Latest News
Je Suis Samuel
Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the Place de la Reublique yesterday to pay tribute to Samuel Paty, the history teacher who was brutally murdered on Friday. The Mail has more.
The French Prime Minister joined thousands of demonstrators rallying in tribute to a history teacher who was brutally beheaded at a school near Paris for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to his class.
Samuel Paty, 47, was brutally stabbed to death and beheaded by Aboulakh Anzorov, 18, in a northern suburb of the French capital on Friday afternoon.
In Paris, thousands including French Prime Minister Jean Castex gathered to pay tribute to the slain teacher in a defiant show of solidarity at the Place de la Republique.
Some held placards reading ‘I am Samuel’ that echoed the ‘I am Charlie’ rallying cry after the 2015 attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which published caricatures of Mohammed.
A moment’s silence was observed across the square, broken by applause and a rendition of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. Others recited: ‘Freedom of expression, freedom to teach.’
Demonstrators also gathered in major cities including Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Nantes, Marseille, Lille and Bordeaux.
Worth reading in full.
Twitter Censors Scott Atlas
Twitter capped off a week of aggressive censorship of right-of-centre publications and views by deleting tweets by Scott Atlas, a member of the White House’s scientific team battling coronavirus. The Federalist has more.
Atlas, a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institute, not only had his tweets removed, he was banned from tweeting until he deleted the tweets that Twitter for unclear reasons objects to. Here are the tweets in question:
In an email to the Federalist, Atlas outlined the evidence behind his tweet.
In the deleted tweet, I cited the following evidence against general population masks:
1) Cases exploded even with mandates: Los Angeles County, Miami-Dade County, Hawaii, Alabama, the Philippines, Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Israel.
2) Dr. Carl Heneghan, University of Oxford, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and editor in chief of British Medical Journal Evidence-Based Medicine: ‘It would appear that despite two decades of pandemic preparedness, there is considerable uncertainty as to the value of wearing masks.’
(https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-politics/)
3) The WHO: ‘The widespread use of masks by healthy people in the community setting is not yet supported by high quality or direct scientific evidence and there are potential benefits and harms to consider’ (http://bitly.ws/afUm)
4) The CDC: ‘Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza.’ (https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article).
I also cited an article giving detailed explanation of the reasons why masks might not prevent spread: https://t.co/1hRFHsxe59Notwithstanding this evidence regarding arguably the most important and contentious debate raging in American society — the constant mandate of masks — it appears some 20-something with his pronouns in his Twitter bio just pushed a button and erased scientifically accurate information. For some reason, which hopefully Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey can explain when he is dragged before the Senate, Atlas was silenced by the tech giant.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Jordan Schachtel has more on the same story in his substack blog.
Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist No-Platformed by Lockdown Zealots
Michael Levitt, joint winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize for Chemistry and Professor of Structural Biology at Stanford, has been no-platformed by the organisers of a conference on biosystems design and synthetic biology, even though these fields both owe a huge debt to his work. He took to Twitter yesterday to break the news.
This is an absolute disgrace. Scientists aren’t supposed to no-platform other scientists because they disagree with their scientific views. That’s completely antithetical to the spirit of scientific inquiry. The scientists who threatened to pull out if Michael Levitt was allowed to participate should be ashamed of themselves.
Sounds like a job for the Free Speech Union…
Is Greater Manchester Running Out of Hospital Beds?
The Guardian has splashed on a “leaked document” that supposedly reveals hospitals in Greater Manchester are set to run out of beds to treat people seriously ill with COVID-19.
It showed that by last Friday the resurgence of the disease had left hospitals in Salford, Stockport and Bolton at maximum capacity, with no spare beds to help with the growing influx. The picture it paints ratchets up the pressure on ministers to reach a deal with local leaders over the region’s planned move to the top level of coronavirus restrictions.
It suggested that Greater Manchester’s hospitals are quickly heading towards being overwhelmed by the sheer number of people with Covid needing emergency care to save their lives, in the same way that those in Liverpool have become in recent weeks. By Friday 211 of the 257 critical care beds in Greater Manchester – 82% of the total supply – were already being used for either those with Covid or people who were critically ill because of another illness.
But how accurate is this “leaked document”? Not very, judging from the assessment of Prof Carl Heneghan and his colleagues in the Sunday Telegraph. Readers will recall that they point out the number of daily cases in the Manchester area are falling.
They peaked on the September 30th with 596 cases and a seven-day average of 461. As of October 9th, the seven-day average has fallen from the peak by nearly 20% to an average of 374.
More importantly, the data for respiratory condition admissions shows that they’re below the four year average.
Looking at all respiratory episodes at Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust we see that until week 15 the 2020 admissions matched closely with the four year average for the corresponding week: average monthly activity was 96% of the four year average.
However, this began to diverge significantly after week 16, when the monthly activity became only 57% of the four year average. Looking at emergency episodes alone shows a similar pattern: from week 17 they were at 60% of the four year average.
As for the Guardian‘s breathless revelation that 82% of critical care beds in Greater Manchester are occupied, so what? That sounds about normal for this time of year, possibly even below average.
It’s a non-story. The document was probably leaked by a member of the Government trying to increase pressure on Andy Burnham.
Stop Press: I was right about 82% being normal for this time of year. Occupancy of adult critical care beds in Greater Manchester at the end of October 2019 was 83.6%. Data here.
Scotland’s Dodgy Data
An academic at Edinburgh University has got in touch to point out there’s some jiggery pokery going on with the daily case data north of the border.
You should take a look at the Scottish Covid daily update for an example of how the authorities are abusing statistics for presumably political ends.
Their daily update always includes a top statement along the lines that “1,167 new cases of COVID-19 reported; this is 17.6%* of newly tested individuals” (numbers for October 18th).
Scary indeed, given the percentage of positive tests in the UK as a whole is currently between 5 to 7%. However, the asterisk leads to an explanation of how this is calculated. In short, they have counted the positive tests out of 15,089 performed (this figure is given further down the page), and then divided it by a totally unrelated number – the number of people who have never been tested before (calculating back, around 6,630 people). The actual percentage of positive tests is 7.7%; still high, but much less alarming.
The metric is said to be “under review”, but has been so for at least a week. It is hard to imagine how they decided to use it in the first place, let alone continue to do so.
Local Lockdown Protests
A reader has written in to tell us about his experience organising a local lockdown protest in Croydon. Sounds like it was quite successful.
I staged, with some success, I think, a very small-scale anti-lockdown event in Croydon earlier today. I consider it to have been reasonably successful and I have written the following report in the belief that it may be of interest to your readers.
Through the Lockdown Sceptics and Keep Britain Free forums, I have managed to create a small but expanding network of sceptics across Surrey. Many of us want to play a part in swaying public opinion towards Covid dissent, but not everyone feels comfortable with the way the big protests are conducted and, for my own part, work commitments prevent me from making it to London.
Accordingly, we have started to organise very small-scale gatherings in our local town centres, the first of which took place this Sunday. We had one group in Guildford, while I and another member set ourselves up in Croydon for a couple of hours. Since neither of us had ever attempted anything of the sort before, we were somewhat self-conscious at first and I couldn’t help feeling like I was in the Tooting Popular Front. Still, several other groups and individuals had set themselves up in the town centre with different axes to grind, and compared to them we looked positively discreet.
We didn’t have any tables and chairs set up, so we had to promote ourselves a bit by speaking to passers-by. Nerves had to be overcome, but it all seemed to go very well. Some members of the public were interested in what we were doing. My honourable comrade diverted his attentions towards unmasked people on the basis that they were more likely to be receptive to us, while I approached masked people whom I supposed might only be wearing masks under duress. My comrade’s approach seemed to be more successful.
Rather than trying to drag people into conversation, we just asked them if they’d like to take a leaflet asking people such questions as “What do you think the psychological effects of masks and social distancing are on children?” and “How would you feel if you or a relative had a treatable illness which became terminal because you were refused access to the NHS?” We also pointed out a few inconvenient truths, such as the average age of Covid deaths and the rate of false positives. I cannot take full credit for the leaflet as I merely modified a template which had been prepared by another member (thanks, Comrade TW). I added a list of useful websites such as Lockdown Sceptics (crawl, grovel, &c.) in case people should be interested in looking further into Covid scepticism. We started with 30 leaflets and managed to give away around half of them.
While 15 leaflets distributed over two hours doesn’t sound hugely impressive, since it was the first time either of us had attempted such a stunt, I’m inclined to regard it as successful. I had begun with some considerable apprehension that public reception would be hostile or someone in a hi-vis would try to move us on, but I’m pleased to say those fears did not come to anything. Moreover, my conscience is quite satisfied that I have done my bit to overturn the present chaos.
I hope to be able to repeat these events in the near future in more locations around Surrey. If anyone wants to stage a similar event of their own accord I would heartily encourage it. As not everyone here feels comfortable with the tune of the larger events, this local approach allows you to protest entirely on your own terms, and without the inconvenience of having to go all the way into London. All the same, I would advise trying to do it at least in pairs. Even though today’s event was entirely peaceful, people may be vulnerable on their own.
For more on the Surrey group, see ‘Meet Fellow Sceptics’ in the LS forums.
Stop Press: Dr Kevin Corbett, a former nurse and anti-lockdown activist, has written to tell me of a very successful rally in Hull on Saturday.
I think the Wake Up Hull rally went very well. I stayed for the whole rally, and also the march, which proceeded in a very orderly fashion, gaining lots of interest and support from shopkeepers and shoppers. It was a superbly well organised event by Wake Up Hull who had an effective sound system and had posted volunteers to help protect attendees and speakers. The success of this Saturday’s rally was truly a testament to the forward planning and level headedness of those organising, who are working to help local people and businesses survive and thrive. The range of speakers (and topics) covered on Saturday were diverse, and included Professor Roger Watson, Mark Steele, Kate Shemirani (via link) plus myself and several other less known speakers notable for their own health and spiritual knowledge, expertise and local links. The Hull police assisted the organisers and took out several masked troublemakers who were spoiling for a fight. As you can imagine this police action was hugely applauded by the rally goers as was the calm demeanor of the police throughout. It also made those of us who’d personally witnessed the atrocious behaviour of the Metropolitan Police at similar events to note how relatively better the Hull police seemed at doing their job without hurting people (unlike their London colleagues). Overall, it was an incredible event attended by four hundred rally goers. The police acted as though they knew that this year’s government COVID-19 ‘diktats’ were just that. Common sense prevailed and because of the tenor of the rally due to the organisers, and their successful police liaison, it really felt for all of us involved, as though we were now living in a democracy once more. People felt hopeful and optimistic for the future and it showed in their actions and behaviour. So well done all at Wake Up Hull for showing the UK exactly how to do it.
Postcard From Bulgaria
A reader has sent us a “Postcard From Bulgaria” that we’ve added to the postcard roster on the right-hand side. Sounds like a good place to visit (although it’s not currently in the UK travel corridor).
The early morning mini-bus from Yambol trundles into the village, and drinking a coffee outside the bar the village mayor from a few years back calls out jovially to those of us waiting to board: “Mask!” Unaffronted (you’ll see why in a moment), the majority of us pull from our pocket a crumpled, grubby-ish scrap of ear-looped linen and don it, at least until we reach our seat. “Losho!” laughs the ex-mayor, rocking merrily back and forth on his seat (maybe it was a rakia he was drinking, not coffee), and nobody disagrees. ‘Losho’ can mean anything from ‘bad’ to ‘useless’ to ‘barmy’ which I would say is the majority view now in Bulgaria with regard to mask-wearing.
Worth reading in full.
Round-Up
- “Peru has the toughest lockdown in the world and still ended up with the worst fatality rate” – Daniel Hannan wonders what has gone wrong in his native Peru
- “Powerful voices now argue for a more nuanced and less painful way of learning to live with the virus… We urge the PM to listen” – Very sceptical editorial in the Mail on Sunday
- “I’m yet to meet a single person who plans to obey the ban on meeting friends and family indoors… why on earth should they?” – Lord Sumption endorses the Great Barrington Declaration
- “Britons are being sentenced to a slow, agonising death… by No 10’s panic squad” – Peter Hitchens’s latest column
- “Lockdown cycles” – Prof Carl Heghan and Tom Jefferson in the Spectator argue that an endless cycle of intermittent lockdowns won’t work
- “The end of the SAGE supremacy” – Dr Waqar Rashid in the Spectator detects a waning of SAGE’s authority
- “No real evidence for 10pm curfew, claims expert in briefing for Manchester MPs” – At a meeting with Manchester MPs on Thursday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam admitted there was no scientific reason for thinking the 10pm curfew would have any impact on the spread of coronavirus
- “The crisis in mental health: ‘We were left on suicide watch over our daughter all week’” – With services being cut while demand surges, two families tell the Telegraph of the trauma of dealing with mental health issues during the pandemic
- “The lockdown ghost towns: More than a MILLION hospitality and retail jobs may vanish by end of the year” – 11,120 stores and 125,000 jobs were lost following initial lockdown. With the new restrictions, many more will follow
- “Northern Tory MPs hit back at southern colleagues over coronavirus lockdown letter” – Northern Tory MPs hit back at their Southern colleagues after their ill-advised letter urging Andy Burnham to accept a Tier 3 lockdown
- “Lockdowns aren’t the solution, we should be able to live our lives” – Esther McVey sides with the lockdown sceptics in a powerful comment piece for the Express
- “Rishi Sunak is fighting hard to hold the line against a circuit-breaker lockdown” – John Rentoul in the Independent says Rishi is just about managing to hold off the lockdown zealots in Cabinet
- “Millions for Manchester to buy off revolt over coronavirus restrictions” – Boris is going to try and buy himself out of trouble to the tune of £100m, according to the Times
- “Time to stop the coronavirus gravy train” – Clare Foges in the Times decries the fact that lots of useless consultants are getting rich during this crisis
- “Boris Johnson refusal to back circuit breaker lockdown ‘will cost the economy £110billion’” – The Labour Party’s internal analysis shows that not having a circuit breaker will cost £110 billion. Who did Keir Starmer get to model that? Neil Ferguson?
- “As physicians, mothers and daughters, we have concerns with COVID-19 rules” – Powerful piece in the Vancouver Sun
- “Ontario Physician’s Case Against Lockdowns” – Excellent Facebook post by a Canadian doctor about why he’s opposed to lockdowns
- “Britain should not resort to a new national lockdown” – Leader in the Economist saying the cost of a second national lockdown in the UK would outweigh the benefits
- “‘I appeal to you’: Merkel asks Germans to stay home as she focuses on individual responsibility” – The German Chancellor is experiencing similar problems to Boris, having failed to persuade local leaders to introduce tougher restrictions last week
- Interesting Twitter thread by Kyle Lamb on the disappearance of seasonal flu this year
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Special Andy Burnham edition today: “North South Divide” by Tim Patterson, “North vs South” by El Axel and “Divided Nation” by Manic Depression.
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention. 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.
Sharing stories: Some of you have asked how to link to particular stories on Lockdown Sceptics. The answer used to be to first click on “Latest News”, then click on the links that came up beside the headline of each story. But we’ve changed that so the link now comes up beside the headline whether you’ve clicked on “Latest News” or you’re just on the Lockdown Sceptics home page. Please do share the stories with your friends and on social media.
Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today it’s the turn of the San Diego School District which has decided to abolish grading on the grounds that awarding grades to students is racist. Libby Emmons from the Post Millennial has more.
California’s second largest school district has decided that since minority students cannot make the grade, grades should be dispensed with altogether.
“This is part of our honest reckoning as a school district,” San Diego’s schools VP Richard Barerra said. “If we’re actually going to be an anti-racist school district, we have to confront practices like this that have gone on for years and years.”
Those practices, apparently, include expectations and assessments as to how well students are meeting those expectations. Using an outcome based assessment approach, it was determined that teachers are failing minority students by grading them not based on their academic achievement, but on their skin colour.
This determination was made based on data which revealed that minority students received 30% of all failing or near failing grades.
Kids who are English learners, or have disabilities, had lower grades, as did Native Americans, Hispanics, and black American students. Only seven percent of failing marks were distributed to white students. The San Diego school district believes that this is because teachers are racist, otherwise why would they seek to address grading rather than underlying issues?
It was as a result of these numbers that the San Diego school board decided to dispense with grading standards. Kids are now permitted to turn in the work at any time that appeals to them, and still have it graded as though they’d turned it on deadline. Teachers will not be permitted to use testing to determine grades, but are meant to grade per a “mastery of the material”, although it’s unclear as to how a teacher is meant to figure out a student’s “mastery”.
Classroom behaviour doesn’t count either, so probably no more points for participation. It’s only a student’s working knowledge, apparently, that will affect how they do in school. Although again, it’s unclear as to how that presence of that knowledge will be determined.
Junior at University City High School and Student School Board Member Zachary Patterson said: “I know students all across the school district are really happy with the idea that these other accountability measures are no longer going to be defining their understanding of knowledge.”
It was Patterson who brought up concerns that some students might be unfairly penalized for cheating. The school board intends, this week, to review their zero-tolerance policy on cheating, with perhaps an eye toward allowing cheating, since to not do so might be racist.
Surely, isn’t it a little bit racist to say you’re no longer going to penalise kids for not doing their homework on time, being naughty or cheating because that’s not fair on minority students? Wouldn’t it be fairer to have the same high expectations of all students, regardless of their skin colour?
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a one-stop shop 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 (takes a while to arrive). 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 £1.99 from Etsy here. And, finally, if you feel obliged to wear a mask but want to signal your disapproval of having to do so, you can get a “sexy world” mask with the Swedish flag on it here.
Don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face masks in shops 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).
Stop Press: Readers will recall that a large, randomised control trial to test the efficacy of masks was carried out in Denmark earlier this year – the only large RCT that’s ever been done on masks. So why haven’t the results been published yet? According to one of the lead investigators on the study, it will be published “as soon as a journal is brave enough”. Which suggests the results are not what the pro-maskers want to hear. Alex Berenson has been tweeting about it.
The Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration, a petition started by Professor Martin Kulldorff, Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Jay Bhattacharya calling for a strategy of “Focused Protection” (protect the elderly and the vulnerable and let everyone else get on with life), was launched last week and the lockdown zealots have been doing their best to discredit it. If you Google it, the top hits you get are two smear pieces from the obscure Leftist conspiracy website Byline Times, and one from the Guardian headlined: “Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’.” (Freddie Sayers at UnHerd warned us about this hit job the day before it appeared.) On the bright side, Google UK has stopped shadow banning it, so the actual Declaration now shows up in the search results – and my Spectator piece about the attempt to suppress it is the top hit – although discussion of it has been censored by Reddit. The reason the zealots hate it, of course, is that it gives the lie to their claim that “the science” only supports their strategy. These three scientists are every bit as eminent – more eminent – than the pro-lockdown fanatics so expect no let up in the attacks. (Wikipedia has also done a smear job.)
You can find it here. Please sign it. Now over half-a-million signatures.
Stop Press: Lockdown Sceptics contributor Omar S. Khan has written a blog post defending the GBD from its critics.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
There are now so many JRs being brought against the Government and its ministers, we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
First, there’s the Simon Dolan case. You can see all the latest updates and contribute to that cause here.
Then there’s the Robin Tilbrook case. You can read about that and contribute here.
Then there’s John’s Campaign which is focused specifically on care homes. Find out more about that here.
There’s the GoodLawProject’s Judicial Review of the Government’s awarding of lucrative PPE contracts to various private companies. You can find out more about that here and contribute to the crowdfunder here.
The Night Time Industries Association has instructed lawyers to JR any further restrictions on restaurants, pubs and bars.
And last but not least there’s the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. You can read about that and make a donation here.
Samaritans
If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
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 hard work (although we have help from lots of people, mainly in the form of readers sending us stories and links). If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links we should include in future updates, email us here. (Don’t assume we’ll pick them up in the comments.)
Special thanks to graphic designer and Lockdown Sceptics reader Claire Whitten for designing our new logo. We think it’s ace. Find her work here.
And Finally…
In my latest column for Spectator US, I’ve written about the migration of the paranoid style in politics from the right to the left.
It is widely accepted as fact in contemporary politics that all the biggest conspiracy theories originate on the far right, whether it’s QAnon, birtherism or the belief that Sandy Hook was staged by actors. The notion was popularized by the political scientist Richard Hofstadter in his famous essay ‘The Paranoid Style in American Politics’. Hofstadter saw a golden thread linking the scapegoating of Jews and Catholics by 19th-century populists to the fever dreams of Joseph McCarthy, who believed a fifth column had embedded itself in America’s most powerful institutions. According to Hofstadter, these theories appeal to the white working class because they feel marginalized and dispossessed. ‘America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion,’ he wrote.
It is this piece of conventional wisdom — that conspiracy theories are inextricably bound up with a toxic white nationalism and can, if they’re allowed to run wild, lead to the eruption of racial violence — that has persuaded the custodians of social media that they have a public duty to ban their proponents from spreading them.
But the reality is that conspiracy theories are now more ubiquitous on the left than they are on the right. We saw this after Trump’s victory in 2016, with numerous pundits in the mainstream media blaming it on the insidious influence of Russian bots and troll farms, as well as Steve Bannon’s fiendish use of Facebook to worm his way into the heads of blue-collar voters.
It was now the turn of America’s bicoastal overlords to feel that their country had been taken away from them and, like Hofstadter’s paranoid losers, they convinced themselves that a malignant, invisible group of subversives was responsible and it was their duty to expose them.
A British journalist called Carole Cadwalladr, who saw Trump’s victory as just one facet of a vast right-wing conspiracy that encompassed Boris Johnson, Brexit and Cambridge Analytica, was even shortlisted for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize.
Worth reading in full.
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The Cat pounces!!
Aging With Dignity.
No idea how big this group is but this appeared in my Google news feed this morning
Pt 2
Hi L
Dr Matt Strauss says public health “was not in favour” of lockdowns at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, telling Dan Wootton “it was kind of outraged social media mobs that forced their hand a little bit.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcTKeEvxv0Q
Since The Great Reset seems keen to divide and conquer whilst at the same time talking about pulling together and uniting and equalizing.. it pounced on George Floyd to push BLM.. it allowed XR protests..
I’m not saying this ‘beheading’ didn’t take place. But it sure seems possible it was contrived.. it seems convenient. Perhaps a false flag. Like the Nawal tusk. Improbable maybe. Like 911. Improbable definitely.
Assuming it did happen, while a tragedy for the victim and his family the press and politicians have wildly overreacted to the crime of a few nutters.
How many other people were murdered in France that day whose death is not worldwide news ?
20th Century: the two main causes of unnatural death, by far.
Death caused by other peoples governments ie war.
Death by your own government ie internal repression.
Solution = Ban Governments.
Hardly “a few nutters.” Say that to anyone who fought in Iraq.
??? none of the 911 terrorists came from Iraq. They hailed from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Egypt.
I believe she was referring to the beheading. I am not suggesting that the murderer came from Iraq. The reason I referenced Iraq is because people who have experience with Islamic Terrorists would get a pretty big chuckle (and not in a “ha ha” sort of way) out of the suggestion that this was just “one nutter.” Considering your own experiences w/ Islamic Terrorism (attacks, rapes, kidnappings, etc…) in the UK, I’m a bit surprised to see that minimized here.
If you illegally invade a sovereign State, you should expect its people to respond with violence.
Illegally? In that sense, I suppose all war is illegal… then again, so is terrorism.
I was referring to the beheading incident only, correction ‘one nutter’.
How can you say the press have overreacted? Brendan O’Neil has repeatedly pointed out in Spiked and on Insta, that normal press response to this type of Islamist attack is to light a candle or comment on the attacker’s poor mental health.
Candles yes.. but rarely mental health is used/mentioned in France.
Anarchy doesn’t work because some people are naturally more willing and able to wield power over others.
I think this happened all right. The murderer was a young Caucasian Muslim from Chechnya whose family had been granted asylum in France years ago. He was known for “crimes of delinquence” but as far as the authorities were aware, he was not an Islamic radical. No doubt we’ll learn more in the next few days.
The Chechens have form in this kind of brutal murder:
“The 1998 abduction of foreign engineers took place when four United Kingdom-based specialists were seized by unidentified Chechen gunmen in Grozny, the capital of the unrecognized secessionist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI). After more than two months in captivity, all four men were found brutally murdered, reportedly following a failed rescue bid. As of 2009, no one has been tried in this case.”
If I remember correctly, the men were beheaded after being starved and tortured, and their bodies dumped.
As the Irreverends pointed out in their Friday podcast, BLM don’t care about real black lives. People in Africa are brung plunged into dire poverty, and in some places actual starvation, as a direct and/or indirect consequence of lockdown policies. IMO, in fact, you could argue that lockdowns are racist.
While BLM shriek because an eighteenth-century philosopher once wrote an allegedly racist footnote.
BLM is about undermining America and capitalism, like most far left organisations.
Much of the money raised in the name of BLM has been siphoned off to the Democrats and Biden presidential campaign.
I couldn’t disagree more – to me the killing of Samuel Paty for teaching freedom of speech to his students and the lead-up complaints from parents for doing this in a country that heralded the enlightenment is another wake-up call for us to have a grown up discussion about how we preserve freedom of speech and avoid totalitarianism in the west. IMV it’s the biggest battle of our time. And this conspiracy theory stuff unfortunately obfuscates and waters down the real protest that we should be engaged in.
Noble thought Stew but freedom of speech in Europe was abandoned when every single newspaper of note declined to reprint the Danish Mohammed cartoons out of fear.
What makes you so sure it was about fear of terrorists rather than just not wanting to be arseholes?
Why should printing cartoons that mock all sides and politicians make someone an ar**hole?? Nothing should be beyond being mocked. All totalitarians hate being mocked because it undermines their power, and Islam is no different. If people laugh at them, they can’t control people through fear.
Some conspiracies are true.
But not all of them.
People on this site can’t stomach media fakery even though it’s the driving force behind the covid hoax.
Well, yes. We hate being lied to.
Never mind the Bollocks
Loca live online
“A doctor says the four main hospitals are filling up, the Nightingale and community wards are being readied for Covid action again.
The GP warns of a Second Wave of Coronovirus which he compares to a Tsunami.
The wave is coming fast and we should take action so I felt the need to share a video of the Thailand Tsunami 🌊that Killed 230,000 in 2004 which starts with them shouting
‘it’s coming again ❗’
The Doctor said he only knew of one Covid death in the town”.
Yeah, ramp that fear up Doc.
Why do they keep bringing up the Nightingales? The one in Cardiff is already being dismantled as we speak.
The one in Scotland is also being dismantled. When I pointed this out in a comment in the National, I was told that there was no such thing as a Nightingale Hospital in Scotland – it was the Louisa Jordan hospital, named after some Scottish woman. Yes, but why make a fuss over the naming of a hospital if it doesn’t have any patients? I’m afraid that’s the level of debate I’m up against when I try to bring some sense to the comment section in the National.
Yeah have heard of that one. Its in Glasgow isn’t it? And from what I’ve heard it never had any patients at all.
Although another temporary wing is being built at the Grange Hospital at a cost of £33million!
He also said that people should wear masks outside and that asthma and COPD were no excuse. Sadly, I think the reputation of the medical profession is going to be severely damaged after this, as a result of these nutters. We will be back to the old pre NHS days when people believed that it was safer to stay away from doctors and out of hospital.
I would never trust a doctor after this and would refuse to see them again ever. This crisis has shown up the profession for who they truly are.
Whatever happened to “first do no harm?”
surely it should be first: do some good FFS!
I agree, Bart. I don’t intend to voluntarily see a doctor again.
The way things are being set up you will find it very hard to see a doctor and to get into hospital
You can almost believe this is their purpose, to kill off as many people as they can.
Georgia Guidestones?
My experience is that the NHS has always been focussed on triage. A few people get world-beating treatment but many are considered not to deserve proper diagnosis or adequate treatment.
First you have to get past the receptionist to see a GP, then if you are lucky you can get referred to a specialist, who mostly seem to know what they are doing.
A consultant where I used to live told me they were really pissed off with the local “health centre” causing msdiagnoses, missed diagnoses and late diagnoses. In the end a couple of young hospital doctors started an alternative GP practice and the difference was like chalk and cheese. He advised me to join quickly before their lists got full.
Didn’t help the people who were fobbed off with excuses, told their symptoms were psychosomatic or hypochondria, and when the cancer or heart disease was finally diagnosed it was too late. I have lots more stories like that which way outnumber the successes.
Haha getting past the receptionist can often be the most difficult stage…
Indeed, I’m one of those stories. Permanently disabled, because not only did they fob me off when I needed medical attention… they fucking poisioned me at the same time. (And yes, there’s multiple investigations going on, though I expect nothing will come of it).
Never ever ever trust the NHS protocol. As far as I’m concerned, they exist to murder as many people as they can.
I will add though, I finally have a good GP, and I’m pretty grateful for that, but he is the exception, not the rule!
That’s because they are paid by the number of patients on their books rather than what they do for you (except numerous bonus schemes like statins and vaccines)
When I look back on my childhood when doctors wore white coats and stethoscopes and nurses were immaculately groomed with starched uniforms black tights and laced up shoes the hospitals were spotlessly cleaned and smelled of disinfectant and Matron ruled the wards, oh how times have changed and not for the better!
I worked for the NHS for many years and was horrified at the waste, theft (almost considered a perk of the job), corruption and fraud. You could double the funding and most would leave via the back door. I believe they had their debts cancelled so what on earth are they spending their funding now because it certainly isn’t being spent on patients. In my area the Heath Centre is firmly locked, despite it having 3 floors and plenty of room for distancing. Even getting a GP to phone you can take 2 weeks of effort. All cancer checks and blood tests cancelled. The only thing you can enter the hallowed ground to have is a flu jab (no thanks) because they are paid extra to do them.
Many heart felt complaints here about locked surgeries and withdrawal of services. Mine continues to function, albeit no entry without appointment. Certainly not locked up. I’m wondering if this is worse in big cities, particular area of the country? Or is it when a GP practice operates from 2 or more sites and has closed one of them, maybe premises unsuitable for the onerous one- way systems they’re supposed to observe? Have people complained to the CCG, what answers are they getting?
My GP is behind locked doors. Even getting anyone to answer the phone can take several days. Then an unqualified receptionist quizzes you on your problem and then she decides if you warrant a call back, That can take up to 2 weeks. I wrote to my MP, Sajid Javid, and he completely ignored every question I asked and just told me to ring my GP or NHS 111 and he assured me (in a very badly executed ‘cut and paste’ letter with some text missing from paragraphs) that they ‘are taking care of us’. I was so annoyed I scrawled my opinions on his letter, put it back in an envelope and wrote ‘return to sender’ on the envelope and sent it back to him.
Not for the better? Pure romantic nostalgia. Male life expectancy – ‘By the 1950s it had risen to about 65. Things improved more slowly in the late 20th century but by 1971 life expectancy for a man in Britain was 68. For a woman it was 72. In 2015 life expectancy was 79 for a man in the UK and 83 for a woman’.
How life expectancy is counted matters. The rise in life expectancy is often due to reduced child mortality.
Plus fewer deaths from war and industrial disease.
It’s hard to tell the difference between the nurses and the cleaners these days. My mum a retired nurse of 25 years despairs as to how far we have fallen from the matron days.
I’ve believed in staying away from doctors and out of hospital for the past 10 years, since I moved to a different part of the country. I didn’t register with a new NHS doctor so haven’t had one since I moved. My dentist is private.
That’s disgusting. Does he want hospitals full of asthma and COPD patients. A friend with COPD was told at a hospital that wearing a mask was dangerous for her.
From day one my local pub complied with every stupid rule that was heaped on them
The initial forced closure
Then when they reopened; one way systems, track and trace, hand gunk etc
Then in recent weeks the final humiliation of face nappies and being zapped with a thermometer on entry
The reward for all this jumping through hoops? Next Friday the dictatorship will force them to close again
This time they will not reopen
I stopped going at the face nappy stage
This week I was speaking to the landlady in the street. She told me how one of the elderly customers who lives on his own wept when he was allowed back in the pub after the first lockdown
Yes, he fucking wept, and now they are going to do it to him again
He will most probably commit suicide this time around
So where did all this compliance and obeying the law get them?
Yes, I think this is a problem for the zealots, now. It is obvious that six months of sacrifice has clearly achieved nothing. People can now see that extending the measures further can only achieve the same thing. It’s a shame they actually had to go through the first six months before working that out, of course.
Utterly totally agree.
Virtually every country in the world has imposed varying degrees of draconian lockdown measures and achieved F A and has probably make the situation far worse, even the most extreme lockdown fanatics know this.
HERD IMMUNITY IS THE ONLY WAY.
The Great War was supposed to be over by Christmas.
And we all know how that turned out. Four years of carnage.
This isn’t the first (nor sadly the last) time people are led down a very bad road by their national leaders.
Th carnage will be much greater this time unless we find a way of taking back government from the thugs.
Can’t locate where I read this, maybe I got it wrong, but I think some group of researchers had calculated there were presently 50,000 infected persons – and the numbers are doubling every week! At that rate it will be all be over by Christmas – because we’ll all have got it!
So where did all this compliance and obeying the law get them? – it’s got us and them nowhere as circuit breakers, tier 1,2,3 crap was on the agenda from day 1, following the rules has been pointless, very few people could see it coming and thought donning a mask would save them from the tyranny to come. Masks are a symbol of compliance and torture. Bit late now
Give way to a bully and he’ll bully you worse.
My mum told me that when I was five.
Mine did too!
I hate the people who collude with this, they are complicit with many deaths, deaths due to the restrictions.
They have blood on their hands.
The mask-wearers.
They are allowing this to happen.
Unfortunately you will still get people who think that others are selfish and if only they obeyed the rules it will be over. It hasn’t sunk into their brains that lockdowns, social distancing, masks, T&Ts and the like don’t work and cause more problems than they solve.
They don’t realise that they have blood on their hands through their slavish adherence to the rules.
They’re so far gone that I think the only way they will wake up are through the following:
Anything else I’ve missed?
The banks close, power cuts, and starvation
Funny thing is some of the lockdownistas I know lived through the winter of discontent. Looks like they’ve forgotten that.
This is far,far worse than the winter of discontent.
That is so very true. It’s not dawned on most and even some of those who comment on this site, that we are now all in a fight for very lives. The whole lockstep global Covid fiasco is about massive depopulation and anyone with a half clear head should be able to see that by now. The main culling tool will be the unlicensed, hardly tested, liability free and highly experimental vaccines and will be made compulsory, if they think they can get away with it.
Starvation in an unheated quarantine camp?
And hyperinflation.
Being stuffed into an old folks home and never being allowed to see your relatives. By then, the penny will drop and they’ll realise it is too late.
Yep. Or in the case of what Peter Hitchens have written, a minor illness that’s not caught before its too late and the doctors can’t do anything.
It will have to be some combination of those BUT not too gradually. Otherwise, people will just adapt. There has to be an element of shock to the system that triggers a revolt.
Agree. I think the end of furlough could trigger a revolt given the forecast is now that several thousands of jobs will go in the run up to Christmas.
And don’t forget too the businesses that will shut and go bankrupt.
So true. It was like the last recession, only those personally affected understood the true hardship it caused.
The pubs in Tier 2 areas have been given a choice.They either enforce the rules and die or they go down the route of the Liverpool gym owner.
Unfortunately, they are too few in number to make a difference if they defy the lockdown rules. They’re too easy to pick off by the authorities and made examples of.
There are about 3 police cars and one meat waggon allocated to the area I live. There are way more than 3 pubs
They would only have to report them to the Council who would use it to revoke their licence.
True 🙁
The English closure comes on the same day Scottish pubs are due to reunopen after two weeks of closure presently. At least it will be blatantly clear on the day they are closed in England it will be much longer than the two weeks. I wonder how many will realise the game is up their livelilhoods are gone.
I believe its a deliberate attack on pubs which is seen as part of the British way of life.
Hard to disagree with this. Given the total lack of evidence that pubs and restaurants are driving transmission, you really do have to question the motivation.
Who need evidence?
Well, quite.
its commonsensical.
As previously mentioned the anti-alcohol crowd are using lockdown to further their agenda.
The dangers of lockdown is that they can be used to get rid of things people don’t like. If people are anti alcohol, lockdowns can be used to get rid of pubs. I have argued that there is an element of social engineering in lockdown measures and one aim is to isolate people from each other and prevent people interacting with each other. One way of achieving this is to destroy businesses where people socialise such as pubs. It is blatantly obvious pubs have been heavily targeted. Look at the measures imposed on pubs.
One theory behind lockdown is to ensure big companies have a monopoly. If pubs go bust, supermarkets and online sellers get increased alcohol sales.
We’d previously lost a lot of village pubs. The ones that remained concentrated on food, especially local stuff, and real ale. I suspect a lot of those that remain will also close in due course.
https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6202103436001
Sky news Australia
18/10/2020|9min
Sky News host Rowan Dean says people cannot be surprised when the same “authoritarian elitists” who impose lockdowns in order to reach ‘COVID normal,’ enforce the same drastic restrictions to reduce carbon dioxide.
Mr Dean pointed to the ‘Great Reset’ a supported by the IMF, the World Economic Forum, and the UN and aims to “by their own admission” use the tools of COVID suppression and adapt them to the “so-called crisis of climate change”.
“By their own admission the Great Reset aims to use all the tools of Covid suppression such as lockdowns, curfews and enforced business closures and adapt them to the so-called ‘crisis’ of climate change,”
Mr Dean said. “Remember, this isn’t me saying that we are going to switch from the COVID crisis to the climate crisis, this is them saying it, again and again and again.
And every time any member of the public says this, e.g. by text or call to a radio station, they’re dismissed out of hand. Even stations like Talk Radio, who are mainly very sceptical, will not engage with this.
As you posted “this is them saying it, again and again and again.”
But we’re dismissed as conspiracy theorists.
When did a thermometer n entry become a government rule/law? Seen hairdressers do it, dentists to, but is it a rule/law r the decision of the business?
It isn’t a legal obligation, these businesses are just collaborating with the enemy.
Johnson and Hancock have blood on their hands – How do they live with themselves. This Poor elderly man – I imagine one of thousands —The People, business’s en masse need to just say NO we are not doing this.. Sadly after looking a them on my high st today pulling bit of rag out of their pockets and bags to put on their faces just to enter the coffee shop then take them off when they sat down – I cannot see them rebelling anytime soon….and people like this elderly gentleman will be isolated, lonely and obviously very depressed…… I am heartbroken to read about it.
Yes indeed, some owners and managers of pubs deserve everything that’s coming to them by way of bankruptcy and redundancy. One of the biggest pubs, near home, had all its staff in face masks from the day it reopened in June after the initial disastrous lockdown. I rarely went there after that and found somewhere else a little less intimidating. With the latest mask stupidity and ten o’clock curfew I have stayed away from all of these dens of stupidity and humiliation. They all so very much deserve to go broke.
Re ICU beds in Manchester
Even the Guardian article contains this…
A spokesperson for the NHS in Greater Manchester said: “We are monitoring the situation with our hospital admissions, overall beds and ICU beds very, very closely. It’s not unusual for 80-85% of ICU beds to be in use at this time of year and our hospitals work together if there are particular pressures in any one area, to ensure the best care for patients who need the high level of support ICU provides, both for Covid and for other reasons.”
I remember reading an article in (probably) The Spectator just as this whole nonsense was beginning to kick off, around early March. It mentioned that ICU capacity was around 4,000 and ran at about 80% in normal times. I thought to myself “that sounds about right”. If you’re running at much lower than 80%, you’re wasting resources. If I’m standard times you’re running at 90%, you have too little surge capacity.
In other words, the situation is that the hospitals are hardly any more full than they normally would be in the summer, let alone the respiratory disease season.
The Guardian might be waking up. They published this letter on Friday 16th Oct. despite a general anti herd immunity line.
Professor Jeremy Dale takes issue with Matt Hancocks views on herd immunity.
“It is depressing that we have a Health Secretary who does not understand let alone understand herd immunity . . .
(Goes on to explain how it works for malaria, the flu and particularly measles)
By wrongly suggesting that herd immunity is impossible for measles Matt Hancock has shot himself, and us, in the foot.
L
Prof Jeremy Dale
Glossop
Derbyshire.”
The guardian’s not waking up. Just allowing the odd article to counter the propaganda.
Yes, just like the free Metro rag, in which the letters page usually has about ten pro-lockdown contributions to every one against.
The Guardian is basically turned itno a Gb version of Pravda..I used to subscribe to the Guardian, back in he halcyon days where it still had journalism. Even before this whole Plandemic it was all just oppressions, patriarchy, man are the worst, feminism, more feminism, did we write anything about feminism?, Trump is a nazi, brexiters are all scumm..so a delightful piece of shit..Now it’s even worse. For me , if it’s in the Guardian, it’s worse than fake news. Its UBER WOKE FAKE NEWS!
The Guardian is POISON. Avoid it.
Quite a good jazz critic, John Fordham – does he still contribute? Other than him it’s largely unreadable for anyone sane.
Agreed. A decade ago it was my go to for news of a UK focus and now I can’t even spend few minutes on their front page. The wokness is unbearable!!
Oops ‘does not underestimate let alone believe in’.
The Guardian report says that 211 of 257 critical care beds in Manchester are occupied. The population of Manchester is 2,820,000, instead of spending all his efforts trying to lever more cash for a lockdown why is the Mayor not berating the local NHS for not getting better organised? With a budget of £129 billion one would have thought that NHS England could re-deploy a few resources and establish a few more critical care facilities.
211 critical care patients represents 0.0075% of the Manchester population, if that is overwhelming the NHS then I want my £129 billion money back!
The whole time hundreds of billions should have gone on future proofing the NHS by permanently expanding and sorting out how to get more staff. But no, that would be sensible!
I wonder how many of the people currently occupying ICU beds would in previous times have been considered beyond intervention and would have been given palliative care only.
Is a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 now a golden ticket to an ICU bed?
The median age for entry into a critical care bed with COVID19 is 62. Half of all patients are in the range 51-70. 9/10 of these patients are able to live without daily assistance and only 1/10 are classed as having very severe comorbidities. That is not old compared with normal life expectancy.
https://www.icnarc.org/DataServices/Attachments/Download/8fee8e2a-d50f-eb11-912b-00505601089b
Table 1.
That’s a comprehensive report, thanks!
INARC make the ONS look rather amateurish in comparison.
Don’t believe what you hear about the ONS. They are meticulous and thorough. The methods they use and standards they adhere to are first rate. How others choose to interpret their work is another matter entirely! Always go to the source. The responsible statistician normally adds a comment on any report of note.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/
I was referring more to their actual report output, rather than their methods. I’ve been a spreadsheet jockey for 25 years and I find their reports messy and hard to use.
That’s a fair point. The datasets they use are made into XL sheets for public release and consumption. That is a pain to be honest!
Congratulations to the organisers of the local protests in Croydon 🎖 and Hull
‘If it saves one victim of propaganda’
What do the Police in Hull know that the Met do not ?
Hull doesn’t have Fetida Dick urging the police and public to persecute non-zombies.
Or khan as mayor, although he is a puppet and pointless.
That’s because they saw what other police forces did and sensibly thought that they shouldn’t fall into the same trap.
Wish I had known about that – I would have joined it!
California school district refusing to set grades because it’s racist.
“California rates 46th in 8th grade test scores despite having 5 of the richest 10 counties in the USA, it has 77 billionaires but 20 of the population lives below the poverty line.
60% of students entering university need remediation* (except they got rid of that word) yet it has more top universities than any nation except the US.”
(Victor Davis Hanson, Two States of California).
Failure to properly educate the next generation is not going to level this inequality.
*means they can’t read and write or do math.
It won’t get any better when Biden gets in .
If not when!
Meanwhile the Chinese go in the opposite direction with school getting progressively harder and more demanding all the time.
I wonder which system will win out…
What does China’s Belt and Road Initiative mean for Europe? | DW News
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DRk8iqjm1E
From the Ontario doctor referenced above:
“As a medic, my verdict is clear: mandatory government lockdowns amount to a medical recommendation of no proven benefit, of extraordinary potential harm, that do not take personal values and individual consent into account. Physicians who call for their use should hearken back to these core planks of their ethical training.”
Well said, Doctor. Except that we aren’t getting a recommendation, we are getting a mandate supported by lies, terror and multiple threats.
What’s the principal plank of a politician’s ethical training? FORGET ABOUT ETHICS, presumably.
Similarly if masks are classified as a medical device (why not, if they work?) how can they be administered without the consent of the ‘patient’.
On the lead story, RT was reporting that Macron was drafting in 12,000 extra plod to enforce the covid policies.
How convenient. A terror attack to further distract and torment and disorientate. Paris gets its Reading.
Re: Andy Burnham’s requested commons vote on the Manchester situation fiasco; the country should hold a referendum/vote on the whole lockdown.
Not holding my breath though.
Then Parliament can debate our “real” intentions and stand either on a “hard”, or “soft” lockdown, while talking about it for four years plus.
And when they do things they’re the wrong things
Isn’t that how Switzerland has resisted lockdown? Direct democracy?
Once elected in the UK you have a dictatorship that cannot be touched for five years. Coups are even possible.
Could you tell me about the situation in Switzerland?
Genuine question.
PS:What does BID stand for?
Sounds like non jobs made up by the council to employ people who can’t hack it in the real world.
The CEO of our BID worked for a big local estate agent before she moved into the BID. A young woman in her late 20’s early 30’s. I wrote to the BID then her a couple of times complaining about the mental covid rules. Pointless.
Purple Idiots
Fingerache, do you want to know about the political system in Switzerland or Corona?
I watch an independent journalist based in Switzerland, who has become quite of a hero in Germany.
Switzerland government had a meeting yday to vote about further restrictions, as +test rise, but like everywhere, no significant illness and deaths.
Still they voted to introduce more face covering wearing, so far it was public transport, now also public buildings and shops.
Assembly numbers have been reduced to 15, even outside.(curbing demos).
The regions have quite an autonomy and have varied rules depending on their numbers.
Someone here at LS said lockdown measures in Switzerland were devolved to the Cantons; some hard some soft, same result.
Can you imagine the fear porn that would hail down on us from the media and advertising. Brexit was bad enough, but this would be wall to wall imagery of death, pestilence, and Armageddon.
I just got a flyer for a local Care Home with the message;
XXXXXXX care home in your neighbourhood
Rooms available!
I bet there is. Can someone please wake me up from this nightmare? I want to go back to 1980.
Sorry, you can’t, because we’re living in 1984.
I smiled ruefully when I realised that the act of Parliament that’s being used as legal cover for this shit-show was passed in 1984.
Rooms available, come and die.
Or even ‘come and be isolated, lonely and then die.’
Next steap,come and die and we will turn you into Soylent Green!
To be honest, you would have to be either completely heartless or completely desperate to put a relative in a care home these days.
It would be tantamount to sending them off to die in virtual solitary confinement.
Same is true of letting an old person go to hospital.. we don’t let the old die at home. Once the NHS has its claws in.. say sleepy morphine bye bye.
Euthanasia by starvation AKA Liverpool Care Pathway
Crystal ball time. When will our taxes rise to pay for the Corona cock up?
I wish it were as simple as a few tax rises.
Now and forever until the end of time.
I think we should press a button at the treasury and effectively cancel the debt by instantly paying it off. I think we could get away with that.
Alas you may be partially correct. The governments debt may well be cancelled to some extent so if you are expecting any sort of state pension In the future or have any government stocks be very afraid… and of course this is just the starting point.
Even if we get out of this it will be austerity forever
The shortage of critical beds, hospital beds in general, indeed shortage of school places at the best state schools, are all prime examples on the incompetence of state provision.
A private hospital would apply the principle of marginal costing and plan for, say, 25% more beds than it estimates it really needs.
If those beds stay empty, they don’t cost the hospital anything in marginal costs, fixed costs remain the same.
Same with private schools.
That is one good reason why there is a hospital beds crisis every year in this country: poor public sector central planning.
And that is why Democratic Socialist ‘Big State’ Britain isn’t working.
If Britain does not reform and reduce the size of the public sector, economic, political and social stagnation, the root cause of the ridiculous predicament in which we now find ourselves, will continue. And this kind of stupidity will happen again and again ad infinitum…..
It does indeed beggar belief that an NHS with a budget of £129 million and around 1.3 million staff is overwhelmed with 211 critical care cases in one of our major cities. As we have seen with this virus hoo-haa the Government are control freaks and want to micromanage everything but they are poor managers and fail. Clearly the situation with the NHS in Manchester suggests the current system is not delivering a good result for the money and needs reformation.
I think you meant £129 BILLION.
You must mean £129 BILLION.
For that, the UK would need to start electing as its leaders properly competent people as opposed to toffs with the gift of the gab and degrees in classics.
‘A private hospital would apply the principle of marginal costing and plan for, say, 25% more beds than it estimates it really needs’. You mean like 42 US hospitals, which are declaring bankruptcy because the reduction in elective surgery (because Covid) means their business plan no longer works? That’s so super efficient- no wonder it’s not a system the UK adopted, poor private sector planning indeed:
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/42-hospitals-closed-filed-for-bankruptcy-this-year.html
Islam can be wacky. But not all terror attacks or police killings are real or as described. The belated ‘leaked’ videos of George Flloyd show a man resisting arrest. For ages. And ages. This beheading there is again talk of those Charlie cartoons – the likes of which will be banned in the new twitter normal. For the moment though, divide and conquer. Sow the seeds of division Klaus Barbie will fix.
War is peace.
Freedom is masks and lockdown and furlough
Division/distraction is our/their strength
Watch the birdy! Look over there!
.
The phrase ‘Je suis faux drapeau’ springs to mind.
World facing new Bretton Woods moment: IMF MD Kristalina Georgieva “We know what action must be taken right now. A durable economic recovery is only possible if we beat the pandemic. Health measures must remain a priority. I urge you to support production and distribution of effective therapies and vaccines to ensure that all countries have access,” Georgieva said. She urged countries to continue support for workers and businesses until a durable exit from the health crisis. “We have seen global fiscal actions of USD 12 trillion. Major central banks have expanded balance sheets by USD 7.5 trillion. These synchronised measures have prevented the destructive macro financial feedback we saw in previous crises,” she said. “But almost all countries are still hurting, especially emerging market and developing economies. And while the global banking system entered the crisis with high capital and liquidity buffers, there is a weak tail of banks in many in emerging markets. We must take measures to prevent the build-up of financial risks over the medium term, she said. “Beyond this, where debt is unsustainable, it should be restructured without delay. We should move towards greater debt transparency and enhanced creditor coordination. I am encouraged by G-20 discussions… Read more »
Part of the problem not the solution
Basically saying what we all know.The Western Governments have spent so much money on Covid that it can never be paid back.
Bretton Woods is where the UK ceded control to the USA.
A new one is where the USA cedes control to China.This is the aim of the WEF as well
Digital SDR ?
https://www.omfif.org/2019/10/digital-sdr-to-enhance-payment-systems/
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-powell-idUKKBN2702YL
What pointless drivel.
We have to stop the virus. Let’s get a vaccine.
Oh, and we need to sort out the economic impact
And the mounting debt which is becoming unsustainable.
Oh, and climate change, we need to make sure we tackle climate change.
Oh yeah, and let’s protect the vulnerable.
And invest in people.
This moron is just vomiting out the talking points and buzz words swirling around in her brain that she’s picked up from endless conferences and meetings of the global leadership cadre.
Jesus we are so screwed. To think that people like this have a platform and might have actual influence is such a sobering thought.
It’s why they are in those positions. Empty suits. They speak the lingo. Put 50p in the meter and you’re good to go.
Without freedom of expression, there is no teaching, only indoctrination.
“… too many calls by other speakers threatening to quit if you were there. They all complained about your COVID claims”.
The crowning turd on the shitpile of modern western culture. The logical debased conclusion of cowardly fear of covid combined with leftist cancel culture – if you don’t like what someone says, try to make sure they can’t say it again, or at least, that nobody can hear it if they do. Hide your head under the pillow and the nasty thing will go away.
So called scientists brought up in cancel culture. The essence of anti-science, and of unreasoning bigotry.
I’d like to know the full story behind this and who funded it. As it stands, it only sounds like part of the story.
What is it you suspect is missing?
The conference is here:
https://www.biodesign-conference.com/index.php
Organizers: The conference is organized by Stanford University, the University of Warwick, and BioDesign Research (BDR), a Science Partner Journal of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Conveners: The joint conveners are Dr. Alfonso Jaramillo (University of Warwick, UK), Dr. Stanley L. Qi (Stanford University, USA), and Dr. Xiaohan Yang (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA), who are the Editors-in-Chief of BDR.
The quote in Levitt’s tweet seems pretty clear-cut:
““… too many calls by other speakers threatening to quit if you were there. They all complained about your COVID claims”. “
The sort of thing that happens in other such cases is that the organizers are leant upon, and/or have already sold out. Basically an institution accepts funding under certain terms, which include the imposition of all politically correct positions – the most obvious example being they have to promote the ‘carbon dioxide is evil’ mantra.
I guess I’m talking about the Long March Through the Institutions.
When it comes to the point, it turns out that the organizers had no genuine complaints – or only one – or from people who have already accepted funding.
There is a fairly recent relatively well-known example, but with so much going on I can’t bring it to mind.
Yes, it’s quite possible something like that happened, or even just that the organisers wanted to veto him themselves and made up the supposed “list” of people complaining.
Doesn’t make it smell any less noxious.
Seen this sort of thing before with low carb diets. People being deplatformed, unable to publish and even being prosecuted.
If you only read the MSM you will know nothing of
Annika Dhalqvist who was prosecuted in Sweden but presented ebough evidence that the government backed down (go Sweden!) Tim Noakes in South Africa who was prosecuted and found not guilty, the dieticians demanded a retrial and he was found not guilty again, Gary Fettke in Australia . . .
. . . it has gradually improved, even the big journals no longer veto publication but still I read recently of someone who was told “of course” he could have a grant for the low fat arm of his study but “if” he wanted a low carb arm he would have to finance it himself.
Lots of money in low fat diets and the necessary medications of course, but also reputation and behind it all the Seventh Day Adventists
Well done on that turn of phrase!
And yes, sadly, I agree. We’re entering a new Dark Age.
Don’t forget whilst MP’s are pushing for lockdownds, redundancies, suicides etc. They have just been given a nice pay rise and they will continue to collect their salaries.
This is the MPs way of telling us the public to “let them eat cake” while we’re suffering the effects of lockdown, social distancing and masks.
When this shitshow is over, this should never be allowed to happen again.
The number of MPs should be slashed – why the feck do we need 600 odd of them?
Slash their pay – minimum wage only, no expenses and absolutely no pensions when they stand down or lose their seats.
It’s supposed to be public service right? So let them put their money where their mouths are.
If they don’t like it then don’t stand. Should weed out those who are in it only for the money and networking opportunities.
We need one MP and at least one shadow(s) MP per constituency. That’s how elections and debates are won. You know this. With the same propaganda and controls (social distancing) that worked on the plebs, Boris and his Davos Klaus Barbie crew have silenced those needed debates and voices.
‘Davos Klaus Barbie crew’.
Intriguing description. Perhaps you could elaborate?
Klaus Barbie was a SS officer known as the butcher of Lyon
Oh, go on. Do tell us more about ‘Boris and his Davos Klaus Barbie crew’. Waiting with baited breath……
By referring to K Schwab as K Barbie.. I hint at the economic carnage and butchery and dispair to come from the great reset.
K Schwab =Klaus Barbie. A very good comparison.
Bonkers comparison.
Really? That’s nuts. Just because you don’t like this Schwab and the WEF, doesn’t justify your likening him to a Nazi war criminal!
That’s probably because you’re wearing mask, in your mum’s basement.
No need to be insolent, old chum. Make an effort.
Play the ball, not the man.
CN = obvious troll.
(There’s always a third party likes to get involved. Start your own scraps ! 🙂 ).
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Troll alert!
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Four conditions ought to be met in order to be elected as an MP:
That’s a good idea. I would also add for number 2 – or having set up their own business and run it sucessfully for a minimum of 10 years.
Can’t quite work out how a 40 year old could realistically have served in the armed forces and set up or been senior in a successful business for 10 years and have made enough money out of one or the other to support themselves and their family for an indefinite period of time without an income (beyond free travel).
At the very least, you’ll end up with a parliament full of people who think in essentially exactly the same way and who have absolutely ruthlessly pursued a career path and personal wealth generation through their 20s and 30s, with the sole goal of putting themselves into a position of potential power in their 40s and 50s, having had probable experience of killing people or ordering others to kill people while in their 20s.
I’m really not sure those are the kinds of people I want running the country.
I think 1 & 2 are fine. I don’t agree with 4 for the reasons I’ve already set out..
As for 3, I’ve always been tempted by the idea of paying MPs the national average earned income, or the average in their constituency perhaps, plus travel expenses. Gives them the right kind of incentive and forces them to confront to some extent at least what real life is like for most of their constituents.
The plausible arguments for paying MPs more tend to be that better pay encourages better applicants, that better pay reduces incentives for corruption, and that better pay makes it easier for poorer people to be MPs I’m not really convinced by any of those arguments, and certainly I think bringing MPs down to a more human level is inherently a good thing. They are not rulers, they are representatives.
I’m all for a requirement for an MP to have a proven real world track record, yes. I know several current and former MPs (mostly second had, as it were) and the one thing they all have in common is that they’ve never done anything else worth mentioning, other than priming themselves to be MPs. This is unquestionably one of the causes of the current political context.
As for the pay issue, I’m not really sure what I think, except that most of the arguments I’ve heard, both for lower pay and for higher pay don’t really seem to stack up when put in the context either of economic reality or of human motivation and psychology.
Just to add, of course, the real fundamental problem is that people are supposed to care who their representative is, what they’ve done and what they say, not just what party they belong to and how well the leader of that party performs on television. The fact is, they don’t.
Absolutely. This brings us into another area discussed previously – the problem of political party structures.
I don;t think MP is to be regarded as a job in this sense, in respect of ordinary human motivation to work by pay. It’s utterly different (or should be)..
There are no hard and fast rules but surely there should be some sort of minimum requirements that a person should meet before they’re eligible.
I also forgot to add that I don’t think that people with very young children (even until the kid is 16-18 years old) should be allowed to stand. A kid needs their parents and being an MP is not conducive to a stable home arrangement. Plus it seems that having very young children clouds their judgement as we’ve seen with Johnson.
‘I also forgot to add that I don’t think that people with very young children (even until the kid is 16-18 years old) should be allowed to stand.. A kid needs their parents and being an MP is not conducive to a stable home arrangement’.
What? Presumably working on an oil rig, in the armed services, as a surgeon, opera singer, or other job with irregular hours and stress isn’t either? Are you saying such jobs should never be undertaken by anyone with children under 18?
Tobias Ellwood. Serco puppets?
Maybe not!
I see, sounds like a return to the honourable member for turnip on the wold. Why bother with democracy why not just direct rule by the army officers. They have served us so well in recent conflicts. A quick look at current MPs who have been in the forces tells us they are, just like the rest of us, a mixed bag. Your idea is no more than the usual : a doctor should run the department for health , a teacher should run education etc. What it would result in is a focus on protecting the interests of the professional body. Ie more tanks, ships etc if you think it would protect the lives of squaddies you haven’t been reading enough military history.
I agree mostly, except for the armed forces requirement. While I’m not a pacifist, my view is that this country has not fought in a justified war (with the debatable exception of the first Gulf War) since the Falklands. While I accept the need to prepare for war as a precaution, we have other issues in our governance far more urgent than military experience.
If I felt that military service would reliably protect against engaging in wars of choice, as some suggest, I might be keener on the idea, but my experience is that that is not a reliable feature of military experience.
Being an MP should be like jury service.
1) 50.
2) -‘senior level’
3) Nope. 5 years with no income would rule out most people.
4) Nope. Too used to following orders.
We have even more parasites in the Lords! If ever this country was ripe for Revolution its now!
Its become a retirement home for useless politicians and those who can’t win seats in the Commons. Yes, I’m looking at you Ladies Ashton and Warsi.
Yes, no more than say 300 in Lords (enough to present a staying hand on the Commons), with compulsory retirement and withdrawal of all facilities and privileges at 75.
I was interested to learn that George Washington thought that political parties themselves were the enemy of good governance, owing to their tendency to act out of revenge and petty jealousy.
That’s why he was opposed to them and actually attempted to stop their formation when he was in office.
Trouble is, that would completely exclude fairly normal, everyday people from representing us and Parliament would be populated solely by the wealthy.
Next step, rotten boroughs.
Any MP who supports lockdowns should be put on UC and their salary given to the people of their constituency who have been thrown out of work.
Dirty Gimp-Gags everywhere.
We should show more respect these snot covered rags are sacred symbols of the new cult of covidology. The great prophet Hancock came down from the mountain and pronounced we had to wear them or we will all be doomed.
The local builder pulled his out of his pocket the other day along with brick dust and saw dust, I saw one mask the other day that looked like it had previously been used to wipe down after mucking out the horses but no matter we are are showing due respect to the great God covid.
Yet we have evidently angered him, for he is smiting us all dead in Manchester and Liverpool. Dead, dead, I tell you! They are shovelling the bodies into the Mersey.
Ferry Cross the Mersey will be really the river Styx
They are absolutely revolting. I don’t know how people can bear it. There is a gym in my area that makes people wear them when they’re walking around. Then put them back on their sweaty heavy-breathing faces. But the most disgusting thing is when you’re working out you’re allowed to take it off – except there’s no lockers/bags/changing rooms allowed so you either have to wear it on your sweaty arm or leave it on the floor where it absorbs god knows what from the bottoms of your shoes. Then put it on again. Makes me feel ill thinking about it and people think it’ll protect them!
Take a chance!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X29lF43mUlo&t=17s
Huge numbers out in Paris for Je Suis Charlie, not distancing. Will be interesting to see Covid Rates in Paris in two weeks. Hopefully will put an end to Macron’s nonsense.
And add to the long line of activities that blow this narrative out of the water:
VE Day celebrations
days out at the beach
BLM
XR
numerous anti-lockdown protests.
Je Suis Samuel?
The ONLY thing that would put an end to Macron’s nonsense is an end to Macron.
Real life evidence stopped factoring into public policy decisions sometime back in March.
Didn’t I just hear someone on the BBC ckauming that the rise in “cases” NOW was the result of the beaches then? (I’m not sure, it was the BBC so I wan’t really listening, just setting my recorder for later) Honest.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/search-teams-fear-the-worst-as-fungie-remains-missing-since-last-thursday-39639511.html
On the day that Ireland will effectively be put back into lockdown in all but name, the national media are worrying about a f***ing dolphin. 🙁
If only they showed the same concern for those who have been told that they are not permitted to earn a living, or those being subjected to domestic abuse in lockdown or those who are now suicidal as a result of lockdown.
Quoted from the article above; 4) The CDC: ‘Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza.’
So, has it been confirmed that this virus was indeed manufactured or are they referring to another study?
Laboratory confirmed in this context means the ‘flu virus in question has been confirmed in a lab to be the ‘flu virus.
Thanks Mark.
Boris needs to create another SAGE group whose remit is only to look at the deleterious effects of lockdown. One of the first papers I read back in March came from a health economist which said that a recession/depression takes 3 months of everyone’s life on average. ie 15 million life years for the UK. At the most pessimistic analysis of QALYS lost in the ‘do nothing scenario’ (500,000 x 10 years each), the loss of life due to the lockdown induced recession was always going to be higher. If they had have integrated this sort of data at the beginning we would have had a Sweden approach. SAGE member Mark Woolhouse has said as much. SAGE is obsessed with covid deaths at the expense of all else.
And Boris Johnson is all of a sudden going to be motivated to do that because…?
…because then he can use SAGE 2.0 as a way to shift the blame for his catastrophic policies onto SAGE 1.0.
He could then simply claim that he was acting in good faith and was just “badly advised”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-suspected-covid-case-at-port-of-tauranga/VFFJZLDPN2ZM6LBWTJ675FUAIY/
About the infected port worker in NZ. Just shows the enormous difficulties to shield off from the world. Even if all the ships arriving in NZ are cordoned off, not letting crew depart, the real world cannot not be shut off. The electronics engineer had to work on the ship(mask and gloves) and now his strain has never been found earlier in NZ. Next step stopping all ships? Impossible.
“The marine electronics engineer who tested positive for the virus on Friday had worked on both ships. The new case was announced yesterday.
Genomic sequencing showed the strain of Covid-19 had not been previously seen in New Zealand and was not linked to the recent August outbreak or any other New Zealand cases, Bloomfield said.
The Ministry of Health today said the Sofrana Surville, a ship bound for Brisbane from Auckland and Noumea, was the most likely source of infection for a port worker who tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.
The Ken Rei, a ship off the coast of Napier with 21 crew on board, was also being looked at, director general of health Ashley Bloomfield said.”
Amazed this hasn’t happened more. Modern shipping is based on so little time in port that visits can be hive of maintenance activity. Specialists often travel with a ship while work is carried out en route, there’s no way quarantine rules can apply as trade would grind to a halt.
A question for a genetic scientist:
If there are different strains of Sars Cov 2, what are the special characteristics of Sars Cov 2 that distinguish it from other corona viruses. And at what point do different strains of the virus stop being Sars Cov 2 and become a whole other virus?
When “scientists” use CGI to image the new SARS2Cov virus strain under an electron microscope and see it has shorter arms and legs and a smaller toothless mouth. It might change colour from RED to BLUE as well. Much less scary.
Full autarky for NZ then to “beat the virus” for good.
“The scientists who threatened to pull out if Michael Levitt was allowed to participate should be ashamed of themselves.“
In truth, as much as the anti-scientists who threatened to pull out, the organisers themselves should be ashamed of their own cowardice. If they had any self-respect, any respect for the most basic essence of science, they would have proudly and publicly refused to give in to such bigoted blackmail, and named and shamed those threatening to pull out.
I should say that I have read Michael Levitt’s preprint Predicting the Trajectory of Any COVID19 Epidemic From the Best Straight Line and have serious disagreements with it, as you’ll see from my comments on the medrxiv page. But scientific disagreements should be pursued by open discussion rather than refusal to engage.
Absolutely. Disagreement and debate is the essence of science.
But this wasn’t even a conference on covid. It’s a conference on “Biosystems Design and Synthetic Biology”. In effect, this is pure political bigotry, trying to punish someone for expressing disliked opinions in an unrelated area.
It’s not new in modern western culture – it’s been done to “racists” for decades. But this really is taking it to a new depth of illiberalism.
Yes, that’s a fair point.
We have no evidence there were other scientists involved, of course. Other than the organisers’ statement.
True, though it doesn’t change much.
“Rallying in tribute” is almost an insult when your government, your profession and your media are doing their utmost to enable and to sanitise the ideology that killed you.
A further thought: Samuel would have been instantly dismissed from his post and denounced by the BBC as a “racist” if he had dared to show those cartoons in a British classroom.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1349368/coronavirus-china-news-wuhan-covid19-uk-lockdown-pandemic-latest-news-ont The mask mantra again. It’s like a cult.
The tone of the article was scary.
‘The Chinese people just do as the scientists tell them’
‘The Chinese people are more willing to inform on someone’
This is the future they want for us.
Future? We’re here already. We are superficially unruly, but in essence just as much a flock of sheep as the Chinese.
We are worse, at least Chinese people know how tyrannical their governments can be. In the UK we have no idea about totalitarianism, cultural revolutions, and brutal state suppression and refuse to accept our government are tyrants.
On a local polticial blog here in Northern Ireland I was shocked to see one person ask for quarantine hotels, electronic tags for infected and enforced isolation for all contacts of infected individuals.
Even now that kind of language shocks me.
I do think though they are the ultimate shielders. They hide behind their sofas and call for everyone else to do the same. A sick individual
You would have thought that with a history of internment that people in NI would know that it doesn’t work.
Is that the fake crisis of hospital overflows we see in your photo?
No-one can deny that so many “cases” in the open air is a portent of things to come. Are there no trolleys? Are there no corridors?