The Welsh Government’s plans to introduce vaccine passport checks in nightclubs and other ‘large’ venues have passed through the Senedd after a Zoom failure prevented a Tory MS from casting his ‘no’ vote. WalesOnline has the story.
Welsh Labour’s high profile policy had seemed set for a humiliating defeat with all three opposition parties pledging to vote against it meaning the vote would have been tied. A tied vote would have left the decision with Presiding Officer Elin Jones who would have been obliged not to allow new legislation onto the statue books.
However Tory MS Gareth Davies, who was joining the meeting remotely, was unable to get onto Zoom to cast his vote. Labour’s Covid passes plan passed by 28 votes to 27.
The chamber, which is sitting in a hybrid format with some of the 60 members present and some attending remotedly, could hear an intervention by MS Darren Millar on behalf of his colleague Mr Davies, the MS for Vale of Clwyd. Mr. Millar was told by the Presiding Officer that all attempts to get him onto the relevant software had taken place.
It means this vote – which introduces new regulations to all people who live in Wales – was passed simply because of a Zoom error. The relief on the faces of the Government and First Minister was clear to see. …
After the result, a spokeswoman for the Night Time Industries Association Wales said: “The NTIA has long campaigned against the introduction of Covid Passports due to the operational barriers these measures will cause. We were pleased to see the number of MSs that listened to our concerns today and voted against these proposals.
“It is a democratic outrage that one MS who wanted to vote, and who would’ve voted against the proposals, could not, due to a mere technical error. This shambles will cause even more uncertainty for our businesses.
“There must be an urgent revote so that the will of the Senedd can be fairly expressed and businesses have some clarity about the future.”
Worth reading in full.
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Toby correct, for me, on the appeal of the “Team James/Team Toby” dynamic. That is one of the main appeals of London Calling imo:
“That seems to be what interests people more than anything else, I think partly because a lot of people are struggling with that very issue themselves, and can’t work out the extent to which it’s an organised conspiracy and the extent to which it’s just an endless series of cockups“.
Frankly I think anybody who thinks he knows with any certainty what the whole truth is on this issue is deluding himself.
I read a novel years ago, published before 2001, about a fictionalised New World Order takeover. What’s striking about it is that the world imagined in the dystopian nightmare they portray seems to me to be in some ways not as bad as some of the horrors that have happened in the last couple of years. (and worse to come if Dr. Mike Yeadon is correct). There was more of a resistance in this book for a start. Of course I don’t know the whole truth of what is happening now, and perhaps never will, but I am fairly sure that some of the things that are happening have been warned about in the past.
What happened to Mike Yeadon? Established his paradise for the unvaccinated in Zanzibar? Somewhere off the coast of East Africa?
I expect it’s a bit boring there – palm trees, waves crashing on the beach, fish for supper. Fish for breakfast. Fish for lunch.
Somali pirates. No trips by train. No walking in the English countryside along footpaths, no walking along canal towpaths. Weather always hot and sticky. No old pubs, ancient churches and cathedrals, or steam railways to visit. Airport five days ride along rough roads in a jeep.
Nothing to read, nothing on the television. No Waitrose. No Christmas turkey, just another coconut.
“What happened to Mike Yeadon?”
I believe he didn’t feel it was safe for him and his family in the UK any more, so he moved to the US.
Florida, I would guess, where he is able to continue to warn.
Dr Yeadon, at the expense of income, a quiet, easy life and unstressed leisure, stood up and spoke up – and still speaks up – for what he believes to be true. He might not have it all right, but he took a stand despite damage to himself for principle.
And you, Emerald Fox, haven’t even the guts to post under your own name.
You silly little sausage.
He posts multiple times daily on Telegram for starters.
He & Monotti have a dedicated channel with over 50,000 fol
Obviously he’s shadowbanned / blocked from low information channels like You’re a Tube etc.
https://t.me/robinmg
Oh he might find steam railways if he makes it to Eritrea.
Of course no-one knows the whole truth but to me “cock up” implies that the people driving this in the main sincerely believe the measures they are taking are going to help, and that just doesn’t wash with me.
“The people driving this” rather begs the question, though, doesn’t it?
Many of the people actually driving this – the scientists who push fearful studies and give over-cautious advice, and who viciously attack their colleagues personally and professionally on social media if they step out of fearmongering line, the administrators and managers who enthusiastically impose and enforce totalitarian policies, the media journalists and editors who push scare propaganda and the celebrities who provide them with appropriate virtue signalling advice, etc, surely in many if not most cases have convinced themselves that they are the good guys.
And if you say “ah but they aren’t the prime movers” – your Gates and your big money corporates etc, then you are into precisely the kind of speculation I was referring to. You can make plausible arguments based on cui bono and on stated plans and wishes, but little of it adds up to certainty, imo, and what does, does not amount to sufficient evidence to claim proof of a world-controlling organised conspiracy (the “conspiracy” end equivalent of claiming “it’s all cockup and there is nothing at all nefarious going on” at the cockup end).
The truth is still most likely in the middle somewhere, and certainty about it is still elusive, is all I’m saying.
I was mainly thinking about the senior politicians and SAGE. I struggle to believe they don’t know they are lying.
The conspiracy IMO is mainly one of knowingly prolonging the “pandemic” in an opportunist power grab.
There are certainly things that many powerful people will collaborate on and are known to do so – eugenics, population control and such like. (And Charles Dicken’s warning about it in A Christmas Carol remains as relevant as ever.
If anyone still thinks this is a series of cockups isn’t thinking at all.
The main appeal for me are the cover images that accompany the podcasts. This one is a prime example. The trouble they’ve gone to in order to create that image – the hiring of the period costumes, paying all the extras in the background etc., it’s really impressive!
“We have to keep it fairly PG. So no incitement of mob violence, no comparisons to Nazis. That’s too X-rated James.”
Avoiding direct incitements to violence is clearly necessary, but the “calling people Nazis” taboo is another social taboo that seems a little overplayed these days. Anybody over a certain age who was not a raging socialist most likely grew up being regularly accused of being a “Nazi” or a “Fascist” by some shallow, immature leftist, just for not agreeing with him or her over some arcane detail of class warfare, and many of the people on the left objecting to the use of Nazi comparisons for “vaccine” totalitarians were perfectly happy for Trump to be called a Nazi basically for, again, disagreeing with their holy writs.
For sure it is controversial. But plenty of opponents of lockdown and of “vaccine” coercion believe and quite cogently argue that the perpetrators of the nastier aspects of these policies – especially the active, public discrimination against and scapegoating of dissidents in the most vituperative and demonising terms – are comparable with Nazi behaviours and attitudes. Bearing in mind that when people voted for the Nazi Party in the 1920s and early 1930s there were no death camps, and allowing for the fact that post-WW1 Germany was a far more generally violent and socially and politically turbulent society, many if not most Nazi voters would probably have had similar attitudes towards minorities that zero covid zealots have today towards “vaccine” and lockdown dissenters. And many of the apparatchiks and functionaries who managed early Nazi governance would have had similar attitudes to their current equivalents, that they were merely enforcing the law and doing what was necessary to people they saw as recalcitrant enemies of the German people.
Does it enable dissenters to be painted as “extremists” to the gullible majority? Undoubtedly. Is that a reason not to do it? Not necessarily. There are real parallels between the power grab enabled by the manufactured covid panic and past descents into totalitarian rule, including the Nazi rise to power in Germany, and if a score of people who are gullible mainstream cyphers anyway are persuaded to cluck with disapproval, but one such is inspired to think things through, that’s probably a long term gain.
All of the now dominant radical social movements – feminists, homosexual behaviour promoters, antiracists etc – were full of extremists who screeched at those who disagreed with them in the most intemperate and immoderate ways. Shock and controversy doesn’t seem to have prevented them from becoming socially, culturally and politically dominant forces today.
Yes indeed. One of my work colleagues compared me to Hitler fairly recently.
But I’d guess you don’t think too highly of Marx and that basically means you cannot be a National Socialist.
I don’t know much about Marx, TBH, though the results of supposedly applied Marxism have not been all that appealing. But no, I wouldn’t consider myself a Nazi. Very much a moderate, or I was before the supposedly “moderate” centre got hijacked by what seem like crazed extremist views to me….
We need to resist the Covid nonsense with the following events
https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f978.svg Friday 8th October 11amhttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f978.svg
Parade through Wokingham Town Centre with signs and strange masks like in Edinburgh above
– please bring your carnival/Guy Fawkes/Fancy Dress masks and overalls if you have them
Meet in the Cockpit Path car park in the centre of the town RG40 2HD
https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/2764.svg Saturday 16th October 1pmhttps://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/2764.svg
MEGA Hold the Line Stand by the Road event
– followed by walk to the Town Centre
Combined Berks/Bucks/Oxon/Surrey/Hants
Bring your Yellow Boards and other banners –
Stafferton Way Maidenhead SL6 1AY
https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f388.svgSaturday 30th October 2pm https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f388.svg
SPECIAL STAND IN THE PARK WINDSOR
Alexander Park (near Bandstand) Stand in the Park
Barry Rd/Goswell Rd
Windsor SL4 1QY
Stand in the Park 2pm followed by walk to
Stand in the Town Centre around 3pm
About 2 hours in total.
https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f1ee-1f1f9.svg Saturday 13th November 2pm https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f1ee-1f1f9.svg
NEW EVENT – we enjoyed it so much Reading its happening again!!
BERKSHIRE RALLY FOR FREEDOM – rain not guaranteed
Forbury Gardens Reading
Super Stand in the Park 2pm
followed by walk to Reading town centre around 3pm
About 2 hours in total.
https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f1ee-1f1f9.svg No Green Pass https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/1f1ee-1f1f9.svg
Stand in the Park Make friends – keep sane – talk freedom and have a laugh
Wokingham Howard Palmer Gardens RG40 2HD Sundays 10am
behind the Cockpit Path car park in the centre of the town
Bracknell South Hill Park
Sundays 10am & Wednesdays 2pm
Join our Telegram group http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
Reading River Promenade Sundays 10am
Join our Telegram group https://t.me/standindparkreading
We need to resist the COVID nonsense with the following events
Friday 8th October 11am
Parade through Wokingham Town Centre with signs and strange masks like in Edinburgh above
– please bring your carnival/Guy Fawkes/Fancy Dress masks and overalls if you have them
Meet in the Cockpit Path car park in the centre of the town RG40 2HD
Saturday 16th October 1pm
MEGA Hold the Line Stand by the Road event
– followed by walk to the Town Centre
Combined Berks/Bucks/Oxon/Surrey/Hants
Bring your Yellow Boards and other banners –
Stafferton Way Maidenhead SL6 1AY
Saturday 30th October 2pm
SPECIAL STAND IN THE PARK WINDSOR
Alexander Park (near Bandstand) Stand in the Park
Barry Rd/Goswell Rd
Windsor SL4 1QY
Stand in the Park 2pm followed by walk to
Stand in the Town Centre around 3pm
About 2 hours in total.
Saturday 13th November 2pm
NEW EVENT – we enjoyed it so much Reading its happening again!!
BERKSHIRE RALLY FOR FREEDOM – rain not guaranteed
Forbury Gardens Reading
Super Stand in the Park 2pm
followed by walk to Reading town centre around 3pm
About 2 hours in total.
Stand in the Park Make friends – keep sane – talk freedom and have a laugh
Wokingham Howard Palmer Gardens RG40 2HD Sundays 10am
behind the Cockpit Path car park in the centre of the town
Bracknell South Hill Park
Sundays 10am & Wednesdays 2pm
Join our Telegram group http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
Reading River Promenade Sundays 10am
Join our Telegram group https://t.me/standindparkreading
“please bring your carnival/Guy Fawkes/Fancy Dress masks and overalls if you have them”
Why? So that you look more like a ‘conspiracy nutter’? Meanwhile, the Welsh Parliament votes Yes to Vaccine Passes, and then Boris says “Well, if Scotland and Wales have them, we should also, for ‘long term safety’ of our citizens”.
Today is the twelfth day of jabbing kids in schools in the UK.
. . .”– please bring your carnival/Guy Fawkes/Fancy Dress masks and overalls if you have them. . .”![😉](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/svg/1f609.svg)
LS,
I’m inclined to agree with Emerald Fox’s comment. Think of the protest groups that routinely use fancy dress: top of the list is Extinction Rebellion. In the minds of the public, you risk being associated with their antics and being dismissed as a bunch of nutters. I admire hugely all that you’re doing to organise, promote and attend these events – but if you’re to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of Joe Public – then fancy dress is an absolute no-no. Just my £0.02p worth!
The UK’s COVID Testing Extremism
Testing in the UK is a serious industry. And some people are making a lot of money from it. There are about 250,000 positive tests a week in the UK, according to Worldometer’s reporting*. This level was reached in July 2021, and it has fluctuated around this figure since then.
The proportion of tests which are positive is currently about 4.5%, according to the Office of National Statistics. That means, in round terms, there are around 5 million tests carried out each week.
Typically, tests cost around £65, even if carried out at home. (The Government’s list of providers shows some as low as £20, but in my experience, when you ‘click through’ to those providers, only more expensive tests are available.) The most expensive can be as much as £500.
Using the figure of £65, this means that perhaps £325 million is paid out each week for tests, around £1.4 billion per month. £16.9 billion annualised.
This is paid by us – the ordinary people, and businesses. It is not paid from taxes. It is not tax-deductible, and as far as I know, it’s subject to VAT. (There are very few medical costs which are not VATable.)
That is an awful lot of money. Some people are making fortunes.
Denmark has been the most dedicated tester in the world. They have conducted 14.4 per person. Their population is just 5.82 million. Of the more populous nations, the UK clearly the most committed to testing, with 4.5 tests per person. The test hit parade for countries with populations above 10 million is as follows:
Country population Tests pp Deaths per
millions per person million
1 UAE 10.04 8.5 209
2 UK 68.33 4.5 2,005
3 Czechia 10.73 3.6 2,839
4 France 65.45 2.2 1,785
5 Greece 10.36 2.0 1,444
6 USA 333.44 1.9 2.159
7 Portugal 10.16 1.8 1.772
8 Belgium 11.65 1.7 2,198
9 Italy 60.35 1.5 2,172
10 Australia 25.87 1.5 52
11 Spain 46.78 1.4 1,850
12 Russia 146.01 1.3 1,444
13 Sweden 10.18 1.2 1,457
14 Chile 19.32 1.1 1,941
15 Canada 38.16 1.1 733
16 Turkey 85.48 1.0 759
17 Nederland 17.18 1.0 1,058
18 Jordan 10.33 1.0 1,041
19 Malaysia 32.89 0.9 814
20 Germany 84.12 0.9 1,122
(It should be noted that these are the figures from those nations which participate in the Worldometer’s reporting, which is some way short of the whole world The total population included is 6.4 billion, compared to an official estimate of the global population of 7.9 billion. It should also be borne in mind that deaths attributed to COVID have been measured very differently in different countries. So the comparisons can only be indicative, not conclusive.)
There is no particular correlation between tests carried out and COVID deaths (per million of population, the correlation measured for the whole of the epidemic is 0.135)
A further puzzle is the number of positive tests for each country – referred to as ‘Cases’.
The UK is an outlier by this measure, with 7-day ‘Cases’ totalling around 250,000. This is the highest figure in the world on an absolute basis, as well as relative to the size of the population.
Why is this?
It must to some extent have something to do with the level of testing. The more you test, the more positives you’re likely to get. Does this mean that countries that test less than the UK (almost everywhere) have lots of infected people wandering around the countries? That has to be true to an extent, but it does not seem to be influencing the mortality figures to any significant degree. I would speculate that the UK’s strong emphasis on testing schoolchildren is important here, as they are much less likely to die. Any other suggestions?
Perhaps the most significant impact on the UK’s testing regime, apart of course for the shedloads of money that testing companies are making out of it, is the way it feeds into the SAGE and Government narratives. Now that hospital admissions are falling again, and the grim epidemiological predictions of September on which SAGE based its hysterical outbursts are shown to have been even more ridiculous than the models of 2020, it is the level of Cases which is preventing the end of the epidemic from being declared. This stops the country from returning to normal life, stops the NHS from properly addressing the dire situation it has with all the other diseases and conditions which are causing so much suffering and death, and allows the Government to maintain its authoritarian grip.
James McMeehan Roberts
4 October 2021
*note: Statistics based on Worldometer download at 6.05 pm 4 October 2021
Apologies – formatting of the table undone by the system.