Civil Disobedience Growing Among OAPs
This coming Monday, March 8th, is the first key date in Boris’s roadmap. It is the date schools across England will reopen and university students can return – albeit just those doing practical courses. It is the date when one person can visit someone else in a care home – albeit in PPE and clutching a recent negative test result. It is the date people will be permitted to meet outside in public spaces to socialise and not just to exercise – albeit only in pairs.
Unsurprisingly, however, the already vaccinated are beginning to ignore this glacial, excessively cautious reopening. They are already meeting up with people, even indoors, as Guido notes, commenting on a recent data release from the ONS.
Buried in the latest ONS data dump of Covid research is a remarkable – if logical – statistic. Just 33% of over 80s have not met with anyone indoors since having their jab, with 43% admitting to meeting with people other than their carers or support bubble after receiving the first dose. After two jabs, this explicit rule-breaking rises to 48%. Despite the widespread rule-breaking, hospitalisation and death rates amongst the age group are tumbling…
Cheeky octogenarians are not alone – spritely 72-year-old Lord Sumption yesterday made a splash by telling UnHerd that “sometimes the most public-spirited thing that you can do with despotic laws like these is to ignore them” – even claiming that a quiet campaign of “civil disobedience” has already begun. At least among the elderly, the data does seem to agree with him…
The ONS data release provides further details.
Of over 80s-who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a total of 67% reported that they had met somebody they do not live with, indoors, since being vaccinated.
More than a third (37%) had met with a member of their support bubble, indoors, since being vaccinated, and 23% had met with their child or children indoors.
It would appear that their perception of risk has altered fundamentally, as the ONS statistician comments:
The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination is, no doubt, a huge relief to many people aged over 80, as we can see that almost half of all them, when asked, considered COVID-19 to be a major or significant personal risk before receiving the vaccination – this decreases to just 5% having the same concern after hypothetically receiving both doses of the vaccine.
Boris has appealed for vaccinated octogenarians to abide by the rules, but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears.
More Than Half of Positive Test Results in Schools Likely to be False Positives
Children returning to school on Monday face being subjected to extensive rules and guidance designed to make the school ‘Covid-secure’. This includes frequent and regular testing of all students and staff. One mother, healthcare professional and reader of Lockdown Sceptics wrote in to tell us why her children will not be taking part.
Mass testing using lateral flow tests will be rolled out across all secondary schools across England from Monday March 8th as all pupils are [deep breath] going back to school. A test is required before each child is allowed to return followed by two further tests between three and five days apart in school. So, three tests in the first week. This is then followed by biweekly testing at home from thereon. “Testing remains voluntary but highly advised” (Department of Health, NHS Test and Trace). I have two children who attend a large comprehensive secondary school. There are just under 1,500 students in the school – if each child takes the three tests in the first week that amounts to 4,500 tests (plus the teachers). If my research tells me right there are just under 3.5 million pupils in state funded secondary schools in England so that is 10.5 million swabs in week one alone, plus the teachers (and plus all the other swabs that are being done elsewhere). Each lateral flow test is a single use disposable plastic swab. I am not sure how the swabs are disposed of but I can be certain they are not recycled – I expect they are incinerated as clinical waste.
My husband and I are both ‘front line’ health care professionals and have opted our children out of testing in key worker school and have indeed opted out for the next phase of testing starting next week. Indeed we have also opted ourselves out of testing at work (also not mandatory). This is because we have many concerns about the flaws of mass testing asymptomatic people.
Bear with me here. The lateral flow tests have been reported to have a specificity of 99.6% (Preliminary report from the joint PHE Porton Down and University of Oxford SARS-CoV-2 LFD test development and validation cell, 2020). That is to say that if you use a lateral flow test on 1,000 people *known to definitely not have Covid* then it will test negative in 996 of them. Meanwhile the sensitivity of lateral flow is variable depending on the person administering it, ranging from 76% when trained healthcare staff are the operators but falling to 58% when used by self-trained members of the public. Put another way: if 100 people who are *known to definitely have Covid* are tested with lateral flow, the result will be positive in somewhere between 58 and 76 of them. However this is only half the story when it comes to screening a population that has no symptoms. To understand the value of lateral flow when it’s used in this way, we need to understand the idea of Positive Predictive Value (PPV) and Negative Predictive Value (NPV). These are the values that answer the questions “I’ve tested positive, so what are the chances I actually have Covid?” and “I’ve tested negative, so what are the chances I really don’t have Covid?”. The trouble is that the PPV and NPV vary depending on the prevalence of the condition you’re testing for – if the condition you’re hunting for (in this case Covid) by using a given screening test (in this case lateral flow) is rare, then the PPV of the test will drop while the NPV improves – in other words a positive test is less likely to mean you really do have the disease, while a negative test is more likely to mean you don’t have the disease. Conversely if the condition is common then a positive test is more likely to mean you really do have the disease (i.e., the PPV increases) whilst the NPV drops.
Take my children’s school as an example: approximately 1,450 pupils. Let’s say six of them have Covid (based on the current estimated national average of 1 infection per 230 people – although in fact the estimated prevalence in my local area is even lower). Let’s also say that 66% of those will test positive (as per the stated sensitivity of lateral flow). That’s four positive tests and two negative tests amongst the children with actual Covid. This leaves 1,444 without Covid. 99.6% of them (i.e., 1438 pupils) will correctly test negative, so six will test positive. Therefore there are ten positive tests amongst the whole school, of whom four actually have Covid and six actually don’t. Some rudimentary maths will show that this equates to a PPV of 40%. In other words any pupil receiving a positive test has a less than 50/50 chance of actually having Covid. The reassuring thing is that based on these numbers a negative test is 99.9% likely to mean a child truly doesn’t have Covid, but the price of this ‘reassurance’ is a few unlucky children being removed from school (again) and put through another unpleasant and invasive test, not to mention the possible risk of anxiety, the impact on their family having to isolate whilst the PCR test results are awaited, but also the environmental impact. This is one of my main concerns – the environmental impact of using millions of disposable plastic swabs each week (gov.uk has a daily/weekly count available – at the time of writing there were 4,513,953 tests carried out over the last 7 days. This is a combination of lateral flow and PCR tests). The number of tests is going to rise dramatically over the next week and this is of huge concern to us as a family. I have raised this as a concern in a recent medical webinar. I was not completely alone however I genuinely think not many people have thought about this issue (someone did raise concern related to the types of plastics used in the swabs). This is at complete odds with the environmental campaign against single use plastic and the effects on our planet. Even more ironically children are taught extensively at school about protection of the planet and individual responsibility. What are we teaching them now?… I will leave the PPE and wipes and disposable masks and plastic EVERYWHERE for now as I am starting to sweat … and the children want to watch David Attenborough A Life on Our Planet…
Stop Press: Covid Testing in school has been recommended by the Government, but is not mandatory, as we have previously reported. Nevertheless, most schools are doing their best to test all their pupils and according to a survey conducted by ITV this is eating up huge amounts of time that will take away from teaching time in many schools. Only 9% of schools have consent for the tests from all parents, and a majority are struggling to get consent from more than half. Perhaps because it would have teachers lives easier, 80% of them believe that testing should have been made compulsory by the Government.
Stop Press 2: The other core component of the guidance is on mask-wearing in the classroom. The Telegraph reports on the UsForThem letter to Gavin Williamson asking him to publish the evidence showing that masks interrupt transmission or abandon the measure. Meanwhile, 32 Tory MPs have demanded that the measure be dropped after Easter.
Stop Press 3: A teacher has written in to describe an unanticipated difficulty with ‘remote learning’.
My head of department went AWOL the other day at one point because she fell victim to a sophisticated online scam while teaching online. The scammers purported to be from her internet service provider fixing an issue with her connection (which they simulated) and sneaked into her phone by the back door, emptying her bank account in the process. Had she not been trying to teach an online lesson at the time it wouldn’t have happened – she of course was desperate to get ‘the problem’ sorted as fast as possible. Luckily she got the money back from the bank but it’s a mark of how vulnerable relying on multiple internet access can be with all the distractions of trying to manage online teaching, to say nothing of the potential for far more sinister hacking impacting on the children involved. For this teacher going back to ‘real’ teaching can’t come soon enough.
Another Foreign Travel Ban
In case anyone is tempted to sneak off for an Easter break to one of the countries that have declared themselves open to vaccinated Brits, the Government has made it illegal to leave the country for non-work reasons from March 8th. In guidance published yesterday, it states:
From March 8th 2021, you must complete this form to declare the reason that you need to travel abroad.
You must complete this form if you are travelling outside the UK from England. Different rules apply for international travel from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
You don’t need to complete the form for travel within the UK, to Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
You should print a copy of the completed form or save it to a mobile phone or other device.
You may be asked to show this declaration form at the port of departure. You may carry evidence to support your reason for travel.
Entering a port of departure to travel internationally without a completed form is a criminal offence, for which you could be fined.
If you try to travel abroad without a legally permitted reason, you may also be fined for breaching the stay at home requirements
Writing in the Telegraph, Chris Leadbeater is not impressed.
There is a definite element of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to today’s announcement of a new “Declaration to Travel” – which will come into force on Monday (March 8th).
At first glance, it might seem as innovative and attractive – to that section of the electorate which wants even tougher restrictions, at all costs – as an Everlasting Gobstopper, or a stick of chewing gum which runs through the flavours of a three-course dinner, including the pudding.
But on closer inspection, it is revealed to be as pointless and impractical as, well, a piece of confectionery that turns the consumer into a big blueberry – or a Fizzy Lifting Drink where the imbiber has to burp to stay grounded.
As with much that has come out of Downing Street and the offices of state around it during the pandemic, the Declaration to Travel is fantasy thinking. But not in a good way.
Let us look, first of all, at what it is meant to do. Officially, it is designed to ensure that anyone attempting to leave the UK in the coming weeks has good reason to do so –and can demonstrate as such by typing their details into a three-page document that can be waved at the airport or ferry terminal, at anybody shoving their beak into your business.
But what will it actually achieve? Nothing – beyond scaring any lingering urge to go anywhere out of the citizens of a country who have been locked down, threatened with quarantine, and gaslit with the prospect of fines for all manner of minor offences for the best part of the last year.
Worth reading in full.
An Update From the Lockdown Sceptics Senior Doctor
We have an update today on the latest NHS data from the Senior Doctor who writes regularly for Lockdown Sceptics. Good news, but with a few oddities.
At the risk of testing readers patience for graphics, I’m firstly going to have a look at the regular hospital statistics to assess what has changed in the last couple of weeks and compare the information with where we were last year. Then I will raise a few issues that have been puzzling me for some time – essentially discrepancies between what I hear in the media and what I see in the data. I apologise in advance for having more questions than answers in this update. Much of the data I have looked at this week does not seem to fit together with official pronouncements and I don’t have ready explanations for why that might be.
Here is the chart for COVID-19 inpatients in English Hospitals (Graph 1). Readers will observe that the number of inpatients is now lower than at the beginning of December. In fact, the inpatient numbers are equivalent to where they were in October. Importantly, they continue to fall at an impressive rate – approximately 2,500 – 3,000 per week and the trend shows no sign of slowing down. To put it another way, the numbers of COVID-19 patients in English hospitals has fallen from about 30% of available beds to under 10% in six weeks. I will discuss possible reasons for this reduction later in the piece. Readers will also note that the trend is uniform across all geographic regions, with a slight lag between the curves for London and the South East and the rest of the country. This has been attributed to the transit of the so called ‘Kent variant’ strain. The same trends are seen in ICU numbers, albeit with a lag due to longer lengths of stay.
I find Graph 2 interesting. This is a comparison of the spring 2020 inpatient curve with the recent winter one. Readers should be aware that this chart is derivative. I have taken two time series by identifying the peak dates of COVID-19 inpatients, then worked back and forward for a few weeks either side of the peak to compare the curves. The graph shows that the peak number of COVID-19 inpatients was higher in the winter than the spring, but that the decline from the peak has been more rapid – the grey line is almost at the same level as the blue line on the right-hand side. ‘Day 70’ in the spring series represents May 31st, so in terms of COVID-19 inpatients we are already where we were at the beginning of summer last year. This observation fits with the community testing data which shows a significant reduction in positive cases in recent weeks.
There are several possibilities to explain the observable difference, and they may all be playing a part – one is the vaccination effect. Another is the intensity of testing – we may have been under recording COVID-19 patients in the spring and possibly over recording them in the winter. Advocates of ‘non-pharmaceutical interventions’ will probably attribute the difference to societal lockdown. Adherents to the other side of the argument may claim this is a consequence of ‘herd immunity’. It may even be that the virus recedes in warmer weather. Whatever the reason, the burden of COVID-19 in hospitals is falling faster now than in the spring last year.
Next, I examine admissions to hospital from the community in Graph 3. This looks a bit confusing as all the lines converge on the right-hand side, but it’s an important graphic because the downward trend of falling admissions implies that the number of inpatients is likely to continue to fall in the next few weeks. Simply put, if the number of patients coming into the funnel is lower than the numbers being discharged, then the overall hospital numbers will go down quite quickly. We don’t have access to rolling discharge figures as these are only released on a monthly basis, but I think it’s reasonable to infer that hospital discharges have increased substantially in the last few weeks and lengths of stay have fallen.
For a non-graphical comparison which might be easier to understand, the three-day average admissions in London have dropped from nearly 800 a day in London to about 70 per day now. Across the whole of England, one patient with COVID-19 is admitted from the community every 150 seconds, compared to one every 30 seconds in mid-January. On March 3rd there were 478 COVID-19 patients admitted to English Hospitals – similar levels to the first part of October. I haven’t heard Simon Stevens updating the nation with those particular statistics, but then I don’t watch much TV and he’s a busy person. I also find it strange that my colleagues who were so keen to appear in the media emphasising how awful things were in January have been more reticent in informing the public that matters are now largely under control. Why is that?
I now want to look at some data on deaths, which I find puzzling for a variety of reasons. Graph 4 shows ONS recorded COVID-19 deaths in December and January. I have not included deaths in people under 60 years of age because they are so low as to be statistically irrelevant. Graph 4 is interesting because it clearly shows the age stratification of COVID deaths – the older you are, the more likely you are to die with the virus. This graphic contradicts much of what I have heard in the press about the new variant being more deadly in younger age groups. All the data I have seen from hospital admissions, ICU audits and death figures show that there is no difference in age-related mortality or disease severity between Spring 2020 and this Winter. I don’t understand why this is being reported differently in the media – am I missing something? Do the experts have access to information that I can’t see? If so, I would be grateful if this data could be made available because I find cognitive dissonance uncomfortable.
Graph 4 also shows that COVID-19 deaths peaked at the end of January and are on a clear declining trend. I observed in a previous piece that on January 26th at the Downing Street press conference, Professor Whitty said: “I think we have to be realistic that the rate of mortality, the number of people dying a day, will come down relatively slowly over the next two weeks – and will probably be flat for a while now.” Graph 4 clearly refutes that prediction. In fact, all the predictions around deaths have been wildly inaccurate. PHE predicted a peak of 4,070 COVID-19 deaths per day which would occur at the beginning of December. Imperial College said COVID-19 deaths would peak at 2,170 per day on 30th December. Warwick University were the closest predicting 1,700 deaths per day on 23rd December. The real daily peak of recorded COVID-19 deaths was 1,249 on January 19th.
Chart 1 shows all cause deaths recorded in England and Wales as a Nightingale plot. Readers can clearly see the peak excess deaths in the spring. Note that these figures are all-cause deaths, not just COVID-19 deaths. What puzzles me about this data is the lower number of overall deaths in the recent winter compared to last spring. Graph 5 below shows that the number of COVID-19 recorded deaths is much the same as the spring, so it appears that non COVID-19 deaths are considerably lower than usual. How can that be? Could it be due to the complete absence of influenza deaths this winter? Or did the 2020 epidemic burn through the ‘dry stubble’, killing people that would have died in the first two months of 2021 willy nilly?
In Graph 5 I have plotted weekly deaths recorded by the ONS where ‘COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate’ according to location of death. It suggests that COVID-19 related deaths were similar in number in the Winter compared to the Spring and that most COVID-19 deaths were recorded in hospitals. This observation begs several questions. We know from the hospital admissions data that there were approximately 75% more patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in the Winter compared to the Spring, but there were roughly the same number of deaths. Hence as a percentage, the in-hospital mortality was substantially lower in the Winter than in the Spring. If the new variant really is more deadly, how can this be? It is possible that the hospital admission criteria may have been lower in the winter, so there may have been more patients, but they were less ill (relatively speaking) than in the Spring. Or maybe they really were sicker, but treatment has improved very substantially. The vaccine effect might explain some of the reduced mortality in the last few weeks: SPI-M (one of the Government’s advisory bodies) has recently released data showing that the rate of COVID-19 deaths has fallen faster than its modelling from the beginning of February. However, I think it’s unlikely that vaccines alone can explain the lower overall peak deaths in January. Whatever the reason, it appears to me that the cohort of COVID-19 patients in the Winter were much less likely to die than those admitted in the Spring.
Graph 6 reinforces the point. It shows all-cause recorded deaths by week of the year and location of death. The care home spike in the Spring is visible (yellow bars in weeks 15 – 19). Overall, the proportions of deaths in hospital and at home are about the same and the total number of deaths is significantly lower this Winter than last Spring.
Finally, an article in the Financial Times caught my eye this morning – it was reported in detail in yesterday’s edition of Lockdown Sceptics, but I think it bears repetition. The World Obesity Federation has published a study purporting to show mortality rates from COVID-19 are 10 times higher in countries where 50% of the population are overweight (Chart 2). At first glance there are some problems with this study – correlation does not imply causation, and one is always suspicious of PR manipulation when a report on obesity deaths is released to coincide with ‘World Obesity Day’. The charts presented seem to have curious distinct separations of mortality rates without any intermediate grading – one obvious potential error could be that in developing countries the number of COVID-19 deaths may be under-recorded. Nevertheless, the basic conclusion does fit with multiple other reputable published sources.
Once again, I experience uncomfortable cognitive dissonance when the press, including the taxpayer-funded national broadcaster, repeatedly emphasise the uncommon tragedy of young healthy people dying from COVID-19, but omit reference to the far greater numbers of very old or very fat people falling victim to the disease. I am reminded of Mark Twain’s comment to the effect that: “If you don’t read the news you’re uninformed. If you do read the news you’re misinformed.”
I remarked at the top of the article that I have many more questions than answers. My root cause for bewilderment is this. Reading the published data over the last 12 months leads me to believe that COVID-19 is mainly dangerous to specific segments of the population – principally the over-65s and the overweight. I have not seen any convincing evidence that people under 60 are seriously at risk unless they have pre-existing significant medical problems or are very unlucky – there is emerging evidence of specific underlying genetic susceptibilities to COVID-19 which might explain some of the deaths in younger age groups.
The latest figures show community cases falling, hospital occupancy dropping and vaccination rates soaring, particularly among the vulnerable older age groups.
Therefore, why is it necessary to deprive the vast majority of the population of their civil liberties until June 21st for an infection which poses minimal risk to their health?
The economic damage of lockdown has been starkly revealed by the Chancellor in his recent budget. The relationship between public health and national prosperity is widely accepted. Despite obvious collateral harms, no ‘cost-benefit’ analysis has been provided to justify unprecedented governmental actions implemented on the advice of unelected public health academics. Can anyone explain to me why this is a rational position for our parliamentary representatives to adopt?
Isle of Man Locks Down Again – So Much For Zero Covid!
Lockdown was lifted on the Isle of Man recently, with borders closures, tough rules backed by prison sentences and a supportive population all credited with bringing the infection rate down to zero. Today, the island is back in lockdown. Our regular contributor, Guy de la Bédoyère, is unimpressed.
The Isle of Man has announced a three-week lockdown and school closures. Chief Minister Howard Quayle has his finger on the pulse:
The virus spreads when people mix and so we need to do all we can to minimise that mixing … In the interests of children and broader society, we need to prevent children from mixing.
There you have it. It’s in the Isle of Man children’s best interests to be prevented from mixing. I thought we’d all begun to understand that the exact opposite is true, but in this Orwellian era Quayle’s pronouncement should occasion no surprise.
The tragedy for the Isle of Man’s politicians in the House of Keys is that just like the Land of St Jacinda they thought their lockdowns had the power to annihilate the disease. And still do. The island has reported 58 cases, most of which are linked to an infected ferry crew member. That’s unfortunate because the only option really then would be to ban ferries too. The culprit is the ‘Kent’ variant spreading rapidly among the island’s young people.
The most recent bout of restrictions had only been lifted as recently as the end of January, and last year there was a taste of normality with seven months of no restrictions.
The best quote of all comes once more from Howard Quayle:
I do believe though that if we get this right one more time – if we stamp out once and for all the transmission that has been sitting under the surface for some time now –and in parallel if we protect our vaccination programme – this could hopefully be the last time.
If all is well, as we progress over the next 21 days, I sincerely hope that we will not have to tighten up further. It has worked before. We know what to do.
He hopes to “get this right one more time” because “it has worked before”. Except that it obviously didn’t work before because if it had there’d be no need for another time. But he is confident that with this latest lockdown the virus will be stamped out for good. Yes, Mr Quayle, just like all the other viruses that human beings have stamped out ‘for good’ so easily.
I don’t know what’s more incredible: that politicians can continue to come out with these insane promises, or that so many people are continuing to believe them. How can it be that one of the most invasive, volatile, and contagious viruses ever to afflict mankind is also the one uniquely susceptible to permanent eradication with the simple measure of a lockdown – especially if two previous lockdowns demonstrably didn’t get rid of it?
The Isle of Man was already pioneering our local version of the New Zealand prison island model. Only residents and key workers were allowed in. But since it was one of the latter who brought Covid back, how long before even they are consigned to guarded compounds? Or just banned outright? Perhaps the island could be supplied by helicopter drops?
It’s at times like this you really do start to get a picture of the hideous rabbit hole this crisis is starting to go down. But there is one small glimmer of hope. Quayle seems to be intimating that the vaccines might be the way out. Let’s hope so, because right now there seems to be absolutely nothing else in sight that is going to stop this relentless march towards a lifetime of endless lockdowns, incarcerated communities, and a society where the only means of interaction is within a Zoom screen.
Follow The Politics, Not The Science
We must be “guided by the science” was an oft-repeated refrain in the early days of the Covid crisis – except we weren’t guided by the science, at least not after March 23rd, as we abandoned Pandemic Preparedness Plan and followed other countries around the world, not least the People’s Republic of China, into lockdown. Our Government was making political decisions, not scientific ones, as this superb original article that we’re publishing today makes clear. It’s an exhaustive analysis of the careful preparation that went into pandemic planning and why abandoning that approach had nothing to do with science and everything to do with political expediency. It also documents in meticulous detail how the political approach ended up causing more harm than good. It’s by an epidemiologist with a PhD from a Russel Group university and a retired Professor of Forensic Science and Biological Anthropology (whom Toby put in touch when they both contacted Lockdown Sceptics asking if he could introduce them to someone with the other’s expertise). Here is the executive summary:
This article contrasts the policies pursued by the UK Government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic with prior national and international preparedness guidelines. It begins with illustrative reference to Popper’s criteria defining the scientific method and to seven foundational ethical principles proposed for use in public health education. It then examines scientific evidence for the value of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) in the mitigation of respiratory virus outbreaks.
It finds that, until mid-March 2020, the UK Government followed existing national and international guidelines recommending low stringency NPIs – such as hand hygiene, social distancing and isolating when sick – to slow the spread of infections. There was some scientific evidence these measures were beneficial and accompanying harms limited. Government advisers assessed SARS-CoV-2 disease characteristics and risks realistically, incorporating known behaviour of similar respiratory viruses.
However, on March 23rd, 2020, an unprecedented lockdown – involving travel bans, stay at home orders and mandatory business closures – was implemented in the absence of empirical evidence for their utility. As well as contravening the existing pandemic preparedness guidelines, this violated key principles of public health ethics and human rights.
Many scientific studies have since shown lockdowns cause considerable harm for minimal benefit and the error has been compounded by a failure to abandon these policies as confounding evidence has accumulated.
These harms could have been avoided if the UK Government had respected the pandemic preparedness guidelines and the scientific and ethical principles underpinning them, and resisted media pressure – or coercion – to behave like ‘many other Governments’. Instead, lockdowns have been extended and repeated, and vindictive suppression of scepticism has increased – including that based on accepted principles of law, ethics and scientific inquiry.
Politics – not the science – caused the UK to become a ‘lockdown autocracy’ with one of the worst pandemic outcomes in the world. An inept but unchallenged administration arose, funded by borrowing and fiscal easing, supported by an acquiescent public highly dependent on Government subsidies, and led by media fear mongering with the manufacturing of ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’, vilification of dissent and condemnation of rational and viable alternatives.
The article concludes that an absence of leadership in the UK allowed human rights law and the ethics and principles of evidence-based public health to be disregarded, precipitating economic and social devastation and excess mortality. If a future such occurrence is to be avoided, new legislation and formal censure of those responsible – whether from politics, media, medicine, science or the judiciary – will be necessary
It’s a long one, so grab a coffee, but very much worth reading in full.
COVID-1984
Party slogans continue to roll in:
LOCKDOWN ENDS WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES 13
TODAY’S HISTORY WAS WRITTEN LAST WEEK
LOCKDOWN IS LIBERTY
VACCINATION IS VALIDATION
CONFINEMENT IS SAFETY
FEAR IS FREEDOM
LOGIC IS ILLOGICAL
TODAY’S LIES ARE TOMORROW’S TRUTHS
HATING OTHERS IS LOVING THE PARTY
ROOM 101 IS IN EVERY HOUSE
NHS ABOVE ALL
One reader spied Orwell’s pen in the name given to Israel’s tracking bracelets which permit new arrivals to isolate at home rather than in a quarantine hotel. These are known as ‘freedom bracelets‘.
Another offered a quote from the novel itself:
“YOU ARE THE DEAD. … REMAIN EXACTLY WHERE YOU ARE. MAKE NO MOVEMENT UNTIL YOU ARE ORDERED.”
Poetry Corner
Today’s poem is from a reader who calls herself Liberty Walker.
Lazy, Lardy, Lethal Lockdown
Britain’s getting fatter,
We’ve given up the gym,
We’re eating up our take-aways,
It’s harder to stay trim.Boris closed the swimming pools,
And told us ‘stay at home,
Don’t go out unless you must,
But you can pick up the phone.’You can dial out for pizza,
The Chinese opens late,
If you’re looking for a change,
Get curry for your date.You’ll have to date on Zoom,
And eat curry while you chat,
No one sees your bottom half,
They cannot see the fat.This lockdown is quite deadly,
As we eat in great excess,
We’re storing up a crisis
For our precious NHS.
Round-up
- “Death rate back to normal as Covid infections fall by third in a week” – The Telegraph reports on the latest Covid Data that are prompting some experts to call for a faster roadmap to exit
- “Matt Hancock claims he ‘bows to no-one in his admiration’ for NHS staff and praises his nurse grandmother as he defends ‘fair’ and ‘affordable’ 1% pay rise” – MailOnline report on the debacle of pay rise for front line staff. How long before the U-turn? Another 24 hours?
- “It’s time for medics to speak out about unethical virus policy” – Dr Mark Shaw calls on Medics to stake a stand for medical ethics, especially in regard to vaccines, in the Conservative Woman
- “Do not rollout COVID-19 vaccine passports” – The Government has now responded to this petition, repeating the line that it is “reviewing” whether COVID-status certificates could play a role in reopening parts of the economy. Over 263,000 people have now signed and the debate is scheduled for March 15th
- “Health Secretary’s fencing-hopping fitness routine sparks string of memes” – MailOnline has gathered together some of the twitter reaction to Hancock’s playful frolics in the park
- “Grandmother, 66, who was terrified of infecting her family with Covid killed herself by stepping in front of a train” – A tragic story reported in MailOnline
- “Drop in COVID cases resumes after slowdown | Prof Tim Spector” – Tim Spector predicts we won’t fall below the lows of last year due to false positive rates
- “The case against lockdowns” – Whatever the precise effect of lockdowns, their costs far outweigh their benefits and they should be lifted immediately, argues Philippe Lemoine in a magisterial post for the CSPI
- “The Perpetual Covid Crisis” – Editorial in the WSJ on the powerful lobby that wants lockdown to go on forever, despite the falling rates of infections and hospitalisations and despite the ongoing vaccinations
- “The Emancipation of Texas” – “Even in the face of danger, Texas prefers the risk of freedom” writes Jeffrey A. Tucker for AIER
- “Birth Dearth Nine Months Following Covid Lockdowns” – Again for AIER, Gilbert G. Berdine looks at one of lockdown’s many unintended consequences
- “South Dakota Tour In The Time Of Coronadoom” – Writing on the William Briggs blog, Richard Greenhorn reflects on a honeymoon trip to South Dakota where ‘Coronadoom’ is not a way of life
- “Inside Hong Kong’s lockdown prison” – Hong Kong’s draconian quarantine regime is an attempt by its China-controlled political leaders to crush the democracy movement, says Stephen Vines in UnHerd
- “Yes, I know we disobey orders. But what else can I do?” – Antonio Castillo reports for Inside Story on how street vendors in Latin America are breaking lockdown restrictions simply to survive
- “Now there’s a real state of emergency in Victoria” – Beverley McArthur, a Liberal Legislative Councillor for the Western Victoria Region, denounces the nine-month extension of the Andrews’ Governments emergency powers in an article for Spectator Australia
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Twelve today: “Columbia” by Oasis, “Hanging On” by Ellie Goulding, “Lie To Me” by Tom Waits, “How Long” by Ace, “The Future” by Leonard Cohen, “Reason Is Treason” by Kasabian, “The New Pollution” by Beck, “Alienated” by Urban Dance Squad, “It’s Not Funny Anymore” by Babybird, “I Don’t Worry About It” by the Meteors, “Rage Hard” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and “Trouble Every Day” by Frank Zappa.
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 bring you the woke makeover of the military-industrial complex, where NATO, the CIA and the US Army are all bending over backwards to emphasis how diverse and inclusive they are while spending eye-watering sums of money on new and better ways to kill people. Paddy Hannam sums it up for Spiked.
This week, the world’s most powerful military alliance tweeted, “Diversity is our strength.” The tweet featured a video of employees of various ethnic backgrounds, including both men and women, telling viewers to “respect our needs” and “embrace our differences”. NATO encouraged Twitter users to share the tweet – which was in honour of #ZeroDiscriminationDay – “to join us in celebrating the differences that make us stronger”. The organisation which bombed Iraq and Libya back to the dark ages is diverse. How nice.
It’s not just NATO that has leapt on the woke bandwagon. Former CIA boss John Brennan – the ‘principal coordinator’ of a US anti-terror ‘kill list’, who also oversaw American drone strikes – revealed his white guilt this week. “I’m increasingly embarrassed to be a white male these days with what I see other white males say,” he told MSNBC.
The US Army is in on the fun, too. It has its own “Equity and Inclusion Agency”, which launched ‘Project Inclusion’ last year. This operation included “listening sessions with soldiers and civilians worldwide to converse on race, diversity, equity and inclusion”. General James C McConville, Chief of Staff of the US Army, said on the army’s website that it “must continue to put People First by fostering a culture of trust that accepts the experiences and backgrounds of every soldier and civilian”. I wonder what the citizens of the many countries the US has attacked in recent years would have to say about that.
The military is signed up to the environmentalist agenda, too. Both the US and British armies are pursuing ‘Net Zero’ emissions targets. The army needs to be “on the right side of the environmental argument, especially in the eyes of that next generation of recruits that increasingly make career decisions based on a prospective employer’s environmental credentials”, according to senior British general Sir Mark Carleton Smith. The military, with its gas-guzzling tanks and fighter jets, is a significant emitter of CO2. So apparently, in order to attract recruits for the next foreign war, we need eco-friendly death machines. …
Raytheon, a defence and intelligence company which makes, among other things, aircraft engines, missiles and drones for the US military, partnered with the Girl Scouts in 2019 in order to promote a feminist message. A company representative said on Raytheon’s website, “we are all about using innovation to make the world a safer place, and we need engineers, especially female engineers, to drive diversity and innovation for the future of our technology”. It seems Raytheon wants more diversity in its bomb-making department.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Soft Power is going woke too, writes Bruce Newsome in the Critic‘s Artillery Row, commenting on the recent Global Soft Power Summit 2021:
How do you turn “soft power” into an anti-racist, anti-Western, pro-China, neoliberal, anti-Brexit aspiration? You partner with the BBC to host a soft power conference. You invite Hillary Clinton to headline it. You introduce her as “the best President we never had”. You put David Miliband on one panel. On another panel, you put David Heymann (the Labour Government’s Chairman of what is now Public Health England). You invite Carl Bildt to represent continental progressives. You invite Tom Tugendhat as your sole “conservative”; a Remainer who won’t disagree with your handwringing about Brexit.
The nominal host of Thursday’s four-hour conference was Zeinab Badawi of BBC World News, who repeated her favourite self-identification as “someone who was born under the African sun”. Clearly unprepared, out of her depth, and star struck, she kept fluffing her lines and circling back to criticism of the West.
Joe Nye, the author of the term “soft power”, was there too, to remind us inadvertently that the wokeness of “soft power” begins with its vagueness
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.
Stop Press: MailOnline reports on a study which found that the growing trend for double-masking, practised by President Biden and many others, might well be pointless.
Double-masking is only slightly better at stopping the spread of coronavirus than wearing one face covering, a study has suggested.
Japanese researchers said wearing one surgical mask that is fitted correctly could stop up to 85% of viral particles from passing through.
Doubling up on surgical masks offers no benefit because air resistance builds up and causes leakage around the edges of the mask, they claimed.
The study found there was some benefit in wearing a tight-fitting reusable mask on top of a surgical one, but it was marginal, offering up to 89% protection.
The experts, who used a super-computer simulation to test different face covering combinations, said ‘the performance of double masking simply does not add up’.
Their findings contradict recent recommendations from health experts in the UK and US, who have claimed it’s ‘common sense’ two masks are better than one.
Stop Press 2: Those amusing folks at the Babylon Bee have written a spoof article about a progressive who’s pleasantly surprised to discover he can still double mask even when mask mandates have been lifted.
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…
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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Well, well, well…..just received this email from the DM in response to my comment (below, also posted on here earlier). The comment received 8 replies of which 7 were supportive. Nothing I stated in the comment is incorrect so I am really struggling to see on what grounds they can uphold ‘a complaint’?
DM
‘ We have received a number of complaints about the comment you made on article “We’re finding real freedom! Boris Johnson hails pupils’ return as jabs are rolled out for under-60s… so his vaccine is due any day now?” (/news/article-9334035/Were-finding-real-freedom-Boris-Johnson-hails-pupils-return.html), at 06/03/2021
Due to the number of complaints received, your comment has been removed from MailOnline.
Should the situation change, we will review and consider re-publishing. Until such time, your comment will remain off the site. To avoid this happening again, please take the time to review the House Rules and site Terms and Conditions.’
My comment: (269 upticks)
Vaccine call –
Caller: Can we book in your Covid vaccine appointment?
Me: Oh lovely. Will it stop me getting Covid?
Caller: No …..
Me: Will it stop me transmitting Covid?
C: No …..
Me: Can I go out and see my friends and family?
C: No… Read more »
Wow! Not one untruth there. But as we continue to discover, censorship abounds and it has nothing to do with truth and everything to do with silencing anyone who doesn’t conform to the narrative. Clearly the ostriches were after you today!
Just got round to reading this BBC article on schools going back:
Covid-19: Is school mask and testing policy flawed?
This particular paragraph regarding mask wearing in schools caught my eye:
This was the same argument they used for mandating masks as it would help people come out of lockdown and feel safer out and about in shops and stores.
Nearly a year later and they’re still mandatory.
Very true! The explanation for mandatory masking went from the trivial (encouraging shopping) to the dubious and dishonest (masks protects others).
Said at the time they would be as temporary as Income Tax!
Managed to get all 3 grandkids here for a sleepover (one of the mums is a covidiot).
Started with a walk in the park, all normal, not a face nappy in sight.
Played a card game after tea, then watched my old DVD of Whale Rider before bed.
Looking forward to another old-normal day tomorrow!
Good for you. Make sure you get the next play date in the diary before they leave. Power of the gran kids, phenomenal 👍
Good stuff from Rangers fans today:
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12237526/rangers-fans-gather-outside-ibrox
When they win the title I hope 50,000 of them turn up at Ibrox, and if Sturgeon’s NKVD/Sturmabteilung troops try and stop them, then I hope Rangers fans give them the same kind of pasting they gave Franco’s pigs in Barcelona in 1972.
Thanks for posting 🙂
I never would have thought 17 seconds of video could have put such a HUGE smile on my face.
Absolutely brilliant to see people being “normal”
Yep, jumping up and down, singing, hugging each other. Wonderful. They cannot keep us down for ever. We are going to win.
If a person is vaccinated against COVID-19, will they still be able to spread the virus to susceptible people?
An ideal vaccine will stop everyone from carrying the infection as well as protecting them from becoming seriously ill. It is currently unclear whether the vaccine only protects against symptomatic and severe disease, or if it can also stop all infection, including asymptomatic infection (i.e. showing no symptoms).
If the vaccine is only able to stop the symptoms of the disease, but unable to stop the virus from infecting us and reproducing, then the virus may still be able to be spread.
https://www.immune.org.nz/covid-19-vaccines (info provided by the NZ Ministry of Health)
And people are fighting to get to the front of the queue for the letha.. ah the vaccine..(that has not been tested properly) because they believe they will permitted to travel again.
How quaint….
Progress ?
No Because they are now in the same situation we were back in September. Soon the military police will prevent any protest there.
I hope they do not lose their right to protest as has happened in so many other countries.
Ironic Sweden who have had far less severe restrictions than many countries, despite untold pressure put upon them to toe the line, still have members of their population prepared to protest.
So schools are back on Monday. Let’s see how many last the week due to “positive cases”! Shall we have a bet?
Family friend is a teacher and the nursery in the school has now delayed returning as a member of staff tested positive. So 25 kids are told to wait another week. Logic there is none
Feeling slightly sick – heard from a friend who in passing mentioned the jab asking “Are you having yours?” Wasn’t aware there was one with my name on it! And then said “My mum says your mum isn’t going to have it, which I suppose means she probably won’t be able to see them again” WTF!
I do think so many people will forget all this ” we won’t visit so and so” once people start heading back to being “normal”. As quick as they all became scared they will all do a U turn and follow the herd once again.
I hope so – thanks for positive thoughts – feeling discombobulated!!
Discombobulated – a lovely description! It is difficult, my days are like a roller coaster, depths of despair then positivity. It is good to have friends but it doesn’t help with them saying such things to you.
My days are like that too – although I did meet a friend for the first time since Christmas the other day (we are not particularly local and she had been hesitant but finally not seeing one another got to her so I suggested we bought some plants for the garden at the same place) and we hugged one another and then sat in her car eating sandwiches and catching up. Did my soul good!!!
Sounds lovely and certainly does make you feel better. I am visiting friends on Monday for lunch. If it wasn’t for a husband who is of the same mindset and a few friends who are not as anti as me but are sensible, I would have found it far more difficult than it already is to deal with.
Feeling the same as you both. Am almost sure I will lose at least one friend who will probably not see me if I don’t get the jab. Thankfully my husband is equally sceptical and we have some friends who will see and act normally around us, though they are not what I’d call sceptics. I avoid making comments when they talk about the “vaccine” getting us back to normal, but if anyone preaches medical apartheid in my presence I can’t take responsibility for what I might say or do. Today has been a despairing kind of day, but I keep it together most days. It’s not easy being so far out of the mainstream!
Sorry you feeling the same, many days it is not easy. I have always been someone who tries to keep everyone happy, but if one positive from this is I have been very clear I will not be changing my views on this. Lik you I try not to enter into discussions if I know it is going to cause bad feelings but that doesn’t mean I do not state my position quite forcefully if needed! Friends now know either not to ask or mention it other than one friend who is beginning (slowly) to see through what is happening. We are the mainstream, it is everyone else who isn’t!
We are the mainstream, it is everyone else who isn’t!
Exactly so, it is the gullible majority who have lost their marbles.
They’re not a friend.
Friends, who are of a mind to get the jab, should be directed to the linked Alex Jones video. Alex is not everyone’s cup of tea, but this is a very important interview with long time campaigner Dr Sherri Tenpenny. She keeps Alex well under control throughout and it becomes gripping stuff.
The interview starts at 50 mins and finishes at about the 1hr 25 mins mark. It is highly informative, though some might find it quite shocking towards the end. For my money, Dr Tenpenny is bang on target.
http://thoughtcrimeradio.net/2021/03/alex-jones-march-5-2021-sherri-tenpenny/
Linked Alex Jones video?
DavidC
Returning to normal is not part of the plan.
I sort of agree but to keep me sane I also think as quick as everyone became hysterical, they will quickly change their views if things start to change. I do believe the majority would go back to normal tomorrow if the PM and Witless came on TV and said it is all over as of midnight tonight. If they were stupid to believe it all one way they will do the other.
Yep I agree – as long as the mainstream media also told them the same.
Yes of course it would have to be both. Good grief their heads would explode if the MSM said something different!
Yes, the majority would believe anything they are told, as long as it is “official” and on the Beeb.
Unbelievable, isn’t it?
If they had engaged their brains at the beginning many would have not fallen for the narrative.
Spot on!
DavidC
Vaccines used on servicemen and women in first Gulf War 1991:
500,000 US troops vaccinated,
11,000 died.
100,000 got chronic neurological orders. More than 1 in 50 dead, 1 in 5 seriously ill. Symptoms often took two years to manifest.
Tell that to the next time someone leans on you to take the Covid ‘vaccine’
Source. Francis Boyle aka ‘conspiracy theorist’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsBmCsuTj0k&t=18606s
Most of it in German, this 5 hrs and 10 mins in (English)
Had my third letter today, fifth text, to book it. There is such a thing as trying too hard
You are being harassed, report it to the police.
Except that the police seem to be interested in little, other than harassing people for ‘covid crimes’.
Gulf War syndrome should always be remembered when it comes to ‘follow the science’ and ‘trust the doctors’.
Why the hell are people bragging on Facebook that they have had the vaccine??? Would these same people have bragged about getting the flu jab???
no, cos the flu jab never signified cult membership
So they can be part of the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to them
Little children shouting me me me
Or having their piles treated?
How many are bragging, and how many are simply expressing relief?
Their heads have been messed with by an utterly evil propaganda machine, leading them to believe that the only thing between them and almost certain death is “the jab”.
Public outpourings of emotion might not be our way (I suspect, though obviously don’t know, that holds true for most of us here) but they have become a feature of our age. FaceAche declarations are just the way of shouting it from the rooftops.
Just watched Escape from Pretoria, about the fighters against segregation, felt familiar
Are the vaccines being pushed in order to pave the way for vaxx passports/digital IDs, or are vaxx passports being pushed to encourage vaccination? Discuss…
I keep thinking the latter
Me too, although I wouldn’t totally discount the former
Well as the former has already been introduced in Israel and LA University then it’s nailed on. However not workable if enough refuse the poison.
That sounds like a bit of a cop out. The Covid event has always been about vaccines and the vaccines have always been about depopulation. You don’t need digital passports when you’ve got rid of the people who would have used them.
It is the latter. The vaccines seem to be purposely lethal and as such they cannot afford to leave a large section of the public unvaccinated. If only the jabbed were to start dropping like flies, it would all become too obvious and could well lead to trouble. So things are going to become very tough for vaccination refuseniks, but there is no other viable option.
My guess is that private businesses are pushing vax passports because they think it will encourage people to get out and about and help their businesses survive, not because they have any particular agenda.
I would say it is a perfect circle with a win win for passports and vaccine take up.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vvdKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT152&dq=Cyberocracy&redir_esc=y&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Cyberocracy&f=false
Yes, as an interim measure digital passports or even the threat of them may coerce some waverers to bare their arms for the terminator “vaccines”.
the second. the vaxx passports won’t achieve the desired population cull. they are being used as the ransom to buy back the rights and freedoms that were stolen.
They are being pushed to facilitate digital identities.The ultimate control tool.
The vaccination process won’t stop with these 2 jabs.There will always be new variants to deal with.
Also there was some publicity last year about 10 years of health.A disease a year will be the focus with a jab to follow.
This is brought to you by the usual suspects.
The long term aim is embedded tattoos with your vaccine history.Again brought to you by you know who.
Sounds far fetched but the patents have already been lodged.2020060606
is the number.
The number of the beast indeed.
If merely getting the “vaccine” was the government’s way of convincing people it’s safe to come out now and we should re-open fully and without restrictions, that’s what would be happening. The narrative would change, the war would be declared won, and back to normal we’d go. But that’s clearly not what is happening and the medical apartheid that is being ushered in is all about digital IDs and total control.
https://futurism.com/crispr-genetic-engineering-change-world
The former. – but of course it depends what’s really in the vax.
Don’t know about anyone else but I am thoroughly fed up with the status quo.
Hasn’t been the same since Parfitt passed on, that’s for sure.
Rockin’ all over the world used to be a tune at my football club. Back when everything wasn’t decided by science.
I always used to think Burning Bridges was a cracking tune… now I wonder if it could turn out to be eerily prophetic; thinking about people I know & wonder if they’re going to consider it a life anthem..!
Bless him.
I don’t know they are OK in small doses and bang up to date;
Jabb’in all over the world
Lock down, lock’in on down
Swedes protest about ban on gatherings.
‘Hundreds of anti-lockdown protesters clash with police in Stockholm as they take to the streets in defiance of Sweden’s Covid ban on gatherings’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9333471/Hundreds-anti-lockdown-protesters-clash-police-Stockholm.html
Here’s an interesting comment from that article
Good to see these protests slowly spreading across Europe, and attended by people of all ages (and mostly native-born judging from the photos). It’s about time. I’ve just heard on our news that the police in the southern Belgian province of Liege have submitted an official protest at having to impose Covid restrictions that they describe as depriving people of their civil liberties. Officers are saying this isn’t what they signed up for. All the more astonishing given that even in normal times Belgium is a near-police-state!
Very interesting’ Thanks fur posting!
Been out and about today, first the market for veg where mask level about 30% outside. Next Specsavers no questions asked and only one uncomfortable staff member who swerved away, but they were north of 20 stone so maybe feeling vulnerable. I’ll give them 8/10.
Then Tesco, bloody horrible. Wall to wall masks and queues. But friendly chat with lady on promotions stand .
Finally good walk along sea front, only 2masked loonies, kiosk open and no worries about antisocial distancing. No coppers anywhere either.
Good day overall except Tesco hell, should have walked to Aldi.
Sounds like Portsmouth.
Don’t know who did the study for London City Airport, but judging from the best rated comments from DM readers, perhaps LCA should ask for a refund.
‘Majority of Brits would be happy to carry vaccination cards if it meant they could travel abroad study finds amid Government’s proposals for jab passports’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9332265/Majority-Brits-happy-carry-vaccination-cards-means-travel-abroad-study-finds.html
Best rated readers comment
‘Typical government propaganda’
930 upticks 87 down ticks
Farage has stepped down from leader of the Reform party.
Why?
We have achieved a great deal since the launch of the Brexit Party in April 2019. None of this would have been possible without your extraordinary and rapid call to arms. Following our launch in April 2019, I watched the £25 donations coming through online every other second and was humbled by it.
After a quarter of a century building UKIP up into a national political force, without which a Referendum would never have been granted, I never thought that I would need to start a new party from scratch. But thank goodness I did because we handsomely won the European Elections and got rid of Mrs. May as Prime Minister.
In the months that followed, the Brexit Party was topping the opinion polls and this guaranteed that the Conservative Party would come to its senses. They selected Boris Johnson as the next Prime Minister with a more positive, pro-Brexit message.
The final outcome has cut off Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK and treated our fisherman terribly, but we are out and there is no going back. Already, in terms of the vaccine rollout and trade deals around the world, we are seeing the benefits… Read more »
Hmmm…well his heart didn’t seem to be in it and his stance on lockdowns was tentative, ambivalent and obscure at time.
Tice is a clever operator but not I think someone with that star leadership quality that Farage had.
I read something recently (can’t recall where will try to dig around) that implied Farage had been seriously compromised in some way, hence him suddenly overnight shilling for the vaccines in the way he did.
Probably a good thing for several reasons:
First, Tice has been much better than Farage on lockdown
Second, if alliances or mergers with other right of centre anti-lockdown parties are needed, Farage being out of the way is probably a good thing. Farage was never able to play second fiddle to anyone for long.
I agree. Farage was too marmite to be able to collaborate and I think that will be necessary if any parties can make a difference.
We need an anti-lockdown alliance comprising Reform, Reclaim, UKIP and SDP. I doubt we’ll get it.
Well that’s some good news, at least.
NY state to allow vaccinateds to skip quarantine, testing requirements:
https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/new-york-eases-domestic-travel-restrictions-for-vaccinated-americans
This is part of the vaxport op as well as the Cuomo rehabilitation op. Note how the media is trying to shift blame for care home deaths to anonymous staffers that altered reports.
Just signed the anti-mask petition at Us4Them and noticed Tim Henman is one of the signatories. Welcome sir.
Has LS managed to infiltrate the BBC?
https://mobile.twitter.com/NickTriggle/status/1368206674608201728
And a top banna reply.
https://mobile.twitter.com/shearerjason/status/1368243171814178817
Unlike this utter bunk:
Nick Triggle is one of the good guys. It’s amazing that he manages to keep his job.
I don’t how he does either. Good stuff from him on the likely schools fiasco.
Many of the people rushing with the most enthusiasm towards the vaccine centres are those who previously would have been extremely sceptical about anything any government, let alone a Conservative (in name, anyway) one proposed. It is truly like some sort of mass hypnosis has taken place.
It does seem they’ve forgotten it’s about a fast-vanishing and mild virus – even if they ever knew in the first place. This has been manipulation on a grand scale – and unfortunately it’s just shown us how shallow and uneducated and gullible most people are.
I doubt very much that any one of them would be able to tell you WHY they need this vaccine.
Fear is a great control method.
While the ONS figures show that the healthy under 60’s are statistically at no risk from dying of covid people are crying with relief at being given a jab that doesn’t stop you getting covid.
Yes it’s amazing isn’t it! Why aren’t they doing research before putting this shit in their bodies???
They’re too stupid or too lazy, Janette.
I think it’s because politics had already moved beyond the Labour/Conservative axis. Now it’s more about nanny state/big government v independent thinking/libertarianism/small government; the Lockdowns are manna from heaven for those who crave the former position.
It’s an interesting conundrum. The friend who is most at the forefront of the ‘yay, vaccine’ crowd would have completely denigrated anything pro-Tory normally. Perhaps she wants the state to tell her what to do, and now the Tories are the ones doing that, it’s OK.
I actually think most of the zealots have totally forgotten there is a government inducing the fear. Everything is just covid covid covid, nothing else matters, most of the people haven’t given it a thought which party is in power.
What’s odd is that I am sure the generation of youngsters I belong to who were sixth formers/undergraduates around 1990 would never have conformed to compulsory lockdowns and vaccination by a Tory government. What has happened to that generation? There’s been an almost complete change from libertarianism (albeit left-libertarianism, but still) to authoritarianism within a generation. I imagine this is what happened to most of the Regency libertines once High Victorian morality took over.
We were the ecstacy generation before we joined the rat race, much like those who grew up in the 60s and dabbled in weed and LSD. I’d guess that there’s a similar split in the generation who preceeded us.
I have long thought that those who have expanded their mind beyond alcohol are deeper thinkers who are sceptical of many things, especially authority.
It is a complete oxymoron that I would entertain recreational drugs but wouldn’t go anywhere near the snake oil being peddled as a cure for this nonsense.
Mass hypnosis has indeed taken place.
What would you expect to see, disgruntled, people walking about cross-eyed with their arms up as if sleepwalking ?
No, just people walking down country lanes in masks.
Oh, hang on.
It took place in the first lockdown.People were separated from friends,family and work colleagues and government fear porn was beamed straight in without a filter.
What a load of duffers.
Next thing is the excitement over if and when when you’re getting the second jab.
This, one of my most pre covid sceptical friends who is an avid weed smoker and has taken many recreational substances and is generally anti everything was also critical thinker in other matters is an absolute covid nut, pro lockdown, vax and passports. I was stunned, hypnosis was all I could think.
Scepticism is easy when you’ve got no skin in the game. You can sit in your local and spout the big man anti government stuff, peppered with some Orwell and enjoying your pint.
But when that knock comes, how do you react. Did you ever really know yourself? Did you realise that your views were not your own and just a story you held onto to make life easier? Did you ever really believe the things you said?
Thats what I am seeing. Very little integrity. Even the threat that their two weeks in the sun will be off limits has broken them. Off they go.
This is going to be hard. I can’t see what will wake them up at this point. Hancock in jail is about all that’ll do it.
They don’t call it the idiot box for nothing!
The Greens want to eliminate road deaths:
http://camdennewjournal.com/article/we-can-drive-down-road-deaths
Let me guess, ban all vehicles?
Not yet – they want “20 mph speed limit on all roads with pavement”.
“All vehicles being driven in the area of Camden MUST have installed square padded safety masks on the corners and on the front and rear of the vehicle at all times. No exemptions..”
Padded safety masks (at least 2 of).
Thanks Alice. Interestingly there have been studies which say when there are no road signs, road furniture or pavements the general speeds of vehicles is lower.
Indeed. I believe the Dutch have implemented it in some cities. It encourages drivers (and pedestrians) to accept personal responsibility rather than subcontracting it out to officialdom in the form of signage and traffic management systems.
I imagine it’s only possible with low volumes of traffic. It wouldn’t work on Euston Rd! Londoners will know what I’m talking about. For potential visitors – definitely not recommended.
Having experienced Euston Road I can see your point!
Yes it was in The Netherlands I saw it, disconcerting first of all but did seem to work.
We have our own similar layout certainly in rural areas, it is called “road potholes” guaranteed to make even the fastest driver slow down if they want their car to survive!
Pedal powered clown cars 🚗 beep fucking beep
20 limits, when people actually bother to observe them, are a complete nightmare for cyclists – the last thing you want is a car keeping pace alongside you.
I’m a cyclist. I like it when I see a 20 mph speed limit (though I’ve never understood why motorists need to be told to slow down around pedestrians and cyclists).
But it’s no use being a cyclist if you cannot leave home (except to cycle …). And that I think is where we agree.
Really? You like having a 3.5 tonne van sitting on your back wheel trying to get past when they can only legally go slightly faster than you…
Tell me about it. Our delivery vans are all speed monitored and cyclists can be nightmares on some of the 20mph zones when you can only go 1 or 2 mph faster than the cyclist.
Fits right in with the globalist desire to limit all travel for the plebes.
Camden are the worst London Borough in a tough field.They despise motorists.
I’m reminded of the fears that were created by the first train on the Manchester to Liverpool railway line. To protect people from the new technology, they had a man with a red flag walk in front of the train for safety.
The train ran him over.
Sounds like an urban myth to me. I don’t think trains needed a red flag – that was motor cars. You may be thinking of MP William Huskisson, who was mortally injured by a train on the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester line in 1830.
This is the same council that keeps their Christmas lights on all year round, I kid you not. Visit Camben in June and see it for yourself.
Surely driving is the least likely thing to reduce road deaths?
Antibody-based drugs and vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are being expedited through preclinical and clinical development.
Data from the study of SARS-CoV and other respiratory viruses suggest that anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies could exacerbate COVID-19 through antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE).
Previous respiratory syncytial virus and dengue virus vaccine studies revealed human clinical safety risks related to ADE, resulting in failed vaccine trials.
….
One potential hurdle for antibody-based vaccines and therapeutics is the risk of exacerbating COVID-19 severity via antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE).
….
Safety concerns for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were initially fuelled by mouse studies that showed enhanced immunopathology, or ERD, in animals vaccinated with SARS-CoV following viral challenge
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32908214/
ADE has been observed in SARS, MERS and other human respiratory virus infections including RSV and measles, which suggests a real risk of ADE for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and antibody-based interventions. However, clinical data has not yet fully established a role for ADE in human COVID-19 pathology.
Are GP’s and MP’s obsolete now?
Yes, their expertise is no longer required having been replaced by salesmen and algorithms.
self inflicted
Hence why I’ve no sympathy.
Have been for months!
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/mar/06/fans-and-artists-must-have-covid-vaccine-before-attending-music-festivals-say-organisers
What do they not get
Vaccinated -can get the virus and spread it
Not vaccinated –can get the virus and spread it
If worried , don’t go .
Comments disabled. What a surprise? NOT!
“A lot of us want to urge government to follow the example set up already in other areas, like travel, where people will have to show vaccination passports,” set up already?
Organisers who take that line deserve to go bankrupt. If the passport system is as efficient as the rest of this country I think they will.
The expensive flop of track ‘n’ trace may indicate that something similar could happen with Vaccine Passports. Won’t stop them trying though.
They will be lent on by handycock !!
Many festivals are SERIOUSLY terrible anyway. Really really terrible. I would not go to most of them anyway for loads of reasons. Things like:
Over the top security and Police harassment
Not enough bogs
Terrible camping
Expensive drinks
Can’t bring your own booze-Bag searches
Masses of camping chairs and pic-nik blanket in front of stages and people sitting down or even worse lying down and asleep
Too many people in arenas, packed in tightly
not enough bars, huge queues
Reading Rock is a terrible festival
The age group of your average festival go-er is YOUNG so good luck finding your punters, I would say.
Even when I was of that age, I knew they were a rip-off waste-of-time and wondered why anyone could be taken in by them. Peer group pressure? The same pressure that makes people think that ”vaccines” are a good thing without actually doing your own research?
I went to the very last Stonehenge Free Festival in 1984. That was pretty amazing. Glastonbury never appealed though – too commercialised and full of woke celebrity types.
Not to start with and even well into the 80s it was fine: big enough for anyone and everyone to do their own thing and never go to the main stage at all. Which I mostly didn’t except on a couple of occassions (for Dr. John and later, Joe Cocker). Things began to decline when the security wall went up. The spirit changed. I last went in ’95 and I knew I’d never go back. Good memories though and I’m glad I have them. That vast valley as the sun went down and the firesmoke hung in the June evening air ….
I would imagine the early days of Glastonbury were great, Steve. There’s just something about the air on a warm June evening.
It was an inland sea of tents and flags and woodsmoke. And the endless throb of music coming at you from all directions. People wrapped in blankets and a midsummer dream that never really leaves you (as you might be able to tell!) Really special. Thought it would last forever.
I regret never making it to Stonehenge but knew people who did. One of my long lost friends took a garden shed on a trailer instead of a tent. That’s festival style, that is.
Oh, Stonehenge was wonderful, Steve. No police on site, just everyone doing their own thing. Hawkwind playing on mid-summer’s eve….life was so good then.
IMO these festivals are just Ascot, Henley etc for the woke set.
I used to really like festivals or at least the smaller less corporate ones. Most of them now are full of conventional people pretending to be unconventional.
What a surprise , amazing that most festivals before August are cancelled but after that loads of tickets sold !! I surmised that this stipulation would happen , another avenue of coercion to target a younger demographic !!..
Prop-a-guardian. If this happens, this will be the end of live events.
Both my sons are musicians in their 20,s we have lived live music events in all types of venues all over the uk for over 15 years as their careers developed , I’m worried that we might not see live music etc happen properly again , whatever the consensus on festivals we need the young to be living or there’s no future !!!
annnnnd so what’s the point anyway?
Are we not going to be in large groups in the open air in other situations? Probably, how about watching a street performance? Will we need vac passports to stand watching a busker? How about a tractor show, or a village fete? No jab no village fate?
This is just more psy-op isn’t it. More bullshit to push the jab rate.
I wonder if the next suggestion is a passport to actually step outside your house.
A QR code at your door is the logical corollary of all those in commercial premises.
Sadly yes, but that was tried with the track and trace, didn’t work very well thank goodness.
Quite. Thankfully it didn’t work, but the regime will be learning from their mistakes.
Which is pointless.
If the authorities wanted to track us now they could just pull the IMEI and GPS data our phones already report to Google and Apple and map it against GIS datasets for a town or region.
Oh wait, I forgot I’m dealing with the Covidian idiot religion.
It’s coming 🤬
Uh, with all the streaming options that have become normalized they really think festivals are going to return to their prior form?
New Israeli drug cured 29 of 30 moderate/serious COVID cases in days — hospital
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-israeli-drug-cured-moderate-to-serious-covid-cases-within-days-hospital/
The evidence is that Ivermectin can do the same, probably cheaper.
The Times is whinging about parents not giving consent for their children to be tested – fuelled by antivaxxers, apparently.
What do they not understand about the word “consent”? It actually means you don’t have to do something. It means it’s your choice. It doesn’t mean that you need to be hounded and abused and penalised until you do. That would in fact be “mandatory”. Difficult concept I know.
https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/06/school-covid-tests-pupils-in-england-very-likely-to-get-false-positives?CMP=share_btn_tw&__twitter_impression=true
Even the Guardian thinks it’s stupid FFS.
These lockdownistas are happy to lockdown for others until they encounter the fact that others actually have their own Will and then they hate them.
Children should be off limits
They want to stick the flipping jab in them. Hopefully this is the tipping point for those who aren’t already awake.
You would have thought so !
Apparently the whole system went tits up yesterday afternoon, people being sent wrong test results, people who hadn’t even been tested being sent results.
Best off out of it.
When I get my vaccine invitation I’ll burn it and put the video on YouTube with some commentary!
Got mine today, as it happens. Filed it away and if chased will say I am waiting for the end of the trial period in 2023 and will decide then. However am feeling a bit disconsolate as whatsapp group of some of my dearest friends are pushing like crazy, one has announced with great glee that she managed to book both her appointments on line, another has said she will push people aside to get hers (she is not yet of the age – I would give her mine to be honest) because she’s sick of lockdown. Well she’s in for a shock after she gets the jab and we’re still locked down. I have made light of my age with a facetious remark but I can feel some uncomfortable moments incoming when we meet up.
I used a cross shredder on mine, did a nice job
I’ve put mine and accompanying (utterly patronising) leaflet away safely till they start chasing me, then I shall endeavour to waste their time by going through it in detail and asking awkward questions.
Throw just a little sand in the gears.
It is indeed patronising, particularly when they tell you that “experts recommend …etc.” No mention of which experts or what they might be expert in. Just this bloody condescending attitude which might as well say, “People who are cleverer than you recommend that you must do as you are told.”
Damn them all.
Excellent good idea
Vaccine call –
Caller: Can we book in your Covid vaccine appointment?
Me: Oh lovely. Will it stop me getting Covid?
Caller: No …..
Me: Will it stop me transmitting Covid?
C: No …..
Me: Can I go out and see my friends and family?
C: No ……
Me: Can I stop wearing a mask?
C: No …..
Me: Can I stop social distancing?
C: No …..
Me: Have the stage 3 trials ended yet?
C: No ……
Me: Can you tell me the 2-10 year outcomes?
C: No…..
Me: Are the pharmaceutical companies liable for any side effects or health damages?
C: No…..
Me: Can you tell me why I should have it then?
C: …………blah…. So can we book your appointment?
Me: No!
Brilliant. made a note of this TY.
Been thinking of what approach to take when I get the call. was thinking of something along your lines, maybe adding:
Me: “True or false.. compared to this experimental procedure you are advocating, I would be equally protected against the possible effects of covid, if I drank some green tea, took some quality vitamin D tablets, & had a bag of oranges & kiwi fruits?” 🙂
C :Your choice of course.
However your refusal is noted on our database and you will lose citizenship privileges including work ,travel ,leisure and healthcare.
This conversation has been monitored for training purposes.
And quality control!
Me: Can’t lose what you haven’t got – since saving the NHS I’ve already lost them.
Genuine question that has got me ticking – thought someone on here probably knows. What actually happens to the samples people are giving for NHS Test & Trace (or whatever it is called) in regards to after testing for Sars CoV2. Do we know that the whole sample gets destroyed after a certain time? What information do they take beyond the necessary RNA/DNA to determine Sars CoV2 and can they keep hold of that for any other purpose? I have tried looking all over the net and can’t find any indication of what happens to the sample after it has been tested for the virus…..
This is really good question. Can’t help but feel that PCR testing was maybe a back door method to establishing a National DNA database.
That’d what I wonder too…. Do they have/isolate your DNA? In order to identify the virus? I have so many questions and cannot find a scrap online about it.
Has anyone here been tested and can recall – is there a consent form with this info on it? Did you sign anything/have anything explained to your prior or after being tested?
Remember the SI they put through for exactly that last year?
Sorry, SI leggy?
Statuary Instrument.Rule by decree in the House of Commons.
The Retention of Fingerprint and DNA profile under Coronavirus act?
Yep. Because retaining DNA and fingerprints is completely relevant to tackling an epidemic right?
Isn’t it beyond belief that ANYONE could have handed over ANYTHING personal to people they don’t know?
That’s the bottom line, and that’s what makes me feel utterly depressed.
Your DNA will be on the swab. Whether this is isolated and stored has never been stated. However, it is possible that your DNA, if isolated, may be legally stored under one of the more recent security laws, IIRC this can be up to 12 weeks (don’t quote me on this). This was another reason why I didn’t volunteer to be tested.
Interesting…they caught the BTK (well proved it was definitively him) by subpoenaing the DNA on his poor daughters cervical smear test that had been stored.
I was also following a case in California where is turned out that they stored the blood from every single newborn babies’ heel prick test since like 1981.
I wouldn’t get too paranoid. The NHS can’t organise a piss up in a brewery. It’s not even that certain your test result is your test result.
good thing it ain’t the anal swab. That would be a logistical nightmare!
A posteriori.
Good question. How about bothering your MP with that one? We need at least to make them think – or feel a tad uncomfortable.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/how-fight-over-american-freedom-will-probably-escalate?commentId=3de8213c-d8e6-4e87-bdd3-d3cd9ad155a2
“This will get interesting in June, when most who want the vaccine will have gotten it, and they’ll be faced with having to be around and socialize with those who haven’t. My own limited perspective from a substantial majority of my own friends and family is that it’s going to be the cause of fractured friendships and relationships, likely permanently.
They’re not going to want to come near me, not because they’re afraid of becoming sick, but because my very presence will be a reminder of their submission.
Your friends and family may know or feel they can ask of course but acquaintances, colleagues and strangers you get talking to won’t and will probably just assume you have partaken of the Jab of Joy because well why wouldn’t you?
Jab of Joy – love it!
Sounds a bit risky!
I have decided that if questioned my line is going to be ‘I can honestly say I did not have any after effects of a covid jab’. Which will be true.
Nice one – we can use semantics if they can!
Guess we’ll be finding out who our true friends are.
And the others may be dropping like flies if the jabs cause serious long-term problems. Still, we must be happy for Gates in that case!
Reckon we just about know by now ?
Oh, there are bound to be more surprises, John. We’ll see what happens when the subject of “my vaccination invitation is in the bin” comes about.
I was just talking to my hubby about this. I have a friend with Lupus and we’ve managed to stay friends, but I predict she will be one of those people who will only socialize with the vaccinated. Oh well, bye bye. I’m at the point with both family and friends that if they think medical apartheid is OK then these are not people I want anything to do with. I’m in a bad mood today — I stupidly read the comments section on an article about vaccine passports in one of our national newspapers. It appears most people believe we need to be microchipped like dogs in order to get our freedoms back…and they don’t even see the contradiction. I do despair some days.
Hear you there sister. That was my conclusion from my evening discussion with family yesterday.
Ps thank you for your kind words to my post last night, saw your reply later and it really helped.
We will continue to lift each other up! Gosh I wish you ladies lived closer…
I’ll just say good riddance to anyone who no longer wishes to associate with me because of my non-vaccinated state. Am fortunate to have a decent amount of friends who are like-minded.
You’re fortunate to have like-minded friends. I’m trying to avoid the “vaccine” discussion because I know it might be a game changer. I’ve got my husband, thank goodness, and I’m pretty sure my family won’t stop seeing me. We’re living rurally now and so I don’t see people nearly as often anyway, so it’s good that I’m OK being isolated!
In amongst those like-minded friends, are some who are totally dismissive of the idea of conspiracy theories. They go along with the government narrative, but are happy enough to break the ‘rules’ when it suits, typically on a Friday night when we get together. They’re not hardline zealots, but certainly not on the same wavelength as me regarding my stance on this shit show. I’m pretty certain they’re not bothered about the fact I am unvaccinated. The other friends I hang around with are hardline anti-lockdown, and they definitely won’t be getting jabbed either. There may be some difficulties with one of my sisters in particular, but we don’t live close by and rarely see each other anyway. You are lucky to be living rural, Lisa. I am desperate to escape to the wilderness for a while and not have to keep seeing masks and zombies everywhere.
Moving has been my saviour. I would have seriously lost my shit living in a condo in downtown Toronto even though it was on two levels and had a terrace. We re-located “temporarily” to our country place in early May last year and never looked back. It was sad because we’d sold our house, the kids were gone, and we bought the condo so we could more easily travel without having to worry about a house. We spent quite a bit on decorating and making it exactly what I wanted, only to sell it less than a year later. No regrets though; there is absolutely nothing for me in the city. I can go days and weeks without leaving my property and not seeing anyone in a mask. We have friends here but I’m finding it harder to socialize because it’s stressful to self-censor. I need sceptic friends like you’ve got!
You’re right, except for the fact that you’re not obliged to tell them. I am holding out, and will do so till what I perceive is ”the end”. Until then, I’ll answer with the question of it being a ”medical decision” or ”personal”. I won’t get into an argument because that’s exactly what is wanted by our ”masters”. Divide and rule. I’m not going to pay their game. I’ll play my own.
I’m just going to tell the truth: I have had Covid-19 and although the antibodies circulating in my bloodstream will have faded by now, my B and T memory cells will remember the virus and any future variants for many years so they will protect me, and to keep my immune system in tip top condition I take vitamin D supplements.
Apologies for the predictable question from me, Shropshire Lass: had you had a flu jab at any time?
Yes, I had had the flu jab each year in September after I caught the seasonal flu in 2014 and have never been so ill – I developed a bacterial infection on top of it and almost died. When I went back to work 2 months later I had to work part time for another 4 months. Had the flu vaccine as normal in September 2019, then caught Covid-19 in December 2019 when doing some research work with a group of other researchers who had arrived from China just 2 days before, (one was from Wuhan and the one who had a persistent cough), the next day he developed a mild fever. A week later I fell sick too with a persistent dry cough in the throat, the next day developing a mild fever, headache and losing my sense of taste and smell. Day 3 felt a bit lethargic but the fever and headache had gone (had taken paracetamol). Day 4 felt much better and continued to recover rapidly. Cough reduced but it was over a week before it faded away completely, though it remained in the throat and did not go to my chest (had slept propped up on… Read more »