News Round Up
- “NSPCC child abuse helpline has record call numbers in pandemic” – In March 2021 there were 85,000 calls to the NSPCC helpline, up 23% on the previous year, the BBC reports
- “Social distancing not needed at big events, Boris Johnson to be told” – Initial results from a pilot scheme found there was no spike in Covid infections after trial live events, according to the Telegraph
- “Five thousand shops shut due to coronavirus lockdowns and national vacancy rate is now 14%, research reveals” – The Daily Mail reports the findings of the British Retail Consortium on the effects of lockdown
- “Roadmap can’t be safely accelerated despite vaccine success, says minister” – Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zawahi told Sky News that the roadmap cannot be accelerated safely, the Telegraph reports, as there is still a “sizeable percentage” of the population for the “virus to go after and infect”
- “Belfast bar to revolt against ‘chaotic’ outdoor hospitality rules” – The Jailhouse Bar was told that its courtyard tent area was no longer “deemed compliant” according to the Belfast Telegraph, but it plans to open “regardless”
- “Northern Ireland to distribute £100 shop vouchers in Covid stimulus” – Everyone 18 and over in Northern Ireland will be able to apply for a pre-paid card, worth £100, that can only be spent in the shops, according to Reuters
- “Busy Carmarthen pub threatened with fine or closure just one day after re-opening” – The Poplars Inn reopened on Monday and was handed a ‘Premises Improvement Notice’ on Tuesday, Wales Online reports
- “Covid has emboldened our modern censors” – “The past year has accelerated all kinds of trends,” writes Tom Slater in the Spectator. “Among the most concerning is the rise of Big Tech censorship”
- “Vaccine passports for mass events might be the worst of all worlds” – They might look as if they hit “a middle point between the scheme’s advocates and sceptics”, writes Kate Andrews in the Spectator, but “we could end up facing a far more meddling system that was never fully considered”
- “Too many rules – Restrictions are opaque at best and satirically absurd at worst” – Read the latest bulletin from HART – the Health Advisory and Recovery Team
- “Beware the post-Covid surveillance state” – “Rather like the viruses they’re meant to fight, apps have a habit of mutating when no one’s looking,” says Peter Franklin in UnHerd, pointing to the example of Singapore
- “Covid march: Answers needed from the BBC chief” – “The BBC’s director general Tim Davie has serious questions to answer,” writes Kathy Gyngell in the Conservative Woman, shocked, despite long experience, by the lack of coverage of Saturday’s protest
- “A Tale of Three Barbers” – Writing for the Conservative Woman, Stuart Major recounts the lengths he went to in order to obtain a haircut. The story has a happy ending
- “Boris’s nightmare and lockdown revisited” – “We’ve overemphasised, definitely, the effect of government-prescribed lockdowns and ignored other factors that are equally as important,” says Professor Tim Spector during a discussion on this week’s episode of The Week in 60 Minutes on SpectatorTV
- “Pfizer/BioNTech Covid jab may be offered to 12-year-olds in Europe from June” – The Pfizer jab is on course to be made available to 12 – 15 year-olds in Europe by June, the Guardian reports
- “Police investigate death of German MPs after vote on lockdown law” – German police are investigating a document titled “The death list of German politicians” after it surfaced on social media, according to RT. It contains the names of MPs who supported the lockdown
- “Italian schools to stay open through summer holidays to allow children to catch-up with social interaction, sport and arts after Covid lockdowns” – Schools in Italy will be keeping their doors open this Summer, MailOnline reports, to help students make up for lost time
- “Severe illnesses, infections spreading rapidly through King County homeless camps” – Cases of shigellosis are increasing in number among the homeless of King County, Seattle, Komonews reports. The disease is transmitted in “unhygienic living conditions with poor access to sanitation”. The reason? The city turned off public water fountains as a precaution against Covid
- “The CDC is still repeating its mistakes” – The CDC’s new recommendations on mask-wearing “are simultaneously too timid and too complicated”, says Zeynep Tufecki in the Atlantic
- “CNN medical expert says you’ll get your ‘moment of freedom’ when you get vaccinated” – The Post Millennial highlights a clip in which Dr. Leana Wen explains that officials should tell those who don’t have the “all in this together mindset” that “the moment of freedom for you is when you get vaccinated”
- “Covid outcomes: Rankings versus reality” – At AIER, Ethan Yang and Amelia Janaskie analyse a recent report which named Vermont, Alaska and Maine as the States that had responded most effectively to COVID-19
- “The Anti-Lockdown movement is large and growing” – Cause for good cheer from Jeffrey A. Tucker at AIER
- “Today Is the One-Year Anniversary of the Worst Pandemic Headline of 2020” – A year ago, the Atlantic ran a piece entitled “Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice” about the state’s change of course on lockdown. “It’s lurid predictions did not come to pass,” Jon Miltimore points out for the Foundation for Economic Education
- “Travellers from Brisbane urged to monitor health after green zone breach” – Travellers arriving in New Zealand from Brisbane are being asked to monitor their health, after two people from a red zone country ventured into a green zone section of Brisbane airport, the New Zealand Herald reports
- “Join Us for the Ultimate Anti-Fauci Project” – The latest episode of the Tom Woods Show heralds a project in develop, a documentary on Covid and the absurd response
- “A horror story waiting to happen” – Richard Fairbrass, of Right Said Fred, explains his concerns about the vaccine passport
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“Anti Lockdown movement is large and growing” AIER.
Anti sceptic Babylon Bee is often outperforming covid zealous The Onion in satirical circles so, to start on a lighter note.
Ed. Sceptic Joe Rogan made an appearance here yesterday, I did not know his was the largest podcast in the English speaking world as AIER says above.
Sometimes my eyes glaze over as I scan the daily ’roundup’ of doom and gloom or another expert report giving a sceptic conclusion on something we all know that is not going to be read by government or SAGE.
We need more material like this from AIER
The HART bulletin is a good one to show to those still suffering from derangement syndrome.
Agreed, they covered some very good points but the AIER article might be therapeutic for LS readers who post about seeing no end on sight.
From what I’ve seen the Onion avoids anything to do with covid, vaccines, masks etc. Too hot to handle. Satire not permitted.
AIER is reporting on sceptics position in US – they must be STREETS ahead of us in that regard because we are very much in a shouted down and denigrated minority here
They have some real conservative/Republican states, who are refusing to kowtow to the lunacies of Fauci and the CDC.
“Covid March, answers needed from the BBC” CW.
Concludes with a beautifully edited six minute video which gives the best impression of the size and eclectic nature of the event I’ve seen thus far.
No wonder the police waited until the evening before trying to wade into the few hundred still partying in Hyde Park.
Yes, I found that film quite moving.
I was there. I’m still taken a back at how much positive energy there was that day. I felt a lump at the back of my throat several times, still do. And seeing that beautiful film brings those feelings all back.
Same here. And yet none of my acquaintances even knew it happened.
I hope they do now !
The same it was so uplifting, so persuaded my wife to come as well on 24 April; she is now hooked. Next rally Worldwide Freedom Day on 15 May, various around the country, but the next big one in London on 29 May. See standupx and white rose uk for more details especially nearer the time
See you there! 29th May.
“Busy Carmarthenshire pub threatened with fine or closure after opening for one day” Wales Online.
Usual tale of over zealous council officials threatening a business that is doing its best to comply.
Their response
‘Director for Communities said “we have been supporting and continue to support the hospitality industry . . .”
So that’s another word to add to the list bastardised by lockdown. Trans
“We have been strongarming and continue to strongarm the hospitality industry . . .”
Carmarthenshire is a hotbed of Covvistalinism.
Until this week, while you could into a shop or go get yourself a haircut, our riding centre could not give you a riding lesson in the outdoor school unless you were aged under 18. Cretins.
They should ban horse riding. It can be fatal.
“A horror story waiting to happen” Talk Radio.
Nice short concluding video with Right Said Fred who fear ‘mission creep’ over the vax passport; it’s not mission creep, full implementation of some version of CCP Socal Credit is the aim right from the start.
CNN medical expert espouses idea of ‘you’ll get your freedoms when you’ve been vaccinated’. OMG does she not even understand the implications of what she’s saying?!! She’s living in a free country! The western world is NOT under a CPP dictatorship! And never will be. Look to the people on the London march on 24th as one reason why!
Impfung macht Frei
She’s lost the plot.
She’s explaining the plot. She’s not lost it. She knows what she’s saying.
It’s looking ever more likely that America will win out over lockdown but expect the zealots to scream ever louder as their ship of fools slowly sinks.
Glug glug.
Not enough life jackets.
What a pity.
That statement scared the bejaysus out of me. That is what we are up against.
Same AIER article, the BBC might like quoting CNN but its not what it once was.
She understands.
Isn’t she the one who said there was a small window to implement/impose vaccines and vaccine passports, otherwise people might go out and enjoy themselves without either…?
CCP-style social control is the aim.
Very happy to see Fred and Richard Fairbrass!
“I’m, too sexy for this mask, too sexy for this mask
How sexy? Don’t even ask
…
I’m, too sexy for this jab, too sexy for this jab
I don’t need it, I’m FAB”
Minister Nadhim Zawahi told Sky News that the roadmap cannot be accelerated safely, the Telegraph reports, as there is still a “sizeable percentage” of the population for the “virus to go after and infect”
The flaw in this thinking is that the virus is at very low levels because of seasonality so infections will not rocket.
The government and SAGE still don’t comprehend seasonality.
Even Josef Stalin Dungford is proposing to accelerate Wales’s emergence from the concentration camp. Senedd elections coming up, you see. A bit of popularity is worth all the corpses that will undoubtedly pile up in our streets.
Do they comprehend anything?????
Nope.
Yes.
They’re lying. They have other motives.
Flat Earthers who don’t believe in seasonality, but in asymptomatic transmission.
We’re toast with such people in charge.
No, I disagree. Seasonality is an inconvenience to them
Of course they do – it just doesn’t suit them to say it out loud because it would dilute the project fear campaign. They have to keep this going as long as they can. The arrival of spring and then summer is horrendous timing for them.
I thought they were supposed to have scientists ? Spring seems to arrive the same time every year, followed by summer. 😉
The other thing is that the “sizeable percentage” is made up of that slice of the population to whom Covid is a trivial illness – always assuming that they even know they’re infected!
We might know that – but sadly the average member of the population doesn’t know that and will still be swayed by the fear because they have now been so completely indoctrinated and they will buy in to the highly unscientific Zahawi statement – I am still trying to imagine a virus chasing after people.
The flaw is that those not yet vaccinated are those not particularly vulnerable to CV19 anyway because of age, or have natural or acquired immunity.
As Carl Vernon said yesterday, if it doesn’t make any sense, it’s a lie, or its not real.
Zawahi is lying. What he says doesn’t make sense.
‘Those not yet vaccinated are those not particularly vulnerable’? Please don’t ignore the many in the ‘vulnerable’ groups who have refused to allow this poison into their (our) bodies.
AIER is a brilliant site. They’re very cogent classical liberals who haven’t lost their minds to Trump Derangement Syndrome.
some of the best stuff written throughout this whole charade has been from AIER. If anyone will be justified in saying I told you so it will be them
The ‘Conservative Woman’ site has been brilliant throughout as well. Although of course a lot of people will never look at it…
That ‘Dr.’ Wen is a sick but honest creature. It’s her second assault and slip of the tongue now.
The key word in this one is ‘moment’, sheeples.
“Covid has emboldened our modern censors” Spectator.
Alex Belfield YouTube has been suspended for a week by YouTube apparently because he quoted something by Chis Whitty (h/t Mahyar Tousi YT), probably something Whitty no longer stands by.
Alex’s channel has gone from 200k subscribers at Xmas to 290k today and has had a cumulative total of 100 million views. He does not confine himself to Covid lockdown issues but the tone is slanted in that direction whatever the topic he is discussing.
Vaccine passports for injections which are still under clinical trial and which have already caused an unprecedented level of adverse reactions and deaths in those who have been injected? The people who have taken this are part of the trial, but most of them are completely unaware of this fact, because the NHS and their Doctor and their government has lied to them. They have been criminally deceived by those they trust the most. We have to let the people know this. We have to get people to face up to the reality that they have been lied to in a way which seriously endangers their health, because that is the truth and we cannot allow this to go any further. We have more than enough proof that it is totally reckless to do this, and illegal and totalliy immoral. These injections use experimental methods of inserting genetic code into the cells of the injected which causes the cells to produce spike proteins and this process comes with massive known and unknown short, medium and long term health risks. Coronavirus vaccines have been worked on for decades but all failed animal trials because many animals became very ill after they… Read more »
I agree with you, but I think there are 2 inherent problems – firstly people are too brainwashed to believe that the vaccine they think they are so lucky and relieved to get could be harmful and won’t protect them and secondly the bulk of the population would have great difficulty trying to understand what you are trying to explain to them – we understand it because we have been reading and talking about it for the last 10 months or so; the average person on the street wouldn’t be able to take in what you are talking about. Add to that that there is now a vastly declining minority of people who have not been vaccinated, which means it is too late – the harms have been done already. All you would be able to do would be to deter some people from having second and subsequent doses.
The thing is that now they have had it, they might listen. The government is already modelling for the Antibody Dependent Enhancement.
SPI-M-O: Summary of further modelling ofeasing restrictions–Roadmap Step 2
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/975909/S1182_SPI-M-O_Summary_of_modelling_of_easing_roadmap_step_2_restrictions.pdf
“32. The resurgence in both hospitalisations and deaths is dominated by those that have received two doses of the vaccine, comprising around 60% and 70% of the wave respectively. This can be attributed to the high levels of uptake in the most at-risk age groups, such that immunisation failures account for more serious illness than unvaccinated individuals.”
Found the following paragraph in The Atlantic article mentioned above:
Emphasis mine.
Excuse me? We are wearing masks, not because they do any good whatsoever, but because we need to “set social standards and norms appropriate for a pandemic.”
I think the word for that is “Bullshit”.
And I think that same level of system-wide bullshit has infected Britain as badly as it has the United States (and many other places besides.) The useless face-nappy has become the meaningless lapel badge showing that “you care”. Another piece of worthless virtue-signalling. Except this time seriously impinging not just upon any concept of individuality and personal liberty, but the very act of being a human being living in society.
Indeed: a lot of American liberals wear masks even outside: not to protect themselves or anyone else against the virus, but to “own the cons” (to make a paraphrase).
Face masks are the Left’s equivalent of MAGA hats. It shows their virtue and adherence to the cause.
And it humiliates everyone else.