News Round-Up

• “Calls for contact tracing system to be wound up” – The Scottish Conservatives want Test and Protect replaced with a cheaper and more targeted system, reports BBC News.
• “Malaysia COVID-19 panel recommends full border reopening in March” – Malaysia’s coronavirus recovery council on Tuesday said it has recommended a full reopening of borders as early as March 1st without mandatory quarantine for travellers, as part of plans to accelerate economic recovery, reports Reuters.
• “Hong Kong goes into near total lockdown under Zero Covid strategy” – Hair salons and places of worship have today been added to a long list of businesses closed to Hong Kongers as it tries to stamp out a wave of cases under its Zero-Covid strategy, reports the Mail. Oh dear.
• “Australia’s Covid hospital admissions fall after Omicron peaks” – Australia’s COVID-19 hospital cases and people admitted to intensive care continued to trend lower on Tuesday, reports Reuters.
• “How the Left betrayed the Truckers” – The convoy is despised by those who should support it, writes Malcom Kyeyune in UnHerd.
• “The Canadians on the Bridge” – If we are willing to let the fat and happy among us call for the seizure of protest funds, and for violent military intervention against truckers and supporters, only because we find some of those participating to be particularly ‘deplorable’, we are no longer the progressive Canadians we claim to be, writes Alexander Brown on the Brownstone Institute.
• “New Zealand protesters block streets outside parliament” – Hundreds of people protesting vaccine mandates and pandemic restrictions blocked streets outside New Zealand’s parliament on Tuesday with trucks and campervans, inspired by similar demonstrations in Canada, Reuters reports.
• “A look at the face mask literature” – Hector Drummond’s thorough review of the scientific literature does not come out well for mask fans.
• “California’s indoor mask mandate will end next week for vaccinated individuals, Gov. Newsom says” – Vaccinated Californians will no longer have to wear masks in most indoor settings next week as the Omicron surge recedes, but students and staff at K-12 schools will still be required to mask up, health officials announced, according to Fox News.
• “Mask studies reach a new scientific low point” – MMWR, the CDC’s “pet journal”, appears to no longer be in the science business, writes Dr. Vinay Prasad.
• “That Study of Face Masks Does Not Show What the CDC Claims” – The agency further undermines its credibility by desperately trying to back up conclusions it has already reached, writes Jacob Sullum in Reason.
• “Sir Captain Tom Moore charity pays out £162,000 in management costs” – The Captain Tom Foundation, set up by the family of the war veteran in the wake of his incredible fundraising efforts, paid out more than £162,000 in management costs in its first year, but gave just £160,000 in charitable grants, reports the Mail.
• “Unvaccinated mum ‘stopped from seeing son in intensive care’” – Her video has touched thousands of hearts – but the hospital says its needs to “consider the risk to other patients”, reports the Leicester Mercury.
• “Over half the deaths seen by this funeral director were likely caused by the Covid vaccines” – Steve Kirsch on the disturbing testimonies of embalmers who report strange “white fibrous clots” in over half of the bodies of the vaccinated they encounter.
• “The fatalistic Tory Party is sowing the seeds of its own destruction” – Boris Johnson’s slide into Covid and Green big-state managerialism has only served to create more Labour voters, writes Sherelle Jacobs in the Telegraph.
• “Don’t get sick: NHS backlog projected to last until 2024” – While millions stood on their doorsteps every Thursday evening to cheer on the NHS through this moment of turmoil, the real crisis was being sown, writes Luke Perry in Bournbrook.
• “Why they hate Joe Rogan” – The elites are terrified that someone, somewhere, may be thinking for themselves, writes Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “Don’t use black Americans to cancel Joe Rogan” – When ‘misinformation’ didn’t work, media elites pivoted to racism, writes Adam Coleman in UnHerd.
• “‘We’re more divided than ever’: Liberal MP breaks ranks and criticises public health policies” – Quebec MP Joël Lightbound said, “I am hopeful as well that there is room in the Liberal Party for dissent”, reports the National Post. Brave man – Trudeau has shown no sign of tolerance.
• “Britain needs a new dash for gas to save us from the lunacy of Net Zero” – Boris will be to blame if energy policy continues down the route of surging prices and rationing, writes Philip Johnston in the Telegraph.
• “Ofcom chief calls to regulate Netflix over Jimmy Carr Gypsy joke” – Dame Melanie Dawes said she “would welcome any chance to work on that” after the comedian was slammed for a Holocaust joke, reports the Mail.
• “Why comedians stopped being funny” – It’s safer to become a podcaster than tell a good joke, writes Dorian Lynskey in UnHerd.
• “The Starmer mob moral panic” – Angry protests have always been a part of British politics, writes Freddy Gray in the Spectator.
• “The cost of online safety” – When it comes to the Online Safety Bill, the only way to ensure the internet is entirely ‘safe’ would be for the Internet to be abolished, writes Annabel Denham in the Spectator.
• “Unilever must axe Ben & Jerry’s before the brand becomes a poison pill” – Ice cream brand’s woke social activism risks unravelling any future deals, writes Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.
• “The Murky Finances of Black Lives Matter” – A lack of transparency in donations has led to friction and mistrust among activists, reports New York Magazine.
• “F1 to end knee-taking ceremony before races” – There will no longer be a pre-race ceremony to take the knee and drivers – including Lewis Hamilton – are not objecting to the move, reports the Telegraph.
• “Justin Welby suggests Cambridge college should remove slavery-linked donor plaque” – The Archbishop of Woke says church needs more diversity after speech by Lord Boateng, head of the Racial Justice Commission, reports the Telegraph.
• “Why I quit teacher training” – Emily Schroeder in the Critic says perhaps her interview ought to have prepared her: “This is a safe space.”
• “FSU General Secretary Toby Young explains why it’s short-sighted of woke activists to campaign for tougher censorship laws” – It’s naïve to think they’ll only be used to censor political opponents.

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