- “Will lockdown still end on June 21st?” – According to Katy Balls in the Spectator, it depends on whether vaccine hesitancy remains an issue in Government calculations
- “Full easing is now unlikely” – From what Robert Peston’s heard, the prospect of stage 4 going ahead as planned is “close to nil”
- “Boris Johnson is not to blame for the spread of the Indian variant” – Writing in the Telegraph, Ross Clark defends the Prime Minister against the charge that he has been ignoring obvious scientific evidence about the threat posed by the Indian variant
- “Don’t be fooled by ‘freedom day’ – this totalitarian nightmare is far from over” – “We are,” writes Annabel Fenwick Elliott in the Telegraph, “as so many people continue to wilfully ignore, still living under a totalitarian regime that no-one voted for”
- “Every time we think life might be returning to normal, along comes another Covid variant” – “Each time the Government needs to scare the public into submission, a new mutation pops up,” says Sarah Knapton in the Telegraph. “But we will only be able to test our hard-won vaccine resilience by ending lockdown”
- “Northern Ireland police cleared of bias over Bobby Storey funeral” – The Guardian reports that the PSNI has been cleared of bias in handling the funeral of Bobby Storey which attracted over 2,000 mourners last June, the watchdog finding that they had prioritised security over the enforcement of the Covid regulations which were “confusing”
- “Online betting surge among young people” – Online gambling increased six-fold during the lockdowns, the Times reports, and young men were particularly susceptible
- “YouTube launches vaccination ad campaign” – In conjunction with the NHS, YouTube has launched a multi-million-pound advertising campaign to encourage young people to get vaccinated, the BBC reports
- “Successful Covid vaccine trials give GlaxoSmithKline a lift” – A COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi has shown positive results in early-stage trials, according to the Times
- “Is the Pfizer vaccine as effective as claimed?” – Norman Fenton and Martin Neil note on the Probability and Law blog that the Israeli study showing Pfizer jabs to be 95% effective is a bit dubious
- “Demonising vaccine “refuseniks” is pointless and wrong” – “An individual’s decision to proceed with an injection should be a matter of informed consent, not something decreed by top-down diktat and laced with veiled threats,” writes Dr Alex Starling in Reaction
- “Fat is a lockdown issue” – “Lockdown was, in part, the sacrifice of liberty to gluttony,” says Dr Sarah Ingham at Conservative Home
- “Kept apart – the price of beating Covid” – Two members of the British Medical Association, the former president Sir Al Aynsley-Green, and representative Dr Latifa Patel, describe their hospital stays and ask whether the balance between safety and compassion is right
- “Friends and allies: The Gates Foundation and British scientists” – In a third instalment of a Conservative Woman series, Karen Harradine shine a light on the connections between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the universities and colleges that employ members of SAGE
- “Delay reopening? We saw that coming” – The Prime Minister’s talk of a possible delay to the end of lockdown is entirely predictable, according to Daniel Miller at Conservative Woman, and “the rationale has no relation whatsoever to any Indian variant”
- “Covid scaremongering – the Government’s £1bn blitz” – Frederick Edward outlines the huge sums of money that have been spent on Covid media campaigns in the Conservative Woman
- “Ministers – not the unvaccinated – are ruining it for everybody else” – Writing for Bournbrook Magazine, Michael Curzon is under no illusion who the real culprits are when it comes to delaying the reopening
- “A Snapshot of the Worldwide Freedom Demo in London” – Emily Garcia reports on Saturday’s anti-lockdown protest in London, part of the second Worldwide Demonstration For Freedom, for LeftLockdownSceptics
- “No shortage of lockdown protests – only a shortage of reporting” – Roger Watson searched far and wide for reports on Saturday’s protest in London, but apart from Toby’s account, there wasn’t too much to find, he says at the Unity New Network
- “Care homes or prisons” – Collateral Global talks to Julia Jones, co-founder of the John’s Campaign, about the cessation of visiting rights in care homes, part of the third edition a mag on elder care
- “The Great Reopening (Indoors)” – Peter Hitchens joins Mike Graham and Kevin O’Sullivan as the Independent Republic of Mike Graham marks the day that the pubs reopened indoors. They are finally in the same room!
- “Sweden, Covid and lockdown – a look at the data” – To some, Sweden is a “Covid hell”, says Fraser Nelson in the Spectator, “but if Covid and lockdown is judged in the round, you can see why Swedes remain confident in Anders Tegnell”
- “Calgary pastor arrested after breaking pandemic gathering rules for months” – Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church in Calgary has become the latest pastor to be arrested in relation to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, CBC reports
- “Will 2020 Prove to Be the Beginning of the End of Modernity?” – “Abruptly starting 16 months ago, there quite possibly began the end of liberal civilisation,” writes Donald J. Boudreaux for the AIER
- “Texas Reports Zero Covid Deaths two Months After Biden Called its Reopening Plan as Neanderthal Thinking” – Texan “Neanderthal thinking” has worked out quite well Newsweek reports, as on Sunday, just after NCAA FCS college football national championship, Governor Greg Abbott reported that the State had recorded zero Covid deaths in the previous 24 hours
- “School closures on trial” – Writing in Spectator USA, Richard Koenig’s judgement is that “for more than a year now the young have borne the burden when their elders freaked out over Covid”
- “Dr. Fauci is Finally Unmasked” – “The serious unraveling of Fauci’s undeserved reputation as ‘an American hero’ and ‘the most trusted voice on COVID-19’ has finally begun,” says Peter Barry Chowka in the American Thinker
- “Queensland researchers’ discover COVID-19 ‘heat-seeking missile’” – 9 News Australia reports on the development of a treatment for COVID-19, a form of therapy called ‘gene silencing’ in which nano particles are injected into the blood to seek out and destroy coronavirus cells. It’s hoped it will be available in two years
- “What Covid Reveals About our Leaders” – Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying discuss the ‘lab-leak’ hypothesis and the potential of ivermectin to treat Covid in the most recent episode of the DarkHorse Podcast
- “Wake Up From Covid” – A Groundhog Day parody. Very funny. Worth watching
News Round Up
A summary of all the most interesting stories that have appeared about the virus in the past 24 hours – not just in Britain, but around the world.
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This week across the site:
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The probabilityandlaw article nails 2 manipulations of the vaccine data.
One is relatively new, very obvious and generally unquestioned and accepted regardless: the different, much more stringent criteria when testing vaccinated people compared to.jnvacvinared ones, based upon absolutely no scientific basis.
The other one addresses the old, well known and totally unquestioned and as such generally accepted difference in the composition of the two trial groups, again favouring the vaccinated with regard to the desired outcome. Another abnormality and manipulation in those trial groups that is known but cometely ignored was the fact, that the very much obese were almost solely present in the unvaccinated group. We all know what that results in and why that was likely arranged for, but didn’t get the ensuing sickness data on them at all, so far.
This was, is and will remain a gigantic con.
Apologies if these have already been posted. Delhi & Maharashtra State showing Ivermectin introduction.
The other one.
Does anyone have a reference for the ongoing study into mortality allocation during the ‘pandemic’. I remember one of the well known scientists and (her?) Team were looking onto how many Covid deaths had probably been misallocated.
“Writing in the Telegraph, Ross Clark defends the Prime Minister against the charge that he has been ignoring obvious scientific evidence about the threat posed by the Indian variant”
An illustration of the level of unintelligence in the profession of journalism.
What you won’t see in the Lügenpresse is the context for the current Double Mutant Indian Strain. From the shrieking and wailing about spikes in “cases”, and Hancock snarling and sneering about the unvaccinated being hospitalised in droves, you might be tempted to infer that hospitalisations with[*] it are up.
Well, I’ve been to the far-right conspiracy theory site nhs.uk and looked at their daily numbers for bed occupancy.
What do you imagine we’ll see?
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/
[*] As usual, these numbers are “with”, not “because of”.
The (almost) entire medical history of UK residents is to be put up for sale from 30 June unless they opt out. Here’s how to opt out: https://medconfidential.org/2021/let-us-tell-you-about/ Spread the word far and wide, because the government isn’t telling you.
I think you’re right Hugh. Lloyd-Webber in today’s Telegraph says that those who refuse the jab are “selfish” … because he wants theatres to open, presumably not for selfish reasons or maybe he lacks self awareness.
I would recommend the following video discussion.
https://off-guardian.org/2021/05/17/watch-james-patrick-with-cj-hopkins-on-the-covidian-cult/
It’s not Covid 19 that has made mugs of us all, it’s the government and their advisors.
Brilliant article by Mr Fraser Nelson in The Spectator:
‘Sweden, covid and lockdown…..’
He implicitly asks the question:
‘The tougher comparison to make is Sweden vs Denmark, which has higher density but suffered less excess death and comparable economic damage.’
I am able to provide the answer:
‘Due to de-institutionalisation, care for frail older people is more often provided in the home.
Care is provided by formally employed and well-trained staff.
The majority of nursing homes are public and modern in providing an individual abode.’
https://ltccovid.org/2020/05/28/new-country-report-the-covid-19-long-term-care-situation-in-denmark‘
Greece is now fully open to tourists, 11,000 ‘covid’ deaths only. Why? For various reasons, most of the elderly in Greece are looked after by their family.
‘Due to the crisis and economic hardship, families opt to look after the elderly at home as pension benefits are a major source of income particularly among households with unemployed members.’
https://eurocarers.org/country-profiles/greece/
So, conclusions:
The Sweden response, along with so many U.S. States, is, quite clearly, an exemplar, excepting, as the Swedish Health Authority itself admits, its failure to protect care homes.
Covid problems have been caused by nosocomial infection exacerbated by the failure to protect the elderly and infirm in care homes. Future government interventions might… Read more »
As far as I am able to understand it, the logic behind delaying ‘full re-opening’ is that the ‘Indian variant’ might otherwise ‘rip through’ those vulnerable individuals who have ‘refused’ the vaccine.
But the vaccine does not stop ‘vulnerable refuseniks’ from contracting the virus, and over the counter treatments like Budesonide inhalers, Ivermectin, are readily and cheaply available to prevent severe symptoms in………anyone…….!
In short: the only benefit of this global weird out has been a cure for the worst effects of the common cold.
But the deeper question that I have is this:
How in the flying bejasus did Mr Pooter end up running the world?
I haven’t been hiding at home. I haven’t watched a single one of Boris’s televisual Walpurgisnachts.
They haven’t made a mug of me. A victim, yes, as far as they are able, but not a mug. The same goes for everybody on this site, except perhaps little fon.
Good one from Sherelle Jacobs to add to today’s list:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/17/variant-caution-risks-becoming-excuse-never-return-normality/
I’m afraid you’re quite right. Reading comments in the telegraph over the past couple of days, it has already started.
I limit myself to reading the letters page once every couple of weeks!
I can’t wait.
That’s two summers the villains have ruined now. Old normal can’t return soon enough (and won’t). I repeat, join any old normal communities you can, even if it’s stuff you’ve never done before. We are the resistance.
(technically the end of May, after which June 21 will become irrelevant)
My question about these non-vaccine treatments for Covid (HCQ, Ivermectin and now injectable nano-particles courtesy of Queensland Researchers) is “How applicable are they to other respiratory viruses?”. Is it just a fluke that they work on Covid, or is there something more fundamental going on?
If they are more widely applicable, they represent a very promising direction for anti-viral research.
Could we possibly have a new consumer rights scheme whereby any scientific pronouncement on health issues can be labelled “guaranteed big pharma propaganda free” – or not, as the case may be? Informed choice, you know. (Maybe The Light or someone could run it?)
“PSNI” prioritised security? Maybe we should develop a para-military wing! (And no, for any 77th Brigade etc. reading, I don’t advocate terrorism. Jolly well terrorism what’s been done to us though!).
“Vaccine hesitancy”? (Spectator article)
According to the UK Column article (the banned one by Doctors for Covid Ethics), urging “vaccination” to protect others has “no basis in fact”. Therefore, once all the vulnerable people who wish to have these “vaccines” have done so, there can be no possible justification for maintaining restrictions. Not unless they are planning this to be permanent. (Or unless pharmaceutical interests have a disproportionate influence)
The government can get stuffed with their murderous lockdowns.