Mark Drakeford dismissed the evidence showing the worst of the Omicron wave has passed and vowed to keep tough restrictions in place in Wales for the foreseeable future. He attacked Boris Johnson for being too weak to introduce the Covid measures his scientific advisors have recommended and said England was an “outlier” among the four nations of the United Kingdom – the only one not to take action to protect its citizens. MailOnline has more.
Mark Drakeford launched an astonishing tirade at Boris Johnson over Covid restrictions today as he vowed to ignore clear evidence that the worst of the Omicron wave has passed in order to keep tough restrictions in place in Wales.
The First Minister branded England an international “outlier” in resisting tighter curbs and accused the PM of overseeing a ‘politically paralysed’ administration that had tied his hands.
It came as he used a press conference to insist that Wales’s tough Covid restrictions on bars and mass events must stay in place due to an Omicron “storm” breaking over the nation.
As the rest of the U.K. eases restrictions he warned of “a difficult month ahead”, despite admitting that the variant may not be as severe as previous waves.
But then, in a rant at Mr Johnson, he added: “In England, we have a Government that is politically paralysed, with a Prime Minister who is unable to secure an agreement through his Cabinet to take the actions that his advisers have been telling him ought to have been taken.
“And even if he could get his Cabinet to address them, he can’t get his MPs to agree them.
“The outlier here is not Wales. Wales is taking action, as is Scotland, as is Northern Ireland, and as are countries right across Europe, and right across the globe.
“The one country that stands out as not taking action to protect its population is England.”
But his outburst came as a senior disease expert said a surge in the number of severe Omicron cases and deaths is unlikely to be seen in the current wave.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, Chairman of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, University of Cambridge, said: “The big severing is between really severe outcomes and that there’s still no sign of a serious increase in intensive care, and ventilation, and in deaths.
“We would have expected to see that by now in London and elsewhere – so that is the really reassuring thing.
“I think we can guarantee that over this wave, as we endure the next few weeks, what we’re not going to see is a big surge in very severe outcomes.”
Worth reading in full.
The Telegraph points out that the additional restrictions in Wales have not led to a reduction in the spread of the virus, with reported infections in the country growing three times faster than in England since Christmas.
Despite the measures, the country’s Covid cases have almost doubled since Dec 26th, with an overall increase of 94%, according to the latest government data. In comparison, England’s cases have increased by only 34%.
Meanwhile, the daily Covid cases across the U.K. have fallen for the second day in a row:
Britain’s daily coronavirus cases fell for the second day in a row today and there early signs NHS admissions are peaking in England – as Sajid Javid reiterated that Omicron is up to 90% less likely to cause severe illness.
There were 178,250 new positive Covid tests across the U.K. over the past 24 hours, Government dashboard data shows, down 6% on the figure last week.
The two-day dip in new infections puts an end to nearly a month of solid growth following the emergence of the ultra-infectious new variant.
Worth reading in full.
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Meanwhile Paypal has quietly reintroduced the ‘erroneously’ instituted $2500 fine for whatever they deem punishable.
https://viewfromthewing.com/paypals-objectionable-terms-are-back-2500-fines-for-content-they-dont-like/
According to Will, they never removed it, just dropped the bit about “misinformation”.
They’d only ever have done this if they felt safe to weather the inevitable backlash. Which means they’re confident that their competition / alternatives (including high street banks) will soon be following suit.
The moron referenced in the stop press perfectly sums up what is wrong with democracy. Some jumped up little authoritarian t*sser, who believes himself to be above others, thinks he has a duty to censor speech and thought. What’s just as infuriating – I’m writing this while, literally, watching the knuckles on my fists turn white – are the 38.4K likes this buffoon has amassed (at the time of writing). These people, who think they are god-like, need to be reminded of their true place in the world – the rat-infested sewers of sh*t.
It sums up the state of public discourse. You have to agree 100%, or disagree 100% with any comment on any issue. But, more than that, you have to agree with everyone on ‘your side’ and hate everyone not on ‘your side.
Most of the ‘likes’, i’d wager, are people who haven’t thought at all about the issues of censorship at all, and whether it is a good thing or not. It is a comment made against Elon Musk, and Musk-man bad, like orange-man bad. The biggest hypocracy of the left (against some stiff competition..) is how they call out ‘hate’ but apparantly cannot see the hate in their own actions.
You mean the face of modern intolerance?
We are fast approaching or are already at the point of a complete breakdown of our legal systems.
Financial services companies decide they will regulate speech and no government will step in and act. Banks are instructed to freeze the bank accounts of perfectly legitimate companies- The Expose for one.
Pharmaceutical companies are now acting wholly outside the law and with government connivance.
Governments have been forcing “vaccine” mandates on populations in a clear breach of Human Rights legislation.
All NPI’s were violations of Human Rights.
The WHO Pandemic Treaty will be “,legally enforceable. Oh no it won’t, it can quite simply be ignored.
If Elon Musk sticks two fingers up to the wholly undemocratic and therefore barely legal EU I say good luck to him.
The true rule of law works both ways. Just because some unelected Orwellian micro buffoon thinks he can dictate does not mean he has to be obeyed.
If governments want to act illegally then the same right passes to the individual. I am not in the business of breaking the law but I have always been of the mind that the law is only what I deem reasonable, which probably explains why I have not complied these last three years.
F. ’em.
Amen.
Thank you.
This in spades.
Thanks.
Good post.
Fuck the lot of them.
Cheers.
Vive la resistance?
And time for a new Radio Luxembourg
This is radio Luxembourg
Well said Sir 👍
Well said, HP!
The Founding Fathers knew exactly what tyranny governments were capable of and thus inter alia the creation of the Second Amendment.
Some of the posts are good: –
Iranian woman ‘Don’t you agree with freedom?’
Reply ‘Freedom doesn’t mean doing and saying anything without any consequences’
Iranian woman ‘We are fighting Islamic Republic in Iran, they started with a similar logic.’
Probably bots…most of them are. I follow a Twitter that exposes bots..you would be amazed how many there are, and they nearly always follow ‘Officials’…for example 90% of Biden’s ‘followers’ are bots…I don’t imagine for a minute thousands of real people follow this dweeb!.?
Has the moron acted this way because he’s an unelected bureaucrat? Authority without accountability is never a pretty sight.
Musk should have retweeted the little fascist stating Twitter will now hold unelected technocrats such as this to account.
How many of those ‘likes’ are bots? It is clear that Twitter has been used as a means to enforce conformity of views, will pile ins orchestrated on those who deviate in any way. Twitter is a toilet – I hope Musk will flush it.
Sadly we have seen what the price of censorship is, the former Twitter managers have walked away with a lot of money and no sanctions for their repulsive behaviour.
We really need to cull these fascists who want to ban or curtail freedom of speech.
They’re extreme authoritarians, I don’t think the label “fascist” is accurate.
It’s a sign of the times and the influences that we are under that we might have something negative to say about this. Actually, it is rather good news, isn’t it?
How so?
Anything that opens up censored channels to the uninformed is welcome.
Who the f**k is Thierry Breton?
These EU technocrats sound ever more like gangsters protecting their turf.
These EU technocrats are just gangsters protecting their turf.
Come the revolution Breton will be the first one up against the wall.
A bpity, the Bretons used to be rather good at resisting tyranny.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586059953311137792
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
Remarkable how many people regard Musk as anything other than just another crook.
People really do yearn for a saviour, don’t they?
Some do, but not all of us. There’s a line in an Eagles song “they end up following the wrong gods home”
Indeed.
There are no saviours. It’s all in the mind of man.
The Bird is only as free as the dictators in the EU allow it to be free.
The solution seems straightforward enough to me. Simply remove or take actions suggesting that’s what’s afoot to remove all app and data from physical servers under EU jurisdiction. Set up the capacity to handle the bandwidth elsewhere.
Then if EU wants to censor Twitter in whole or in part for EU peeps, they have to do it themselves, like the commies of China do.
That would be delicious.
The DSA threatens massive fines on ‘delinquent’ internet platforms with more than 45-million users. But how does an EU court fine a company established in California? How does the juridictional thing work? Honest question, can someone enlighten me?