Latest News
Saint Jacinda Postpones General Election
Remember the outrage on the liberal left last month after Trump raised the possibility of postponing the November election? This was treated as the last word in undemocratic, populist demagoguery. How dare he?!? Well, Jacinda Arden has done precisely that – postponed the New Zealand General Election from September 19th to October 17th. The BBC has more.
Ms Ardern said on Monday that the new date would allow parties “to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under”.
Earlier this week, the country’s largest city went back into lockdown.
“This decision gives all parties time over the next nine weeks to campaign and the Electoral Commission enough time to ensure an election can go ahead,” Ms Ardern said, adding that she had “absolutely no intention” of allowing any further delays to the vote.
The opposition National Party has argued the election should be delayed as restrictions on campaigning mean Ms Ardern had an unfair advantage.
Restrictions were imposed on Auckland on Wednesday after a number of new infections were identified in the city.
Nine new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Monday, bringing the number of active cases linked to the Auckland cluster to 58.
The outbreak was initially traced back to members of one family, although Ms Ardern later said that subsequent contact-tracing had found an earlier case involving a shop worker who became sick on July 31st.
A health official who knew the family told the New Zealand Herald that the family were “shell-shocked” and “a little embarrassed that it had happened to them”.
The announcement that new cases had been discovered shocked the country, which had recorded no locally transmitted cases for more than three months.
In normal times, this would be greeted with outrage. The Toothy Tyrant is imprisoning New Zealand citizens in secure facilities if they test positive for the virus, along with every member of their household – and in addition to this grotesque violation of civil liberties, she has now postponed the General Election and is planning to remain in office after her three-year term has expired.
But as was pointed out in the recent “Postcard From New Zealand“, she’ll almost certainly win in October in a landslide.
France to Make Face Masks Compulsory at Work
Bad news from across the Channel. According to today’s Telegraph, France is considering whether to make face-masks compulsory in shared workplaces such as open-plan offices, factories and conference rooms.
Elisabeth Borne, the employment minister, is to discuss the proposal with employers and union leaders on Tuesday.
She said scientists unanimously recommended wearing masks “when several people are in a confined space.” They will only be compulsory in individual offices when more than one person is present.
The government is also considering strengthening other workplace precautions such as plastic dividers for open-plan offices. “Taking into account what we have observed in workplace clusters, additional precautions are sometimes worth taking,” Ms Borne said.
She said employers who place seasonal workers such as hotel staff or fruit pickers in shared accommodation may be asked to do more to ensure that social distancing is maintained and masks are worn.
Face-masks are already compulsory in indoor public spaces, but doctors and the government’s scientific advisors have lobbied for the rule to be extended to private companies. Many French cities have made them mandatory in crowded areas.
So what public health “emergency” is this draconian policy based on? You guessed it: a rise in cases with no corresponding rise in hospitalisations or deaths. France reported 3,310 new cases on Saturday, but only 29 new hospital admissions and just nine ICU patients. You read that right: nine. As the Telegraph reports, many of the new cases are younger people under 45 who tend not to have symptoms.
A Lockdown Sceptics Saint?
A reader has sent me the above quote from St Anthony the Great. Sounds like he’s the Lockdown Sceptics saint we’ve been looking for.
Covid No More Deadly Than Seasonal Flu in Ireland
Yesterday, I wrote about a Twitter thread by financial analyst Graham Neary showing that Neil Ferguson’s estimate of Covid’s IFR was based on an analysis of just six flights out of Wuhan from January 30th to February 1st.
Gordon Hughes, a Professor of Economics at Edinburgh University, has been in touch to point out that Neary produced another thread on August 11th in which he analysed the excess death data for Ireland and concludes that the excess deaths in April 2020, assumed to be partly caused by COVID-19, were no greater than they were in January 2017 and January 2018 (assumed to be partly caused by seasonal flu) and excess deaths in May 2020 were no higher than in a typical April or May. You can see the Twitter thread here and read the unrolled version here.
Here is Professor Hughes’s summary.
In effect he argues, using methods that are pretty robust, that the effect of COVID-19 in Ireland has been no worse than – and probably less bad than – an average flu season. After adjustments for the timing of death registrations, population, etc the cumulative sum of deaths in Ireland from Jan to May 2020 was less than in 3 out of the preceding 5 years. The winter of 2019-20 was a relatively mild flu season so that what COVID-19 has done is to offset the lower number of deaths from flu. On a monthly basis April 2020 was almost the exactly the same as January in two bad flu seasons (2016-17 and 2017-18).
Clearly the situation in the UK has been worse, almost certainly because of a more dense population and larger cities – and possibly because of more people in care homes. If you strip out the care home element I would expect that the figures for most of the UK outside London has been similar to that for Ireland.
To go back to the IFR, nobody really knows what the IFR is for flu because estimates of the number of flu cases is about as unreliable as for the number of COVID-19 cases. It is possible that the IFR for COVID-19 is somewhat higher than than for flu because fewer people in Ireland contracted it but no-one can be confident of that while there is so much uncertainty about the true incidence of either flu or COVID-19 in the population. Even so it is certainly not an order of magnitude higher.
The true lesson of this whole sorry episode is the enormous cost of failing to monitor the incidence of pandemic or other diseases properly in the population. The ONS sample should be far bigger – perhaps 100,000 per week – and should be systematically carried out on a long term basis to monitor other respiratory diseases at short notice, since most widespread pandemics will be respiratory diseases now that we have reasonable control of water-borne diseases.
Professor Hughes made a further point, which I thought was very good.
There is a more general and separate point that I have been thinking about. At the outset COVID-19 was treated as an area for specialists (epidemiologists) but it has become clear that there is a whole group of competent data analysts who have provided new information and better analysis that goes way beyond the stuff produced by insiders. Not only Neary but Nic Lewis and many others from outside epidemiology. In part this is due to the heavy weight of academic convention, so that insiders want to satisfy their peers, whereas outsiders are more likely to be looking for illumination and answers. In part it reflects the fact that epidemiology doesn’t use methods or data that go significantly beyond what economists, statisticians, etc., are used to. There is, for example, nothing in the pandemic models of Ferguson et al that is really different from economic models that I and others have used in the past, while their statistical skills appear to be limited (to put it politely).
The corollary is that a setup by which governments only consult insiders has proved woefully inefficient because it is trapped by the prior assumptions and restricted data and analyses within a small group. This might be forgiven when the crisis first arose but it is inexcusable to persist in that behaviour once the implications and costs of the pandemic became clear. It is easy to recognise the bureaucratic reasons for resisting some kind of open source approach. However, since it has become clear to everyone that the Westminster political/administrative/media elite has failed badly – though there are wide differences on why or how – I would hope that the lesson is learned that things must be handled differently in future. This is nothing to do with conventional politics, since the devolved administrations have performed no better.
He’s not wrong. Many independent researchers, particularly financial analysts, have produced better risk assessments of COVID-19 than the Government’s scientific advisors. Indeed, if SAGE was replaced with a group of independent researchers the Government would probably have been better advised.
Don’t Go to Dubai
A reader who wrote to me before about the difficulty of obtaining a birth certificate and passport for her newborn has written again, this time about the ludicrous expense of complying with Dubai’s Covid travel guidance.
My brother and his fiancée live in Dubai. My parents regularly visit them and we have had plans for months (pre-Covid) to go and visit them in October half term this year. We had naively assumed that by October things should be getting back to normal travel wise. However, I spoke with my mum and brother yesterday and they had been doing some research into travelling there – my parents are due to go out in mid September.
So… as it currently stands you have to have a COVID-19 test 96 hours before you fly. This must come with a certificate and so an NHS test is not accepted – you need to pay £200 for a private one. For us as a family of five (assuming children need the test also) that’s £1,000 on top of the cost of the holiday. Then, 96 hours before you leave Dubai you need another test to enable you to be allowed to fly home. These tests are £300 per person plus £300 for a doctors fee to give you the test – so £3,000 for us in total. You also need to wait in a room until you have your test results – so on a six-day holiday we would potentially be spending a day sitting in a doctor’s waiting room.
Then, if you test positive you are moved to government accommodation and I guess not allowed to fly home although that’s not clear from what I’ve read. If you are negative and can fly home you then must self-isolate/quarantine for 14 days once back in England – not sure why if you have the proof to say you don’t have Covid from the test, but then nothing makes any logical sense anymore does it?
So at an additional cost of £4K it is safe to say we will now cancel our visit to see my brother. I am not bothered about another cancelled holiday – that is now then norm in these times. It is just so worrying and frustrating how incompetent the people are in these positions of authority making the rules (up as they go along).
Postcard From Dartmouth
A reader has sent an account of her recent holiday in Dartmouth. Sounds pretty good.
We were a little nervous for what was our first major stay away since March 20th. This was partly because we had stayed before, fallen in love with the place and did not want to be disappointed. We stayed at the Dart Marina Hotel, right next to the Higher Ferry, a source of endless entertainment for us, as we can see it from our terrace. The hotel is wonderful. The staff there always give top-notch service, and the attention to detail is marvellous. It was a relief to see that most of their excellent staff have weathered the lockdown.
The town was busy, this being the hottest weekend of the year. We walked up to town with the intention of partaking in some retail therapy, and we realised that we had left our exemption lanyards in the boot of the car. We both thought, “stuff it, let’s blag it”, which we did. We visited a lingerie store (no mask, no problem), a men’s outfitters (no mask, no problem), a newsagent (challenged, but no problem when the magic word “exempt” was said) and a liquor store (same as the newsagent). At the latter, the lady customer right behind us, perhaps having heard us, claimed exemption as well.
On Saturday, we dined at Mitch Tonks’ Seahorse Al Mare. Mitch has had to move his operation from his fixed premises, not because of the virus, but because he was flooded out, courtesy of a burst water-main. Very creatively, he got permission for a covered venue right on the waterfront, and it was wonderful. No muzzles, no hassle, just good food and happy people.
We spent an amusing weekend observing the behaviour of other visitors. I imagine that many of them would have gone to Magaluf or Benidorm in more normal times, but the virus has driven them here. We saw numerous people wearing masks on the street (not required) but reassuringly, as the weekend wore on, we saw fewer instances of this.
Round-Up
- ‘Cultural Maskism: Social Class and Morality in the COVID-19 Regime‘ – Niall McCrae with another hard-hitting piece in the Gateway Pundit. Cultural Maskism is good
- ‘Britons quarantining after holidays to France are allowed one supermarket trip on way home‘ – That’s generous of the authorities. Returning holidaymakers could also be faced with a £1,000 for walking the dog
- ‘Two police forces are slammed after refusing job applications from candidates who believe people cannot change biological sex‘ – Being in touch with reality is now a disqualification for joining the police force
- ‘Oldham is on the verge of lockdown – but its bars and pubs tell a different story‘ – A Sky News team was embedded with Greater Manchester Police as they tried to enforce social distancing rules in Oldham
- ‘COVID-19 Hospital Activity‘ – Data release from NHS England showing that on April 2nd only 50,871 hospital beds in England were occupied out of a total of 141,000, not including the Nightingales. Crisis? What crisis?
- ‘The tragedy of grades based on predictions‘ – Excellent piece by education blogger Andrew Old about the A level results story
- ‘The five biggest coronavirus myths BUSTED! Exposing the fear mongering, propaganda and outright lies that are plaguing the world‘ – I don’t usually link to pieces in RT because it’s a propaganda arm of the Russian state. But this piece by Peter Andrews, an Irish science journalist, is good
- ‘Spectator Out Loud‘ – Listen to Douglas Murray and me reading our latest Spectator pieces
- ‘GREECE FRIGHTENING Fears for Greece holidays as coronavirus spike sparks concerns country could be added to UK quarantine list‘ – Greece could be added to the quarantine list according to the Sun
- ‘History will judge the hysteria‘ – Sceptical Israeli Professor Udi Qimron has given an interview to Arutz Sheva and he doesn’t pull his punches: “The ongoing destruction due to the inability to admit this mistake, despite the epidemic’s small mortality numbers, is outrageous. History will judge the hysteria.”
- ‘Doctors Pen Open Letter To Fauci Regarding The Use Of Hydroxychloroquine for Treating COVID-19‘ – Three doctors have written an open letter to Anthony Fauci asking him why he isn’t recommending the use of hydroxychloroquine
- ‘Why is Boris Johnson taking us back to the Seventies?‘ – Good piece in the Express by John Longworth
- ‘Public response to the reopening of schools to “all children” in September‘ – Laughably biased survey aimed at parents, clearly intended to produce a negative response to re-opening schools. It’s been compiled by the World Socialist Website. Why are lefties opposed to schools re-opening? Don’t they care about disadvantaged kids being left behind?
- ‘Early spread of COVID-19 appears far greater than initially reported‘ – Report about a new paper in the Lancet by epidemiological researchers from The University of Texas at Austin estimating that COVID-19 was far more widespread in Wuhan, China, and Seattle, Washington, weeks ahead of lockdown measures in each city
- ‘Britain’s appetite for the new normal will leave us all with a stomach ache‘ – Good piece by Kate Andrews in the Telegraph
- ‘The broadcast media has disgraced itself‘ – Hard to disagree with anything in this piece by Scottish blogger Effie Deans
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A few 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 (and some of them are at risk of having to close again). 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.
A reader has put forward a good suggestion.
I was wondering if your map of businesses who have opened could be expanded to businesses who display “No mask? We won’t ask” sign? That would allow us mask-refusers to know where we are safe to visit without risking a drama with a Covid loon, and also reward those plucky businesses with our custom. It’s been interesting to see how the Covid terror only seems to last as long as financial necessity allows (note previously hysterical pub landlords get much less worried when they are allowed to re-open) so I’d be interested to see if a line of mask free customers outside one shop tempted its neighbours to risk the plague.
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums that are now open, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention (including this piece on Fox News). We have a team of moderators in place to remove spam and deal with the trolls, but sometimes it takes a little while so please bear with us. You have to register to use the Forums, but that should just be a one-time thing. Any problems, email the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster Ian Rons here.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
I’ve created a permanent slot down here for people who want to buy (or make) a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and it has the advantage of not explicitly claiming you have a disability. But if you have no qualms about that (or you are disabled), you can buy a lanyard from Amazon saying you do have a disability/medical exemption here (now showing it will arrive between Oct 1st to Oct 10th). The Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. You can get a “Hidden Disability” tag from ebay here and an “exempt” card or just £2.79 from Etsy here.
Don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face nappies in shops here (now over 29,000). The Government responded to this petition today. Usual balls. You can read the response here.
A reader has started a website that contains some useful guidance about how you can claim legal exemption.
And here’s a round-up of the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of mask (threadbare at best).
A reader reports on a trip to Alton Towers to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Obtaining a “Mask Exempt” card so face covering didn’t have to be worn on the rides was surprisingly easy.
We arrived at the Towers carpark just about 9.45am. The first thing I noticed was the semi-socially distanced snake of theme park guests walking the mile from the carpark to the park entrance. Previous visitors will know that a series of monorail trains convey guests between these to locations in better times. I assumed that the need to deep-clean and fumigate each 6-person compartment on the monorail after a live human had used it, meant it impractical to run the service. No worry; the wife wants to loose weight so an extra 3,000 steps wouldn’t do any harm. We parked up and joined the throng. What was most disappointing at this point was the number of people already fully muzzled; around 40 to 50% I’d say.
Entry to the park involved having an IR thermometer pointed at your forehead to take your temperature. Saturday morning was blessedly quite cool and my family all passed that test. Given UK obesity levels, I wonder how many guests were rejected for elevated temperatures because they’d just been made to walk a mile for the first time in how long? Particularly earlier in the week when the ambient temperatures were much higher.
Once in, I made my way swiftly to guest services. I joined the shortest queue of the day and soon found myself served. I had the page from .gov.uk that explains the reasons for possible muzzle exemption loaded on my phonee and had it centred on ‘severe distress’. I presented my phone…
“Hi, can I have a face mask exemption card please? I have severe distress.”
“Yeah, sure.”
The happy staff member grabbed one from the pile, wrote my name in the space on the back and and handed it to me. Simplest transaction of the day.
The first few rides we went on I was asked to muzzle up but each time, I just flashed my card and it worked a treat. No further questions, hassles, comments, etc. By the second half of the day, I wasn’t even being asked.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. Doing these daily updates is a lot of work (although I have help from several people, including one indefatigable techie who doesn’t want to be named). If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here.
And Finally…
Encouraging graphic in yesterday’s Sunday Times. Still a long way to go, but the British public is becoming less sheep-like.
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Me!
Congratulations! You win a year’s supply of facemasks!
Admittedly, that is none for most of us here!
Not the Govt. approved that do not protect against COVID 19
None of them does.
Give the lass a bunker!
Damn! Only second! I have just sent this email to my MP, a junior minister in our pathetic gov: Dear I am writing to you to ask if you are aware of the latest data from the UK and indeed other European countries showing that although there are spikes in Covid-19 the numbers of ITU admissions and deaths have remained low and indeed are still decreasing? This is also true for the areas England which are still in partial lockdown. For example, Leicester went into local lockdown at the end of June. The Leicester Mercury (the local newspaper) reported on 13th August that no one had died of Covid in any of the Leicester hospitals for over 2 weeks despite the infection rates remaining several times higher than the national average. What is the reason for this? It seems that the Covid-19 epidemic has behaved like all viral epidemics in history and spread widely in the population. Those who were susceptible mostly had a mild illness but sadly many elderly people, particularly those with co-morbidities, died (as they do each year of influenza or other respiratory viruses). There is very good evidence from the data that we have reached population… Read more »
An excellent well-argued and evidenced email. For these reasons you will not get a response. Or, if you do, it will not address any of the points that you make.
Indeed.
Yes the junior minister may just thank you for your interest. He might just go on to confirm that the government is following the best possible scientific advice that is currently available in the continuing battle against the Black Death, also known as Covid-19. Without some very firm resistance, to the government, we will be stuffed like turkeys.
You will get a standard govt response. I emailed my mp saying I would be cancelling my membership because of the face mask policy they forced on us. I got a standard email taken from the govt website I would think, reiterating the govt policy pretty much word for word. Not a word about losing a paid up member. Never again will I become a member or vote for him.
Can I copy and paste this and send it to my MP?
of course!
and me please.
sure
And me please?!
sure
Can I copy and paste this too to send to my MP?!
You would do well to replace the word ‘cases’ (“…there may be spikes in cases”) with ‘not-very-accurate positive test results’ for the sake of accuracy!
Couple of thoughts from that:
All that is to say that this prolonged lockdown is bad on so many levels.
We don’t know enough about the ‘fading immunity theory’ because not all immune responses are measurable in tests available. The tests we have give false positives because stretches of other coronaviruses are detected; these may well represent previous exposure to the common cold.
You will never get a PCR false positive from another cold. The test doesn’t work like that.
The antibody tests are designed to be as specific as possible for SARS2 as well which is probably one reason why they’re underreporting: people might indeed be clearing the virus mainly with antibodies that were originally adapted to other common colds.
These are interesting points to discuss here but I think will only confuse an MP.
DocRC’s letter was perfect because it sticks to the important points and the ones that are known with the most certainty. This makes the strongest argument without distractions.
Perfect comment; you must always stick to a few solid points and leave out any slightly weak arguments. If you add in all the things you can think of, they will sieze on the single weakest point you have made and use that as a way of dismissing your entire argument.
The argument is so clear and rational that you have to wonder why it is not accepted.
My guess is that the politicians know that the media are ready and waiting to accuse them of killing people by releasing the lockdown. Joe Biden said that his experts tell him that not wearing a mask will kill an extra 40,000 people. You just need a few photos of BAME doctors or children with cancer and the media will be all over it.
Far better (politically) to wait it out until the public are demanding an end. It is going to be an awkward conversation in October when furlough is supposed to end. People are already claiming that furlough will have to continue in industries that cannot return to work. And, of course, the public sector will continue on full pay.
The government could just say that it is no longer affordable to continue the lockdown, and if they tried, there would be mass starvation in the country before spring. They could ask the MSM if they could live with such a result on their conscience, if they feel that the lockdown ought to continue. The government might also point out that Prof Ferguson has produced a model that says 62 million people will die from hunger before next June.
And it will be the MSM wot done it!!
The foul Prof Ferguson doesn’t need any more publicity. A broken nose would be far more correct payment for the evil he has perpetrated over the years. I am not encouraging the use of violence, but he is a shit.
Gaol in perpetuity would be a more apt punishment.
A broken skull would be even better.
Superb. Well done.
Well done. I wrote to my local MP and MP for my local Town about 10 days ago. I’ve yet to hear back. I think a campaign to turn up the heat on our MP’s is needed and fast.
Are you talking about flamethrowers?
Asking for a friend.
Depends how thick their hides are.
I’d pick you up on one point :
“although there are spikes in Covid-19″
No. These ‘spikes’ are largely artifacts of testing.
Nice!! couple of typos I hope you don;t mind me pointing out for those that are copy pasting / This is also true for the areas (in) England which are still in / have T-cells, presumabl(y) developed in respo – I skipped the last paragraph so dyor 🙂
Thank you very much! I’ve sent a slightly shorter version, emphasising effects on his voters more, will report back on response: Dear XXX, COVID 19 – THE NEXT 100 DAYS The latest COVID 19 data from the UK shows that ITU admissions and deaths remain low and are decreasing, because the epidemic has behaved like all viral epidemics in history, which spread widely in the population, with or without lockdowns. It has burned its way through the susceptible population and we have reached ‘population immunity’ – see the death rates, now below the 5 year rolling average for the last 5 weeks (8 weeks in London, affected earliest). (The absolute rise in the number of positive tests is a function of increased testing – the ratio of positives to total tests is constant or falling). All this is good news – but you are not acting on it. Government now needs to act, very swiftly indeed, to mitigate the already dire effects on our economy, education, and health. People need to be reassured that the epidemic is over and that we can return to normal. The social distancing restrictions, (notably, based on the WHO 1 metre recommendation!) have to be lifted. Then… Read more »
Excellent. We will all wait with eager anticipation to see what cobblers we get in reply!
Good one!
The anti social distancing malarkey is NOT law. Hasn’t been for a while now
http://www.laworfiction.com/blog/
Link tweeted by simon Dolan’s QC
Excellent letter!!!
Excellent. I’ll use that on my MP, too. Assume you don’t mind😀
please do!
Brilliant summation! Sadly, the average MP is unlikely to have the intellect to even follow those well founded arguments.
Why did you write a letter like this if you are not expecting a sensible response? Did you write it so that you could tell yourself that you are doing something?
The quote from St Anthony the Great reminds me of something George Orwell said:
The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it
Remarkable – Rowan Dean on Skye News Australia
https://www.thetruthbarrier.com/2020/08/17/mark-crispin-miller-sweden-and-switzerland-prove-lockdowns-catastrophic-and-so-is-not-using-hcq/
Coronavirus Scotland: Study shows face coverings block almost 100% of COVID droplets
The research has shown those without a face mask could be 10,000 times more at risk
https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/coronavirus-scotland-study-shows-face-18780907
“The findings – published on a non-peer reviewed preprint server – could have implications for social distancing measures, the team says.”
The report author says cotton masks can make a tremendous difference with the larger droplet which are the most dangerous – according to him. School of Engineering.
Apologies for three part post.
Engineers test perfectly still dummies which apply masks perfectly, never touch them and are in an enclosed lab. This ain’t human. So it can be ignored.
Do these dummies stand up and move around? What happens to the droplets when they do? They get bounced. Like Eeyore.
A cotton mask will obviously stop large droplets. But if you are spitting said large droplets, for whatever reason, you shouldn’t, and likely wouldn’t, be near anybody, with or with out mask.
Doesn’t the droplet dry up, while the virus sails happily on its way?
This link below takes you to the proper science on the effectiveness of face masks for infectious respiratory influenza outside of a healthcare setting. In short we are firmly told that face masks provide no measurable benefit and that the same applies for hygiene measures, such as hand washing and/or gloves. There is no good reason to assume that this would not apply for Covid-19, where the virus transmits in the same manner as influenza.
Everything else suddenly popping up and telling us that masks now actually work is simply cobbled together, bought and paid for junk science and carries no weight.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0995_article
Be interesting (and damning for those of us who argue they are useless) if it stands up to any scrutiny. Several things stand out to my sceptical mind though:
It also grates that this non peer reviewed study can get straight into the news
Imagine, for a moment, a study was done that showed cloth masks were utterly utterly worthless and in fact increased infections, but it wasn’t peer reviewed or checked or anything. Do we think it’d be immediately picked up in by news outlets, or would it be (rightly) ignored?
we have plenty of those very studies
That’s what got me, straight to news. Therefore anything can be said and presented as news without foundation.
Not anything,only those that support the establishment narrative
A good point.
It seems to be focused on large droplets from coughing. What about if you carry on as normal but cough into your sleeve or hanky – would that do the same job?
The vast majority of mask wearing takes place for people who are just breathing normally (no large droplets) so how effective is it in this situation?.
you’re supposed to be staying at home if you have a new cough anyway.
It says nothing about the harm masks do to the wearer, by re-breathing our respiratory excretions in a moist rag. Nor does it address the “jets” as they go out of the edges of the mask. But, after all, this researcher’s speciality is yacht sails!
Maybe someone could unscramble this?
Sub headline:
The research has shown those without a face mask could be 10,000 times more at risk.
Text in article:
Someone standing two metres from a coughing person who has no mask is exposed to 10,000 times more droplets than someone half a metre from a coughing person who is wearing one, the researchers found.
So who is, and who isn’t, wearing a mask in this scenario? The cougher or the inhaler?
The study was carried out by someone in an Engineering faculty. WTF do they know about the relationship between viruses and droplets?
The whole lot is epic bunkum.
Is that the only way that viruses are transferred? Data of virus spread for a population doesn’t seem to follow. Typical Fallcy of Composition
First year student? Ivor Cummings (a real engineer) would eat them for breakfast.
Two contradictory statements right there! It is a shame even peer reviewed papers may not have been scrutinised fully, let alone those that are not.
The relationship between fluid droplets and a cloth membrane is ‘engineering’ for sure. The relationship between droplets and viruses is not.
Wonder how they counted the 10,000 (times)?
Oh no – wait – the verb is ‘could’…
This is utter bollocks. Please stop spreading it. Droplets may be stopped but as soon as they dry on a surface (within seconds) the teeny-weeny viruses remaining will go through the mask, assisted by breathing of course, like an aphid through chicken wire.
Whatever viruses are around now that Covid 19 has gone that is.
I think it stands as an important news article. This is the groundless basis with which our lives are changed. Yes my comment should have voiced criticism but as event happen I had difficulties as my three part mess of a post shows.
They whole study is nonsense, but this is the kind of rubbish they are going to make mask wearing compulsory for the future. Who knows their might be a suitable peer who discovers the article and sets to with a review. If no one is made aware how can anyone counter?
Just more madness.
The government admits that masks don’t protect the user, they protect others from the user.
Now a bullshit study insists it helps the user, even though the mask producers won’t guarantee it, obviously.
We are completely screwed. This is never going to end.
What a load of shite. 10,000 times more at risk’ ???? Than what? – 0 risk x 10,000 ? = zero.
You don’t need to look any further to identify a piece of crap.
Also worth saying that if all those studies and meta-studies couldn’t identify a 10,000 time decreased risk – then it’s this study that’s up the spout!
10,000 times? Another Ferguson Model calculation?
Yes, but it’s designed for crap readers, not for us.
100% of a particular size is what the article shows. Just like a door would stop 100% of human sized viruses out.
I nailed a mask on the outside of my front door in the hallway. I’m fully protected as long as I stay indoors. I can almost hear them tapping on my door, screaming to get in. Scratch that, it was just my neighbor upstairs, hammering away on the walls of her apartment. This has been going on for twelve years.
i don’t care if my breath causes someone to get ill because it’s not my fault. The idea i’ve to worry about people catching something from me is insane. Fuck masks.
Yep, masks work really well:
Obviously VERY effective.
Sorry, failed pic post.
What gets me is that this is used to justify the use of masks at ALL times. No one has ever disputed the fact that if someone is sneezing and coughing a covering over their nose and mouth may prevent viral or bacterial spread. The issue is the suggestion that a mask is beneficial in non infectious or asymptomatic individuals that aren’t coughing or sneezing etc. This is why throughout this period healthcare workers have been able to provide personal care to covid patients with a simple face mask on. I just dispute that I need one in a sodding shop.
Absolutely right and this is worst thing about it – it has cemented into the popular mindset the idea that even a TINY risk MUST be avoided at the cost of covering our faces for the rest of eternity
I mean do people usually cough and sneeze in random strangers faces! ? Or share lingering kisses with checkout staff!? Or lick all the bags of pasta before they select the one they want!? Do they!?
It’s like handwashing. I don’t use sanitiser in shops. If I am ever challenged I say I washed my hands before I came out, which is true. Does everyone wash their hands before they leave the house? Surely not. And they probably should. But do I want to live in a world where people are forced to wash their hands every 5 minutes because of a few people with questionable hygiene? NO! I’ve said this before, we need to divide the planet in two, half for the germophobe safetyists (who won’t be that safe, actually) and half for what I used to think of as normal people. And see who does better.
They should go back to licking their own windows, then we’d know who to ignore safely
😄
And of course implemented and mandated with absolutely no idea what the negative health effects could be.
Coughing or sneezing into a tissue or hankie will provide just as much protection. Even better from the producer’s point of view too!
The old “catch it, bin it, kill it” adverts were much more scientifically accurate than this mandatory muzzling. Coughing or sneezing into a tissue is healthier because you chuck away the tissue and you don’t have a damp material clinging onto your face which can cause major issues.
Plus there’s no guarantee with a muzzle that the droplets won’t escape.
One of the problems with this is that it is assuming that somebody ill with Covid has a productive (phlegmy) cough. This only appears in the later stages. Somebody who is in the early stages has a non productive cough. Anybody who is asymptomatic won’t have a cough at all!!
From the study….
“Results obtained from a manikin, one might argue, are only indicative due to the wide variability in the expiration parameters for speech and coughing in humans [16,17]. Accordingly, we performed experiments using four male and two female volunteers (aged between 30 and 45) to either read a sample script for three minutes or cough for one minute. For each test, a glass slide was placed vertically, 5 cm in front of the individual’s mouth.”
5cm in front of the test subjects,jut like real life, we all stand 2 inches from people whenever we speak or cough, don’t we?
Do Nicola’s handlers wipe down her microphone after she has finished spitting on it during her press conferences?
EUGH!
Horse shit!
Oh dear!
More risk if you have no nappy?
Then why does the packaging always say that the nappy affords no protection to the wearer?
Well we have an interesting practical experiment going on here in Wales. Masks are not compulsory except on public transport, and are little worn. My estimate is that in the local supermarkets roughly one in four wears a mask, mostly English tourists. I have not yet worn a mask. If we are really 10,000 times more at risk then we should expect to see rapid divergence between the Welsh death rates and the rest of the U.K.
Absolutely no sign of it so far.
Toby says: I don’t usually link to pieces in RT because it’s a propaganda arm of the Russian state. But this piece by Peter Andrews, an Irish science journalist, is good.
If that’s the case, what’s the BBC?
or any of the ‘mainstream’ media in the uk?
RT only came into existence because Putin was unimpressed by the BBC’s efforts as the Russian state’s propaganda wing.
Astonishing condemnation of UK Covid policy and praise for Swedish and Swiss approaches, complete with clear graphs, astonishing because it’s on Australian Sky News! By implication, also highly critical of Australia’s government. How did this slip under Rupert Murdoch’s radar? If this was broadcast on UK Sky News it might have a major impact.
Nothing we don’t already know here, but I highly recommend watching it as it gives us hope that the media are turning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXmwt_8tdNY
I think Australian Sky News is still under Murdoch control, British is not. I assume that accounts for the considerable difference in the output of the two channels.
Sky in UK is now wholly owned by US media giant Comcast. No Murdoch involvement at all. So it’s now ultra-woke. The sports channels in particular have totally embraced the BLM narrative displaying rhe logo across all sports coverage and encouraging presenters to do likewise. Little surprise therefore that Sky News parrots WHO and govt Covid propoganda unflinchingly.
And take a look at the top recipients of Comcast affiliate political donations:
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary?id=d000000461
Wow! Globalism at work. But not for the benefit of humankind.
Vomit!
Sky News Australia is always delightfully sceptical. Very anti woke.
British Sky News, like CNN, is the sort of thing you would only watch at the airport when your flight is delayed.
i’d rather watch the aircraft… or the ceiling, or paint drying … than sky news .
Yes, the Arrivals/Departures board is more interesting and far more accurate.
Fox News in the US, owned by Murdoch, is the only sceptical news source in MSM there. Tucker Carlson is excellent.
That’s what Kindles are for!!
Sky OZ is uber sceptic on lockdown, climate change, identity politics etc. It’s nothing like Sky UK
That and Fox News are the only news channels that I know of that are not fully on-board the Woke train.
Never mind the Woke Train, here are the Cramps:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQEjURkYFC0
Sky News Australia has been consistently putting out extremely coronasceptic opinion and reporting, with numerous clips linked here over the past few weeks.
Because I only see the clips that make Youtube and don’t watch the overall coverage, I don’t know if they put out pro-panic stuff as well, but what is absolutely clear is that this piece is absolutely not something that “slipped under Rupert Murdoch’s radar”.
In fact, it makes me wonder how sceptical Murdoch himself might be.
Superb.
750,000 people have died worldwide, 6 months into a pandemic. I assume in 90% of cases covid is just a complicating factor in a death of old age. That leaves about 70,000 whose lives ‘have been tragically cut short’. Considering in the same timescale 1 million children have died of diarrhea, is the lockdown not an overreaction? Consider also that the world food program predicts 130 million people will die of starvation ‘due to the lockdown’ by Christmas. I feel that instead of a measured reaction to a mild disease, worldwide governments have marched to war against their own citizens. Who thought WW3 would start like this and rack up more casualties by Christmas than WW1 and WW2 combined?
CDC reckon each “covid” death had 2.6 co-morbidities so were pretty ill at the time anyway.
“ComorbiditiesTable 3 shows the types of health conditions and contributing causes mentioned in conjunction with deaths involving coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death. The number of deaths with each condition or cause is shown for all deaths and by age groups. “
In Australia, the average age of those dying “of” Covid is 83. The average life expectancy is also 83.
Now they tell us. A bit late.
I agree completely. it`s bonkers.
Politically correct ‘compassion’ is always selective. Do you remember the Yes Minister episode on ‘The Compassionate Society’?
WW3 has been evolving since the end of WW2.
First caller on Vanessa Feltz bloody brilliant! 89 yr old woman, not so much sceptic or anti- just too old and too sensible to bother.
I know – her no nonsense approach a breath of fresh air. But didn’t you find the academic after her explaining the contortion of rules absolutely hilarious. Almost pythonesque in its absurdity . If you didn’t know it was supposed to be serious you’d have said it was a spoof
Non-leftie populist Trump vilified for mentioning postponing an election.
Rampant leftie from same school as Blair, macron, Obama, Trudeau and many others actually postpones an election – praised for decisive action.
What more does it take to get the sheeple to wake up?
https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/5011-the-great-reset-davos-the-plot-to-cancel-trump
This video posted on the earlier page really clarifies a lot of points for me.
25 min long but you don’t need to sit and watch – just let it play, no need for the pictures.
Horrifying really and would be a good video to show the sheeple but they wouldn’t believe it!
That is an exceptionally good video that even those with short attention spans should be able to get their heads around. It certainly fills a few gaps in my understanding of the C19 geopolitics, especially after having watched Millennium Millie’s documentary on the deep state.
I must admit I felt a little helpless when it came to an end as it seems the fate of the normal way of life lies in the hands of patriotic Americans to dig us out this hole in November, and I’m not convinced there are sufficient numbers to make a difference!
This is the first time in my life that I have considered war could be justified as a way to derail the globalist plans. It will be interesting to see if this becomes an option should it become clear Trump will not get a second term in November.
All we can do is hope 2021 is the year all this bs ends!
I agree. The humble American has the fate of the world in their hands. Jeez!
I thought that this video just showed how many layers there are to this whole agenda and down at the bottom, slightly above us, is Johnson and his team. Mere puppets.
It will certainly make for interesting viewing when the results come in and personally I have not given a stuff in past years who is the president but this year I think I may take a bit more notice.
Yes, politicians in every country are mere puppets in this show and are doing as they are told, some with more vigour than the rest.
It seems pointless ranting on about our compromised politicians here as the real target of our anger should be the globalists – the Davos crowd, WEF, UN, IMF, etc. from whence all shit emanates.
Unfortunately the only path open to us to push back at them is to rid ourselves of our own self-serving political classes.
This is where the real challenge lies but unfortunately time is not on our side which is why the outcome of the American elections are so crucial to all freedom loving people of the world.
Does it mean that the Royal family is part of it too?
Up to their necks – always have been.
Very clear overview. Thanks.
I watched at 1.75 speed – no problem!
A must watch.
Answer : anti-coma medication.
This is all a bit like the madness of WWI when generals and politicians couldn’t admit that sending soldiers charging at guns didn’t achieve anything except carnage.
It’s a similar situation – with less blood admittedly – where politicians and their “scientists” insist on containing a virus that has spread around the world to tens of millions and doesn’t actually cause much harm.
The situation feels truly desperate
Our biggest problem is there is no vocal opposition outside of us plebs. The TV Media are all in and the print Media are only providing the odd puff piece amongst a tidal wave of propaganda. I don’t think any MP’s are willing to break ranks either and even if they did would any Media give them coverage ?
A fellow sceptic shared a brilliant short story yesterday by E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops, written over 100 years ago. I thought it was incredibly insightful. Basically, society has become too dependent on the state (“the machine” in the short story) and is just too feeble to do anything.
https://www.ele.uri.edu/faculty/vetter/Other-stuff/The-Machine-Stops.pdf
I would encourage reading it as it could be a good prediction of what is coming.
That is an excellent story. Read it last night
Yes, I saw a television version (very) many years ago. I seem to recall that the Machine’s self-repair functions were failing : right now, our government seems to be totally lacking in ability to detect the need for self-repair, let alone having satisfactory self-repair capability!
WW1? Less blood? See steve_w’s comment 4 minutes before yours!
“Trying to ramp up contact tracing in August goes beyond locking the barn door after the horse has bolted. This horse bolted so long ago that now herds of its descendants roam the countryside. Meanwhile, the farmer ruins his homestead in order to pour his resources into increasingly elaborate and expensive door locking contraptions.”
this, from the Peter Andrews piece recommended by Toby, is just excellent
Calling lockdownistas “Branch Covidians” is marvellous too. (The Waco cult was called Branch Davidians, if any readers don’t get the reference).
waco was another massive lie if you look into it
bit of a precursor you might say
Ruby Ridge was another interesting one from that period.
Ruby Ridge was straight up state murder.
Seth Rich🤔
I’m aware there was a lot of distortion around Waco but the reference was still a good one IMHO.
Brilliant.
Words from Scotlands CMO at press briefing now – “Schools are in the next normal, not the new normal,” says Jason Leitch.
The measures will change on an ongoing basis.
The Next New Normal. Four legs good, two legs better. Obedience better still.
Very Orwellian!
Yesterday the news broke after work done by the Sunday Post that at least 5 local authority arwas had seen patients moved from hospitals to carehimes afters testing positive for Covid19. This was during the phase of clearing hospitals for the supposed corona pandemic as modelled by Fergusson. People died. Each life is due respect and dignity.
Today Sturgeon was asked about this in the daily briefing. Her answer did not answer the question asked.
Will we ever know the number of deaths linked to care homes, after patients were discharged from hospital [at the start of the pandemic]?
Sturgeon: “While I think it’s really important given the nature of what we have been dealing with here, and the knowledge and understanding of this virus we have had at different stages, that we are not defensive about that. We are dealing with a difficult, challenging and unprecedented situation. We have sought to ensure that at every stage there was appropriate guidance in place.
“Scotland is not unique in some of these challenges in which we faced.”
Sounds like a case of buck passing.
Theres more to come on this across the world. It was surprising to see the ovbious attempt to deflect in her answer. Also today the timing of an covid inquiry was brought up – no date set merely that the civil servants need to focus on the task at hand not an inquiry. I guess the pressure starts to build on the decision makers – their conduct is on record.
“We are dealing with a difficult, challenging and unprecedented situation.”
Arse-covering nonsense.
The situation – at its worst was no more challenging that a high spike in annual ‘flu.
And it wasn’t at all ‘unprecedented’ : mortality was only eight in the league table of years since 1993/4.
Humans have never needed to deal with this sort of thing before.
Well, not with Covid fascism, no, nor with the abrupt conversion of most of the population into gibbering zombies.
Indeed, it is only the response that is uprecedented.
The clearing of beds and morgues for that matrer is standard fare.
And it wasn’t at all ‘unprecedented’ : mortality was only eight in the league table of years since 1993/4.
But they will always be able to say “That’s only because of the lockdown…”
And they have thoroughly discredited Sweden. One annoyance is that Sweden’s economy will be dragged down by the rest of the world’s, so in the end it will look worse than it should.
Bring back Saab automobiles.
A solid first campaign for Covid FC – we’ll soon see what the second seas…er…second wave means for Covid FC. A surge to the top or a downtick to the relegation zone.
What we need to see then is the evidence or information used to make any judgements. Clearly if actions taken could cause harm or even death then there will be plenty of documentary evidence to show any considerations made.
I look forward to seeing the CYA documents.
Someone posted yesterday about the refusal of a Melbourne Hospital to admit care-home patients:
https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6181525402001?ref=Net-Header-News-Home
It appears that Melbourne is doing what almost every other country has done i.e. culling the old. Even Sweden did it, although they did at least apologise.
(posted by MiriamW!)
That was me, earlier this morning.
New York, Michigan did the same, though I haven’t yet heard that they were deliberately trying to kill the elderly with morphine and a refusal to transfer them to hospital if they were ill.
But the morphine treatment has now apparently happened twice, on both sides of the globe, so if it’s not happened elsewhere, I’d be very surprised.
I don’t imagine anyone’s actually doing a Shipman on the ancients, but palliative care (which would include morphine), prescribed instead of actual medical treatment/hospitalization as here in the UK (where it was combined with do-not-attempt-resuscitation notices) would see plenty of them off quite efficiently – and (as here) boost the CFR.
(posted by AlanG)
“Her answer did not answer the question asked.”
Tucker Carlson: if they don’t answer the question they’re asked, but answer a completely different question that you didn’t ask, they’re lying to you. That’s how you tell.
Is there anything that she wouldn’t be able to deflect? How about
“First Minister, what is the point of these briefings if you’re not going to directly answer the question that’s asked?”
This is why I commented with it. It is how you tell.
Word salad. Hey, Wee Jimmy, here’s a lesson in communication – Fuck off. You understood that, didn’t you?
Obviously it was a steady stream of wicked English old people being decanted into virtuous Scottish care homes.
Without bringing their tax money with them…
I don’t think discharging vulnerable adults with unknown status into facilities that had neither the facility to isolate the symptomatic or PPE can be considered unprecedented. We discharge patients all the time, we don’t do it without regard for their safety or without consideration of the receiving institutions ability to keep them and other patients safe. In reality NORMAL standards and protocols were abandoned in a panic and there have been consequences. This is a failure to remain calm objective and prioritise the vulnerable.
That woman is a psychotic obfuscator. I am listening to a Richie Allen broadcast from February 6, 2020 this very minute. The second subject was about pathological liars. Coincidence! .
Very slippery!
Sticky Nurgeon
Had an interesting discussion with a driving test examiner over the weekend. They have a policy where if someone refuses to wear a mask (no matter what their exemption) the examiner has to volunteer to conduct the test – all of the examiners in their test center won’t volunteer so most people have been forced to wear one as there is a 5-6 month wait to book a re-test (not helped by only doing 5 tests per day rather than the normal 7 in order to decontaminate the car after each use.)
In the face of such pressure it is not surprising that most people give in – but there were a handful over the last couple of weeks who still refused and have basically been put to the back of the queue. I just hope that one of them decides to take some kind of legal action.
I asked whether any small amount of leeway was being given to allow for the additional stress of wearing a mask especially in the recent hot weather – the answer – NO WAY!!
Bastards!
Feels like there is discrimination there against those with exemption from wearing masks.
It would be an interesting risk assessment the examiners have carried out to implement such practices. Are masks a distraction, etc?
given what is happening with schools and exams, maybe they should scrap tests and allow people to have a licence if their instructor says they are good enough … 🙂
It would probably cause fewer deaths than lockdown – like Corona virus.
I find my field of vision compromised by wearing a mask. Cannot be safe to drive like that, surely?
Saw a car drive by yesterday. A woman in the passnger seat was wearing a mask and her window was rolled up to the top. Maybe they had the air con on. Wouldn’t that distribute the germs inside the car?
“‘Why is Boris Johnson taking us back to the Seventies?”
More nonsense from the propaganda press.
Were he only doing that – the seventies – far from the image were a far better time time than this!
Yes I agree he’s taking us back to the Seventies. The 1670s.
Or even earlier – the 470s – the decade the Western Roman empire collapsed.
3-day week; power cuts; rubbish piled up in the streets; extreme discontent among the populace ….
Not all of the seventies was good.
I didn’t say it was ‘all good’ – but it certainly wasn’t all bad like the last six months. The much-mythologysed three-day-week and the ‘rubbish in the streets’ were short-lived incidents – not all-embracing limitations on civil liberties.
I remember being a kid is the 70’s and fun was definitely allowed. Except for Sundays on which nothing EVER happened.
My father was on a three-day week for some time before he was made redundant in 1974. Just before that (must have been 1972), there were blackouts, and I recall him being away on a work trip and my mother having to manage with the three of us – I was 8 and my brother was 3 – with candles. It got much worse for our family during the mid-1970s, when my father lost a succession of jobs as firms started to fall over. Food was not plentiful, and we nearly lost the house. He finally got a more permanent job in the local authority at a much lower salary, and my mother worked in the school kitchens then as a temporary clerk once my grandmother had retired and could cover after school. While I agree there has been an all-embracing attack on civil liberty, I also think that being hungry tends to have a more immediate effect on your perception of how bad things are/have been in your life.
Remember the miner’s strike of 1973-74 and everybody coming round to our house to cook. The electric power went off at 5pm and we had a gas cooker. My dad was lucky, he kept his job until he retired in 1999, but things were touch and go when Harold Wilson went cap-in-hand to the IMF. That was when the “cuts” started, of course they like to blame Thatcher for those, but the deepest cuts in public spending came before, under Callaghan and Healey. Which triggered the Winter of Discontent…
And the rest is all history now.
Yes. They didn’t go on for months adn we weren’t living in a dystopia..
Listening to Genesis while smoking hashish.
A postcard from the New Forest: I went camping with a group of car-enthusiast friends from Saturday to Sunday. There were eight of us, all firmly opposed to the lockdown. On Saturday we visited a motorcycle museum. When we made a group booking over the phone, the receptionist said the she disagreed with the mask rule but had no choice but to see the museum adhered to it. When we went in, I wasn’t given any trouble for my masklessness and my friends, who had just pulled bandanas over their faces, quickly pulled them down again, and we proceeded to have some friendly conversations with the staff about cars and bikes. However, the museum did have a card-only policy in place, which counts against it. Later, the owner of the museum, an 86-year-old former motorcycle racer, came in and had a chat with us. He wore no mask and he wasn’t bothered to see us unmasked either. After a life spent taking risks in motorcycle competition, he probably can’t get too excited over a flu. Sadly, I couldn’t help but feel extremely uncomfortable while we were talking on account of my being unmasked. It was odd, and even though the… Read more »
“Stupidly, all the cars were parked two metres away from each other, so the disease I haven’t got couldn’t magically jump across from my car to the next car and infect all its occupants on their return. ”
When left to their own devices, people will try to park with a reasonable distance away from another car, just to allow themselves enough good room to get in and out, and avoid the damage to car doors that happens when they’re normally forced to park too close together.
Plus, some people (me, I confess) are rubbish at parking.
Thanks for the report and it seems that you had an enjoyable weekend overall. I’m in a car club and all the shows in my area (north east) have been cancelled apart from one which we went to two weeks ago. I have no idea how the organisers managed to get this one on when all the others have been called off.
There were about 300 cars and the event felt pretty much as it would have done last year which was a bit of a surprise. We are trying to return to normal and this weekend we will be doing our Cobweb Run which was postponed from March. Maybe we should call it the Covid Run?
There’s a ‘keep your distance’ notice on a fast bypass road near my town.
Presumably the sheeples will interpret this to mean that cars should be six feet apart – at 60 mph.
New Zealand, the acceptable face of a 2020 concentration camp.
Apparently it’s what they want.
Anybody know a sane Kiwi? I only know one and she’d almost certainly be in favour of quarantine dodgers being shot on sight.
It seems the roots of liberty and democracy are very shallow after all; all it takes to overthrow them, to cow the population, is to use the ‘fear’ of something, in this case, a not particularly dangerous disease.
Who would have thought it was that easy, or maybe it’s just the times we live in; the problem is, how to overcome this sense of fear in so many and regain our freedom?
I had a chat with a relative whose son lives in New Zealand. I asked if her son liked Ms Ardern, she said that they really like her.
I said “Don’t they realise they are losing their freedom?” She said “They don’t think like that”. People don’t even realise it!
“…everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”
“Saint Jacinda Postpones General Election”
Of course she has.
“But as was pointed out in the recent “Postcard From New Zealand“, she’ll almost certainly win in October in a landslide.”
And Hillary Clinton was predicted to have a 98% chance of winning the U.S. presidential election in 2016.
When the media is in its own tightly-controlled bubble, when the pundits all listen to the noise on Twitter where anyone with any dissenting voice is likely to be kicked off, and where the electorate are dishonest in their voting intentions with pollsters because they don’t trust the media, government or institutions, maybe there’ll be a surprise in this election.
I don’t know enough about NZ politics to know one way or another, but Biden’s in a strong lead against Trump, just as Hillary was, because the opinion-makers are too busy listening to themselves and each other to know what the real mood is amongst the public any more. They’re too busy censoring wrong-think to hear.
I hope you’re right about Trump. I think he’s been pretty terrible, but he kept out something worse and needs to do the same this time round. If he loses, the struggle against coronafascism/communism will get a lot harder. Trouble is, either way the issue is now highly politicised – saw some posts the other day about T-Cell immunity being a “right wing” theory and justification from I think someone in Denmark for mandatory masks that even Trump has been seen wearing one so Denmark finds itself to the right of Trump.
Sad whenever we get the chance to vote these days we have to choose between the least worst option. We never seem to get the choice of less government interference in our lives just the choice of slowing the pace.
I agree. Each of us is governed by up to 5 layers: EU, national, devolved, regional, local, with all the attendant bureaucracy and kick backs and interference in our lives. I have never understood why the population would stand for it, but doubt there will be a revolution any time soon.
Can probably add at least another level the UN (and its many bodies such as the WHO). We also have other organisations which manage national policies such as the World Bank (funds for complying with WHO strict lockdown strategy) and World Economic Forum (the ‘Great Reset’).
Absolutely, and the countless quangos or whatever they’re called. But I thought as you wrote ‘government’ you were talking about the levels of government we can vote for, if we chose to. Depressing eh?
Very depressing, bureaucrats keep on increasing bureaucracy. The quangos never seem to disappear despite the promises, they simply rename and reform.
In his later years the late Christopher Booker was pointing out the rise of these global orgamisations.
Would have been interesting to read Christopher Booker’s opinion of current events. Unfortunately we now have the likes of Celia Walden instead adding to the hysteria.
Segregation is defined by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance as “the act by which a (natural or legal) person separates other persons on the basis of one of the enumerated grounds *without an objective and reasonable justification, in conformity with the proposed definition of discrimination.
*the out clause that makes it worthless as the paper it is written on.
Trump odds were at about 2.74 about two weeks ago. He is now in to 2.5. Small movement, but he has been moving gradually each day. Interestingly Jeffrey Gundlach, the ‘bond king’, called it for Trump last week, on the basis that there was a silent majority in his favour. Kamala Harris is not popular. I agree with what you say about Trump, but he is our best chance to get out of this mess.
Tulsi Gabbard pulled Harris to pieces in one of the presidential candidate debates, Harris subsequently withdrawing. And now, via a back route, she could end up being the President (can anyone see ‘groping’ Biden’s obvious dementia surviving his first term if he gets in).
Martin Armstrong has said on anumber of occasions he worries less about Trump than what will follow him. I agree.
Kamala looks as though she shares the same pantsuit designer as her handler!
MA called the top in Covid, amongst a load of other things.
Do you mean that woman of colour, Kamala? I think my East African friends would be falling about laughing at the thought that Kamala was anything but white.
Is Kamala Harris a subtle example of cultural appropriation? Black on the outside, white on the inside.
Known as ‘Hillary in Blackface’ on one or more of the blog sites!
Robert Barnes too and he made a lot of money last time betting on Trump.
It very much depends on where y ou get your news from.
Watching the BBC with that condescending twat Sopel giving it nightly orange man bad will make you think trump is terrible.
There is a long history pattern of selective reporting and editing that nakes me doubt a lot of the agenda driven reporting from the states.
The US media in general subscribes to the BBC / woke vision of the world so there is a lot of dissonance.
He’s nowhere near as bad as the media and his opposition portray him.
He’s boorish and can be rude, he’s a New Yorker, but he’s kept most of his election promises, where he hasn’t been blocked by Democrats and some Republicans, or they’ve sat on their hands and done nothing to help.
In a worse version of the quiet Tory in the UK, there are a lot of quiet Trump supporters in the US.
In many parts of the country, putting up posters on your house, bumper sticker, expressing support at work etc will result in your house being vandalised, car scratched or losing your job.
Os it any wonder a lot of people will not take the risk and leave it till the privacy of the voting booth.
Note the violence is nearly all one way.
As Lionel Shriver expressed it in a slightly different context, “That shows where the intolerance lies”.
I’ve come to the conclusion that people lie to pollsters – possibly because they never know where the information about their views/votes will end up.
Posted by Laura earlier just before page change so most people will have missed it.
Deserves a reboot.
100% Organic, Biodegradable and Vegan Facemasks – picture is hilarious https://www.facebook.com/lukepaulscottofficial/posts/10100874897527872
Would add that each county could have their own.. Italians have calabrese. chinese have pak choi. – so we dont have cultural appropriation in these testing times
Will have to see if I can fashion a piece of steak that way.
A good sized piece of tripe could work well.
Tripe, indeed.
Well, last week the BBC was seriously advocating nappies made of bamboo – cooler in hot weather.
Beware of panda cars.
I have some bath towels that include bamboo fibers.
Amusing until you look a little harder and see one of millions of developing world residents condemned to life as collateral damage from the groundless anxieties of 1st worlders. His wife probably cooks over an open fire and his children struggled to study by kerosene lamp light. Yet he bears all that with a lot more dignity than the pathetic wimps that surround us.
So is this the one where Sauron actually gets the ring seeing as it’s New Zealand?
Were there any protests over the weekend?
Madrid, London, Birmingham are the biggest ones I know of.
Thanks. I’ll have a look.
Querdenken, the opposition organisations in Germany, had protests in Hamburg (major inner city road was closed for this, thanks authorities in HH) about 900 attending, Kiel, capital of Schleswig Holstein in the North, 600 attending. Probably more cities in Germany who regularly have protests.
Another planned in Berlin on 29th August, with international participation.
News reports on NDR.de (MSM tv station), or search for Querdenken on YouTube.
Just read Effie Deans blog and yes a lot to agree with, I would definitely add Piers Morgan to the list of criminals in my view who both made this lockdown inevitable and fuelled the terror that has kept it going so tragically and absurdly long
Piers Morgan can be blamed for everything bad really.
He should also be in the dock for crimes against humanity together with Johnson, Hancock, Ferguson, Whitty and Vallance.
The Lord HAW HAW of our time
They hanged Haw Haw.
Precedents.
Piers Morgan is hogging the conch and won’t give it back.
Tip him over the cliff.
I may have posted this before – but it was prompted by Wee Krankie’s use of the word ‘unprecedented’.
The facts are, as said, that there have been eight years of higher mortality since 1993. Which means that, in my lifetime of nigh on three quarters of a century, I guess I must have lift through about two-dozen ‘precedents!
‘lift’? = ‘lived’
That’s the core of it. Unprecedented measures for a threat that is demonstrably nothing of the sort.
Their point is that without the lockdown it would have been unprecedented.
The ONS published something a couple of weeks ago saying 450,000 deaths were avoided at 10 years life lost each
They have to be convinced that
1 – Fergusons model is not the conterfactual
2 – the best actual real world data is sweden and that should be our counterfactual – same deaths as our lockdown give or take – ie lockdown here didnt do much
3 – no way is it 10 years per person life lost. The only paper I read on this assumed that anyone that died actually had the life expectancy of the average from that cohort. ie 70 year old with diabetes had the number of life years lost as the average 70 year old with diabetes rather than the sensilbe assumption that they were the sickest in that group. first author was a student rather than a doctorate
“Their point is that without the lockdown it would have been unprecedented.”
Which is supported by absolutely no evidence at all. Clearly,peak infection had taken place before lock-up – and a multitude of data illustrates the lack of connection between the stringency of government measures and the infection’s course. Viruses do what viruses do.
I don’t think those so heavily invested in their own poor decisions and lack of basic knowledge will be convinced. The time has passed when, at the fork in the road, they could have said :
“We know more now, and you can relax a bit – sufficient data is in, and it isn’t as serious as was first portrayed”
But that’s the opposite of ‘stupid’ – recognising a (justifiable) mistake, and correcting for it (see ‘Ferguson’ and other Mengele’s in the scientific field).
“Which is supported by absolutely no evidence at all.”
I absolutely agree. It was clear to me in March and ever more clear since, that lockdown will kill more than covid – especially when you use qalys. I just wonder what will convince them? The truth will out eventually – just how many have to be slaughtered by lockdown first?
Depends which “them” you are talking about. If it’s Fergie et al, nothing short of torture or threats of prison would make them admit it.
https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-08-16
Someone posted this yesterday but it deserves another airing.
Saint Jacinda, the only world leader able to eat an apple through a tennis racket
New Zealand. Land of the Long White Teeth.
Very good.
Whenuanganihoroa hasn’t got quite the same poetry as aotearoa though!
May it soon become an endangered species.
Surely all Jacinda needs to do to fix this is to cast the virus in to the burning fires of Mount Doom?
With herself as Gollum.
He had big fangs too.
In the maps at the bottom of the page, does ‘Insufficient data’ mean ‘Why are you asking me this? F*ck off’?
Daily Mail running a story today about a 27-year-old woman whose cancer recurred during lockdown. The main symptom was a cough that her GP put down to COVID. She died.
Interesting comment (not mine): “Lockdown supporters have blood on their hands. Don’t kill granny? How about you don’t kill her grandchildren by denying them health care?” Over 400 upvotes, about 20 downvotes.
Another commenter also mentioned “blood on their hands” so may be a useful phrase.
along with Guilty Men
“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guilty_Men”
I posted on the article on the earlier thread. She leaves behind a 5 year old son. God bless him and curse those responsible for her death – a very long list of useless, evil, lying bastards. There is only one thing as bad as a child suffering from cancer and needing chemotherapy, and that is a child watching their mother or father dying from it.
Killers.,They will pay. Pay for every drop of blood.
Bear witness.
It is. I use blood on hands once in this posting on the Guido Fawkes website late last week: As you know, I’m HIGHLY critical of this useless government, especially in the face of what is rapidly transpiring into nothing worse than a bad flu season, just without the dead babies. That said, I think right-wingers or fair-minded left-wingers/centrists need to point out two things about this recession.First, the “opposition” parties represented at Parliament have said nothing except “harder, earlier” regarding the lockdown, which is the ONLY cause of the recession. Nobody in Parliament is questioning why we bothered with such a clearly insane policy in the first place.Secondly, the role of the MSM in creating the fear and panic among the population is also being conveniently overlooked by the self same MSM. They have blood on their hands as a result. I can only speculate how entangled the MSM is with the government, but they drove the lockdown agenda, which directly caused the recession. Nothing else.The time has now come to set this interventionist policy aside, gird loins, grow cajones and get on with your lives. Just do it, don’t wait for the wastrels in government or the MSM… Read more »
Send Boris, Matt and the whole rotten crew tweets and emails denouncing them as ‘Granny Killers’.
Just thought I’d have a look at the website for The Who. That’s the band, not the evil empire. The link I happened to land on went straight to the USA merchandise page, and guess what was front and centre?
Yep – ‘The Who Target Logo Face Covering $15’.
If I meet a supposed Who fan wearing one of those, I’ll need an exemption for murder…
I’ll hold your coat 😁
Boo! Shame The Who!
I hope they die before they get old.
Wait till the inevitable “Corona Aid”concert when all the old fag end musos trot out their olde rock to unite the sheeple.
My bf is very into photography – almost to the point of obsession. It’s his main hobby and he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of cameras. In the few months before lockdown, he poured all his time and energy while at university into renovating a forgotten darkroom housed in one of the university-owned accommodation blocks, so that students could develop their own photos. He was looking forward to developing this project further during his final year of uni. This morning, he received an email from the uni saying that he would not be allowed to use the darkroom this year because it can only be used by those who live in the accommodation in which the darkroom is housed – and my bf doesn’t live in said accommodation. This is due to the uni’s Covid policy. He is utterly devastated and I am devastated for him – he channelled so much time and energy into that darkroom, and for someone who lives and breathes photography like him, it’s a real blow. He now feels like he has no reason to return to uni – most of his contact hours are online; he’s being forced to live in a ‘social bubble’ with… Read more »
“I feel really quite frightened at the dystopia we are sliding into”
You are quite rightly so, Poppy. I have never experienced anything as near dystopian as this, nor a population so cowed by propaganda and deliberate psy-ops from the evil PS-B creeps.
Over the years, I’ve had – like most – some really good ‘ups’ and some pretty big ‘downs’. But I’ve never felt quite so objectively pessimistic as I do at the present time.
It happened slowly but surely. Insidiously. Too many people fell for the narrative too easily. But I think that we have been harping so much on HEALTH for so many years now that the reaction was to be expected. Neurotic Hypochondriacs. More worried about their calorie count than learning about the sciences. Superstitions are alive and well. I guess they never go away.
Totally agree. The sight of a sea of masked zombies is uniquely dispiriting.
Churchill, when asked about defunding the arts to support the war effort, supposedly replied ” Then what are we fighting for?” Another fail for Bumble.
We are fighting for Net Zero.
I feel exactly the same way Poppy and I don’t know about you , but it’s the attempts in the media to laugh the whole thing off or at least make light of the disaster – the jokey adverts, humorous mask designs ans so on ad nauseaum that really gets to me. Our nation has sleepwalked like a plague of terror stricken zombies in to a cataclysm and hardly any of us can see it, I too hope that some day those responsible will rot in Jail.
I’m getting sick and tired of various half-arsed attempts to “adjust” to the “new normal”. I don’t want to get on public transport, whether it’s a “quiet” time or not. And the reason for that is emphatically not because I’m worried I might contract F***ING Covid. It’s because I can’t bear to travel with a rag plastered over my face. Same with shopping, going to a gallery, theatre, etc. I just want to get back on with my normal daily life, as has been possible since early April.
I traveled on buses, tube and overground in London without a mask. No problems anywhere, I didn’t even need to say I am exempt.
What I hate is looking at the muzzled faces, it is depressing.
I cannot wait for the life to get to normal, but we will have to fight to that. I will go to the next protest in London.
I did my first supermarket shop in the U.K. since masks were introduced today. I didn’t wear one. Quite possibly I was the only person in there aged over 10 not wearing one though. I wore mirrored shades to give a “fuck off don’t mess” vibe and it worked well enough. Nobody said anything. Staff were helpful as usual.
My children are aghast at my rule breaking. How do teach them to understand the importance of independence of thought, principles and critical thinking as well as discipline and getting on in society? I am going with “you cannot make things change if you are not willing to make a stand for what you believe to be right”
I so would have been burned at the stake in earlier times though.
Good job soldier.
There are no exemptions from masks in shops here in France, so I just don’t go to any (thank goodness for click&collect and Amazon).
Footfall in local shops – even supermarkets – is substantially lower.
Although there are fewer tourists here than usual in summer, supermarket car parks are much emptier than in the (normal) winter months. Turnover must be down to a fraction.
Despite that, there seems to be very little backlash from retailers – all shops are dutifully displaying “Masque obligatoire” signs, with the €135 fine warning.
Indeed. The cheery ads with kids waving to their gran on a screen and playing an instrument/baking a cake etc leave me choking with murderous rage.
Especially as they’re just bullshit. Like it’s just a fun time with Enid Blyton. I don’t ever recall reading “Five Get Locked Down in Devon”.
My sister posted a photo of her 5 year old daughter going to school in front of a computer screen on her antisocial media account. I don’t know why but it made me want to slit my wrists when I saw it because I thought, that’s not how its supposed to be and my niece won’t thank her elders if she ever realises how her early life was screwed over for a virus.
That said, at least she’s not muzzled unlike those poor kids in Thailand.
Have you noticed they put a few adverts in where everything is normal ?,shops as they used to be,happy unmasked families going on holiday on a plane etc..This seems like a deliberate act of rubbing our noses in it,some kind of psy-ops,I’m not sure what they are trying to get across but it seems like another form of demoralisation.
Demoralisation is a big element of the long term psy-op.
Programs like: Can’t pay take it away, neighbours from hell, benefit street, that program about millionairs and how much they spend on dinner, that other one made in Chelsea, all the cop shows,….all of them designed to make people jelous, breed resentment, set us against each other, systematic demonisation of diffrent parts of society. Its been going on for the last 20 years.
To get us to where we are now.
Just as bad is the Let’s Get Back advert the government put out at the end of July. “You can have the real normal back if you just get tested” (so we can lock down various parts of the country). It was plastered with negative comments until they realised they’d screwed up by leaving the comments section open.
I’m being Mrs Awkward here (no relation) but who holds all the keys to the dark room, the outside door etc? What’s to stop bf using it anyway if he’s not bothered about returning to uni? I love the idea of guerrilla photographers creeping through the night, ducking under lighted windows and behind trees.
I think the accommodation receptionist/porter holds them. Totally ludicrous as the darkroom is so small that only one person can use it at a time anyway!
If a University can’t supply equipment that the average person doesn’t have, what is the point. We can all learn via youtube for an annual fee of £0.00.
I love your sense of adventure…
Reminds me of my time as a high school boarder I would gain access to all parts of the school using a piece of wire to fish out clasroom keys deposited in a key box outside the headmaster’s office. Over the years I really got to know what my teachers thought of my (lack of) potential, but at least proved them wrong on exam mark predictions.
Ah, bring back the 70’s 🙂
Exam mark predictions?? Were they ignored, as has just happened/not happened/reinstated, I’ve lost track.
Stories like this remind us Covid is nothing but a fascist coup. Until the incompetence brigade address this we are doomed.
Well said Poppy, its really depressing. All that work your boyfriend has done gone down the drain. Society is pretty much sleepwalking into disaster and everything that has made life worth living is being chipped away and becoming so unbearable that people are forgetting what it means to be human.
Yes Poppy it’s terrible. The only thing is, your boyf is not alone. There are thousands of other people who have had everything totally mashed up by the covid scam. If that helps any.
I think of it in terms of live music. In my 20s, I followed the Grateful Dead all over the US. 25,000 sweating fans singing (and sharing germs) in an arena. We used to joke about the tour colds some people would get.
Some people called following the Dead “the last great adventure” in America. Little did we know that that was right. Now people can’t gather together to enjoy music – whatever type floats your boat. Tragic.