News Round Up

“Britain’s creeping authoritarianism no longer bears any relation to the risk of Covid” – “It is impossible to justify continuing emergency powers,”. writes Ross Clark in the Telegraph
“History may well conclude that the lockdowns were a dreadful mistake” – “We have given up a great deal in the past year,” says Phillip Johnston in the Telegraph, above all the “sense of proportion that we once possessed”
“Chris Whitty warns UK will ‘definitely’ be hit by another Covid surge” – MailOnline reports that Chris Whitty thinks a new surge in infections is coming. But if it is coming anyway, what is the point of protracted exit from lockdown? Particularly as the most vulnerable have been vaccinated?
“Vaccines should mean more freedom – not less” – Matt Hancock said that “he’d ‘cry freedom’ when the most vulnerable had been protected”, writes Kate Andrews in the Spectator. “But now, things are swinging the other way”
“Zero-Covid strategy makes little sense as the risk of infection falls” – In a vaccinated population, writes Professor Robert Dingwall in the Telegraph, citizens must be allowed to judge risks for themselves
“The year that tourism was sacrificed at the altar of Covid – was it even worth it?” – Oliver Smith delves into the statistics behind the annihilation of the travel industry for the Telegraph and wonders if it was worth it
“Compulsory vaccination for care home workers is tyrannical” – Introducing mandatory vaccines for care home staff would be an abomination, writes Dr. Alex Starling in Reaction
“The ‘no jab, no job’ for care workers is a start – but the Government needs to go even further” – Sean O’Grady wants to live in a dictatorial medical dystopia, according to this piece he wrote for the Independent
“Care home provider introduces Covid vaccine passports in UK first” – Barchester Healthcare, which runs 240 facilities with 17,000 staff, is trialling the scheme as part of an effort to become a “fully vaccinated service” by the end of next month, according to the Telegraph
“A day for truth and reckoning – not for mawkish and dishonest sentimentality” – The anniversary of the lockdown should been a day to face reality, says Kathy Gyngell at the Conservative Woman
“The expert who’s happy for restrictions to drag on for years” – Gary Oliver responds for the Conservative Woman to Andrew Marr’s interview with Dr. Mary Ramsey of PHE
“Gibberish” – Omar S. Khan’s latest article, pulling all Covid ‘gibberish’ together, in one place to show that more is at stake here than we might think
“One year to flatten life as we know it” – Rob Slane looks back on the lockdown year in the Blog Mire, and casts an eye into the future
“So what is your Covid-19(84) risk calculation?” – Perry de Havilland at the Samizdata blog suggests you use the Oxford University’s Covid Risk Calculator to calculate your own risk of succumbing to the virus. It showed his absolute risk is 1 in 3,906
“Are Face Masks Effective? The Evidence” – Swiss Policy Research has updated its overview of the evidence of the (in)effectiveness of masks
“Pandemic plans and police overreach” – Watch Jonathan Sumption talk to Andrew Neil on SpectatorTV
“Dublin suicide helpline volunteers double their hours as calls skyrocket amid lockdown” – Volunteers at the Dublin Samaritans have doubled their usual hours in response to a huge increase in the number of calls, according to the Irish News
“Merkel declares a ‘new pandemic’ as Germany locks down again” – Germany is going into a a strict new lockdown with the rules set to last until April 18th, Constantin Eckner reports for the Spectator
“Fiesta! Madrid sees surge in tourists after city officials refuse to follow Government’s Covid restrictions” – The Madrid economy is booking, MailOnline reports, because the city has ignored Government social distancing guidelines
“Spain’s sky-high child COVID-19 deaths are actually a computer error” – Spain was reported to have suffered the highest rate of Covid deaths per 100,000, but it looks very much like the data was faulty, according to Natalie Winters in the National Pulse
“The dubious origins of long Covid” – Coronavirus is getting the blame “for a host of questionable symptoms”, says Jeremy Devine in the Wall Street Journal
“We need to start thinking more critically – and speaking more cautiously – about long Covid” – Adam W. Gaffney makes a similar argument in Statnews
“The many variants of Fauci’s mutating Covid advice” – Dr. Fauci’s “messaging on reinfection and herd immunity has now mutated across dozens of variants”, writes Phillip W. Magness at AIER, “each conveniently aligning with his political messaging of the moment”
“America Is Overtaking China in Vaccine Diplomacy” – China won the pandemic, and America lost it, goes the standard narrative, but the US is staging a come-back according to Hal Brands at Bloomberg
“Variant Panic and Lady Hormones Given To Men – Coronavirus Update LVIII” – The latest Covid update from William Briggs, taking on variants, progesterone as a treatment, and how England is “leading the way in expertology”
“New Coronavirus Variants – An Epidemiologist Speaks” – “We have to stop the nonsense,” says Dr Knut Wittkowski. “We have entered a vicious cycle. With every new wave, we’re starting a new wave of lockdowns. The lockdowns are creating a new virus. Then we have a new epidemic.” Full transcript available here
“Email Your MP Now” – This is the easiest way to email your MP to urge them to vote against the extension of the Coronavirus Act on Thursday. Just click on the link, enter your name and email address, find your MPs email address in the database, and Big Brother Watch will do the rest

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