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Design Your Own Face Mask
You can design your own face mask here. My suggestion above, courtesy of my daughter Sasha who came up with the prototype. We were using it in our merch store but I’ve now closed that because I actually lost money in the first month of trading.
If you cannot bear the thought of wearing a face covering of any kind, even one you’ve designed yourself, here’s a handy solution:
These lanyards are available from Amazon for the very reasonable price of £4.95. Purchase here. According to this piece in Edinburgh Live, you can also get “Hidden Disability” lanyards from eBay. One seller has already clocked up £300.
Get them now while stocks last.
Lidl Won’t Enforce Mask Compliance in Wales (and Neither Will the Police)
Encouraging email from a reader in Wales;
I’ve double checked by ringing Lidl and they confirm that, though they have to recommend masks, they will not be stopping entry or accosting anyone. Our local branch staff are always very laid back and cheerful and have been throughout The Madness. Claps all round for them! Incidentally, to my knowledge not one of them has been ill since early March.
My stepson is a sergeant in the local police and they say they’re not getting involved in the mask business – there aren’t enough of them and they have a considerable increase in mental health problems and domestic abuse calls to deal with.
Why No-One Can Ever Recover From COVID-19 in England
There’s an excellent post on the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine blog by Yoon K Loke and Carl Heneghan pointing out that, due to the way statistics are recorded by Public Health England (PHE), it’s impossible for a patient to recover from COVID-19. Here’s the key passage:
It seems that PHE regularly looks for people on the NHS database who have ever tested positive, and simply checks to see if they are still alive or not. PHE does not appear to consider how long ago the Covid test result was, nor whether the person has been successfully treated in hospital and discharged to the community. Anyone who has tested Covid positive but subsequently died at a later date of any cause will be included on the PHE Covid death figures.
By this PHE definition, no one with Covid in England is allowed to ever recover from their illness. A patient who has tested positive, but successfully treated and discharged from hospital, will still be counted as a Covid death even if they had a heart attack or were run over by a bus three months later.
This is one reason the daily PHE Covid death tolls include so many people who died weeks, sometimes months, ago – they include people who had COVID-19, made a complete recovery, then died of a completely unrelated illness.
Loke and Heneghan conclude:
It’s time to fix this statistical flaw that leads to an over-exaggeration of Covid-associated deaths. One reasonable approach would be to define community Covid-related deaths as those that occurred within 21 days of a Covid positive test result.
In summary, PHE’s definition of the daily death figures means that everyone who has ever had Covid at any time must die with Covid too. So, the Covid death toll in Britain up to July 2020 will eventually exceed 290k, if the follow-up of every test-positive patient is of long enough duration.
Worth reading in full.
Mask-Up, Granny Killer
Laura Dodsworth, the artist who’s started an ‘Art Under Lockdown‘ project, has written an excellent squib for Lockdown Sceptics about the absurdity of the mask edict. Here’s a taster:
According to Michael Gove, wearing masks is good manners. Nicola Sturgeon says they are a sign of ‘solidarity’. Matt Hancock has admitted they are to ‘give people more confidence to shop safely’. The emotionally manipulative and coercive language around masks focuses on what they represent – showing you care. Who wants to be impolite? Who wants to be derided for not caring? While very few people are wearing masks on the high street, online mask shaming is in your face. Covidiot. Selfish. Get over it. Mask up. Granny killer.
Worth reading in full.
No Cost-Benefit Analysis
The FT published a long investigation yesterday into the mistakes the Government has made in its handling of the coronavirus crisis, focusing on the week leading up to lockdown. Unfortunately, the crack investigative team simply take it for granted that we should have locked down earlier – a week earlier, to be precise – and concentrate their fire on exposing the series of blunders and missteps that meant we didn’t lock down until March 23rd.
This trope is now so firmly embedded in the mainstream media, it’s going to take a lot to dislodge it. And it received more support yesterday from Sir Patrick Vallance who told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that SAGE urged the Cabinet to lock down a week earlier. He said he couldn’t remember whether it was at the meeting on March 16th or 18th, but whichever it was the advice was that “the remainder of the [lockdown] measures should be introduced as soon as possible”.
One small problem with that claim, Sir Patrick: it isn’t in the minutes of the SAGE meetings for March 16th and 18th – at least, not those released so far. As readers will recall, I parsed those minutes and found no evidence that any of the Government’s scientific advisors were arguing for a full lockdown before March 23rd, let alone the Chief Scientific Advisor. Here’s what I wrote on June 11th:
At no point did SAGE discuss anything resembling a full lockdown. Indeed, SAGE noted at a meeting on March 10th that banning public gatherings would have little effect since most viral transmission occurred in confined spaces, such as within households.
The last SAGE meeting before the lockdown was on March 18th where it was noted that the impact of the social distancing measures introduced thus far would not be known for two or three weeks. The attendees did not at that stage know whether those measures would be sufficient to prevent the NHS’s critical care capacity being overwhelmed and in the absence of more data could not offer any advice on whether additional measures – such as closing bars, restaurants and entertainment centres, and limiting use of indoor workplaces – would be necessary. The only further measure SAGE recommended at that meeting was closing schools.
“SAGE advises that the measures already announced should have a significant effect, provided compliance rates are good and in line with the assumptions. Additional measures will be needed if compliance rates are low.” – Minutes of the 17th SAGE meeting on COVID-19, March 18th 2020
Is this really what we’ve got to look forward to in the forthcoming public inquiry? A forensic investigation of why the Government didn’t lock down a week earlier, with all the protagonists in the drama frantically trying to dodge the blame for the delay, rather than questioning whether we should have locked down at all?
Wake me up when it’s over.
But there is one hidden gem in the FT’s investigation. It’s in the section focusing on March 23rd, when the decision to lockdown was “finally” taken.
Later that day, a plan to lockdown the UK simultaneously finally took shape, an approach backed by leaders in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
On that fateful Friday, Cobra was chaired by Michael Gove, cabinet office minister, not Johnson. Khan says: “I went to that meeting expecting it to be London only.” Gove proposed that the pubs should close on Saturday lunchtime, but Khan and Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, argued that this was a disastrous idea and that Friday night would see mayhem. “There would have been an end of days party,” says one participant.
Gove agreed — Cummings had also come to the same conclusion — and a message was hastily relayed to Johnson, preparing for the 5pm press conference, that Cobra had agreed that the closure of pubs and restaurants should take immediate effect on Friday night. Only Jesse Norman, a Treasury minister, raised any doubts, asking whether there had been any cost-benefit analysis of the economic and health impacts of lockdown or consideration of less onerous alternatives. Around the room there were blank looks: the decision had been taken.
So there you have it folks. Only one person at that critical meeting on March 23rd asked whether any cost-benefit analysis of the impact of the lockdown had been done – Jesse Norman MP. And his question was answered with blank looks. Clearly, no such analysis had been done. When the Government took the decision to lock down the country, it was flying blind.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, but I have to confess to a moment of shock when I read that. My position has always been that if the state is going to curtail our liberty, it needs a very good reason for doing so. My understanding was that when the decision was taken to place the entire population under virtual house arrest, the Government had calculated that it would do more good than harm – that it would have a net public health benefit. I was always sceptical about the claim that it would, but at least the Government had an arguable case – or so I thought. Turns out, they didn’t. They hadn’t made any calculations. They literally had no idea whether such a draconian act would do more good than harm. From the sound of it, it didn’t even occur to anyone in the Cabinet to ask the question. They just went ahead and removed our liberty anyway.
Unforgivable.
Graham Brady MP: No Fan of Masks
A reader has passed on the reply of her local MP – Sir Graham Brady – after she wrote to him setting out her objections to face masks. It makes for interesting reading:
Thank you for your email.
A number of constituents have written to me with their concerns of this new regulation, with reasonable questions regarding how long we may have this in place and whether this will again be extended to office and work spaces. I am pleased at least that the Government has made it clear that this requirement will not extend to offices.
Other countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain have taken a similar step to try to halt the spread of COVID-19 as their economies begin to open up. The evidence in relation to the efficacy of face masks outside a clinical setting is however, finely balanced, one local specialist said to me that if there is a benefit, it is more likely because a mask makes it less likely that the wearer will touch his face than because of any effect in preventing airborne transmission. I do not think that a compelling case has been made for something of such uncertain value to be made compulsory, but this decision has been made under emergency powers and was not debated or voted on in the House of Commons.
It is important that this regulation, along with other emergency COVID-19 legislation, should only be temporary. My biggest concern is that the government has not set out the criteria on which the decision to introduce compulsion was made, and that we remain therefore in the dark as to when it will end.
These laws sit very uncomfortably with our traditions of liberty and I shall be working to ensure that they do not continue for any longer than is strictly necessary.
Best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Sir Graham Brady
Sad News From Ireland
A reader called Clive Buckley has been in touch to tell me about the news from Ireland. It was good. Now it’s bad.
I’m fortunate enough to have a second home in Waterford County in the Republic of Ireland where I also have an ongoing project. Converting a cowshed in to an events venue. When lockdown started I was in the UK. Managed to return to Ireland end of May and was expecting strict protocols. However, to my delight I found a healthy disregard to the regs as only the Irish know how. No queues at supermarkets, no face nappies. No pubs open, but people meeting on beaches and in each others gardens for beer and company and using their common sense. At one of these BBQs I was informed by a member of the emergency services that the total number of cases in the whole of Waterford County was 166, no deaths and I had more chance of being killed by a cow. The Government were accelerating easing of restrictions. Hotels and gastro pubs, hair salons, beauty parlours would all reopen on July 10th with full reopening of all pubs on July 20th. Happy days. They even came up with a brilliant new slogan: “Take Responsibility, Use Your Common Sense.” Why hadn’t Mr Johnson thought that one up?
Went back to the UK and returned to Ireland yesterday to continue my project now three months behind schedule, looking forward to the re-opening on July 20th and that pint of proper Draught Guinness as only the Irish know how. Then the news arrived.
Listening to Matt Cooper on Today fm it was announced the Irish Government were putting the breaks on re-opening and were going back to plan A due to an increase in infections. A massive rise in infections amongst the young taking the R number above 1. The usual rhetoric about it being cruel and indiscriminate. Numbers? Fourteen new cases and two deaths. I haven’t crunched the numbers but that looks like the virus has all but disappeared. They then wheeled out Professor Gerard Killean from the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental science to justify the new stance. Again the usual rhetoric, but when asked why is it OK for gastro pubs, hair salons, etc. to be open he agreed with the question and stated that they should never have been opened. Nothing should have opened. Not until the infection rate hits zero like New Zealand. What is it with these scientists?
So to get that pint of Guinness I have to book a table in a Gastro Pub, order a substantial order of food to a minimum of €9 (who thought that one up?) and leave after 90 mins. Back to Draught in cans.
Sue Denim Weighs in on Academy of Medical Sciences Report
Longtime Lockdown Sceptics contributor “Sue Denim” – the pseudonymous ex-Google engineer who drew attention to the shortcomings of the code underpinning Imperial’s notorious Report No. 9 – has taken a look at the Academy of Medical Sciences report that predicts 119,000 people will die in hospitals this winter if we don’t wear face coverings, etc. I wrote about it for the Telegraph on Monday (and the Times, rather oddly, wrote about it yesterday). As you’ll recall, the 37 “experts” who compiled that report relied on Imperial’s shonky computer model to come up with the apocalyptic scenario.
I took a look and noticed the following.
Why is a “researcher in atmosphere, oceans and climate” credited as a source of “additional expertise”? Why is one of the contributors from the Met Office? The only parts of the report that address the weather speak in generalities anyone could have said, things like respiratory viruses spread better in winter, or air pollution may exacerbate Covid. You don’t need to be a weather expert to know that people catch such viruses in winter.
Especially odd because the report states transmission is “dominated by indoor pathways”. So why care so much about conditions outside?
Annex 1 is bizarrely out of place for what purports to be a medical document. It’s titled “People’s Perspective” but defines people to mean patients with long-term illnesses, and BAME minorities. What about the people who don’t have long term illness? What about white people? Their perspectives don’t matter and they aren’t “involved in the decisions made about our lives”, as they put it.
It has “not been subject to formal peer review” and they “accept no legal liability for decisions made based on this evidence”.
They say that their IFR estimate is “at the time of writing” estimated to be 1.1%. As you already noted, this is far too high when compared with actual measurements. Why does their number differ so much from current information?
They provide three citations for this value, citations 37-39. Each citation is problematic.
Citation 37 dates from June 11th and is a letter that comes from Professor Ferguson’s team. It argues that herd immunity isn’t reached because number of recorded deaths varies significantly by country, so that means only different lockdowns can explain the inter-country differences.
Citation 38 is a website showing the output of a continuously updated Cambridge model. It estimates IFR at 1.3%. It’s unclear why they conclude such a different IFR from others, but one issue might be that their only sero-survey is based exclusively on NHS blood transfusion donors. Are blood donors really statistically representative of the entire UK population? How have people been donating blood in recent weeks given the lockdowns? Given Ioannidis et al were criticised quite heavily for recruiting people via Facebook, on the grounds that this may have led to an unrepresentative sample, it would appear this methodology may have far worse biases.
Citation 39 is again a paper from Neil Ferguson’s team (credited as Verity et al), which beyond being another model based analysis, dates from March 30th and it thus hopelessly out of date.
There are over 300 citations in this 78 page report. “At the time of writing” isn’t defined anywhere, but it seems likely they’ve been writing it for so long that their conclusions were based on obsolete sources by the time of publication but they didn’t want to revisit and rewrite their conclusions.
At any rate, to support their core figure they give what look like multiple citations, but in reality they’re citing the same people saying the same things in different forums. It looks more robust than it really is.
They now accept that exposure to sunlight is good for stopping Covid and prolonged indoor contact spreads it – so why did they previously recommend everyone be locked indoors and why has this prior failure not reduced their self confidence?
Interestingly, they say 10% of all excess winter deaths are caused by fuel poverty, not influenza. Attributing all excess winter deaths to influenza is a pretty typical way to guesstimate how many people it kills.
“Removing the many practical and financial disincentives/barriers to infection control measures (e.g. loss of income/employment) would improve adherence and mitigate wider health effects” 😂
They mention remdesivir and dexamethasone as potential treatments, but not hydroxychloroquine. What a shock.
Although they observe that lockdown hurts mental health in the first section, by the time they’re discussing what to do this winter they’re only interested in protecting the mental health of NHS workers.
The survey in Annex 3 is interesting.
Oddly, it appears awareness of the NHS backlog is zero amongst the general public (section 3.3, “there did not appear to be an awareness of the backlog among participants in our public dialogue sessions”).
“Participants were aware that many regular health check-ups and appointments have been cancelled… however this combination of local experiences did not translate in the group into a picture of a national backlog”.
Perhaps a way to create more lockdown skepticism is by pointing out that the NHS is now hopelessly overloaded and with no obvious way to ever catch up except by people who need treatment dying (as it’s at max capacity in normal conditions). They estimate the backlog will reach 10 million by the end of the year.
Also, people who know more about the pandemic trust scientists less:
“There was a common perception that a single scientific truth exists around the pandemic and that scientists are the ones promoting and defending it, while politicians are more focussed on protecting the economy.
“But those who were more interested in the pandemic and knew more about it were also more likely to question the mortality and infection figures, wondering whether they are being massaged or underreported. Among this group, those who distrusted the government transferred this distrust to the scientists leading the response, whose position was seen to be politicised.”
The UK May Have Achieved Herd Immunity Already, Say Oxford Scientists
I was ridiculed for making this argument in the Telegraph last Saturday, so it’s nice to get some back up from a team of distinguished Oxford scientists. Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Epidemiology at Oxford and long-standing rival of Neil Ferguson, has a preprint out in which she and her team argue that “sufficient herd-immunity may already be in place to substantially mitigate a potential second wave”. How come? T cell mediated immunity.
The Herd Immunity Threshold… may be greatly reduced if a fraction of the population is unable to transmit the virus due to innate resistance or cross-protection from exposure to seasonal coronaviruses.
Worth reading in full (although it’s quite technical).
Care Home Death Mystery
A probate lawyer has emailed me to tell me about a care home death that strikes him as suspicious.
I recently dealt with an Estate where the person died in a nursing home in April and where the Death Certificate, which was issued two days after death, gives the sole cause of death as “COVID-19 (confirmed)”. The speed with which the Death Certificate was issued is, in itself, suspicious, as I know from other clients whose relatives died around that time that it was taking at least a couple of weeks to get the Death Certificate as Registrars had cancelled all face-to-face meetings.
However, apart from the fact that the deceased was nearly 94 and could therefore quite easily have died at any time just from old age, I have a friend who works in that nursing home and who tells me that the staff there have not been made aware of even a single case of COVID-19 amongst the residents, let alone any deaths.
This suggests to me that either the doctor deliberately falsified the Death Certificate (which surely must be a criminal offence), or that the management of the home has not given the staff information which is crucial for them to protect themselves and the other residents (which is likely to be a serious breach of Health & Safety legislation).
Sadly there is no way of knowing, because the funeral has taken place and even if the family were to challenge the cause of death, no doubt they would be told that the test samples (if there were any, which I doubt) have been lost or destroyed.
I no longer believe anything this Government tells me about COVID-19 and it never ceases to amaze me how many people do seem to trust them (over things such as face masks), when those same people would normally not believe anything the Government (especially Boris) tells them!
He makes a very good point and it reminded me of the late David Crowe’s analysis for Lockdown Sceptics of why Sweden has suffered so many deaths in care homes. Could it be that the real reason for the high death toll in care homes during the lockdown is not that COVID-19 ripped through them, killing elderly residents, but because, for a variety reasons, those residents were badly neglected? Managers were distracted by the need to obtain PPE and put social distancing protocols in place, staff went off sick, relatives weren’t able to visit to make sure their loved ones were okay, and as a result tens of thousands of people died. However, rather than admit it was due to negligence, the care home managers simply told the doctors that the residents in question had died of coronavirus and the doctors were happy to put that on the death certificate.
Round-Up
And on to the round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘The Government has lost control‘ – Good piece in Spiked by Ben Pile
- ‘With all these confusing mask messages, I’ve forgotten how to be human‘ – Strong piece by Judith Woods in the Telegraph
- ‘Wales BANS public transport users from talking on mobile phones, reading newspapers, eating food or running for the bus in new Covid rules‘ – I wonder how many train services in Wales will still be running in a year’s time?
- ‘The lost boys: the white working class is being left behind‘ – Excellent cover story by Christopher Snowdon in this week’s Spectator
- ‘Millionaires for Humanity‘ – No, it’s not the Onion or the Bablyon Bee, although it might as well be
- ‘The COVID-19 Panic Shows Us Why Science Needs Skeptics‘ – Good piece by Peter St. Onge for the Mises Institute blog
- ‘Back to School? “No Thanks” Say Millions of New Homeschooling Parents‘ – That’s the response of millions of Americans after the closure of schools. Will millions of British parents react the same way?
- ‘Why Sweden Succeeded in “Flattening the Curve” and New York Failed‘ – Good analysis for the Foundation for Economic Education blog. Tl;dr: New York did less to protect its elderly and vulnerable population. Lots of graph porn
- ‘If this is the best argument Matt Hancock’s got, the public inquiry will be a horrorshow‘ – Michael Deacon, the Telegraph‘s Parliamentary sketch writer, on a bad day at the office for Matt Hancock
- ‘The Royal Society of Medicine in conversation with Lord Sumption‘ – Lord Gumption interviewed by the Royal Society of Medicine. You tell em, m’lud
- ‘Pizza Express to close dozens of restaurants‘ – Too sad. A Young family favourite. Mrs Young worked as a waitress in Pizza Express aged 20 and I’m partial to the Quattro Formaggi with extra ham
- ‘Corona: The Simple Truth in Six Minutes‘ – Excellent video summing up all the myths about coronavirus and everything we now know to be true. Show it to your mask-wearing, Covid Nazi children
Theme Tune Suggestions By Readers
Only one today: “The Masquerade” by George Benson.
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A few weeks ago, Lockdown Sceptics launched a searchable directory of open businesses across the UK. The idea is to celebrate those retail and hospitality businesses that have re-opened, as well as help people find out what has opened in their area. But we need your help to build it, so we’ve created a form you can fill out to tell us about those businesses that have opened near you. Now that non-essential shops have re-opened – or most of them, anyway – we’re now focusing on pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as other social venues. As of July 4th, many of them have re-opened too, but not all. Please visit the page and let us know about those brave folk who are doing their bit to get our country back on its feet – particularly if they’re not insisting on face masks! Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
Note to the Good Folks Below the Line
I enjoy reading all your comments and I’m glad I’ve created a “safe space” for lockdown sceptics to share their frustrations and keep each other’s spirits up. But please don’t copy and paste whole articles from papers that are behind paywalls in the comments. I work for some of those papers and if they don’t charge for premium content they won’t survive.
I know it becomes difficult to navigate the comment threads after 24 hours. One alternative to continuing to post below my updates is to move to our new Lockdown Sceptics Forums, which webmaster Ian Rons has just created. You’ll need to verify your email address before you can start posting, but they should be relatively easy to navigate. Apologies for not creating them sooner. Any problems, email Ian here. Or just email him to thank him for creating such a great website.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the last 48 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. It usually takes me several hours to do these updates, which doesn’t leave much time for other work. If you feel like donating, however small the amount, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here.
Gone Fishing
I’m off to Italy today, back next Friday. Hoping to do my bit for the Italian economy, which is facing a “disaster” due to the lack of tourism, according to the Telegraph. I’m heading to Venice with the family for three nights, followed by four nights in the Dolomites. I will try and get at least one update done from the mountains, but cannot promise it will be very long as I need a bit of a break. Hopefully, the new Lockdown Sceptics Forums will sustain you all until my return.
Spectator Column
In this week’s Spectator I’ve written about the misfortunate of having my name included in Jeffrey Epstein’s “little black book”.
The column begins:
Every time Jeffrey Epstein is in the news, I start getting calls from strangers wanting to scream abuse at me. This happened a lot when the billionaire financier was found dead in his jail cell last year after being arrested on sex trafficking charges, and it has started again following the arrest of his ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell a couple of weeks ago. The reason is that my contact details were in Epstein’s “little black book”, and whenever his name pops up some kindly soul takes it upon themselves to post a picture of the relevant page, which shows my mobile phone number, on Twitter. I may have to change my number, so frequent have the calls become.
I then make a protestation of innocence that won’t convince the peado-hunters:
I can honestly say, hand on heart, I’ve no idea how I ended up in Epstein’s address book. I never met him and never set foot in any of his houses, let alone on his private island. Not that anyone believes me when I say this. Ever since the contents of the book were published on a gossip website in 2015, the people in it have been frantically protesting their innocence. Charles Finch, the film producer, told the New York Times he had no idea why his name was there, as did Vanessa von Bismarck, the founder of a PR company. Joan Juliet Buck, the former editor of French Vogue, said: “As far as I know, I never met Epstein. I never went to any of those famous parties at the biggest house in New York City.” To the conspiracy theorists piecing together the web-like connections between the dramatis personae, these denials might as well be admissions of guilt.
My theory is that, in reality, the address book belonged to Ghislaine Maxwell (and I’m 99.9% sure I’m right):
My best guess is that, in reality, the address book belonged to Ghislaine, whom I do know slightly. When I lived in New York between 1995 and 2000, I bumped into her occasionally at parties and the London address listed as mine dates back to that period. (I sometimes worry about a mob of enraged paedo-hunters turning up outside my old Shepherd’s Bush bedsit and demanding justice.) Rather unhelpfully, the Daily Mail recently ran a picture spread showing Ghislaine out and about “in society” and including a photo of me saying something funny to her in a nightclub, making her howl with laughter. Ever since, that picture has been posted dozens of times on Twitter, alongside the relevant page in the “little black book”, as if it were proof that I was a member of Epstein’s inner circle. It’s guilt by association, although as I point out to the screamers on the other end of the phone, Ghislaine hasn’t actually been found guilty of anything. Needless to say, the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” doesn’t cut much ice with them.
Worth reading in full.
Salem 2.0
I thought I’d give my readers something to chew on while I’m on a break: Salem 2.0: The Return of the Religious Police to the Public Square. This is a book about cancel culture that I’ve been working on for a while now, but which took a back seat during the coronavirus crisis. Hoping to get back to it as the crisis recess – although that’s happening more slowly than I hoped. It’s a work in progress, so don’t expect too much. The shape of it should be pretty clear, however.
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I don’t want to be a downer, but Toby is right about the forthcoming inquiry: it’s ALL going to be about why lockout didn’t happen earlier. Science and critical thinking are pretty well dead.
Definatley, the public seems to be screaming out for someone to blame over the deaths attributed to covid (whatever the actual cause)
Either way Johnson is toast.
Lack of PPE may come into it as well.
Yes. The four questions will be: why didn’t we lock down a week earlier; why did it take so long to get the PPE logistics right; why did it take so long to ramp up testing; what happened in care homes and who made the decisions.
I think the government can probably make some pretty solid arguments to absolve themselves of the blame for all 4. Meanwhile, they’ve effectively got away with shouting “look over there! A bunny!” And managed to distract everyone from the actual issue.
Yes, I agree. Isn’t the ‘throw a dead cat on the table’ a classic Boris distraction gambit from all awkward questioning? I think I read a long time ago he is a past master at diversionary tactics.
That’s how he got to be PM. Boris Bluster Johnson.
Derek,
If these are the type of questions that will be asked then where in for another whitewash.I’ve just viewed an interview from the Hoover institution and Scott Adams where he explains that lockdown will kill twice as many as covid-19. That the biggest mistake was no one thought of doing a cost benefit analysis of the consequences of lockdown. That instead of locking down everyone we should have only locked down those in care homes and immune suppressed. We don’t need to test half million as the PM is now talking about only care home workers, health care and first responders on a regular basis. The government will hide behind this idea of where following the science but anyone could tell you science doesn’t work that way. For example face masks only have a limited affect depending on people using them properly which is not a science problem.
The absolute hoot of sturgeon decreeing the medical PPE past its sell by date had been tested as safe and therefore would be deployed to the poor bugger nurses in intensive care units won’t be inquired into. I still roll around the floor laughing at that little number. NHS over buying millions of PPE items (6 monthly cycles) and you want me to pop out my door with a clap and a thank you. If only I could live on laughter alone.
My prediction:
It’ll be a whitewash and conclude more stricter lockdowns should have been done earlier.
NO mention of if a lockdown was needed at all.
Watch to see how much on an establishment insider is put in charge, that will tell you a lot on the stance it will take.
Won’t the unemployment figures help? And some business leaders are fighting back.
YES, sadly these business leaders are awfully quiet. It is time that the economy becomes first priority.
Business leaders are not what they were…mostly lost to wokery.
They need to stop funding the Tories and let Bill Gates take up the strain.
I just erased windows 10 and replaced it with linux. It’s not much but it’s my little revenge on Gates
An enormous piece of question begging that presupposes that a lockdown has any benefits at all. It is invalid for that reason alone.
Locking down the healthy and non-vulnerable is not just madness but treasonable.
Yes, the correctness of the decision to lock down is regarded as axiomatic. The inquiry will be concerned only with the minor technicalities of its implementation.
Peston’s take on it:
The cost of Covid-19 in the UK, in 45,000 lives lost and considerably more if ‘excess’ deaths are included, in long term illness for tens of thousands, and in damage to our prosperity, is changing everything.
But did the shock have to be so great? Could the government have done more to protect us?
Among the questions that will be examined by Boris Johnson’s promised public inquiry is why vulnerable residents in care homes were put at serious risk, why health care workers struggled for months to obtain vital protective equipment, whether travellers from the viral hotspots of Italy, Spain and France should have been quarantined, whether the full lockdown could and should have been implemented a week or more earlier, and why the UK did not increase virus testing capacity much earlier.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-did-the-uk-s-coronavirus-response-go-so-wrong-
Pretty predictable.
What is it about us, here, that allows us to see beyond this? I am at a loss to explain it. No doubt to Peston, we are tinfoil hat people; conspiracy theorists; cranks; probably anti-vaxxers, and ‘far right’. But I don’t think we are those things. No more than Sunetra Gupta who, seemingly, sees things the way we do.
I was also disappointed by this article not even bothering to look beyond the obvious questions. Especially from the Spectator, which has been one of the better mainstream media sources in terms of sceptical attitudes to “the science”.
How does Peston know what the inquiry’s questions will be?
Because the agenda is being fixed (behind the scenes, in the press, social media) before the inquiry is even started. It’s quite clever: people are being encouraged to think that the government is squirming when asked about PPE, test strategies, care homes and the timing of the lockdown. “No! Don’t ask us about PPE. That’s a really tough one.” When of course, the biggest question of all (should there have been a lockdown) will never be asked.
Spot on
Anyone to the right of Jeremy Corbyn is far right now.
I’ve repeatedly asked myself that question and have come to the conclusion that there are people who can repeat everything they have ever learnt and then there are people who can think!! As Toby found in his research, no one on Sage looked into the consequences of lockdown because we have never locked down before so it required original thought!
Sometimes I think our leading journos are just very stupid. Can’t they appreciate that preventing the elderly and confused from seeing close relatives for months on or leaving them to rot in hospital is horribly cruel- a form of elder abuse. It will have led to the early deaths of many elderly people as they became demoralised hy the isolation. That will have included many with Covid 19.
Do not let them get away with it. Bombard them relentlessly during the inquiries with everything that contradicts their claims. It will take a coordinated network of people but it could be done. They do it, so can we. Yes, we can.
Of course – taken as read. LBG (Labour-BBC-Guardian) will be looking for a figure eg “40000 unnecessary deaths” they can hang around the neck of Johnson and the Heartless Tories until the next election. Maybe Lockdown Sceptics should seek participant status in any inquiry. Rejection of such status will prove it’s a fix.
The critical question should be Why didn’t we copy what Singapore did in its hospitals where they got medical transmission down to statistical zero?
Wow, Toby is defending his relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell by implying that she might be innocent.
She is innocent……until proven guilty……and not before.
Come on Mark B. Do you really mean that? That’s about the worst comment I’ve ever read on this site.
I’ve downvoted you, so only fair to leave an explanation why.
If you want to retract or elaborate then that’s fine – we all make mistakes.
But that’s really not fair is it?
He’s obviously being harassed by the tabloids. It’s his website but I don’t know why he has to raise this issue here which is nothing to with it. But why not just leave it at we just bumped into each other at social gatherings.
It’s quite obvious she was heavily involved and she has evidence that she will use to bargain for a reduced sentence. To even imply that she might be innocent is absurd and to use that in any part of of his guilt by association argument is ridiculous.
Well thanks for the explanation, which helps. Sorry if my reply to you was a bit strong.
She’s going to be tried, and unless everyone’s assumed innocent till proven guilty then eventually we will all suffer.
For me, one of the most serious aspects of the Epstein case is his previous conviction in which the authorities effectively let him get away with what he was clearly up to – leaving him free to menace society again.
Surely Toby has the right to defend himself however he thinks fit. He’s clearly a very brave man – not many people would be able to sustain the (unfair) flak he has faced, and continue fighting for what they think is right.
The arrest in New Hampshire does not pass the smell test here in the USA. Of course the FBI knew where GM was the whole time. So, technically, innocent until proven guilty. But wait, on what charges? Some technicality such as transporting a minor over state lines? Something hammered out in advance? Why no mug shots? Why does every aspect of htis thing smell, including the role of law enforcement? That is why, beyond the technical “innocent until proven guilty” there is plenty of shall we call it solid speculation that the woman is a piece of ——- (you fill in the blank) and she has and still is involved in something big and is being protected by someone(s). .
PS. Yes, bad move of Toby to bring it up here, unless he is under some kind of pressure that required it. Even so, somewhat hamfisted.
Hello Jane,
Thanks for your replies. Yes, it may well be that she’s being protected by someone – I don’t know. Akin to this, if Epstein had been dealt with properly earlier in his ‘career’ then much misery and suffering would have been avoided. You’ll probably have better ideas than me as to why he wasn’t dealt with. Clearly, he was guilty, had been found guilty, but was treated almost as if he was innocent.
As to Toby bringing it up here, well I think we have to allow him some leeway. As I’ve posted below, if you look at his Salem 2.0 link at he end of today’s post you’ll glean something of what he’s suffered at the hands of the mob, and I for one can’t blame him for wanting to head it off this time.
I think that she’s guilty, based on what I’ve read about her, but that doesn’t mean that she is guilty. Until judged in a court of law, she’s innocent (though I’ve got a feeling she will be found dead in her cell, just like Jeff, before this happens). However, this is completely off-topic and I’m not sure why Toby mentioned it on the Sceptics site. Lockdown discussions only here, please!
this is the US legal system we are talking about . They do have a habit of charging people and then refusing bail (even when there is no danger to the public) and so leaving the accused in prison for months and months. Then the plea bargaining starts, and the accused, who may be innocent, is pressured to accept a lesser charge on the promise of a reduced punishment to be sorted out quickly rather than to rot in prison for a year. This is known as “the innocent prisoner’s dilemma” This has happened a few times with UK citizens.
He’s a sceptic so TPTB will fins any reason to discredit him.
Watch them start digging back a long long way.
AG and Mr Dee,
If you look at the Salem 2.0 link he gives at the end of today’s post it’s clear that he’s been to hell and back at the hands of that lot.
It explains to me why he feels he has to take any opportunity to defend himself against ‘that lot’, especially when they will be out to fix him merely for running a website such as this.
This website is one of the few brighter spots on a very bleak landscape.
She may be innocent, but are you?
I’m sure we’ve all had “friends you can’t defend”.
PLEASE HELP US — VOTE NO (NÃO in https://www.facebook.com/Publico/posts/10158700327821983)
In Portugal, we already wear a mask in shops, public services, schools, malls, restaurants…
.. but now, they want us to WEAR MASKS EVERYWHERE (even streets, beaches, and so on) 
So please, GO TO https://www.facebook.com/Publico/posts/10158700327821983 and VOTE “NÃO”
Thanks a lot,
Maria Spínola
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sairdecasa — we are “brothers” 
Is there any non-facebook site where I can vote? We have a holliday home in Portugal but to be honest the governments measures scare me off to go there at the moment! So I’d be happy to vote, but have no facebook accoint.
Will vote. Wondering if you could help with a query I have. I was pondering whether the ‘reasons’ being given for why masks should be worn differs dependent on country. The UK stance seems to be ‘it wont protect me but it will protect someone else’ is that the same in Portugal? Thanks
That’s a one million dollar question!
Another one (million dollar question) is: does masks protect at all?
In fact, at our (portuguese) NHS (at https://covid19estamoson.gov.pt/plano-desconfinamento-medidas-gerais/desconfinamento-normas-por-setor/) we can find this reference:
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/COVID-19-use-face-masks-community.pdf where we can read the following:
“… various non-medical face masks were shown to have very low filter efficiency (2–38%) [21]. In one study, cotton surgical masks were associated with a higher risk of penetration of microorganisms and ILI compared to no masks.”
“There are no established standards for non-medical face masks used as a means of source control or personal protection”
Nota: ILI = influenza-like illness
Note: The pool is closed, and the results are… 40% NO; 60% YES (wear masks everywhere, even at outdoor 🙁
No.. no…. no… no…. we can’t believe !!!
There’s a readers letter in today’s Daily Mail from a British ex-pat in Portugal, asking where the tourists are. He explains how everywhere is virtually deserted, and hotel and bar staff are falling over themselves to help. He sent in a picture of himself enjoying a sun-lounger on an empty beach, but no sign of a face nappy. I suspect his retirement outlook may soon change..
It’s true! It’s sad, but it’s true 🙁
Unfortunately there seems to be a majority voting “yes”… What is this world coming to? Sigh….
60% YES
40% NO
Really sad 🙁
Tha’s true..60% YES; 40% NO 🙁
However, if you notice at https://www.facebook.com/Publico/posts/10158700327821983there are 1 thousand and nine hundred comments, and all comments are from the people that voted NO!!!
That’s good and at the same time a bad thing!
It means that the YES votes are fake!
NOTE: https://www.facebook.com/Publico it’s one of the major newspapers (media channel) that received 15 million euros from the government during the lockdown — so most media aren’t independent 🙁
In restaurants?
Yes, even in restaurants.
We have to enter and exit with th mask on.
We can only take the mask of when we are eating 🙁
Stupid, nonsense rules hera at Portugal, about masks and a lot of other Covid-19 measures!
It’s the same in UK?
Do you have to keep your mask on while you order from the menu?
No, but we are advised to take off the mask, only when eating/drinking.
However, as soon as we seat in a table, we can take the mask off — and that’s what I do.
Note: Restaurants are working 50% capacity because tables must be 2 meters apart. So it’s social distancing also!
However, if we get up, we must put the mask on — to enter/exit; go to toilet… it’s a funny virus, it’s only there when we aren’t seated! Nonsense!
And we can’t eat/drink anything outside the table, also! And no alcohol after 8:00 PM unless you are having dinner.
And all restaurant employees must wear masks all time.
It may be far in the future (though I suspect not), but the Great Covid Insanity, or the Year the World Went Mad, is going to generate an academic industry of colossal proportions. It will be the new Holocaust. There will be Insanity subdepartments in history faculties, professorships galore, international Insanity conferences, legions of journals devoted entirely to the Insanity, books, films, TV series, the whole boiling. When the Nazis realised time was up, they did their best to get rid of the evidence. Attempts were made to literally grass over extermination camps such as Treblinka, potential witnesses were murdered (of course), inmates were sent away on death marches, and it was only the rapid advances of Allied armies that prevented a successful cover-up. Himmler himself described the mass extermination as ‘a glorious chapter in our history … which never will be written‘. But the Nazis were left with a smoking gun, or rather, chimney. Our enemies are the new Nazis. We are living through the new holocaust. Not a straight mass killing of human bodies, but a mass killing of the human spirit. We are the Resistance. We are the survivors. We, particularly thanks to Toby, are the evidence,… Read more »
Wonderful thought to start the day with! Thanks, Annie. 🙂
Great post and a ray of sunshine during these dark times. Thanks Annie!!!
Thanks Annie- I’ve been feeling really down the past few days, probably the worst throughout this whole charade. I just don’t want to live in this world anymore, with seemingly no end in sight to the covi-steria and a second lockdown rumoured, my job satisfaction non-existent and my mum’s struggle getting ‘our NHS heroes’ to do their jobs. But we call know what eventually happened to the Nazis.
Hold on to hope DRW, l have been pretty low myself, but Toby and the lovely people here have helped so much. Thank you to Toby and everyone else for being so brave
It’s very hard at the moment especially when you get little glimpses of normality which get snatched away again.
We will overcome this DRW, everyone here is of a similar mindset.
Exactly – and I find that far worse than the early stages of lockdown, when there was (or so it seemed at the time) some hope of a return to normality.
Which is exactly why they do it. We’re not going to let them manipulate us so easily though, are we ? 🙂
We were very naive back then I think.
I know what you mean I had a relatively normal drink in a nice old hotel/pub in shropshire. On the way out 2 girls masked up aged about 15 asked me where my mask was….I asked where their brains were and they called me selfish and horrid. Oh well it was nice while it lasted!
I’m thinking of trying the effect of pulling my tongue, should similar happen to me.
What do people think ?
I totally understand how you feel. My energy has been up and down. This is just a constant treadmill now of absurd but ultimately dangerous diktats by this government Joy has been sucked out of everything. I’ve been trying to fight back in as many ways as I can and I’ve fallen out with friends and family, who are still utterly terrified of this virus. I refuse to comply and obey, and believe the same narrative as them – not that I even force my views on them! So, now they’re concerned for my “mental health” Jeez! All you can do is keep moving forward, live your own life and believe in what your heart tells you. Remember, only YOU have the right to govern your own body!
We all feel it DRW, try not to get too down. We’ll win in the end.
After reading that post Annie, I would jump over the trenches with you any day of the week!
Get your gun, I’ve got mine!
I call them Uber Nazis.
The new holocaust will begin in earnest, when the great depopulator’s liability free experimental “vaccines” are made available to the ever so grateful masses. Bill has been waiting and planning for all this to happen for many years and this wonderful genocidal opportunity will not be wasted.
I wrote a blog post on the topic of lying about Covid: https://medium.com/@civitasperegrina/the-end-of-the-epidemic-and-political-lying-1d44068d4ec3
Good article!
Thanks!
Excellent article! Thank you for providing the way out: Tell the truth.
Best wishes to Toby and family for a great and richly deserved holiday. Finally the Democratic Party supporting sky news has a main story on care homes deaths. It quotes NHS documents showing that thousands of hospital patients were summarily discharged back to care homes without being tested; not that tests would have made much difference since we know from other NHS documents that the test kits were not up to standard in any case. So thousands dead before their time, with the buck stopping with the health secretary and prime minister. Heads must roll. But compare and contrast sky news belated effort (this site has been saying that very same thing for three months now!) with ‘the spectator’ ‘The researchers concluded that ‘consistent and correct use of face coverings can be an ‘important tool for minimising spread of Sars-CoV-2’. In fact the study quoted by the spectator covered two hair stylists potentially spreading covid 19. No customers were infected, apparently because the stylists wore face masks (the study lists 4 limitations to this theory). Only one stylist actually managed to spread covid 19 to members of their close family when not wearing a face mask. The other did not.… Read more »
Most journalists and media bosses have been disgraceful – only just behind politicians in the rogues gallery.
Yes, the only profession to gain has been estate agents – who, by comparison, now look like very virtuous model citizens!
In the paraphrased words of Anna Brees, ex BBCjournalists…
Mainstream journalists are just actors reading from a script
Sorry not sure my comment is clear that Anna is an ex BBC journalist
Copywriters and Pamphleteers.
Tim, this from Rod Liddle in this weeks Specator
“The counter-argument — the no-mask argument — would have to insist that almost the entire world got it completely wrong, over-reacted, wrecked economies for no good reason. Every government, every scientific organisation of note, all of them got it wrong: only we were right. That is a stretch too far for me, I’m afraid. It seems a position similar to those who argue that 9/11 didn’t happen, or was an inside job, or that the moon landings were fake. When you have flawed politicians and flawed science, you go with the wisdom of crowds, surely”
“wisdom of crowds”!!! No, you at least try and force the flawed politicians and scientists to tell the truth surely? And to compare those that don’t want to wear masks (based on ACTUAL science) to 9/11 conspiracy theorists is just lazy, cheap and spiteful.
Rod Liddle must be a really special person. The wisdom of crowds ?!? Has he just invented this ? He should take a look at the highest rating tv programmes, the nation’s favourite takeaway food places, and the music favoured by most people under 60.
Masks are akin to 9-11 and the ‘moon landings’, in that the bad guys will not debate the evidence at all. To me, that gives a pretty clear hint which side is telling the truth.
(At least he’s keeping his shops open to non-mask wearers.). 🙂
Pretty good summary by Rod until “That is a stretch too far…” but then he went and spoiled it.
I remember being told that the combined IQ of a crowd/mob is the square root of the IQ of it’s stupidest member so wouldn’t trust crowds to make an intelligent decision.
Almost the entire world did get it completely wrong, over-reacted, wrecked economies for no good reason (and worse than that – wrecked LIVES for no good reason).
And everyone knows about the MADNESS of crowds; it’s just a massive problem that they don’t return to sanity as a crowd, but only slowly as individuals.
Always was controlled opposition. You can make a living out of appearing radical but when the going got tough the tough did not get going.
My thought of the day. If you told the general public that (nearly) 1 in 4000 people was a violent psychopath who would seek to do them harm, would we have millions of people up and down the land petrified of leaving their homes, going back to work or taking their kids to school?
I somehow doubt it. That’s only 0.006% of the population after all.
So why do we have millions of the same people acting this way in response to a virus that spares over 99% of its victims, is now nigh impossible to catch in society and will probably be out of the country’s system by the autumn? Where’s the sense of proportion here?
Is this vacuum of rationality down to the ceaseless propaganda campaign? A miserable lack of critical thinkers out there? Downright stupidity? Or something far more sinister?
“Is this vacuum of rationality down to the ceaseless propaganda campaign? A miserable lack of critical thinkers out there? Downright stupidity? Or something far more sinister?”
All of the above, really. 24 hour news, irresponsible “journalism”, interest groups seizing the opportunity for advancing their own ends, the Internet and social media, global nature of information. And the NEWNESS of the virus. Existing threats are lived with; there seemed to be no capacity to tolerate a new one, despite it turning out to be not very dangerous relative to many others, and only of significant danger (at a societal level) to the very old or ill. Safetyism.
In the RSM video linked to in today’s post, Sumption makes the point that part of the problem is that the west has mostly been spared the other infectious diseases that have caused death and misery elsewhere (TB, Ebola, SARS 1, MERS) and so we’ve lost our sense of proportion when it comes to something new.
I think your analysis is excellent, Julian. Can’t disagree with a word of it.
Once many years ago a man put a bomb in his shoe and tried to detonate it on a plane. One incidence ever in the history of time.
Because of this one incident everyone has their shoes checked at airports, presumably forever. Regardless of the merits of doing this, it’s not hard to see how people are willing to accept measures to reduce to zero the risk of something “bad” happening.
The airport security bollocks of the last 19 years was primarily to accustom us to queuing and being treated badly.
I would cheerfully take the risk of being the unlucky one on a plane with a bomb on it in exchange for a 50% less irritating experience at security.
By the way – recommend schiphol. They have brand new luggage scanners that mean you don’t have to take anything out of your bag at all.
Kyiv Borispol has great smoking rooms.
Scotty, it is because I just can’t get my head around the utter stupidity of those that are falling for this guff, that I’m tending towards the ‘something far more sinister’ line, and I don’t like to think that because that in itself can be irrational
I look at the fact that not every country has reacted the same way (varying levels of madness if you like, ranging from batshit crazy to standard sane pandemic procedure) if I start thinking like that. I think gross incompetence, which the political classes almost everywhere have in spades, coupled with crass opportunism from certain immoral billionaires who shall remain nameless, explains everything.
I agree, but the prevalence of psychopaths is more like 1 in 100, although most restrict their violence to their families and animals. People usually find them charming. Just makes it all the more poignant an analogy really!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4649950/
It just occurred to me several minutes ago that your PM might enjoy a bit of S&M on occasion and that might explain why he has been behaving like a sadist for the past few months.
BUT IT’SKILLING PEOPLE!!!
So what about all the people who have died and will continue to die from undiagnosed/untreated cancer heart disease and all the rest?
Ooh look, a moth!
Something more sinister. The Great Reset. Don’t tell me you have not heard the news!
Here:
https://www.weforum.org/great-reset/
Check out “Context” and “Summary.” These unelected “leaders’ have big plans for us. The virus had sped up the time frame.
It didn’t take long for this site to start shilling for face masks, disgraceful.
Never trust a Tory.
Peter, if you read the comments on this blog over the last few days, you will see plenty of people talking about 1) the options for avoiding wearing masks completely from next Friday and 2) ways to subvert them by adding designs and slogans to the front to make it clear that they’re ridiculous.
Given that, I’m not sure how Toby is being a shill by posting an option for a company that will add your own design to a mask for you? I can’t see he stands to make any financial gain from it, but even if he did, since this is his blog, advertising would seem a perfectly fair way to use it occasionally. And he’s posted his lockdown sceptics bulldog design as a suggestion, but he’s not asking for anything in exchange for its use.
Unless your point is “I don’t like Toby young and I’m looking for anything at all to make the case he’s a terrible human being” I can’t see that you have a point at all.
No wonder Toby is disappearing on ‘holiday’. I wonder if Gates is paying.
Oh right, ok. Yes, he probably is. Pays for my holidays too.
You fool.
I wish I was paying for Toby’s holiday, he deserves it and he has been trying to help so many people. This site is kind, hopeful and friendly a place where people have shared their many feelings, not a place for abuse. Toby seems very able to defend himself but I have been grateful to him.
I assume 77th Brigade is your paymaster?
Maybe they are like Beetlejuice in that comedy horror film, but these ones have to go away once ’77th Brigade’ is mentioned ? 🙂
I’ve noticed that.
From Peter’s last response, it’s fairly obvious he just doesn’t like the guy. Takes all sorts, I guess.
It’s shocking, but surprising, that there was no cost benefit analysis. I never thought there had been.
It’s interesting to know that one of the cabinet did speak up, though to his shame he didn’t then go public and resign.
What’s equally sad and shocking is that no-one other than a few have been asking to see the cost benefit analysis. It’s accepted that it wasn’t necessary.
Handjob was asked this question at one of the briefings in April. He confirmed that no study had been undertaken. Not single follow up question asked.
If it saves just one life it’s worth it…apparently. No cost/benefit analysis required.
Also if you can channel money to your cronies, by giving them untendered contracts, making everyone in your social bubble richer then it’s definitely worth it.
What is shocking is that it’s shocking to anyone.
Lockdowns across the world were decided in matters of days, with obviously no time to consider anything properly.
In general, people’s expectations of what government and central authorities can accomplish with competence is completely out of proportion with reality.
What’s the saying again? There’s nothing so bad that the government can’t make it worse? Something like that, though possibly in ruder language originally.
Really glad to see my MP was the only one to ask a sensible question pre lockdown! I saw him in town a couple of weeks ago and (having already written to him about school closures) asked him about schools… his reply was that the ‘government goofed’ on education!!! Aargh!
Good to see another MP (Graham Brady) expressing reservations about masks – one to add to the list (Swayne, Chope, Leigh). Wish they would get together and start to form a movement. I emailed the latter three. Maybe other LS readers could do the same. Brady is a bit more guarded – would have preferred him to say they were not needed at all – but it’s a start.
I emailed my MP, and, like many others, I suspect, have had a standard, to paraphrase it, reply: “I’m very busy with very important matters due to Covid 19, don’t bother me now, it’ll take ages for me to reply”.
I’m also discouraged from phoning as he might be “waiting for calls from foreign embassies”.
As there’s barely any covid 19 about now, and as I’m fairly sure most stranded tourists have now reached home, I wonder what he’s doing with his time?
Was that Somerton and Frome, or do they all copy and paste the same script?
In which case maybe they should follow their own rules
And yes my email was not from a script.
Yes it was…! Not impressed with the response. Like all MP’s he has researchers and office staff who respond initially to the majority of queries, and you’d think they could come up with a view on this “FAQ” to let us know his position. Maybe he’s waiting for his moment to emulate Desmond Swayne.
The lockdown earlier argument is nonsensical given the studies that show the peak of infections was on the 18th March at the latest. Locking down on the 16th or the 18th would have made no difference, especially if the decision had still been made to empty the hospitals, into the care homes, with infected patients.
We read that Hancock was saying in the HoC yesterday that the lockdown did effectively begin a week earlier than the actual formal announcement.
Deacon in the Telegraph ridicules him for this. I think he’s being smarter than Deacon realises – that he’s seeking cover for the peak of infections occurring around 18 March.
Can there ever have been such a viscerally dishonest UK government as this one? Even Blair would have balked at what this lot are doing.
My only reservation about all that is over Blair – he would probably have been a bit more organised and would have hidden his mistakes a bit better, but he certainly would have had no qualms over any degree of genocide resultant!
Well I reckon in terms of harm done divided by number of days in office Johnson is winning by a country mile, and is still pulling ahead fast!
I can’t stand Blair, but I think he would have handled this more competently than this lot – if only because the opposition party, and some of the newspapers, would have attempted to hold him to account. As you say though, he would have been better organised and covered his tracks more efficiently.
With Blair in for something like this he’d had been 10x more prepared and organised compare to bojo… He would without doubt tho have opted for the h&s virtue signalling approach tho and we’d all probably have suffered going into a harder lockdown initially with even more shrill bleating about saving 1 life etc.
With a labour government in power right now I think we’d be miles better off tho, primarily because the tories would be in opposition and they’d actually be opposing, so I’m pretty sure they’d be anti lockdown Pro business pro liberties _if_ it was in opposition to whatever à Labour government was doing, and consequently the tory press (8 of 10 best selling papers) would also have been singing from that same sheet. Labour in opposition are truly awful, trying to remember the last time in the last 10yrs of being opposition that they’ve meaningfully opposed anything as a coherent unit and to any effect.
I think that’s the key – there would have been an opposition.
That’s an excellent point, Mark II. Never thought of it like that. I will probably never vote again, but maybe you should vote against the party who will give a better opposition.
God it’s true isnt it, what a farcical system we have where that’s an actual consideration.
The only reason they use this argument is because some countries have had low death counts. That’s it.
If no country locked down and the death toll was equivalent to a severe flu season then it wouldn’t even be in question when or if lockdowns were required.
Well it might have meant more cases now. Look at Romania (for example, I’m sure there are others) on Worldometers. They locked down early and so now cases are going back up again. It didn’t take a genius to see that this would happen…
But in the UK no second wave because we locked down nice and late, after the peak of infections.
Romania will hopefully see some accidental benefit from this delay however as treatments have now got a lot better with many fewer people being basically killed by premature ventilation.
And the devastation to health and the economy of having to lock down a multitude of times and not really having any choice over the matter as everyone is now pathologically terrified of this disease; apart from the scientists who are advocating people are deliberately infected with it to try and develop a vaccine….
I think it’s OK to do “challenge trials” (deliberately infect people) if you’ve explained the risks to them and it’s their decision.
They are taking a small risk but may be saving lives. Covid is not yet endemic everywhere and does kill people in high risk groups.
Plenty of people would accept those odds and I have no problem with that. This is consistent with the principle that people should be able to make their own decisions about what risks they want to take in their lives.
It would have enabled them to claim success though, I think ‘they’ are hoping the two issues can be confused enough to cover up the catastrophic mismanagement.
Maybe we could have separate shopping days, similar to autism friendly cinema screenings or women’s only days at swimming pools.
Being slightly facetious yes, but it could actually work. Monday to Wednesday could be entry to all shops and transport with masks. Thursday onwards you are free to unmask. Those fearful for their lives could shop and travel safely, knowing for example that a book browsed by a non mask wearer wouldn’t have been handled in days.
Only problem is, that’s dividing society. Divide and conquer. And it would become permanent.
I would like to be divided from a lot of my fellow citizens, in a separate country. As and when the zealots see sense, they’d be allowed in as long as they displayed sincere contrition and promised not to kill us with safety.
Only a LOT? I would put it at 90% or more. And I wouldn’t let ANY of the zealots in, however contrite they were…
Not if the mask wearers defected!
I actually think that’s a very good idea in terms of an autism-friendly thing for shops. My son has autism, and he’s not handling the face masks on everyone well at all.
Not surprised by the comment above that a Lidl in Wales aren’t going to enforce mask-wearing as it’s not going to be mandatory in Wales in shops. I just found out that they’re about to make them mandatory on public transport however. This is despite the statements on the government website (which are still there) that –
“CMO advice continues to be that the evidence of benefits does not justify a mandatory or legislative process and that there would be potential dangers in taking such an approach in Wales.”
https://gov.wales/chief-medical-officers-advice-on-face-masks-html
and that –
“We have also considered how realistic or fair it would be for public transport workers to enforce a mandatory approach and feel it would not be practical.”
https://gov.wales/face-coverings-frequently-asked-questions
Utter hypocrisy.
Shame on the Daily Telegraph for doing this:
https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1283719147998916608
They should be sued for incitement to hate and crimes against humanity.
This is sick.
The entire thread is sick. Whoever thought of this should be ashamed of themselves, they are perpetuating the excesses of Nazism and Communism which is creeping into our society.
Agree that many of the comments are pretty much telling the Telegraph to take a hike.
What a bloody disgrace,what the hell has happened to the Telegraph ?,it’s like something the smug BBC or Guardian would post,that’s my susbscription cancelled now.
Exactly. I wrote to them to complain, this is pretty much an incitement to hate.
Mine went ages ago….a former Conservative newspaper.
The latest data from Liverpool is interesting. Cases week 6th-12th Jul DOWN 31 week on week to just 21.
That’s 10 days+ since the enormous celebrations in the city with accompanying massive lack of social distancing…
I’m sure that’s a joke, Steven. 🙂
Thirty years of waiting will be obliviated under a tsunami of ale, and maybe other things.
There’ll be loads and loads of red smoke, singing, and ignoring ‘social distancing’.
No virus of any type will stand a cat in hell’s chance.
YNWA.
Everyone going into hospital since mid March in the UK as well as most of the care home residents got tested in early April for Covid. In the three local EMI homes there were many + ve asymptomatics.
The average life expectancy in a care home is 18 months. No wonder the tail of the curve will be stretched out to infinity with the antics of PHE
Out of interest, Peter T, given 1) these statistical shenanigans on the part of PHE and 2) the theory (as supported by the anecdote above the line) that deaths have been certified as Covid with no supporting evidence (and the evidence subsequently either buried or cremated) is there any way that you can see that a “true” number can ever be arrived at?
no because covid19 in July 2020 is 99 % political and 1 % a health issue.
Sure, that’s a given. But in an unlikely and hypothetical situation where the was an official drive to clean up the numbers, would it even be technically possible?
I dont see how you could ever arrive at anything close to accurate, although it’d be more accurate then we have now.
They presumably have dates on the positive tests and dates on the death, and potentially dates on discharge from hospitals after test. So you could probably stripe out any deaths in people who tested +ve when in hospital, were discharged and later died. You could probably also discount any +ve tests that then died more than whatever the mean time to death from infection is. Should also discount _all_ who were ‘suspected’ rather than +ve test unless they definitely had what were supposed to be the consequential effects (pneumonia copd) originally.
It might mean removing some who did die as a consequence of complications, but it also means also still being generous on others.
You might wish to know that MP Liam Fox is fully on board with the mania. Thinks masks are a wonderful idea (personal correspondence). I sent him the PHE graph with masks indicated at the flat-curve point. Amazing how the medical profession have sucked it all up.
Actually the medical profession are very split along essentially political lines. The BMA head committee voted 30 to 3 in favour. Now this is a committee which views support of the BLM as a public health emergency so even there we see some heroic dissent from the madness.
Well done the 3, I guess. Incidentally, a link to this article was supplied as well:
I haven’t read it at present:
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/7/20-1595_article
Evidence Supporting Transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 While Presymptomatic or Asymptomatic
A cursory glance at the abstract shows it’s almost certainly not worth being read. I can’t recall which Dr it was I saw saying – the collapse in quality of scientific investigation/questioning during this has shocked them, suddenly seemingly all scientists are quite happy to draw conclusions from no hard evidence even when making those conclusions public can have dramatic effects in the real world.
The abstract says:
“Recent epidemiologic, virologic, and modeling reports support the possibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission from persons who are presymptomatic (SARS-CoV-2 detected before symptom onset) or asymptomatic”
So basically, some modelling is being used and they’re basing their conclusion on reports rather than facts.
I’m amazed how much hold this idea of asymptomatic spread and ‘infection’ has got. If you deliberately tried to infect someone with a disease in the past and they didn’t get even remotely ill, surely the only conclusion you could draw is that they did not get infected & therefore were immune, not that they were ‘sick’ without being sick. That swiss site poured common sense scorn over this theory.
Back to the point I keep making, which is that we don’t test people for other viruses unless they’re actually sick, if at all (HIV aside). I imagine that the cold and the ‘flu also have the potential to spread asymptomatically, but nobody has ever cared, because a virus only matters if someone is actually very ill.
Yep, and I’m guilty of not questioning this aspect of the reporting until I read the Swiss Drs take on it, then it was like a lightbulb moment. Given the idea of asymptomatic spread is just reported as fact though, it’s no wonder everyone thinks its possible.
I have just taken a read beyond the abstract, and it’s actually painful how shallow their ‘research’ is for drawing their conclusion… here on asymptomatic spread:
“Although these reports did not identify actual virus transmission while presymptomatic or asymptomatic, the low RT-PCR Ct values (i.e., high viral load) and ability to isolate infectious SARS-CoV-2 provide plausible virologic evidence for SARS-CoV-2 transmission by persons not demonstrating symptoms.”
So…. no evidence, nothing.
No evidence beyond the anecdotal and, absent mass testing of the asymptomatic, how could there be? All you can possibly have is a best guess of where someone who presents as unwell might have caught it from.
Nonetheless, it seems to me to be highly probable that there is asymptomatic spread, simply because it must be circulating somehow and the great majority of symptomatic people will be staying home in bed. I think it’s probably true, I just don’t think it’s remotely important.
I don’t think it is highly probably, if you are truly asymptomatic you are not ill, and therefor you have nothing to transmit.
More likely is that people have such mild symptoms they’re not divulging them and don’t even recognise them as symptoms. For instance, a headache _might_ be a symptom, but I’d say I have headache 3 days a week anyway, so I’d certainly not assume I was infected with something.
*Maybe* it doesn’t matter cos the end result is the same, it could be spread via people who are only mildly symptomatic (or pre-symptomatic), but I think it is important for them to get the facts and science behind it accurate. Be absolutely 100% totally asymptomatic people can spread it, before spreading that theory all over the world.
Are you sure you’ve got that right? Typhoid Mary was asymptomatic but she shed virus like billy-oh. That’s the whole problem. I recall reading about a case in Afghanistan where a man who had been infected with polio via an old fashioned vaccine kept on shedding virus 44 (or was it 33?) years later.
NO.
Typhoid is a bacterial infection, not a viral infection.
Sorry, thanks, my bad! So can you carry on shedding infective baccilli lifelong, but not viruses? I’ll have to Google it, I know.
You might find that definitive factual agreement on viruses is hard to come by, Sylvie. 🙂
Typhoid is bacterial not viral. From NHS: ‘Typhoid fever is a bacterial infection that can spread throughout the body, affecting many organs. Without prompt treatment, it can cause serious complications and can be fatal.’
I think the most likely is that there is some asymptomatic spread but most spread is from people with symptoms.
What these two things mean is that you can lower the herd immunity threshold significantly (from 80% to 20% easily) just by people staying at home if possible when they’re ill instead of going into work and coughing on everyone like we used to. No masks, no lockdown, no 2m, no other crap. Just that one thing.
But the second thing it means is that attempts to actually eradicate the virus are essentially doomed. Because you will have occasional situations like that Argentian ship swedenborg reported on yesterday (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-argentina-fishermen-trawler-ushuaia-covid19-echizen-maru-a9621716.html) where the virus just springs back up out of nowhere.
Yes this is a very good point. I keep reading things in the Guardian and on Twitter and similar places like “we keep learning so many new things about this virus!” as if they were new… but we never went around doing so many antigen and antibody tests on people with mild (or no) illness before. The default assumption should be that this is likely not very much different from other coronaviruses. Asymptomatic cases, cross-immunity, low antibody levels in mild infections– why wouldn’t other viruses do all that? Nobody’s proposed any solid reasons why Covid should be different in any of these characteristics. It may be a bit more severe, or it may just be that because it’s new everyone gets infected with it at once and you notice the deaths. These viruses also probably evolve to be more infectious and less severe over time. It’s fairly likely that endemic “common cold” virus OC43 entered the human population in 1890 and caused the “Russian Flu”– a similar pandemic to this one. It reminds me of a probably apocryphal story about x-rays. When they first started x-raying people standing up they noticed their kidneys appeared to be too far down. Many… Read more »
It’s perfect though, if you want to control people through fear – because even if no-one is getting sick any more, you can point to asymptomatic carriers and say it might come back. That makes sure the threat never goes away. We’re going back to the dark ages in terms of critical thinking. Politics has destroyed science.
Interestingly, on the oncology ward where my daughter had her first pulse of chemotherapy last week none of the parents/ carers were wearing masks. The medical professionals were, of course, you couldn’t miss their masks because they never stopped touching them…
I gave up on him years ago.
Apparently several small shops have decided to put up posters on their windows stating that they will not be challenging people who don’t wear the muzzles. Someone contacted Simon Dolan and he shared this:
https://twitter.com/simondolan/status/1283810273086799880
Regarding the “You can never recover from Covid” thing – in the early days I would follow the Worldometer site and wonder why the ‘Recovered’ column never seemed to be updated for the UK, whereas other nations seemed to be reporting hopeful stats. It stayed at about 135 (I think) for a few weeks which then became ‘NA’. So clearly someone decided that no-one is going to recover from this some time ago.
Yep – as much as many other countries seem to be embroiled in their own farce of lockdown, masks and such – ours would seem to be based on more corruption & dictatorship instincts than most.
I used to visit the worldmeter website and noted the UK was the only country not giving recovery stats. I stopped believing the daily figures because all the countries had calculated them differently I read an Italian government spokesman even said they had over stated the deaths, obviously in the hope of being given extra EU funding!
Prof. David Spiegelhalter sounded really surprised and aghast when this issue was discussed on R4 Today earlier this morning.
This anomaly needs addressing urgently, and the numbers reworked because these apparent Covid deaths must be helping to drive the zany policy of our thick politicians.
On another matter on R4 Today: earlier some Behavioural “Scientist” from St. Andrews Univ made a statement (I think) about Covid deaths in England being “an order of magnitude” more than Scotland. Sadly, he failed to mention that the population of England is “an order of magnitude” greater than Scotland’s.
£3bn more for NHS England to get them through the winter. Setting the scene for yet more to be given to devolved NHSs.
“The funds will be available to NHS England immediately, and are expected to be used to keep the emergency Nightingale hospitals open until March, and increase testing capacity to the 500,000 a day he had previously promised.” The guardian
There are signs the Great British Public has the gov on the ropes because use of transport is not picking up as the political ‘people and our civil ‘servns’ expected.
“Ministers are concerned that public fear about a renewed rise in coronavirus cases is deterring them from venturing out. Use of public transport has been less than expected since services were increased.” The guardian
Haha, would be funny if there desire to install fear and exert control comes back to bite them on the arse. Well, it would be funny if the same thing didn’t mean it’ll basically bite us *all* on the arse in the shape of a decimated economy & therefore massively job losses and financial distress for all us proles.
Hard times are upon us. Masks and vaccines in an unholy hell of broken futures for all. Or a broken economy and a revolution. Thats how it *feels* this Friday morning to one member of Great British Public.
I’ve decided to ignore all government and public health announcements and live my life as I want to. Mask wearing will definitely deter me from visiting or shopping.
It’s a sound outlook bella. Live your life. Breakfast of fear everyday for months it is easy to choose an alternative start to your day. Outlooks are changed simply by that one healthy choice.
But have they changed their guidance not to use public transport? I haven’t heard them announce it is safe so come back to travelling.
In a further effort to encourage commuters as the government tries to kickstart devastated town- and city-centre economies, Johnson lifted the presumption against using public transport. “From today we are making clear that anybody may use public transport, while of course encouraging people to consider alternative means of transport where they are available,” he said.
Does that answer your question?
That magic money tree keeps on giving……
My response to the mandatory masking on public transport was to buy my first car for seven years. Control back in MY hands not Hangdog’s. Will I be in shops much after the 23rd? I’m thinking not unless they are happy to hand me stuff for cash at the door or let me in sans muzzle.
Why the HELL would I want to use public transport if wearing a mask is compulsory while on it? Nowhere in the world is worth travelling to apart from somewhere that isn’t insane and getting more evil by the day. I don’t know where that is.
Also why the hell would I want to go anywhere anyway? Everywhere is shit.
So true.
The £3billion is mostly for extra flu vaccines!
Whats an extra £3 billion with half a trillion spunked up the wall.
Only anecdotal, I’m afraid, but early on in the panicdemic the father of a friend of my son’s died. The family were told that if they put Covid on the death certificate, the body would be released immediately, otherwise it would be about six weeks. What a choice to have to make.
On the subject of care homes, the frail and elderly were in hospital for a reason and presumably for some sort of treatment. When they were sent to/sent back to care homes, presumably the treatment stopped so they died in droves. Many care homes are just that, they are not nursing homes so unable to give nursing care.
Personally I’d have held out for no Covid on the death certificate but I appreciate it is very hard when a family member has died. Difficult decision to make when you’re grieving.
The care home scandal is appalling and the government must be held to account for it.
Unlikely. From earlier posts, they were the so called bed blockers, i.e. certified by hospital doctors as fit to go home, but for whom no care package there or suitable placement had yet been arranged. Care homes were pressured to take them in, to empty hospital beds. Most likely they were also frequent flyers, i.e. shuttling in and out of hospital regularly, as the frail elderly do, getting patched up and returned to homes (only to repeat the process with increasing frequency until something like pneumonia finally carries them/us off).
Care home is a euphemism. Death camps is what they are. You get sent to one if the NHS can’t kill you quickly enough. I speak from experience.
Re: Wales, I don’t think (unless the CMO has done an even more sudden U-Turn that i expect he’ll do once Westminster exerts pressure) masks are compulsory anyway, so not sure why Lidl or Police would be enforcing anything anyway…
Yes, no masks wearing in shops in Wales – yet. The Welsh govt did do a U-turn with transport though. Concerning all these stupid extra rules for transport reported in the Daily Mail, I’ve found NOTHING concerning these in the Welsh Government Covid guidelines, no report on the BBC Wales website, or Wales Online (both of which would normally report on such measures). I’ve got a feeling the Daily Mail is making things up. I have a friend whose husband works for Arriva Wales, so I’ll ask him to confirm or deny these reports.
The CMO of Wales pretty much revealed they felt they had to do it on transport in Wales purely cos of the amount of transport that crosses the border.
Next stop Wales! for a long as possible until the UK’s mass psychosis wears of.
A number of towns in west Wales are facing a “disaster” as they emerge from lockdown due to a number of streets being closed off by a Welsh council in an attempt to enforce social distancing.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardigan-aberaeron-aberystwyth-shopping-ceredigion-18609614
I assume that this scenario is replicated in small towns throughout the UK?
Covered extensively in these tgreads. Yes. It is a pre c19 agenda to choke cars from the road. Agenda 2030, sustainable development goals. A UN global plan you are seeing locally in the changes in your town. The c19 has been used to leap ahead with this process. Active Travel is your news forced abnormal. Meaning electric scooters and bikes or shanks obviously. As pointed out there is a conflict between forcing people onto publuc transport and scaring the public about the death they will cintract on it. This is irreconcilable to me at present. Further on this change in public transport. Consider electric car charging points in inner city streets. It isn’t possible. Here in Edinburgh the ‘experts’ or academics have suggested 5 cars per lamp post can be hooked up, and a system of ride and park (!) Where by you keep your car at the out skirts and catch a bus to it. Rishis green recovery is part of the same goals. Low/zero carbon economy. No I am not a loon. This is years in the planning. See Habitat Conference, UN Agenda 21, Agenda 2030. Mark windows is a very well sourced activist who explains whats going… Read more »
I agree with you. I said from the very start that the virus scam was connected to the climate change loons and the Green Agenda. The globalists are using this despicable scam to reset our society. But try convincing people of this this, you get accused of being a conspiracy theorist, tin foil hat wearer!
Thanks. I’ll check out Mark Windows. Nothing you said there makes you sound like a loon. If there’s evidence out there, and it’s backed up with credible sources, then that’s valuable information as far as I’m concerned. Cheers!
You are totally right. This is global Communitarianism. This IS the most important word in the world NOBODY has heard of. This IS the agenda and THIS IS why we have this fake pandemic. To drive the world towards the UN agenda 2030 sustainable development goals. The banks demand it. No more money for you if you don’t comply. This is a global reset, a global CTRL+ALT+DEL. It is a conspiracy. Its easy to read about it, there is plenty out there to read.
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
It all looks super. However the discerning might want to read up about what it REALLY means.
It’s not very nice at all in my opinion. Perhaps if it wasn’t being driven by some of the most evil people in the world it might be great.
I can really recommend Mark Windows. He is an expert in this area.
Yesterday the small seafront at Clevedon still had barriers across the parking-bays, although the road itself was open for driving along. Ironically about half a mile away, the SaltHouse playing fields car park was open and stuffed full of cars; people walking, mini railway operating, children running around and on swings. I’m not aware of any closed streets. although several have these ruddy social distancing roadworks signs up.
Councils excel in stupidity. In Sudbury Suffolk, the Council has suspended parking in many streets as well as the market square ‘to enforce social distancing’. It could only be social distancing for cars because people park their cars and leave (not sitting on them and make small talk with the other drivers).
One elderly lady with mobility issues (with a blue badge) had to walk long distances to get to the shops. When she tried to park in a loading bay she was told to rather park on double yellow lines.
Social distsncing for cars! Our area has cancelled six drive in music concerts at the show ground. Big music names I’ve never heard of were to play. Cancelled because of fears about social distancing. Or perhaps people werent buying tickets.
Blue badge parking on yellow lines is fine for three hours, provided you’re not causing an obstruction. Driving through roadblocks is something else!
Council stupidity never knows any bounds.
Yes. I did a recce the other night.
My bank is completely closed off. The normal one-way system is a nightmare here at the best of times but they have blocked off some streets.
I must write to my councillors and ask them to send me a route for a disabled person to get access to my bank.
Unfrotunately, they’re on a mission to find loads of positive test results in the shitty districts of the area…….
Yes saw this in shropshire today…closed to all cars and all the roads around too. How are people supposed to reach the businesses?
No comment on the BBC about Professor Gupta’s study.
Does anyone have any contact details for the BBC that are likely to get through to someone who will look at them? They must have some kind of news gathering network still – at least a tiny bit amid the propaganda.
Winston Smith
Truth Section
BBC
Broadcasting House
LONDON
1AA 666
Should do it
You forgot to add c/o The Memory Hole.
Wales is planning for a nightmare scenario with coronavirus this winter
“… local outbreaks, and local lockdowns, would be required as the virus is known to spread more easily in darker, damper conditions and indoors where people are more likely to congregate as the nights draw in.”
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-wales-lockdown-second-wave-18609096
If the authorities are panicking now over a non-event in Leicester, we must assume that they will panic when flu-season hits. I’m convinced there will be another UK-wide Lockdown in October. Any ideas on what we can do to prepare for this? Our only tactic at the moment seems to be to batten down the hatches, weather the storm and then when we emerge after Winter, strive to remove the people who inflicted this misery on us from office and seek to rebuild our shattered country.
They can do what they want, I will not be taking part. The only threat they have is to lock me up, but if they have already taken my liberty away how does that work?
Clog the prisons up with people eating free meals….. great idea
Resist, refuse, say no
Non violent civil disobedience
If they do have another lockdown, and a more severe one, I’m worried that I’ll end up in a detention camp somewhere. Because I will not and cannot comply. I cannot accept that 2+2=5. And I will not and cannot pay any fines they impose. But where does that leave my family, when I cannot help support them? Will there be a job waiting for me when I get out of prison? Will there be a right of appeal?
No one’s going to prison, unless they really ask for it.
Johnson et al. are in a far weaker position than most people realise, including themselves.
The economy is tanking.Their financial position is deteriorating by the hour. It’s becoming increasingly clear that there will be no V shaped recovery – permanent and substantial damage is baked in the pie.
They are wholly dependent on the largesse of the BoE, and the noises coming from the Governor suggest that he will eventually pull the plug on QE, or at least use the threat of it to compel Johnson to actually get the economy going again rather indulging in ill-informed populist gestures.
Aside from numbers being stubborn things (2+2 does not equal 5), I sense widespread civil disobedience on the way.
And the MSM is in deep trouble too. It’s almost a cliche to say that in a downturn the first thing companies cut back on is advertising. I recall the Express laying a load of staff off a week or so ago, and someone posted here that the Guardian has done likewise in the last couple of days.
Time is running down on Johnson’s nonsense.
I really hope you’re right!
The Daily Mirror announced redundancies a week or two ago and the Beeb are laying off staff as well.
But people have been going to prison.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-52403599
I hope you’re right about the widespread civil disobedience. It’s already started in the Netherlands.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-netherlands-protes/dutch-police-detain-400-after-protest-over-coronavirus-restrictions-idUKKBN23S0NQ
I’ve seen video evidence of masked thugs spilling out of a police van at one of these Dutch protests, inciting violence at a peaceful demonstration, then falling back to the police lines, to let the riot squad go in and do their work (check out Uk Column News, 15 July, 20:15 – Netherlands: further draconian regulations introduced – public protest follows
Fascism rising: Dutch police appear to be deliberately provoking a riot…).
Hadn’t seen that! But it was the IoMan, and there were additional factors. Clearly spitting, or attempting to spit, at a police officer is only done by someone who wants to go to prison, and is vile.
I don’t recall anyone being put in the slammer here unless there were serious aggravating factors.
Exactly. Non compliance with masks in shops will only be used to break up gangs of rowdy teenagers, deal with shoplifters or similar. Bit like stop and search. You only need mutter ‘exempt, got a condition’ and ignore thereafter.
I was at the spot in the Netherlands. Until the thugs arrived everything WAS peaceful; police and protesters respected eachother.
Then the (police) thugs arrived and things got nasty. Funny though, dispite the video evidence the Dutch government will not investigate the police actions of that day…now why am I not surprised?
I saw that. Some very disturbing things happening in NL.
Agree Edna really hope TJN is right. There are going be be swathes of the population out of work out of money out on the streets
An economically straitened government is a weak government, and in politics there’s no room for the weak. When people feel financial pain – which won’t be long – they will turn on this lot with a vengeance. QE can only postpone the inevitable.
The only reason they have got away with this is because people liked being paid 80% for having a long holiday. When the money runs out attitudes will change. I find that ALL lockdown Nazis are those whose incomes are secure. Even for those working from home their companies will soon work out if people can do the job at home why not outsource the job to india where someone will do the job for a fraction of the salary.
All roads out of Dover will be a total snarl up after 31 December, deal or not. A coincidental Kent lockdown, because of say an ‘outbreak,’ which only needs to be 2 people testing positive in the same setting i. e.workplace, school, care home, say in Ashford (second only to Leicester for infection rates at end June, spared their fate due to a solidly Conservative MP and council) would help enormously…
“Why nobody in England will ever recover from Covid 19”, just covered in full Radio 4 Today 08.20 Speigelhater called the revelation ‘extraordinary’
Following on from the tweet I saw in the Daily Telegraph, I have sent them this email:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to complain about this:
https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1283719147998916608
It is contemptible that this and the whole article was ever written let alone cleared for publication. Who authorised this?
You of all people should not be encouraging this behaviour which is redolent of Nazi Germany, East Germany and Stalinist Russia. The fact that the measures that are currently in place is already eroding the bonds of society and this article is irresponsible by encouraging that further weakening of bond and trust between people. You are encouraging wannabe Hitlers and Stalins to harass and intimidate people who don’t owe them an explanation.
Because of this I will be boycotting your newspaper. The media have behaved disgracefully throughout this crisis and this article is another nail in the coffin of an institution.
Thank you and I look forward to your response.
Yours faithfully,
etc, etc….
Good letter. I still have a Telegraph subscription (although I’ve cancelled it three times and restarted) but it’s really so that I can keep up to date on international travel arrangements. Once September comes I will be cancelling the subscription for good, even though the Telegraph have actually had some good columnists.
Thank you CarrieAH. That article made my blood boil and that’s why I was compelled to write that email. It’s unethical and the height of irresponsible journalism.
Over the past few years I thought that significant strides had been made regarding public awareness of hidden mental health illnesses. As evidenced by the plethora of passive aggressive memes and posts on social media and the internet directed at non-mask wearers over the past week I was clearly wrong. People suffering from extreme stress and anxiety log in to their social media only to read updates from friends and family etc, people they thought they could rely on, scolding non-mask wearers, calling them selfish or worse. Many of these same friends will have in the past posted updates regarding poor mental health being an unseen illness. Yes it’s unseen and evidently forgotten as soon as a perceived threat to one’s own health raises its head. A virtually nonexistent threat, but that’s digressing. Mindfulness of the feelings of anxiety suffering friends goes right out of the window when finger wagging (and much worse) updates are posted on Facebook particularly.
I ask, who are really the selfish ones?
That’s why I’ve muted people I know including family who virtue signal with their muzzles on social media and the irony is not lost on me because these were the same people going on and on about mental health and compassion for those who are living with them. Not to mention the overuse of the word “kindness” and “be kind”
It’s grotesque and repulsive.
For me it demonstrates that their previous mental health awareness updates were borne out of virtuosity rather than sincerity. They will be the same people who say that they are there any time for anyone suffering, but in reality would inwardly sigh and groan if they really did get asked for support from a FB friend.
Agree. It was all to show how good and caring they are when they are actually nothing of the sort.
I am not on any social media. I don’t have any friends.
I find screaming ‘fuck you’ at them helps
Sadly it appears that once fear is instilled in some people, kindness goes out of the window.
I could not agree more.
Yep, hate is not the opposite of love. Fear is.
This has been going on prior to crazy virus world. For me the same idiots on Facebook posting you must wear a mask to save others are the exact same people who during the Brexit referendum would be there posting how leaving the EU was a terrible idea and it would be the end of life as we know it. Soical media is a very nasty place a lot of the time. It shouldn’t be but you tend to get the virtuous people basically telling you how to run your life. In this case I think the pro mask community are actually all so afraid of either getting the virus or giving it to someone else that they feel the need to constantly tell people about it. Thinking back to the guy Tony who wrote to Toby to say that mandatory makes made him suicidal and then he puts in the comments that for him that was the end of the line and he’d end his life. Presumably he felt he had no one to turn to who would listen to his viewpoint, potentially on social media, so the only place he felt safe to air his feelings was on… Read more »
Hear, hear!!! The selfies are disturbing, why in God’s name would you want a photo of yourself where no-one can see your face and expression? Or why do you want to model a piece of cloth that pretty much render you speechless? I don’t care if the muzzle is made out of “cutesy” floral prints or those with cartoon characters, its still sinister and distressing.
It’s all about virtue signalling and emotional blackmail, as if to say I wear my mask because I care, why aren’t you doing the same? Don’t you care?
They can go take a hike is all I can say.
For the same reason people go all the way to some of the most beautiful places on earth, and then take a selfie where the only thing you can see is their gigantic face filling the entire photo. Vanity
Nearly 36 years ago I saved up my pennies, climbed aboard a 747, and set off for a month long holiday in Australia. Dad insisted I took his camera, and despite having never used it before, ended up bringing back 22 rolls of 35mm film – nearly 700 pictures! But I got a right bollocking from Mum because the ONLY one which in which I appeared was a shot of my feet, while standing on the Great Barrier Reef…
That’s a good point and you see that a lot on social media too.
I have seen quite few young ladies taking selfies of themselves wearing face-nappies. When I have been out and about. Some probably did some quite good photos judging by the care they were taking when positioning themselves against thier chosen backgrounds and the expressions they were trying to pull WITH THEIR EYES!
Lol. Brainwashed idiots.
I was attacked by 2 of them as I came out (unmasked) of a pub today…to quote Denis Healey it was like being savaged by a dead sheep!
I’ve seen them and to be honest any expression coming out of their eyes looked rather forced.
I hadn’t heard of the concept of “hidden mental illnesses”, but I expect that it is another big pharma promoted drive to get people on more drugs.
I strongly believe that a lot of individuals (not all) who consider themselves to have some sort of mental illness are delusional – which of course could be seen as something of a contradiction!
Their “illness” is the fact that they believe that they are ill !
Some Eastern philosophies promote meditation and mindfulness, which, if properly understood, and practiced regularly and correctly, can greatly reduce, or even almost entirely eliminate mental distress.
I have always been crazy. I think this is why I am immune to their bullshit.
This is a good point. One thing we all can do, myself included, is not use the shirthand terms for people we are making a point against. Lauging at all who wear masks for example. Some are truly scared for their lives and don’t have the understanding to realise as sceptical people do. Clearly there are others who wear masks for narcissistic reasons and have no comprehension of the damage thier actions bring to us all. If we respect each other we can truly progress.
Thats a very optimistic view!
Too right! I suffered extreme anxiety when I had to wear one. There are no Nationwide TV ads extolling our courage in having to suffer this anxiety.
Given yesterday’s events at (and far away from) the cricket, we should just borrow the theme tune from The Archers.