13 May 2022 – The Daily Sceptic

Covid Infections Continue to Plummet – as ONS Data Suggest Omicron BA.2 May Be Half as Deadly as BA.1

Covid levels continued to drop in England last week, falling to their lowest levels since the start of December before Omicron took off. MailOnline has more.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates 1.2 million, or one in 45 people, were carrying the virus on any given day in the week to May 7th, down a quarter on the previous week.
It marks the fifth week in a row that the ONS’s weekly infection survey – now the best barometer of the outbreak – has reported a week-on-week fall in cases, despite no Covid restrictions being in place.
The Government is relying on the study, based on swabs of 120,000 random people, to track the virus now that free testing has been axed for the vast majority of Britons.
Today’s estimate for England is the lowest since the week ending December 16th, when 1.2m people were also estimated to have been infected. At that point, the Omicron strain was just starting to take off and in the following weeks there were mounting calls to follow some EU countries in enforcing another lockdown.
Ministers also resisted renewed calls from NHS bosses for tougher restrictions last month when the BA.2 variant, an off-shoot of Omicron, pushed rates to record-highs.
Meanwhile, the ONS estimates one in 35 people were carrying Covid in Wales and Scotland last week and one in 55 in Northern Ireland.

It’s good to see the Mail drawing attention to the fact that these declines happen without the need for restrictions. Interesting that Scotland is doing worse than England despite keeping masks and vaccine passports in place for longer.

Covid Infections Continue to Plummet – as ONS Data Suggest Omicron BA.2 May Be Half as Deadly as BA.1Read More

By Will Jones / 13 May 2022 • 17.24

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Why Does Your Doctor Want to Keep You Masked?

There follows a guest post by Paul Stevens, who is part of the Smile Free campaign to end forced masking in the U.K., which is currently inviting signatures to its open letter to the NHS Chief Executives to remove the mask requirement from healthcare settings.

Walk into your General Practitioner surgery and what will you see? Notices demanding that you ‘wear a mask’ and people with ill-fitting face coverings, most of which having been frequently touched, reused, rarely washed and improperly stored.

By contrast, in public spaces such as hospitality venues, retail settings and transportation hubs, you’ll find a lack of signage and a marked reduction in mask-wearing. More and more, people aren’t wearing them.

It’s as if we are living in two worlds: one where we have begun to return to a rational unmasked normality; and one, in healthcare settings including GP surgeries, where we are instructed to remain featureless and compliant with the facemask diktats of nameless NHS bureaucrats.

To understand how, and why, these worlds co-exist we need to start by looking at the frame of reference within which GPs operate. As independent contractors, for all intents and purposes GPs work within the NHS; and many are members of a single body, the British Medical Association (BMA). The NHS and BMA, one guiding and enabling the other, have played major parts in establishing and maintaining masking within healthcare settings.

The NHS has been a major advocate of masking and, as published on the Government’s “COVID-19: Infection prevention and control” (IPC) webpages, its current guidance for mask-wearing within health and care settings remains that facemasks for staff and facemasks or coverings for all patients and visitors are “recommended”.

Why Does Your Doctor Want to Keep You Masked?Read More

By Paul Stevens / 13 May 2022 • 13.00

BMA Coronapanic Covid Restrictions Evidence GPs Mask Mandates Masks NHS

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Russia’s Muted Response to Finland’s Interest in Joining NATO Suggests its Invasion of Ukraine Was Nothing to do With NATO Expansion

After some weeks of national polling, discussion and debate, and following Wednesday’s signing of bilateral security agreements with the U.K., it now looks all-but-certain that Finland and Sweden will apply to join NATO – perhaps as early as next week – and that if they do, they will be welcomed with open arms, swelling the ranks of the alliance to 32 members.

But Finland sits directly on Russia’s western border.

Indeed, amongst European nations, Finland has the dubious distinction of possessing the second-longest land border with Russia – second only to Ukraine’s. So why hasn’t this expected eastward expansion of NATO been greeted with the same hand-wringing from those in the West, and the same threats from Russia that we’ve seen in past years with respect to Ukraine’s “provocative” ambition to join NATO?

The reason is that NATO’s eastward expansion was never viewed by Russia as an existential threat – at least not militarily. In fact, the factitious and pretextual nature of Russia’s claimed fears over Ukraine’s closer ties to NATO couldn’t be clearer: on April 8th, Dmitry Peskov repeated Russia’s long-held position that if Finland and Sweden were to join NATO, this would be a threat but not an existential threat. His remarks were repeated by RT in a clear confirmation of the official line:

Moscow opposes the expansion of NATO, but the inclusion of Finland and Sweden in the bloc won’t become an existential threat to it, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told Sky News on Friday.

Russia’s Muted Response to Finland’s Interest in Joining NATO Suggests its Invasion of Ukraine Was Nothing to do With NATO ExpansionRead More

By Ian Rons / 13 May 2022 • 11.00

Expansionism Finland NATO Putin Ukraine

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Italy Wears its Covid Scars Like a Badge of Honour

Genoa, one of the Italian playgrounds of the super-rich is a city of lap dog lovers. There is no shortage of dogs, or dog turds. But there does seem to be a shortage of poop bags and it was not uncommon on my morning run along the Corso Italia this week to see a face-masked dog walker allowing his dog to leave another infectious deposit of poo, walk away and leave it steaming in the middle of the promenade.

I have just returned from Italy where the proclaimed lifting of Covid restrictions refers only to the paperwork associated with entering and leaving the country. Masks are still very much in evidence and a great deal of this is self-imposed. If not actually wearing a mask, nearly everyone has a mask around their wrist, like a talisman of which they just cannot let go. Normality will only ever be regained when the metaphorical masks are lifted from the minds of the Italian people.

My regular visits to Italy have allowed me to observe over time the reaction of the country to the emergence of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Italy was quick off the mark in the early days of the global panic and, indeed, amongst the first to panic. I returned to the U.K. from Wuhan late in 2019 to discover I had left an epidemic behind me. While we only began hearing about the coronavirus early in 2020 it had already been making its way through the sick and vulnerable in Wuhan since at least November 2019, certainly coinciding with my five weeks in the city in November and December 2019. I had travelled on crowded trains and taxis, eaten in crowded restaurants and taught in packed lecture rooms with impunity. My initial reaction, and one which has not attenuated, was that this was just another virus, it would kill a few old folks like me and some of the more clinically vulnerable amongst us and leave the vast majority alive and unscathed. And that is exactly what happened.

Italy Wears its Covid Scars Like a Badge of HonourRead More

By Roger Watson / 13 May 2022 • 09.00

Face Masks Italy Lockdowns Mask Mandates

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Face Masks Lead to Breathing Dangerous Levels of Carbon Dioxide Even When Sitting Still, Study Finds

Wearing a face mask results in exposure to dangerous concentrations of carbon dioxide in inhaled air, even when the mask is worn for just five minutes when sitting still, a study has found.

With surgical masks, the CO₂ concentration of inhaled air exceeded the danger zone of 5,000 ppm in 40% of cases. With FFP2 respirators it exceeded it in 99% of cases. The CO₂ concentrations were higher for children and for those who breathed more frequently.

The study, a pre-print (not yet peer-reviewed) from a team in Italy, used a technique called capnography to take the measurements of CO₂ in inhaled air over the course of five minutes, following a ten minute period of rest, with participants seated, silent and breathing only through the nose. A medic took measurements at minutes three, four and five, with an average of the three measurements being used in the analysis.

The study found the mean CO₂ concentration of inhaled air without masks was 458 ppm. While wearing a surgical mask, the mean CO₂ was over 10 times higher at 4,965 ppm, exceeding 5,000 ppm in 40.2% of the measurements. While wearing an FFP2 respirator, the average CO₂ was nearly double again at 9,396 ppm, with 99.0% of participants showing values higher than 5,000 ppm. Among children under 18, the mean CO₂ concentration while wearing a surgical mask was well above the safe limit at 6,439 ppm; for an FFP2 respirator it was nearly double again at 12,847 ppm. The researchers found that breaths per minute only had to increase by three, to 18, for the mean concentration to reach 5,271 ppm in a surgical mask and breach the safe limit.

Face Masks Lead to Breathing Dangerous Levels of Carbon Dioxide Even When Sitting Still, Study FindsRead More

By Will Jones / 13 May 2022 • 07.00

Carbon dioxide Children Face Masks Mask harms Mask Mandates

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News Round-Up

“NHS waiting list spikes to another record high of 6.4 million” – NHS data show one in nine people were in the queue for elective operations such as hip and knee replacements and cataracts surgery by March, the Mail reports.
“Rishi Sunak’s tax raids trigger recession warning” – The economy shrank in March even before taxes were due to climb as experts warn of “real squeeze”, the Telegraph reports.
“The truth about Britain’s Covid deaths” – Matthew Parris in the Spectator notes how little relationship there is between pandemic deaths and restrictions and how small the death tolls were in the scheme of things.
“From snowball fights to delivering birthday cards: Britain’s 136,000 lockdown penalty charges” – Time for an amnesty, says Michael Simmons in the Spectator.
“Forget back to the office, now civil servants want the right to work from abroad” – Jacob Rees-Mogg says “extreme” demand from “lazy” union leaders has “given the game away”, the Telegraph reports.
“Is Klaus Schwab the greatest threat of our time?” –”Just another typical smooth-talking, smarmy Davos Man,” says Taki in the Speccie, but one with some dangerous ideas.
“Tesco to open offices in its supermarkets” – The grocer seeks to cash in on the rise of homeworking, according to the Telegraph.
“‘Lockdown winners’ are the ‘reopening losers’” – The troubles of Peloton and Netflix show we crave the ‘old normal’ life, says Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.
“Six graphs that show how the NHS is collapsing” – Pressure is mounting across the health service and the latest NHS England monthly statistical release is a window onto a service that seems to be continuously ‘at breaking point’, writes Michael Simmons in the Spectator.
“‘Bungs’ to Billionaires: Cummings Exposes Johnson’s Cash for Content Scandal” – New testimony from the Prime Minister’s former chief aide shows how the free press has been bought by the Government, according to Adam Bienkov, Sam Bright and Brian Cathcart in the Byline Times.
“Argonaut 1970s Redux Stockumentary” – Watch: Argonaut asks what were the 1970s really like for investors and what lessons can we learn for investing today?
“U.S. gun murders reached 25 year high in 2020” – Guns were used in more than three quarters of murders in the U.S. in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the year of the BLM riots, up nearly 35% on 2019 and a 25 year high, Janice Hopkins Tanne writes in the BMJ.
“Covid Scotland: MSPs urged to block new bill including controversial ‘Henry VIII’ powers” – The Scottish Liberal Democrats have urged other MSPs to oppose the Scottish Government’s ‘power grab’ COVID-19 Recovery Bill, the Scotsman reports.
“China Declares War on W.H.O., ‘Irresponsible’ Tedros for Opposing Lockdowns” – China condemned WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as uninformed and “irresponsible”, reports Breitbart News.
“Pilots Injured by Covid Vaccines Speak Out: ‘I Will Probably Never Fly Again’” – In interviews with Michael Nevradakis for the Defender, pilots injured by COVID-19 vaccines said despite a “culture of fear and intimidation” they are compelled to speak out against vaccine mandates that rob pilots of their careers and in some cases their lives.
“World’s leading scientists deplatformed by bigoted councillors” – Kathy Gyngell on TCW Defending Freedom reports that the venue for the forthcoming Better Way health conference pulled out at the last minute out of ‘concerns for its reputation’, but a replacement venue has been found.
“How The Federal Government Used Evangelical Leaders To Spread Covid Propaganda To Churches” – Megan Basham in the Daily Wire tells how Francis Collins enlisted leading Evangelicals to promote the Government line on restrictions and vaccines.
“What the new GCSE in global warming should teach” – Bjorn Lomborg in the Spectator makes some suggestions for what should be in the new course, such as that according to the UN the entire global cost of climate change will be equivalent to less than a 4% hit to GDP by the end of the century.
“Rishi Sunak’s net zero U-turn” – Just six months ago at the Glasgow climate conference, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was pledging to rewire the entire global financial system for Net Zero, including making London the world’s first ‘Net Zero Aligned Financial Centre’, but he has changed his tune of late, writes Rupert Darwall in the Spectator.
“Germany gas supply drops as Ukraine shuts off pipes from Russia” – Olaf Scholz is forced to import extra fuel from Norway and Netherlands, the Telegraph reports.
“If the oil ban hurts Vlad, why would he turn off the gas?” – Is it Putin we’re harming or ourselves, asks Ciarán McCollum on Scaled.
“British troops ‘ready to go and fight’ against Russia, says head of commando unit” – Brigadier Nick Cowley, Commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team, admitted there is a “very present” threat of the conflict spreading, according to the Telegraph.
“Russia declares Sweden and Finland ‘targets’ if they join NATO” – Speaking to UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers, First Deputy Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy has said that Sweden and Finland joining the bloc would turn them overnight from neutral into enemy countries and become a “target” for Russia.
“The culture wars have crept into Oxbridge admissions” – Meritocracy is on life support in the dreaming spires, says David Abulafia in the Speccie.
“Ultra-woke nursery rhyme book asks parents to ditch traditional ballad” – Animal rights group PETA said the original songs like Baa Baa Black Sheep encourage unfair attitudes towards animals and have been given a “makeover to replace racist, sexist, and insensitive language”, the Mail reports.
“Calling men bald is sex harassment, judge rules” – A panel of judges bemoaning their own hair loss find in favour of a worker after remarks were made over his physical appearance, reports the Telegraph.
“Online watchdog says it ‘prizes freedom of expression’ ahead of Musk’s Twitter takeover” – Ofcom chief says the company will focus on illegal content when regulating social media giants, the Telegraph reports. Well, that’s okay then…
“What’s the truth about Facebook and Twitter’s algorithm riddle?” – Algorithms dictate what we do and don’t see online; on Twitter and Facebook, they determine what posts do well and which ones get buried. Yet how they actually work is shrouded in secrecy, says Laura Dodsworth in the Spectator.
“I don’t trust the Government to decide what political views are worthy of protection online” – Toby explains his concerns with the Online Safety Bill on the Triggernometry podcast.

General Secretary of Free Speech Union @toadmeister

“I don’t trust the government to decide what political views are worthy of protection online”

Hosts@francisjfoster @KonstantinKisin pic.twitter.com/Sbsf7Q5WY5
— TRIGGERnometry (@triggerpod) May 12, 2022

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By Will Jones / 13 May 2022 • 00.44

News Round-Up

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Day: 13 May 2022