News Round-Up

• “The catastrophe of NHS Test and Trace” – It wasn’t just a waste of money – it failed to prevent two more lockdowns, writes Andrew Orlowski in Spiked.
• “Media pressure on Wuhan lab-linked scientist grows after he was once oft-cited voice decrying lab leak theory” – “With revelations that the EcoHealth Alliance conducted ‘gain of function’ research – which involves modifying viruses to make them more infectious for study purposes – on coronaviruses before 2019 at the Wuhan lab, Peter Daszak is facing increased pressure to spill what he knows,” reports FoxNews.
• “We need more Jonathan Sumptions” – His principled defence of liberty during the pandemic has been a lifeline to many of us, argues Simon Evans in Spiked.
• “Double jabbed can still pass virus to those in same house” – “Being double-jabbed cuts the risk of Covid being transmitted between family members by only about a third, according to a study that found that this protection began to wane three months after a second dose,” Rhys Blakley reports on the lack of long-term vaccine effectiveness in the Times.
• “Only 19% of young teenagers in England vaccinated” – “England is doing even worse with its vaccination drive for teenagers than was previously thought,” reports Chris Symth in the Times.
• “22 studies and reports that raise profound doubts about vaccine efficacy for the general population” – “The public benefit of universal vaccination is now in grave doubt, and, as such, should not be expected to contribute to eliminating the social cost of the virus, much less be mandated by governments,” argues Paul Elias Alexander for the Brownstone Institute.
• “Eight wise doctors and a glimmer of hope on Covid” – Neville Hodgkinson summarises a round-table discussion of eight doctors who have sceptical attitudes towards the vaccines and the handling of the pandemic in TCW.
• “Spain is reimbursing residents who were fined for violating Covid lockdown rules” – Around 1.1 million fines were issued to thousands of people who violated stay-at-home orders that began in the spring of 2020, reports Insider.
• “Lockdown fanatics should be ashamed of themselves” – Those who called for ‘Plan B’ just days ago have already seen their predictions proven wrong – yet again, writes Andrew Lilico in the Telegraph.
• “Clubbing — how much longer will our nightlife continue?” – The U.K. is quickly becoming a rigid, two-tier society segregated between the unvaccinated and the vaccinated in a unwinnable war against the virus, argues Andrew J. Green in his latest Medium blog.
• Yorkshire police poster warns against trick or treating this Halloween” – Force says it is discouraging the activity this year along with organised events because of Covid, reports the Guardian.
• “Inside Insulate Britain” – We infiltrated a cell’s campaign of disobedience, Aris Roussinos reports on the behind the scenes activities of Insulate Britain in UnHerd.
• “COP26 is set to be an appalling display of Western decadence” – Thousands of diplomats feasting while they plot to curtail our lifestyles. I suspect the public won’t be entirely impressed, writes Ross Clark in the Telegraph.
• “The climate scaremongers: a weekly round-up” – Paul Homewood exposes some of the falsehoods and hysterical predictions peddled by the climate alarmist lobby in TCW.
• “What does IPCC AR6 say on scenarios and extreme weather?” – “It is very appealing, even seductive, for activists and the media to latch on to extreme events (as inaccurately summarized in the SPM), but at some point we have to say that objective science and its communication matters on this issue,” Dr. Roger Pielke writes on the cherry picking of extreme weather events to bolster climate alarmism in Watts Up With That?
• “‘Gaia’ scientist James Lovelock: I was ‘alarmist’ about climate change” – Charles Rotter briefly examines scientist James Lovelock’s conversion away from climate alarmism in Watts Up With That?
• “Novara Media was cancelled by a culture it helped to create” – “Would there have been as noisy an outpouring of concern from the radical left as there was from conservatives and anti-identitarian leftists when Novara was fleetingly disappeared?” Brendan O’Neill claims that Novara Media have reaped what they have sown in the Spectator.
• “At the BBC, we will banish fear from public debate” – In an age of division and disinformation, the BBC has a duty to ensure all voices and views are heard, writes Tim Davie, BBC Director General, in the Telegraph.
• “Wokeness gone mad: Macbeth slapped with trigger warning as punters told to call Samaritans” – “While Shakespeare is credited with having introduced many words to the English language, the word ‘woke’ first appeared long after his time. But that hasn’t stopped the new political agenda from inflicting its rules on his works,” writes Michael Curzon in the Express.
• “Facebook’s metaverse: a virtual safe space” – Facebook is building the metaverse to attract young users through a digital utopia, argues Norman Lewis in Spiked.
• “Driven out by woke mad students” – Historian David Starkey speaks to TalkRadio on the resignation of Professor Kathleen Stock.