News Round-Up

• “Covid staff shortage could shut meat production lines” – One in 10 of the workforce in the meat processing industry has been told to isolate by the NHS app, according to the BBC, which may force some companies to start shutting down production lines
• “Norovirus warning in England as cases across all ages increase in recent weeks” – Cases of the Norovirus, the highly infectious winter vomiting bug, are spreading across England, the Mirror reports
• “Government website misleads travellers over true cost of Covid tests” – Tests are being advertised on the Government travel website for as little as £25, the Telegraph says. But in some cases the cost more than doubles when additional charges are added
• “Holidays to France thrown into chaos as fully vaccinated Britons will need to quarantine” – Ministers have announced that they will reimpose rules requiring fully vaccinated travellers to quarantine upon their return from France, the Telegraph reports
• “Care home resident’s daughter ‘terrified’ she will be shut out after Step 4 move” – Angela McIntyre fears that she may not be permitted to visit her 93 year-old mother, a care home resident, should cases continue to rise in the wake of freedom day, the Press reports
• “Deaths from Covid ‘incredibly rare’ among children” – Nature highlights the findings of a new analysis of hospital admissions and reported deaths in England which confirmed that children are at very low risk of dying from COVID-19
• “Scots hospitals to face ‘worst winter ever’ as Covid deaths at four-month high” – Scottish medical association chiefs are warning that hospitals are in for some difficult months, the Herald reports, with A&E departments receiving patients in numbers more often seen in January
• “Shocking BBC and NHS propaganda uncovered” – Journalist James Townsend investigates an alarming story from the BBC about the distress of doctors in the University Hospital of North Tees. Turns out, there have been no Covid deaths there for 76 days
• “It’s monstrous that ICO goons have raided homes to identify Matt Hancock affair whistle-blower” – The Sun’s scoop on Matt Hancock “could not have been more squarely in the public interest”, says this Sun leader. The ICO raid on two properties is “an outrageous abuse”
• “Enforced restrictions to care home access—unfair, unnecessary, and harmful” – “Separating people with dementia from their families leads to emotional distress and can trigger the worsening of clinical symptoms,” write Aida Suárez-González and Jules Storr in the BMJ
• “‘This Frankenstein Parliament has been rotten for democracy’” – “The past 16 months have taken huge chunks out of our liberties and our way of life, and they’re not all going to come flooding back on Monday,” says Michael Dobbs in the Telegraph. “In fact, unless we’re careful some of the very important freedoms may not come back at all”
• “This Government seems determined to shoot itself in the foot as ‘freedom day’ nears” – “The delay to Freedom Day has in many ways backfired,” writes Ben Marlow in the Telegraph. “Rather than strengthening the case for removing all curbs, it has weakened it as the Delta variant has spread rapidly”
• “Will Boris ever defy the doom and gloom scientists?” – “Boris Johnson had hoped to leave it to our discretion – but has instead succeeded in devolving the decision-making to the most risk averse members of our post-pandemic United Pingdom,” says Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph
• “If Covid-19 is a seasonal virus, why is it spreading during the summer?” – “A virus being seasonal does not imply it is unable to transmit at certain times of the year,” writes Professor Francois Balloux in the Guardian
• “ Pingdemic debacle is lockdown by back door” – Writing for the Daily Mail, Professor David Paton suggests making the Test and Trace system “more advisory in nature, providing information and guidance as opposed to requiring people to isolate”
• “Notes from the Blunderground” – Freddie Attenborough, a regular contributor to Lockdown Sceptics, has launched a substack account with a piece about his book on lockdowns, Notes from the Blunderground: Culture in the time of COVID-19
• “A Small Prediction” – Market Thinking celebrates the “last hurrah of the officious state”
• “Macron the great vaccinator is heading for another slap in the face” – Macron’s imposition of vaccine passports is “an extremely risky move”, says Daniel Miller in the Conservative Woman
• “Freedom fetishists, unite!” – The Conservative Woman‘s Kathy Gyngell recommends an interview with Victor Davis Hanson on American Thought Leaders discussing the politicisation of the virus
• “Would Jesus wear a mask?” – The Rev Phill Sacre responds to Tim Farron, who argued in Premier Christianity that wearing a mask is the “Christ-like thing to do”
• “Ban on inter-county travel now needed to contain Covid surge, prof says” – Irish Professor Gerry Killeen, co-founder of the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group, recommends that Ireland only allow vaccinated people to travel between counties, “at least around large outbreak areas”
• “Spain: Curfew restored in Catalonia as COVID-19 cases soar” – With the 14-day incidence rate in Catalonia standing at more than 1,000 cases per 100,000, the night-time curfew has been reinstated in several cities, including Barcelona, according to Euronews
• “Moscow drops Covid vaccination proof demand for restaurant clients” – Authorities in the Russian capital on Friday cancelled their order for Covid passports at restaurants, Euronews reports, reflecting the impact of the restrictions on restaurant owners
• “The left used to love liberal Sweden: Now for pro-mask, pro-lockdown U.K. progressives, it doesn’t exist” – To hear the mask enthusiasts talk, says Neil Clarke in RT, “you’d think that people not wearing face masks would lead to Armageddon, with World War One levels of slaughter”. But Sweden never made wearing masks mandatory
• “CDC study: More than 99% of Covid victims had pre-existing conditions” – Arutz Sheva 7 reports the findings of a study from the U.S. CDC showing that the overwhelming majority of COVID-19 hospitalisations and deaths were people who suffered from at least one pre-existing condition
• “We’re panicking too much over latest Covid outbreaks” – Professor Jonathan Halevy, a top Israeli hospital official, has argued that fears arising from the recent Covid outbreaks have been exaggerated, according to Arutz Sheva 7, and there shouldn’t be another lockdown
• “COVID-19 School Mandates for Masks, Vaccines Are Blocked in More States” – Alabama, Florida and Montana have blocked schools and colleges from insisting on vaccination as a condition of attendance, the Wall Street Journal reports, as have Arizona, Arkansas and Oklahoma
• “Let’s Not Pretend We Defeated Lockdowns” – “As much as I am glad that the lockdowns seem to be over in the United States,” says the AIER’s Ethan Yang, “I can’t help but notice that our freedom was not won, it was granted to us”
• “‘Zero Covid’ catastrophe: participating nations see new records across the board” – “Every country that has embraced the radical notion of Zero Covid has ended up failing to contain a virus,” writes Jordan Schachtel, as he surveys the scene in Australia, South Korea and other countries
• “No COVID-19 vaccines needed for children and teens” – “The vaccines should be prioritised and given only to the very elderly and other high-risk persons,” write Paul Elias Alexander, Dr Howard Tenenbaum and Dr. Pervez Dara for LifeSiteNews
• “Daniel Andrews’ dig at NSW over lockdown” – Victorian Premier Dan Andrews made a point of saying that, unlike in Sydney, “retail is shut”, according to news.com.au. “There will be no browsing… That’s what has worked before in Melbourne and it is what will work again”
• “Upholding the truth in a time of universal deceit” – Sanjeev Sabhlok announces to Spectator Australia readers that he has formally applied to register the new Australia’s Representatives Party as he plans a political fightback against Covid madness
• “Forget the Cheese of Zero Covid. Escape the Mousetrap of Lockdowns” – Professor Ramesh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel David Redman provide Strategic Analysis with a thorough critique of lockdown policies, whose “many harms are far easier to demonstrate than benefits”
• “Dr. Jay Bhattacharya sets the record straight on vaccine myths and mandates” – Dr. Jay Bhattacharya joins Tony Perkins on Washington Watch to discuss why “mandates in the context of this vaccine and this pandemic are going to be very bad for public health”
• “It’s time to choose life, choose love and choose freedom” – Mark Dolan of talkRADIO is looking forward to Monday