Boris Johnson confirmed today that “nothing” is ruled out in responding to the Indian variant. Asked if local lockdowns are possible, the Prime Minister told reporters:
There are a range of things we could do, we want to make sure we grip it. Obviously there’s surge testing, there’s surge tracing. If we have to do other things, then of course the public would want us to rule nothing out. We have always been clear we would be led by the data. At the moment, I can see nothing that dissuades me from thinking we will be able to go ahead on Monday and indeed on June 21st, everywhere, but there may be things we have to do locally and we will not hesitate to do them if that is the advice we get.
Meanwhile, Professor James Naismith, from the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio 4 that local lockdowns will be ineffective at containing the variant and it should be viewed as a national problem.
I think we should view it as a countrywide problem. It will get everywhere. We keep learning this lesson, but we know that this will be the case. When we tried locally having different restrictions in different regions that didn’t really make any difference. So I don’t think thinking about a localised strategy for containment will really work.
An emergency meeting of Government scientific advisory group SAGE was convened this morning to address the rapid spread of the variant. One member reportedly warned that a delay to the June 21st lifting of restrictions is “possible”.
Is the Indian variant really something we should be afraid of? No doubt India is currently experiencing a surge in which the variant plays the dominant role. But that doesn’t mean the variant will pull the same trick everywhere – viruses aren’t as simple as that. There are all kinds of reasons one variant might come to dominate, and it isn’t necessarily accompanied by a surge in infections.
Italy is the European country currently most dominated by the Indian variant, having seen it quickly grow in the past few weeks (Indian variant in green).
Here’s what’s happened to the positive test rate in that time.
Clearly, the growth and dominance of the Indian variant does not necessarily lead to a new epidemic.
Meanwhile, in Spain (which has ended its state of emergency) the variant came and went very quickly.
In the UK, the variant is taking longer to grow, and appears to have stalled, though this could change (and it is reported to have grown in the past week).
This pattern has not led to a new surge, of course
India’s own epidemic has slowed and may be peaking.
There is also no evidence that the Indian variant is particularly good at evading vaccines (or causes serious illness when it does), as Oxford Professor Sunetra Gupta told Julia Hartley-Brewer on talkRADIO this morning.
Isn’t it past time the Government stopped scaring people with stories of variants and came through on its promise to restore basic freedoms now that the vulnerable are vaccinated? There will be no end to the coming of new variants of contagious diseases. That’s not a good reason to live in a permanent state of quarantine.
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Built a fortune from the pharma and biotech industries….So this chump made millions poisoning and killing people. How noble, how intelligent, how diligent, how hardworking, how ‘American dreaming’….Why would anyone vote for another fascist-enabling corporate stooge? Wasn’t Drumpf the quackcine salesmen enough? Or that idiot Biden the military salesman with his endless wars?
Farage is clueless about many things including the Rona Fascism and the $cientism of our world which seeks the destruction of just about everything. Maybe instead of ejaculating praise he can analyse the world for what it is.
I share your suspicion of anyone capable of emerging out of the whole rotten system.
However if this guy is a fascist enabling corporate stooge he’s brazenly lying to everyone because he openly calls for a greatly reduced state, eliminating corporate welfare, fiscal prudence. These are the opposite of a fascist agenda.
He could of course be lying through the teeth. How could we know either way other than by voting him in and seeing what he does?
I tend to agree. My preference would be for DeSantis as he has a proven track record in Florida. Trump would be better than Biden but his execution was poor last time and he was unsound on covid.
Voting solves nothing.. if it did they’d ban it..
Whilst certainly a yellow flag, not all pharma and biotech is evil.
What an odd choice that would be. Not sure why DeSantis is not doing better in this process. Perhaps he is too much of a risk to this who like to influence what happens
DeSantis is no risk.. he’s owned by Israel lock stock and barrel. Watch what they do, not what they say. Politicians are liars.. professional liars.
Personally, I have been watching DeSantis and he has been doing ok from my perspective. The media support, however he is “owned” has definitely changed so perhaps some of the other people “owners” do see him as a risk.
They’re all owned Graham.. politicians are just puppets.. told what to do..
Indeed. Guilded slaves.
If they’re all professional liars, how do you suggest we pick a leader then?
It’s OK to bad mouth everyone but please suggest an alternative!
Do you need a politician as a leader.. I certainly don’t. Never have, never will.. perfectly able to lead myself thanks.
As for bad mouthing.. you appear to have learnt nothing over the past three years about the political class, both in UK and abroad, but don’t fret.. you won’t have to worry soon.. your precious politicians are leading you towards the Great Reset, and New World Order, then you’ll be enslaved to a World Governing Technocracy.. should be fun..
FWIW George I am in complete agreement.
Tah Hux.. on reflection I think I was a bit hard on Dinger.. I got spiked.. haha
Blimey.. all the 11s.. I must be popular.. I’m keeping that one..
Not wanting to be negative Toby.. but American presidents are chosen.. yes.. Trump too.. he was no maverick.. a little research into his son-in-law Jared Kushner will put you on the right track. There will be no saviour from the wings.. especially one from an established political party like the GOP.
Politicians that get to power are bought and paid for, those that aren’t languish on the sidelines.
Just like UK.. voting for a politician is not going to get America or any other country out of the mess we are in. The only way that will happen is from the grass routes, the bottom up. The populace have to realise what has happened to them, what has happened to their countries, and whose been responsible. The ‘gilet jaune’s’ in France were an example of ordinary people rising, and look how brutally they were put down. The put down was brutal because TPTB knew that there is real danger to them when the common people are united.
Sadly.. Gramsci’s long march through the institutions has taken place over decades, and been largely successful. Groups like Common Purpose have infiltrated every institution. Our culture’s have fundamentally changed. Those leaving our universities are carrying a cultural Marxist banner. A slick wealthy politician of any persuasion is not going to change that in five minutes.
As the late great comedian George Carlin says.. we have owners.. we are owned. Watch the video.. The American Dream.. its an education..
https://youtu.be/acLW1vFO-2Q
Carlin’s monologue points out it could all be fixed with a truthful media.—-Fat chance!
Well at least with a truthful media people would know what the f*ck was going on and be able to make decisions based on that knowledge.
The media is the most powerful tool in powers control.. because it does the controlling for them..
Our salvation is not going to arrive via the ballot box.
I need to ‘tm’ this phrase.
The idea of the grassroots revolution is, I think, a myth.
I can’t think of any revolution that wasn’t led by a group of elites, generally a different one to those already in power.
The only grassroots revolution i recognise is mass non-compliance which doesn’t look very revolutionary as it generally entails not doing rather than doing something.
Yes.. Richard I’m afraid you’re right about revolutions and the leadership of them.
If you’d been with me during the rise of the Gilet Jaune’s though I’m sure you’d have thought one was taking place, especially if you were manning the many roundabout encampments or facing off against totally unwarranted tear gas volleys.
No.. what that was, was a groundswell demonstration against Macron and his cronies. People sick to death of being pushed around. It scared them rigid and that’s why it was brutally put down..
“… [Ramaswamy] built a fortune via the pharmaceutical and biotech industries…”
What could possibly go wrong?
Working on a new covid jab maybe..
Its a bit disappointing to see him written off by my fellow posters because he is involved in pharma. I’ve seen very little of the guy to be able to tell you who’s pocket he is in, but on the principle that there is no ‘independent’ candidate, I will wait and see. Scepticism doesn’t mean you have to be negative about everything.
My post didn’t mention pharma Neil.. he’s a politician.. if you expect a politician to solve problems, and make life better for the ordinary man on the street, I’m afraid you’ll have a very-very long wait.. oh.. and that includes DeSantis..
I certainly don’t expect any politician to “solve” any problem. The best we can hope for is that there are some who create fewer problems by leaving law abiding citizens alone.
Yeah.. I’d rather have cancer than the plague..
Sorry George, but I didn’t think I was replying to you. I have no expectations of politicians at all. They are all bought and paid for, but some are worse than others…
Believe it not I agree Neil.. thank God for Andrew Bridgen..
I understand where you’re coming from, Neil, but given our experiences over the past three years, is it any wonder that people aren’t getting overly excited by what seems an already moulded product of the system – Harvard, finance, pharma and biotech? We should all know by now that Presidents and their VPs are frontmen for the real power. Anyone getting into the prime position of US politics won’t be because of a popular uprising.
Thats true, But the current Democrats are beyond appauling, I suspect as Labour would be if they win the next GE. I was very disappointed that Trump, for all his faults, didn’t win in 2020. I’d like to see him win in 24, with a running mate who can win the next two after that. I still think that a rejuvenated Republic party is the medicine the USA needs right now, and the western world with it..
Trump did win in 2020 and accepting the lie that he did not simply reinforces that lie.
Don’t dump desantis just yet!…watch this space
I have read interviews and listened to Vivek Ramaswamy speaking and I think that he talks sense, if I had a vote he would get mine, and in my opinion he doesn’t need Trump.
He’s a politician, of course he talks sense.. it wins votes. What happens when they get into power though is nearly always the exact opposite, the many promises made seem to vanish as if by magic..
Might he fare better if he changed his name to Victor Ramsden?
Just asking…
He also wants to raise the voting age to 25, so he will alienate a pretty big chunk of the population. Probably that’s because he knows that such voter suppression is the only way his party could win without blatantly cheating nowadays. Even if it would require a constitutional amendment to do it. That said, 18-24 year olds are known for the subpar voter turnout. So it really is “use it or lose it”.
I really have lost all faith in Farage’s judgement.