- “Could the Indian variant slow unlocking?” – “For months, we have been told that we must ‘learn to live with’ Covid,” writes Ross Clark in the Spectator. “The rise of the Indian variant is going to be a big test of this”
- “Boris sends Army into hotspots as he presses ahead with indoor drinking and dining despite SAGE warning” – MailOnline‘s summary of the SAGE forecasts and the Government’s actions
- “Pfizer and Moderna vaccines cut the risk of getting sick with COVID-19 by 94%” – The CDC compared vaccination status of 623 healthcare workers who tested positive for COVID-19 with 1,220 who tested negative, and found that those testing negative were five times as likely to have had the jab, the Daily Mail reports
- “Could the Indian variant mean AstraZeneca jab will be used for under-40s?” – If infections start to surge, the risk calculus may swing in favour of giving the AstraZeneca vaccine to young people, according to MailOnline
- “The nation needs to get out of lockdown, not linger in fear” – “Masks and social distancing have to go,” says Camilla Tominey, the Telegraph‘s Associate Editor
- “People in Wales asked not to travel abroad” – The people of Wales will soon be able to travel to a small list of countries, according to the BBC, but the Welsh Government is asking them to resist the temptation
- “Fines rescinded for Ashfield councillors accused of breaking lockdown rules” – The two Ashfield councillors who were fined for for breaking lockdown rules after they were seen posting leaflets through people’s doors have had their fines withdrawn, Chad reports
- “St Paul’s faces closure as pandemic decimates tourism cash” – St Paul’s Cathedral is facing its worst financial crisis in 300 years after the building’s income dropped by 90% in 2020, the Evening Standard reports
- “We’ve probably lost another summer” – Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has said that Government-backed insurance against cancellation due to Covid for the events industry will only be considered once further lockdown restrictions are lifted on June 21st, according to the Independent
- “The focus on variants is becoming an obsession” – “We need to question if this constant fixation on new variants is helpful or productive,” writes UnHerd‘s pseudonymous doctor, Amy Jones
- “Have You Had Your Jab, Yet? Part 1” – In LeftLockdownSceptics, Phil Shannon wonders how things have reached such a pass that “getting vaccinated has become a political purity test rather than a purely medical issue”
- “One Day in the Life of Ivan Dennison (Covid Marshal Grade 2)” – A sardonic take on the life and work of a Covid marshal, from John Ellwood in the Conservative Woman
- “And How are the Children?” – “We have to keep returning to the question,” says Christine E. Black in Off Guardian. “And if the children are not well, we must change course to stop harming them”
- “Lockdowns and the Greater Good” – Rev Phill Sacre dispels the idea that lockdowns are for “the greater good” by taking a lesson from the movie Hot Fuzz
- “Fears loom in Spanish tourism industry as restrictions in Britain, Germany threaten summer rebound” – Continuing reluctance in both the U.K. and Germany to allow travel to Spain is putting the country’s summer tourism season at risk, El Pais reports
- “Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario to be locked, pastor and church fined” – The Church of God in Aylmer, Ontario is facing $48,000 in fines and $69,000 in legal costs, Global News reports
- “Coronavirus is airborne so stop disinfecting everything: expert” – Stop cleaning and start ventilating, says Michael Brauer, a professor in the School of Public Health at UBC in an interview with CBC’s The Dose
- “Alberta Health Service finds no Covid cases from anti-lockdown rodeo” – There was a ‘No More Lockdowns Rodeo’ in Bowden, Alberta over the Mayday weekend which drew more than 4,000 people and which the Alberta Health Service tried to stop, according to the Western Standard. Two weeks later they say they haven’t found any cases linked to the event
- “Liberals Turning Against the Lockdown Left” – The left “has always pushed a hysterical approach to both Covid spread and severity,” writes Michael Fumento in an article for the AIER, “but chinks in the armour are now appearing”
- “Vaccine Passports and Medical Paternalism” – Birsen Filip argues for Mises Wire that the great classical liberals of the past would have had no truck with vaccine passports or medical paternalism
- “Singapore Announces Lockdown-Like Restrictions As Local Covid Cases Flare Up” – Singapore is about to introduce its strictest curbs since last year’s lockdown. According to Forbes, dining in restaurants will be forbidden and outdoor gatherings restricted to just two people until at least June 13th
- “Japanese towns cancel plans to host Olympic athletes as Covid fears mount” – Towns across Japan are cancelling plans to host athletes before the Tokyo Olympics, the FT says, meaning athletes may have little opportunity to acclimatise
- “The Irregular Actions of Public Health Agencies and the Widespread Disinformation Campaign Against Ivermectin” – A statement from the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance on the resistance to recognising the value of ivermectin in treating Covid
- “The World Health Organisation Endorses Lockdowns Forever” – Jeffrey Tucker spells out the implications of a recent WHO report for Real Clear Markets: Lockdown whenever there is a pandemic
- “Investigate the origins of COVID-19” – “We must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spill-overs seriously until we have sufficient data,” says a group of 18 scientists in a letter to the journal Science
- “Dr. Bhattacharya Discusses Covid and Lockdowns with Dennis Prager” – The Great Barrington Declaration Co-author makes an appearance on The Dennis Prager Show to discuss the ineffectiveness and costs of lockdown
- “DeSantis Exclusive: Pro-law, safe reopening, anti-Big Tech” – Appearing on Spicer and Co by Newsmax TV, the next President explains how he responded to the pandemic and warns of the dangers of allowing scientists to dictate policy
- “Tucker Carlson, the model GB News should follow” – Tucker is airing questions that just aren’t being asked in the U.K., says Kathy Gyngell in the Conservative Woman, as she highlight the broadcaster’s recent discussion with Dr. Peter McCullough about why U.S. doctor’s still don’t have an official treatment protocol for COVID-19. The interview is on YouTube and there is a summary on Fox News
- “The cure might be worse than the disease” – Appearing on Kevin O’Sullivan’s talkRADIO show, Toby explains why the inquiry needs to look at how SAGE came to enjoy so much influence over the Government’s decision-making. More here
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So far I like the cut of Milei’s jib. A breath of fresh air and common sense.
Billing the head of JSO would certainly be appreciated. A pay up or porridge deal should do the trick.
I strongly disagree.
“Security” is an imposition by the state. Its the state that wants to deploy police officers to provide “security” so it should foot the bill itself.
Although, of course, the state has no income. It’s income cones from shaking down the public.
It didn’t take Milei long to act like a hypocrite.
You are total granite Stewart always totally consistent.
JSO can protest and I would not charge them for security, but I would certainly charge them or jail them for damaging art works, buildings etc.—- Damaging things is not legitimate protest. ———I would expect no leniency if I had a JUST START OIL T short on and threw paint at my bank window, and I don’t think I would get any.
Its that thing that the left don’t do terribly well. Consequences for their actions…
I strongly disagree.
“Security” is an imposition by the state. Its the state that wants to deploy police officers to provide “security” so it should foot the bill itself.
That’s not really true. In 2017, there was a G20 meeting in Hamburg. These are traditionally also gathering points of the (so-called) anticapitalist/ anarchist hard left who’ll stage ‘protests’ against them. The city was essentially stripped of police in order to ensure the safety of all the meeting politicians. Because of this, the protestors went rioting in several city districts, smashing up and looting shops, torching cars etc.
Milei’s argument still doesn’t hold water, though: The largest parts of these costs will have been paying all the security-related government employees who would have needed to be paid come rain or shine, ie, regardless of the demonstration. And the actual numbers deployed were chosen by the government for some reason only known to it. People have freedom of assembly, however, should they actually assemble, fines in the order of thenthousands of dollars will be issued to people not guilty of any criminal conduct effectively means There’s no freedom of assembly.
I tend to agree
My starting point would be that the right to peaceful public mass protest is sacrosanct and charging people for it isn’t appropriate. If people are engaging in deliberate obstruction then they should be moved on or arrested. The greyer area is when the obstruction is a natural result of a lot of people being in the same place at the same time. I think it’s reasonable to encourage protestors to choose where they go in order to minimise inconvenience to others without losing the impact of the protest but I don’t feel that coercion is warranted
I like the idea of charging JSO for any damage done, then passing that on to donors. Never happen though
What a Christmas gift, that headline really did make me laugh out loud
Good for Milei, if I’m not mistaken a similar principle applies to football matches and pop concerts, so why not.
If you truly believe in what you’re protesting, you’ll be happy to foot the bill, in the knowledge that you will be safe while protesting and as a taxpayer you will not get further burdened.
Merry Christmas everyone, have a good one.
Yep, we are on the same page Jane.
Have a lovely Christmas
There’s a very real danger that this could end up being the thin end of the wedge. Once a government charges protesters blocking roads during a protest it’s a very small step to charging other protests for the policing costs involved and before we know it protest is the preserve of the well off.
The best solution would be to massively increase the fines given to people who have been found guilty of breaking the law during a protest to help cover the cost of dealing with their law breaking rather than simply charging groups who organise a protest.
“massively increase the fines given to people who have been found guilty of breaking the law”
I largely agree with your comments but the problem is that the legal system is now largely corrupted. JSO routinely break the law with their pathetic vandalism and deliberate road closures. Bill the tw#t funding this crap and things might change. If he doesn’t pay send him down.
Looking forward to the day when Extinction Rebellion are charged for the disruptions they cause. 10,000 motorists on the M25 x £10.42 an hour…. A few days of that will soon drain ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ the George Soros funded twats of funds.
Damn right.
“a heavy deployment of police, paramilitary officers and anti-riot forces, cost 60 million pesos, or about £57,500, at the official exchange rate.”
We should employ Argentinian police. At those prices we could fly them over here to deal with protests and riots and fly them back and it’d still cost less than using ours.
Yes that’s 1,043 pesos to the pound if my calculator is correct.
They will also strip protestors of Welfare. That’s going to hurt.
No. Just those protesters who block streets – if I understood that correctly.
Mind you that also means they expect to be able to identify these people.
—
Have a peaceful Christmas everyone.
In order to do this they must be closely surveilling the event and have the technology to trace the protesters they have identified. Its easy to applaud the concept of charging the protesters but the mechanics involved in that process are part of the apparatus of the surveillance state which, I think, most here would be against.
Correct. Trudeau tried it against the Canadian trucker protest during Covid. Not just cutting off welfare payments but freezing their bank accounts. I don’t think many on here would have supported that action.