Go-Slow BoJo Says Dates Will Not Change, However Good the Data Gets
Despite saying last month that the Government’s lockdown easing strategy will be driven by data not dates, it seems for Boris this only goes one way, and there is no question of better-than-expected data bringing easing forward.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was out yesterday reiterating the Government’s line and underlining that there would be no faster easing even for areas with almost no Covid at all. The Times has more.
Matt Hancock has rejected calls to ease restrictions early for low-infection areas, citing the failure of last year’s tier system to prevent lockdowns.
Local variations in infection rates are becoming an increasing concern in Government, with cases rising in a fifth of areas while elsewhere they have fallen to extremely low numbers.
Millions of people in England are living in neighbourhoods where there are close to no cases of COVID-19, official figures show.
While areas such as Peterborough, Leicester and Sandwell in the West Midlands have rates of more than 200 per 100,000 people, rates have fallen below 50 per 100,000 in places ranging from Islington in north London to the Isle of Wight.
In very local areas Public Health England does not publish data with fewer than three cases “to protect individuals’ identities”. The latest figures show that 971 of 6,791 “Middle-layer Super Output Areas” (MSOAs) fall into that category.
Ben Bradshaw, MP for Exeter in Devon where rates are 49 per 100,000, asked the Health Secretary: “What will be the justification for keeping my constituents locked down and local businesses closed through Easter and beyond because rates somewhere else happened to be higher?”
Hancock replied: “We obviously had a tiered system over the autumn — one of the challenges we found was people travelling from a part of the country where rates are higher to those where they are lower.”
While the Government may take “a localised approach to outbreaks”, he insisted: “We are going to move down the road map, as a nation, across England.”
Boris Johnson has also insisted that restrictions will not be eased earlier than planned in last week’s road map despite increasingly positive news on vaccination, infections and deaths. But Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, added to pressure on the prime minister when she said that in Scotland “we will be considering if it might be possible to accelerate the exit from lockdown” because of the encouraging data. “I have always said if we can go further and faster, then we will not hesitate to do so,” she said.
It comes to something when Nic Sturge-On is outflanking you on the pace of re-opening.
But is it just political opportunism? That seems likely when you read the extreme measures the First Minister has in store for Scotland. The BBC reports.
The Scottish government hopes to return to the levels system from late April. But if an area is to see restrictions lifted, the number of positive cases will need to be far lower than when the system operated last year. The Government said the more stringent approach was needed because of the new faster-spreading variant of the virus…
The Scottish government’s updated approach is outlined in the its latest strategic framework.
Under the new system, local authorities which have a case rate of more than 150 cases per 100,000 are likely to end up in level four – when only essential shops can open and hospitality must close. The previous threshold for level four was 300 cases per 100,000. Cases will also need to drop to below 50 per 100,000 in a local authority before it will be considered for level two, much lower than the previous rate of 150 per 100,000. That is the level where non-essential journeys outside the authority boundary are allowed and pubs can serve alcohol.
This sounds worryingly like a Zero Covid approach.
Justifying its strategy, the Scottish Government says it is “drawing on World Health Organisation (WHO) advice” from the November 2020 interim guidance document “Considerations for implementing and adjusting public health and social measures in the context of COVID-19“.
Indeed it is. A hitherto under-appreciated document, this interim guidance (which, notably, predates the authorisation of vaccines) is a Zero Covid charter which envisages restrictions continuing until such time as there is “No known transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the preceding 28 days”. Even then it says “robust surveillance” (i.e., test and trace) should continue (forever, apparently) and suggests individuals continue “voluntary physical distancing”. Here are its lowest three “Situational Levels”.
The Scottish Government summarises the WHO’s criteria for easing restrictions as follows:
- Evidence shows that COVID-19 transmission is controlled.
- Sufficient public health and health system capacities are in place to identify, isolate, test and treat all cases, and to trace and quarantine contacts.
- Outbreak risks are minimised in high vulnerability settings, such as long-term care facilities (i.e., nursing homes, rehabilitative and mental health centres) and congregate settings.
- Preventive measures are established in workplaces, with physical distancing, handwashing facilities and respiratory etiquette in place, and potentially thermal monitoring.
- Manage the risk of exporting and importing cases from communities with high-risks of transmission.
- Communities have a voice, are informed, engaged and participatory in the transition.
That’s right – the criteria for easing restrictions include physical distancing in workplaces, the minimisation of outbreak risk in gathering settings, and ongoing invasive surveillance. But hang on a minute – those are the restrictions. When the criteria for easing restrictions are themselves part of the restrictions, you know you’re well and truly ensnared in the circles of hell. Nowhere does the strategic framework specify the criteria for ending all restrictions and surveillance.
The final phase of the framework is: “COVID no longer a significant threat to public health. Maximum vaccine roll out” and “COVID-19 ceases to be a serious threat to public health”. But even then it says: “Some ongoing public health measures likely to remain in place.”
No endpoint is envisaged by the strategic framework or the WHO’s interim guidance when all restrictions will cease and the normality of 2019 will resume.
Stop Press: The Telegraph reports that the fall in Covid deaths in England is running around three weeks ahead of modelling estimates and that some Government advisers are calling for lockdown to be eased more quickly.
Texas Ends All COVID-19 Restrictions
In a move that will boost the hopes of the millions around the world who want and need a return to normality sooner rather than later, the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott yesterday issued an Executive Order lifting the mask mandate in the state and increasing capacity of all businesses and facilities to 100%. The Governor said:
With the medical advancements of vaccines and antibody therapeutic drugs, Texas now has the tools to protect Texans from the virus. We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100%. Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared, but it is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalisations, and safe practices that Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed. Today’s announcement does not abandon safe practices that Texans have mastered over the past year. Instead, it is a reminder that each person has a role to play in their own personal safety and the safety of others. With this executive order, we are ensuring that all businesses and families in Texas have the freedom to determine their own destiny.
Worth reading in full.
This is a return to normal as far as state mandates and guidance are concerned. A provision for local restrictions by county judges (should Covid hospital occupancy hit a certain level locally) remains in force. But other than that this is Texas returning to normality.
Will it become an international movement as the evidence that such an unwinding does not precipitate mass deaths becomes clear? Let’s hope so, and let’s hope Boris and his advisers are watching.
Test and Trace Finds Almost No Covid in Schools
Biostatistics Professor Jon Deeks, a Senior Researcher in the Institute of Applied Health Research at Birmingham University, has a good Twitter thread on how mass testing in schools appears to be finding no Covid and is a harmful waste of time. We reproduce it here in full.
Testing in schools has been finding close to zilch! Just located the Test and Trace figures for testing in schools. They are on this webpage.
To interpret these results remember all tests give false positives (FP). For Innova, DHSC says about three per 1,000 (0.3%) were FP; in Liverpool it was about one per 1,000 (0.1%). So only event rates above these figures indicate that a test is usefully detecting real cases.
First, primary schools (presume teachers and staff): 2,031,296 tests; 4,232 positives – that is 0.21% – stable for the past month. This is below the 0.3% false positive rate stated for Innova – so many will be false positives.
Now secondary schools: 1,918,823 tests; 2,986 positives – that is 0.16% over two months and has been below 0.1% for the past fortnight. Well below the 0.3% false positive rate stated for Innova – so many will be false positives.
These data make clear (1) all LFT positives MUST be verified by PCR – the Government is risking wrongly putting staff and students unnecessarily in isolation for 10 days. (2) The case that doing this at all will make a difference to cases and spread is less than wafer thin.
– think about the cost (~£10K-£30K per case detected)
– think about the time and effort
– think about children who get stressed by tests and swabs think about what else we could provide to schools
– many harms, unlikely there are going to be benefitsWhy are we doing this?
Stop Press: The Telegraph reports that schools have been telling parents that their children will be banned from class if they do not consent to the tests. Val Mason, headteacher at Hornchurch High School in Havering, wrote to parents saying: “If you do not provide consent your child will not be permitted to return to face-to-face lessons. They will instead be required to complete their work remotely whilst being accommodated on the school site in a separate space.”
Does Vaccination Make You More Susceptible to Covid in the Week After the Jab?
A data analyst sent us the following comments on recent data that suggests Covid vaccines may increase susceptibility to the disease in the days immediately following the jab.
Matt Hancock referenced a Public Health England study on Monday that suggested an 80% reduction in hospitalisations after a single dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines.
Unlike the recent Scotland study (which found around 90% efficacy but excluded the first seven days post-vaccination), the PHE study included data for the week immediately after vaccination.
Significantly, the authors noted a 48% increase in risk of infection 4-9 days after vaccination in the over-80s group treated with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine before January 4th. This is similar to the outcome reported in the FDA Emergency Use Authorisation for the Pfizer vaccine, which found 40% higher “suspected COVID” in the first week after vaccination compared to the control group. The authors of the PHE study explain the increase is likely to reflect the higher risk of exposure in these patients, either in hospital or in care homes. An alternative explanation – that the vaccine itself increased susceptibility – has not been adequately considered. Notable in this regard is that in trials the Pfizer vaccine was found to suppress lymphocyte count in the first few days after treatment (see chart above), potentially increasing susceptibility.
The PHE study employed a “test-negative (TN) case control” design that has become popular in assessing the efficacy of influenza vaccines in recent years. This design has been criticised as being not so much a “trial” as an observational retrospective study with a biased design. In this study, Pillar 2 data from unvaccinated patients is taken from December 8th. In contrast, vaccinated subjects appear to get nine days’ grace in the run up to January 4th. According to symptom trackers and Pillar 2 testing, the majority of vaccinated patients will have started reporting after infections in the community collapsed. The extent to which vaccine efficacy in the over-70s (from January 4th) is assisted by the natural waning of the epidemic after the turn of the year is uncertain.
Given the numerous anecdotal reports of care home outbreaks (see the report from the UK Medical Freedom Alliance) shortly after vaccination across the world, I suggest this data needs further independent scrutiny.
I Think I’m In An Abusive Relationship – With the Government!
We’re publishing an original piece today by Ashton Warhurst, pointing out the disturbing fact that, by the Government’s own definition, “the people of Britain have been trapped in an abusive relationship with its own Government for almost a year, and the only end in sight is the vague suggestion of a maybe”. Ashton begins:
I think I am in an abusive relationship, and I don’t know how to escape. My abuser is too powerful and is intent on turning everyone I know against me, relentlessly trying to convince me that it’s all my fault, that somehow I’m to blame. It seems they’re the ‘good guy’ and I’m just a naïve nobody who doesn’t understand what’s best for me.
The realisation that I might be in an abusive relationship dawned on me when I read the Government’s statutory guidance framework for Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in an Intimate or Family Relationship. This framework, introduced in 2015, presents a list of control behaviours that help lawmakers recognise when a person, such as myself, is in an abusive relationship.
As I read through the list, it’s obvious that my own abuser ticks a disquietingly large majority of these boxes. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, it is my own abuser who wrote the framework.
Worth reading in full.
Lockdown Scepticism Was Never a ‘Fringe’ Viewpoint
Noah Carl has written an excellent piece in Quillette defending scepticism from the charge of being the preserve of extremists and fruitcakes. Here’s the opening:
Whether or not lockdowns are justifiable on public-health grounds, they certainly represent the greatest infringement on civil liberties in modern history. In the UK, lockdowns have contributed to the largest economic contraction in more than 300 years, as well as countless bankruptcies, and a dramatic rise in public borrowing.
This does not mean that lockdowns were the wrong policy, since they might have been necessary to prevent the National Health Service from being overwhelmed with COVID-19 critical-care patients. (And such measures are justified, proponents argue, on the grounds that they prevent infected individuals from harming others by inadvertently transmitting a deadly disease.) But as I will argue below, there’s plenty of evidence that supports those on the other side of this issue, notwithstanding the efforts of politicians, experts, and social-media companies to paint such dissent as marginal or even dangerous.
Worth reading in full.
Government Admits it Has No Evidence For Restrictions
Sir Graham Brady MP asked the Health Secretary to publish the Government’s evidence on transmission risks in the different settings that are affected by lockdown restrictions. The Government’s answer has now been published – and basically admits it currently has no evidence and won’t have any until the summer. By which point all restrictions are envisaged to be gone!
Question:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of September 2nd 2020 to Question 75983, on Coronavirus: Shops, if he will publish (a) the studies and (b) other research reports that his Department holds on the presence of viable COVID-19 virus in the air in (i) supermarkets, (ii) other large retail settings and (iii) other non-clinical settings. (154773)Tabled on: February 19th 2021
Answer:
Edward Argar:The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation jointly awarded over £5.3million for a programme of research of eight projects to understand the routes of transmission of COVID-19 in different environments and groups of people. These projects are 12-15 months in duration and are expected to report findings in the summer of 2021.
The answer was submitted on March 2nd 2021.
So much for being led by “the science”.
Rising From the Ashes
A Lockdown Sceptics reader who lost his job during lockdown has set up a London-based gardening business: Pruners & Shapers. We thought we’d give it a mention. And in case you’re wondering, yes, gardeners are allowed to continue working under the current restrictions in England.
If any other entrepreneurial readers have found themselves in a similar position and would like us to give a boost to their new enterprise, email us here.
COVID-1984
Some more great Party slogans from readers:
IF YOU DON’T HAVE COVID YOU DON’T MATTER
WE’RE DESTROYING YOUR LIFE TO SAVE IT
KISSING KILLS
COMPANY WILL KILL
FRIENDS ARE THE ENEMY
FRONT DOOR IS FAR ENOUGH
SCEPTICISM IS SEDITION
MODELLING IS REALITY
SHAMING IS LOVING
TESTS ARE TRUTH
One from the Theresa May playbook:
LOCKDOWN MEANS LOCKDOWN
And one from ANIMALFARM-19:
ALL CITIZENS ARE EQUAL. BUT IMMUNISED CITIZENS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.
Round-up
- “New variant scare tactics are an own goal” – Allison Pearson in the Telegraph asks: “Our vaccine programme is world-beating and COVID-19 cases are plummeting, so why does the Deputy Chief Medical Officer keep sparking fear?”
- “How much of a threat is the Brazil variant of coronavirus to the UK?” – Michael Le Page in New Scientist says despite reports of fast transmission and reinfection in Brazil the variant “doesn’t seem to be taking off” around the world
- “Brazil and South Africa coronavirus variants could be stopped with just ONE booster jab, Oxford vaccine professor says – and it’s already being made” – The Mail reports on the comments of Professor Andrew Pollard that the UK needs to stop its “obsession” with new variants, while Professor Sharon Peacock suggests the virus might be reaching a “plateau” in its evolution
- “Mutant variations and the danger of lockdowns” – Jemma Moran, Head of Communications for HART, asks in the Critic if lockdowns and social distancing have enabled more dangerous virus variants to thrive
- “You can’t measure the distress of lockdown, so it’s ignored” – Philosopher Dr Frank Palmer writes in the Conservative Woman on a personal note about how his daughter has suffered during the lockdowns
- “Comrades, Roll up your Sleeves!” – Bruce Wallace on Left Lockdown Sceptics says the Socialist Party “has totally capitulated to the bio-security state”
- “Facebook working with police after Dublin protests” – Times report on how the social media company is cooperating with the police to crush lockdown dissent
- “Council granted first closure order of the pandemic” – One brave gym owner had the force of the law brought down on him in Liverpool, reports the Liverpool Express
- “Vaccination passport to unlock Europe for UK tourists” – The EU aims to have its “digital green pass” in place by the end of June, the Times reports
- “France approves AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s” – The BBC reports on a change of heart from the French authorities after previously saying there was insufficient data to prove its efficacy
- “Budget 2021: Furlough set to be extended – Kwasi Kwarteng” – A signal perhaps that lockdown may not be ending on time, on the BBC. No doubt Neil O’Brien will accuse anyone asking that question of being a “conspiracy theorist”
- “£400m budget bonus for gigs, theatres and galleries” – The Times reports on the great arts giveaway from the Government’s bottomless pockets
- “For and against: Does the UK need to pay down its eye-watering debts?” – Telegraph economics writers Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Jeremy Warner go head-to-head over how much it matters that the Government is living well beyond its means
- “The Futility of the Great Lockdown Melodrama” – Peter Murphy in Quadrant says that “over-reaction dominated the mood of 2020”
- “Simon Dolan’s Another Way” – Watch the new film by the sceptic businessman comparing Sweden’s approach with those of lockdown countries
- “What India sacrificed to fight Covid” – Kavitha Iyer in UnHerd on the awful toll of lockdown on India’s poor
- “Will Lockdown Be the End of ‘Experts’?” – Phill Sacre with an optimistic take on how the next few years will pan out in this Christian reflection on the dangers of technocracy
- “Does Sweden’s higher mortality than other Nordics prove lockdown works? No. Explained in 4 charts” – Read the Twitter thread by Paul Yowell
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Ten today: “Numbers Don’t Lie” by Popcaan, “I Surrender” by Rainbow, “Dead Cities” by The Exploited, “Twisted (Everyday Hurts)” by Skunk Anansie, “How Many More Years” by Howlin’ Wolf, “I Predict A Riot” by Kaiser Chiefs, “Things Can Only Get Better” by Howard Jones, “Tell Me The Truth” by Bonnie Tyler, “Open Up” by Leftfield and Lydon and the latest from Media Bear: “Stick Me Baby 1 More Time“.
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, it’s the news that Dr Seuss has been cancelled by Joe Biden for alleged racism. The Spectator USA looks at how the woke fanatics reached that peculiar conclusion.
The children’s author Theodore Seuss Geisel lived his entire life not just as a staunch progressive, but even as the rather grating variety. To Geisel, the Cold War clash with totalitarian communism was a dispute as flimsy as a debate over how to butter bread. Horton Hears A Who! may declare that “a person’s a person, no matter how small”, but Seuss threatened to sue a pro-life group that took that statement to its logical conclusion. If Bartholomew Cubbins and his 500 hats were around today, at least one of the hats would be a Pussy Hat.
But Seuss’s books were still phenomenally popular. Thousands of schools celebrate March 2nd as Read Across America Day. The date was chosen to mark Geisel’s birth date. But now President Biden has reportedly omitted Seuss from the official list after educational authorities in Loudoun County, Virginia decided the author is, er, problematic.
Seuss drew anti-Japanese caricatures during World War Two. His characters are mostly the colour of the paper they are printed on. His later anti-racism works promote equality and colour-blindness rather than equity and ‘reckoning’. So of course, he probably should be cancelled or at least denounced.
Loudoun County was once the great redoubt of conservatism in Northern Virginia, populated by the refugees of Fairfax, Arlington and DC itself. But the Big Blue Blob fully consumed Loudoun in 2016, and now parents get to enjoy the consequences, like denunciations of beloved children’s authors.
And so, out went a statement from Loudoun’s educators: “As we become more culturally responsive and racially conscious, all building leaders should know that in recent years there has been research revealing racial undertones in the books written and the illustrations drawn by Dr Seuss.”
Research like this on Horton Hears a Who! by two critical race theorists:
Regardless of the intention of the book, the impact is that it reinforces themes of White supremacy, Orientalism, and White saviourism. It positions the Whos in a deficit-based framework as the dominant, paternalistic Horton enacts the White Saviour Industrial Complex… Not only does a White saviour narrative play out within Horton Hears a Who!, Seuss himself is positioned as a White saviour for writing it.
Worth reading in full.
“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.
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.
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. In February, Facebook deleted the GBD’s page because it “goes against our community standards”. 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, although that case, too, has been refused permission to proceed. There’s still one more thing that can be tried. You can read about that and contribute here.
The GoodLawProject and three MPs – Debbie Abrahams, Caroline Lucas and Layla Moran – brought a Judicial Review against Matt Hancock for failing to publish details of lucrative contracts awarded by his department and it was upheld. The Court ruled Hancock had acted unlawfully.
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 was the first and WHO-recommended PCR protocol for detection of SARS-CoV-2. 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 also submitted a retraction request, which was rejected in February.
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 [email protected] or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. Doing these daily updates is hard work (although we have help from lots of people, mainly in the form of readers sending us stories and links). If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links we should include in future updates, email us here. (Don’t assume we’ll pick them up in the comments.)
And Finally…
In a sign of how small the relative impact of Covid is on annual mortality, Lockdown Sceptics reader Mark Ellse has drawn up this chart showing that a woman’s probability of dying in 2020 was still way below that of a man in a normal year. Which can only mean one thing: men need to start living in permanent lockdown to keep them safe from the nasty world out there.
Discussion
Comments
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What a total non-surprise! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56271627
Covid: React study finds virus decline slowing in England
Yes, it’s Imperial’s monthly bullshit survey; specially designed to give the Regime the excuse to change the Lockdown timetable. Some real garbage in here:
Really?! See the attached graphic from the Gov’s own webpage for London ‘cases’. London daily ‘case’ numbers are back where they were in early September before the Regime started mass testing there.
Imperial are also trying to ramp up the schools paranoia again; helping out the unions’ cries of “teachers will die!”
What a load of Bollocks!
They used the same trick on Local Live last year as hospitalizations and deaths trickled towards zero.
Hospitalizations in London are back under 100 a day, and falling; Deaths* are in the low to mid teens, and falling – back to October numbers.
What bothers me is Johnson and his cabal only ever listen to Imperial.
*(Usual ‘death’ caveats apply)
I only chose to start the graph on January 1st, NN. That’s just before the current full lockdown began. you can see the whole graph here: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases?areaType=region&areaName=London
I just finished watching the first two episodes of Adam Curtis’s 2001 Documentary The Century of the Self.
Basically it’s a history of mass manipulation and psychiatry in the 20th Century. Now nearly perfected at the beginning of the 21st Century.
I watched it years ago when I was doing my MA and PhD work in the history of psychology. It’s really excellent!
Nicely done Biker, is this the one they ‘disappeared’ earlier ?
I didn’t see it then but responded to your complaint about its removal.
I had intended to reply ‘too right Biker’ but it came out ‘too tight Biker’ which conveys a different message altogether.
Color me totally unsurprised:
Xi Jinping Notably Missing from China’s Vaccine Efforts (breitbart.com)
Just like Frau Merkel
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1405180/vaccine-passport-petition-covid-mps-debate-coronavirus-passports-latest
Are my fears mere pessimistic cynicism?
I think this could turn out to be one of those “be careful what you petition for” moments.
While it’s just the Government talking about, and constantly denying, bringing these in, there’s not too much danger. But by putting it to a debate, and possibly a vote, with the way Parliament is voting thesedays, I think it could accelerate their arrival.
Very dangerous!
Not Parliaments problem, if the EU requires foreign visitors to have a vaccine visa that’s up to them.
Rumors swirling that the state of Alabama will lift mask mandates later this week:
Exclusive — Sources: Alabama to Ditch Mask Mandate Too (breitbart.com)
Brilliant. I notice that Sky News which normally reports obsessively about the US, has somehow missed this story of all these states abandoning lockdowns and mask mandates. That’s the normal MSM approach to facts that don’t fit the narrative: censorship.
The MSM will report on it but in a hysterical, there-will-be-dead-bodies-in-the- streets way. And then when they’re wrong, they will never admit it or apologize. Just like their reporting that the Super Bowl would be a “super spreader” event, which of course it wasn’t.
As does Mississippi States own Coronovirus website.
He’s on top form tonight.
Are the lockdowns and all the other restrictions being carried out under cover of the Coronavirus Act or by way of the Public Health Act? I am confused about FPNs issued because you are too far from home etc.
Police making it up as they go along which is why the CPS has refused to take any of their (240+) cases to Court.
https://dossier.substack.com/p/how-the-gates-foundation-seeded-americas
I take a bow
Evil child abuser of the day – remember the face and the name. Susan Michie (Serial Abusers Group Enterprises) wants to destroy children’s mental health to turn them against their parents.
So, what are the benefits to getting primary schoolchildren to wear masks? For one, whatever little degree of transmission is occurring in these age groups could be limited. It could also help normalise the practice – young children wearing masks may make their families more likely to accept masks, said Susan Michie, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behavioural Science, a Sage subcommittee.
This woman is evil.
From Top of the Pops circa 1975/6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqr-_CBFw10
Jail. Ten years. Crimes against humanity. Nothing less
except..except…she may be a madwoman coming out with deranged bollocks, but what is the source of her power? exactly: she has none. it is those who do have power that are choosing to listen to her, ie, scapegoating her, and it is wrong that she should be the patsy for THEIR crimes. all that should happen to her is that she should be removed from academia, where she is clearly out of her element, and given some kind of occupational therapy to keep her quiet for the remainder of her days – the irrelevance that she always was and should have been
What a disgusting, self-serving, raddled old creep.
It’s as I’ve always thought – the worst of these are deeply unattractive individuals – ugly even. It must be what is glowing from within.
She needs a good seeing to, one way or another.
It’s sort of like how the people who look like pervs tend to be….pervs…
Physiognomy is real.
Wearing a fucking mask will never be normal. End of.
God I hate her
Ditto
Monster
“Sorry – forgot to mention that despite being a Far Left extremist committed to destroying the UK’s economic system, the Government has seen fit to appoint to me to a body advising on the most important matters of state. How’s that for ironic!”
Actually does anoybody know where this vile low life scum suckin bag of shit can be found? Oxford University campus somewhere? Some protests need to be in her fuckin evil face.
Does she have an email address?
See you next Tuesday Susan.
I love this song. “Be nothing”
I have really taken this song on as almost my “anthem” for the last few years and especially in these psy-opped times.
After a long time fighting against feeling like an outsider to the world I really don’t care now.
I do not want to be a part of this sick fucked up society. I don’t really exist and I really don’t care.
https://thescaramangasix.bandcamp.com/track/be-nothing
From “The Terrifying Dream” by The Scaramanga Six
*****************************************************************
I used to spend my life trying to make an impression
Take up the the centre of attention
I used to waste my time trying to be somebody
Then I realised I am just nobody
Oh it’s a liberating feeling!
Oh such a liberating feeling!
Knowing that there are no walls or floors or ceilings!
Its a good thing
A good thing to be nothing
Nothing to hide
Nothing to proove
Nothing to gain
Nothing to lose
And its a good thing
A good thing to be nothing
Look at all of you trying to find a reason
The path of least resistance
You’ve got ot push someone to justify your existance
What’s wrong with just existing?
Oh it’s a liberating… Read more »
New to me, thanks.
Awesome lyrics. Band is based in my hometown!
This is one amazing band check out their ENTIRE discography on bandcamp.
All free
I can’t wait to see them do a gig..Will travel for that.
So today our future company Corporation Tax bills increased by around 33% to pay for this Covid Government s&it show. Now looking at ways to offshore. Will find a solution. Will implement it. Watch this space. Bye Bye Boris and Rishi. Both are communist totalitarian knobs who are killing UK companies. I heard the Canaries are offering 4% Corporation tax for a start. Will start looking at them tomorrow.
fkin council tax. I pay the same as somebody earning 50000+ a year and I earn almost nothing. And I am paying for WHAT?
These fuckers in the local council and the shitty evil services they provide. Bastards.
My sentiments exactly.
At least you don’t pay the same income tax as someone earning £50 k and that person spending 50k will pay a shed load more Vat as well.
Basically council tax pays for about 10% of what cooncils spend.
Isn’t all this part of the “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy” plan.
Force SME to go bust, 80% of workforce.
Large enterprises pay feck all CT anyway.
95% Mortgages, encourage more debt, then pull the rug from under the feet.
All designed to get everybody dependent on the state.
DS phoned me while walking to the shop tonight. When he got there he realised he’d forgotten his face nappy. As it’s a shop he visits quite frequently he didn’t think he’d get away with brazenly walking in barefaced.
So he improvised by waving a paper towel in front of his face. The assistant said: “Well at least you’ve made the effort. Most people don’t bother.”
I’m still laughing.
Does anyone know the number of prosecutions for non payment of FPNs issued by Plod in relation to breaching Covid rules?
Zero
Thanks – Do you have a source for that?
Were’nt the magistrates saying they had more to do than go over thousands of pending prosecutions, sorry read it the other day but cant find the link
https://youtu.be/P9ncvrolaIQ?t=2314
Thanks – I am listening to it. However, the report is dealing with prosecutions under the Coronavirus Act. I recall reading on here that the thousands of FPNs issued under the public health regs are issued pursuant to the Public Health act 1984. That there are thousands of them outstanding and it would take a decade to hear them all, and that they expire after six months (Limitation Act).
How can Sunak say that it will take a long time for the UK economy to recover? That assumes it will recover. But this government has clearly stated that if you have a new virus on the loose that has fatalities in excess of a few thousand, you have to close down half your economy, shut schools and keep people locked at home. So if another novel respiratory pathogen comes along (virtually guaranteed thanks to mass vaccination for flu and SARS) we will have to do it all again, won’t we? Either that or the government has been lying to us and it was never necessary to engage in these acts of self harm in the first place.
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2021/03/03/what-if-growth-cannot-return/
Can someone provide the link to the article outlining how the vaccine companies will call an end to the pandemic in June so as to take their profits? was discussed here yesterday, thanks
Not sure that’s what they said. I thought it was they could start charging what they like from June onwards or rather the market will be allowed to decide the price.
It was something to the effect that they could not take profits until either June or they government declared the pandemic over….something like that?
You might well be right but I’m not sure what that means. I can’t imagine Big Pharma aren’t currently making profits from this. Big companies can hide profits as costs very easily with internal transaction pricing!
Tax loss?
https://silview.media/2021/02/26/vaccines-may-actually-end-the-pandemic-in-july-but-not-as-you-think/
Spot on Richard. Much appreciated
Yes. interesting. But, having seen some accountants at work in my time I am sure there are ways to hide the profit as costs with transactional pricing. Seems more like a PR exercise than a genuine “not for profit” arrangement.
It says “as soon as July NEXT year” !!!!!
Yes, that is when they can remove the clause for the government to declare it over. But they’ll be able to pressure the government until then and with cases falling, its something that is sure to play on their bank balances
Blair claims universal “democratic” internet access essential to fight next pandemic.
https://mol.im/a/9317675.
Of course, he goes on to say it is essential to get it done by 2030, (because we all know what is planned for 2030.
What he curiously doesn’t acknowledge, is that worldwide access to the internet is also a major biproduct of Elon Musk’s starlink venture, which is well underway, with over a thousand satellites already in orbit.
Could that be because the network won’t be under the control if his buddies at microsoft, Google and Facebook, and they will have far less control of information flow. How will the be able to tell the world they are in the middle of a health disaster where relatively few are actually dying unexpcctedly and for no reason.
What he means is your access to the internet will be controlled by your global social credit score. Very (un)democratic.
I hated Blair so much that I voted for Major in 1997. If only John Smith had lived, we would never have heard of this “man”.
John Smith died an inconveniently untimely death.
Wasn’t he an alcoholic?
Suspicious to say the least. A point in our history that I will always remember as I don’t recall any investigation yet it paved the way for the Labour Party to make a cosmic shift to the middle.
He is one evil bastard!
He really is. How can anybody be so evil? It’s beyond me and the thing about Blair is his evilness is all about making himself richer. He is already seriously rich. There is nothing Blair does that is in any way good for anybody. He is DEATH and MISERY.
No wonder he converted to Catholicism…Forgive me Father for I have sinned.
And how.
Blair. Evil incarnate.
I’m not sure who is the Antichrist – Tony Blair or Bill Gates!
Joined at the hip?
This is so they can keep everyone swimming in a sea of hysterical pro-lockdown, pro-vax propaganda at all times.
Musk is probably our only hope now. I really don’t think he’s signed up to the globalist agenda. He seems to understand the importance of free speech to science, technology and society at large.
I think Musk would prefer to be on his way to Mars as quickly as possible. Reminds me of the Billionaire in the film Contact, living out his life in space and spending his money to forward mankinds knowledge.
And btw, SN10 has just successfully stuck a landing from 10km up. Another first for the Musk empire.
Sn10 then became the first to relaunch 14 minutes later, quite unexpectedly and in a rather less controlled manner. Rather a spectacular end to the day, with an abort at 0.00.1 seconds, then a successful flight and landing, (albeit without landing legs deploying) and then trying to fly own its own.
,
Not a mentally ill cult. Definitely not.
A stick of dynamite with a lit fuse in each one of those tubes would do the trick rather nicely.
Dear god
Hope I see him on the tube, come March 20th
Looks like the Hong Kong metro if I’m not mistaken.
That’s a shame then. I’m bound to see plenty of other sheep to slaughter though, so to speak.
Christ I’ve not been on the Tube in so long I’d probably get lost.
I hadn’t either. Been to London more times in the last twelve months than I ever have.
Please tell me this is satirical “performance art”.
However bad things get, they can’t be that bad…
Fecking hell this person deserves to be dead, life is far too precious to waste on people like this.
Is this you having a laugh,Bruce Reynolds?
Just found this from the Jerusalem Post
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/coronavirus-vaccinated-abroad-heres-how-to-skip-quarantine-in-israel-660869?fbclid=IwAR0Upa5d4btcRC0whcdLOzwU454-BeMFFix6uVN0TvLAKBlCOOmMINpZDQ4
using Serological tests ahead of agreed international vaccine passports. Begs the question: do you need a vaccine to establish your immunity?
So after reviewing the Roadmap for Northern Ireland and recent statements it seems its all much clearer. They’ve even created this handy map to keep in your pocket as a refresher, for those foggy, mask wearing, oxygen depleting moments.
An astute observer has put the Roadmap in the context of pints:
Can someone just tell me when I can get some pints, do it by weeks of the year:
I drink pints every week, pubs or no pubs.
If these fuckers want to stop me drinking they will have to bring in prohibition. It’s on plenty of roadmaps being prepared up and down the country I’m sure. The Miserabilist Manifesto (by Karl Kunt and Friedrich Fuckhead).
Richard, you’ll have to start brewing your own. Just in case.
Thankfully I have a mate who has good experience of home brewing so if I follow his advice carefully I can avoid the novice’s mistakes (leading to a barrel of vinegar).
I’m not much of a drinker but I’ve got a few bottles of brandy, port, and gin (not purchased by moi) stashed away. If nothing else, the bottles will come in as useful weapons when the vaccine enforcers come knocking at the door.
Make sure you drink the contents first before using the bottle. Otherwise it would be such a tragic waste of quality spirits.
Well, true. Maybe I’ll organise a party.
Are they separate bottles, cos that sounds like a good cocktail to me.
Yes, separate bottles. I’ve got all sorts knocking around the house. Wasted on me, really.
Also useful as barter goods.
Yes indeed.
I have been brewing a fair bit of ale now, every batch has worked out pretty well. Its cheap and easy and quite nice too having a little beer baby gurgling away in the kitchen.
Give these people a try:
https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk
Get a kit, just add water and sugar, brew for 7 days or so and bottle, give it a week or two and you will have a very nice bit of ale. 40p a pint.
Nice one, thanks for tip(ple).
Or start a ginger beer plant. Even cheaper, less equipment!
Wot the control freak nuggets have missed is)
a) Home brewing of wine/beer is through the roof – check out how many lines are out of stock at a typical online home brew place.
b) Garage conversions into home pubs are a “thing”
c) Sales of garden rooms are booming – makes a nice little secluded lounge to set up as a home pub.
d) Ive read sales of sugar have increased ( speculate we are following Norway in home distilling)
e) The smoking ban was the first step in making people look for alternatives, the rest of the shit show has just stimulated non smokers to follow suit, especially as the pennies have to be watched now, so why pay £3 for a pint when you can get a kit and make it for 30p
Jesus Christ! Got some serious lyricists in the house tonight! Brilliant 😂
I was close to tears earlier, but now those two have me laughing.
I am crying now.
That was a killer line 🙂
Despite Texas opening up Austin is pushing back
https://365thingsaustin.com/2021/03/02/austin-places-requiring-masks/?fbclid=IwAR1qCa6V5rUXn48-n6N2IhDK9X4rEid5qY2TmJgX2XplsFooYi4_eG1ysOk
So much for “Keep Austin Weird”
I’ve read somewhere that Austin is being colonised by young woke middle class people, escaping from various Democrat-run states.
it prides itself on being alternative but seems to have gone too far in the other direction
Wokester colonies in red states are a huge problem.
They are the reason Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington are ruined.
They are the reason Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, South Carolina, Virginia, and Texas are on a downward trend.
They flee California like rats then start all over again.
Yes, that’s my understanding, there are a few places in TX (and other states are starting to see this too) that are seeing similar influences – quite significant numbers are moving away from eg. California, NY, yet these people are bringing those same politics – that is causing them to leave – to other states!
Bringing woke infecton -quarantine them!
seems to happen the world over. Flee your 3rd world shithole then insist on bringing the practices of your 3rd world shithole to your new location and act all surprised when it too turns into a 3rd world shithole.
The People’s Republic of Austin. …
Austin is where they have the Red Guards militia, replete with sub-machine guns. By some mishap, they never feature in mainstream media, just like Antifa attacks on innocent peaceful people go unreported nearly always – and also largely unpunished.
Equally woke and unique to the US are the various John Brown gun clubs/militias named after the fire-breathing abolitionist who was very visible in the events leading up to the US Civil War.
Austin is a blight on Texas.
This is all part of the ‘culture wars’. Nothing to do with a (mediocre) virus. Events in America point this out all the time.
They think they’re clever, with their back door “green/carbon” passport. They think they’ve pulled a fast one on us, hypnotising people into giving up their freedoms in the name of virtue. What they don’t realise is that people WILL wake up. And, you deranged mob, if you think us lot, the ones who’ve known from day one that this is bullshit, are angry, just WAIT until the wrath of the awoken brainwashed masses hits you. The people whose children have hung themselves and cut themselves. The people whose loved ones had to die alone. The people whose cancer screening got cancelled. The people who’ve lost their homes and businesses. The people who’ve lost their relationships, families driven apart. THEN you will get your apocalypse. Everything you are doing in a vile, underhand way will end up destroying the world faster than any “climate disaster”! What a fucking mess. What an absolute fucking mess. You stupid, sad, ignorant fools.
Let’s hope to god they do wake up then. The signs so far (at least in my town) are not encouraging. I feel like I’m fighting a one woman battle here.
This has been an almost exclusively psychological war from the very start, so as you suggest the only solution that will really work is also psychological.
They will wake up, the sheeple are just very slow on the uptake….when they realise what scam covid is they will hopefully be beyond furious…….Bring it on.
The people behind this need to be in jail.
Yes, I am cautiously optimistic that the sheeple are waking up, but it needs to happen in greater numbers this spring. That’s the only way we will get out of this mess with something of a functioning, salvageable economy. Then we need to reclaim our democracy.
Those criminals most closely connected to the lies (politicians, ‘experts’, and even some virtue-signalling celebrities) will face real danger if enough people finally twig. There could be actual lynchings. When that kid told Whitty he was a liar a while back, I got the impression that it was just the tip of the iceberg, a foreshadowing of things to come. These bastards will probably need bodyguards.
When the retribution comes let’s hope it has the breadth and depth of the French Revolution
Nothing like a Reign of Terror in the morning!
Just been having a text conversation with a woman I know who told me her daughter just had some trouble getting back into Denmark from Sweden…
*needle jumps off record*
WTF? She left Sweden? She’s got money, no family or responsibilities, and she voluntarily left Sweden? WTAF!?
People just don’t get it do they?
Sweden is a woke shit-hole, don’t let its lack of coronavirus restrictions fool you.
I’ve been a few times and I’d generally agree, but right now lack of ronastrictions is all that matters to me.
Michael Gove has had his name and address daubed on a wall in a Loyalist part of Belfast. They’ll really love his vaccine passports when they get rolled out.
These are not people to cross.
Well, they aren’t happy that’s for sure
Allison Morris on Twitter: “Exclusive: The Loyalist Communities Council, which represents the views of a number of paramilitary organisations, has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, withdrawing support for the Belfast Agreement. Full story in tomorrow’s @irish_news” / Twitter
Under the terms of the GFA you can’t have a border anywhere. There is a strong legal argument that the GFA made the Uk leaving the EU illegal… it did always amuse me that the EU thought the violence only came from one side and putting a border in the Irish Sea would preserve the peace. It is going to get nasty, very nasty.
Eh there is no mention in the Belfast Agreement about a border. I read it and voted on it. You can go read it yourself. Subsequent arrangements may have included such flowery language but there was never anything about a border. All that is in it is that there is cross border institutions that seek to harmonise trade and such.
The intent is not to have a hard border but that’s not the same thing as saying you can’t have a border anywhere.
That’s a Tony Blair fairy tale. You are confusing border infrastructure with borders. The Irish Republic made clear it was never going to put in border infrastructure, so it was an EU problem, since it was the EU that wanted the border infrastructure.
“Under the terms of the GFA you can’t have a border anywhere. There is a strong legal argument that the GFA made the Uk leaving the EU illegal“
This is nonsense (which doesn’t of course mean that cynical or moronic EUers didn’t try to argue it).
Oh, snap! I was just going to post the link to this. They have resistance movement ready in NI.
I live on the outskirts of belfast and there are many angry sceptics here. As well as my hometown in Co.Armagh.
Let’s see more of these. All the culprits.
The BBC will always find a way:
Covid-19: Care home resident died after missing Covid-19 jab – BBC News
96 years old. They’ve even made a whole 30min documentary about the scandal that she missed the vaccine. This is where the media is going for their big investigations now.
They never give up do they? This is actually so weak it’s comical.
How many more lives could have been saved! I bet you there’ll be questions asked in Stormont. Heads will roll
She had her whole afternoon ahead of her.
Never gets tired, that gag. 🙂
I’m here all week, try the veal 😉
I’ve always said that if you’re 96 and you have a two meter long bucket list you seriously mismanaged your life several decades ago.
That’s almost funny (with respect to the 96 year old.) So if she’d had the jab she’s still be jiving.
Shouldn’t they be reporting on why 120,000 people were not given Ivermectin. I’m not a religious person, but I really hope it’s true that god will judge everybody.
https://www.thecut.com/2021/03/texas-and-mississippi-to-reopen-lift-mask-mandates.html
Deep in the heart of Texas …
We should organize a worldwide message blitz to Nerdy Bill Gates:
Dear Bill,
STFU!
I daresay when you’re that peculiar and that rich with that many minions you don’t really care.
Wow, just wow… If this is rap, then I might even get to like it!
Just too funny, Biker. You’ve made my night!