First Anniversary of a Day That Will Live in Infamy
There follows a post by Will Jones.
Today on Lockdown Sceptics we mark a year to the day since the world changed forever.
On February 21st, 2020 the Government of Italy did something no Western Government had ever done before. Something that the World Health Organisation had expressly recommended against only four months earlier.
It decided to set aside all established pandemic protocol, as well as all considerations of basic freedoms and human rights, and imitate Communist China (which had already been praised by the WHO for its “extraordinary” response) and quarantine a whole local population in an effort to control a coronavirus outbreak.
What started with 10 towns and 50,000 people in Lombardy quickly established itself as the go-to and unassailable response to the coronavirus threat. Seventeen days later the whole of Italy was locked down, 33 days later most of the world. A year later, we still are.
From that moment on it became acceptable for Western governments to quarantine entire populations to try to control the spread of contagious disease, even one scarcely more deadly than a bad flu. They haven’t looked back. No amount of data from the few Western countries or states which refused to impose such restrictions will convince them they were or are wrong to do so. Model after model appears from respectable scientific institutions to shore up the faith. The politicians seem interested only in listening to the experts who reassure them they were right to take such extreme and costly action.
There will be many anniversaries to mark in the coming weeks, as we complete a full year since the nightmare began – the declaration of the pandemic on March 11th, the “three week” UK lockdown on March 23rd, and so on. But at Lockdown Sceptics we felt that this was the one to flag, the pivot on which the world turned. We can no longer go back to the world as it was on February 20th 2020, because we cannot undo the fact that we were locked down by our politicians for an indefinite period of time to try to control disease, and it was accepted by the public and reinforced by the medics, the scientists and the courts.
In December, Professor Neil Ferguson admitted to the Times the critical role of Italy in bringing lockdowns to the West:
[China] is a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it in Europe, we thought… and then Italy did it. And we realised we could.
Our best hope is that in time the lesson will be learned that we must never do this again, and next time must be different – we must not panic but must stick to the pre-prepared plan.
But the tragedy is that even if we reach such a point, we can never change the fact that our Governments now know that “lockdown” is an option, that they can indeed “get away with it”. Western civilisation is undoubtedly diminished as a result.
Neil Ferguson’s Tetchy Response to Yesterday’s Article in Lockdown Sceptics
One of our readers sent a copy of Derek Winton’s article in yesterday’s Lockdown Sceptics criticising Imperial College’s modelling to Professor Neil Ferguson on the off chance he might actually read it and reply. Rather surprisingly, he did. We’re publishing his response in full below.
Dear XXXX,
I presume you sent me this because you feel upset, angry, that no-one is listening, want to hurt me or change my mind. Or all of the above.
I and my colleagues and friends (John Edmunds, Jeremy Farrar, Marc Lipsitch, Christian Drosten, Patrick Vallance, Chris Whitty,…) get so many of these sort of emails that we barely notice anymore. Most get dumped into junk mail folders automatically nowadays.
But for a change, I thought I would reply to you. Not that I really expect it to change the alternative reality you seem to have got sucked into, but occasionally I feel I should try.
To start with may [sic] want to read this: https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ConspiracyTheoryHandbook.pdf
And ask yourself if a loved one started to exhibit those behaviours, would you be worried?
As to the article you refer to, it recycles the same old, same old misinformation. You may be surprised to learn that the Telegraph and Spectator have published over a dozen corrections in response to complaints from Imperial College about inaccurate articles. For instance, no-one ran the Imperial model for Sweden (other than us).
More substantively, the government never relied on just one model. The models written by LSHTM, Warwick University and Institut Pasteur Paris all agreed with “the” Imperial model. All used different code bases.
And in fact, there was never “one” Imperial model, but several. We now have 4 different COVID models, again which all agree.
Government responses were never dependent on one model. They were driven by the reality that any disease which generates epidemics which double every 3-4 days and for which over 2% of those infected require hospitalisation will overwhelm any health system that exists.
In fact, a case could be made that the U.K. government took too little notice of our (not just Imperial- all the SAGE groups) modelling. In that they basically only acted when they saw hospitalisations and deaths growing exponentially.
Best,
Neil Ferguson
Boris Unfolds Road Map – Can’t Tell if it’s Upside Down
According to several of the Sunday papers, the centrepiece of Boris’s Downing Street press conference tomorrow – in which he’s going to reveal his much-ballyhooed roadmap out of lockdown – is a pledge to give everyone in the country an opportunity to be vaccinated by July 31st. The Mail on Sunday has more.
Every adult in the country will be offered at least one dose of a Covid vaccine by the end of July, Boris Johnson is expected to announce tomorrow.
The ambitious new inoculation target will form a vital part of the Prime Minister’s long-awaited roadmap towards easing lockdown restrictions.
The Government previously said it hoped to reach all those aged 18 and over by the autumn, but Mr Johnson aims to greatly accelerate the successful campaign.
He is also expected to say that everyone over 50 will be offered at least a first dose by April 15, rather than by May, as previously suggested.
Unfortunately, the world-beating success of the Government’s ahead-of-schedule mass vaccination programme does not mean we’ll be accelerating quickly out of lockdown. On the contrary, Boris’s “roadmap” appears to have been created before 1958 because it doesn’t contain any motorways. It’s B roads only. The Mail on Sunday summarises its key components.
All pupils will return to school on March 8th, and care home residents in England will each be allowed one regular visitor.
By Easter, at the start of April, two households will be allowed to meet up outside. That will be followed shortly afterwards by the reopening of non-essential shops and pubs and restaurants for outdoor service only.
The hospitality industry is expected to reopen fully in May.
And there we were thinking that Boris was engaged in a game of expectation management: stress how cautious he was going to be in the run-up to tomorrow, then surprise us with some better-than-expected news. If that’s still the plan, he’s kept the good news well hidden.
A Hospital Visit
We received the following e-mail yesterday from a reader of Lockdown Sceptics. It says a lot about what has gone wrong over the past year.
How delightful that the Prince of Wales was able to visit his father in hospital today, despite the Covid precautions. I understand from the BBC News that visiting someone in hospital is considered a ‘reasonable excuse’ to leave home.
However, one of our neighbours hasn’t been so lucky. At 2am on Saturday morning her husband (aged two years less than the Prince of Wales, as it happens) was rushed to hospital with heart failure. He’s holding on – just – but needless to say his wife isn’t allowed to visit him. Let’s hope he survives then, because otherwise she and their son may never see him again. Heart failure doesn’t usually delay itself long enough to make sure family members can make it to hospital in the end. Still, at least he’s being kept safe. He’s been vaccinated, so he might not catch Covid.
Mind you, the elderly chap two doors up has solved the problem himself. He has terminal liver cancer and has been in the same hospital for weeks (where of course he tested positive for Covid after catching it following admission, but luckily never had any symptoms). But, completely sick of not being able to see his wife, he’s come home to die, preferring that option to expiring on his own in a hospital ward.
This is Boris’s Lockdown Britain, a year into this nightmare. It is almost beyond belief that it could have come to this. These are the choices real people are having to make on a daily basis as this misery goes on, and on, and on.
And it’s all because of the nebulous pursuit of ‘protecting’ everyone (except Prince Phillip and the Prince of Wales who can do as they please apparently) from one risk at the expense of absolutely everything else, driven by Lockdown Lunatics, and particularly those peculiarly idiotic scientists who have lost any sense of proportion and driven the country to the wall. I wouldn’t wish my neighbours’ experiences on any one of them, but perhaps if one of them is hit by something like this they might momentarily wake up and realise they’re supposed to be human beings. Or at least, they were. Once.
The State of the Northern Ireland Health Service
There follows a post from a Lockdown Sceptics reader based in Northern Ireland who felt compelled to write about the pitiful state of the local health service, which has been a big factor in the region’s chaotic response to Covid. As this correspondent put it: “Every time I hear Hugh Pym’s sonorous pronouncements on your waiting lists all I can think of is: Northern Ireland –‘ Hold my beer!’”
Northern Ireland is a very small place. We all know each other, and criticism of the system is never welcome. I am therefore remaining anonymous.
A Government Minister invoking the Bible in Northern Ireland is probably of little surprise and satisfies many stereotypes. As we experienced our first official Covid death in March 2020, Robin Swann (Ulster Unionist Party), our Minster for Health, warned us of a Covid experience of “Biblical proportions”.
We are a small country of approx 1.8 million souls. He predicted 15,000 could die. As of February 19th, 2021, we have reached 2026. (Source: Department of Health, NI.)
We were most recently incarcerated on December 26th, 2020 and are now locked down until April 1st, or sometime… forever. We have all lost track.
Swann has the same misfortune that all health ministers faced – a new unknown health challenge – so perhaps some hyperbole should be excused. Also, he had barely opened his brief when it all started. Swann had been left with the short straw of Health when the departments were carved up between our political parties using the byzantine ‘De Hondt’ method. After three years without a Government, he found himself made Health Minster in January 2020. (For anyone looking for a break from the Covid stats, here’s the wikipedia page on how ‘De Hondt’ works.)
There is no doubt, however, that long before Covid appeared his department was quite familiar with a health service that is overwhelmed and in chaos. Here is a short sample list of some of Northern Ireland’s current health issues:
- In data published in February 2020 – pre-Covid – 130,000 had been waiting a year for their NHS treatment to start and 305,000 had been waiting for their first outpatient appointment with a consultant out of a population of just over 1.8 million. Perhaps the most alarming element of that statistic is that it only went up 4,000 in the first three months of Covid. For an eye-opener on the comparative state of our waiting lists and England’s, see this blog post from the Nuffield Trust.
- A £200 million Critical Care Unit built at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast in 2012 remains empty – because of plumbing problems. It has never taken in any patients.
- Muckamore Abbey Hospital – for those with mental health problems and severe learning difficulties – has seen 13 of its staff arrested and 61 others placed on ‘precautionary suspension’. As of November 2020 these 61 have received £1.5 million in pay. After years of campaigning by families of residents, the Minister has announced a public enquiry into the place.
- Dr Michael Watt, Senior Consultant Neurologist based at the Royal Victoria Hospital, is the subject of an investigation after 3,000 of his cases were reassessed. A report into the recall, published in December 2019 by the Department of Health, found that more than 20% of these patients were misdiagnosed, while a further 329 patients were given “uncertain” diagnoses. As of August 2020, 231 legal cases have been brought against his employer, the Belfast Health Trust (according to the Belfast Telegraph).
- When Robin Swann took up the reins of his Health Department he was also faced with a nurses’ strike.
- The entire board of the RQIA – our equivalent of the Quality Care Commission – resigned in July 2020 due to a falling out with the Minster and his officials.
This is the Health Department that has been handling our response to Covid. Perhaps we should be relieved that our deaths have been this low and our hospitals were not truly ‘overwhelmed’. Its record of looking after the health of the people of Northern Ireland is not exactly glorious.
Health Minister Swann may be new to all this but his officials are not. The Health Department and Health Trusts are run by the same people who have been in post for years. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride, was appointed in 2006. Between 2014 and 2017 he found time to be CMO and concurrently CEO of the Belfast Health and Social Services Trust.
On February 9th, 2021, Dr McBride helpfully announced what we all suspected was the future policy towards lockdown. The summary makes for unpleasant reading: “While restrictions will not be fully lifted until 2022, he hopes this summer will bring some respite from the current lockdown. However, he said it is likely that a range of restrictions will return in the autumn and remain in place into 2022.”
Permanent Secretary Richard Pengelly has been at the helm of this Health Department since 2014.
Minister Swann confirmed the priority of COVID-19 patients over everything else in Northern Ireland’s NHS in November when the News Letter reported on November 13th 2020 that “cancer patients may die as a result of not turning away patients with COVID-19 from hospitals”. Here is his BBC interview on the point.
Despite what are perhaps truly biblical levels of health problems, our Minster still finds time to castigate regularly “armchair experts” who have the temerity to question his approach to the pandemic. He also contributed an op-ed to Rolling Stone Magazine criticising Northern Ireland’s own Van Morrison for his Covid protest songs.
You may be aware Van Morrison isn’t very complimentary about the orthodox approach to managing Covid. Minister Swann is also a musician – a Pipe Sargent in his local pipe band.
A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Vaccinations – A Reader’s Perspective
In Friday’s Lockdown Sceptics Newsletter we published an article by Dr Mark Shaw, a retired dentist, about some of risks associated with the Covid vaccines. It prompted one reader to write with with an additional point: What about a cost-benefit analysis?
There has been a lot of debate about vaccines relating to Informed Consent and whether that can be properly given due to the speed at which the vaccines have been developed and whether all the possible long term side effects are known, as well as the incessant propaganda in the media telling us that they are safe and it’s our civic duty to have the vaccine when offered. However, there’s another issue that doesn’t seem to have been raised – a cost-benefit analysis of mass vaccination.
I wouldn’t want to undertake a cost benefit-analysis myself, but it’s worth considering the similar situation regarding the flu vaccine. This is offered every year to certain groups of people, namely the elderly plus other high risk groups to whom it gives a certain amount of protection. Being middle aged and in good health I have never been offered the flu vaccine despite having a miniscule risk of becoming seriously ill plus a higher chance of developing a minor illness and passing the infection on to people in a higher risk group. I assume the reason why people such as myself aren’t offered the flu jab is that a cost-benefit analysis shows it isn’t a good use of finite resources to vaccinate everyone. This is a position that I fully support. The NHS’s resources should be targeted where they can do the most good, so I’m happy not to have a flu jab in order that people with more pressing health problems can be treated.
It seems to me that no such cost-benefit analysis has been considered in relation to Covid vaccinations. Given the incredibly low fatality rate among younger people without comorbidities, I can’t believe that vaccinating the whole population offers anything approaching value for money. Obviously, unvaccinated people might catch Covid, but if the at risk groups are protected, so what if the worst that happens is people stay in bed for a couple of days.? Admittedly, given the amount of panic that has been generated by the Government and media leading to a lot of people thinking Covid is an existential threat to us all, it would be politically almost impossible to only offer the vaccine to some people. However, this doesn’t change my basic point that vaccinating the whole population is not good value for money.
A related issue is the funding of vaccine programs in the developing would. Numerous groups such as the WHO seem to think that the whole world should be vaccinated and that richer countries should pick up a large part of the bill for this. I’m all in favour of richer nations giving aid to poorer countries (despite being on a relatively low income, I have direct debits with a couple of aid charities) providing the money is well spent. Given the incredibly low death rates in many developing countries, with the exception of South Africa, I don’t believe that mass vaccination is a wise use of money. Lots of developing countries have serious public health problems, e.g. malaria or limited access to clean water. Surely it would be much better to target aid towards these problems rather than protecting people from something that is highly unlikely to do them any harm.
Not Cock Up or Conspiracy, but Fraud
Today we are publishing a new essay by Jonny Peppiatt, a regular contributor to Lockdown Sceptics. So far, many of the efforts to explain the response to COVID-19 have focussed on placing it on the spectrum between cock-up on the one hand and conspiracy on the other. Jonny reckons, however, that the ‘fraud triangle’ is a more useful analysis tool. As he explains:
The question most often posed of me when I embark on yet another monologue about the endless lunacies plaguing our lives right now is “why?”; if what you’re saying is true, if the damage is so great, if the virus isn’t such a threat, if the efficacy of the measures is so low, then why would the Government be doing this to us?
We’ve heard a lot of discussion around ‘cock-up’, ‘conspiracy’, and even ‘cockupspiracy’; be that, in the case of ‘cock-up’, the recurring inadequacy of advisers and politicians, in the case of ‘conspiracy’, more often than not, the Great Reset, and in the case of ‘cockupspiracy’, the opportunism of the likes of big tech and big pharma.
All of these are important factors that require attention. However, it seems to me that the debate has largely been based on the fallacy that the reason for all this lies somewhere on a spectrum between ‘cock-up’ and ‘conspiracy’, with ‘cockupspiracy’ falling somewhere in the centre. I do not believe this is the case, because I do not believe that there is a spectrum here.
What we are seeing, I’m sure many of you will agree, is a fraud – a wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain (or avoidance of loss) – on a monumental scale, and, as such, and given my background in audit, I believe that, instead, this should be analysed with reference to the fraud triangle (above).
The fraud triangle (comprised of Opportunity, Rationalisation, and Incentive/Pressure) is the basic framework used to explain the reason behind an individual’s decision to commit fraud, and so it is also going to be the basic framework by which I attempt to explain the Government’s actions termed “Polis-20” in James Alexander’s December 9th piece in Lockdown Sceptics (“A Cockupspiracy”).
Opportunity
“The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world” – Professor Klaus Schwab
“We couldn’t get away with it in Europe, we thought… and then Italy did it. And we realised we could.” – Neil Ferguson
If neither of these quotes sends shivers down your spine, then I can only conclude you are as spineless as our current leader.
I include these not because I believe that the Great Reset is the factor driving the pandemic response, or that Neil Ferguson is some criminal mastermind intent on watching the world burn, but because they highlight a key fundamental of my explanation: when people panic in the face of an unknown, they are more malleable; and when people are malleable, opportunities arise.
Worth reading in full.
Postcard From Brussels
We have received a new postcard, this one from Paul Farrar in Brussels. From the sound of it, the country has suffered a classic Covid crisis, with experts dominating the national response, lockdown enthusiasts filling the media, and testing data fuelling the general sense of alarm. Here is an extract:
I’m an expat working a living near Brussels. Back in March when the lockdown was announced, we, along with half of Belgium, went out to a restaurant for our ‘last supper’ the night before their closure. Although Belgium’s Hotels, Restaurants & Cafes (HoReCa) were allowed to re-open during the summer, they have borne the full brunt of the lockdown, being the most put-upon industry despite almost no infection incidents being recorded and all the obligatory track and trace measures being in place. Belgium life is all about is HoReCa.
Belgium’s Covid strategy seems to be dominated by a few ‘expert’ individuals, supported by the local media, with an ever-changing strategy as the country tries to follow each of its neighbours by adding their own unique twist to help pretend that they know what they are doing and that they are in charge.
As an example, it was reported on October 20th that the Ministers of Health and Welfare had adapted the corona test strategy:
“Those who have no symptoms will no longer be tested, even if you had high-risk contact with an infected person. In that case, a quarantine is still mandatory. If you came back from red zone or had close contact with infected person, but no symptoms themselves? Then you will no longer be tested.“
The aim was to reduce waiting times that were too long and to ease the burden on the testing labs. This had an immediate effect on the reported cases… and did calm things a little.
However, this changed again in November when they introduced new travel restrictions and the testing started to increase again.
Worth reading in full.
Poetry Corner
Today’s entry to poetry corner comes from Edmund Sutton. He writes:
The below is a rendering of “Mad World” by Tears for Fears which in some regards describes how I have been feeling after a mental collapse late last year and suicidal depression, exacerbated by the repeated public announcements of a lifting of restrictions, followed by the imposition of new ones. I cannot tell you how much your work, plus that of others like Profs Heneghan and Gupta, has meant over the past few months. In hospital, the psychiatrists said that my personality had been eroded on all fronts, as absolutely everything that I would normally do stopped in March last year – work, social life, volunteering – and I couldn’t even go to church. I missed physical contact greatly, just simple things like shaking hands or passing a cup of tea. Happily, I am receiving treatment, and have support from my parents. I shudder to think of the state of people who do not have such help.
Mad/Sad World
after “Mad World” by Tears for FearsNowhere round me are familiar faces:
In all places, hidden faces
Why be early for our daily races,
Going nowhere, going nowhere?My tears are blurring up my glasses –
No expression, no expression –
Hide my head, I want to end my sorrow:
No tomorrow, dark tomorrow.And I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad:
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had.
I find it hard to tell you ’cause
I find it hard to take.
When people can’t be people,
It’s a very very mad world – sad world, bad world, mad world.We are waiting for the day we feel good –
May I see you, even touch you?
And I cry for all the children who must
Sit and listen, not be children.Went outside and I was very nervous –
No one knew me, no one knew me.
Hello Governor, what may I do now?
Look right through me, look right through meAnd I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad:
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had.
I find it hard to tell you ’cause
I find it hard to take.
When people all are hidden,
It’s a very very mad world – sad world, bad world, mad world.And I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad:
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had.
I find it hard to tell you ’cause
I find it hard to take.
When we are all imprisoned,
It’s a very very mad world, sad world –Reducing our world – mad world.
Round-up
- “We must believe in vaccines, restore our way of life, and acknowledge the harms caused by lockdowns” – Writing in the Telegraph, CRG member Steve Baker calls for a new Public Health Act as a protection against future lockdowns
- “Are all these people really out with their households? Brits can’t wait for freedom to enjoy first weekend of fine weather after weeks of lockdown misery” – Good weather prompted Brits to head outside to parks and beaches, MailOnline reports
- “My dad Ted passed three Covid tests and died of a chronic illness yet he’s officially one of Britain’s 120,000 victims of the virus” – Bel Mooney tells the sad story of her father’s death in the Daily Mail. His was counted as a Covid death, but that’s not true says Mooney
- “Normality will never return until we know lockdown will not be repeated” – The Government must acknowledge the gravity of the changed relationship between state and people, writes Janet Daley in the Sunday Telegraph
- “Leon chief calls for end to lockdown as he reveals firm is losing £200,000-a-week and could fold” – MailOnline reports on the plea of John Vincent, whose restaurant chain is on the brink
- “Paradise? No, but the Britain of my youth was free” – Peter Hitchens’s column in the Mail on Sunday
- “The ever-moving goalposts of lockdown” – Writing for the Conservative Woman, teacher Glyn Lewis says that he is not overly optimistic that he’ll be able to return to the classroom next month, but hopes he is wrong
- “The dubious ethics of covert psychological strategies – the BPS response” – Read the British Psychological Society’s response to Gary Sidley’s letter and his thoughts about it
- “Terrifying citizens with overwhelming statistics is no help during a pandemic” – Gerrit Olivier in Business Day says that Governments are continuing to encourage hysteria and promote lockdowns
- “COVID-19 lockdowns make it harder for middle- to low-income families to thrive” – Christianity Daily reports on a recent study looking at data from nine developing countries finding that falling living standards have affected the vulnerable most
- “Vaccine passport push exposes the bullying authoritarians in our midst” – Neil Clark in Sputnik News calls out vaccine authoritarianism
- “Everything you need to know about Israel’s green passport program” – The Israeli health ministry is facilitating the country’s “return to normality” by rolling out a green passport programme, the Jerusalem Post reports. A green passport will be required to enter certain places and to participate in certain activities and only people who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from coronavirus will be eligible
- “School closure: A careful review of the evidence” – An in-depth investigation by Paul E. Alexander on the AIER blog into the very low Covid-related risk from the re-opening of schools
- “Covid Cases, like political careers, are dropping like rocks” – Jeffrey A. Tucker takes a look at the fortunes of the U.S. politicians who advocated lockdowns on the AIER blog
- “Politician Craig Kelly speaks out on early Covid treatment censorship” – Australian MP Craig Kelly speaks to Asia Pacific Today about early treatment of COVID-19 in Australia and why it is that discussion about drugs successfully used elsewhere is censored
- “Woke Britain sees record number of free speech complaints” – On the first anniversary of the Free Speech Union, the Sunday Express reports they have provided legal support for between 500 and 700 individual cases and are dealing with 20 new cases a week
- “University speakers with gender-critical views are most likely to be banned from addressing students” – Dominic Penna in the Sunday Telegraph reports on a survey the paper has done revealing that almost half of speakers no-platformed at Russell Group universities in the last six years have been gender critical feminists – more than any other group
- Godfrey Bloom tots up all the things he’s missed in the past year – four weddings, four funerals of old friends, four cancelled holidays, favourite pub closed – and asks Matt Hancock when he can get his life back
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Thirty-four today: “Divide and Conquer” by Hüsker Dü, “We Want Revolution” by Covenant, “We Shall Overcome” by Joan Baez, “Day After Day” by Badfinger, “Slow Day” by Kristin Asbjørnsen, “Yesterday” by the Beatles, “Darklands” by the Jesus and Mary Chain, “Another Day, Another Death” by the Mob, “Fear” by Zounds, “Tomorrow Never Comes” by Dreadzone, “First World Problems” by Ian Brown, “We’re Gonna Get There In The End” by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, “Freak Scene” by Dinosaur Jr, “Sabotage” by Beastie Boys, “Sleeping My Day Away” by D-A-D, “The ID Parade” by Danielle Dax, “Dazed And Confused” by Led Zeppelin, “Easter Is Cancelled” by the Darkness, “Sorrow” by David Bowie, “Rebel Rebel” by David Bowie, “Could It Be Forever” by David Cassidy, “Join Together” by the Who, “Mistreated” by Deep Purple, “Perfect Strangers” by Deep Purple, “Hysteria” by Def Leppard, “Action” by The Sweet, “Don’t Believe A Word” by Thin Lizzy, “Helpless” by Diamond Head, “Stand Up And Shout” by Dio, “The Bug” by Dire Straits, “Breaking The Chains” by Dokken, “All We Are” by Warlock, “Run To The Hills” by Iron Maiden and “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” by Hubert Parry.
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 Lockdown Sceptics here.
Sharing Stories
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Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, we bring you the news that the Free Speech Union is defending the right of fans to boo football players who take the knee. The Mail On Sunday has the scoop:
Football fans who boo players taking the knee in support of Black Lives Matter should not be banned by clubs, a free speech group has demanded.
In a letter to the Football Association, the Free Speech Union insist that if players are free to make the gesture, then fans must be free to disagree with them.
The FSU argued in the letter to the FA’s interim Chairman Peter McCormick that the “simplest solution” to an issue which continues to split football and other sports, would be to stop players taking the knee at all on the grounds that it shows support for a political cause and not a moral one, something banned in football law.
And extending that argument, the FSU said players who advertise their support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) by taking a knee should “face similar penalties” to booing supporters.
The FA insist taking the knee is an apolitical stand against discrimination, yet a list of high-profile footballers – among them Les Ferdinand, Wilfried Zaha and Britt Assombalonga – have started to rail against the gesture, which they believe has become devalued and is covering up a lack of real change in anti-racism policies.
On Saturday, more players in the top two divisions didn’t kneel before kick-off than the concerted support shown for the gesture when it was first conceived last summer post-lockdown.
General secretary of the FSU, Toby Young, wants the FA, whose president is Prince William, to issue guidelines for clubs ahead of the return to stadiums later this season or at the start of the next campaign.
In the letter, he said: “If the position of the FA is that it is perfectly legitimate for players to express their support for BLM in the stadium by taking the knee it should make it clear that it is also acceptable for fans to express their feelings about this political movement.
“If fans want to boo players taking the knee – or applaud, come to that – they should face no negative repercussions. From a free speech point of view, it cannot be fair or reasonable that people on the pitch are allowed to express their political views, but those in the stands are not.”
Worth reading in full.
You can read Toby’s letter to the to the Football Association here.
Stop Press: The Welsh Government is conducting a historical audit of street names and statues which has amusingly gone a little awry in the case of Peel Street, Wrexham. The street is named after Sir Robert Peel, but which one? James Delingpole tells the story in Breitbart.
A street in Wales has been put on the naughty step by the Welsh Government because of its supposed historical associations with the slave trade. But the man after whom it is named was in fact one of Britain’s most ardent and heroic anti-slavers.
Peel Street in Wrexham is one of dozens of streets put on a warning list as part of a £170,000 audit – The Slave Trade and the British Empire – commissioned by the Welsh Government in the wake of the briefly fashionable Black Lives Matter protests.
Though it doesn’t make it onto the Red danger list reserved for alleged monsters like Christopher Columbus, Lord Kitchener, Clive of India, and Francis Drake –“definite personal culpability” — it does make it onto the next-worst amber list marked “personal culpability uncertain”.
But the only reason it’s “uncertain” is because of the sloppiness of the woke crusaders who put the report together. They have confused Sir Robert Peel – the anti-slavery prime minister – with his slavery-supporting father.
True, both men confusingly share the same name. But the son was much more famous than the father and it’s after the son that the street is definitely named.
Stop Press 2: Following the news that an NHS trust in Brighton has started using the term ‘chestfeeding’ instead of ‘breastfeeding’, the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon has examined the implications of the ongoing move to gender-inclusive language. Time to meet your ‘gestational parent’ and ‘non-birthing parent’.
Stop Press 3: The Salisbury Review has published an excellent review of Cynical Theories by Niall McCrae. The book by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay documents the evolution of woke dogma, providing a kind of primer for those that haven’t yet grasped the scale and influence of the cult.
Stop Press 4: Disney’s streaming channel has slapped an “offensive content” warning on… the Muppets. You did not read that wrong. Beneath these words is the following disclaimer:
This programme includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.
Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.
“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.
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: Disney World requires all guests, including those who have been vaccinated, to wear facemasks while on their property except for when they are eating and drinking. But some visitors have been making it known that they would appreciate being permitted to take the things off for the photos, according to Inside the Magic.
Inside the Magic follower, Amy B. (@safarigirl76) shared that she wishes Disney would allow pictures without masks, though she understands why this rule is in place:
“I’m planning to go in May. The masks are a concern, as I’ll have a newly two year old with me. I’m not worried about safety at all. I’d love to take pictures without masks, but there’s nothing I can do about it.“
And this is something that ITM fan Emily (@emilyazd21) agrees with:
“We are going in November, hopefully for our first Christmas party! While I understand the mask requirements, it would be so nice if Disney would let people remove masks for pictures […] Would love to have pictures to capture and remember the excitement and beautiful smiles of my children when they experience the Christmas party!“
Stop Press 2: A restaurant in Hernando County, Florida has gone viral after it made clear that facemasks are not required to dine.
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. In February, Facebook deleted the GBD’s page because it “goes against our community standards”. 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, although that case, too, has been refused permission to proceed. There’s still one more thing that can be tried. You can read about that and contribute here.
The GoodLawProject and three MPs – Debbie Abrahams, Caroline Lucas and Layla Moran – brought a Judicial Review against Matt Hancock for failing to publish details of lucrative contracts awarded by his department and it was upheld. The Court ruled Hancock had acted unlawfully.
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.
Scottish Church leaders from a range of Christian denominations have launched legal action, supported by the Christian Legal Centre against the Scottish Government’s attempt to close churches in Scotland for the first time since the the Stuart kings in the 17th century. The church leaders emphasised it is a disproportionate step, and one which has serious implications for freedom of religion.” Further information available here.
There’s the class action lawsuit being brought by Dr Reiner Fuellmich and his team in various countries against “the manufacturers and sellers of the defective product, PCR tests”. Dr Fuellmich explains the lawsuit in this video. Dr Fuellmich has also served cease and desist papers on Professor Christian Drosten, co-author of the Corman-Drosten paper which was the first and WHO-recommended PCR protocol for detection of SARS-CoV-2. That paper, which was pivotal to the roll out of mass PCR testing, was submitted to the journal Eurosurveillance on January 21st and accepted following peer review on January 22nd. The paper has been critically reviewed here by Pieter Borger and colleagues, who also submitted a retraction request, which was rejected in February.
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…
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People signing up for experimental gene therapy believing it’ll protect them from a make-believe pandemic, a low point in human history. Brought to you by Pharma ghouls, media presstitutes, twittler, fakebook, instagrub and the ever deadening brainwashing of today’s schooling aka indoctrination system. Covid™ is not an epidemiological event it is a business model, a manufactured event meant to increase the portfolio’s of the super wealthy. Public health policy has been harnessed to global markets. Instead of serving those at risk of sickness and death, these policies of financialization are constructed to benefit investors. Manufactured pandemics create new investment products that increase the holdings of billionaires and further concentrate their wealth. The WHO, CDC, NHS etc are merely conduits for these investors who channel their investments through the likes of the Gates Foundations e.g. The return on these investments is staggering. Masks are the political weapon thinly disguised as a public health concern. Masks are historically and currently used as a form of subjugation intended to make us unidentifiable, to chip away at our sense of who we are and for blocking our mouths; they symbolically and literally impede our breathe and communication. “12 months of consumption, equates to a stunning… Read more »
Source ?
The source is being alert and paying attention. Things we can’t accuse you of.
I’m sure Karenovirus is asking for a link to the site where all the quotations and stats above come from. This could help support debate against lockdown fanatics. Surely you can see this Rowan, or did you just want to be insulting as usual?
Perhaps if Karenovirus had said something like “could you provide a link for this please?” instead of the rather demanding “Source?” the response wouldn’t have been so negative?
OK, maybe a little blunt but a couple of dozen down votes (which I’ve just reduced by adding one up vote) is extremely unfair. Anyone on here knows Karenovirus is a long time constructive contributor the response here is disappointing and actually a little suspicious. This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen down votes in unjustifiably large quantities and I wonder why this is happening. I simply don’t believe 24 fellow sceptics who know Karenovirus to be a good sort found a little abruptness so objectionable.
Indeed. Karenovirus has been a solid contributor to this site gfor as long as I can remember. Adding my uptick to his post now, as I don’t understand the downvotes for something which at worst was a little blunt.
Those that are frequent commenters on this site, like yourself and karenovirus, should be able to find such things for theirselves, if they really want to know.
A common ploy of the more subtle troll, is to keep asking for a source, so people should tread carefully in this regard, if they don’t want to be misunderstood.
Some old people are incapable of following down the rabbit hole, however.
On the whole I tend to agree.
As a downvoter I’ll comment that a single source for the long list of disparate issues would be an entirely unrealistic thing to provide? Sorry karenovirus, as you are a respected contributor.
That’s how I read it too.
I may have hit a mini jackpot here and am beginning to wonder whether a couple more trolls, have now broken cover.
Ok, I’m Matt Hancock – you can claim your £5.
Are you saying that we aren’t being told to wear face masks?
Hi Allen (1st 👍) Could you please indicate who it is that you are quoting in your sentence that begins
“12 months of consumption . . .
I believe that the blessed Greta is on the case of mask induced environmental degradation.
Thank you in anticipation.
Andrew Wakefield, in one of his interviews for VRevealed, available free for the rest of this weekend, makes these very points relating to the vaccine industry.
mRNA injections are not vaccines! Calling them this perpetuates a LIE! David Martin makes the important distinction that these injections are not vaccines in any medical sense. No matter your view on vaccines (poison in my opinion) these simply aren’t those. And this is done for pecuniary and criminal purposes. It is all deception. What we are in the midst of right now is a live trial human mass medical experiment. Done without consent. It needs to be reported as such. Calling this delivery mechanism a “vaccine” allows the pharmaceutical companies to sneak this thing through under public health exemptions. This mRNA is packaged in a fat envelope delivered to a cell- it is a medical device designed to stimulate the human cell into becoming a pathogen creator. Vaccines are a legally defined term under public health law, they are a legally defined term under FDA and CDC regulations- a vaccine specifically has to stimulate an immunity within the person receiving it and also has to disrupt transmission, they have been abundantly clear in saying that the mRNA cell that is going into the cell is not to stop transmission it is a treatment. If it was discussed as a treatment then it would not get… Read more »
I note you are particularly talking about the mRNA potions, how do you categorise the other 3 types of covid ‘vaccines’?
Vector vaccines – Astra-Zeneca & Sputnik
Protein subunit vaccine – Novavax
Whole killed vaccines – Sinovax
This is what is officially written on the Govt website about the AstraZenca vaccine which is very interesting:
“The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. The vaccine works by delivering the genetic code of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to the body’s cells, similarly to the BNT162b2 vaccine. Once inside the body, the spike protein is produced, causing the immune system to recognise it and initiate an immune response. This means that if the body later encounters the spike protein of the coronavirus, the immune system will recognise it and destroy it before causing infection.”
The BNT162b2 vaccine that it refers to being similar to is the Pfizer vaccine. These are the 2 vaccines on offer here at the moment I think.
The genetic code used in the AstraZeneca vaccine comes from: “Recombinant, replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector encoding the SARS CoV 2 Spike (S) glycoprotein. Produced in genetically modified human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells.”
It doesn’t sound any better and the adverse reactions are equally high and concerning.
Yes adverse reactions appear to be higher for the AstraZeneca but I fear in 6 months time the mRNAs will start doing their dirty work and we will have many problems but of course it will be put down to Covid21 not the vaccines and deadly enhanced immunity responses. We will start receiving deliveries of the ‘Moderna’ vaccine soon by its own description an ‘Operating Platform The Software of Life’.
People who have been quick to accept the mRNA jab think they are now OK, they’re safe, but they are still the lab rats for an experimental therapy the result of which will not be known for some time. What is of concern is the people who initially took part in the test and had the placebo are now possibly ‘vaccinated’ so that muddies the waters.
Watching a video by a well-known USA person this morning and she’s been making the point (amongst others) that she and her husband have told their family etc “Your choice is not my burden”. Meaning that if they choose to have the vax and land up injured and needing a carer – they will have to look elsewhere and not expect her/her husband to make up for their bad choices by taking on the burden of being a carer to them. I agree and, whilst perfectly willing to help out people with their “own” illness or that have to go into Covid/”Covid” self-isolation for a week or so – that help will not be extended to anyone with Vax self-inflicted illness basically. I can see us unvaccinated people being the first to be called on to “pick up the slack” when the vaccinated people can’t do so (for their own stupid fault of having the vax on the one hand or they let themselves get blackmailed by an employer into having it on the other hand).
I am telling people that I will not take the vaccine so that I can be part of the control arm.
It would be disturbing, if the vaccinated began dropping like flies over the next year or two, while the unvaccinated remain stubbornly upright. It would be just too obvious where the blame lies, so no doubt, they are going to do everything they can to make sure that there is no large pool of unvaccinated refuseniks. Too many of these vaccine hesitant people could make things very uncomfortable for the globalist vaccinators and their puppets in government.
Accordingly the pressure on refuseniks to join the rest of the guinea pigs, in the “vaccine” trials, is going to become intense. The stronger this pressure, the more likely it will be, that the vaccines will be harmful and that this harm is intentional. Hard times ahead for all.
I’m afraid you’re right.
That is why I wrote down from here about preparing networks with friends for mutal assistance, though it was downvoted for some reason.
Vector and mRNA crap belong into the same category here.
The other two are traditional, proper vaccines.
Novavax should be more effective against mutations than Sinopharms, which is now pretty useless, as it is a recombinant one.
The main potential problems with those two are the adjuvants used and the use of nanoparticles.
Frankly sounds like best to avoid all if you want to stay healthy.
And note that Sinovax (along with the other whole-virus vaccines in development) hasn’t delivered particularly promising test results.
Who in the world made you think you need any of that shit?
Why are we even having this conversation?
If we are going to talk about health let us do so. I’m in. The conversation starts with nutrition.
If we are talking about best possible versions of poison I’m not interested.
thank you for explaining it so clearly this is brilliant. even someone lke me who could never understand simple science clases at school ,
i wont be getting any ‘vaccine’ or this medical treatment thank you.
is gates idea hes behind the monsanto catastrophe too he’s like a mad scientist from the movies
Go here:
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/?s=David+Martin
Here’s a video:
https://lbry.tv/$/embed/Dr-David-Martin-Explains-Covid-Vaccines-are-not-Vaccines-are-Medical-Devicies/b2430f6c456909bcade3f91c5164e2d9c68bb1dc
Morning all!
Ferguson is a fraud!
He outed himself as a fraud went he decided to meet the bird for a shag. He told the BBC he did so because he’d had the disease and was, therefore, immune. Yet he still continues to insist that everyone should be locked up, even if THEY have already had the disease.
As I said, he’s a fraud!
And those who haven’t got it have to act like they have.
Lose, Lose
Whenever I see one of those signs I think, “Yes, run around screaming that we’re all gonna die, then hide under the bed in an accumulating pile of my own filth for months.”
Basically they have sought to create a nation of neurotics.
I find that acting like I don’t have it works well for me.
And he gets paid for being one.
Vested interest rather than an impartial mind.
He needs to be executed now
There should be a special cell in the Tower set up for him.
There is a cell in the Tower that was built to accommodate Hitler should he have been Captured, it’s got its own en suite lav and everything.
I think going for a shag is a valid reason – let’s all do it.
Fair point
Prof. Cockup ordered take away online.
You heard it straight from the horses mouth, most criticism goes straight in the bin!
Yes what a rude, insulting pup he is. I bet no one will call him out on it either.
His attitude speaks volumes about the sort of person he is. Came as no surprise.
It’s the fact that our government actually employs an unelected and DISHONOURABLE individual to direct its policy that is unspeakably disgusting.
Species revenge
“Specs save us” 😉
I am eternally safe, then. I wear contact lenses. Rubbing my eyes would be disastrous.
Mouth and nose are another matter, but I leave them to get on, unimpeded, with their normal jobs of breathing, speaking, smiling, etc.,. and they’re doing just fine.
2020/2020 vision.
Oh dear next mandate will be we must all wear goggles
Where is the peer reviewed research proving that eye rubbing can give you Covid? They haven’t even isolated the so-called virus. This just sounds like more rubbish Covid propaganda
Morefucking bollox who cares
According to the government:
When the government and parliament decided to make coercive control a criminal offence, they limited potential offenders to individuals, which is like a deciding that criminal laws should not apply to organised crime.
The government is guilty of coercive control. Yet many of the victims cannot see it, and go out of their way to find justifications and excuses for their oppressor, hoping that if they just follow the constantly changing rules closely enough it will come to an end and everything can be normal, and so they not only defend their oppressor, they see any criticism of the oppressor as threat that can only make matters worse, justifying even more draconian measures.
Also known as Stockholm Syndrome.
AKA cowardice and stupidity.
And their victims are persuaded to do their dirty work for them hence why we get family, friends, even total strangers transmogrifying into Hitler and Stalin wannabes with their bullying, harassment, name calling, etc.
And they have the nerve to claim that they’re doing all of the above to keep you “safe” and to “protect” you.
When this is over, they will try to go “let bygones, be bygones.” No way.
Never forgive, never forget.
It reminds me of those old films where people still looked the same but had actually been taken over by aliens. I keep waiting for the alien to burst outside the bodies of some of these people.
Specifically, Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, both versions. I find myself thinking about them all the time.
Do you have a link to the law? This would be a good framework for another letter to my MP. Thanks.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/9/contents/enacted
Section 76.
So the government has actually made sure it can’t be guilty of ”coercive control” if the accusation of that crime is limited to individuals.
How fiendishly clever.
!
Netflix and The Cloud.
I’ll stick with DVDs and external hard drives thank you.
Wont take long I dont own much.
If you’ve got enough then you are rich: Old saying.
Depends on what you think is enough, I suppose.
It’s a strange idea – I mean no one is going to hire their clothes, for example. These people just do not understand human nature. It is human nature to own things.
It’s also human nature to work with a sense of purpose in order to improve life, for oneself and others. Fancy giving up that?
I thought the point was that there will be no work in the 4th industrial revolution as most jobs will have been automated.
If work is defined as the tooling of labour, there will be a lot that is replaced so as to not need human tools.
The genetic and social engineering of new tools will be its goal for the pursuance of fantasy goals for the wish to make life in the image of its ‘novel’ maker. The imagination is considered creative, but nothing made by fear and its underlying identity in self-lack, is truly creative, for the Creative is workable as an extension and service to wholeness of being.
The usurping of wholeness is a partiality given priority over truth. It is this masking agenda that invoked the Mind as ingenuity for the means to mask over and maintain a dissociation for truth.
Gain a ‘world’ and lose (awareness of) a Soul.
And do you think they’re going to keep all the non-workers alive? I don’t.
Oh you can hire clothes. Moss Bros for example. But it’s only in certain circumstances.
People have tried the same for party outfits for women, and designer items. But it never really catches on.
People either love clothes and fashion, and want to own what they wear, as they get pleasure from it hanging in the wardrobe even (I am in this bucket, with my Imelda Marcos sized shoe collection), or they couldn’t give a shit if they wear the same thing most days (my mother) and therefore it would be uneconomical to rent an outfit.
Owning stuff fires up the dopamine. You can’t stop that. It’s inbuilt to human nature.
Yes you’re right. This also makes me wonder who’s thinking all this shit up.
Yes, my friends is addicted to shopping.
Sad thing is, I think she knows, at least lately, as she comes up with feeble justifications for her purchases.
It means that you never cease paying for things however long they might last. That guarantees continued rental incomes for the top 0.1% who will still be owning things.
In many ways its very similar to the old communist system as those societies always had a tiny ruling class who had their own separate hospitals, schools, shops selling western goods, even traffic lanes whilst the masses all had much inferior lives.
However it seems to me that the new world order is the ultimate destination of capitalism. The process of centuries of capital accumulation leads to ever greater concentration of capital leading to vast multinational corporations and a new billionaire class. These synthesise with the state to create the kind of technocratic corporatist dominant ruling class we now have.
An old economics lecturer once said to my tutorial group in 1983 that capitalism and communism eventually meet round the back somewhere as do right wing libertarianism and left wing anarchism.
He died many years ago…I often wonder what he would have made of this new despotism.
But we haven’t had capitalism for a long time. In a capitalist system, there is no taxation, no welfare system, no state education and no central bank. What we’re seeing is democratic socialism turning into state communism, as many wise people predicted it would. Anarchism is a system without rulers or government, so I’ve no idea what left-wing anarchism is supposed to be.
To the contrary, my friend. The Telegraph reports thus (a year and a half ago): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/27/renting-clothes-will-replace-fast-fashion-entrepreneur-says/
the tldr: Renting clothes is going to replace fast-fashion, the founder of a new start-up has said, as millennials turn their backs on throwaway items*.
Customers of a site established in 2009 initially used to rent only eveningwear, but are now replacing fast fashion with rented clothes. “50 per cent of a women’s income on clothing is going towards fast-fashion, on something that you’re actually only wearing two or three times. So rental is a substitution for the 50 percent of your wardrobe that you’re only wearing two or three times.”
*Not masks, obvs. They litter the place here.
You may be provided with all designated or granted needs or services by a state that has all rights over all that you use, but grants you the legal right to use them under contract (compliance). So monopolisation of ownership is the new ‘social contract’ of being allowed to exist within the terms of a contract whose terms are set by one legal party as the ownership and use of the other – along with ability to reframe the terms and conditions without notice or recourse of appeal to any accountability. Human nature is exactly what is being re-engineered under multiple and many levelled experimental applied research on the living. Human beings will ‘understand’ their conditions as the defining context of their existence and adapt within such parameters to live such a world and nature as normal. Now I do not go along with this, but it is a sketch of the enslaving of people by others who use psychic-emotional deceit and manipulation to the targeted and profiled fears, guilt, and hate that characterise the ‘nature’ of the deceived. What truly do we possess in life? I do not ask for a glib answer but to put the enquiry forth… Read more »
Yes. Makes me wonder who’s really thinking all this up.
One of the more outrageous ‘predictions’ set out by the Great Reset Initiative is that they plan to set foot on Mars. When arguing the case that I believe what we are seeing is indeed the Great Reset, I’ve struggled with this particular feature. Yet, in the past week or so, there has been a sudden increase in MSM discussion on probes and rovers that have been sent to Mars.
I guess they figured the whole moon landing cold war bullshit fooled enough people and served as a distraction. For this war against a phoney virus, we’ll go to Mars!
It’s called Alternative 3 – been discussed along, long time:
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/esp_exopolitics_ZK.htm
Thanks for the link
I always thought of Ch4 can convince some people they went to space by having them in a simulator on an industrial estate in Essex, then the USA was able to fake the moon landings.
Sounds like communism. And I guess the people who aren’t happy will have to be re-educated.
It’s a Barr day, G’bye.
More fool you.Will is involved too, and his first piece is a cracker.
I don’t think that’s fair. JB has written and edited some great pieces over the weeks. The different contributors, with their different styles, enhance this site. If the different editors have different perspectives, surely this helps keep the site on an even keel?
And if someone writes from a different perspective from you, especially a more moderate perspective, is that a reason not to read them?
I sometimes have my criticisms – I think the authors should be careful about regurgitating MSM headlines which merely promulgate the establishment view, and there should have been much greater discussion ATL about vaccines (as I mentioned in a post yesterday).
https://dailysceptic.org/2021/02/20/latest-news-291/#comment-425441
Perhaps Toby has his reasons – if so he should elaborate ATL. Yet this does not diminish my respect for all he and the others have done.
Most of what I’ve done constitutes going out without a muzzle, generally ignoring ‘rules’ and telling everyone who will listen what a shitshow this is. I’m painfully aware that others have done much, much more, at much greater risk to themselves.
First giggle of the day from ATL:
‘: A restaurant in Hernando County, Florida has gone viral after it made clear that facemasks are not required to dine.’
Gone viral. Yeah.
I laughed out loud at this
One year since all this bollocks started.
One year in which it’s become plain that Governments can do just about whatever they like with/to people, and that the majority of people let them.
One year in which I have learned that the majority of people are as stupid as I have always thought they were; one year in which I have seen people believe the most ridiculous of lies.
One year in which I have not worn a mask; I never shall! Nor will I take their vaccine.
One year in which I have never swerved while walking on the street; that’s for the sheep to do.
One year in which, where I was able, I ignored their rules.
Resistance IS NOT futile.
I WILL NEVER COMPLY!
So, how are you going to avoid the Coercive and Unnecessary Experimental Gene Therapy? You won’t be able to use shops etc.
Have you thought about that? Because I have enough food for a month and my cupboard is full.
Deliveries? The coronaphobic haven’t been using supermarkets either but they haven’t starved. They’ve sat at home, quaking in fear of the killer give us, getting fatter and unhealthier while people bring them stuff.
If they mandate vaccines for anything though, we need to start a revolution. Everything that has happened in the past year is unacceptable but this is really the last straw.
The coronas witnesses also berate anyone for going out as well… but somehow its ok for the plebs to do their deliveries. No doubt their resulting obesity will lead to a recorded COVID 19 death.
I agree as well….mandatory vaccines amount to a full declaration of war.
The World Socialist Website, which is fanatical about the need for lockdowns, put forward its ideal vision last year of most people “sheltering in place” while food was delivered to them. They did not really deal with the question of who was to do the delivering (and risking either catching or spreading the dread contagion).
That is because they are thick twats. Who delivers the stuff? Where does the fuel come from? Who replaces worn out tyres? Who services the vans? Who sells and delivers the parts for said vans? Who recovers broken down or crashed vans? Where do new vans come from? A food delivery service needs its own little pyramid of supporting businesses in order to work properly. These people are far too stupid to see anything beyond their red flag.
I am speaking about practicalities. People need to prepare for when they are not allowed to enter in any shops. Deliveries will also be out of the question.
If this isn’t stopped it is FULL SCALE AUTHORITARIANISM leading to TOTALITARIANISM.
Form agreements with friends who own allotments also. Farmers etc. Just in case.
Serious people who have the means are already leaving this country to rural parts of America and other places.
This is serious stuff. Already the crimes of the Globalists are WORSE than the National Socialists in scale.
Live this day well. If you feed your fears – or the fears that have been fed you, you will crumple under the burden of your own thinking. If you were actually fed up with lies, you would be a LOT more vigilant as to what you accept into your thought by unmindfully speaking it! Who you are is your freedom to be. It is also your freedom to deny, for a temporary experience of conflict, darkness and struggle. If you give fear of lack, pain and loss even to death all power over your life, then you have made a choice and you have the capacity to re-evaluate that choice in terms of what it costs you, and what it actually fails to deliver. Note the Freudian giveaway of CAPITALS for negative symbols as Power. It is not that I seek to make us afraid of our own thinking, but to learn to recognise when we are indulging a kind of ‘thinking’ that is self defeating and self-destructive – and stop feeding it with our attention and giving it fuel or freedom to run. This is a level of self-responsibility we unconsciously abnegate not least because we believe no… Read more »
It’s called standing up for what you believe.
Exactly the same as me. I don’t like to have to think of most people as stupid but I suppose really I always have thought that. I think I thought that even as a child so I was probably always going to end up in this situation where I am an outlier and a deeply mistrusted one too it seems. I remember reading a book called ‘The Outsider’ by Albert Camus in the sixth form and thinking this sounds like me. I try not to opine that people are stupid as that provokes much aggression from people and I notice that RickH reacts in a similar way if anyone says that on here. I have some sympathy with his kneejerk response to this but surely there comes a point where we have to expect people to oppose the slide into totalitarianism even if there has been unprecendented propaganda which I agree there has been. Surely there is a sense of personal responsibility here and people cannot just blame ‘external forces’ indefinitely. At what point does understandable initial alignment with the media onslaught turn into inexcusable laziness and indolence a whole year later. I also ask why was it that I… Read more »
One year since the world started to fall for the Chinese ruse.
Cui bono!? is never wrong.
‘We must believe in vaccines’ says Baker.
Hey-ho, another clause in the Great Covidian Credo.
I believe in the God Covid, the Holy NHS Church, the Administration of Vaccines, the communion of terror, and the lockdown everlasting, Amen.
If the overall view is that vaccines are the key to unlocking restrictions then I am more than happy for people to get jabbed up.
They only pretended that getting vaccined would end lockdown.
As usual they moved the goalposts so now we have to wait until the whole world has been vaccinated because scary ‘foreign’ mutant variants.
I know that and you know that but it’ll learn them.
Hope so but I wonder . . .
So am I, but are they?
Everyone getting a vaccine is a key to rolling out vaccine passports without the nasty ‘second-class citizen’ legal problem.
Nah, won’t happen. Watch this space.
The key to unlocking restrictions is for people to act normally without any collusion with what these people are doing. Normal life, not a life shaped and limited and controlled by politicians, behavioural psychologists or any of the rest of them.
I agree but “they” (the unvaccinated/about to be vaccinated) haven’t seen the truth yet. I feel the veil is lifting now as people get jabbed up and nothing changes.
But in every community there are people who have been brain washed by the “charity” funded by Deloittes and known as Common Purpose. Their aims do not necessarily conform to the real needs and aspirations of communities.
UKColumn has discussed CP.
Check out
Understanding Common Purpose | Common Purpose Exposed (cpexposed.com)
The fact is the more people that take the ‘vaccine’ the more likely you will be forced to have it.
Once there is a critical mass then they will do the governments dirty work for them.
Daily Mail comments (my barometer of popular opinion, they got Brexit right after all) suggest there are a lot of refuseniks out there.
I think this is correct…if no one had it it would have destroyed the whole corrupt narrative….instead we have the sheep queueing up without even bothering to enquire whats in it and how it works. People just believe the government and the NHS would never harm them.
The more who get ‘jabbed up’ the more presssure is on you to conform.
Ive had pressure from all angles most of my life to conform to this and that, I have not, and will not conform to this.
Me neither, if you allow peer pressure to force you into this you have become a zombie and ceased to be an individual. If you feel you must do it for gods sake do it because you want to not because a cacophony of voices push you into it.
I used to love sung evensong. Fat chance of any singing in the modern covid church. If we’ve been very, very good we might be allowed to whisper the Credo and responses into our triple masks.
Why would you even step inside such a place.
The correct response whenever you come across an Anglican clergyman is to SPIT IN HIS SATANIC FACE!
This was my response to his article in the Telegraph.
‘Why would we believe in an experimental vaccine created to fight off a virus most of us can do so naturally with our own immune systems? By all means vaccinate the vulnerable, or whoever wishes to take it, but I will not get behind the vaccine for the majority of the population. I did not get behind masks, social distancing or lockdowns and I will not get behind the ‘solution’ to them. The solution is not vaccines, the solution was to have listened to the authors of the much censored ‘Great Barrington Declaration’ and apply common sense to this crisis. Vaccines are apparently more necessary than common sense. But then common sense doesn’t appear to make money for anyone or give our government the ability to control the masses.’
This is a good reminder that no politicians can be trusted. I remember him wearing a 1984 t-shirt into Parliament during this created crisis. And yet now he is encouraging us to get vaccinated. He has lured people into his camp and now produces the same answer as any of the pro lockdowners.
He became a shrill for BLM too. You are right not to trust any politicians and those Tory ‘right wingers’ are probably the least trustworthy of all including Rees Mogg. Never put your faith in these charlatans. When it comes down to it they are all pro establishment and on the gravy train. They would sell their grandmothers if it boosted their careers.
Unfortunately the people I’m meeting do believe in the ‘vaccines’. In fact they believe in them so much that they don’t care what one they get, or whether they get 2 doses of the same one. I have a few anecdotes through speaking to people from my village regarding the vaccines. They all believe they are special when they receive their ‘golden ticket’. They don’t ask any questions regarding the vaccine and when I ask, they don’t have an answer and don’t want to know. Government won’t lie! All of them and I do mean all that I and my husband have spoken to are getting and are extremely happy to be getting any vaccine that says it’s for covid. They all believe the only way out of this ‘pandemic’ is by getting vaccinated. They all believe they are now safe from covid-19. A few of them have stated that we ALL have to get vaccinated to protect each other. The most recent one my husband spoke to, excitedly told my husband she had her ‘invitation’ and she can’t wait and he told her he had received his letter but he wouldn’t be attending the appointment they made on his… Read more »
“ Government won’t lie!”
They are suffering from “Head In The Sand” syndrome.
Very often dangerously incurable, unfortunately.
I just watched a very good “debate” from Austrian TV with some people who are legal experts in vaccines. All these people are clinical trial level3 participants and have a legal obligation to report side effects. Just that of course the doctors and everyone involved is totally ignoring all their legal obligations to give the person INFORMED CONSENT.
Very concerning to see the likes of “talks a good talk” MP Steve Baker peddling the vaccines today in the Sunday Telegraph. No,i am not totally against vaccines as i have the flu jab every year for asthma but will wait til next year at least to see what the actual take up has been and indeed whether there have been many deaths caused by the “vaccine”.
The yellow card scheme shows a very rough estimate of a 1 in 36,000 chance of a fatal reaction from vaccination. Better odds than the Rona, admittedly but not zero either.
Is that better odds for over 80s or general odds?
It’s NOT immediate response, it is LONGER TERM SIDE EFFECTS!
Not better odds if you’re young and healthy and about to be ‘offered’ the jab before July apparently or possibly compelled to take it by your employer.
That’s only the chance of a fatal reaction from the initial jab. No one truly knows what the chances are for a fatal ADE reaction from catching a new Covid variant in the wild is.
I note your phrase ‘peddling the vaccines’ as indeed this does all seem to be more of a marketing exercise than a public health measure. All the indicators are that this virus is now in decline and I imagine they are worried that the whole thing will have dissolved away before they have made enough cash from the covid potions.
The virus has just done what virus do, gone through its seasonal return, with or without either lockdown or ‘vaccines’.
(Dressed up as ‘our fault’ second wave just as predicted months ago here at LS and elsewhere so as to prolong lockdown and tout ‘vaccines’).
And trashed the economy..
But what no-one knows is the long-term effect of the vax. I admit to being gobsmacked just how many people are having it, as even the sheeple seem to acknowledge that there’s a good chance they will feel ill after having it. I wouldn’t accept even minor temporary illness personally. But THE thing is what effect will The Vax have in 1 years time, 5 years time, 50 years time (depending on what one’s anticipated lifespan is). For all we know – there’s a timebomb effect in there. Someone could have the vax and not even these temporary minor illnesses the sheeple seem to be accepting coming from it and feel absolutely fine and still feel absolutely fine in 5 years time – but what about 10 years time and so on? Illness can sit there dormant and “waiting its time” and pop up years later and the person concerned might not even know it’s not their OWN illness (but instead artificially induced years back from The Vax). I’m well aware personally of Timebomb illnesses – because I had illness coming at me that wasn’t “mine” and got rid of it – but the thought still lurks in my mind… Read more »
Thalidomide did not affect the recipients, it affected their offspring.
Built-in infertility would reduce the population in generations to come and may not be easily traceable back to the jab but would meet the demands of the eugenicist funders of the ‘vaccines’ – Handmaid’s Tale here we come…
…almost certainly the plan. Or at least a part of it.
Indeed, and especially since it’s not just one jab but, as the variants come along (whether real or not), it becomes a programme over an indefinite period. And all on the say-so of a group of politicians who have lied to us consistently for the last year.
And how many people are agreeing to have this thing because they are concerned about the virus, and how many because they are concerned about being able to work, travel, or are trying to help get everything back to normal etc?
Good morning richmond,
This is anecdotal of course, but my personal experience of colleagues/clients enthusiasm in Zoom meetings would firmly be the latter. e.g. going back to normal
This is in and around Oxford, educated/affluent types, 50+
Do report back how many ‘Oxford affluent’ types receive the cunting gene therapy, will you? I will be pleased for them to suffer.
I hope some of them are dons and such there.
On another board full of vaccine worshipping fitness fans, my former friends have been sharing the immediate after effects. These include three-day blinding headaches, raised heart rate, severe chills and shaking (“I had to go to bed with two coats and a hot water bottle”), severe fatigue, whole body aches, nausea and vomiting. They wear these horrors with pride as to them it shows how well the thing has “taken”.
Aaag!! Indulging in that bloody competitive victimhood, it is very widespread isn’t it.
Yes no shortage of nasty after effects tales. Speaking to a friend yesterday for a few minutes and added another four to my list, mainly AZ. I count myself lucky, nothing at all 48 hours after (foolishly) accepting the AZ.
i’ve never had the flu vaxx – do people get this type of symptom after that?
I find it frightening the number and severity of symptoms that this is creating in a lot of people and they just suck it up with a badge of pride.
Leads me to think what the (*&^% is in this poison to have such reactions.
I’ve never had a flu vaccine either, despite all the coercion to do so over the years.
I haven’t – to the best of my knowledge – ever had flu, although I acknowledge I may have had it and passed it off as a cold.
My late parents, and others I know, had flu for the first time after having their first flu vaccines.
Any vaccination I accept would have to be for something that has a known massive infection and mortality rate, for me to consider having it.
Flu is a whole different game from a cold, I had it once at age 25 and would not want it again. Fine one minute, felt a bit under the weather and 20 minutes later in bed with with high temp. Went on for four days then “long flu” for 4 weeks.
Well in that case I’ve never had flu then.
Over the years I’ve worked with both the general public and moving between 3 sites with 600+ people in them.
Used to often socialise in pubs in the evenings, so I guess I’ve had plenty of opportunity to catch it but managed, for whatever reason, not to.
I have had the flu jab for the last 8 years and the worst side effect I have ever had was a aching arm for a day or two.
I usually have the flu vaccine and generally, just get a sore arm that I’m only aware of if I lie on it, nothing like these side effects I’m reading about.
Many years ago, my then employers arranged Flu jabs for their staff and, thinking I was being responsible, I signed up for one. They gave us the jabs on Friday morning, knowing that any subsequent reaction would be felt over the weekend, i.e. our time, not theirs. The answer to your question is “yes”!
I have a colleague who goes for the flu jab every year and she books 2-3 days off after it because she always falls ill as if like clockwork.
Why she still persists with it is a mystery.
The blinding headaches seem to be the most common issue. What is the jab doing to people’s brains? Seriously.
Is this why they are so disparate to jab everybody to cure the mind-virus? Do they want to instigate a change in the human brain on a massive scale?
From what I have read, these vaccines may well “prime” people for a worser reaction to the next coronavirus. We’ve all probably picked up on this. So really we haven’t seen anything yet and it’s very naive of the vaccinated folk saying “had my jab last week, felt awful for 2 days and now fine”. Also, some drs and scientists say the way some of these vaccines work is to cause a reaction similar to autoimmune disease. Consequntly there is a high chance of seeing much more of these in the future.
Check out Zach Bush and his fears about fundamental changes to our DNA. V scary
Exactly. Risk of ADE wholly unaddressed by MSM; public completely unaware.
As I’m pregnant and plan to breastfeed for the first year, I should get away with it for a bit. Though means I won’t be able to travel & at this rate who knows what else in the U.K.. – but I plan to push the blameless virtuous mama card as much as possible..
But I’m hoping we’ll have a slightly better picture by the end of that. Or perhaps not..
Just how many people have had the virus, recovered and presumably have immunity?
How many have had native or cross immunity?
Could we add those numbers to the vaccinated and see what numbers are crunched because surely we are close to the chimera of herd immunity or is that a concept not recognised by “the Science” anymore?
Exactly.
Surely everyone should be able to have their immunity status checked before they decide whether to be vaccinated? Although it is complicated to check whether you have T cell immunity I would certainly be willing to pay for a test if one was available. And surely if a vaccine can be developed in a few months a T cell test could be rolled out sooner. I understand between 20 – 50% had such immunity before the pandemic started so that figure would now be at least 30% when you take into account the number of people who have had the disease. Although, I am unsure of the reason for it, this is definitely about getting as many people vaccinated as possible regardless of necessity or safety.
Being an asthmatic, Nick, you would most likely be protected from Covid by your inhaler.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/over-the-counter-inhalers-suppress-severe-covid-symptoms-trial-finds-20210210-p5716m.html
Thanks, this is what i suspect. Plus exercise in the great outdoors and plenty of vit c and d.
Yay, I have specs (see above) and an inhaler !
Bel Mooney’s sad tale of her father’s demise (Daily Mail link in articles above) is worth a read. I note his care home suffered an outbreak of COVID shortly *after* vaccinating everyone, “despite all excellent precautions”. (Her father refused the vaccine – good for him! – died of COPD complications, and was recorded as a Covid death despite a recent negative test.)
Again and again you hear this story. Care home deaths spiking after vaccinations. But completely buried or denied.
I posted about two local care homes that had their first Covid cases shortly after staff and residents were vaccinated in January.
All the staff recovered and view the resident deaths as being ‘just like every year with ordinary flu’.
Neither of my informers made the link between vaccine and First Covid.
Plenty of comments on the Mail article make it clear that falsification of ‘Covid’ deaths is rampant and so do people I speak with, both MOPs and health professionals.
Perhaps this will be the undoing of the facist medical complex that misrules us in collusion with the opposition, press and police.
Yes even Bel didn’t comment on that – maybe she will look at it more seriously now…..no one in the media cares until they are directly affected
Have they not recently trialled inhalers as treatment and had good outcomes? I just saw somewhere in the media that Asthma sufferers actually had better outcomes with the rona, as they are primed to deal with it.
Well, the mountain finally comes down to meet Muhammad. And what does Ferguson say ? Firstly, he encloses a leaflet about conspiracy theories – immediately missing the point that the vast majority of lockdown sceptics are not claiming any conspiracy, just incompetence. Even if we were, that doesn’t make his arguments any more or any less true or false. Then he talks about several different models – in particular “we now have 4 different COVID models, again which all agree”. In view of the diversity of outcomes predicted by different models from other people, one is led to wonder how much variety of thinking there is between the Imperial models, indeed to what extent they are different, and to what extent the required outcome was driving the parameters of the model. He then claims “a case could be made that the U.K. government took too little notice of our (not just Imperial- all the SAGE groups) modelling. In that they basically only acted when they saw hospitalisations and deaths growing exponentially.” Presumably the Telegraph article of 17 March 2020 was one of the more than a dozen there and in the Spectator that was corrected: “Moments after the Prime Minister… Read more »
Excellent analysis Laurence, thank you.
‘It was fairly obvious . . . that this was going to be nothing like what Ferguson predicted . . .’
As was pointed out at the time on a couple of personal blogs that I follow, one of which led me here to LS.
LS should send Fergi a link to the “Opportunity, Incentive and Rationalisation” article. He touches all three bases.
Thank you,Laurence.
My crumb of solace viz Ferguson is that he may become the patsy for the politicians if there is any adverse fallout from this nightmare.
Hi TC,
As you allude to in your comment, and maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part! but I would venture that Ferguson’s last line is an attempt to try and extricate himself from what’s to come.
In fact, a case could be made that the U.K. government took too little notice of our (not just Imperial- all the SAGE groups) modelling.
Devi Sridhar has recently been doing the same in a tweet where she said she has no power.
It reminds me of the sort of statement football managers tend to put out to try and pass the buck to the players/fans/media/chairman when they know the writing is on the wall and don’t want to appear as damaged goods to their next club.
Best regards
Simon
Please sir, wasn’t me sir, it was Smith wot done it.
Thanks,Simon,
I pray there’s no “next club” for Ferguson and his ilk.
To bring “the Science” to book may well lead to the “Scientists” and politicians seeking to blame each other, known to lawyers as “The Cutthroat Defence” because it normally leads to every defendant being convicted.
We can only live in hope but my fear is there will be no serious repercussions for these people,perhaps at best the so called court of public opinion and given the state of the vast majority of the people in this country so what?
Blair and Bush should be doing time now for the Iraq war and see how Blair certainly prospers.
TANJ, There Ain’t No Justice (Larry Niven’s Ringworld IIRC).
Still, we should never give up hope for then we are truly lost.
Sorry to sound downbeat but SWOBO is getting her jab today and seeks my approbation which is not going to be forthcoming anytime soon: her choice, her body, her health.
I just wish my family would give the same respect to me!
Anyway, the good soldier soldiers on and must never lose sight of the objective however depleted his/her assets may be to achieve it.
Stay sane, everyone.
Ferguson had already been found wanting at Team Foot & Mouth, Team Bird Flu and Team SARS.
Yes, it is astonishing how such a crappy previous “work record” has allowed him to continue, and seemingly, be taken seriously.
Perhaps if I’d been crappier at the work I’ve done in the past I’d be better off.
Unfortunately I’ve always followed my conscience and tried to do my job properly and it’s got me nowhere.
It seems from his reply that a nerve was touched, but also reflects his monstrous ego, his love for the power and the sense that he is untouchable and just toying with the little people, who he clearly despises.
That was exactly my read. What a nasty piece of work.
yes, an arrogant narcissist, intoxicated with the idea of his own cleverness, which isn’t half as great as he thinks it is
I thought Ferguson’s reply was so weak I wondered why he bothered.
He’s probably a weak man.
Would you not like to meet him and have a frank exchange of views with him?
I’m very confident there are many on this site who would pay for that opportunity.
It’s all very well conversing electronically but would you send the same comments to someone 3 feet away from you?
My suspicion is that he’s in his own isolated cocooned sphere where he can control admittance; forced entries would be difficult for him to cope with.
“Nobody ran the Imperial model against Sweden, except us”
I wonder what it said?
Also, I was under the impression, from the SAGE minutes, that lockdown was not advised by SAGE?
It’s all rather confusing, isn’t it. I get the feeling there will be a great deal of squirming and finger pointing as the truth gradually comes out.
I would add that there might have been four models in agreement, there were 400 opposed. Why? Because whatever the ‘code’, the models only predict what the original assumptions allow. And Ferguson deliberately excluded from his reply the most damning, they assumed ZERO natural immunity at the outbreak. This was crude and wrong. But he is a physicist and does not really know his subject.
Given his track record and his desire to continue to attract attention he should be nowhere near levers of power. The fact that he is says a lot about the people who use his output.
He’s unelected and dishonourable – two things that should exclude him from having any influence on policy.
Quite. Four different models, maybe….but all using the same erroneous assumptions. Like there’s no such thing as T cell cross immunity.
Actually what is really troubling about Ferguson’s response is his assumption that the outcomes of computer models are reality, and any other view is an “alternative reality”, meaning anyone not buying into the modelling is delusional. Yet, the outcomes of computer models are nothing more than the mathematically inevitable results of the starting assumptions. They are not science, they are not data, they are not reality. His preference for them is delusional.
Perfect analogy!
An apt post . I wish the sentiment in the username was true for everyone.
I liked the fraud triangle article. Though always add “suppressing effective treatments” to the fraud engaged in by governments: that goes in the incentive column both by way of financial gain (via big pharma) and also to avoid backlash by keeping the fear alive in the public mind.
There should be Nuremberg style trials of this fraud.
To my mind the current indicators show that this virus is in decline, indeed if you take away infections at sites like Hospitals, Care Homes, Prisons and Meat Plants there does not seem to be much left? I live in Torridge N.Devon the area of the UK mainland with consistently the lowest rate of covid, my postcode and others around come up as zero covid on the NHS dashboard and by my observations it seems this is leading to the fear factor fading away locally; people stop and chat in the streets, a comment on the village facebook site that the school should fully re-open received far more support than any urges for caution.
If the weather starts to pick up and the virus numbers keep coming down around the country, I think our ‘Dear Leader’ might find his cautious roadmap of opening-up is in danger of being overwhelmed by a tsunami of traffic as the fear factor dissolves away.
We live in hope!
I have the same situation in my little town – no cases – but because of that some inhabitants seem to be totally against people visiting. There’s a suspicion of strangers, nothing overt, a glance over the shoulder merely. They seem to believe there’s a pandemic ranging up country.
Reminds me of the story that was on here a while back. My village was fine, but we knew everyone in the town over the hill was dying in the streets. I went to the town over the hill and was amazed to find everything normal, no dead in the streets and life going on. I asked a person in the street about it and they said everything was fine, but the folks in the village over the hill are not so lucky, they have dead people in the streets.
Medieval mindset as the result of medieval isolation, local Police say you can only take exercise in your own village or part of town.
I can relate to that. I often walk over to nearby St Dogmaels (from Cardigan) and it is sometimes noticeable that I’m asked where I live in passing conversation and the response is to draw back and glare at me when I say Cardigan like I live somewhere different to them – when I don’t, as I am only 1.5 miles away – and I can spot a “wish I could tell her she’s walked further than welsh assembly regulations state – but I can’t, as it’s such a small distance. Darn it!”
Your first sentence sums up one of the major problem, ie we have idea what the true level clinically significant Covid infections have been and are in the community.
My gut tells me it’s very low but the deliberate and systematic confuscation of stats mean it’s impossible to determine.
However, as you say, with plummeting reported “cases” and increase in the “vaccinated” cohort, surely the sheeple will start thinking for themselves
Professor Ferguson’s defence of his position don’t really stand up to much scrutiny. What looks clear now in these ruinous winter shutdown’s especially is the original pandemic plan, backed by Whitty and Vallance would have served us better, as part of that was increased capacity. With 25 to 40% hospital spread this winter it is clear the extra capacity to isolate CCP Virus patients was needed. That there were several models set up determined to get Whitty to change tack is no real surprise, it doesn’t make the total failure of the policy any less. I don’t really agree with all of what Sweden has done. The template should be more what Ron Desantis has done since Sep in Florida, as the original plan. There was never any need to shut big outdoor events, as in the original pandemic plan and Sweden still don’t have them. There is also the question of how the CCP Virus is spread and it clearly is far from all person to person as the experts prepare the media to inform and blame the public. Lingering indoor aerosol spread is a factor, maybe a big one, we don’t know, nobody asks or tells. Which leaves… Read more »
What is missing in this diversionary discussion of the Ferguson factor is the fact that Imperial College has received £250,000,000 from Bill Gates and that Bill Gates is a eugenicist who talks openly of using vaccines to reduce the population of the world.
These are facts, not conspiracy on our side of the argument.
In the end enough of us have to re-assert our birth rights, our common law freedoms.
Gates is a complete moron, you don’t have to hear him speak for long to realise that. That any member of government should want to be seen anywhere near the guy tells me a lot, in that they want some of his money.
The future looks grim.
I remember a lecturer at Manchester University explaining the original success of Microsoft. Gates and his chums were asked to provide an operating system to work on the groundbreaking new IBM Personal Computers. IBM ballsed up the contracts, leaving Microsoft with effective control of the software, and under no obligation to share it with anyone. IBM lost their way entirely, and Microsoft made a fortune from the monopolistic position he lawyers had gifted them. Gates would now love to be revered as a great altruist, but his instincts and early success were based on looking after No 1.
I think when you say ‘common law’ you really mean ‘natural law.’ the term ‘common law’ just means judge-made law, the law of legal precedent arising through trialled cases, as opposed to legislation made by the legislature.
I stand corrected.
“no-one ran the Imperial model for Sweden (other than us)”
*They* ran the Imperial model for Sweden? What was the result?
I seem to recall seeing it as part of the original Imperial paper. The modelling was applied to many other countries.
It was a while ago so can’t remember exactly where I saw it but it was no secret.
I remember it predicted megadeaths.
Sorry. I don’t know if the numbers have been updated since….
Modelling seems to be the easiest job in the world. Dress up some basic maths to look like it might represent reality and like a horoscope applied to everyone sometimes it appears to be right.
It just so happened that Fergusons model for the UK, little more than there will be increased deaths, looked more correct than not simply because the outcome for the UK was particularly bad.
Modelling was done by many institutions, all using the same basic techniques and most were wrong, just like a horoscope.
Like I said, easiest job in the world.
1970’s. During ‘O’ level Economics we we examining a Model about the effects of Industrial Relations on the wider economy.
“Please Sir it don’t say about trade unions”
‘ No, this model does not include Trades Unions*as a variant’
End of interest in his model and ‘Economics’.
*Trades Unions were very much larger and more influential in those days, the staple of daily press and broadcast news.
I blame the development of the PC for this. It made it possible for any idiot to take a very basic set of results and dress them up with impressive charts and other graphics that will convince simpletons that it’s a work of some merit.
Something that is starting to put me off this blog is the naive faith in vaccines.
I used to think they made sense and had not given them much thought.
But this period of hysteria has prompted me to do some research.
Their historical record is really not anything like the success story that the medical establishment brainwashes us to think it is.
Even Germ Theory itself is not so robust.
This blog ought to be more open to these ideas.
De facto compulsory vaccination is very scary.
I agree and the point that needs to be made in the case of any ‘vaccines’ which carry the risk of fatalities is that each of those deaths especially for any young, healthy recipient is a complete and utter tragedy as it is entirely unnecessary for those people who would never have run the risk of dying from ‘covid’. Surely proportionality has gone out the window with all responses to this scam – it’s a flu-like virus and the experimental therapies- both lockdowns and jabs – are demonstrably more harmful. If vaccine passports are introduced, I intend to print off a document stating that I am a voluntary member of the control group without which these clinical trials would be invalid (although I’m sure I’ve read that establishing the safety of vaccines through clinical trials has not ever been a requirement – think on that before you ever again bare your arms).
Neil Ferguson lives in a model world: a fantasy. The rest of us live in the real world. One that he has helped to destroy, where existing is not a substitute for living.
True, but Ferguson has a cess to all the pleasures he wants in both worlds.
Perfectly expressed.
Warned a friend under social pressure in Scotland not to have the experimental Pfizer gene therapy jab, and she asked me if the AstraZeneca (surely the name of a new car?) was of the traditional sort. Anyone know where I can find that out?
Someone on this site gave me this link recently it explains the difference between the 4 types of ‘vaccine’ for this virus.
Victoria also did a useful post about how to acquire natural immunity.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/24/health/covid-vaccines-design-explained/index.html
Thanks Steve, The “for dummies” graphs are really helpful!
This explains it quite well
Are the covid vaccines safe and effective? – Sebastian Rushworth M.D.
From July last year but interesting.
These four coronavirus vaccines are the closest to becoming reality | WIRED UK
The AZ jab is made from a monkey virus the Pfizer Moderna are gene therapies. None of them appeal to me.
There is nothing “traditional” about these covid jabs, apart from perhaps the nose spray one but it’s not available yet.
How about asking her how much she values self-respect and making up her own mind for herself? Anyone applying “social pressure” to her doesn’t really care about her as a person at all imo.
Pandemic Logic
According to most metrics the UK has one of the worst outcomes of all countries in the world.
Yet Matt Hancock, and others in government but Hancock in particular, can appear in public smiling and bragging about what a good job he’s done.
And I expect that come the June honours list both and him and Witty will be in line for knighthoods.
Hopefully if Liz is still around she might be tempted to slip with the sword, I mean she is getting on a bit, her hand might be a bit shaky now.
“Orf with their heads”
A judiciary that allows the state to lock up healthy innocent men, women and children on trumped up charges and without the prospect of a release date is no judiciary at all
A judiciary that condones and is complicit in the mass murder of the elderly in their beds is a judiciary steeped in blood and shame
There will be justice and it will be dispensed by us
Please let me know what you think – March 6th, ‘Resistance Day’ – 9 am in local supermarket without masks followed by 2 pm mass walkabout in local park/beauty spot. Invite ‘iffy’ friends and family to join you in supermarket and remember, if they harass you twice, they commit a criminal offence. In the park wear a bandana saying ‘no masks’ or ‘get them off’.
I’m always in the supermarket at 9am on a Saturday without a mask. I am a creature of habit.
But I’ll remember it’s special on the 6th,
It will be nice for you to have company.
Shall we go together?
Cheers S, where are you?
I just noticed this tweet from a few days ago. Just looking at Eric Topols comment here, my emphasis:
Eric Topol
@EricTopol
“related to delayed clearance, longer duration of infections”
I’m fairly sure wearing a mask for a prolonged period of time would exacerbate this.
Neil Ferguson protests that his wasn’t the only covid model in play. But that surely is irrelevant. What matters is the data and the data says that Mr Ferguson has a track record of dire and inaccurate predictions. The data also says that several covid modellers have produced similarly inaccurate models of this disease. That they all got it wrong doesn’t make them right.
But this government compounded the crime by continuing to use his faulty computer modeling even after the foot and mouth debacle.
I think the relevant descriptions of Ferguson’s “predictions” would be that they were all designed to be fearmongering with the aim of spooking (or colluding with) government officials to enable Bill Gate$ to make large profits on his investments in Imperial College and the pharmaceutical industry.
The reply from Prof Ferguson is the response of a self serving fanatic who, deep down, knows he has got it hopelessly wrong, again, but hopes there is safety in huddling ever closer to his partners in crime.
There isn’t.
And why would anyone wish to hurt him when he has created his very own personal hell on earth in which he will have to live for the rest of his days….the punishment that fits the crime?
I’m not sure. Reading his letter, I was shocked by how unapologetic and unaware he sounded as if he genuinely had no clue how he’s seen by everyone on here. He seemed almost hurt by the ingratitude of the masses who are suffering at his hands and I realised that that is probably how they all see us – the ungrateful unwashed useless eaters so easily dispensed with because how else could they sleep at night.
Pathetic way he accuses his opponent of
‘wanting to hurt me’.
Childish tosser.
’How did we come to this? Our government is supposed to work for us and yet we quake at home while we wait for our great leader to give us our next move. We are not pawns in a chess game, we are people. We have families and feelings and need freedom. We need human contact, we need to see smiles, we need to be free to choose. Those afraid can choose to shield, but as for me and my family, we choose faith over fear. We would rather die as free people than live in a home shaped prison created by our government.’
This was my response to a Janet Daley article in the Telegraph, which went online yesterday. The encouraging part is that it made top comment meaning we’re by no means alone. The British people are like a tinder box. One spark and all hell could kick off. We are ready to cry freedom, whether Boris gives it to us or not.
Beautifully put, LIberty!
Hear, hear!!!
Very nicely put indeed! I read Steve Barker’s piece in The Telecrap, and personally I would rather see robust legal protections for us citizens against the over weening megalomania of the executive rather than some vain hope that re-writing the Public Health Act will protect us. To quote from his article: We cannot be said to be free of lockdowns and restrictions when at a moment’s notice, the Government might shut down our ability to travel abroad to see family, to form relationships with one another, or to start businesses and invest in our futures. That’s why we need the protection of a new Public Health Act. It would be based on precedent, bringing together and reforming established law and practice. First, it would ensure Parliament could vote in advance and often on lockdowns and restrictions, to ensure their proportionality is justified by ministers. Second, it would provide that legislation could be amended and debated in the usual way – not imposed as a take it or leave it ultimatum to MPs. Given that you could take a walk through the deepest thoughts of most MPs and not get your ankles wet, the idea that Parliament would protect us in… Read more »
It bothers me that “lockdown” as a tool is implicitly acknowledged- just the severity, proportionality yadda yadda to be debated. This should NOT BE in the TOOLBOX at all for goodness sake. I thought his original pitch on this was that lockdowns must NEVER happen again.
Exactly. We know that if parliament is allowed a vote on lockdowns they’ll vote in favour. Lockdowns need to be completely outlawed so that they can’t even get as far as a vote.
Excellent.
People like Johnson, Hancock, Whitty, Vallance and Ferguson are nothing more than drug pushers, wanting you to get hooked on their product. First one is free, you will then pay dearly for subsequent hits. They are profoundly evil.
I don’t know if this has already been shared:
Rishi Sunak plans to extend furlough- style support for businesses hit by Covid until AUTUMN after telling Tory MPs it needs to last beyond summer for nightclubs
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9282825/Rishi-Sunak-plans-extend-furlough-style-support-businesses-hit-Covid-AUTUMN.html
I doubt nightclubs will ever open again in the UK