Lord Sumption has written an impressive piece in the Telegraph criticising the Government’s application of the so-called “precautionary principle” (assuming the worst when there is little evidence) and highlighting that the extreme measures taken in the hope of reducing the Covid death toll should have been based on “good reasons backed by evidence” which they weren’t, obviously.
The “sunk cost fallacy” is a well-known source of distortion in human decision-making. A decision is made which has destructive implications. The limited benefits and immense collateral damage gradually become apparent.
It is next to impossible for those involved in the decision to change their minds. No one wants to admit that it might all have been for nothing, even if that is the truth. They have invested too much in the decision to reverse out of the cul-de-sac. So they press on, more to avoid blame than to serve the public interest. This is what has happened to governments across Europe and to the dug-in body of specialists who advise them. Their recipe is simple: if lockdowns haven’t worked, there is nothing wrong with the concept. We just need more of them.
The former Supreme Court judge points to the “Overview of the Evidence” published by the Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART) last week, which he thinks is an impressive document. “We cannot contribute to the science, but we can at least understand it,” he writes. “Those who are unwilling to do even that much have no moral right to demand coercive measures against their fellow citizens.”
The HART overview concludes that lockdowns “must never be repeated”. They “serve no useful purpose and cause catastrophic societal and economic harms“. It calls for a return to the pandemic plans prepared over a decade for just this sort of event by the UK and other governments and endorsed by the WHO. They were based on two principles. Avoid coercion and don’t go for one size-fits-all measures like lockdowns when the risks affect different groups differently. They recommended balanced public health guidance, no border closures and targeted action to assist those who are most vulnerable. These principles were abruptly jettisoned a year ago. They were replaced by an untried experiment, which there was neither time nor research to consider properly.
Lord Sumption says that the HART paper covers three core points which the proponents of lockdowns have never been able to answer. These are: the availability of international comparisons which show no relationship between the stringency of lockdown and the level of Covid infections or deaths; the unwillingness of governments to confront the collateral costs of locking down; and the fact that the burden of the lockdown has fallen mainly on those who are the least vulnerable to COVID-19.
Worth reading in full.
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Dear Mr American. Can you please take all the US democrats policies we’re forced to put up with in Europe due to present-day Europe being largely composed of only very theoretically independent US satellite states back and and finally own up to your own dog food? This stuff is yours and not ours and we wouldn’t have to endure it if the corrupt political elites you installed weren’t forcing it on us because you want that.
Playing the man not the ball, rw.
He might just retort that the appalling uk and eu polities copying these dismal policies were elected by us over here…
I thought it was a pretty accurate article.
Totally agree
You in English is both second person singular and second person plural and this is “you American” [politicians] and not “you, Joshua Trevino”. I stopped the article at the point where it was proposed that the Democrats and Kamala “child of immigrants” Harris are basically a European fifth column in the Land of the Free™ and I don’t plan to read the other parts of it.
I think it’s fair to say a lot of bad things emanate from the US Dems, but there’s also more resistance in the US to US Dem type ideas.
That our overlords live freer than we do isn’t particularly surprising. When someone like Joe Biden declares “transwhatnot” to be “the civil rights issue of our time”, all the German government du jour will reply to that is “Yessir!”
I tend to agree. Almost all UK, and for that matter European, problems emanate for the US. We’ve been under attack from a woke mind virus whose origin can be found in the bowels of Democrat thinking and promoted by American Influence. And it’s difficult to imagine that the US doesn’t have its mucky paws all over the globalist project as well. They are certainly far from blameless.
But Americans still have the Free Speech that we don’t have. America has traditionally been a right of centre Country. Whereas Europe has been a Social Democracy. ——-Should Harris win and continue the Biden/Obama/Clinton socialist experiment by handing over the running of the USA to the UN then all of us are in big trouble. The only hope that this does not happen is if Trump wins another term.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon had the measure of government over 150 years ago. I recently re-read this and was astonished by just how prescient his words sound today:
“To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.”
I have to agree with this person. He’s surely gone full-on ‘Stalin’ and there’s no sign of it letting up;
”Misogyny – Terrorist
Rioting – Terrorist
Hurty X Post – Terrorist
Actual Terrorism – Mental Health
Make it make sense!
Dear Police, please don’t arrest me.”
Meanwhile, regarding this whole ”extreme misogyny” Horlicks, who better to comment then our Jim Davidson? Now there’s a blast from the past, but he speaks 100% truth;
”Jim Davidson lays into Yvette Cooper’s plan to add extreme misogyny to terrorism offences.
He notes Labour don’t know what a woman is. He notes Labour “brushed grooming & rape gangs aside.”
Jim comments on “unvetted illegal men” coming into the country.”
https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1825858454075953347
They say everybody has a book in them. I’d say Starmer should think of authoring; ”How To Be A Perfect Hypocrite, For Dummies”
https://x.com/alexharmstrong/status/1825832724759777302
And he’s a pervert/paedophile apologist. Good job I’ve got receipts so I don’t get extradited and sent to jail;
”This is a Reminder of what “MORALLY BANKRUPT” looks like …
A British Prime Minister that deems the British People to think this acceptable…
Child Sex Offenders :- NO PRISON
Social Media Posters :- PRISON”
https://x.com/tarquindemeza/status/1825810341952978956
Mogs, the late Great Christopher Hitchens was responsible for the the complete quote you cite: “Everyone has a book inside them, which is exactly where it should, I think, in most cases , remain.”
Having just attempted to read his Trial of Kissinger I wish Hitchens, C had taken his own advice!
It’s not that he is necessarily wrong, or over-enthusiastic about what is clearly one of his many passions, it’s just not easy to read the book, nor to sort the wheat from the chaff
In my experience, (and I’ve read 90% of his works), there’s a lot more wheat than chaff, and the highest quality wheat too. Try ‘No One Left to Lie To.’ Neither ‘Slick Willy’ nor Kissinger dare even attempt to sue, realising that Hitchens had them bang to rights.
Maybe I should have started Kissinger after reading some historical background to the events he discusses, so the rant came with context
Even without reading the book, most on here will realise Kissinger was on of the founding Globalists of the New World Order.
Hitchens’ ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ focussed on the latter’s conspiracy to commit murder, war crimes and treason. NWO considerations weren’t on the menu.
Kissinger also played a part in the Chinese one child policy. Globalist to the core.
Or how about “The Beadie Eyed Parasite Chronicles”
“Actual terrorism” = Mental Health, ——Hilarious. or it would be if it was not so PATHETIC.
An “extreme misogyny” law isn’t intended to protect “ordinary” women who are at risk of physical harm …… working class women who are the main victims of immigrant/ethnic minority violence, let alone the poor women who are semi-slaves in the Muslim community and at real risk of violence from male family members if they dare transgress Islam’s code of behaviour.
It’s intended to protect left wing, middle class champagne socialists and activists (like Yvette Cooper) from the hurty words which “ordinary” working class white men may use about them.
“ Britain’s informal and unwritten constitution of custom and tradition…”
But Britain does have a formal written constitution, Magna Carta – and the 1688 Great Bill of Rights too.
Both simply ignored. We’ll see how much notice is given to the US Constitution after 1 000 years of erosion by legislation and ideological rot.
Under Magna Carta the King ceded his sovereignty to the people, which is why no subsequent Parliament can be bound by an Act signed by the Monarch passed as a Bill in a previous Parliament.
And that means there is no legal obligation to obey any Act of Parliament, but because the State has the monopoly in violence we are forced to comply or suffer.
Under Magna Carta the King ceded his Right to collect taxes without consent. So we cannot legally be obliged to pay taxes – but see above… State monopoly on violence.
So what’s the solution?
“The proper business of the Courts could not be conducted if every citizen who conceived himself insulted could immediately bring an action for defamation without cost to himself. Fish-porters and charwomen pass through life exchanging frank opinions about each other’s characters, but never, so far as is known, feel the itch to bring an action for defamation. […]
“There will always be a certain delay in the Courts so long as the Crown and Parliament decline to equip them with an adequate supply of judges and shorthand-writers.”
So by making frank opinions a criminal offence unless they support the Party Line, 2TK will unleash a mass wave of nouveau-criminals, and a shortage of criminal barristers to try them.
[1] A P Herbert, “Is Magna Carta Law?” Uncommon Law, Methuen 1935 (parody).
This “Evil irrelevant Europeans responsible for Kamala Harris … !!1” article is also a great opportunity to retell the following brilliant joke I read in the Spectator on Saturday (form slightly improved by me).
Midnight in the Kremlin. Witching hour. Putin has had the ghost of Stalin summoned to ask him for advice. “Comrade Stalin,” he addresses him, “German tanks are approaching Kursk! Can’t you help me? What shall I do?” Stalin makes him wince by patting him heavy-handedly on the pack, roars with laughter and replies “Absolutely no problem, Vladimir! Just do what I did! Beg for as many tanks and planes in the USA as you can get and send the Ukranians in with them as cannon-fodder!”
That’s 46 years of Communist reign of terror, with countless people put to death in gruesome ways all over eastern middle Europe which was largely turned into a depopulated wilderness where flourishing farms used to be, all brought to you courtesy of the champions of the free world because, whatever Stalin’s many faults might have been, at least, he wasn’t German and we got the richer part of Germany to exploit in the bargain!
It will get to the point in this country where all we are allowed to say is “Good Morning, isn’t it a lovely day, isn’t everything in the garden lovely”? Everything else will be HATE SPEECH
“You should have looked at the news with horror, like right-minded people”
What a wan*er. Maybe she was watching in horror everyday when they mentioned how many illegals have arrived who we know nothing about, and that British taxpayers have the pleasure of supporting. What is not to like!
I did look at the news with horror ….. at the pro-Hamas-terrorism Marches in London which were allowed to continue week after week despite blatant intimidation and threats of violence, which the police and terrified Establishment did nothing to stop.
Never forget that Speaker Hoyle unilaterally changed Parliamentary Procedures to suit Two-Tier-Keir and the Labour Party because he was SCARED for MPs’ and their families’ safety.
If there is ever a revolution….These traitors in the HO will have their asses torn out!
” It is less true of American right-populism, which does have a coalition and an elite niche, to an extent; whether it is robust versus the regime will be tested in full if Kamala Harris ascends to the Presidency”
Well lets hope she doesn’t win huh!
Don’t forget the US has the 2nd Amendment as a default insurance policy against a rouge state, ironically which they already have.
“There will be a separate essay someday on elite negative reactions to a visible member of a regime-disapproved cohort: a Southerner or a Texan, for example.”
Or Andrew Bridgen!
All the nostalgic Haddockian talk of Magna Carta in these comments won’t hide the impracticality of fighting back against a creeping authoritarian regime. The impracticality is: money. Day-to-day authoritarianism is not imposed by a uniformed bully travelling down from London to personally deliver “guidance” from some single dictator or central cabal: that is more the style of the Mafia or County Lines or the Home Office. Rather, it is the perfectly ordinary-looking chap in the council office who says “I am not allowing you to do this” or “You must do that”. In principle, you can say, “SEZ WHO?” in court as a “judicial review”, but unless you have £500,000 up front you won’t get past a lawyer’s secretary, let alone a hearing in the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of the legislation that the original chap was implementing, by “just obeying orders”.
However, there is hope in that there are situations that can be fought by crowdfunding or benefactors or publicity. For example, some 74,000 rail passengers may have been unlawfully prosecuted within the Single Justice Procedure, and “silent praying” may turn out to be constitutionally protected. Doubtless the FSU will be involved in forthcoming cases too, as I can’t see Two-Tier Starmer is too weak to tackle the problem of creeping authoritarianism, or is even part of it.
My question is really regarding the role of the judicial system.
Are these arrested people really innocent until proven guilty? Do they have a fair trial? Do they have good representation?
I am not sure.
Keir Stalin branded them as Faah Rite (knowing nothing about their political allegiances – if they have any) and they have been called criminals by various Ministers/MPs and the MSM …… before any trials were held.
Someone is innocent until proven guilty, so no, none of them have had a fair trial.
If Trump does not win this election, the USA will be flushed down the same toilet britain has just been flushed down.
America does not want to descend into globalist hell. That is why we are voting for President Trump. For some reason the majority of Brits I know hate Trump. I will never understand why.