What SAGE Has Got Wrong
Today we’re publishing a blockbuster of a piece by Dr Mike Yeadon about what SAGE has got wrong (which is quite a lot, it turns out). To recap for those who aren’t already familiar with Mike’s work for Lockdown Sceptics, as well as his metastasising Twitter threads: he has a degree in biochemistry and toxicology and a research-based PhD in respiratory pharmacology. He has spent over 30 years leading new medicines research in some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, including serving as Vice President & Chief Scientist for Allergy & Respiratory at Pfizer, and since leaving Pfizer he has founded his own biotech company, Ziarco, which he sold to the world’s biggest drug company, Novartis, in 2017.
In this article, Mike identifies two assumptions that SAGE has made, both of which he is convinced are wrong: that the entire population is susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 and that only 7% of the UK population has been infected with COVID-19 so far. It is these two assumptions that are driving SAGE to urge the Government to place the entire country under a second national lockdown. After all, if you think 93% of the country is vulnerable to the virus – and you think the infection fatality rate is around 1% (which is also wrong, obviously), you’re going to want to use any means necessary to suppress infection until a vaccine comes along. “I can empathise with anyone in that position,” writes Dr Yeadon. “It must cause despair that politicians aren’t doing what you’ve told them they must do.”
But both of these assumptions are wrong. Mike goes to great lengths to show that, in reality, about 30% of the population already had prior immunity to the virus, thanks to their exposure to other coronaviruses, including those responsible for some strains of the common cold, and that approximately 32% of Britons have been infected. If you factor in that 10% of the population are aged 10 or under and are therefore completely invulnerable to the disease, that leaves about 28% who are susceptible to being infected, not 93%. Not a million miles away from the herd immunity threshold, in other words, which is why Mike thinks the so-called “second wave” will shortly fizzle out, just as it has begun to do in Spain.
Mike draws on more than 30 years of experience as a working scientist, as well as an encyclopaedic knowledge of virology, to reach this conclusion – the same conclusion, broadly speaking, that the scientists who drew up the Great Barrington Declaration have come to.
The article is long, but it’s easy to read because Mike has such a robust, punchy style, hammering his points home with a kind of merciless aggression. And the reason he’s so merciless is because he is absolutely furious with the sanctimonious, supercilious panjandrums that sit on SAGE and are causing so much needless destruction.
SAGE has nothing useful to tell us. As currently constituted, they have an inappropriate over-weighting in modellers and are fatally deficient in pragmatic, empirical, evidence-led experienced scientists, especially the medical, immunological and expert generalist variety. It is my opinion that they should be disbanded immediately and reconstituted. I say this because, as I have shown, they haven’t a grasp of even the basics required to build a model and because their models are often frighteningly useless (Lee, 2020), a fact of which they seem unaware. Their role is too important for them to get a second chance. They are unlikely to revise their thinking even if they claim they have now fixed their model. The level of incompetence shown by the errors I have uncovered, errors which indirectly through inappropriate ‘measures’, have cost the lives of thousands of people, from avoidable, non-COVID-19 causes, is utterly unforgivable.
As a private individual, I am incandescent with rage at the damage they have inflicted on this country. We should demand more honesty, as well as competence from those elected or appointed to look after aspects of life we cannot manage alone. SAGE has either been irredeemably incompetent or it has been dishonest. I personally know a few SAGE members and with the sole exception of a nameless individual, it is an understatement that they have greatly disappointed me. They have rebuffed well-intentioned and, as it turned out, accurate advice from at least three Nobel laureate scientists, all informing them that their modelling was seriously and indeed lethally in error. Though this may not have made the papers, everyone in the science community knows about this and that SAGE’s inadequate replies are scandalous. I have no confidence in any of them and neither should you.
Very much worth reading in full.
London Lockdown
London will be put into tier 2 lockdown on Saturday at midnight it was announced yesterday, which means a ban on household mixing indoors and discouraging people from travelling or using public transport. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs this was due to an “exponential” growth in infections.
It’s not surprising that the Health Secretary has singled out rising cases as the key metric since the number of Covid hospitalisations in London was 51 on October 10th, with three deaths. That’s three out of nine million, or 0.00003%.
From Business Insider:
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday morning, the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said more localized restrictions were necessary in London and elsewhere to stop the “exponential” growth in infections.
“In London, infection rates are on a steep upward path, with the number of cases doubling every ten days,” Hancock said.
But are cases doubling every 10 days? Here’s the graph by specimen date.
Looks to be peaking around October 8th, even allowing for the lag in reporting. The Mail has also spotted that it appears to be slowing down. Here’s further confirmation from GP data.
What about Liverpool, placed in tier 3 on Wednesday? Here’s the graph by specimen date. Daily cases appear to have peaked around October 7th there, too.
What about Madrid, the erstwhile “second wave capital” of Europe? Here is its hospital occupancy graph, in sustained decline.
Despite the continuing accumulation of evidence that lockdowns aren’t needed to control the virus, the Government’s new best friend, the many-headed WHO, was calling for lockdowns again yesterday after a brief spell of discouraging them. Reuters has the details.
Urging governments to “step up” swiftly to contain a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the WHO’s European director Hans Kluge said the current situation was “more than ever, pandemic times for Europe”.
New infections are hitting 100,000 daily in Europe, and the region has just registered the highest weekly incidence of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with almost 700,000 cases reported.
“The fall (autumn) and winter surge continues to unfold in Europe, with exponential increases in daily cases and matching percentage increases in daily deaths,” Kluge told an online media briefing.
“It’s time to step up. The message to governments is: don’t hold back with relatively small actions to avoid the painful damaging actions we saw in the first round (in March and April).”
Kluge’s been looking at some “reliable epidemiological models”, apparently.
“These models indicate that prolonged relaxing policies could propel – by January 2021 – daily mortality at levels four to five times higher than what we recorded in April,” he said.
But taking simple, swift tightening measures now – such as enforcing widespread mask-wearing and controlling social gatherings in public or private spaces – could save up to 281,000 lives by February across the 53 countries that make up the WHO European region, he added.
Kluge does not identify these models, so we do not know if they are published or peer reviewed. (Ferguson’s infamous March 16th model has still not been peer-reviewed). But it’s okay because Mr Kluge has seen them and he can assure us they are reliable. So on that solid scientific basis he is telling the world’s governments to take “swift tightening measures now” such as masks (for which the WHO admits there is no reliable evidence) and “controlling social gatherings”. Just like that. But do such measures work, are they necessary, and are they worth it? What does the actual data say? These questions, as always, go unanswered.
Stop Press: Stanford’s Dr John Ioannidis has a new peer-reviewed study out, published by one of the other branches of the many-headed WHOdra, that estimates the IFR for healthy under-70s at just 0.05%.
Lockdown Zealots Invoke “Scientific Consensus” to Debunk Great Barrington Declaration
You’ve got to admire the gall. Three leading specialists in the field of infectious disease start a petition that is signed by tens of thousands of their fellow scientists and the lockdown zealots write a rebuttal claiming to speak on behalf of the entire scientific community. That’s the boast made by the authors of the John Snow Memorandum – a riposte to the Great Barrington Declaration which appeared in the Lancet yesterday under the headline: “Scientific consensus on the COVID-19 pandemic: we need to act now.” Consensus? Only in their echo chambers. How can an attempt to debunk a declaration that has gone viral within the scientific community plausibly claim to reflect a consensus?
If you Google the “John Snow Memorandum” it’s the top result already and all the other results are positive, too, unlike the Great Barrington Declaration. Funny that, given Google’s explanation for why it took so long for the Great Barrington Declaration to show up in the search results. “It can take a little time for our automated systems to learn enough about new pages like this for them to rank better for relevant terms,” explained a Google employee, when questioned about this. “This delay can vary by country. This page is and was ranking in the first page in the US, has risen elsewhere and likely will continue automatically.”
Of course there isn’t a “consensus” among scientists about the best way to mitigate the impact of this pandemic. But even if there was, so what? A scientific hypothesis doesn’t become more or less true according to how many other scientists believe it. I’m reminded of the book 100 Scientists Against Einstein. When asked about it, Einstein replied: “If I were wrong, one would have been enough.” And, ironically, the public health scientist the memorandum is named after – John Snow – was himself a maverick, challenging the “consensus” among scientists of his day. Indeed, had he not done so, he never would have found the true cause of the cholera outbreak in Soho in 1854 that made his name.
The conventional wisdom at the time – the view held by the scientific establishment – was the miasma theory, which held that diseases such as cholera and bubonic plague were caused by pollution or “bad air”. Instead of relying on this theory, Snow actually did some on-the-ground research, talking to local residents and analysing the pattern of infection. In this way, he was able to trace the source of the outbreak to a water pump in Broad Street and end the epidemic. Snow’s discovery, which came about because he engaged in methodical, empirical research rather than relying on some divorced-from-reality theory, is regarded as the founding event of the science of epidemiology.
For a group of establishment panjandrums to invoke John Snow’s name, given that their entire approach to the pandemic is rooted in abstract mathematical modelling, is almost laughably inappropriate.
Here is the kernel of the John Snow Memorandum (I’ve added some comments in square brackets).
SARS-CoV-2 spreads through contact (via larger droplets and aerosols), and longer-range transmission via aerosols, especially in conditions where ventilation is poor. Its high infectivity,1 combined with the susceptibility of unexposed populations to a new virus [No mention of cross-immunity], creates conditions for rapid community spread [No mention of repeated observations of spontaneous decline]. The infection fatality rate of COVID-19 is several-fold higher than that of seasonal influenza [This is not reflected in the overall death toll, which is in many places only a bit higher than a strong flu wave or, in some cases, e.g. Germany, less],2 and infection can lead to persisting illness, including in young, previously healthy people (ie, long COVID) [Post-viral complications are not unique to Covid and it’s too soon to say how long they’ll persist].3 It is unclear how long protective immunity lasts [The number of people who’ve been reinfected is infinitesimally small],4 and, like other seasonal coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is capable of re-infecting people who have already had the disease, but the frequency of re-infection is unknown [Most are mild].5 Transmission of the virus can be mitigated through physical distancing, use of face coverings, hand and respiratory hygiene, and by avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. Rapid testing, contact tracing, and isolation are also critical to controlling transmission [No evidence is presented for these claims, some of which are contradicted by the data]. WHO has been advocating for these measures since early in the pandemic [WHO did not endorse face coverings until June].
It claims: “Japan, Vietnam, and New Zealand, to name a few countries, have shown that robust public health responses can control transmission, allowing life to return to near-normal, and there are many such success stories.” This is untrue: there are not many such success stories. Of those listed, Japan did not have “robust public health responses” and New Zealand is now cut off from the world. The reason why most East Asian countries like Japan and Vietnam were not as badly affected as European countries is not yet entirely clear (many believe it is higher levels of pre-existing immunity, thanks to their exposure to other SARS viruses, i.e. herd immunity) but the reason is unlikely to be their “public health responses”, which a study in the Lancet showed had no impact on a country’s death toll.
This section of the memo directly contradicts the GB Declaration’s herd immunity and focused protection strategy:
Any pandemic management strategy relying upon immunity from natural infections for COVID-19 is flawed. Uncontrolled transmission in younger people risks significant morbidity3 [Only four children aged 15 and under in the UK have died of Covid] and mortality across the whole population [There are always risks, but ongoing restrictions are also risky and deadly]. In addition to the human cost, this would impact the workforce as a whole and overwhelm the ability of health-care systems to provide acute and routine care [Sweden’s healthcare system was not overwhelmed in spite of no lockdown]. Furthermore, there is no evidence for lasting protective immunity to SARS-CoV-2 following natural infection,4 and the endemic transmission that would be the consequence of waning immunity would present a risk to vulnerable populations for the indefinite future [SARS-CoV-2 is already endemic but immunity and cross-immunity provides ongoing protection, plus there are increasingly effective treatments]. Such a strategy would not end the COVID-19 pandemic but result in recurrent epidemics, as was the case with numerous infectious diseases before the advent of vaccination [There is a flu season every year, which includes coronaviruses, and only very limited vaccines, yet we seem to cope okay]. It would also place an unacceptable burden on the economy and health-care workers, many of whom have died from COVID-19 or experienced trauma as a result of having to practise disaster medicine [Surely, it’s the ongoing restrictions that are placing an “unacceptable burden on the economy”?]. Additionally, we still do not understand who might suffer from long COVID [Why is an unknown amount of harm being weighed more heavily than the known harm that results from lockdowns?].3 Defining who is vulnerable is complex, but even if we consider those at risk of severe illness, the proportion of vulnerable people constitute as much as 30% of the population in some regions.8 Prolonged isolation of large swathes of the population is practically impossible and highly unethical [We’re shielding vulnerable groups as it is and it would be less “prolonged” if we go for a herd immunity strategy than if we continue with the suppress-until-there’s-a-vaccine strategy]. Empirical evidence from many countries shows that it is not feasible to restrict uncontrolled outbreaks to particular sections of society [Which countries, what evidence? A number of countries such as Germany and Denmark avoided the high death toll in care homes seen in the UK and elsewhere]. Such an approach also risks further exacerbating the socioeconomic inequities and structural discriminations already laid bare by the pandemic [Unlike ongoing restrictions that disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged, not to mention cushioning the public sector but bankrupting the private sector?]. Special efforts to protect the most vulnerable are essential but must go hand-in-hand with multi-pronged population-level strategies [Having said it is “practically impossible” as well as unethical to isolate the vulnerable it now says it is essential to do it indefinitely].
It ends: “The evidence is very clear: controlling community spread of COVID-19 is the best way to protect our societies and economies until safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics arrive within the coming months.”
But effective therapeutics that lower the death rate are already here, while any vaccines that make it through trials are likely to be only partially effective. There is no argument for reopening society later that doesn’t already apply now, and these restrictions are already intolerable and destroying our jobs, our culture and our way of life.
Stop Press: The Government has told care homes they will need to make room for coronavirus patients who have been discharged from hospital. That’s right, they’re about to make exactly the same mistake they made last time that resulted in such a heavy toll in the care sector. Combined with the official advice to the vulnerable not to shield themselves at home, this is the opposite of protecting the vulnerable. With healthy, working-age people stuck at home because their workplace is closed due to the perma-lockdown, but retired people encouraged to be out and about, it’s the opposite of the GBD’s formula of how to bring this epidemic to an end as quickly and safely as possible.
Putting it Into Practice
Steve Sieff who runs the GreenBandRedBand site has got in touch with a suggestion of how to put focused protection into practice while respecting personal choice.
Following Matt Hancock’s wholly unfounded dismissal of the Great Barrington Declaration on Tuesday, it is difficult to imagine what could persuade the Government to consider any alternative to the suppression orthodoxy. If Steve Baker is looking to help the Government “find an alternative strategic plan between the Great Barrington Declaration and where we are today” he might want to start with the proposal at GreenBandRedBand. The idea is that people should be allowed to assess their own risk level, choose which wrist band to wear – green for prepared to risk catching the virus, red for those who are more wary – and interact accordingly. Those who wished to do so could then mix freely with like-minded people, but would be asked to continue to apply measures to break transmission of the virus to those who remained worried.
Although retention of any of the current measures would be anathema to many lockdown sceptics, it is increasingly clear that the Government is entrenched in its position that herd immunity is nothing more than a callous way of sending people to their deaths. For Steve Baker and the small band of Tory rebels who are trying to persuade the Government to consider a strategy other than perpetual cycles of lockdown, the GreenBandRedBand system has the huge advantage that it is not reliant on herd immunity or on segregation of any group. So it addresses directly the Government’s objections to strategies like the Great Barrington Declaration.
It also builds on the methods of suppression that the Government has been championing throughout. If distancing etc. is truly effective to break the chain of transmission and the rules require people to implement those measures now, then there is no reason why the same measures cannot continue to work when implemented in a more targeted way. Rather than penalising people for failing to follow a host of restrictive and ever changing measures, the system would vastly reduce the restrictions on people’s freedom, and by doing so would give far more incentive to follow the rules that did remain. More carrot, less stick.
If any of the old Boris is left, the system could be the best of all worlds for him. He could appease the members of his own party who are crying out against the restrictions on freedom. He could continue to ‘follow the science’ in that distancing etc. would be maintained wherever required as determined by individual circumstances. He could put Labour back in its box for wanting to shut the country down even further, he could give the economy a huge kickstart without emptying the Government coffers, and he could justifiably claim to be protecting the NHS and the lives of the public by focusing attention and resources on preventing the vulnerable from getting infected.
In addition to the website the system is also explained in the British Medical Journal here and here.
Is the ONS Survey Only For The Housebound?
A Lockdown Sceptics reader agreed to be part of the ONS Covid survey, but found it a waste of his time.
I got randomly selected by postcode to participate in a Covid infection study for the ONS by Oxford University.
Had my first appointment on August 9th. Nice nurse visited me at home, signed me up for a year – one visit every week for a five weeks, followed by one a month – took swabs and blood.
I mentioned that I’d be going away for a few days, but would be in the country and could easily attend a test centre, or whatever. Apparently no problem.
Had a call while on holiday. Could I be home later in the day? Nope, but I’ll be back in a couple of days, will that do? No problem, someone will call you soon. They didn’t.
A couple of weeks later I had a call to say, could I be home in a couple of hours? Nope, I’m at work, but I can do anytime tomorrow, will that do? Fine, someone will call later. They didn’t.
A couple of weeks later I called the helpline and it promised to call me back. Two days later a lovely person did. Oh dear, she said, that’s not good. I’ll escalate this and someone will call you soon.
A week or so later, someone called. Could I be home at 3pm? Nope, I’m at work, but you can see me here, if you like? Can’t do that –we can only visit you at your registered address. Okay, how about tomorrow? Say, 11am? Ah, well, we only get given our list in the morning, then we phone people and go see them. So, you can’t give me more than a few hours notice before coming to see me and you have to see me at home? Yes, sorry. So, don’t you keep missing people? Er… yes, that does happen a lot…
What I take from this, is:
a. If this is competence, it sure doesn’t look like it.
b. If this is supposed to be a random sample of the population, it’s surely excluding almost everyone who actually goes out to work, isn’t it?
Rule of Six Doesn’t Apply to the Lonely
A reader has spotted a loophole in the law that means the Rule of Six doesn’t apply to anyone who is feeling lonely or depressed.
Having perused the new regulations in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Local COVID-19 Alert Level) (Medium) Regulations 2020, under Statutory Instrument Number 1103 that came into force on October 14th, I noticed a number of exemptions to the so-called Rule of Six.
Under Schedule 1 (Tier 1 Restrictions), Regulation 3, Part 1 (Restrictions on gatherings), Paragraph 3 (Exceptions), subsection 4(e) the following is written: “Exception 3 is that the gathering is reasonably necessary to enable one or more people in the gathering to avoid injury or illness or to escape a risk of harm.”
As the good people of Law or Fiction pointed out, Low Mood, Sadness and Depression act as reasonable excuses for such exceptions. If one feels lonely or depressed, then as far as I can see the law allows for gatherings of more than six.
Sorry if this is a bit confusing, legal specifics aren’t my forte. You’ll find the relevant text in the regulations, about a third of the way down.
I don’t want this to be some sort of get-out-of-jail card to be abused. I’ve had mental illness in the past and depression that sucks the life out of you, and this entire saga is bringing me back to those lows. If depression takes hold, it is very hard to escape, and very easy to see how it can cause personal harm.
This reader spotted a gem at the bottom of the new guidance: “No impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations.”
Is Public Opinion Finally Turning?
Polling by OnePulse, admittedly not the most scientific data gathering outfit, suggests the public mood on the continuing mishmash of restrictions is beginning to shift.
Asked if they support the new three tier system of local lockdown measures, 24% of the respondents said they support it, 15.02% oppose and 60.98% have mixed feelings about it.
Asked how they feel about the coming months, 42.67% say they feel disheartened, 7.91% fine and 60.44% concerned.
And asked what should be prioritised, the NHS, saving lives or the economy, 16.09% said saving lives and protecting the NHS, 35.47% said saving the economy and 42.4% said a mixture of all three.
These are very different to OnePulse’s earlier polls, which showed overwhelming public support for the forever lockdown. Worth reading in full.
The Xhosa Cattle Killings
In the early nineteenth century, the British colonized Southeast Africa. The native Xhosa resisted, but suffered repeated and humiliating defeats at the hands of British military forces. The Xhosa lost their independence and their native land became an English colony. The British adopted a policy of westernising the Xhosa. They were to be converted to Christianity, and their native culture and religion was to be wiped out. Under the stress of being confronted by a superior and irresistible technology, the Xhosa developed feelings of inadequacy and inferiority. In this climate, a prophet appeared.
In April of 1856, a fifteen-year-old girl named Nongqawuse heard a voice telling her that the Xhosa must kill all their cattle, stop cultivating their fields, and destroy their stores of grain and food. The voice insisted that the Xhosa must also get rid of their hoes, cooking pots, and every utensil necessary for the maintenance of life. Once these things were accomplished, a new day would magically dawn. Everything necessary for life would spring spontaneously from the earth. The dead would be resurrected. The blind would see and the old would have their youth restored. New food and livestock would appear in abundance, spontaneously sprouting from the earth. The British would be swept into the sea, and the Xhosa would be restored to their former glory. What was promised was nothing less than the establishment of paradise on earth.
Nongqawuse told this story to her guardian and uncle, Mhlakaza. At first, the uncle was sceptical. But he became a believer after accompanying his niece to the spot where she heard the voices. Although Mhlakaza heard nothing, he became convinced that Nongqawuse was hearing the voice of her dead father, and that the instructions must be obeyed. Mhlakaza became the chief prophet and leader of the cattle-killing movement.
News of the prophecy spread rapidly, and within a few weeks the Xhosa king, Sarhili, became a convert. He ordered the Xhosa to slaughter their cattle and, in a symbolic act, killed his favourite ox. As the hysteria widened, other Xhosa began to have visions. Some saw shadows of the resurrected dead arising from the sea, standing in rushes on the river bank, or even floating in the air. Everywhere that people looked, they found evidence to support what they desperately wanted to be true.
The believers began their work in earnest. Vast amounts of grain were taken out of storage and scattered on the ground to rot. Cattle were killed so quickly and on such an immense scale that vultures could not entirely devour the rotting flesh. The ultimate number of cattle that the Xhosa slaughtered was 400,000. After killing their livestock, the Xhosa built new, larger kraals to hold the marvellous new beasts that they anticipated would rise out of the earth. The impetus of the movement became irresistible.
The resurrection of the dead was predicted to occur on the full moon of June, 1856. Nothing happened. The chief prophet of the cattle-killing movement, Mhlakaza, moved the date to the full moon of August. But again the prophecy was not fulfilled.
The cattle-killing movement now began to enter a final, deadly phase, which its own internal logic dictated as inevitable. The failure of the prophecies was blamed on the fact that the cattle-killing had not been completed. Most believers had retained a few cattle, chiefly consisting of milk cows that provided an immediate and continuous food supply. Worse yet, there was a minority community of sceptical non-believers who refused to kill their livestock.
The fall planting season came and went. Believers threw their spades into the rivers and did not sow a single seed in the ground. By December of 1856, the Xhosa began to feel the pangs of hunger. They scoured the fields and woods for berries and roots, and attempted to eat bark stripped from trees. Mhlakaza set a new date of December 11 for the fulfilment of the prophecy. When the anticipated event did not occur, unbelievers were blamed.
The resurrection was rescheduled yet again for February 16, 1857, but the believers were again disappointed. Even this late, the average believer still had three or four head of livestock alive. The repeated failure of the prophecies could only mean that the Xhosa had failed to fulfil the necessary requirement of killing every last head of cattle. Now, they finally began to complete the killing process. Not only cattle were slaughtered, but also chickens and goats. Any viable means of sustenance had to be destroyed. Any cattle that might have escaped earlier killing were now slaughtered for food.
Serious famine began in late spring of 1857. All the food was gone. The starving population broke into stables and ate horse food. They gathered bones that had lay bleaching in the sun for years and tried to make soup. They ate grass. Maddened by hunger, some resorted to cannibalism. Weakened by starvation, family members often had to lay and watch dogs devour the corpses of their spouses and children. Those who did not die directly from hunger fell prey to disease. To the end, true believers never renounced their faith. They simply starved to death, blaming the failure of the prophecy on the doubts of non-believers.
By the end of 1858, the Xhosa population had dropped from 105,000 to 26,000. Forty to fifty-thousand people starved to death, and the rest migrated. With Xhosa civilization destroyed, the land was cleared for white settlement. The British found that those Xhosa who survived proved to be docile and useful servants. What the British Empire had been unable to accomplish in more than fifty years of aggressive colonialism, the Xhosa did to themselves in less than two years.
Original by David Deming, Associate Professor of Arts and Sciences at University of Oklahoma. Copyright © 2009 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
The parallels are uncanny.
Round-Up
- “Is there a lockdown alternative?” – Prof Raj Bhopal is interviewed by the Naked Scientists
- “Liverpool’s biggest NHS trust claims its intensive care units are only 80% full – despite councillor’s claims they are 95% occupied amid COVID-19 spike” – The Mail challenging the self-serving claims of politicians
- “Test and Trace consultants paid equivalent of £1.5m salary” – Sky News with a fresh revelation of the scandalous profligacy of this fiscally incontinent Government
- “Tory MPs join Manchester revolt against tier-3 lockdown” – The Times reports that the Government has succeeded in uniting local leaders from all parties against the local lockdown in Manchester, although it’s clear that Labour’s preferred alternative is a national lockdown rather than no lockdown
- “Is London facing Covid restrictions so the North doesn’t feel picked on?” – Asks Tom Harris in the Telegraph. You’ve got to wonder
- “Supermarket rationing ‘did not prevent food shortages’ before the lockdown” – Turns out the recriminations over-stockpiling in March were unfounded as the shortages resulted from everyone buying a bit more than usual, says a report from the IFS reported in the Times. Which, to be honest, I thought was kind of obvious at the time
- “What I got wrong about lockdown” – Rod Liddle brings his newfound scepticism to the Spectator
- “Students who catch Covid may be saving lives” – Matt Ridley in the Spectator makes the case for focused protection and herd immunity
- “Seven looming questions about the rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine” – A good analysis from STAT News
- “Lockdown – Will it Work This Time?” – Douglas Carswell interviews Toby Young for his YouTube channel
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 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.
Sharing stories: Some of you have asked how to link to particular stories on Lockdown Sceptics. The answer used to be to first click on “Latest News”, then click on the links that came up beside the headline of each story. But we’ve changed that so the link now comes up beside the headline whether you’ve clicked on “Latest News” or you’re just on the Lockdown Sceptics home page. Please do share the stories with your friends and on social media.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a one-stop shop 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 (takes a while to arrive). 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 £1.49 from Etsy here. And, finally, if you feel obliged to wear a mask but want to signal your disapproval of having to do so, you can get a “sexy world” mask with the Swedish flag on it here.
Don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face masks in shops here.
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).
Woke Gobbledegook
Ellie Harrison, a presenter on Countryfile, has said the Black Lives Matter protests have led her to rethink her attitude to the countryside. The Telegraph has more.
The British countryside is racist, a Countryfile presenter has said, revealing that Black Lives Matter has led her to re-evaluate her own behaviour.
There was debate over an episode of the BBC show earlier this year when Scout Ambassador Dwayne Fields presented a section about perceptions by ethnic minorities of the countryside.
The report focused on research from the Government’s Environment Department, published last year, which said that some ethnic groups felt UK national parks were a “white environment”.
Ellie Harrison, a presenter on the show, has spoken up on the issue and said that ethnic minority people do face discrimination in the countryside, and there is “work to do”.
She said the huge reaction on social media to the programme had taken the show’s producers a week to read and sort.
Ms Harrison wrote in Countryfile magazine: “I spooled through the comments, which broadly came in three flavours: ‘I’m not racist so there is no racism in the countryside’; ‘I’m black and I’ve never experienced racism in the countryside’; and importantly, ‘I have experienced racism in the countryside’.
“So there’s work to do. Even a single racist event means there is work to do. In asking whether the countryside is racist, then yes it is; but asking if it’s more racist than anywhere else – maybe, maybe not.”
It’s off to the re-education camp, comrades.
The Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration, a petition started by Professor Martin Kulldorff, Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Jay Bhattacharya calling for a strategy of “Focused Protection” (protect the elderly and the vulnerable and let everyone else get on with life), was launched last week and the lockdown zealots have been doing their best to discredit it. If you Google it, the top hits you get are two smear pieces from the obscure Leftist conspiracy website Byline Times, and one from the Guardian headlined: “Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’.” (Freddie Sayers at UnHerd warned us about this hit job the day before it appeared.) On the bright side, Google UK has stopped shadow banning it, so the actual Declaration now shows up in the search results, although discussion of it has been censored by Reddit. The reason the zealots hate it, of course, is that it gives the lie to their claim that “the science” only supports their strategy. These three scientists are every bit as eminent – more eminent – than the pro-lockdown fanatics so expect no let up in the attacks. (Wikipedia has done a smear job.)
You can find it here. Please sign it. It’s now past the half million mark.
Samaritans
If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
Request For Help From Investigative Journalist
Daily Mail journalist and Lockdown Sceptics supporter David Rose is looking for people who have suffered severe ill effects or even died as a result of treatment for cancers and other serious illnesses being delayed by Covid. The Mail wants to draw more attention to the disastrous collateral damage being caused by the restrictions.
If anyone is willing to talk to him, please contact him direct at david@davidroseuk.com.
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 hard work (although we have help from lots of people, mainly in the form of readers sending us stories and links). 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. (Don’t assume we’ll pick them up in the comments.)
And Finally…
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Another Friday, another day of Government garbage.
btw. First! 😀
Hello Lockdown Sceptics
Approximately 1500 people die a day in Britain – yesterday the recorded Covid deaths were 138
(died of any cause 28 days after a positive tests according to the Government own website)
Last 3 days 143, 137 , 138 death . For this we are killing the economy and freedom
Ivor Cummins: Terrifying stuff. Truly incredible car-crash TV on last night, on a top reputable current affairs show no less!
What in the name of God is going on here? Wtf is happening…to science itself?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPmWYFlUK54
A great video that needs sharing!
Hello Lockdown Sceptics
Full national lockdowns should ONLY be used against coronavirus as a last resort because of the ‘collateral damage’ on mental health, says WHO boss
But he said total lockdowns caused ‘collateral damage’ and should be avoided
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8846019/National-lockdowns-resort-says-boss.html
Did Tedros get permission to speak from his chinese masters The Man makes Hancock competent in comparison this turd blossom Government must go
Tedros is controlled by Bill Gates.
And the CCP.
Agree, it’s excellent and very clear. MW
Hello Lockdown Sceptics
‘It’s a massive claim; I think the pandemic is fundamentally over’
Former chief scientific advisor with Pfizer Mike Yeadon has said he believes the coronavirus pandemic is drawing to a close, despite rising cases in parts of the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMlfxnCJppE
Truth about the claims scaring us all to death: Soaring infections, teeming hospital wards, and terrifying death rates… but do the numbers justifying crippling new lockdowns REALLY stand up to scrutiny?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8845533/Coronavirus-Soaring-infections-death-rates-claims-justify-lockdowns.html
We desperately need to inculcate critical thinking skills to the nation’s children and young adults, I think it may be too late for (some of) the old dogs who occupy the Houses of Commons and Lords. That said, what political class would want scrutiny of their policies by a truly educated populace? Loss of control of free people, loss of narcissistic self interest, loss of the gravy train, loss of opportunities for gratuitous manipulation, loss of power? What cabal of front bench politicians would want that?
There’s a reason why certain things aren’t taught in schools. A classic one, as author Robert Kiyosaki often points out, is basic personal finance.
The last thing a government wants is an educated population! Those who go university and choose a career in academia are usually brainwashed or Institutionalized.
Interview with annt
MP Chris Green, The First UK politician to resign from government over the crisis – 16th Oct 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eBSwspojh4
I visited him two weeks ago and I like to think I convinced him! (to be fair he was most of the way there himself) maybe I should schedule a meeting with BoJo and Hancock…..
maybe because he was served with notice of legal action?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9pm3Z6nFnk&feature=youtu.be
Hi BD
Mark Dolan: “We are killing Britain”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3oLyFQcGok
Mark Dolan: “We are killing Britain. We can’t do this forever. This virus isn’t going anywhere. Don’t be fooled by talk of a quick fix vaccine. That’s nothing more than snake oil.
A Letter from today’s Telegraph
<i>SIR – Although I am able go to shops and restaurants, I miss being able to talk to shop attendants and waiters, and having a laugh. I am hard of hearing, so cannot make out what people are saying while they are wearing a mask.
I feel isolated and lonely, as I cannot speak to anyone.
David Hunter
Godalming, Surrey</i>
There is many a dim bulb with a PhD or chair in an academy. Certainly, they are not well educated. It seems to me that this is the inevitable outcome of a failed system of education. Uneducated students from the lower levels of education lead to uneducated undergraduates, uneducated graduates, uneducated post graduates, and, ultimately uneducated professors. Seems to me that this is analogous to a very old Italian car (apologies to Italian car manufacturers) that rots from the bottom up. Hence, it seems to me, the total mess we are in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9pm3Z6nFnk&feature=youtu.be
they work for the WEF and UN, not the people
SAGE have got everything wrong. They are working for the vaccine industry and Gates and friends at WEF
legal actions against individual MP’s starting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9pm3Z6nFnk&feature=youtu.be
Local Live (mirror group news) reports total new cases for the County last week down 24% from the the previous seven days.
I thought it was supposed to be doubling.😝
‘Exponential rise’ still going strong.
“If you tell a big lie often enough people will come to believe it”.
Joseph Goebbels (speaking of the British).
Patrick Vallance suggests there are “up to” 74,000 cases per day. Yahoo News reports this as “If there are 74,000 cases that would mean cases are four times higher than Government daily figures”. Well, IF cases were only 170, that would be a tenth of the cases reported in Government figures, and that’s not correct either. What’s with the scaremongering “if”?
The 3rd way
Very sad for you good folks in the UK – I’ll be raging mad if the lockdown switch is flicked on again where I live…compared to the first round (where I was accepting) a second go at it will really be hard to swallow knowing what I know now.
Where are you, Eddie?
Way over here in Canada, province of BC. I’m expecting we’ll get screwed again but I pay zero attention to our media so ignorance is bliss for now. All the best to you Ann!
BC is a wonderful place.
Let’s all join hands across the oceans – and continents.
Things are bad, but our spirit is unbowed.
When people have suffered enough then they will force the dictatorship out of power
At the moment the dictatorship can kill individuals and groups with impunity
People will fight for their freedom only when they realise that living like this is worse than dying and are prepared to lay down their lives in the cause
Don’t think I am far off that now. It is utterly hopeless. Even the summer now seems like a Golden Age, you know, when restrictions were very slowly being lifted (but I am forgetting the north, sorry). Now it seems clear that the Pandora’s Box has been opened. The Govts have done with us what they will and it can never be right again. There truly is no going back. I actually had one of those moments yesterday, and again about an hour ago when I seriously wondered if I had actually died and gone to hell. It’s a joke I have made flippantly so many times before – and I know it’s solipsistic – but the thought really took root, at least temporarily. None of us in this country have ever known what it is like to be turned on at such a seismic level by those we vote for and pay (not that I voted for them but the others as bad). I have read the words “pure evil” on this site and I now know it is true. If people are going to die for the cause it needs to be in an organised way, and that… Read more »
Remember that the kast thing to come out if Pandora’s box was Hope. Treasure it.
While on the subject of hope, I recommend this video.
https://youtu.be/BiAeS-7vt2k
While you might find Richard’s delivery a bit grating in this video, his point is valid. He only recently started reading posts rather than simply speaking somewhat off-the-cuff. His main claim to fame is helping people recover from narcissistic relationships and complex PTSD.
I’m pretty close to wanting to batter a few politicians heads in. 😠
Can’t be organised online. Too many eyes…
Non compliance is the only way. I personally believe a general strike of “key” workers should do the trick easily.
Alternatively, all key workers phone in sick citing covid symptoms.
Play the fuckers at their own game.
https://wagingnonviolence.org/2014/10/gandhi-win/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lakey
Building critical mass is the way forward: leafleting, talking to others, writings, graffiti, posters, stickers; then individual non-compliance and the forming of activist groups; then individual and group actions – both traditional methods and creative ‘direct action’.
Absolutely! Cellular level. Non-digital, hard copy, transferable, untraceable…well? Anyway, get the info out, and when the numbers are up and running…mass disobediance. Peaceful, of course. All the elderly, all those children..all out and about. Let’s get covid done by Xmas, eh what?
Remove the Tory government.org
People had better wake up very soon and start doing something about it.
From memory the Xhosa cattle killing omits an important detail. As the craze peaked the believers killed the cattle of the Sceptics and the Sceptics too.
Soz to be a downer.☹
Mandela was a (posh) Xhosa. The old joke was what’s the difference between an optimist and a pessimist? The optimist is learning Zulu (Buthelezi) the pessimist is learning Xhosa.
Was the joke you refer to one told by white South Africans during the late apartheid era, comparable to the one in late-WWII Germany about the optimists learning English and the pessimists Russian?
“SAGE is Worse Than Useless” Mike Yeadon
Don’t beat about the bush, Mike; tell us what you really think. 🙂
By its own stupidity the dictatorship will soon defund itself
However, Gates, Rockefeller, Rothschild, Soros &co will continue the funding.
We have to turn the complicit MPs or the police and military, deny labour and fill the streets with our bodies.
Hello Toby’s Lockdown Sceptics
Approximately 1500 people die a day in Britain – yesterday the recorded Covid deaths were 138
(died of any cause 28 days after a positive tests according to the Government own website)
Last 3 days 143, 137 , 138 death . For this we are killing the economy and freedom
Ivor Cummins: Terrifying stuff. Truly incredible car-crash TV on last night, on a top reputable current affairs show no less!
What in the name of God is going on here? Wtf is happening…to science itself?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPmWYFlUK54
The problem with the “it’s all one big cockup” theory is that the government aren’t just going on unprovable beliefs. They know exactly what they are doing and are lying about everything, the hospital admissions, the death rate, the vulnerability etc. It’s really difficult to believe that they are really this stupid.
The point in the summer when people had basically stopped dying of this virus but face masks were made mandatory would indicate another agenda was in place.
Why has there been no mention of the Great Reset by the editors on this site?
I still believe this is cock up, not conspiracy. I do believe we are now in a situation where major dishonesty is being enacted upon the population and that is due to backside covering. They do know they are lying, exaggerating and cherry picking data now but they don’t know how to stop, having backed themselves into a corner.
I know there will be people who say that we are not the only country doing this by any means but I think that’s just follow the herd. E.g “Oh look France is doing such and such so we’d better do it too or slightly more or be condemned as callous killers.”
Nearly all governments have panicked themselves into a zero Covid attempt and don’t know how to deal with the fact that it just can’t be achieved.
I could be very wrong of course …
I would agree with you Steph as in a cock-up and saving face, rather than a conspiracy. If Blair was in charge, then a conspiracy may be more likely, but Johnson, Hancock et al…..I just don’t buy it, as quite simply, they lack basic intelligence.
They are just actors reading a script, covid is a total hoax.
The best way to control the opposition is to lead it.
Absolutely.
.
No one in their right minds would suggest this was all being plotted by Bozo and Handjob. These two are bit players and their roles are to look dumb, so that people like you, will put it all down to incompetence and stupidity. This is much bigger than the UK and apart from a very few exceptions, it’s the same bloody nonsense the world over.
I agree with this too. Blair evil – Johnson inept and Hancock is – well, words fail me – A health minister who does not know the difference between a virus and malaria and who says – Cancer patients might not get treatment if the covid numbers don’t come down or Don’t kill your granny — This man is a twit of the first order and must, like SAGE, be sacked. He is an embarrassment.. I voted for Boris Johnson – sadly he is not up to it ……
Whilst I can see concerning links to great rarest ideas etc am still just about ok with cock up theory – talking to someone this week who had no reason to lie and a connection into Cabinet Office – two things advised – firstly De Piffle does not like the job – it’s too much like hard work and requires detail and repetition none of which is his idea of what he thought the job would be and secondly (presumably as a result of point one) the basic project management around Covid is pretty much non existent so lurches from one thing to the next. Not sure how we dispose of him but he has to go
I said something similar on here yesterday but I had no inside knowledge of course. Good to get it confirmed. It seems to me that the PM thought he just had to be a figurehead whilst his team got Brexit done and then he would be lauded. Instead he has a real crisis and has no powers of critical thinking or man management to get us through this sensibly.
The Project Management question is interesting. Any Project Manager knows that you have to define success and it has to be achievable. The do nothing approach should also be considered sensibly which it clearly wasn’t here.
Exactly. He screwed over Teresa May and was desperate to be PM to ‘get Brexit done’. He didn’t bank on a global pandemic royally fucking up his plans now he’s in way out of his depth and has no clue what to do. His main priority now is covering his own arse.
His hands don’t reach that far
Good old lazy Boris and his lack of attention to detail.Thats why the government lurches from one policy to the next.Sounds good until you realise that France,Belguim Spain Netherlands are using exactly the same methods.Are they all run by fat useless buffoons as well.
I wrote this on BrexitFacts4EU yesterday – it adds a new perspective?
I get the impression that Johnson’s catastrophic positions on policy are heavily influenced by his father, Stanley:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…
https://www.express.co.uk/n…
– notably pro-China (5G), environment (The Great Reset?), and a globalist approach (ex-World Bank). He has written books on population control and Virus pandemics. Apparently, he will apply for French citizenship once Brexit is done.
–
I have to question whether Boris is working for the good of himself, or for the good of the country.
I expect he has noticed how well Mr Blair has done since being out of office.
The links don’t work I’m afraid.
apologies (just copied my post directly from BrexitFacts4EU website – here are the links afresh):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Johnson_(writer)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1241163/nigel-farage-lbc-news-boris-johnson-family-huawei-ban-5g-network-china
Judging from his behaviour during March, I don’t think that Boris Johnson ever really wanted to lock down Britain: is it not more likely that he was somehow coerced into doing it, perhaps because the Chinese had compromised him through those family connections you refer to?
Rather than coercion, I was wondering whether there is family pressure to favour Chinese/Globalist/Environment policies? Inevitably that favouritism might then suggest there may be some kind of reward or pay-off for the wider family at large in the future? Johnson will not be Prime Minister for long, perhaps he doesn’t want to be, – so perhaps he is open to such persuasion?
Agreed he was panicked into Lockdown – however, what is of concern is that once the evidence came in that this was no worse than the flu, he continued with Lockdown. Why?
Many possibilities, and the above is just one more perspective.
Did you know that covering up a mistake is also a conspiracy
I do agree with that view. However most read conspiracy as something even more sinister that systematic lying to cover backsides so I prefer not to use that term. I concede that technically it is a conspiracy as well.
I think this goes beyond back covering.The vaccine part is not even conspiracy now,it’s government policy.Also digital/health passports.Thats policy too.You can see an embryonic police state taking shape.Scan a code wherever you go.No cash due to false reports,further source of surveillance.These are not the actions of people covering their backs.
Then look across the world and you see the response is pretty similar.This all starts to add up to something very sinister
In any crisis, or even pseudo-crisis such as the ‘Pandemic’, there are always disparate groups and individuals who will take advantage of it to drive their own agendas. Same thing happened in WW2. It doesn’t necessarily mean these groups are driving the events, just trying to manipulate them for their own ends.
I believe that a conviction for Conspiracy carrys no limit on the prison sentence.
Believe it Steph. The problem with the majority is they’re too trusting and do not think the government would do anything to harm us. They have, and will continue to do so.
The way I see things, the govt didn’t really care too much back in Jan/Feb, and assumed that they’d be able to just babble on about hand washing and this would all blow over in a month or so. But once the media decided that this was going to be an apocalypse they HAD to respond, and in the meantime had realised that all this could be a nice little earner for all concerned – the MSM get everyone hooked on terror, billions could be doled out with no scrutiny to all their mates for tracing apps and masks and whatnot, and it provides a great distraction for the complete failure of Brexit negotiations. Tell everyone it’s ‘for the NHS’ and nobody will dare object. If Boris gets to be remembered as some Churchillian hero that’s a nice bonus, but don’t count on it.
He will be remembered. As the worst prime minister ever, leading (?) the worst government ever. His name will be a by-word for incompetence, stupidity and totalitarian malevolence.
Anybody else know C. S. Lewis’s The Last Battle? Boris reminds me strongly of Shift the Ape. Wancock is more like Rishda Tarkaan. In the end, the devil-god Tash ate both of them,
Who cares whether it is a conspiracy or a cock up?
It’s being on the Titanic as it is going down and arguing as to whether it crashed into the iceberg by accident or on purpose. It’s going down. It’s a disaster.
The difference is, if it’s a cock-up, the crew will throw lifebelts to you in the water. If it’s a conspiracy, they will start machine gunning you.
Law of unintended consequences. The government wanted people to take notice of this new disease, so set out to scare them. That worked, but with the consequence that when some really bad news came out from Italy, people panicked. The press panicked. Panic spreads.
So the government locked down. Maybe because everyone else was doing it, maybe because Johnson and Micron are friends and had a little “chat”. But they locked down. An unintended consequence of the panic the government itself had helped in no small measure to create.
At what point does the government admit not only that it called the situation wrong, but also that it had been lying to the population. Hence the floundering around, looking for a way out, easing restrictions gradually and showing people it is now safe to come out.
But because nobody really understands the science in government (nor apparently, on the SAGE committee), the wild card, the joker in the pack, is the fresh increase in numbers who are now testing positive. And the whole panic thing starts all over again.
I am less inclined to believe in an over-arching conspiracy now that central government seems keen on devolving Covid regulations to local government. If there really were a Bond Villain conspiracy, I hardly think they would risk delegating its execution to chain-wearing nonentities in northern town halls.
To which “he” are you referring, and what does this “he” say he is?
I doubt anyone, or many, here think this is pure cockup.
Initial blunder: Attention-seeking mad advice from scientists, combined with cowardice in the face of some risk and media, political and public pressure, and laziness from politicians and other scientists
Continued madness: Covering up the initial blunder, liking for easy power, various groups using the opportunity to push agendas, continued fear of being blamed for deaths
Are SAGE, Bill Gates, the WHO, big Pharma, big Tech, China, WEF all blameless saints who think of nothing but our own good? Of course not. Is some committee of these people sending orders to the PM – I doubt it.
I think my explanation for what has happened is entirely plausible.
As for the editors not mentioning the Great Reset, they may not buy it as a major factor or they may (IMO rightly) choose not to muddy the waters with anything that gives our enemies an easy route to attack us.
Unless the reasons mean we should change our approach to fighting the madness, they don’t matter right now. Best stick to core message.
And in a few years time when we wake up in the morning and realise that our lives have completely changed while this site is still arguing that the government is not following the science.
And if we all woke up tomorrow and realised that it was in fact all a big plan put into motion by the WEF and Bill Gates, what difference would it make? If Toby’s blog tomorrow was entirely focused on exposing the Great Reset, what difference would it make? How would that change the strategy? Would it just mean that we could all sit around congratulating ourselves for being clever enough to see through it? Would it in any way change the options available to us for countering and resisting the narrative? Are the tools available to us to resist a globalist takeover any different to the tools available to resist a government that has made disastrous decisions and is stuck doubling down on its own narrative? Is it, perhaps, the case that the only difference it would make is that it would make it easier for people to dismiss this site and discredit the position it takes? I’ve said it before – believe whatever you like, I will do the same. Surely we have enough to worry about without getting frustrated with each other and with the authors and editors of the blog for not accepting our truth? And… Read more »
I think it helps if you understand the true motives of the people you are up against.
Reason and facts won’t win the day if you are up against someone with an agenda
But we’re using reason and facts on the general public. I don’t think many of us are trying to convince the PM we are right.
No, you’re quite wrong about the “helplessness” which is often used to dismiss us. There is no helplessness about it. There is agorism, and many of us have been working day and night to make sure we can exist outside of the system. This is exhausting, completely “stuck in” work going fully self-sustainable, and – quite frankly – it’s a public service that we take time out at all to try to get everyone else to do the same. THAT’S humanity.
Believe what you want, indeed, but please don’t make claims that there is some sort of helpless flailing around happening behind the scenes simply because you wish to not peak behind the curtain.
Edit: My first allegiance is to my own children and securing their future. My second is to everyone else’s children. I don’t give two shits about the sheep, but their children are blameless. The more people who get the message about Agenda 21, the more children we save.
Unfortunately, while lambs are appealing, they very quickly grow up to be sheep.
In my humble opinion, evidence-based arguments are key here: while there are plenty of concrete facts that can be adduced to demolish the various governments’ handling of the crisis, unfortunately there is as yet only circumstancial evidence for the plot to usher in a technocratic surveillance state under the guise of ‘fighting the virus’… Until some damning written evidence of collusion surfaces, or a credible whistleblower starts spilling the beans, what can you do on that front apart from always pointing to the same old ‘writing on the wall’, over and over again? The MSM-indoctrinated flock will never allow their reality to be shattered to pieces as long as they can avoid it…
We’re mainly refining arguments to use to persuade ordinary people this is all nonsense, the main and most compelling argument being that the cure is worse than the disease and that the government are making it up as they go along
Toby’s doing just fine. He is doing sterling work in exposing the narrative.
Thanks Toby!
PS – I don’t think its cock-uo eitehr.
cockup either.
Here, here… Toby is doing wonderful work!
We have seen what a great deaal of attention hydroxyychloroquine has received as a possible medication.
Why was hydroxychloroquine made ‘prescription only’ in France on January 13th 2020, after being available over the counter for more than 60 years?
i
I think perhaps some are recent converts and will therefore take longer to get there. It’s not an easy pill to swallow for sure. If everyone knew, it would stop for sure, because no one but the extraordinarily wealthy (1% of 1% of 1%) and utter morons could want that future.
How long do cock-ups, lying, ,saving face, arse covering, excuses and ignoring the data have to go on for before this becomes a conspiracy in the minds of most people? This goes way beyond a virus at this point and while we all debate over the minutia of the virus itself such as CFR, IFR, infection (case(Positive PCR)) rates, false positives, hospitalisations, ventilator usage, where to wear retarded face nappies etc etc etc, the juggernaut of the NWO moves on, gaslighting the shit out of us. I can only see that this is moving to a point where people become so tired, so desperate with their own situations, be it financial, psychological etc, that they will end up taking any and all Government handouts such as debt relief (and the subsequent relinquishment of private property a la UN Agenda 21/2030), UBI, vaccine, digital health passports just to ‘have a normal life’. You have no idea how wrong I want to be about this but the trend towards the total enslavement of mankind has not been curtailed in my view. The biggest problem is that it appears that most men and women WANT their own enslavement because they don’t know that’s… Read more »
Even if they find a vaccine, which is unlikely, our lives will never return to normal, they have no intention of allowing it to. People need to wake up and realise this! We’re being conned!
And to add to that, my own despair is that I cannot see a way out of this seeming inevitability. Short of creating communities that attempt to live off the land and become totally self sufficient (which people are attempting), I am so, so far away from being able to do that that I perceive I will end up reluctantly accepting all of the impending restrictions on my freedom. I can genuinely see how people are already giving up and committing suicide.
Why commit suicide? Go out and fight. At least you can take a couple of the bastards with you.
Be of good cheer. A certain Austrian gentleman not so long ago thought his empire would last 1000 years, and within 12 years it was in ruins. As the hymn puts it, ‘Pride of man and earthly glory…tower and temple, turn to dust’. Nothing in this mortal life is inevitable, nor lasts forever.
Guy, I totally agree with you. Although I do need to say that I don’t think it matters at the moment, what matters is that we resist and then start to fight back, not on the terms of the enemy (for that’s what they truly are) but on our terms for what is important to us. Cheers, Arnie.
I have resisted as much as I feel I am able to, even wasted a colossal amount of time writing to my MP several times and signing petitions. I have stuck leaflets/posters on walls and lamp posts in my local area and engaged vocally with anyone that will listen. I think most of my work colleagues think I’m crazy.
And I am yet to wear a retarded face nappy. I have worked in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Cleanroom Environmental Monitoring, Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Microbiology Culture Media Manufacturing, all in Quality Assurance and Quality Control roles, to know that face coverings DO NOT FU*KING WORK!!!!!!!
So now we have a really, really, really efficient totalitarian state.
I assume no mention of it so that this site doesn’t get taken down…
Amazingly some people are as yet giving the government the benefit of the doubt and still going with the cockup and incompetence theory. Understandable for a week or two but it was clear by early April that the whole Coronavirus fiasco was about much more than a mystery virus. Ask Bill vaccine tsar Gates he knows what the real agenda is.
From the roundup
‘Supermarket rationing did not prevent stockpiling’ which as Toby says was rather obvious at the time.
Note the scary blame words ‘panic buying’ and ‘hoarding’ have been given the Ministry of Truth treatment.
Seemed perfectly obvious at the time that if the government tells you to stay home for two weeks, possibly longer, the first thing you are going to do is get three weeks groceries in.
Added to which one third of food consumed is in restaurants, take aways, pubs hotels, canteens at work, universities and schools.
All that eating was replaced overnight by food bought from shops.
It’s still stupid and inconsiderate, though. But notice how there hasn’t been any panic buying recently, even though we are supposed to be going on another national lockdown next week
Nobody I know has been panic buying this time around because thankfully none of them have any intention of going along with a lockdown. The mood is changing. I live in a very upper middle class country village, normally very law abiding. They may not be very loud about it, but on the quiet they are voting with their feet and saying “enough”. Plenty of home delivery slots available, no panic.
Same
Same here. Lots of food, toilet paper and treats for Halloween too.
I think you’re right as well – people are less inclined to go along with a lockdown now especially as for many they won’t have any jobs to return to when furlough ends.
A second Lockdown will be treated very differently from the first.
Agree. I think people will find creative ways of going about it.
Similar effect to last time going on at the store where I work. Lot more empty spaces on the shelves, people buying that bit more than normal, with average size of the deliveries increasing again.
A certain optician sent an email to all its employers in the last few days telling them to stock up on food and other essentials. The employee then passed this advice on to their family.
No trouble getting an online delivery slot either. Had my usual monthly delivery yesterday with all items (with a couple of substitutes) delivered. Just checked and still delivery slots available with better availability a week out, per usual.
Perhaps the supermarkets have recognised that people are fed up of dealing with the shops and we’re in a semi-permanent switch to online supermarket shopping.
But hasn’t the food industry done a fantastic job, from manufacturing to retailing? While the middle classes hide behind the couch, the workers are out there in crap jobs, cold conditions, making your ready meals, cans of soup, beans, pasta, fish fingers, baking bread, keeping the supply chain going. The delivery drivers are out there getting the stuff to the stores so you don’t need to stockpile any more. The retailers are getting the stock on the shelves, always open, ready for your custom. The food industry is the unsung hero of this whole shambles. Protect the NHS? If the food industry falters, the country will collapse within days.
And with none of us getting ill either. And considering how many pickers were in the shop at the height of covid, social distancing was impossible.
The problem for producers was that they could not convert their distribution from commercial outlets to retail/domestic overnight.
They have now largely done so.
That is one heartening aspect of this sorry mess. When Lockdown was first announced, I wasn’t really scared of the Covids, but of the public’s reaction to it, and I genuinely expected food shortages and rioting/looting etc. The army was also superb in building the Potemkin hospitals, shame they were just for show, but at least it shows we can build that sort of thing quickly if required.
Supermarkets are the real winners, I wonder if they’re donating lots of money to the government.
From a good friend who has a senior role in supermarket distribution logistics – there wasn’t really any panic buying. If you think about the main items that ran out (1. loo roll, 2. bread, 3. milk).
They have a really high turnover in the store because everyone buys them. They’re also really bulky so have to be replenished several times a day. As soon as they don’t do that in time it looks like they’ve sold out when they haven’t.
People naturally then buy extra if they can because they’re busy working families who can’t function without these items and don’t have the opportunity to drive around all week looking for them. Cupboards of loo roll (or freezers of food staples) don’t really have any negatives because we all they’ll get used eventually.
Anyway, my point is that it’s a supply side problem in the first place that then triggers a demand problem.
There was definitely some panic buying. Some customers buying multiple crates worth of milk and bread.
No idea if this is connected, but I’ll mention here that on Monday our university bus service was suddenly cut from half-hourly to hourly. The timetable was also changed. No announcement, nothing on the website. I use this daily to get to my allotment and I wasn’t the only one caught unawares from what I’ve overheard.
Is this preparation for the Great Half Term Lockdown, or simply the bus company and the university realising that there are far fewer students using the bus?
Probably the latter, I drove through the local campus today, it was as deserted as during the summer vacation.
The John Snow thing is additionally funny because, while he rejected the miasma theory for cholera, it is that very same nonsense that drives the push for masks.
Very good point Ryan.
btw, very late yesterday you remarked how much of the Western USA has become Federal property. I replied that it is covered in the feature ‘Endgame’ that I had posted about an hour or so previously.
When I first saw that many years ago I thought it all rubbish but parts of it are starting to make sense (it also warned about Bill Gates 13 years ago).
I thought that, way back at the beginning of the bollox, when parks were closed so that people couldn’t go there and breathe at each other.
One nineteenth-century doctor was so convinced that cholera germs were not water-borne that to refute the idea, he publicly drank a glass if water deliberately contaminated with the ‘eliminations’ of a cholera sufferer. The doctor died of cholera. His colleagues ignored the warning.
For literally millennia, up to the mid nineteenth century, medical orthodoxy remained wedded to completely false theories that resulted in almost every medical intervention making matters worse.Now the cretins are at it again.
PS.
“Conventional treatment consisted of enemas, castor oil, calomel (mercurous chloride; a purgative), gastric washing, venesection (bloodletting), opium, brandy, and plugging of the anus to prevent fluid from escaping. Mortality due to cholera remained high throughout the 19th century.” (Wimipedia)
Looks like SAGE and the WHO were ar work even thrn.
Don’t forget the leeches
Certainly not, though I’m. told that medicinal leeches do have their uses. Unlike the ones in government.
I’m fully expecting a page on blood letting to appear on Wikipedia, backed by the WHO
Some alternative practitioners approve of blood-letting. So unlikely to be WHO backed. 🙂
I’d take opium & brandy (no need for plugging of the anus, given sufficient opium) over their crappy vaccines any day …
The Ghost Map is a brilliant book about John Snow for anyone who’s interested in epidemiology.
Some?Pretty well all of them. We are a nation of concrete-headed moronic cowards.
Present company excepted!
I have to agree. I have been speechless at the response by the vast majority. People I thought were intelligent completey neurotic and brainwashed and not doing one bit of research outside of the media to change this and it continues after all these months. I can’t mix with them any more. Even before all the research (although I started from day 1), I have never thought there was much of a risk unless already very sick and I want to shake people and say regardless, just get a grip of yourself and accept that from the minute you are born one thing is certain and that’s one day you are going to die.
Neighbouring local authority reports first Covid death for 4 months (elderly lady) yet still people act as though we are facing medieval plague.
But it was exactly the same during the Brexit Referendum wasn’t it?
There is a slow waking up people need to do so faster
Sadly I agree with you. If my workplace is anything to go by, many of them simply get their news on the MSM and believe what they read. Even after all this time they haven’t done their research and social distancing and mask wearing has become a religion for them.
Despite the woes that our workplace is undergoing including the threat of compulsory redundancy (already certain to become a reality), many of them are still of the view that if only people obeyed the rules we will be OK.
I think the next few weeks, months will disavow them of that notion.
My partner has been telling me for years that people don’t get their news from the MSM any longer. I said they were. Turns out I was right.
In part I think you both are – Facebook/Twitter et al is the main news source for a wide range of people I am in regular contact with.
A lot of my colleagues read the BBC and some the Guardian. Facebook provides the confirmation bias that they already have.
It seems judges get all their info from the MSM too.
Given all the SAGE and WHO propaganda relentlessly pumped out by the broadcast media (and my conspiracy theorist friends certainly have a point here) it’s not surprising that most people appear to support the lockdown. It would help if the government did not pull any punches about the cost – millions of jobs destroyed, poorer life opportunities for young people, increased levels of poverty and all the other collateral damage. Rishi Sunak – over to you. At least The Telegraph, Sun and Daily Mail are now firmly in the lockdown sceptic camp.
Theorist ? Theorist ? At what point will you acknowledge the reality – troops on the streets ? cash banned ? ‘isolation’ camps ?
People will sit in their houses and starve themselves to death until the dictator tells them not to (which won’t be anytime soon)
If people are that stupid, good riddance. A welcome bit of positive Darwinism.
Good. Let them.
So, SAGE should be disbanded and reconstituted. Who will reconstitute SAGE? Who will decide who the members should be? At present, the committee membership is decided by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
I would suggest the real problem is that there is no such thing as “the science” for the Government to follow, and we do not have the breadth and depth of expertise in the Civil Service to give the Government balanced and considered advice. What we have is one man who calls upon a group of outside ‘experts’ of his choosing, to push an argument that he considers is in the best interests of his own legacy and reputation.
Yes, SAGE should be disbanded. But the manner of its reconstitution must be a matter of careful consideration.
Aldous Huxley warned that a future dictatorship would be driven by medics and scientists, for our own good, but that’s the problem with dictatorships, they tend to be self-selecting.
It seems the Science can be anything you want it to be, like a hooker!
If you pay it enough.
Science can certainly prostitute itself, very like a hooker.
Why reconstitute it? Do we need it? Why do we need it? And if it were to be agreed to be reconstituted then not one person, not one, should be allowed to the new body, if he or she were present on the old. Start with a completely new set of staff. Unlike Public Health England or whatever the group is called.
“PARIS (Reuters) – Police raided the homes and offices of France’s health minister, its public health director and former prime minister on Thursday as a judicial investigation into the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis deepened.”
Sounds promising!
”…which aims to establish whether those in charge at the outset of the outbreak showed a “lack of will to fight a disaster”
Sigh
If there had been less will to ‘fight’ the ‘disaster’, there would have been no disaster.
BTW, what were the police looking for?
I wondered that too? What could they have been keeping indoors that might be of use??
Probably high-grade government-only drugs. 🙂
It just gets scarier and scarier.
This is really becoming a reign of terror.
I’m highly sceptical of the government’s Covid approach and think the threat posed by the virus is overblown. I think much of the current approach is rooted in an attempt to justify inept policy that’s in itself caused tens of thousands of early deaths. HOWEVER… I’ve lost some faith in this website. It keeps telling me things that turn out to be wrong, and then doesn’t acknowledge its errors. ‘Case increase isn’t reflecting increased levels of Covid, as there’s no associated hospitalisation and death’ [Hospitalisation and death increase] ‘The Spanish autumn increase in Covid peaked on September 17th’ [Still going strong] ‘The false positive rate is around 1%’ [Actual positive rate massively below 1% across the vast majority of testing for the last few months] Reading back through a few posts there are loads of examples of incorrect predictions. Which isn’t the end of the world; it’s still an excellent resource with a strong argument. I just think it’d be a stronger one if it was a bit more measured and acknowledged errors. What do people on here think we should actually do about Covid? Nothing? Tbh I could probably go along with that, but the argument would have to… Read more »
‘The false positive rate is around 1%’ [Actual positive rate massively below 1% across the vast majority of testing for the last few months]
I believe you’re wrong there. I think what you’re doing is interpreting the ‘N per hundred thousand of the population’ figure as being the percentage of positive tests. (That would be the sensible way of doing it if the tests were random). This figure is often way below 1%.
But I think that what actually happens is that they do some testing in Bolton or wherever that returns, say, 100 positive tests. They then use that as the numerator, and the whole population of Bolton as the denominator. In fact, it is perfectly compatible with there being 1% false positives, and the government themselves found the median false positive rate to be 2.3% in June.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/895843/S0519_Impact_of_false_positives_and_negatives.pdf
Ironically, the way they do it seems to downplay the absolute incidence of the disease, but the advantage for the government is that the fixed denominator allows them to modulate the trends as they see fit by modulating the amount of testing. The government’s fear strategy is based on trends, not (supposed) absolute prevalence of the virus.
Most certainly we must acknowledge errors. You are pointing them out. That is a vital contribution.
We have loads of theories on the go. Some I wholly disbelieve. But I do want them aired and debated. Tunnel vision is the sin of our enemies.
As for strategies to mitigate harm – the G, B. Declaration points the way. And you do have to balance Covid harm against lockdown harm.
Thanks
This seems like a bit of a troll post. For example, you say that if visits to nursing homes aren’t stopped then there’s no focused protection. This is ridiculous. There are many things you can do besides stopping visitors, such as screening visitors, testing staff and separating sick residents. Then there is protection of vulnerable people living in their own homes, which is an entirely different question.
If you think polite questions are trolling you might be a bit of a snowflake! Maybe I should’ve phrased the GB bit more clearly – I suppose I was just saying that even that response would come at some cost, but the details of how we would deal with care homes are open to discussion, I agree.
This is more like snowflakery.
Sorry Jon, but with the greatest of respects, I would wholeheartedly disagree with this. This website has been a saviour for me, a platform to share views with like minded individuals, and to experience the realisation that you are not alone in critical thinking. Toby has been instrumental in pushing this, and the very fact he is still asked for views in numerous media shows there is still a place for this.
Corrections are more for a newspaper, where essentially it is found that outright lying has taken places. Inaccuracies here are likely less common than that in MSM which you should remember, and it is extremely difficult to keep up with an ever fluid situation.
Stay strong, and be thankful you have a sanctuary away from biased media!
Fair enough
Well, I think the fundamental sceptic case that most here subscribe to is that the bar for the kind of interventions we have seen is set far too low. On any rational basis, if you do a cost benefit analysis the cost side is orders of magnitude higher than the benefit, assuming of course there is any benefit to the interventions, which is highly questionable. As for incorrect predictions or statements, that’s inevitable. But in general those predictions and statements are attempts to sell our case without having to resort to the argument that is at once the best and the hardest to sell, which is that governments cannot stop viruses (nothing can) and we have to carry on as best we can. It’s easier to sell the case that the “pandemic” is over. It may not be over in the sense that no-one will ever die of covid again, but it is probably over in the sense that the kind of spike of deaths in April and May probably won’t be repeated and we will have seasonal fluctuations in line with other respiratory conditions. Mitigation is along the lines of protecting those who are unable to protect themselves (i.e.… Read more »
Thanks
What do people on here think we should actually do about Covid – there is nothing we can do. The virus has a 99.9% survival rate so as like all other years we get on with our lives.
In 6 months I haven’t met anyone or bumped into anyone who looks remotely on deaths door all I see are frightened depressed people.
As a responsible human being and member of society if I feel sick I stay indoors and keep my distance. I don’t need to be told to do it.
We are tying ourself up in knots working out IFR’s, false positive rates, PCR cycles and data. It’s all an illusion, mother nature is a bitch.
I’ve got more chance of being run over by a bus.
Fuck them all, ruining our lives over the flu, it killed approximately 60k people in 2018.
I don’t think we should be doing anything other than taking responsibility for our own health. The government can advise but that’s as far as it should go. There has been no Covid in our household, nor in our extended family or friends. So as far as I am concerned this is an overhyped scaremongering agenda from our government who is deliberately harming our lives. They should be brought to book for this in Court!
You’ve got more chance of being run over by a pink bus with ‘Johnson is a cunt’ on the side.
One just went by. I dodged it.
The only realistic endpoint is herd immunity. We know pretty much who is vulnerable and who is not. All the government needs to do is offer protection to anyone who is vulnerable (isolate care homes, have food deliveries for the elderly etc…) and leave everyone else to crack on. Note that this should not infringe on personal freedom – anyone, regardless of how vulnerable they are, should be free to make their own decisions and ignore government advice. In 2-3 months max we’d be through this thing and probably less would die in the long term than are going to die by letting this virus hang around indefinitely.
Stop taking the bait folks. This from TE and his minions at the 77th
They have obviously run out of panties to sniff
So that’s the real reason for face nappies!
I literally don’t know what you’re referring to!! Maybe I should, but whatever it is I assure you I’m not part of it!
I’m a lockdown sceptic and fairly regular poster on here, generally to support lockdown scepticism.
Genuine question: is there a possibility you see conspiracy in more places than it actually exists?
Nah. Your post got flack for being about some virus or other.
The issues now include dictatorship, human freedom, and the way ahead.
Covid is a bigger scam than Climate change. How they must be laughing at us!
And yet how funny it is that not all of us believe that climate change is a scam. I do think that the covid reaction has been blown out of all proportion to the risk.
Like 5G, Bill Gates, etc. etc. etc., I think there are more immediately relevant things to discuss than climate change.
There are a few of us here who regularly set out what we think the government should do:
This is a short summary, without links to evidence (which I can provide) that I posted on here a couple of days ago and then sent to Sir John Redwood MP:
‘….emulate those countries who have done better both in terms of health and economic outcomes than we have, for example: Japan and Sweden.
Sweden had some problems with care home mortality, but Japan has protected their elderly and infirm.
We can do the same: frequent hand washing, high standards of hygiene, restricted access, disciplined movement/human interactions by care home workers and voluntary BCG vaccination for those healthcare workers/elderly/vulnerable who have not been so vaccinated.’
And turn off the news!
Thanks
Thanks for all your replies – some food for thought.
Just to be clear (if I wasn’t in my original post), I’m absolutely a sceptic of the reaction to Covid; I think it’s hysterical and ridiculous.
I was just wondering what some of you would suggest as an alternative response (and I don’t think there necessarily needs to be agreement between you/us on the detail).
Again to be clear, I think I’d be fairly comfortable with the response consisting of not much at all.
My one concern about this site is that it’s becoming a bit of a religion and not really conducive to critical thought or debate, but most of your responses have allayed my fears in that direction.
I have some sympathy for you, because we were all thinking back in the summer that there would be no “second wave” and yet in many countries, including here, the hospital, ICU and death rates have been rising. I must admit my heart sinks when I look at those rising figures. BUT what I would say to you is: 1) Like other respiratory illnesses, they increase at this time of year and hospitalisations and some deaths are inevitable; 2) There are problems with the accuracy of the data – both in hospital admissions and deaths – while it is almost certainly true that there have been increases (see 1) above), many of the deaths and hospital admissions are attributed to Covid when they should not be (ie only a positive, possibly false positive test, when a person is in hospital for another condition altogether, even a brief visit to A&E – these things have all been identified by medical practitioners on this site); and 3) there needs to be a sense of perspective – look at the graphs such as https://euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps and many others, and you will see that there is no real cause for alarm, compared to the incidence… Read more »
Thanks – that all seems eminently reasonable. My sense too is that the current increase in infection will be commensurate to seasonal flu, etc.
Eg if 100/day die for the next 3 months that’ll be 9k, which is well within the flu range. But no doubt it’ll be presented as a health catastrophe!
And we’d have to assume those deaths are from the same population that succumb to flu, so there’ll be a big overlap there, rather than simply 9k more deaths than most years.
Re the costs of the response, clearly they are and will increasingly be massive, mainly amongst the poorest. I think we’d all agree the western response could be called morally outrageous.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
Focused protection in the context of choice – allowing visitors to care homes if that is the wish of the individual
Surely there is no need for green band and red band, simply signal you are a red band type by wearing a mask. If you have one on and I don’t we can stay away from each other. Occam’s razor and all that.
Not everyone wants to wear a mask. Even those who wish to “shield” may be aware that a mask isn’t going to help or they just might not want to wear one.
I’m convinced that most people in my part of the world don’t want the foul things, but they dread the consequences if they don’t conform. Almost nobody knows there are exemptions, and the Welsh government have made it very hard to find out.
Exemptions are theoretical, not practical. Even if a shop observes the law regarding exemptions, members of the public won’t. And even if you’re legally in the right, who wants to have a public argument with a policeman or, even worse, a tinpot ‘Covid marshal’?
So the anxious person will be more anxious than ever if they don’t wear the mask. Result: people put the masks on, or they stay at home.
Masks are the biggest of the daily life issues for me. I am not medically exempt, but I don’t want to wear one because of how it makes me feel. Even worse though is how it makes me feel to be in a place where everyone else is wearing them. Even if I am feeling up to not wearing one myself, the anxiety I feel being in a shop is still too great. So I don’t go at all now. I don’t go anywhere.
CGL you are close to Two-Six I think? Maybe meet up and team up? I too was really anxious but now think nothing of it. I have the answers ready if confronted but had no issues at all.
You don’t need to be “medically exempt”. If wearing a mask causes you distress you can simply declare yourself exempt.
CGL – see LaworFiction website – Low Mood.
or a German Doctor (Griese, I think, who says lack of oxygen will cause early dementia).
You are medically exempt.
Boris must have seriously lacked oxygen at some stage.
With the effects you describe, surely you are exempt. Remember, no one can demand that you disclose your medical condition.
Carry the government list of exemptions.
Leaflet the ignorant with list of exemptions.
If they choose to nappy themselves and I don’t, most certainly I want to stay away from them and vice versa!
Yeah, I get what they’re trying to do, but I strongly dislike the red band green band thing.
Agree. Having looked at their website I can’t really see how red/green band is any better than the status quo
It’s really that simple. When I was in Japan, pre SARS, I don’t remember seeing anyone with face masks. I think this idea that it’s a cultural thing there is a little bit of BS. It seems that since that time there’s been an increase in people wearing them, but not everyone.
I’ve never really understood this either. There seems to be a misconception that everyone in East Asia was walking around in face masks prior to COVID. Sure, there were more of them in some parts than you would have seen in Europe, but I wouldn’t even have said it was a majority. I often wonder if people who believe this misconception have been to Asia.
I keep hearing that everybody in Asia wears face masks all the time and they have done for a long time. Obviously it’s bollocks but almost everybody thinks this. It’s racism and lazy cultural stereotyping at work and it’s being pushed hard by the usual suspects.
Absolutely.
Agree that assumption isn’t true. OK there’s a minority who wear them in Japan but its nothing to do with health and everything to do with the fact that they possibly have certain mental health issues, something that’s not lost on psychologists and psychiatrists.
You really must ring up the journalist Tor Ching Li in Tokyo who wrote this article and tell him he is hallucinating.:
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/mask-appeal
It looks like they must have spent a lot of time faking up pictures as well!!
Note: I am not saying masks work to prevent virus transmission.
The evidence is fairly conclusive that at best they do nothing and at worst they increase viral load.
Otherwise Japan would not have a higher seasonal flu incidence than the USA or Europe:
https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/influenza-pneumonia/by-country/
I seem to remember them being worn in London during pea-soupers and they probably helped a little with the particulate matter.
The bands were mentioned on here before and I looked at the website and wrote a scathing comment yo the owner comparing them to yellow stars. He wrote back explaining, and I wanted to reply, once I calmed down. Haven’t replied yet. I still think they are stupid. They are rubber wrist bands. With winter coming up, and people wearing coats and gloves, how are you supposed to see them? How many people will be aware what they stand for?
Perhaps the Zealots and Marshals could wear Red and Black armbands – then we will know who to avoid.
I agree that there’s no need for green bands but by suggesting that the shielders wear masks aren’t we acknowledging that they work?! I honestly believe they cause more harm than good. I admit to not really giving it much thought before March but the shielding population already live with their situation. We know we shouldn’t expose newborns to too much before they’ve been vaccinated, we know we should stay away from the elderly if we have cold/flu. We know we should cover our mouths if we cough/sneeze and that we should wash our hands! We know we’re at higher risk of premature death if we’re obese and that type II diabetes etc aren’t good for us. People with hiv know to try to avoid co-infections. This is nothing new! I do feel really sad for people with cancer/transplants etc but covid is not the first time their Dr will have told them that they need to shield is it? Surely they and their families were already shielding to an extent all the time against flu and the myriad of other viruses/bacteria that could kill them? The ones that are confusing it are the Covidians who have become paralysed by… Read more »
I can’t wear a mask (not that I want to) I don’t believe in lockdowns , but I do mostly distance and limit where I go to. I believe we should all choose for ourselves, so I’d put myself in an “Amber” category!
That’s your choice and it’s absolutely fine.
Don’t forget to keep your grin with you!
Didn’t see this comment piece from Sherelle Jacobs referenced in the blog, but well worth a read
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/10/15/lockdown-sceptics-world-must-unite-new-manifesto/
Great feature today, why can’t the maniacs ruining the country read this to get some perspective? You would think the senior members of the tories would realise they have shot the next election and do something to stop the buffoon and hapless.
The way things are panning out there won’t be any more elections.
At least we know how the Germans in the 1930s were brainwashed
The Germans allowed Hitler into power to deal with a real and present problem not a phoney one.
(Not aimed at you, John.).
Ouch!
Lockdown every school holiday until the virus has disappeared, I’ve got a better idea:STAND ON YOUR HEAD FOR 30 MINUTES EVERY OTHER THURSDAY
Haha. I always call it the ‘rain dance’ measures.
I assume you made that comment in jest, but I honestly believe the majority of the population would do it, if Twat Hancock announced it as necessary to “Keep the Virus under control”…
PARADOGMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrJR1Xz-WV4
I was listening to a bit of Boris Johnson’s conference speech – the section on not going back to normal -and it struck me that the ‘agenda’ is in plain sight. When did we, as a society, decide not to return to normal? How is this an ’emergency powers’ kind of decision? The arrogance of the government is astounding! We have become so used to them telling us what do in the ’emergency’ that we are mute when they unilaterally decree the entire future direction of our society and economy.
This is in the open, now. By interpreting the virus and lockdowns in a positive, not neutral, light (as Boris was undoubtedly doing with evangelical zeal), this should surely cast doubt on the government’s entire strategy. They are not just getting us through this emergency, but have other motives, now out in the open. Why is parliament putting up with it? (A rhetorical question…)
No, we didn’t. But it looks as if the WEF did, many years ago.
This is part of his conference speech:
But after all we have been through it isn’t enough just to go back to normal. We have lost too much. We have mourned too many.
We have been through too much frustration and hardship just to settle for the status quo ante – to think that life can go on as it was before the plague; and it will not. Because history teaches us that events of this magnitude – wars, famines, plagues; events that affect the vast bulk of humanity, as this virus has – they do not just come and go.
They are more often than not the trigger for an acceleration of social and economic change, because we human beings will not simply content ourselves with a repair job.
We see these moments as the time to learn and to improve on the world that went before.
That is why this government will build back better.
Yes, a masterclass in non sequitur and false logic.
Priti Patel announced this was the New Normal back in March.
With twenty-five million GP appointments not having taken place this year, according to the Telegraph, we must spare a thought for the poor dears locked in their fortress surgeries, assiduously Zooming and WhatsApping their surviving patients.
A substantial pay rise would appear to be in order, from the Government Trough.
The cowardice and duplicity of the GP’s ‘s has been staggering
We now know that they never did give a shit about patients
I think this varies considerably from one part of the country to another. Here, in Buckingham, we do not seem to have had any problems; well that is my strong impression. I do know that the situation is much worse elsewhere. Why this is I have no idea.
Please don’t tar all of my GP colleagues with the same brush. In the practices where I’m working they are seeing patients face to face. Also GP practice salaries are not paid from government, nurses working there are not on NHS salary scales.
Then if you are doing that I apologise to you.
Unfortunately you are in a minority
Tip for the day. Get a haircut while you still can…
Or buy some hair clippers
Bought haircutting scissors over at Amazon and have been doing my own since.
Will never set foot in a hairdresser again.
Think a buzz cut makes my ears stick out too much!!
I look like a female Moe Howard but I don’t care anymore. I don’t want to legitimise this insanity so apologies to the hairdressers who will and have gone bust.
Me too. Great investment.
Good point. I’ll better give her a ring today!
This is a problem for me as I haven’t been since mandatory muzzles were introduced for customers. Though I don’t wear a mask anywhere else, I’m not comfortable with sitting in a barbers with a load of mask-zealots glaring at me. I’m toying with the idea of just shaving it all off as there’s not a great deal of incentive to worry about how I look at the moment.
I haven’t had a hair cut since Feb and it’s now shoulder length. I’m looking more like Gandalf (sans beard) every day, not bad for a sixty something. My ‘partner’ doesn’t like it but that’s ok, I don’t like her, so it balances out.
The most important figure is the number of covid patients in hospital (because more likely to be correct diagnosis) and how quickly this is increasing. The numbers on ventilation and hospital deaths follows the same pattern. The 7 day average. rate was doubling every 7 days around 23 September but started to fall before the new lockdown measures although no doubt this will be presented as evidence of lockdown working. Has fallen consistently since that day and is now out to doubling every 14 days. I don’t understand why no one looks at the simple maths. In March the doubling high point was every 3 days. Totally different gradient.
The most important figure is the number of covid patients in hospital (because more likely to be correct diagnosis)
No! You need to see this from yesterday’s LS:
https://dailysceptic.org/2020/10/15/#how-many-hospital-cases-are-really-covid
Regarding hospitalisations as a reliable figure ignores, for example, the resumption of the NHS as a health service rather than when it was emptied out in March. If the absolute number of people being treated in hospital doubles, then the absolute number of apparent Covid ‘hospitalisations’ doubles (all else being equal, false positives, etc.), but it does not indicate that the prevalence of the disease has doubled. To do that would require some sort of normalisation of the calculation, not just the absolute number of ‘cases’. But details like this are lost in the mists of confusion.
These Lockdowns are predicated on saving the NHS from being overwhelmed. Yesterday NHS England announced there are 4379 Covid patients in English hospitals. NHS England has a budget of £129 billion & employs over 1 million staff.
If the NHS cannot handle 4379 covid patients without being overwhelmed when it has all that money & all those staff then something is seriously wrong.
They are scaring the public with talk of the NHS being overwhelmed when the evidence is that the NHS is a long way from being overwhelmed and has the resources and staff to deal with far more covid cases, it needs to get organised and try a bit of effective management.
To the credit of the NHS they are now much better at treating Covid disease, people are getting better and being discharged, any talk of admission numbers should be matched by a reference to discharge numbers
Has every one in here forgotten that Delingpole told us lockdown was pencilled in for the end of October.Everything else is manipulation of the figures to suit that agenda.
There were a few dates that were banded about around 2 months ago. One was certainly the 12th October, but most pointed to the mid term break for schools.
It’s scary how this is just dripped out. Definitely looks like stage management over incompetent reactionary policies as infections rise.
That’s why you need to look at numbers in hospital as it takes account of admissions and discharges. Despite what Barney says hospitals are not at full capacity due to social distancing measures. There is an upward trend but the point I was trying to make was that this is not exponential and the rate of rise is falling and has been falling since 23rd Sept, before any new measures were taken. Here are the 7 days averages compared to the previous average as a multiplier of that previous average. i.e. less than 1 means total cases are falling. 2 would mean cases are doubling. 31st March (worst day) 7 day average against week ago = 3.61 (i.e. more than tripling). Falls to 0.74 by 8th July, hovers around 0.77 for rest of July then begins to rise from end of July. Peaks at 1.67 on 19th September then starts to fall again, currently at 1.44.
You’re forgetting that patients are now routinely tested for Covid on entry to hospital. Plenty of the “covid patients in hospital” can be people who tested positive but are entirely asymptomatic (or even just a false positive) and who were hospitalized for a completely unrelated condition.
But I have also looked at those on a ventilator who clearly are not asymptomatic. Follows a similar profile.
The Great Barrrington Declaration has been accused of being Politically motivated.
A quick look over the main signatorys of the John Snow Memorandum and I see a lot of Public Health Professors and members of SAGE.
What is a Public Health Professor ?.
An advert for a Professor in Global Public Health at University of Bath, States the areas of research include but are not restricted to poverty, inequality and health; public health, ethics and social justice; public health and social welfare; the governance and/or financing of global public health; population health and healthcare reforms; social, behavioural, commercial and structural determinants of health and disease; demography, life course and health; public health challenges in complex environments such as conflict or humanitarian settings, global public health policy analysis.
Sounds like a job for a Champagne socialist .
I picked one signatory at random. Prof. Rochelle P. Walensky, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, USA. Looking at her Twitter feed, I find a thoroughly devoted member of the church of covid. Have a look yourself. https://twitter.com/rwalensky?lang=en
Trish Greenlaugh and Devri Sidhar also authors. It’s almost worthy of going into the Woke Gobbledegook section. I loved the rebuttals in today’s LS article for everything they’ve said.
I think they’ve now only amplified the GBD even further. Sure, the JSM gives the zealots there stock pro lockdown arguments on a plate, but they are weak. Very weak. And, as reality bites on this document there will be holes a plenty.
I think the authors have essentially signed their own resignation letter. I just can’t see how they get out of the corner they’ve painted themselves into.
They missed out Climate Change, which is odd considering it has been blamed for many of the things listed…
Hypothesis vulnerable people are not being told to shield at home is because someone may have pointed out that to do so could be seen as a Deprivation of Liberty. This could lead to a referral to the courts for every single person in that position.
So the original universal incarceration was not a deprivation of liberty? You could have fooled me.
I think the point is that it’s not discriminatory if we all have to to it! Easy to get round of course by just giving intelligent adults the facts and some advice and let people isolate if they wish to but we have all been infantilised by the government.
Actually it was and I think that there was a statement made recently that it was advice and not mandatory, although it came over as mandatory.
just listening to JHB on Talk radio.
In succession she interviewed Stephen Timms (Labour) and Bernard Jenkin (conservative). c7.00 – 7.15
JHB did her usual of quoting stats to support the assertion that covid was currently a minor issue. It was scary how both MPs were metaphorically putting their fingers in their ears and going “Lalalalalala cant hear you. !!!” Timms kept repeating that infections are rising.. Jenkin kept repeating Sage are wonderful
With morons like this on both sides of the house .. we are doooomed dooomed
No,they just reveal themselves as morons.
Only to us and those like us – ‘the others’ won’t ever hear the indomitable JHB
Timms came across as a bit simple. They should know by now to at least have a sheet of paper with the numbers written down and not be told them by Julia.
Jenkins, I wouldn’t classify as a moron, he was very calculated.
Yes I was listening as well and sent her a tweet to say well done, the politicians were hollow men, I think they really saw the argument she presented but had calculated that the public were still scared so they had to support the lock-down to ensure they get the votes next time round. Mrs Thatcher would have laid the lot of them flat with her handbag, eaten them for breakfast and with her scientific background led the country back to sanity.
Oh to have a Margaret Thatcher type politician once again!
I agree and I hated her back in the day as a young trade union man ,but if nothing else she had courage and would never stand for the likes of Boris and Hancock in her cabinet this nonsense wouldn’t of even got off the ground….mind you i probably wouldn’t of agreed with her back then but would now,shows what 40 years experience does for you
>>>>(they have) calculated that the public were still scared so they (have) to support the lock-down <<<
This is a good analysis.
A three month lock-down, all this mask wearing – the public have invested a strong belief in the virus being a terrifying threat to human existence.
Accepting they could have been misled is too disturbing to contemplate.
‘Politicians’ aren’t necessarily intelligent beings.
‘Politicians’ aren’t intelligent beings
There fixed it for you
She then had Andrew Bridgen MP on. Just the same. She trotted out all the best stats on IFR, FPR, hospitalisations. To every one he gave an answer starting “Yes, but …”
JHB was reduced to laughing at him at one point, and he sort of laughed back. It was quite telling. He knows it’s all bollocks, but he *has* to go out and defend it.
Bridgen is the dufus who thinks the Good Friday Agreement means he can get an Irish passport 🙁
Both those individuals are inept on every subject. Other than Robert Halfen, Jenkin is as obvious a business bought patsy as any Tory MP. Most are bought by big business and they are doing very nicely out of CCP Virus.
Bernard Jenkins anecdote for anyone who cares…
In a local pub years ago and a guy walks in and announces to the pub ” I’m Bernard Jenkins, your local candidate and am here to answer your questions”.
After a brief WTF moment, everyone in the pub carries on talking. He stands at the bar for 10 minutes, without ordering a drink and then after 10 minutes sheepishly leaves.
The pub erupts into laughter.
But they still voted for him!