Boris Close Aide Quits In Downing Street Power Struggle
Trouble is brewing in Downing Street as tensions over access, strategy, style and leaks come to a head. The Financial Times has the story.
Boris Johnson’s Director of Communications resigned on Wednesday night following a bitter Downing Street power struggle over access to the Prime Minister and over who will lead the UK Government’s communications strategy.
Lee Cain, one of Mr Johnson’s longest-serving and most loyal aides, said that “after careful consideration” he would quit Number 10 at the end of the year.
The departure of one of the Prime Minister’s most important allies follows a rejected plan that would have seen Mr Cain promoted to Mr Johnson’s Chief of Staff, an idea that resulted in a furious backlash from Conservative ministers, MPs and officials.
In a statement, Mr Cain said, “it has been a privilege to work as an adviser for Mr Johnson for the last three years – being part of a team that helped him win the Tory leadership contest, secure the largest Conservative majority for three decades – and it was an honour to be asked to serve as the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff.”
Mr Johnson thanked Mr Cain for his “extraordinary service” in government over the past four years. “He has been a true ally and friend and I am very glad that he will remain Director of Communications until the new year and to help restructure the operation. He will be much missed.”
Rumours were swirling in Westminster that the aide resigned over an inquiry into the leaked news of the decision to lock down England on October 30th. While some Whitehall officials speculated Mr Cain may have been “partially” to blame for the story, he has “categorically denied” responsibility.
One Whitehall official said Number 10 had become a “nest of vipers”, adding “it’s all falling apart in there, it’s far worse than the outside world realises. Plus doing it in the middle of pandemic is totally disgraceful.”
From the outside it’s not clear who is arguing for what in No 10 in terms of lockdowns. But if Cain was involved in the leak that appeared to be designed to bump the PM into committing to Lockdown 2.0 then his departure may be a good thing. One senior Conservative official claims there are also “serious questions on Boris’s mind about Dom [Cummings] too,” while another Government insider says it is “50:50” whether Dom will quit.
Dom and Boris were said to be having a “furious row” in Downing Street last night. Some observers saw this as a power struggle between Dom and Carrie Symonds, the Prime Minister’s girlfriend, who is reported to have objected to the appointment of Lee Cain as Chief of Staff on the grounds that he’s a man and Boris hasn’t appointed enough women to senior positions. Is Boris really paying attention to this codswallop? My sources tell me he is.
In addition, the FT quotes a “Conservative official” questioning whether it is “appropriate” that all the people with access to Boris “would be men”. “That’s hardly governing in the spirit of Biden-Harris,” he said.
What on earth is “governing in the spirit of Biden-Harris”, and what kind of “Conservative” official would talk in such terms? Cripes, if these are the lackeys clustering around Boris he’s doomed, and so are we.
Read the full report here.
Infections Were Falling BEFORE Local Lockdowns
It’s well-known that local restrictions failed to prevent the autumn surge in COVID-19 infections. The areas placed under such restrictions during the summer were among the worst affected in the autumn.
Despite this, it is now becoming commonplace to claim that the Tier 3 restrictions were responsible for bringing the R rate down ahead of the national lockdown. But does this stand up to scrutiny?
In at least seven areas placed under Tier 3 restrictions in October, including the cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham, positive case numbers had peaked and begun to decline days, in some cases weeks, before the new restrictions came into effect (let alone allowing for the delay in their having an impact).
- Liverpool was placed under Tier 3 on October 14th but positive cases had been declining since October 8th, 6 days earlier.
- West Lancashire was placed under Tier 3 on October 17th but positive cases had been declining since October 13th, 4 days earlier.
- Manchester was placed under Tier 3 on October 23rd but positive cases had been declining since October 1st, 22 days earlier.
- Sheffield was placed under Tier 3 on October 24th but positive cases had been declining since October 8th, 16 days earlier.
- Warrington was placed under Tier 3 on October 29th but positive cases had been declining since October 27th, 2 days earlier.
- Nottingham was placed under Tier 3 on October 29th but positive cases had been declining since October 9th, 20 days earlier.
- Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire was placed under Tier 3 on October 30th but positive cases had been declining since October 20th, 10 days earlier.
This suggests local lockdowns are not necessary to end the current seasonal epidemic of Covid – if that’s what it is, and not simply a “casedemic” – and that other factors such as population immunity are more important. The lack of a second surge in London, hit hard in spring, is also telling.
The October decline in Covid is actually a surprising turn of events. Not because we wouldn’t expect population immunity already to be kicking in – anyone who’s been following experts like Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Carl Heneghan will have been expecting this since the spring. But because respiratory illness normally keeps rising throughout the autumn and well into December before easing off in the new year.
With other respiratory pathogens such as flu running at a low ebb this year, if Covid doesn’t resume its rise we could, ironically, be in for an unusually mild flu (and Covid) season. Particularly as hospitals have been quieter than usual for the time of year.
Either way, there is no evidence the recent decline in infections should be attributed to lockdowns, local or otherwise.
Once the current national lockdown is lifted, we should be looking to lift restrictions further, not double down on costly local restrictions that have also proven unnecessary.
Stop Press: The Spectator has launched its Covid data tracker that includes a page devoted to tracking “cases” in Tier 3 areas. It shows “cases” were already falling in many of them. Find it here.
Pfizer Vaccine is “Completely Unworkable” – Ex-Director of Pharmaceutical Company
The logistical challenges of deep-freeze storage make the vaccine unsuited to mass roll out, and cynical motives are suspected for making the announcement. The Telegraph has more.
Interim analyses of vaccine trials are often carried out in case the jabs prove to be dangerous or ineffective. But one former director at pharmaceutical giant GSK told the Telegraph he was “utterly appalled” that Pfizer had released the clinical trial data before peer-review.
“Really it’s just a cynical and egregious marketing ploy by Pfizer to get early orders, with money up front, because they know that mass vaccination with a vaccine that needs storage at -80 degrees is completely unworkable,” he said. “It’s just a dreadful example of big pharma trying to get its share price up and profits into its organisation before the Pfizer vaccine is declared totally impractical for widespread use in society.
“As soon as other vaccines are available, then this Pfizer vaccine will not be widely used. Hence their announcement to get in early.”
Many experts now believe the Pfizer vaccine will never be suitable for mass immunisation because of the cost and cold-chain storage required.
Stop Press: Isabel Hardman in the Spectator wonders whether the NHS can really be relied upon for a successful roll-out of such a challenging logistical exercise. Not looking promising.
Barry Norris: Timeline of Pfizer Announcement Suspicious
Yesterday, we ran a piece speculating about whether the Pfizer/BioNTech announcement had been deliberately delayed to avoid giving Trump an electoral boost. Barry Norris, the renowned biotech investor, thinks those journalists who’ve dismissed this as just another deranged, Trump conspiracy theory haven’t been forensic enough in their reporting. For their benefit, he’s provided Lockdown Sceptics with the following timeline:
Trials started in July. By Oct they had 40k volunteers who had had two doses. Trial was originally expected to read out in Oct with the first interim hit at 32 cases (blinded).
Trump said we will have vaccines before election. This was seen as politicising issue.
Oct 22nd FDA COVID panel (nothing said about need for more than 32 cases).
On Oct 27th the Pfizer CEO said: “Now you used a very creative way of asking, so I will tell you clearly. No, we don’t have the 32 events right now…” Everyone assumed that meant the trial had not reached the 32 events expected for the first interim read out. Similarly, Pfizer’s CEO also said “as we are speaking today, no, DMC has not been changed to their mandates. There have not been any changes like that.” (The DMC is the independent body that isn’t blinded overseeing the trial.)
Nov 9th Trial results announced.
On Nov 10th BioNTech CEO was asked the reason for the protocol being changed to 62 cases (from 32) and therefore being delayed:
Zhiqiang Shu, Analyst: “Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. And I want to add my congrats as well to the team. It’s definitely a critical moment for mRNA and for BioNTech. A few questions on the COVID-19 vaccine. So, the first one is I’d like to know what was the initial rationale for the protocol change from 32 cases to 62 cases for the first interim analysis?”
Ugur Sahin, Chief Executive Officer: “Okay, so let’s start with the first question to the protocol change. When we decided the protocol, this was sometime in July, it was not clear how the pandemic situation, the continuity evolves and one scenario was that the number of infection rates could drop, providing a difficulty to collect sufficient cases in 2020. Therefore, we have included an early interim analysis with 32 cases. But what happened is the contrary that of topping of the infection rate went up as you have seen in the last weeks dramatically and, therefore, we realized that lies between 32 cases and 62 cases are so close to each other that it does not make sense to do that without the 32 cases. We went back to the FDA and requested if we can top the 32 cases. The FDA, after evaluating the protocol change, accepted that. The whole process took about one week and when we started evaluation of the number of cases, we have passed the 62 cases and came up with 94 cases. So that’s the background for the protocol change.”
So we are supposed to believe:
The trial started in July and by early Oct there are 40k patients who have received two doses.
Oct 27th – less than 32 cases reported. Worries about too few cases.
After Oct 27th they asked the FDA to change the trial protocol to 64 as they were now “getting too many cases”.
The FDA “took a week to get back to us”. Did they have something better to do? Or did they intentionally stall?
“And by the time they got back we had 94 cases.”
And then suddenly a load of cases came along at once – like London buses!
So, they got at least 63 cases between Oct 27th and Nov 8th? But only max of 31 before this over several months?
Given the “week” of deliberation, someone at sometime between Oct 27th and Nov 1st BEFORE THE ELECTION asked for the trial to be redesigned SO IT WOULDN’T READ OUT BEFORE THE ELECTION on Nov 2nd.
Now you don’t have to be a Trump supporter to think that odd, do you? Maybe you do nowadays!
Stop Press: Alex Azar, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said today he did not hear about the trial results until it was publicly announced Monday morning, while the Biden campaign was informed Sunday evening…
Vaccine Required For Travel?
A reader was taken aback to see a WHO-approved “International Certificate of Vaccination” pictured prominently among the travel documents in the info he received from BA for his flight next week. Not actually a requirement yet. But this is ominous.
“Yes, of course vaccination is a choice, sir – a choice between having it and never travelling abroad again…”
Joe Biden’s New Covid Adviser: People Should Die “Swiftly and Promptly” After 75
Joe Biden, who is 77, has appointed to his coronavirus task force Dr Ezekiel J. Emanuel, who has argued that for most people “creativity, originality and productivity are pretty much gone” by 75. Will Lloyd in UnHerd has the details.
Six years ago, a distinguished American oncologist published an essay in The Atlantic. In ‘Why I Hope to Die at 75’ Dr Ezekiel J. Emanuel argued that for most people “creativity, originality and productivity are pretty much gone” by 75.
Accordingly, society as a whole would be improved if nature took “its course swiftly and promptly”. Medicine has extended life spans, but it has done little to make life worth living in old age, Emanuel argued at the time:
“Here is a simple truth that many of us seem to resist: living too long is also a loss. It renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived. It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world. It transforms how people experience us, relate to us, and, most important, remember us. We are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic.”
On Monday, Dr Emanuel was one of 10 advisory board members appointed to Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force. This is potentially awkward for Biden – not least because at 77 he is a few months beyond the age Dr Emanuel believes we cease to be much use to anyone.
Own goal from Sleepy Joe?
A Teacher Writes…
A teacher tells us of the challenges of teaching in Covid world and how it looks inevitable that exams will be cancelled across the UK in 2021.
Part year groups and odds and ends of pupils continue to be off while they isolate. As of today, we also have 10 staff self-isolating – about 20 percent of teaching staff. You never really know what you will be confronted with when you go in. If pupils are officially isolating you now have a legal duty to provide them with the same education as if they were present, in theory at the same time. Now we are in a some-here-some-not system in year groups where there has been a positive test, it makes it even harder. It is quite clear to me that GCSE exams this academic year are impossible. Not only has this cohort lost four months of school last year and two weeks plus odds and ends since September, but also there is no way to plan how to cover things between now and the summer because you might get a clear run of time or they might all be off again for a week or more any number of times in that period. I suspect the same approach as we have seen on so many issues will apply to this year’s exams. The government will say “in no way and under no circumstances will we ever do that….oh, all right then, we’ll do it”. How long before that happens: who knows?
False Positives in Liverpool
Professor David Livermore is concerned that mass testing with PCR or LAMP tests isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
We have the Mayor tweeting: “Busy at all of our testing centres today, total tested as of 12.00 pm today 44,233. 220 positive.” (4:51 PM · Nov 11th, 2020)
At the same time we have Lord Bethell in Parliament, as reported in today’s Telegraph, saying: “Lateral flow tests deployed in Liverpool as part of the city-wide testing pilot scheme have been shown to have over 99.6% specificity.”
If the specificity is 99.6% you expect four false positives per thousand, meaning almost 180 among 44,233 tests done. In that case, only 40 positives (220 minus 180) are likely to be true positives and the positive predictive value (PPV) (true positives/all positives x 100%) is only 18%. Had the infection prevalence rate been the ONS expected 2% then the PPV would be a very respectable 700/880 = c. 79.5%.
If I was the Liverpool Mayor this’d be troubling me.
One wonders if Lord Bethell knows what specificity is. A well targeted question would be helpful.
I think all these tests, PCR, LAMP and lateral flow are useful if they are used for what they were designed for – testing symptomatic patients when the physician has a clinical examination and a history. I’ve used them all to identify mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. But I’d only ever use them on bacteria that looked resistant in the first place and I’d interpret the result together with the pattern of resistance.
Belt and braces.
False positives with PCR don’t surprise me in the slightest. If you run to very high CTs (done because you have a lot of poor quality samples) you start finding things that aren’t there. And I’m alert to what my friends in STD clinics tell me (i) there’s a lively debate on how long after treatment of gonorrhoea you should wait to do a [PCR-based] test of cure. Do it too soon and you find DNA from a very dead and quite harmless gonococcus, fooling you into thinking the patient isn’t cured when he/she is, and (ii) the Chlamydia tests that’ve been rolled out to pharmacies use PCR and gratuitously, look also for gonorrhoea, but the population prevalence is so low that the false positives outnumber the true positives, so you don’t inform the patient. The same tests are perfectly fine in an STD clinic where you can examine the patient and the disease incidence is much higher. Exactly the same story we are seeing here.
I had expected the lateral flow to have a lower false positive rate. They’re generally less temperamental than PCR and they’re looking for whole antigens, not fragments of nucleic acids, which seem more likely to linger. I’d thought, if anything, the problem would be missing weak true positives and early infection – low sensitivity in other words. But today’s numbers make me rethink. As I write above, one always comes back to the same point, that all these tests are methods to use in a proper diagnostic assessment of a patient, not as standalone screens.
Otherwise, I’m watching Slovakia, where they screened about 70% of the population at the start of the month, finding 38,000 positives. They were re-screening the highest prevalence areas this weekend just gone. So far there is no major reversal of trend on the routine detection curve on Worldometers, maybe just a small step down with the trend then reasserting, but I want to see a few more days yet before I’m sure.
Prof Tim Spector: Government is Tilted Towards Caution
Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at KCL and founder of the ZOE app, spoke to Freddie Sayers at UnHerd and took a strong sceptic line. He said:
– Had the Government followed data from the ZOE app they would not have gone into a second lockdown, which he believes was unnecessary
– The Government is tilted too much in the direction of caution and has lost a balanced sense of proportion
– He is worried that they will use the new vaccine news as a “carrot” to keep us locked down for the next three months, when he believes it will likely take most of the year to get enough people vaccinated
– He understands people’s concerns about such a new vaccine, and ZOE will be tracking any side effects from vaccinated people via its app
Worth a watch.
Round-Up
- “Sixty seconds on… vitamin D” – Excellent overview of evidence supporting the efficacy of ‘D’ for Covid by Lockdown Sceptics reader Robert Brown in the BMJ
- “The vaccine’s siren song threatens to trap us in an even longer lockdown” – Philip Johnston in the Telegraph on the impetus the vaccine gives to stay in lockdown till it arrives
- “‘It’s like a severe hangover’: Volunteers who were first in the world to be given Pfizer’s Covid vaccine reveal how the side effects gave them headaches and left them ‘aching all over’” – The Mail reports on the unpleasant side-effects
- “Three Russian medics get Covid despite being given Putin’s Sputnik V vaccine they declared ‘92% effective’” – Can’t be worse than the Russian vaccine though, in the Sun
- “Mass-Covid testing scheme adopted in Liverpool will be rolled out across 67 authorities, Hancock reveals (so, is your town one of them?)” – Even though it only found 0.7% infection rate in Liverpool. The Mail reports on the next phase of Operation Moonshine that will cost a staggering £40bn, three times the annual policing budget
- “GPs in England will scale back care to deliver Covid vaccines” – Yet another way that Covid is going to impede ordinary healthcare, in the Guardian
- “We’re making our own rules this lockdown” – Some good sense from Alice Thomson in the Times
- “Beyond Crucial Update on Viral Issue – and Lockdown ‘Science’!” – Latest video from Ivor Cummins
- “Tory MPs form group to oppose future lockdowns” – BBC report on the new Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Conservative MPs led by former Chief Whip Mark Harper and Brexit veteran Steve Baker
- “Brave Tory backbenchers are finally offering opposition to unnecessary lockdowns” – Dan Wootton in the Sun gives the CRG his backing
- “Lockdown sceptics should welcome the formation of the Covid Recovery Group” – As does Patrick O’Flynn in the Telegraph
- “This Morning expert slams GMB after Piers and Susanna discuss if people should be forced to have coronavirus vaccine” – TV psychologist Emma Kenny ticks off the presenters for “inflating fear” in their poll asking “should the vaccine be mandatory”. Gratifyingly, 64% of the 40,000 participants voted “No”
- “The Controlled Demolition of Society” – Dustin Broadbery in Hector Drummond Magazine on the surrender of liberty through unfounded fear
- “Case for Mask Mandate Rests on Bad Data” – Phillip Magness in the Wall Street Journal brings some real-world data to bear on the question
- “The Children Never Had the Coronavirus. So Why Did They Have Antibodies?” – The New York Times discovers cross-immunity. Shame it came after the election…
- “Flu d’état” – Powerful piece from Ramesh Thakur in the Spectator Australia
- “Delingpod with Laura Perrins” – James talks with the Conservative Woman co-editor and they don’t hold back
- “COVID-19 and Lockdown” – Part II of George Michael’s evidence-based review in Medium
- “Bidirectional associations between COVID-19 and psychiatric disorder: retrospective cohort studies of 62 354 COVID-19 cases in the USA” – New study in the Lancet on the links between Covid and mental health
- “JPMorgan Finds No Benefits From COVID Lockdowns” – Review by the bank confirms the findings of all the other studies on the efficacy of lockdowns, in Zero Hedge
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Three today: “Dido’s Lament” by Purcell, “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads and “New Test Leper” by REM.
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.
Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, a reader has alerted us to the capture of the monthly magazine of Waterfront, the Canal & River Trust, of all things. The cult is everywhere!
A little bit of woke gobbledegook for you… I am a friend of the Canal & River Trust: I live near a lovely canal in the North West and every day I enjoy a soothing walk along the towpath, enjoying the wildlife and the slowly gliding narrowboats and so on.
The Trust issues a monthly magazine called Waterfront, which used to be an unusually excellent publication – well-designed, beautifully illustrated, with great content, covering nature and history and the literature of the waterways and so on. The latest issue though is a slimmer, cheaper, less imaginative and far less interesting publication. The editorial justifies the change thus: “Waterfront is now easier to read and more economical to ensure more funds are available for vital heritage, wildlife and wellbeing work.” (Er, wellbeing?)
What a shame. But the truly irksome thing in the uglified new-look magazine is a double page spread that boldly proclaims: “It’s time for everyone’s story to be told.” Because, yes, even us canal fans need to be reminded that the canals are first and foremost tools of historical racism and exploitation.
The article begins: “When you walk along our canals, it’s not immediately clear that their story is inextricably entwined with the story of exploitation of people through slavery.”
Not immediately clear? No, it’s not – but please tell us more!
“In spring of this year, the Canal & River Trust worked with honarary research fellow, Dr Jodie Matthews, to start mapping those historical links. Her literature review drew together the available research whhich outlined that money from the transatlantic slave trade was invested in building canals. And that cargo produced by enslaved people, like sugar, cotton and tobacco was carried on our canal network.”
Hmm. Most people with the slightest awareness of history will already have been broadly aware of these facts. They’ve hardly been kept quiet all these years. But in the interests of wokeness, let’s indulge in some tedious virtue signalling, shall we?
The text then goes on to outline ways in which the profits of slavery were invested in canals, and name checks wealthy slave-owners who had shares in companies that built the canals. (In the interests of fairness, it is acknowledged that Josiah Wedgwood, who invested in the Trent and Mersey Canal, was actually an abolitionist. Phew!)
The article then points out that “canals transported goods produced by enslaved people, including indigo, tobacco, rice, cotton and sugar”. Liverpool and Manchester are singled out as being particularly guilty. The article concludes piously: “To date, the history of the canals has generally been told from only one perspective. History can often be selective. Jodie’s review found links exists, but more specific research needs to be done to understand its true extent and tell the full story of those marginalised by history.”
Which reads like the sign-off to a second-rate A-Level essay. C minus, try harder. Actually, please don’t bother.
And of course, the article is accompanied by a photograph of the removal of the statue of Robert Milligan “whose wealth built the West India Docks”. Milligan’s ejection, we’re told, was “an important step in recognising the feelings of the local community”. Whose feelings? Those of white, privately-educated wokesters?
Thank you, Waterfront. I’ll certainly be sure to reflect guiltily upon these historical injustices and my own white privilege as I stroll along the towpath this lunchtime. Actually, perhaps I’ll just chuck myself in the water and be done with it.
“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 £1.99 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 an excellent piece about the ineffectiveness of masks by a Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry.
Mask Censorship: The Swiss Doctor has translated the article in a Danish newspaper about the suppressed Danish mask study. Largest RCT on the effectiveness of masks ever carried out. Rejected by three top scientific journals so far.
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 month and the lockdown zealots have been doing their best to discredit it ever since. If you Googled it a week after launch, the top hits were three smear pieces from the Guardian, including: “Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’.” (Freddie Sayers at UnHerd warned us about this the day before it appeared.) On the bright side, Google UK has stopped shadow banning it, so the actual Declaration now tops the search results – and my Spectator piece about the attempt to suppress it is among the top hits – 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 also done a smear job.)
You can find it here. Please sign it. Now over 650,000 signatures.
Update: The authors of the GDB have expanded the FAQs to deal with some of the arguments and smears that have been made against their proposal. Worth reading in full.
Update 2: Many of the signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration are involved with new UK anti-lockdown campaign Recovery. Find out more and join here.
Update 3: You can watch Sunetra Gupta set out the case for “Focused Protection” here and Jay Bhattacharya make it here.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
There are now so many JRs being brought against the Government and its ministers, we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
First, there’s the Simon Dolan case. You can see all the latest updates and contribute to that cause here.
Then there’s the Robin Tilbrook case. You can read about that and contribute here.
Then there’s John’s Campaign which is focused specifically on care homes. Find out more about that here.
There’s the GoodLawProject’s Judicial Review of the Government’s award of lucrative PPE contracts to various private companies. You can find out more about that here and contribute to the crowdfunder here.
The Night Time Industries Association has instructed lawyers to JR any further restrictions on restaurants, pubs and bars.
Christian Concern is JR-ing the Government over its insistence on closing churches during the lockdowns. Read about it here.
And last but not least there’s the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. You can read about that and make a donation here.
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.
Quotation Corner
It’s Easier to Fool People Than to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.
Mark Twain
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.
Charles Mackay
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good, or else that it’s a well-considered act in conformity with natural law. Fortunately, it is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions…
Ideology – that is what gives the evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. They all require to have their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sense.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Nothing would be more fatal than for the Government of States to get into the hands of experts. Expert knowledge is limited knowledge and the unlimited ignorance of the plain man, who knows where it hurts, is a safer guide than any rigorous direction of a specialist.
Sir Winston Churchill
If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science.
Richard Feynman
We’re Hiring
Lockdown Sceptics is looking to hire someone to help us write the daily update. This will involve producing a daily update yourself two or three times a week – so a page exactly like this one – under your own byline. The ideal candidate will have some journalistic background, be able to work quickly under pressure and know their way around WordPress. We can pay you £75 for each update. If you’re interested, email us here and put “Job Application” in the subject line.
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…
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Not strictly on topic but there’s this Glasgow guy who posts videos on YouTube under the name “6oodfella” (NB not Goodfella). The videos might not appeal to everyone (the language is, as my mother would say, “choice”) but I find them hilarious. He takes the utter piss out of the Scottish Government’s obsession with “diversity” and “hate” crimes, and the actions of Police Scotland (the “national” police force in Scotland, the old local forces being too difficult to control by the politically motivated technocrats at the centre) in enforcing the laws. There is one video where he describes being arrested (but later released without charge) for posting an allegedly “racist” tweet which is quite brilliant in describing the absurdity of police resources being prioritised towards this sort of alleged criminal activity. Definitely worth checking out.
This photo is a few months old, but think it says a lot about the balance of power in Downing St, with Boris and Hancock cowed and frightened by a red faced Whitty.
Thanks. That speaks volumes and only increases my contempt for Johnson and the Conservative Party. They allowed this coup. Lazy irresponsible bunch of cowards.
How did the picture get out? It looks absolutely genuine to me.
Cummings harder to see but appears a mere bystander.
Yep.
Picture appeared on LS several months ago. And, yes, it certainly would be interesting to know who leaked it.
I was thinking of Glengarry Glen Ross. “ABC – Always be closing (everything down)”
This old photo was shown on UKColumn news yesterday. Johnson looks so pathetic. I suspect things are still much the same with unelected Whitty ($40M from Gates) laying down the ‘law’.
I may use it as a sticker on my car with the caption “Who’s the Boss?”.
Great idea. I took a screenshot from the UK Column broadcast, that’s why it’s not great quality.
I see Bill Gates is coming to the UK to roll out the vaccine. Who appointed him king of the world?
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/13159687/boris-bill-gates-national-vaccine/
Bill Gates foundation has given millions in grants to Pfizer in recent years, not surprised he’s putting in an appearance to oversee the masterplan.
Yes he is funding all the front runners. Each way Gates.
Abduct him and take him to Sherwood Forest.
Looks like Number Six in the resignation scene, just before he pounds his fist on the desk.
The Boss is Bill Gates.
Who’s your Daddy, Boris?
Is Mr. Cain in this photo? Is he the chap in the middle? There’s another chap (I’m sure the person is male rather than female) just to the left of Mr. Cummings – anyone know who he is? (He’s slightly more visible in previous versions which have been posted – but not much. Perhaps he brought in the coffee and stayed to listen?)
It’s a man , but I don’t know who.
Where’s Abel?
UK Column featured this image yesterday. Tells us everything really. Whitty is controlled by Gates. Gates, the self-described “health expert” is the Daddy now, it would seem.
I saw the picture of Dominic Cummings and got excited for a sec as thought that he might have been the one to resign. Alas.
I was hoping both of these people were arrested
More than two arrests are necessary. There’s at least five on that picture who should now be be in jail.
According to Alex Belfied YouTube via Skynews Australia.
Oz will not be offering the vaccine to the elderly, pregnant women, under 12s, diabetics or the immunocompromised because it has not been tested safe enough.
Excluding several of the most vulnerable groups makes the whole exercise even more pointless and what does Australia know that our junta are not telling us.
From the roundup ‘flu d’etat’, nice one.😅
The elderly, pregnant women, under 12s, diabetics or the immunocompromised will get the vaccine, “but only when the clinical trials prove it is safe”
What is the rush to get the rest of Australia vaccinated when there are literally zero cases now ?
The Times reports that the NHS will be vaccinating one million people per week from 1 December…as you say, supposedly against something that scarcely exists… so what in fact is it for?
Exactly. I think we need to unite to challenge this.
I think we can forget the vaccine, as suggested in the report above. Surely no-one will be able to keep it cold enough for long enough and it will be totally impracticable?
The story of Pfizer cashing in while they can sounds all too plausible.
Just who has got the franchise on the thousands of ultra deep freezers now being sought? A government minister’s wife?
Jamie Oliver’s bankrupt restos.
How do we get the information out? The most effective way would, it seems to me, be by way of leaflets, stickers &c. So much censorship now and electronic communication so ephemeral.
Yes I agree. I wonder if there are already any campaigning organisations that are covering this we could get behind? We really need unite to be effective.
If we don’t resist we are finished. This is Bill Gates’s big chance to cull the world. His long cherished dreams are now coming to fruition and he must be a very happy man.
It’s about the Orwellian “freedom pass”. Freedom killer. Also about the concomitant wealth stripping of the plebs to engorge the super rich. And whilst at it, bump off some old ‘unproductive’ human stock by ‘saving them’ with no contact with other humans.
Predictable and pure evil. And it’s happening now and ultra quickly.
Agree with most of what you say, except that the bumping off won’t be restricted to the old and work shy. They regard humans as being already 90% redundant and this is now their big chance to massively cull the main herd. Operations like Covid-19 take years of planning (and bribing), so they are not going to let this once in a lifetime golden opportunity pass them by.
Yes, you can bet that anyone with, “problematic,” opinions will be vaxxed.
Here in the US the Biden camp is making noise about hiring 100k contact tracers.
Doesn’t sound like a sanitary Gestapo at all. Nope.
Sadly Rowan, you may be right. I don’t subscribe to the singular Blofeld conspiracy pattern theory…but there is a very malign convergence of interests: money, control, fixed oligopoly, varying factions. Some scenario-modelled the impact of pandemics and planned how to exploit suchlike, IMO. Many didn’t, but have jumped on the opportunity. It doesn’t matter whether this was originated as a conspiracy. I don’t care; I can see the convergence, the opportunism and the inherent hatred of democracy and plebs. How did we plebs dare accumulate agency and property and hope and education over the past 100 years? ‘Shut up you plebs and listen to the ‘experts’ we employ! ‘
I’m not going to argue with any of that.
Ps. Rowan, I was not seeking in any way to diminish your argument by my referral to Blofeld. I do believe there are some well planned interests who try to create situations for their benefit. And that those benefits are not win win or benign. I merely wished to express that such forces are some of very many other (opportunistic) ones playing right now.
Klaus Schwab would make a perfect James Bond villain if he wasn’t already playing the villain role for real.
This does worry me, that the vaccine distribution challenges could be instrumentalised to create a de facto “inner party”.
If that is the plan, why not just let the virus do the job that Nature created it to do?
Did nature create it? I thought it came out the BBC newsroom, or less likely it was a lab in Wuhan.
Th virus is not that calamitous, as we here know. It’s the response. Hugely disproportionate on a scale never seen before.
They will be deployed to GP and other vaccinating stations thus denuding the NHS of yet more staff from core work.
Depopulation is the name of the game. Those few that survive will be mind controlled. We’ve all seen the TV shows and now it’s really coming to a place near you.
The only good bit will be those who think they are in the loop (MPs, and media types) getting chucked under the bus when they are no longer needed.
Especially when you consider it is only being tested to see if it is effective against mild cases.
The vaccines are being tested on fit healthy adults aged 55 or under. The testing is likely about getting the dose right, as the last thing they will want are the masses keeling over in the surgery, just after vaccination. So very much better if people don’t start dropping until a few months down the road. By this time of course, the vaccination campaign will be over and hey presto, job done.
‘tested’ is the word.
Why not just vaccinate front-line NHS staff, carers, the elderly and the most vulnerable? Why do the rest of us need to be vaccinated, given that COVID symptoms are generally mild in the wider population?
Not all front line staff want to be vaccinated.
It’s about depopulation and it’s the same the world over. They need to get nearly all of us “done” at the same time, as people falling over shortly after the shot just might make some a little wary. Once vaccinated it will of course be too late.
The first vaccine will be fairly harmless.Its a gateway to the health passport.Remember Gates is planning 10 years of health.Plenty of tine to put something in a later vaccine when the population is truly under control.
“The first vaccine will be fairly harmless.” That might well be the case and it has crossed my mind a time or two. However, we can’t bank on it, so its a vaccine no go from dose one for me.
It’s because there are zero cases that Australia is one of the few places that might actually really benefit from a vaccine. Almost everywhere else is probably close enough to community immunity.
I’ve sent an article covering this and other ways of looking at the vaccine to Toby, no idea if he will want to use it.
New Zealand as well.
If the vaccine only does what it seems to be doing, it’s pretty useless for Kiwis and Aussies or tourists inbound, and only mildly or not at all potentially helpful for them, if they are under the age of 70 and ravelling abroad.
If they then still want to uphold their Zero Covid strategies, they’ll have keep their strict incoming quarantine rules in place forever, at least.
Or go even further and turn themselves into Sentinel Island 2 to 5.
The main benefit from these vaccines will be to Bill Gates’s bank balance.
This restores my faith in the Australian medical authorities if it’s true, because they have some of the most draconian vaccine regulations in the world. Any anti vaccine sentiment there is pounced upon with swift, scornful derision.
However they probably won’t allow anyone to arrive or leave until a ‘safe’ coronavirus vaccine arrives.
Which may be never.
The Australian Prime Minister has already told us we can’t fly overseas until we get the vaccine.
Very much so. I have family there who simply will not discuss it. Conversations have become monosyllabic, because there is simply nothing to say.
I know what you mean. I would have gone made if I hadn’t found places like here.
Sadly, Covid seems to be as divisive a topic as Brexit, if not more so.
I have rarely experienced hostility from maskoids even if we continue to disagree on the subject; ‘concern’ might be a better word.
Indeed it is divisive, but the vaccine should solve all that.
Much more divisive I would say. I fully respected Remainers who wanted to stay in the EU but also believed in democracy. But I cannot respect Covid nazis who want to destroy the economy and culture and everything that it is to be human. To me they seem like members of a cult and cannot be reached. They may as well join David Koresh on the other side.
Brexit was and still is a distraction for some. The long planned Covid event is the most serious situation that humanity has ever had to deal with. Most people and even some on this site have not yet got to grips with the enormity of what is really going on.
‘I’ve got nothing to say, but it’s okay, good morning, good morning’…
Having lived in Australia for many years (but British and living here now) I have to say that I am staggered at how compliant the people of Melbourne have been (I lived in Melbourne for a few years). It’s not the people I knew. What has happened to Aussie spirit and gumption in that state? Perhaps it’s because there are so many (Asian) migrants there I do not know. Perhaps they have upped the fluoride in the water (and I am not joking excessive amounts does affect the mind). But with dual citizenship and an Australian passport it looks like I won’t be going back there ever and especially as I won’t be vaccinated.
I am Australian but lived in the UK most of my life. I moved back to Melbourne recently and It’s really true that the people have changed. It is like a Dan Andrews mind control cult. We are just discovering now how he has been spending obscene amounts on spin doctors and behavioural scientists.
I came of age in England in late 80s/early 90s. The era of poll tax riots, road protests, crusties, and the Hippy Convoy. It is simply inconceivable that people of my generation would have swallowed this stuff about Covid and vaccinations from a Tory government back then. They would have been rioting in the streets. Yet nowadays, utter compliance to state diktat is seen as a badge of honour for the social justice warrior!
Those were the days ! Do you remember a million protesters took to the streets of London to oppose the Iraq war? That’s what we need to be doing.
Same, that’s my tribe.
“We are just discovering now how he has been spending obscene amounts on spin doctors and behavioural scientists.”
This is the same the western world over with the UK being a prime example.
I don’t get the impression the people of Melbourne are compliant when watching anti lockdown demonstrations on youtube. There is a sack Dan Andrews Facebook page
Dan and Jacinta are leaders of an authoritarian lefty woke cult, I don’t see what the appeal is but they have a lot of followers. It’s truly disturbing.
They will be pretty much consigning themselves to Third World status with their destruction of their travel and tourism sectors. Talk about national seppuku.
I’ve reached the point where I’m not bothered if I ever go visit Australia and New Zealand ever. In the past it would have been easy for me to go distance wise but never did because of my previous nationality (easier for me to pass through the eye of the needle than to get an Australian visa) now the issue is the reverse.
But with this lunacy, I will boycott overseas travel and if it means never seeing my family again so be it.
How about a mask with “Prison Under Construction”
Mask slogans are a great idea, especially if it is a co-ordinated campaign.
Except that you need to be wearing one to make your point.
From here, it looks like Crocodile Dundee was all a big myth.
Time to end that friendship haha.
Nice one!
More descendants of prison guards than of prisoners….
This isn’t a terrible idea in theory…it’s exactly how we have herd immunity for diseases such as measles. Young babies cannot have the vaccine but that’s ok as long all the other children do, because enough people are then immune as to protect the babies.
A better idea for covid would’ve been shielding of the vulnerable whilst letting anyone who wanted to go about their normal life spend all summer spreading it amongst themselves, thus creating the herd to protect the shielded.
Let’s not forget about this: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13152253/andrew-cuomo-vaccine-roll-out-trump/
As Cuomo has proven throughout this whole thing, he’s more than ready to let people die in the name of politics.
New York Gov Cuomo has already written and published a book praising himself for the way that he handled the crisis. Go to TrendsResearch, Gerald Celente for uptodate news on him and the Mayor of New York.
One of the (many) inexplicable things about this whole Covid saga is that there’s seems to be some idea that Cuomo has somehow done well in this crisis. This despite the fact that New York has one of the highest death counts in the world, they murdered the vulnerable by sending the infected back into care homes and they paid hospitals a cash bonus for every Covid patient they had and an additional bonus for every one put on a ventilator (overuse of mechanical ventilation was later believed to be associated with a higher death rate). Still, I guess he’s a Democrat with a famous daddy so nothing else matters.
The UK Column showed this contract from the the MHRA, the government drug regulatory body – it appears it is expecting a high volume of Covid-19 vaccine adverse drug reactions when the vaccine is rolled out :
The MHRA urgently seeks an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software tool to process the expected high volume of Covid-19 vaccine Adverse Drug Reaction (ADRs) and ensure that no details from the ADRs’ reaction are missed.
https://archive.is/2JXqO
EXPECTED high volume of Covid-19 vaccine Adverse Drug Reactions.
Thanks for the heads up MHRA.
An honest branch of government? Quelle surprise!
Now there’s a good question: “Minister, are you expecting a high volume of Adverse Reactions among people receiving the vaccine?”
Yes everything is out in the open the days. They think they can get away with anything.
And the government is literally talking about imprisoning anyone who asks what about long term safety studies?
They’ll probably want to shoot anyone inquiring about large volume randomised double-blind tests then …
I am sure it has been suggested.
I agree with all of that. Regulatory agencies routinely receive quite a lot of adverse reaction reports relating to immunisation programs. They are bound to receive many more relating to new vaccines (including new types of vaccines) for a new pathogen. The problem lies more with the initial approval process.
The problem lies with the lies
£1.5 million contract goes to Genpact for this software:
https://www.genpact.com/cora/pharmacovigilance-pvai
Well the government won’t be able to say they weren’t prepared.
An ice cream van operator in Dorking whose cousin happens to be a Tory MP . .
The ice cream van operator would probably know more about what’s going on. As Brendan O’Neil said in his podcast this week “I don’t want to know what a group of prominent scientists think, can’t we hear from a group of prominent plumbers?”
Yes indeed, I would back the plumbers to make better sense than the corrupt government scientists, who are advising the very corrupt UK government.
UK Column generally has a quite few nuggets of information that are well worth knowing.
Yup. Highly topical, wide ranging and bleeding edge current, imho.
The gist of the UK Column piece was that volume of ADRs is expected to be so high that the their existing systems will not be able to cope. The MHRA is treating the Covid-19 vaccine roll out as an emergency, so it can by pass normal purchasing procedures. This is not normal and why casually dismiss it, as it only reinforces the other very valid points you make.
Our email to our (Tory) MP yesterday, blind copied to as many of his other constituents – of all political persuasions – as possible. (We’ve had a couple of positive comments from lefty friends though whether that’s from agreement with our attitude or kneejerk support for Tory-baiting is not clear!) Dear xxxxxx, Things move so fast these days! We are leaving aside for the moment our previous questions about Covid-19 policies that you have consistently failed to answer over the last months in order to concentrate on this: The UK Government’s Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has, since 23 October, had this advertisement for tender on an online supplement to the Official Journal of the EU:- https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:506291-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0 Included in the text is the following; II.2.4)Description of the procurement:The MHRA urgently seeks an Artificial Intelligence (AI) software tool to process the expected high volume of Covid-19 vaccine Adverse Drug Reaction (ADRs) and ensure that no details from the ADRs’ reaction text are missed. Our new questions relate to this item. Can you confirm a) that the UK Government is indeed expecting a high volume of Adverse Drug Reactions in the event of implementing vaccination programmes for Covid-19? b) that… Read more »
Excellent points Miriam.
Thu 12 Nov at 02:46 Berlin Senate Administration confirms uselessness of PCR tests Published on November 11, 2020 by VG. Corona Transition The answer to the question of a member of parliament holds political explosives – also for the federal government. According to information from the Berliner Zeitung, the Senate Department of Health has confirmed “that PCR tests are actually not able to detect an infection in the sense of the Infection Protection Act,” as the paper reports in its online edition. This was stated in the response to an inquiry by individual member of parliament Marcel Luthe. The Member of Parliament asked whether “a so-called PCR test is able” to “distinguish between a ‘reproducible’ and a ‘non-reproducible’ virus”, according to the Berliner Zeitung. The Senate administration had answered with a “No”. For Luthe, the answer was not acceptable. That is what he had said: “It is now urgently time to act rationally and according to the rule of law again. If even the Senate has to admit that the test numbers reported daily do not indicate an infection in the sense of the law, the ordinances also lack the basis. After all, no one can currently say whether and… Read more »
The Germans are all over it aren’t they ! They are leading the way.
Angela Merkel is not a Christian. She’s a New Age Nazi.
URGENT RELEASE: Star attorney Reiner Füllmich will sue Prof. C. Drosten and RKI President Dr. L. Wieler next week in the USA for damages in the billions Published on November 11, 2020 by VG. Corona Transition The US legal system allows class action lawsuits against persons in other countries. Star attorney Reiner Füllmich, who is a member of the Corona Committee, will sue both the chief virologist of the Charité and the president of the Robert Koch Institute in the USA for damages. The lawyer said this in an interview with the Fuldaer Zeitung. When asked against whom exactly the lawsuits would be directed, Füllmich replied: “We are suing those who claim that the PCR test detects infections. These are above all the virologist Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten and Lothar Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute. The lawsuits also target politicians who have relied on Drosten and Wieler’s advice. In court we will ask why the politicians did not listen to other experts – for example the Nobel Prize winner and Stanford Professor John Ioannidis: According to him, the virus is much less dangerous than Drosten and the RKI claim. He has calculated that 0.14 percent of corona patients… Read more »
Thanks for the update Helen
THANK YOU!! Helen, I was wondering how this was getting on but could find nothing on the web.
Crimes Against Humanity, fraudulent PCR Tests Taken To Court –
Interview with Lawyer Reiner Füllmich
11 Nov 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQYzb5_kax8&feature=youtu.be
Fraudulent PCR Tests rolled out by governments around the world.
Corrupt/bogus PCR test = Bogus Cases= Bogus Virus =Bogus Pandemic. Therefore CORRURT BOGUS SCIENCE Life in 2020 has been nothing short of bizarre on one level and horrific on another. How is it possible for almost the entire population of the western world including most of my friends and family have been be so easily duped by ‘THE SCIENCE’? Cases cases cases…numbers in a vacuum ..meaningless numbers but to the duped they induced such fear and trembling that they have willingly abdicated their rights and freedoms to comply to the absurd and inconsistent government enforced measures (legal or otherwise) to ‘protect them’! What will happen when news of the class action law suit reaches the ears of the faithful? It has already hit MSM in Germany it seems. Will the news just rattle or indeed totally undermine their faith? .. a corrupt/bogus PCR test = Bogus Cases= Bogus Virus =. Bogus Pandemic and CORRUPT BOGUS SCIENCE and CORRUPT POLITICIANS. Its not that difficult to connect the dots or is it? Will they rise up and support the resistance and find curiosity and the open-mindedness to question just how this could have happened and is there a GRAND CONSPIRACY A FOOT ?… Read more »
I’m glad that the logistics of the vaccine roll out are being discussed.When I mentioned this the other day everyone on here seemed to think the minus eighty thing was no big deal . I linked tot he Wail article and I note that the comments are overwhelmingly negative. This doesn’t seem to fit with what our (rigged) opinion polls are saying.
Yes Mail commenters are strongly vaccine hostile. One of the few downvoted.
‘The vaccine will not work only prayer will defeat the virus’
Prayer won’t ‘defeat’ the virus. But it may help to strengthen people’s will to defeat the evil totalitarian brutes who are exploiting the virus in order to enslave us.
Never have we more needed in our lifetimes to pray “Deliver us from evil.”
How true. We have been chosen, it seems, to be one of the generations that is confronted with evil stripped naked and bare.
Prayer has its place.
It’s wonderful isn’t it. I think the trolls have surrendered.
I assume that at minus 80 degrees C any vaccine would be frozen solid and take some time to thaw.
Apparently once defrosted it is active for five days in a normal refrigerator.
Not so bad then.
Pop it in the microwave if you’re in a hurry.
Yesterday hancock said 48 hours.
But he gets his numbers from an extremely faecal source.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/coronavirus/opinion/the-biggest-challenge-for-covid-19-vaccines-is-the-cold-supply-chain/
I’m reposting this from a couple of days ago – it says that the vaccine must be kept unfrozen for 1 day at 2-8 degrees, or a maximum of 2 hrs at room temperature. Obviously this is unworkable in numerous countries.
The investigations into the various vaccination programmes and how the media & government are spinning it must be our next priority,
People around me are all relieved there is a vaccine which tells me that the behavioural techniques of those in power are definitely working.
We have so much immediate work to do to undermine the propaganda.
Apparently Iceland are mooted to be getting the distribution contract
Please no – I have given up buying ice cream from Iceland as it is always semi-liquid due to inappropriate temperature control.
listening to Today R4 they had people voicing concern- what escaped me was this vaccine alters DNA. Is that correct?
It doesn’t alter DNA.
There are a lot of medical experts that have said that but they are all being censored. I posted about it earlier.
Local Live
Most prominent story.
School has 100 students at home because of covid.
Turns out 100 pupils are at home because they were on a school bus from which a single child has tested positive+.
We all know that this is meaningless but they don’t report that several key frontline workers will have to stay home to look after them.
Third hand Covid.
100 pupils on a bus? Do you (or the writer) mean ONE bus? This doesn’t make sense. But then, nothing about this virus makes sense.
At my school two bus loads are currently off, my daughter being one of them. Two pupils on two separate buses decided to get PCR tests so they could disrupt education for everyone else. The class bubbles of the positive PCR pupils are also off.
Excellent! It’s going well isn’t it?
They probably quarantined any who had been on that bus anytime that day.
Third hand Long Covid.
DJAustin, In response to your post from yesterday. Sweden may well have seen a doubling every 10 days, but to the grand total of 55 people entering ICU for week 44, that’s 8 per day, in a country of 11.5 million. Yes, that’s pretty much what I’d expect for a country with significant immunity, in fact lower than I would have expected – did you not look at what the absolute size of the figures was before posting? As regards the claim that the Swedes all socially distanced and were basically the same as other countries, that is simply not the case – see article below: they have reduced their movement but by 10-20%, nothing like what happened to us in Lockdown. https://press.telia.se/pressreleases/svenskarnas-resande-tillbaka-paa-februarinivaaer-3004842 Even if what you say were correct, which it clearly isn’t , then that’s still massively preferable to enforced national house imprisonment to achieve pretty much the same thing – at least we must be able to agree on that ? As regards yesterday’s excess death figures for week 44, this was running at 1,000 per week, or 140 per day, which compares to the supposed COVID deaths for that week of 1,800 (John Hopkins/ Worldometer). However… Read more »
I applaud your attempts to reason with such people, but it’s a lost cause. For me, one of the biggest ‘philosophical’ problems with them is that they talk about ‘deaths’ as though a 90-year old succumbing to some illness or other is no different from a healthy 40-year old committing suicide or being beaten to death by a crazed Leftist rioter. The dual meaning of the word ‘death’ is being exploited cynically: ‘Death’ can be an administrative classification, applicable to a person who has passively come to the end of their days. They could finally have been tipped off their perch by any of a large number of ailments including the common cold. ‘Death’ can be applied to a person with years ahead of them who has tragically been killed due to evil, violence or negligence. People like DJ Austin do not distinguish between the two categories. Any intelligent person can see that Covid ‘deaths’ are overwhelmingly category (1) and that policies to avert (1) will result in huge numbers of (2) – probably even more numerically than the number of (1) that would have occurred if we hadn’t bothered. The problem is that appreciating this requires a person to… Read more »
Your observations are to the point. They talk about the vaccine similarly as though it’s the polio vaccine protecting the healthy from a horrible disease. This vaccine’s effects could be best summed up as “we want you to suffer for a few months longer and die of septicaemia rather than a respiratory disease”.
Not the polio vaccine spreading SV40 though, with concomitant cancers for the rest of people’s lives ?
‘Midwits’. Useful word that, I must remember it. Presumably someone who is neither stupid nor particularly bright ?
I recommend this great video on the subject from Edward Dutton, who I think coined this term
https://youtu.be/byb3ffrBYgU
Your dual classification of deaths is an excellent and simple concept which all of us (sceptics) can use. Of course there are intermediate categories where someone might still have some worthwhile life ahead of them but fall victim to an illness which may prove fatal. But most deaths attributed to covid appear to be in your category 1.
I was giving some thought to this earlier in the week, and settled on the distinction of avoidable and unavoidable deaths, on the terms you described.
An unavoidable death is one caused by disease, organ failure or straightforward old age. In other words, ‘natural causes’. An avoidable death is one that occurs as a direct consequence of human action. While some life-threatening conditions are treatable, they’ll get you in the end no matter what.
We are being forced to avoid the unavoidable, while positively inviting the easily avoidable.
That is spot on…I find the same thing with the zealots…they love screaming about deaths deaths deaths and get very angry and emotional about it. Its partly a tactic to get you to back down as you don’t want to be labelled as callous. You have to take a deep breath and calmly point out that some deaths are more equal than others. Perhaps it would be more useful to talk about ‘life years’ rather than lives…after all thats what all cost benefit studies in health care projects do. Somehow though that has been lost in all this and it benefits the lockdown fanatics.
Excellent post, Laurence.
“Even Sweden’s public health agency admits its earlier prediction that the country’s Nordic neighbours such as Finland and Norway would suffer more in the autumn appears wrong. Sweden is currently faring worse than Denmark, Finland and Norway on cases, hospitalisations and deaths relative to the size of their population.” https://www.ft.com/content/1e0ac31d-5abf-4a18-ab3e-eec9744a4d31 Tegnel claims immunity is a mystery. Sweden’s top virologist states that the immunity project has failed. Sweden is not exceptional other than it showed a slower decline due to less severe social distancing from April, and a more rapid increase for the same reason since September. Immunity is not protecting Sweden at the moment relative to their neighbors, nor the rest of Europe. Explain? All-cause mortality will rise to 20-25% above 10-year mean by Christmas. That is not alarmist. It is currently 15% above the 10-year mean, and 700 above previous max (10.8k vs. 10.1k /week). Those are the facts I am afraid, you are welcome to peruse the data here ONS report 5 year but have the full 10 years on that webpage. In April mortality was 100% above historic 10-year mean. Tier and lockdown2 will prevent further transmission, hospitalisations and mortality rises in London and the SE. It… Read more »
So in Sweden deaths are very low, ICU rates are very low, hospitalisations are low but rising quickly based on positive tests which we know are highly unreliable, a critic of the system still criticises the system. Compelling story !
Meanwhile in the UK: August excess deaths -2060 Covid deaths 482, September + 2568 and 690. October (4 weeks to 30/10) 2788 and 3465. All ONS figures and show no significant correlation between COVID deaths and excess deaths.
The governmnet deliberately extended the lockdown to coincide with the beginning of the flu season.
Thanks Lockdown Sceptics for keeping me sane for the last few crazy months.
But a boring off topic lead story, shit loads of ads and increasingly zany below the line conspiracy theory – it’s time for me to leave.
I’m sure I won’t be missed.
But seriously, through the early months of the pandemic this place was extremely important.
If I may leave on this note: the societal response to a nothing special new virus has been textbook mass hysteria.
It’s been myopic, western centric, class based, highly irrational and morally repugnant.
It’s undoubtedly led to more death and suffering than had we just quarantined the sick (insofar as possible), protected the highly vulnerable (insofar as possible) and just let everyone else crack on. Just like we always have when these things come along.
On most of that we all agree.
But whilst I’m sure powerful forces will opportunistically use the situation to further their agendas (why wouldn’t they?), I find all this conspiracy theory implausible.
So I’ll leave you to it.
Bye
In the quotes section of this newsletter it says; Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one. In my view this is the site for those who are coming to their senses one by one, it is a major step to break away from the herd and so to me it is not surprising that a site representing such people will have a range of strong views which they had to have to break away from the herd. I do not agree with some comments, i find some comments too dense and technical, but as happened yesterday, I am in my own small way trying to challenge the hysteria and I find this site useful and great in testing out some of my thoughts and ideas and garnering counter-arguments to objections that are raised with me. And so on balance this site is doing a good job of spearheading some sort of united response to all this virus hoo-haa and nonsense. With this site there is just some chance i might help to make a change, if I left… Read more »
What were you doing yesterday?
Attempting to counter some of the arguments raised by some of the lock-down enthusiasts who were raising adverse comments and objections to the setting up of the Covid Recovery group of MPs.
When we have a government and a scientific group who are clearly lying to the public and have so much disdain for the public, trust will be lost and all kinds of theories about what is going on will naturally be put forward, why wouldn’t they, in an attempt to make sense of what is happening.
I am so grateful that Toby took the risk to set up this site and for all the information and kindness everyone here has shown. I too would have been lost without the support of this site.
For the same reason I view short ads on YouTube that don’t actually offend me as they fund the host to a small degree.
What can be implausible about the concept of a cartel of powerful people?. Nothing new about that. Anyway carry on finding ways to keep people out of masking mania.
It’s not as if we can’t point to examples in the recent past where entire societies became brutally ‘locked down’ for decades, victims of ideology; where any rational person would have decided that the price for chasing this ideological perfection was way too high, but it happened nevertheless.
It’s getting harder and harder to come up with any other conclusion.
You’ve asked some good questions on this site. One of the problems on here is that too few people ask difficult questions which challenge the lockdown sceptic narrative.
Your paragraphs 3 to 6 above demonstrate a clarity of thought which is increasingly missing here.
I’m not one for conspiracy theories either. But this site is not pushing any particular theory, nor is it trying to persecute and silence those who disagree with any particular idea.
Truth will out, if debate continues. If you leave, the debate is impoverished.
Sorry to see you go, JonG. Understand and agree with what you say – it does feel like fighting a war on two fronts sometimes! Wish you well, and hope you change your mind. All the best mate.
“But whilst I’m sure powerful forces will opportunistically use the situation to further their agendas (why wouldn’t they?), I find all this conspiracy theory implausible.”
You contradict yourself.
‘Powerul forces’ ‘pushing agendas’ is by definition a conspiracy, whether opportunistic or not.
I didn’t say that, but since you addressed it to me…
Agenda: things to be done; programme of business (eg manifesto)
OPEN
Conspiracy: banding together for a purpose, often secret, often unlawful; a plot
SECRET
Just sayin’.
Must be awful for you, the company of us plebs. Hope you find a place totally in lockstep with you where you can have absolute control.
Why would anyone announce leaving this site/forum?
Seems like attention seeking stomping off.
It’s called a public flounce. And yes, that’s essentially what it is. “You’re wrong, I’m right, I’m leaving, so there”. Not exactly a tolerant attitude is it. United we stand, divided we fall. It’s just more divisive bullshit.
There’s no reason to leave if you don’t want to .I for one totally agree with you and am not into the conspiracy stuff . If you don’t agree with certain people just ignore them or if you think they’re mental and working against the anti lockdown cause you have a choice either argue it out or move on .Just stick to the topics you feel are important .
I’ve enjoyed your debate Jon G.
“He is worried that they will use the new vaccine news as a “carrot” to keep us locked down for the next three months”
Yep.
I think I could deal with a carrot lock.
Not sure the public will buy that one.
Some doctors have claimed that the new mRNA vaccines , which includes the corona vaccines and haven’t been used before, will alter our DNA. All the articles and videos I had seen previously have now been removed, and the “fact approved” sources take great pains to explain we are not being genetically modified.
From Harvard:
In the case of DNA- or RNA-based vaccines, no antigen is introduced, only the RNA or DNA containing the genetic information to produce the antigen. That is, for this specific class of vaccines, introduction of DNA and RNA provides the instructions to the body to produce the antigen itself .They can be injected in various ways and then they can enter our body’s cells. Those cells will use the RNA sequence of the antigen to synthesize the protein.
So this witches brew of foreign DNA is going to synthesise with my own cells. Yeah, no thanks.
http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/rna-vaccines-a-novel-technology-to-prevent-and-treat-disease/
.
Isn’t that what viruses do though? It’s nothing new.
That said, I wouldn’t be jumping to get in the queue for it either. Certainly not for a virus that is hardly likely to harm me.
That might be like saying genetically modifying a tomato with the genes of rats is the same as conventional cross breeding plants. I am not sure because I am not a doctor, I can only say there are many medical experts saying that these vaccines alter our dna. What is new is that these experts are being silenced – debate is prohibited.
Imagine that being injected into a frail 85-year-old.
I know.
And the risks outweigh any potential benefit. For the three vaccine front runners , a vaccine could meet the companies’ benchmark for success if it lowered the risk of mild Covid-19, but was never shown to reduce moderate or severe forms of the disease, or the risk of hospitalization, admissions to the intensive care unit or death.
Correct. The messenger RNA (mRNA) gives instructions to the DNA in your body until the day you die. You cannot detox / remove this instruction. They do not know what these instructions could do to the body. We are all different and our bodies react differently resulting in different outcomes over different periods of time. Some people might be ok, some might develop autoimmune diseases or other illnesses or some might die.
Always do independent research before you decide to take a vaccine or a prescribed drug and then make an informed decision to take it or not
Nothing to see here…
https://www.cshl.edu/the-non-human-living-inside-of-you/
Urgent request to techies.
Reiner Fuellmich’s videos and transcripts are being cleared off the internet. Please download, backup, save or whatever you clever people do.
To save ourselves from what we face we need all to work at the grass roots..
..plus the lawyers need to take it on at the top. Fuellmich is taking the lead. Please view his work and spread the word.
Please read series of posts from Helen below to learn more
It’s no surprise. He’s taking legal action against Drosten, that’s bound to poke the nest.
They would give the Borgias a run for their money (hope I’ve spelt Borgias correctly)
For every drop of blood the Borgias may have had on their hands (taking account of five centuries of scandalmongering), our Fascist tyrants have a gallon.
“…….our Fascist tyrants have a gallon.” And so much more blood on the way.
The campaign to make the vaccine de facto mandatory is getting under way. From Tom Harwood:
“This is reasonable – by all means refuse the vaccine, but if you do with no valid exemption then don’t expect the same access to state run services. Including schools or the NHS.”
This guy might be a nobody for all I know (I’m Australian), but I expect many others will say the same thing.
They are, all over the world. We have to unite to challenge this.
They are all nobody’s trying to run the life of somebody. Parasites
I can’t believe it! I thought this bloke’s USP was that he was supposed to be a young libertarian. Like Liddle and Phillips, people you thought you understood come out with the most unexpected drivel.
Under every self proclaimed Libertarian is a fascist in waiting!
Err, bollocks.
Yes Melanie Phillips has been awful….yet she has the cheek to talk about dodgy science and the abandonment of reason. Seems like she has gone back to her old pals who once banned her from lunch outings. Will they have her back though? I have long been dubious of the label ‘libertarian’…I dont think its a serious political position. Under pressure it bursts…it has no real philosophical grounding.
The idea that one needs a ‘valid exemption’ to justify refusal of something that is supposedly voluntary shows just how perverted thinking on these issues has become.
Cool, those of us that have a brain, won’t be paying for these services
Absolutely. I look forward to a reduction in my National Insurance contributions and income tax.
I think the argument will be along the lines that you need a yellow fever certificate to travel to/from certain countries so what’s the difference?
I can understand it for international travel to countries where this will be mandated, but it is still a matter for choice.
I paid N. I. contributions for longer than he has been drawing breath! He can F. O.
That’s all fine. Don’t tax me for it and I won’t use it. The NHS is not free. It’s a paid for service.
If that’s the case, can I get a refund? Especially with National Insurance as anyone with a brain knows that’s nothing but a Ponzi scheme.
Tom Harwood looks about 12. The arrogance of youth seems to make him believe what he has to say is important. Twat.
Who cares what he has to say…has he started shaving yet? He makes Owen Jones look mature.
He obviously has not noticed that most state run services have banned access to them lately anyway….how many operations have been postponed indefinitely, how many kids are ‘self isolating’ off school…how many police are unable to attend a burglary due to ‘lack of resources’ etc.
Well for nothing, it was said very well.
Pathologist: ‘Mass testing in Liverpool shows testing we have had has failed.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPG8d3e43Xk
A consultant pathologist has told talkRADIO the mass testing of Liverpool has proven the original coronavirus tests “failed.”
Speaking to Julia Hartley-Brewer, Dr Clare Craig said she was initially against the idea of mass testing, but “what’s happened in Liverpool has completely turned the tables.”
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has said more than 44,000 people have taken part in the city’s mass coronavirus testing pilot, which began on Friday. Dr Craig says only 0.5% of those testing were found to be positive.
“What that means is we have a really good test at showing who has definite Covid. It has shown up the testing that we’ve had to have failed.
“Mass testing the whole of Liverpool is not the key.
“We need to be re-testing people who have been misdiagnosed and get the diagnosis right.”
I’m still wondering if I’m correct in remembering that we were once told the order of priority for a Covid vaccine would be in order of necessity first (ie younger people – because they are more likely to still be working and/or still bringing up children) and then working up to older people later? If my memory serves me aright on this – then I wonder why it’s now due to be done in order of oldest first and then working down the agegroups. Though, of course, we are well aware that older peoples income is likely to be pensions and older people are more likely to need healthcare generally (and therefore might be regarded by some as “useless eaters”). If my memory is right that the order of priorities for receipt of the vaccine has been changed from “most useful first” to “eldest first” then that makes me even more suspicious of the vaccine than I was. (NB: I say this as someone that is deemed to be in current tranche 5, the 65-69 agegroup and my own income comes from pension these days).
Unless there’s strong evidence to the contrary it seems pointless giving it to the young as I do not believe there was any measurement of how much it reduced the infectiousness of the vaccinated. If it doesn’t, why bother? The young don’t need it and the unhealthy old probably shouldn’t have it.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi-25-september-2020/jcvi-updated-interim-advice-on-priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination
This Vaccines Committee order of priority is dated 25 Sept. Interested to know if you, or anyone, recall an earlier version saying the opposite of what they now advise?
They also say that no cost benefit analysis enters into the priorities – on the rather odd grounds that the pandemic emergency is too urgent to do so. The priorities appear similar to flu, i.e.on grounds of susceptibility to bad outcomes not utility to society.
The MSM more and more is “tweaking”the facts to suit their narrative.
TV news reported on a 79 year old man who died WITH Covid and it was reported that he was overweight, had type 2 diabetes and suffered from asthma.
Pictures of this gentleman suggested that he was very overweight (obese?)
According to the report he lived life to the full being a member of a rock tribute band and also a biker, a life truly “lived to the full”
My sincere condolences to his family for the loss of a husband and father and I have made these comments with the greatest respect and to have had such an obviously much loved man in your family must be a great comfort.
Any other time the MSM would have used this story to warn against the dangers of being overweight and the associated problems such as diabetes; if people think I am being disrespectful, I am definitely not, I just want the MSM not to “fashion” a sad story to push their views.
And in other news, reports are coming in that a 79 year old man has died. This marks the first time a man aged 79 has ever died and scientists are concerned that this could indicate that men, and perhaps even women, over the age of 78 may, in fact, die.
We’ll now go live to our Health Correspondent, Fiona Appleshape. Fiona, this death seems to have confounded some of the public health experts, what possible explanation for it have they come up with?
Thank you for your support, Mark, I agonized for quite a while before I posted it, as I didn’t want it to appear as if I was disrespectful.
Don’t worry about it FP. You and many other posters on this site demonstrate very clearly the humanity that those who rule our lives are lacking.
Thank you, Charley.
You were not being at all disrespectful. Its the MSN that is doing that by using the case to push their evil narrative. Keep doing what you are doing!
She is a plant and normally wouldn’t give the fat slob a second glance
Latest from The Bernician. Should stir up the ‘nest of vipers’.
COVID-1984 UPDATE |11-11-20COVID-1984 PCP UPDATE | At 11:11 pm on the 11th day of the 11th month, charges of criminal fraud by non-disclosure were laid against the secretary of state for mandatory vaxxtermination.
He has been charged with knowingly failing to disclose to MPs that the fake government lurgy was reclassified as not being a Highly Contagious Infectious Disease, before they voted on the treacherous Coronavirus Act 2020.
Had he done so, there can be no doubt in the mind of any reasonable individual there would have been no possible justification for its enactment.
HCID. Yes, our MP admitted to us that he wasn’t aware that this had happened.
Margaret, as many of us said to you the other day it was his job to find out. He draws a high enough salary and was negligent, as are all the others, to not look into this himself. I’m pretty sure his post bag had a lot of indicators in it but he’s chose to just consume the information the Secretary of State deemed to give him.
Totally agree Steph. I was actually quite shocked by how little he, and presumably other MPs, knew about SARS-COVID 2.
I had been writing to him for months with facts and figures including the HCID information.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequence-infectious-diseases-hcid
Ignorance of facts is not a valid legal excuse ……
Why wasn’t he aware ? we have been for months.
I feel wary about the claims made at the Bernician. Didn’t they state that 10 MPs had resigned some weeks ago in fear of the action they said they would be taking? Would that not have come out by now if true?
Yes, I understand your reservations, but on the plus side he seems to have gained a lot of credibility through his mortgage fraud work. We will soon know whether it is all ‘smoke and mirrors’ in which case his credibility will disappear overnight. On the other hand ….
Amazing that he didn’t know, unless he’s lying, again
The consequence of designation as an HCID, such as Ebola, is that all patients must be transferred to and treated in (from memory) one of only 2 hospitals in England, in London and Newcastle. The other nations have one designated hospital each.
Presumably this was recognised to be impractical as Covid patient numbers went up. Presumably also it was decided that the illness could be treated in most hospitals if appropriate PPE was used. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.
Does the Bernician know this? The information is on the gov website.
https://twitter.com/libertyhq/status/1326568317319000064?s=20
It’s uplifting to realise amidst all the nonsense there are such wonderful human beings that we can look up to like the Irish doctor Dr Marcus De Brun. Below is a link to the video (Un)Masking the truth with Dr Marcus De Brun
Dr Marcus DeBrun (GP), resigned from the IMC following the complete neglect by the HSE, our government and NPHET to adequately provide for the care of the elderly in Irish nursing homes during the early days of the Covid19 crisis. He felt his only option to raise awareness, was to speak out publicly at a Health Freedom Ireland Rally in August 2020. He paid a high price for listening to his conscience and telling the TRUTH. Listen to his story here and see the doctor and the man behind the story. It’s very insightful piece into how truth telling is not viewed favourably in this country
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Kn_OseTbk&feature=youtu.be
A man of integrity. So vanishingly rare, so precious.
Hopefully there will come a time soon when such people are recognised.
Re. your first point: every time ‘protecting the vulnerable’ is written or spoken my heart sinks and I think, well that translates into care home and hospital rules regarding visits will continue.
So the healthy asymptomatic will be tested and those suffering serious health problems will continue to to be denied access/treatment to medical services? I am lost for words.
“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8933375/Mass-Covid-testing-scheme-Liverpool-rolled-66-authorities.html.” and
”https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/10/gps-in-england-will-scale-back-care-to-deliver-covid-vaccines
And the Grauniad zombies applaud loudly, I presume.
The difficulties with zero C-19 policy in summer NZ. One new case without contact in the community working in a dep store (with mask).Another in the community connected with MoD outbreak connected with isolation facility. Reconsidering an Auckland lockdown? https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-coronavirus-two-new-community-cases-say-chris-hipkins-and-ashley-bloomfield/55ZLD4ETLFJGY3YUQRHV6W43KE/?ref=readmore https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-co-owner-of-store-where-new-case-works-says-ministry-has-it-wrong-as-goff-goes-on-attack/BNDW6PVIMUQRQAJ6Q7Y5QR3DGA/ https://twitter.com/covid19nz/status/1326767789529509891 https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/fresh-covid-outbreak-in-new-zealand-as-auckland-university-of-technology-student-tests-positive-c-1566556 “Panic never helps with COVID-19. We’re still in the very early stages of this case investigation,”(Dr Bloomfield) The new case, a woman aged between 20 and 29, became symptomatic on the morning of November 9 and was tested on the 10th. The positive test was confirmed this morning and the woman has been moved to quarantine today. Health officials are going through the woman’s movements to contact trace and try to ascertain the source of the infection. The woman lives alone, has limited community outings and is a student at AUT but hasn’t been to classes since mid-October so there isn’t a concern of transmission on campus. She works at the A-Z Collections store in High St. The individual went to work at A-Z Collection clothing store in High Street, Central Auckland from Sunday 8 November to Wednesday 11 November in a customer facing role, as a shop assistant. They were wearing a mask while working… Read more »
They look more like guys from a Soviet Show trial! Anyhow, If you all get a second, please give our podcast a try. Recorded a new episode yesterday. Should be out over the weekend!
https://therealnormalpodcast.buzzsprout.com/