From Tragedy to Farce: Boris Forgets His Own Rules
Several million people in the North-East had yet more Byzantine regulations inflicted on them yesterday by a Government that seems never to see a nut that doesn’t put it in mind of a hammer. Yet hours later, the Prime Minister himself was unable accurately to explain the new rules. Ross Clark in the Telegraph has more.
The Prime Minister has never exactly been a details man, but even so his failure accurately to recall the rules he had imposed on several million people in the North-East only hours before marks a new low in the Government’s handling of COVID-19. To come up with this myriad of rules, change them every few days, and to impose massive fines for failing to remember them, is a form of arbitrary rule which would have shamed one of the Tsars, let alone a democratically-elected UK Government.
The PM’s gaffe comes on the same day that ‘Skills Minister’ Gillian Keegan was asked on the Today programme whether the new restrictions announced for the North-East would allow two households to meet outdoors, and she said she had no idea.
Such embarrassments expose the mess which the Government has created in its fondness for local lockdowns. If members of the Government can’t keep up, what hope the rest of the population?
It’s not as if local lockdowns work, points out Ross:
Just what is the point of local lockdowns anyway? In dreaming up ever more bizarre regulations and huge fines to go with them, the Government has overlooked evidence that is staring it in the face: local lockdowns don’t work. Take Bolton. In the week before local restrictions were imposed on Greater Manchester boroughs at the end of July, 3,886 cases of COVID-19 had been recorded in Bolton. In spite of its residents have since been deprived of freedoms which most of the rest of the country enjoyed through the summer, the number of cases there has since mushroomed to a cumulative 9,274.
Perhaps someone should tell Angela Merkel, as she readies Germany for local lockdowns to counter their “second wave”.
Is Madrid The “Capital of Europe’s Second Wave”?
The Telegraph has run another scare article about how bad things are in Spain. I have to say it’s very disorienting reading the Telegraph at the moment. Almost all the comment is of an outspoken, sceptical flavour but the news section seems to be colonised by lockdown zealots. It makes it feel like they come from two parallel universes, one where COVID-19 is an overrated virus to which we’re all overreacting and the other in which we’re all doomed.
Anyhow, here’s what one news reporter has to say about Madrid, which he has dubbed “the capital of Europe’s second wave” .
The Madrid region, dominated by the city and its large suburbs to the south, has a cumulative caseload of 722 positives per 100,000 inhabitants in a two-week period – 2.5 times the average for Spain as a whole. In Paris, that number is just 204, despite France having daily case numbers to rival those of Spain.
The hurried reopening is just one example of carelessness on the part of local government, critics say, which extends to currently underestimating the strain on hospitals and failing to establish a working test and trace system.
Spain’s Government is threatening to intervene once more and ramp up what it sees as limited measures put in place by Madrid, which last week placed one million people in 45 of 286 districts under local lockdown, meaning they can only leave their home areas for essential reasons.
Sounds frightening, right? But here’s what they don’t tell you. The epidemic in Spain peaked weeks ago. According to the Carlos III Public Health Institute new cases by date of symptom onset peaked and plateaued by the end of August. Here’s the graph, courtesy of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine:
What’s happening in the hospitals right now? Here are the graphs for Spain and Madrid:
In other words, no growth for over a week. This represents around 10% capacity nationally and 25% in Madrid. Here’s the graph of deaths:
Deaths appear to have peaked on September 17th, though are yet to enter sustained decline (these figures are by date of death so the most recent figures will likely be revised upwards in coming days).
So the “second wave” in Spain, far from exhibiting exponential growth towards the catastrophic levels predicted here (and recall that Spain was one of the cautionary tales highlighted by Witless and Unbalanced at their press conference last week), stopped growing over a month ago and is nowhere near overwhelming the healthcare system.
Is this because the new restrictions imposed on the population were successful at “controlling” the virus? Nope. Madrid has been resisting imposing new restrictions, only doing so in certain parts of the city last week. Some lighter restrictions, such as lowering limits on venue capacity and gatherings, were imposed citywide on September 7th. All of these measures came well after the epidemic peaked and plateaued near the end of August.
The lesson: yet again a COVID-19 epidemic goes into spontaneous decline before lockdowns or other interventions could possibly have made a difference. Why? Almost certainly due to the further development of collective immunity – in this case presumably making up for delay caused by the strict lockdown in the spring. Spontaneous decline is a pattern seen in Sweden, in Belarus (where the excess deaths as reported to the United Nations suggest a Covid death toll about the same as Sweden’s), and in South Dakota, all of which refused to lock down and none of which saw more than 0.06% of their populations die, most of them very elderly. All had a lower death toll per million than the UK.
When will our Government and its advisers open their eyes to the plain evidence that COVID-19 does not infect or kill anywhere near as many as they initially feared?
Boris is due to appear with Witless and Unbalanced for a press conference again today (this time with questions, it is rumoured). Will we see a change of heart and strategy? Not likely.
Stop Press: Yesterday the UK reported a record 7,143 new cases, to the unconfined joy of the doom-mongers. But note that this follows three consecutive days of sharp decline, and when plotted by date of specimen still doesn’t yet show any significant growth in the last week. They’re still clearing the backlog from the ramp-up in testing. Prof Carl Heneghan and the team at CEBM have started following the cases here to see how they compare with the graph of doom.
New Paper Blows Imperial’s Catastrophic Predictions Out The Water
A team of epidemiologists including Dr Gabriela Gomes published a new preprint yesterday with a model that they say fits the data better and makes better predictions. It is based on assuming greater variation in pre-existing immunity and susceptibility, and concludes that “most of the slowing and reversal of COVID-19 mortality is explained by the build-up of herd immunity”. Here’s the abstract:
The classic Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model formulated by Kermack and McKendrick assumes that all individuals in the population are equally susceptible to infection. From fitting such a model to the trajectory of mortality from COVID-19 in 11 European countries up to 4 May 2020 Flaxman et al. concluded that “major non-pharmaceutical interventions – and lockdowns in particular – have had a large effect on reducing transmission”. We show that relaxing the assumption of homogeneity to allow for individual variation in susceptibility or connectivity gives a model that has better fit to the data and more accurate 14-day forward prediction of mortality. Allowing for heterogeneity reduces the estimate of “counterfactual” deaths that would have occurred if there had been no interventions from 3.2 million to 262,000, implying that most of the slowing and reversal of COVID-19 mortality is explained by the build-up of herd immunity. The estimate of the herd immunity threshold depends on the value specified for the infection fatality ratio (IFR): a value of 0.3% for the IFR gives 15% for the average herd immunity threshold.
It’s written in technical language so not an easy read for non-specialists. But it’s an important scientific contribution to modelling this virus and is well worth a look for any armchair (or trained) epidemiologists. According to the researchers’ calculations, the Imperial College model overestimated the “counterfactual” deaths from COVID-19 – the number that would have died in the “do nothing” scenario in Professor Ferguson et al‘s infamous March 16th report – by a factor of 11.4. If you divide 510,000 by 11.4 you get 43,814, which is almost exactly the number that have died so far. In other words, the NHS was never in danger of being overwhelmed, the lockdown made zero difference and there will be no second wave.
Stop Press: Watch a new interview with Professor Sunetra Gupta on “Something that is becoming a scientific fact: Pre-existing resistance to COVID-19“. Can someone please tell Chris Whitty?
Curfew Chaos
As the new 10pm curfew on nightlife causes some of the biggest closing time chaos ever seen (leading Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to call for the curfew to be scrapped) a reader sends us the messages he received from his daughter who had been out in it.
“I went out on Saturday night in Manchester for the first time since March and the 10pm curfew was a bloody shambles! It was horrendous! It was worse than any normal kickout time I’ve ever seen in town! Throw into the mix that all the takeaways shut at the same time so no one could get post drink food, and it was bloody bedlam! The streets, taxi ranks, bus stops, trams were rammed way more than they would have been under normal circumstances. It’s put me off going out again. Bloody joke!”
She went on:
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I’d had a lovely evening and the bar I had been in had done loads to ensure it was a safe and pleasant experience and not too different to how it would have been prior to lockdown, in fact it was better, as the music was at a volume where we could still talk, it wasn’t packed and sweaty like normal and it was table service so there was no queuing at the bar etc and then we walked out into absolute chaos! I ended up spending more than I planned so I could get a taxi home rather than squeezing on to the tram”.
“Apparently that’s safer though than three children, who spend all day every day playing together and interacting at school together, having a sleepover in a safe, clean and supervised environment. Madness!”
She’s had to cancel our granddaughter’s (already greatly diminished) upcoming eighth birthday sleepover with four friends (she’d booked a company to come round and put up mini teepees in the lounge with fairy lights and all sorts) and now it’s just her and her step-sister, because they’ve received an email from their school ‘reminding’ them they should not be socializing between households.
Her WhatsApp message below illustrates the further madness and overlooked cruelty, not to mention the negative impact on local businesses such as the party entertainment company, that all these wholly unnecessary and unevidenced restrictions are having on just about everyone. Or in my daughter’s more succinct language – bulls**t.
“I didn’t have an issue with it and neither did the other parents, seeing as they are all in the same bubble at school all day but school sent out an email this morning saying that they’ve become aware of families socialising and having sleepovers etc, which puts the school at increased risk of an outbreak and possible closure, so they have said if they become aware of any more breaches, they will have no choice but to report them. I can’t expect my daughter and her friends not to talk about it and don’t want to tell them to keep secrets, so we’re going to organise something for once it’s all over. She was a little upset to start with but she handled it so well, I was so proud of her. She nearly made me cry because after she’d got over the initial upset, she thanked me for still organising it for her! She’s such a thoughtful child. I hate that she’s missing out on so much because of all this bs!!”
Snooping Neighbours: Police Crash Girl’s Tenth Birthday Party
Perhaps she was right to cancel the party, given the way the police behaved in Ayrshire, Scotland. The Mirror has the story.
Two police officers turned up at a 10-year-old girl’s birthday party after a neighbour reported the family for breaking Scotland’s strict Covid rules.
Mum Leanne Macdonald claims relatives had been “nipping in” to her house to hand little Myla her presents.
She said she “could not believe it” when two uniformed officers later entered her home warning her she was “on alert” and would be fined and charged if she broke the rules again.
Leanne told the Daily Record : “I could not believe it. They came to the door and told me I had been reported for having people in my house.
“I was shocked. The funny thing is, they actually came in to my house to tell me my home was ‘on alert’ and if I broke the rules again I would be fined and charged.
“So the police can come in my house, but my family can’t?”
She said she hadn’t been aware of a change in the rules and had arranged for family members to come at different times so they didn’t go over the limit. What an appalling state our liberties are in when a 10 year-old girl can’t have her relatives visit on her birthday.
Eric Clapton Joins Van Morrison’s Anti-Lockdown Campaign
Another wrinkly rocker with sense. Here’s the press release.
Van Morrison has thanked fans for their recent support – as Eric Clapton joins his campaign to Save Live Music.
Belfast musician Van played a series of three concerts at the London Palladium last week and also released the first of his three new anti-lockdown songs “Born To Be Free”.
Van has been calling for venues to reopen again at full capacity. Now Eric Clapton has come out in support of the campaign.
Eric Clapton said: “It is deeply upsetting to see how few gigs are going ahead because of the lockdown restrictions. There are many of us who support Van and his endeavours to save live music, he is an inspiration! We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The alternative is not worth thinking about. Live music might never recover.”
Van released “Born To Be Free” last Friday and it was made available for download and streaming on major music sites including Amazon Music, Apple Music and Deezer. The track has clearly resonated with many who share his frustrations.
Van Morrison said: “Thanks to everyone who came to the Palladium shows and who have supported the new single. The gigs were great and proved that live performance can operate safely. Now we need the Government to ease restrictions further and instil confidence that venues are safe and enjoyable places to be for everyone.”
If enough Lockdown Sceptics readers download “Born To Be Free” will it get to number one on iTunes? You can download it here.
18 Year-Old Writes To His MP
Lockdown Sceptics reader Gilbert Jackson is just 18 but he has wasted no time in writing to his MP to tell him what he thinks of how the Government is trashing his youth and education.
I did not think I would have to be writing to my local MP at the age of 18, but I feel compelled to do so as my civic duty. The restrictions are becoming increasingly absurd and restrictive yet again, with no evidence whatsoever that they are proportionate or necessary. They are taking an unjustified toll on the mental and physical health of the entire country, and they have to end now. This is why I am urging you to vote against the renewal of the Coronavirus emergency powers on Wednesday September 30th. Emergency powers are not justified for one day longer, and certainly not for two more years.
I would first like to make you aware of the damage that lockdown and continuing restrictions has had on my life. I did not see friends for three months from March, which significantly harmed my mental health, and still haven’t seen some. I was meant to be in university now, however I realised when I arrived that it was simply not what university should be. Masks everywhere, online teaching, threats of expulsion for partying, all for students who have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than killed by Covid. This is proved from the US: 48,000 positive tests in students so far, two hospitalisations and zero deaths. 305 people under 60 have died with Covid without pre-existing conditions here in the UK, in a population of 68 million.
Do you remember the initial three week lockdown to protect the NHS, flatten the curve and save lives? I was on board with that as was almost the whole country as it made sense due to the catastrophic predictions of hospitals being overrun. The three weeks ended, deaths had fallen dramatically, so had infections, and it was clear we were past the peak and hospitals had been nowhere near being overrun. Nightingale hospitals weren’t even needed (and are now being decommissioned at eye watering cost). Yet we were then told we needed to stay indoors for an additional 12 weeks. A big ask, but acceptable, we thought. Six months on from that and we are being told to expect an additional six months of restrictions. …
How can it be such a deadly disease that you need to be tested to know if you have it? The real data we have (not Imperial College’s imagined model outputs) suggests that age isn’t even the main risk factor, the presence of other serious medical conditions is (which do of course correlate with age). 95% of deaths had at least one comorbidity, and the average age of death is over 80. These are official figures from the ONS freely available to everyone. Also, the ONS figures have plainly shown that the pandemic has been over since May. Deaths have continued to trend downwards, now accounting for 1% of all weekly deaths. The data shows no spikes for any protests or mass gatherings that were talked up into a frenzy in the news. The Government, scientists on SAGE, at Imperial College London and elsewhere seem entirely ignorant of the real world data which time and again is not fitting with their models.
The smearing by the media and politicians of those who have sought to look at the data themselves and come to different conclusions than the Government scientists as conspiracy theorists has been despicable. Heavy-handed treatment of lockdown protestors is entirely unjust when they are simply standing up for basic freedoms which are now being withheld for an indeterminate length of time by the Government who give no indication of wanting to restore them any time soon.
This is why the Coronavirus emergency powers need to be revoked in full, rather than the amendment proposed by Sir Graham Brady. With Parliament appearing almost entirely supportive of suppression regardless of cost until a vaccine, which will likely not come for years or be as effective as people profess, I simply do not trust that the amendment will have much of an effect in stopping the immense harm being done to the British public. Life can be normal again. It is only the irrational fear promoted as a policy of Government that is preventing it.
I urge you to vote against the renewal of the Act, and that you and your colleagues look at all the available evidence and listen to all the viewpoints of eminent scientists such as Professor Carl Heneghan and Professor Sunetra Gupta. It is time to hold the Government to account for their arrogance, lies, and the vast amount of damage they are doing to the economy, livelihoods and mental and physical health.
Find Gilbert on Twitter at @youth_unheard.
Telegraph‘s Allison Pearson Censored on Twitter
Telegraph columnist and Planet Normal host Allison Pearson was suspended from Twitter for her “abusive” sceptical views. She writes:
I woke yesterday morning to find that I had been locked out of Twitter for “violating our rules against abuse and harassment”. I was dumbfounded. Which of my recent tweets had been abusive or harassed anyone? I glanced down the email to see something I had posted last week in response to yet another We’re All Doomed! report on the BBC news. “How hard is it for people to understand? We WANT students to get the virus. They will speed us towards community immunity. It may not be very far off.”
Whether you agree with my tweet or not, it accurately represents the opinion of a number of distinguished scientists, including Oxford’s Prof Sunetra Gupta (whom I interviewed for the Planet Normal podcast) and Prof Michael Levitt, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2013. Neither is a wacky Covid-denier. They just happen to agree that the worst-case scenario of 500,000 deaths arrived at back in March by Professor Neil Ferguson, which presumed (wrongly) that all age groups were equally susceptible to the virus, was possibly inflated by a factor of 10 or 12. They also reckon that the best strategy now is to shield the elderly and the vulnerable and allow the virus to infect the healthy population, notably the young, so we build up that terrific community immunity that seems to have served the Swedes so well.
She concludes:
The cure is now far worse than the disease, Prime Minister. There are people who would rather die than live in this theatre of the absurd. The risks your scientists frighten us with are vanishingly small. Even under Imperial’s worst case scenario of 500,000 deaths without lockdown, only 99.3% of the UK’s population would not have succumbed to the virus. Many will suffer with loneliness and some will lose the will to live. Many, many more will perish from other diseases. It’s quite simple; shield the vulnerable and let the rest of us get on with pulling this great country out of the mire.
You may get locked out of Twitter for saying it, but I won’t stop. Censorship be damned. The truth will out.
Worth reading in full.
Round-Up
- “Is the second wave slowing?” – The ever dependable Ross Clark in the Spectator
- “False positive tests” – The latest from Dr Malcolm Kendrick
- “Tax hikes or austerity needed to pay for Covid spending, warns IFS” – What do they know, haven’t they heard of the magic money tree?
- “Co-op Funeralcare staff use ‘tricks’ to boost profits after lockdown” – Miserable story in the Telegraph about the underhand pursuit of profits and disrespect to the dead during the epidemic
- “Richard Madeley: Lockdown doesn’t work, this pointless game of hide and seek must stop” – The presenter goes full sceptic on talkRADIO
- “Sweden’s Covid stance is a lesson for Britain” – Some good stuff here from Clare Foges in the Times. But it is yet another article that argues Sweden is too different from the UK for its approach to be applicable here. The world appears to be entering a phase of some serious denial
- “These restrictions are a concerted assault on our civil liberties” – Richard Littlejohn in the Mail is justifiably crowing that he told us so, pointing out that way back on March 3rd he was warning about the zeal of public health advisers: “What you have to remember is that pandemics are their World Cup Final, their Six Nations, their Wimbledon tennis championships, all rolled into one. Out will come the hi-viz jackets, the face masks, the tented decontamination units…”
- “Boris has become a Puritan” – Tom Hodgkinson in the Idler on how Boris has morphed from Charles II into Oliver Cromwell
- “Leaked data gives first view of growing cancer waiting list post Covid peak” – Rebecca Thomas in the Health Service Journal on how official data from mid-September shows that nearly 6,400 people had to wait more than 100 days following a referral to cancer services
- “NHS chief warns against ‘age-based apartheid’ in coronavirus response” – Apparently we have to live in eternal lockdown because it isn’t practical to shield the high risk. Sometimes you feel that they just don’t want it to end, so weak are the excuses they come up with for dismissing any solution except lockdown or vaccine
- “‘Tougher and tougher rules’ won’t win war on Covid, says WHO envoy” – The solution is that we must all willingly conform to the New Normal. Simple
- “Do those scary Covid stats really add up?” – Diana Kimpton takes issue with the Government’s presentation of the data in Conservative Woman
- “Media Gunning For Scott Atlas Because He Keeps Exposing Coronavirus Lies” – Trump has brought a true and informed sceptic into his inner circle and the media are not happy
- “Other countries have shown how we don’t need a lockdown to supress coronavirus” – Prof Devi Sridhar has become a lockdown sceptic – kind of. She now thinks it’s all about strict border controls, track and trace, and self-isolation, forever. Anything except immunity…
- “Even Theresa May looks a paragon of competence against this lot” – It’s safe to say Jeremy Warner is unimpressed in the Telegraph
- “Sorry Mr Hancock, here’s why I won’t be downloading your app” – Philip Johnston in the Telegraph lays it on the line
- “It is sheer hubris to think you can ‘defeat’ a virus” – Sean Walsh in Conservatives Global thinks the Government has bitten off more than it can chew
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Three today: “The College Student Blues” by Alchemeleon, “College & Prison” by Najje and “Germ-Free Adolescents” by X-Ray Spex.
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention. 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.
Update: Some of you have asked how to link to particular stories on Lockdown Sceptics. The answer used to be to first click on “Latest News”, then click on the links that came up beside the headline of each story. But we’ve changed that so the link now comes up beside the headline whether you’ve clicked on “Latest News” or you’re just on the Lockdown Sceptics home page. Please do share the stories with your friends and on social media.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a one-stop shop 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 (takes a while to arrive). 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 £1.99 from Etsy here. And, finally, if you feel obliged to wear a mask but want to signal your disapproval of having to do so, you can get a “sexy world” mask with the Swedish flag on it 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.
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).
Samaritans
If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected] or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
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 hard work (although we have help from lots of people, mainly in the form of readers sending us stories and links). 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.
And Finally…
Discussion
Comments
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Just returned from trip to Morrison’s; a truly dismal experience.
I’m now the sole bare faced person in the entire place.
The female half of a smartly dressed couple attempted a disapproving look as I approached her, but thought better of it when she saw my badge.
There is a surreal decidedly dysfunctional air about the place now; thoroughly disturbing and unsettling: an elderly bloke stood back to let me pass and when I thanked him,he just stared,totally expressionless..
What kind of a society is it where mass gagging destroys all normal day to day encounters and leaves the few who don’t mask up feeling like criminals?
Home deliveries are a bit too costly for my budget, so I’ll keep going.
Should anyone try to challenge me I’ll use the ‘hate crime’ warning; much as I despise it , it could come in useful.
Finally, my pal who does the weekly walk with me, is now worried that she might be reported because we shared a harmless cup of coffee in her home 2 days ago.
My sanity and my self control are on the edge.
Keep going, you are not alone, as a famous Dr says.
There is a surreal decidedly dysfunctional air about the place now; thoroughly disturbing and unsettling: an elderly bloke stood back to let me pass and when I thanked him,he just stared,totally expressionless..
What kind of a society is it where mass gagging destroys all normal day to day encounters and leaves the few who don’t mask up feeling like criminals?
Exactly. (Bit don’t know if you’ll see this post now.)
Todays page is now open boys and girls
Brazil are coming out of it now , they let covid run its course , and received a lot of criticism. Deaths and infection s are now steadily falling I think by xmas it will be over there.
However here , it could drag on for years it’s very depressing.
Just read this in Breitbart comments
https://www.theguardian.com…
I was Boris Johnson’s boss: he is utterly unfit to be prime minister
Max Hastings
This article is more than 1 year old
The Tory party is about to foist a tasteless joke upon the British people. He cares for nothing but his own fame and gratification
He would not recognise the truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade
I have known Johnson since the 1980s, when I edited the Daily Telegraph and he was our flamboyant Brussels correspondent. I have argued for a decade that, while he is a brilliant entertainer who made a popular maître d’ for London as its mayor, he is unfit for national office, because it seems he cares for no interest save his own fame and gratification.
Tory MPs have launched this country upon an experiment in celebrity government, matching that taking place in Ukraine and the US, and it is unlikely to be derailed by the latest headlines. The Washington Post columnist George Will observes that Donald Trump does what his political base wants “by breaking all the china”. We can’t predict what a Johnson government will… Read more »
Very prescient
I flipped through that at the time thinking Max was being jealous or something.
Daughters school has turned off the water for the pupils because of risk of cross contamination. The only water available has to be paid for. I was under the impression that access to water was a human right. Pubs have to provide drinking water for free if asked dont they?
To take a leaf from the great Mendeleev’s achievements-(I beg his forgiveness)- I suggest that the regular pronouncements by the Gang of Three by renamed The Periodic Fables.
New episode hopefully out tomorrow (1984 SPECIAL!) Until then, please pop back and have a listen, tell your friends, people who disagree with you and anyone you can think of! See you in the next pod!
https://therealnormalpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
Following on from Whitty’s lie on TV that social distancing and lockdowns caused the death curve to drop (as the curve is the same shape for all countries with similar climates), and also what was pointed out here:
Surely this is an argument for not wearing masks? Since following the logic the drop occurred before the mask mandates?
But of course silly me, it’s not about logic. It’s about a talisman.
Symbolism and talismans trump reality.
Whitty is contradicting himself. He had already admitted to Parliament that the curve turned before lockdown.
Good point re masks. The data condemns them all over the world. But as you say, that’s not the point. The point is compliance. I would disagree with you on them being a talisman – talismans are worn voluntarily. This is a mark of submission, welcomed only by political masochists.
I’ve bought one with “This is Bullshit” written on it in big bold letters
And plays on the irrationality of people
Whitty, Vallance and the government are caught in a confirmation bias loop. They implicitly believe that the susceptibility of the population to the virus is north of 80+ percent and that the only way to prevent a rapid rise in infection rates is to impose lockdowns, social distancing and other non-pharmaceutical controls. This is implicit in the Imperial College model. We even heard it propounded on the BBC news this morning. Here is the argument – the rates of infection are falling (good news) ergo the imposed controls are working (confirmation bias at work).
In fact, the growing body of evidence, and this has been clear since before the first lock down in late March, is that the susceptibility of the population is low (perhaps as low as 30% or less) and that the reason the rate of infection slows down is it is finding it increasingly difficult to find hosts to infect. Now we have developing evidence in T-cell activity etc, the available epidemiological data for countries with and without lockdown etc. To support this inference that susceptibility is low. There is a growing body of work by scientists (Levitt, Heneghan, Gupta, Gomes, Ioannidis amongst others) that all point… Read more »
I only half heard on Radio 4 half an hour ago a professor tentatively saying the rise in infections might be slowing – but if it was to continue it depended on lots of social distancing, hand washing and masking.
I don’t know about hand washing and social distancing but the mask wearing seems to have been fanatical – and what has that done?.
Don’t wash your hands. Your skin comes coated in an oil and when a “virus” lands on it the oil in the skin soaks it up and you’re fine. When you wash your hands in some petroleum based toxic shit you leave yourself exposed. I haven’t washed my hand in 40 years outside of the shower in the morning or i’m covered in oil from working on a motorcycle but even then i’m not bothered. Never been sick, neither have my children and yet we all know people who clean and clean and wipe everything with Detol and they’re the ones who always get sick, their kids have sickness and diarrhoea and they always seem overly worried about illness. Roll around in the dirt like a child. I ride motocross bikes for the fun in the dirt and i’m sure the combination of extreme exercise and dirt keeps me healthy.
The clean folk get more asthma and allergies.
And that’s why kids now generally catch every bug going – weakened immune systems due to excessive cleanliness. This crisis is exacerbating that.
R4 news says it shows Rule of 6 is working already🤔😅
Calling people with disabilities ‘irresponsible’, isn’t that hate speech?
Seems you forgot to tell them to fuck off
Awful; and as we discussed yesterday the ‘sisterhood’ seems to be responsible for a lot of this self righteous persecution now manifesting.
People with disabilities have been on the receiving end of government hate speech for years now.
And no, I am not exaggerating.
sorry to hear this KH – hope it goes ok with the environmental mob.
I agree to the discussion earlier that it’s more often bloody women who can be the worse, bitchy, gossipy, blaming, hypocritical and shrill witches behind their flowery masks! I think I’m allowed to say that as i’m a women! 🙂
Sorry to hear this story, but then again I guess you are more on the front line than most of us.
I was out and about yesterday in lots of shops/banks and noticed a noticeably more aggressive, if that’s the right word, approach to my non muzzle wearing. The result, I guess, of propaganda telling that the rule breakers are meaning more restrictions for everyone else.
Those two women don’t amount to very much, so no need to be concerned at their disdain.
Good luck with whatever is happening regarding the Environmental Health. I’m sure you know the rules and how to be just inside them so as to get you through it.
One day you’ll be proud of all this, and the people like those two women can slink away in obscurity.
Don’t forget the very helpful resource and advice on the Law or Fiction website.
https://www.laworfiction.com/2020/07/face-covering-litigation-threats-and-administrative-headache/
I’m sorry that you experience this aggression from other people. I wish people would be a bit more compassionate and reflect.
🤗
They are all breaking the law, threaten to phone the fuzz.
You might only need to threaten
The law provides exemptions, but makes no mention at all about anyone challenging same.
Government guidance very clearly states in plain English that you should not be challenged, and that exemption symbols are optional and not necessary in law.
You know this, I know this, why don’t ‘customers and officialdom’ ?
Campbell and Blair murdered tens of thousands of innocent women and children. They still walk around like they own the place
This will play out the same
You wouldn’t think that if you suffered under the regime of Saddam. If you talked to a Kurd or just about any Iraqi they all say they are really glad he’s gone and thank the British and the Americans for getting rid of him. Though if your objection to the war is we shouldn’t have armies then i’m with you on that. However the oil must flow and that is gonna take some kind of force. I do hope also since you hold Blair to such extreme account you’ve stopped using all oil based products, you wouldn’t want to be a fucking hypocrite would you?
Is everything ok at home? There is help available
Jesus Biker, I love you 😁
I’m fond of you too Winston. I have this feeling you’re a 60 year old punk who has one leg slightly longer than the other on account of a small bout of polio as a child. You have a harrington jacket, black jeans and doc’s. You still have the Sex Pistols and Crass albums you bought in 1976 and smoke roll ups. Keep up the good work
😑
Not irresponsible, just sane
From Rational Ground:
https://rationalground.com/governor-desantis-roundtable-experts-advocate-for-normal-life-for-young-people/
Roundtable with lots of prominent people – you’ll recognise names – discussing all the mistakes made dealing with the virus.
Chaired by Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, the go-to place for lockdown sceptics, I’d say, after reading this.
What a shock! The day after they win vote positive stories start to appear.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54366478
It’s on the 7am R2 News, claiming it to be the result of recent additions to lockdown nonsense, lol.
Yesterday the beeb woke up to how much the NHS are letting the non Covid population down.
So in the end it was the dictators rule of sick and imperial college wot saved us
(A large study involving lots of work etc, and the report arrived today of all days, nothing to see here, move along please)
Talk about being predictable. We can read this government like a book.
Yes, but we are very few
Blimey R2 just read out arch imperialist Kipling’s ‘If’ with no snarky comments.
Germaine Greere on last week and JK Rowling, I think I need to sit down.
Here is the global establishment game plan.
They finally woke up to the reality of backing the precautionary principle without the vital cost benefit analysis that should always accompany that principle.
‘Gates said that during the coronavirus pandemic, vaccination rates have dropped by 14% in developing countries, erasing 20 years of progress, and that for the first time in years “extreme poverty” is increasing, causing ill-effects on education, mental health, and other indicators that he said is “much greater than I expected.”
(Finally, an, admittedly oblique, admission of incompetence)
‘Gates said he expects vaccine approvals to come by early 2021, as White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Anthony Fauci and many others in the government said is a realistic timeline at the rate trials are currently moving. If that is the case, Gates said, “then by next summer the U.S. will be starting to go back to normal. And by the end of the year, our activities can be fairly normal, if we’re also helping these other countries.” He added: “The end of the epidemic, best case is probably 2022.’
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-sunday-gates-vaccines-back-to-normal-2021
There you have it……the political objective of torpedoing Trump over (it’s never over until…); time to pick up… Read more »
And that the vaccine likely won’t work for the people who get ill from Covid.
https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20200302/flu-vaccination-does-not-reduce-hospitalizations-death-in-older-adults
My view (and the Gates foundation has put $10m into it) is that they will tout a BCG vaccine as the answer. Phase 3 trial primary results out this month:
‘Murdoch Children’s Research Institute has organized BRACE, a Phase 3, two-group, multicenter, open-label, randomized, controlled trial of up to 4170 health care workers in Australian hospitals to determine if BCG vaccination reduces the incidence and severity of COVID-19 during the 2020 pandemic [4]. Primary results are expected in October 2020, and full study results are expected in March 2022.’
https://www.lifespan.io/road-maps/the-covid-19-roadmap/murdoch-childrens-research-institute-bcg-vaccine
That fits with the Gates statement dates above….and he will know how BCG phase 3 trials are shaping up……
‘Prefectural data on SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and BCG vaccine coverage were analyzed.
The BCG vaccine coverage was higher in uninfected than in prevalent prefectures.
Prevalence of the infection significantly correlated to the BCG vaccine coverage.
The infant BCG vaccine plays a significant protective role in local COVID-19 spread.’
‘Our findings suggest that routine infant BCG vaccination coverage in young generation had a significant impact on prevention of local COVID-19 spread in Japan.’
https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(20)30547-8/fulltext
And the best bit (for Gates, at least) is that they will use the 14% drop in ordinary vaccinations as the casus belli for the introduction of digital vaccination passports, “to ensure that our children don’t die needlessly”. In one stroke they will sidestep all arguments against a hastily-prepare CV19 vaccination by pointing to all the tried-and-tested childhood vaccinations that we need to make sure have been applied. Everyone will agree that we need to protect the children, and then the CV19 vaccination will slip onto the password unopposed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8HfTo5ofYY
https://www.bitchute.com/video/HzWis8DdHL3H/
https://www.ft.com/content/f29a3dd1-50dd-4fdf-810c-51d78f816606
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54343392
Thousands more jobs to go, both here and in the US.
What will become of all these people?
Get retrained next April to do all the “new jobs”.
Heard all this in the 80’s.
Zero hour jobs,Baristas,bar staff,fast food delivery motor scooters and bikes; you know; all those well paid secure jobs.
How many people still have well paid secure work I wonder? I used to see the folk stuck in zero hours contracts when volunteering at the local food bank.
Supermarket delivery drivers.
The training is for
old jobsto keep the unemployment numbers down – as if they care.Depends upon the response of government
Any unemployment is merely a political choice.
But it will emphasises a couple of uncomfortable truths – that quite a lot of private sector activity actually won’t be missed, ie it was literally a waste of time, and that the true task of the private sector is to automate us all out of a job – because that’s where productivity improvements come from.
Perhaps then the debate can move on from “private sector good, public sector bad” to “how can we keep the good bits of both sides and get rid of the pointless stuff while ensuring everybody keeps busy?”.
Honestly, where do you get this crap from?
to quote Karl Hess
“Libertarianism is rejected by the modern left — which preaches individualism but practices collectivism. Capitalism is rejected by the modern right-which preaches enterprise but practices protectionism. The libertarian faith in the mind of men is rejected by religionists who have faith only in the sins of man. The libertarian insistence that men be free to spin cables of steel as well as dreams of smoke is rejected by hippies who adore nature but spurn creation. The libertarian insistence that each man is a sovereign land of liberty, with his primary allegiance to himself, is rejected by patriots who sing of freedom but also shout of banners and boundaries.”
Most people don’t have a clue about anything. I used to despise them for this but it turns out that stupid is a driving force of evolution. So think upon our lefty friends as serving a purpose. You don’t follow their nonsense so you thrive more the people who follow their nonsense suffer and die off. So i thank any imaginary god you can imagine for this.
Good quote.
But honestly, it’s like he’s read das Kapital and decided it wasn’t make-believe enough.
“You don’t follow their nonsense so you thrive”
So, any ideas how to get maximum personal advantage out of this moment of lunacy?
Yeah but i’m keeping them to myself. As a staunch individualist it would be remiss of me to tell you as you’d end up competing with me and i can’t have that. Though saying that for a fee i might tell you.
Hahaha Good reply
a true entrepreneur
I suspect I will need to study what black market activities thrived in the Soviet Union as I think the covid-terror is a fraud designed to cover up the implementation of fully automated luxury communism. Am I wrong?
A pair of Levi’s and a carton of 200 Marlboro got me an entire Red Army uniform in 1978 in Kyev.
Didn’t they shoot young stilyagi for selling black market jeans in the 50s?
In our coming luxury communist utopia I suspect naughty people will be vaccinated with something suitable
I’m on a reading about Russia marathon at the moment and recommend ;
Russia by Dmitri Trenin; Nothing Is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev; Caught In The Revolution by Helen Rappaport
Thanks I’ll check that one out.
Solzhenitsyn, obviously.
Yes, my omission ,but the ones on my list are fascinating.
There’s so much to learn and what an awful history: pogroms, purges, famine, collectivisation, autocracy, bolshevism, mass executions, disappearances,corruption and then the incredible courage displayed in WW2.
The 2nd chapter in Dimitri Orlov’s Five Stages of Collapse – which covers what things were like immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union is pretty interesting
I am an Orlov fan too, he is an original thinker.
Thanks;I’ll add it to my list
Dr Zhivago gives apolitical view from the middle ground.
Very true
The quickest way to a fortune is to find out what the government says is illegal and do that. I’ve always thought that drug dealers must love the government because they keep the drugs illegal making the customer pay more from the dealer. It’s like tobacco these days. Thirty years ago no black market for tobacco because it was cheap but then the health nazi’s decided without a shred of evidence tobacco was bad for you and now they must charge you thru the nose in tax to help you realise that you should stop but all this did was drive tobacco into the hands of drug dealers and now a £15 packet of tobacco from a shop can be had on the street for half that. The Barra’s in Glasgow is awash with cheap tobacco and not counterfeit either but the real McCoy.
Therein lies the fundamental flaw in the collectivist mindset.
You can’t sustain employment without productivity. Handing out jobs doesn’t guarantee anything useful will be done.
The ultimate question is who does a better job of allocating resources, a bunch of boffins in a ministry or the people by means of the market?
Applied to our virus crisis, who does a better job of safeguarding the health of the population, a bunch of boffins in a ministry or the people by means of their will to self-preservation?
I bet on the individual every time because the scale and complexity of the enterprise for the boffins is just too big.
The Government doesn’t have any resources. All they have are thugs who will take from you what you’ve made, earned and built up, put you in jail and use your labours for themselves. People who work for the government are leeches, thieves ,cowards and just awful. I include everyone in this, from nurses in the NHS to Big fat Boris. All these people think they are helping not realising that their actions are in fact the very problem in the first place. When humanity is removed from looking after itself, when they place rules on us we end up with this tyranny.
The best people to deal with the virus is me. If i look out my window and i see that’s the third person in my street being carried off to the grave due to the virus i stay in and only go out with a hazmat suit but if i look out my window and it turns out in my town there are less than ten very old people have died in care homes then i go about my day not worrying about it. Unfortunately with state education almost all of us are bonded to the state and… Read more »
Have you ever been unemployed? Have you tried searching,day after day, in competition with thousands of others ,for poorly paid mac jobs, while the movers and shakers spout guff about opportunities and meritocracy?
Bang on kh! Imagine all those who’ve just been chucked on the covid scrapheap consoling themselves with such nostrums as ‘unemployment is merely a political choice’.
I do agree with you about automation, but where will this lead,as our numbers grow, and young people leave university with huge debts and mickey mouse degrees?
Seriously, what would you suggest for keeping everybody busy?
The 4th industrial revolution.As the power of computing destroys well paid white collar jobs instead of manufacturing.It will only get worse .Sometimes I feel if this whole thing is just an experiment to see how we cope with forcible unemployment and the surveillance grid is to stifle opposition to the real new normal.
Mass unemployment and universal basic income
I’m coming round to this conclusion as well. I cannot see the present system surviving as it is.
I feel for the young people whose hopes and futures are now likely to be dashed.
Become amazon delivery drivers – seems to be the only jobs going these days.
I find the sacrificing of millions of people’s jobs, livelihoods and subsequent issues of homes at risk, anxiety, mental and physical health and extra deaths is not acceptable to save granny. And the casual, patronising way that the politicians speak about it is appalling. Behind each of these job losses is a very worried family!
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Sorry-Missed-You-Kris-Hitchen/dp/B07ZS1KXKF/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=sorry+we+missed+you&qid=1601542303&s=instant-video&sr=1-1
I recommend this film; a story of life for the casually employed ‘associates’ and care assistants which our movers and shakers would do well to watch
One of the most extraordinary hallmarks of this crisis has been the lobotomised behaviour not just of the state broadcaster but of the others as well.
Hmmm…
Then this site revealed the draconian restrictions put in place by ofcom, in fact little enforced but a useful backside cover for the state broadcaster to push the establishment line, and none other (after all, ‘the covid’ might prevent Brexit? Hilarious incompetence…..almost as good as that labour wheeze of devolution for Scotland…..the ribs…!)…….then home for treble peerages all round, and tea…..
This site also revealed that ofcom was run by a certain Terence Burns……..?
You’ve never heard of him……? Take a seat to save falling over…..Terence Burns is an ex senior civil servant………deep breaths…….
Terence Burns, a notorious urban dweller, from his office in the centre of one of the most densely populated cities on earth, managed to produce an illiberal and egregious report on hunting recommending the banning of this ancient and useful rural pursuit, the lifeblood of many isolated and impoverished rural communities; based on exactly how much peer reviewed and published scientific research into the subject……?
That would be a big fat zero…….one of the many appended to the large… Read more »
Another emblem of ‘Blair’s Britain’
The rubbish newspaper remnant of that glorious Manchester original revealed that his nickname in the civil service was….
‘Teflon Terry’
‘……one of the first people to have had a home computer, and has tried to make a model analysing the tactics of football teams.’
‘Burns, a close ally of Tony Blair, was put to work by the Labour government behind the scenes in Whitehall and gained a reputation as “Lord Fixit”. He was chosen by Jack Straw to chair the inquiry into hunting in 1999 and parachuted into the National Lottery Commission two years later to review the way it awards its licence.’
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/nov/04/lord-burns-teflon-terry
Democracy muzzled
Covid masks are a potent symbol of the West’s headlong flight from Enlightenment values
By
Peter Hitchens
October 2020
https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/october-2020/democracy-muzzled/
thecritic issues/october-2020/democracy-muzzled/
Excellent piece by Peter, please repost in todays comments later.
For those who were wondering where Laurence Fox stood on the Coronapanic and lockdowns:
https://twitter.com/LozzaFox/status/1311196384385740800
Not surprised that Laurence is a sceptic but it’s the first time I’ve actually seen hancock say there is no other strategy than continue this shitfest until the unicorn vaccine arrives.
What a tosser.
Will he now bring some of his new party’s £5M in funding to bear in assisting in a massive campaign to change public opinion?
Yes, Hancock has said it out loud for the first time. Good one to remind non-sceptics of – they are betting everything on the vaccine.
So it really was ‘his first time’; thought it was me being inattentive.
Can someone make sure to post about it today, I’m out & about now so may not have time.
How effective is the flu vaccine at stopping people dying? Didn’t do much good three years ago amongst the people the current SARS virus targets.
https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20200302/flu-vaccination-does-not-reduce-hospitalizations-death-in-older-adults
Yes it is worrying when Hapless Hancock says suppress the virus until we get a vaccine. The more I read about this virus the more complex it seems and I am not sure that even if we get a vaccine it will prove the simple total solution that he seems to think it will.
We have just heard of ‘cases’ at a meat plant in Cornwall
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-54361824
The way this virus seems to be found so readily in meat processing plants amongst large groups of people with no symptoms suggests to me that this virus is ubiquitous and endemic with a strange biology that may not be treatable with a vaccine. In which case with Hancock’s policy this pantomime goes on forever!
It does seem that around the world various treatments are being used with some good results, I do wonder if some of the vaccine research money would be better directed at developing treatments for the relatively few who do get seriously ill rather then developing a vaccine for the majority who do not need it.
It goes for food processing plants because they are always cold and lack through ventilation because cooling is expensive.
Eliminating the virus while maintaining the economy is an oxymoron. It’s proven bollocks, it doesn’t work and I think the vast majority can now see that.
Our MPs have no conscience – so we must supply one
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/our-mps-have-no-conscience-so-we-must-supply-one/
conservativewoman our-mps-have-no-conscience-so-we-must-supply-one/
So that was it, and this dreadful Act, which grants potentially dangerous powers which include detaining some persons indefinitely, taking biological samples, and giving directions about dead bodies; powers which last up to two years with six-monthly reviews, plus lockdown powers that can prevent protests against such measures, is there for another six months before it can be reviewed again by Parliament.
In Weimar Germany it was Chancellor Bruning who set the precedent of ruling by decree thus clearing the way for the more sinister men who followed.
Who might follow the bumbler ?
Yes, that’s a concern. I see lots of people calling for him to be replaced, but we could get someone worse – and more competent – instead.
Elwood
Travel agent breaks down as she reveals Covid crisis is killing company she’s run for 20 years – saying she’s made only £120 this month but still has to pay an employee £500 under ‘cr***y’ furlough scheme
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8788867/Inspired-Travel-owner-Kate-Harris-breaks-Covid-looks-set-close-business.html
Unbelievably nasty comments against her.
👨🏭”When Karens Attack”🤜
Added a few more compassionate ones in response myself. I do think it’s a good idea to enter into these discussions if you can bring yourself to wade through these comment sections. I did have to get a new user id since my first one was modded.
Regrettably that business is bust and should close.
We can’t treat businesses as pets.
She has been subjected to FORCED UNEMPLOYMENT!
A round up of a few numbers I have read today.
Due to the western governments reactions to the virus;
ATAG the airline and travel group estimate 46 Million job losses worldwide.
The ILO estimate 34 Million job losses in Latin America alone. This is the region where I live and I am seeing this happen in reality.
The UN estimate 500 Million people worldwide are falling into poverty (defined as having an income less than US$3.00 per day).
The World Bank estimate that 100 Million people are falling into extreme poverty (defined as having an income less than US$1.90 per day).
None of these people have access to furlough schemes, social security, unemployment money, pensions or any of the luxuries of the west.
1 Million people, who were almost all near the end of their useful lives, have died with a positive PCR test mentioned on their death certificates.
Does anyone give a shit?
I do and many others do. And there’s nothing we can do about it, that’s what makes it even more frustrating.
I know that you do give a shit along with the readers here but I was watching the pathetic (mostly) MP’s in Parliament today and the results of the ensuing vote. They are the ‘anyone’ I am talking about. They do not seem to understand that their actions do not just affect the UK but the whole world.
There is something we can do about it…..I just do not know what it is yet?
Me neither. If this was an unavoidable something such as crop failure, freak weather year, or economic cycle, then you grit your teeth and get on with it. But it’s none of these things, it’s purely self-inflicted by our so-called leaders.
Yep, we have been flattened by big hurricanes a few times over the years but we just get together and fix it back. This is different because its not natural and its not the fault of our government. Its the fault of OTHER governments that have shut down our businesses and livelihoods.
Exactly – a domino effect. With veiled threats from the neighbours if you don’t comply.
Over in the forum thread “General Discussion/Psy ops for the greater good” I’m trying to collect ideas for things we can do, specifically how we can instill doubt in the unskeptical majority. There’s a lots of frustration on this site, but as far as I can see, we do not seem to have established a consist message that is effective against the brainwashing. The moment people find out that I refuse to wear the muzzle, they automatically assume that I’m a lunatic. I think our cause would benefit from a small set of pithy slogans that we can continually repeat. Why should the government be the only ones to benefit from psychology and propaganda?
Pre Covid it was said that a depression in the West means slightly higher prices in Tesco, in the third world it means starvation.
I read a story today about children in India whose schools were closed. Of course, there is no online education for them, so they are now picking through rubbish heaps for scrap to sell. But it’s all worth it to avoid one death. The only good thing is I have another meme to put into the Daily Mail comment section.
Even better, into the Guardian, if I can find a single semi-relevant article open for comments.
I feel there is a lot of anchoring going on all around us. Many people, even those on this site, are too focused on what has happened in the past and find it hard to consider the here and now without first referencing past events.
For example some people think we should continue down the path of maximum suppression/eradication based on the number of around 1M people having already died. They can’t stomach the thought of even 1 more death to add to that total.
From the sceptic viewpoint it is hard to accept any further restrictions due to what has already been done to us already. However if we pretend that the last 6 months never happened and this was the start of the pandemic. Boris et al come along and say we need to wear masks and social distance for 6 months and pubs need to shut at 10pm would we have been more receptive to this from the start?
I think Boris in particular is still anchored in his near death experience and any decisions he makes will always reference back to that episode. Whitty, Valance and the rest of the advisers probably think back to how… Read more »
The only thing anchoring Boris is the continuation of Boris.
Yes, but impossible and pointless to unlearn what we know about the virus
Many sceptics were sceptical from the start, so I am not sure what would change this time around
I accepted the public health measures at the beginning. I wouldn’t be as naïve this time around.
Just published BMJ Important as Bhopal very influential in Public health in the UK
Raj Bhopal: Blaming, petrifying, and punishing the population are not viable, long term public health strategies
https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/09/29/raj-bhopal-blaming-petrifying-and-punishing-the-population-are-not-viable-long-term-public-health-strategies/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork
Amazing that the BMJ will publish common sense.
Amazing to hear it coming out of Stasiland.
Hope it unstops some deaf medical ears.
Over a million people die worldwide every single week. This fact seems to have eluded the finest minds of politics, science, and the fourth estate. Each of whom has just about the entirety of human knowledge and discovery at their fingertips via a little known research tool known as “the internet.” Perhaps they could be introduced to the basics of using it?
If there is one doctor who can solve this public health crisis it’s Doctor Google! 🙂
Scream it through the rooftops but they’ll look at your like your mad, adjust their facemask and shuffle off again. They will hear you but they’re unable to listen, you may as well talk to a dog.
Yes but those deaths are not contagious and don’t grow exponentially and you can’t pass them on to other people just looking at them from your dinner table.
Unsurprising when you realise that many commenting here don’t fact check either. An idée fixe is just that – fixed. It prevents curiosity.
https://twitter.com/MarcBuergi/status/1311253757028638722/photo/1
No evidence of effectiveness of masks in shops in Switzerland. Context: Some of our Cantons in Switzerland have a mask mandate in shops, other Cantons not. Case numbers develop in the same way with no measurable positive effect.
Thanks Swedenborg for passing on that evidence that supports our common sense conclusions. 🙂
We all know they make no difference mate but sadly the narative trumps the facts, that’s what TV, Radio and Media is for, the message delivery system and the message is mask up slaves. 🙁
Same thing in Wales v. England before Wales was muzzled.
Confirms that the real reason for nappies is to keep the sheeples in their state of infantile, incontinent terror.
And to make us miserable being surrounded by them. Yuk, yuk, yuk.
So cross the Channel in a dinghy, no problem then.
Whilst waiting on the public street outside mum daughter’s school today for pickup, was approached by the head. She told me to mask up, to “help the community”.
Politely declined the offer and was then told in that case I was not welcome in the playground but would
Sorry sent by mistake….
But would have to stay out in the street. I have always supported the school at events etc, have a good relationship with them, and for what it’s worth am a teacher myself.
Really shocked.
Disgusting. Hate crime.
At one point in my life I had the misfortune of going through a period of psychosis. The whys and wherefores aren’t important, just that I know what it feels like. I realised yesterday that I know the inner experience of these people – it is psychosis. And psychosis means that you don’t know the difference between what is real and what isn’t real. Happily, my psychosis was relatively mild and I recovered.
The woman who spoke to you doesn’t know the difference between what is real and what isn’t real. Every day, I walk down the street and I can see that a certain percentage of people around me are psychotic. It’s not an excuse for their behaviour or an attack on them. It’s just a fact. Doesn’t make our lives any easier, but at least you know what you’re dealing with.
Perhaps it’s easier to relate to the stereotype of the “nutter on the bus”. You wouldn’t attempt to engage that person in rational conversation. Same with these folks.
Hi Danny download the exemption off the government website on to your phone and show it to her and explain why you don’t have to.Also explain the government rules there’s no reason you should be discriminated against .Also there is no law saying you need a mask outside .
What is she proposing to do? Call the police?
Cultural Maskism
https://twitter.com/theJeremyVine/status/1311357701029531650?s=20
I note something interesting as you scroll through the comments to Vine –
Everyone who thinks it’s bullshit can quote numbers and facts, and obviously put work into their opinion. Everyone scared/lockdown-y says at some point “they” say and “they tell”… and clearly is just regurgitating something without having done work on it.
Fascinating and telling.
I always find that when anyone like Vine passes a comment against orthodoxy Twitter seems to automate a pile on, where the disparaging comments all seem to float to the top and the supportive ones are few and far between. Was same with the Gallagher Brothers, Ian Brown etc.
Twitter feels more and more like a behaviour control mechanism as opposed to platform for discussion, not that it’s been a civil environment for many years,
I think youre right. I saw similar manipulation brought in on the comments sections of both the Guardian and Mail Online sites after the Brexit Referendum result. It was an “overnight” effect – so clearly nothing to do with actual opinion.
I don’t read the graun but commenters at the Mail are now overwhelmingly sceptic.
Even some of the ‘worst voted’ are clearly spoofs designed to wind Sceptics up.
“Boris is the greatest leader we have ever had and will lead us into a glorious future”
Doesn’t Ofcom have rules about hate speech on TV? Kevin McGuire appears on Sky News press preview with a mug behind him emblazoned “I still hate Thatcher”.
He’s a sceptic
Er no,mhe isnt. McGuire is a full on Mirror Lockdownist.
Thatcher is all Labour has left to try and keep what’s left of their northern voters!
Yep – not asking anyone to like her (I didn’t much myself). Just wondering whether you are allowed to have “hate mugs” on view… what are the Ofcom rules?
If by a stroke of luck Johnson was to depart this earth tonight ,Won’t we all twenty years later be enjoying a cup of tea with the words emblazoned “I still fucking hate Johnson. It’s not a hate crime to despise politicians just common sense and having a laugh.