News Round-Up

• “World Health Organisation warns XBB.1.5 is the ‘most transmissible’ Covid variant yet as ‘the Kraken’ strain starts sweeping the U.K.” – It’s no more dangerous, though, reports the Mail. Which moron named it the ‘Kraken’?
• “Mark Harper, Tory who resisted Covid curbs, now advocates masks” – Transport Secretary Mark Harper, who was one of the Conservatives’ most prominent campaigners against lockdown restrictions, now faces criticism from his own MPs after backing masks and self-isolation for the unwell, the Times reports.
• “Novak Djokovic locked out of Indian Wells and Miami Open after U.S. extends Covid rules” – The decision by the U.S. not to relax its coronavirus requirements means Djokovic, who remains unvaccinated, cannot enter the country, reports the Telegraph.
• “Rishi Sunak: Covid-era approach of cancelling operations must never come back” – The Prime Minister says cancelling operations mustn’t return, according to the Telegraph – apparently oblivious to the fact that hospitals have been cancelling operations up and down the country this winter.
• “The ideology of lockdown lingers on” – We’re still being pressured to suspend our freedom for ‘the greater good’, writes Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “China’s Covid case ‘explosion’ not due to relaxed rules, WHO says, as first deaths reported since easing” – Flashback to a CBS News report from last month where the WHO made clear that China’s Covid policy changed because it was overwhelmed, it wasn’t overwhelmed because its policy changed, as most reporting implies.
• “If Britain were more numerate, we might not have had to endure three lockdowns” – Ross Clark writes in the Telegraph that better maths won’t solve all of the U.K.’s problems, but it’s a start, and it might have saved us from lockdown.
• “CDC Finally Released Its VAERS Safety Monitoring Analyses for Covid Vaccines via FOIA” – Now it’s clear why it tried to hide them, says Dr. Josh Guetzkow.
• “The CDC’s data on Covid vaccine safety signals” – Professors Norman Fenton and Martin Neil say that compared to all previous non-Covid vaccines there are many worrying signals in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
• “Wear a mask if you want – but understand it’s about fear and control, not health… the clamour for their return is a triumph of unreason and a blow to science” – Peter Hitchens writes in the Mail: “It is none of my business, and none of the Government’s business, what other people wear, on their faces or anywhere else. In return, I ask only that you do me the same favour.”
• “Vaccines and the suffering children of Samoa” – Paula Jardine in TCW takes a look at what was really behind the deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in late 2019, that led to a pre-Covid lockdown and emergency vaccination campaign.
• “A Celebration of Dissent with TCW Defending Freedom, hosted by Mark Dolan” – Book your ticket for the central London event on February 9th, featuring the U.K. premier of vaccine documentary Safe and Effective: A Second Opinion.
• “Tesla Fined by South Korea for Exaggerating Cold Weather Range” – Who could have guessed battery performance would plummet in cold weather, asks Eric Worrall in WUWT.
• “The New Pause lengthens: 100 Months with No Warming At All” – The cold weather on both sides of the Atlantic last month seems to have had its effect on temperature, which fell sharply compared with November, lengthening the New Pause to eight years four months, writes Christopher Monckton in WUWT.
• “The Net Zero death cult taking over ‘our’ NHS” – Stephen McMurray in TCW on the disturbing movement driven by Net Zero nihilism that believes “it is healthy to die” and we are “ultimately no more important than lizards or potatoes”.
• “What we learned in 2022” – Dr. Roger Watson reflects on the year gone by in the New Conservative.
• “Scottish primary school faces backlash after asking children under 12 if they identify as gay or transgender in bizarre questionnaire” – Merkinch Primary School in Inverness is asking young children attending its classes if they are transgender or gay in a controversial survey, according to the Mail.
• “Cambridge professor shortlisted to be Government’s new Free Speech Champion” – The role would give philosophy lecturer Prof. Arif Ahmed the authority to investigate free speech breaches at universities, the Telegraph reports.
• “The Campaign to Re-Educate Jordan Peterson” – For speaking his mind, the psychologist could lose his licence, says the Wall Street Journal in a leading article.
• “NHS axes targets on diversity and inclusion: Trusts are told to abandon goal on boosting BAME ‘disparity ratio’ in crackdown on wokery” – A slimmed down list of objectives for NHS trusts in England means they will no longer be held accountable for addreesing the service’s black, Asian and minority ethnic ‘disparity ratio’, reports the Mail. Well, it’s a start.
• “This is the Times leading article three days into 2023. How can this be real?” – Are they in some sort of bizarre propaganda timewarp, asks Edward Baran, as the Times calls for Britons to “lighten the load on the health service” by wearing a mask.

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