Among the most insidious and widespread harms from lockdowns has been the atomisation of communities. People were virtually confined to their homes for weeks at a time for almost two years: threatened with arrest for going out, often too frightened to do so anyway thanks to bloodcurdling government propaganda.
Tocqueville summed up the consequences of such isolation:
Each person, withdrawn into himself, behaves as though he is a stranger to the destiny of all the others. His children and his good friends constitute for him the whole of the human species. As for his transactions with his fellow citizens, he may mix among them, but he sees them not; he touches them, but he does not feel then; he exists only in himself and for himself alone. And if on these terms there remains in his mind a sense of family, there no longer remains a sense of society.
The symptoms of the post-lockdown fragmentation are all around. The demise of millions of friendships; the empty, dystopian workplaces, while millions pretend to hold ‘meetings’ on Zoom or Teams; the collapse of so many clubs and loose associations – fallen into abeyance during the years we all rotted at home, glued to screens.
Aggression in the public realm has increased markedly, from cyclists tearing along the pavement as if pedestrians no longer existed, to the loutish behaviour so common among audiences now in theatres during performances. Perhaps after two years of solitary confinement we no longer know how to conduct ourselves around others.
Many people seem to rate their pet dog more highly than other human beings. It is quite obvious that the huge increase in pet ownership and worship is a substitute for human relationships which have deteriorated on a vast scale. Yet research shows that almost the single most important ingredient of well-being is proper social interaction – not just intimate family, but extended circles of acquaintances. For so many, these connections withered during the permafrost of lockdowns.
No wonder people are so angry and divided. Bad habits of misanthropy took hold when we were all forcibly separated, under the false illusion that such brutal measures would ‘stop the spread’. While the large majority of the population were at minimal risk from Covid, we were all incarcerated and made to feel lonely and bored. Talk to people now and it is often as if a black hole exists during the years 2020 and 2021. Essentially we gave away the best part of two years of our lives for absolutely nothing. The authorities severely undermined civilisation in a fit of panic, shutting down the whole population without any scientific basis for such an incredibly drastic step.
Of course, all this low level misery is piled on top of the more obvious collateral damage from lockdowns: the untreated cancers and heart disease; the impaired learning from closed schools; the £400 billion of wasted taxpayer resources; a public sector in complete disarray – one could fill pages with all the unnecessary distress caused by the self-inflicted wound of lockdowns.
Many might say that to recover we need to forget and move on. Others still cling to the fantasy that lockdowns were unavoidable and effective. I say that we must never forget the awfulness of lockdowns, the totalitarian removal of our very basic freedoms under the guise of public health, the blasé dismissal at the time of the many obvious, devastating harms. Because there must never, ever, as long as we all live, be a repeat of such a catastrophic government intervention in the everyday lives of ordinary people. Only by constantly highlighting the stupidity and destructiveness of lockdowns will we stop such wrecking measures even being contemplated again. They were a disaster on an unforgivable scale – constant reminders of this are an absolute public duty.
Luke Johnson is a British entrepreneur who is currently part-owner and Chairman of the Gails bakery and cafe chain. He is a Director of Skeptics Ltd, the company that publishes the Daily Sceptic.
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No British government, as we head into totalitarianism, is ever going to get rid of the state propaganda service.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jul/12/keir-starmer-commits-to-keeping-bbc-licence-fee-after-years-of-tory-hostility
Doctors Want Covid Jab Suspension – latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, your new MP, your local vicar, online media and friends online. We have over 200 leaflet ideas on the link on the leaflet.
Looks like Dr Malcolm Kendrick mostly won his case against the Daily Mail over statins-
https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2024/07/11/a-little-more-on-the-trial/
Well cardiovascular disease has always been with us, I suppose, and has various causes, but it would seem demand for cardiac care is outstripping supply. So with regards to this record high number of people awaiting treatment, I’m baffled;
”Brits are being warned to look out for symptoms of a deadly disease, as the number of people awaiting heart care in England rose to a record high. The latest NHS figures show cardiac waiting lists rose to 421,433 at the end of May 2024.
This is an increase of 2,394 on the month before and the highest total on record. Since May 2022, the heart care waiting list in England has grown by nearly 100,000 people when the waiting list was at 327,258 – an increase of 29 percent.
This has been branded “frightening” by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which is calling for the Government to prioritise cardiovascular disease treatment. Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, BHF associate medical director and consultant cardiologist, said: “I find it frightening that long waits for time-critical heart care are putting people at risk of life-long disabling heart failure or death.
“That’s why it’s so disheartening to see the latest figures continue to show the worst access to vital, timely heart care in living memory. We cannot and must not get used to these unacceptable figures showing too many heart patients waiting too long.
“Getting to grips with this cardiovascular disease crisis and getting back to gold standard heart disease prevention, early diagnosis and treatment must be a priority for our new Government if they want to avert yet more avoidable heartbreak and loss of life.”
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/health/heart-disease-10-symptoms-9407051
The BHF are a fake charidee. It wholly supported the Scamdemic, masks, lockdowns, the works. An absolute bloody disgrace.
I saw a vid clip of Dr Malhotra admitting that he is also ”vaccine injured” the other day. That’s all he said on the matter, but he may have elaborated further in a different part of the interview, I didn’t watch the full thing. Because of his profession, and how he works in the private sector now, he could’ve ran various tests on himself in order to find any abnormalities, or perhaps he presented with clinical symptoms, not sure which. Maybe someone else on here has more deets…But going by various studies that’ve been done now, there’s an awful lot of people wandering around with subclinical heart damage and they’re completely unaware. So does this essentially make them ticking time-bombs, and we’re seeing the results of the mass jabathon experiment in the stories we read and the increase in stats, such as the ones mentioned above, and the excess deaths, of course? Then there’s the cancers that’ve increased, etc. The trend seems to be getting worse not better. But I think all of this has been obvious to we on here for a long while now. Props to Dr M for confiding this information about himself though, and continuing his fight to expose the serious damages done to us in the name of ( laughably ) ‘public health’.
Thanks Mogs
“calling for the Government to prioritise cardiovascular disease treatment”
Of course they are as that will provide greater research funding opportunities for the BHF.
Haha, see how the leftards kick off when you blaspheme against the Alphabet People cult.
But somebody ought to remind this awesome, truth-telling lady ( with the gorgeous hair. I’ll take this screenshot to my hairdresser ) that women’s secret weapon is that they were born hermaphrodite, thereby it is exclusively down to them if they produce babies or not. No requirement for the cooperation of a willing male whatsoever, therefore the decreasing birthrates are down to them and them only….Which is the ‘logic’ of the resident women-haters. Well, I think we all know you can’t reason with stupid, delusional people who are fueled by their innate bitterness by now.
”Slovakia’s minister for culture blamed the LGBT movement for Europe’s plummeting birth rates, arousing the ire of left-leaning ideologues.
During a July 3 interview with Slovak tabloid Topky.sk, Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová blamed LGBT ideologies for Europe’s dropping fertility rates.
“We heterosexuals are creating the future because we make babies. Europe is dying out, babies are not being born, because of the excessive number of LGBTQ+ (people). And the strange thing is (that it’s happening) with the white race,” the minister said in comments cited by left-liberal news outlet Politico.
“We are living in an amoral era,” Šimkovičová elaborated.
In response to Šimkovičová’s July 3 comments, Peter Weisenbacher, director of the Bratislava-based Human Rights Institute, lodged a criminal complaint with the general prosecutor’s office against the minister, alleging that her remarks were racist and anti-Semitic.
In another interview, the minister admitted that “we are a sick society.”
In January, Šimkovičová revealed that the country’s culture ministry would cease financing LGBT projects.
“The LGBTI+ organizations (…) will no longer parasitize on the money from the culture department. I will certainly not allow it under my leadership,” Šimkovičová wrote on Facebook.
She added that she “rejects progressive normalization” and that her plans are for “a return to normality.”
Besides her anti-LGBT views, Šimkovičová has been noted for her tough stance on immigration, much to the chagrin of the globalist elites in the European Union (EU) and their ideological allies. To address the issue of Slovakia’s falling population, the EU elites have suggested bringing in migrants instead of encouraging Slovak families to have children.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/slovak-culture-minister-triggers-leftists-by-blaming-lgbt-ideology-for-low-birth-rates/?utm_source=most_recent&utm_campaign=catholic
” No requirement for the cooperation of a willing male”
a ‘willy’ed male!
Agree about the hair, gorgeous
and agree with her veiws, not saying its the whole cause, but this celebration of non proliferation certainly doesn’t help the matter
Yeah she speaks as she finds, and speaks perfect truth, as far as I’m concerned. So if stating inconvenient facts ruffles the Leftards’ feathers and upsets their snowflake-like sensibilities then more power to her elbow. She’s over the target.
U.K. hasn’t allowed Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia, MoD clarifies
Order, counter order, disorder. Welcome to your new government.
This one seems to be run by the Grand Old Duke of York. The only difference is that ten thousand men might be a bit of a stretch these days…….
What”s really going on?
Topical because, apparently, it’s not just Britain that is a bit short of troops.
The Russian military is redeploying wounded soldiers to frontline combat in the Kharkiv direction.
Social media images show soldiers from the 26th Tank Regiment, located northwest of Vovchansk, visibly injured, in casts, and on crutches, being sent to the front lines despite still undergoing medical treatment.
Remind me, who was the last ‘admired political operator’ who did this to his soldiers?
Oh yes, it was Saddam Hussein.
Whatever happened to him?
‘Nota bene’
Hussein was the Western governments kind of leader, then he wasn’t. Similar to Vladimir Putin but dealing with Putin in the same way isn’t so easy.
Zelensky is currently the Western governments kind of leader – ‘nota bene’.
“Half of Cabinet accused of house-building ‘hypocrisy”
And we’re do they stand on wind turbines?
Is Ed going to have a dozen of them around his house?
He’s declaring war on nimby’s let’s not forget!
I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s hypocrisy to represent the interests of the people whom you were elected to represent.
“How the White House hid the truth about Biden’s decline from the world”
They just denied it, they couldn’t hide it,
It was plain for anyone with eyes to see!
“James Cleverly leads race to replace Rishi Sunak, poll suggests”
James Cleverly? OMG! Is that the best they’ve got? Jumping jehoshaphat, Cleverly by name but certainly not by nature!
“It won’t be long before the Muslim Vote poses a real challenge to Labour”
It won’t be long before the Muslim Vote poses a real challenge to
LabourBritain!
I have been posting about this for some months now. Perhaps Frank Haviland has been reading DS.
Highly likely Hux
This presupposes that voting will produce a government representing the population rather than other interests. This seems contrary to reality no matter how many Atheists/Muslims/Jews/Christians/Hindus get elected.
However, it’s a good way to keep people in fear and distracted for 5 years in the lead-up to the all-important 2030.
“We will stand with people staring down the outrage mob” – A joint op ed in the Australian by the leaders of the four Free Speech Unions urges people to band together to defend the most important human right of all.”
Excellent! Please print out that statement by the Four Free Speech Unions somewhere on the Daily Sceptic, so that we can all read it (access to the Australian blocked).