Government Confirms No Coercion For Vaccine
The debate in Parliament triggered by the petition to prevent any restrictions on those who refuse a COVID-19 vaccination, which was signed by over 300,000 people and which we encouraged Lockdown Sceptics readers to write to their MP about, was held on Monday.
Government Minister Nadhim Zahawi supported the petition and the question was agreed by the MPs present. Steve Baker led the argument in support.
Some people argue that property rights should be so strong that property owners should be allowed to serve whoever they wish, but that is not the approach we take in an enlightened and modern civilised society. I am afraid the argument touches on some very difficult issues. For example, we do not allow people to say that they will not have same-sex couples in their bed and breakfast. We will not allow discrimination against the range of protected characteristics.
I can see that Ministers might face a temptation to say, “Let’s allow the acceleration of the roll-out of the vaccine by turning a blind eye to property owners insisting on people being vaccinated before staying in their bed and breakfast, or whatever it might be.” I can see that some Ministers might argue, on the basis of property rights, that shop owners, hotel owners and so on ought to have the choice – I understand the argument, because I am a classical liberal and I think about property rights—but I have to say to the Minister, who I am sure understands the argument, that we cross a Rubicon if we say that it is possible to discriminate against people on the basis of their health status. That would be a very sad and wrong basis on which to go forward as a country, even though I can understand that in the face of this disease, with all that that implies, there is pressure on Ministers, officials, members of the public and businesses – we all know what the costs are. It would be very easy to make an ethical mistake, which we could regret for a very long time.
For those two reasons – because it is not an effective thing to do, and because it is morally wrong to discriminate against people on the basis of their choice not to take a vaccine – I will stand with the petitioners in asking the Government to prevent any restrictions being placed on people who refuse to have any potential COVID-19 vaccine.
Nadhim Zahawi was clear in the debate that the Government opposed coercion and vaccine passports. This followed an initial mis-step last month when he suggested that vaccine passports might be in the pipeline. He told MPs:
Mandating vaccinations is discriminatory and completely wrong, and, like [Steve Baker MP] and others, I urge businesses listening to this debate to not even think about that. I will explain in further detail why that is the wrong thing to do. I put on record my thanks to Professor Karol Sikora, who has many hundreds of thousands of followers, who quoted me and said I eloquently dealt with the issue. We have absolutely no plans for vaccine passporting.
Secondly, cards that were issued after people got their first COVID-19 vaccination have been mentioned on social media. Among other details, they contain the date of their second vaccination. That record does not constitute a so-called vaccine passport. It does mean anyone is immune. As we know, the vaccine is given as two injections, 21 days apart. The second dose is the booster dose. I am sure hon. Members will forgive me for repeating the message that patients must return as instructed for their second dose. Without the second dose, the vaccine will not be effective. That is a really important message, and I am grateful to all hon. Members who are repeating that to their constituents.
Thirdly, on completion of both vaccinations, patients will be issued with a vaccine record card, much as they are for other vaccination programmes, so there is nothing different in the way we are dealing with this vaccine. Again, that does not constitute a so-called vaccine passport; nor can it be used as a form of identification. That would be absolutely wrong. Colleagues will appreciate that the careful and accurate recording of vaccination status is an important part of a public health effort. It supports patient safety during probably the largest and most challenging vaccination programme in British history.
Elliot Coburn MP, who moved the motion, concluded the debate:
My hon. Friend [Steve Baker] put the case for the petitioners very well indeed. We do not want, and will not see, as the Minister has confirmed, restrictions put in place, certainly not mandated by the UK Government – or indeed the Scottish Government, as [Patricia Gibson] has confirmed. I hope that businesses and other organisations are watching and hearing that message. To repeat what we have all said, I urge everyone to get the vaccine when their time comes. They should ask questions if they have concerns, and should listen to the people who have the knowledge. Let us beat this thing and get back to normal.
All those LS readers who signed the petition and wrote to their MP, take a bow.
Stop Press: Andrew J. Green in Conservative Woman has outlined his concerns about the rushed Pfizer vaccine, drawing on the work of Dr Mike Yeadon and Dr Wolfgang Wodarg among others. While to my mind a safe and effective vaccine would be welcome as a way to bring this self-inflicted disaster to a close (despite the dangerous precedent it sets for future similar outbreaks), important questions remain about the vaccines currently being approved and rolled out in double time. Andrew summarises them well:
1. Adverse effects from the injection which the trials identified as “very common” were pain at injection site (more than 80% of participants); fatigue (more than 60%); headache (more than 50%), joint pain (more than 20%), muscle pain (more than 30%); chills (more than 30%); fever (more than 10%). These “were usually mild or moderate in intensity and resolved within a few days”. Based on looking at many vaccine SPC documents, these percentages of adverse effects are alarmingly high. If “moderate” in intensity, most of them would require time off work for potentially several days. None of them can honestly be dismissed as minor symptoms.
2. No drug interaction studies have been undertaken (although, actually, this is the norm with almost all pharmaceutical drugs). But with a traditional, viral-based vaccine, past experience will probably give researchers an idea of possible interactions whereas, in this case, we have absolutely no idea of even what type of drugs might interact unfavourably.
3. No animal reproductive or development toxicity tests been carried out, so we have no clue as to potential problems with reproduction or foetal development.
4. Safety of the vaccine during pregnancy has not been determined, which is why Section 4.6 states: “For women of childbearing age, pregnancy should be excluded before vaccination. In addition, women of childbearing age should be advised to avoid pregnancy for at least two months after their second dose.”
5. It is not known whether the vaccine is excreted in human milk, which is why Section 4.6 also states that it “should not be used during breast-feeding”.
6. Section 4.6 also states, under the heading “Fertility”, that “It is unknown whether COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 has an impact on fertility.”
Worth reading in full.
The Pfizer Vaccine’s Side Effects
Today we’re publishing another piece by Neville Hodgkinson, the former medical and science correspondent for the Daily Mail and Sunday Times, this time about the side effects of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It starts with a fairly alarming description by a care home nurse of the side effects she experienced after getting the jab – aches and paint, fever, malaise, depression – and goes on to discuss the findings of Professor Eric Caumes, the French infectious disease specialist (15.8% of 18 to 55 year-olds had a fever of 38 degrees or higher within seven days, 45% had to take medication for fever or pain, 55% had headaches and 62% were tired). Hodgkinson continues:
Contrary to what NHS propaganda would have us believe, in no way has the jab been shown to be “life-saving”. In fact, as the business magazine Forbes reported last September, current trials seem designed by the manufacturers “to prove their vaccines work, even if the measured effects are minimal”. None has been shown to offer anything like full protection.
Claims of a “95% success rate” refer to the fact that far fewer patients in the vaccinated group – just eight, out of 21,720 – went on to test positive for Covid, compared with 162 out of 21,728 given a placebo injection, a simple saline solution. This outcome says nothing about the vaccine’s ability to save lives, nor to prevent infection.
Even the apparent success in reducing COVID-19 diagnoses may be illusory. The investigators relied on trial participants themselves to report symptoms that they thought might be caused by the disease, and that then led on to their being tested for the virus. Since side-effects were so common among the vaccinees, it would be obvious to many that they had received the jab itself, making them less likely to go for a Covid test than those in the placebo group.
And since the testing regime used is in any case notoriously unreliable as a diagnostic tool, throwing up many false positives, this difference could account for at least some of the “95% success rate” claimed.
Hodgkinson isn’t an anti-vaxxer and, like us at Lockdown Sceptics, he’s hoping the vaccines will work well enough to end this catastrophic period in human history. But as he says, such optimism shouldn’t blind us to the facts.
Worth reading in full.
The Nonsense of “Cases”
With the tier changes for England being agreed yesterday and set to be announced today (with the exception of London and some nearby areas, which have already been placed in Tier 3), I decided to look up how my area was faring. I live in Warwick District, which was right at the bottom of the Tier 3 metrics on December 2nd, so I looked up on the ZOE app how we were doing now, and was mightily encouraged (the ZOE app estimates are based on reported symptoms as well as PCR testing so avoid some of the pitfalls of false positives).
Only 429 symptomatic cases in the whole district (population ~142,500), clear downward trajectory, looking good. Then I spotted the Telegraph had a postcode tool to find out how your area is faring on the Government’s metrics. This is what came out for Warwick.
Blimey. Cases up nearly 82%. I went to the graph on the Government dashboard.
Sure enough, a totally different shape to the ZOE data in recent weeks. That’s the wonder of PCR and of not controlling for test numbers (notice the Telegraph tool shows the positivity rate headed down). Yet we’re told “case” numbers are a major part of the equation for tiers and all the scientific advisers, politicians and pundits go on about them like they’re telling you something meaningful about the epidemic. Ludicrous.
How’s London doing today? According to ZOE, symptomatic infections in the 20s, 40s and 50s age brackets, which were previously rising, stayed flat for a second day (though there was an increase in the under 20s). Still no sign of that out-of-control epidemic that might warrant laying waste to the hospitality trade.
Spotlight on Germany
After an easy ride in the spring with no excess deaths at all (and widely praised for its handling of the crisis), Covid finally arrived with full force in Germany in November. The Swiss Doctor takes a look at why.
Germany was only slightly affected by the first corona wave in spring and did not register any [excess] annual mortality until November. In fact, a hardly noticed heat wave in August claimed as many human lives as the first corona wave.
Why did Germany, in contrast to most of its neighbouring countries, largely escape the spring wave? The new coronavirus is likely to have arrived in Germany a little later and the first measures were taken a little earlier. In addition, the first chains of infection are likely to have been interrupted a little more quickly and the nursing homes were protected a little better than elsewhere.
Until the summer, Germany had a record low antibody seroprevalence of less than 2% (with the exception of a few local hotspots such as Gangelt). However, the risk of a second and stronger wave of infections from autumn was very high. This increase could neither be prevented by the ineffective masks nor by a “partial lockdown” in November.
Incredibly, Germany, which is now in a strict lockdown until at least mid-January, is still on track for below average mortality in 2020, though the current Covid wave will likely break early next year and cause a spike in 2021 unless vaccination can attenuate it. What the country urgently needs, says the Swiss Doctor, is a protocol for life-saving early treatment.
A concept for outpatient prophylaxis and early treatment of risk groups with which hospitalizations and deaths can be reduced by up to 80% according to international studies does not yet exist in Germany. Targeted protection of risk groups is also rarely attempted – with a few notable exceptions such as the city of Tübingen (more on this).
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Swiss Doctor also has a short piece comparing the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) with the John Snow Memorandum (JSM). The writer has no kind words for the JSM:
The JSM named three supposed models: Japan, Vietnam and New Zealand. But the JSM failed to mention that all of these had implemented early border controls, two are islands, and two never did any mass PCR testing. They could thus not be models for Western nations.
This is why the JSM had to fail: it proposed ineffective measures and neglected the protection of high-risk groups.
However, he agrees with the JSM’s criticism of the GBD that “focused protection” is nearly impossible in high-incidence environments. The real answer, he argues, is proper, evidence-based treatment.
What both the GBD and the JSM failed to mention is the critical importance of prophylaxis and early treatment for the protection of high-risk groups. By now, dozens of studies have shown that early treatment can reduce hospitalizations and deaths even in nursing homes by up to 90%.
Absent early border controls – which among Western countries only Norway and Finland plus a few islands have been able to implement – and highly disruptive measures like total lockdowns, early and prophylactic treatment of high-risk groups is really the only effective measure available to date.
Unfortunately, it is also the one measure most resisted by Western health authorities.
To be fair to the GBD, it’s hard to know how successful focused protection could be as no one has troubled themselves to properly attempt it. But the lack of official support for proven effective treatments is indeed a travesty and a tragedy that persists even now.
When is a Covid Death Not a Covid Death?
Following on from Professor David Livermore’s incisive piece yesterday asking how much inflation there is in Covid death statistics, a reader has sent us a Freedom of Information response he received from NISRA, the Northern Ireland statistics agency.
Among other things it tells us that in NI Covid deaths registered as “due to” and not just “with” Covid make up 62% of the total (807/1,301), whereas in England and Wales (E&W) up to August 31st that same figure is 92.1% (48,168/52,327, see ONS here). 62% vs 92.1% is a huge difference in what are supposed to be the same thing (proportion of deaths with Covid that are due to Covid) and it requires an explanation.
Guy de la Bédoyère estimated that around 35-40% of the E&W ‘Covid deaths’ are really deaths that would have occurred anyhow, making the 62% more plausible than the 92.1%, though still a little high. Yesterday Prof Livermore cited a Swedish review of cases which reduced 122 death certificates recording Covid as ‘cause’ of death to 15% of the number (18 or 19 deaths).
Are doctors being encouraged to put Covid as the direct cause of death more often than might necessarily be warranted? That’s one possible consequence of the way the following guidance from the BMA might be applied:
In those cases where the doctor is confident on medical grounds that a particular cause of death is likely then that should be entered on the MCCD. COVID-19 is an acceptable direct or underlying cause of death for the purposes of completing the MCCD, even without the results of a positive test, and it is important that likely COVID-19 deaths are reported as such via the registrar.
This requires deeper investigation.
Stop Press: Watch Jamie Jenkins, former head of health analysis at the ONS, criticising the data handling throughout the pandemic with Mike Graham on talkRADIO.
Stop Press 2: Ontario in Canada is even counting suicide victims as COVID-19 fatalities, reports True North.
Santa Covid Ad Pulled
Good news. The atrocious NHS advert we reported on last week and encouraged readers to complain about that showed Father Christmas catching Covid and being given oxygen before being nursed back to health has been pulled. A number of readers who took our advice to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority have sent us the response they received yesterday afternoon.
Thank you for contacting the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) with your concerns about the recent video for the Association of NHS Charities t/a NHS Charities Together, which featured a ‘Santa’ character as a patient in hospital.
We’ve received a number of complaints about this video from individuals who were similarly concerned that it was inappropriate and insensitive in the current climate and potentially harmful to children. We noted that many complainants may have seen press articles about the video and believed that it had appeared as an ad on television. However, immediately after receiving the complaints we contacted the advertisers, who confirmed that it had not appeared on television or in any paid-for space, but instead had only appeared on the charity’s own website and social media pages. Since being made aware of the complaints, the charity has also confirmed that they have now removed the video in question from all platforms, including their own website and YouTube.
Tom Cruise: Action Man or Chin-Wobbler?
Tom Cruise doesn’t like it when people get too close. The Telegraph has more.
Tom Cruise yelled at crew members on the set of Mission: Impossible 7 after he saw them breaking coronavirus rules, according to a report.
The Hollywood star spotted staff standing within two metres of each other on set and launched into a rant, according to the Sun.
He shouted: “If I see you doing it again, you’re f—ing gone.”
A source close to the production told Reuters the tape was authentic. Cruise’s representative declined to comment.
Cruise shouted at the crew:
They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf—ers. I’m on the phone with every f—ing studio at night, insurance companies, producers, and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. That’s it. No apologies. You can tell it to the people that are losing their f—ing homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night – the future of this f—ing industry. Do you understand what I want? Do you understand the responsibility that you have? So I’m sorry, I am beyond your apologies. I have told you, and now I want it, and if you don’t do it, you’re out. We are not shutting this f—ing movie down! Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re f—ing gone.
A deserved winner of this week’s chin-wobbling gong.
Hypocrite of the Week
Lockdown fanatic Tobias Ellwood MP attended a “Christmas dinner” for 27 people at a private members club on Tuesday night, but has denied breaking any rules. Julia Hartley-Brewer cheekily asks if he’s the same Tobias Ellwood who five days earlier appeared on her show to say we should cancel Christmas because the pandemic is “a dangerous and enduring emergency”.
Indeed, the very same.
In an increasingly crowded field, Tobias Ellwood pips the rest to win Hypocrite of the Week.
Round-up
- “If only the Government’s new-found respect for personal choice could be expected to last beyond Christmas” – Patrick O’Flynn in the Telegraph is not hopeful that Boris’s flash of liberal spirit will not shortly be smothered by the public health establishment to which he has been largely captive since March
- “Top scientific advisers rake in £400k” – Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance are on up to £200,000 salaries, earning a fortune during the pandemic and appearing on the list of best-paid civil servants for the first time, reports the Mail
- “Jerry Bengtson Wears Face Mask During Football Match To Protect His Family” – First footballer to don an oxygen-obstructing muzzle during a match, making him a close runner-up for chin-wobbler of the week
- “Coordinated Repression of Early Treatment of COVID-19 Explained” – Covexit article on the “Trusted News Initiative”, an organisation in which “major news and global tech organisations” work together “to stop the spread of disinformation where it poses risk of real-world harm”. TNI consists of: AP, AFP, BBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Facebook, Financial Times, First Draft, Google/YouTube, The Hindu, Microsoft, Reuters, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Twitter, and The Washington Post. Trusted by whom, exactly?
- “After Weeks Of Holier Than Thou Howling, The ‘Thanksgiving Surge’ Is A No Show” – One of the arguments deployed by the Christmas break opponents in the UK is that Thanksgiving in the US and Canada caused a surge of infections. In fact, as Brianna Lyman in the Daily Caller reports, it’s a complete myth
- “Last night before lockdown in London” – Some snaps in Reuters of young people still trying to live their lives despite the Government’s best efforts to stop them. What detestable villains
- “Cuomo, Whitmer, Newsom Are Worse Than Wrong: Coronavirus Update XLIV” – Latest data-rich update from US statistician William M. Briggs pointing out that deaths always increase in the winter and peak in January
- “COVID-19: politicisation, “corruption,” and suppression of science” – Nice sceptical letter to the BMJ by Eshani M King of Evidence Based Research in Immunology and Health
- “Will putting London into Tier 3 cripple the economy?” – Dr John Lee talks to JHB on talkRADIO. Also GP Dr Laurence Gerlis lays into the media and Government scientists over lockdowns
- “Ivermectin letter templates to send to your GP” – An enterprising reader has made available a couple of template letters so you can easily ask your GP to prescribe Ivermectin for you as prophylaxis against Covid. Find them here
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Two today: “Last Train To London” by Electric Light Orchestra and “Inoculated City” by The Clash.
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 so you can share it. To do that, click on the headline of a particular story and a link symbol will appear on the right-hand side of the headline. Click on the link and the URL of your page will switch to the URL of that particular story. You can then copy that URL and either email it to your friends or post it on social media. Please do share the stories.
Social Media Accounts
You can follow Lockdown Sceptics on our social media accounts which are updated throughout the day. To follow us on Facebook, click here; to follow us on Twitter, click here; to follow us on Instagram, click here; to follow us on Parler, click here; and to follow us on MeWe, click here.
Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, we bring you the San Francisco school district that is renaming Abraham Lincoln High School as the legendary former president didn’t show “black lives mattered to him”. Apparently, starting a civil war to end slavery wasn’t enough. The Mail has the story.
The president, who is often held up as an American hero for abolishing slavery, is just one of 44 historical figures soon to have their names scratched off schools within the San Francisco Unified School District.
Other names include George Washington, Herbert Hoover and Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose name will be stripped from the Dianne Feinstein Elementary School for allowing the Confederate flag to fly outside City Hall back in 1984 when she was mayor.
Lincoln’s sins relate primarily to his treatment of Native Americans.
“Abraham Lincoln is not seen as much of a hero at all among many American Indian Nations and Native peoples of the United States, as the majority of his policies proved to be detrimental to them,” the committee meeting notes state.
Almost no figure who held office in the past, even the recent past, is deemed pure enough by this inquisition.
All eight presidents whose names currently adorn schools in the district will soon be erased.
The decision to remove many of these is less controversial than Lincoln’s, however.
Herbert Hoover Middle School is to be renamed over the namesake’s role in redlining – the segregation of black families – when he was Secretary of Commerce.
And Roosevelt Middle School faces a rebranding over President Theodore Roosevelt’s opposition to civil rights and black suffrage.
Modern figures haven’t been spared from the cut either.
Feinstein, who was Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988 and has since served as a Democrat California Senator since 1992, will have her name removed from Dianne Feinstein Elementary because she allowed the Confederate flag to fly in front of San Francisco City Hall.
During her time as mayor, she also oversaw the eviction of the Filipino neighbourhood Manilatown and “allowed police dogs to attack Filipino veteran elders”, the committee ruled.
Welcome to Year Zero.
Stop Press: Premier League footballers have been asked if they want to stop taking the knee by the PFA as the backlash in the stands to woke virtue signalling mounts, the Mail reports.
Stop Press 2: Liz Truss is due to give a speech at the Centre For Policy studies today in which she will hit out at identity politics and unconscious bias training. The Telegraph‘s Lucy Fisher has more. Go Liz!
“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.
If you’re a shop owner and you want to let your customers know you will not be insisting on face masks or asking them what their reasons for exemption are, you can download a friendly sign to stick in your window here.
And here’s an excellent piece about the ineffectiveness of masks by a Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry. See also the Swiss Doctor’s thorough review of the scientific evidence here.
Stop Press: A new study has found that wearing a used mask could be more dangerous than not wearing one at all. From the New York Post:
A new three-layer surgical mask is 65% efficient in filtering particles in the air – but when used, that number drops to 25%, according to the study published Tuesday in the Physics of Fluids.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and California Baptist University say that masks slow down airflow, making people more susceptible to breathing in particles – and a dirty face mask can’t effectively filter out the tiniest of droplets.
And of course surgical masks offer no significant protection even when new.
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 in October 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 three quarters of a million 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.
Update 4: The three GBD authors plus Prof Carl Heneghan of CEBM have launched a new website collateralglobal.org, “a global repository for research into the collateral effects of the COVID-19 lockdown measures”. Follow Collateral Global on Twitter 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. Alas, he’s now reached the end of the road, with the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his appeal. Dolan has no regrets. “We forced SAGE to produce its minutes, got the Government to concede it had not lawfully shut schools, and lit the fire on scrutinizing data and information,” he says. “We also believe our findings and evidence, while not considered properly by the judges, will be of use in the inevitable public inquires which will follow and will help history judge the PM, Matt Hancock and their advisers in the light that they deserve.”
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.
And last but not least there’s the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. A High Court judge refused permission for the FSU’s judicial review last week, but the FSU may appeal the decision. Check here for updates.
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
We know they are lying. They know they are lying, They know that we know they are lying. We know that they know that we know they are lying. And still they continue to lie.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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 would give up essential liberty to purchase 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.
Alexander 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
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C.S. Lewis
The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants.
Albert Camus
We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan
Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
George Orwell
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Marcus Aurelius
Necessity is the plea for every restriction of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
William Pitt the Younger
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
Joseph Goebbels (attributed)
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.
H.L. Mencken
I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.
Thomas Paine
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. (Don’t assume we’ll pick them up in the comments.)
And Finally…
Watch Myki Tuff and the Friendly Fire Band perform I Will Survive Corona, a reggae version of the famous Gloria Gaynor song. Is its pro-social distancing message ironic or sincere? You be the judge.
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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I hear splinters are becoming a [problem for A&Es. Wood to be strictly limited in supply to Splinter secure businesses only. Asymptomatic splinter tests are being considered along with a Soe App to self register splinters. All timber related activities will be subject to fixed penalty notices, offences include collecting or distributing logs for wood burning stoves, whittling spoons, turning mushrooms (who the fuck buys these things) and even striking a match in the outside smoking shelter of pubs and restaurants. Wooden toys will be subject to scrappage allowances, to be replaced with cheap Chinese plastic imports because lets face it when it come to safety and protecting the NHS who gives a shit about the planet!
(Ends)
Footballer wears mask during match? What on Earth?
Reminds me of that Arbroath keeper (against Bon Accord, 36-0, you know) who wore an umbrella during a match.
Apparently there was a team earlier this year (a German village team?) who practiced social distancing during a match. They had a record defeat surprisingly enough.
(Last – where are you all? 🙂 )
1894 posts now? I wonder where the extra one is and who would have been last?! 🙂
I believe you may have miscounted! 😉
Tom Cruise – not a patch on Christian Bale and his Shane rant!
To be fair, lots of us acting like this because of the fear of what the baskets in government will do to us, rather than because we would personally g o along with any of this nonsense.
(still last 🙂 )
Last, by the looks of it. 🙂
Thursday was an utter disgrace. But Bristol moved up a tier, so that’s alright then!
Sorry, Bristol moved down a tier. Edit button doesn’t seem to be working. Still last… 🙂
Not a bad idea…
https://3speak.co/watch?v=dannyshine%2Flbvqdujg&jwsource=cl
This video clearly demonstrates the majority will take the vax.
8:12 shows you the power of the media in spreading the anti vaxxer narrative.
Triggernometry “YouTube Cancels Dr Bhakdi” Stream
The UK government is going to completely censor anyone who says don’t rush out and get the jab – of course this isn’t coercion in the slightest.
I can’t see how the government can censor experts in the field such as Dr Bhakdi yet have Dr Shillery on GMB everyday giving vaccination advice. Could it be because the ITV version is simply propaganda written in Whitehall? reward for script reading seems to be a New Years honour.
Dr Bhakdi speaking uncensored here still (won’t last).
“HOW CAN VACCINATING YOU, SAVE ME?” MICROBIOLOGIST PUSHES BACK AGAINST COVID VACCINE REQUIREMENTS
https://www.bitchute.com/video/XnRs_tiIWjE/
Youtube is doing a great job of losing it’s market share. It’ll be a slow drip feed across to platforms like bitchute/ brandnewtube. Parler is already making an impact as a twitter alternative.
Unfortunately the thought police are in discussions with all the platforms about removing ‘disinformation’ – I can imagine the discussion is basically the establishment handing over a list of content to remove and saying you might have some anonymous attacks on your servers if you don’t.
So soon all the safe havens will be gone. Can’t see anyone in the MSM or parliament crying out against government censorship, so we could be in the last few months of semi free speech.
Not a single politician can say that we have free speech or live in a democracy
Funny to think that Big Pharma is controlling the world right now
They are not.They are just the willing helpers
I trust Prof Sucharit Bhakdi. He’s a hero.
Shame on NorthKoreaTube
Listening to the MSM a bit tonight.
Need to simplify.
The question that is never asked, and must be is.
HOW IS THE ALL CAUSE MORTALITY LOOKING RIGHT NOW FOR THE TIME OF YEAR ?
It’s not asked , but given the puerile argument coming from the establishment, to me it seems like a killer question.
Views ?
BTW, the next step is the cocktails. Volatile Hydrocarbon, maybe with a wee hint of phosphorescence ?
The mood is changing. It is a wave to be caught.
Best
Of course they won’t and that’s how we know they are narrators not reporters.
Fuck it – Macca’s signed up – I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to burn my Beatles Cds. It’s going to be tough now. I’d like to think that John would have said no, but who knows. Actually that’s it – the end of everything.
Will he get the rushed, experimental, indemnified vaccine predicted to cause unpleasant side effects or the one that politicians, journalists and celebrities get?
Suddenly gone off The Beatles, and Paul McCartney looks like Scrooge
Two of them are dead and I don’t know Ringo’s opinion.
The old rock stars are part of the establishment.What do you expect.
Heard of Eric Clapton and Van Morrison Jonathan?
Any others?
And considering the destruction of the music scene the silence is deafening.
Yes, made their money, got their lucrative music rights, so don’t care if people can ever attend a normal event again.
Yes – I’m surprised it took so long for Sir McCartney to be part of the show.
Van Morrison – No More Lockdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUOWS7arfw4
Get stuffed Macca.
.
He’s a fossil already.
Little fertility risk as he is past it.
And hasn’t done anything of note for 30 years, so of no further use.
Klaus Schwab might well vote to terminate .
False Paul
Macca was always a bit of a people-pleaser whereas John – not so much! There’s a great You Tube video of them performing “We Can Work It Out”. When Paul is singing his part of the song, the part he wrote, John is slyly mocking the jauntiness of Macca’s tune by mugging to the camera and pretending to whistle along before coming in with his own, far more gritty and grinding death-referencing section. Paul knows something’s up but he’s not quite sure what!
So Paul McCartney Government stooge. Who’d of thunk it ?
Sir Paul, if it pleaseth you !
Can’t believe people still buy this rubbish. Seriously why would anyone base their health decisions on the choices apparently be made by a celebrity (it’s not like influential people would be recruited for propaganda purposes is it). We have no idea if these people actually take the same product as the slaves / or if they even take it at all.
Is that the real Paul? I thought the real one died ages ago 🙂
Don’t burn them. accept that our musical heros, all heros, are not perfect. Gauguin fucked underage girls, as did Eric Gill.. as did Robert Plant. Michael Jackson and Gary Glitter made great pop music. Public Enemy are racist. Bob Marley, Elvis, Martin Luther King all cheated on their wives multiple times… amd Elvis also liked ’em young. Picasso was a cheat and a dirty old man.. Robert Del Naja (Banksy) is a great musician and artist but also impossibly woke.. James Brown was a wife-beater.. I could go on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnOIC9qSz4U&ab_channel=RussellBrand
Like him or not this guy has huge influence. A great asset for the sceptic cause.
He’s nuts.
But as always he is on the money.
Any and all troops are useful in this war.
i agree – i saw a video the other day and although he’s not my cup of tea i thought it was pretty balanced and interesting. Has warmed me to Russell Brand
Thanks, first time I’ve ‘liked’ or seen a Brand video through to the end.
Great news about the vaccines
Ireland – CMO concerned over outbreaks linked to Christmas parties, funerals
https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/1217/1185130-covid-holohan-numbers/
The Chief Medical Officer has expressed concern about Covid-19 outbreaks in workplaces and as a result of gatherings for Christmas parties and funerals.
————————————————————————————————
So, people in Ireland can’t work, can’t have a xmas party and even those who are dead are now a risk?
Tony – mate
just
go
fuck
yourself
you
fat
bastard
Outbreaks of healthy, asymptomatic, false positive PCR test results?
Scrap PCR tests
Potential for outbreaks of discussion.
Man should be terminated
A victory for free speech, as reported by The Telegraph (paywall). Comments not allowed.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/17/exclusive-people-must-have-right-offend-without-facing-police/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr
Two judges have struck a blow to enemies of free speech after ruling people should have the right to offend and even abuse each other without facing a police investigation.
Presiding over a Court of Appeal case concerning the misgendering of a trans woman on Twitter, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby ruled that “free speech encompasses the right to offend, and indeed to abuse another”, adding: “Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having”.
They said it would be a “serious interference” with the right of free speech if “those wishing to express their own views could be silenced by, or threatened with, proceedings for harassment based on subjective claims by individuals that felt offended or insulted”.
The judgment could have far-reaching implications for officers seeking to bring charges over people’s opinions – a move that has seen them branded the “thought police” by campaigners for free speech.
. . . .
This is a fantastic outcome. Very good news for once. Thanks!
This week I have visited my brother in his new house (who has also had his new girlfriend over). I visited a friend and his family in their house, and then had a friend round over in my house the day after.
Tomorrow I will drive across tiers simply because I want to. In January I will go abroad regardless of any travel ‘ban’. Every evening when I go for a dump I make sure to do it on a picture of Matt Hancock with his mouth open. I also wear a face mask for underwear.
Fuck this new abnormal world. Live free.
My in laws, the most thoughtful lovely law abiding people possible who have done lots of voluntary community work over the years, are now forced into criminal action by coming to visit.
FIL has terminal cancer and may well not be here by the time Hancock gives him permission to see us again.
They’re always on at us to wear masks though. MIL even presented us with home made versions a few weeks ago. Feel guilty but they went in the bin…
No one should see themselves as a criminal as I consider this government to be an occupying force.
There is a special place in the ice fires of hell awaiting them.
Once you realise that,then everything makes sense.
I salute you – please make sure you put your bum covering on after you have shat on matty.
Good on, you bastard. 🙂
We will prevail.
Ernst Wolff – who funds the WHO
https://kenfm.de/corona-pandemic-who-is-behind-the-who/
Funding doesn’t equate to political control. Who funds the Olympics? Nike, Coca Cola and NBC. Do they decide where the next Olympics will be held? No.
That is a strict quid pro quo.
Those firms get advertising for their money.
Better tell Bill Gates that he’s wasting his money giving it to the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph – and WHO.
No, funding gives him no say. Bill is just content with paying the bills.
Yeah – right.
And the vaccines we’re being threatened with right now.. Are they Big Pharma vaccines or are the Chinese forcing them on us?
What’s the latest news on Pfizer/Moderna’s Frankenshots?
Another allergic reaction in Alaska today, following yesterday’s.
Both in Alaska? What’s going on?
Cold.
The virus likes it..
In a person with no history of serious allergic reactions…just as has been said here would happen. Also online discussions between trial volunteers (naughty! – they’re not supposed to communicate with each other) suggest it’s the second shot is the real humdinger. Not sure anyone outside the trials has had a second shot yet. So will be interesting to see what happens then. As the makers openly state, it won’t be a “walk in the park”.
2020 – The vaccine is just around the corner. We can’t let anybody die now when it’s so close.
Pre 2020 – People die in their thousands every year from flu but we have a vaccine so it’s ok.
Post vaccine 2021 – People die in their thousands every year from COVID but we have a vaccine so it’s ok.
Sadly I don’t think it will be seen as ok, but I get your point.
Yes I agree. The way they’ve positioned themselves, I don’t think it can end unless/until they eradicate this virus.
The Whitty mentioned in passing this week the average (often much higher) 27000 deaths from flu each year like that was of no note, just incidental. Why are 50000 deaths assigned to Covid of incredible significance justifying an economy-destroying lockdown but 50000 deaths from flu are just by the by?
Hancock said we should start testing for the common cold because it’s not right we should carry on regardless any more.
As a secondary and college teacher, I have been refusing to enforce the masking of children.
I will not ask them to commit to regular tests, nor will i do so myself.
Good for you. Keep up the good fight.
Thank you.
Good.
Thank you.
I wish there were more like you.
F.D.A. = Food and Drug Assassins.
Re the China Theory. It is based on the good evidence that China controls WHO, not in a general way but day to day , decision by decision, Consider the following:
1. WHO reversed its policy on the efficacy of mask-wearing in late spring. It went from not recommending mandatory mask wearing to rrecommending it. It did so off the back of a meta study since comprehensively rubbished (not least because it assumed falsely that results from clinical settings – marginally positive at best – could be read across to public mask wearing). This is too convenient. China needed to keep the crisis going as Covid faded to nothing in the summer months in Europe and North America. Mask wearing was the perfect crisis-continuation device. It was quickly adopted by US Democrats, the MSM and most other Leftists everywhere as a mark of political affikiation and public admonition of those who opposed Lockdownism.
2.,WHO’s official position is that they don’t support lockdowns. You might be surprised by that. But it makes perfect sense for China because they have never had a national lockdown and never will knowing as they do a lockdown would harm their economic and therefore… Read more »
The WHO works for Pharma companies – not China
You keep saying that. It’s plainly rubbish. WHO is controlled by its member states and us we see with the Olympics, the states’ representatives are easily subject to bribery
or other corruption. But they operate inside the diplomatic sphere, not outside it. That is why Big Pharma could never have the power to determine who is to be the head of WHO. They might have some limited negative power (campaigning against someone).
Is it your contention Tendros is not controlled by China?
https://kenfm.de/corona-pandemic-who-is-behind-the-who/
China has no reason to. It’s already an economic super power. The evidence is clear from Pharma’s meddling in 2009 onwards and funding rule changes. I dislike China as much as anyone, but the war is being waged by Big Pharma
Yes – China was already doing so well prior to this year.
Why change a running system.
Makes no sense.
Forget the Trump tariffs. They have had no major impact on China. The US accounts for a smaller and smaller proportion of the world economy every year.
Thank you Voice of Beijing. That’s sounds very like the official CCP response at the time.
A disruption to trade is certainly a short term knock but no more than that.
Don’t be silly OKUK. I am a western individualist to the core.
Yes that’s a phrase no individualist in the West has ever used about themselves: “western individualist”.
Plenty of fellow travellers on the West anyway.
Well I just used it.
I would hardly be lockdown sceptic if I wasn’t.
By the way I consider it almost certain that China was ‘in on this’.
I just don’t think that they are the main actor, or the driving force behind it, as you seem to think.
I also condider it entirely possible that they used this whole thing to cover up a pollution incident in Wuhan, something Jon Rappoport has suggested.
As Ben says below.
China
Gates
Boris.
Proud to be British ?
Never denied connections but thus us about who controls WHO. Boris doesn’t and neither does Gates.
Is there a difference ?
Obviously they work for whoever is providing their funds.
This is not rocket science.
He (she, or indeterminate gender) who pays the piper, calls the Fucking Tune.
Simples.
Yep there’s a big difference. Nike, NBC and Coca Cola don’t decide where the next Olympics will be. And the US and UK despite all the largesse dispensed to WHO have had no influence over its policies which is why Trump decided to call it a day.
Not the US per se, or even the UK per se calls the shots. Their respective Deep States do.
As we all know they hate Trump.
But not as much as CCP-China hates Trump, as we saw in the Chinese Prof video.
I woudn’t be so sure about that.
Since China operates a ‘China First’ policy, I expect they understand Trump a lot better. They probably have more in common than we think.
Both Trump and Xi atand for national sovereign states against globalism. You don’t think China is going to give up any sovereignty do you?
By the way if you look at Tedros’ wikipedia entry you will find that his connections to ‘western liberals’ are much greater than to China. To people like Gordon Brown and the Clinton Foundation.
I excerpted a chunk but the comment is in moderatiom.
Also, some folks here might recall, the Deputy PM of Japan – a country I wouldn’t suggest has a particular culture of outlandish grandstanding – said the WHO should be renamed ‘China Health Organisation!’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/japanese-deputy-prime-minister-says-who-should-be-renamed-china-health-organization
That’s a good quote! Thanks – will definitely use that in the future!
China and Japan have a history of animosity ever since the start of the 20th century. Assuming you’ve never heard of Japanese invasion of China in ww2?
How does China control WHO?
Did they advise the UK Cabinet Office to employ the Behavioural Insights Team from 2010, looking in March to create fear amongst the UK public?
Principally by using diplomacy and corruption to ensure the election of their man to head up the organisation.
Where does WHO’s budget come from?
Who pays Tedros’ wages?
Not China.
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/doanld-trump-us-who-funding-coronavirus-lockdown-6364496/
Tedros praised China’s actions in February in order to perhaps set the stage for the West to implement greater social controls with the premise of ‘ it worked in China’.
OKUK, the ‘China did it’ thesis does not stack up.
China does not force western countries to regard asymptomatic ‘cases’as cases’
I does not manfate use of the Drosten-PCR wth 45 cycles.
It ha no say in the imposition of western lockdowns.
The Olympics budget comes from Nike, NBC and Coca Cola. They don’t decide where the next Olympics will be held or what the doping rules will be. You must be very naive.
They get advertising for their money.
Are you saying that the UK which contributes 7.7% of the WHO’s budget or the Gates Foundation with 14% or the GAVI, where those two are both represented, are getting less for their money than China with a fraction of 1%?
That is not credible.
Nike etc get omnipresent advertsing for their money.
The situation is not comparable.
You must think Bill Gates is naive with his money. The founder of Microsoft is vulnerable to criticism on many counts, but I suspect that naivety with money is not one of them.
So are you misdirecting people on this site? Are you saying you know everything about WHO’S funding but you know nothing about how the head of WHO is elected? Or are you saying you know about both but are just choosing to highlight one over the other. Either you are ignorant or disingenuous.
I am simply saying it is unikely that China has more influence on the policy of WHO than the Western governments, who contribute more money, or of course the Foundations/NGOs like Gates and GAVI.
To think that China does have more influence than those others is to go against all that we know about how the world works, which is that those who have the gold make the rules.
I am not saying that China has no input into WHO policy. It very likely does.
Furthermore, the argument that the western lockdown policies has somehow been engineered by Beijing, which is what you seem to be saying, makes no sense, as I have exhaustively argued in comments.
Nor is there evidence for that.
In my opinion the present covid situation is very likely a preparation for a monetary reset, from which China is likely to gain. However it is a reset where all of the great powers have a seat at the table.
China will gain, not because of some nefarious plot, but because of the vast accumulation of productive capital which has taken place there over thae last 30 years.
The covid measures, I consider, have been instituted for… Read more »
I’ll ask for last time. Was Tendros China’s candidate for the leadership?
Perhaps he was. Maybe it was China’s turn to have a say.
It doesn’t matter. That’s a long way from determining policy.
The IMF for decades often had a French head, but the US was always dominant.
The French often got to pick the boss, who then listened to Washington. See Camdessus. Lagarde etc.
Lockdowns in the West are not decided in Beijing.
Nor are they decided by the WHO.
Look at Tedros. His links to ‘western liberals’ are at least as great as to China:
From his wikipedia entry
As Minister of Health, Tedros was able to form a close relationship with prominent figures including former American president Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[19] In 2010 the US State Department named Ethiopia as one of the US Global Health Initiative Plus countries, providing the country with greater access to resources for public health projects.[19]
Global health initiativesDuring his time as Minister of Health of Ethiopia, Tedros was very active in global health initiatives. Ethiopia was the first country to sign compact with the International Health Partnership. He was Chair of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (2007–2009), Programme Coordinating Board of UNAIDS (2009–2010) and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2009–2011) and Co-Chair of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (2005–2009). He also served as member of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Board as well as the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board. He was also member of several academic and global health think tanks including the… Read more »
A typically dishonest reply. Forget the “perhaps”. I’ll try again: was Tendros China’s candidate for head of WHO?
I wasn’t invited to the meeting that decided it.
If you look at Tedros’ wikipedia entry, then you will find that his connections to ‘western liberal elites’ are much greater than to China.
So, he has his greatest connections to the Clinton Foundation, to GAVI, to Gordon Brown etc, his organization is mostly funded by those same interests, and yet ..
You wish to convince us that China determines WHO policy, because he is somehow China’s man.
Doesn’t make sense.
Furthermore, you wish to convince us that somehow China is responsible for all the repressive lockdown policies in the West.
Neither China nor WHO decides those things.
Just look at Tedos wikipedia entry.
It tells you all you need to know about what interests are behind him. Sure, he was backed by China, but his connections to all parts of the globalist behemoth go way back.
How many masks are made in China?
How does China’s economic output in 2020 compare to most other countries?
China’s economic output would probably have been much better had the west continued on as normal.
The west is currently killing itself.
Yes, exactly.
People say that China wants to buy western assets at knockdown prices, but two points:
Indeed. China will seek to capitalise on this however and wherever they can, and why wouldn’t they? But the west is inflicting this on itself, and in the short term it’s damaging to both.
See above. It’s the relative rates that matter. You are indulging in the “GDP fallacy” , the idea here that China simply wants to increase its GDP and distribute GDP increases fairly among all its citizens. This is naive. It’s two main policy aims preserving the power of the CCP internally and making China dominant in the world. Relative decline in the West’s GDP is fine…meets their policy objectives,
I’m not. I’m saying that the west is destroying itself. The west did not have to do this. The damage is self inflicted and the best defence mechanism would have been to basically ignore COVID-19, rendering any potential ulterior motives irrelevant.
Well that is true.
China was already well on the way with becoming dominant. If you listen to people like Bannon etc that has been their main theme for the last severaly years – ie China had to change nothing.
If anything, this whole episode with a great deal of anti-Chinese feeling everywhere has made that more difficult.
China was the big winner from 20 years of globalization.
Why stop that?
Makes no sense.
The bottom line is that China was already, through processes that were already in place, en route to global dominance.
You’re talking nonsense. Nobody makes money on China unless they are licensed to make money. Of course, you might know more about these matters – maybe you are typing from Beijing right now. ..
There is absolutely no anti-Chinese feeling anywhere. So don’t start with that crap or people will assume you are working out of PLA Unit 639. People feel for the oppressed Chinese who are not CCP members eg all those in Hong Kong who , as you know, are having their liberty cancelled. Do you condemn that?
I have been to China often.
It is much easier to start a business in China than in most Western countries. As I said below if a Chinese wants to see what socilaism is like then he goes to France say – or the UK.
There is much more entrepreneurial activity on the streets of a Chinese city than in the West. They have to be so, because there is no welfare state.
As for anti-Chinese feeling, there has been a noticeable ramping up of that in the last couple of years.
The CCP stays in power primarly by keeping or making China more prosperous.
Its strategy prior to Covid was on course.
It had absolutely no reason to change that.
Your argument about relative rates makes no sense.
Do you think a Chinese who makes less money, will be less pissed off by learning that people in Baltimore or Birmingham have been hit even harder?
He’s not interested in their bills. He is bothered about his bills.
Compared with us, we’ve lost 11% GDP and they’ve gained 2%. So whereas previously the gap was an advantage to China of about 5% it’s now grown to 13%. A clear win to China.
It’s great that you are so critical of China yet believe their statistics.
Shrunken economies abroad mean smaller markets for Chinese exports and lower returns on their investments.
China realized in March probably that this whole Corona thing was getting out of hand, declared victory and went home.
The West has not done this becaues the dollar-centric financial system is collapsing and the West needs tighter social control in order to manage it.
China did not cause the repo crisis in 2019. That occurred because the US – and the West generally has been living beyond its means for decades.
Western politicians have been buying votes from their electorates for 70 years, and not bacause China told them to.
Well, the bill has just arrived.
I love the way you keep referring to them as “investors” as though they are reading the FT everyday. Lol funny! They are Communists. They attended Communist schools, joined Communist youth organisations and attended elite Communist university institutions. They are members of the CCP. How Communist do they have to be
before you accept the are Communists?
A company or a person who buys shares or a company etc with a view to the return on that is known as an ‘investor’.
People join the CCP in China because it’s the way to get on in life, the connections you make etc etc.
Whether they accept the ideology or not is of less relevance. People who want to get on in life always pay lip sevice to the dominant ideology of the society they are in. We can see this here with the covid madness.
The business of China is business.
The modern West is far more socialist than China.
There is no huge welfare state in China. People have to be energetic or entrepreneurial if they want to make a life for themselves.
China has become more prosperous despite the CCP not because of it. In the 80s it re-learned the lesson which we have forgotten that free markets make people more prosperous.
There’s a lot of poverty and exploitation in China. The scandal of suicide nets around factories etc. China is a sh*t hole for the poor, but not for the billionaires, of which there are many
Exactly.Shows you just how Communist they are, doesn’t it?
Not very. No welfare state.
If you want socialism, then go to Europe.
Written an email to my MP based on a template from UsforThem.
Dear Rachael Maskell MP,
I am writing as a concerned constituent and member of campaign group UsforThem.
Patrick Vallance’s statement last week that masks might need to continue beyond roll-out of the vaccine sent a shiver down my spine.
I understand the need for compassion and I understand that some adults are vulnerable, but children and students are also vulnerable. The vast majority of the measures that the Government has put in place to combat COVID-19 are harmful to children and students – and are harmful to all, not just a small percentage of them.
The impact of what we are doing to our children and young people is staggering – because it is not only huge, but incalculable. It will endure for a lifetime, and unlike certain economic harms, it cannot be corrected by one of Rishi Sunak’s blank cheques.
While I appreciate that schools are open, we need to urgently see a path back towards normality that restores children’s full school experience and their childhoods, as well as the full university experience for students.
As I am sure you are aware from my many previous correspondences,… Read more »
Superbly put.
Excellent letter. The odds are that your MP is a self-serving, compliant, moronic a…..e, but keep on at her!
Outstanding. Hats off to you!
Could Lockdown Sceptics start a campaign to get all pubs, restaurants etc to ban all MPs for life.
Just posted, as second healthcare worker in Alaska also suffering anaphylactic event:
“Who Wants To Be A Guinea Pig?”: Health Workers Balk At Vaccine; 40% Of Staff At One Chicago Hospital Refuse To Take | ZeroHedge
Moderna vaccine has just been approved in the US – three serious adverse reactions and one case of Bell’s palsy, but nothing to see here!
If it saves one life…
“Anything Goes” – This is Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg1meK-IgOM
“”Lady” Ga-Ga has got a cock”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQL8z5FcLLo
Jonathan Damato, 41, a New York City paramedic for 21 years said:
This moron must have insider information on a couple of secret papers that validate that fact!
Nah people have anaphylaxis all the time. It’s natural. Probably had a dodgy breakfast or something. Nothing to do with the vaccine, honest.
This 80s song by Yazz is quite apt for most places regarding the tiering system:
Yazz – The Only Way Is Up (in tiers)
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=The+only+way+is+up
Dear resident,
I am contacting you as the Director of Public Health for Kirklees, with an important COVID-19 update as we head into the festive period.
The below email covers:
AAAAAAARRRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve had this one too. She does end with
“For the first time in this pandemic, I can say with confidence that this won’t be forever and there is an end in sight.”
Hmm.
Complete end of sanity.
Asymptomatic people getting tested just when numbers were going down? FFS!
Sadly lots of goons will take advantage of this to check they are “Christmas-safe”. However, I doubt it will catch on thereafter. Certainly won’t in this household!
Urging people without symptoms to get tested is like randomly asking innocent people to report to the police station for questioning.
In other words, fucking moronic and a complete waste of time!
To those who can access the Telegraph website there is now a nasty little chart showing clearly how you can achieve wonderful immunity from the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine here.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/gps-told-can-use-extra-covid-vaccine-dose-vials-discretion-prevent/
Those in the health team at the Daily Telegraph did not ever, in the last 9 months,present such a chart to educate the public, reduce fear, and illustrate how Boris, or the other X million in the UK, were gaining and had gained natural immunity, which is probably a stronger immunity. They pretended we had no immunity, to continue the fear.
The Daily Telegraph are clearly bought and paid for, by their funding, when it comes to health and Covid.
Fresh from the Bill Gates grant supported team in the Global Health Security team (or whatever) in the Daily Telegraph. They hope that long may their funding continue.
My guess is much of the legacy media is corrupted by external forces because their traditional forms of income are disappearing.
Spot on – Media are compromised due to changing revenue models. Legacy media used to be happily independent, but no longer are or can afford to be. They therefore partly behave like an outsourced Marketing Department for those who give them money.
This compromise explains the flip flopping between truth and bollocks which has been going on since February….promoting the narrative and going against the narrative. They are trying to keep all stakeholders happy. Those who seek the truth (readers) and those who promote the lies (paymasters).
They cannot keep supporting both groups easily.
You can catch a cold and get immunity that way.
The good old BBC have been putting a graphic in their articles showing after how many days people will have ‘full immunity’ despite the makers of the vaccine admitting publicly they’ve no idea if it will give any immunity at all.
Mentalist of the week award goes to the virtue signalling mum to be, who likes taking experimental vaccines at 35 weeks and then tweeting it…
https://twitter.com/CandiceCodyMD/status/1339379936218542082
Don’t give in to fear, even though Candice has.
Good grief!
On the other hand, it might take her defective genes out of the pool forever.
That is properly messed up. Can her unborn child sue her when they grow up?
OLD VERSION “kill two birds with one stone”
NEW VERSION “kill two morons with one jab” (I do hope this works…)
”…. though the current Covid wave will likely break early next year and cause a spike in 2021 unless vaccination can attenuate it….” (in Germany, that is)
I read this and thought I was reading a quote from a self-interested site or covidiot – then I noticed it was actually Toby saying it!
I hope he’s not teetering on the brink, or toying with us…..