Hancock Refuses to Commit to Opening Up After the Most Vulnerable Have Been Vaccinated
Health Secretary Matt Hancock led yesterday’s Covid press conference from Downing Street and struck a non-committal note regarding any timetable for exit from restrictions. Katy Balls in the Spectator has more.
As ministers voice their hope that the country can start to lift restrictions from early March, questions are being asked as to when restrictions can go altogether and normal life resume. Members of the Tory Covid Recovery Group have argued that most restrictions should go as soon as the vulnerable are protected. While officials remain tight-lipped on the issue, Matt Hancock did offer an insight in today’s press conference as to the key factors the Government will consider when making that decision. Announcing that over four million people have now been vaccinated in the UK, the Health Secretary urged the public not to blow it as the route out was clear. In the Q&A, he pointed to the factors that will decide when restrictions can go.
The first clue came when Josh from Newcastle asked how much it would matter if there were a high surge of cases among young people once the vulnerable were vaccinated. This gets to the crux of the matter: once the most vulnerable are protected (the 20% of the population who account for 90% of Covid deaths) will the government be OK with the virus passing at a fast rate among younger age groups for whom the disease is a lot less serious?
If the answer is no then social distancing policies are likely to remain until every adult has been vaccinated, which the Government aims to do by September. The first four groups (14 million people) are due to be vaccinated by the middle of next month.
The Health Secretary said that while this is a very important question, as of yet there is no clear answer. Instead, Hancock described it as a “very careful” calibration, which rests on to what extent the vaccine protects the most vulnerable groups from serious disease, as well as the fact that younger people can sometimes need hospital treatment from Covid, even if they are very unlikely to die from the illness.
If the Health Secretary’s sense of the costs and benefits of the restrictions is so out of whack that the small number of young people requiring hospitalisation from Covid outweighs the damage done by the lockdown, what hope is there?
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: MailOnline reports on the Prime Minister’s even greater reluctance to commit to any escape route, amid a dropping infection rate:
Boris Johnson today defied fresh demands from Tory MPs for a ‘road map’ out of lockdown as coronavirus infections tumbled again.
The PM is under pressure to say how and when the brutal restrictions in England will ease after the UK recorded another 37,535 cases – down a fifth from last Monday.
Although deaths rose again to 599 there are increasing signs that the curve is flattening, as it lags weeks behind the new infections.
Conservatives this evening underlined calls from former Chief Whip Mark Harper, who heads the CRG group of lockdown sceptics, to say what will happen when the Government has vaccinated the four most vulnerable groups – meant to happen by mid-February. The number of people receiving their first jab topped four million today.
The Deputy Chair of the group, Steve Baker, said: “We locked down the country and shut down our schools on the basis of a forecast, so why can’t we open it up on the basis of one too? It is not sustainable to leave the public and British businesses languishing any longer.
“Businesses and individuals desperately need hope and the opportunity to plan our recovery, that’s why we need to know our road to recovery as soon as possible.”
Another Tory backbencher told MailOnline the Government should lay out its plans even if it is like “snakes and ladders” and the arrangements later have to change.
However, Mr Johnson poured cold water on the idea this afternoon, insisting that it will not be possible to set out the route for unwinding restrictions until February 15th.
Touring the Oxford Biomedica vaccine plant, the PM also warned when the loosening does come it will not be an “open sesame” moment.
“I understand completely that people want to get back to normal as fast as we possibly can. It does depend on things going well,” he said.
“It depends on the vaccination programme going well, it depends on there being no new variants that throw our plans out and we have to mitigate against, and it depends on everybody, all of us, remembering that we’re not out of the woods yet.”
He said: “We’re going as fast as we can but I stress we can do everything we can to open up but when we come to February 15th, and the moment when we have to take stock of what we’ve achieved, that’s the time to look at where the virus is, the extent of the infection and the success that we’ve had.
“It’s only really then that we can talk about the way ahead and what steps we can take to relax.
“I’m afraid I’ve got to warn people it will be gradual, you can’t just open up in a great open sesame, in a great bang, because I’m afraid the situation is still pretty precarious.”
Stop Press 2: The BBC reports that all travel corridors are confirmed as closed until February 15th at the earliest.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that Public Health England would be stepping up checks on travellers who must self-isolate.
He said enforcement checks at borders would also be “ramped up” and added that asking all arrivals to self-isolate in hotels was a “potential measure” the Government was keeping under review.
However, the Daily Mail reports that the outgoing President Trump is lifting the blanket ban on non-American citizens travelling to the USA from January 26th onwards:
Donald Trump will lift travel bans for most non-U.S. citizens flying from the UK, Brazil and much of Europe starting on January 26th, two officials said on Monday.
The restrictions are set to end under a new proclamation from the President the same day that new COVID-19 test requirements take effect requiring all international visitors to have a negative result. The White House has not commented.
It remains to be seen whether Joe Biden will simply re-impose these restrictions or even adds more when he takes office on Wednesday.
Stop Press 3: Schools could be closed until after Easter, reports MailOnline.
Steve Chalke, head of the Oasis academy chain, which runs 48 schools, said: “I don’t think schools will reopen until post Easter. I think they will miss the second half of term as well.”
He said many teachers are very worried about catching Covid in school and that they will feel “safer” and “more confident” when the weather warms up and they can take children out of the classroom more.
Stop Press 4: Annabel Fenwick-Elliott has written a good piece in the Telegraph bemoaning the folly of needless further destruction of the travel industry, with a strong dose of lockdown scepticism thrown in for good measure.
It is January 2021. A virus which spares the vast majority of victims it infects has been endemic across the world for the best part of a year. There have been many attempts to contain it; almost none have been satisfactory. Most strategies have caused immeasurably more harm than good.
It is a disease that rips through hospitals and care homes, claiming the lives of the elderly and infirm, no matter how many masks or disinfectants we throw at the situation. We accept this as being unavoidable. Like every virus, new strains regularly emerge; crossing borders faster that we can chase them. Inexplicably, this we can not condone.
Despite the fact that much of the world is under national lockdown and international travel has dwindled to a trickle, the crusade on a largely innocent industry continues. Regardless of the fact that between March and October of 2020, the International Air Travel Association traced just 44 cases of potential coronavirus infections back to flying, out of the 1.2 billion people who boarded planes in the same time period, our assault on free movement only intensifies.
This week, Germany is plotting to repurpose refugee camps to detain quarantine flouters. In Bali, foreigners found to be strolling the beaches without wearing masks are being punished with push-ups. And here in Britain, there is talk of forcing new arrivals into expensive hotel sentences, and checking up on people using GPS data and facial-recognition software.
I wish all this was, as it sounds, the compelling but implausible plot of a big-budget sci-fi movie. I take comfort only in the fact that given our government has just today, after much delay, finally managed to get its act together on testing overseas visitors upon entry, it will likely be years before our geo-surveillance tactics enter the realm of China’s; by which time, hopefully, COVID-19 will be a distant memory, right?
Don’t bet on it. By mid-March of this year, according to the UK Government’s targets, all over-60s and those with underlying health conditions will have been vaccinated. Of the remaining population, more people died in road accidents last year than of coronavirus.
Worth reading in full.
Is the Second Wave Overstated?
Sarah Knapton, Science Editor of the Telegraph, has produced an in-depth analysis of the statistics around the ‘second wave’. It shows that misunderstood and misrepresented data are leading people to exaggerate the scale of the winter resurgence compared to the first peak last year.
On January 13th, Dr Yvonne Doyle, the Medical Director at Public Health England (PHE), issued an alarming statement claiming that Britain had reported the highest number of coronavirus deaths on a single day since the pandemic began.
She also alleged that there have now been more deaths in the second wave than the first.
Both these statements were “technically” true. On that day, 1,564 people were added to official mortality figures, the highest number ever, while the 44,198 “second wave” coronavirus deaths passed the 40,563 recorded up to August 31st.
Yet dig a little deeper and the narrative that the second wave is more deadly than the first begins to unravel.
I make an early caveat here that I firmly believe we are having a deadly second wave, and thousands more people are dying than would be expected ordinarily at this time of year. But it is not the tens of thousands more PHE would have you believe.
According to some figures, the second wave is five times less deadly than the first wave. This is in spite of the fact we have a new variant which is between 50% and 74% more infectious.
To get a real feel for how the waves compare, it is necessary to look at excess deaths rather than crude reported deaths.
According to the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI), set up by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, there have been 72,900 excess deaths from the start of the pandemic in March to the end of December.
Some 60,800 of those occurred in the first wave, but just 12,100 in the second. It means that, unlike the first wave, huge numbers of people included in the coronavirus death figures would have been expected to die of other causes in the past few months.
Look at Office for National Statistics (ONS) graphs showing deaths over time and this becomes startlingly clear. While there is a mountainous peak in April as deaths soared over the average, now we are trending a little above the five-year average line. On some days towards the end of December, we were actually below it.
Dr Jason Oke, of the Centre of Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) at the University of Oxford, said it was difficult to understand the pandemic from the graphs published on the Government’s daily coronavirus dashboard.
While the “deaths within 28 days” graph appears to show that the second wave is as bad as the first, the “weekly deaths by date registered” shows no such correlation.
“If you look at the 28-day graph and the hospital data you could well believe it is as bad as the first wave,” Dr Oke said. “The first graph suggests we are now at the same place as the first wave (and due for worse) whereas the second graph tells a different story – half the first wave currently and no increase in December.”
The CMI also reported that during week 53, from December 28th to January 3rd, there were 19% fewer deaths registered in England and Wales than would have been expected if Standardised Mortality Rates had been the same as in week one of 2020.
These December figures will undoubtedly rise as more deaths are registered, and have suffered from the Christmas and New Year holidays when fewer deaths than normal were recorded. But they are not likely to rise so significantly as to take us back to the extraordinary excess deaths of April.
This week’s Monthly Mortality Analysis from the ONS also makes this point very well. The report states: “Although mortality rates due to COVID-19 have increased between October and December 2020, these remain significantly lower than in April 2020.”
In fact, in England, age-standardised mortality rates (ASMR) were 62.5% lower in December than April. They have fallen from 623.2 per 100,000 people in April to 233.6 per 100,000 in December.
The same is true in Wales, although to a lesser extent. In April the ASMR was 495.1 deaths per 100,000 people, and it was 374.4 per 100,000 in December, a 24.4% decrease.
Worth reading in full.
Lord Sumption in the Dock
Lord Jonathan Sumption took to the airwaves to clarify and defend his comments made on the The Big Questions on Sunday, which we reported on yesterday.
He joined a panel on Good Morning Britain and, with considerable patience, faced a bellowing Piers Morgan who, along with co-presenter Susanna Reid, repeatedly refused to understand the perfectly plain meaning of his words even after several attempts to explain them, ending with Sumption declaring that he had said all he had to say on the matter and would either continue to speak on another topic or leave.
Worth watching in full.
Stop Press: The wilful misunderstanding continued in the Times yesterday courtesy of this piece by Melanie Phillips.
Stop Press 2: Michael Curzon, editor of Bournbrook Magazine and assistant editor of Conservative Woman, has penned this piece in defence of Sumption.
Stop Press 3: Julia Hartley-Brewer interviewed Lord Sumption on her talkRADIO show yesterday.
The Threat Lockdowns Pose to Human Rights
Adam Wagner, a legal expert and barrister focused on human rights, and a Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths University, was interviewed by Freddie Sayers for UnHerd‘s Lockdown TV. It’s a shame he joined in the mistaken pile-on against Lord Sumption, but if you can get past that he provided a wide-ranging expert perspective on the legal aspects of the lockdown debate.
Adam Wagner is one of the UK’s highest-profile legal experts on human rights, citing Shami Chakrabati as one of his main influences in the field. He strongly distances himself from “Covid deniers” whose attempt to minimise the threat of the virus he describes as “dangerous nonsense”, and expressed dismay at Lord Sumption’s insensitive phrasing about the value of lives on television yesterday. In other words, he’s about as far from an ideological right-winger as you’ll find in the British media.
So it was especially sobering to hear him set out some of the things he is worried about from a legal and human rights perspective since the pandemic started around 12 months ago. He wondered aloud on Twitter whether, had the virus not originated in China and had the response not been set by their invention of lockdowns, this approach would ever have become the accepted sensible response in liberal Western democracies?
He argues that, while he absolutely accepts that the virus constitutes a threat that justifies emergency action:
– Lockdowns have become a “received wisdom” and that, in due course, a proper inquiry into which components actually were effective, and whether each component passed the proportionality test, is essential.
– The emergency powers taken by the Government have been abused – they were not designed to be used over such a long period of time. He deplores the lack of oversight and due process for these measures that change everybody’s lives.
– The “Napoleonic” principle that everything is illegal unless you are explicitly allowed it is an inversion of the way the law has worked in this country throughout modern times. If you had told a human rights expert or public lawyer this would be the situation 12 months ago they would never have believed you.
– From a Human Rights perspective, balancing the right to life with the right to associate, and the right to a family life, is a precarious act and it is right to scrutinise every measure in that context and be sceptical of them to make sure they are not going too far
– Once restrictions are taken for temporary emergencies, a look at history shows that they tend to become permanent (he cites the terrorism measures in response to 9/11 as an example).
“I think with Covid, the danger is that if it never leaves us, or it mutates or a different virus arrives with a similar dynamic, we’ll be in a semi-permanent state of ‘this is what we do’ – when this happens, we have lockdowns, we have emergency laws, we take away parliamentary niceties like scrutiny, debates, votes, that sort of thing… And I think that is a danger that doesn’t come out of the fringes of the lockdown sceptic movement. That’s the real deal as a worry.”
Worth watching in full.
WHO Inspector Discussed Coronavirus Research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology Weeks Before Outbreak
Further to our headline piece in Lockdown Sceptics on January 17th on the U.S. State Department’s fact sheet about the possible origins of the virus, Taiwan News reports that a WHO Inspector discussed the research of modified coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in a video podcast called “This Week In Virology” shortly before the first cases of COVID-19 were declared in Wuhan.
In a video that was originally taken on December 9th, 2019, three weeks before the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission announced an outbreak of a new form of pneumonia, virologist Vincent Racaniello interviewed British zoologist and president of EcoHealth Alliance Peter Daszak about his work at the nonprofit to protect the world from the emergence of new diseases and predict pandemics. Since 2014, Daszak’s organization has received millions of dollars of funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), which it has funneled to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to carry out research on bat coronaviruses.
In the first phase of research, which took place from 2014 to 2019, Daszak coordinated with Shi Zhengli, also known as “Bat Woman”, at the WIV on investigating and cataloging bat coronaviruses across China. EcoHealth Alliance received US$3.7 million in funding from the NIH for this research and 10% was channeled to the WIV, reported NPR.
The second, more dangerous phase, which started in 2019, involved gain-of-function (GoF) research on coronaviruses and chimeras in humanized mice from the lab of Ralph S. Baric of the University of North Carolina. Funding for the program was withdrawn by the NIH under the Trump administration on April 27th amid the pandemic.
At the 28:10 mark of the podcast interview, Daszak states that researchers found that SARS likely originated from bats and then set out to find more SARS-related coronaviruses, eventually finding over 100. He observed that some coronaviruses can “get into human cells in the lab,” and others can cause SARS disease in “humanized mouse models”.
He ominously warned that such coronaviruses are “untreatable with therapeutic monoclonals (antibodies) and you can’t vaccinate against them with a vaccine”. Ironically, he claims that his team’s goal was trying to find the next “spillover event” that could cause the next pandemic, mere weeks before cases of COVID-19 were beginning to be reported in Wuhan.
When Racaniello asks what can be done to deal with coronavirus given that there is no vaccine or therapeutic for them, Daszak at the 29:54 mark appears to reveal that the goal of the GoF experiments was to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine for many different types of coronaviruses.
Based on his response, it is evident that just before the start of the pandemic, the WIV was modifying coronaviruses in the lab: “You can manipulate them in the lab pretty easily.” What he then mentioned has become the telltale trait of SARS-CoV-2, its spike protein: “Spike protein drives a lot of what happens with the coronavirus, zoonotic risk.”
Worth reading in full.
The full video podcast can be viewed here.
Julia Hartley-Brewer’s Appeal
Readers can either reply to Julia on Twitter or email us here if they want us to pass on their stories and contact details.
A Postcard from New York’s Orthodox Jewish Community
Frieda Vizel, a reader who is a member of the Hasidic community in Brooklyn, New York City, has sent us a description of life there at the moment:
I thought I would share my report of a day in the Jewish Hasidic community of Brooklyn, New York, where everything is completely open and no one is wearing masks. It has been interesting to see that the community can pull this off with the power of the collective. They are able to operate busy weddings and mass celebration of holidays because they have each other’s back. Whenever the media or government gets on their case, they form a network of sorts, sharing information on how to get around inspectors and when journalists are around. And although there have been two or so episodes of intense obsession with them (once in April and once in October), they have held on through it. Months go by where they mostly forget about Covid. By any measure, their death rate is no worse than the general death rate. They had higher case rate in October but the overall highest tallies of New York City deaths were not in the Orthodox sections. The worst affected areas were in the Bronx and Queens. The most interesting thing about all this is that the media here pays no attention to their success story, but the moment they have a blip in rates, they descend on the neighbourhood and twist it all into a tale of primitive idiots committing mass suicide. What a shame!
Frieda also has a longer piece about life in the city on her site here.
Round-up
- “The New Normal Documentary” – We linked to this on YouTube yesterday, but it has since been removed so here’s another link, this time to BitChute. It’s a documentary by happen.network setting out the Great Reset conspiracy theory in a way that doesn’t make it sound like a conspiracy theory
- “I’m not a Covid denier, but it’s time to end the lockdowns” – Excellent piece by Brian Monteith in the Scotsman
- “Lockdown is a luxury few can afford” – J.J. Charlesworth in spiked on the relative ease of lockdown for the laptop-wielding middle class worker
- “Arbitrarily detained in Danandrewstan” – An anonymous writer from the state of Victoria in Australia recounts the unpleasant experience of flying home from New South Wales
- “Nashville school board chair enjoyed St Lucia before closing schools” – One for the map of hypocritical American officials we linked to recently
- “California warns against using a batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines after allergic reactions” – Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times on more reports of allergic reactions
- “Hacked emails allegedly detail how EU drug regulator was pressured to approve Pfizer jab despite ‘problems’ with the vaccine” – RT‘s report won’t allay fears that the approval process has been rushed
- “US man hid in airport for three months due to Covid pandemic fear” – A strange story from the USA
- “Woman ‘ejected from Sainsbury’s by police for refusing to wear a face mask‘” – Heavy-handed policing in Kent after supermarkets upped the ante on mask enforcement. Is this legal?
- “Australian Open: Tennis stars hit out at Covid isolation measures as controversy mounts” – Euronews reports that tennis players are actually having to train within the confines of their hotel rooms
- “COVID-19: Basingstoke partygoers ‘hadn’t heard about pandemic‘” – A bold excuse to give to police officers with a straight face
- “Test and trace consultants are earning average of £1,000 a DAY as it emerges 3,000 have been hired at a cost to the taxpayer of at least £375m” – Nice work if you can get it, as reported in the Daily Mail
- “Police to drop most COVID-19 fines and hand out cautions” – Backtracking on swingeing fines in the Australian state with one of the most draconian Covid regimes in the Anglosphere
- “Germany to repurpose refugee camps to detain people who repeatedly flout Covid rules by going out when they should be quarantining” – No potential for disobliging historical comparisons here…
- “COVID-19: A realistic approach to community management” – A good technical piece by the Australian Emeritus Professor of Pathology, Robert Clancy
- Sucharit Bhakdi Interview on Planet Lockdown – Full-length interview on Vimeo with the dissenting Thai-German microbiologist
- Peter Hitchens’ weekly conversation with Mike Graham at talkRADIO
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Seven today: “Beat the Bastards” by The Exploited, “Keeping Two Chevrons Apart” by Half Man Half Biscuit, “The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)” by Fun Boy Three, “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next” by Manic Street Preachers, “What a Waste” by Ian Dury and the Blockheads, “One Day I’ll Fly Away” by Randy Crawford, “Count Me Out” by New Edition, and “It’s All Too Much” by The Beatles.
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 as well as post comments below the line, 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.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a one-stop shop down here for people who want to obtain a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card – because wearing a mask causes them “severe distress”, for instance. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and the Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. And 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.
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 and Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson’s Spectator article about the Danish mask study here.
Stop Press: A reader has sent us the letter he has written to his local MP Geoffrey Cox, describing the daily ordeal he endures as a mask-exempt person due to his autism.
Dear Mr Cox,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing in the hope that you can help put an end to the madness and division caused by the Government’s un-nuanced public message and the ignorance of a sizeable portion of the public with regard to the face covering guidelines. The guidelines clearly state that there are “face covering exemptions”, and yet whenever I am in a shop unmasked (I am autistic and can experience severe anxiety) I am stared at by a good number of utterly ignorant shoppers, and indeed some staff members.
Why is this happening? Well, it seems to me that it is because the Government, while consistently emphasing the ‘need’ to wear face coverings, has utterly neglected to consistently stress the need to be mindful of those who for disability/health reasons cannot wear face coverings. The contrast between the message on the Government website – where it is clear about exemptions and on the public’s need “to be mindful of people who are exempt from wearing a face covering” – and the Government’s message in public: on the news, in briefings, etc. is striking. Does the Government, which constantly infantilises the public with its stupid slogans, expect this same public to read the website? This is not acceptable, and it is causing tensions between citizens.
This brings me to my latest visit to Tesco, Barnstaple. As I approached the store I was greeted by a big sign declaring :”No Mask, No Entry.” I’m a big man, and I am not easily intimidated, but I found this somewhat intimidating. Imagine how others will feel when facing this threatening sign knowing they are legally exempt and have done nothing wrong. Tucked away underneath the large, intimidating/threatening “No Mask, No Entry” sign, in very small letters, were words to the effect of: “See Government website for details on exemptions.” Astonishing. As soon as I walked in I was treated to the usual stares from a large and ignorant portion of shoppers and one or two staff members.
I have spoken to Tesco Customer Servive on the phone and suggested similar sized letters on the same sign or on a separate, equally ‘in your face’ sign asking people to be mindful of those with a disability/health issues who cannot wear a face covering. He seemed to be in agreement and said he will forward the message on, and hopefully Tesco stores everywhere will make this clear from now on. One truly hopes they do.
That’s Tesco. What about all the other shops? What about the inconsistency concerning the Government’s message on its website and its message in public, on the news, in briefings? Surely Government does not want citizens to be suspicious of other citizens. Surely Government does not want an atmosphere of open, self-righteous discrimination where ignorant, bone-idle citizens discriminate against their fellow citizens.
I hope you can see how dangerous this is, and the evil historical parallels it brings to mind.
I ask and urge you to do something about this, Mr Cox.
Stop Press 2: This is a recent notice sent out by the Royal Courts of Justice – a case of masks for thee, but not for me.
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 GBD 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. Sign up to the newsletter here.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
There are now so many legal cases being brought against the Government and its ministers we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
The Simon Dolan case has now reached the end of the road. The current lead case is the Robin Tilbrook case which challenges whether the Lockdown Regulations are constitutional. 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 and Runnymede Trust’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.
And last but not least there was the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. A High Court judge refused permission for the FSU’s judicial review on December 9th and the FSU has decided not to appeal the decision because Ofcom has conceded most of the points it was making. Check here for details.
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.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. Doing these daily updates is hard work (although we have help from lots of people, mainly in the form of readers sending us stories and links). If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links we should include in future updates, email us here. (Don’t assume we’ll pick them up in the comments.)
And Finally…
In the latest episode of London Calling, James Delingpole asks Toby how he copes with all the attacks on him on Twitter. “I try not to look,” he says. In addition, they defend Lord Sumption, discuss the other attacks on lockdown sceptics, argue about whether they’re coordinated (James thinks they are, Toby doesn’t) and sing the praises of the novelist Bernard Cornwell.
Listen to the episode here and subscribe to London Calling on iTunes here.
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10,000 Austrian’s Take To The Streets Vienna / Hugo Talks #lockdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyTrQbWpe_4&list=WL&index=62
Twitter’s alternative Parler was growing fast. Then the liberals came for it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_E2_JL2QXA&list=WL&index=61
TFIglobal
Gab still working if you use Opera, can’t access it on Firefox today.
Bin Firefox: They are part of the problem. I don’t use Gab but there is a fair chance that it will work under the Vivaldi browser too. Brave might also be worth a look.
https://www.reddit.com/r/duckduckgo/comments/bcjlgq/firefox_and_chrome_banning_gabs_dissenter_where/
Or Dissenter (from Gab) a modified Brave I believe. Seems pretty good, blocks lots of stuff too so I don’t have to bother zapping it with CCleaner Pro.
Gab works on Brave. It’s faster now as well. It was impossibly slow earlier due to rapid expansion of users.
There’s a new kid on the block, CloutHub.
Yes, lots are dropping Firefox after they, in a similar vein to the social media giants, issued statements where they talked about even further measures to take down “bad actors”. they threw in a rant about institutional racism and white privilege too… Firefox are certainly no bastion of liberty.
still working on ff and chrome for me
Use Dissenter from Gab – it’s a stripped down fork of Brave
you guys are speaking a foreign language…if you had said to me 30 years ago somebody would be saying in 2021 “Use Dissenter from Gab…its a stripped down fork of Brave”?…I would have thought I was going MAD
Well, you still could be.
UK Freedom Certificates / More Swedish Nurses Refusing the Shot / NY Ban on Body Armour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZJCAAW2tik
UK Gov has “no plans” to introduce freedom certificates. How about a yellow star?
Sanity 4 Sweden
In a recent email to the Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) I did suggest that as the sheeple received their “vaccine”, they could have their PPS (Personal Public Service) number tattooed on their arm at the same time.
Wow. Historical ignorance at its finest.
Turn your sarcasm-detector on.
Yes and the German’s talking about internment. Sorry detention Camps for breaking rules! Talk about not understanding your own history.
! BONKERS! Lockdown News Roundup / Hugo talks #lockdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1s2bU4qccQ
Hancock is a disgrace. Lockdown and other extreme restrictions look like being here forever if he isn’t stopped.
Vive la revolution
So true – in the past, the second paragraph would have been a joke: not any more!
I just want him dead. Are you shocked?
saddened but not surprised. Has anyone told him how many deaths his cruel and unhinged policies could be responsible for?
I fancy a holiday in February or March. Any suggestions? Is there any sort of lockdown sceptic version of Airbnb? Any good days out if I can’t stay anywhere? I hear Otley’s nice at this time of year…
My holiday cottage is available in March, Darsham Suffolk, close to the coast and AONB.
Is there any chance. you could post a link to your cottage.
This would be a good idea as I’m sure some places are going to insist people are vaccinated in order to stay.
The Freedom Network https://www.thefreedomnetwork.co.uk/ is setting up a register of holiday homes / apartments / BnBs / etc.
Good. Couldn’t see any mention of it though. I’ll watch out for it.
That’s great, thanks.
Worth quoting in full, I think, what it says on be carton of my favourite “food”: “The EU has set a legal limit of 20mg/kg amygdalin content for apricot kernels being sold as a food product. “Creative Nature’s Apricot Kernels contain approximately 150mg/kg amygdalin content and are therefore not allowed to be sold as a food any more. “Please be aware, this product is not for human consumption. It is a cosmetic ingredient used to make natural face masks [lol] and exfoliating body scrubs.” It should be noted that apricot kernels are reputed to protect against, and heal, cancer. Whether or no, I have been taking several a day for years and have suffered neither cancer nor any ill effects from taking them, and therefore suspect some sort of skullduggery (as Phillip Day indicated years before this ban). The EU were doing too many things like that for my money, and were too easily manipulated by big business and big pharma. Still, I suppose our own politicians won’t necessarily be any better. I can’t emphasize enough that Big Pharma has waged a sophisticated profiteering campaign involving politicians, universities, scientists, charities etc. promoting their patented products (vaccines and so on) and… Read more »
Well it’s obsessed with eliminating the risk of another European war anyway, this is its very raison d’etre (sorry, I don’t know how to do a circumflex accent).
I suppose this fear might naturally spread over to other areas. Sadly we are still suffering from the traumas of the second world war. I seem to remember that lead pipe organs were to be destroyed because of lead being poisonous (despite lead in organ pipes constituting no real risk). I think they got a reprieve in the end. Perhaps they’ll eliminate the risk of a virus. Or perhaps not. And if there has never been a vaccine successfully developed against coronaviruses before, one has to wonder how likely the current ones are to be successful in this crop of rushed “vaccines”, and what long term problems there may be – I don’t see how anyone can possibly know. Oh well, so long as people aren’t forced to take them, and know the risks…
No, it,s not gun ownership that has lead to the so-called United States being more violent either. 100 odd years ago, I seem to remember hearing, lots of people in the UK owned guns but it was a remarkably peaceful society. There are always cultural factors, which will tend to trump the efforts of politicians and international organisations. Similarly, politicians can’t really control a virus…
There are probably still quite a few guns around in trunks, up in the loft, left over from the war. When my grandfather went into a home he remembered that he had a bomb in one of his sheds. If he hadn’t warned us we wouldn’t have known.
Well, the enormous KABOOM would have been a bit of a giveaway …
ASEAN is a useless talking shop. I should know because I come from one of Thailand’s neighbours – the one with over 7,000 islands.
As for not going to war, I suspect a lot of it is down to each of the member states having its own insurgency and separatist problems. My home country for a start has both, plus don’t forget horrendous natural calamities such as typhoons and floodings.
Hey Bart, did not know that you were from the Philippines. I spend a lot of time in Manila when I worked for the FT after I left the service. Beautiful country, lovely people, great place to play basketball and eat a roast pig after:-)
Yes I am. So glad I no longer live there but yeah, I do miss the roast pig.
And very pleased that you had a great experience there. Shame the Philippines doesn’t really factor in the radar of Brits when they go on holiday in SE Asia.
aha i thought it was Indonesia – didn’t know Philippines had so many islands also! It’s on my bucket list to visit – if i can ever get off this nasty little island!
Indonesia has more, roughly 13,000
The Philippines is a wonderful place to visit. Not to live (but that’s just me).
Not disputing the fact that there are a lot of people who do believe in the idea that the EU somehow prevents war, it is nevertheless nonsense and always was. It was the Cold War that prevented open war in EEC/EU Europe for most of the post-WW2 period, and all the EU can possibly do is shift the prospect of war from international wars to civil wars/wars of resistance within the EU superstate once it has been fully established.
The latter are almost inevitable imo if the project continues.
I felt this was an excellent recent discussion of the situation wrt Brexit and the EU, though I’m by no means saying I agree with all the opinions expressed:
Cambridge Historian Prof. Robert Tombs: Why Britain Chose Brexit
Oh absolutely, and it is ironic that the EU (or its predecessor The European Coal and Steel Community) was set up to prevent war, particularly war between France and Germany. And the only thing that saved West Germany from being invaded by Soviet forces was the presence of large numbers of American troops.
Looking at the fate of so many former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries, I can only hope that a similar fate does not await current members of the similarly forced confederation the EU where resentment has similarly been stirred up, in the future.
Vietnam?
People who take large doses of it certainly don’t die of cancer!
Can I defend Lord Sumption?
People used to say when a ship was sinking, “women and children first”.
I would be ashamed if I took a place on a lifeboat at the expense of a child, and would despise anyone who did. That doesn’t mean I don’t value older people (and I consider it a nonsense to condemn them for voting in a certain referendum). But we should absolutely put children first (and indeed women first if one is a man, stand up for a woman on the bus etc.).
My biggest problem with lockdowns and related extreme restrictions is that they will kill more children than they can ever hope to save. Do old people really want children to die so they can (possibly) have a few mre months or years? Has anyone asked them?
Have I put my foot in it?…
Well, toodle-oo.
Are there buses with no empty seats?
Oh there used to be. Those were the days (and there’s a sentiment I never thought I’d be expressing!)
I disagree, though it is painful that it was necessary to point out that these decisions actually do have to be made, and have to be made day in, day out.
Difficult to believe that many people either don’t, or don’t want to, realise this.
In the same way that many people are not capable of seeing through other items in the media and applying a modicum of context to them too.
It also highlighted the absence of cost benefit analysis of the government actions.
As can be seen in the absolutely horrendous segment in “Good Morning Britain”, the most blatantly biased and emotionally unbalanced piece I have had the misfortune to witness for some time. (And that’s saying something these days).
It’s lucky that Lord Sumption is clearly a cut above the likes of Morgan and his sidekick, who apparently want to step into the shoes of Jeremy Kyle with his interviewing “technique”.
The modern equivalent of bear baiting, except in this case the bait was not taken.
Positively steaming after watching the exchange. These arrogant bastards aren’t fit to bathe in his spit, let alone polish Lord Sumption’s shoes!
I admire the way you concede when you are wrong…wish more people were like that.
Well done NN.
We should never have been brought to this pass, arguing about the comparative value of people’s lives.
These people – SAG, Hancock, Johnson et al – should be strung up for this.
Well, I’m retired and I’m sick to death of the constant’protect the vulnerable’ crusade, so shoutily adopted by the likes of overpaid megaphones like Piers Morgan. Lord Sumption is entirely correct in what he said, admitting that he too, as an elderly person, does not wish to see young lives sacrificed on his behalf. Neither do I! Yesterday I spoke to my 23 year old niece; despite living miles apart, we have a strong emotional bond. She is comparatively privileged in terms of looks, private education, employment and with a decent boyfriend who has his own business. However, she told me that recently she has been bursting into tears more frequently, worried as she is by the constant tweaking of the various covid rules. She has also found being with her other half in her small flat with few breaks quite difficult, although still fully committed to staying with him. Several of her acquaintances have split up, unable to withstand the emotional and economic consequences of Lockdown UK. So, if this is becoming increasingly difficult for this privileged young woman and her bloke, just imagine what the consequences must be for the many thousands of less fortunate youngsters, denied hope,… Read more »
Except the responses to the coronavirus are not based on science. They are pseudoscience. Policy decisions justified by scientific sounding propaganda. https://viewsandstories.blogspot.com/2020/10/coronavirus-pseudoscience.html
Yes you’re correct in some respects, although, it must be said, that mainstream scientists have largely bought into this.
I agree it is propaganda, but ‘following the science’ equates, in my opinion, to ‘the unthinking appliance of politically expedient science’.
A qualification which I think is valid.
But none of it is science. Take the two metre social distancing rule. There is no scientific basis for it. None. It was just made up. When Professor Yvonne Doyle of Public Health England was asked by a House of Commons Select Committee for the scientific evidence for the rule, she said: “The precautionary principle.” Opinions held by scientists (regardless of how many) are not science. They are opinions. And the government has cherry picked opinions from a select group of scientists and represented those opinions as “the science”.
Yes, agreed, but then we have the vaccines, the various movers and shakers like Dr Strangelove and his Imperial College chums, the various advocates in the US and others.
So, my point is that the appliance of politically expedient science is what has been foisted on us.
Which is why, in my first comment here, I suggested that the advice of dissenting scientists and clinicians should be taken: Gupta, Heneghan, Sikora, Bhattacharya , Levitt et al.
It’s widely accepted that much current research depends on private funding and that lines must be towed to secure this.
This cartel needs to be broken.
It’s not really politically expedient, unless you consider the Public Health mafia to be playing a political role. Which is what they are doing.
Snap.
Agree with your sentiments but if you mean “appliance” of science, rather than “application” of science, I’m puzzled.
I chose it deliberately,as I recalled the former Zanussi adverts, which coined the phrase.
It’s catchy and stuck in my memory as I was composing my latest diatribe. Call it commenter’s licence.
Ah, since I’m not in the UK, I didn’t get it.
Planet Zanussi. About right.
Hear, hear!!!
Do not lament cynicism – it is the only natural response to a sustained exposure to idiocy.
I also cringe at the word vulnerable and certainly don’t want to be part of this cohort particularly as I’m a lot healthier and fitter than many younger people. I’ve done my best to avoid the NHS tentacles all my life but if I do get a letter about the vaccine I’ll use it to light the fire.
A kindred spirit!
That’s my default option too, fiery.
Hoping there will be a creative way of fucking with them first, though. Asking for the letter in Cyrillic maybe …
I know somebody who’s grilfriend is an estate agent. She has NEVER been busier than she is now. Almost ALL of her customers are people who have split up with their partners because being locked in with them has destroyed their relationships. They all want flats and they want them immediately and they will take anything. She says.
My niece is in the same business, dealing with mainly business lettings, which are still very much in demand.
Her employers are busier with lets than sales apparently.
Blimey that’s something I hadn’t accounted for.
WendyK, I too am retired and approaching 63. No one should have to give up any thing to protect me or anyone older. That the younger generations are being told they must give up their lives, income, mental health and education to save older people is a disgrace to me. This is how the government are spinning things but what I really hear is that they are trying to save their own skin.
Lord Sumption is correct that society puts a greater value on a young life in terms of medical care than it does on an older life. I don’t have children but any parent would put their child’s life before their own. When my brother died at age 30 my parents would have given up their lives willingly if he could have kept his. If most 80 year olds could be asked about this I am sure they would say the same.
Something I find very interesting about the critics of the government and the lockdown zealots is that they have expressed deep distrust of the government but are jumping with joy at the prospect of taking a vaccine still in the experimental stages.
Very well said Wendy, and isn’t it revealing that so many of us -the oldies- are utterly disgusted by the weaponising of the deaths of the elderly at the expense of the young, who will bear the burdens, both social, economic and fiscal, of this awful farce for years to come.
The very thought of a young life being compromised to extend mine fills me with anger and shame. i would never, never allow it to happen.
Of course all this confected emoting could eventually lead to a backlash against older retired folk .
Perhaps we should resurrect the slogan ‘not in my name’; an angry army of oldies might shame the lunatics who’ve taken over the asylum to reconsider their blundering strategy.
Too many debates where all sides of the argument are not properly represented, and not least in science.
See also first comment of tomorrow’s btl
Older people, especially women, have been telling me before, during and after lockdown .1 that they don’t want the country to be sacrificed on their behalf and many have said the Covid should have been left to follow its course (“let it rip” as the MSM would put it).
Just what I think.
I do too, I’m nearly 72.
Me too
Yep. Had a few visitors tell me the same thing before we had to shut down. Nearly wept when one woman told me “you shouldn’t be forced to do all these for my sake.”
I’m still of the opinion the virus should have been allowed to spread naturally.
I also remember speaking to my wife’s 90 year old granny in June. She said to me “it’s like a bloody dictatorship telling us where we can and cannot go and what we can and cannot do“. That was music to my ears. This is a 90 year old who still has her mind and can list off everyones birthdays without looking at a calendar.
The greatest generation.
And let’s have Maureen from Barnsley as pm. In fact, let’s move parliament to Barnsley. Maybe they’d think twice about some of the nonsense they come out with…
I’d throw the kids out to save my own skin, at the end of the day the adults can always make more kids. How will the kids survive without adults to look after them?
But its logical & for the greater good of the species!
Could you throw my kids out as well? They had the last of the gin and we’re in prohibition in SA!!
There not my kids, i’ve got no genetic investment in em.
That’s technically known as a ‘three post ment’. 🙂
Though kids are not useless eaters, a-s, I agree with you in principle. Always used to be parents of young families who were top of the QALY ratings – has that changed ?
Why all the negativity? I don’t think you people are taking this cost/benefit value analysis thingy seriously. Kids are unproductive & just useless eaters for years, before they can serve society, unless we bring chimney boys back to work!
Look at China and the developed world fps. Get rid of kids – yes, you get a few decades ill gotten economic benefit, but then you get a long period of economic hardship as the number of productive workers declines whilst the number of old people continues to increase. Unfortunately for us, the world is now entering such a period, and who knows how it will turn out, as it is to my knowledge unprecedented on this scale.
I caught Sumption yesterday attempting to qualify his perfectly reasonable answer by (a littleness foolishly in my opinion) trying to explain himself to Piers Morgan.
It was like explaining rudimentary philosophy to a chimp.
I watched it too. I could not decide whether Morgan was wilfully misunderstanding Sumption’s words or he is just really stupid. However, Professor Devi Sridhar clearly did know that Sumption was correct and was just downright lying.
She’s the nasty piece of work that has been endlessly attacking Suntera Gupta. Poisonous woman.
Please don’t insult are chimp brothers and sisters. They are a 100 times smarter than Pier Morgan is.
I think Piers Morgan is better described as a amoeba.
Morganus megaphonis is my new species moniker for motor mouth.
😂
That’s a bit rough on Amoeba, being compared to the zero brain cells Morgan!
Slime mould?
Previously instead of a written description, online dictionaries put a photo of Morg in the description box for bloviating buffoon.
Buffoonus bloviatus var Morganus. An exemplar of motor mouth gain of function.
I think that’s more spot on!
Thing is that if lockdownistas truly valued life (other than their own), they would support shielding the vulnerable where possible and letting the rest get on with life.
Maximum happiness with minimum cost. That’s truly humanitarian.
Maybe if Sumption had turned it around and talked about himself (rather than another participant, as I gather he did), it would have come across better tactically. Just an idea.
He did initially relate the point to himself – and later on when he was asked to clarify his position – saying that he had grandchildren and if it came to choosing who should live or die it would be his grandchildren over and above himself because they still had their whole lives ahead of them.
If you’ve followed alternative media rather than the BBC/ITV/shite, you’ll be aware of the insidious advances which have been made towards deliberately degenerating and sexualising/perverting children for the past 15 years. Youtube (Google) are amongst the worst offenders. Last time I checked (which is a while ago now) they put together a series of videos promoted on their home page of parents telling their own children how they were conceived, jokingly absent was the innocent ‘birds and the bees’ metaphor.
You may also be aware of the fact the ‘gender war’ always finds itself targeting children as much as possible, getting into their books, cartoons, even physically entering their schools when a man dressed in drag shows up to read ‘gender-neutral’ literature.
Bear in mind all this has lead up to lockdown. Consider how vulnerable children are without any of the above interference in their lives. Then how crushing this lockdown is to their future. The government and the powers that be are hell bent on destroying our future.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/06/john-dillermand-denmark-launches-childrens-tv-show-man-giant-penis
This would be jaw droppingly funny if I hadn’t moved to Denmark last autumn with my Danish wife and twin 5yr old boys.
I’m now utterly convinced that the only way for civilised society to reemerge is to once again embrace the pastime of putting heads on sticks.
These cunts are sick, decapitation is the cure.
Heads on sticks does it for me …
I agree but Lord Sumption assumes everyone thinks rationally and, as has become only too clear recently, they don’t. For a rational man, he really should have foreseen the consequences of making that statement.
And let’s hear it for the Jewish Hasidic community in Brooklyn, whose “death rate is no worse than the general death rate”.
These obscene lockdown and related restrictions must end now. And if they don’t, there will be questions for those concerned. Preferably in “Nuremberg mark II”. (Do we have our own name for this yet?).
The Hasidic Jews in New York could teach their counterparts here a thing or two.
Yesterday’s coronavirus press briefing revealed (if it were not already clear enough) that the government has no plan for lifting all the restrictions. Matt Hancock was asked about this by both a member of the public and a journalist. His responses offered nothing to those who are waiting for the government to end the restrictions, to return to normal. Hancock made it plain that even when all the old and vulnerable have been vaccinated that would not be sufficient to end the restrictions, even as he stated that this category constituted ninety-nine percent of all the coronavirus related deaths. The obvious implication of Hancock’s assertions is that the government has no plans for ending the restrictions, ever. We have also seen that the rebel Conservative backbenchers have no intention of forcing the government to change its position. They have contented themselves with words of criticism, but have shown they are not prepared to take action. And those rebels are the only organised opposition. They have the power to stop the madness, but they are not prepared to use it. This suggests to me that there is at present only one realistic route out of the madness: mass non-compliance. If people… Read more »
‘une stupide obéissance ou la révolte’ (La Peste)
Paris is “une ville sale”. Well he might be right now!
Trouble is, the government still do not have the exit strategy that many have been calling for for a long time. They’ve dug themselves into a hole and don’t appear to have the first idea of how to get out. By their own apparent logic, the inevitable mutations, the extra deaths because of immune systems compromised by stress and excessive sanitising et. and the pressures that all this will put on “our” nhs could justify restrictions pretty much permanently. No, I reckon there needs to be change at the top.
Well good night. Don’t let Camus bight…
The government’s planned exit strategy is by way of entry into Klaus Schwab’s world of the Great Reset. Most of us won’t be allowed into his wunderland, so Klaus will require a lot of help from his mate, Bill Gates. Bill, as we all ought to know, has been working on his special depopulating “vaccines” for nearly two decades, during which time his experimentation has been causing mayhem across the third world. This likely tells us why Bill and Klaus’s little helpers, Johnson and Hancock are now holding out for “vaccination” of everyone. No doubt, the even more lethal “vaccines” will be on the scene once the old gits have been disposed of.
German Bight 🙂
oops
Isn’t La Peste really about the occupation? That’s where we are – occupied.
I had to read La Peste at school, decades ago, never thought I’d be living through a version of it but have never forgotten the warning in the last paragraph.
We had to read it too. I don’t remember the last paragraph but I remember in the priests denying that there was a plague after they started getting ill! „Nous n‘ avons pas la Peste a oran!“
Have you seen
The Light ?
Ate you The Light ?
The caption to the picture describes the The Light as a conspiracy theory newspaper. Name calling is so modern and fashionable.
I have not seen it. But now that you have brought to my attention, I will look out for it.
Being put through letterbox’s in London, Surrey, Yorkshire and Devon according to the report.
I have now read some of its reporting. I could not see anything that struck me as lying or grossly misleading; but I did read an informative article on the limited ownership of the corporate media and its effects on misinforming the public in the interests of the elite, which is of course information the corporate media have an interest in suppressing.
Publishing stuff on SAG conflicts of interests would be good too. (eg Zoe Harcombe’s excellent research on this)
And Sussex !
Highly recommended Steve.
I distribute copies in my area of N Wales. The editorial/distribution team advise that it be distributed primarily to independent high street businesses who are most likely to appreciate the content and want to make copies available to their customers. I have built up a solid small, loyal network of local businesses – mainly first generation immigrant owned, as the Welsh/English owned businesses seem to prefer going out of business to listening to voices sympathetic to their plight. Unfortunately all my ‘customers’ are currently prohibited from trading so cannot spread the word.
Any excess copies I have left within the next 3 or 4 weeks may well end up through people’s letterboxes!
The paper can also be found online:
https://thelightpaper.co.uk/
A conspiracy theory is a hypothesis which proposes an explanation to be tested against actual events.
The testing in now complete, so we just call it a conspiracy.
You are quite right, at some stage the general public will begin to realise that the risk to them has been exaggerated and their fear and beliefs have been misplaced.
Consequently they will refuse to “follow the rules”.
Whether this is before, or after, the government manage to catch up is yet to be seen.
The cry of Granny killer, the accusation of blood on your hands and the twisting of life value arguments to show you are callous and unfeeling have proved powerful arguments for the lock-down zealots; as we saw with Lord Sumption. They are still effective enough to keep this sorry pantomime on the road.
In my view it suits the Government to run this as long as it can as it has 2 dates in mind;
In June the UK hosts the G7 talks in Cornwall
In November the UK hosts the World Climate change Talks
They are running this lockdown nonsense with the sole aim of scoring as many political points as they can by seeing to be the major economy that has triumphed over this ‘deadly virus’.
I think there is a huge mountain to shift before public opinion and actions are such as to make the Government shift from its plans.
If the government believes its own
propagandascience surely it would cancel such obvious virus spreading activities as hosting the G7 and COP 26.Who, in the government, is speaking up for our children?
this cannot go on
I hoped for many months, that the mass adoption of exemption lanyards in a show of solidarity as displayed by the Danes in WW2, would break the mask mandate.
Obviously my hopes were dashed, as there is no solidarity here, just mass compliance accompanied by an unspoken resentment of the bare faced rebels.
An unedifying reflection on our society.
I do and agree there is no other way out out this. Peter Hitchen’s naive idea of everyone writing to their MPs is like asking an ant to stop an elephant. The MPs are either completely bought into this or are thinking about their own careers. Being a maverick and anti establishment is not a good career move. People like us have to do whatever we can not to comply but we need the pressure of numbers and the coordinated support of businesses. We cannot force a pub to open on our own. I will be enjoying being a customer at an illegally operating business this week (for obvious reasons I am not saying where it is) and there will be others there too and if the proprietor gets attacked by covid marshalls I will be fighting alongside the owner. We need the kind of movement and weight of numbers they have managed in Italy. If we can get this on a big enough scale the filth will back off just like they do with BLM and in the tougher areas of the inner cities. Writing to MPs has to now be considered a joke and Hitchens needs to acknowledge… Read more »
Back in March I wondered how long it would take for the speakeasy to be reinvented. I am amazed at how long it is taking.
Italy leads the way. See #IoApro
https://twitter.com/robinmonotti/status/1349659348407099402?s=20
From the roundup
Woman ejected from Sainsbury’s by police for not having mask
Conor asks is this legal ?
Alex Belfied YouTube has this
Well said, kh, especially the reference to rape victims, which I hadn’t considered.
I hope you’ll receive the courtesy of a decent reply from Mrs Badenoch
The first person I came across with a lanyard was when masks became a requirement on trains. She had been the victim of an abusive relationship that involved mock strangulation. She had to explain it all to the railway company who did then give her an exemption lanyard.
Same here, kh, I’m the sole heretic. Security guards are always friendly though, and I don’t envy them their minimum wage ,casual role as enforcers.
I stay away from supermarkets as much as possible. Other than that I’ve done 3 visits to the dentist, one to the doctor for a smear test and 2 to the bank.
The bank visits were very soon after the mandate and I hadn’t got my courage up so even though the impact on me was bad I put up with it for the few minutes required. There was a man in the queue maskless and wearing a lanyard on one of those early visits.
Since then I have been entirely maskless. I would say that in a total of about 12 visits to situations where masks are “mandated” I have seen 3 other people without masks. It doesn’t sound a bad statistic until you consider that one of those visits was to a very large Sainsbury superstore and I was the only one without a mask unless you count very small children. All older children had one on.
My friend and I have two theories about the supermarkets attempting to ramp up the muzzling:
Why none of the CEOs have twigged that the government would be after them or throw them under the bus is bizarre.
Hi all, new boy here, although very much more an opponent of lockdowns rather than sceptical, will probably expand on in future posts. Just yesterday I left Tescos feedback on soaring demand for home delivery or click and collect – we have a huge Tescos in our small market town, but nearest click and collect is nearly 20 miles away. Feedback from friends who work in that store is that footfall is down dramatically and those who do venture in spend much less and get out as quickly as they can. I would have thought that they could reserve a few days for no masks (staff and customers) and the remainder for the muzzled zombies. Willing to bet that if they did that, once word got around, the mask free days would see the store packed.
That’s a good idea. From the conversations I’ve had with staff, footfall has been massively down since masks were introduced – discretionary and impulse purchases are way down.
And once word gets round, bet more people will prefer to shop during mask free days.
Legally, she didn’t have to.
I keep plugging this site as it gives the full legal implaications of the face covering legislation. There are rules for a ‘reasonable excuse’ for not wearing a face covering (which may manifest as a mask amongst other styles), one ‘re’ is medical exemption, others would be claustrophobia, psychological trama (eg rape case victim mentioned above), etc, etc. There is even a recognised NHS condition known as ‘low mood’. The site provided pro-forma documents to be handed to jobsworths (including employer, employee, police, other customers) should they infringe in legally enshrined rights. The infringements are civil offences with remedies (fines) of up to £5000 or £9000 depending exactly on the infringement. Again that would be for everyone involved – employer, cemployee, customer (and police in the officer is ignorant of the law?) Face covering – some pretend law Fiction: Everyone must now wear masks everywhere, except offices and outside, and controllers of premises can always insist they are worn. Law: From 24 Sept, the places in which face covering must be worn, and by whom, has greatly expanded. However, rarely understood but significant ‘reasonable excuses’ remain. https://laworfiction.com/2020/09/face-covering-some-pretend-law/ And Low mood – a reasonable excuse to ignore coronavirus restrictionsFiction:Feeling sad and… Read more »
kh, you are the heroine to end all heroines.
That’s the Resistance attitude. If the Resistance girls were heroines, then you are one.
If they were just, as Camus would say, doing their duty, then you are doing your duty.
It was enough for Nelson!
I still haven’t heard anything back to my complaint to Lloyds Banking Group. I emailed the chief executive and the complaints department about their text which just said “face coverings are essential” with no mention of “unless exempt”. It’s been 6 days now and all I’ve had is the automated response. I didn’t have the patience to hang on the phone though as you did. Well done.
Have you tried tweeting them? I find that an effective way to get a company’s PR department to respond.
Well said about rape victims. The Guardian had an article a few months’ ago written by a woman who was raped why the likes of her and domestic violence victims couldn’t and wouldn’t wear masks and it was harrowing. I shudder to think what they would be thinking and feeling if they came across the scenario that you described above.
Might Toby at one of his Free Schools add ‘Systemic Maskism’ to the curriculum? Critical Face Theory?
Local Live at it again
Lead article rehashes the Covid deaths per district since March including noting that only one district has had deaths in double figures. They do not remind us that the town is well known for attracting retirees and for decades has been known as Gods Waiting Room.
No recent Covid deaths in the Region mentioned.
Second Article notes increasing pikes of Covid clusters (a cluster is two cases or more apparantly).
It then tediously lists 50 or more such districts and how many case clusters they have including, just to fill the space, those with none at all.
Again no mention of recent Covid deaths in the Region.
‘God’s Waiting Room’ a few miles along the coast from ‘Hernia Bay’?
Did the article explain that a cluster is 2 people?
Most people will have no knowledge that such a low number would be classified as that.
How did we get here? I think this video offers an explanation. To win any fight you must know & understand your enemy. Stephen Hicks: Nietzsche Perfectly Forecasts the Postmodernist Left Make no mistake, this is a political crisis not a health crisis! People question how this is a “socialist” endeavour. Socialism is a broad church of ideologies, followers of a relatively obsolete old skool brand of socialism, that advocates for decent cheap housing, good jobs/security, healthcare, education often get offended by any criticism of socialism! I empathise with those values, this isn’t my target. But we face a new more dangerous form of socialist values coming from the liberal left. There are 3 main groups of political ideology (with numerous merging subdivisions) conservative, neoliberal & socialist, but many of us see ourselves politically transient & homeless unable to agree on every political principle (that’s part of the problem & the aim). My view of covid19 is that this is a political crisis, we are being manipulated by neo-liberal oligarchs/corporations who are using socialist values against traditional conservative culture as a means to grab power. The main obstacle to technocratic rule & world wide communistic culture is independent liberal/conservative cultural… Read more »
The virus is the pretext for the police state not the reason.
Once people realise that then maybe we can begin to fight back
We were already in a police state, look back at 2019 the west was already plagued with civil unrest. The
gestapopolice had been politicised & militarised in anticipation of 2020.Corona, climate change, identity politics all have one purpose & one thing in common, control! Control of the little people like you & me. Theres a reason why pandemic mitigation measures resemble animal husbandry, because the elite think we are livestock.
We wasn’t in a police state until March 23.You are basically only allowed to work and shop for essentials now and some people are not even allowed to do that.
Schools closing for six weeks has casually been doubled overnight. Double the time for depriving children of education, of socialisation, of for some, leaving the house, leaving the bedroom, leaving the computer screen, getting a regular diet and exercise, being a child.
To protect against a virus with a 99.7% recovery rate magnified by seasonal overflow of our hospitals.
No. This cannot continue.
And yet it does continue.
Our children have lost more than a year of education. They will have to go back well before that to re-establish what had been previously learned.
If they ever get the chance to do even that.
And with the prospect of further disruption every year.
My God. The generation of the damned.
Child abuse isn’t it?
Fear monger them. Have a sniffle Johnie? Well, you are going to die.
Want to play footie with the friends? No. You will die.
If you do go out Johnie wear the diaper. Don’t worry about breathing in Co2 and bacteria. Don’t be a murderer Johnie.
Want to visit friends? No chance Johnie, you will kill someone.
Feeling anxious, alone, afraid? Suck it up Johnie, your future is unimportant, 0.3% are dying Johnie.
SAGE= Sick Assholes Gutting Education of innocent boys and girls.
Fully supported by Labour voting, unionised Teachers.
The further element of child abuse is that, when a child can manage to get into school, if the other kids are wearing masks then there is every chance the non-mask wearing one will be bullied by mask-wearing children. Reports are coming up on the anti-Lockdown Facebook groups of children being bullied by their mask-wearing peers.
Yes, well if they ever allow the children back into school…..Maskholes abound. It is a religious symbol. We should expect the Maskhole religious to be intolerant of the non-compliant Infidel.
Masks of course do not stop aerosol transmission. Never have. A flu is normally spread through ingestion via the hands contaminated from air or surface. The mask is not going to help you (virus molecules easily pass through) and in reality most people rub their fat greasy hands all over their face, pick their nose, rub their eyes etc etc negating the mask.
It’s state sanctioned terrorism.
Well said.
This will continue as there is ZERO outcry from the people who could pressure the government. The teachers unions and head of schools…they are the worst of all. My wife actually cancelled her membership of the one of them ( not sure what ..I think NUT)as she so utterly disagrees with this. She was a teacher and a head but now works more on the policy side of it. They are afraid for their safety, fuck the kids, fuck their education, fuck them being traumatized, not able to see their friends, have any normality. Fuck the older ones and their exams, my niece was suppose to do her GCSE’s this year and go to Uni..WRONG! Cancelled sucker! I talk to her weekly and she just keeps crying, she want to come and see me and the wife but her mother ( my SIL ) is a Covid fanatic and she does not have her own car…This generation is already fucked, but now they will be properly fucked. I’m beyond anger, frustration, sadness. My daughter is 6 and she not seen any of her friends since schools closed. Dam them, dam them all to fucking hell.
Children should protest with boards in-front of schools
At the end of the day hes a politician, his values reflect opinion polls.
How anybody could have been taken in by Farage and his faux “I’m one of the (working class)lads has always been a mystery to me.
You are always hearing about the left wing patronising attitude to the working class but the right wing commentators like Mike Graham, Richard Littlejohn and others who have never had any idea of working class life are equally as bad.
There is probably considerable overlap with those that think Johnson is ‘a good laugh, one of the lads, etc’, all as carefully constructed as Thatcher’s hairdo/voice.
Farage ıs basically a Tory in exile which he would like to end – rather like George Galloway is a Labour politician in exile. Galloway will not be accepted back into the fold, but Farage might be.
Gorgeous & Nige, have one other thing in common they’re both narcissists. But at least Farage is more of a libertarian, Galloway wanted harder longer deeper lockdowns. If he had his way we would still be in april 2020s lockdown the only person allowed out would be him to give his hitleresc speeches on youtube every Sunday night.
The ghost of Edward Heath stalks the corridors of Westminster
‘Who rules Britain: the government, or the National Health Service?’
And the resounding answer, from MPs across the floor has been: ‘The NHS!’
Humpty Dumpty lies smashed on the floor
He can only be put together again by the Cavalry in the shape of proportional representation.
Only then can new young parties arise, representing the so many elements of this complex nation, standing for election on imperative sweeping reformist tickets, to give the electorate real choice.
Otherwise, you know all this is going to happen again every winter.
The political class of today, the state broadcaster, the public sector, sees it as such a jolly jape; a wheeze too brilliant not to resort to on a regular basis in order to avoid facing up to reform.
Proportional representation sounds all well and good until you realise that the populous cities would be telling the rural communities what to do. It’s a no from me.
I couldn’t disagree more
No inhuman ‘Hunting Act’ in France, imposed by the tyranny of an urban majority, that restricts the follow up of wounded animals to two dogs; useless, as the league against cruel sports well knows, in thick cover.
Thanks to the political party, Le Mouvement de la ruralité, ‘Hunters are a formidable political force in a country where urbanisation came relatively late and city-dwellers remain close to their ancestral roots…’
‘In 2010 “obstruction to hunting” became an offence liable to a 1,500-euro fine..’
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20704312#:~:text=Hunting%20with%20dogs%20is%20banned,tradition%20is%20alive%20and%20well.&text=While%20several%20other%20European%20countries,hunts%20boast%2010%2C000%20members%20nationwide.
And that is entirely thanks to Proportional Representation, a buttress against the very thing you cite in opposition to it.
Thta’s France, where rural dwellers know how to make a point in the cities. We are English and we won’t.
You will know that, in a system of proportional representation, small parties wield disproportionate power and so protect the rights of minorities.
And we have a ready made Chairman of a new ‘Countryside Party’ now sitting in House of Lords: the legend that is Baron Botham of Ravensworth
As the populous cities pay for the rural communities, there would be a fairness if that applied. Anyway, I disagree that that would happen and cite Ireland as the case in point. The rural tail wags the urban dog and as a Dubliner, I resent paying for rural Ireland.
Glad Dublin grows all its own food, Ewan. 🙂
Nah its all deceitful misdirection & deflection, decades of maladministration & corruption by neo-liberal governments most notably tories under Jeremy *unt’s mismanagement has lead to a NHS unfit for purpose & its NOT about a lack of money thrown at it.
UK column had a good piece yesterday on how the NHS has reduced critical care beds by 70,000 YES seventy thousand beds in the last decade despite having a consultation on a future pandemic.
The tories are operating a major save ASS event & using the consequences to “build back better” with a more authoritarian technocrat world. Don’t look to Labour or dimdems to save us they’ve got their own neo-liberal skeletons to hide.
Build back better means mealworm burggers, locust hot dogs, public transport & bicycles for the little people, you’ll own nothing & be owned by them, you will be even more miserable with absolutely no purpose in life but maintain the colony & embrace it or else.
Heath’s nemesis the NUM would make a better job of closing down, sorry ‘protecting’ the NHS, methinks.
This is the email I sent back, my responses are interspersed. I was more than a little disappointed with the so called myth busting document. I have obviously been under the misapprehension that we are practising evidence based care. Myth #1: The speed of development means the vaccine may be unsafe. Fact: Many sceptics have noted how quickly the vaccine has been developed but this is just a reflection of the extraordinary scientific advances that have been made in vaccine technology. Along with this the development of the vaccine has been backed with significant funding which has allowed for record breaking development and almost 24 hour working getting this vaccine tested and approved. Several healthcare professionals including Dr Malcolm Kendrick a GP in England, would disagree on this. Also why did MHRA install special software to handle a significant quantity of yellow card submissions? Why have the vaccine companies been given immunity from liability if anything goes wrong? Did thalidomide teach no one anything? Myth #2: I have already had Covid-19 and hence do not need the vaccine. Fact: Due to the severe health risks associated with the illness, the fact that reinfection with Covid- 19 is possible means the advice is to… Read more »
The death rate from the Vaxx (hundreds now dead if you add up Norway, USA, EU) might now be higher as a % (1-2%), than the death from CV itself (0.3%). Will this useless gov’t and the Fake News follow this ‘story’ as well?
If 370 people under age 60, have died from CV 19 in the UK; why would anyone, how could anyone, rationalise, under any circumstances vaxxing the ‘entire population’? Illogical. So, why the ‘rush’ to do it, when vaxxing does not, never has, never will, cannot, stop viral transmissions….????
Is there any scientific proof that flu vaxxes stop transmission? Pfizer’s 53 page report says it will not stop transmission.
Quality response, p(n).
I am very pleased to see the Institute of Actuaries report today, which corroborates what I have been saying for weeks – the second wave is so small compared to the first that they cannot be put in the same category. I think their comparison to 2019 is unreasonable as that year had an exceptionally low death rate, and if you look at the last 5 years, according to their figures, you get 54,600. I make it closer to 46,600 (depends on estimates of 2020 population) and if you take the whole year it’s around 41,700. So in a population of around 60 million (England and Wales) the worst case is 0.09% died from this disease (but it will be far less because many of the excess deaths were from the effects of lockdown). For the under 75s, it’s around .02%, 1 in 12,000, and that was virtually all in April. So pleased the Government are destroying our kids’ education, devastating peoples lives and throwing millions out of jobs and into despair because of this ! As regards the ‘second wave’, excess deaths are running at around 500-750 per week compared to around 11,000 in April. So let’s be clear, the… Read more »
Overall death rates did not change in 2020.
In using their source data, I built an app to analyse trends, between 70-76 K have died per year, from flu-pneum-resp in the past 5 years. Their own data.
Flu in 2020 was far below avg (by 25%). ~15 K of the CV dead is from flu-pneu-resp in 2020. Heart disease is below the 5 yr avg in 2020, accounting for another ~ 5K. Dementia under the average by ~5 K as well.
Max CV dead thus far about 60 K of which according to SAGE 2/3 died with, not from CV 19.
Do you have a figure for how many of the total excess deaths occurred at home?
Deaths at home are likely to be collateral deaths, rather than ‘Covid deaths’
It’s not a second wave; it’s the winter peak.
Lockdown enthusiasts are the most repulsive, selfish beings I have ever personally encountered. They will destroy as many lives as is necessary to continue to indulge their deluded fantasy of remaining safe from the threat of a super virus. There is no amount of facts about the death rates, the PCR tests, the masks, the circular logic of lockdowns, no amount of information about the misery and anguish they are causing that you can put in front of them to reconsider their self-righteous position. They are the sort of people that cheered when others were burnt at the stake for heresy or enjoyed the spectacle of public hangings. They are the willing obedient guards of the concentration camps. They are the mental midgets that cheer on bullies loudest when they are ganging up someone to make sure the bully doesn’t go for them. They go through life with shrivelled ambition of being the most obedient and enthusiastic participants of the herd. I don’t believe for one minute that any one of these hideous zealots is going through any sort of difficulty or anxiety from lockdowns. The pain being caused is entirely abstract and alien to their lives, which is what… Read more »
Ah, but my friend the LD Fascists (I view all of this as Fascism, ie. private property is still allowed for now, and Corporatism runs amok – slightly different than Communism), will tell you (nay scream), that they are:
-Moral
-Scientific
-Caring
-Concerned
-Rational, critical thinkers
-Disdainful of religious zealots (like me a Catholic)
-Following the evidence…..
And of course they will have 1 story about the 2nd cousin-great aunts-transgendered-Black-Muslim-grandfather who passed away due to CV. And their sister was ill from it too.
Ergo sceptics are lower than Drumpf and Brexiteers.
Being determines consciousness. A Marxist principle. The ones who like lockdowns can clearly work from home, have secure jobs, do not work in the hospitality industry etc. That the main push-back so far (though inadequate) is coming from small businesses in places like Italy tells its own story.
They are certainly very selfish imo. One can understand if people say “Not in my name” and refuse to have others suffer Lockdown because they personally are scared and admit to being scared and maybe even sympathise with them for being scared. But those who insist on imposing their fears on others/restricting others are showing a huge level of selfishness and won’t even be honest enough to admit that their concern for themselves (ie one person) outweighs their concern for, say, 10 people being adversely impacted one way or another by Lockdown. They could at least be honest enough to say “Yes – I’m selfish – I’m putting me first/last/only place for consideration and blow everyone else” instead of hiding behind a veil of (apparent) concern for other scaredy-cats like themselves (oh and, of course, our beloved NHS).
I have yet to meet a lockdownista that is missing out on any of their own income. Well I’m not missing out on any income either (being on a pension) but I’m still anti-Lockdown (even though I’m in a better position than many to cope with it).
Or “How big is your pension pot?”
Because like you and ElizaP, I’ve yet to meet a lockdownista who hasn’t lost a job or has lost a lot of money from their savings and pensions. I’m lucky that I’ve been paid throughout (as my employer is not allowed to put us on furlough) but I would carry on calling for an end to lockdown and restrictions.
I don’t believe for one minute that any one of these hideous zealots is going through any sort of difficulty or anxiety from lockdowns. The pain being caused is entirely abstract and alien to their lives, which is what allows them to speak of the suffering being perpetrated in the callous, heartless, dismissive manner they do. When they talk about saving lives it is posturing to cover up their complete moral emptiness. Their fear and concerns are only for themselves. This ^^^^^ Thought of my BIL who left a comment on my Arsebook page suggesting that I should stay at home then claims that he has a friend here in the UK who died of Covid. Not to minimise the person’s death or sound callous but I bet that the friend had another illness and if my brother-in-law is anything to go by possibly even obese and very likely counted as a Covid statistic even if he died of something else. As we’ve said here before many of the zealots are not being financially and/or psychologically being impacted by the lockdowns and restrictions. What’s even more repulsive with the likes of my BIL is they live in a Third World… Read more »
That doesn’t surprise me. You can bet that its not just expats but wealthy Thais as well who think the same.
I don’t know how lockdown sceptism faring in places like Thailand and the Philippines. Trouble is the majority of people in the latter are fatalistic and don’t seem to realise that lockdown is ruining their lives. Plus won’t be surprised if the Filipino government simply suppressed that UN report I mentioned.
Well said sir they make me fucking sick.
As has been stated many times – this is a direct assault on the working class on behalf of the work from home class
Our local pub was taken over by a young couple from oop North. They rescued it from severe decline caused by the previous useless and lazy tenants. They built it back up and established a fine reputation for food. They were only young, he was 29 but he had always wanted his own pub. The business was going well and we drinking locals had got him properly trained up. Along came the covids. He has now lost in the region of 200K through all this. At an illicit drunken gathering I asked him how much longer he could survive, financially. He said mid March would be it. He has tried to earn pocket money by doing takeaways but it doesnt really go far. He is not eligible for much in the way of support, though he has put his partner/girlfriend on furlough. If this shitshow carries on much longer he (and missis and dogs) will be bankrupt and homeless. They will then have to be housed by the state and some other poor sucker wheeled in to lose their savings in an increasingly insecure industry. Im no expert but I don`t see how driving him, and countless others, into bankruptcy… Read more »
Ah but it stops the locals from socialising and communicating with each other.
“Are you still eating”?
Paediatric ITU converted to adult ITU, babies and neonates with cardio respiratory problems will have to travel 40+ miles. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/childrens-intensive-care-suspended-glenfield-4902252
I will be glad to retire at the end of February, this is not what I signed up for. I retrained and qualified as a registered nurse 15 years ago and the NHS, although always a politicised organisation, has itself mutated into something more deadly than CoViD19.
So much for the value of children’s lives.
What a shame you’re retiring. Your posts make it clear to me that we need more like you in the NHS. Can’t say I blame you though.
“In a number of Sunday papers:Scientific advisers said it was “hard to see” when the restrictions would end as new variants continued to emerge, delivering a potentially devastating blow to the travel industry. The prime minister said that after progress with vaccinations……”what we don’t want to see is all that work undone by the arrival of a new variant that is vaccine-busting”.The idea is planted in people’s mind that this virus is mutating in such a way as to evade prior immunity. This is completely unfounded, certainly as regards immunity.. “
“But once you’ve realised that what you’re being told is not correct, I hope you’ll have the courage to accept what that means, and not try to build an argument which defends that incorrect argument. In the end, it’s totally up to you. I’m just an ordinary and……independent scientist who noticed, very early on, that lots of things we were told weren’t correct & instead we’re actively damaging. Sadly, it’s not improved since in any way. Good luck! (Source: https://threader.app/thread/1350776020614451206)”
The Sunk Cost Fallacy.
Wanksock:
The End is Not Nigh
“I was first drawn into this mess when I met up by chance with a senior manager in NHS England. He’d noticed that, despite ITU beds emptying out late spring & into summer, elective surgery was at an historically low ebb. I’d asked why & he showed me slides from a recent internal.. “
”…meeting. The #1 priority was not, as I’d expected, “Get the NHS back on its feet & start helping those who’d not been seen during the crisis”. No, it was “Run the NHS as lightly loaded as possible, so as to be prepared for the 2nd wave”. I told him viruses didn’t do waves & (Source: https://threader.app/thread/1351368104325111811)”
Regarding the Lord Sumption situation, the analysis is obvious:
A year of everyone’s live is worth the same.
Then is it rather a case of some having more left to lose than others? And the cost to others of that one year of life?
The value of your life ends where the value of mine begins.
I look at it like this: has the last year been a quality of life year? No.
I’d hazard a guess almost all of the rest of the country agree. Even if they support lockdowns.
Therefore we’ve lost 67 million life years just this year due to Gov madness.
Until recently I thought there was a reasonable chance that once the vaccine had been rolled out the government would be keen to declare victory
For whatever reason, that appears not to be the case – they seem to want to live in a permanent state of medical emergency, forever
Because this is not about a virus. Clearly.
The bat cold is the perfect cover for decades of mismanagement UK PLC
Why would they give it up?
It is all about the health passport / digital
The wife of one of my wife’s work colleagues apparently had an adverse reaction to the vaccine the other day.
She’s mid thirties and healthy. She was apparently vomiting, had a temperature of 41 degrees, had the shakes and was finding it difficult to breathe. It was bad enough that they called an ambulance. She hasn’t been admitted to hospital.
Not sure which manufacturer’s vaccine she had.
But she will be counted as a ‘success’ supporting the ‘95% effective’ statistic…because she would not die from the flu anyways and she survived the vaxx…..ergo, great success.
Yes, with such a low bar for ‘success’, anything counts when it comes to this.
Stress induced, surely! Or just ‘coincidence’. I saw that one of the unfortunate US women who suffered horrendous uncontrollable post-vaccine body tremors (including her tongue) was advised by consultants after tests that they couldn’t find anything clinically wrong with her so their conclusion was that it was probably a panic attack. Yeah, of course it was. Why should we think otherwise?
Suggest she immediately report this adverse reaction – unless you report you won’t be able to claim in future. Reminder that some reaction will only become ‘noticeable’ over a long period of time
https://coronavirus-yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/reporting-suspected-adverse-drug-reactions-to-vaccines-and-biological-medicines
The same symptoms have been widely reported.
I’m feeling a bit frustrated today I am against all lockdowns from the first one until now (I can sort of see how panic gave rise to the ‘3 week’ one – but it was clearly unnecessary) Now we are in a lockdown with no end in sight – is it March? Autumn? When the vulnerable have been vaccinated? What if the vaccine doesn’t work as well as advertised? What about ‘new mutant strains’? What about normal pressure on the NHS next winter – are we still going to be vigorously testing for just one of the 200 colds that knock old people over? There is no exit plan. My MP has been demanding it (he says) but we know a) it is not forthcoming b) it doesn’t exist – SAGE and the government are winging it and just doing what the most shouty advisors want I don’t see pressure from the public while furlough is ongoing. Its nice to think in Spring we will all go out and ignore the regulations but last Spring we all happily sat in our gardens I see the only hope as coming from abroad. Some of our more hot blooded cousins demand an… Read more »
Elections. That’s why the government is casting around desperately for an excuse to put the May elections off.
Sadly I can’t see elections changing much – still not enough people on our side
I don’t see a way out in the short to medium term
Stay healthy and sane, look after yourself and your nearest and dearest, and do what you can to fight the madness
Maybe other countries will come out of it quicker, in which case we may have the option of somewhere better to go, though for many reasons this won’t be an option for a lot of us
I keep making the point that proportional representation is the way out which means a big tactical vote for the lib dems at every election possible.
I entirely concede that to be a step too far for most, the lib dems being what they are, but, with the two main parties clones of each other, I believe that sometimes you just have to hold your nose and vote for something disagreeable to achieve the deferred benefit of a system amenable to the start up of the new young parties that this country (and not just this country. Pelosi/Harris ‘reaching out’ to Republicans ain’t happenin’, ever!) so desperately needs.
If they are still having that summit in June, how are they going to cancel May elections? They might be hypocritical enough to do so, though.
All the main parties are on with Covid hysteria, though. If explicitly anti-lockdown parties or groups are going to stand, they need to be organising now.
These guys are up to everything.
Only a seismic vote against the two main parties in May’s council elections, London mayoral election, will get the message across.
London, with Piers Corbyn standing, could be interesting……
London also has David Kurten (a lockdown sceptic) standing so I guess Piers will just split the sceptic vote.
The sceptic vote appears to be insinificant. We shall see…
More importantly, in my view, Mr Corbyn will take a lot of votes away from the incumbent……..
Well I reckon most people are privately thinking that they will quietly start breaking rules anyway, it reads to me as if Hancock knows this and is running scared.
Whatever the opinion polls say people seem to me to be breaching more and more of the regulations or “recommendations” – total compliance with them is probably impossible anyway. The odd mover and shaker caught without a mask or going out and about is certainly a hypocrite but also an indication that this thing is eroding.
His latest pronouncements reek of desperation. Surely he should know that everything from restrictions to masks to vaccines are not going according to plan.
If businesses have the gumption to follow Italy, Switzerland and Poland then this whole edifice will fall apart.