News Round Up
- “Need we fear a third wave after lockdown ends?” – “Even with a genuine abolition of restrictions after June 21st, (including social distancing), the ‘third wave’ of infections should be minimal,” writes Bristol University Academic Philip Thomas in the Spectator
- “Damn these ludicrous and cruel Covid rules that condemned the Queen to grieve alone while her subjects packed shops” – Writing in MailOnline, Dan Wootton rails against the nonsensical rules that apply to funerals
- “Britain can beat Indian double mutant Covid variant” – Professor Adam Finn of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation think it unlikely that the Indian variant will scupper the roadmap out of lockdown, according to MailOnline
- “Crumbling faith in No 10’s lockdown strategy is turning the public into conspiracy theorists” – “There is now a real sense that frightening the population into obedience is more important than telling the truth,” writes Janet Daley in the Sunday Telegraph, “and that faith in the Government’s promises – even in a crisis – is for mugs”
- “Allow all students to return to university at the start of the Summer term” – A parliamentary petition asking that students be allowed back to their campuses for the Summer term after more than a year of disruption
- “Landmark UK department stores at risk as Covid changes city centres” – A feature in the Observer about the historic department store buildings which are at risk of redevelopment as town centres reinvent themselves following the lockdowns
- “Only eight countries would make green list for safe travel from May 17th, industry modelling suggests” – The ‘green list’ for safe travel from May 17th will probably be quite short, the Telegraph reports, and two of the permitted countries, Australia and New Zealand, are closed to foreign tourists
- “Is the Astra-Zeneca vaccine killing people?” – In his latest blog, Sebastian Rushworth gets in to the weeds of what’s happened with the AstraZeneca jab
- “Vaccine risks versus rewards – what your GP won’t tell you” – “The hardest thing to remember is that your fear does not alter the risk,” writes Suzie Halewood for the Conservative Woman, with COVID-19 and vaccines, as with everything else
- “Disturb the balance of nature at our peril” – “The more we shift ourselves away from nature,” says Dr. Mark Shaw in the Conservative Woman, “the more we disturb the very equilibrium that holds us together as individuals”
- “Covid confusion, faulty figures and accidental racism” – In the 15th episode of The Week in Review from Bournbrook magazine, the contributors discuss the Government’s vaccine backtrack, the inflated Coronavirus statistics and more
- “Whisper it quietly: Europe’s vaccination programme is taking off – and could catch the UK” – The EU’s vaccine rollout is finally gathering pace, the Telegraph reports, and it may finish vaccinating its entire adult population before the UK
- “Canadian police refuse provincial order to make random stops amid COVID-19 surge” – The police forces of Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor and at least 19 other municipal police forces in Ontario have said they will not be conducting vehicle checks or individual stops in spite of being ordered by the government to do so
- “Michigan Moving To Make ‘Emergency’ COVID-19 Mandates Permanent” – Michigan has had and continues to have some of the most severe restrictions in the US, and the state bureaucrats are moving to make them permanent, according to Jarrett Skorup in Reason
- “Reopened states with low Covid case counts show that lockdowns are a farce” – It’s worth observing that in states that have reopened faster, cases seem to go down, says Nicole Russell in the Post Millennial. “It’s absurd to suggest strict lockdowns should remain anywhere”
- “Next-generation COVID-19 vaccines are supposed to be better. Some experts worry they could be worse” – Writing for Stat, Helen Branswell reports the concerns of some scientists that the immune system’s reaction to the vaccines could leave an indelible imprint, and that future jabs, updated in response to emerging variants, won’t confer as much protection
- “China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine 67% effective in preventing symptomatic infection – Chile govt report” – The Government in Chile is claiming that the jab is 85% effective in preventing hospitalisations and 67% effective in preventing symptomatic infection
- “Brazil asks women to delay pregnancy over new coronavirus variant fears” – The Brazilian health authority has warned women not to get pregnant while a new variant is still at large
- “NSW Covid quarantine: viral sequence suggests coronavirus jumped between hotel rooms” – New South Wales Health has identified seven Covid cases in people who just arrived in the quarantine centre from different countries, but it looks like the infections were locally acquired, according to the Australian Associated Press
- “Bill Maher rips into Covid ‘fear porn’ on his show” – “Don’t spin me when it comes to my health,” says Bill Maher on Real Time. “Give it to me straight, doc'”
- “Exchange between Rep. Jim Jordan and Dr. Anthony Fauci” – Watch Congressman Jim Jordan’s fiery exchange with Dr Anthony Fauci
- “If you get a vaccine… you’re immune. So act immune” – “If it’s not going to change anything, then what’s the point of going through it,” says Ron DeSantis
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‘Need we fear a third wave when lockdown ends ?’
No.
With or without their models, lockdowns, mass testing, vaccines, social distancing, masks and all the rest of the hubristic nonsense there will be no ‘third wave’ but quite likely a recurrence in Autumn 2021 which will be the annual return as virus do.
This has been obvious since the ONS figures for the second week of June 2020 which showed that fewer Londoners died that week (all causes) than usual.
As was pointed out here @LS at the time ‘you can’t die of Covid in March and then die again from your comorbidities in June’ which pattern was sustained in London and soon spread throughout the country.
Coronovirus was outed as just another respiratory disease rather than some ‘novel’ medieval plague from hell as tptb and media continue to present it.
There was no ‘second wave’ in the autumn – just a slightly higher mortality than the average.
There was a higher peak in January than expected – but it was short-lived, and could have been related to deaths among the vulnerable following vaccination, as much as any other cause. I wouldn’t assert that as the cause – there is only associative evidence – but it is no less likely than all the ‘wave’ nonsense.
I didn’t mention a ‘second wave’ just ‘third wave’ using inverted commas for the same reason you did.
Actually we had a minor second wave in the autumn as a result of the universities restarting (which undid the benefit that local lockdowns had achieved prior to that point).
The horrible big peak in January arguably was the third wave: it was caused by the B117 variant and is now hitting mainland Europe really badly even though it is petering out here (due to a combination of lockdown, vaccination and natural herd immunity).
Universities restarting had the positive effect of enabling students to ‘mingle’ in the way they do, despite the pathetic attempts of ‘them’ to stop it, thus ensuring they were all safely herd immune in time to go home for Xmas with Granma.
Btw, your last para omitted Seasonality which is the key.
Yes, seasonality also had its effect of course: thanks for reminding me!
I suspect Australia and New Zealand owe a lot of their success to that, as even they weren’t paranoid enough to seal their borders in January 2020 as Taiwan and Vietnam did.
The petition to allow all students to return to university this summer has gathered 10,000 votes.
The students themselves are clearly not much bothered; according to Universities UK there were 2.3 million students registered at British universities last year, 1.9m from the UK.
It needs to hit 100,000 signatures… meanwhile from way down South/RSA… perhaps its the sunshine that brings clarity of thinking?
Essential Sunday morning listening and way better than Beeb Radio Bore:
https://jermwarfare.com/blog/ridicule-pandemic-nick-hudson
The young now fully deserve their fate. They comply and are all-in with all the restrictions and scream for even more.
F*** “em.
Well you could say that about the population in general. Except we know that not everyone is “all-in”. I don’t think generalisations like this are very helpful. Believers and sceptics in my experience come from all age groups, walks of life, political groupings.
“I don’t think generalisations like this are very helpful.”
They are extremely unhelpful – the rational cause doesn’t need fuel to assist the labelling of its ideas as coming from ranting nutters. 77th Brigade doesn’t require volunteers.
As to the substance – we are all frustrated , but not grasping the power of brainwashing doesn’t help the cause, either.
You might have thought the Student Union, or even the universities, might have prompted them to sign up.
Do you think that academia may possibly have a pro-lockdown bias because of how financially dependent UK universities are on Chinese students?
Not sure about that, I was out at the coast yesterday, full of groups of young people, the ones with a mask stood out, hardly any.
Paying for short term accommodation is the issue. What is the point for a few weeks trying to rent?
Moreover many courses have finished with lectures stopping for Easter and leaving students to revise for exams starting early May. It’s been such a tough year for lecturers starting late September doing a few videos and winding up April. They are probably all now on Caribbean holidays, bless them. I would petition for students to get a massive refund on course fees.
‘Landmark UK Department stores at risk as Covid changes city centres’.
Why is this article here ? It is solely about the planning alternatives for empty buildings, not why they became empty.
But since it is I’m reminded of a conversation with an elderly lady some four or five years ago following the announcement that our House of Fraser store was closing down.
“Oh I used to love going in there, my mum would always take me there to buy new shoes and clothes . . .
Mind you, I haven’t been in there for years now.”
The lady did not strike as a typical Amazon customer.
Janet Daley wonders if bozos rightly mocked attack on the efficacy of vaccines as opposed to the wonders of lockdowns might be turning the public into conspiracy theorists (ignoring seasonality, natch).
” There is now grave disquiet among sensible, thinking parts of the population about where this all going and what is driving it . . .
What would once have been thought the stuff of cult paranoia among enlightened circles . . .”
Well Janet, I may not move in ‘sensible, thinking’ parts of the population or among ‘enlightened circles’ but have been having such conversations with simple folk since wondering about residual and enhanced regulations during lockdown Lite (last summer) and more so since the gradual imposition of yet more rules (masks, tiers, whackamole holidays, schools closed but open, lockdown 2., Xmas effectively cancelled, Lockdown 3) and the ever more frequent exposure of government lies and fabrications.
Still I suppose it’s all to the good if parts of the media bubble are starting to wake up.
Perhaps I’m getting over-paranoid, but one clear possibility for Johnson’s abrupt U-turn on this one was to get out of the way the notion behind the previous promise – that ‘vaccines’ led to the end of rainbow.
He’s just covering his ample arse over the social and financial costs of lockdown for if and when there is ever an inquiry.
There never was a cost benefit analysis.
I followed the link to Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, telling vaccinated people to “act immune” (i.e. stop wearing masks), just to see how the Twittersphere had reacted. Take a look:
https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1383093445829525504
It’s pretty dire. The vast majority want to keep their masks on because they believe they are not immune, but not because they doubt the CDC advice to vaccinate, but because the vaccines — wonderful as they are — allow them to be infected and transmit the virus anyway. Ergo? Masks must be worn until everyone is vaccinated. With annual boosters, of course.
Think sheep being herded into a dip.
Doesn’t help that we have communist members in SAGE who are pushing their own control agenda
Marvellous to know that our Government is taking orders from a bunch of paid up CCP members and academia who loathe our country and utterly despise the Tories. What could possibly go wrong ?
They are right in their assessment, but wrong in their conclusions.
If the vaccines don’t stop transmission then it’s up to those who don’t want to get ill to take the risk of having them, everyone else can get back to normal.
But their logic means that even with everyone vaccinated, the virus can still circulate around and someone somewhere might still get sick, oh my.
“none of this gives me the right to give a stranger a virus that could kill them.”
That’s the thinking.
This was one answer: “it doesn’t matter if the vaccines work or not. A republican has said they do. Now, as a lefty, he must be completely against whatever desantis said. No matter what.”
Her Majesty The Queen forced to sit alone, masked, in the Chapel of St George, where the battle sword of Edward III is kept, at the funeral of The Duke of Edinburgh, mentioned in despatches for his gallantry at the Battle of Cape Matapan, one of Britain’s stellar naval victories against the forces of fascism……
The lament, Flowers of the Forest, played for the entire nation:
‘The Flowers of the Forest, that fought aye the foremost,
The pride of our land lie cold in the clay.’
Why did Her Majesty wear a mask during the short car journey? I imagine that her lady in waiting is part of her bubble and that there is a glass screen between her and the driver.
It was odd as she has already had engagements where she hasn’t worn one
I have personal empathy for Brenda – as I have for others in that position.
But it was no ‘tragedy’ – just the death of a very fortunate person after an exceptionally long and well-favoured life. Lucky man. Lucky couple.
This subservience to health fascism and mask wearing adds to the propaganda – not a great symbolic gesture when there was a possibility of nudging normality back into the frame.
Covid was categorized a low mortality virus by the government in March 2020, which has actually turned out to be correct. So its like flu, in that the flu jab gives you milder symptoms (although how they know what you would have had is anyone’s guess) but you can still get flu and still spread it, same as ‘covid’. The hysteria and ‘window of opportunity’ is all that’s different.
I am a big fan of DeSantis, but here he is incorrect.
You are not necessarily immune, if you got the gene therapy.
That’s a fact.
You have a reduction in your risk of hospitalisation, if you got infected and were susceptible to it in the first place (obese, comorbidities, age) and/or your symptoms will in most cases be lessened/artificially suppressed if you got infected- see the Sinovac data above and read it correctly.
Sadly, you have also irreversibly become a spike protein producing zombie, with yet unknown medium to long term consequences for you (likely a higher cancer and brain disease risk on the basis of prior mRNA and nanoparticle experiences- but who knows, maybe even a positive one?!) and most definetely the risk of becoming an asymptomatically infected and infectious person, the latter of which didn’t even exist before.
I know it’s hard to swallow, and I know that DeSantis knows this and why he really made this incorrect comment, but those are the facts mate.
But its still better to live your life like you’re immune instead of hiding behind masks forever just in case you’re not.
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/04/18/cdc-violated-law-to-inflate-covid-cases-and-fatalities.aspx?ui=c9e6f918d64140ab9ffc66dfce8c4c03fe9ef2c9607b5ca673888e51f429ba9d&sd=20201112&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20210418&mid=DM854870&rid=1135305285
This could get interesting.
Who instructed the change of how to report deaths in the USA?
The hunt is on.
Follow the money?
Deliberate grossly over reporting of Covid deaths similarly to UK (though with a different mechanism); yet another pointer towards an international conspiracy (if I’d said that 6 months ago it would have been under the influence of drink or drugs).
As for the money my understanding is that individual States get more Federal aid for having more Covid deaths despite Pandemic Response policies being the responsibility of those very same States.
I said it six months ago. I was stone cold sober.
And I haven’t changed my mind.
“Double mutant Covid variant”
They say “you couldn’t make it up” but actually, you could.
Interesting summary of the harm/benefit equation for the ‘vaccines’ in Conservative Woman :
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/vaccine-risks-versus-rewards-what-your-gp-wont-tell-you/
The statistical flaws in that analysis from somebody supposedly trained in mathematics are legion.
We have lost 127,000 to Covid, with the number of infections causing that far, far less than the number of people receiving injections of vaccines, to which we have lost less than 1000. (In both cases just taking into account people who have died within 28 days of ‘the event’ without getting into arguments about what actually killed people).
The CW calculations are out by at least two orders of magnitude. Classic curve fitting to a belief.
Getting to herd immunity with the vaccine is on a very basic analysis much safer than getting there with infection.
You have to be under 40 before the risk/reward calculation gets even close.
Over how long a period are you getting 127k from and how does that compare to any other period of such measure? Unless we have cured death and no one told me? I’ve lost a year of my life and I think we can times that by 75m just in our little corner. Criminal, absolutely criminal.
“We have lost 127,000 to Covid,”
No we haven’t. We don’t know the true number of those “lost to Covid.”
The 127,000 includes those with covid mentioned on the death certificate. It may or may not have been a contributory factor, as the vast majority were elderly, and many were already unwell. A positive CV19 test might have been no more than a coincidental finding, e.g. as with George Floyd in the U.S.. It may have directly caused death, or it may have hastened it.
Until an audit is done, we won’t know. And as no autopsies were done, we may never know.
‘Michigan moves to make Covid19 mandates permanent’.
Including making business owners responsible for ensuring employees and customers wear masks, observe the 6 feet rule etc. at the risk of going to jail.
That’s gonna help Detroits post industrial decline into a desert as businesses decamp elsewhere even faster.
Ah, that’ll be the Michigan state run by Gretchen Whitmer, another progressive Democrat who had sick hospital patients sent into care homes, just as Cuomo did in NY.