Day: 21 September 2020

Unfortunately, the "city of mosques" has become "the city of maskes" as Istanbul pretends to play its part in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. But before fellow sceptics stop reading or cross Istanbul off their Covid bucket list, there is good news. Despite fairly rigid enforcement of "maske, maske!" in shops, public transport and museums, we walked the streets naked – except for our clothes – without challenge or even a second look from the Istanbulis. The face mask here is not considered a virtue signal, rather it is considered a talisman. It does not matter where it is worn, so long as it is worn. Under the nose, under the chin, on the elbow (yes!) and I even saw one person with a mask on the back of his neck. These all seemed acceptable and, in fact, there were plenty of people who, like us, had simply abandoned them. The police were not enforcing mask wearing and were among the worst offenders for not doing so. Our hotel was next to the Karakoy Police station where Istanbul’s finest sat sunning themselves daily, ready to fall asleep at a minute’s notice. They watched us walk past several times a day without comment. In any case, such is the Istanbul love of street eating that in many of the back streets, if ...

Oxford University Scientists Demolish Government Case for Second Lockdown Professor Carl Heneghan and crew at the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine have been working overtime at the weekend pushing back against the Government narrative. The Mail yesterday published their demolition of the Government's paper-thin case for imposing yet more emergency restrictions to try to suppress and eliminate this virus. Entitled "The only 'circuit break' in the pandemic we need now is from the Government’s doom-mongering scientific advisers who specialise in causing panic and little else", they don't hold back. Today, our bewildered Prime Minister and his platoon of inept advisers might as well be using the planets to guide us through this pandemic, so catastrophic and wildly over-the-top are their decisions.Now we look set to repeat the pattern of what happened six months ago when they first panicked the country into shutting down, except that this time it has been given a fancy title – operation ‘circuit break’.Whatever the name, it may be a grave error with terrible consequences for the health of the British people and for the health of the country. How can we possibly be making the same mistake – again?Why is it that the Government is once again in the grip of doom-mongering scientific modellers who specialise in causing panic and little else? They address head-on ...