Latest News
Croatia Added to Quarantine List
First it was holidaymakers in Spain who were told they had to quarantine for 14 days on their return to Britain, then France. Now, Croatia has been added to the “red list”. According to The BBC the 20,000 Brits currently holidaying in Croatia have until 4am on Saturday to leave the country or face the consequences. Meanwhile, the Scottish government has added Switzerland to the lists of countries on its quarantine list!
However, there is a scintilla of good news. Portugal has been added to the “green list”, meaning you don’t have to self-isolate for 14 days after returning from the Algarve.
Portugal’s ministry of foreign affairs welcomed the changes as “useful for all those who travel between Portgual and the United Kingdom”.
In a tweet, it added: “This decision is proof of the good outcome of intense bilateral work. It allowed for an understanding that the situation in the country has always been under control, with Portugal standing as one of the European countries with more tests, fewer deaths and fewer hospitalisations.”
A friend of mine returned from the Algarve last week. Does he still have to self-isolate, even though the Government has finally admitted the virus has all but disappeared in Portugal? No doubt he does.
Another Judicial Review
Another group has applied to the High Court to judicially review the Coronavirus Act 2020, this one led by an outfit called the People’s Brexit. It describes itself as “a legal research and campaign group… fighting for the democracy and rights of the people of the UK”. The solicitor acting for the group is Robin Tilbrook of Tilbrook’s – the same firm I advertise on this site. You can read his excellent pre-action protocol letter here.
Here’s an extract:
In passing the Act complained of, the Government has failed to have any or any adequate regard for the Department of Health’s own report “UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy 2011“.
This report made it clear that the Rule of Law should be upheld and life should carry on as normal for the healthy.
Further, the ‘lockdown’ and ‘social distancing’ were measures that were forced upon us and were based upon advice by Government ‘advisors’, from ‘modeling’ estimates and reports not even peer reviewed. These ‘advisors’ included Professor Neil Ferguson who has a track record of failure, including the slaughter of millions of healthy animals and the ruin of livelihoods during the Foot and Mouth debacle.
The World Health Organisation themselves in their report ‘Nonpharmaceutical Interventions for Pandemic Influenza, National and Community Measures’ from 2006, the writers of which include current members of SAGE, criticises forced isolation and quarantine branding these measures “ineffective and impractical”. It also states that “Legal authority and procedures for implementing interventions should be understood in advance and should respect cultural differences and human rights.”
Crucially, the report states that at Phase 6 of a Pandemic, when it is officially declared, measures such as tracing and quarantine should not be attempted. It states “Patient isolation and tracing and quarantine of contacts should cease, as such measures will no longer be feasible or useful.”
For these reasons, the Act is irrational.
If you want to contribute to the cost of bringing this case, the Crowdjustice fundraiser is here.
New Paper Purporting to Show Lockdowns Were Effective is a Bit Thin
A new paper purporting to show that the lockdowns have been effective in preventing the spread of the virus was published by Plos Medicine last week. I asked Alistair Haimes, a financial analyst and independent researcher, to take a look at it for Lockdown Sceptics. He isn’t very impressed.
For those of us more interested in the “hard” data of covid (triage calls, hospital and ICU admissions and deaths), and less in the haruspex hand-wringing over ‘cases’ (subject to changes in test availability and protocols), the key finding of this paper is: “Statewide social distancing measures were associated with a decrease in the COVID-19-attributed mortality growth rate beginning 7 days after implementation [of statewide social distancing measures], although this decrease was no longer statistically significant by 10 days.”
Is significance that only lasts three days actually significant, or just coincidence? In other words, there is only a statistically significant correlation between implementing social distancing and reducing the growth rate in Covid deaths if the lag period between symptom onset and death is seven days, and this significance evaporates if the interval is longer; but the Lancet paper by Verity et al estimates this gap as 18 days, and the later Zhang/Zhou paper at 15 days, with seven days well outside the confidence intervals of both papers, which raises the question: is there any association at all?
This is a secondary finding of the paper, and is acknowledged slightly sheepishly and a bit awkwardly. The main body of the paper looks at the daily growth rate in cases (i.e. positive tests) before and after the introduction of social distancing measures. Happily, the authors acknowledge that the growth rate in cases was indeed slowing before the introduction of a state’s first social distancing measure (i.e. the growth in cases was not exponential), though they do not seem to have much of a handle on quite how fast it was decelerating. That’s the line of black dots to the left of the dashed green line below – it basically means they aren’t sure what the gradient should be. As such, the central claim that the growth rate in cases decelerated faster after the introduction of social distancing measures (the line of black dots to the right of the dashed green line) is rather holed below the waterline: eyeballing the data, I could just as easily fit a single straight line through the data, or more convincingly a modest curve, which might well make more sense.
The paper is quite open about the “potential confounding by contemporaneous changes (e.g. increases in testing)” although this isn’t expanded upon – rather frustratingly, given it could be all-important for their conclusions. The poor quality and lack of testing in the early days of America’s epidemic are well publicised. Not that I’m here to peer review, not being a peer, but oddly it also doesn’t expand its reach internationally to check its findings against countries that did/didn’t lock down hard (sceptics know that Sweden’s covid report compares well to countries that had far more social distancing), nor check its claims against the less locked-down US states such as South Dakota. Social distancing after all is a gradient rather than a binary switch, and you’d think the authors would check that the relationship they claim is more robust, the stricter a state locked down. The analysis is a bit… thin.
It also doesn’t discuss the most fundamental questions: even if social distancing did modestly reduce the growth rate in cases, which the paper does not convincingly prove, (a) was it worth it, given the other health impacts of social distancing (particularly non-covid excess deaths), and (b) would ‘flattening the curve’, reducing the growth rate in cases, likely reduce the eventual cumulative number of covid infections and deaths (i.e. the area under the curve) anyway? Perhaps these latter questions were simply left for someone else to answer, but they seem the most important questions of all.
Faulty Risk Assessments of COVID-19
I’ve published an interesting piece today by Brian Gedalla, a retired insurance actuary, about how we routinely assess risk and why so many people are exaggerating the risk posed by COVID-19. Here’s an extract;
We assess risks every day of our lives. We learn to do this as very small children and long before we reach adulthood we carry out most of the assessments completely subconsciously.
COVID-19 is forcing us to assess the risks associated with the virus in our conscious minds and we are not very good at it.
This is an illuminating analysis of the problem by someone who’s spent 30 years assessing risk. Worth reading in full.
Sydney Unions Want More Masks on Buses
A reader in Australia has got in touch about a threatened strike by Sydney bus drivers.
The New South Wales Rail, Tram and Bus Union is threatening a 48-hour strike by Sydney’s 2,300 bus drivers next week unless masks are made compulsory for passengers on crowded buses (when passengers exceed the number of socially-distanced green dots on the bus). It pains me, as a former workplace delegate/shop steward (in the high school teachers’ union and public service workers union), to see teachers and public servants essentially on strike to maintain the lockdown. Sydney’s bus drivers are flexing their union muscle, not to break free of The Mask, but to make the thing mandatory. All, sadly, part of the Left’s surrender to virus hysteria, policy panic and a faux-radical embrace of the principle of putting ‘lives’ ahead of ‘money’.
Peru: The Country Lockdown Zealots Don’t Want to Talk About
Jordan Schachtel has a good piece on Substack, the blogging platform, about Peru. The South American country imposed what is arguably the strictest lockdown in the world – masks everywhere, 10pm to 4am curfew, grocery stores close at 3pm, mandatory face shields on public transport… Yet it is about to surpass Belgium to take first place in the league table of Covid deaths per million.
Once hailed as a COVID-19 “success story,” Peru is now the COVID-19 case study that lockdown advocates no longer want to discuss. Lima is on pace to surpass Belgium (another strict lockdown country) sometime next week as having the world’s highest COVID-19 deaths per million. So why is no one talking about it?
Pandemic panic promoters have been quick to criticize neighboring Brazil for its leadership’s more relaxed policies towards the virus, but they’ve been noticeably absent in discussing Peru. That’s because Peru implemented arguably the earliest (for their region) and strictest lockdowns in the entire world, along with several attempted suppression measures with the hopes to contain the virus, and none of it worked.
Has the Peruvian Government now woken up and smelt the coffee? Don’t be silly.
Instead of learning from their mistakes, and admitting that the lockdown failed and the several suppression measures undertaken were a catastrophic error, Peru is doubling down on the madness. Last week, the country reimposed and tightened nationwide curfews. The new curfew prevents any citizen from leaving their home on Sundays.
Worth reading in full.
New Poem From Bent Knee
Bent Knee, a lockdown sceptic poet, has sent me his latest.
The Initiation
Banish your old gods and superstition
Before science shall ye kneel in submissionWhy have you forgotten me? Your spirit roars
Remember, religion closed its doorsAbandon all hope of afterlife
Seek only to extend earthly strifeObediently consent to be baptised
Ablutions performed, hands sanitisedThou shalt have no other gods before science
Governments will ensure complianceThou shalt not covet fleshy delights
Laws must govern all intimate ritesThe pleasures of the body forbidden
Heavy breathing masked and hiddenIf you must make love, do so through a glory hole
Relinquish the last vestige of your soulTrust none but the Righteous Book of Face
Sign in to state-approved truth and graceAdore TikTok’s uniformed nurse angels
Pray for health delivered in syringes and pillsIncanted by broadsheet bourgeoisie
Mask up, love it, demonstrate your pietyIt’s just a bit of cloth, this vestiture of faith
Protect others, be reborn a masked wraithIn the long, dark night of lockdown,
Did you forget your soul is your own?
So-Called Second Waves Much Less Lethal Than the First
I’ve published a short article today by a reader who’s spotted a curiosity about the supposedly terrifying “second waves” engulfing Europe and the United States: they’re much less lethal than the first waves.
The second wave of reported Covid infections we have seen across Europe should be neither a surprise nor any great cause for alarm. But instead of a measured response, balancing all considerations and planning for the long term, we’ve been subjected to hasty and high-handed panic-measures. These range from the UK’s ruthless quarantine ambush of those who dared to take a holiday abroad to the Spanish Government’s national edict to wear masks when anywhere outdoors, even when totally alone. Every day we were admonished with the threat of stricter measures unless infections return to somewhere near zero.
What justifies this new approach? Are we seeing a greater proportion of Covid deaths associated with these increases in reported infections?
No, we are not. Quite the reverse in fact. There is something fundamentally less dangerous about the recent waves of reported infections than the first.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: A reader has sent me an absurdly alarmist story in the Eastern Daily Press about how Norfolk County Council is preparing for a “second wave” that the Council says will last longer and cause more deaths than the first wave. To be fair, this prediction appears to be based on data that’s been sent to the Council by some organ of the Government, although it doesn’t say which. Can someone please send the leader of the Council the above analysis?
Give Yourselves a Smoked Salmon Treat
Food recommendation for readers of Lockdown Sceptics: a side of smoked salmon from Bleiker’s, a smokey in Yorkshire. I ordered a side of the peat-smoked salmon a couple of months ago and it was so good I’ve just ordered it again – and it arrived this morning, less than 24 hours later! Postage and packing is free. Place your order here. Highly recommended.
Round-Up
- ‘The Challenge of Marxism‘ – First rate essay in Quillette by political theorist Yoram Hazony
- ‘The crucial variable with Covid-19 isn’t ethnicity – it’s fat‘ – Brilliant analysis by Lionel Shriver in the Spectator. Gives the lie to Kamala Harris’s bizarre claim that COVID-19 is racist: “This virus has no eyes, and yet it knows exactly how we see each other and how we treat each other. And let’s be clear – there is no vaccine for racism. We’ve gotta do the work.”
- ‘Coronavirus outlier Sweden chooses its own path on face masks‘ – Good analysis in the FT of why Sweden has ignored the global Covid panic
- ‘PPE providers, the firm behind school meal vouchers and the NHS locum medic bank among big winners making millions as Government pays private firms £6.5BILLION during COVID crisis‘ – The Mail is getting angry about the money being handed out by the Government to private firms. That’s bad news for Boris
- ‘Why Oldham shouldn’t go into Lockdown‘ – Good post by Carl Heneghan and Jason Oke suggesting that the number of infected people per 100,000 isn’t the right measure for deciding whether to impose a local lockdown (or a travel quarantine). Instead, the Govt should be looking at the number of hospitalisations and deaths
- ‘Manchester “faces 1930s-style homelessness” as eviction ban ends‘ – I wonder if Andy Burnham now regrets supporting the lockdowns?
- ‘What We Stand For: Advance NZ / NZPP Policies‘ – A new anti-lockdown political party has been set up in New Zealand. This is the manifesto
- ‘The law is no protection against modern tyranny‘ – Excellent column in the Telegraph by Sherelle Jacobs
- ‘Britain is about to be sucked into a catastrophic economic doom loop‘ – Usual upbeat, cheery stuff from Allister Heath
- ‘“Anti-Racism” vs. Liberalism‘ – Excellent video from the New Discourses team
- ‘Why Americans Should Adopt the Sweden Model on COVID-19‘ – Good article by Gilbert Berdine, a medical doctor, on the Mises Institute blog
- ‘Can we cope with too much testing?‘ – Intriguing analysis of the PCR test by a farmer. He’s concerned about specificity and, yes, you guessed it, false positives
- ‘Climate of Fear: Climate Change as a Dress Rehearsal for the Covid Leviathan‘ – Good blog post on the Government’s attempts to terrify us all by Paul Collits
- ‘Australian PM backtracks on plan to make coronavirus vaccine mandatory‘ – Very sinister story. Australia is emerging as the North Korea of the Southern Hemisphere
- ‘Join Michael Hurley at Come Pray the Rosary‘ – For Catholics missing Sunday mass, Michael Hurley is turning his house into a church for on Sept 9th
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Two today: “Con Trick Of The Century” by Moonlight J and “Up The Creek (Without A Paddle)” by The Temptations
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. We’ve also just introduced a section where people can arrange to meet up for non-romantic purposes. 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.
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 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. If they’ve made that clear to customers with a sign in the window or similar, so much the better. Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
“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 5th to Oct 15th). 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 with lanyard for just £3.99 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 29,500).
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).
Stop Press: All the passengers on a JetBlue flight were forced to deplane after two-year old refused to wear mask. Let’s hope the genius who made that risk assessment isn’t flying the plane!
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. If you want me to link to something, don’t forget to include the HTML code, i.e. a link.
I’m taking a day off tomorrow because I’ve got a bit too much on my plate. Back at the weekend, hopefully.
And Finally…
In my Spectator column today I’ve written about the impact the Gavin Williamson’s reverse ferret on last week’s A-level results will have on the next cohort of university applicants.
Whatever harm the Government may have prevented by its U-turn will have been more than offset by the harm it has done to next year’s cohort of A-level students, of which my daughter is one. Good universities make many more offers than they have places because they know that not all the applicants will meet those offers. Cambridge, for instance, made 4,500 offers for 3,450 places this year, while Oxford made about 3,900 offers for 3,287 places. Had Williamson stuck with Ofqual’s grades, roughly the same number of children would have been disappointed as in previous years, but now that he’s allowed children to choose between the Ofqual grade and their predicted grade, a far larger number of applicants to good universities will have met their conditional offers. Most universities will honour those offers, which will mean accepting many more students than in a typical year. But they won’t have the space or resources to accommodate them all, so they’ll encourage some to defer until 2021. That will mean fewer places available at good universities next year, when my daughter will be applying.
You might think I’m being pessimistic. After all, won’t the expected decline in foreign students applying this year, thanks to Covid, mean that universities have room to squeeze in all the additional British students? Afraid not. That’s partly because universities have already factored that in, lowering their entry requirements in order to admit more British applicants; and partly because the decline in the number of foreign students isn’t as great as anticipated. And next year they will be back to full strength. Indeed, there may be more than usual because some who would have applied this year if it weren’t for travel restrictions will apply in 2021 instead. In effect, my daughter will be facing a double whammy. Fewer places available for British students overall, and what places there are already part-filled by this year’s overspill.
I conclude by comparing the Government’s A-level climb down to the lockdown – “a quick fix to avoid some bad publicity, even though the unintended consequences are far worse than the problem it was designed to solve”.
Worth reading in full – obviously.
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First? I am not worthy!
You will recall I was having an exchange with my MP about masks – here’s my latest reply to his anodyne response of the other day. I expect no reply, and suspect that Biker with his claymore will be more effective than me with my pen: Dear ,,, Thank you for your response. As you are a Minister for Health, I am unsurprised at its general tenor, as I recognise that you are required to toe the party line. However, I hope that at least you have time to consider my position. Before 24 July (Mandatory Mask-Day) the WHO, Matt Hancock, Dr Jennie Harries, Chris Whitty and Jonathan van Tam were all on the record as saying that masks were ineffective outside a hospital setting and had a negligible impact on the spread of the virus. Doctors of my acquaintance were threatened with fines if they were seen wearing masks in hospital corridors. By 24 July, the virus had all but disappeared, with negligible hospitalisations and deaths. This should have been a cause for celebration. The thousands of ‘cases’ referred to now by yourselves and the media are positive tests, where the main symptom is that the testee feels entirely well! In most cases,… Read more »
Fabulous!
I won’t be forgiving the government whether they apologise or not.
I don’t know what punishment would be appropriate for them. Something quite harsh. They deserve no forgiveness. God can do that, if He wants.
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius
Going a bit far…
Not al all. Decimation (in the Roman sense) would concentrate their minds wonderfully.
A just and perfect response for such impertinance, my Lord.
I wouldn’t risk publicly saying what punishment I think they deserve. Unfortunately there is unlikely to be any accountability. If they had any integrity they would already have resigned, but they won’t even accept that mild consequence.
Trouble is, if you tell them they’ve already lost your vote then they have no reason to listen to you. You have to imply they can redeem themselves to give them an incentive.
If they lose enough votes, they’re out of a job at the next election, or potentially sooner.
I might be willing to forgive the government (provided the sh!tty vaccine is not mandatory or “conditional” to be allowed to do anything in our society) but I certainly won’t forgive or forget the actions of the police, particularly Dickless; the CC of Northamptonshire sticking his fat little hands into my trolley; or Derbyshire who have form on YouTube for bad behaviour towards the law-abiding public, for buzzing people with drones to chase them home.
The problem for the junior minister, is that the points you raise are wholly sensible, reasonable and are backed by facts. Therefore no sensible reply supporting the government policy is possible. We should though, all write something along the lines of your excellent letter in an effort to make our dozy MPs wake up. It will obviously be a very hard task, as MPs didn’t get where they are today by clever.thinking.
I think MPs have very fragile egos which manifest in an inflated sense of self-importance. I’m also pursuing my MP, the chief whip (I posted my latest missive up here a couple of days ago) and the through-line of my message was basically the implication that he wasn’t thinking for himself. Hopefully, that will jar with his own self-image enough that he’ll actually read and think if only in an attempt to debunk my position, and the evidence will then jar with his unconsidered position.
All good, especially the last paragraph, though “State-supervised” might have been strengthened to something like “authoritarian”.
An excellent letter – well done!
Utterly pointless exercise.
I must agree. BTLnewbie makes the mistake of assuming that his MP has a conscience. In order to ascend the greasy pole to Westminster, a man must flush his conscience down the bog very early on. The very fact that BTL’s MP has been appointed a minister is confirmation that he is also an unprincipled lickspittle; and, since he is merely a junior minister, we can add to the mix burning ambition and a desire to drag or tread down his rivals.
BTL is obviously a decent and educated person who naturally assumes that the people he or she deals with are also decent, like the many readers here who have commended his post. That, I’m afraid, is a cardinal error. We are not up against human beings here, but monsters.
I hear you, but a “decent and educated” man’s gotta do what a “decent and educated” man’s gotta do!
Indeed you are.
Now go and collect your prize, a years supply of face masks.
Yay!
Maybe not but you’re firsty!
Walking around Paris today, I adopted a new tactic. On seeing a masked zombie walking towards me, I caught their gaze, tapped my forefinger against my cheek and followed up with the circular “you are loony” maneuver next to my forehead with the same finger. Several zombies actually removed their chattel in embarrassment! I recommend it.
You saw, I am sure the crazy mask mandatory map by the mayor Hidalgo, one street you wear the mask, next, you don’t… or a BIG fine, we have lost common sense and the rebellious Parisian spirit
where are the yellow vests – surely they should be out having a protest or two about their civil rights etc??
Were the yellow vests just a French version of BLM or Antifa.
Not unless the BLM agenda includes cheap petrol and an end to speeding fines.
Well this was on the Champs Elysées and the Jardin des Tuileries which are so-called “zombie zones”. Honestly people have to stand up to this lunacy it’s going beyond ridiculous…..
Did you get anybody reacting aggressively? I fear I would get aggression if I tried that. Might be tempted to give it a go tho
I smiled while doing it.
Careful with doing that in Germany. It was a criminal offence there when I was in the Forces.
I’m beyond annoyed, but that’s my usual state of being these days. My daughter is going back to her university town tomorrow and I knew she’d be under house arrest for two weeks. We’ve accounted for all of that by hiring local folks to do her shopping for her. I just found out that she also has to have 3 Covid tests during her isolation period! In what universe does it make sense to both isolate and be tested 3 times??? Don’t even try to answer. She’s supposed to not even leave the house during her prison time, and yet she’ll have to go somewhere to get her 3 tests. She jokingly asked me if she could stop in to the liquor store on her way back from testing. I’m actually all for it, but she’s not much of a rule breaker. I guess this insanity is to prove that you can’t be too “safe” (my new most hated word).
Not good! My job here in the UK relies heavily on Canada becoming sane, and it seems like there’s a long long way to go. Not that UK policy is in any way sane either!
Yeah, don’t count on Canada becoming sane any time soon! Way more non-compliance in the UK than here.
https://twitter.com/CoronaPogue/status/1296478258675023874
“rcASMR/Selected cities/Under 65 Even in Tegnell’s lair, the den of evil that is Stockholm, mortality under 65 was less elevated than in Glasgow & Edinburgh where “they did everything right” (TM Fauci)” (and London)
A picture here of a UK outdoor Corona safety sign telling people to look away from each other as they pass.
https://twitter.com/ClarkeMicah/status/1296489583681646592?s=20
There are no limits to this lunacy. None. Think of the most insane ideas you can, then multiply the craziness ten thousand fold. You still won’t even be close.
Covid victims have now developed Medusa-like abilities.
I am developing the hairstyle.
The Doctor: Don’t blink. Don’t even blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away. And most of all, don’t blink. Good Luck.
One of the best episodes. And also one of the first major things Carey Mulligan was in
Do you mean the film ‘Never let me go’?
That was 2010. “Blink” was 2007. She was in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice in 2004 but the Doctor Who episodes was a cracker and most of it is just her and Tennant. At least for me.
More her than tenant. I don’t think it’s one of the best – it’s the best.
Outrageous!
The IDIOTS are riding high now on a wave of unbridled power!
I have just read the supposed response of our Dear Leader to the GCSE students, from his holiday yurt in Scotland – or is it his father’s pad in Greece?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8647279/Boris-breaks-cover-Twitter-PM-sends-students-message-support-hides-Scottish-hols.html
The following is attributed to him (on Twitter):
‘Congratulations to everyone receiving their GCSE results today. I know the last few months have been tough and this isn’t how you imagined you would be finishing Year 11, but you can be proud of how you helped to keep the virus under control.’
‘You have literally saved lives through staying at home and keeping distance from others. Thank you for protecting yourselves, your families and your communities this year. And once again – congratulations and well done!’
This is either a sick joke, or the man is sick in the head. Lord Baker has just said on Sky that Williamson was blindsided by the algorithm used by Ofqual that was ‘developed’ by Number 10. Not sure who he meant, but it certainly wasn’t Boris.
The PM is a disgrace and should be removed before he causes any further damage.
sick joke and sick in the head I think.
The replies are a sight to behold
By that logic kids will have to stay home during every flu season to ensure they literally save lives. More evidence that we’re living on a crazy planet.
I feel sorry for any kids who have grades this year because if in the future I’m looking at their qualifications I may pause if it says A levels or even degree obtained 2020.
I’ll be thinking you didn’t sit an exam? I don’t care if there are exceptional circumstances. Frankly I would rather no grades were issued so the full fuck up has real impact.
I agree. It will depend what they went onto do and how well they did it, but I would take no 2020 results on face value when hiring.
They must have missed at least a quarter of the course. Next year will have to be remedial – if any educating takes place next year. And results based on grade predictions are suspect by definition. Wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole.
They’ve been tainted now. I suspect in a year there will be legislation out to not discriminate, even though the very word means to be choosy
Son 2 has just done A Levels (A*A*A). We have pressed for, and received, the subject rank orders and we are waiting for details of the methodology the school used to calculate the grades and rank order (they haven’t got one!). We suspect some jerrymandering, as the rank orders do not equate with his Mocks and other performance measures. The Ofqual algorithm was flawed, but make no mistake, teachers were not innocent bystanders in this mess. He is having a gap year anyway, and is preparing for online exams in the autumn for competitive universities and courses. To say we are unhappy with the school would be an understatement!
That message is truly nauseating!!
Prof Raj Bhopal is an establishment Public Health figure in the UK who recently published this
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7361085/
He has done an interview stating that India must go for herd immunity in this Indian network Wire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1FFKT_VZ5c&feature=youtu.be
There are rumours that UK gov. is aware of his views and accept them and that face masks are just theatre for the masses. Prof Bhopal Public Health Edinburgh has consulted 20 public health persons in UK before writing the paper. You might not agree with everything in his article but the direction is clear. I suspect that this article is perhaps influencing the UK government.
Face masks are indeed just theatre for the masses. This makes them no less objectionable, pernicious, evil and totalitarian (probably more so)
IFR’s have in all probability been revised down since this paper was written apparently in April, making a move toward a population immunity look even more like the best possible option, but as pointed out there does have to be some semblance of political leadership and honest discussion , do we really see any evidence of this I wonder?
There’s an article on CEBM about declining CFR. Presumably IFR must follow it down, but I’ve not seen any numbers on that. I suppose the problem is that we’re still reliant on models to work out how many people have actually been infected.
Thanks for this! The first half of the interview is about population/herd immunity generally as relevant to UK and Europe. Prof Bhopal is so clear and rational. If only this interview was being cycled on 24h news. Surely it would puncture the panic balloon for many people. Going to send it on to some friends and family…
On vaccines:
A vaccine that is effective, proven to be safe, manufacturable in billions of doses and available globally is unlikely this year, and may take years, even decades. Proven safety is essential especially in children or young people [9]. Serious illnesses or deaths in young people following immunisation, whether coincidental or causal, could impede vaccination. In people over 70-years of age, or the immunosuppressed, where the vaccine is needed most, a strong immune response is unlikely. Efficacy of vaccines needs to be demonstrated in older groups and in those with underlying disorders.
and good stats for three minutes from 21.08 in the video.
https://twitter.com/ianmSC/status/1296502543699197952
“California, Georgia, Florida, Nevada & Texas all had completely different re-opening timelines, mask requirements, densities, etc And yet, the 7-day avg of cases per million peaked at almost exactly the same time. How is that possible if “interventions” are so important?”
A very clever comment. The virus seems to be outside human influence.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/face-masks/
1 day to go for these dudes funding effort.
I’ve not posted here for a while, but have still been reading Toby’s fantastic output here most days. I’m at the point where I am dreaming about this ongoing crisis every single night. Thankfully I enjoy good mental health, but the fact that I cannot switch off my brain from trying to process every facet of this continued nightmare makes me deeply concerned for those who DO suffer with severe depression and anxiety. And then there’s the ongoing hell of the masks. I said this on social media lately: “Truly in the grip of mask fatigue now. They’ve become a form of wearable pollution, a facial desecration, a cotton and polyester barrier to the font of all human expression. They’re shit, is what I’m trying to say. Take them off.” Mercifully, I’ve found a very supportive corner of Twitter where the sentiments expressed above are always well received. I’m just so horrified that in such a short space of time, this Government (coupled with its propaganda arm, the mendacious MSM) have essentially reduced established science to mere conspiracy theory, brainwashed millions into believing that our cherished freedoms are a threat to humanity and worst of all, the mass pumping of… Read more »
Dont’ worry, the furlough will end soon and the purge will begin against those fucking treacherous cunts who have destroyed Britain.
Except that Simon Dolan has heard rumours that furlough is going to be extended..
Interesting concept. The chaos of extending would be another effective way of extending all measures towards V Day.
Also beyond the US election..and likely beyond the end of the Transition period at the end of the year. Two potential flashpoint where it is politically useful to have the population locked up…
We will be free.
They will pay.
Keep on resisting.
Something tells me that the volcano is about to erupt…
Amazing post! Like you, I can’t stop reading and thinking about this insanity from morning until I go to sleep. Why? Because it has infiltrated every single aspect of my life. The simplest task has become an obstacle course of idiocy to navigate and so it’s impossible not to be consumed by it. I’m at my city condo and I’m supposed to mask up the minute I leave my suite (haven’t done it and won’t do it), so short of staying in all day — which has been the case most days. Hubby does all of the shopping, but even seeing him put that diaper on his face makes me cringe. In a few days I’ll be back at our country place where I see nobody (unless invited) where I can at least have some peace and not be subjected to masked zombies everywhere. Yes, I have had bouts of depression and anxiety since this madness began because I loved my life and now, literally everything I loved has been taken away. Like you, I do think things will get worse still, though I’ve structured my life so that it won’t make much difference (I’m already locked down because I… Read more »
Well, you’re definitely not the only one. I keeping dreaming about being a prisoner. Every night, over and over.
During the day, I’ve restructured my life to largely avoid the masked ones, but I have to ride the bus every day to my allotment – the only source of joy left in my life. I struggle not to ask people why they are wearing masks. But it’s pointless to argue with faceless, anonymous strangers.
Just the start. Local press showing a list of 23 pubs, cafes and shops that are gone for good due to covid response lockdown. Some are chains many are not.
https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/gallery/list-edinburgh-pubs-shops-restaurants-18802442
My local (not my closest pub, but I used to walk the dog there across the park) has gone. I suspect it’s just a convenient excuse by the owners, who are ultimately Asahi via Greenwich Meantime, but I was surprised how emotional I felt about it.
There are now no decent craft beer pubs in Greenwich. I’m tempted to chuck my job in and start one with a “swervers, bedwetters and Karens not welcome” policy.
Just reading about the Jolly Angler going in Manchester. Culture is lost. Was ever thus but rueful all the same. Seems to happen to the good most often.
If they do close the pubs in September “to let the schools go back” or if there’s another lockdown including pub closures, the British pub is dead. Gone.
Puritanism and Prohibition rolled into one. The English Pub will never die.
Which local Matt? I used to live there. Plume?
Ach no you mean the old ‘candles’ next to the Tolly?
Which became the Union
Just had a look and I recognise many of the places – Vapiano didn’t surprise me, the food was mediocre and I suspect the one here in London has closed for good as well.
By the way both Natural Kitchen and Carluccios at Waterloo are still closed, in fact the balcony area where they are is roped off. Seemed plenty of people at Waterloo though, surely there is now demand.
I thought Carluccio’s had gone to the wall?
Some Carluccio’s have permanently closed including the one here in our brand new shopping centre which only opened a year ago. A few have re-opened but no idea for how long. The Waterloo one still says ‘late July’.
Gone, I’d guess.
That doesn’t surprise me. A lot of Carluccios branches have closed.
I just went out for a few beers, my local local is….OK, pretty normal really. Just paying lip service to the new normal. Another one, yer OK. I was asked to do track n trace and I just said NO. Easy. I talked to a bunch of corporate types who were loudly talking about covid bollocks and taking the piss, I thought perhaps they might be in the market for a few badges….They looked at me like I had two heads, still nothing unusual there, so fairly normal too. This pub is a Michelin star restaurant normally, this side of the business is twatted but now they are doing a good trade in very very nice Pizzas. Another thing I noticed tonight, there is a fair in town, a socially distanced fairground. Good to see a fair ground! But, it was all fenced off, a masked security goon on the gate, you buy a ticket for £10, free rides “all night” it opens at 7:30 and closes at 9:30. But.. No face nappies on the riders! BUT the fairground people wore em…booo. BUT there was loads of sporty stuff going in the park next door, loads. Judo, fitness classes, cricket,… Read more »
Quick visit to local co-op, I am the only unmasked except for staff. Saw two people do a double take on noticing I had no mask.
I often ask if any staff have been unwell and the answer is no, it’s plainly obvious by the fact the staff are always there working away, same faces week after week. I still just don’t get why this is not a light bulb moment, even if you don’t research the facts properly. Surely despite the propaganda it’s not hard to put 1+1 together!
I think it might be hard for some.
People seem so unable to use their own senses! My eyes, ears and nose tell me people are not dying everywhere.
Ah, yes, but I know somebody who knows somebody whose brother in-law’s cousin’s entire family dropped dead of coronavirus overnight, so show some respect.
Oh, do you think that was my half sister’s friend’s cousin’s godfather’s lot? I think it might be..
“I still just don’t get why this is not a light bulb moment, even if you don’t research the facts properly…” same reason why many shops in some cases literally look like they want to almost attack you for using cash, yet the BoE was quoted (in the Telegraph) as saying absolutely “no greater” risk of handling cash than many common surfaces – handles, doorknobs, credit cards…yet said shop will indicate zero risk with large numbers of people smearing their hands over plastic touch screens, handling credit, debit & loyalty cards, and touching chip & pin terminals…..
Of course there is no less risk than common surfaces. People don’t tend to wipe their noses on their banknotes after all! Heck you tend to touch cash less often than those other surfaces, and notes aren’t generally left in places you could sneeze or cough onto, at least that’s my experience.
Back from another evening at the local pub. Parents happy to have all kids mixing and playing in the playground, no social distancing or track and tracing being enforced. I’m sure that the majority of people don’t GENUINELY want the ‘new normal’.
Same here, my family socialising all over the place. While those we meet up with might not be openly sceptical they must also be thinking the same thing.
I’m certain that even those all for it actually saw the facts we discuss here and knew the true risk to them, their families and to “society as a whole” they would turn in an instant!
Yes, we just need to make those people realise that if they don’t push back, it will be forever
At the moment they still believe it will be over soon
Hi all. Has anyone considered signing up as a mystery shopper and going mask-less?
https://www.mystery-shoppers.co.uk/become-a-mystery-shopper/
Been away with family & had been looking forward to seeing if other parts of the country were reacting with less conformity then where I live in Scotland. With sadness, the answer is no.
Even my husband, who is normally much more optimistic than I am, made the comment that we would go home and all our shopping would be online. Not only that, but we would not be going anywhere, where masks are required. The experience is completely soulless.
We both came back home feeling very despondent. The government will reap the whirlwind, it so clearly deserves, but unfortunately, the consequences will take many of us with it.
You evidently didn’t come to Wales (I’m in the north bit). Very few masks in shops. English and Scottish tourists here don’t wear masks, showing that it’s probably only the threat of fines that make them compliant. Mask wearing mandatory on public transport, but buses are half empty (and I saw a maskless mother and child on a bus today – so not total compliance). Cardiff bus drivers told by authorities recently not to challenge people hopping on not wearing masks.
No, not Wales – Yorkshire, which makes it ten times worse, as you’d think their bloody-mindedness would automatically rebel.
I have a Yorkshire aquaintance who is extremely vocal about all this nonsense. A shame his other compatriots are not the same.
Depends which part.
Some bits of Yorkshire are so full of comers-in you’ll be lucky to hear a Yorkshire accent.
eebagoom
Nay lad thasatta du betna that.
Not if we refuse to lose heart.
Only despair can defeat us. Don’t let it.
Our enemies will be our footstool. Look out your stiletto heels.
Am trying not to lose heart, but it is v. v. difficult in face of all the rampant idiocy.
Of clurse it’s difficult, but far less so if you keep away from shops.The best antidote to covid crassness is a country walk, or ride, or drive. Plenty of superb walking country in glorious Yorkshire!
And I like online shopping. All those parcels arriving, it’s like Christmas every day!
https://www.aier.org/article/governments-are-faking-it-and-copying-each-other/
A sharp article from US again
“A mystery for months is how it is that so many governments in so many different places on earth could have adopted the same or very similar preposterous policies, no matter the threat level of the virus, and without firm evidence that interventions had any hope of being effective.” “In the course of two weeks, traditional freedoms were zapped away in nearly all developed countries. In a seriously bizarre twist, even the silliest policies replicated themselves like a virus in country after country.”
“I tend to resist big conspiracy theories on this subject simply because I seriously doubt that governments are smart enough to implement them. From what I can see, these governors and statesmen seem to be making things up in a crazy panic and then sticking with them just to pretend that they know what they are doing”
It was always likely that lockdowns only happened because China did one. That seemed to seed the fear level around the world, even if the fear didn’t manifest until the virus was obviously established in other countries.
And what sort of irony is that – the West adopted totalitarian measures by voluntarily choosing to imitate an authoritarian country? Why is China our role model?
It is totally unbelievable that the leaders of virtually every country in the world have followed the same insane policies. How is it not one of these leaders has stood up and said enough is enough. Hard to explain or understand!
Follow the money!
What use is money in a Mad Max world?
Not only the same policies, but exactly the same LANGUAGE – that *cannot* be coincidental.. Language generally evolves gradually over time, before a consensus is eventually come to regarding terms to use to describe particular new phenomena. But this time every language had the terms from the start – ‘new normal’, ‘social distancing’, and so on started to be used in the media in every country pretty much simultaneously.
This was all most definitely planned and decided in advance!!!
Yes! My son pointed out at the beginning of April that all the lockdown countries were using exactly the same words and phrases.
Someone put together a video on youtube showing this, wish I had bookmarked it now..
It’s probably been taken down by now as have so many videos detailing the truth.
Yer they do that. There are a few videos compilations of weapons of mass destruction type news stories that were broadcast aroung the globe using the exact same wording on hundreds of main stream channels, also there are clips of many news outlets using the exact same words and phrasing about all kinds of bollocks. There is lots of this on youtube. It’s amazing really. LOCKSTEP.
All those words were pre-scripted.
There’s a prof. called David Crystal who writes popular books on the English language. You can be sure he is currently preparing one on Covidspeak. Unfortunately I won’t be able to read it because I will succumb to nausea after merely reading the blurb.
PS. He’s already well into it:
https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2020/08/crystal-clear/#close
Wow, he was my tutor 50 years ago. Must be getting on a bit now!
I think in addition to the politicians the people who need to examine their consciences are the medics. They know the hospitals are half empty, they know chronic patients aren’t getting proper treatment. They know the health advice about boosting immunity levels, vitamin D, zinc etc hasn’t been put out. They know that positive tests don’t lead to hospitalisations but have you heard more than 1 or 2 say this? I haven’t.
Are some being bribed in some way?
Hard to believe *no* medics have family that may be missing out on treatment as a result of all the…
Or threatened.
I expect it is this. Many will be putting their livelihoods on the line if they whistle blow or publicly speak out.
I would not be surprised if a “don’t talk to the press” policy has not been dictated from up on high in most trusts around the country.
That’s because their careers will be over if they speak out. The NHS is notorious for its’ vicious and vindictive treatment of whistleblowers.
And some of them even push vaccine that is not even approve yet.
I know they get paid bonuses for vaccinations.
Just back after another lovely day walking the Thames – from Woolwich to Erith. Well nice in parts, the Crossness Sewage works left me in a coughing fit. First time all the way on train and tube maskless, wearing my ‘government issued’ exemption lanyard. Wearing a lanyard does work. Coming back a Community Officer, presumably working for British Transport Police, boarded the train at Richmond. Young chap maskless the other end of the carriage got a right grilling then the guard came out and had a word with him. Mask checker chap then walked down carriage, saw my lanyard, quick grin and not a word. The guards seem to have recognised exemptions now. At his next announcement he said that some couldn’t wear masks and they should wear their sunflower or expemption halyards to show it. He maybe spoiled it when he said that masks protect YOU when we all know they do not. Pub I had chosen for lunch in Erith wasn’t serving food, nice friendly landlord though who was very apologetic. May be opening for food in September – ‘but you will be dead by then’. So lunch was in the Wellington outside Waterloo. Apart from having to… Read more »
Glad you had such a nice day. THEY hate the thought if anybody enjoying themselves, so you’ve poked them well and truly in the eye.
Hole you didn’t give the pub your real name!
But you realise, don’t you, that you are facilitating a “produce your papers” system?
Yes, but I don’t know a way around this that doesn’t lead to constant confrontations, or in my case, an inability to ride the bus. I’ve seen several other women thrown off the bus who were not wearing lanyards. I tried to stick up for one of them, but she was still thrown off.
I thought that lanyards were not compulsory
Indeed they are not. But in the case of the mask inspector on the train yesterday it avoided any argument, a nice smile as he passed rather than an inquest. Seems to work in Tesco as well, you get a nice ‘how are you today’ from the checkout lady instead of silence – and I seem to be able to gravitate towards the only unmasked checkout for some reason.
I like to think I am observing government guidance on masks – they even give you a nice card at the bottom to print out….
Plandemic 2 is now available:
https://plandemicseries.com/
You are also encouraged to download the movie, share with friends (especially with Believers, I would suggest!), and repost it elsewhere under a different title to thwart the censors.
I’m a London bus driver and I don’t tell anyone to wear a mask on my bus in fact I cringe even at the prospect that I might be expected to do so (polite reminder to passengers) is the official line on the internal memo we all got but both tfl and our childish mayor can fuck off I’m not there to infringe on people’s freedoms only to ferry them safely from A to B
The Clarence Beeks Method
Three hearty cheers for Dan!
Well done!!!
Good job soldier!
https://twitter.com/jeffreyatucker/status/1296506289527422976/photo/1
Project fear has succeeded.
Fear of health consequences from C-19 versus actual mortality data by age bracket
How about this comment?
I don’t understand what this is supposed to prove. Seems reasonable there’s be an inverse correlation between % concerned and % killed, because concern is associated with taking measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Someone help me out here
Doh!!
That is interesting. I am amazed that people who are employed to sell vaccines get training on how to deal with vocal anti-vaxxers….SPECIFIC TRAINING. I have downloaded this and will give it a good read tomorrow. Incredible….They have this all so worked out don’t they.
Propaganda watch! Corbett report. Always interesting to review propaganda. This (roughly) week’s version is a cracker. He examines the downloadable WHO briefing resource for public speakers who are up against a so called vaccine denier.
https://www.corbettreport.com/how-to-deal-with-vocal-vaccine-deniers-propagandawatch/
The term ‘denier’ is clearly a label chosen deliberately from another era. Don’t let that put you off, it’s much broader than vaccines are bad mkay.
Corbett clearly sets down his opinion at the beginning which is reasonable – no one has any right to tell anyone to vaccinate or not, it is a personal choice.
Examining the document gives insights into how media operates and reveals some tricks and tactics public health speakers use.
The WHO resource is found here if you prefer not to watch a video critique: https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/vaccines-and-immunization/publications/2016/best-practice-guidance-how-to-respond-to-vocal-vaccine-deniers-in-public-2017
If only this were the worst of our problems eh? 🤦🏻♂️
Prawns ( let panic so inspire us)
Always carry coronavirus,
Lobsters are deadly; langoustines
Are a dead cert for quarantines.
But those nasty Covid imps
Never seem to dwell in shrimps.
So share your shrimps with your best friend,
And leave the prawns to their sad end.
The muse is with you this week, Annie
Your Ode to Cov book should be coming along now!
Look out for my Collected Works.
Annie, you are wasted on here. You need to be published far and wide! Great work 😆
A weekly column in a national newspaper, perhaps?
Our very own Covid Poet Laureate. Well done, Annie. You inspire us all.
You are destined for Westminster Abbey, Poets Corner.
Right alongside William McGonagall!
Great stuff. You need to come out with your book of verse!
I just thought that it would be a good idea to have some standup comics participate on the 29th of August, 2020. Get the crowd laughing at the people who imposed this mess on everybody.
Was it something I said?
Yes!
It looks to me like you were the two millionth and one person to ask that very question!
lol but I had a follow up question
She probably doesn’t know the answer and is not aware of the exemptions and the Equalities Act.
lol
Another museum to boycott. This landed on my inbox:
Here’s the link to their “safety” measures:
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/welcome-back?safedesktop&utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter%20&utm_campaign=LDB%3A(C)Re-op-RestofUK%2C19.08.20&utm_content=version_B
“Safe and inspiring”?? No thanks. I would rather eat a lightbulb.
The sole, singular reason for visiting the science museum is how good the kids’ bit is.
But we can’t let people touch stuff now, so that’s a no-no
Exactly so what’s the point?
That’s the problem now with these museums and heritage sites – the interactive stuff either has been taken away or roped off so there’s not really much to engage children even adults with the place that they’re visiting.
Wouldn’t fine hour be spent examining at length ‘the science behind the safety?’ Hatching a plot as I type, suggest post 29th march bookings may be made to discuss science with the science museum.
Eating a light bulb in protest would draw things to a close admirably I’d say!
Good idea. Perhaps we should challenge TPTB that run the museum about ‘the science behind the safety?’ We have a few good commenters here that could be our representatives in this debate.
That said I suspect they will chicken out if faced with the likes of Biker, Awkward Git, RDawg, Scotty87, Poppy, your good self, etc.
I nothing but a bulb muncher. But your meaning is correct a bunch of LS ragtags at the door of science discussing safety, or trojan horsing their way in side then discussing. I see grand things!
Junk Science Museum.
We need to right to museums to tell them we will not visit until we can go un-muzzled.
29th
Any sensible way for those of us who are going to arrange to meet en route? I don’t know any of you in reality, obviously, but it would be good to have a representative group.
Sing! Sing! Sing!
Us Welshies are happy at this news.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53853961
So let’s have singing allowed in churches again then!
My friend in Ely diocese tells me it is being considered, so long as it’s only the choir that sings and not the congregation.
Well, it’s a start.
A poor one, but for the crawling, servile, cowardly C of E it is something.
I expect the choir sill have to sing through its face nappies.
I see we have some great Wesley hymns in our service on Sunday. Pity we will just have to listen in silence
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
Amen!
Lip-synching hymns.
Typical BBC crap
“ Singing does not produce substantially more respiratory particles than speaking at a similar volume, a study suggests.
But it all depends on how loud a person is, according to the initial findings which are yet to be peer reviewed.”
Suggests. Depends. Not peer reviewed.
Good news bad. Bad news good.
Pretext for closing pubs and keeping nightclubs shut?
It’s coming.
I expect the UK gov will copy other countries on that front too and open them but forbid people from dancing.
https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2020/07/31/nightclubs-and-bars-re-open-in-the-algarve-on-saturday-but-no-dancing-allowed/
We don’t want choir members dying from covid ….
From the article on (inter alia)Australian vaccine totalitarianism:
‘In New Zealand, about 500 extra defence force personnel will be deployed to quarantine hotels, making a total military deployment of 1,200 to combat the latest outbreak in the country which saw six new cases on Wednesday.’
So: 200 soldiers to fight valiantly against each new ‘case’.
Plucky little Kiwis, ain’t they?
The rugby team is going to look like idiots from now on doing the haka
If only any of the other major teams could look them in the eyes and feel superior.
In masks especially
“Look out – there’s a virus coming towards you! Take aim – fire!”
I note the Lionel Shriver article cited above :
“‘The crucial variable with Covid-19 isn’t ethnicity – it’s fat‘ “
Of course. It’s not. It’s age and co-morbidities.
Hobby-horse riding is not a great response to the fictions surround us.
It’s age and co-morbidities and obesity is a major factor in many of the co-morbities. I think she’s winging it, rather than being flat wrong. I’m deeply suspicious of the direct correlation between race and risk.
The ONS reports that 25% of Covid-related deaths had dementia or alzheimer’s. Those two are the top two causes of death normally. If you add all the other normal causes of death, then you account for perhaps 75% of all Covid related deaths. That doesn’t leave very many for other attributable correlations like “obesity”, unless people were obese with dementia.
The Tilbrook legal case looks promising. I skim read it and it’s quite pithy – more so than the Dolan one. Fingers crossed.
Be interesting to see if Tilbrook gets a Judicial review this time – last time he brought a case he was denied one by the same judge who is due to hear Simon Dolan’s appeal – Judge Hickinbottom.
Question: From a lockdown sceptic POV, Biden or Trump?
Hitchens in hindsight I think was right that the correct answer to Corbyn or Johnson was neither, but he’s now saying the same about Biden – Trump.
I wasn’t much sold on Trump to start with and he has been a disappointment, on a lot and especially on the virus, where he has flip-flopped and been vague.
But Biden and the Democrats are 100% signed up to the coronapanic narrative. If the world’s most powerful nation goes into full panic mode, the pressure on other countries to fall into line will be immense, as will the example it sets to the public.
So I conclude from a purely Lockdown Sceptic POV, we absolutely want Trump to win.
Thoughts?
I think it depends on your view of where this is all heading. If you think NWO and Agenda 21 etc. then has to be Trump as he is standing in the way. If this is all just huge error then Biden. He would quickly be replaced I think though
“ If this is all just huge error then Biden.” What’s your reasoning here? Is he more likely to admit the error?
Nope, I just think it would all be blamed on Trump and all would end pretty quickly.
I would more expect Biden and co to do what the PM et al have done here – double down on the lies and perpetuate the fear
For starters it would be a good way for the President to wage war on Red states
You don’t think Democrats are waging a war already in the US? Seattle, BLM protestors are demanding title of property transferred to them. Portland Oregon, absolute chaos. Adam Haner beaten senseless for his skin colour. N Carolina, 5 year old boy, Cannon Hinnant, shot because of his ‘privilege’. Jessica Whitaker, shot in the back of her head. Family attacked online for her ‘white privilege’. She leaves a young child behind. NYC 42 shootings reported in 1 week, property prices dropping around 50%…
“You don’t think Democrats are waging a war already in the US?”
Of course they are, yes. I guess my point was that the aspect of the war related to the virus would not necessarily stop if the dems win the presidency
Super difficult question. On the one hand, I honestly believe that covid under a democratic president would have looked a lot more like the swine flu under Obama. That said, though… it sort of depends on whether the world responded to the US or vise versa. Certainly, the US Media wants to drag this out as long as possible in order to make life seem horrible under Trump. On the flip side of that, though, is the fact that – not just here, but everywhere – CV19 has been the blank check for would-be tyrants. The governor of my state has declared himself a mini-emperor and is behaving accordingly. The governors of Oregon and California have ramped up their elimination of personal liberty to levels previously unheard of. I worry that this would get even worse under a Biden administration. So, it’s a coin toss. Either the Biden election magically heals the world and covid disappears and victory is claimed… or, Biden issues executive orders mandating masks across the entire country, and democratic governors respond by getting even worse (if you give a mouse a cookie). The left has no limiting principle. The third option is that Trump wins and… Read more »
Are you suggesting the Dems endorsement of coronapanic was basically a way to get at Trump?
You may be right, or it may have been partly that, but it seems to me more likely that it fits in with the way they view the world and the direction they want it to go
But I’m an outsider
I don’t think that all of the coronavirus was a hoax to get at Trump, no. But keep in mind the following. Coronavirus really started to take off immediately after the disaster that was the democrat’s impeachment trial. The media has spent the past 4 years hyperventilating about how awful Trump is, and that culminated in one of the best economies we’ve seen in decades while democrats were being made to look like fools crying “russian collusion.” It was probably not intentional in the sense that it was coordinated, but shifting the narrative to “oh, gawd, how horrible all our lives have become!” was probably something of a no-brainer. And as soon as they realized that panic sells, and that the American people were eating it up unquestioningly, it just had a snowball effect. Life is horrible under Trump, you’re all going to die… also, shut up and do what you’re told, put on a mask, etc… Anecdotally – I made a bet with a co-worker about when covid would leave our town. Today, she told me that she hopes I’m right, but it’s looking bad. I said “what do you mean?” and she said “did you read the paper,… Read more »
“So, why does the paper lie? I don’t know for sure. It’s not just to get at Trump. It’s partly because they aren’t interested in the truth, they are interested in the story, and panic sells. But I do think there is some component of liberals wanting life to be as horrible as possible going into November, knowing that miserable people don’t vote for incumbants.”
Bear in mind that the exact same kind of media lying is going on here, and I understand in Europe, and it really isn’t about Trump there or here. There are separate agendas at play, which end up looking similar because the issues are similar.
Totally agree. That has been my primary reason for saying it isn’t all about Trump… except… inasmuch as Trump is not important because of who he is, but what he came out of. In other words, he is not the cause, but he is a consequence… and I think you are going through the exact same thing in the UK. So no, it’s not about Trump, but it is very much a liberal/conservative worldview or a liberty/tyranny dichotomy at play, here, and the media in Europe isn’t much different from the media in the US.
What’s the endgame though? if it’s a currency reset heading towards a cashless / digital future (which the Bank of England Governor has certainly suggested publicly, at least in replacement of the dollar as the world reserve currency) then a weakened Trump could become a very useful scapegoat for destroying the historic dollar…?
The endgames are surely different for the different players…
Agenda 2030. Carbon Zero 2050, the new normal, the global reset, no bank loans for you if you don’t comply. That’s it really.
Tricky. Despite his clownish public persona, Trump’s presidency has been far from a disaster. He’s more sceptical on balance, but he seems to have been playing the vote winning game by toning it down lately. Deliberately or accidentally, he’s a political genius, because he’s managed to make his opposition look even more shrill and unbalanced than he is. Biden is unproven and I’m scratching my head trying to work out why nobody seems to have noticed that his dementia is fairly advanced.
It hinges on the question of: to what degree is what’s happening in the US in terms of coronavirus response a deliberate anti-trump action? Sub questions being a) if Trump gets elected, does it get worse or does it go away? b) if Biden gets elected, does he abandon himself wholesale to the insanity, or does he declare it over and start getting on with things? and c) to what degree is the madness in the rest of the world driven by what’s happening in the US?
“Biden is unproven and I’m scratching my head trying to work out why nobody seems to have noticed that his dementia is fairly advanced.”
Everyone has. It’s a standing joke on Fox that the VP pick is the real future President if the Dems win.
Yep, VOTE K
AMALABIDEN 2020!Just watched the VDH interview posted below by AN other lockdown sceptic, and there’s a good example of what seems to be fairly common US conservative thinking about Biden’s condition. He basically sees it as an established fact that Biden cannot govern, or even campaign properly. (VDH is a bit on the neocon side at times, but very sharp nonetheless). His view is that the Biden/Harris ticket is the Democrats’ way of addressing their particular inherent problem – an old guard of relatively moderate establishment party grandees who are too powerful to overthrow and an unelectable but highly energetic hard left party faithful. The former (Biden) will reassure voters and win the election by not being Trump, while the latter will stay loyal because they know their real fellow ideologue Harris will be in power shortly after the election. So the Democrat Party hierarchy and its media accomplices will carry Biden over the line, and then undermine him and get him set aside as incapable of ruling. Basically using the 25th Amendment as they made noises about doing against Trump at one point, but this time full of faux pity and regret. The discussion of Biden’s condition starts at around… Read more »
Thanks for that. Interesting. Very plausible.
Agree. I also think a second-term Trump will be very different to a first-term Trump – he will be more hawkish (although hopefully without the military zeal of the neo-cons). I agree with Jeffrey Gundlach that Trump will win (silent majority). Kamala Harris was the wrong choice for Vice-President – she does not speak to the ‘people of colour’ – and Biden has blotted his copy book with many with his previous (condescending) comments. The more Democrat women who speak out that Biden is great, in full knowledge of his perv tendencies, the worse it plays.
I tend to hope he will win and be more conservative and more consistent. And yes, no more wars please. To be fair, he’s started fewer than some of his predecessors
Exactly. I recall a conversation with a very woke, politically active friend (don’t ask!) four years ago, and recall she was aghast when I said the main problem with a Hillary win would be that we would have full-scale war in the Middle East.
That was my assumption, if Clinton had won. Trump did enough sabre rattling and bombing to keep the neocon nutters in their box, and pulled out of the Iran deal, but never seemed interested in going over the line. Clinton was the type to giggle about murdering enemy leaders.
KILLORY
Which could easily have led to a war with Russia since they are allied with Assad in Syria.
I feel that there is a very strong possibility of a silent majority. Blame media overreach, which is exactly what happened in 2020, when Obama got a free pass for 4 years, and then they gave up all pretenses with Hillary. BLM and CV19, essentially… people in the middle are made extremely uneasy by both of these things, and liberals have shown their hand. But these are also people who don’t tweet about it or wear maga hats… but they get to vote in private, even if they put the stupid black square on their facebook profiles.
My worry is the postal voting and the possibilities that offers to rig the whole election in favour of Biden – is anything being done to stop that happening?
I live in WA state. In 2008, we had an election in which the Republican won by a narrow margin. The state did a “recount,” and miraculously found thousands of mail-in votes in the trunk of a car… all of which happened to be for the democrat.
I do believe in voter fraud, and I also believe it happens primarily, if not exclusively, on the left. This is not because I’m distrustful of the other side… it is just a product of self-selection. Unions are virtually all on the left, the media is all on the left, etc…
But – consider that Hillary still managed to lose, and there have not been many more corrupt families in the US than the Clintons. So, corruption can only work on the margins. Unless it’s close, you cannot fake it.
Very telling that news reports showing interviews in the US (with African-Americans) they clearly are struggling seriously to find someone on team Harris…one pointing out that she is all establishment and there is no hope with her. Another pointed out her record when California AG & she balked when ordered to free prisoners from exceptionally minor charges, many minorities & African-Americans were among these groups, she called them a good source of “cheap labour!”
Without doubt Trump has been the strangest President in US history.
He blows hot and cold for me with virtually every policy decision. Defunding the WHO, then funding GAVI. Recommending hydroxychloroquine, then putting the US military on standby to distribute the Covid vaccine in a “forceful way”. Withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty, then presiding over the largest expansion of the money supply in US history.
Despite all this, I would still prefer a second Trump term to Biden. The Democrats are completely insane and have been thoroughly infiltrated by communists. If they get in, I don’t think the USA will survive as a nation state. We will see Balkanisation into regions and probably a civil war.
If I’m being honest I don’t think there is actually going to be an election on 3rd November. Trump is going to be the last president. Naturally I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
“We will see Balkanisation into regions and probably a civil war.”
It seems to be going that way.
I’m an outsider but it looks to me like the federal govt has ended up with far more power than was the original intention, and that part of the point of the US, which was people who wanted to pursue their own way of doing things with minimal interference, has been lost
Last time this theory was tested, it didn’t work very well for anyone.
Excuse my ignorance, which is close to boundless, when was this?
1861-1865
Turns out a voluntary union is no longer necessarily voluntary once you’ve signed up to it (EU enthusiasts please note).
The growth of government is always a lobster trap, at whatever level.
My friends in the States tell me that the Federal government under Trump is a paper tiger. The schism between the red/blue state governors in response to Covid (e.g. Kristi Noem in South Dakota versus Andrew Cuomo in New York) has widened an already vast divide into an unbridgeable chasm.
Notice how the governors (and their equivalent in other countries) have become far more prominent political figures this year. If you had asked me in January who any of them were I would not have been able to name a single one. To me this is a cultural shift which presages the breakup of Western nation states. The same applies in the UK of course.
The big thing about the USA of course is that the citizens are armed to the teeth. If a civil war breaks out it will be an absolute bloodbath. Not good.
conservatives are armed to the teeth… I’m not sure how much of a blood bath it would really be.
Very true, and I can testify to personal evidence of this. One friend who is (albeit very broadly) a conservative lives in a rural area and owns 30 guns with 50,000 rounds of ammunition. Another is a liberal who lives in a big city and to my knowledge has never owned a gun in his life.
But most likely conservatives will be divided with those unwilling to resist authority being turned against those willing to resist, demonised (whether they are or not) as “far right”, “racist” etc.
Also true. That is why CV19 is an eye-opener. Go to National Review and look at what this “conservative” think tank is saying… it is absolutely awful. I had always hoped that the mere fact of gun ownership would stop a tyrannical government (or a civil war), but CV19 has given me some pause…
I am one of those conservatives with about as many guns (though several are collector’s guns, like my 1920’s walther mod. 9) and multiple thousands of rounds… and I carry a pistol most days (granted, that is partly job-related). I don’t know of any liberal friends with guns. In fact, I had one funny interaction with a liberal acquaintance, where it came up that I owned guns, and she said “remind me to never let my kid go to your house.” As if the guns would grow legs and seek him out. Liberals are afraid of guns for the same reason they are terrified of CV19. Ignorance.
I had one of the most enjoyable days of my life with the gun owner. We drove out into the middle of nowhere with a wide variety of weapons and did target practice at random objects in the landscape. Not a soul to be seen for miles in all directions. We were drinking beer throughout as well. Probably the most free and safe I have ever felt. Not a popular opinion where I live, but I couldn’t care less.
I grew up in Montana, and that was my life. Two weeks ago, my family drove up to Montana (12 hours from where I live in WA) and there were two days that I spent with my two boys (6 and 8) where we did nothing but sit by a lake for about 6 hours, fishing. We caught several rainbow trout, brought them home, and fried them for dinner. It was absolutely beautiful – not a human being as far as you could see, and the three of us just fishing for the whole day. Now that was a welcome break from the covid madness that has swept the world, and a good reminder of what our lives are supposed to be like. And my boys absolutely loved it. Even after six hours of fishing, they were upset when we had to leave.
“Liberals are afraid of guns for the same reason they are terrified of CV19. Ignorance.“
One of the great coinages from your gun prohibition debates: hoplophobia.
I used to shoot pistols here when it was practical to do so. Those days will likely never return.
I’m not so sure. Whichever way the current bollocks finally comes to an end, things will be different in quite a few ways.
Nice to be optimistic, but I see no route to a return to our old robust culture. “We” collectively (our nation’s ruling elite classes, and the culture they set) are now basically US Democrats – scared to take responsibility for personal protection, unwilling to allow others to do so for themselves, refusing to condemn criminals and let them face consequences that their choices earn for themselves, as irrationally frightened of weapons as we are collectively easily panicked about other theoretical or remote threats.
Your point about the new prominence of politicians is crucial.
Suddenly, legions of squalid nonentities, petty, talentless little closet Nazis, mini Hitlers, sneaks, bullies and cowards have been turned into godlike figures who can make the zombie millions grovel at their feet.
Covid is the best thing that could possibly have happened to them.
Covid gone ( as it will) and the gallows awaits them.
Great comparison. I am reminded of the Gauleiters in the Third Reich. They had extraordinary powers and ran their areas like medieval fiefdoms. Crucially, they reported directly to Hitler so could completely bypass the inner circle of Himmler, Goering, Goebbels, Heydrich etc. They were all mediocre men who would have otherwise led completely undistinguished lives. And fucking sadistic, murdering bastards.
It is human nature, and those people are everywhere. All across the US you can read about people “reporting” on businesses who don’t force mask compliance. In my town, a lady walked all through a grocery store, taking pictures of anyone not wearing a mask and posted these to the newspaper’s facebook, which they published! Cowardly citizens who are eager to turn on each other have never been in short supply, and today is no different.
Someone should have grabbed her phone, thrown it on the floor and stomped on it. Problem solved.
This is to do with the mayoral agenda. CIty states, all feeding into central government, who feed into world government structures. No more nation states. A world government. The UK has “re-purposed” it’s self already. The UK column covered this in depth recently. Central government, right down to the street level.
Also, the idea that badly trained and equipped armed resistance can counter the government is ridiclous.
They have air power, Apache helicopters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, the ARMY. Yer any resistance will be dealt with EASILY.
Urban guerilla warfare.
While this is true, you assume that the army would be inclined to fight citizens, and also that the army could effectively do so when ordinary civilians are thrown into the mix. Consider the problems they’ve had in the middle east. Also – the point of an armed resistance in the US wouldn’t be to defeat an organized army, but to make it politically impossible to take certain actions against the citizenry.
Like in Vietnam ?
🙂 No, there will be an election in November. Trump may very well win… and he may very well lose… but there will be an election.
Agree with your points. Though don’t forget lots of Democrats recommended hydroxychloroquine – not for anybody else, but for themselves. Such as Paul Vallone New York). Karen Whitset said she’d be dead without it. One time VP hopeful pick Amy Klobuchar, ferociously trashed Trump for mentioning it…she did not ferociously attack her husband for mentioning it, nor taking it, it was one of the first things he made sure he got when he had symptoms.
At the start of this, I wish I had started a note book / journal, if I had done, it would have been titled ‘things I never thought I would say’…still feels a bit weird saying this (given before this I always thought I was a left of centre liberalist type) – yep, I want Trump to win. If Biden got in, he would be soon found to be unfit for office due to his dementia and killery and big mike would step up – eeh Gods!!!
Nicely put.
Trump *is* a total dick.
But even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
The problem is that the alternative is totally abysmal.
It’s a problem of comparison – not of a need to revise the assessment of Trump.
Victor Davis Hanson on “The Case For Trump”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEXL5USuDGI
His book of the same title is very good too.
Blurb from above interview:
How did blue-collar voters connect with a millionaire from Queens in the 2016 election? Martin and Illie Anderson Senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson addresses that question and more in his newly released book, The Case for Trump. He sits down with Peter Robinson to chat about his motivation to write a book making a rational case for those voters who chose Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.
Trump. Because a decision between the two must be made.
Search creepy joe.
Absolutely not much of a choice for the 300(?) Million possible candidates. Trump appears to have done less war than recent democrats. There’s a sense of you know what you are getting with trump. Biden appears to be not mentally well at times from the little I see.
Is biden seen as unleashing woke left on steroids? That is a reason to not go his way.
Lastly, I’ve picked up a distancing from the clintons are they finally toxic?
They’ve been fighting in court to get the Secret Service records of at least 25-26 trips by the Clintons to Epstein island. If Trump makes it to a second term I suspect all bets are off……
“Question: From a lockdown sceptic POV, Biden or Trump?” Trump,obviously. The Democrats have pushed the panic button at every opportunity, and will continue to do so. Trump’s instincts were sound on it, just like Johnson’s were here, it’s just neither of them had the brains or the character to resist the panic and the political winds blowing for lockdown. “Hitchens in hindsight I think was right that the correct answer to Corbyn or Johnson was neither, but he’s now saying the same about Biden – Trump.” If you are asking whom to actively support, that might be reasonable – the lesser of two evils is still evil. The answer is to throw your support to a third party or withhold it until a worthy recipient comes along. But that’s a separate question from which is the least worst result, and in that case neither is not a viable response, unless you think it’s an improbable tie. Johnson was clearly a less bad result than Corbyn, if only because the Labour Party is far more dangerous than the “Conservative” Party. The latter are politically correct, but mostly in a weak, lily-livered manner, rather than the enthusiastic totalitarianism of Labour apparatchiks. And… Read more »
Biden is creepy – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H5NJZMDumY
(clip is a compilation from a photo session where he touches *masses* of young girls inappropriately)
Yes, he certainly is creepy, and possibly worse in Tara Reade’s account. ‘Slick Willy’ also has a pretty unpleasant past in that regard too. Trump may have said several unpleasant things, but saying and doing are quite different. It seems most Democrat women cannot distinguish – their hate for Trump is so extreme they are prepared to overlook it.
More interesting to me than Trump/Biden is in retrospect Johnson/Corbyn. I think Boris & me would agree on this, Corbyn every time! He & McDonnell would never have borrowed as much as Sunak. Corbyn would have been in an unstable coalition with Sturgeon, the price being IndyRef2 so Jocks off, NI off.
Same jokers advising on covid so same balls up.
Coalition would unravel by spring 2021, Boris in on a landslide. Fantasy politics, so easy.
Doesn’t matter. Same result either way. Any way – the fixed result will be Trump wins, followed by a tide of riots from antifa goons, heralding martial law.
American here. Vote Trump. Biden has already said that he wants the whole country in facemasks for 3 months. Apart from the fact that he does not have the authority to do this, as it is a state matter, he is not discussing any evidence that would support this wild idea. It is also simply loopy to think that a country as large as the US should be subjected to a single unvarying policy where batflu is concerned. North Dakota and Florida have little in common, so why should they be subject to the same public health regime? This is why federalism exists in the first place, but Sleepy Joe apparently knows better. There’s also the fact that Joe is off his tree and in no way fit to be president. He is going to be subject to manipulation by whoever gets hold of him first, so by voting for him one would really take a chance on who would be de facto president. Oddly enough the media don’t cover what a friend of mine calls obvious elder abuse in shoving Joe in front of cameras and making him talk. I guess this would come down to how lucky you… Read more »
I loath Trump, but he is good entertainment value and he hasn’t started any wars. For the first time I heard this morn I heard Biden speaking and I thought what a pleasing voice – for an American male. So I’m a bit indifferent twixt the two – but obviously I’ve not thought deeply enough.
Trump nailed it at the very beginning; calling it out as a hoax but the TV networks done a job on millions of minds so he had to vitrue signal the zombies.
I say no difference probably. From a general point of view, not being American and with no right (correctly so) to vote in their Presidential Election, it’s a matter of supreme indifference who wins. Diplomatically, as an ally, and as a trading partner, we have to deal with whoever wins as a country, whatever you think of them in private.
And the same goes for every other country too. This is why you do not involve yourself in another country’s election, civil war, or duel at twenty paces – however they settle things – but just make friends with the winner.