Piers Corbyn Arrested – Again
Piers Corbyn solicitor has written to let us know that he was arrested again yesterday at an anti-lockdown rally in Sheffield.
Just to let you know that Piers Corbyn has been arrested and roughy handled by police in Sheffield today and was detained overnight while the police “gather evidence” that he is an organiser even though he was just a speaker.
We are starting to live in a Police State if this is how they treat a 73 year-old man for daring to speak at a peaceful political rally, in alleged breach of a Regulation that has never been debated in Parliament, for a non-imprisonable offence. To justify the arrest they claim it was done to out of necessity “for his own protection!” – a ludicrous assertion. It appears quite arbitrary, disproportionate and unnecessary, and conveniently prevents him speaking at the 12 noon rally today in Glasgow.
In my view it’s a shocking abuse of state power and should be utterly repellent to anybody who values the civil liberties that people in this country are meant to be proud of.
There was also an arrest of Kate Shemerani by police yesterday outside Downing Street, again for organising a political rally. Fortunately, she was released after her details were taken, but she also faces a £10,000 fine.
Will any single Member of Parliament from ANY Political Party be prepared to question what is being done on the streets of Britain when the Coronavirus Act is up for renewal on September 26th, to be debated for the very first time.
If not, what is our democracy worth?
A protestor who took part in the rally outside Downing Street yesterday confirms that the police made arrests.
Territorial Support Officers kettled our rally in Whitehall today and were quite brutal. Extinction Rebellion crew allowed free rein with no visible hassle. Not us. Kate Shemirani was collared and arrested for speaking on a megaphone.
You may think people like Piers Corbyn and Kate Shemerani are cranks, but why is their right to protest being curtailed while the police give BLM and XR protestors a free pass?
Stop Press: According to today’s Sunday Times, MPs are furious about XR’s blockade of printing plants on Friday night and are determined to stop similar protests in future. Boris has branded the blockades “completely unacceptable”.
Even the BBC Admits PCR Test is Flawed
Hallelujah! BBC News has finally got around to running a piece casting doubt on the reliability of the PCR test because… wait for it… it’s over-sensitive! Oh, and it can also produce false positives, apparently.
The main test used to diagnose coronavirus is so sensitive it could be picking up fragments of dead virus from old infections, scientists say.
Most people are infectious only for about a week, but could test positive weeks afterwards.
Researchers say this could be leading to an over-estimate of the current scale of the pandemic.
But some experts say it is uncertain how a reliable test can be produced that doesn’t risk missing cases.
So who are these “scientists” and “researchers”? Step forward Professor Carl Heneghan and his team at the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine.
Worth reading in full.
Meanwhile, a new paper published by SAGE has admitted that a sample consisting entirely of water could produce a positive test result if the detection threshold level is set low enough. Here’s the killer paragraph:
When these swab samples are tested, the amount of signal they produce in a test is proportional to the amount of virus in the swab sample. Strong positive samples will give a strong signal, weak samples will give a weak signal. Different types of test use different types of signal – the signal may be the detection of a PCR product, or luminescence, or colour change. True negative samples (e.g. water, buffer or a sample taken from an uninfected person) can also give a very low signal. When a test is implemented, a decision must be made about where to set the threshold level that a signal must cross in order to be called a positive test result.
Perhaps this explains why a papaya tested positive in Tanzania.
Guardian Sides With the Oppressor
The Guardian has published a report on yesterday’s National Freedom Day protest in Melbourne that’s heavily slanted in favour of the authorities. “Protesters seen chanting ‘freedom’ and hurling abuse at police and media while not wearing masks,” reads the sub-head. It continues:
At least 15 people have been arrested at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and Albert Park after at least 200 protesters defied the city’s stage-four lockdowns to hold an anti-lockdown rally on Saturday.
Police in New South Wales also arrested three people at an unauthorised protest in Sydney’s Hyde Park while another protest was held at Sydney’s Olympic Park. Smaller protests were also held in Townsville, Brisbane and Byron Bay.
Organised by a broad coalition of online groups linked by a mish-mash of conspiracy theories, Saturday’s Melbourne protest was planned in defiance of lockdown restrictions, mandates on mask-wearing in Victoria, 5G, vaccinations and “child trafficking and pedophilia”.
We were left wondering how today’s ultra-woke Guardian would have reported protests against illiberal regimes in the past:
Police in Beijing arrested a group of anti-social troublemakers earlier today at an unauthorised protest in Tiananmen Square…
Authorities in East Germany last night did their best to stop a group of so-called freedom fighters dismantling an historic wall in Berlin…
You can see some photographs of the Melbourne protest here.
A Sceptical Scientist Writes
We got an email from a sceptical scientist who felt a twinge of guilt on reading the item in yesterday’s update about the difficulty Sunetra Gupta and her team are having getting published in respectable journals. It’s quite long, but worth reading in full as it throws a good deal of light on why scientists who haven’t drunk the Covid Kool-Aid are having difficulty getting their voices heard.
Thanks for the ongoing sanity that is Lockdown Sceptics. I read the piece yesterday about how the scientific community is slowly starting to wake up to the fact that we have been significantly underestimating the level of immunity in the population (something that LS has been saying for months). I was really struck by these lines:
“Unfortunately, not all scientists are so timid with their views. Could it be the silence of too many sceptical scientists that has allowed more confident scientists like Neil Ferguson to become so influential?”
As sceptical scientist myself, this point hit home, but the reasons for the silence of the sceptical scientific voice are not just to do with lack of confidence.
Firstly, it is important for a scientific argument to have data. Without data you’re just expressing an opinion which, of course, can still carry weight depending on who is expressing it. However, there are real issues both with the data we have around COVID-19 and its reporting.
It is a well-known problem in science that the “negative results” are rarely published and so the literature is heavily weighted towards positive findings. This can lead to a false perception of what is happening. So for sceptical scientists wanting to make arguments, the data may simply not be there as it was a “negative result”.
Scientists also tend to want to publish interesting findings. As a result, the COVID-19 literature tends to be biased towards the serious or rare cases as these are by definition “interesting”.
Here’s an example of the title and the first few lines of a case report in the New England Journal of Medicine from April, which illustrates this point:
Coagulopathy and Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Patients with COVID-19
“We describe a patient with Covid-19 and clinically significant coagulopathy, antiphospholipid antibodies, and multiple infarcts. He was one of three patients with these findings in an intensive care unit designated for patients with COVID-19….”
There is nothing wrong with this paper, it is a typical case report. However notice that the title gives no qualification of the fact that the patients are in the intensive care unit and as such are not representative of the vast number of patients with COVID-19. If you just read the title you could erroneously infer that ALL patients with COVID-19 have issues with their blood coagulating and their immune system going haywire. That’s the problem, a report of a rare finding, designed to alert clinicians in the ICU of potential complications, can feed confirmation bias in a lot of the media (and the public) that COVID-19 is the new plague that will kill you as soon as look at you.
Unfortunately you cannot publish the balancing paper:
Mild cough in Patients with COVID-19
“We describe a patient with Covid-19 and a mild dry cough that resolved itself in a few weeks…”
It is uninteresting. Although ironically it would be interesting (and probably publishable) if COVID-19 was actually causing all patients to have major complications!
Finally as you reported today in your article about Prof. Gupta, there is also further worrying bias in the COVID-19 literature with editors scared to publish “dangerous” ideas that could “impact our response to COVID-19”. Limiting publication of such finding in “lesser journals” (essential ones that aren’t so widely read), is an effective way of burying the findings as they may appear less “valuable” than a publication in Nature.
This literature bias makes addressing the major issue facing the sceptical scientist even more daunting. This issue is that they need to overturn established orthodoxy around COVID-19 and our responses to it.
The advantage that modellers had at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is that they did not much real world data because they could run their models built on assumptions. So it’s not surprising that the modellers got in first. It is only now that we have the actual data can we look at what the modelling predictions and point out how inaccurate these were and start to see where the assumptions were wrong.
The problem is that the models and modellers created and established “facts” and you require a lot more data to overcome an established “fact” than was needed to create that “fact” in the first place.
This was compounded by the fact that we then implemented solutions with assumed efficacy (e.g. wearing face coverings, lockdowns) and the use of these solutions have now become more articles of faith rather than scientific hypotheses. So to overcome such solutions will require large amounts of evidence to achieve a shift amongst the scientific community, many of whom have been active advocates of these very solutions. Imagine what data you would actually need to persuade Nicola Sturgeon that mask wearing has no benefit or Matt Hancock that lockdown is not the answer? I’d wager it would be almost impossible and will be all the more impossible if don’t allow the publication of “dangerous data” in the first place.
Finally I think it import to also understand that science is a professional industry and that most scientists work for businesses and institutions. Most of these businesses and institutions will have implemented COVID-19 based policies, supported by senior leadership who, even if they don’t believe in the policies, will need to be seen to be “doing the right thing”. Scientists working in these organisations will also have contractual obligations that will limit their ability to publish without permission or produce communication that could be deemed to be detrimental to their place of work. Imagine if you worked for one of the companies working on developing a vaccine and wanted to publish something saying that “vaccines are a waste of time and money because everyone will be basically immune through infection before they get to the clinic”? This effectively means that the vast majority of scientists are in environments that require a level of collective “self-censorship” and so, with a few exception, most of us have to bite our tongues or run the genuine risk of “blow back” on careers. We are not in the position of having a comfortable academic chair from which to cast our pearls of wisdom.
Despite this, science is built on data and so ultimately I have to believe that we can get to a point where we stop treating COVID-19 as a special case and recognize it as just another disease to go alongside all the other risks we face in being alive. I am greatly encourage by the fact that we’re seeing journals like the BMJ publish “sceptical” opinion pieces as it shows that this shift may be starting to occur although today’s article about Prof. Gupta shows that we may have a lot further to go.
The Politicisation of the Civil Service
Charles Moore had a great column in the Telegraph yesterday bemoaning the politicisation of the Civil Service.
The Civil Service Code says the “core values” of the Civil Service are “integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality”. It explains the word “impartiality”: you must not “allow your personal political views to determine any advice you give or your actions”. You must not “act in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular individuals or interests”.
The Code also justifies whistle-blowing: if you “believe that you are being required to act in a way that conflicts with this code, your department or agency must consider your concern, and make sure that you are not penalised for raising it”.
But what happens if your department’s leaders are themselves breaching the Code and actively encouraging their staff to do the same? Who will then be brave enough to trust the Code’s claim that you will not be penalised for blowing the whistle?
Several of those brave enough to challenge this dogma are members of the Free Speech Union and we’re doing our best to protect them as their employers try and punish them in various ways.
On Friday, Donald Trump ordered state agencies to stop racial sensitivity training, labelling it “divisive, anti-American propaganda”. Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote a two-page letter to the heads of federal executive departments and agencies ordering them to “cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions”.
It has come to the President’s attention that Executive Branch agencies have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to date “training” government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda.
For example, according to press reports, employees across the Executive Branch have been required to attend trainings where they are told that “virtually all White people contribute to racism” or where they are required to say that they “benefit from racism”. According to press reports, in some cases these trainings have further claimed that there is racism embedded in the belief that America is the land of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified person should receive a job.
These types of “trainings” not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its inception, but they also engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce. We can be proud that as an employer, the Federal government has employees of all races, ethnicities, and religions. We can be proud that Americans from all over the country seek to join our workforce and dedicate themselves to public service. We can be proud of our continued efforts to welcome all individuals who seek to serve their fellow Americans as Federal employees. However, we cannot accept our employees receiving training that seeks to undercut our core values as Americans and drive division within our workforce.
Marvellous stuff. When is Boris Johnson going to follow suit?
UN Warns First Famines Due to Lockdown On Their Way
According to a report in the New York Times, the UN has warned of looming famines in Yemen, South Sudan, northeast Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo as a result of the pandemic.
In a letter to members of the U.N.’s Security Council, the official, Mark Lowcock, the under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, said the risk of famines in these areas had been intensified by “natural disasters, economic shocks and public-health crises, all compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.” Together, he said, “these factors are endangering the lives of millions of women, men and children.”
The letter, which has not been made public, was conveyed by Mr. Lowcock’s office to the Security Council on Friday under its 2018 resolution requiring updates when there is a “risk of conflict-induced famine and widespread food insecurity.” A copy of the letter was seen by The New York Times.
United Nations officials have said before that all four areas are vulnerable to food deprivation because of chronic armed conflicts, and the inability of humanitarian relief providers to freely distribute aid. But the added complications created by the pandemic have now pushed them closer to famine conditions.
Worth reading in full.
Postcard From Kiev
A reader has sent us a postcard from Kiev. Sounds lovely, although Ukraine has banned foreign visitors until September 28th.
Arriving in Kiev after an eight month absence and having read online the daily usual dire threats and hand wringing from Government officials on how people must change their behaviour to stop the “deadly” spread of COVID it was pleasant to see how everyone just ignores this bleating and gets on with life as usual. The weather was beautifully warm and sunny while I was there and the outdoor cafes and restaurants were full. There was barely a mask to be seen and even the staff in shops, restaurants and hotels who are legally obliged to wear them treated this requirement as optional. In the airport most people did their “duty” and wore masks although usually at chin level. Everyone I spoke to was cheerfully dismissive of the virus. As one said to me: “This country has enough problems without artificially creating another one”. I went to a couple of very pleasant non-socially distanced house parties and wandered happily around the city.
Round-Up
- ‘The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies‘ – Jessica Krug, a Professor of African-American history at George Washington University, confesses to not actually being black. But if race is a “social construct”…
- ‘Ian Brown receives backlash online for apparent anti-vaxxer views‘ – Ian Brown of The Stone Roses comes out as a lockdown sceptic and is immediately branded an “anti-vaxxer” by the NME
- ‘Quarantine policy “in tatters” as UK divides over Portugal and Greece‘ – Scotland and Wales have red-listed Portugal and Greece, but England hasn’t
- ‘“After five days the coronavirus infectious period is over,” says top German virologist‘ – Another nail in the coffin of the Government’s 14-day quarantine nonsense
- ‘Patients will be told to call 111 instead of going to A&E in NHS shake-up‘ – “If you’re having a heart attack, press four…”
- ‘Mad, bad and vague ideas are hidden behind impactful language‘ – Madeline Grant takes a closer look at the Sussex’s Netflix plans
- ‘Wear a mask while having sex, Canada’s top doctor suggests‘ – Can it be a Hannibal Lecter mask, please?
- ‘Rights groups challenge mandatory face mask rules in France‘ – French local authorities are being forced to revise orders making mouth and nose coverings compulsory as courts side with civil liberties groups
- ‘You had one job‘ – Christopher Snowdon has written an IEA briefing paper on the shortcomings of the WHO and PHE
- ‘When could social distancing end – and what are the UK rules?‘ – Boris has said social distancing rules may be scrapped before the end of the year
- ‘School closes due to single case of coronavirus‘ – The JCB Academy in Staffordshire told pupils to stay at home on Friday after a single case of coronavirus
- ‘Low-dose Hydroxychloroquine Therapy and Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: A Nationwide Observational Study of 8075 Participants‘ – Another study shows HCQ works
- ‘52% of young adults in the US are living with their parents. That’s the highest share since the Great Depression‘ – Disturbing report from CNN
- ‘No one should make us go back to the office. But what would we lose?‘ – Good piece by Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph about the benefits of going to the office
- ‘Stop unnecessary cancer deaths caused by the COVID disruptions and save thousands of lives‘ – Petition urging the NHS to restore proper cancer care
- ‘Virus shifts to young as lockdown fears ease‘ – The Times reveals that even the Government’s public health advisers are waking up to the fact that the new cases are mainly among young people who aren’t at risk of dying from the virus
- ‘Lockdown-free Sweden’s coronavirus case rate is now lower than Nordic neighbours Denmark and Norway‘ – The Daily Mail is warming to the Swedish model
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Five today: “Wilfull Negligence” by Salon d’O, “A Catalogue of Errors” by Ace Bushy Striptease, “Long Way From Freedom” by the Trews, “Wake Me Up When It’s Over” by The Silent Majority and “What The World Is Waiting For” by The Stone Roses.
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums that are now open, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention. We’ve also just introduced a section where people can arrange to meet up for non-romantic purposes. We have a team of moderators in place to remove spam and deal with the trolls, but sometimes it takes a little while so please bear with us. You have to register to use the Forums, but that should just be a one-time thing. Any problems, email the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster Ian Rons here.
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A few months 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 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 (and some of them are at risk of having to close again). 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! If they’ve made that clear to customers with a sign in the window or similar, so much the better. Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a permanent slot down here for people who want to buy (or make) a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and it has the advantage of not explicitly claiming you have a disability. But if you have no qualms about that (or you are disabled), you can buy a lanyard from Amazon saying you do have a disability/medical exemption here (now showing it will arrive between Oct 7th to Oct 16th). The Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. You can get a “Hidden Disability” tag from ebay here and an “exempt” card with lanyard for just £3.99 from Etsy here.
Don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face nappies in shops here (now almost 31,500).
A reader has started a website that contains some useful guidance about how you can claim legal exemption.
And here’s a round-up of the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of mask (threadbare at best).
Stop Press: A man avoided wearing a face mask on an EasyJet flight to Tenerife by ordering a packet of Pringles at the beginning of the flight and making them last four hours. Michael Richards said he tried out the experiment for “a laugh” and not because he is an “anti-masker”.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. Doing these daily updates is a lot of work. If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links we should include in future updates, email us here. (If you want us to link to something, don’t forget to include a link.)
And Finally…
Another great satirical video from AwakenWithJP. It begins: “As your trusted health authority I’ll share with you why you should be more scared than ever before…”
Watch it before YouTube takes it down…
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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Yesterday’s announcement about a rise in +ve test results (so called cases) indicates again the critical role testing now has in driving this pantomime. I queried a twitter post yesterday and was told in reply that the PCR test done well can distinguish between SARS-Cov2 and other coronaviruses. But that does beg the question as to whether these tests are being done well?
In many areas of modern life we have bodies to oversee the quality and standard of services delivered. Do we know if there is any such control or oversight of this mass SARS-Cov2 screening programme? It is an unprecedented programme, set up very quickly and using private companies to deliver test results on which huge decisions are made about life in our country. If there is no control or oversight then this is something we should be pressing to be put in place.
A very good post. I half heard some health adviser for Scotland (American sounding) speaking on the Today programme this morn just afore seven. She said – and I para-phrase.
a) the rise in cases was a bit to do with more testing.
b) We weren’t seeing this reflected in mortality figures because the rise in cases was amongst the young. But it would feed through (in a couple of weeks I think she said) – just look at France.
Well, I looked at France. “Cases” began taking off around mid-July. They are now higher than they have ever been. But the seven day average mortality figure is now just a tad lower than it was in mid-July.
The US CDC uses two grossly contradictory numbers of annual deaths from pneumonia and influenza: about 55,000 in the annual leading causes of the death report and about 188,000 in National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) data used on the FluView web site to report the percentage of deaths each week due to pneumonia and influenza. These differ by a factor of OVER THREE. The larger FluView number is comparable to the current cumulative total COVID-19 deaths in the United States (Aug 30, 2020).
Since it is generally agreed that lockdowns and quarantines are not justified for a disease similar to typical annual pneumonia and influenza deaths, the reasons for this gross contradiction in the two annual death numbers should be resolved. Is it correct to compare the COVID-19 death numbers to the FluView number, the leading causes of death number, or some other number and, if so, exactly why and how?
Full details here: The CDC’s Contradictory Death Numbers https://tinyurl.com/y4empg8n
DT not behind paywal –
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/09/06/snp-has-not-proved-emergency-covid-powers-still-justified-childrens1/
“SNP has not proved all its emergency Covid powers are still justified, children’s commissioner says
Bruce Adamson said the SNP “proposes almost wholesale renewal of emergency provisions which significantly impact on children’s rights”.”
[…]
“In a submission to a Holyrood inquiry, he argued that SNP ministers’ powers should be reexamined following “the welcome progress” made towards “restoring public services to a more ‘normal’ state.”
“He noted that over the last six months more than more than 60 Scottish Statutory Instruments(SSIs) have been made by the SNP Government using the powers contained in the UK and Scottish Coronavirus Acts, curtailing a wide range of children’s human rights.
“However, Mr Adamson said the Scottish Government had failed to provide parliament with updated assessments on the impact of these on young people, which he said are needed to inform MSPs’ decision on whether the powers should be renewed.”
British police going wrong. Assault Battery and False Arrest for a Facemask. A fine, decent man showing what keeping your head when all about you have lost theirs looks like.
https://youtu.be/-W6JfR7J8Mo
I suggest the Nudge Unit is wanting social media filling with these chilling videos to cause individual fear of arrest to increase. It feels too perfect a tool for the psychologists not to have calculated.
Really well done that man.
Brazen. Shameless. Unforgivable.
Say no to everything.
I have been spending most of my afternoons since April in the side doorway that never opens of an optometrist just off a street corner. It’s just wide enough to sit on a cushion, cue up my smartphone, put on headphones and listen to music and write notes while I sip an espresso laced with O’Casey’s Irish Cream. Today a city bus (STM) passed by and the message said in French ‘derrière votre couvre-visage sourire’: Smile behind your mask.
Oh my…
I noticed yesterday a transit bus with all external advertising replaced with MASKS ARE MANDATORY…there should have been an exclamation point on the end. As we know the larger the sign the more compliant we are
Met Chief C. Dick gets door stepped and called out for her ‘hate-speech’ over encouragement of social shaming as a method of policing the population.
https://twitter.com/jimmy76120797/status/1302526393088172032?s=20
Really worth sharing in my view.
Also in the video.. notice Scotland Yard don’t use masks. Only when watching peaceful protests do they wear glives and masks. Political Policing.
She had just come out of Downing Street. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were discussing clamping down on lockdown dissent given the police actions this weekend. Maybe he was telling her to go easy on Extinction Rebellion as his wife supports the cause.
That is Geza Tarjanyi calling out Cressida Dick. He has been campaigning for the end of lockdown measure outside Downing Street for over a month 24/7. The man has been doing great work he has spoken to Sir Patrick Vallance (didn’t seem particularly pleased to be questioned by a commoner) and Michael Gove (seemed ok) as well. He is well worth following and supporting. Respect to anyone that dedicated to freedom.
I normally avoid Twitter like the plague (!), even things people post here, but I recommend that everyone should watch this one. The guy is a hero.
Forget disliking conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones for the moment. At minute 6:55 of this video a Black Lives Matter gang in the hundreds attacked a restaurant in Rochester, New York, full of customers, broke chairs, tables and threw plates and glasses in the air, first outside, then inside this suburban restaurant. The clip lasts for around 3 minutes. No police intervention. Unbelievable.
https://banned.video/watch?id=5f53fad6af4ce8069e699f3b
Bangladesh, another third world country stopping the lockdown and any form of social distancing, which is impossible to have for any length of time. And cases peaked and starting to fall nicely.
https://twitter.com/Covid19Crusher/status/1302527566255972352/photo/1
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.03.20186957v1.full.pdf
Bangladesh in secret trying to achieve herd immunity quickly.
Adjusted Dynamics of COVID-19 Pandemic due to Herd Immunity in Bangladesh
“Based on our estimated population for the herd immunity, we compute the basic reproduction number to be R0 = 2.5 ± 0.24. Therefore, to break the COVID19 transmission chain and stop the disease from spreading, Bangladesh requires around 60% of its population to be infected to attain the herd immunity according to the existing method [41]. But our adjustment shows that if approximately 90% of the working age group 21-40 get affected by COVID-19 in case of herd immunity then we can expect a total 31% people will be affected in the whole country (presented in Table 2).”
…as UK puts £millions of aid PPE (masks) into Nigeria and Jordan to control thought overseas.
Thank you Swedenborg.
Good on them for ‘sacrificing’ the invulnerable lambs. It’s almost like they can think for themselves and know what they’re doing.
A lot of these poorer countries have had no alternative but to do so. In the long run this is how empires fall and new ones rise..
Bangladesh has a young but extremely poor population. It was criminal to lock them up (often) in extremely cramped slums.
There won’t be a return to a national lockdown in my view however high the case numbers climb. It’s politically unacceptable.
Also financially unaffordable
Indeed! Money counts in large amounts…and it doesn’t come much larger than the cost of a lockdown.
I am fearful that by way of compensation, because it’s not nearly as costly, politicians might opt to tighten mask wearing rules…so they can claim they have an anti-virus strategy.
I hope you’re right, seeing all the bedwetting today over the rise in cases has me feeling low.
Lets hope the government can hold their nerve and keep on track to get people back to work and in education.
Some days we get excellent news and then others are terrible and demoralising. Another lockdown would shatter the mental health of millions.
I’m sorry? The government hold it’s NERVE??
Back on March Johnson and co got spooked by events and shat their pants. They thought Lockdown was the only safe route. Now they can see there are no safe routes. A return to Lockdown could lead to total economic collapse and societal breakdown. It probably now appears to them as the worst of all
Options.
Always assuming there is a semblance of sanity left in Hancock and Co yes.
I’m less optimistic than I was this morning.
In the BMJ article “Covid-19: the problems with case counting”https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3374.full
The most striking is this picturehttps://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3374.full
Comparing pillar 1(hospital testing ) versus Pillar 2.
Any insane mass testing a la Blair/Hunt/Hague will only increase in the Pillar 2 without any significant clinical relevance
I think it’s important to see it in the BMJ. Maybe another brick gone.
Hospitalisation rates. Who do you believe? Plenty of Doctors on Twitter claiming to be full.
Ron Daniels saying otherwise.
Are there some recent stats?
Official figures released daily can be followed from links on John Hopkins site. Patients in hospital have fallen sharply in England and especially Wales in last month, steady in Scotland over that period. May be levelling out at about 700 nationwide now. Some very long term patients. Definitions can be problematic. Do you stay a Covid case once diagnosed or only while it’s present?
Scottish numbers were around a constant 250. It has been recognised this was a counting error. There is or will be a revision of that number.
Hancock in deep trouble.
Could he swing ‘our’ way?
Large increase in cases, almost all in the young
So he could say “this is building herd immunity” and it’s under control.
OR
He could say “we are watching the hospitalisations and death rates, if they don’t rise then more cases aren’t a concern”.
I wonder if his route out is to admit the truth and hope Joe Public are too thick to realise they have been had.
I don’t think he thinks he’s in trouble though…
He cares more about himself and protecting his reputation so he could wing it now and say what Carl has been saying for months.
As long as he “survives” he will do whatever it takes.
Just read the comments section in The Telegraph now, these are from the core Tory voters.
You wonder if anyone in government is actually reading the comments on the DT or whether they still think they are managing to pull the wool over our eyes?
Whats the latest on Hancock ?
Urgent House question tomorrow about large increase in cases when he has claimed all was under control.
Stupid question because the answer is obvious… they are testing more! Who is asking that question?
And is the question being asked with the specific and deliberate intention of creating a subtle nudge towards getting the House to vote for an extension of the coronavirus act?
How many MPs are actually bothering to properly monitor and analyse the statistics for hospitalisations and deaths, like we are?
They are not testing more in last week. “Cases” have increased on same testing levels.
They are testing different type of people maybe and those have tested positive for whatever reason.
You can adjust the sensitivity of tests to create more false positives. Positive test results are not a metric to make decision by. It’s a way to manipulate a narrative.
Or he could just lock us down again. Because he’s just that kind of guy.
Been proven in worse places for infection full lockdown and local lockdown have made no difference.
Locking down again would have no benefit for 90% of the country.
100%
Sorry? Since when was ‘proven’ relevant?
No chance. He will be locking us down and cancelling Christmas just like he did without Eid. And he’ll enjoy every second of it.
If he’s pointing at any kind of business closures, then I think this could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
I certainly hope so. Most businesses have been cowardly and compliant so far, but there’s a lot of stuff even in the hated MSM about “things opening up again”, “people are getting fed up with Zoom calls”, “when crowds are allowed back to football matches”, etc etc. So a narrative is building that we’re getting back to some sort of normality, though the MSM are also excessively fond of speculating about the “new normal”, and are pinning a lot of hope on the miraculous appearance of a vaccine. If another lockdown was proposed, I hope there would be a bit more resistance.
I feel obliged to condemn the Far Left totalitarian XR movement for its attempt to close down our press. But on the other hand the UK press have generally behaved so appallingly in terms of suppressing the truth about Covid, Lockdown effects and the Mask Madness they don’t really deserve much sympathy.
It’s part of the game. Like they keep saying “Tell the truth”. It’s all a well choreographed scam by both sides.
The establishment will use it as an excuse to clamp down hard on all protests with new rules and regulations – just wait and see. I suspect the hysterical media response was designed to give the government the green light. I have been watching some of the Extinction Rebellion protests on the ground this week – the police definitely go easy on them, so they have an element of approval from above.
You condemn the XR movement (forget the feft/right for now). If the tyranny being imposed on the population just now extends through many years and the Govt erect statues of Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson to honour them for their service in the time of Covid, would you condemn any protest in the future which tore down these statues along with carrying out civil disobedience to change the history or in the case of XR, the future?
Dan Andrews announced the tragic loss of life in Victoria due to Covid-19 yesterday from the day before. 5 people died tragically. One in their 80’s, three in their 90’s and one in their 100’s. Taking the mid point in each decade that gives an average age of 95 for those who died… whereas life expectancy in Australia is 82.5.
And they are extending lockdown to the end of October at the earliest…
But Melbourne Police doesn’t seem to have that much respect for the living elderly,watch their treatmemt of two elderly on parkbench not SD
https://twitter.com/DVATW/status/1302520852764819456
In a strong field, the stupidest quote from the UK (read: England) press briefings was “of course, every death in a care home is a tragedy.” (Hancock, of course)
I’m not for a minute diminishing the importance of the lives of individuals in care homes, but – for goodness sake – what does our Health Secretary thinks happens in care homes under normal circumstances?
Doctors say this is a HOAX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5YJhwJCS2o&feature=youtu.be
They actually mention the group they believe are behind it.
Emergent BioSolutions are behind CoVid-19 Crime of the Century ( Citizens arrest anyone??)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5YJhwJCS2o&feature=youtu.be
Thanks. Same link easier to click: https://youtu.be/l5YJhwJCS2o
A quote from Mark Twain ( or possibly not)
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
Whoever said it was right on the money
I don’t believe you.
Every day I read the update on this page hoping for some good news, and every day I leave more depressed than before. I feel like I’m living in a Kafka novel.
I know. Every day for weeks now I’ve been thinking that things can’t get any worse, but they do and will…..
Same here.. 🙁
same
Despicable. Haughty, callous indifference. No excuses for such behaviour. The Health Minister has an unhealthy mind.
I tell you – the bastards are going to be locking us up again very soon: …..
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/06/coronavirus-fears-uk-government-lost-control-cases-soar
The Guardian and BBC seem desperate for another lockdown. I have a bad feeling that Labour and the other parties will want something along the lines of the Melbourne police state lockdown – because they want to keep us ‘safe’. It could be complete tyranny unless the public wake up.
“Labour and the other parties”. There are no ‘other parties’. There is no opposition to this madness. We’re on our own.
I know. It is collective political madness. God know were they will lead us this winter. Food shortages in poor countries could soon spread to rich countries, and it isn’t the disease causing the problem – it is criminal government policies.
Why the heck are people getting tested voluntarily? Hospitalisations do not seem to be rising; these people are clearly not seriously ill.. Have they not twigged that positive tests just lead to more lockdowns?
Exactly. I heard the local BBC earlier this evening (Middlesbrough) stating that ‘Boro was a “place of concern”. There has been an increase in positive tests locally in recent days, so what has been done about it? You guessed. A mobile testing centre has been quickly set up in the town with a view to rapidly increasing the local testing capability. I wonder if that will result in more positive tests being found in the town?
The number of false positives outweigh the number of false negatives. That’s how the test is set. So do the maths… If you test 1000 people with no virus you are going to have net positive results. So this will never end. Especially if as in Victoria you pin ending lockdown to a particular case rate.
But according to the Guardian-rag hospital admissions lag “cases” by two weeks – a bare faced lie. If I had to guess I’d assume that upon psycho hair-brains like Handjob recently learning that excessive PCT cycles cause false positives, they have instructed the NHS and other criminal accessories to dial up the cycles to maximum.
Personally I think the genie is out of the bottle and their continued criminal hole digging is about to catch up with them.
These morons are desperate and that is the best time to catch them red-handed. I would suggest that real journalists like Toby submit urgent FOI requests to testing labs to find out how PCT testing cycles have been changed, when, and who instructed it. I find it deeply suspicious that the MSM recently explained PCT sensitivity in terms that fuckwits like Handjob might understand and hey presto a few days later we get a spike.
Great idea to do that FOI! Maybe Simon Dolan could do it if Toby does not have the time..
Instructed my local politician to do exactly that earlier this week. Just ask the Department of Health (Northern Ireland) for:
1. The number of false positives they believe are being returned. If they are considering it at all.
2. For the tests what is the average number of cycles being performed before a positive test is returned. Again, if this is being tracked at all.
Simple and should, you’d think, be easy to understand and get an answer on.
Of course, the answer is already known but it is about showing him a way in. Not scaring him with any claims of a plandemic etc
Madness. Paranoia. A brainwashed population. All of the above.
Yesterday I read a message on my local neighborhood chat:
My 5 year old has a slight temperature and a runny nose. Where can I get him tested for Covid?
This is the type of people who get tested. They are so stupid.
That child was probably at home for months, went to school and got a cold. No need for Covid test.
This seems to be the plan for schools; different tiers of lockdown… https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/back-to-school-coronavirus-rules/
Is there a bias in those getting tested? Young mobile types perhaps. Not thought about this but self reporting would seem to be a bias.
Quite obviously not, unless they get some info from non-MSM how would they ever know?
There’s something very suspicious about that article. A woman with nausea and diarrhoea said she was asked to travel 57 miles for a test. Another person ‘a Leicester constituent’ (ha ha) a 100 mile round trip for a test. Who would be insane enough to do that? If you’re ill, go to hospital, I bet they’ll test you then. This is more bulshit and the Guardian angling for more lockdown. (Oh wait Bill Gates funds them.) Interesting that there was no result published for Jackie with the nausea and temperature ffs.
And by the way, if you do a search on the internet about ‘soaring’ rates in France and ignore the MSM you will see that there are no increases in hospitalisations and/or deaths. Now the party line is that it is young people ‘and it can still be dangerous because they will pass it on.’ Pass me the sick bag….and then a gun.
A bit of lavatorial humour seems appropriate for the idea of travelling 57 miles while suffering from diarrhoea.
https://brandnewtube.com/watch/i-039-m-back-september-6th-2020_ZREIFY8auhMpzzQ.html
I’m Back! (September 6th 2020)
Dr Vernon Coleman
06 Sep 2020
Censorship is bad for the evolution of the human mind and spirit. Boris is an idiot if he legislates new restrictions on protests.
Why do I have the feeling that Corbyn’s arrest(s), at this time means that things are going to get a lot worse?
Yes, they are really clamping down hard on non establishment / internationally approved protests. Why do they always seem to require a dozen policemen to arrest a peaceful 73 year old? intimidation tactics.
You would have thought it was a Millwall v West Ham game the police presence on Downing Street on Saturday. The police were dying to give the peaceful protestors a beating given the opportunity. Luckily people don’t fall for their tactics.
Did you see the pregnant woman being arrested by half a dozen knuckle dragging thugs in Australia for try to organise a peaceful protest against lockdowns on Facebook? Can’t believe it’s happening in western democracies in 2020
There aren’t really any Western democracies anymore. Parliament seem to have outsourced all decision making to the WHO (basically big Phama, Bill Gates and the UN). Bill Gates recently sinisterly said that perhaps people have too much freedom – there has coincidently been a big online / offline clamp down on anyone questioning the MSM narrative. Who is really in charge of the world?
When did he say that about too much freedom?
I am sure I saw the actual interview. But this article covers the interview – Marketwatch is mainstream media. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bill-gates-the-worst-of-the-pandemic-is-yet-to-come-and-freedom-played-a-part-in-the-disappointing-us-response-2020-08-20
In the case of Corbyn’s latest arrest, this time he was not actually the organiser of the protest – yet he was still held for the best part of 24 hours.. he should not have been arrested at all, given the facts. Are they trying to bankrupt him by fining him twice?
Probably, but I think it’s more sinister than that. I think that they just want to crush any dissent* until…well, I really don’t know what the end game is, unless I start to sound like a conspiracy theorist of course…
Yes, but why arrest the same person twice?
Pure intimidation and bullying tactics – yet defended universally on the left and right politically.
Delores Cahill arrested on returning to Ireland from Edinburgh too. She refused to provide details for track and trace.
Not arrested – see my post..
Seen that. Thanks for the update carrie
Do the general public actually deserve people like Piers Corbyn fighting their corner for them? Is it possible, in fact, that lockdown sceptics are making things easier for the government?
If there was no opposition to the government’s policies whatsoever from critical thinkers and people with actual brains or a sense of human rights, the bedwetters would eventually have to come to terms with this whole thing being permanent, and there would be no one to blame but the government.
At the moment, people like Piers Corbyn, derided as conspiracy theorists or whatever, are the focus of their derision (soon to be hatred), not the government. Perhaps the sceptics should just go quiet, wear their masks and let the government hang itself.
Yellow Vest Ireland1 hr
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BREAKING NEWS — Prof Dolores Cahill is currently being unlawfully detained by Dublin Airport security awaiting the arrival of Gardaí. Dolores was returning from a public speaking event in Edinburgh. See page for updates as it breaks.
Please share
In her speech in Edinburgh she remarked how well she had been treated going outward through the airport. Her speech deserves hearing.
You can skip to it through this video of the day.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/732064013
The international police state is starting to kick into action. It doesn’t look like they are going to accept anything but complete submission – they seem very keen to install all these Digital IDs and other control methods as fast as possible.
“The international police state is starting to kick into action” assisted by the EU Army remember, that was the one that we were never going to be a part of but we are now, now that we’ve ‘left’ the EU…
https://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-4th-september-2020
I wasn’t under any illusion we would leave other than in name only. The UK and EU have become incredibly interlinked over the past few decades. With the influence of US big tech on the country we’re not exactly free whatever happens. The UK also now seems beholden to the United Nations and its subsidiary organisations backed by global corporations and billionaires.
Not true! https://www.facebook.com/IrexitFreetoProsper
Cannot see face book can you please add a brief update of Cahills situation. Thanks.
‘Irish Freedom Party chairwoman, Prof Dolores Cahill has left Dublin airport.
She was never illegally detained or arrested.
Prof. Dolores Cahill was talking to the Airport police this evening in relation to her constitutional rights which apparently have been upheld and she has left the airport for home.
She does not wear a mask or disclose her travel details for the Covid scare.’
Thanks and great news. You were faster than quick with that Carrie.
Just happened to see your request at the right time 🙂
So it was just true-ish: she was leant on in a manner technically consistent with the law, and she pushed back.
From the Department of Oddities but published in a scientific journal
“We now analyze all reliable genetic, epidemiological and geophysical and astrophysical data. This leads to the alternate hypothesis that COVID-19 arrived via a meteorite, a presumed relatively fragile and loose carbonaceous meteorite, that struck North East China on October 11, 2019”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7358766/
Thought this guy might be involved when I saw the subject!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_Wickramasinghe
Do you remember Brexiteers being labelled ‘conspiracy theory nut jobs’ and the like when it was suggested that our armed forces would come under EU command? Oh look, haven’t we officially left the EU?
EU armed forces would never work closely with civil authorities (ie the Police) to deal with such matters as civil unrest would they? Oh look….
https://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-4th-september-2020
The Establishment have wanted this for years and they always get their way in the end. Absolutely bizarre the UK seem to want to destroy it’s military’s independence (we are reliant on foreign technology already). Maybe the UN really is going to take over much more control worldwide soon.
Are all the trade talks (and disputes re fishing etc) merely supposed to be distracting us from what’s really going on then?
Rhetorical…?
Partly…
A doctor writing to the Guardian yesterday evidently thought so:
‘ The media are not reporting the complete picture (i.e.rising ‘cases’ but low hospital admissions and death rates). This is misleading. The UK government reports the same incomplete evidence. Why? I’d suggest that perpetuation of fear and allowing the current chaos to continue, without hope, might allow a no-deal Brexit to slip through with less coverage and challenge. Keeping away from potentially optimistic Covid-19 evidence might also let this administration put pressure on local government, supported by poorly defined and possibly exaggerated risk. This will ensure local authorities are blamed for mistakes, helping to keep this government in power.
Dr Ray Sinclair
Retired intensive care consultant, St Agnes, Cornwall
Printing this now, when they have surely had many such letters during recent months, coupled with the report by Larry Elliott today drawing attention to the Bank of England cost benefit paper, does give a tiny cause for optimism? Though so many people have said that so often, I can’t really think the tide is actually turning.
Live in hope …
Veterans for Britain has lots of info about the defence issue, seems there has been little debate or even basic curiosity in many cases, from MPs. It also appears that the last few years, May was very keen to keep us under the thumb in terms of EU defence structures, approving things like the Euopean Defence Fund (after a meeting of the EU council) it appears she forgot to mention this in Parliament…
Live now Mark Windows here:
https://windowsontheworld.net/live-shows/
With live chat.
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31139-9?dgcid=raven_jbs_aip_email ACTIVATE is a prospective randomised trial of BCG vaccination in the elderly
BCG decreased the time to first infection and the incidence of new infection
Strongest protection was found against viral respiratory tract infections
There has been reports of BCG mitigating C-19.This RCT shows a general decrease of viral infections in elderly after BCG vaccinations