News Round Up

• “Big weddings are back on from June 21st, Boris Johnson to announce” – The Prime Minister is set to announce that big weddings will be allowed to take place from June 21st, the Telegraph has learned. Is he finally naming the day?
• “SNP Government agency accused of ‘shameful’ attempt to hide full truth over care home deaths” – The Scottish Information Commissioner has ruled that the National Records of Scotland breached Freedom of Information legislation by refusing to release details of suspected coronavirus deaths in care homes, according to the Telegraph
• “More pandemic profiteers: COVID-19 vaccines have minted at least nine new pharma billionaires” – Nine executives of pharmaceutical companies have become billionaires thanks to the jabs, the Daily Mail reports
• “Chris Whitty: Smoking likely to have killed more than Covid last year” – In a lecture on the future of health trends, Chief Medical Office Chris Whitty says that smoking has probably killed more people than Covid in the same time period and it places a severe strain on hospital services, according to the Telegraph
• “Why Britain must unlock on 21st June” – “There will always be reasons to fear a new mutation – even a new pathogen,” says the Spectator. “But at some point we have to say enough is enough”
• “Indian COVID-19 variant cases more than double in a week as fresh ‘triple mutant’ emerges in Yorkshire” – Officials have raised concerns about a triple mutant strain that has been identified in Yorkshire, says the i. It has similarities to the Kent variant and the South African variant and has has been designated “a variant under investigation”
• “Matt Hancock violates patient confidentiality” – In declaring that majority of the 18 patients hospitalised in the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust with the Indian variant hadn’t taken the vaccine, the Health Secretary ignored key principles of medical confidentiality, says HART
• “In hate crime-obsessed Britain, vilifying Covid vaccine ‘refuseniks’ comes with establishment approval” – We hear so much about ‘hate crime’, writes Neil Clark in RT, but now “we’re in the midst of an extremely nasty campaign against those who don’t wish to take a Covid vaccine and somehow that’s deemed acceptable”
• “Forget the hype, there’s ‘zero evidence’ booster jabs will be needed” – In the Conservative Woman, Kathy Gyngell dismisses talk of a third dose of the Covid vaccines
• “Shame on ‘freedom-loving’ conservatives and their media bullies” – Gary Oliver in the Conservative Woman pours scorn on the commentators who love freedom except when it comes to choosing whether or not to have the vaccine
• “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, No Unvaxxed” – We are continuing, says Dustin Broadberry in Off-Guardian, “to surrender ancient rights and protections to an unthinkable dystopia that is now within sniffing distance”
• “Future lockdowns, Indian variants and groceries” – A Q&A session with Professor Tim Spector of ZOE app fame. He thinks it “unlikely” the country will end up in another lockdown
• “Bring Back Parliament!” – Dan Hannan urges Parliament to come back to life
• “Are our children being spied on in schools?” – “Yes,” says Das Astin Gregory in the Pandemic Podcast, referring to a Scottish Government briefing note to senior leaders and teachers offering “‘a short summary of the ways in which extremists have responded to Covid-19” and definitions of “misinformation”, “disinformation”, and “conspiracy theories”
• “Cork woman jailed for weekend after refusing to wear a mask” – A judge was confused by the behaviour of the “pleasant woman” who was “undermining the rules of court and country” by her refusal to wear a mask in court and had “no other option” but to jail her for contempt, the Irish Times reports
• “Decision to lockdown caused 282 times the loss of years of life, says Economics professor” – A report from Gript on Canadian Professor Douglas W. Allen’s cost-benefit analysis of lockdowns
• “Freedom in France has been reduced to Government-authorised drinking on outdoor patios” – “Freedom in France is being able to attend museums, movies, and outdoor dining with a mask on and strict social distancing rules,” writes Rachel Marsden in RT. “What the heck has happened to the French?”
• “Germany declares U.K. a virus variant region” – Germany’s public health institute has said the U.K. is a virus variant region, and anyone returning to Germany after a trip to Britain or Northern Ireland has to quarantine for two weeks, according to Reuters
• “Spain to drop Covid restrictions on British visitors from 24th May” – The Guardian reports that as of May 24th Spain will allow Brits to enter the country for the purposes of a holiday without having to show a test certificate at the border
• “Goodbye masks – Hungary to lift most COVID-19 curbs, PM Orban says” – Victor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, has announced that the country will lift most remaining COVID-19 restrictions as soon as the number of vaccinated people passes five million this weekend, Reuters reports
• “Fauci: ‘It’s a Manifestation of Your Honesty to Say, Hey, I Was Wrong’” – Micha Gatz takes “a look back at Dr. Fauci’s mutating mask guidance” for the AIER
• “Running Out of Patience for the CDC” – “Throughout the entire pandemic,” says Ethan Yang for the AIER, “the CDC has been the arbiter of comically cautious guidance, arbitrary and unethical recommendations, and it contradicted itself so many times that it would be a decent question to ask if anyone really listens at this point”
• “Malaysia suspended its democracy to combat the virus, now it’s even worse” – The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Malaysia’s opposition party leader is attacking the Government for declaring a perpetual state of emergency, which enables it to cling to authority “under the banner of emergency”
• “Argentina announces ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown as pandemic rages” – Argentina’s President has announced a strict “circuit breaker” lockdown, Reuters says, which will come into force today and last a week
• “Two Filmmakers” – Podcaster Thaddeus Russell speaks to two establish Hollywood filmmakers who are hoping to make a film that is critical of Covid lockdowns and mask mandates
• “China’s Sichuan province releases rap song to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations” – A Sichuan health authority has produced rap – titled Get Jabbed Quick – promoting the vaccines. According to the South China Morning Post, the take up rate is low across the country
• “Don’t they just love a variant?” – Time for Recovery urges people to do what they can to stop Johnson and Hancock moving the goalposts again