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Maybe there is a benefit to face masks after all

Round-Up

No time for an update today, but here’s a round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours (and a special thanks to Mitesh Kariah who has been tirelessly flagging stories up for me for months):

‘How to Talk to People Who Won’t Wear Face Masks‘ – Unintentionally amusing piece in Teen Vogue about how to talk crazy non-mask wearers back from the precipice
‘Public Health England’s exaggerated death statistics are a scandal that has fed fear‘ – Strong stuff from Matthew Lesh in the Telegraph
‘“Game-changing” coronavirus antibody test passes first major trials‘ – New finger-prick test that is 98.6% accurate, apparently
‘The media’s Jihad against Sweden’s no-lockdown policy ignores key policy facts‘ – Good post by Ryan McMaken for the Mises Institute blog
‘Google will ban ads from running on stories spreading debunked coronavirus conspiracy theories‘ – Does this mean Google is demonetising the WHO?
‘Free speech and civil rights go hand in hand‘ – Timely reminder from Kevin Yuill in Spiked that free speech and minority rights are complementary and not in opposition to each other
‘Wales is planning for a nightmare scenario with coronavirus this winter‘ – God help the Welsh
‘Parents should stop worrying about making their children socially distance‘ – Good piece by Rosa Silverman in the Telegraph
‘Man charged with fraudulently claiming $9m in coronavirus relief and gambling with it in Las Vegas‘ – At least someone’s having fun
‘No wonder this committee thinks it runs the country‘ – Juliet Samuel takes aim at SAGE
‘Why coronavirus deaths remain low in the US despite surge in new cases‘ – Mandatory reading for bed-wetters
‘My husband’s drinking problem hit in lockdown‘ – No, it’s not by Mrs Young. Quiet at the back
‘Hatred of Donald Trump is warping news, warns BBC’s Jon Sopel‘ – He’s not wrong
‘IRS Announces Taxpayers Can Make Checks Directly Payable To Any Corporation Or Billionaire They Want This Year‘ – Did someone say “Bailout”? Nice piece in the Onion
‘English universities must prove “commitment” to free speech for bailouts’ – Excellent news in the Guardian

Theme Tune Suggestions by Readers

Only one today: “Witchfinder General” by Carl Douglas

Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened

A few weeks ago, Lockdown Sceptics launched a searchable directory of open businesses across the UK. The idea is to celebrate those retail and hospitality businesses that have re-opened, as well as help people find out what has opened in their area. But we need your help to build it, so we’ve created a form you can fill out to tell us about those businesses that have opened near you. Now that non-essential shops have re-opened – or most of them, anyway – we’re now focusing on pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as other social venues. As of July 4th, many of them have re-opened too, but not all. Please visit the page and let us know about those brave folk who are doing their bit to get our country back on its feet – particularly if they’re not insisting on face masks! Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.

Note to the Good Folks Below the Line

I enjoy reading all your comments and I’m glad I’ve created a “safe space” for lockdown sceptics to share their frustrations and keep each other’s spirits up. But please don’t copy and paste whole articles from papers that are behind paywalls in the comments. I work for some of those papers and if they don’t charge for premium content they won’t survive.

I know it becomes difficult to navigate the comment threads after 24 hours. One alternative to continuing to post below my updates is to move to our new Lockdown Sceptics Forums, which webmaster Ian Rons has just created. You’ll need to verify your email address before you can start posting, but they should be relatively easy to navigate. Apologies for not creating them sooner. Any problems, email Ian here. Or just email him to thank him for creating such a great website.

Gone Fishing Bit

Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation recently to pay for the upkeep of this site. If you feel like donating, however small the amount, please click here. But I’m on holiday until Saturday, July 25th and won’t be doing much work on this site for a week. If you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here.

Salem 2.0

I thought I’d give my readers something to chew on while I’m on a break: Salem 2.0: The Return of the Religious Police to the Public Square. This is a book about cancel culture that I’ve been working on for a while now, but which took a back seat during the coronavirus crisis. Hoping to get back to it as the crisis recedes – although that’s happening more slowly than I hoped. It’s a work in progress, so don’t expect too much. The shape of it should be pretty clear, however.