, could be FY1 or FY2 newly qualified) AND medical students.
Yes, posted in haste on the move, they did say it included medical students who are bedwetters in normal times due to the nature of their studies.
Shocking!!! Sadly most doctors are clueless about health.
Why don’t they know that? Isn’t it part of their medical education?
These are the same people who learned that a low fat diet was healthy. It’s not.
Two or three years ago, when my local GP surgery was working as it should, I was advised my vitamin D level was low, was prescribed a strong booster and then recommended to take daily over-the counter supplement. I wasn’t very diligent, just taking supplements sporadically in winter. Figured I got quite a bit from sunshine most of the year.
One once tried to give me antibiotics for a viral infection.
Roy Lilly is the guest is right now, and he’s just stated that “the absence of evidence doesn’t mean there isn’t any evidence”. I think I’ll just go back to bed and hope to wake up again to find I not living in an alternative, manufactured reality.
Imagine that statement being made by a judge in a court of law.
Quite, Annie. Though we don’t just have to imagine. We have endless examples of that card being played in repressive regimes around the world now and in history.
… or even by Trump at a rally, debate, or something, against a Democrat!
Both sides should be very careful what they wish for.
The saying is, “Absence of proof is not proof of absence”. Which is a truism.
“the absence of evidence doesn’t mean there isn’t any evidence”.
Yes it does you bloody fool
i dont have evidence that you are a tosser, but all the same you are a tosser
Me?
no…. not at all ,,, just expanding on your saying … and applicable to this Lilly guy referred to earlier ..
WTF??!! The absence of a large zit on your nose doesn’t mean you don’t actually have a large zit on your nose…
It’s a corruption of an old maxim – the absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence. Although, of course, the correct quote wouldn’t really help in this instance.
“absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence”, although if you’ve been looking PROPERLY for the evidence and not found it then it certainly hints at absence.
Who?! pea brain
Wonder how that would hold up in court if the police started arresting people on that basis.
Taken as true by the same kind of so-called “independent” member of the judiciary who threw out Dolan’s first attempt at a case.
Tariq Ali (?) Said just that in Tom Hollands* excellent documentary exploring the lack of historical evidence surrounding the birth of Islam.
* the historian not the singer.
Just to let you know that funerals are exempt from the six business. I know as I’m going to attend one this week and there are more than six.
Just posting this again:
Does anyone have a copy of the welsh government’s previous advice on mask wearing that stated that the scientific evidence for their use is weak? I foolishly did not save a copy and low and behold today when they mandate them this paragraph seems to have been removed from their guidelines.
https://web.archive.org/web/20200803074432/https://gov.wales/face-coverings-frequently-asked-questions
Thanks skipper! I can’t seem to open the page though!
Odd, it opened for me.
Yeah, it’s odd. It won’t open on my phone or my computer!
Works on eveything I’m using. Maybe Drakeford is blocking you!
Thanks Stefarm. This is the bit that I needed. They’ve removed this now!
Distancing is pretty much out of the window most places I go. Masks make people complacent.
Daily Mail: Dr JOHN LEE says coronavirus lockdown could cause more long-term harm than the illness itself.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8728845/Dr-JOHN-LEE-argues-coronavirus-lockdown-cause-long-term-harm-illness-itself.html
I think he said much the same in April 2020. On Delingpole, Richie Allen. Maybe both. Prescient. Ahead of his time. Shunned and ignored by most other media outlets.
The BMA survey predicting a a second wave also has a quite damning statistics which is when polled only 37% of Doctors believe that the “Prioritisation of patients waiting for care and clearing the backlog” is the top priority over the next year.
So 63% of Doctors don’t really give a toss about treating those with cancer, operations and other treatment.
It it bred into them at doctor training factory or do all humans have those same feelings of who-gives-a-****-not-me-guv-as-long-as-I-live-in-luxury-95%-of-the-world’s-population-can-only-dream-about-I’m-all-right-jack?
All the polls that involved them being safer and better protected were all 60% in their favour, so look after themselves rather than those who they should be caring for.
Rockefeller bought the medical departments of universities, banished natural medicine and replaced it with expensive oil-based treatments that never cure anything. Doctors just work to mental check lists – symptom S use drug D.
It’s my view that waiting lists have been cancelled because newly diagnosed patients are getting hospital appointments almost immediately.
The lead “Round-up” link above is:-
>>>“Millions at greatest risk from coronavirus may be told to stay at home again” – Government prepares to advise the vulnerable to stay at home for the entire winter and not see anyone.<<<
But ’tis behind a paywall.
What I’d like to know is:- Is this going to be an extra restriction? – or is the plan to impose this restriction and lift all others? (masks, social distancing and “rule of six” etc.)
I’ve used the words “impose” and “restriction”. Above the words “told” and “advise” have been used which aren’t compatible. Which is it to be? Does anyone know? Indeed do they know? (whoever be they).
I’m sure ‘they’ haven’t a clue. The article states that there will not be blanket advice for an age group, but those most seriously at risk (whatever that means) due to multiple vulnerabilities, amongst which age might be one, will be written to with advice about protecting themselves. At the moment the language is not suggesting imposition or enforcement.
I imagine that it will be in addition to other measures. After all more is always better isn’t it? We can’t have people feeling hopeful or expecting proportionality and fairness-where would that end?
Much thanks for that reply.
I’m in my seventies. I haven’t made any sacrifices in the ‘battle’ against the virus. Many would see me as supporting the enemy. I enter shops and ride on busses without a mask, insist on walking down the high street the way I want, and when in Ireland I didn’t “caccoon” at all, at all, as they called it over there.
But, as an oldie as a ‘vulnerable’ I’d accept the government insisting on such as myself becoming hermits for three months (save for getting out on my push bike and going for a plod) so herd immunity can develop – and not seeing anyone – making sure we never got within 20 yards of anyone – and never entering another building but where we lived – and putting up with getting the wrong supply of vittles – IF, as a quid pro quo, the government scrapped all other restrictions!
But the government’s not going to do that is it?
No. I’m a mere 54. And no matter what, I’m not accepting any more restrictions, ever.
Hello Nick and Julian,
Thank you for your responses
I suppose I just feel guilty that I’ve not in any way made any sacrifices – though I’ve had plenty imposed on me.
The essential words in what I’ve written above are “quid pro quo”.
But this is not an offer that the government is going to make or seek. We’re just going to keep buggering on until the government decides to tell everyone to look to their own defences – much as the Romans told the Britons in 410 was it? Oh, for such a government now!
Only after the vaccine has been injected into everyone (but themselves).
It’s very noble of you, but I don’t see why you should accept any restrictions. It should be up to the individual. Otherwise why not make smoking, drinking, overeating, etc, illegal?
Last time it was just guidance, though often framed as if it was law by government and media, quite deliberately I am sure.
I believe Lord Sumption said that under the law they are basing their authority upon they do not have the power to force healthy people to quarantine. Or perhaps I misunderstood.
This is going to be a never ending story for sure😷
Until we win yes.
Hitler could not deal with bad news from his generals, so they stopped telling him
That was fine in 39,40,41 and most of 42
Even as the Soviets were at the gates of Berlin his generals were showing him on maps that they could move this division or that division here or there
In reality the troops had left the battlefield
The ‘generals’ and their underling will be monitoring this site and sites like it. They will know the game is up and it’s only a matter of time. They are still at the ‘just following orders stage’
I’m reminded of the downfall of Ceausescu . There he was on the balcony, the crowd were clapping and cheering. In a moment they started booing. It was the moment Ceausescu’s delusions came face to face with reality
https://youtu.be/t6pvMFfQF50
This dictators introduction to reality will come soon enough
I was told once that Adolf shot a high proportion of his generals. I don’t know if that is true.
Some of them, especially after the July Plot of 1944, when Adolf lost the plot.
Except for Rommel who was too popular, he got given the suicide option and his family got to keep their estate, better option than the meat hook that most got.
Can’t see a Rommel in johnsons mob.
What happened next to Ceausescu, Cecil ?
Not sure, think he was given a life peerage, and a couple of directorships
Meh. You were meant to describe his sticky end, and I would have replied “Yes I know, I just like hearing it repeated”. 🙂
Bags first go with the AK-47.
I’ve been fantasising about turning up at a “photo opportunity ” (fat chance!) of bozo or whoever and starting the booing
You need to get out more……Ooooops sorry your not allowed out
How will we get back all the wealth that has been stolen since this fraud began?