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Postcard From Nordrhein-Westfalen
I’m publishing another postcard today, this one from Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany. The author, who has written under a pseudonym, is a professional musician and life has been tough, as you would imagine. But as he explains, he’s been more fortunate that most.
I live in a smallish town in West Germany and am a musician. Needless to say work has been pretty hard to come by but luckily I have been able to continue some of the teaching and we are back to some type of normalcy, face to face without a mask, after having utilised Skype in less than optimal circumstances. I have also benefited from a emergency state loan some of which may have to be paid back, any of the funds not paid back will be subjected to tax as income.
I am one of the lucky ones. I have a few English friends who are not as fortunate. One – an Echo winner of a few years ago – has seen his income dry up almost completely as he does not teach, lives in a different state where his loan is much less generous and has only a few recording opportunities. The rest were cancelled long ago. Another works for an orchestra which tours the world. At the moment they are trying to find ways of possibly giving concerts locally in the near future. Needless to say a full compliment on stage is impossible and the restrictions still being enforced mean the audience would be reduced to a figure of around 25%.
Worth reading in full.
Template Letter to Object to Mandatory Face Coverings in Schools
The pressure group Them For Us, which has been tirelessly campaigning for schools to re-open, has created a template letter for parents who want to object to mandatory face coverings in schools when they re-open in September. I’m reporting it in full below.
Dear [Governor of School, copying Headteacher and relevant Local Authority]
I am writing in relation to the [newsletter] from school dated XX July 2020 (the “Newsletter”). In the Newsletter, you explained amongst other things that:
“[insert relevant rule requiring wearing of masks in school.]”
(the “policy”)
I and my child have strong objections to this policy. I do not consent to [name of child] wearing a face covering in school.
I must also stress that I understand there to be serious legal problems with your policy and that, if implemented, your policy would be potentially subject to legal redress including by way of proceedings in the Administrative Court.
Public Health England does not, based on current evidence, recommend the use of face coverings in schools and this is reflected in the recently issued guidance (which you are required as a matter of law to have regard to) from the Department for Education:
“They are not required in schools as pupils and staff are mixing in consistent groups, and because misuse may inadvertently increase the risk of transmission. There may also be negative effects on communication and thus education.”
(the “Guidance”)
Your policy – the requirement for pupils to wear masks – is contrary to the Guidance, and could lead to the adverse educational outcomes referred to in that Guidance. Mandatory mask wearing is likely to have a disproportionate and damaging effect upon students. In particular, I am concerned about the effect face coverings have on:
* Breathing, especially if the mask is worn for long periods or during sport
* Restriction of interaction with peers compounding the existing mental health damage
* Limitations to learning and educational outcomes
* Increase in anxiety as a result of an alien environment and behaviour
In legal terms, the policy is accordingly at present irrational and disproportionate and therefore unlawful. You have failed to provide cogent and intelligible reasons as to why you consider that the school should depart from the Guidance.
In light of the serious welfare, health and learning, and legal issues at stake, you must reverse this policy immediately, and issue new school guidance to that effect. If you fail to do so, you are required to explain the policy in further detail, in writing, including providing me with a copy of all risk assessments you have undertaken in relation to such measure, and all supporting evidence by reference to contemporaneous internal documents.
I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible and certainly within seven working days of receipt of this letter.
Yours,
Elusive Report Found
A reader has found the elusive report I blogged about yesterday and which shows more than 200,000 people dying as a result of the lockdown in a reasonable worst case scenario. It’s here. It was published last April, but received no attention until Sir Patrick Vallance mentioned it when testifying before the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee last Thursday. Makes for very interesting reading.
Number of People Testing Positive Dwindles to Almost Nothing
As the Government’s propaganda shifts from focusing on the daily death toll (approaching single digits) to new cases, a reader has looked at the number of people testing positive as a percentage of the total tested (see above). Turns out, the percentage of people testing positive is also rapidly approaching zero.
Bull Stat on the BBC
A reader flagged up a bit of idiocy in BBC News story:
There was an interesting Covid bull stat for you in aside on the BBC News story on govt pay increases today. They suggest that that more than 300 NHS workers have fallen to Covid 19. If we assume it’s 400, and there are 1.4m NHS employees, that is a fatality rate of 0.03% at this point, i.e. really very low given that presumably much of the NHS was at greater risk of exposure than the population as a whole, and fairly reliable given the decent amount of testing for health workers.
Chris Whitty Admits Virus in Retreat Before Lockdown
Chris Whitty appeared before the House of Commons Heath Committee yesterday and admitted that the lockdown may not have been necessary after all. According to the Times
The coronavirus epidemic was probably already in retreat before full lockdown was imposed, the Chief Medical Officer for England has said as he insisted there was no “huge delay” in government action.
Interestingly, he put a different spin on Sir Patrick Vallance’s testimony to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee last Thursday, which was widely interpreted as Sir Patrick claiming Sage had advised the Government to lock down a week earlier than it did.
Last week Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, said that Sage had advised on March 16 that more draconian measures were needed. Professor Whitty said today that Sir Patrick had not been referring to full legal lockdown but the advice on avoiding needless travel and socialising that Mr Johnson issued that day.
“Quite a lot changed that led to R going below one well before, or to some extent before, March 23”, when full lockdown was imposed, Professor Whitty said.
More Under-25 Year-Olds Died From Influenza in 16 Weeks in 2014/15 Than COVID-19 This Year
There’s a fascinating table on the website of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication (see above) comparing the data on different causes of death in 2020 up July 3rd with the data for a typical 16-week period in previous years. It shows, among other things, that more under-49 year-olds died of suicide and injury/poisonings in 2018 than Covid in 2020.
Round-Up
Here’s a round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘A second Great Depression? Unemployment crisis hits big cities hard‘ – Depressing news from America about the devastating economic impact of the state lockdowns
- ‘Masks Likely Do Not Inhibit Viral Spread‘ – Forensic analysis by Dr Joseph Mercola
- ‘A New Understanding of Herd Immunity‘ – Good piece in the Atlantic suggesting the Herd Immunity Threshold is less than 20%
- ‘We may already have herd immunity – an interview with Professor Sunetra Gupta‘ – Professors Gupta gives another interview in which she says we may have achieved herd immunity already
- ‘Nine out of ten leading causes of death were below average in June – or were they just wrongly attributed to covid?‘ – Interesting bit of analysis in InProportion2
- ‘Harmful lies spread easily due to lack of UK law‘ – BBC report on the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee report which argues that the spread of “misinformation” about coronavirus, e.g. that it originated in a Chinese biolab, makes the case for state regulation of social media even more urgent
- ‘Repeal the decision to implement compulsory face coverings in English shops‘ – Sing this petition on the UK Government petitions site and get the issue debated in Parliament
- ‘Medics and media stoke fear of virus “second wave”‘ – Another piece by the excellent Will Jones in Conservative Woman
- ‘Covid could become the new common cold?’ – Surprisingly sound piece from by UnHerd‘s Tom Chivers
- ‘Coronavirus deaths drop by almost one third in a week, ONS figures show‘ – Telegraph report on the latest ONS stats. The virus accounted for less than five per cent of all deaths in the week ending July 10th
- ‘SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell immunity in cases of COVID-19 and SARS, and uninfected controls‘ – Important peer-reviewed paper in Nature about the likely immunity to COVID-19 conferred by T cells
- ‘What It’s Like to be Cancelled‘ – Podcast for the Critic featuring Free Speech Union members Mike Mcculloch and Nick Buckley, as well as yours truly
- ‘Why is the Chancellor giving teachers a pay rise for failing to teach our children?‘ – Ross Clark poses a good question in the Telegraph
- ‘A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers‘ – BMJ study shows cloth masks are… drumroll… completely useless. The attempts by the BMJ to caveat this (“this study does not apply to COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2”) are laughable
- ‘Health experts have derailed Britain’s post-Covid recovery and transformed us into faceless paranoid creatures‘ – Excellent stuff from the Sun’s Trevor Kavanagh
Theme Tune Suggestions By Readers
Only one today: “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath.
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened:
A couple of months 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.
We created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums, but they became a spam magnet so we’ve temporarily closed them. However, we can open them again if some readers volunteer to be moderators. If you’d like to do this, please email Ian Rons, the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster, here.
Gone Fishin’
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation recently to pay for the upkeep of this site. If you feel like donating, however small the sum, please click here. I’m on holiday in Italy until Saturday, July 25th and won’t be doing my usual amount of work on the site until I return. If you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here.
Salem 2.0
I thought I’d give my readers something to chew on while I’m away: 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 recedes – although that’s happening more slowly than any of us hoped. It’s a work in progress, so don’t expect too much.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Thanks Toby!
The trevor Kavanagh article is awesome. Good for the widely-read Sun!
Yeah, and look at. the comments. Those from zombies have been sturdily down-voted.
If the Page 3 masses are revolting (…) there is hope!
Hope is out there!
Those comments are encouraging, your right. Amazing coming from Sun readers.
Why ‘amazing’ from Sun readers?
Why? lol
That was an excellent article and this pretty much describes well what I’ve been seeing:
Should be circulated more widely and the architects of this shit-show should be forced to read this.
The article states : Health experts have derailed Britain’s post-Covid recovery and transformed us into faceless paranoid creatures. But it’s not the health experts that have mandated compulsory muzzling – in fact they have been very circumspect about the benefits of face nappies. I believe this has been mandated because of perceived public opinion. Excellent article though.
Fair point. But most of the Covicrap has originated with health ‘experts’. Who are actually killers, of mind, body and spirit.
The health “experts” are hand picked for the advice they are expected to give to fit the “narrative”. Like the dodgy dossier.
Puritan oppressors, masquerading as our liberators.
In a dramatic U-turn, US President Donald Trump has …… urged Americans to wear face masks …..
“We are asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask,” he said. “Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. They will have an effect and we need everything we can get.”
Torygraph live 9.46am
and so trump plays us
just like the rest of the political establishmet
Yup, I was disappointed to hear Trump succumb to the mere exposure effect
More likely it is Trump playing the US press.
They automatically oppose everything he says, so now that he has said face masks are ok, they will attempt to discredit facemasks.
Remember the only reason the US left wing backed muzzles is because Trump opposed blanket use of them.
Perceived public opinion and lobby groups working against us to force social change…masks4all.org.uk
It’s all out of the SPI-B playbook. The ‘health experts’ just take the money and spout the nonsense. Contradictory is fine – just leaves us all more confused and feeling powerless. Remember though that we’re not!
About time The Sun printed something like this. The BASTARDS.
At this stage, I really think I have almost stopped caring. Everything is really really broken. It’s too late. Anything I can do is futile. The people need to live with what they have created. The people need to get themselves out of this.
To hell with it all.
Not futile! We are not alone. That’s becoming increasingly obvious.
Our quiet resistance sets an example. Talk to people, educate them. Many just need to know they are not alone either.
Get outside. Breathe. Stop trying to fix world, fix yourself first. 🙂
This comment deserves three gold stars!!!
On the rare occasion I look at The Sun comments section it looks like it is populated by uneducated / or paid trolls who put down any lockdown sceptics with a barrage of abuse and threats. I wonder if this is the work of the 77th Brigade? or if the readers are really like this?
https://www.wkyt.com/2020/07/18/hardin-co-couple-gets-ankle-monitors-after-covid-19-quarrel-with-health-dept/
Hardin Co. couple gets ankle monitors after COVID-19 quarrel with health dept. – wkyt.com
Sheesh!
Land of the free?
Home of the brave – or the deluded.
Ron Paul Exposes Big Holes In The COVID ‘Spike’ Narrative
http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/july/20/big-holes-in-the-covid-spike-narrative/
Hospitals failed to test staff for coronavirus because they feared sending too many home, MPs told
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/21/hospitals-feared-testing-staff-coronavirus-avoid-sending-home/
They could write the definitive textbook on how NOT to handle an epidemic!
Y o u ‘ d e v e n t h i n k i t w a s p a r t o f a p l a n . . .
Why is the Chancellor giving teachers a pay rise for failing to teach our children? AND COMMENTS
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/21/chancellor-giving-teachers-pay-rise-failing-teach-children/
Please quote one or two.
Top two comments:
“What is Sunak thinking! Rewarding one of the key sectors of which the majority failed dismally to do their jobs during the pandemic. So many other people have lost all their income or taken large cuts, as well as so many trying to work as well as teach and care for their children.
I fear that those being paid by the public purse are faring too well and those in the private sector too badly. This is a new divide.”
“Good article. This Government is becoming more Socialist by the day – throwing taxpayers money around like confetti to the Public Sector who don’t deserve it.”
Agree 100% re teachers but can’t agree with the blanket public vs private sector statement. Far too simplistic.
I know tradesmen that have said they are folding their companies the very second the bounce back loans are recalled. I also know minimum wage local authority carers that have been truly shat on.
It irritates the hell out of me too but as I was saying, there are public sector workers that have worked through this as well (properly – not from home). If I had my way, I’d end furlough and recall all loans tomorrow. See how anxious everyone is about returning to work then…..
Rishi doesn’t do it for me I am afraid.
Agreed. Teachers are top of my ‘hit list’ as they’ve been having a jolly at the expense of the development of our nation’s children. How they can accept that pay rise with a straight face beggars belief.
Regarding the politicians – the term Augean stable springs to mind.
Augean Stables applies to the entire Establishment as far as I’m concerned! Neither has one single area of our public sector proven itself fit for purpose. I accept many good people work within it, but severe overhaul is long, long overdue.
I suspect Sunak is trying to soften them up so that they don’t refuse to go back in Sept on the excuse that it’s ‘not safe’. It won’t work – the more they are given, the more they will want…
Quangos, Charities, MPs, Public Health England and the National Health Service immediately spring to mind. Feel free to add to the list.
Just to mention tthe implication of the Dolan case ruling – schools were never shut. Too much for my brain, but exactly why were teachers not showing up for work?
2+2=5.
Some teachers have been working throughout, of course.
Yes, my daughter-in-law is a reception class teacher. She has been working throughout and has been providing work for her pupils who have not been in school, something which is very difficult to do for reception class children. As we have been caring for our reception-aged grandson throughout lockdown, she has also been sending work for him to do as his own school has sent nothing.
If you get a chance, listen to PMs questions from today.
Winnie the Pooh features, is this government in Britain in the 2020.
On the other hand maybe not listen until your blood is at a bit less pressure.
The whole cabinet are worse than the idiots we see on “The Apprentice”
kh why don’t you have a pricing policy for council workers who smugly work from their back garden pay more, and those in private sector pay less and more reduction if lost job.
Probably not ethical, legal or feasible but would take the smirk off their faces!
Certain public facing council staff here are due back Oct 1st. I am raising a lynching posse for the afternoon of Oct 1st.
My point. These various start dates are entirely arbitrary to the national need. But everyone already knows that of course.
I agree with you, the public v private issue is complex, but this is what it will descend into come the Autumn. When some millions from the private sector are made redundant post furlough or compelled to take pay cuts there will be fury at public sector pay rises.
Of course anyone with any sense will be wondering where the money comes from with the inevitable decrease in GDP, decrease in tax revenue and increase in welfare bill.
I’m dreading finding out.
My state pension just about covers stuff like council tax and broadband, plus yearlys like house and car insurance.
It doesn’t come anywhere near covering my very simple everyday living costs and I need to top up a fair chunk each year from my “savings” which will no doubt be plundered.
Hopefully some of your savings are in gold, Cheese ?
Those savings could well be inflated away.
Other possibilities include bail-ins, but I’m not sure that will happen as the government bunged money to banks to prop the private sector up (which they dutifully didn’t do).
Don’t worry though, the mask-wearing masses have carefully weighed up all eventualities with even greater diligence than the government.
I said from the start that the Corona responses have deepened the divide between civil servants and cs final salary pensioners the one hand and the rest.
This was and is even more pronounced in Germany, France etc..
Germany is one of the most indebted countries in the world if public sector pensions were capitalized, for example.
The Lockdown related destructions have already given those
people a 15%+ relative pay rise over most others, not to mention the even more increased safety of it and their income, and a much larger pay rise over those who really suffer and who are constantly asked by these lazy destroyers of their livelihoods to continue to show ‘solidarity’, while they themselves show none.
I have also stated from the start that this will eventually lead to a civil war between the have no mores and the still haves, whose start date Sunak has now just brought forward.
Besides the insulting injustice of this, it is simply not possible to finance, as the crushed private sector will eventuay have to generate all the funds for all government spending and borrowing.
And in the long run, what cannot be cannot be.
Interesting look at the money on Jeremy Vines show just now.
If you earn £1 per second it would take 11 days to earn £1 million.
To earn £1 billion (UK presumably) would take 34 years, scary
I have two children in school. One doing A Levels and one should have sat GCSE’s. Only two teachers out of about 12 seem to be spending a reasonable amount of time engaging with the children on a regular basis. One other is producing some sort of work and nothing from the rest. It’s disgusting.
Schools are crap. Look at the millions of high-calibre of brainwashed idiot they have filled the country with. Obedient compliant drones with no knowledge of anything that matters, no critical thinkers.
I really think that if millions of people just took their kids out of school and home-schooled in 10 years time we might see a renascence in the standard of education of our young people.
Schools are like prisons for children, even more so now. I would not send any child of mine to any school now. I feel lucky we don’t have any children. Really.
I homeschooled my son for just over a year and with little effort he was way ahead (at least a year) when he returned.
Plus, I really don’t want them to go to university because of all the bull shot that’s going on in them at the moment…
People come out of university now more stupid than they went in.They cant even say what a woman is.
I fail to understand why the left wing teacher unions hate the Tory government so much. This Tory government is so left wing they should be applauding them. Mrs Thatcher would have given them performance related pay. That would have resulted in an 80% pay cut.
The teachers who didn’t rise to the challenge should give their pay rise to the unsung carers COMMENTS
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/teachers-didnt-rise-challenge-should-give-pay-rise-unsung-carers/
The Covid-19 vaccine news is promising, but don’t get your hopes up
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/times2/the-covid-19-vaccine-news-is-promising-but-dont-get-your-hopes-up-3p75fkgrh
Why would I have “hopes” for a Covid vaccine when that will just create more opportunities for novel pathogens to jump the species barrier?
Not to mention all the MSM and covhitlers jumping up and down trying to force mandatory vaccination!
I think this will happen too, although I don’t think the vaccine will actually work at all, so it probably won’t.
Why would you want an unlikely vaccine for this mild infection?
Boeing Running Out Of Space For Newly Built 787 Dreamliners
https://simpleflying.com/boeing-running-out-of-space-for-newly-built-787-dreamliners/
Sad for them.
Hey, did you see this in the same publication?
https://simpleflying.com/united-uniforms-to-masks/
Have the Remainiacs given up on reversing Brexit or do they really think they can undermine the Referendum vote with their version of the Russia hoax and get a rerun?
I guess they might have a game plan of getting Starmer’s Labour (ie Blair’s Labour) to cancel the result (with the agreement of the EU) and reinstate our EU membership to be quickly followed by a rigged rerun involving a gerrymandered voting roll which will deliver a Remain victory.
All countries try and influence opinion in other countries. We do it ourselves. We saw during the Referendum campaign that both the US President and the Irish Tsaioeach tried to influence our vote. Whilst I very much dislike such influence it is a fact of life and countries like Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar and Iran have also had a v. insiduous effect on our country’s culture and politics. China’s influence via WHO on how we deal with the Covid epidemic has been very concerning. The focus on Russia has a malign and calculated purpose.
We’ve given up, and accept the shitshow that will ensue, along with the shitshow we’re currently enduring, because people (maybe you?)thought it was a good idea to vote for a known liar and wastrel, and believed his bullshit about £350m for the NHS. There are many of us on this forum who are not dyed in the wool tories, and who wanted to stay part of Europe, so why don’t you cut the insults and focus on the topics.
‘cut the insults … shitshow, liar, wastrel, bullshit, toreees’
BJ is of course the new Blair.
Suggested reading, Varoufakis ‘And the Weak Suffer What They Must?’ and Mody ‘Euro Tragedy’ to start.
Your suggested reading is patronising. Stating that Boris is a liar is fact, not insult, and if you don’t think our current situation is a shitshow I wonder what you’re doing haunting these pages.
Emma, don’t know if you’ve noticed this before but it may come as a shock to you that Politicians both sides of the divide lie.
You can talk about the “£350m for the NHS” but what about leaving the EU causing “World War 3” and the many economic scaremongering stories that filled our screen during the lead up.
Even if people didn’t vote for a Politician 1 who is a “known liar and wastrel”, they would’ve only then voted for Politician 2 who is a “known liar and wastrel”.
So what choice do people have? Either way you end up with a shitshow!
No, I voted for Corbyn, and I don’t think many people would accuse him of being a liar or a wastrel.
What an extraordinarily idiotic comment – what about, just as a starter all his lies related to the anti-semitism issue and his support for terrorist organisations? He is one of the vilest, most hate-filled liars in the country!
You clearly need to stop swallowing the narrative on that, as you have done on Covid.
This “Corbyn is an anti-semite” trope has pretty much got us into this mess. Pushed by every media platform in the elections Enabling a Tory landslide, giving them total control to roll out their fascistic agenda.
Corbyn is not an anti Semite, he is just critical of the state of Israel and the way they treat Palestinians.
It was actually the similarity of the establishment media falsifications about Corbyn that primed me to be alert when the same sort of fabrications and decontextualised exaggerations began to emerge over Covid.
When you see the dirty fingermarks of the security infrastructure all over a narrative – be it two ex-heads of MI6 dancing in partnership , a SAGE propaganda sub-group or 77th Brigade – you should start sniffing for dead cats.
He also just happened to support every past communist regime like Cuba and Venezuala. The man is an utter scum bag and I met him a few times when I was much younger and he was the same then as was McDonnell and Abbot.
Lest you forget Emma, Corbyn’s response to BoJo’s lunacy was to say “see? This insane spending in emergency circumstances totally justifies my economic policy”
I spoiled my ballot in the last election as I couldn’t endorse the tories either but Corbyn would be leading us into economic oblivion faster if anything, and that’s ignoring issues such as the proposal to let non british citizens vote in general elections which was put unveiled at the labour party conference. Many are angry with Johnson but it’s not like there was a good alternative.
Well you have him in the persona of Johnson so be glad.
Ye gods, not the £350m story again – this had no influence on the outcome of the vote AND it has been adjudicated as typical politico-speak. By comparison, the lies and Project Fear from the Remoaners undoubtedly scared some folk into supporting staying in the EUrinal.
Remoaners, remainiacs, EUrinal, ‘it has been adjudicated’ ffs grow up.
Emma. I am glad you post to LS. The same for ian and Julian skipper and all.
Each of you make this page stronger by differences. Thanks to each of you for adding to my own gloomy 2020. Not so keen on arguements because here on LS at least we have more more in common than what devides us, as the saying goes. But genuinely I appreciate all comments – i even miss grantm.
I’m not dyed in the wool, but did vote Tory last time out, and voted Leave. They have been a huge disappointment, but can you honestly say we would be better off, in relation to covid, under any other party? Or if we were staying in the EU? I think that’s a tough argument to make stick.
Anyway, there are few enough of us that I think we should try to focus on what unites us rather than what divides us. If Corbyn came back as leader, recognised lockdown had been a huge mistake and promised to get back to normal, now, and I really believed he’d do it, I would vote for him. Ditto for any other party. This virus madness seems a million times more important than every other political question, to me, at the moment.
It’s academic isn’t it? Who knows. I do think if you voted for Boris, and then he turns out to be useless, lazy and incompetent, well what did you expect? Maybe Corbyn would have taken the same path, but I don’t think he would have lied and dissembled his way through the last four months.
They’re all the same, how can you be so naive?
I think party politics is totally irrelevant now.Whoever was in charge I think we would have the same outcome.Has the labour response in wales or the SNP in Scotland been any different.Even the Brexit argument is redundant now.The divide is now between authoritarians and libertarians.
Hear hear.
If there is ever to be another general election, what will be the turnout? A record low is my prediction.
All depends on the economic fallout.People who have lost jobs and homes are unlikely to be apathetic.And if they allow us to vote again.
I didn’t expect miracles from him, certainly. Corbyn may be more honest, I just disagreed with a lot of his policies. Labour have been pretty solidly pro-lockdown etc. Anyway, as you say, academic, would rather focus on where to go from here.
I agree, Starmer is also a disappointment but then I didn’t vote for him.
It would be hard to imagine anyone more bungling and incompetent than the government we have but at least they are trying to get out of it. There’s a bigger risk with a Corbyn government that they would have used the situation as an excuse for cash raids of the “rich”.
Brexit sowed the seeds for this calamity. It was the thin end of the wedge.
I’m not sure how you get to that conclusion – maybe you could elaborate? Similar madness exists across the world. But unless it informs where we go from here, maybe it doesn’t matter too much.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS if people vote for a bunch of Fascists who have no opposition. I did try to warn people. Obviously I was just a conspiracy theorist.
I spoiled my ballot paper. Voting is pointless. Our electoral system is totally broken.
2-6 yes it is broken. You could have said if people dont vote you end up with the same.
Look to the west. Is Biden and Trump the best that 250 million people have? Boris/Corbyn the best we have? It is rigged in the sense that the people are presented with an illusiin of choice, the globalist goals have continuenty with succesive government from either side.
On the point of ww3. It is the politicians of the world that cause the wars. The people of the world are mostly not interested in fighting.
A spoilt ballot paper is not the same as a no vote. They are counted.
Yes spoilt are counted. But ineffectual. If people spoil or don’t vote the result will be the same. Not at all to criticise anyone who does either.
The citizens assemblies are another example of the pointlessness. Democracy is broken. Put selected (ahem at random) public groups in charge of policy. Pump selected citizens with government ‘independent’ information to guide their choice. Then get a policy decided upon by 1000 citizens. The system of governance remains broken.
I say spoilt vote or no vote amount to the same as voting for a party. Taxes up with less to show for them. More national debt, less freedom and wars carried out in our nations names.
Hitchens theory was that if enough people stopped voting Conservative, that party would die or be replaced or reborn by a small-c conservative party that reflected people’s conservative views. Sort of what UKIP did in a way – forced their hand on a specific issue, by threatening them with electoral irrelevance. It may be too late, and may never have worked, but I think there’s a strong argument that Hitchens was right.
I voted Remain, and I’m pretty disgusted with how the ‘remainiacs’ have weaponised lockdown to attack the government. However, I disagree that Russian interference is run of the mill and I think the government have behaved appallingly. Brexiteers have made hay with ‘democracy’, and I accept that remain lost, however, I think it is a mistake to brush off Russia like this. And whilst I now care more about protecting our institutions and the integrity of our system (see: Lockdown!!!), we are a broad church here, all united in our scepticism, and we need more and more people to join us. I don’t think it helps to be so combative. A very turbulent world is approaching, politically especially, I think it’s incumbant on us all to be respectful, even when we disagree. I think, give it 12 months, brexit really will be the least of your worries.
I haven’t looked into this Russia thing much – assumed it was mainly just a distraction tactic. Maybe I am wrong. I’m no great fan of Russia, but unsure why they’d be so interested in us. Anyway, without any Russian help we have managed to utterly screw ourselves up on our own.
The teachers who didn’t rise to the challenge should give their pay rise to the unsung carers COMMENTS
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/teachers-didnt-rise-challenge-should-give-pay-rise-unsung-carers/
A load of reasons why wearing a mask is USELESS in protecting ANYBODY against COVIDS and why wearing one is INSANE!
https://www.primarydoctor.org/masks-not-effect
Good summary, from a quick scan. A lot of the research sounded like it was undertaken in lab conditions. Real world conditions will be far worse. Probably 60% will never change or wash their masks and 95% will be fiddling with their masks all the time, so facilitating face-finger-surface transmission routes for infections. Go exempt (if you have a valid reason- and you probably do) and treat mask wearers like lepers!
‘treat mask wearers like lepers’ indeed but make Them do the Covid Quick Step if they’re so worried.
Why are leaders around the world now mandating muzzles? Macron is clamping down. It really concerns me that Trump, the avid anti-masker, is now wearing one and looks set to make them mandatory. What is going on?
Yes – a very worrying development that he seems to be coming under the thumb of other powers-that-be: what levers do they have to pull on him and what next from him? Signing up to the Paris Agreement?
One doesn’t get to a top position unless one is blackmailable, intimidateable, or mind controlled. Or a combination of these things.
Can anyone tell me what has happened with the recently introduced forums on this site? I can’t see any link to them. But some familiar names are missing from this comment thread which makes me think they must be on the forums…
Me to, tried the search function which just brought me back to the main page.
Try this link:
https://lockdownsceptics.com/
The we’re closed because they were spammed. Toby mentions above – they can be opened if people volunteer to moderate.
This is better though – the forums were a bit random and not hugely contributed for many topics (last time I looked)
Yes, a forum needs a certain critical mass of activity to actually get going and it never got there. Agree that this page is great, but it starts to become unusable once it hits around 700 comments, which tends to be by around 6 in the evening every day.
I don’t disagree. Just to add a small coment that perhaps there is more possibility of some comment and info being read by passersby on this thread than in a forum. I don’t know if it’s true. I think its important this thread is as public as possible.
Of course a forum does have all manner of benefits about accessing and archiving which this thread doesn’t.
‘More under 45s died of road accidents than Covid19 ‘
The road accident figures appear to be from 2018. Given that most private cars and white vans were parked up for three months I would expect this years figure to be lower but, as a result of being cooped up in a crappy flat with unstable parent(s) the numbers of murdered children and teenage suicides is, sadly, likely to be much higher.
It may well be higher this year as because of the reduced traffic on the roads more people are driving faster, people at home who are bored and turn to drink and drugs who then take the car out and smash it up, and with children not being at school then there is the likelihood of more of them being run over whilst out playing.
The stats are really interesting but appear to be compare apples with pears. Surely, the Covid-19 stats are just for part of a year whereas the other figures are for a full year. Or I have got that wrong?
No, you’re right. However, with Covid deaths dropping to nothing, the point may still stand come December.
If you follow the link the the study then took an average 16 week period and compared with covid for same period
Right now the UK government, my Quebec government, and many other governments around the world have told us that we cannot renew drug prescriptions, shop in grocery stores, bakeries, etc without wearing a mask and that they have the legal right to refuse us these daily necessities on pain of fines or jail. What happened to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights? Crickets.
It lacks a 2nd Amendment, so they laugh at it.
Could you try working on First Nation people? If your omniprivileged hunter-gatherers decide that face nappies are against their Primitive Rights, it could start something.
Hey folks, we need a worldwide anti-mask, anti-lockdown movement, don’t we?
I play chess with a bunch of people in the bar on Mondays. Love it. Yesterday I got in a conversation / debate with one of my chess friends about whether the lockdowns were a proportionate response to this virus and tried to talk about the real statistics, the longer term effects on society, especially our youth etc. Turns out that one friend has swallowed the government / media propaganda hook, line and sinker. He was so upset with my point of view that he wanted a punch up. Luckily, he was the only one out of four of us who thought that way and the rest calmed him down so I do not have a black eye today. I have been reflecting on this and have come to the conclusion that people’s belief in what they are being told is very similar to a religious belief but is actually more closely related to being addicted to drugs. The only way to recover from a drug addiction is to reach rock bottom. From there you can work your way up. Perhaps the only way the world can recover from this self imposed crisis is to reach rock bottom first. Unfortunately,… Read more »
It’s a cult. All the descriptions of cult victims’ behaviour fit Covizombies exactly.
It’s curable, but takes time. Psychiatrists are going to be heavily overworked.
I have two friends – both singers – who have swallowed (and gold-plated) all the bait.
Both are still quarantining post and grocery purchases for 3 days (when asked what happens to chilled and frozen goods, these are apparently less dangerous and just get wiped with a disinfectant!).
Both unwilling to enter anyone else’s house, even well apart and with ‘panty liners’ on their faces.
Practice for a forthcoming charity gig (if it happens!) involves them standing in the garden 2 m + apart while I play piano inside, communicating by microphone only. I refuse to wear a face nappy, so the door can only be open a crack. Just as well, because it’s 34° out there!
They bring their own refreshments and even chairs – clearly our garden chairs don’t get enough UV.
Still finding it hard to believe how apparently sensible people can fall for all this cr*p.
Well done Alec for having the patience to deal with the ‘excentricities’. My tactic would to take the piss in the most facetious way. Entirely wrong. Well done you!
I would love to ask the pair where they feel this all gets back to normal for them.
I limited my sarcasm to expressing concern about the risks of lightning strike (“a lot of thunderstorms about at the moment”) and – with great difficulty in keeping a straight face – meteorite impact.
Both have swallowed the ‘only back to normal when we get the vaccine’ line.
beginning to wonder if they want to cull the stupid (with their amazing vaccine)
This has crossed my mind too, anon. 🙂
You need new friends, these people sound like a nightmare.
You’re right.
Both (and their spouses) used to be normal people – if somewhat left-oriented for my libertarian philosophy.
But I nearly described them as (former?) friends in my original post.
Both are good singers so the musical aspect continues but social activities have completely stopped since the house arrest phase. Both couples are ‘voluntarily isolating’ and shaking in dread of the second wave.
Can’t help wondering what the [expletive deleted] point is.
Alec, do you know if there is any resistance at all in France? I have been searching for a french “lockdown sceptics equivalent” but didn’t find any…
We had a classical concert in the local church a few weeks ago (before compulsary facemasks), public was mostly masked but thankfully the musicians behaved normal and were seated close to each other.
People really do take any counter-narrative against the cult of covid as a personal attack. It’s pretty ubiquitous.
I am not going to talk to anybody today. Getting ready for Friday! Actually the problem is my wife thinks I am talking too much about the corona thing. So today it’s going to be flowers, general chit chat, more compliments, more fun! I’m sure by the end of the day she will ask “are you feeling all right” and I will say …………… …………………………………………..
Have a good day!
It’s an ill wind, eh?
We all know the Covid death stats are also exaggerated by recording many deaths incorrectly as Covid. I know of a number of elderly deaths of Cancer but recorded as Covid. We will never now know the true extent of the data manipulation from the authorities because autopsies have not taken place and the evidence cremated. Why would they manipulate the data? Simple – to justify their actions and avoid cries of incompetence.
Dispiriting encounters with 2 friends yesterday, both of whom are committed adherents to the ‘we must prevent a second wave and stay safe mantra’. The first is a good friend who has admittedly been under the weather-eye infection, not caused by Calamitous Covid, but who is now claiming that the Lanarkshire outbreak indicates the need for continuation of house arrests and listening to Nicola on a daily basis. Some members of her family have been infected and are now enduring varying degrees of post viral fatigue- which has been around, as we know, for many years. The second woman, who normally leads an active social and family life, told me that she’s been too afraid to go out for the entire lockdown period, apart from taking her dog for walks. I’d always considered her to be a reasonably robust individual. What particularly saddened me in both encounters was the dismissal of the damage which continues to devastate livelihoods and prospects as this lunacy drags on. I mentioned instances of mass redundancies, lack of education ,penury, anxiety, missed medical and dental appointments to no avail. My somewhat cynical conclusion is now that under this blinkered fear is a refusal to feel… Read more »
I’m afraid a lot of us are losing friends over this bollox. Maybe when it’s over they can be re-socialised.
A member of our choir has e-mailed to stay she is ‘still shielding’ and won’t come out till mid-August, for which she (quote!) ‘can’t wait’. In other words, she has not been outside her house, and possibly garden, since mid-March. This in a small Welsh village bathed in sea air. Five months of living death, herself her jailer.
I sense an inner personality at work with your friend. Could a freshly baked carrot cake and flask of friendly tea be employed to save her?
A neighbour here self-jailed as your friend has been wincled out in stages (ongoing) by nervous picnics in a near by park.
She would probably have to quarantine the cake for 3 days – and the tea will have long gone cold.
Well, I guess the punishment fitted the crime!
I just dont understand people to be honest. I am 60 so not exactly young but have to admit I felt no fear of this right from Day 1 and have lived my life as near to normal as other people will let me, right from the start. Visits ,outside or inside or trips or handshakes ,hugs and kisses were all ok with me. I also instinctively thought why should I take orders about who I could hug or kiss or anything else from some Billy Bunter buffoon who has shagged everything that moved since he was at Oxford. It is beguiling when friends who you have known for years and thought they were logical and rational people suddenly start behaving like terrified mice and hiding indoors. Myself and all others on this site of all political persuasions clearly do not have the same genetic make up as these people. I am sure people will lose many more friends over this than over Brexit.
There must be psychological reasons for this. When you are in a state of fear the reasoning part of your brain is shut down and you just follow the herd or something.
Agreed.
Yesterday I saw drivers and many walkers out in the open air wearing masks.
This is completely irrational.
And sometimes masking little children, which is not only irrational, but very cruel. Dystopian.
Yes. Children as young as 5 by law here.. it is cruel and unforgivable.
Where is that? I’ve seen 2 young children here in the NW UK in them (aged about 7). It seems like child-abuse to me.
Why Great Britain of course. Allow me to quote directly from the Nicola Sturgeon laws of scotland –
Face covering exemptions
Some people are not required to wear a face covering.
These include:
children under 5 years of age
police constables or workers such as paramedics acting in the course of their duty
staff such as drivers or checkout assistants who are physically separated, by blah blah blah.
Child abuse. I agree. I do not see sturgeon is a proud person I see her as a fucking wretch.
Makes me angry just thinking about the evils that are cause these satanic ideas to be rolled out.
Yes it disgusts me that.
They also crap themselves if you get within 5 metres of them, even though they are wearing a mask and gloves. I guess in a months times they will be in full Hazmat suits!
On my way out of Morrison’s this morning, I approached a man who was clearly very anxious: as we risked meeting in a relatively confined space, he swerved round a bicycle railing, thus doing the famed Covid Scuttle.
I grinned and greeted him cheerily,so he muttered ‘no problem’ and went on his way.
Sometimes they exasperate me so much I walk close to them just to wind them up and see their reaction. I know i should not but sometimes they just drive you mad with their bed wetting.
Irrational and ridiculous.
It takes effort for me to walk past outdoor masked people without saying something. I have to tell myself to shut up don’t say anything. The sooner people realise the sooner we all get back to good old normal normal.
My immediate, natural thought is “Why the F are you doing that?” But you say nowt.
Sometimes I have asked without the F or asked for ghem to help me understand why. But it isn’t right to ask everyone I see. It is instinctual to just say “why the F?”
I have the conversation running through my head, ready, all the time: the simple path backwards, ie mask doesn’t work>virus scarce>case numbers inflated>miscounted tests>test doesn’t work…
But we’d be there all day.
One advantage we have they don’t is facial expression. A lot can be said in passing with eye contacts and a smile. No need to break a step.
“Under his Eye” or “Blessed Be The Fruit” are my favourite greetings.
Been thinking about it, trying to tell them why not to wear a mask is not working — rather provide advice on how to properly wear a mask (maybe 2 at a go) and how bad it is to repeatedly touching the mask, that it must be replaced every 40 minutes (will need quite a stash), then discarded in a hazards bin or kept in a plastic bag and then washed at 60 degrees.
Been thinking about it, trying to tell them why not to wear a mask is not working — rather provide advice on how to properly wear a mask (maybe 2 at a go) and how bad it is to repeatedly touching the mask, that it must be replaced every 40 minutes (will need quite a stash), then discarded in a hazards bin or kept in a plastic bag and then washed at 60 degrees.
Lunacy.
Fight, flight, or hide.
Smile cheerfully and say hello.
I have a good friend who won’t come out from behind his sofa. He joined the Tory Party some time ago, and seems in awe of the Government’s mantra and propaganda.He seems to think in fact that they are being too lax (like it seems a majority of the population iif we believe opinion polls). I am trying not to lose patience and thereby perhaps lose a friend. I’ve told him he must make his own decision on risk, as must everyone. At the start of this he sent me a foul picture declaring that people who ‘recklessly flout’ the ‘law’ should sign a waiver declining NHS treatment ‘when’ they get Covid. I told him it was contemptible as we live in a free country, denial of medical treatment is reminiscent of dictatorships and gulags, and people may consent to these restrictions but it’s conditional on the absolute need. Which has rapidly diminished to almost nothing beyond hand washing and *perhaps* avoidance of very large-scale mass hugging.
I’m happy to sign a waiver declining NHS treatment, but on the basis that I get all my NI contributions and Income Tax back that I’ve payed over the years including interest, that has gone to the NHS or has been used to invest in it’s infrastructure.
If only. They won’t hypothecate any taxes, (although the TV licence fee, almost a universal tax for the vile BBC, is an exception). ‘National Insurance’ looks like it might be a tax for health services but I doubt it is all allocated for health. I have long thought that the NHS could kill me by sin of omission or even commission, as much as it could save my life!
The NHS nearly did kill me when I was 6. I have avoided it like the plague ever since. I have had to visit others in hospital though and have rarely been impressed with what I saw.
Suspect that shortly no waivers will be necessary – just refuse to take ‘the vaccine’
The first friend, whom I mentioned in my original post ,is now fixating on the asymptomatic shtick; this seems to be the latest ballast in Project Barmy’s narrative.
I said that many tests were undoubtedly showing positive results-whether accurately or not is another story of course-to which she immediately replied-‘But they could be asymptomatic’.
She also invoked this as the reason why an affected family member’s other half had not shown any symptoms:’ He could be asymptomatic’.
Thus the fear and self imposed confinement continues……
It’s depressing (again) to see how many fools pick up on words and concepts they really don’t understand – “science”, “asymptomatic” etc.
Are we all asymptomatic measles carriers, if we had it in childhood ?
“He could be asymptomatic “
“You mean ‘not sick’?
Exactly, Matt. Something that is actually good, becomes a new ‘disease’ in their tiny minds. “He’s got the asymptomatics, keep away!”
As I’ve said before, what if we all got a disease that has no symptoms, what would we do?
Yes or “fine”. Maybe this can be the new normal. How are you? Asymptomatic thanks!
Perhaps this is some sort of ‘meme memory’ if you like of Typhoid Mary, who was said to be a carrier of typhoid, without showing any symptoms. But this is not the same beast, typhoid and Covid seem to be chalk and cheese.
I’m not so sure. It seems more like a version of clinging to the wreckage to me: evidence increasingly indicates-at least to the more grounded members of society- that The End Of Days is not upon us, but the blind faith must be maintained.
To me they’re reminiscent of the flat earthers, and before them, the church dignitaries who absolutely could not condone the work of Copernicus, Galileo and poor Giordano Bruno.
Exaggeration perhaps, but the motives are similar.
If he is representative of the new Tory Party then god help us. It really is a pathetic leftist rabble…might as well have Corbyn in.
Ask your friend if they happily went about normal life during each winter flu season, and if so why they were prepared to risk spreading or getting a virus which has resulted in far more deaths than Covid. By their own logic they should not have been entitled to NHS treatment.
The whole situation has become surreal, I have listened to various ‘Goddess of Gloom’ experts who predict that we will be in Covid turmoil for a long time and yet ONS death figures are way down and apart from a few hot-spots +ve test results seem on the decline. It looks like this pesky virus is not listening to the experts. The Government and the media seem locked into a gloom and doom scenario, will they all prostrate themselves and beg for forgiveness if they are proved wrong?
Don’t hold your breath.
What do you think?
Not about being right or wrong. Is about power, tyranny, and a global reset.
I’ve long noticed the same as well. A lot of my colleagues live outside London and have been afraid to commute back into the city. I have been telling them that its a virtual ghost town and that the rush hour has been non existent for awhile now.
A retired colleague recently wrote to me wishing me luck with the commute. I wrote back to thank her for her concern but I am not afraid of the virus nor taking public transport as I’ve been doing it awhile now.
The vast majority of people I know have swallowed the whole MSM and government propaganda whole. I feel like I’m recreating Custer’s Last stand every time I try to debate and reason with them.
Lastly had the misfortune into logging into my Arsebook account to check for any work related messages and saw that a former student of mine is cheering the mandatory mask policy in the Canadian province where she lives. Looks like I failed in my job in trying to inculcate critical thinking.
Jesus wept.
Classic herd thinking. Usually it’s vital for survival, but the same instinct sometimes works against us. This is one such situation. What has surprised me is the number of people who for years have told me they never believe anything the government says, nor a word printed in a newspaper, but who have swallowed this thing whole. Which comes from er, the government and newspapers…
Agree. The odd thing about this former student is her posts are usually about her dogs and the care packages she gets from her family back in our old country so its rather bizarre all of a sudden that she’s become this rabid lockdownista. On second thought however I shouldn’t be surprised as she comes from a wealthy family and is also doing very well in Canada so if it goes belly up for her, there’s her savings and the Bank of Mum and Dad to fall back on.
They are literally brainwashed/hypnotised/mind controlled, whichever term you prefer. Serious damage has been done.
Logic no good. Facts no good. Needs a hook/angle/joke at the right time just to get through.
The were bull shitting I am afraid….when it came to the crunch they swallowed the lot whole.
I’ve just spoken to another friend who recently visited someone whom she’s known for years: the invitation was qualified by an instruction to enter by the back door.
She was then given hand sanitiser to render herself harmless!!
The support for She Who Must Be Obeyed is widespread though; my pal thinks Nicola has done a good job, whereas I don’t .
She’s followed more or less in Westminster’s footsteps , while employing suitably significant delays in announcements to emphasise her wish not to be ‘dragged into ‘anything ;’dragged into, dragged out of’ are favoured SNP weapons.
Never miss a chance to spread division and rancour.
Actually allowing someone to enter has to be a step towards sanity, no?
It’s garden only – and well apart if not muzzled – for the lockdownistas I know.
Wow!!! That’s almost like going into a shop!
I am afraid there is no hope for much of the young and that means it will be hell for us when the buggers are running the show.
The comment about “the inherent art of living” from the Sunetra Gupta interview flagged by Toby rang true to me:
“The costs to the arts is I think also incredibly profound – the theatres and all other forms of performing art. But also the inherent art of living, which I think is being compromised.”
Those friends of yours have lost that “art” and may never fully be able to recover it.
They’ll need our help when this is all over.
I agree. Our help needed when over.
Our help needed now by setting an example. The commenter who is commuting and *still lives!* The example that one commute sets fot the scared stay at home colleagues is full of help I believe.
A beacon. I look at things conversely in a sort of though experiment. What if there were no skeptics? How dark would the mask wearers world be then? Without realising, we give hope to scared people that life can be normal.
You haven’t lost two friends, you’ve just discovered that they were never your friends
With friends like these.
It’s just the epitome of selfishness. The “I don’t care” thing about the damage caused is very common. Even my Dad said this to me as I reeled of the likely outcomes from this covid melt down, 9 million unemployed, don’t care, 2/3 rds of business going bust, don’t care, 1000’s of pubs shutting down never to re-open, don’t care….
I really did have a cry, in their kitchen. They didn’t seem to care about that either.
Yes, how right you are: the second friend, who owns a large well appointed house in a select part of this town, just shrugged and said -‘people should live their lives’ when I mentioned mass redundancies, impoverishment, family breakdown and loss of prospects and hope.
Yes its not nice discovering that your friends and family are actually on the other side of the barricades.
My somewhat cynical conclusion is now that under this blinkered fear is a refusal to feel any solidarity with those whose lives are being destroyed: the collateral damage which unfolds as the mask madness continues.
That is so well-expressed – I agree entirely. These people are the selfish ones, not us.
I believe that beneath it all, the believers have to believe because the alternative is too horrendous to contemplate – which is that the government has sold us down the river and that this whole Plandemic-scamdemic is not about protecting our health but IS about ushering in the New World Order that so many ‘conspiracy theorists’ have said is coming down the tracks. Imagine if you had to admit that they were right and you were wrong. The thing is, unless they wake up pretty smartish then the horrors waiting down the line will force them to. Of course, some will become the New Gestapo out of fear or – for some – with relish.
“There is no such thing as society”
I have not read this yet but here is a paper with what looks like a serious attempt to do a cost benefit analysis for the lockdown.
https://journal.sketchingscience.org/users/333926/articles/460021-living-with-covid-19-balancing-costs-against-benefits-in-the-face-of-the-virus
“The evidence suggests that the costs of continuing severe restrictions in the U.K. are so great relative to likely benefits in the numbers of lives saved so that a substantial easing in restrictions is now warranted”
The average age of death and loss of life expectancy for non-Covid was 79.1 and 11.4 respectively.
The average age of death and loss of life expectancy for Covid was 80.4 and 10.1 years respectively.
This is what lockdown-the destruction of our way of life, the economy and our children’s futures-has achieved.
An excellent read and analysis:
https://www.aier.org/article/when-will-the-madness-end/
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was to convince the world that it needed saving.
The Gupta interview is good – she is very hard hitting and doesn’t hold back, but does it in a way that is very calm, reasonable and logical.
One interesting point is that she says we should be more communitarian in our response, and that lockdowns have been the product of individualism.
I have generally thought the opposite – lockdowns and masks are a result of communitarianism gone mad, and that what will save us is individualism.
But I suppose her point is that if you’re being rational and thinking of the good of society, rather than fearing for yourself or virtue signalling for yourself, you will support the herd immunity approach because it’s the one that leads to the best outcome overall.
I think that’s a quite neat way to take the holier-than-thou arguments we are getting from the zealots and turn it back on them and show how it is THEY who will end up harming the vulnerable and OUR approach will protect them.
This was an excellent interview. Perfect reading for those who are still balancing on the fence.
Totally agree about the Gupta interview – and I think her analysis is absolutely spot on, both scientifically and philosophically.
And yes … the whole panicdemic is about *shattering* communal bonds that are the basis of resistance. The depth of evil (not a word I much use) being perpetrated surprises even an old time natural sceptic like me (an inveterate Groucho Marxist ).
That evil has reached the point, as I’ve previously pointed out, where child abuse is being officially sanctioned and normal rules of medical risk assessment are being turned on their head by the modern Mengele tribe.
Yes, it does look a lot like evil on the part of various groups, organisations and politicians with agendas or arses to cover.
Yes, I think this is a fair analysis of what is being done to us.
I also found this article very encouraging, not so much the science as her appraisal of the human/social/psychological costs of lockdown and distancing (which personally I am more and more sickened by)
That’s the axis of disease, but then there’s the socioeconomic axis, which has been ignored. But there’s a third, aesthetic access, which is about how we want to live our lives. We are closing ourselves off not just to the disease, but to other aspects of being human.
…
But also the inherent art of living, which I think is being compromised.
Acts of kindness are being eschewed. Someone was telling me yesterday that their mother said to them “please don’t come home, you’re going to kill us”.
I know a couple of people in less extreme versions of the above situation (their – healthy and not especially elderly – parents will only see them outside at a “safe” distance)
What is the “sceptics” view on the situation in the US? If Trump is now changing his advice (as did Johnson here), what does that infer?
What has Trump said? Must admit I don’t have much spare energy to follow US politics.
According to R4 news he is encouraging Americans to wear masks where social distancing is not possible.
Probably an attempt to disarm the opposition
An update Four days now from when I first ventured out Day 1 A trip to the newsagent Day 2 Waiting for ‘Kneel’ Day 3 Wrote ‘Why the police are a mirage’ (whilst watching back episodes of Homes under the Hamster) Yesterday plucked up the courage and confidence to walk 5 miles from my village to the nearest town (Who writes this crap? FFS you ain’t gonna be flying a Spitfire, your only going for a fecking walk) A pleasant Victorian seaside town of 30,000 souls. In the shopping streets the council had cordoned off all the on street parking; so they could introduce their one way system for pedestrians. The hundreds of bollards used to cordon off the parking spaces are now bolted down as the shop owners kept stealing them in the middle of the night The 140 year old Pennant Stone paving slabs had been defaced with day glo arrows and instructions for the plebs to follow (seeing as you ask, yes it is a conservation area, but council graffiti doesn’t count) At least 50% of the prisoners were deliberately walking the wrong way. I caught the eye of a few, they gave me the ‘East German’… Read more »
Great reporting!
Brilliant! Loving your posts! 🙂
Looks like Trump has suddenly changed his tune…
“Mr Trump also asked all Americans to wear face coverings, saying “they’ll have an effect” and show “patriotism”.”
He added: “We’re asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask.
“Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact, they’ll have an effect and we need everything we can get.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53494766
I watched most of the press conference. He was significantly less combative that normal, and my take away was that there was less than a hair’s breadth between him and Boris – he even assessed his ‘performance’ relative to the original ICL prediction of millions of deaths in the US! Lots of talk about vaccine and therapeutics, and yes, the shift on masks, although note, despite what he said at the conference, he was spotted a few hours later in a crowded foyer without it on. He has an election to win, and his problem is Florida. Texas seems to be coming under control. He isn’t worried about California – it is luvvie Democrat central. He was blind-sided by the question on Ghislaine Maxwell – or so it appeared – but then she likely has more dirt on the Democrat aristocracy than she does on him.
Note however that any dirt she has on the dumocrats will be ignored whilst anything on Trump will be megaphoned throughout the universe!
Is it not just a simple fact that – due to the geography of the US – they will continually be at the ‘height’ of the outbreak in some portion of the country or other. Hence the need for (pretend or otherwise) earnestness
Someone pulling his strings? Didnt think he had any. I don’t the like the way this is shaping up. Every government on the planet is going mask-mad. WHY?? What do they know that we don’t? Or is it a control exercise, to see how much pressure can be exerted on people? A step to world government, of the kind we don’t want.
Trump – like all politicians in the U.S- is owned by the big banks/corporations so to expect him to act independently and against such interests is not realistic.
Unfortunately this is increasingly looking like the Iraq war scenario, where a decision had already been taken and the “evidence” was manipulated and cherry-picked afterwards to justify it.
In the Iraq war the public was told that it was the “intelligence” which said that Iraq had WMD and needed to be invaded. Now we are told the “Science” dictates that everyone must wear masks, social distance, take vaccines etc.
What is most disturbing and troubling is that most governments around the world seem to be following the exactly the same script and with hardly any internal political questioning or opposition.
https://unitynewsnetwork.co.uk/gordon-brown-and-tony-blair-call-for-global-government-to-tackle-coronavirus/
He has been a huge disappointment. Still better than the alternatives, but pretty unreliable. I thought he had balls, but was unprincipled. Turns out that he lacks balls too, when it really matters.
Quite – is he just being ground down or do they have something significant on him (Epstein-related?).
I think he just wants to be re-elected and he has been told or decided himself that this is the way to do it. He’s a flake, like our PM, and like most politicians.
Curious by Pompeo in light of Trumps mask W-turn –
World Health Organization
Mike Pompeo attacks WHO in private meeting during UK visit
US secretary of state said the World Health Organization was responsible for Britons who had died from Covid-19
The US secretary of state Mike Pompeo launched an extraordinary attack on the World Health Organization during a private meeting in the UK, accusing it of being in the pocket of China and responsible for “dead Britons” who passed away during the pandemic.
Pompeo told those present that he believed the WHO was “political not a science-based organisation” and accused its current director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of being too close to Beijing.
More here (its free):
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/mike-pompeo-attacks-who-in-private-meeting-during-uk-visit
Yes it is very curious, especially in view of the fact that although the US announced it was withdrawing its funding from the WHO (leaving Bill and Melinda Gates as its biggest funders) it made a huge contribution to the (Bill Gates founded) GAVI (which is the biggest funder of the WHO after the BMGF!)
https://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/vaccine-bait-switch-millions-pulled-from-who-trump-gives-billions-gates-founded-gavi/
The WHO evidently is propped up by huge funding from US – based organizations…would the US government allow it to be controlled by China?
Switcheroo. These folk in suits are identical to any other con tricksters ever. Give it a name and tell people how it works. They lose power.
Interesting. The whole administration has been a disappointment – it had potential, but lacked consistent, intelligent leadership.
Trump is the one pushing whole Epstein thing. I think it’s more to do with optics being it’s an election year because let’s face it the majority of people are pro mask.
To all on here.
It’s now been 4 months since this lockdown began, and now more than ever we need to be coming together as one so that that we can take mass action against the continuing lockdown.
We all seem to be taking individual action and resistance, which is great, but in effect doesn’t achieve much as we just get labelled as the “odd nutter” as everyone else is drinking the Kool Aid.
I had always hoped that Toby was going to architect this, but it seems that he hasn’t the time with all his commitments.
I think it is now time for us on here to start making a difference. So, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how they think we should get more organised?
Hunger strikes?
Maybe when we’re all in the Gulag.
Currently fattening self for coming Gulag
My initial thoughts were as follows:
Also, Politically neutral, with the pure focus being on the COVID-19 Lockdown and nothing else.
Absolutely, Skipper. The strength of this place is that we don’t get the “X are crap cos I always vote for Y (or vice versa)” mob on here, but rather reasoned, thinking people. Except for Emma below, who will be gone soon.
I agree with this. The Keep Britain Free group is similar but it might well be worth having other groups of a similar nature going on to so people have more than one choice.
The thing I don’t like about the Keep Britain Free group is that there website sells merchandise, it just looks like a money making exercise to me. By all mean ask for donation for the upkeep of the site, but selling caps and t-shirts is just a way to make a profit for the person who owns the site.
I can’t believe they make much, if anything, and frankly don’t care as log as they are of use to the movement.
They probably don’t make that much based on the turnout at the anti-mask event on Sunday.
Someone said that to me on the lawn of Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Canada, at a Stop the Vietnam War Rally in 1969 when I pooh poohed Joan Baez’s contribution to the movement. Still cannot make up my mind about that.
“form a committee” now there’s your problem right there.
It’s just a suggestion, we’ve not done anything yet.
All great ideas. I think the place to go for organisation and action is lockdowntruth.org. I haven’t been over there recently so don’t know what they’re up to, but worth having a look and seeing if you want to join in with that.
It’s not used much, had a look at the Forum, not posts for over two days.
Since the middle of March, 2020, this has been ‘a right horror show’, but not in the way that Malcolm MacDowell meant it in A Clockwork Orange. I was thinking that all of us could compile video clips, letters, personal experiences, comments, photos, news events, press conferences with Ministers, health officials, Experts and the PM, of course, ad infitum and come up with a documentary of it all up until now. Throw in some footage from the good old days in East Germany, the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Fascist Spain, quotes from famous writers defending Liberty and Freedom of Speech and Assembly, etc. Then we could create our own Oscar ceremonies with prizes for best this that and the other. Tongue in cheek, sarcastic, satirical: Ex: Best sycophant in a supporting role to the PM, Best hypocrite, Best Bedwetter … knock yourselves out.
I think we are already making a difference by sharing information, writing to MPs, talking to friends and others trying to put our case, posting on social media and comments sections on news sites, signing petitions, refusing to wear masks, crowdfunding initiatives, voting with our feet.
But it would be good to do more.
Simon Dolan has some money and some kind of organisation going, as does Toby Young. Beyond that, I think our best hope is to try and prise away some of the more freedom loving wing of the Conservative Party – the ones that have spoken against masks, maybe Baker. I’m no fan of the Conservatives, and I am not trying to make this political, but I can’t see much scope for any support from any other parliamentary party.
It may be a very long campaign indeed.
3 weeks flatten the curve.
Now running at something like ten months. Imagine them giving us wrong information!
Quick before anyone else does, create a website named ‘Lockdown Sceptics’
An important aspect of this is to have an agreed and shared fact base. There is a valuable set of links on this web site but there is now an awful lot to read through.
So is it feasible to produce a short factual document (leaflet or pamphlet form) that brings together the agreed facts with references that can be used as a basis for discussion with the fearful ones?
Or has this already been done?
Prof Heneghan points out that testing will always produce false positives so we will always see cases even when the virus is no longer circulating: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-many-covid-diagnoses-are-false-positives-
Might this explain the situation in Victoria, Australia (also today, a single “positive” was reported in Tasmania after an extended period of no infections), New Zealand, and Scotland?
Yes because we’ve all probably got some traces of this virus inside us. The PCR test uses an arbitrary number of cycles to declare a positive test. If that number of cycles were to be increased, we would all test positive.
That’s not because you’ve necessarily got any traces of the virus. The test just sort of starts detecting itself if you cycle it too many times.
It’s unlikely that it will ever not be circulating. But it will be at a low enough level that you will need a big sample size to be sure you haven’t just found false positives.
“Quite a lot changed that led to R going below one well before, or to some extent before, March 23”, when full lockdown was imposed, Professor Whitty said.
What the wha?! Why is somebody not sky-writing this quote?!
Also we’re all going to sign the petition against mandatory face masks right?!
All the builders currently working on my house are going to sign it. I’m afraid the only result of me sharing the link on Facebook is that I’ll be blocked by everybody. This has already started happening to my husband, so I’m sharing the old-fashioned way: word-of-mouth.
I’ve signed but like you I don’t dare share it on Facebook for fear of reaction from all the people desperate to wear masks.
As I said a few days ago, one or more of them will not be able to live with their conscience for much longer and will break ranks. He cannot ignore what other high profile medics (Karol Sikora and Carl Heneghan) have been saying about this and/or the collateral damage of lockdown for much longer. There has been tension, in my view, between him and Sir Patrick Vallance for some time now. The cracks can only widen.
I really value your comment on this. Make it so!
Please god those cracks break and open up a chasm!
Mrs TJN and I have been saying this for a while: someone is going to break ranks soon. Problem is, a watched kettle never boils …
I am sure that you/we are correct though. Everyone’s going to be scrambling to cover their arses, and sooner or later that’s going to lead to accusation and counter-accusation. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see the whole pile of garbage come tumbling down.
It also needs a Cabinet minister to resign and do a Robin Cook. I have also made the plea to Therese Coffey, SoS for Work & Pensions, to dig deep as the torch-bearer for Chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford (Mrs T’s alma mater) and salve her conscience.
Yes, but who in this cabinet of nobodies is going to step out? So far we have only about three MPs.
Someone with a science background? That narrows the field a lot.
Still, very early days yet and the going is still very easy.
I often wonder what Mrs T, with her forensic and practical mind, would have done with this lot. I reckon she’d have destroyed Ferguson in minutes.
“Someone with a science background?”
That’s not much of a criteria, given the numbers from the Mengele School of Public Health with such a background who are keen on perpetuating the myth.
I meant a cabinet minister with a science background! Pretty thin on the ground.
And in science itself there is s world of difference between an independent scientist and one chasing the next research grant or committee position.
Quite, hence the Climate Change mantra of ‘97% of scientists agree the science is settled’!
I think increasing numbers of people are waking up to the groupthink and sheer dishonesty which runs through ‘science’. In time, some incidental good may come from the covid debacle.
Sorry to be a party pooper – but *What* conscience? We wouldn’t be here if that entity existed.
Exactly why I won’t share it on my Facebook. I’ve gotten into way too many pointless arguments for posting stuff in the past 😂
What I find depressing about FB is that nobody wants to engage with the debate. Apart from the morons who can come up with not better argument than ‘utter bollox’ (e.g. for the excellent Peter Hitchens article the other day).
Signed it as well and will be sharing to a friend and Mr Bart but apart from that, won’t be sharing it on Arsebook as I don’t have the time or energy to battle with the lockdownistas many of whom I work with.
I think he’s only saying it now to silence the voices screaming that we should have locked down earlier.
Pam Popper on UK Covid chicanery and a worldwide call to arms!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-hphj3Q40k
The place I work for reopens to the public tomorrow and while I and everyone is resigned to the fact that antisocial distancing and the looming economic crash will mean that we won’t be swamped with visitors, I have not been sleeping well for the last fortnight or so. And this is because of the OTT cleaning regime we have been subjected to and the possibility of being snitched on by colleagues to management for failing to adhere to cleaning and antisocial distancing.
It’s really sad if it has come to this – a disproportionate response to a virus in retreat and distrust of people one works with.
I have decided to boycott my staff area and take my breaks elsewhere, that means no-one will hold it against me because I have not been in the space.
Pre-WW2 Germany increasingly springs to mind. I used to think such things could never happen in the UK.
Yep. During my traning session, I have manage to suss out a few people who would possibly have joined the Stasi if it came to that.
“One of these days, all these people who’ve participated in this snitching and are co-conspirators with the criminals who are doing this are going to get their day, believe me. What goes around comes around.” Dr Pam Popper, July 9 2020
Indeed. If not in this life, in the next life.
Yes. One has to be careful of parallels, but the evil being done is immense from so many perspectives – and the latest we now have emerging is alumni of the Mengele School of Public Health getting airtime for their scheme to stick experimental needles in all and sundry.
There is an excellent series on BBC iplayer called Rise of the Nazi’s, I watched the episode which was called Politics and covered 1930 – 1933. Truly the parallels to today with a gradual erosion of diplomacy that then reached a tipping point until no one could challenge the situation, are frightening and instructive for all of us.
Funny how the BBC can see that in relation to Germany in the 1930s, but completely fail to see it in the here and now.
Yes! Or indeed anyone who watches that particular episode.
Good luck Bart, this whole thing is totally crazy and wrong and is setting people against people. Sadly some people seem to get a kick out of being a snitch etc, some. I guess are probably still completely terrified so will do everything they can to feel safe, even reporting on other staff members.
Thanks. That’s what Mr Bart has said – they’ve become so neurotic that they perceive anyone who is not doing it “correctly” as a threat and think that reporting them to management is keeping everyone safe.
Thank you. I’m determined to do my job to the best of my ability and will not be treating the visitors like lepers despite what we’re told. They are human beings worth of dignity and respect and without them we are nothing.
Good luck too Bart. Hill Street Blues chief used to say to team after the morning meeting – “get out there & let’s do it to them before they do it to us”!
Thanks a lot! 🙂
As long as you don’t become a racist like Father Ted. (I’m too busy of course).