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Today is Victory in Europe Day, the 75th anniversary of the day the Allies accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. To mark the occasion, I’ve decided to replace the usual newspaper front page with a picture of Winston Churchill.
Many readers of this site will be aware of the disconnect between the victory we’re celebrating today and the ongoing restrictions on our liberty that we’re expected to endure without complaint for the foreseeable future. One particular reader – a distinguished journalist and author who cannot say what he really thinks about the lockdown without jeopardising his career – has sent me what he’d like to say publicly. I’m sure many of you will share his sentiments. I know I do.
There’s a horrible irony that the 75th-anniversary of VE Day should fall during the lockdown. The British nation fought the Nazis to preserve our ancient freedoms, so that future generations would be able to live without fear. At this moment, Parliament is no longer properly functioning, jury trials have been suspended (perhaps permanently), technology giants appear to be censoring free speech, protest is deemed a dangerous activity and the citizens of this country remain under indefinite house arrest. A Government adviser, Professor Dingwall, of Nottingham University, today admits (in the Telegraph) that the Government has created a “climate of fear” that has “terrorised” Britons. Fear has replaced hope and an untrammelled statel has replaced limited government. A year before VE-Day, Friedrich Hayek published The Road to Serfdom. Never before has our nation progressed so far down that route. What in the hell is there to celebrate?
The Telegraph article referred to above quoting Professor Dingwall is here. In addition to being a Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham Trent, Rupert Dingwall is a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, aka NERVTAG. He also featured in a report broadcast by Newsnight last night by Deborah Cohen, a BBC reporter with a background in medical journalism. This was the first time I’ve seen a senior BBC journalist properly scrutinise the advice the Government was relying on when it decided to place the entire country under virtual house arrest in March. It includes an interview with Dame Deirdre Hine, author of The 2009 Influenza Pandemic, the official inquiry into the Swine Flu outbreak. Hine is pretty scathing about the quality of the predictions generated by computer models in 2009 and although she doesn’t mention Neil Ferguson by name we know that his modelling helped guide Gordon Brown’s response. You can watch the 12-minute report here. Deborah Cohen is my Sceptic of the Week.
The Telegraph‘s Camilla Tominey reports that Boris Johnson is alarmed by the hares that have been set running by newspaper headlines proclaiming the lockdown will end on Monday. Yesterday, a spokesman for the Prime Minister tried to lower expectations, saying “we will advance with maximum caution” and Number 10 insiders have warned that any “easements” to the current Government guidelines will be “very limited”. The same tone is struck on the front page of the Times, which reveals Boris is planning to keep the country locked down until June. One close ally of the Prime Minister is quoted using the phrase “baby steps” to describe the easing of restrictions. Meanwhile, Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, has announced Wales is dropping the limits on outdoor exercise from today and garden centres and libraries can reopen from Monday. Looks like England, the birthplace of liberal democracy, is going to be one of the last countries in the world to set its people free.
Another ‘we, the undersigned’ letter has been published and it reads like a reply to yesterday’s letter in Le Monde signed by Madonna, Robert De Niro and others urging us not to return to normal. This one is co-authored by three Catholic Cardinals and an Archbishop and signed by more than 80 people, including prelates and theologians, doctors, lawyers, journalists and intellectuals. It contains many of the standard Catholic objections to vaccination programmes, but large parts of the letter will appeal to all lockdown sceptics, not just anti-vaxxers. Here’s one of the opening paragraphs, setting out the argument:
The facts have shown that, under the pretext of the COVID-19 epidemic, the inalienable rights of citizens have in many cases been violated and their fundamental freedoms, including the exercise of freedom of worship, expression and movement, have been disproportionately and unjustifiably restricted. Public health must not, and cannot, become an alibi for infringing on the rights of millions of people around the world, let alone for depriving the civil authority of its duty to act wisely for the common good. This is particularly true as growing doubts emerge from several quarters about the actual contagiousness, danger and resistance of the virus. Many authoritative voices in the world of science and medicine confirm that the media’s alarmism about COVID-19 appears to be absolutely unjustified.
Yesterday, I mentioned a new piece of research the University of East Anglia (UEA) had done that the Mail picked up on. I’ve now found out a bit more about it and it’s definitely worth a closer look. Researchers from EUA’s Norwich Medical School examined the impact of different social distancing measures used in 30 European countries using data from the European Centre for Disease Control, analysing how effective they’ve been in reducing the number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities. They concluded that the most effective measures are closing schools, banning mass gatherings and closing some non-essential businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry. However, some measures, such as compulsory face masks, have not been effective. In particular, indiscriminate stay-at-home measures are ineffective.
According to Dr Julii Brainard of UEA’s Norwich Medical School: “We found that banning mass gatherings, closing some non-essential businesses, and closing educational facilities are most strongly associated with reduced incidence after a certain lag period. But widespread closure of all non-essential businesses and stay-at-home policies do not appear to have had a significant effect on the number of Covid-19 cases across Europe.” You can read a summary of the report’s findings here and read the preprint here.
For a layman’s view of “the science” that sat behind the Government’s decision to lock down the country, I recommend this excellent piece sent in by a reader that I’ve published alongside the review of the code that powered Professor Ferguson’s computer model. Lot’s of meat to get your teeth into. You can read it here.
Andy Shaw, Spectator Life‘s resident satirist and the co-host of Comedy Unleashed, the monthly politically incorrect comedy night in Bethnal Green, has written an amusing piece about his phrase of the week: “Herd Immunity.” Andy also co-hosts a weekly podcast for the Spectator called That’s Life with Benedict Spence in which they interview different commentators and comedians. This week, I was the guest on the podcast, which you can listen to here. And in case you missed it, James Delingpole and I recorded a regular episode of London Calling on Tuesday, along with a “shagadelic” special about the resignation of Neil Ferguson on Wednesday. You can listen to the normal one here and the special here.
I flagged up a new anti-lockdown petition on the UK Government website yesterday which I said had got past the gatekeepers. Turns out, I jumped the gun. After receiving enough signatures to get over the first hurdle, it has now disappeared to be processed. Will it ever re-emerge? Who knows. Apologies for the bum steer (and thanks to the 256 people who emailed me to point out my mistake).
Latest data from Germany’s Robert Koch Institute suggests no “second spike” in infections as a result of the country easing its lockdown. Here’s a graph that illustrates the point nicely:
A reader tells me about an encounter with a doctor on his daily bike ride this morning:
I bumped into a neighbour cycling with her daughter. Her daughter is a doctor at a large hospital in the East of England. The mother has been an assiduous lockdown observer but has had enough. So has her daughter who has been working in a Covid ward, and she’s come home for a week’s rest, driving across country to do so. The neighbour’s elderly grandmother died a week or so ago (not from the virus) and will be buried at a funeral with five mourners next week, which will include the profoundly traumatised neighbour’s mother who was unable to see her mother (the grandmother) in her last weeks. The neighbour says she wished she’d arranged the funeral to be in B&Q since on a click-and-collect trip the other day there were so many people in there it was obvious a full wake could have been surreptitiously arranged.
In spite of the polling showing the majority of Britons don’t want the lockdown to end, there is a growing minority of sceptics out there. The driver of this van is one of them:
Avaaz, the US campaign group that Neil Ferguson’s girlfriend works for, has published a letter calling for even more censorship on social media of anyone who dissents from Covid orthodoxy. Perhaps Antonia Staats could get a job as a member of what the Mail describes as “Facebook’s new thought police”. According to today’s paper, an oversight board has been set up which will be the ultimate court of appeal for those people whose posts are removed from the platform or those who’ve been banned outright. Members include Alan Rusbridger, ex-editor of the Guardian, and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the wife of Labour MP Stephen Kinnock and the former Prime Minister of Denmark.
Great letter in the Telegraph this morning from Virginia Ironside, a reader of this site, abut exactly what Professor Lockdown did wrong – and it wasn’t breaking the rules:
SIR – When I heard about Professor Neil Ferguson’s slip-up and resignation (report, May 6) I felt like clapping on my balcony. I’ve distrusted him and his advice from the start. And yet wasn’t he just doing what we’re all doing – sticking to the rules, but only up to a point?
I’ve caught the most law-abiding of my friends arranging get-togethers in their gardens or streets, or meeting friends for walks when it’s not strictly allowed – simply because they realise there’s no logic to doing otherwise.
What Professor Ferguson did wasn’t wrong. If only his edict could have been: “Be as sensible as you possibly can.” Wouldn’t that have caused less misery?
His sin was to think that he knows when the rules can be bent, but everyone else is too much of an idiot to do the same. The idea that there’s an oikish and irresponsible “them” and a responsible and upright “us” is one that pervaded the Brexit argument. It’s patronising and reprehensible.
Virginia Ironside, London W12
A round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention by readers, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker‘ – Gizmo created by the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford that lets you see how different countries have responded to the pandemic. Useful for researchers seeking to show that lockdowns have had no impact on “squashing the sombrero”
- ‘If lockdown is to continue, we should be trusted to know the real reasons why‘ – Excellent column in the Telegraph by Fraser Nelson arguing the Government should be more open about the scientific data it’s basing its decisions on
- ‘“Lockdown” may cause outbreaks of preventable children’s disease‘ – Interesting blog post on Lockdown Truth, a sceptical website, with some data about the number of children not being vaccinated in the US and the UK
- ‘What the Spanish Flu pandemic teaches us today‘ – Simon Heffer compares our response to the current pandemic to the Spanish Flu outbreak. He’s not impressed: “It was an age when the current cultural determination to avoid risk, illness and death did not exist and for that reason, as much as for the war effort, there was no question of halting normal life.”
- ‘Social media networks scrambling to remove viral “Plandemic” conspiracy video‘ – The New York Post reports on the continuing efforts to suppress the 26-minute interview with Dr. Judy Mikovits in which she sets out a conspiracy theory involving the Gates Foundation and global vaccination programmes
- ‘Men are TWICE as likely to die from coronavirus as women, reveals biggest ever study of COVID-19 risk factors‘ – News story in the Mail. Elderly, obese and ethnic minorities are also substantially more likely to fall victim to the illness, according to NHS England analysis of 17.4million patient records
- ‘Bank of England’s gloomy forecast may still prove to be too optimistic‘ – The Bank of England says we’re on track for the worst economic recession in 300 years, but Andrew Goodwin of Oxford Economics says that’s a “best-case scenario”
- ‘Revealed: How an email from a Turkish T-shirt salesman led to a PPE fiasco‘ – The Telegraph gets to the bottom of why 88 tonnes of PPE imported from Turkey turned out to be useless
- ‘Has social distancing made much difference after all?‘ – Will Jones turns up the scepticism in the Conservative Woman
- ‘Why lockdown doesn’t work‘ – Johan Giesecke, Sweden’s former epidemiologist-in-chief, at his persuasive best in Spectator USA
Song suggestions for today: ‘Wake Up Everybody‘ by the Blue Notes, ‘Rabbit‘ by Chase and Dave, ‘Trapped in My Flat‘ by Reeves and Mortimer, ‘Release the Bats‘ by The Birthday Party and, in anticipation of Sunday’s lockdown announcement, ‘Five Years‘ by David Bowie.
Thanks as always to those who made a donation in the last 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of the site. If you feel like donating, you can do so by clicking here. (Every little helps!) And if you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in tomorrow’s update, you can email me here.
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The people of Britain can decide when to leave the EU but not when to leave their own house.
We think we’re going to have a family barbecue, you can’t catch it outside, this has gone on long enough, my dad’s dementia is getting worse, my brother, his wife and the kids are fed up, I’m in with the oldies going round the bend, why not, what are they gonna do, water cannon us?
I’m just back from a lovely few days at my mum’s, 200 miles south, with my two young children (husband had to work). Roads are gloriously quiet – motoring as it used to be! Highly recommended.
I love to come – I’d bring some decent wine …
You say that, but if it takes as long to effect un-lockdown as Brexit then we really are french connectioned!
Risk factors for COVID-19 death revealed in world’s largest analysis of patient records to date
Largest study to date, analysing NHS health data from 17.4 million UK adults between 01 February 2020 and 25 April 2020, has given the strongest evidence to date on risk factors associated with COVID-19 death.
Among the 17.4 million adults in the sample, there were 5,707 deaths in hospitals attributed to COVID-19.
How’d you like that maths!?
https://opensafely.org/press-releases/2020/05/covid-risk-factors/
Whatever this report reveals does take into consideration the thousands of deaths misrecorded ie all those marked down as Covid whomtested negatuve or weren’t tested at all?
I don’t know, but it’s still pretty convincing, massive cohort, tiny amount of death.
Yes but the 17m were not positive for SARS2. We already know what percentage of the total population have officially died with Covid-19 in the UK. It’s about 0.05%.
But not the percentage that died due to covid!
17.4 million. Now where have I seen that number before?
Woh….!!! ‘The 17.4 million’….What. the. fuck
Do the University of East Anglia explain why closing schools was one of the effective measures for controlling the spread of the virus. It seems to go against the evidence regarding children and their resistance to it.
It also goes against sage’s own data and modelling, I’ve read the doc, will try post it once I’ve found, quite a shocking read.
I’m confused by this too, according to a report in the Telegraph there are no documented cases of a child passing the virus on to another person – not just in the UK but worldwide. Surely this suggests that there is a very low risk of children contracting the virus or potentially spreading it to others?
Here you go, also worth following the internal links https://post.parliament.uk/analysis/covid-19-behavioural-and-social-interventions/
It would be good to see the report. Might be that schools were closed simultaneously with other measures? However, in real world evidence cases of children transmitting the disease are hard to find and a Western Australian study concluded that teachers were more in danger in the staff room than the classroom. In light of lack of evidence, it is a disproportionate action against a generation who are being harmed by this lockdown. Apart from the obvious lack of education, children are being denied a social life, proper (and age appropriate) physical recreation and safety and food in the case of some. It is an unprecedented and ill-considered experiment into the effects of long house arrest on the mental, physical and (extremely important in these circumstances!) immunological development of an entire generation. On top of that they will suffer the many and terrible effects of the catastrophic damage being done to the economy unless there is a miraculous recovery. Even assuming that the closure of school is effective at slowing the spread of the disease, it is arguably better policy to open them after half term and not delay until September. Vulnerable children need to be in contact with teachers… Read more »
I do not think distancing diktats are inevitable in September.
I hope you’re right! I’ve listened to too much discussion of a ‘new normal’ to feel confident that common sense will return.
Mothers meeting at the gates? Or perhaps the teacher’s unions have influenced the researcher’s thinking?!!
Really disappointed to see Dr Judy Mikovits’ video interview on You Tube being described as her something in which “she sets out a conspiracy theory” between the Gates Foundation and the global vaccination programme. She is not setting out any “theory”, she is reciting her truly terrifying and egregious experiences and it’s quite obvious she’s a very bright, very experienced and very genuine lady. What will it take for us to stop casting jusgements on those who expose certain elites when they act in an underhand manner? Why are people like Dr. Mikovitz automatically viewed with such undeserved beady-eyed suspicion? Why do we automatically label anyone a “conspiracy theorist” who is able to furnish us with details the mainstream Media cannot, and would likely refuse to do even if it could for fear of spreading “misinformation”. This video had been taken down on grounds of “misinformation”. On whose say so exactly? Had anybody proved what she’s saying to be untrue? The term is being bandied about willy-Milly of late directed at anyone who goes against the narrative of the accused. Why hasn’t Fauci given an interview defending his position against her accusations? They should be placed head to head for… Read more »
Thank you KH. VE hasnt been a great day for me as we should have been in Dartmouth this weekend for a dedicated fly past. So sad. They don’t make him like him anymore.
I Wish I could contact you as I’m involved in reasearch in corruption in this exact field so what you say is of particular interest. I hope Toby will allow this message to go through so you can drop me a line but I’m at Stork for Life.
The corruption runs deep. Simply Google “drug company + fraud” and you can spend many a happy hour trawling through the cesspits of Pharma’s callous disregard for life in the pursuit of profits. They make the banksters look like choirboys. Fiona if you are researching this I assume you’re familiar with epidemiologist Professor Peter Gotzsche, whose book “Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime” quite literally calls the Pharma industry an Organised Crime Syndicate, using all the time-honoured methods employed by the Mafia and the Triads. Here is his website: https://www.deadlymedicines.dk The foreword to Gotzsche’s book is by Dr Richard Smith, former editor of the British Medical Journal, another vocal opponent of Pharma who was on record as stating that 75% of all published medical research is fraudulent because of undeclared vested interests and ghostwritten papers. Another former editor of a leading medical journal, Dr Marcia Angell of the New England Journal of Medicine, has called out Pharma’s corruption and has published her own book on the subject. It is for this reason that I fear we cannot dismiss out of hand the possibility that a gigantic Pharma power-grab (compulsory vaccinations) may be driving the agenda behind this pandemic. It would be… Read more »
“Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit”. (“No fortification is so strong that it cannot be overcome with money”).
– Cicero
Good attitude, KH.
Personally, I shall be trying to take anyone who comes towards me with a loaded syringe with me.
Personally I’m more worried about unloaded syringes. Turns out that the UK is now thinking of antibody tests which need a large volume of blood taken by a trained phlebotomist ratehr than a tiny needle prick. I’ve got some serious neeedle-phobia and it’s even worse for the big needles they draw blood out wit than the small oens they pump vacciens in with. If they’re going to need a bllod test for an immunity passport my immunity passport will be a copy of magna-carta and refusal to comply with any busybody who thinks that our “state of crisis” with this pretty mild virus somehow over-rules the principles laid down by the rebel barons in 1215 or by the UN human rights declaration afetr WW2 ended. And when a vaccine coems round, please do read this next bit automatd crawlers looking for what policies will be popular, I’ll only be taking it if it is a slap on patch, not a needle. A slap on patch can also be posted to households in the regular mail, no need for special refrigerated delivery to doctor’s surgeries which slows vaccine use in the developing world.
“And as for Gracie’s suggestion that we may be subject to compulsory vaccination, quite frankly, I would rather die…”
My feelings exactly. Apart from justifiable apprehension as to what the contents of the syringe might do to me, it would mean that this is no longer a free country in any sense of the word, and that I am no longer a free person in any sense of the word.
‘Really disappointed to see Dr Judy Mikovits’ video interview on You Tube being described as her something in which “she sets out a conspiracy theory” between the Gates Foundation and the global vaccination programme’.
‘This video had been taken down on grounds of “misinformation”. On whose say so exactly?’
The Gates Foundation and the global vaccination programme, presumably.
You’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr explains this in some depth in his superb Foreword to Dr Mikovitz’s and Dr Heckenlively’s book “Plague of Corruption” (strongly recommended!) Kennedy discusses ‘what social scientists call the “Semmelweis reflex.” This term describes the knee-jerk revulsion with which the press, the medical and scientific community, and allied financial interests greet new scientific evidence that contradicts an established scientific paradigm. The reflex can be particularly fierce in cases where new scientific information suggests that established medical practices are actually harming public health. ‘The real-life plight of Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician, inspired the term and Ibsen’s play. In 1847, Dr. Semmelweis was an assistant professor at Vienna’s General Hospital maternity clinic, where around 10 percent of women died from puerperal “birth bed” fever. Based on his pet theory that cleanliness could mitigate transmission of disease-causing “particles,” Semmelweis introduced the practice of mandatory hand washing for interns between performing autopsies and delivering babies. The rate of fatal puerperal fever immediately dropped to around 1 percent. Semmelweis published these findings. ‘Rather than building a statue to Semmelweis, the medical community, unwilling to admit culpability in the injury of so many patients, expelled the doctor from the medical profession. His… Read more »
There are a number of so-called ‘scientific’ ideas that have acquired the status of sacred cow orthodoxies. Dissenting voices, even those coming from distinguished people in their field, are not tolerated by the scientific establishment. This intolerance is routinely unleashed against scientists who dare to question climate change orthodoxy, or who point out the glaring absurdities of Darwinism. Now we have another sacred cow with C19, which we’re told is such a danger to civilisation that basic human freedoms have to be taken away.
In fact modern government and corporate culture is nothing more or less than a comprehensive tissue of conspiracy.
Thus a “conspiracy theorist” is anyone who is not blind or unwilling to see.
Link to another video (Dr. Erickson and Dr. Massihi) banned by YouTube (see bottom of article) https://www.naturalhealth365.com/stay-at-home-covid-19-3389.html “Why does the media NOT want citizens to know this? Doctors censored over questioning of California stay at home policy? According to sources, the interview with Dr. Erickson and Dr. Massihi was deleted off YouTube after it accumulated about 5 million views. What’s the real reason these doctors are being censored? YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki recently announced in an interview that the platform will ban “anything that goes against” the current COVID-19 recommendations from the World Health Organization. In the late April interview with CNN, Wojcicki used frighteningly vague terms to describe YouTube’s new platform policies, including “removing information that is problematic” and removing “anything that is medically unsubstantiated” from the site. But keep in mind: these doctors aren’t espousing some highly questionable treatment or claiming to have found a “cure” for COVID-19. They are simply questioning government policies, based on their professional clinical opinions and direct experience with the infectious disease. Yet suddenly, according to YouTube, expressing this type of criticism isn’t allowed? Let’s not allow these voices of reason and concern to go unheard. Let’s make sure we all can make… Read more »
I watched that very video on youTube today . It was had been in my ‘watch later’ library for days and hadn’t been taken down at 2pm today. I’m no fan of YouTube’s policing but we need to be accurate. (Just checked and it’s still there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0VRtY9oTs&t=1821s )
This is the description for that video Nigel:
Perspectives on the Pandemic – Episode 6: When Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi held a press conference on April 22nd about the results of testing they conducted at their urgent care facilities around Bakersfield, California, the video, uploaded by a local ABC news affiliate, went viral. After reaching five million views, YouTube took it down on the grounds that it “violated community standards.” We followed up with the doctors to determine what was so dangerous about their message. What we discovered were reasonable and well-meaning professionals whose voices should be heard.
Anyone wishing to contact Dominic Raab and Matt Hancock to let them know their thoughts about lockdown, can do so here:
dominic.raab.mp@parliament.uk
matt.hancock.mp@parliament.uk
Send them your thoughts in an email, even if only for cathartic effect. Tweet them. Shout at them. Stalk them. (Actually maybe don’t do that.) Just for goodness’ sake do something.
We are being run by a dictatorial style government and it has become like North Korea in the U.K.
I wonder which goon will be sent to lecture us tonight? They are truly cretins.
What would you call people who voluntarily listen to a lecture by a goon ? 🙂
I wrote to Hancock at that address and got an automatic reply saying basically bog off because I’m not one of his constituents.
I’m tired of trotting out the dubious Churchill and we won the war nonsense. We ended up with no empire, American army in our country and part of some euro superstate so how did we win the war? We’re a beaten people dumb enough to believe the propaganda and have been sleep walking into this nightmare for years. People are openly supporting constant monitoring of you for ever without batting an eye lid. This takeover of humanity is so disgusting that it won’t be long before we’ll need a resistance and a real war for freedom will have to take place. The people of Europe whom want a normal human life will have to fight those who want to monitor and lock us up. This will not be pretty and lives will be lost. Mark my words we’re gonna see these lunatics in government tell the military to open fire on the people when they are protesting. When this happens we will have a civil war. Oh and a quick word you’d better prepare for food shortages in the next coming days. By the middle of next week you’ll not be able to buy tea bags, sugar, pasta, rice,toilet paper,… Read more »
The NYT article slamming Dr Judy Mikovits states “Suggesting that wearing a mask can make you sick could lead to imminent harm, so we’re removing the video, a Facebook spokeswoman said.” Who gives Facebook the right to censor what we can see? So now Facebook knows better than a well respected scientist? The following link has three very informative interview videos with Dr Mikovits https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/05/03/is-the-new-coronavirus-created-in-a-lab.aspx ‘Dr Mikovits is also highly critical of the recommendation (and in some places mandate) to wear a face mask or fabric cover such as a bandana around your face. She believes: “Wearing a mask is going to cause more secretions and give more cells a home and amplify any viruses. [Wearing a mask is] immune suppressive; it’s going to limit your body’s ability to produce Type 1 interferon. You’re driving the infection in yourself and you’re not preventing the spread. [Instead], you’re amplifying [replication of] not just [SARS-CoV-2] but also many other [viruses], including your XMRVs, influenza or other dormant viruses. What keeps those dormant viruses dormant? Your natural killer (NK) cells, your mast cells, your macrophages. That’s where you’re getting the inflammatory signature. So, every virus you amplify is driving the inflammatory signature, and… Read more »
Regarding the Plandemic video, the maker is a great story teller but how much is true, I have no idea. What is true however, is the claim in the movie regarding a 2017/2018 study of flu vaccinations in US army personnel. The original research was unearthed from the archives and reviewed here https://massagehealth.co.uk/915-2/. It was a large scale study of 12000 service personnel and showed that vaccination against influenza was effective against the flu (as you would expect) but increased the chances of becoming infected with a corona virus.
This tells us nothing necessarily useful about this Corona virus but it is an example of the ‘law of unintended consequences’ and it also exemplifies the difficult task we all have separating truth from fiction.
It might also be a lesson in the necessity of making difficult trade-offs in life.
Interestingly it the flu vaccine became compulsory in Italy last year.
Well that’s interesting, seeing as every time I’ve had the flu jab (three years in a row thanks to my boss who hates paying people for being sick) it’s made no difference and I’ve got ill anyway.
(I say this to people and they start calling me an anti-vaxxer. Listen. I’ve had every vaccination going. I even went to the doctor’s and voluntarily had the HPV vaccine at the age of 22, so…. don’t call me an anti-vaxxer. Unless you mean vaccination against minor seasonal diseases that are unlikely to affect me badly until I’m old – then yes, I’m anti-vax. BECAUSE IT IS NOT NECESSARY)
Where we used to live was even worse, they would call in all the old folks for their flu jab at the same time and leave them sat around the waiting room for a couple of hours exchanging other viruses so even if the flu jab worked, which it often didn’t, they would still get ill from something else.
being an Italian GP I can tell you that’s obviously fake
is still freedom to choose about flu vaccine
of course is free for over 65 and for chronic patients
maybe you read about pediatric vaccinations
If medical practices really are doing that – and I’d be grateful to see some evidence – then there really is a conspiracy going on. It’s well known (as you say) that Vit D protects against respiratory illnesses.
Vitamin C too, they are using it in high (intravenous) doses in China and even the US with some success, but not here.
There’s some evidence of vitamin D level being correlated with seriousness of covid infection, and with other respiratory viruses, and it very likely ties in with the increased danger to black people who generate less from sunlight. Might be a good cheap idea to supply vitamin D to BAME people in the NHS and see if that helps. But then the idiots would probably use D2 not D3 to “prove” it didn’t work. Oh and of course statins reduce cholesterol and the synthesis of cholecalciferol but they will never look at statin use and severity of covid.
Vitamin C in megadoses (not a glass of orange juice!) has been a known antiviral agent since the 1930s. Never followed up > not patentable > no money to be made. (Same old feckin’ story.) The doses are huge; anything from 10,000-100,000mg daily, intravenous. In this situation vitamin C is no longer being used as a nutrient but as a drug; but a very non-toxic one. When I was at college I read the key papers published by the original researchers – Fred Klenner MD, Robert Cathcart MD, Nobel Laureate (x2) Linus Pauling PhD, Irwin Stone MD and others. These may still be available on PubMed if the Thought Police haven’t got to them yet. A modern synopsis is “Ascorbate: the Science of Vitamin C” by biophysicist Dr. Steve Hickey. (Amazon has it.) Interestingly, research by Hickey has shown that oral megadoses may be as effective as the IV version, if these doses are taken as a “dynamic flow”. Hickey has an excellent video here: https://youtu.be/4aAduHqq7Vs The “censoring” of such information goes way beyond “protecting the public from quackery”. It’s only “quackery” to the wilfully ignorant or the criminally disingenuous. This feels like straightforward suppression of anything that could reduce… Read more »
“Receiving influenza vaccination may increase the risk of other respiratory viruses, a phenomenon known as virus interference.”
“Other viruses” included coronavirus, human metapneumovirus, parainfluenza, and respiratory syncytial virus.”
See these two studies; I am sure there are more:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3404712/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X19313647?via%3Dihub
Nice to be vindicated in my recent avoidance of the flu jab lol
can’t wait for the considered judgment of Emily Thornberry on the deplorable white van man’s spelling. “He’s from Rochester”?
I reflect today on my grandfathers, both of whom were in the Merchant Navy during WWII, an often underappreciated role. They continued sailing the seas well into the 1980’s, bringing back tales of derring-do in far-away places the locals in my medium sized Welsh town could barely comprehend. They were witness to the post-war decline of Britain, which for better or worse once ruled the waves, and I fear we stand at another cross-roads. I greatly fear that we will see an slow transition out of lockdown into some god-forsaken world of impractical social distancing which will destroy our society and economy, leaving us as some isolated, angst ridden island on the periphery of Europe. The disconnect I see between the behaviour of the public I have witnessed on my daily ‘Hancock’ and these surveys of ‘terrified’ people, I don’t know what to make of. Something is going very wrong here and I’m not sure what. I suspect it involves both the working and middle classes spending all day at home in the pleasant weather, self-medicating with voluminous quantities of alcohol, whilst ignoring the bits of the Hancock’s they don’t like – a friend of mine sent me a picture… Read more »
Yes, Boris has had his Churchill moment – and, at the first press conference, I thought he had stepped up to the role! How long before he demonstrated himself as a complete wet blanket – 2 or 3 days was it? Of course that was only to be expected, given HS2 and Huawei: the only question now is when does he reverse Brexit?
Stop jumping on the cowardly Boris-bashing bandwagon.
You are a clown if you think Boris is a clown — he’s clearly no such thing.
Who on earth is choosing the public questions for the daily plague update? Tonight’s efforts – will Brexit be going ahead and how can old folk cope with a smartphone app. Surely someone must be asking more skeptical questions.
It’s like some kind of authoritarian show trial,
‘Hi, Dave from Lincoln, what’s your question?’
‘Thank you for the chance to ask this. I wanted to know, if schools open, how we will we know our children are safe?’
‘Thanks Dave, that’s a great question! I want to reassure you that we won’t open schools until we know it is absolutely safe to do so.’
‘Thank you so much, Minister!’
Names have been changed to protect the innocent!
If it was designed to reassure, I, for one am anything but reassured.
Nothing has ever been or will ever be absolutely safe, and we face much bigger risks every day than covid-19. Time to go out and take the risks for ourselves.
I’m reminded of Lyn from Skipton’s recent question as to ‘when she might get to hug her grand-kids’ .
Whitty basically said that if she was in a vulnerable group to stay away, possibly indefinately.
I didn’t see Lyn’s face, but I’ll bet it was a heart-rending mixture of dismay and despair.
Speaking as a GP and Occ Health Physician, I really, really wish some of us less bloody clever/politically astute bog-standard doctors – who can apply common sense, proportion, and effectively communicate risk (as we need to do all the time in GP) – had some input into this disasterous pantomime.
Jesus just hug your grandkids Lyn! Hug them! Nothing bad will happen!!
Sceptical questions won’t see the light of day on the briefing. As for that Brexit question today, that was akin to wondering what colour you’re going to paint your living room while you’re watching you’re house burn down. Brexit is but a dot of an issue next to living among a population of gullible subservients begging for house arrest to be extended deep into the summer, if opinion polls are to be trusted. 82% according to YouGov! I am beginning to wonder though, if people who do not want lockdown to be extended are less likely to take part in these polls. Victims of domestic abuse, no small number by any means, are more likely to be isolated within isolation, therefore less likely to be taking part in polls. Mental health sufferers- I know several people struggling but have wisely reduced, or eliminated entirely, all news coronavirus related, so again their views are not heard. Pro- lockdowners on the other hand are increasingly militant and let everyone else know damn sure what they think.
Opinion polls are not to be trusted. Hth.
As I understand it you have to be registered with YouGov to be sampled in their polls and what rightful dissident would want to be registered with that bunch of jokers?
I have my doubts these are ‘real’ questions from the public. I’ve thought about putting in a few myself. I suspect this is more part of BoJo’s hatred of MSM.
I’m beginning to despair. Today, in the supermarket, there was a man probably in his 20s but hard to tell given he was wearing full surgery suit, face mask and goggles, and surgical gloves. Last week, I waited patiently at the checkout while another young man loaded his many shopping bags, one-handed, presumaby to halve his chances of contamination. This afternoon, a mother and her, what 4 years old? daughter, in the park, in the open air, with mathing face masks. Another walker, looking like a cross between Dick Turpin and the Invisible Man.
I’ve written to my MP, tried to pursuade friends and family but nothing is changing. If rumours are to be believed, tomorrow’s PM’s address to the nation will bring little relief. That light at the end of the tunnel is truly an oncoming train.
I know time is going along rather slowly, but at my last count the PM was to speak on Sunday (day after tomorrow) – but what do I know, my mind is definitely questioning itself along with reality!
Yes. Weird that the park was busy today but the only people wearing masks were four young men in their late teens/early twenties. Talk about wrong end of the stick!
All these young people might be concerned -rightfully- about the elderly people they live with.
Germany keeps really good vaccine harm data, I was reading about it the other day, in Dr Malcolm Kendrick’s book, Doctoring Data. The problem is Wakefield was such a fruitloop, and he and any one associated with him were not just discredited but utterly character assassinated by the medical establishment, even a decent doctor, with good, scientific intentions wouldn’t touch that area of research with a bargepole. I’m not an anti vaxxer either, but I don’t see what good comes of certain discussions being verboten for fear of being labelled a crackpot.
Very true, Angela.
The thing that upsets me the most about the autism/MMR issue is that the CDC whistleblower (Thompson ?) confessed to hiding data that showed a connection. And that most people have never even heard heard of this.
Autism is listed as a harm in the German data. And I can believe that, it happens also in the field of ME, and also in thyroid (my nightmare, which is why I read Dr Kendrick!), and this is partly why I’m not clapping the NHS (or medicine), it’s an incredibly powerful closed shop. Another absolute scandal is treatment pathways, they are not based on evidence, but ‘expert opinion’ (and expert opinion can be bought). This idea that doctors are the ‘good guys’ is so naive. Some of then are, some of them aren’t, but the witch hunts and GMC kangaroo courts that go on to discredit people are shocking. But like with ME and thyroid, and vaccines, there’s a militant patient wing of conspiracy theory nutjobs that just suck all credibility out of it all, I can understand why good doctors don’t want to get involved. Doctoring Data, doctor Kendrick’s book is really worth a read, it’s about how much research isn’t worth the paper its written on.
‘Most people can’t be bothered’, yep, that’s the problem. I remember when the MMR vaccine issue was current and, on a number of occasions, Blair was asked if Baby Leo had the triple or individual vaccines. His response was that Baby Leo’s privacy has to be respected, (although, weeks previously, he was paraded in front the cameras….) refused to say one way or the other. I took that to mean, ‘you peasants will do what you’re told. I’m guessing the triple MMR was cheaper or a contract was signed, you had no choice.
Fast forward to the statins scandal, where the editor of the BMJ was forced to retract an article that suggested that statins where not as effective as thought and the side effects greater. Follow the money….
Brian Rose from the YouTube channel London Real is about to start a live interview with Dr Judy Mikovitz from the “Plandemic” movie. It may be censored immediately so best watch it while you can.
https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
Today it gladdened my heart that on my journey home from work the only cars I passed were driving at about 35 mph- which means….the older generation have had enough and are just going out anyway! Good on them.
As a member of the older generation whose preference would be for 135 mph, be careful of categorising people. 🙂 🙂
Thanks you set this out very well.
Well worth a read/look also.
https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
Despite the doom and gloom we all feel here, this is turning. I know it, can see it when out and about today as quite a few people were around, am reading it on comments boards that were only a few days ago full of lockdownforever freaks. Yes, there’s still loads and loads of them, but anger is building. An even bigger fear than economic recession is the new normal narrative, but for that to thrive, the virus will have to be exactly what the doommongers are saying it is. We know it is not. Do I believe it’s a world big pharma conspiracy? I hope not, and if it is then not everyone got the memo did they? Even Boris was going for herd immunity shielding literally a couple of days before he changed tack. That doesn’t sound like a joined up mega plan to me. I prefer to see it has worldwide government sheep mentality, the path of least risk in case it was wrong. They all shat the bed. Oh and my man of the year 2020, nay man of the century in fact : Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. Calling it for the fucking stupid fear psychosis… Read more »
Agree – it feels like something is shifting. I went on a ve walking tour of central london’t today. For the first time in weeks people were hanging around in traf square (nobody was moved on). I walked down whitehall. People were taking photos of the guards and the entrance to horse guards (I overheard one of the policeman who guard the guard the guards there that there was ‘no point in telling people to move on’)
I even bumped into the small socially distanced crowd in St James Park. Nobody there washould wearing face masks – but the guardian is carrying a photo of a person who is wearing a face mask (eg. Totally unrepresentative of my experience).
Could be a bank holiday blip – but I also sense that people are holding out quite a bit of hope for Monday (they must have missed the memo that there basically aren’t going to be any changes till June. …)
The government seem to keep leaking mixed messages, perhaps to try to get a feel for public opinion, or perhaps just saying to different people what they think they want to hear. But nothing stokes lockdown resentment more than giving people hope and then taking it away again. That and news stories about Prof pantsdown/cockup breaking his own rules.
Interesting thing about mixed messages, are they stoking up the rage that is building on purpose? To manipulate people into just breaking house arrest anyway? I can’t quite see the political climbdown angle, and there are still hordes of the fear infected still out there. At least it’s easy to spot those mask wearing fools, I am actually lovin’ walking directly at them and watching them scuttle away like rats.
As far as I am concerned this lockdown is over and done , have been ignoring it anyway barring going to visit friends. I will be doing that on Monday no matter what he says.
Yep we had that family chat also, come monday we’re done. I’m also finding online my friends are more receptive to interacting, even if to do a bit of ‘better safe than sorry’ but they will engage. It’s been a wall of silence for weeks. I live set back from a main road, about 300m, it’s still busy now at 10pm, it was silent at this time of night for weeks. I really hope people just start suiting themselves. And my theory is, it’s popular, they are doing what is popular, not what is right, and I won’t forgive them for it.
Personally I’m starting to worry that alll the coverage of Ferguson’s affair is distracting from the real scandal, the abysmal quality of the modelling code he used and his track record for over-fearful predictions.
For info. Traffic much busier here up north nowadays with many more cars, queuing in the usual spots, and bikers going out for blasts in countryside. Haven’t seen anyone pulled over for weeks – DM reckons police have given up as folk now know their rights. 5% max. wearing face masks – various ages. Lot of picnics and sunbathing in local park today. Different world to London, maybe?
Is it a Big Pharma conspiracy, or a major cockup by an incompetent government who’ve backed themselves into a bad corner? Not a happy choice whichever is the answer. If it’s the latter, then it’s worrying how many incompetent governments there seem to be in the world …..
Nothing says it can’t be both.
“Despite the doom and gloom we all feel here, this is turning.”.
For sure. We had a VE day/Mayday/sunny bank holiday ‘do’ outside today. Around 20 people, dips, scones, tea, … and 1 or 2 ales. Ages from 14 to 91. To be fair, we are in rural Sussex.
“Even Boris was going for herd immunity shielding literally a couple of days before he changed tack.”.
Come on Ian, our political creatures are quite capable of pretending to hold a position, and later yielding to public opinion once it has been shaped to the desired outcome.
“Oh and my man of the year 2020, nay man of the century in fact : Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.”.
‘Wodka and saunas’ was my favourite. 🙂 But he also said anyone proposing putting a mask on any child would be called to account. Top bloke.
“So, and to honour him I’ve just bought my Belarus football shirt (ugly as shit to be fair) that I will be wearing with pride.”.
I’d like to honour him somehow. But any football shirt other than Sadio, Trent, Bobby, Vincent, or Jordan this year is just not on. 🙂
Lol… Nice reply. The Boris thing would indicate conspiracy which quite honestly none of us want to believe, and given the clusterfuck of panic going on at the time by all governments driven by WHO mouthing off about the need for a ‘global response’ and media fear mongering about Italy I still can’t buy into. All that feels like years ago.
Another quote – “our old will die of a bouquet of chronic conditions” – yep, that’s just what happens normally.
Liverpool fan eh? I should be your deadliest enemy as a Man United supporter then! But quite honestly nothing would make me happier than seeing the season finish in front of full stadiums, and letting you get that 30 year monkey of your back 👍
I think 140 countries acting in unison is the biggest tell, regarding this being a conspiracy. When trying to get the unlikelihood of this across to people, I ask if they have ever tried to get 14 individuals, in a limited context, with a common goal (a work project, residents’ group, sports club, etc.) to act in unison.
(Thanks for the rich vein of humour and enjoyment your shower have provided this season. 🙂 ).
What’s harder: the chance that 140 countries should go mad and copy each other, falling for politicians logic of “we must do something”+”they have done something”=”lets copy them”, OR, the chance of 140 conspirators, each made up of internal factions anyway, all of them in it for there own ends, not betraying one-another and breaking ranks? I wouldn’t have sufficient confidence to say there is a conspiracy, nor sufficient confidence to say there isn’t.
Exactly. Herd mentality affects gvts because gvts are made up of.. People
Quotation of the year:
“IT IS BETTER TO DIE STANDING, THAN LIVE ON YOUR KNEES!”
Alexander Lukashenko
‘Give me freedom or give me death.’
Give me freedom AND give me covid-19, I’ll likely survive it and then I’ll be immune (at least for long enough to get this mess contained).
Often attributed to George Washington, but I think the concept was first voiced by Euripides.
“THE SCIENCE”
Yes, after six week of 24 hour children’s tv, the bbc finally do a bit of independent journalism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
F***king joke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQrtd-WCjos&feature=youtu.be
It’s about time!! Surely the Beeb couldn’t get away with papering over the facts for much longer?
Hahaha, I thought I’d typed cracks not facts but this is even better!
I’ve been involved in another campaign over the last few years that has involved a lot of press, and I’ve learnt a lot about the beeb. It’s an immensely political organisation, the internal machinations for journalists to go out on a limb are incredible, she’ll have had to fight tooth and nail to get that on, either fighting her own editor, or him fighting further up the food chain (and I note the ‘balance’ at the end that was clearly shoehorned in). That experience is why I was immediately sceptical about this, as there is so much pressure within news organisations to stick to the script.
Another article in the DailyMail online tonight stating “more evidence vitamin D can help against coronavirus: Study finds patients with severe deficiency are TWICE as likely to die from COVID-19”. Why are all NHS and other first line staff (especially BAME) not on vitamin D to prevent them from dying unnecessarily during this time? Why are all people in care homes not on vitamin D3 supplementation?
People on prescription Statins should take extra care as you need cholesterol to metabolise vitamin D – get your vitamin D levels tested and then get enough sun during summer months on exposed skin and also supplement to ensure optimised Vitamin D levels. In addition optimised vitamin D levels are crucial when pregnant – hope your health professional told you and monitor that.
Because someone in charge (not necessarily the government) is absolutely hopeless
They should probably start putting vitamin D in milk as most of us even if not BAME are likely deficient during the winter.
Not a good idea, as it will be synthetic Vitamin D (D2) and is metabolised very differently in the body. Vitamin D3 supplements are very affordable.
Possibly not the best time to propose mandatory medication ? 🙂
CEBM did a rapid review which seemed to dismiss it, but I take it anyway, and just put my elderly parents on it, can’t do them any harm so worth a go.
Yes that was disappointing.. Malcolm Kendrick had some better information
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2020/04/28/covid-update-focus-on-vitamin-d/
now up to 775 comments
Optimised vitamin D3 levels are critical for good health; it is a no brainer. Unfortunately some sources will always try and scare people away from basic things that will keep them healthy.
May I just go off-topic a bit here: something to brighten the day. I woke (ooops) up to this today on Radio 3 [no news at 7 nowadays!] – if you like Bach (or even if you don’t), you will surely love this (if the management allows it)!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujLK28Nlmq4&list=RDujLK28Nlmq4&start_radio=1
Can’t believe this went under my radar, I’ve been posting news that this isn’t as deadly as most think on my Facebook since March without much joy as most on there are still terrified. Apparently the likes of Prof John Loannidis etc obviously aren’t as clued up as Piers Morgan and Dr Hilary 🙄
So hopefully seeing this is from the BBC it might make some have a read, but doubt it as they’ll all still busy wetting themselves.
https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/health-52543692?__twitter_impression=true
Wow the voice of reason finally squeezes into the Beeb!
I have been saying for a while, that when the journalists and news anchors of the MSM (who appear to be as ovine as the rest of the public) finally wake up and realise that their fear-porn is:
1) Engineering the loss of their OWN jobs (and what other jobs will these people find after they’re sacked? Piers Morgan may end up cleaning toilets.)
2) Throwing their children’s and grandchildren’s futures under the bus
– THEIR NARRATIVE WILL CHANGE!
Similarly for any MP (there may be a few) who has more than one functioning brain cell and a glimmer of conscience.
“Fear-porn”… Love that.
When they climb out of their fucking cloud cuckoo land, I hope that nobody forgives or forgets all those responsible, and lynches them for it at every available opportunity
If done properly, surely one opportunity will be enough ? 🙂
Ha! There’s so many that are responsible within MSM and celebrity land, that we’ll easily surpass covid death stats
Yes Nick Triggle has been the only voice of sanity at the beeb until this week’s newsnight, which was also very very good (although two months late, all the questions they should have asked at the start, but better late than never).
The Beeb’s Health Correspondent is the only person I’ve seen from that organisation consistently banging the sanity drum. Any time I see one of his articles I screen capture it in its entirety. I also take screenshots of the graphs and charts he posts. They’ve helped me out in a few Twitter arguments with coronabelievers.
This is also a belter from him:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51979654
Update from rural Nottinghamshire.
This is turning. Well, round here it is apparently.
VE day street party this evening in the village. I didn’t go so as to avoid any uncomfortable conversations with any potential Lockdown zealots.
Wife and daughter have just returned. EVERYONE they spoke to has had enough. Nobody social distancing. One 80 year old said that if she’s told to stay at home any longer then she’s prepared to go to prison!
Keep the faith fellow Lockdown sceptics.
UPDATE from my trip to the park, which reveals similar heartening things:
I went and sat in my deckchair (about 2pm). Wasn’t there an hour before they started coming. LOADS of people, to basically do the same thing. I like to think I’d opened the floodgates once they saw me sat there on my own, but…. maybe they were all just in the mood to rebel. Anyway, people were keeping at a ‘safe’ distance, but they certainly weren’t ‘exercising’. They were socialising and having a laugh. One guy gave me a beer.
No police. I think we have tangible progress.
Nobody (rational) is saying everyone should get ultra-close and cough on one-another, they’re saying that some level of distancing is wise but the lockdown is too damaging to be worth it. Keepng a “safe” distance does no harm, lockdown ruins lives, looks like your locals have all reached this wise conclusion too.
Toby mentions the disappointing fact that polling shows the majority of Britons don’t want the lockdown to end. Unfortunately this means the government will be lifting lockdown very slowly – for political reasons rather than science (as they often claim they follow).
If we want to get the lockdown over more quickly, and avoid social distancing queues when we are doing our christmas shopping, we are going to have to turn public opinion first. Somehow we need to get our arguments across to the public in a co-ordinated campaign, that even gets aired on the BBC. Toby’s website is great for us like-minded folks but does it cut through to the brainwashed public?
I think we need a strong persuasive character to lead a co-ordinated (and financed) campaign. Anyone fancy being the Nigel Farage of “End Lockdown”?
Sadly I think losing their jobs will be the only thing that properly wakes them up.
And by then of course it will be too late.
Agreed. But it’s quite hard to persuade the brainwashed sheep.
I tihnk we need to mobilise Lord Sumption into full on Farage mode. Hopefully he has the gravitas and general awesomeness to avoid some of the er….. pitfalls Nige has fallen into lol
Quite, gravitas and status, and someone ‘neutral’, with no axe to grind, who’s just on the side of truth. People would have to trust them.
I like the Lord Sumption idea. Hope he’s reading this.
+1
Weirdly, I’ve had about three conversations in the last 12 hours where people want to talk. Personally I think Nigel Farage should be fired into outer space, we need a cuddly boffin, like David Attenborough to do it, trusted, national treasure, respected, sensible, politically neutral.
What about this guy? 92, year old Lou Myers who attached a one man lockdown defying tribute at the Cenotaph yesterday. Read his comments. What a hero!
Alone in a crowd, one veteran’s show of defiance
http://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/218/reader/reader.html?social#!preferred/0/package/218/pub/218/page/6/article/40404
I’d recommend anyone attempting to “wake” up a coronabeliever read this book first:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Combating-Cult-Mind-Control-Best-selling/dp/0967068827/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=steve+hassan&qid=1589006746&sr=8-1
It’s about freeing people from religious cult mind control.
Having been brought up in a religious cult, I know how hard it is to wake people up from a reality based on a lie. Certain tactics need to be used. The seeds of doubt need to be sown in a particular way in order for them to slowly take root.
Another great update Toby and really heartening to read all the anecdotes below about the tide turning. My boyfriend lives some way away and would need to drive to see me (again, no risk to anyone because he’d be in a closed car the whole time) and it’s frustrating because he could probably get away with the drive now and clearly other people are giving the finger to the lockdown and socialising with friends/relatives but he refuses to drive until restrictions are formally lifted…! It struck me today why I find this lockdown so frustrating on an emotional level – it’s because all these sacrifices we have made during these past 2 months feel utterly, utterly futile because there is no evidence that the lockdown has worked. On the contrary, there’s convincing evidence that it has detrimental effects and will usher in economic ruin. Perhaps we’ll never really know until it’s over, but I would say that the fact the government have changed the justification for the lockdown throughout its duration is the clearest evidence that they know themselves it’s not working, because they feel the need to invent new reasons to double down on it – to step back… Read more »
Hanlon’s Razor: Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. Plus it’s hugely, hugely popular, that’s catnip for politicians.
I wouldn’t have the confidence to never ascribe malice, but there have been huge cockups of many kinds by herd thinking in the past. I can’t say for absolute certain there is no conspiracy here, if there is one I think it would be in (“relatively”) small aspects such as sinister mutually separate plots in specific individual countries to normalise surveillance and social credit systems certainly not a massive conspiracy inventing the whole thing. I don’t believe any conspiracy theories suggesting there is a shady plot for forced vaccination, vaccines generally do good and as most people will happily accept them they make up enough population to provide herd immunity to anyone who doesn’t get vaccinated, very little need for a vaccine to be truly universal so long as perhaps 80% (this figure is ample for diseases with all but the very highest R0 values such as measles has, then the figure is more like 90%) of people get it so no need for anyone to try to force vaccines on the unwilling. The thought of smaller conspiracies going on amid this is highly concerning and very hard to disprove, but cockups and politicians painting themselves in to corners is… Read more »
Do you think Hanlon could have been one of, or paid by, the malicious ?
Hanlon assumes stupidity. “Follow the money” AKA dark C21 Occam is more appropriate I think. It’s not a conspiracy- it’s greedy people being ruthlessly greedy
Very happy to read the open letter from Cardinals Zen and Müller, Archbishop Viganò, et al. As a Catholic this truly makes me happy and I feel a glimmer of optimism! Thank you Toby for sharing it.
Likewise and I was pleased to see Stephen Mosher on the list too.
Yes, thanks Toby for posting that letter from the Catholic cardinals and archbishop — much appreciated. There’s still life in the old faith yet!
This is a brilliant interview with Dr John Lee
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1013854/3675205-episode-4-dr-john-lee-part-1?client_source=twitter_card&player_type=full_screen
Agree! Listening to this should be made “compulsory” !!
It’s a pity the Duke of Edinburgh didn’t deliver the VE address to the nation rather than Her Majesty. I’m sure he would have told us to stop being such cowards and to tell this craven, incompetent government to go f@@k themselves.
Or even dozy Prince Charlie…. Apparently got it, not died has he..?, never to be seen again as an inconvenient recovered or assymptomatic. There… You CAN get it and survive, you fearful cowards!