Day: 2 December 2020

Danny Nemu Would you eat chocolate manufactured by a company that keeps getting prosecuted for false labelling? People keep telling me I’m anti-vax, which is strange as I have been diligently avoiding the subject for years in my writings and talks on medical anthropology. If that category is going to stick, however, regardless of what I write or who I cite, then maybe it is time to tackle the subject head-on. I like to know what I’m putting into my body so I tend to read the labels in the supermarket, and often return things to the shelf if they contain ingredients like palm oil, for example. That doesn’t mean that I’m anti-chox. I’m not totally strict about palm oil anyway. I might eat a Malteser if it rolled my way – but I do have some questions I’d like answered before I roll up my sleeve for a dose of AstraZeneca. Vaccines are a hotly contested area, with bad tempers and bad arguments in abundance, so this article will be scrupulously scientific and militantly anti-vex. We will read labels, court transcripts and journals, and you can come to your own conclusions. Some people may be inoculated already, with systems primed to respond quickly and aggressively to a probing question or unfamiliar suggestion; this intervention is contraindicated for them. Other ...

by Guy de la Bédoyère In one of the early Blackadder episodes the hapless sidekick Percy informs Blackadder, who has been told he has to marry the Spanish Infanta, that he has heard “her eyes are more beautiful” than the “Blue Stone of Galveston”, based on the fact that the Infanta’s eyes are bluer. In the ensuing discussion it emerges that Percy has never seen either and thus has absolutely no sphere of reference for his assertion that one is “slightly less blue” than the other. Blackadder concludes that Percy is as much use as a hole in the head. I know just how he felt. When the pandemic crisis broke, we were all instantly bombarded with figures by scientists and journalists, and almost invariably out of context. They included data that had been measured, and figures that were predicted, most notoriously in the UK the 510,000 prospective deaths put about by Imperial College that played such a large part in the first lockdown. This has carried on remorselessly ever since. It struck me almost immediately right back in March that I had no idea at all what the normal rate of death was in the United Kingdom. Therefore, any statement about deaths from Covid, real or predicted, whether made by a member of SAGE, the Government or a wittering ...

Victory in Spite of the Tiers Boris looks sheepishly at Graham Brady, like a teenager who's just got in from an all-night party being told off by his dad The post-lockdown tier system comes into force today after the Government won the parliamentary vote. Not the result that readers of Lockdown Sceptics would have wanted in an ideal world, but the vote was a damaging blow to the new tier system nevertheless. Only 291 of 650 MPs voted for the Tier system, which means the new restrictions are being brought in without the backing of a majority of MPs. In such circumstances it's going to be difficult to enforce themThe Labour party abstained. Admittedly, a bit spineless of Keir Starmer, but better than voting with the Government55 Tory MPs rebelled, up from 34 on November 4th and Boris's biggest back bench rebellion to date 15 Labour MPs voted against the measures. Sixteen if you count Jeremy Corbyn (independent) For more on the fall-out for the Government, see this analysis by Camilla Tominey in the Telegraph. Here is the list of MPs who voted "No" yesterday: Conservative: Adam Afriyie, Imran Ahmad Khan, Steve Baker (teller), Sir Graham Brady, Andrew Bridgen, Paul Bristow, Sir Christopher Chope, Greg Clark, James Daly, Philip Davies, David Davis, Jonathan Djanogly, Jackie Doyle-Price, Richard Drax, Sir Iain ...