Treasury Made No Forecast For Lockdown 2.0
SAGE say it’s not their job to take into account the economic impact of lockdown. It’s the Treasury’s job. Why then has the Treasury now admitted that it produced no forecasts in the run up to the second lockdown? Why did SAGE on September 21st claim they were in hand? These were the questions MPs put to Treasury officials on Wednesday. Kate Andrews in the Spectator has the details.
Chair of the Committee Mel Stride asked Clare Lombardelli, Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, to comment on specific economic analyses conducted around lockdown restrictions, ranging from the closure of pubs, gyms and restaurants to “circuit breakers” and working from home directives. It was quickly revealed that no analysis has been done.
Stride’s interest stemmed from SAGE meeting minutes dated September 21st, which referenced a “package of measures” that the Committee said “need to be adopted to reverse [the] exponential rise in cases”. These included some of the more radical measures implemented during the first lockdown, including changes to “working from home” rules, banning contact between households, the closure of hospitality and leisure sectors, and even the return of a (shorter) lockdown. In the minutes, SAGE states that the economic impact of these measures was being modelled by the Treasury: “Policy makers will need to consider analysis of economic impacts and the associated harms alongside this epidemiological assessment. This work is underway under the auspices of the Chief Economist.”
In yesterday’s session, Lombardelli revealed that no such work was ever underway. The impact of the specific restrictions on the economy were not forecast or predicted by the Treasury before they came into force: “As the Chancellor set out in Parliament last week, we haven’t done a specific prediction or forecast of the restrictions… what we do is ongoing policy that feeds into decisions ministers take, which they consider alongside the health impacts, the social impacts, and they also consider the economic impact.”
Without this analysis and these forecasts, what was the basis on which the Government was weighing up whether to shut down the country again?
The Treasury’s lack of forecasting does not mean Chancellor Rishi Sunak would have been without any data when in discussions with the Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet figures about lockdown. Lombardelli notes the Treasury has been compiling forecasts done by other bodies, including the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England.
But yesterday’s admission from the Chief Economist calls into question the priorities of the Treasury: the Sage minutes are dated over a month before England’s second lockdown was announced, giving the Treasury at least four weeks (though the minutes imply longer) to forecast the impact of specific lockdown measures on the economy. That the institution did not produce any forecasts or predictions also raises serious questions about the extent to which the economic implications of such radical measures were considered before the Government brought them in.
Worth reading in full.
Why Does Europe’s “Second Wave” Have Almost No Excess Deaths?
Lockdown Sceptics regular Dr Clare Craig pointed out on Twitter last night that there’s a discrepancy in Europe between the number of “cases” (positive tests), the number of “Covid deaths” (validated with a positive test) and the number of excess deaths, i.e., there are plenty of the former two, but excess deaths in autumn 2020 are close to the five-year average.
“We are in a false positive pseudo epidemic,” she concludes.
Hard to disagree.
“Victoria in Lockdown Resembled 1970s East Germany More Than a Liberal Democracy”
A friend and life-long Melbournian writes of his despair at the state of his home state under the rule of Kim-Jong Dan.
I am increasingly sad about the prospects for Victoria in the next decade. The political leadership this year has highlighted a number of trends built up over some 20 years under Labour governments with characteristics to the left of their federal and interstate counterparts, and not dealt with by the few weak state coalition governments. It is now evident that Victoria in lockdown resembled 1970s East Germany more than a liberal democracy, and most Victorians seem happy with that. The public service seems stuffed at the top with overpaid and sinecured people whose values and principles are far from what public service should be. This is evident in all sorts of ways that line up with the current Government’s totalitarian agenda of emergency legislation removing basic liberties, bypassing Cabinet, largely side-lining Parliament, setting up a pathetically tame inquiry to investigate, ignoring human rights protections, destruction of the Country Fire Authority, destruction of the hardwood timber industry threatened, etc., not to mention meekly signing on to China’s Belt & Road influence. While the lockdown-induced anger may achieve a change of government in 2022, unravelling the mess is likely to be nearly impossible. At the least it will require the reinstitution of values of public sector independence and robust accountability mechanisms. There is not enough widespread pushback, and while there is critique across most of the media it is muted (Kevin Rudd is upset about Murdoch media influence – perhaps the others could raise their game).
Postcard From East Fife
Lockdown Sceptics reader Dean Fraser has sent us a postcard from north of the border and tells of a world that freedom has abandoned under the rule of Nic Sturge-On.
You could almost have been forgiven for thinking we weren’t living in a dystopian nightmare up here in the Kingdom of Fife. Because back in April and May this year you could not have witnessed anything more spectacularly bucolic. The picturesque, almost leafy country lanes. The tractors, ever so gently meandering and bobbing through partially ploughed fields. Hares darting, for what seemed like their lives, from still motionless ‘lies’ on the brown earth, or females fending off randy jacks (“not at the moment mate, thanks”). The birds, squirting into hedge rows, and then into trees – beaks full. And let’s not forget the farmhouses and cottages, releasing small wisps of smoke via the chimneys up into the blue still skies. My God, like something out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the weather, all over the UK, was glorious, then).
We cycled along main roads, with virtually no traffic, having to pinch ourselves to properly recall what kind of hell this was.
Worth reading in full.
“COVID-19 is a Force Largely Beyond the State’s Control”
Lockdown Sceptics contributor Guy de la Bédoyère has a letter in the New Statesman this week on the conceit of the tyrannical efforts to “defeat” and “control” the virus.
When Simon Heffer quotes Enoch Powell – “the supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils” – he slightly misses the main point (“A crisis of statesmanship”, November 6th). Most human beings have always been prepared to sacrifice some of their autonomy in return for leadership that provides a buffer against disorder, famine and fear. This is, and always has been, the contract between the state and the people.
COVID-19 is a force largely beyond the state’s control; many governments, especially ours, have tried to convince us otherwise. They have used fear as a weapon and promised salvation in return for unprecedented losses of freedom. They have failed to deliver, mainly because they cannot rein in a natural phenomenon on this scale.
No government has found a permanent solution, even New Zealand. Their current virus-free state is no better than a mirage and has been bought at the price of isolation from the rest of the world. Our own Government has offered mainly time-buying slogans and glib promises. It has preferred to listen only to a small cabal of well-paid and securely employed scientists who seem incapable of contextualising the problem and the collateral effects of their solutions on the wider health and well-being of the population.
Perhaps this week’s exciting news about a vaccine will turn the tide at last, but it will be no thanks to governments and the games they have played, and the damage they have done to public trust.
Jailed By The Covid Stasi For Painting A Pub
A retired police officer and Lockdown Sceptics reader found himself thrown in jail when he dared engage in some lawful voluntary labour during the last lockdown.
At 5.30pm the police arrived. One constable and five PCSOs. They first entered the private accommodation of the landlord by saying they had power to enter under the Coronavirus Regulation.
(First mistake. No such power existed at the time.)
They then entered the pub, bodycams whirring. I don’t know what they were hoping to find but they must have been bitterly disappointed. There was no furniture in the place and there was no alcohol being consumed. It would have been obvious even to the chronically thick that the place was being renovated. People were working drills etc. in hand. The landlord was carted off to a separate room to be interrogated by the constable.
The PCSOs were deployed to take everyone’s name and address. Kate dutifully gave her name and address.
PCSO: “What’s your telephone number?”
Kate: “I’m not giving you that.”
PCSO: “What if we need to ring you?”
Kate: “Why on earth would I want you to ring me?”
We’ve given this one a permanent home on the right-hand side under “Are the Police Being Too Authoritarian?”. Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: A couple in Yorkshire have been stripped of their pub licence under Covid lockdown laws for giving out free drinks on Remembrance Sunday to people paying their respects at the war memorials in the village. They told the Mail:
People going to or returning from the memorials were welcome to stop on the pavement and raise a glass, both to the fallen and indeed to the late landlord, Andrew Henstock [an ex-serviceman].
We never dreamt this might be against either the letter or the spirit of the law – these were drinks we provided, not the pub. Some people took their drinks to the smoking shelter at the rear of the building when three vans of police turned up.
This severe response to a gesture of goodwill is in stark contrast to the soft treatment given to the highly disrespectful Extinction Rebellion protest at the Cenotaph. As Spiked say, Britain has become “a state where Covid means protesting is banned, unless it’s the right kind of protest, in which case the police will turn a blind eye or even endorse it”.
“The Only Thing Lockdowns Do Is Make Us All Poorer”
Lockdown sceptic Sir Desmond Swayne MP, a member of the new Covid Recovery Group (CRG) of Conservative MPs – now 70 strong – appeared on Julia Hartley Brewer’s show on talkRADIO yesterday morning. Watch him here. Also Lord Sumption here, and Dr Clare Craig here. A sceptical bonanza!
Stop Press: Sceptic legend Professor Sucharit Bhakdi appeared on the TRIGGERnometry podcast, asking: Are we being told the truth about COVID-19? Listen here.
“Cases” All Over the Place
Imperial’s REACT study is now showing R fell below 1 before lockdown, bringing it into line with KCL’s ZOE app, which yesterday reported R at 0.9. On the other hand, yesterday saw a record number of “cases”: 33,470 reported, up by more than 10,000, or 46%, on the day before. Unusually, Stephen Powis, the NHS Medical Director speaking at the Downing Street briefing downplayed the rise, saying it is important to look at the seven-day average, which is about 22,000, rather than one day. Is Project Fear on pause for a moment? Worth noting that testing was also at record levels yesterday, which may be part of the explanation.
The positivity rate dropped last week for the first time since July. Meanwhile, acute respiratory infections are still trending well below the baseline according to the Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System (EDSSS) that monitors emergency hospital attendance. A pretty ordinary autumn so far – save for the totalitarian Government, of course.
Round-Up
- “Dominic Cummings to leave role as PM’s chief adviser by end of the year” – The Vote Leave veteran and controversial senior Government adviser is to follow his chum Lee Cain out the door, reports Sky News
- “Ticketmaster says fans may need proof they’ve had the vaccine or a negative Covid test result to attend concerts and sports games when they return” – The Mail reports on the ever-extending creep of the optional compulsory vaccine
- “We have one last chance to stop Britain’s descent into a post-Covid socialist nightmare” – Allister Heath in the Telegraph on the risk that changes to British attitudes to freedom and the state this year become embedded
- “Deadly toll of care homes ban: Halting visits is linked to 5,000 EXTRA dementia deaths in nursing units, figures reveal” – The Mail on yet more deaths caused by lockdown
- “False-positive COVID-19 results: hidden problems and costs” – Good article in the Lancet on the problems with improper use of PCR tests
- “England test-and-trace system hit by ‘huge’ IT problems last month” – 48 hour delays in contacting vulnerable contacts, the Guardian reports
- “The secret thoughts of a GP in lockdown” – A London GP speaks from frontline experience of the scandal that is the National Covid Service, in the Telegraph
- “NHS waiting times show backlog caused by coronavirus” – Report in the Times that there were 139,545 people who had been waiting more than a year for treatment in September 2020 compared to 1,305 in September 2019, a 100-fold increase
- “Barnardo’s should know better about ‘white privilege’” – Patrick West in the Spectator on the pernicious wokery of a charity that looks after children in care telling them they have “white privilege”. Surely that’s a form of abuse?
- “Lifetime pub ban for Warrington MP who backed 10pm curfew” – The pubs strike back, on BBC News
- “Man Who Rammed Police Station in Car ‘Snapped’ After £10,000 Covid Fine” – Report from Breitbart on a man who resorted to criminal violence after reportedly being hit with the maximum lockdown penalty
- “This ‘travel ban’ is not legally enforceable and at odds with our human rights” – Barrister Francis Hoar makes the legal case against travel restrictions in the Telegraph
- “MS drug almost halves hospitalised patients’ risk of severe Covid symptoms” – Some good news for those battling the severe form of the disease, in the Telegraph
- “Coronavirus could infect rats, mice and ferrets and become a ‘revolving door virus’ which keeps mutating” – SAGE member and director of the Wellcome Trust Sir Jeremy Farrar says that SARS-CoV-2 is “now part of humanity, it is an endemic infection now, and I don’t think it’s going to go away”, in the Telegraph
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.
Sharing stories: 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.
Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, Toby in his latest Spectator column wonders whether under the proposed hate crime laws his children won’t turn on him, at least for blackmail purposes.
If Humza Yousaf has his way, there will be less free speech in Scotland than anywhere else in Europe – but not for long. The Law Commission of England and Wales has proposed that we pass a similar law. Actually, I say “similar” but in some respects the Commission’s proposals are even worse. Andrew Tettenborn, a law professor at Swansea University, describes the 533-page ‘consultation’ as “the Scottish Hate Crime Bill on steroids”. For instance, the Commission wants to make ‘sex and gender’ protected characteristics. It proposes that a vast array of groups and subcultures should be given similarly special status, including ‘migrants’, ‘asylum seekers’, ‘asexuals’, ‘non-binary people’, ‘cross-dressers’, ‘goths’, ‘punks’ and ‘sex workers’. And it wants to ban ‘inflammatory cartoons’, particularly ‘Islamophobic cartoons’. Talk about handing a victory to terrorism!
Like Humza Yousaf, the Law Commission wants to remove the ‘dwelling exemption’ from the Public Order Act 1986, meaning people could be prosecuted for stirring up hatred in their own homes. Toby recounts his efforts to explain the full horror of this to his four children.
“If this becomes law, one of you could call the police and have me arrested if I call your mother a whore,” I said. “Not that I would, obviously, but you get the point.”
They got the point all right. Suddenly, they began rubbing their hands with glee.
“So how much will you pay me not to tell the police what you’ve said about Black Lives Matter?” asked my 13-year-old son Freddie.
I began to explain that nothing I’d said about the unashamedly Marxist group which wants to defund the police came remotely close to an offence under the Public Order Act, when I was forced to reconsider. After all, if Darren Grimes can be investigated by the Met for ‘stirring up hatred’ against black people simply for publishing an interview with David Starkey, maybe the police would be interested if Freddie told them my views of BLM. That is, if the Law Commission gets its way and you can be charged with ‘hate speech’ for something you say in private and not just in public.
Funny as well as disturbing. Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Dr Radomir Tylecote, the Research Director of the Free Speech Union, has produced a briefing doc about the Law Commission’s proposals that you can find here.
“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 masks in shops here.
A reader has started a website that contains some useful guidance about how you can claim legal exemption.
And here’s an excellent piece about the ineffectiveness of masks by a Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry.
Mask Censorship: The Swiss Doctor has translated the article in a Danish newspaper about the suppressed Danish mask study. Largest RCT on the effectiveness of masks ever carried out. Rejected by three top scientific journals so far.
The Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration, a petition started by Professor Martin Kulldorff, Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Jay Bhattacharya calling for a strategy of “Focused Protection” (protect the elderly and the vulnerable and let everyone else get on with life), was launched last month and the lockdown zealots have been doing their best to discredit it ever since. If you Googled it a week after launch, the top hits were three smear pieces from the Guardian, including: “Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’.” (Freddie Sayers at UnHerd warned us about this the day before it appeared.) On the bright side, Google UK has stopped shadow banning it, so the actual Declaration now tops the search results – and Toby’s Spectator piece about the attempt to suppress it is among the top hits – although discussion of it has been censored by Reddit. The reason the zealots hate it, of course, is that it gives the lie to their claim that “the science” only supports their strategy. These three scientists are every bit as eminent – more eminent – than the pro-lockdown fanatics so expect no let up in the attacks. (Wikipedia has also done a smear job.)
You can find it here. Please sign it. Now over 650,000 signatures.
Update: The authors of the GDB have expanded the FAQs to deal with some of the arguments and smears that have been made against their proposal. Worth reading in full.
Update 2: Many of the signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration are involved with new UK anti-lockdown campaign Recovery. Find out more and join here.
Update 3: You can watch Sunetra Gupta set out the case for “Focused Protection” here and Jay Bhattacharya make it here.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
There are now so many JRs being brought against the Government and its ministers, we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
First, there’s the Simon Dolan case. You can see all the latest updates and contribute to that cause here.
Then there’s the Robin Tilbrook case. You can read about that and contribute here.
Then there’s John’s Campaign which is focused specifically on care homes. Find out more about that here.
There’s the GoodLawProject’s Judicial Review of the Government’s award of lucrative PPE contracts to various private companies. You can find out more about that here and contribute to the crowdfunder here.
The Night Time Industries Association has instructed lawyers to JR any further restrictions on restaurants, pubs and bars.
Christian Concern is JR-ing the Government over its insistence on closing churches during the lockdowns. Read about it here.
And last but not least there’s the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. You can read about that and make a donation here.
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.
Quotation Corner
It’s Easier to Fool People Than to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.
Mark Twain
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.
Charles Mackay
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good, or else that it’s a well-considered act in conformity with natural law. Fortunately, it is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions…
Ideology – that is what gives the evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. They all require to have their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sense.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Nothing would be more fatal than for the Government of States to get into the hands of experts. Expert knowledge is limited knowledge and the unlimited ignorance of the plain man, who knows where it hurts, is a safer guide than any rigorous direction of a specialist.
Sir Winston Churchill
If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science.
Richard Feynman
We’re Hiring
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Shameless Begging Bit
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And Finally…
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to the Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Keeping track of the legal measures. I’m good at putting out feelers and finding information, getting connections to things and to relevant people, but particularly poor at organizing the information I do get. Is there anyone out there who would like to team up with me?
I Agree, when do they get any rest. This site is absolutely incredible. It has given we sceptics a platform to meet, share thoughts, articles, frustrations and rage at the catastrophic harm being done to our civil liberties. I so hope that those can do donate to this wonderful wonderful site..
Del Bigtree at the Highwire gives some facts about the Pfizer vaccine trial. https://www.bitchute.com/video/WOICJhGdwL8A/
Thing is, their not ‘infections’, either – that requires a viable, infective virus.
I think this is very powerful and should be circulated widely.
To be “fair” to Communists, many of these techniques are not exclusive to Communism and were incorporated from religious practices, prisons and armed forces disciplinary systems. However there is no doubt the Far Left are at the forefront of efforts to induce Lockdown Psychosis in the population at large.
Thank you, copied that.
Communication: Building a European Health Union
https://ec.europa.eu/info/files/communication-building-european-health-union-preparedness-and-resilience_en
If ever we needed to be clear of the thing…
Love him. Or loathe him. Trump just said everything I needed to hear from a world leader about the effects of lockdown and that he would never impose another one.
All the vaccine stuff followed, at that point I did think. Yeah whatever.
And from the Guardian:
“There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the election. Officials from both political parties have stated publicly that the election went well, and international observers confirmed there were no serious irregularities. Trump’s legal team continues to pursue election lawsuits that have gained little traction in the courts.”
They don’t like him much I suspect
They’ve already gone from “no fraud” to “no evidence of fraud” to “no widespread fraud”.
Next up? “No widespread fraud that could alter the results in any of the swing states”. Then “Not enough widespread fraud to alter the results in enough swing states to affect the Electoral College vote.”
And finally “It is our solemn constitutional duty to dispute this Electoral College vote. Joe Biden remains the President Elect and we call on the House of Representatives to reject ratification of the Electoral College vote. We urge everyone to attend the peaceful protests taking place in our major cities.”
I hope it gets that far. It should. But there’s a great weight of Big Tech and Big Media crushing us.
After 8 years the democrats liked Biden so much they picked Hillary Clinton. The US voters disliked Hillary Clinton so much they actually elected Donald Trump. After 4 years of trump the US disliked him so much they voted for Biden, a man who was not good enough to be the candidate ahead of the candidate who actually lost.
The democrats spent 4 years saying the US elections were rigged by the Russians and were democratically unsound. The Trump administration says they did a great job in fixing any election flaws, and now the democrats are saying the elections are really valid at last, backing the Trump camps claims. But now the Trump side claim the elections are bogus.
“It’s been a difficult year for so many, but our collective love of the NHS has brought us all together.”
Matt Hancock
BALLS!!!
Blimey, his bullshit gets stinkier by the day.
Why doesn’t he just marry it if he loves it so much?
Or perhaps he could fund it adequately, for a start.
And I hate this collective “we”, telling us what we all think. Nudging at its worst.
Deserves a picture…
Dear Matt
F u
Regards.
Dear Mr Hancock,
Thank you for those sentiments.
If you have any intention of coming down our chimney Santa-style to spread further good will, be advised we have installed a Viet-Cong style shit-tipped sharpened stake in our fireplace,
Yours sincerely,
B. Maskfry
PS Stop listening to those nutty behavioural scientists.
Newsnight Review:
1. BBC getting excited about Biden Effect – they hope it will neuter our Brexit Independence now Cummings off the scene.
2. Sceptical report from Deborah Cohen (the last journalist left at the BBC) on the lateral flow test being used in Liverpool. Identifies only half of cases in general public . False negs and positives. If it is rolled out for NHS will cause chaos. More harm than good. Appalling official response not addressing any of the points made in Ms Cohen’s report.
3. Suddenly all those vampires you thought were dead and buried, like David Gauke and Dominic Grieve are twitching and trying to get out of their political coffins. Stakes, please!
Thanks for your newsnight review.
I had forgotten about Gauke and Grieve. Having heard Grieve moaning about the government evading proper scrutiny and debate for so long, it would have been rather nice if he had made that argument in the past few months!
Dominic Grieve, recipient of the Legion d’honneur for services to the French State. Never mentioned by the BBC. Can you imagine how thry would have played it if Nigel Farage had been awarded a Medal by Trump.
Deborah Cohen has been great throughout this whole episode .It must be a lonely job just her and Nick Triggle surrounded by thousand of fucking morons .
Cohen definitely one of the good ones. She revealed the WHO switched on masks due lobbying from Masks4All and Goldman Sachs
Emailed update from the Bernician
Subject: Fwd: Application For Arrest Warrant Approved
People’s Union of Britain v Matt Hancock | Application For Arrest Warrant Approved
COVID-1984 NEWSFLASH | The prosecution in People’s Union of Britain v Matt Hancock has just sent the executed form, applying for his arrest warrant, to the court of issue.
We have already got the green light from the court’s legal advisers and now we have the chief magistrates’ permission to proceed. They also sent us the form to fill out for the arrest warrant, which has now been acknowledged by the same as having been received.
However, the form won’t be processed till Monday, when it will be sent up to the crown court to be administered and then served upon Hancock, without delay, by the arresting officers, who will soon be appointed by the court.
Therefore, the case will now proceed as directed, unless the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP] intervenes, which is unlikely because nobody will want to take the poisoned chalice.
However, even if they do, we can object on the ground that the DPP is working for the government, so they are obviously conflicted. If they refuse to back down, we… Read more »
This is a heartening move. I do hope we will succeed without recourse to messy violence.
Well blow me down, the Bernician really does have a King Charles’ Head thing going on!
Another pronouncement from the idiot Welsh Health Secretary
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54929385
Here in Lisbon, the government is trying to please Brussels, in order to get some relief money. Luke-warm measures (thank God), which reminds us of The Good Soldier Švejk, by Hasek. Svejk always tries to behave within the regulations. Always trying to please the commanders but never does abide by the law, strictly. A hilarious book, and a must read in these surreal times. Quite a manual really.
Svejk trying to please????
US Election update. The things they don’t tell you on the BBC, Sky and ITV:
1. Lots of evidence of fraud is piling up.
2. The Pennsylvania election managers are panicking, trying to get election staff to come in with missing documentation – but what they will do with it is anyone’s guess. They might be panicking because it’s an honest record.
3. Numerous computer glitches involving the Dominion system have been identified. Ownership of Dominion is opaque. It is known to have made a contribution to a Clinton Foundation initiative in 2014. Ironically leftist candidates in the Democratic primaries of 2019 voiced concern about possible fraud related to its use,
4. Dem Mayors in major cities (after celebrating with pro-Biden crowds in the street, no social distancing) are now getting ready to introduce draconian lockdowns and mask ordinances. Seems pretty clear this a political move to suppress dissent ahead of the Biden (presumed) Inauguration after which he begins the vaccination programme, to be swiftly followed by a declaration of victory over the virus and a return to normality.
https://www.cisa.gov/rumorcontrol
Your point?
Plesident Erect, Old Sniffy
Biden’s ‘taskforce’ are already on about a six week national lockdown. I’m missing Trump already.
No, they’re walking it back:
Biden adviser walks back earlier proposal calling for lockdown
There won’t be any national lockdown. The virus was weaponised to finish off Trump.
I said City mayors. It won’t be a national lockdown – that would be a constitutional outrage. You’re being played. This is how politicians work.
The other person referred to a national lockdown.
I think the virus is going to be magically fixed by Biden and his team. They will probably make changes to the testing regime that blow away the casedemic and the “with Covid” deaths. It’s the whole world that’s been played by this politicised event.
I know, but you’re being played if you think a national lockdown was seriously being proposed.
I didn’t say it was. The entire push for lockdowns and mask mandates was fraudulent, all for the election. I don’t think the state and local lockdowns will last, either.
Apologies for any misinterpretation of your comments on my part.
No problem! 🙂
Am I the only one that thinks Bob Moran’s cartoons in the Telegraph are just superb? Particularly those considering the current nightmare. The perfect mixture of seriousness and humour. He can also be very poignant.
They are great, I know someone on here has even bought a full-size print of one for their wall.
Wholly agree.
When Boris is in jail the walls should be covered with huge blown-up versions of these cartoons.
The only way any of the bad guys go to jail over this is through acts of attainder. You need to win a majority in the Commons for that, and a pretty ‘radical’ majority. How’s that anti lockdown party coming along?
Nope. I agree! Very often cartoonists have been summing up where we are much better than political columnists. They work alone generally and can “socially distance” themselves from the hysteria.
I managed to get an original a few weeks ago, but he’s got such a following now that current ones are triple the price. I’m kicking myself for not getting one or two more when I had the chance.
I wish I’d got this one….
Yes that was the one someone bought.
This is my favourite poignant one:
He’s brilliant to say the least!
I’d love him to feature our useless PM Trudeau and the equally useless Dr. Theresa Tam in a Canada special cartoon.
Hands, knees & toes…
at least I think that is the advert every time I turn the radio on to TalkRADIO.
Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Someone should do a Clown Show parody with that.
knees and toes.
And ears. And eyes.
I mute Talk Radio every time the adverts come on. Can’t stand all those ‘Here at (corporation) we take your safety seriously, so when you visit us in branch we will subject you to a full medical examination and spray you with dettol. All our staff wear NBC suits and we expect you to as well. Let’s all stay safe’ etc
If there are any Christians out there who haven’t come across this podcast, I’ve found it very helpful and recommend it:
Irreverend: Faith and Current Affairs
Yes, they are great. True Christians – very, very rare among today’s clergy.
Our local takeaway is now sporting track and trace QR codes on the door and counter.This is at the behest of the local council apparently,I didn’t think it was mandatory for a takeaway to display these.The takeaway isn’t pushing anyone to use them and is very relaxed about customers not wearing masks,they are just trying hard to make a bit of money and have to go along with whatever crap the council imposes with the fear of closure being constantly held over them.
I don’t see takeaways on this list, do you?
https://faq.covid19.nhs.uk/article/KA-01183/en-us
My local Indian had those earlier.The 3 men inside were all unmasked though so the impetus must be coming from somewhere else.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54937486
It looks likely that fewer children have died by not going to school, than have died with Covid. Maybe it’s road traffic accidents outside schools, does anyone know?
Life is full of risks, we either have to accept that fact, or stop living.
Accordingly, zombies have stopped living.
Fine. I don’t care.
Got to love these stories. It repeats a study last week that showed parents with young kids are likely to have pre existing immunity. So much copy and academic energy in tracking a virus from school to a home to parents, nobody gets ill and what?
The virus goes here, then there, then over there, under that, and into that blakc hole. Cool eh?
Operation Warp Speed: free, partially tested vaccines for Americans.
Looks like a re-run of 1976.
Latest drivel from Zoom University is that they are prioritising managing the Christmas
break in an “orderly fashion”. Apparently they want to tip out all remaining occupied
accomodation with two weeks to go and “move all teaching online if possible”- which apart
form one hour tutorials for each module, means no change. Worringly they’ve revealed that the mass asymptomatic testing mentioned at on Monday to “increase confidence” will soon “help with all decisions.” If they’re that confident that their great Covidian Church is fully immunised then why do we bloody need testing? Can never collaborate enough it seems.
I swear I lose more brain cells every week from this place. Current top prize goes to the claim that “most transmission” is actually occuring between seven plus people.
It’s bloody evil what’s been done to students 😡
It is. Mine isn’t guilty of the worst offences yet but their nevertheless unhindered commitment to Covidianism still angers me though.
My eldest is in her second year and living off campus, youngest has various offers for next year, she won’t go if things are like this.
If I were in my first year I’d just do the OU, probably the best option now. Campus universities are absolutely finished if they keep this act up.
I thoroughly recommend the OU.
The one good thing about all this Covid nonsense , assuming we ever get out of it, is that a generation of youngsters might actually query the point of the pay-your-own-dole scheme known as ‘uni’.
I was never a big fan but I couldn’t get work and did manage to get one in my placement year. I don’t have nice things to say about it these days but I have extracted some good out of it.
I’m in more or less the same position Liam. Elder son in second year and in very expensive accommodation off campus for effectively a face-to-face tutorial every other week. Younger son is on gap year so cannot defer further – I am so thankful he did not go this year though. The treatment of all students, but especially freshers, has been a national disgrace. I am absolutely disgusted in the lack of push-back from Office for Students, and the minister (Michelle Donolan) to the VCs and their admin blobs. They are fee-paying customers, adults able to vote, and deserving of respect from their universities. Sadly, a minority opinion in the sector, as I know from direct experience.
Agree Tigress. The sad thing is I’d be fine with going back if they actually went back to normal, but that just feels like a dream given their infinite zealotry. I’m so angry.
Just pathetic isn’t it? Feel for ya DRW…Zoom University cracks me up!
Of course the magic number 6 sends covids retreating from human beings and back out hunting for groups of 7 or more…yes, of course!
Thanks Eddie, that name’s been memed since this all started. We should be thankful, it only spares four in Wales! Wonder if it would be five if you were to meet up on the old Severn Bridge.
What a bizarre claim!
It’s insanity, DRW. So sorry you are trapped by it. At least, unlike many of your fellow students, you are aware you are a free person and can leave if and when you damn well please. Hang in there!
Thanks Charlie, the wording was an earlier email claiming “most transmission is occuring when the rule of six is breached.” Actually made me laugh when I first read it. Glad I’m still at home so I’m only tangentially affected by all this bullshit.
Sounds more like University of Doom.
They’re all in a race to the bottom but that I’d give that title to the Manchester or Scottish gulags.
University of Congenital Idiocy.
Which one?
I’d bet money on some course being created with Covid in the title.
BSc Covid Communications & Compliance
Coming soon to ICL I reckon.
Gimme strength!!!!
We now have the ninth highest rates in the country, with over 2,500 people testing positive in the last seven days. In this time, 103 people have been admitted to hospital. Sadly, there have been 33 COVID-19-related Kirklees deaths in hospitals. We have to urgently change this, and we all have a part to play.
To help us support this, on top of the work we’re already doing in communities, we have requested that Kirklees gets access to lateral flow tests which give almost instant results. We plan to use these rapid tests to support our most vulnerable residents – which we believe is one way to help save lives and reduce hospital admissions.
What we need everyone else to do during this lockdown period is to limit your contact with other households to an absolute minimum, stay at home as much as possible and please, if you have any symptoms at all, self-isolate. We can turn this around, but we have to do it together.
NB Kirklees has a population of about 440,000.
”Covid RELATED”. If you didn’t laugh you’d have to cry. The fact that people actually fall for this tosh is really quite depressing.
They could make any old sh*t up and people would believe it. ‘Covid cases have increased by twelvety-nine hundred billion per cent today, which is a shocking one in three of half a percent of everyone born between the ages of 19 and 75.’
They have never just increased, they surged or soared.
You got a sneak preview of Whitty and Vallance’s next presentation slides? Did it fall out of Cummins’ card board box?
Rapid tests support people???
I had this too. It arrived while I was cooking tea for my sister and brother in law.
Recent deaths in Kirklees due to covid
12-11-2020 1
11-11-2020 1
10-11-2020 4
Every death is a tragedy
Elon Musk tweeted late Thursday that he had taken four COVID-19 tests under the direction of one nurse, and two of the four came back positive.
“Something extremely bogus is going on,” Musk tweeted. “Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-talks-bogus-covid-191114736.html?guccounter=1
He is also questioning the PCR text on twitter, Mike Yeadon has replied to him telling him all about it.
Just looked up some of the reactions to the perfectly normal and heartwarming footage of Scottish football fans celebrating in pubs last night. Absolutely horrifying. “They need to lose their license and pay a hefty fine straight to the NHS” was typical. Worst of all was the intro to one article. “A health boss has issued a grim warning…”
Having always been an awkward bugger – one of those kids who always wanted to know why? – it worries me that nobody thinks to ask the question: “just what the hell is a “”Health Boss””?
I really am losing faith in my fellow Scots. I find myself more in common with the North of England politically. This hate crime bill might just push me over the border.
Don’t worry, Law Commission for England is playing catch-up with a proposal to make criticism of Islam a crime punishable by a prison term of several years.
Utter farce! I don’t even know why people bother criticising the religion of peace. There is no hope to reform it.
Be a bit odd if they exclude Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, etc.
They’ll find some wording that means Ian Hislop can continue taking the piss out of Christianity whereas no one will be allowed to say boo to Islam.
Let me tell you that you won’t regret it. I’m a Scot and have lived in England for 30 years now and I haven’t been back for more than 15 years. Not once. I find some of my fellow Scots to be among the most racist and bigoted people that I have ever met. As a Scot in England I have rarely encountered what might in this day and age be viewed as casual racism. The English really don’t give a shit. On the other hand quite a few Scots have taken exception to the fact that my wife is English. And that is why I don’t return home.
I’m not even surprised sorry to hear this happened to you. I find it absolutely bizarre that the same Scots who want independence then want back into the EU with 27 other member states…
I think a lot of Scots don’t really care who is yanking the leash on their collar: just so long as it isn’t the English.
Same. I’ve been thinking of escaping to England for a while now but the hassle of long distance job searching and house hunting puts me off. My friends and family are all here too (not that it matters as we can’t see each other anyway). I’ll await the outcome of May’s election then decide. If the SNP get in again that might give me enough incentive to up and leave.
I’d miss my family but my friends have shown there true colours during COVID so not so much of a loss… I can’t see any change where I live they have a stranglehold on the seat.
What if Krankie cancels the election?
Can you make an exception for Neil Oliver?
…and Iain Stewart?
Haha yes we don’t deserve him though
Apparently the joyless fucks are out in force complaining about the John Lewis Christmas advert too. Apparently there is not enough social distancing or masks.
These people are sick in the head.
Imagine Christmas in one of their zombie holes!
Oh FFS, I despair. These people want putting down.
noticed that straight off-didn’t realise it would annoy so many people. so typical John Lewis christmas ad!
Anything which annoys the Covid Nazis must be a good thing.
https://www.cisa.gov/rumorcontrol
Perhaps others have found these links, but they make interesting (and chilling) reading. I don’t ‘do’ Twatter, but it’s worth looking at.
https://principia-scientific.com/top-pfizer-whistleblower-trashes-companys-vaccine-breakthrough-spin/?fbclid=IwAR1o6IV1-5UvjxcWEI39etdUcgyfGAVwU6CnfhSVYV
https://twitter.com/itsjillgardner/status/1326498304809709568
https://youtu.be/W3NOKdTcCC0
A doctor who deals with disinfectants explains how unlikely it is that viruses are on surfaces or pose a risk.
Wide use of disinfectants is very dangerous as it makes bacteria adapt to the chemicals and we are prone to get more easily sick and antibiotics do not work anymore.
I found a study he mentioned most interesting.
In the study from Canada which followed babies and their home environment, babies growing up in a household where surfaces are regularly sanitized had a change in their gut flora, and put on weight!
Babies where surfaces where cleaned with just soap and hot water were healthier.
Basically he said, stop using sanitizer everywhere as it harms the body, but wash your hands regularly with soap and water.
You’re saying someone infected with a virus can rub their nose and deposit virus laden mucus on a surface with their fingers but there’s no chance of onward transmission? Don’t believe it.
My house is ok then! 😁
At least Cummings left Number 10 without a mask. I respect and thank him for that. He was not virtue signalling like Boris the immune pretending not to be immune and so causing confusion and suffering to thousands. Boris is a twat for this. I’ve no knowledge of what goes on in Number 10 but I would not be seen dead working for Boris the Blond Dictator. Total career killer. Kudos to Cummings for jumping ship. Apologies if I am calling this wrong. Boris is the leader and Boris is the huge problem.
Don’t be. Cummings is a savvy bloke. He’s jumping to keep himself viable for future work. I think the Carrie situation is a bridge too far. Boris needs to pull a full turnaround otherwise he’s out.
Yes – thanks. I also think it has gone very far past the point of no return for Boris and many western leaders guilty of killing the vulnerable whom they were entrusted to protect. They called it wrong with Lockdowns and killed far more in care homes/ hospitals and for the last 5 months homes (see ONS stats) than the virus. They let it rip. They cannot keep trying to run away from this conclusion. The data will not change so why should the conclusion? So Boris is still a twat murderer in a black mask.
The problem is that there is no consistency in their twisted logic. Whitty claims the first lockdown measures dropped the R rate (indistinguishable from natural decay – if those figures are to be believed). And that involved:
No Track and Trace
No Mass Testing
No Masks.
They now say to prevent more infections we have to do all that. And yet it would appear using the same duff figures that Covid infections and deaths are rising.
So under the logic, stop doing all of the above.
Of course the real answer is that the virus never posed any more threat than the flu and it’s a matter of how robust and adaptable your health system is that leads to deaths.
Whitty is on record admitting that the infection rate was falling before the first lockdown.
Whatever he says or admits, the data speaks for itself, it was falling before lockdown. OK, more usefully, it’s regional, some before and some after, but on average before lockdown,
I wondered if it’s because with Trump gone, there’s nobody left to oppose the globalist NWO and people like Cummings are therefore in the firing line, so he decided to jump before he was pushed.
He hasn’t ”gone”. He’s still there, being a very effective thorn in the side of the bad guys.
And he always said that he intended to be only in post for about a year.
I think he is a psychopath who is jumping ship to avoid scrutiny when this shit show blows up.
So who was the Chatty Rat then ? Dom / Lee / Matt or Govie or all of them ?
Or Doris himself trying to avert the blame.
Good question. Best to sack them all to be safe I would say.
Update from Michael O’Bernicia..
COVID-1984 NEWSFLASH | The prosecution in People’s Union of Britain v Matt Hancock has just sent the executed form, applying for his arrest warrant, to the court of issue.
We have already got the green light from the court’s legal advisers and now we have the chief magistrates’ permission to proceed. They also sent us the form to fill out for the arrest warrant, which has now been acknowledged by the same as having been received.
However, the form won’t be processed till Monday, when it will be sent up to the crown court to be administered and then served upon the defendant, without delay, by the arresting officers, who will soon be appointed by the court.
Therefore, the case will now proceed as directed, unless the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP] intervenes, which is unlikely because nobody will want to take the poisoned chalice.
However, even if they do, we can object on the ground that the DPP is working for the government, so they are obviously conflicted. If they refuse to back down, we will insist that the case proceeds with our legal team.
In other words, my family, friends and growing army of… Read more »
Paul, the retired DI arrested wrongfully – they probably found your name after doing a photo search/comparison.
Thanks for your story – inspiring.
PS You were probably dropped on Snowdon for your survival training – Snowden is probably not big enough. 🙂
Unless you’re Dennis Quaid