The Official Estimate of the Collateral Damage
Friday saw the publication of the Government’s assessment of direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on excess mortality and morbidity. The Daily Mail has the details:
More than 100,000 people are likely to die from non-coronavirus causes because of the pandemic, according to an official Government estimate.
By the end of next month the chaos in hospitals and care homes will have led to 46,000 avoidable deaths, Department of Health research has suggested.
Cancellations to routine operations may cause 18,000 excess deaths in the long-term, on top of hundreds more from cancer.
Officials calculated that over the next few years another 40,000 people may die due to the economic impact of lockdown, including rising unemployment and mental health issues.
The Government paper says the overall death toll of the pandemic will be 222,000, with 54% dying from the virus.
Overall, scientists suggest there will be 105,000 additional deaths because of the enormous disruption to non-Covid NHS care, as well as the economic downturn.
The document, dated December 17th and published yesterday by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), was drawn up by civil servants at the Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office.
It laid bare the unintended consequences of lockdown in detail, but stressed that the overall death toll would be far higher without the draconian restrictions.
So far more than 103,000 people in the UK have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
Without lockdown, another 97,000 would have died from this winter alone, the report said.
The document also suggested the number of virus deaths could reach 122,000 by the end of next month…
The research supports a series of warnings from health charities that non-Covid patients are becoming “collateral damage” of the pandemic.
It said that plummeting non-Covid hospital admissions led to 4,000 excess deaths early in the pandemic, when many people avoided A&E even when they were suffering a heart attack or stroke.
Continuing disruption to emergency care could lead to a further 10,000 deaths in the second wave, the document said.
The cancellation of operations and outpatient appointments could cause 18,200 deaths.
And the impact on GP services could result in at least 1,400 deaths over five years from missed cancer diagnoses, according to an early estimate which only examined figures up to August.
Excess deaths from non-Covid among adults receiving social care could hit 32,000 by the end of March due to reduced support and a rush to discharge vulnerable patients from hospital.
The report illustrated how even with a successful vaccination programme deaths are likely to remain well above pre-pandemic levels for years.
Of the 222,000 toll, 61,000 deaths were estimated to take place after this March.
The report said that the health impact of the ensuing recession is likely to be much worse than previously feared because “the bounce-back and recovery are likely to be at a slower pace than previously predicted”.
When assessing the Government’s claim that the Covid death toll would be roughly twice as high absent the three lockdowns, it’s worth remembering that Sweden’s deaths per million in 2020 were bang on the EU average in spite of not imposing any lockdowns last year. That suggests the lockdowns imposed in every other EU member state did nothing to reduce Covid mortality.
The report itself goes into more detail.
Under our central scenario there is a loss of approximately 1.3 million QALYs as a consequence of this pandemic induced recession. These health losses are largely accrued in the medium to long-term, with the morbidity affects largely falling in the medium term and the resultant mortality impacts falling in the longer-term. Under the upside scenario, there is an estimated 0.23 million QALY loss in the medium and long-run and under the downside scenario, there is an estimated 2.7 million QALY loss in the medium and long-run from COVID-19
Overall, our analysis suggests that the recession resulting from COVID-19 and restrictions on activities to contain it could have large effects on lives through unemployment, mental health impacts, loss of income and increased financial uncertainty. These impacts are likely to have medium and long-term consequences on population health in terms of increased morbidity and mortality
This analysis also presents an increase in the impact of the recession on medium and long-term health compared to our previous update. This is because more recent economic forecasts suggest the bounce-back and recovery are likely to be at a slower pace than previously predicted, and therefore the health impacts from the economic downturn accumulate over a longer period of time than previously considered.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Psychologist Dr Oliver Robinson is hosting a webinar on Saturday February 13th, 4 – 6pm, examining the the (in)effectiveness of lockdowns in bringing down infection rates and the impact they have on mental health. Tickets are £10 each—£5 if you’re eligible for the concessionary rate – and can be purchased here.
The Catastrophic Impact of School Closures
On January 29th, the Education Endowment Foundation published a paper on the effect of school closures and subsequent support strategies on attainment and socio-emotional wellbeing on school pupils in Key Stage 1. The paper focusses on the the impact on the attainment gap in reading and maths and is based on assessments taken by nearly 6,000 Year 2 pupils in 168 different schools in the autumn term. The paper takes a standardised sample of assessments carried out in 2017 as its counterfactual; as its estimate of what progress might have made had pupils been in school as usual.
The findings are concerning, though not surprising:
This study confirms that, following the disruption to schooling in the 2020 spring and summer terms, Year 2 pupils had significantly lower achievement in both reading and maths in autumn 2020 when compared to performance seen in Year 2 in the autumn term of 2017. This represents a COVID-19 gap of around two months’ progress for both reading and maths.
The adverse effect is most pronounced among disadvantaged students. In both reading and in maths, the researchers found that the difference in standardised test scores between pupils on free school meals and pupils not on free school meals represented a gap of seven months of learning. It could not assess how far the gap had grown as a result of lockdown, as the 2017 data did not make this comparison, but by way of context, it says that the 2019 disadvantage gap was approximately six months. It concludes: “It seems that the disadvantage gap is wider than earlier estimates, and will likely be further exacerbated by school closures in early 2021”.
Worth reading in full.
Schools in England and Northern Ireland are set to remain closed until at least March 8th, and in Scotland and Wales until at least the middle of February. It will be difficult, when schools finally do re-open, to repair the damage done. The Prime Minister has penned an open letter to parents, in which he says:
When all this is over we’re going to be putting hundreds of millions of pounds into nationwide catch-up programmes so that nobody gets left behind.
Stop Press: A new piece of research carried out in Norway has found “minimal child-to-child and child-to-adult transmission in primary schools”. In other words, reopening primary schools now would not increase Covid infections.
Stop Press 2: Lockdown TV on Unherd has a special report on the closure of schools, getting perspectives from Katharine Birbalsingh, Headmistress of the Michaela Community School in northwest London, Miriam Cates MP and Alex Gutentag, a public school teacher from Oakland in California.
Stop Press 3: Boris Johnson will have to significantly increase the education budget when the crisis is over, says Isabel Hardman in the Spectator. She interviewed Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the Education Select Committee, and the Labour Peer Lord Adonis for the Week in Westminster, and both agree that education needs to be a post-pandemic priority for the Government.
Stop Press 4: Lockdown Sceptics may just have found a point of agreement with Professor Devi Sridhar. Who would have thunk it?
University Clamps Down on Rogue Scrabble Players
An anonymous reader of Lockdown Sceptics writes:
Anyone quaking in their boots with the current round of Covid terror sweeping the nation will be reassured to know that university officialdom is on top of the crisis. My neighbour’s son is at a university in the north of England. The other day he spurned the piffling misdemeanour of attending an all-night rave with several hundred other party people and went for the blatantly lethal and inconsiderate option of playing Scrabble with one other person from his hall and two from the adjacent building. Fortunately, the ever-vigilant university surveillance hit squad operatives who patrol the compound all night pounced on this incipient super-spreader hotspot and broke up the illegal mass-gathering of four Covidiot-insurgents. That they’ve all already had Covid of course counts for nothing as obviously they might have been re-infected.
The young maniac is now under ‘investigation’ but one of his tutors has advised him to write a letter claiming his mental health is under duress and that he needed to see other people. It’s reassuring to know that young people today are being made fully aware of their responsibilities, and in this case presenting this reckless fool with either being labelled as a vicious, semi-criminal member of the under-class of Covid subversives, or afflicted with mental illness. Either will serve as a warning to others and teach him a lesson he’ll be paying for for the rest of his life, the best way to treat a seditious young person. It’s also useful to know that the universities are finding productive ways to spend their extortionate fees to keep us all safe instead of wasting it on teaching or offering any other services.
Stop Press: For more on the experience of students during the lockdown, listen to the Planet Normal Podcast with the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan. In the latest episode they speak to a third-year geophysics student at the University of Durham.
My Mask Battle With the NHS
A reader has written in to share his experiences of getting treatment for his toe over the last few months, an experience dominated by masks.
Last September 29th, I went into a hospital up in the North East to have my big toe joint replaced with a silastic one.
I’ve never worn a mask anywhere and do not possess one. And when I bowled into the ward early in the morning, without a mask, nobody said a word to me. The nurse who was assessing me agreed when I said that mask wearing was a lot of nonsense, but said she would be sacked if she were to say that openly. She burst into tears when I sympathised with her and she said the strain was getting to her. Many of the staff on the (largely empty) ward agreed that masks were pointless, but they dare not dissent. The surgeon turned up wearing a serious-looking surgical mask and his couple of side-kicks were also wearing masks, but cheaper-looking versions. By this time I was in a hospital gown lying on a bed. None of them said a word about my being bare-faced – so to speak. The porter was the only person who handed me a mask and insisted I wear it otherwise he refused to push me down to the operating theatre. I offered to walk but he was having none of it. I held the thing up to my face and he seemed satisfied.
I’ve been back a few times to various hospitals since the operation to see nurses and others and have been shouted at about not wearing a mask and subjected to considerable rudeness and hostility from the staff and other patients who have ganged up on me. On a couple of occasions I’ve covered my mouth with a silk polka dot scarf which seems to satisfy all concerned.
I have tried to obtain a consultation with the surgeon since he did the operation because I am not satisfied that he’s got it right. I was promised a “telephone consultation” with the great man, which turned out to be with his young female registrar who was less than sympathetic and, as she could not see my foot, was of limited help. I told her I wanted the surgeon who did the operation to have a look at it, because the orthotic specialist I’d seen a week earlier (without mask) advised that the surgeon should see the joint because he was concerned the toe did not seem to be “on straight”.
The registrar said the surgeon was not offering “face to face consultations due to the Covid pandemic”. I said I couldn’t understand why not, seeing as he could be masked up and in full anti-virus outfit if he was concerned about catching it. I asked if he was still doing private operations and whether if I paid he would see me. She replied that she knew nothing about his private practice, with the clear implication that she did not want to know either. She made it apparent, by her manner, that she thought I was being a nuisance, but agreed to ask the surgeon if he would arrange a face-to-face consultation.
Yesterday I got a copy of a letter from the registrar to my GP, saying the surgeon “has agreed on this occasion to review [me] in person…”
The letter ended: “On previous visits [he] has declined to wear a face covering but is not medically exempt from doing so. We would kindly ask [him] that he complies with hospital policy and wears a suitable face covering when attending his appointment, otherwise he may not be seen.”
It is not an exaggeration to say that the whole mask-wearing thing causes me “extreme distress”, which in law is enough to exempt me. But the NHS is not concerned about that. They really mean it when they say we have to “protect the NHS”.
YouGov’s Numbers Don’t Add Up
Our next post comes from a Lockdown Sceptics reader who has scrutinised a recent YouGov study about the numbers of people who know someone who died from COVID-19, and found that it doesn’t really make sense.
YouGov have published a study of how many people know someone who has died of COVID-19. They have asked people in 16 different countries.
At first glance the results look coherent – countries with higher death rates are at the top, ones with notoriously low death rates at the bottom. So 19% of Spaniards claim to know someone who has died of COVID-19 while only 2% of Chinese and Singaporeans do.
However, 2% of Chinese is 28,000,000 people. And China claims that only 4,600 people have died of COVID-19. That would mean that every Chinese individual who died of COVID-19 was acquainted with over 6,000 people. Is that a reasonable number?
Based on those poll numbers, how many acquaintances did COVID-19 victims in other countries have?
Well, here is the answer:
What to make of the results? There seems to be a big disparity between countries.
Are the Chinese the most sociable people on earth? Does a typical Australian or Indonesian have five times more acquaintances that your typical European? Are Mexicans the most personally affected by COVID-19 in the world ?
Or perhaps some countries are hiding deaths? China is always under suspicion of lying about its data. But what about Singapore or Australia? Are those governments hiding deaths too?
The most plausible explanation is something that many Lockdown Sceptics probably already suspect: that YouGov polls, many of which rely on panels of people to fill them out regularly, aren’t very reliable.
You might be tempted to go further.
If you click on the “See Full Results” link you will see some fascinating stats. YouGov will have you believe that 23% of Mexicans claim to have lost a family member.
But it seems YouGov doesn’t put much faith in the Mexican data so it has left it out altogether from the summary they publish and which is circulating in Twitter.
We can safely conclude that this particular YouGov poll should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Trudeau Administration to Face Legal Challenge on Travellers’ Quarantine
Much like other Governments around the world, the Trudeau administration announced last week that travellers coming into Canada will be subject to mandatory quarantines. The National Post has the story.
Travellers coming into Canada will be forced into mandatory hotel quarantines, part of a suite of measures designed to keep Canadians at home as the Government grows increasingly concerned about the risk of new Covid variants that appear to be more transmissible.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the quarantines and several other restrictions on Friday outside Rideau Cottage.
Trudeau said travelers will pay for their hotel stay of up to 72 hours while waiting for a negative Covid test. He estimated the cost at approximately $2,000 as they will have to pay for lodging, food, Covid tests and security ensuring they remain inside.
Anyone testing positive for the virus will have to finish their quarantine in a designated quarantine facility, where the Government will cover the costs.
Travellers testing negative will be able to finish their 14-day quarantine at home, but Trudeau said the Government would step up surveillance of those quarantines. Private security firms have been hired to knock on doors of returning travellers to ensure they’re staying at home, and the Government will be making regular phone calls as well.
Starting Sunday and extending to the end of April, Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat will cancel trips to sun destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. All international passenger flights arriving in Canada must land at only four airports, in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal, as part of this stepped up screening.
Trudeau thanked the airlines for taking the steps to help limit the spread of the virus.
“We all agree that now is just not the time to be flying,” he said. “By putting in place these tough measures now, we can look forward to a better time when we can all plan those vacations.”
Though the announcement was made on Friday, the impact of the new law was already kicking in on Thursday evening, as an Edmonton pastor found out when his wife touched down in Calgary. The Western Standard has the details.
An Edmonton pastor may have found out the hard way Thursday night about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic…
The new rules weren’t even announced yet Thursday night, but it appears officials at YYC Calgary International were ready.
“(My wife Nikki) arrived in Calgary tonight and when she got there she was greeted by a Police Officer and an AHS official,” wrote Pastor Chris Mathis on his Facebook page.
“They rejected her results and told her she needed to go immediately to an isolation facility. She was told if she resisted she would be arrested. She called me, and I immediately asked to talk with the officer. I talked with both a police officer and the AHS official, they reiterated what she had said to me. I asked for the address of where she would be, they said they could not give me the location address as it was confidential.”
“I asked for their names, again they would not give me any information or their names. I pushed, I questioned, I tried to fight but they said they would arrest her if she resisted. They would not give me any information on where they were taking my wife.”
“She was not allowed to get her vehicle from the airport, she was immediately put in a white van surrounded by police escorts and taken to an unknown facility that is under full surveillance and has security at every entrance and exit. You can imagine I am barely keeping myself together wondering what in the world has happened in our country in what seems to be overnight.”
Unlike other Governments, this administration is facing an immediate legal challenge (not directly related to the incident described above) from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. The letter (pdf) providing notice to the Transport Minister the Honourable Omar Alghabra states:
Your Government has increasingly shown a disturbing and even aggressive opposition to the constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians.
It has come to our attention that the Federal Government is now arresting Canadians at the border and transporting them to secret federal locations even when they possess a negative PCR test. The citizens you are holding have not been convicted of an offence, have not had access to a lawyer, and have not appeared before a judge. Your officers are even refusing to inform family members of where their loved ones are being held. This policy aligns with practices of repressive regimes and undemocratic regimes, and is completely unacceptable.
Your arrest and detention of Canadians in this regard is unlawful and unconstitutional and we hereby demand their immediate release, such that they may continue with any necessary isolation protocols in their personal residences.
This is not China or Cuba, or Chile under Pinochet, or Spain under Franco, or theocratic Iran. We are not prepared to permit you and your Government to turn Canada into a repressive replica of countries that have no respect for human rights and civil liberties…
The Order further mandates that, regardless of a negative Covid test result, any person entering Canada must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival…
Quarantining all citizens re-entering Canada, in addition to mandating negative test results, impairs liberty in a manner that is arbitrary, disproportionate, and overbroad, and therefore violates the principles of fundamental justice…
The mandatory quarantining of all Canadians, merely because they exercised their Charter right to leave or enter Canada, is not rationally connected to any legitimate public health objective. It is not rational to impose a 14 day quarantine upon asymptomatic individuals who are able to provide negative test results confirming their lack of infection.
Stop Press: On the subject of travel restrictions, it is worth reading Lord Blunkett’s rather libertarian letter to the editor of the Telegraph
The announcement by Priti Patel relating to quarantine rules and subsequent media interviews with Michael Gove raise several issues.
First, it is clear that the detail and practical arrangements had not been thought through. No plans appear to exist to save the aviation industry or to retain the capacity of our airports for freight and passengers in the future.
Secondly, making it “illegal”, in Ms Patel’s words, for British citizens to leave the country without permission is unprecedented. While measures such as withdrawing British passports have been taken in the past for very specific counter-terrorism or policing reasons, we have never in peacetime forbidden our own people to travel.
Strict requirements on their return may well be justified but historically only autocratic and totalitarian regimes have banned their own citizens from leaving the country.
Lord Blunkett (Lab), London SW1
Stop Press 2: Health Passports continue to gather momentum, though it doesn’t seem likely they’ll help much when it comes to escaping Gulag Britain. Travel Weekly reports that British Airways is to trial a new travel health app called VeriFlY on flights between London and the USA from February 4th. With both countries having closed their border to residents of the other, it is hard to imagine that there will be many people available to give the app a try.
Neil O’Brien Refuses to Debate Prof Carl Heneghan
Speaking on talkRADIO on Friday, Carl Heneghan, the Oxford Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine, said he would be happy to debate Neil O’Brien MP.
An opportunity, surely, for Neil O’Brien to convince people of his case? A challenge to be seized. Alas, Neil O’Brien didn’t see it that way:
Round-up
- “Social distancing may have to remain in place all year” – Ministers have been warned that unless a vaccine proves to be 85% effective, Brits may have to keep social distancing for the rest of the year, according to the Telegraph
- “Virus ‘definitely’ began in China, say US scientists… and the outbreak started in October 2019” – The Mail on Sunday reports on the latest revelations from investigations into the origins of COVID-19
- “Nadhim Zahawi: I couldn’t save my uncle from Covid, but I can save the country” – In an interview in the Telegraph, vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi explains why he is so determined to vaccinate the country
- “Lift lockdown once most vulnerable are vaccinated, urges Senior Tory” – Mark Harper, Chair of the Covid Recovery Group, has called for lockdown to be lifted once everyone aged 50 and over has been offered the vaccine
- “Vaccines – A national effort in the national interest: Letter from the Editor” – The editor of the Yorkshire Post describes the blowback the paper experienced from people in power after it published its report that vaccine supplies to the region were to be reduced in order to allow other areas to catch up
- “Unmoored from all but a few friends, I fear lockdown has atrophied my social muscles” – Writing in the Guardian, Emma Brockes worries about the lockdown’s long-term impact on social health
- “The uncomfortable truth about death” – The pandemic has forced us to confront uncomfortable trust about our own mortality says Dr John Lee in UnHerd
- “Covid, Tango and The Lagom Way” – Watch BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Claudia Nye interview Sweden’s Chief Epidemiologist Anders Tegnell in a new short film
- “The EU’s vaccine nightmare” – In the latest episode of the Spiked podcast, Brendan O’Neill, Ella Whelan and Fraser Myers look in to the row over vaccines
- “A cancelled hysterectomy” – The latest episode of the CoronaStories in which Christine speaks to a guest about the pain of having a much needed operation cancelled, with no new date yet arranged. Previous episodes are worth a listen as well
- “Media Manipulation; More on Lockdown Scepticism, Cathedral and Church Closures” – The latest episode of the Irreverend podcast includes discussion of the Covid media messaging and the case for opening churches
- “Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 performance may have been less stellar than it seemed” – Beneath a headline that might be considered an understatement, CNN reports that COVID-19 deaths among New York nursing home residents may have been undercounted
- “Bill Gates shocked by ‘evil’ conspiracy theories: ‘I hope it goes away’” – The Washington Times reports the magnate’s horror at finding himself, along with Dr Anthony Fauci, at the centre of COVID-19 conspiracy theories
- “The catastrophic impact of Covid forced societal lockdowns” – A deep-dive into the whys, wherefores and follies of lockdowns on the AIER blog, concluding that it is way past time to get back to normal
- “How has your life been affected by lockdowns?” – The campaign group Time For Recovery campaign is asking for people to share their story
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Four today: “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by The Animals, “All Things Must Pass” by George Harrison, “What About the Children” by Yolanda Adams and “Germ Free Adolescents” by X-Ray Spex
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention. We have a team of moderators in place to remove spam and deal with the trolls, but sometimes it takes a little while so please bear with us. You have to register to use the Forums as well as post comments below the line, but that should just be a one-time thing. Any problems, email Lockdown Sceptics 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 draw your attention to Disney’s new animated movie Raya and the Last Dragon which has been criticised for the lack of South Asians among its cast of voice actors. NewsBusters has more.
One would think that looks and race would not matter for voice actors — after all, the viewers never see the actors in animated movies. But just as comedians aren’t allowed to be funny, even voice actors can’t act unless they perfectly resemble their characters.
On Tuesday, January 26th, Disney dropped the second trailer for Raya and the Last Dragon and the movie is once again generating a lot of controversy. While some fans are excited to see a movie portraying South East Asian culture, others criticise Disney’s inattention to which region of Asia its actors are from.
Based on South East Asian traditions, Disney says the fantastical story is set “in the fantasy world of Kumandra” which is endangered by monsters. Although 500 years ago dragons had protected the humans, only one remains alive and it is up to young Raya to “track down the last dragon in order to finally stop the [monsters] for good”.
Besides the film’s starring Vietnamese actress, Kelly Marie Tran (known for her role as Rose in Star Wars), nearly all of the cast are East Asian (Chinese and Korean). Although Raya and the Last Dragon was written by South East Asian-American screenwriters, Adel Lim (Malaysian) and Qui Nguyen (Vietnamese) and its lead actress is of South East Asian descent, Disney’s Representation effort just wasn’t enough for some people.
“I am actually very conflicted about the new Raya and the Last Dragon casting. I love all those cast members,” said one Twitter user. “But basically everyone except KMT is East Asian. Imagine how big it would be if they actually casted Southeast Asian actors. SE Asian actors are sorely lacking in Hollywood.”
Another user, Laura Siriku, commented, “Listen, I’m all for Asians playing other Asian ethnicities, but the roles of South East Asians have been little to none,” she said. “With #RayaAndTheLastDragon celebrating South East Asia, I feel like it’d be a huge moment to have SEA being able to play their own heritage.”
Several others have possibly more legitimately complained that the world of Kumandra and Raya’s story are based on a collection of South East Asian cultures. Unlike nearly every other Disney Princess, Raya is not based on the unique culture of a single country but rather a region with vast cultural diversity…
The movie will premiere on Disney Plus on March 5th. Luckily for Disney, the movie has simultaneously generated plenty of excitement from fans who not only want to appreciate other cultures on the screen, but shockingly just want to enjoy a great movie.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Responding to Kehinde Andrews’ new book, The New Age of Empire, the British-Nigerian writer Ralph Leonard has penned an elegant defence of the West and the Enlightenment.
Stop Press 2: Writing for the Spectator, Jake Wallis Simons, Deputy Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, says that that Black Lives Matter should be looking to Martin Luther King for inspiration, rather than Malcolm X.
Stop Press 3: John McWhorter, a contributing writer at the Atlantic, has reminded schools and colleges that campuses are not, in fact, bastions of social injustice. They must resist he says “destructive anti-racist demands”.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a one-stop shop down here for people who want to obtain a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card – because wearing a mask causes them “severe distress”, for instance. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and the Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. And 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. Another reader has created an Android app which displays “I am exempt from wearing a face mask” on your phone. Only 99p.
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 and Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson’s Spectator article about the Danish mask study here.
Stop Press: Everyone must wear a mask now, even the Long Man of Wilmington. Sky News reports that the 72 metre tall chalk figure had a mask added to his face by some local pranksters. Luckily for the historic, South Downs landmark, this was deemed an act of vandalism, and the mask was swiftly removed. As for the rest of us…
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 GBD 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. Sign up to the newsletter here.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
There are now so many legal cases being brought against the Government and its ministers we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
The Simon Dolan case has now reached the end of the road. The current lead case is the Robin Tilbrook case which challenges whether the Lockdown Regulations are constitutional. 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 and Runnymede Trust’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.
Scottish Church leaders from a range of Christian denominations have launched legal action, supported by the Christian Legal Centre against the Scottish Government’s attempt to close churches in Scotland for the first time since the the Stuart kings in the 17th century. The church leaders emphasised it is a disproportionate step, and one which has serious implications for freedom of religion.” Further information available here.
There’s the class action lawsuit being brought by Dr Reiner Fuellmich and his team in various countries against “the manufacturers and sellers of the defective product, PCR tests”. Dr Fuellmich explains the lawsuit in this video. Dr Fuellmich has also served cease and desist papers on Professor Christian Drosten, co-author of the Corman-Drosten paper which underpins the SARS-CoV-2 PCR test protocol. That paper, which was pivotal to the roll out of mass PCR testing, was submitted to the journal Eurosurveillance on January 21st and accepted following peer review on January 22nd. The paper has been critically reviewed here by Pieter Borger and colleagues, who have also submitted a retraction request.
And last but not least there was the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. A High Court judge refused permission for the FSU’s judicial review on December 9th and the FSU has decided not to appeal the decision because Ofcom has conceded most of the points it was making. Check here for details.
Samaritans
If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. Doing these daily updates is hard work (although we have help from lots of people, mainly in the form of readers sending us stories and links). If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links we should include in future updates, email us here. (Don’t assume we’ll pick them up in the comments.)
And Finally…
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.
Oh, P*ss Off, you old mare. I don’t need or want ANY reassurance about my safety!!!! I’LL decide if I’m safe or not!
Personally, I would like some “reassurance” that I’m not going to get endlessly hassled about face nappies (I have a genuine exemption, which was even confirmed in writing by my MP when I wrote to him last summer). Yes, I can stand up to them, and do, but it gets immensely dispiriting over time, as does having to wear the bloody lanyard (those don’t stop the challenges, but they do reduce them).
And all for a meeasure which cannot be shown to have any impact whatsoever on the spread of the virus…
Yep, I feel your pain but I’ve just learned to stand my ground, and be firm. Don’t get into any unnecessary con-flabs with anyone. Tell them to mind their own business and butt out. I don’t even wear a lanyard but I have (an utterly useless) one on me, to back up my exemption. Believe me you are braver and and stronger than you think. The napped are the truly scared because your naked face shines a light on their weakness. And if they are wearing it for their own reasons and firm in their decision, they won’t give a toss if you arent. It’s those that that confuse virtuosity with cowardice that are the problem.
My stock reply if I’m asked (rare, even with police)) is that I’m not a slave and I’m not a moron. That shuts them up because they have to think about it by which time I’ve gone.
If it’s anyone with a costume or hi-vis harassing you, please feel free to rinse their employer for £3K-£5K per incident.
you don’t have to wear the ‘bloody lanyard’. You have an exemption….end of. I had my first challenge in a small shop in Ruthin. The two jobsworths, one owner, one employe said – you must wear a mask; Me; I have an exemption. They; you have to wear your ‘badge’ Me: “No I don’t I am merely telling you that I am exempt under The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 5) (Wales) Regulations 2020 s20 (3) (b) and (d) “risk fo harm. I do not have to tell you this but I am in trying to help you” Owner loses it and flounces off into back room muttering that I’m not allowed to shop here. Me to remaining perplexed employee ” I have a bottle of milk that I’m not putting back – a) heres £1.20 or b) you can take it or gift me the milk.” She chose a)
Know your law !!
Well done! Everyone should use the same approach.
My stock answer when asked where is your mask…”I am exempt, unfortunately I was cursed at birth with a slightly above average IQ”!
Takes a moment or two for that to be dissembled in their heads, by which time I’m on my way, and they need to either drop it or actively pursue.
Disgusting people, don’t give them your wonga
I wear a lanyard and have not had much trouble generally. My big problem is the receptionist at our medical centre, who refused to let me in for my appointment even though I wore a shield which the hospital had given me to wear there instead. I needed to see the GP so after a huge argument with this botch I gave in and wore it, though I made sure she saw me repeatedly taking the thing from my face to breathe. I don’t know what to do about this. I have reduced lung capacity from covid and find breathing difficult in a mask. I’ve also been left with occasional arrhythmia and a mask can bring this on.
I wrote to the practice manager about this and didn’t even get the courtesy of a reply. Oddly enough, on entering the GP’s room he had no probklem with me removing the mask.
Sometimes I hate women. The woman in the pharmacy gives me grief too. They are like a pair of petty car-park attendants. Jobsworths, Little ‘itlers.
Yes exactly, the biggest cause of death last century was a metastatic state.
Lower the risk, Shrink the State.
“Sheadded that, when on public transport, wearing masks and seeing others wearing masks is “a source of great reassurance and people want to do it”.
I find it very distressing -it’s as if in a distopian nightmare where the muzzled sheep are going to their slaughter .
Yes I find it the same. I avoid all public places as much as possible. I don’t wear a mask but seeing people in them is just terrible.
Just think of them as NPCs.
I find seeing school kids in masks the most distressing. I don’t know whether to rage or cry.
You have to wonder to what extent politicians like this one are genuinely too stupid to understand that face mask mandates sustain and spread fear, versus how much they are dishonest and want masks for precisely that purpose (because as Johnny S noted below, this particular Labour politician is on the record as confirming what a good, useful crisis covid is).
And, in usual opposition politician fashion, they have to find something to disagree with the government about. And with Labour, that meens demanding even more oppressive measures.
Indeed. Though all the signs I’ve seen suggest their choice to oppose from the panicker side rather than from the side of grownup sanity is very much in line with their instincts.
In my youth there were quite strong socially conservative working class influences in Labour, as well as liberal influences.
Those seem both to have all but vanished from the political left during my lifetime, with the authoritarian fanatic radicals of pc identitarian globalism becoming completely dominant.
Cue the Welsh Government.
Freedom day is but as dream to us over here to the West as our ‘leader’ Drakeford had had his orders from London and we won’t be getting our freedom just yet.
In that article, Lisa Nandy’s response:
Well, it was clearly an utterly wretched thing for Kate Green to think or say. But, of course, her colleagues can’t actually just say that what she said was wrong – and so, wriggling, they instead say that she expressed it wrongly!
Don’t you just love it when people fashion their wording in an attempt to evade the reality. They really do take us for fools and don’t give a shit in the process. Makes me sick.
Don’t worry Kate: Benjamin Netanyahu, when saying that “9/11 was good for Israel”, was also just ‘imperfectly expressing’ himself.
[may contain traces of sarcasm]
I have been actively avoiding having to see people in masks since the beginning of this nonsense. If anything has caused me anxiety or affected my daily life it has been the wearing of masks by other people. I absolutely hate it. I can’t stand wearing the pointless things myself and don’t wear them, but I find seeing others with them nearly as bad. Why can’t these fucking virtue signallers understand there are to sides to the coin.
I posted this in the Other Place yesterday, but it seems to appropriate here.
Yesterday, being Sunday, I went to the nine am service which is a communion service. I was the only one without a face-nappy, which was depressing. So depressing that I did not take communion; I was so disgusted with the rest of the congregation being muzzled; so much for their virtue-signalling that this was being done for others. Some face-nappies came off, even inside the church, after the service but not many. One slightly good thing: there was a notice about ‘Being safe’, the usual drivel. Last week I turned it round so that it was not visible. No one had turned it back.
Today to the hospital for retinopathy. I went in without a face-nappy, no one challenged me and at least 45 minutes went by before I was asked. Then I said I was exempt (I don’t like to claim that because it gives some credence to their vile and idiotic roolz) and that was that. The nurse/doctor who asked was quite good about it; it was more a question of playing by the roolz. Still depressing that I was the only one without a face-nappy; I did have my ‘exemption’ printed on scrap A4, but it was not visible and I never showed it.
I don’t know how this is all going to work out after July 19th, assuming Johnson keeps his nerve. Sometimes I am very pessimistic and I think there will be insistence on face-nappies, anti-social distancing and all the rest of the nonsense. Other times I think this is all going to blow over and maybe quicker than we dare to hope.
Quite simply, I don’t know.
I should also add that the hospital, a large one on the outskirts of a large town in Buckinghamshire was NOT busy. The waiting area was barely one-sixth full if that. All this nonsense about the NHS being overwhelmed is rubbish. Maybe other hospitals are busy because things do vary from area to area, but my observation was that it was quiet. Also, it was very easy to park on the local housing estate; I refuse to use the rip-off NHS car parks.
I agree 100%. I should be able to claim compensation for a deterioration in my mental health from the government for putting me through the distress of being surrounded by masked up compliants!
Ditto. I HATE seeing muzzled up people. It sums up how completely compliant and unthinking most are. My h says it is down to the individual, and if they want to wear a muzzle, let them. I don’t see it that way at all. Compliance and stupidity.
Becasue masks protect you from everything from the common cold to an asteroid strike.
And an asteroid strike is more likely to kill you than covid…
Oh yes! Please god an asteroid strike. just a small one preferably centred on Westminster when parliament is in full session…
Fuck off you ugly cunt she needs a mask.
It should be compulsory for her, for life.
First, we need a definitive real world study showing the actual benefit from common masks, and then compare that to overall costs. Because we could just have everyone operating with their own bottle of oxygen. We don’t because it’s cost and operationally prohibitive. But it would “save lives.” Until we do that, masks are the ultimate Tiger Horn.
But second and more important, then would you please explain why Florida and Texas aren’t in the middle of the Black Death? Can you explain when you will be happy to remove masks? And can you give me one reason why someone double jabbed who had Covid like myself should still be wearing one? If it’s because there is a change I might carry his virus with an IFR of .2, then you have just explained why masks will never leave.
We don’t need a study. I don’t want to wear one even if it helps a bit. I prefer to take the risk and live free.
The fact that there isn’t a study which is remotely convincing shows fairly clearly that they don’t work – if the mask proponents could have produced such a study backing up thier argument, they would have done so.
They’ve purposelsy chosen a claim which cannot be proven (or disproven) so that they can endlessly play people’s uncertainties and fears (and can never be proven wrong).
I mean, say, someone publishes a paper starting with the claim that a Chinese guy named Wu found a mircale cure agains the plague in 1911/ 12 and it was “homemade cloth masks”, is this perhaps enough of an outlandish claim to make someone realize that this is all bullshit?
It’s not that they didn’t try this during the black death and the outcome is known. But I guess this must have happened because they weren’t called Wu.
[mind boggles]
It has been disproved – see the Danish Mask Study.
Please stop reaffirming this myth by treating it as “scientific”. It isn’t and wasn’t ever meant to be.
I think the rules about ‘face coverings’ are very revealing- if the govt. were at all convinced that they worked then the rules would be much clearer about which type, how to wear and handle them, how to dispose of them as a potential bio-hazard, etc. The fact that you can wear anything and do what the hell you like with it shows that they don’t consider them to be effective.
You need to find the Virus in the first bloody place before you study it’s transmissibility!!
Freedom Day, just like all the other shit days inflicted on us by our Govt & Media.
The 19th was never going to happen, we all knew the masks had to stay. Religions cannot survive without their trinkets & customs after all.
It’s almost got the point where reading Covid Restrictions related pieces are pointless as things always get rowed back. It’s called gas lighting.
I think the only way forward is to push for a mandatory maskless society. We should push for a complete ban on face coverings in all areas. Imagine the Leftards allowing us to impose on them that they mustn’t wear a mask. They couldn’t comprehend it but are happy to ask us sane people to play our part in their covid theatre.
Yes.
The “compromise” position must be that masks can only ever be at most voluntary and that any and all pressure to wear them is outlawed.
The only time anyone should be permitted to hide their face in such a fashion is if it was prescribed by a specialist. Though why any medical practitioner would ever want to prescribe such a dangerous and unhealthy medical appliance is a complete mystery.
They never did, before the bollox.
They know it’s bollox now.
Cowardly bastards.
“Do they want this to ever end?”
Doesn’t look like it.
Labour love it! It’s a great time for them and their supporters to show how morally superior they are…
You mean, just like Tories, their Party, Supporters and Government love it – to the point of actually devising it?
Please don’t get me wrong, I hold Boris and his government completely accountable for this shit. I live in a Labour dominated inner city though. I know many a Labour member. And each of them, every single one, are authoritarian nazi’s regarding this madness. Including my own brother.
If I see anyone not loving it, it’s mostly Tory/Lib voters. (Though even most of them are still on board.) Plus I see a lot of buyers remorse regarding Boris.
And for the record, I haven’t voted Tory since 2005 and I never will again.
Since 1987 for me!
Not exact,y been a vote winner for them, has it?
I didn’t say it was a vote winner! The make up of the typical Labour member suits this ‘society first’ authoritarian approach is all I mean. And I unfortunately include my own brother in that :/
They’re all loving every minute of it, Lib, Lab, Con, the lot of them. They’ve never felt so important before this.
Stupid cow! Let’s keep the people in fear forever, and crush the Tories for doing it for us.
From September 2020.
COVID APOLOGY
Labour apologise after frontbencher Kate Green said Covid-19 pandemic was a ‘good crisis’ to exploit.
From today.
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “It is shocking that the Conservatives are introducing a new law to give free rein to extremists, anti-vaxxers and people harmful to the public interest at our universities.
So exploit the crisis and crush any form of free speech that may oppose her agenda.
And as for anti vaxxers, if she had her way info like this would never get out.
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/health/coronavirus/chief-nurse-of-york-and-scarborough-hospitals-warns-that-their-severely-ill-covid-19-patients-have-been-double-jabbed-3302725
“loads of people in hospital were double jabbed, but we know it’s working because it’s not as many as before”. Yeah…. Or, we are running out of people to infect and the dry tinder has gone.
And it’s summer.
Go get stuffed!
Crikey, an admission from a politician that masks (face coverings to state the law correctly) don’t work.
‘Education‘ Secretary????
An worthy idiot to match the Tories’ catalogue of disasters in that role.
The only vaccination needed is one to counter this sort of moronic rubbish.
I suppose the only consolation is that “Who???” is an immediate response from Labour supporters.
There’s nothing new here and I don’t think it merits reporting as a separate article on LS, which should IMO focus on repeating the basic truths about covid rather than being overly wrapped in largely irrelevant Westminster nonsense.
The position the govt should have adopted was that masks are voluntary, not advised, and that any mask mandate or coercion is illegal. That’s the only defensible position on masks, and it is not their position, so featuring some Labour loony advocating going one step further than the govt have done in a possible attempt to make it look like there is clear blue water between the parties on this is not going to work.
“featuring some Labour loony advocating going one step further than the govt have done in a possible attempt to make it look like there is clear blue water between the parties on this is not going to work”
The evidence is that there are still some here who think that scoring anti-Tory points in the hope of getting a Labour government in future is a legitimate sceptical position. That suggests that reminding them of the deep involvement of the political left (very much including the Corbynist wing of Labour) in this coronapanic is a necessary educational task.
I agree (and I am fairly left-wing). This should not be used as a left/right point-scoring issue, and where polticians are doing so it should be highlighted.
I don’t mind left/right point-scoring. What I object to is pretending that this is a “Conservative”/Labour/LibDem etc issue, when the problem is an entire political class that is fully on board with this lunacy and utterly unfit for purpose.
I agree, it’s not restricted to any single party – and if there was an election there is no party who who I would prepared to vote for.
That’s my position as well (apart from the couple of new startup parties who have come out anti-lockdown – Heritage, Reclaim, perhaps Reform iirc?)
I saw it more as an attempt by the LS team to whitewash the govt to an extent, but maybe I am reading too much into it. There have been a number of pieces from TY and others trying to portray the govt as hapless victims of horrid lockdown zealots, and that libertarian Boris will deliver the goods on “Freedom Day”. I guess my worry is that the important work – to fight and defeat the insane narrative and to continue to fight against the terrible drift towards safetyism and idiocy that has enabled it – will be forgotten. But to be fair to TY he’s already fighting that fight with the FSU.
I agree that there’s a bit of that about Toby’s positions and you are right to be suspicious. but imo we should be alert to two equivalent political dangers.
The first is that the “Conservative” government gets away with what it has done.
The second is that the “opposition” gains power on the back of (or despite) their enthusiastic enabling of the “Conservatives'” coronapanic evil by claiming they would have done better by being even worse.
We should be as alert to those who want the latter, as to those who want the former.
The second point nails it – has there been a commons vote relating to covid measures that any other party has voted against?
When the political winds change, you can bet the gas lightning will begin and Labour will be screeching on the airwaves about how they always thought lockdowns and restrictions were a bad idea.
When it comes to covid all parties must be seen with the same contempt, as they have been indistinguishable from each other.
“My freedom doesn’t end where your fear starts”. None of them want this madness to end.
So called ‘adults’ wearing ‘comfort blankets’ is so pathetic.
I can see that there’s a compelling case for ugly women to wear face masks.
Aw bless, so Kate you are confused are you? Let me help because it’s very easy…I will not wear a mask because bed wetting idiots like you are frightened of absolutely nothing and feel better wearing their comfy blanket masks. Clear enough?
“confused” is one of those euphemisms (“need clarity” is another one), which actually means “we demand that you impose / continue with legal restrictions”
I saw the BBC (sick bag) admitted yesterday that the masks won’t keep infections down and that they send a message out to remain scared (my words) and for the first time in MSM I saw them also admit it is not a harm free measure. Something anyone who has half a brain could understand. Ergo this old Hag does not have half a brain.
Link or other info? I’d love to follow up on that.
Me too!
Lockdown must be permanent though we pretend, for appearance’s sake, we want it to end sometime or other, according to these bozos.
Why not have a mandate that people have to wear a talisman of their choosing, to give them the psychological comfort they need.
For the religious it can be a cross, or a hijab, for the adherenst of scientism a mask, whatever superstitious amulet takes your fancy.
Well she would, thats why we did not vote labour.
Anyway, its too late I have never worn a muzzle and never will , they are for Sheeple
If people want a ‘sense of safety’ they should buy inward filtration masks or a hazmat suit.
Then they don’t have to demand everybody else in the world lives by their rules.
Indeed
I take it that this device has its own air supply? Otherwise some of the air exhaled by some passing filthy peasant might get in…
Vaccines! Vaccines! Come get your lollipops children…
She looks like she has communist tendencies, for some reason
Why does this lady believe she’s entitled to force to dress in a certain way because it makes her feel “safer” from her dreadful “invisible enemies”? Can’t she get a therapy instead?
If people want to wear a mask as reassurance, I don’t see how they could become confused about that. If they don’t like the fact that I am not wearing one they can stay as far away from me as they think is necessary. What is unreasonable is to expect other people to accommodate their feelings whilst at the same time being happy to ignore other people’s feelings.
That would be a woke, snowflake commie.
Kate Green, if the traffic lights are green should I move? Wouldn’t it be safer just to stay where I am?
This kind of “thinking” is how we’ve got compelled speech to protect the fee-fees of people with mental disorders.
Note that there’s not even a pretence that this is about health or infection control. It’s all about “reassuring” the terrorised, by which I mean keeping them petrified.
The English like to tell themselves that, having seen off Napoleon, Kaiser Bill, and the Wehrmacht, they are possessed of a unique levels of courage, determination, independence and a fundamental sense of freedom and individual rights. This was a banner waved fervently by the Brexiteers
The past year has shown how utterly deluded that notion was.
There is no freedom, there are no rights in the NHS-worshipping nanny-state.
In America I could walk around wearing a t-shirt, carrying a placard, or with a bumper-sticker on my car, all telling the mask-maggots right where they could stick their precious face-nappies, and the bogus (non-existent) science they use to justify them.
But here in good old Blighty? I’d end up in court, charged with anti-social behaviour or having “harassed or alarmed” the sensibilities of these precious imbeciles.
No, you would not end up in court. Many of us have not worn masks and no one says anything for the most part.
It’s not the lack of a mask.
It would be saying out loud that masks are useless and that people who wear them are stupid.
Under British law, the police can – and do – stop people from expressing opinions by saying they are doing so to “protect public health.” Thats why the cops busted up the anti-lockdown rallies in London. It’s why they busted up the Sarah Everard rally. Both peaceful demonstrations.
Seriously, if I walked around wearing a button that said “Masks are for Wankers” – someone could claim that it was causing them (as mask wearers) “distress”, or that I was harassing them. Or that by publicly disparaging masks that I was “endangering public health.”
Even if I was ultimately acquitted in court, with the ridiculous Legal system, and massive costs, I’d probably be bankrupted long before I got there.
Without a written Constitution, like they have in the US and pretty much every other country, there really is no guaranteed right to Free Speech. You can say anything you like. Just as long as you don’t run foul of the cops, or the Government, or the Security Services, or whoever decides their right to tell you how to live your life, is more important than my right to walk into Tesco without a stupid piece of cloth on my face.
Sadly written constitutions have not done much good anywhere. Some of the red US states resisted because an understanding of what freedom means and ideas about where state power should end are more firmly lodged in the psyche of people in those states.
Well I would disagree with that assessment. In countries where Constitutions haven’t worked, it is usually the lack of strong institutional support that does it in. Britain, by way of contrast, does have strong institutions (military, law enforcement, public servants, the Judiciary).
The problem with Britain’s lack of a written Constitution is that its principles are the result of thousands of Parliamentary acts, court decisions, and historical precedents. Most of which are unknown to the people who have to live under them.
The reason that lockdown never took hold in the United States (and is now pretty much completely over) is that the written Constitution places very strict limits on how much the Federal (or State) Government may restrict people’s freedoms. A Mayor or Governor can declare a curfew or stay-at-home order during a bona-fide emergency. But if it drags on too long (say eighteen months too long…) – then the politician has to go to court and explain, with evidence, why it needs to continue.
Not the other way around. Which is why we’ve got the disgraceful state of affairs we have in Britain today.
Plenty of US states had stay-at-home orders. Almost all of them, including I believe Texas and Florida. I think the only state that had almost no restrictions from the start was South Dakota. I don’t recall any high profile court cases where stay at home cases were declared unconstitutional. The trouble with accepting the exception of a bona-fide emergency is that if the govt is able to define what such an emergency consists of, and to lie about what’s happening so that people believe it is an emergency, and the courts go along with it, you’re stuffed. The use of the SIs attached to the Public Health Act 1984 was almost certainly against legal tradition in this country that laws restricting basic freedoms must be explicitly designed to do so, which the PHA 1984 was not, but the case was thrown out because no judge had the courage to go against the govt and they seemed mainly to believe the govt had no choice – they believed the lies too.
Name some other countries that didn’t restrict freedom, if you can. I can’t think of many. Belarus – possibly the leaders there just that it was all bollocks, not sure, Tanzania – again the leader had the balls to say it was all bollocks, just dumb luck really, Sweden for some bizarre reason decided to respect their constitution, and I think Japan. But Germany for example has a fabulous constitution. Didn’t do them much good.
It has to be culture and the people that defend liberty in the end. We didn’t want it enough. We’re majoritarians. You say we have strong institutions. They were all enthusiastic collaborators in the madness.
Operative phrase there: “plenty of US states had stay-at-home orders”
Look, in fairness, at the very beginnings of covid-19 there was lot that wasn’t known. We didn’t know how dangerous it was, and who the people most at-risk were. We didn’t have a vaccine. We didn’t know the main vectors of transmission. And we simply didn’t know if, or how much, it might affect the medical system.
Wisconsin, the US State where I used to live, had a Stay-at-Home order issued by its Governor in March 2020. And yet in April – less than a month after it was issued – it was repealed by the State Supreme Court. The “burden of proof” was on the politicians to explain why they needed the authority to restrict people’s rights. And they couldn’t do it. For all the very good reasons we’ve been talking about for the past sixteen months.
Not so in England. The Government passes the most draconian restriction of liberties in history, and there is pretty much nothing anyone can do about it. Whatever silly nonsense squeaks through Parliament is the law of the land. It’s left to multi-millionaires like Simon Dolan to (fruitlessly) challenge the Government’s ability to imprison us in our houses. The “burden of proof” is on the citizen to fight a silly law. And we have no fundamental and inviolable principles of freedoms that we can rely upon when making those challenges.
What’s worse, we can’t even take to the streets to publicly (and peacefully) voice our opposition known. Think long and hard about that.
If covid has taught us anything, its the fact that the UK needs a written Constitution.
I hadn’t realised Wisconsin repealed their law so soon. And certainly the US has come out of this and moved on to a much much greater extent than we have. I’d say that was a consequence of a culture, not a written constitution.
The link between Culture and Constitution is an interesting issue. Are Americans more likely to put a political bumper-sticker on their car because of the (US) First Amendment? Or are Brits less likely to publicly state their political opinions because of our “don’t grumble” culture? There are arguments either way.
But I don’t think modern Britain has been well-served by its present Constitutional, Legal, and Cultural frameworks. All of them are (literally) archaic.
I think the putting of bumper stickers on cars is a consequence of the culture, which has possibly/probably been reinforced by the constitution, framed not that long ago by very clever people. It’s a young country born specifically from the desire for the possibility for more individualism.
I have no idea whether having a constitution here would help us much at this stage, but I tend to think not. If we created one now it would most likely be a crock of shit and even if it weren’t it would not be worth much. It would have to go hand in hand with a cultural shift and I can see no plausible source for such a shift. Possibly a triggered by backlash when the extent of the Big Lie is understood, but I can’t see any prospect of that happening either.
I’m not optimistic for the short/medium term. This is a bad time.
I’m not optimistic for the short/medium term either. And this is a bad time.
Inevitably interwoven into British political and social life is the dreaded Class System. Which has been playing out in all sorts of unexpected ways during covid. A strict “stay at home” regime affects the upper middle-classes, with their extensive walled gardens somewhat differently than it does people penned up in high-rise flats. It’s easy for the middle-aged and elderly to decry the wanton behaviour of twenty-somethings who want to go clubbing and sing with their friends in the stands of the Emirates or Old Trafford.
But the class system is obviously a discussion for another day. An argument I’m unlikely to ever win, because so many people in Britain have got so much of their existence wrapped up in the whole rotten business.
Totally superfluous note, but one for which which I have literally no other outlet. So please forgive me.
A older lady friend was speaking ecstatically of the virtues of the traditional “English gentleman”. Like her two former husbands, members of the landed gentry and exclusive Army regiments. Members of Pall Mall clubs and fellows regularly dunned by their tailors.
I made the mistake of pointing out that these “English gentlemen” had, in both cases, all-but-literally stolen hundreds of thousands of pounds from her, leaving her nearly destitute, abandoning her to care for her children alone. And that, by my definition, being a “gentleman” had less to do with what sort of school tie a man wore than the way he treated his family.
Needless to say, I lost that argument. I’m not optimistic about the future of England either.
“If covid has taught us anything, its the fact that the UK needs a written Constitution.”
This is an interesting issue, that I’ve had had many lengthy discussions about, going back decades. In the past I tended to come down on the side Julian has taken here. More recently I’ve been more inclined to the side you have taken, in part because the 1st an 2nd Amendment protections have been less easily bypassed than our own basic liberties in those areas (though undoubtedly culture plays a part and in political terms you could view the UK as close to a NE US small state).
But my concern now is that it is way too late anyway. The people writing any constitution now would be the very people the constitution is needed to guard against. Instead of the wise heads of the US Framers protecting basic liberties and setting up sophisticated checks and balances, we would have vacuous self-serving power seekers and zealots, drafting in dogmas institutionalising anti-white, anti-male and anti-Christian hatred, and ensuring that all dissent from their own ideologies is criminalised.
Someone told me long ago – and I don’t know if it’s true – that we CANNOT have a written consitution as we are SUBJECTS of the Queen
Constitutions don’t guarantee anything. Throughout the Franco era, Spain’s constitution ‘guaranteed’ fundamental freedoms. And people lived under a Fascist dictatorship, and dissidents were beaten up in underground torture chambers.
France’s constitution ‘guarantees’ liberty, equality and fraternity. Tell that to a health worker being forced to submit to the snake oil.
When this all started, a couple of family members kept asking what was wrong with Americans and why they were so anti-lockdown, (there was a fair bit of coverage of people defying/protesting), and I kept pointing out that to them it’s unconstitutional – simple as that. It fell on confused ears…
I completely agree with your points.
We now have the situation here that intent is now meaningless under law. If offence is taken by anyone, that now supersedes it. That infamous case of the YouTube video of a dog doing a Nazi salute. It was a joke, designed to embarrass the fella’s gf. Instead the State took offence and decided he was spreading Nazi propaganda. And the court upheld the states charges and he was ordered to pay a fine.
I too am a victim of this new interpretation of the law. I fly the England flag at home. Next to it I did fly a relatively unknown and obscure liberty flag. A few months down the line, I have the police at my door insisting I take it down or face charges. An ‘anonymous person’ had decided that I was flying a KKK flag! I mean, seriously? My explanation of the meaning of the flag, backed up with evidence of the history of the flag was ignored. My intent meant nothing. The subjective reaction of somebody I never met overrode it.
Freedom of expression here has deteriorated so badly, it’s shameful.
I grew up grateful I didn’t live in America. The size of the federal govt scared the s**t out of me. However, in very recent times I look over the pond with eyes of envy at those red states sticking 2 fingers up at this insane mess, backed up by their simple but effective constitution.
Plus, in Texas they have now started kicking back at the ‘divesting’ nonsense- effectively telling people and companies that if they don’t like what Texas does they can do one…God I wish I lived there right now.
Has anyone seen any lists compiled of companies positions on face coverings from next week?
I’m keen to avoid using any business that will keep them mandated.
I know most of the supermarkets have said they aren’t going to mandate them, other than the airlines haven’t seen anyone else who are going to mandate them
I think the path of least resistance will generally be to keep them in place and then not do too much enforcement and see what happens. Apart from anything else, there’s a huge amount of signage and stuff on websites etc that would need to change, and they probably figure that the mandates will come back soon enough anyway.
Might be worth emailing the big ones (main supermarkets, big pub chains such as Wetherspoon), and then choose who to give business to accordingly. Of course the danger is that they will all comply with the govnerment bullying.
Sainsbury’s have said it will be shopper’s choice.
Asda, IIRC, are going to be asking for masks.
The others, I don’t know.
It could be down to individual store managers. We have 2 large Tesco in Hereford. In one I was challenged once in the early days last year, never since. In the other nearly every time I go in; the last time being a week ago.
I wish there was a Sainsbury’s near me. My local is Waitrose (which I have replaced with Ocado since July last year…), but, assuming the worst there, I’d be happy to drive a few minutes further to Tesco.
I’d agree with that, the Waitrose nearest to me is usually full of self righteous busy bodies.
If they mandate them, they must produce a risk assessment. Public sector bodies must also provide an Equality Impact Assessment. For hand sanitiser, they must provide a CoSSH assessment. They will no longer be covered by government dictat and indemnity so will need to protect themselves from action under Equality and Health and Safety law. Most won’t take the risk.
WHY??????
Did anyone watch The Handmaids Tale last week? June gets caught by the Eye’s and as she’s trapped, they put a mask on her to dehumanise and silence her.
A dystopian story on TV highlights exactly what masks are for. The scary thing is it feels like we’re living in the prequel to that series.
It’s why hooding of POWs is now outlawed amd not practised anymore by British forces.
And anyone remember the furore about the police deploying ‘spit hoods’?
African slaves.
Prisoners in Guantanamo.
British zombies.
Masks are touted as source control. If you need a mask, you must be unwell. If you are unwell, GO HOME!
If a mask is a workplace requirement, show the MHSWA Regs Risk Assessment that identifies a mask as a control against a hazard. Then start providing free as required by the PPE regs. However, be prepared to explain why you have decided to keep an infectious employee in the workplace rather than SEND THEM HOME!.
Borrowing from someone on the Telegraph comments yesterday, if anyone obstreperous challenges me I might say “it’s like wearing a condom made of wool or cotton and saying oooo, if it stops just one spermatazoon, it’s worth it!”
A variation on the theme: “A mask stops the virus as much as pants stops farts”!
They’ll test flatulence for the virus next, and mandate corks…
The “Maskateers” like to push the mantra that in the far East, people wear masks as a sign of good manners and hygiene.
I was always led to believe that the reason was protection from pollution.
Could sceptics who have spent time in the far East enlighten me to what is the truth.
some will wear them if they have symptoms. Not sure how that’s good manners. Would be better if they stayed at home.
Thanks for your reply, A H
I’d always assumed it was because of pollution too.
They wear them in the Far East for cultural reasons. For example, the Japanese have a cultural taboo against both blowing your nose in public, and for women, showing your teeth. The mask deals with both those issues.
All of what we have put up with over the last year is a bunch of people with beliefs seeing things in the world that apparently validated them. The very epitome of a lie getting around the world before the truth has its boots on.
Thank you for your reply, LG.
As you mention Japan, it’s worth noting what it can be like on some public transport there, such as crush-loaded Tokyo metro trains. Makes a bit of sense culturally, even it it’s useless in effect. We are witnessing a copy cat job, and that’s it, in effect. Oh, and of course there are plenty of negative problems as well.
Lots of reasons
https://qz.com/299003/a-quick-history-of-why-asians-wear-surgical-masks-in-public/
Thank you for that link, KF.
Kate Green, fuck off you stupid cunt.
So when does it end? if it doesn’t end now with record low deaths, when does it end?
“mandatory mask-wearing should stay in place after July 19th so as to keep the rules clear and to provide people with a sense of reassurance about their safety.”
And there we have it: to provide _reassurance_. If she thought they should remain – for protection – she could have used words to that effect, but didn’t.
It was admitted that the actual reason for being made to wear a face-covering (after initially being advised against), was to provide reassurance to people when out in the community.
Also: “to keep the rules clear”. What, eh, sorry, s’cuse me, say what, beg pardon?
This MP needs to get a brain (oh, and a soul wouldn’t go amiss).
Edit: ‘scuse me – not s’cuse me. Please excuse me
How come these brutes never think of the ‘inconvenience’ suffered by us humans when we are hassled, bullied and insulted by zombies?Aren’t we entitled to a little reassurance occasionally?
To be sure, humans are in the minority. But minorities have rights. At least, there was a time when they did.
In my opinion, she would say that because thats what her boss, Viceroy Von Starmer, wants. Why did Baron Von Starmer become the Labour Leader when he was already being groomed to be either the head of MI5 or GCHQ following his disasterous role as head of the CPS. Presumably his pals at the Trilateral Commission wanted someone to destroy Europes biggest political party whose leadership wasnt following the NWO agenda. …. Just saying
Labour wasn’t following the NWO agenda? That’s news to me
Maybe, under Corbyn they were not totally onboard the NWO ship, but they certainly are now.
“Shadow Education Secretary”. Well she should educate herself and provide evidence that facemasks are effective in the prevention of the transmission of respiratory viruses. If she likes I can send her a copy of the Danish RCT paper.
who does she think she is talking for a born and bred Londoner. No, masks should NOT be mandatory and NO other people wearing them merely makes me think how many idiots the city has, like her.
I have not worn any face covering since this whole farrago started in July last year. There was no scientific or medical reason why it was necessary to wear something covering your nose and mouth, as was admitted by the WHO and the UK government up to a few weeks before it suddenly became part of the rigmarole of getting outside your own house. As far as I can recall there are a few Cabinet Ministers who have publicly stated that they will be going out barefaced with effect from next Monday – unless those statements were barefaced lies and they have changed their minds.
I do not have a lanyard or a printed card – I have only had two instances when somebody said something, one was a PCSO who was totally ignorant of the law, the other was a similarly ignorant member of the public in my local Morrisons.
I have no problem breathing fresh air – I do have a problem breathing CO2 through a mask or bandana, which may be wet after some time of usage.
How have you been challenged so little, I wonder? I have also never worn a mask and have been using public transport and going into shops, museums, cinemas, galleries, GP surgeries etc etc throughout. I have been challenged literally hundreds of times: for example, today I was challenged in the cafe where I had lunch, in Hobbs, and in Seasalt – a very typical day out for me.
On Saturday I was challenged three times in one cafe – each time by a different member of staff. I have been challenged on three occasions by police officers. I have been challenged a couple of times at the university where I work.
I have come to hate my community.
I have never been challenged. Well, in the school playground, but that’s it. I know why – it’s because I look hard and mean, and not someone you would want to mess with. So no one says anything. I presume you look like someone who people think they can bully, so they try to.
Just ignore the next person who says anything to you. When I say ignore, I mean stare them cold in the eyes and ignore them until they walk away.
Yes, I think that’s absolutely true – most maskivists are grown-up playground bullies, and will only pick on people who they perceive as weaker than them.
You must be in absolute Covidian plague spot, Alethea. Few of us have experienced anything like that sort of hassle. Perhaps your face looks provokingly intelligent and alive, to a zombie?
I’ve probably not been challenged hundreds of times, but still quite a few – although I have had a bloody lanyard for quite a few months because I got so sick of the hassle and this reduces it a bit.
And has anyone else found that if someone employed by a large company says “we’ve been told to ask for proof”, and you put a complaint in, they say that no, it’s definitely not company policy – and yet it carries on happening? Either they have no control over rtheir staff, or they are lying because they know full well that no proof is required but want to make things difficult for the unmuzzled. I know which of those I think is most likely!
Wow, you’ve had it pretty rough. Like you I’ve never worn a mask (nor carried a lanyard/note from my mum), and I’ve quite rarely been asked, let alone had anything amounting to a real challenge. A couple of confrontations, a few discussions, and a few tentative queries breezed past without engaging.
Having thought about it I suspect two reasons for the difference. First, plenty of commenters here have suggested women tend to get challenged more frequently. Second, it’s probably largely just that you are in places to be challenged much more frequently than I am. Never using public transport helps.
Glad all this crap didn’t come up a few years sooner.
I think they must be intimidated by me because hardly anyone has ever said anything. I am a 61 year old woman but I am nearly six foot tall and I probably have a ‘don’t you dare’, school-mistress-y aura about me. They know that challenging me wouldn’t end well for them.
The only place that I have ever been challenged, ironically, was church. I was singing in an entirely unmasked choir practice when I left the group in the interval to walk, alone, up a flight of steps to go to the lavatory. A notorious busybody (the sort who loves herding people around before concerts) followed me and said, ‘You’re supposed to wear a mask’. I smiled, sweetly but icily, and said, ‘I don’t’. She backed off. The choirmaster, who is intensely frustrated by the whole business and very relaxed about the mask nonsense, said nothing. If he had asked the reason for my exemption, I would have told him in private, but it was none of her business and I didn’t intend to give her any credence. Busybodies like that need squashing.
What the fuck is confusing about “do whatever you want”. it’s possible the least confusing message there is.
Honestly, how do we even manage to get out of bed without the State helping us?
A lot of people don’t, evidently.
Another one of these idiots who qualifies for a well-considered, thorough, evidence-based response:
FUCK OFF KATE GREEN
I’d like to refer Kate Green to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram
I suppose it’s because she thinks that some Labour supporters are as thick as she and her colleagues are, and thus need to be instructed or ordered about, in every aspect of human life. Just pipe down, dearie, and hide behind your settee while you fill out your extravagant expense chits.
We know where Robert Peston, political editor of ITV news, stands on mask wearing:
“If businesses or services impose a mask-wearing obligation, will they be vulnerable to legal challenge, when they exclude non mask wearers? Will the PM give his explicit support to those institutions which insist on mask wearing? Those are important questions for today.”
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1414487809805758464
No attempt to hide it
Tweet back. Those who continue to be scared of their own shadow can invest in FFP3 masks. Since those are available why on earth do you need to inconvenience everybody?
I’m not on Twitter, I just look at it in a browser. I would disappear down too many rabbit holes if I had a Twitter account. I lack discipline.
I found his tweet instructive – it confirms that the media, or sections of it, will only support the govt as far as the narrative continues more or less intact. IMO thinking that the media are just govt mouthpieces is fanciful. If the PM came over all Donald Trump, or denounced the coronamadness for what it is, they would lay into him viciously and try to hound him out of office.
I see Labour continue the grand tradition of being utterly impervious to reason, logic and consequences.
One wonders why they are so keen to punish working class children.
https://swprs.org/face-masks-evidence/
A May 2020 meta-study on pandemic influenza published by the US CDC found that face masks had no effect, neither as personal protective equipment nor as a source control. (Source)
A Danish randomized controlled trial with 6000 participants, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in November 2020, found no statistically significant effect of high-quality medical face masks against SARS-CoV-2 infection in a community setting. (Source)
A large randomized controlled trial with close to 8000 participants, published in October 2020 in PLOS One, found that face masks “did not seem to be effective against laboratory-confirmed viral respiratory infections nor against clinical respiratory infection.” (Source)
A February 2021 review by the European CDC found no high-quality evidence supporting the effectiveness of non-medical and medical face masks in the community. Furthermore, the European CDC advised against the use of FFP2/N95 masks by the general public. (Source)
A July 2020 review by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine found that there is no evidence for the effectiveness of face masks against virus infection or transmission. (Source)
A November 2020 Cochrane review found that face masks did not reduce influenza-like illness (ILI) cases, neither in the general population nor in health care workers. (Source)
An April 2020 review by two US professors in respiratory and infectious disease from the University of Illinois concluded that face masks have no effect in everyday life, neither as self-protection nor to protect third parties (so-called source control).
“I see Labour continue the grand tradition of being utterly impervious to reason, logic and consequences.” I agree and am no fan of theirs, but bear in mind the govt brought in the mask mandates, pushed them, and are really engineering their continuation by any other means – trying to look like freedom lovers while egging on transport providers, shops etc to bring in their own mandates, and saying people are “expected” to carry on wearing them. A truly conservative govt would never have brought them in, and if they’d done so in haste and now realise their mistake, they would be saying that masks are not needed. But they are very much not saying that.
S’funny, I thought the article was about Labours Kate Green, thats why i said “continue the grand tradition”
I didn’t include the UK or most other govts round the world indulging in sheep like behaviour.
The only ones not doing so appear to be Sweden and some Republican governed US states.
Everyone else seems to be indulging in how much damage can we cause / Hold my Beer.
I was making the point that the tradition is not exclusive to Labour
Yes, that’s why i said continue.
If it had been a Tory I would have said the tories continued.
If it had been the mad munchkin of Wales I would have said Labour.
If it had been demented Nicola Stalin of the Krankies I would have said the Natzis.
The main and most devastating evidence is that predictions from mask fanatics of explosions of infections and deaths if people stop wearing masks *never happens*.
So why do they cling to them? It’s like the mystic octopus that never predicts the lottery results yet people still quote the numbers.
Kate Green? Who are you? Do you have any qualifications? Do you know any science about masks? Do you have any experience in this field?
To me, this idea looks just like a whim of yours that finds no objective basis anywhere. You don’t get to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do according to your fancy.
You only have to look at this scruffy commie bitch to know the shite she is going to spout
Very similar to the shite being spouted by the govt – they are just being smarter about it, keeping masks by the back door
Because nothing spreads confusion like allowing people to make their own decisions.
https://www.minds.com/steveghostwords/
If Johnson proposed a plastic bag over your head mandate, Labour would say ‘Two bags’.
Of course she does.
The hard left, Communists want the State to possess absolute power. As do the unions, most doctors and the CCP owned media.
Just watching bombastic Dat to Day type autocue reader Bradby on ITV with his self regarding journos Including Peston. They argue that we need to implement the science of masks. It sounds like a Charlie Brooker script. We are all in this black mirror till we decide otherwise.
Here’s the question they never ask. ‘Why? Where’s your clinical evidence viz efficacy of masks?’
I see the wearing of masks as a major cause for concern for the mental health of the wearer and of the approving public at large. The likes of Kate Green need to wake up to reality.
Kate Green – Take some advice from Les Grossman: First, take a big step back… and literally, FUCK YOUR OWN FACE!
The elevation of Mask wearing in the General Public to cult status is terrifying! -much of the fault lies with scientists who publish experiments performed in Labs,conflate Covid19 with seasonal flu and avoid discussion of any deleterious aspect. Surgeons showed wearing them in the Operating Theatre does not reduce infection which is why in prosthetic surgery “space suits “ are used – Cambridge study showed in hospital masks don’t work an Respirators are needed. Infections went up after mask mandate. 1/3 infection resulting in death were in Hospital where masks are mandatory. We cannot permit the masks maniacs – to make the non wearing of mask “Blasphemy “.
F*ck off you stupid pea brained idiot…….with your complete lack of scientific knowledge a job on SAGE awaits with those useless, lying cretins!!
A Labour Shadow Education Secretary talking shit, no surprise there then. Most likely also supporting teaching unions telling their members not to do their jobs; but still claiming their full pay?
Ignorant bitch; who voted for her?
What has mandated mask wearing got to do with freedom to breathe oxygen? Why is breathing in your own filthy recycled carbon dioxide got anything do with freedom? Wake up and silence these communists.
This is the woman who said, at last year’s Labour Party Conference, ‘Don’t let a good crisis go to waste’.
This is about political advantage and pursuing an agenda that has nothing to do with a virus.
Dear Kate Green I’m old enough to make my own risk assessment I’ve had two jabs so the mask is off after next Monday please wear yours if you wish that is now your choice not the law but do not presume to tell me what you want my choice to be
these power hungry lefties & sell outs should all be fired . let her stay indoors forever with a mask on her brains.
I don’t wear a mask but had to when attending a hospital cataract pre-op procedure. The only thing that was upsetting me was having to wear a mask. The staff were horrified that my blood pressure had shot up to 207.
From Monday (weather permitting) I shall be wearing my home printed T shirt with a picture of a flock of sheep wearing face nappies.
I’m glad I left the Party, and one wonders how many others have done the same thing.
FO you old bag. We’ve had enough of this rubbish.
Yesterday I heard two locals talking in the road outside my house, they were saying how sick they are of the words ‘covid’ and lockdown’. One said “I dunno, I’m seriously beginning to wonder about all this. Well, I’ve had one vaccine but I’m not having any more”. The other said “yes, I feel the same way”.
This may not sound much, but the first person was a man who’d previously been a very serious and blunt advocate of both lockdown and vaccine.
If I was young I’d have got out my skipping rope and done five laps round my garden!
Unscientific nonsense.
Masks won’t achieve anything if we hermetically seal our mass transport systems and classrooms and workplaces.
Apart from anything else there is no protection for eyes, and that is even if you require FFP3/NP99 masks that can be worn for 2 hours max according to the manufacturers.
Money needs to be made available to drastically improve ventilation of mass transport and work/classroom spaces. Where this was done in Hong Kong, rather than shovelling money into the gaping maw of the useless ‘test and trace’, rates of community infection are far far less that that which we are enduring.
I consider myself to be moderately intelligent and am therefore able to make my own choice based on my assessment of risk. I certainly don’t need to be told how to run my life by any politician of any party.
I wish the whole 650 of them would bugger off and let the country return to how it was before their unprecedented assault on democracy and free speech.