News Round-Up

• “Neil Ferguson ‘overconfident’ in his Covid claims, says top US forecaster” – Nate Silver hits out at bold statements by British epidemiologist who predicted virus cases could rise to 100,000 a day, the Telegraph reports.
• “Five experts who predicted daily Covid cases would hit 100,000” – Named and shamed by the Spectator following the drop in infections in the past ten days
• “Britain may be finally nearing the Holy Grail of herd immunity” – Gloomy predictions ring hollow as 90% of adults have Covid antibodies and the Euros may have pushed country towards nationwide protection, writes Sarah Knapton in the Telegraph.
• “Forcing students like me to get the Covid jab to go to university is tyranny” – The Government’s refusal to rule out students from having to show their Covid-19 vaccination status is unBritish, terrifying and a national embarrassment, argues Sophie Corcoran in the Mirror.
• “Challenge temporary authorisation of COVID-19 vaccines for children” – Covid19 Assembly is representing a number of concerned parents including doctors and lawyers, concerned that long established ethical principles are being cast aside and the children may pay the cost.
• “Covid vaccines and a million ‘coincidental’ reactions” – Sally Beck in the Conservative Woman on the disgraceful silence from the authorities on vaccine safety following the flood of adverse events reports.
• “Laura Dodsworth: How our own government turned us into the most terrified country on earth” – Kathy Gyngell interviews the State of Fear author for Conservative Woman.
• “Freedom vs Security – a few thoughts” – The Rev. Phill Sacre draws lessons from the “The Magnificent Seven” about the trade-off between freedom and security.
• “Failure of Vaccines and Truth Revealed” – Dr Peter McCullough on the lessons of an outbreak of 100 COVID-19 cases among 3700 fully vaccinated, socially distanced, and masked sailors on the HMS Queen Elizabeth.
• “Exactly how effective are these vaccines?” – Roger Watson in Unity News Network looks at the latest data.
• “The snake oil salesman” – Doctor Hogwash introduces the product that no-one can do without on Lockdown Satire.
• “CDC Director: Vaccine Passports ‘May Very Well Be a Path Forward’ in US” – CDC Director Rochelle Walensky suggests that vaccine passport-style systems might be implemented in America.
• “Department of Homeland Security orders all employees to mask up and distance, regardless of vaccination status” – The DHS has announced that its employees will have to wear masks and socially distance indoors, regardless of their vaccination status. The order comes after the CDC recommended indoor masking again.
• “Coronavirus: Sydney extends lockdown by month as infections surge” – Sydney’s lockdown was extended by four weeks today in the face of surging infections as the national government promised to speed up its sluggish vaccination drive and make restrictions “a thing of the past” by next year, the Times reports.
• “Govt Of Tunisia Toppled After Violent COVID-19 Protests” – Tunisia’s president has sacked the PM and suspended parliament becoming the first government in the world toppled in the wake of nationwide violent mass COVID-19 protests, reports GreatGameIndia.
• “Hanoi to issue food stamps for limited weekly shopping” – Residents of the Vietnam capital would be given food stamps to purchase food in certain time frames, the municipal Party Committee said Tuesday, reports VnExpress International.
• “Pfizer Forecasts $33.5 Billion in Covid-19 Vaccine Sales” – The pharmaceutical company raised its full-year outlook on COVID-19 vaccine sales as it prepared to ask U.S. regulators to authorize booster shots, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• “Facebook cashes in on Covid lockdowns” – Facebook has reported a surge in revenue, having benefited from a rise in digital advertising as people spend more time and money online during the pandemic, according to the Times.
• “BBC Says Flash Floods Getting Worse” – Paul Homewood counters today’s dose of BBC climate propaganda with some inconvenient data.
• “This predictable electric cars fiasco highlights the intrinsic problem with green targets” – We are heading for a giant national breakdown – though it will conveniently come after the current crop of cabinet ministers has departed, writes Ross Clark in the Telegraph.
• “Companies told to give two in five board seats to women” – New anti-meritocratic requirements are announced by the Financial Conduct Authority, the Telegraph reports. Because that’s the way to treat everyone fairly, ensure the best person gets the job, and no one is patronised or undermined by tokenism.
• “Calling a worker a grandmother could be age discrimination – even if they are one” – Anne Dopson, 62, took legal action after she was referred to as a ‘grandparent’ in a motoring review, which a judge found was ‘detrimental’, even though it was factually accurate, the Telegraph reports.
• “Labour MP Rosie Duffield investigated by party for liking anti-trans tweet” – A Labour MP is under investigation by party officials because she liked a tweet saying that trans people were “mostly heterosexuals cosplaying”, according to the Times.
• “The National Galleries of Scotland to review entire collection’s links to slavery and colonialism” – It has put its collections under review to ensure that works associated with slavery, racism and colonial exploitation will be publicly acknowledged and highlighted to visitors, the Times reports.
• “What’s the worst thing about being cancelled?” – There’s something more frightening than threats and online abuse, writes Sarah Ditum in UnHerd.
• “Schoolboy error” – Olivia Hartley in the Critic on the folly of public schools’ race to embrace the religion of wokeness.
• “Do genes determine intelligence?” – Both conservatives and liberals are ignoring the realities of biology, writes geneticist Razib Khan in UnHerd.