- “Face masks could be gone by summer as vaccines keep Covid at bay” – A report in the Telegraph claims Government advisors now think masks might go this Summer, as vaccines are now doing “a lot of the heavy lifting”
- “Rise in blood clots forces vaccine chiefs to ponder alternative to AstraZeneca for under-40s” – The latest data on blood clots is prompting vaccine authorities to consider giving the under-40s an alternative to the AstraZeneca jab, the Telegraph reports
- “UK COVID-19 Update: R Number Increases but Infection rates fall” – The R Number has increased a little according to Medscape, but there’s been no corresponding resurgence in infections
- “Exposure risk of COVID-19 indoors is the same at six feet and 60 feet” – The Daily Mail reports new research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which suggests that social distancing indoors might not be all that worthwhile
- “Booster jabs to battle new coronavirus strains will be ready by September” – Oxford experts Professor Andrew Pollard reckons the booster jabs will be with us by Autumn, the Daily Mail reports, but the current vaccines will provide some protection
- “Students have been wronged – we deserve a refund” – “After three years and tens of thousands of pounds, I cannot even collect my degree certificate in person,” writes Sabrina Miller in the Telegraph. “A refund really is the least we can ask”
- “Call to lift the care home quarantine” – The Relatives and Residents’ Association is calling for blanket 14 day quarantine for care home residents who venture outside to be lifted, Care Management Matters reports
- “Test and Trace is watching you…” – We may be heading “to the creation of a surveillance society”, says Lucy Wyatt in the Conservative Woman, “with Test and Trace just the beginning of an excuse to monitor us all”
- “Non-vaccinated, non-person” – “Covid vaccine passports are on the way,” writes Kathy Gyngell at the Conservative Woman, and she urges all to watch a France 24 report into how they’re working out in Israel
- “Doctors Without Facts: Médecins Sans Frontières gets it wrong on Brazil” – According to MSF, Brazil’s COVID-19 situation is the result of its failure to implement mask mandates and social distancing. Harry Dougherty points out that Brazil’s excess mortality rate, though high, is not as high as in some countries that have adopted such policies
- “Covid’s IFR just keeps dropping” – Kit Knightley notes in Off-Guardian that estimates for Covid’s Infection Fatality Rate keep falling, from the WHO’s first calculation of 3.4% last year to Professor John Ioannidis’s recent paper which put it at 0.15%
- “Solace, hope and even joy” – This week’s Irreverend podcast looks into Boris Johnson’s recent doom-mongering, asking “is he a ‘floundering buffoon’, a puppet or something even more sinister?”
- “Parliamentarians in favour of first lockdown relaxations” – Most members of the Netherlands House of Representatives are in favour of the planned easing of lockdown on April 28th, the NL Times reports, even though the Outbreak Management Team from the Health Department think its a bit too early
- “‘Short sharp’ lockdown from April 26th to May 9th” – The Cyprus Mail reports that the island is to go into a fresh lockdown on Monday. Once it is lifted, visitors to crowded venues will need to have had a negative test, a vaccine, or to have had the illness within the last six months. It is unclear whether this will include supermarkets
- “Greek police set up checkpoints, turn back Easter travellers” – According to Euronews, police have set up checkpoints around Athens to stop people leaving the city for Orthodox Easter, as infection rates are still too high for the Government to allow free travel
- “Israel and Bahrain hail ‘world’s first’ deal for mutual COVID-19 vaccine passport scheme” – The two countries have struck an accord to recognise each other’s vaccine documentation and are heralding it as the “first of its kind”, RT reports
- “Texas Attorney General sues Biden administration over COVID-19 risk at southern border amid migrant surge” – Fox News reports that Texas Attorney General Kim Paxton is suing the Biden administration for allowing large numbers of migrants to cross the border, thereby encouraging the spread of Covid
- “14 Months Later: A Pathway Forward” – A route back to normality, set out Paul E. Alexander, Howard C. Tenenbaum, and Dr. Parvez Dara for the AIER
- “Three months before Olympics, Japan declares ‘short’ emergency in Tokyo” – Japan has declared a “short and powerful” state of emergency in Tokyo and Osaka, Reuters reports. The Prime Minister says the country will take measures to ensure the Olympic can go ahead this Summer
- “Perth lockdown for three days will see Anzac Day services cancelled” – Covid has once again found its way past the border quarantines, ABC reports
- “These brave doctors are upholding their Hippocratic oath and putting patients – Not Profits – first” – A video from the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance featuring doctors speaking out about the benefits of Ivermectin
- “Track coach fired over masks” – Tom Woods interviews Brad Keyes, who lost his position at New Hampshire’s Pembroke Academy when he refused to make his athletes wear masks while racing outdoors
- “This is art” – German social media was set alight on Thursday, according to Spiegel, by the publication of a series of videos of celebrities delivering short reflections about Covid policies, most laced with irony. For instance, the actor Jan Josef Liefers thanked the media for doing its bit in keeping the panic right where it belongs at the top of the news agenda. A few more are available with subtitles on Dr Simon’s twitter feed, and many more are available here if your German is up to it
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‘Face masks could be gone by summer’.
Everybody and their dog knows Covid is just another seasonal respiratory virus. With bozo claiming the current decline is the result of his masterful lockdown strategy yet now this unknown person (and many others) is saying it’s down to the vaccines they are playing games with us.
As with last year we will be rewarded with some temporary concessions over the summer (with Covid gone how could they do otherwise). Meanwhile they build and emplace more of their infrastructure of repression ready for bozo to reintroduce a targeted lockdown at the first sign of this Autumns return.
If the government were to announce a partial lifting of facemasks in pubs, schools and shops perhaps, probably 50% of the sheeple will continue to wear them even in public. Tossers.
Exactly what my tyre fitter said. I have sceptical/cynical/sarcastic conversations with all sorts of people and they often point in the same direction. Facemasks don’t work but people will continue to wear them anyway, and the lockdown will be back in autumn and over winter are two of the commonest memes
‘Exposure risk indoors is the same at 6 feet as 60 feet.’
This will be a surprise to nobody, if people are in an enclosed place with lurgey bits floating about they will float until they get you, or not.
This is the reason why they are now going on about ventilation so much; the subject was raised this time last year but it was shut down for reasons unknown.
‘You’re just saying that as an excuse for the pubs to open up’
was the best they could offer.
‘Test and Trace is watching you’.
It’s not watching me because, like half the population, I didn’t download the app and of those that did large numbers deleted or deactivated it.
But for or all its faults it is now clear that Track’n’Trace is intended to be the backbone of the governments version of Social Credit of which vax passes will be just a small part.
Was it 1984 where each citizen had their allocated living unit complete with Telescreen for Big Brother to impart the latest news and information ?
It was illegal for citizens to switch off the Telescreen or disable it (and they knew if you did). So perhaps possession of the technology will become compulsory.
Some years ago I had as near neighbours s single mum with two teenage boys. Eventually she managed to get them inexpensive phones, the older boy was a bit useless and needy, always phoning home ‘mum can you do this whatever, mum can you get me . . ?’
The younger one was bright and active, out and about all hours. After a couple of weeks he told me he’d ditched the phone.
‘Mum’s always on it; “where are you? who you with? what you doing? when you coming home . . .?”
I expect the latter is now a sceptic.
What’s an app?
Also 1984 (in the film anyway) where someone tries to join the resistance but it turns out that the “resistance” person is actually on the other side – be very careful!
Anyone tell me why the work is being apparently treated as a manual for governing – or was Orwell just too clever by half?
‘What’s an app ?’
That’s why they want your generation dead.
Well there’s Laurence Fox and . . . er . . .
Brave of those 53 actors to out themselves. But most Germans don’t do irony – as Jans Josef Liefers (fantastic actor and very well known in Germany as Professor Dr. Karl Friedrich Boerne) has realised. See Jan Josef Liefers@JanJosefLiefers and https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/allesdichtmachen-interview-liefers-100.html
The relevant part of the WDR interview is:
“In the meantime it looks like it’s all backfired, which is probably what happens when you have to explain so much”.
The German media is, of course, only reporting on the very few of the 53 actors who immediately distanced themselves from this campaign at the first sign of trouble. Fact is there are not that many sceptics around at the moment, so it’s not really the best way to make yourself known and popular as an actor. But praise to the large majority of the 53 actors who are sticking to the story (including it seems Jans Josef Liefers) because it needs such brave folks to wake the people up.
But next time a more direct approach might be better because, as I said, most Germans don’t do irony.
I am German, so I hope we can agree to differ on German irony, but not I’m too sure who I was supposed to be pandering? Anyway my point was more to explain Liefer’s interview where he states that if you have to explain the irony of the videos then the approach has not much chance of working.
But while I believe a more direct messages are better it is clear that anyone trying to air an “off plan” opinion, in a factual, ironic, comic or whatever form, should expect a serious “Shitstorm” of social and main stream media abuse; in fact it would certainly be quite naive not to.
Of course the classical method used by German MSM is to label the “off plan” sceptics as far right. Just look at this interview: https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/kulturrat-zu-allesdichtmachen-101.html
Specifically the leading question from tagesschau24: “Praise for this protest video comes from parts of the AfD and the “Querdenker” scene. How do you feel about that?” For those unfamiliar with Germany both the AfD and Querdenkder have been effectively been given the Nazi label by MSM and other politicians – in comparison the British MSM and politicians have to work much harder to achieve the same result.
But overall I take heart from the fact that the majority of the celebrities seem to have not withdrawn, indeed after a quick look at the German media this morning I can count only 4 of the 53 who have done this: Heike Makatsch, Richy Müller, Ulrike Folkerts and Meret Becker. Perhaps there will be, or are, more and if they do withdraw then that is obviously their choice. But Liefers seems to be still there defending his stance, so well done him.
As a last point what is being made to look like a huge uproar of the moral public against these depraved actors is most likely just the same old MSM and political propaganda we’ve been having since a very long time; but I can understand why actors get nervous about this.
Last point, on Germany; look at this video starting at 1min:47sec:
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute-journal/fdp-kritisiert-massive-grundrechtseingriffe-100.html
where I think Ulrich Wickert shows he has lost the plot because he seems to (mis)quote a study that I believe can’t actually exist (somebody correct me here if there was an actual curfew in Britain, rather than pubs closing early last Summer/Autumn). Also this “people will die” augmentation later in the video is really a bit first wave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXWhbUUE4ko
Unfortunately people believe who they think are serious journalists, even when they spout such garbage. I lost a lot of respect for Wickert after seeing this interview – but well done the FDP guy
There was “stay local” of course (though they never made clear how local and I think this was guidance rather than law) but I don’t remember any curfew. One village didn’t seem to want anyone from outside their parish visiting (though I bet they used supermarkets in neighbouring towns
Yes not a few villages tried to keep out the “furriners” including the likes of Walberswick where there were hardly bugger all cases (technical term)
I have previously stated that the various authoritarian measures currently in force in many places, including Germany, remind me of Brecht’s “Furch und Elend”, and I would hope that a good many on the German left would say to the perpetrators – “ekelt euch”.
I understand AFD started out with some fairly serious minded academics opposing integrationism, but later changed direction somewhat. Still, I would have thought they are different to people like Pegida, and those who say things like “ich bin stolz, Deutscher zu sein”, and are more concerened about things like ECB money printing?
I suppose the German msm are bought and paid for like in Britain?
Thanks for the info on UK curfew, it matches what I believed to be the case. I said before it was Ulrich Wickert in the interview but it is actually Klas Kleber, an equally well respected journalist. The interview with Volker Wissing (an FDP or Liberal politician) revolves around the fact that the FDP are making a judiciary challenge with respect to new federal Covid restrictions which include an automatic curfew. In the interview for which I gave the link Kleber says “a University of Oxford study has shown that curfew measures in Great Britain have reduced Covid cases by 10 to 20 percent”. He later goes on to ask Wissing wether he is personally prepared to accept responsibility for the excess deaths which could result if the judiciary action of the FDP were to be successful. Actually I found the interview quite disgusting from Kleber’s side, but I must say Wissing gives a great defence; at least in Germany there is still a political opposition worthy of the name.
The interview was done on the very main stream ZDF (pretty much BBC) and together with the treatment dished out to the 53 actors, I think shows that German MSM is just as much bought and payed for in relation to Covid as in the UK. Also I have to say that German media are usually quite differential to politicians when compared to other countries.
Yes. One of the favourite UK tropes has been (re. public consent in 1930s Germany) that “It couldn’t happen here.”
Well. It just has.
Let’s imagine that what bozo, SAGE and the rest have been doing for the past twelve months is not some ego driven drive for totalitarianism but rather pre-planning and a dress rehearsal for something scary that has a real chance of coming along soon.
This came up on my YouTube subscriber feed this morning. I’ve subscribed to Sam Harris for many years and Sam does not do stupid (can be a bit lefty and anti Trump but not stupid).
In the first 10 minutes his guest, one Rob Reid, describes how a virus as contagious as flu but as lethal as Ebola already exists, engineered in the US by scientists
It’s not even in a level 5 bio security lab but in a level 4. OK, so destroy it and move on but if these guys can do it then so can someone else perhaps with malevolent intent.
I’m saving the other two hours until later.
YouTube Sam Harris channel
Engineering The Apocalypse
I have to say, I’ve considered for a long time that biological and chemical could be more of a problem than nuclear this century. For war, yes, but they could be used for other things as well. Don’t be surprised…
‘Doctors without Facts’….. Good clear article for the masses who believe the hype about the fall guy that is Brazil. If the scared could only read such in MSM. And now we’re going to see all the same fear porn applied to India.
Yes. Can you tell they don’t like Bolsonaro? Probably Modi too. Interestingly, there are European countries with higher IFR’s. Maybe they’ll go on about Czech Republic or Belgium. Then again…
It’s already being applied to India. On the BBC Today Programme this morning (yes, I know, it winds me up nicely in the morning, in fact it has been going on about the “Indian variant” for days) one of the doctors reporting from India had the temerity to go against the perceived BBC wisdom.
We have heard from the BBC, ad nauseam, that the Indian health service is at the point of collapse because the Indian variant of Covid is so dangerous. We have been told that all hospitals are at the point of collapse, that they have run out of oxygen, and that people are dying in the corridors.
The Indian doctor, however, stressed that focusing on an “Indian variant” was a distraction as the “Indian variant” was no worse than any other “variant”. He went on to say that the Indian health service was already in a terrible state and that they should have had far more oxygen in stock than they did. He said that many people were in hospital who should not have been, and that being admitted to hospital was almost seen as a status symbol amongst the more wealthy. He said that the triage system needed a radical overhaul. Finally, he said that so much fear had been generated in India that people were too afraid to leave their houses for a vaccination.
Needless to say, the BBC’s Nick Robinson appeared to be totally disinterested in these salient points that the Indian front-line doctor had listed.
Yep…deja-vu (in UK)..(sorry, can’t find French accents!)
See my comment yesterday about the Telegraph YouTube video of phoney mass cremations.
I also saw on my YouTube feed film of an exterior (ie huge) hospital oxygen silo broken down and venting ‘clouds’ of oxygen into the air.
“Ohne Anfst hab’ ich Angst. Good old “Schauspielers”. “Free us from having our own thoughts” – that’s about it – let big pharma and their proxies do all your thinking!
Ausgezeichnet!
“Perth lockdown for three days will see Anzac Day services cancelled” – Covid has once again found its way past the border quarantines, ABC reports”
Here we go again – another lockdown in ‘Zero Covid Australia” (I make it eight In total now, with the Western Australian Labor government contributing three of them). This is what ‘Zero Covid’ means – even one community-transmission ‘case’ and the political knuckleheads and their public health numbskulls go bat-droppings crazy, ordering lockdowns while they deploy their army of contract-tracers. It’s mentally exhausting for everyone – always on edge about whether the coming day will be more or less proper normal or full-on lockdown New Normal.
I notice, however, that the generally pro-lockdown Covid Hysterical talkback radio bit of the media are starting to demur, ever so slightly, with words like ‘overreacton’ and ‘disproportionate’ beginning to crop up on the airwaves.
The fantasy of Zero Covid – and its perpetual threat of lockdowns – however, looks set to continue ad infinitum.
Phil Shannon
South Australia
dear oh dear. If you isolate yourselves from the rest of the world, don’t you fail to develop immunity to diseases circulating in other parts of the world – as the (real) Americans found?
Seriously, do you think the likes of Oz and NZ will fully open up within 5 years? it’s hard to see how by their logic.
Except that there is no ‘logic’. It’s just a wild over reaction to the real world.
Is ANZAC Day much of of a thing in Australia, a public holiday perhaps ?
If so a 3 day lockdown that coincides with it might seem to be designed to cause cultural upset.
I always found it somewhat strange that Oz has a bit of an isolationist attitude when it comes to immigration policies etc and yet amongst the populace is an endemic attitude of ‘good on yer, mate’… just for trying and failing at something, which is very refreshing in comparison to the tall poppy syndrome found in the UK. But perhaps that illustrates the disparity between the people and it’s governors…. much like anywhere!
Does anyone know anything we could be doing now in order to avoid being accidentally opted in to domestic passports/medical ID cards, track & trace etc? I don’t want to live off-grid but I don’t want to end up in a situation where I’ve been included without my explicit consent as getting out once in might be hard!
My ideas so far:
1. Deleting my mobile number from my GP surgery.
2. Opting out of the sharing of my medical records with anyone else eg other NHS departments.
3. Written to NHSX digital abs asked them to delete any data under GDPR.
4. I’m not getting coerced into having the vaccine but I’m also going to refuse to let anyone (in an official capacity) even know my decision. NOYB
5. Don’t get Track & Trace app.
6. Don’t ever give your real details even on paper.
7. If anyone ever phones don’t even confirm who you are.
8. Don’t get the NHS app – this seems to be what they’ll turn into the “passport”.
Any other ideas gratefully received!
The Dark Web is not somewhere I’m familiar with SBC but it might be a route to explore. In case you missed this which I posted late a couple of days ago, courtesy the BBC.
Could register for TPS ( https://www.tpsonline.org.uk/ ) and avoid answering unknown numbers. I did that a long time ago, on account of junk sales calls from various parts of the world. Anything/anyone novel must leave a message and identify their number (obviously withheld ones never have a return call). I sometimes use https://who-called.co.uk/ to identify where junk calls come from.
Depending on how wary you are, you might resist the use of ‘smart meters’ for gas/electric utilities – operated by third parties on a rough 30 minute basis via GSM.
Try paying cash for certain things. I always paid cash at pubs when they were trading.
Could shell out for Virtual Private Network (VPN). Could also split your email addresses into different ones used for certain traders etc.
Could drop off the ‘open register’ & register to vote anonymously (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/register-to-vote-anonymously ).
Probably loads more that could be done.
Who says that the Germans don’t do humour & irony…
“The R Number has increased a little according to Medscape, but there’s been no corresponding resurgence in infections”
I think that says all you need to know about the relevance of the modeller’s ‘R number’.
I was wondering when they would bring the once all pervasive R number back into the discussion.
I still remember little old ladies asking ‘ooh, what do you think the R number will do ? Will it go down?’
‘ No it’ll probably go up dearie’.
Neither having the slightest idea what it meant, if anything.
The latest data on blood clots is prompting vaccine authorities to consider giving the under-40s an alternative to the AstraZeneca jab,
Why ‘under-40s’ ???? If blood clots are an issue?
They’re desperate to unload this useless and massively expensive pre-purchase, obviously.