Earlier today, Amanda Pritchard, the head of NHS England, made the following claim:
There is no doubt that the NHS is running hot and there are some very real pressures on health and social care. We have had 14 times the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 than we saw this time last year.
Needless to say, this was faithfully reported by various media outlets. For instance, ITV News ran a story on it headlined: “Hospital Covid admissions 14 times higher than this time in 2020.”
There was only one problem: it isn’t true. The number of COVID-19 patients currently in English hospitals is 7,510 according to the Government’s Coronavirus Dashboard, whereas the number in November 2020 was over 11,000.
When the figures being reported by ITV – and Sky News, and iNews – were challenged, NHS England issued a ‘clarification’, explaining that she was comparing August 2021 with August 2020, neglecting to mention that in August of last year the virus had dwindled away to almost nothing. The reason she hadn’t cited more up to date figures, according to the poor flak at NHS England tasked with explaining away this misleading stat, was that “these are the latest figures they have”.
Unfortunately, the cover up was no more true than the initial claim. NHS England has access to more up to date figures than August of this year – the latest figures on the Coronavirus Dashboard, supplied by NHS England, are for November 2nd.
Worse, it seems very unlikely that Ms Pritchard was comparing August 2021 with August 2020 – NHS England just said that because that’s the only way they could get the ’14 times’ figure to work. Christopher Snowdon – yes, that Chris Snowdon – has helpfully tracked down the real source of this bogus stat in a piece for CapX:
Something about this claim dimly rang a bell with me so I went looking for previous mentions of it. This led me to Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, who had used almost exactly the same words in a press release a few weeks ago. He said: “There is no doubt the NHS is running hot, with the highest ever number of patients seen in A&E in September, 14-times as many covid patients in hospital compared to the same month last year and record 999 ambulance calls.”
Pritchard seems to have liked this statistic so much that she repeated Powis’s comments almost verbatim, complete with the reference to the NHS ‘running hot’. The only words she missed out were ‘in September’. Or maybe an assistant copied and pasted it into a briefing for her. Whatever the reason, a statistic that checked out in September and was just about defensible in October, so long as it was put in proper context, had become a lie by November.
In the not too distance past, it was the the lockdown sceptics who were accused of trafficking in misinformation. A few more howlers like this one, and people will start to realise it’s the lockdown zealots who are pumping out fake news to promote their agenda, not us.
Stop Press: Full Fact has checked Ms Pritchard’s claim and found it wanting. Read the full report here. Contains the following graph:
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Although this is excellent and the author should ( in a normal world ) have a great deal of clout, shall we bet money on this letter going absolutely nowhere and having literally zero impact? Just like all the other countless studies and pieces of evidence that demonstrate the public were well and truly shafted and damaged beyond repair due to the restrictions and death jabs. The culprits are all seemingly untouchable. It will go on the pile marked ”ignore and move on”. Nobody will be held to account and no heads will roll. I mean, Bridgen has been booted out for raising valid concerns and quoting government data and the filthy Hancockroach is still inhabiting Parliament. Enough said.
Very, very sadly I have to agree with you Mogs.
On the plus side this is another card marked against the government and there is no way Fishy can plead ignorance. Furthermore, the whole head space industry has now been placed on notice so further anti human antics can quite rightly just be called out.
There are also plenty in the trick cycle conglomerates who must now realise that their unethical manoeuvres have been recognised and outed and the relevant authorities are wise to them.
It would be nice to believe that defenestrations of those most guilty of mind thuggery antics would now follow but I suppose that is a forlorn expectation. Perhaps though some of the BPS foot soldiers might grow a pair on the back of this letter.
A welcome development if somewhat belated.
NB. Dr Gary Sidley (? apologies if I have got the name wrong) deserves praise here because he has fought a lone battle on this front since the war began.
Worse still, if all these people had raised their voices at the beginning, when the narrative was still being constructed, then maybe just maybe things might have been different.
But they all come out now when it’s safe. Not when it’s all over and little can be done any more.
One can only hope that next time – because I think we all know it’s coming – they’ll have the guts to push back at the outset when it’s most needed, but I’m not holding my breath.
It’s all going to be filed under [The] appalling subculture of those who live by conspiracy theories. The anti-vaccine campaign is one of those. After all, you cannot be more antivaxx than dying of an injection just because you wrongheadedly don’t believe it’s going to save you.
Dear Reverend Jim Jones
I do not understand why the People’s Temple has failed to announce that its Kool Aid is killing people. I was first to notice people keeling over shortly after their first drink this morning.
I have shared my evidence with the Kool Aid mixer, the nice lady serving it to your congregation, and the people forcing the congregation to drink it. None of them will answer any questions. They don’t even want to see the evidence! This is highly unprofessional.
If you do not reply to this email I will be forced to call for an independent enquiry.
Sincerely
Miss Dolly
A really nice little piece of satire.
OTOH, this edifice will only crumble if its wall are withered away sandcorn by sandcorn and I think the attitude you’re mocking is a necessary part of that as it makes the demonstrative anti-antivaxxers look ever more deranged and hysterical.
Good to hear more and more people coming out with this now. Although many people on our side believe that such statements will never come to anything, I’m more hopeful. The cumulative effect of the increasing number of such utterances will I think tell decisively in the end. That’s not to say though that there isn’t a long and painful road to travel down yet.
But facts are stubborn things, and the covid lies are disappearing down the drain fast – leaving the perpetrators increasingly exposed.
And yet … it was all obvious three years ago to anyone with more than about six independently operating brain cells.
And now it’s too late. The damage is done. The vaccine poison is in the bodies of the vast majority of people in this country, and indeed the Western World. Coercion aside, the zombies weren’t even told the stabs were still in the experimental phase – on this point alone they were robbed of informed consent. And the children who were stabbed to ‘protect granny’ were outright lied to.
A Crime Against Humanity. I can’t think of any other way of putting it. Then again, stupidity always did, and always, will come at a price.
And yet … it was all obvious three years ago to anyone with more than about six independently operating brain cells.
Totally agree. One benefit of the Rona fascism is that there is now a large and hard core part of the pop who is unplugged from the matrix and they won’t go back into their pods.
It is obvious that the entire quacksine industry needs to go and most of the drugs that people ingest which feed more diseases which are ‘treated’ by more drugs….
IMO the bastards showed their hands during Rona. Their NWO will be much much harder to realise now. Having said that I still believe 50%-60% of the pop are very stupid.
Brezinski’s 1970s book Technetronics ie Scientism and the NWO is a prescient work which lays out their plans quite clearly. Many of the objectives are being realised.
One benefit of the Rona fascism is that there is now a large and hard core part of the pop who is unplugged from the matrix and they won’t go back into their pods. … IMO the bastards showed their hands during Rona. Their NWO will be much much harder to realise now.
Indeed, while say 50-60% of the population haven’t seen through the scams yet, I do believe that sufficient number have to ensure that any attempt at a Corona II will prove very difficult. I always said that if just 20% of people had refused to wear masks the whole rona scam would have fallen apart. I think we have the 20% now. But that doesn’t mean to say here aren’t some painful and ugly battles ahead though.
The biggest crime against humanity since….
OMG you’re an anti….
In simple terms: they know what they were doing, and are keeping quiet about it. The longer term risk may be that public loss of reputation leads to a broad spread of health problems, if people are less confident about using the medical trade early enough.
Don’t forget that Covid-19 broke the laws of Mathematics in ignorance of the prior art (dating back to 1927 at least) when it grew exponentially.
Dr Buckland,
The “vaccines” are not vaccines.
Kind regards,
MAk
At least he didn’t use the “P” word
Where was he 3 years ago.
Apologies if he was on our side then, but I’ve never heard of him until now.
Also, he’d be better if he’d known even a scintilla about the dangers of mRNA jabs.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Please explain what the point of this is now that the horse bolted from the stable what seems like eons ago? I know I sound unkind but it’s about as timely as somebody installing a burglar alarm *after* their house has been pillaged. Laura Dodsworth wrote her famous book on the subject ages ago, and she’s not even an expert in the field of psychology, but this chap couldn’t even write a letter?! Is this yet another example of ”experts” being too cowardly to speak up at the time but now that the storm has blown over they finally rediscover their backbone ( and code of ethics ) and tentatively raise their heads above the parapet, confident that they’re no longer in the firing line? To my mind this is way too little far too late.
He’s been around. Just because you’ve never heard for him it doesn’t mean he hasn’t been active the past 3 years. There are many active people who we’ll never hear about.
Three years ago there were only a few hundred who publicly protested in London that this was pure psy-ops to scare the population, although doubtless many more sceptics nevertheless stayed at home. The numbers grew to tens of thousands by 2021. The media, as briefed in advance, reported it as “conspiracy theorists”, though the atmosphere was more like a day out in the park.
I went once and wish I could have gone more often. Unfortunately, since my income had been severely impacted, I simply couldn’t afford the £70 rail fare.
Christian is a colleague of mine and I know for a fact that he has worked pretty tirelessly since 2020 campaigning on these issues. He’s not been chairman of the UKCP for long, hence why you might not have heard of his work before now.
He’s published book reviews in journals around psychological manipulation during the early lockdowns, spoken at national conferences (e.g. the Better Way conference in Bath), had articles on vaccine injury published in the mainstream press, and has done significant work around treatment for vaccine injured patients through contributing to the amazing work of UKCV family. The idea of him not knowing a ‘scintilla’ about the dangers of the jabs is hilarious. He has actually been featured in the documentary Safe and Effective: A Second Opinion (Video 2022) and has done more than most in raising awareness around the safety profile of the covid vaccines.
It would be really great if rather than jumping cynically all over people who are trying to good work and risking their careers to stop these things happening again, people who write here did their research first. Rather than attack people on your own side by writing knee-jerk things in haste and ignorance, wouldn’t it be better to offer them your support?
Just a thought…
Sounds like a fair comment – and thus hats off to Dr Buckland. I hope he continues to push hard now. It really is an excellent letter, and reading between the lines it’s impossible to think he hasn’t had these views for a very long time – clearly this isn’t a position he’s come to only recently.
The psychology of three years ago for us sceptics was tricky: we had our own beliefs, what was plainly starring us in the face, but it was a very lonely place to be (e.g. this site didn’t turn up until about May 2020). And we we getting hammered for it – likewise masks when they came in, and the stabs. Unsurprisingly there’s a little residual bitterness. I’ll stick out my neck and say anyone on here who was a sceptic back in March/April 2020 will know what I am talking about.
What was incredibly frustrating was that apparently no one – no one – in positions of expertise or responsibility was speaking out, and didn’t start to do so for a very long time, by when it was becoming comparatively ‘safe’ to do so. Hence I think some of the frustration now from the early sceptics.
I guess Bob Moran is a good example, laying into anyone whom he sees as joining the sceptic bandwagon late. Now I’m a great BM fan and believe he’s shown immense courage in fighting the corona fascism. But even if formerly compliant ‘experts’ are joining late then to my cynical/pragmatic mind they should be brought into the fold. As I posted earlier, I believe there are far bigger battles. ahead if our society is going to beat the corona-type-fascism, and our side is going to need all the firepower it can muster.
Yes, I can understand the frustration of sceptics who suffered so much in those early days, and their cynicism that comes with seeing new professionals starting to speak out and get kudos for their views – I can well understand the sentiments of ‘where were you when we needed you the most?’
However, as you say, I believe it would be wise for us to think in more pragmatic and less purist terms about this process of our views gaining momentum in the MSM.
I can’t think of a single instance of radical social change which hasn’t been started by a few lone voices in the wilderness (of which I would argue Dr Buckland has been one, on the issue of covid) who are massively slandered and persecuted at the time they first speak out.
These lone voices are then joined by more and more people over time – and as the movement grows, it of course becomes safer for others to speak. I think that’s where we’re now at around this issue. Of course it’s easier now. It’s why the people who speak out initially are often remembered for their heroism, and rightly so.
But actual change will only happen when we get enough people speaking out. It really is a numbers game at this stage. It’s been the way throughout history, why did we think this issue would be any different?
Think of all the instances of genuine social change, if early anti-slavery campaigners had just turned against those who started petitioning alongside them a few years in, how likely would it have been to succeed as a movement?
Let’s work with reality, people, and not be so puritanical and cynical, please!!
Thanks again and I hope you become a DS regular, your insights would be appreciated.
Yes, I agree.
Well even Piers Morgan is a vaccine sceptic of sorts now. So a little cynicism on the sceptic side is surely justified.
On a serious point though. As I say, the text of Dr Buckland’s letter gives the impression of a long gestation, and thus implies that the views therein are long established.
It was very easy for people like me to be ‘sceptic’ from Day 1, as I wasn’t threatened with any career price, just a few stupid words from people whom intellectually and even morally I believed had let themselves down, badly.
But say you were in a position of supposed influence like Dr Buckland? What was the best time to speak out? Was it right at the start? Or to do so then did it risk complete ostracism and thus your intervention having much less impact than at a more opportune time? In short, given the lack or receptive ears, wouldn’t the intervention have been largely wasted at the very start?
An analogy might be in occupied France (I know, I’m risking Godwin’s law now) – if you were opposed to the Nazis what should you have done? Start behind-the-scenes fighting straight away, and probably be rounded up and shot after a short time, having achieved effectively nothing? Or keep your head down and wait till the time when the enemy was becoming vulnerable and strike when real damage might be caused?
You write:
These lone voices are then joined by more and more people over time – and as the movement grows, it of course becomes safer for others to speak. I think that’s where we’re now at around this issue.
Yes, I agree. And I’m all for more and more people. speaking out and thus building the foundations by which the perpetrators of what has been a horrendous crime, the magnitude of which I think we’ve scarcely begin to grasp, can be held to account.
Thanks for putting the record straight and for commenting.
Point taken, and I do apologise but only to a degree.
When Clown World started about 3 years age the main voices of sanity were the likes of Mike Yeadon, Clare Craig, Ryan Cole, Knut Wittkowski, Pierre Corry, Peter McCullough, Carl Heneghan etc.
Dr Buckland I’d never heard of until today. But that may be my fault.
Maybe if he’d tried harder earlier more of a difference would have been made?
That said, all credit to him, we need all the help we can get without the risk of falling out ourselves
Hear, hear
Multi-millionaire communist Susan Michie should end her days in solitary confinement.
Triple-masked.
This is HUGE to come from the UKCP. I am genuinely shocked he has written this letter. Now we need BACP, NCS, BPS, HCPC, NMC and others to follow suit.
The regulatory bodies (although UKCP is voluntary membership) have mostly been largely complicit in the government propaganda. Susan Michie (BPS) was one of the worst abusers of her position, using fear and psychological manipulation to terrify people and traumatise them. She should be immediately disbarred.
It’s massive!
I would encourage anyone reading this who is a psychologist, therapist or counsellor (or just a concerned member of the public) to write directly to their professional body, asking them to support Dr Buckland’s call for a full Inquiry and to finally begin engaging with the ethical issues surrounding the misuse of psychological techniques by government agencies.
Many of us spoke out about this at the time and had our complaints buried by the different professional bodies who responded with radio silence and a complete refusal to engage with the issue despite our repeated complaints.
The tide is turning, and this letter is a positive sign that dialogue around these issues is more and more possible. It’s important for all of us to now re-engage with the governing bodies and get our professional voices heard.
But will his letter be published across the whole MSM?
Excellent.
Why hasn’t your association expelled those that are members?
Fear is the key to dictatorship
************************************
Stand in the Park Make friends & keep sane
Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am
Elms Field
near play area
Wokingham RG40 2FE
He took his time, didn’t he?
Stable doors and horses come to mind
Great letter.
If I remember correctly each MP was provided with a copy of the book ‘State of fear’ by Laura Dodsworth, when this was first published.
This letter serves as a reminder!
Dear Dr Buckland
Thank you for your letter. These issues will be considered during the Covid Pandemic Public Inquiry, which will report in about 10 years’ time when the guilty parties are long gone.
Now piss off.
Yours sincerely
Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister.
More than likely.
Maybe this has already been mentioned here, but of course the obvious parallel here is in the current spreading of fear, especially among children, by the media and politicians relating to the “horrors” of climate change. I’d be interested to hear Dr Buckland’s take on this.
Bravo!
immensely important. Thank you Dr Buckland, you are an honourable man.
The government’s owning of SPI-B advice did more than destroy the public’s ability to consent to vaccines. It showed that the authorities, including the learned professions, could not be trusted. Since the behavioural scientists were cock-a-hoop at the ease with which they could manipulate the people where does that leave democracy? The sign in a Manchester shop remains valid: “In God we trust. Everyone else pays cash”. And only God can provide what Dr Buckland is asking for. The government doesn’t do ethical frameworks AFAIK.