News Round-Up

• “No exemptions to ‘no jab, no job’ rule for care home staff, says Boris Johnson” – The Prime Minister defends legal changes which have made Covid vaccination mandatory for those who work in social care, reports the Telegraph.
• “U.K. economic growth slows to weakest level since Covid rules eased in March” – Severe shortages of workers and supplies have dragged down economic growth in Britain to the weakest levels since lockdown restrictions were eased in March, reports the Guardian.
• “The Covid pantomime at my father’s memorial” – “My father deserved better than these dismally isolated clumps of mourners, and so did his family and friends,” writes Lionel Shriver in the Spectator.
• “Barricaded from Covid reality by government and media” – “Dalek-like cries of ‘Vaccinate! Vaccinate!’ are everywhere, and yet many reputable doctors and scientists have warned for months of existing hazards from the jab,” writes Neville Hodgkinson in TCW Defending Freedom.
• “Do Face Masks Reduce Covid Spread in Bangladesh? Are the Abaluck et al. Results Reliable?” – The leading trend-setting mainstream media and institutional public relations offices have been unreservedly enthusiastic about “the Bangladesh mask study”, which Dr. Denis G. Rancourt studies in TrialSite.
• “A reflection on Covid mania” – Sebastian Rushworth reflects on developments during the last few months in the insane place that is Covid world.
• “Florida Surgeon General Bashes Virus Hysteria: ‘Done with Fear’” – Dr. Joseph Ladapo of Florida has denounced Covid hysteria, arguing that fear has been used to rob people of their personal autonomy.
• “Vaccine Mandates Are Coming to Offices, but the Honor System Now Rules” – Shifting guidance on mask wearing and a lack of disclosure over vaccination status rattles some workers going back to offices, reports the Wall Street Journal.
• “Oakland School District passes vaccine mandate for students 12 and up” – The Oakland Unified School District has become one of the first in Northern California to pass a vaccine mandate for children 12 and older in order to attend school, reports MailOnline.
• “Australian police attempt to keep reporters from covering Covid protests, back off after news outlet threatens legal challenge” – Melbourne police have partially backed off an order to keep news helicopters out of the sky over anti-lockdown protests after the media pushed back with a legal challenge, reports Russia Today.
• “New Zealand’s strategy to eliminate Covid faces defeat by Delta strain, admits Health Chief” – New Zealand’s strategy to eliminate the coronavirus may have been defeated by the Delta strain, the country’s Health Chief has conceded.
• “Good News for a Vaccine-Hesitant South Africa” – Based on antibody studies and given the trajectory of the virus, it is very likely that the majority of South Africans have now been infected with SARS-CoV-2, writes Brett Jordaan in TrialSite.
• “Prime Minister, Kermit was right: It’s not easy being green” – “After kayaking to New York (I’m sure he wouldn’t have risked the extra carbon output and flown there), the British Prime Minister displayed his usual linguistic flamboyance when attending to the matter of climate change,” writes Frederick Edward in Bournbrook Magazine.
• “The public has gone along with the Government, because they’re told going green won’t cost them. But that just isn’t true” – Britain loves bunnies and hedgehogs, but it’s not going to be impressed if left shivering, writes Ross Clark in the Telegraph.
• “40 days to save the planet? Boris’ green act is yet another unprincipled U-turn from a serial flip flopper” – The Prime Minister is seeking to fashion himself as a switched-on leader on climate change – but isn’t it all just more hot air and bluster from one of the world’s biggest confidence tricksters, asks Paul A. Nuttall in Russia Today.
• “The war against intelligence” – “The deranged left will happily crawl into wholly spurious genetic arguments when it suits them, no matter how stupid the proposition, but deny real science when it insists men are born men and women born women,” writes Rod Liddle in the Spectator.
• “The spectre of the Seventies haunts the Tories” – With energy bills soaring and wage demands rising to keep pace with prices, another inflationary cycle is a real danger, writes James Forsyth in the Times.
• “Anti-Christian zealots have a new tactic” – Militant ‘progressive’ secularists don’t just hate my religion. They hate its followers, too, writes Catherine Pepinster in the Telegraph.
• “Kemi Badenoch is right about colonialism” – “Badenoch – who grew up in Nigeria – has a far better grasp of Africa and its history than her critics,” writes Nigel Biggar in the Spectator.
• “I don’t care if people call me ‘gammon’ – so why is Ofcom so upset about it?” – People don’t need patronising protection from mild insults like “snowflake” and “boomer” – and you can’t nationalise manners, writes Simon Heffer in the Telegraph.
• “Unvaccinated children getting infected with Covid isn’t an issue because they face such a vanishingly rare chance of falling seriously ill, expert says” – Unvaccinated children getting infected with Covid isn’t an issue because they face such a vanishingly rare chance of falling seriously ill, says Professor David Livermore.
• “There is not a climate change emergency” – Spiked Editor Brendan O’Neill tells talkRADIO that climate activists have an exaggerated view of the world: “The language of emergency means you’re not allowed to criticise this stuff.”