Have yourself a Merry Little Lockdown
The Prime Minister warned yesterday that he could not rule out a new lockdown and we do appear to be heading that way. The Telegraph has more.
Boris Johnson has put the country on notice that a third lockdown could be on its way in January as several Government scientific advisers warned restrictions could need to be tougher than before. While the Prime Minister said he hoped to avoid joining Wales and Northern Ireland in imposing new lockdowns after Christmas, he warned that “the reality is that the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks”.
Speaking on a trip to Bolton, he also signalled that decisions on COVID-19 restrictions in the new year would depend on how people approach the five-day window when social distancing rules are relaxed…
It came as new estimates released by Sage showed the R number has risen from 0.9-1.0 to between 1.1 and 1.2, suggesting the virus is at risk of growing exponentially again.
In a statement, the Sage sub-committee SPI-M also warned that modelling suggesting that “additional mixing” during the Christmas period may have a “large impact on post-Christmas prevalence”, including a “slight shift towards a higher proportion of cases in older and more vulnerable age groups.”
One idea for avoiding Lockdown 3 appears to be calling it something else, the Daily Mail reports:
Shops could be shut and commuters ordered to work from home under a draconian Tier 4 regime. The plans are being drawn up as a way of avoiding a third national lockdown – but would contain curbs as tough as those seen in previous shutdowns.
A Government source last night told the Mail the proposal was back on the table. “The Department of Health is pulling out the folder marked Tier Four,” the insider said. “We are not there yet but we are clearly in a worrying situation. It probably starts with closing non-essential retail and strengthening the work from home message.
But there are lots of things you could add to that, it’s still early days.” Other sectors likely to be considered for closure in Tier Four include gyms, swimming pools and hairdressers.
Yesterday evening, it was reported in the Telegraph that London and Kent may not be in Tier 3 for very long – although it’s not good news.
An emergency toughening of COVID-19 restrictions could be announced as soon as Saturday after Boris Johnson was handed alarming new evidence of the transmissibility of a mutant strain of the virus.
The Prime Minister called an unscheduled meeting of senior ministers on Friday night to discuss how to contain the new variant, which has so far been largely confined to London and the South East.
Travel restrictions are among the measures under discussion, with one source suggesting the Government could even restrict travel between the South East and other parts of the country.
An alternative would be to ban commuters from travelling into London, after the mutant strain, which originated in Kent, spread rapidly to London and then the home counties.
Much of the South East was put into Tier 3 by the Government only on Thursday, but the new information about the transmissibility of the mutant strain was so worrying that ministers fear they may have to act immediately.
Government scientists at the Porton Down laboratory in Wiltshire have been conducting experiments on the new strain, and have confirmed ministers’ fears about it being far more infectious than the original strain of the virus.
One source in the scientific community said there were “concerns in Government” about the new strain after the evidence was presented to ministers on Friday afternoon.
“The evidence that the new strain of the virus more easily transmits from one person to another has hardened up,” said the source.
The meeting of ministers was expected to continue late into the night, with Whitehall sources refusing to rule out a press conference on Saturday to announce additional restrictions.
Mutant new strain? As Dr Mike Yeadon has pointed out, there are at least 10,000 variants of the dozens of respiratory viruses we refer to as the common cold. It’s completely normal for new variants of these sorts of viruses to emerge, dominate for a while, and then recede.
Meanwhile, the ONS produced a new report, which estimated that the virus surged by 86,000 in the week ending December 12th, suggesting the effect of Lockdown 2 wore off just days after it ended. MailOnline reports:
The Office for National Statistics today estimated that 567,300 people in England were infected with the virus by December 12th, up from 481,500 a week earlier.
The number marked the first time in a month that infections had risen after restrictions were tightened across the country to try and control the second wave.
These rules worked for a while, with ONS figures showing that total infections plummeted by almost 200,000 in the space of a month from a peak of 654,000, but cases are now rising again in the run-up to Christmas.
Tim Spector’s ZOE survey App, which counts symptomatic people testing positive, presents a less alarming picture, estimating that there 302,652 infected people in the whole of the UK on December 12th, representing 0.45% of the population.
Tim Spector is unsure why this should be.
Stop Press: Dr Clare Craig has summed up the story of Lockdown 2 in a single tweet.
Has the Evidence of Asymptomatic Spread been Overstated?
Dr Clare Craig, a pathologist and regular contributor to Lockdown Sceptics, and her colleague Dr Jonathan Engler have examined the research evidence behind the claim that COVID-19 can by transmitted by asymptomatic individuals. They have written an important paper on the subject which we are publishing today. They have summarised their findings as follows:
Harmful lockdown policies and mass testing have been justified on the assumption that asymptomatic transmission is a genuine risk. Given the harmful collateral effects of such policies, the precautionary principle should result in a very high evidential bar for asymptomatic transmission being set. However, the only word which can be used to describe the quality of evidence for this is woeful. A handful of questionable instances of spread have been massively amplified in the medical literature by repeatedly including them in meta-analyses that continue to be published, recycling the same evidence base.
There are three types of evidence for asymptomatic spread: studies showing people test positive while asymptomatic (the bulk of the work); studies measuring viral load and concluding from it that people with no symptoms can transmit virus; and studies showing actual transmission.
The first two are not proper evidence that spread can occur.
It is important to carefully distinguish purely asymptomatic (individuals who never develop any symptoms) from pre-symptomatic transmission (where individuals do eventually develop symptoms). To the extent that the latter phenomenon, which has in fact happened only very rarely, is deemed worthy of public health action, appropriate strategies to manage it (in the absence of significant asymptomatic transmission) would be entirely different and much less disruptive than those actually adopted.
Many early studies which purported to demonstrate the phenomenon of asymptomatic transmission were from China, yet the fact that Chinese studies are only published following Government approval must bring their reliability into question. Nevertheless, the high volume of these studies spawned significant salience of the issue within the medical community, and an assumption of the likelihood of asymptomatic transmission being an important contributory factor. There then followed a number of meta-analyses examining the issue of asymptomatic transmission which tended to aggregate and give equal weight to studies regardless of origin or quality. In this way, these meta-analyses, given undue credibility by their association with reputable universities, amplified minimal evidence of asymptomatic spread to an importance the data did not warrant.
A review of the literature has been submitted to the BMJ and is included here as a preprint. In it the papers most frequently cited in support of the existence of asymptomatic transmission were examined. Despite our criticisms of the sources of the data above, we did in fact find only six case reports of viral transmission by people who throughout remained asymptomatic, and this was to a total of seven other individuals. However, all of these were in studies with questionable methodology. These were: In Italy, two asymptomatic cases allegedly passing the virus onto two others, in Brunei, two asymptomatic cases allegedly passing the virus onto three others, and in China, two asymptomatic cases allegedly passing the virus onto two others
In all these studies, confirmation of “cases” was made via PCR testing without regard to the possibility that any of the cases found might be false positives. The case numbers found, are in any event extremely small and certainly not sufficient to conclusively determine that asymptomatic transmission is a major component of spread.
It is also notable that, in what would seem to represent an abrupt volte face by the CCP, a further (presumably Government-approved) study from China was recently published which entirely contradicts the earlier conclusions regarding the phenomenon of asymptomatic transmission, which had been driven by Chinese data in particular, early in the pandemic.
Some might conclude that that study lacks the credibility one might expect for a paper published in Nature; it is claimed, for example, that they PCR-tested 92% of Wuhan’s population (~10m individuals) over a 19-day period at the end of May, and found just 300 positive PCR tests, implying a false positive rate of no greater than 0.003%. Further, it is claimed that while 100% of the 300 PCR positive cases were asymptomatic, there were zero symptomatic PCR positive cases out of ~10m tested during a period only a few weeks after the epidemic had peaked in Wuhan.
If this seems incredible, then surely that has serious implications for the way in which earlier studies from China – data from which formed a significant part of the worldwide evidence base for asymptomatic transmission – should be regarded.
You can read the paper here.
Children Should Not be Demonised
Today we’re publishing a contribution by Arabella Hastie. As well as being a regular reader of Lockdown Sceptics, Arabella is member of the child and clinical psychology group in UsforThem, a group which has actively campaigned to keep schools open, functional and free of masks. She writes of the devastating impact social distancing rules can have on children.
“Don’t Kill Granny” was the eye-catching phrase used by Preston Council to scare young people into sticking to the regulations back in August. Young people knew that the risk to themselves was almost non-existent. They had complied with five months of lockdown – missing out on education, exams and social development to help flatten the curve – and now they wanted to see friends in the sun. The Council and then the Health Secretary used this phrase as a deliberate policy to scare and guilt-trip our children and young people into compliance. More frighteningly, it marked a moment in the pandemic when children and young people have become the scapegoats for any increase in transmission rates. The Government has admitted that increasing fear in the general public was central to their strategy to ensure compliance. Still, it is low when this is targeted directly at children in a way that could scar them for life.
The calling by unions and local councils to close schools early or restart them later increases the sense that children are to blame. Indeed, Sadiq Khan was explicitly saying “if the government isn’t careful, these children will pass on the virus to vulnerable people because the rules are relaxed”. If Granny dies or is not able to visit because you have to isolate – then it is all your fault.
Worth reading in full.
Sweden Tightens the Rules
There was sad news from Sweden yesterday, with the Government announcing its toughest COVID-19 restrictions yet. They remain, however, lighter than Tier 3 and notably light on enforcement. The Spectator‘s Fraser Nelson has more.
Big news in Sweden this afternoon where Stefan Löfven, the Prime Minister, has just tightened COVID-19 restrictions. Still no lockdown, but there’s now a rule of four for restaurants (it had previously been six) and an 8pm curfew on the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants (it had been 10pm). A cap is to be placed on numbers in shops, gyms and swimming pools: universities and sixth-forms will switch to remote learning until January 24th. But beyond that there are no new laws (or restrictions for private property). Löfven said he still has faith that Swedes will respond to his voluntary approach. “I hope and believe that everyone in Sweden understands the seriousness,” he said.
Anders Tegnell was notable by his absence at the press conference where the new rules were announced. The Prime Minister was joined instead by Johan Carlson, the chief of the Public Health Agency. There was new guidance on the use on masks:
From January 7th, face masks will be recommended on public transport, albeit only at certain times. Given Sweden’s status as pretty much the only country in the Western world not to recommend masks, this is quite a turnaround. In the press conference, journalists sought to tease out what Johan Carlson, director of the Public Health Agency, made of the u-turn. “There are no sanctions, just recommendations,” he said. He went on to restate his problem with masks: they can give a false sense of security and not much protection and discourage social distancing he said. Asked if he now believed there was scientific evidence for them, he said: in hospitals, yes. But outside of them, “we don’t think it will have a big effect. It might have a positive effect.” The problem, he said, is that wearing a face mask is easy; social distancing is hard. If you end up with more people travelling on crowded buses, feeling that the masks protect them, “then that’s not the outcome we want”.
Fraser Nelson’s article is worth reading in full.
Perhaps the King of Sweden has intervened behind the scenes. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that King Carl XVI Gustaf has branded the country’s COVID-19 approach a failure:
Sweden’s king has admitted that the Scandinavian country has failed with its coronavirus strategy, which has left it with a far higher death toll from the pandemic than its Nordic neighbours. Carl XVI Gustaf told Swedes in his annual Christmas address that the country had suffered “enormously in difficult conditions” and that it was “traumatic” that many relatives of the almost 8,000 people to die with COVID-19 had not been able to say goodbye to them. “I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died and that is terrible. It is something we all have to suffer with,” the king added, in comments released on Thursday and due to be broadcast in full on Monday.
The royal court later clarified that the king was not criticising Sweden’s coronavirus strategy but was referring “to the whole of Sweden and the whole society. He is showing empathy for all those affected.”
Anders Tegnell declined to comment on the King’s remarks, but did defend his approach.
Asked by the Financial Times if he should have done more to reduce the spread, Mr Tegnell said that many countries with strict lockdowns had had high infection rates, and that the situation was “very complicated”. He added: “In Sweden we do the same as all other countries: we do our best to keep the spread as low as possible. We can see countries using a lot of different measures, and we cannot see any clear correlation between measures and the stop of the spread.”
Worth reading in full.
Indeed. Where is the correlation between the severity of the restrictions imposed and the containment of the virus?
The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Panic
A few days ago, tagesschau reported that Austria’s mass-testing programme has failed to attract the masses.
The COVID-19 situation in Austria remains tough. In order to get the numbers under control, the Government has provided rapid testing, but there was limited uptake. The testing essentially came to an end in five of Austria’s nine federal states last Sunday, but participation fell short of expectations. In Vienna, just 14% of the population took part, in Salzburg around 20% and in lower Austria under 38%. The Government has expected 60% of the country to take part…
In response to the relatively low level of participation in rapid testing, the Government is considering incentives to encourage a greater participation in the next round. The Ministry for Health is considering an incentive system. Residents of Tyrol could have themselves tested free of charge from December 19th until the New Year, Governor Günther Platter has said. Upper Austria also wants to extend testing.
Yesterday, it was announced that Austria is to re-enter lockdown on Boxing Day, but with an eventual get-out-jail-free card. The Local.at has the story.
Austria announced on Friday it will enter its third coronavirus lockdown on December 26th, but those who take part in a planned series of mass testing programme in January will be allowed more freedoms. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced on Friday evening that Austria would enter a three-phase lockdown process in order to “return to normal”.
“We have decided that we will spend Christmas as planned, but then tighten the measures again,” said Kurz. The goal is to likely to achieve a seven-day incidence of less than 100 cases per 100,000 residents and then keep the numbers low through mass tests, Kurz said. Currently, Austria’s seven-day incidence is at 205 per 100,000 residents.
Austria relaxed lockdown measures somewhat on December 7th, but case numbers and fatalities have remained high. The measures were “the only possible way to re-open tourism, cultural life, restaurants and cafes during the pandemic and at the same time avoid numbers exploding again”, Kurz said.
Movement outside the home will once again be restricted to purposes such as buying food or taking exercise. The lockdown measures include distance learning in all schools when they return on January 7th, with face-to-face lessons again allowed from January 18th. The big request is, from December 26th on, don’t meet anyone again, said the Chancellor…
There will however be another round of mass tests from January 16th to 18th, with those who test negative allowed to go shopping and meet people again. “For all those who are not willing to be tested, the lockdown rules apply for a week longer,” said the Chancellor.
Hotels and cultural venues will be expected to check test results on arrival, while the police will carry out random checks in other areas, Kurz said…
Those who do not take part in the mass tests will also have to wear FFP 2 masks where otherwise a simpler face covering would suffice, for example while at work or buying food. Rules surrounding how and whether to allow outdoor sports, including skiing, will be left for local authorities to determine.
Worth reading in full.
Round-up
- “Hospitals busier with Covid now than they were in first wave” – Misleading headline on this Times story. The first sentence begins: “A fifth of hospital trusts in England are dealing with more coronavirus patients than at the height of the first wave…” So, in fact, 80% of hospitals are less busy than they were in March/April.
- “Brazil’s supreme court rules COVID-19 vaccine can be mandatory” – The Telegraph reports on Brazil’s supreme court ruling that Brazilians can be “required but not forced” to take the vaccine
- “Brits don’t appear to have been influenced by anti-vaxxer” – Writing for the Spectator, Ross Clark analysis the recent ONS survey which suggests that 78% of adults are likely to take the vaccine
- “Covid: We Persist in Having the Wrong Debate“– Omar S. Khan attacks the notion that we must obviously sacrifice so much in life to tackle Covid
- “How to stop the NHS being overwhelmed” – We should look to expand NHS capacity and resources, writes Ann Bradshaw in Spiked
- “Mass testing in schools on brink of collapse as unions back heads who refuse to take part” – The Telegraph reports that the plans for mass testing in schools is already coming apart at the seams
- “Are hospitals REALLY creaking under the strain of Covid before Christmas?” – MailOnline debunks the idea that the NHS is full. It has more space than it did 12 months ago
- “Join me, parents, to fight mass testing in schools” – Anna Rayner in the Conservative Woman, issuing a rallying cry against mass testing in schools
- “The credulous cult of lockdown” – Julian Mann on how lockdown appears remarkably like a religious cult, in the Conservative Woman
- “The PM must set an end date to the inevitable cycle of lockdowns” – Patrick O’Flynn in the Telegraph says that Boris must tell us when this is all going to end
- “Is Covid a high risk to younger adults?” – Donald J. Boudreaux examines the question on the AIER blog
- “The work from home boom is here to stay. Get ready for pay cuts” – Noah Buhayer in Bloomberg reporting on a new trend to emerge from COVID-19. White collar workers are heading to the coast and companies are reducing their pay
- “James and Laura’s Chinwag 6” – James Delingpole and Laura Perrins have another chat, each giving it both barrels on the matter of lockdowns
- “It’s not up to the Government to cancel Christmas” – Juliet Samuel makes a good point in the Telegraph
- “End the COVID-19 Lockdowns? Two Epidemiologists debate” – A Soho Forum Debate by the Reason Foundation, pitching Professor Martin Kulldorff, of Great Barrington fame, against Professor Andrew Noymer, signatory of the John Snow Memorandum
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Five today: “Nowhere to Run” by Martha and the Vandellas, “The End” by the Doors, “Road to Nowhere” by the Talking Heads, “Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of The Screw” by Opera North and “Pointless“, the theme tune to the TV quiz show.
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 so you can share it. To do that, click on the headline of a particular story and a link symbol will appear on the right-hand side of the headline. Click on the link and the URL of your page will switch to the URL of that particular story. You can then copy that URL and either email it to your friends or post it on social media. Please do share the stories.
Social Media Accounts
You can follow Lockdown Sceptics on our social media accounts which are updated throughout the day. To follow us on Facebook, click here; to follow us on Twitter, click here; to follow us on Instagram, click here; to follow us on Parler, click here; and to follow us on MeWe, click here.
Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, from News 1130, the announcement of an all new and inclusive policy at the Provincial Court of British Columbia.
In an effort to be more inclusive of transgender people, the Provincial Court of British Columbia has created a new policy asking lawyers to provide pronouns when introducing themselves and their clients in court. While some lawyers have already started including pronouns in their introductions, the court will now expect everyone to share how they wish to be referred to.
In a press release, the provincial court provided an example of such an introduction: “My name is Ms Jane Lee, spelled L-E-E. I use she/her pronouns. I am the lawyer for Mx Joe Carter who uses they/them pronouns.”
The court said the policy change will improve the experiences of gender diverse people in the legal system and would help avoid confusion and the need for corrections when someone is misgendered.
“Using incorrect gendered language for a party or lawyer in court can cause uncomfortable tension and distract them from the proceedings that all participants should be free to concentrate on,” the press release said.
“I think it’s a fantastic development for the court system in B.C.,” said Lisa Nevens, a Vancouver-based civil litigator who is gender non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Nevens said they already introduce themself with pronouns and the “Mx” title, but this new policy will take the onus off people who may be more likely to be misgendered.
Having a practice where everyone just does it, you don’t have to make assumptions, you don’t have to stand out in order to be properly addressed in court. It will make the system more inclusive for everyone and more accessible for lawyers and witnesses and other participants alike,” they said. They said the courts still have more work to do, including moving away from gendered titles for judges such as “my lord” and “my lady”.
Wednesday’s policy change is a step in the right direction, according to barbara findlay, a queer feminist lawyer with more than four decades of experience who does not capitalize her name. “Up until now, courts, like everybody else, have judged the gender of counsel either by how counsel looks or by the kind of name they have: a boy name or a girl name,” she said. “First of all, those judgments are often wrong – and second, male and female do not exhaust the categories.”
Findlay said she has seen judges misgender lawyers in court, creating a “difficult situation” in which the individual doesn’t want to contradict the judge but also doesn’t want the mistake to remain on the record uncorrected.
“So, really the only way for a court – or for anybody – to know what someone’s gender is, is to ask,” findlay said.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: On Thursday, Woman and Equalities Minister Liz Truss gave an address at the Centre of Policy studies to announce the Government’s new equality agenda. She tore into identity politics.
Today, I am outlining a new approach to equality in this country. This will be founded firmly on Conservative values. It will be about individual dignity and humanity… not quotas and targets, or equality of outcome. It will reject the approach taken by the Left … captured as they are by identity politics, loud lobby groups and the idea of “lived experience“. It will focus fiercely on fixing geographic inequality… addressing the real problems people face in their everyday lives… using evidence and data.
Study after study has shown that unconscious bias training does not improve equality, and in fact can backfire by reinforcing stereotypes and exacerbating biases. That’s why this week we announced we will no longer be using it in Government or civil service. Whether it’s “affirmative action”… forced training on “unconscious bias”… or lectures on “lived experience”… the Left are in thrall to ideas that undermine equality at every turn. The absurdity was summed up just this week by the Mayor of Paris being fined for employing so many female managers she had breached a quota.
Worth reading in full.
The speech got good reviews from Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph and Brendan O’Neil in the Spectator.
“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. Another reader has created an Android app which displays “I am exempt from wearing a face mask” on your phone. Only 99p, and he’s even said he’ll donate half the money to Lockdown Sceptics, so everyone wins.
If you’re a shop owner and you want to let your customers know you will not be insisting on face masks or asking them what their reasons for exemption are, you can download a friendly sign to stick in your window here.
And here’s an excellent piece about the ineffectiveness of masks by a Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry. See also the Swiss Doctor’s thorough review of the scientific evidence here.
Stop Press: There is a story in both the Irish Times and RTE of a man given two months in jail for failing to wear his mask properly while on public transport, shortly after it became mandatory in Ireland. LifeSite, meanwhile, says the individual concerned was convicted for failing to give his name and address to the police officer and an additional charge of using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” was considered.
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 in October 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 Toby’s 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 three quarters of a million 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.
Update 4: The three GBD authors plus Prof Carl Heneghan of CEBM have launched a new website collateralglobal.org, “a global repository for research into the collateral effects of the COVID-19 lockdown measures”. Follow Collateral Global on Twitter 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. Alas, he’s now reached the end of the road, with the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his appeal. Dolan has no regrets. “We forced SAGE to produce its minutes, got the Government to concede it had not lawfully shut schools, and lit the fire on scrutinizing data and information,” he says. “We also believe our findings and evidence, while not considered properly by the judges, will be of use in the inevitable public inquires which will follow and will help history judge the PM, Matt Hancock and their advisers in the light that they deserve.”
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.
And last but not least there’s the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. A High Court judge refused permission for the FSU’s judicial review last week, but the FSU may appeal the decision. Check here for updates.
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
We know they are lying. They know they are lying, They know that we know they are lying. We know that they know that we know they are lying. And still they continue to lie.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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 would give up essential liberty to purchase 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.
Alexander 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
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C.S. Lewis
The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants.
Albert Camus
We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan
Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
George Orwell
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Marcus Aurelius
Necessity is the plea for every restriction of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
William Pitt the Younger
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
Joseph Goebbels (attributed)
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.
H.L. Mencken
I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.
Thomas Paine
Shameless Begging Bit
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And Finally…
As Christmas is likely to look a bit different this year, Spectator Life has published Santa’s guide to staying safe by Andy Shaw.
Letter to Santa
Due to age and obesity, Santa has been deemed ‘at risk’ and has been shielding with a support bubble of elves for most of the year. As part of his mission to save Christmas, Boris Johnson is rumoured to have let Saint Nick jump the queue for a vaccine.
Nevertheless, letters sent to Santa are screened for pathogens by elves retrained as Covid wardens. Non lick envelopes are requested wherever possible.
Santa has binned all requests for board games (SAGE stipulates that sharing dice and cards could be lethal). Likewise balls and equipment for team sports have been scrupulously crossed off lists. Father Christmas is keeping a close eye on the next round of government regulations in case they include a quota for the number of presents allowed per household.
Santa’s visit
Santa used to love visiting poorly children in hospital and old people in care homes. This year, he fears becoming known as Santa The Super Spreader, St. Nicholas of Covid or Father Christ-All-Mighty Keep Your Distance.
Santa may land his sleigh on your roof, but he won’t venture down your chimney. Touching stockings or consuming mince pies prepared by those outside his bubble is strictly forbidden. However, it is hoped that the elfish Matt Hancock is left out for Santa to take with him back to the North pole. He can make up for his appalling behaviour by packing presents for next year’s Christmas.
Very funny and worth reading in full
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Sick of this lockdown. Will it be over by Easter? Any point booking summer holidays? And what if this vaccine doesn’t make a difference?
And anyone know how much all this is costing and what will happen when the fools run out of money?
(Edit button not working for above post for some reason)
It isn’t supposed to end , these are the early stages of an evolution.
As for running out of money, no problem there just research the IMF financial reset proposals .
The govts will hoover up delinquent assets and hand that over to the global banking cartel in as collateral.
Yep….this will give the elite all their money back. We (scum masses) don’t deserve money or liberty. Just bread and circuses. Elite get financial reset and all the control their NPD sociopathy craves.
I’ve more or less wrote the same thing, Bill. Those who haven’t researched the goals of those pushing the scamdemic need to get moving so they can better understand why it is happening. It also makes the idea of a virus being responsible for this tyranny almost comical.
Take a loan from the World Bank, the EU or the IMF.
If we are in a “dress rehearsal” the vaccine will work a dream. And next time a new virus comes along (is created?) compliance and zealotry for lockdowns and the rest will be even greater, since it will be proof that suppressing the virus until a vaccine comes along is a viable option. On the other hand, if we are in the midst of the controlled demolition of the current economic systems to usher in the Great Reset it will have no effect. Like lockdowns, social distancing, masks, track and trace….
lose lose then? Sweet dreams.
I wrote very similar comments to this all the way back in the Summer and was poo-pooed on by the regulars on this site for being a misery gut. Seems people are starting to finally wake up.
likewise
I wonder how the likes of Annie feel right now, she being one of the first smart arses who ridiculed me for predicting they’d cancel Christmas among other predictions that have already started to unfold.
Just saw on a popular cruisers blog that royal Caribbean are thinking about refusing non vaxers access to their holidays. Well that’s me buggered. Mind you I was getting less and less keen when I heard about no buffet, masks everywhere, one way round the ship, social distancing everywhere, theatres with every other seat taken out of action. No karaoke, And only RC day trips allowed. In your room welcome pack is hand sanitizer and a few masks. Sounds lovely.
If they want to go bust then they’re sure doing a good job.
Boycott!
wild camping trips on hikes from home it is then. Dam the torpedos
my gut feeling is 12 months from now we will roughly be in the same place. Masks, social distancing and non essential shops open
I agree. There will be no end to this unless we end it.
Too many still think compliance is the way out; as we know here, it is only the way deeper into the eel trap.
people need to wake up remove the Johnson Government and Labour forever
Unless we can get some traction waking up thee zombies.
It’s hard to say this, but be grateful of what you have right now and enjoy Christmas to its full extent. Next year, unless the public revolt, we won’t have Christmas at all. This year they’ve already tried to stop care homes putting decorations up, and, at this point, they’ve made Christmas and new year celebrations illegal with the exception of one day.
Next year they will find a reason to stop traditional celebrations altogether.
My fear is the inevitable psychological vacuum we will feel after Christmas and a pitiful New Year ‘celebration’ when the decorations come down. Depression is going going to hit untold levels of severity.
In 12 months from now, their intention is to have devolved us into a nation without identity and completely obedient to their ‘rules’ while ownership of property is rapidly reduced and dependency on the state sky-rockets.
We must do whatever we can to stop them achieving this.
I seriously advise you not to book anything.
Stock up.
Link up with like-minded people.
Clear out your bank account and buy real useful stuff.
Batten down the hatches.
What sort of real useful ”stuff’?
Pitchforks?
It will be your fault, or our fault, or the Russians or the Chinese, anybody’s fault but their own in fact.
Sorry Hugh, but we’re just past the beginning of this madness. While our lives are being ruined, a big powershift is occurring and a new currency being created much in the same way the Gold Standard appeared, then the Petrodollar, etc. I know I’m often called a misery gut on this site, but being realistic about the destination helps you understand the journey, so they say. The important thing is that we continue to push back against the authoritarian nature of this change.
Reset the Globablists.
Whitless? Why on Earth?
Looks like it’s not going to end any time soon doesn’t it?
In happier times I thought we might be getting back to normal by October. Will we even be back to normal this year? Or ever?
Edit – I must admit I have long felt that medieval times are underrated and misrepresented, but I take your point.
The ‘Middle Ages’ is a very loose term that covers a very long period. It had its horrors – including a pandemic that killed one person in three – and it had its glories.
It had God. It invented universities. It built cathedrals. The church held out the promise of eternal life in Christ. People lived in perpetual hope.
We have the Covid Devil. We turn every building into a jail. We trash universities and, for good measure, schools. The demon priests of Covid hold out the threat of death, with living death as the only alternative. People live in perpetual terror.
The Middle Ages had a lot going for them.
I suspect that if people then could conceive of a time like ours, they would have considered quite a lot of it barbaric, and not least the tragic events of 2020. In fact there would have been an uprising if this had been inflicted on them.
But be of good hope. The truth will out in the end, the heroes and heroines who stood up to evil celebrated in song and films.
I repeat Gandalf’s words – “It is not ours to decide the times in which we live, only to decide what we do with the time given to us”.
PS, What is 77th brigade? What on earth was all that about yesterday?
Oh well, don’t let the buggers get you down etc.
The 77th Brigade do exist I’m afraid. Government paid goons (ex-soldiers and the like I believe) and they do sit and spy on us and try and stir up trouble and they are pretty open that they do exist. I’ve come across comments on some anti-Lockdown pages that I think look a lot like them at work – and not “real” posters. They’re probably reading this page too – in fact I’d be surprised if they aren’t and, if so, I’d like to warmly wish them the Christmas/New Year/rest of their lives that they deserve (I’m sure we can all imagine what that is – say 30 years in prison wrongly condemned for a crime they didn’t commit).
The A-Team?!
I’m more worried about the ones who seem authentic but are just you know what. I remember that terrible story about an agent posing as an environmentalist of some sort…insulting and degrading.
Change Agents. Mark Windows talks about them often.
Indeed they do. They are an actual part of the army, dedicated to cyber etc and counter “misinformation”. Officially, publicly, now assigned to Covid-19 related tasks. MiniTrue.
Yes, and they better be making contributions to the upkeep of this site.
For any 77th guys and gals reading, see the ‘Shameless Begging Bit’ in each day’s post.
When I spot one of them I usually say ‘Come in no 77, your time is up.’ or something similar. Makes me smile, anyway. 🙂
I always ask them if the weather is ok in Berks, and a comment about the temperature around 77 degrees
They’re helping to build a future dystopia they will be forced to live in themselves
They never add anything to the discussion. Simply a diversion to waste your time. You need only to relate verifiable facts(for the by-standers) and perhaps for the SS (77th).
That makes you as bad as the 77th brigade only worse, since the real 77th brigade has an element of democratic oversight.
R.e. 77th, google up Tobias Ellwood MP.
definately
He’s been promoted…
https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/formations-divisions-brigades/6th-united-kingdom-division/77-brigade/
Tobia Ellwood MP is a Lt Colonel (?) in the 77th Brigade.
Desmond Swayne MP is 77th brigade. It’s in his bio.
Oh dear – I thought he was on our side too
Bullshit! He IS on our side – there is nothing “in his bio” you utter twat!
Ellwood is another story…
Further to Desmond Swayne –
Bio:
https://www.desmondswaynemp.com/sir-desmond-swayne-td-mp-2/
Blog – seems pretty clear to me.
https://www.desmondswaynemp.com/blogs/
MP’s like Swayne need to grow a backbone and remove Johnson We would defeat Covid19 much faster without Johnson, Hancock Witty Vallance etc
Takes one to know one?
conspiracy theory nonsense again anyone who listens to nutjob David Icke deserve to be sent to the same Mental Hospital where He was a patient
Icke was bang on concerning the dodgy PCR test way back in April. On Covid, he’s been on the ball. Don’t shoot the messenger just because he has eccentric views on lizard people. Check out his site – lots of good information there, surprisingly. (I’m not a rabid superfan of his, by any means – I just take my information from a very wide spectrum, and certainly not unquestioningly. Question everything, especially this post of mine.)
perhaps the 77th brigade is a branch of the The Behavioural Insights Team .The theory is that the state knows what is best for us and hence we should be nudhed to behave a way that suit’s the state’s ideas.
One insight is that even the belief of infiltrators and disinformation disseminates operates a fearful and divisive reaction.
So the main thing I suggest is look to the truth in your hearts – like you have never looked before – so as to truly seek for and align in what truly serves Life.
Fear masks in many disguises and is not in itself evil, but denied fears are ‘justified attacks’. And this does work evils under claim to make you safe.
I want to learn more about the Late Middle Ages in particular, and do a bit of research. Trouble is, I can’t read the writing from those days …
Late medieval French is a doddle if you know modern French. And there is some fantastic writing out there.
Les Quinze joies de mariage is about the funniest book I know.
Or try Froissart for the splendour and glory and ridiculousness of the Hundred Years’ War. Translations available.
Or François Villon, who wrote the greatest poem in the French language, La Ballade des pendus (ably translated by Swinburne).
In English, Malory isn’t hard in the original, and there are updated versions. He has his tedious times, but his account of the last battle and death of King Arthur has rightly been called ‘one of the finest tragedies in the English language’.
I don’t know any Modern French! Languages are a weak point for me, including Latin. I have copies of various Medieval documents in English that I need to transcribe sometime, but can’t mount up the courage to get going yet. I’m fine with Elizabethan handwriting, but anything before that I start to struggle.
I’m going to get Lord Sumption’s 4-volume history of the Hundred Years War.
That is one massive work!
annie – I did modern French at ‘O’ Level in the 1970s – ‘B’ grade when grades went from A to E. I can read most French – quite slowly – you think it’s near enough to be understandable without too much brain strain?
Yes, but start with a translation alongside the text.
My friend, Raphael, could read and write old French. In 2006 we decided to write a film script on the life of Francois Villon. He changed his mind and started writing a play instead. I read some of it and it looked promising. In 2009 he told me that he was going to Switzerland. I didn’t hear one word from him until he finally came back to Montreal two years ago. He told me that he was taking anti-psychotic medication and I haven’t seen him since. I have no idea if he finished writing his play.
What a pity. Villon’s life is pure drama – plus mystery.
medievalist.net is a good place to start.
One thing, the illuminated manuscripts are amazing works of art, and beggar belief how their amazing designs, intricacies and colouring was done in chilly scriptoriums, on hard benches with the’organic’ materials and implements of then.
Hell is empty and the devils are all here.
From the same play:
They’ll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.
The bank vaults are empty and the debts are all here…
Surely it was a deeply superstitious time, when heretics, like us! would be condemned for diverting from the ‘one true faith’
God… The same God that’s letting all this inhumanity happen..
Well you could be grateful for the Gift of Life with no strings attached!
You are not an infant.
You do not HAVE to let crap thinking colour your mind and world.
As you sow so shall you reap.
Garbage in; garbage out.
And WHO told you were naked (so as to mask up and lockdown in separateness as a control system)?
The late and lovable Terry Jones of Monty Python fame (whose passing merited one of the cartoons in the recent awards) has a series on the Middle Ages. (Not the other one) which features a theme per episode – as with ‘The Peasant’. This is on youtube and is a wry and entertaining but informing look on history that debunks much of our present propaganda and turns the lens on our own ‘unconscious bias’ or rather systemically manipulated ‘normal’.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=terry+jones+medieval+lives
I must admit I’m not the worlds most patient person and hate waiting for anything if I can help it (though, goodness knows, I’ve had a lot of practice – eg not able to find a way to buy my first house till 34 and that was back in the 1980s) but I often wonder just how much longer I can wait for Life to get back to Normal. We all know we were told Lockdown would be for 3 weeks and here it still is 9 months later. I could say that I could do with a crystal ball to tell how much longer it will be back before we are graciously allowed to have Normal again – only I’ve just remembered I have a crystal ball and don’t use it LOL. Maybe I ought to get rid of that crystal ball – in case I’m tempted…it works…it tells me They will keep this up for years yet…
Their time will come, and it will come when enough people say “I am mad as hell and I’m not taking it any more. It was the Labour party in 1906, in 2015, The United Kingdom Independence Party were the vehicle, we have seen off the North East Regional Assembly, the Congestion Charge. This is going to be a bigger battle with high stakes – perhaps we are getting into “6 grey men” territory, people who will make the Hillsborough coverup look like a walk in the park, but we will get them in the end. How did that song go? “We are the ninety – together we are mighty – we are the ninety nine per cent”. In the mean time, there is lots of little things we can do – we had some friends round tonight, in tier 3, no masks or any of that (I literally ate out of someone’s hand!), probably against “the rules”, we are being political, we are making a stand just by being normal, What was that song about the man with the satisfied mind? That. Don’t let them get you down, right wins in the end.
the Social Democratic Party or Libertarian Party perhaps
Rod Liddle’s lot? they seem promising from what I’ve heard, but they’ve some way to go to start making an impact.
I’m sorry to say this, but I think it’s best to accept we’re not going back to normal. That’s been clear to me since the tier system was introduced in October. We might achieve some return to a semblance of normality if the mass of people wake up and demand it, but there is very little sign of that happening. NB I am not saying that lockdowns and related terror will go on indefinitely, just that we are unlikely now to ever wake up and hear Boris announcing on the news that it’s all over.
Not unless ‘they’ remove the carrot and the stick. (I’m sure he is convinced that the carrot is very sweet.)
In the middle ages, the ‘superstition’ was rooted in a vital faith, or in long-standing mythology and practice with real significance. The covibollocks is just shit, a horrible degradation of rational people. There is a big difference.
Branch Covidianism is a death cult, which makes it satanic by default.
I felt the same re October. This is just totally insane.
They’re never going to let us out.
We’re never going back to normal, and they did warn us. No independence, no freedom, our lives ruled over and micromanaged by sociopaths.
That may be the goal, but it may not work. The trouble with all these central planners and psychopathic leaders is they don’t have any real understanding of human error and frailty, they just assume everything works because they will it to. It’s one of the reasons the Germans ultimately failed to dominate the world.
The Germans failed to dominate the world because they were disunited until Bismarck.We already had a head start and were able to use our position to form a coalition to defeat them and even then it was close.
I agree with your point about human nature which all utopian regimes flounder on
have You been taking the same meds at David Icke
A shame, really, I had my suspicions when they put 7 different parking restrictions outside our house (despite most residents rejecting it).
October, yes. But October 2300.
It’s not going to end soon because they are not following the science.
That’s right. They are following the Agendas and the Great Reset playbook.
The Oxford vaccine is sure to be approved in a week, Then we’ll be getting ~ 2 million jabs a week. Once we have 20 million innoculated,it’ll be quite safe to life restrictions since risk will be slight.
like You i am optimistic and not into conspiracy theories this Government needs to go though
I’m not taking that for love nor money. End of.
Thank you. As much as I’m fully onboard with this site, it has left me broken to think we’re all losing our lives to this. A bit of positivity was needed. Thanks.
Well at least we might have the Renaissance to look forward to.
Indeed. The arrogance of modern people in that context in breathtaking and yet they lack the self awareness that they’re no better and no worse than our ancestors.
That includes forebears of many thousands of years ago.
The SAGE repsonse has been medieval from day fucking one. Twats
Well if I owned one I would use it to piss in at night.
In medieval times they had the excuse of not having modern science, and their lives would have been dominated by religion.
What’s the excuse now???
The NHS.
Global Public Health is the new religion. Beware.
I see little difference between the medieval religious domination of the population and what is happening now.
Why are doctors and nurses complicit in this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNnArXzn-18
QUOTE ” I have been a nurse for almost 20 years, none of this from the beginning, ever felt “right”. In the first lockdown when all the hospitals were supposedly “over-run” and people were clapping on a Thursday night, my colleagues at the normally-busy hospital where I work, enjoyed empty wards, quiet shifts and daily pizza and other fast food deliveries donated by the public. They admitted that they loved it.
Now I see all the colleagues around me lining up for this vaccine, not questioning a thing. I have never had the flu vaccine and I am certainly not having this.
Last week, I worked my final shift, I am leaving the profession. I simply cannot stand it anymore, I want no part in it.”
Or as Sky News call him, “National Treasure” Jonathan Vam Tam. Makes you sick!
Oh I see . third thread – sorry!
I’m afraid it doesn’t get any better, can’t even remember the last time it did.
Look out, the edit button isn’t working again so don’t say anything batty 🙂
Edit, edit button now working, for me at least – d’oh!
2nd edit – back on the morning shifts next week so you’ll have a break from me at least. Loving having the edit button back!
Mutant strain is very, very worrying. From South African news yesterday:
This virus is damned clever! Who would have thunk?
The article assures the South African people that we needn’t panic as the Powers that Be has it all under control: We are shutting beaches during the summer holiday season. That will show the virus we mean business!
It’s a mutant strain of fascism. That’s what I’m worried about
correct me if I’m wrong but I thought that viruses mutate to spread faster yet become less lethal.
Because its only function is to replicate, a successful virus does not kill its host as Ebola does and the common cold does not.
Those thoughts came to me when a flatmate claimed she got covid for the second time a few weeks ago. Got tested, came out negative, concluded she must have a seasonal cold and took paracetamol. Thank God it wasn’t a false positive!
Yes, that’s basically it. Selection for reduced virulence, but maintained transmissibility. In the case of this virus, it’s not really a mutation, it’s just a reading frame deletion, which happened by the end of April!
Same happened everywhere in Europe, a sharp peak in deaths followed by decline.
This talk of a ‘mutant strain’ and it being ‘more infectious’, is simply to induce more fear, and allow them to inflate the R number further, thereby justifying more and more testing and Tier 4 and above.
Are people really wearing masks everywhere outdoors there?
It is mandatory to wear one outside, but 90% of people ignore this rule and there are no penalties associated with it. We do wear masks to go into stores as the business can be criminally charged if they do not enforce the rule – no exemptions allowed as in the UK.
Good to know thanks. Was looking into booking a trip over but the thought of masks everywhere put me off.
I think that the mutant strain has gained strength due to all the masking, sanitising, distancing going on – the weaker one that could only leap a few feet couldn’t find enough hosts and has been replaced by the one that can leap ten feet. Nature doing what it does best. Created by us, that went well!
If your tongue isn’t in your cheek, I hate to break it to you but consider for a moment that there are approximately 12000 mutant strains already in circulation.
Moreover, if Porton Down have managed to ‘discover and research’ this new strain, why haven’t they managed to isolate this virus yet? Hmmm…
Yes and how the hell do they know which version of the virus you are suffering from? There is no way the PCR is making this distinction? And according to the news this is spreading quicker than the original. My god why does nobody challenge this bullshit. Oh I have different symptoms, have you thought you might have the flu or a cold? You know like you had last year! Why have people stopped thinking.
It’s simple, they are full of it.
Covid is a trojan horse for The Great Reset
But The Great Reset is the trojan horse for another great depression.
Most people buy into covid and/or government cockups. Some see the Great Reset. Eglomaniac preening narcissistic useful idiots such as Boris and Wanksock have likely been decieved that this Great Reset will be a green Shangrila with windmills and flying electric cabs. That this will be their fantastic legacy for which history and the plebs will love them.
Yet the Great Reset is the ‘carousel in Logan’s Run’. And future vaccines the life clock. There is no pandemic. There is no great reset. Just a great depression.
A great depression? (And presumably accompanied by a great deal of depression). This is seriously worrying. Wasn’t there a war after the last great depression? And I’m assuming biological warfare will be a part of future wars.
I think we might just get Nuremberg mark II, one way or the other.
Prepare to testify. Hoard every bit of evidence. The mighty mass of it will crush them to powder.
Heard another story at work of someone suffering pain after delayed treatment because of the current restrictions – on top of the person who suffered sleepless nights from toothache because he had to wait to see a dentist earlier this year because of restrictions. If those face coverings can cause dental problems as I understand, no way I want to risk that with the horror stories going around.
Don’t you think that we wicked sceptics will be the ones on trial (after the climate trials and the executions have finished)?
There has been quite a bit of discussion locally about the changes that will be imposed on us over the next few years with petrol/diesel cars going, gas/oil boilers going. Some see this as a rosy green future but my argument has been that this cannot be done in an equitable way, many people will be unable to have an electric car and thus our current freedom to travel as we wish will be severely curtailed. The headlong rush to heat pumps will lead to many unable to adequately heat their homes and need to move to very small accommodation.
It is hard not to see what is happening at the moment as a prelude to forcing these these changes on us that will, in my view, drastically reduce our quality of life. But then I value liberty and freedom of movement above the need for safety and protection, a set of values which does not seem to be shared by many in the country.
In a smart city your small apt. will be heated for you and you won’t need a car, just be sure to keep your social credit score up.
What will the WEF do to you if you become too sick to work or too old? How will they get rid of the unproductive?
Ben, I think you’re talking about the latest version at the time of Covid, 21, 22 etc
A Smart City Waste Disposal squad will drop by chez vous.
Apartment?
We plebes will be lucky to have a sleeping tube and extra packets of roach paste to put on our weekly soy wafer ration.
Right. This period is very similar to the “shock therapy” the IMF imposed on Russia, which led to complete socio-economic collapse and hyperinflation in 1997.
It is essentially a return to the 1950s when I grew up. Very few had cars or central heating and air travel and foreign holidays were for the wealthy.
Depression has to follow the Everything Bubble of the last 30 years. The sovereign debt bubble and other leverage.
Covid and the rest is the wrapper. Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.
The gods have done a thorough job this time.
I had the feeling that the stock market crash in March-one ultimately stopped by circuit breakers- was unrelated to covid and more to do with the collapse in the price of oil. Since then covid has been the distraction, but the stock market crash has lead to the Great Reset. Though the Chinese have other ideas.
Blanket media coverage on the imminent announcement of Lockdown 3 / Tier 4 in response to the supposed fast spreading mutant strain.
The editorial today states that the figures being used to justify this are not supported by the figures from ZOE.
How can the discrepancy be explained? Have we uncovered a new mutant way of misleading us with the statistics?
No need for a justification. Lockdown is the natural state of the Covvizombie.
Wales is to be locked down, locked up, gagged, kicked in the teeth, scourged and excoriated from 28 December onwards. Already decreed by our shabby, wrinkled little ersatz Stalin. Dungford is p….. himself with glee at the thought.
You are right about the shabby…..what an uninspiring little scrooge he is. I wonder how long he would last alone in a room with one of many Welsh people.
I describe dungford as a wannabe J-C Juncker, but is a tee total shabby suited no one nazi, At least Juncker can blame it on the booze, dungford has no excuse
We feel your pain. Toronto’s lockdown was supposed to end on Monday but has been indefinitely extended, while other areas in Ontario are coming under tighter restrictions. There’s talk of the schools extending the winter break. But most ominous is an op ed in one of our national newspapers this week from a Canadian who was in Melbourne during their lockdown and who thinks it’s a great idea. Our feckless premier can’t understand why cases keep rising despite the lockdowns and all the other stupid measures, so of course he’s priming us for a Melbourne-style police state after the holidays. Now that we’ve fled Toronto our lives won’t change, but I’m sickened by what’s happening. No talk here yet of mutant strains, but that’s all the hysterics will need to demand more “safety” measures.
Hi Lisa, oh no, you don’t want that. Amazing how many in Victoria think that man did a wonderful job, one referred to him as an ‘illustrious’ leader!!! Here where I am, the whole of the northern beaches of Sydney at 5.00 has been placed into lockdown. All pubs, clubs, cafes closed, restaurants open for takeaway only. 4 reasons to go out, exercise, essential shopping, medical, or compassionate grounds. We are not allowed to leave local government area and no one can come in. No mandatory masks, but heavily requested. I went to my local shopping centre and must have been 1 of 5 not wearing masks. And boy did I get some looks. The hysteria, as you say has ramped up again. We have, wait for it, 24 people in hospital Australia wide NOT in intensive care. 3 in NSW, 11 in the Northern Territory, 10 in Queensland. We have had 31 positive test results in NSW. It is pathetic how docile some people are.
Dismayed by the worship of Daniel Andrews in Victoria. Are Victorians a bit dim?
Yes, they’re a bit dim and a LOT authoritarian. Most of them deserve ‘Chairman Dan’.
And it’s summer there, just wait until fall and winter. That’s what Canadians don’t seem to realize about Melbourne — it was summer when the police state-style lockdown occurred and respiratory illnesses will naturally wane regardless of the draconian measures. Had it been winter, Melbourne would still be locked down. Any country which has seemingly stopped the virus has simply kicked the can own the road. It’s scary to hear that Sydney is headed in the wrong direction over so few “cases” and I’m surprised masks aren’t mandatory. I’m going to guess they will be any day now.
Yes, next time my friend in Melbourne e-mails I will probably tell him to enjoy travelling now, while he can, as I expect him to be locked down again when winter comes (if not sooner). He loves all this, cheers on ‘Chairman Dan’ and hates the ‘selfish’ rule breakers. FFS! Well, this is what I’ve come to expect from most academic people (and I am one myself – must have been dropped on my head at some point).
i am amazed Canadians and Australians put up with this sooner or later there is going to be a backlash
if only. People will happily put up with lockdown if it was like November. What is being slipped through today-effectively suspension of free movement is the worry.
I would imagine Brighton is very busy today. Go Christmas shopping and stop off somewhere for lunch.
Thank you for the replies so far.
I am still really puzzled by the recent upsurge in positive test results. Very timely for putting the mockers on Christmas. A sceptical person might suggest it is to give a deliberate message to make people ‘ behave’ over the period previously known as festive.
Possible explanations:
There has genuinely been an increase.
There has been a change in the volume of testing.
There has been a change in the nature of testing eg temporary lull in lateral flow and increase in PCR or change in PCR cycles used
Figures have been held back and are now being added back in
Figures being compiled differently
Airborne viruses spread more effectively in winter. It’s why we have a flu season. Whatever they do with NPIs you will always have a higher incidence of any airborne respiratory virus in the winter months. No need to invoke new strains, “covidiots” or anything else, it’s just what happens. And they know this, but are trying to convince the masses that there must be a reason and something must be done to deal with this “unexpected surge”
And I have no doubt they are also fiddling the figures.
It’s not about a virus. You need to question and to do your own research. Believe it’s about a virus if you want to, but discrepancies will keep appearing and there will be no answers for them
I recommend the latest Richard D Hall video`s on all this @ http://www.richplanet.net
he goes over much old ground but was flabbergasted to listen (show 3) that there are some who believe that there has been a global coup this year inc obviously the fake US Election but our dear old Queen has actually been legally disposed under the cover of Brexit legislation…
It’s true. Parliament has declared itself Sovereign, the Queen no longer wears the Crown and we live a in a dictatorship run by some people we don’t know. The people in charge are all bought with sex, drugs and money, whatever is their vice. It is the duty of all of us to stand up for our rights and fight back by not wearing a mask, refusing to do anything that is called a law that has been passed since the day Parliament declared itself sovereign. All the cops, and the courts, the media and the NHS and everyone connected with the state are now working for the enemies of the British people. We have been taken over without any problem. I’m afraid when it’s all been said and done us the people will have no choice but execute those who’ve done this to us, ether by the courts of by Guerrilla warfare. This is a fight for our lives. Personally i feel we’ve no chance and we’re all fucked. How can we possibly fight them? Most of the dumb fucks that work for the state don’t know what is going on. To me it feels like what it must… Read more »
True. Even the “sceptics” still talk about “cases”. No one can grasp the whole thing is false positives, CT>40, contamination in labs.
These fckers in gov know it. The “leaders” are not stupid, The other MPs are all toeing the party line while or are thick as fck.
It’s game over people. People like us have been pilloried as conspiracy theorist since March but have been proved correct.
Want to see what coming down in Q1 21. Luckily Canadian PM leaked it a few months ago and so far the whole thing has planned out exactly as reported.
https://cairnsnews.org/2020/10/16/canadian-politician-leaks-new-covid-lockdown-plan-and-great-reset-dictatorship-australia-is-part-of-it
“ Q1–Q2 2021.– Enhanced lock down restrictions (referred to as Third Lock Down) will be implemented. Full travel restrictions will be imposed (including inter-province and inter-city). Expected Q2 2021.– Transitioning of individuals into the universal basic income program. Expected mid Q2 2021.– Projected supply chain break downs, inventory shortages, large economic instability. Expected late Q2 2021.
– Deployment of military personnel into major metropolitan areas as well as all major roadways to establish travel checkpoints. Restrict travel and movement. Provide logistical support to the area. Expected by Q3 2021.”
Fuck off! Sorry, that’s the first thought that popped into my head.
Sadly I have to agree there….we share a country or even a world with covid zombies who would support any measures….look at the numbers of people who wear masks in places where they are not mandatory. God its hard not to hate those people.
Yep,agreed..There is no chance for us it’s just a matter of time before we get publicly harassed, attacked and finally arrested and dissaperd. I saw somebody on Twitter suggesting organising a vigilante squad that will hunt down no makers on public transport in London..Over 10000 likes and thousands of retwitts..Most people think that’s a great idea..Great let them come,see what happens when they try to confront a combat veteran like myself.I will get ugly!
Those sorts of people are cowards.
Please report this as hate crime, inciting violence or whatever. Make the woke rules work for us for once.
Will not work.
In the US, Soros-funded district attorneys have been playing catch and release with Antifa and BLM rioters all year long.
I imagine there are similarly compromised prosecutors installed in the UK.
It’s a really good watch. Richard and Andrew Johnson cover ALL the main pillars of the covid sceptic’s platform. Five hour long sections. Well worth a watch.
Disappointing to see LS playing into the narrative about ‘cases’. Cases are meaningless derived from a positive PCR test which we all know is a fundamentally flawed procedure.
Thats why I don’t follow the Tim Spector angle as this also propagates this narrative. An asymptomatic cases like this ‘new deadly strain’ I’m simply gonna call BS on. This is all prepping for further closures and harsher measures while blaming people for actually having fun and doing normal human things at Christmas.
The fact that they are demonising and prohibiting normal human interactions should never be overlooked or forgotten. Especially while they don’t follow the rules themselves. I hope I live to see the day when these people answer for their crimes.
well said
I live in that hope. Remember Nuremberg. Remember how Hitler ended.
Endure, love life, seek out the good things, fight the evil, disbelieve the lies, NEVER GIVE IN.
Remember the Jews saying this will blow over,this can’t possibly get worse,but we are also German..Look how great it turned out for them. The only hope we have,is false hope!
Whose side is Lockdown Sceptics on?
It has ALWAYS been controlled opposition. If you have any doubt, listen to the London Calling podcasts Toby does with James Delingpole, who is the real deal.
In which case they’re worse, since they already know about the skulduggery and the corruption and the intense suffering caused by restrictions
For animals, life has only one point: to preserve and perpetuate their own life. Eat, survive, fight off competition, reproduce, die. Selfish genes rule, ok.
Human beings used to be different. Classical writers celebrated the fact that Man stands on two legs so that he can turn his face heavenward, and wonder, and ask questions, and realise that there can be more to life than brute survival.
Then came Covid Man. Homo covidianus. The nadir of creation. Far lower than the animals, because animals do their best for their young, but they have turned and savaged theirs.
We are the last representatives of Homo sapiens. Can we coexist with Homo covidianus? Can we drive him to extinction? Will intelligence win out over sub-brute stupidity? I believe so, but it will be a long, hard struggle.
PS. Edit button now working!
Homo Subjectus.
Pity we no longer have chamber pots. Gazunders with a picture of Hitler were very popular during WW2, I’m told.
An etching of Woody Fingerdick to aim at on the urinals?
What is wrong with the King of Sweden ?
They’re one of the few countries in Europe, maybe the only country, that haven’t completely screwed up the lives of their people, and still have had fewer deaths this year than 2017 and 2018 (after adjusting for the last few days of December and the growth and ageing of the population). 280 people under 60 have died after a positive test within 28 days, many probably not even from COVID. Yet he says their Covid reaction has failed.
The plebs can’t be allowed to go free. Go for it, King Gustav !
At least your subjects aren’t so stupid and overwhelmingly still support the wonderful Anders Tegnell.
Generations of inbreeding tends to inhibit these ‘royal’ types.
Nice chat with WEF……..
WEF showed him the grassy knoll footage from Dallas ’63.
The narrative is constantly “they’ve done worse than their neighbours”. Why do they accept that? It seems pretty easy to dismiss, with the total mortality figures taken over a few years, as you say. Their new mask advice is depressing although it is at least nuanced, unlike every other country.
Earlier this year, their neighbours for comparisons included countries like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia etc.
Now it’s just Denmark, Norway and Finland.
Can’t imagine why that’s changed ?!?
Children are a double-edged sword. I truly worry for their futures as they are just getting their lives started, whereas my husband and I have done what we wanted to do and traveled the world. In our mid-fifties it’s not like we’re giving up or don’t hope we can still do more and see more, but I’m more angry and upset for what my children might miss out on and the opportunities they may not have.
Try not to be too hard on yourself with respect to the life you didn’t live. You know the old saying about hindsight being 20/20. Let’s try to be hopeful that some semblance of our former lives will again be possible, at which time you can make some small or subtle changes. I think it’s natural for us all to take stock of where we are and have regrets about what we didn’t do, but let’s not assume there won’t be an opportunity to be more bold, more courageous and find new purposes.
Words fail me – brings a whole new meaning to “get your ugly mug over here” – as he is ugly too LOL.
MY FRIENDS, I love you all! THANK YOU – Toby, Will, contributors and commentators – for being a source of comfort, entertainment and sanity during this unbelievably challenging year. Without you I would have lost my mind. I’m going off line for two weeks, for my annual digital detox and total media black out. I highly recommend it to restore normal human functioning! But before I go, I wanted to thank you and to leave you with some thoughts to hold onto. The entire world is under cyber attack. Not our computers… but our minds. We have been hacked. It doesn’t matter who or what did it, it matters that we stay aware of it. Before we look for explanatory theories or urgent solutions we HAVE to understand that the majority of human brains have been hacked. This – as terrifying as it is – includes most of our “leaders”. This is no longer about politics – the normal political spectrum has been upended and distorted – it is about the simple fact that HUMANITY HAS BEEN HACKED. Human rights, the rule of law, civilisation itself… they are fading away in front of our eyes. This is why no one… Read more »
Have a wonderful break and thanks for the inspiring words! Eating well and being out in nature as often as possible has really helped me as well. We’ll “see” you in January!
Great stuff! Yes, I now feel like a proper Antivirus. Or rather, my brain has all the latest antivirus software and it’s updated minute by minute.
And I’ll never never never give in. ever. ever ever.
See you again soon, have a good break.
Thanks CNC. Have a great break, and see you the other side.
A great post and support so much of what you have said. It is unbelievable the amount of fear propaganda around. Looking back I think its often been used …even as long ago as the 1980s with the AIDS hysteria which turned out (very much like Covid) to affect a very small number of people yet the Thatcher Government launched a propaganda war to persuade everyone that they were under the threat of death from it. I remember it ruining the sex lives of students at the time…not mine I hasten to add as (just as with this one I smelt a rat from day one). More recently we have had the egg scare,the foot and mouth scare,the millenium bug scare and the Covid scare and 2 new ones this week…the cyber attack scare and the new virulent form of the virus scare. However there is an old saying about all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men (and women) to do nothing. So I think you let off the sheep too easily here. There comes a point where people have to take responsibility and stop using the media as an excuse for lunatic behaviour like not… Read more »
Was the small town Ludlow? If so you may encounter a bald middle aged chap with a grumpy expression but no mask. That’s me.
Hi Graham no its a much smaller town called Broseley. I dont live there ,its across the river from Ironbridge where I live. Ironbridge is the same too….full of people applauding the fact that shops only allow one person in at a time so the queues are huge.
Hear Hear!!
Tonight it feels like we are further from winning than ever
thank you CivilianNotCovidian,i was all set to give in and order food delivered now on but i.m going back to my plan to try my best to shop with out a scarf in a store that has signs saying no mask no entry , i was the only one [save 2 ]out walking today with out a mask out of doors
that part is easy have been doing that since march. have a good break thank you for more inspiration.
This has cheered me up no end . You are absolutely right – fundamentally this is about defending humanity and we should remember this in our angrier moments. It’s the most powerful weapon there is. Have a wonderful Christmas
The anger has left me
I no longer try to educate or inform people. It does not work. At the end of the day who am I to try and save people from their own folly
The people demand to be tortured in the hope it will save them. The pig dictator gives them what they want
When the latest round of torture fails the people demand further torture
I now stand on the sidelines with a priti smirk
I think that’s wise. Let’s live and let sadlidie.
I think thats probably the only way to keep sane in this. Most people are lost to the COVID cult and they get angry with you if you try to argue against it. Maybe the best response is just to laugh openly at them.
Lockdown till vaccine arrives, vaccine is rolled out, new mutant strain emerges, new vaccine needed, lockdown till vaccine arrives (repeat ad nauseam).
This is the life they want for us.
until the money runs out presumably, surely this is just not viable. Any economists care to elaborate?
Not a chance. If we spend in 2021 like we did in 2020, there will be no NHS, no education system, no welfare state and no pensions in 2022. No shit.
Not funded by the State, anyway
In the USA, a broken arm without medical insurance will bankrupt you – literally. The NHS is a disgusting shell of its’ former self, but some form of socialised medicine is the only affordable healthcare system. We just need to sack a huge number of worthless “managers”, that’s all.
I’m an economist and I am afraid it can carry on for an awful long time if the nation has an AAA international credit rating and is able to electronically print money ad nauseum. Most economists now seem to applaud the endless borrowing on the grounds that interest rates are very low so the cost of servicing the debt are tiny. The stock of National Debt is not a problem as the government just issues new debt when the old gilts mature, often at a lower interest rate!
A bit like Oscar Wilde said though…whenever almost all economists agree they are always wrong without exception pretty much….remember the ERM? I think there will be a day of reckoning and it will not be pleasant. It may come from future interest rate increases or it may come from a collapse of confidence in sterling.
Thanks, great explanation, ‘they’ have found the magic money tree and there’s no stopping them now. All the old rules are meaningless. Everybody can sit at home for ever and the salaries of all the people that matter will be paid.
No – that doesn’t work.
Those salaries may be paid, but if less is being produced, then the prices will rise.
We are heading for global hyperinflation.
Is it the WEF’s Great Reset? Have you seen Ernst Wolff’s video ‘Corona – The Collapse of the System?’
No I have not…will have to look that one up…many thanks for the reference.
The Great Reset is a program for the greedy elites to accumulate as much wealth as possible while we starve to death.
These greedy people only think about their needs, not ours. Don’t let them get away with it. Reset the Globalists!
‘A fascistic financial coup’.
The problem arises where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.
The BoE cannot print employment (only the dole). Nor can it print the real goods and energy that comprise our trade deficit. Once international bond and exchange markets decide (usually on a dime) that a current account deficit is untenable, they will collapse the value of the currency, and with it the ability of a country to sustain such a deficit.
One way or another, we’re all going to be poorer.
Yes I very much concur with that. Sooner or later there has to be a re-engagement of the real and nominal economies. John Major’s terrible government managed to survive walking on water with the ERM for two years but eventually he was forced out of the system (as you say…on a dime) on Black Wednesday and the pound devalued substantially after.
Its a bit like the old Tom and Jerry cartoons where Tom used to walk off a cliff and carry on walking for a while until he looked down and then woooosh!
I shall have to watch some Tom and Jerry again…might cheer me up a bit…I liked Spike the best!
“Turning on a dime” is indeed the likely way that economic collapse will happen. In the real world there are farms and factories working with physical resources and producing goods, and unless there is nuclear war these resources and goods continue to to exist. But in the world of high finance there are just numbers on spreadsheets,which can change in an instant. Before the 2008 financial crash, there would be occasional letters in newspapers warning that prosperity couldn’t be created on a mountain of debt. The “experts” would reply that these unsophisticated amateurs didn’t understand modern economic theory. But the amateurs were eventually proved right. Subsequently the collapsed system has been patched up but it won’t take much for it to collapse again.
Agree totally with that. Economists are classic group thinkers. If you looked at so called econometric economic forecasts before the crash they all copied each other plus or minus 1 percent. Not one predicted the crash and they all poo pooed the idea that it could happen. Of course after it happened you could not find anyone who did not think it was just round the corner. Economists are even worse than scientists.
WuFlu is cover for implementing MMT and UBI.
Under those paradigms the central banks can simply print up as much stimulus cash as needed to cover the dole, forever.
No-one seem To have mentioned nurse who passed out “in pain” after getting vaccine in USA on You Tube . How long does it take before you pass out with “vaccine” poison ? Do wé have update on those who have had job ?
JAB
In the nurses case, it took 17 minutes apparently..
From the trials, it would appear that most serious adverse reactions occurred after the booster jab, which is either 21 days or 28 days depending on whether it is Pfizer or Moderna (which looks like getting a similar EUA).
Watch this space….
I thought she fainted because she had a face mask on and couldn’t breathe properly.
I passed out in a parking lot just minutes after taking a Polio shot back in the early 60s.
And this is the life most of the people I know seem to want!
I don’t believe that.
I think the majority yearn for a return to normality.
They are so qiescent, because they think the vaccine will bring that back,
I hope they are right for their sake but somehow I suspect they are not.
almost every day this year there has been new fear porn in the media, wave after wave of stories to induce fear, there’s never much ‘good’ news and it’s tiring to say the least and i don’t listen to any tv/radio news to avoid most of the crap and just skim a couple internet sites! But this is the way of the media these days who are desperate for clickbate sensational stories for the believing masses.
But i predict it will be more of the same hysteria, every week will be ramping up the stories, cases/new super strains etc etc etc – most of it rubbish as we know.
I wish there was somewhere I could escape the madness. Thankfully this site offers some sanity, discussion and humour on the situation.
Awful news coming out of Sweden and Austria
I REPEAT: HOW THE F××K CAN COMMUTERS WORK FROM HOME????
Didn’t you know? Everyone in the UK can work from their laptop whilst the kids play in the large garden before the whole family sits down to some homemade Rye bread for lunch and watches a Netflix documentary about class divide.
So selfish of you. Honestly.
Don’t forget we all gather round the Fire Pit and have more than one dinning table in our mansions!
The outdoor fire pit. Last used in the Mesolithic.
But an awesome way to cook meat! Which only team men can do, the zombie bedwetters ( haven’t used that in a while!) use an app on the phone to magic the food to their homes, already cooked.
The dumbing down of civilisation ,when people can’t make a fire or protect their family units from predators and the like
Lets reinstate ‘bedwetters’! the bastards deserve it and lets face it none in the cult can be reached anyway so why worry about alienating them?
The mesolithic is where we are headed annie, although before we get there maybe some green guru ought to check out the ‘carbon footprint’ of mesolithic agriculture. The only creature allowed to cut down trees these days is a beaver (they are sacred apparently, we aren’t).
I do apologise.
Also: When HS2 is finally finished, these essential workers on their once a year journey into London will be able to have the whole train to themselves.
and HS2 is a farce. The business case that was used was based on the savings made in unproductive time for the 30 minute reduction in journey time from Manchester to London . Even before lockdown and home working, this was no longer relevant as everyone worked on laptops on the train anyway. The only real benefit of HS2 was increased capacity but this could be provided in far cheaper ways
And if it’s about capacity why is it high speed. a normal speed railway could take bends around historic woodlands, etc. Some insider admitted the only real capacity benefit is a few more commuter trains on the Northampton-Milton Keynes-Euston route. How many people will still be doing that?
The only context in which HS2 makes sense, is one where the personal automobile is a thing of the past. That’s where they want to take us.
They are going to need thousands of charging stations. In the cities and throughout the countryside. More blight.
There won’t be a better description of the Lockdown Fanatic than this
Not rye bread, banana bread. Didn’t you get the memo?
Yes its funny I never realised how many shops now seem to be run as hobbies? I am sure that was not the case when I was a child in the 1960s…I am sure in those days they were all run in order to provide an income from the owner. Its the ‘hobby’ businesses who have been the most craven and obnoxious in implementing the rules. Boycott these bastards!
So is the rye bread more or less substantial food than a Scotch egg?
Asking for a friend…
Note that Wealthy professionals may have preexisting immunity.
A bit of encouragement from Lord Byron.
Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying,
Streams like the thunder-storm AGAINST the wind;
Thy trumpet-voice, though broken now and dying,
The loudest still the tempest leaves behind;
Thy tree hath lost its blossoms, and the rind,
Chopped by the axe, looks rough and little worth,
But the sap lasts,—and still the seed we find
Sown deep, even in the bosom of the North;
So shall a better spring less bitter fruit bring forth.
Childe. Harold’s Pilgrimage, canto 4, stanza 98.
PS. He knew about zombies too:
…men grow pale
Lest their own judgments should become too bright,
And their free thoughts be crimes, and earth have too much light.
XCIV.
And thus they plod in sluggish misery,
Rotting from sire to son, and age to age,
Proud of their trampled nature, and so die,
Bequeathing their hereditary rage
To the new race of inborn slaves, who wage
War for their chains, and rather than be free,
Bleed gladiator-like, and still engage
Within the same arena where they see
Their fellows fall before, like leaves of the same tree.
My favourite;
Epitaph to a Dog
Near this Spot
are deposited the Remains of one
who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferosity,
and all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
This praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
if inscribed over human Ashes,
is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a DOG,
who was born in Newfoundland May 1803,
and died at Newstead Nov.r 18th, 1808.
Thank you annie, will dig out my dusty Byron, later..
Thousands of visitors visit this site.. and we apparently have a government that rules by pleb poll results.. so why not get on YouGov and give them the right answers:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/boris-johnson-approval-rating
Presuming of course that the Chinese aren’t doing an art of war on YouGov. I mean, if I were them.. I’d be on there. War without weapons. A tishoo a tishoo only Chinese people fell down. Actors.
because yougov is a con. it is either instant votes which are not validated which means that 77th or others can use bots to provide the correct results, or proper validated polls where (as already identified by others on this site) anyone with incorrect views is weeded out and not invited to participate.
But it works – the sheep believe the polls .
And good to see comment editing is working again !!
Opinion polls are a means of influencing public opinion not measuring it.
The questions are loaded and even then do you think it’s beyond this government to make the results up.
It is so clear now that the government have an agenda and only mass civil disobedience will stop them.
Parliament,The press and the courts are all closed to us.
This continued nightmare of on/off lockdowns will only end when enough people refuse to comply.
I have a friend who works with the police with CCTV.They have new cameras which are just checking mask compliance.This is what we are up against.
They dont have ‘fucking useless’ as an option normally
I’m alwYs on You gov giving them hell, don’t worry!!
Felt really low last night and not much better this morning. BBC going on about the ‘new strain’, thought we might have some facts here but guess there are none. Whatever cases in my town do seem to be shooting up and yesterday with 26k positive tests on the dashboard something very suspicious is going on. Or it could just be a new common cold which is doing the rounds, seems normal for this time of year.
not positive tests……… “tests which have shown a positive result”. more wrong results because of more testing . And i have had a stinker of a cold the last couple of days. I should really have gone and got my test which would show i am dying of covid
With COVID or of COVID that is the question
I’ve stopped listening to the BBC – negative spin on almost everything
Hello,
It’s probably been already done but could someone please guide me to where I can find reliable information as to how many people in the UK have probably had the virus which has been doing the rounds now for about a year or so I think?
I suspect I may have had it last October (2019) when I was diagnosed with “a bit of pneumonia” although innoculated against pneumonia (still,as we know vaccines aren’t necessarily reliable).
The figures are all very odd, the NHS dashboard says that nearly 2 million people have tested +ve for Sars-Cov2, it also says that nearly 47 million tests have been carried out. The ONS and others do try and estimate the total number who have had Covid but this varies from around 2 million to 19 million. You do feel that in the end we will run out of victims but having got their claws in this deep I cannot see Uberfuhrer Johnson and his miserable Junta giving up this level of totalitarian control, Totalitarianism is like a drug and they are now well and truly hooked on it and we all suffer.
You have to include the asymptomatic “sufferers” before testing was ramped up. They become immune according to the logic of R.
So very likely we’ve all had it about 5 times now.
Thank you for the replies.
Ok, that’s it. I’m calling it: Peak Insanity.
I’ve just realised why Bojo’s hair looks messier than usual. He’s going bald. And he’s doing that age old trick of spreading it around.
Or perhaps he’s Gary Glitter in disguise.
Or maybe Rolf Harris?
“Can you see what it is yet?”
He’s certainly spreading something around. Not sure it’s hair.
His seed. There are some women out there who dodged a bullet by spitting his seed instead
Been spreading it around for a long time
Yes, overhead cameras in HoC give the game away. Should get a ‘Trump’ and spray himself orange for good measure.
Sounds like Carrie will be off soon then.
I believe the technical term is ‘crafty combing’.
How often are these weirdo’s up in court? And if you’re some kind of man who thinks he’s a lady then you’re not doing a very good job if people can’t tell you apart. Here’s my rule if you want someone to use a specific pronoun then you’re cunt. Fuck you you absolute midden. Why the fuck should i have to do anything these fucking weirdo’s want? Here’s the deal i can think of anyone any fucking way i choose and they can just fucking lump it. They are free to think anyway about me. See how that works there? We’re all free to say what the hell we want. It seems to me weirdo’s who think they’re some mystical gender are not nice people and seem obsessed in forcing others to bend to their way of thinking. Makes me wonder what some fucked up gender wanker is in court for anyway, probably a nonce.
If Government Ministers and MPs’ salaries were negatively affected by lockdowns – there would be no lockdowns
https://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrP4o6_tN1f9iMAqhcM34lQ;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzIEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj?p=nhs+crisis+headlines+photos&fr=ipad&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly91ay5zZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tL3NlYXJjaDtfeWx0PUF3ckpTNWV1dE4xZm1Xd0FUUUVNMzRsUTtfeWxjPVgxTURNVE0xTVRJeE1qZ3hNZ1JmY2dNeUJHWnlBMmx3WVdRRVozQnlhV1FEWlhkQmMyaElXa3RTTlhGellqTkJhbUpRZDJ0dVFRUnVYM0p6YkhRRE1BUnVYM04xWjJjRE5BUnZjbWxuYVc0RGRXc3VjMlZoY21Ob0xubGhhRzl2TG1OdmJRUndiM01ETUFSd2NYTjBjZ01FY0hGemRISnNBekFFY1hOMGNtd0RNamNFY1hWbGNua0RibWh6SlRJd1kzSnBjMmx6SlRJd2FHVmhaR3hwYm1WekpUSXdjR2h2ZEc5ekJIUmZjM1J0Y0FNeE5qQTRNelkxTWpRND9wPW5ocytjcmlzaXMraGVhZGxpbmVzK3Bob3RvcyZmcjI9c2ItdG9wJmZyPWlwYWQ&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAALXUQAFVrvF25rOOLChKIXBue6-83Hsexba13g0nl-diML_soooLIEY0wh3sfjoGbMXtAh1K2oRljJWYCyIUW71diReaa_xdH-Qs84edeC7cg7_o4Q1215L1BmZKfcUvlX3jwpQSh4BK9wqre8tUz26l1eZLePJaXEPcuhf8nOO
A brief search of any newspaper will come up with headlines like this every winter and not just in this country. Any government, of whatever political stance, is terrified of being accused of neglecting the health system.
This year, our government has been given the opportunity of making itself look like it saved the NHS. This second lockdown was never needed but was probably planned back in the spring because it would act as a cover for the usual winter health crisis.
This is why I’m so angry with the mainstream media, because it has cultivated this situation. Goebbels was guilty of crimes against humanity and so too are the BBC, Sky News et al.
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All credit to the marvellous local farm shop (and they sell lots of other lovely stuff too!) Darts Farm in Topsham near Exeter. They held an outdoor carol service with a band and are getting an absolute pasting from nasty, joyless commentators who werent even there. Many threatening never to shop there again. The same old cliches about grannies, ventilators and spikes. Seek ’em out on Facebook and maybe give them some positive, supportive comments.
Great place – I always have a browse when I am in the region! And I grew up in Topsham (lucky me!), so always enjoy hearing about the area.
Great fish and chips too. Although the chippy in Polsloe, just at the bridge, beats it.
Good for them. Would have gone if I’d known
I just posted a positive comment on there but f**k me some of the comments on there shows how hysterically moronic the general public are
Yep, unbelievable. I usually think we in the southwest are more pragmatic and sensible but clearly not! My son is visiting from several counties away and we went to the pub for a meal. Arrest me now.
I am also rather pissed off as the “visit” I was allocated to look at my mother for 15 minutes for the first time since she went into a home 6 weeks ago has been cancelled. The home is shut down till mid Jan as some residents have tested pisitive. All asymptomatic though….
There was a farm shop in the US that resisted lockdowns and masking for a weekend.
The Covidian mob absolutely lost its mind on their Facebook page.
Yes we salute them and yes let the killjoys fuck off and shop somewhere shit.
Make them grow their own food.
I think people have been obedient until now because they assumed things were going back to normal. As a propaganda thing on the BBC said the other day “Why be the last to die just as the vaccine arrives?”. But as I think we can all tell (as predicted), that the vaccine isn’t going to be allowed to be the magic bullet. Might people now realise that there is no point in not risking dying, if this is what life is going to be from now on?
Anyway, I think the government knows this, and the “new strain” is the last roll of the Covid dice. I predict the “cyber attack” is the new tactic.
I’ve been getting the same feeling that a cyber attack is coming in the next phase, probably within days. Lots of small pieces link together. There is no way to wind-down from the Coronavirus lies without risking a “Nuremberg”. They need something really big to make us forget Covid. In the best case they’ll take the power down for a few days and freeze a few Scots (but then how will they deliver the propaganda without the beeb, and won’t people start talking again?). In the worst case maybe they’ll blow a nuclear power station. I really hope I’m wrong.