- “Boris Johnson hands WhatsApps to Cabinet Office” – Former PM throws down the gauntlet for Rishi Sunak and other ministers to turn over their WhatsApp messages in latest twist in this story.
- “This Covid inquiry fiasco seems more interested in racism than lockdown” – Judging by the row over Boris’s texts, it is becoming an exercise in scapegoating and societal handwringing, says Philip Johnston in the Telegraph.
- “We hid in a broom cupboard: my mad day at Oxford with Kathleen Stock” – The Times’s Janice Turner accompanied Kathleen Stock on her recent visit to the Oxford Union and ended up hiding in a broom cupboard.
- “Kathleen Stock is the opposite of an extremist” – The academic’s calm and rational approach to the gender debate confounds her critics, writes Madeline Grant in the Telegraph.
- “Whitehall ‘blob’ blocked me from meeting Kathleen Stock, says Boris’s ‘free speech’ minister” – Andrea Jenkyns says civil servants prevented her from meeting J.K. Rowling, Matthew Goodwin and Kathleen Stock, according to the Telegraph.
- “Liz Truss was ‘forced out of Downing Street by top civil servant’” – Cabinet Secretary Simon Case is said to have written a memo that helped seal Liz Truss’s fate, reports the Mail.
- “New Israeli Data: No known Covid deaths in healthy people under 50” – An FOI request to the Israel Ministry of Health solicited the disclosure that zero people between the ages of 18 and 49 (that didn’t have any underlying diseases) died of Covid.
- “Electric car infrastructure creaks under demand” – The gulf between the number of electric vehicles on the road and public charge points has more than doubled in parts of the country in a year, reports the Times.
- “California’s unconstitutional, morally repugnant racist quotas thrown out by federal court” – The Golden State announced it was going to fine corporations up to $300,000 if they didn’t introduce more diversity hires, but a federal court has rejected the law as unconstitutional, writes the Washington Times.
- “The spread of 20 mph zones is a conspiracy against the public” – The Telegraph’s Ysenda Maxtone Graham isn’t a fan of the new 20 mph speed limits in built up areas.
- “Climate protester left with block of tarmac stuck to his hand is jailed” – The former German soap opera star who has been arrested at eco-protests more than 100 times has been jailed, repots the Telegraph. (Funny picture.)
- “Teenagers should stop blaming old people for climate crisis, says Ray Mears” – Wilderness expert says the elder generation aren’t part of the problem they are part of the solution, says the Telegraph.
- “People are tired of vegan food, says plant-based burger chief” – Numerous brands are pulling back on their meat-free offerings amid weak demand, reports the Telegraph. You‘d have to have a heart of stone…
- “Twitter has lost two thirds of its value since Elon Musk’s purchase” – Twitter’s value is now just one-third of what it was when Elon Musk bought it in October, according to the Mail.
- “School told to transition pupils to their ‘true identity’ or face discrimination claims” – In 2016, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission advised a school to affirm a child’s trans identity and worked closely with Stonewall and other charities to promote a woke agenda, reports the Telegraph.
- “Black people were three times more likely to receive Covid fines in England and Wales” – Those in poorest areas were seven times more likely to be fined, finds research into how police used emergency powers, says the Guardian. Are these the first signs of remorse from the pro-lockdown paper?
- “Lower survival for 2020 cancer patients blamed on ‘consequences of first lockdown’” – Survival rates for Scottish patients diagnosed with cancer during 2020 were lower compared to those diagnosed before the pandemic, reports the Herald. Shock!
- “Labour council staff take the knee prompting row with Salford residents” – Officers at Salford Council have posed outside their HQ taking the knee and giving the black power salute to mark the third anniversary of the death of George Floyd, says the Telegraph.
- “Covid lockdowns ‘crippled memory as much as spending time in prison’ ” – Missed birthday celebrations and holidays during the Covid lockdown may have created similar memory problems to those that people who are locked up in prions, Aberdeen researchers say.
- “Emails suggest ex-NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched COVID-19 memoir project in March 2020” – According to emails uncovered by FOI requests, ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo started working on his Corona memoir before the first wave had struck. The New York Post has more.
- “How the teachers union broke public education” – A former public school teacher documents the profound betrayal of children by America’s teaching unions in the Tablet.
- “The DEI industry needs to check its privilege” – Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic asks whether all the money companies spunk up the wall on DEI training would be better spent raising the wages of the lowest paid employees.
- “We are trans and cis together” – Watch a group at Norwich County Council singing the hymn ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’, but changing the lyrics to ‘We are trans and cis together’. You’d almost think this was a new religion.
If you have any tips for inclusion in the round-up, email us here.
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.
As I’ve said before, masking is a filthy habit and terrible for the environment. Why is this still even a thing?
What’s really attractive is seeing someone wearing a white surgical mask with a dark vertical line above the nose, showing where grubby fingers have pushed up on the mask for days/weeks/months on end. Thank you for keeping me safe….
Not only disgusting but everyday I find myself picking the revolting things up off the pavement. If people really believe this is a deadly disease why are they throwing their germs around the streets of Britain?
I am constantly amazed when I see someone wearing one with the top edge underneath the nose, (A jaunty style called the ‘Chinnian’), as if the virus only arrives in the body by mouth. What kind of mentality do you have to have for that.?
Viruses can also enter via the eyes. Masks, as my mother would say, are load of old hooey.
Or ears. Or scratches in the skin.
Or eyes. Best put blindfolds on, eh.
Or a plastic bag over the head.
Full body armour is needed me thinks.
Or rolling around inside a plastic ball.
I think that the plastic face visors are even more amusing, so long as you are heavily into schadenfreude.
As I understand it, they are duty bound to treat, so you can simply refuse to wear one. They will try to make you feel uncomfortable but will relent.
Make them feel uncomfortable back. Ask them if you can have this in writing with name signed and printed, their address (or position or whatever) and what exactly they are demanding. Take a photograph of them. Tell them they’ll be hearing from you…
NHS First; Do harm – masks – jabs lockdowns
Stand in the Park
Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am
Make friends & keep sane
Elms Field
Wokingham RG40 2FE
(near Everyman Cinema and play area)
Dead right! I find them offensive and if anyone, including ( and in particular ) health professionals wore one when speaking with me I’d ask them to remove it.
I have asked health professionals to remove their masks so that I can understand them better – post infection cognitive issues – all the hospital clinical staff did remove theirs, my GP refused as it was for my safety! Processing speech without the visual cues of lip movements & facial expression wipes me out.
The staff who did remove theirs were only too glad to do so!
These My correlation is bigger than your correlation! debates need to end. It’s unacceptable to force people to hide their faces, muffle their voices and inhibit their breathing in public, no matter who believes what this will or will not also accomplish. People who are convinced they absolutely cannot live with other people having such extreme rights are free to change their gender (insofar necessary) and emigrate to Iran. End of story.
I agree. I don’t think masks work – and the “science” backs me on that – but honestly I would not wear one even if it could be proved they did.
I will second that tof.
Seriously, what science? Whenever somebody wants to make an important looking statement about face masking, he puts some statistic together which contains the correlations correlating with what he wants to say. Pro mask people have statistics with correlations they claim demonstrate that masks work, anti mask people have statistics with correlations claimed to show that they don’t and/or have harmful effects. Nothing of this qualifies as science, it’s just two tribes of opposing sages bombarding each other and the world with meaningless numbers.
Science is observing some hithero unexplained real-world phenomenon, formulating a theory to explain it based on the observation and then designing and conducting repeatable experiments supposed to prove or disprove the theory. At least with our present knowledge and technical abilities, designing and conducting repeatable experiments proving or disproving that such-and-such a thing causes or prevents an infection with something as miniscule and omnipresent as airborne, endemic viruses is simply not possible as we cannot reset living organisms into the state they were in before the experiment started after it was completed and have no reliable way to cause presence or absence of these viruses.
Handwaiving while chanting syllables of power (or rather, wielding spreadsheets with numbers of power) is not science.
I was referring to the numerous studies which all fail to show any benefit. Call them science, call them what you like, but my point is that the case for masks has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, though because of the huge complication involved the whole area is difficult – too many factors.
I suggest to call them policy-based evidence making[*]. Or rather making of something which can be passed off as evidence.
[*] Ironically, the German RKI (Robert Koch Institute) claims to be in the exact business of doing that,
https://www.rki.de/DE/Content/Institut/Ausbau_zum_Public-Health-Institut/RKI2025.pdf?__blob=publicationFile
as someone accidentally mistranslated the English produce evidence, put proofs in front of someone, into fabricate proofs.
Challenge: –
Explain how a (poorly fitting) cloth mask with pores around 70 nanometers diameter, can prevent passage of virions less than 1 nanometer in size.
This was pointed out at the start of the Covid scam and likened to the use of wiremesh fences to keep mosquitoes out.
Even accepted by WHO (until the dodgy contracts and brown envelopes for flying in masks from Turkey, China etc had been signed.)
Do your best. A convincing response may win you a banana.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This is the output of apropos man | head -n 10
base64 encoded and it’s absolutely a good as any other kind of shit someone with more fantasy than creativity can make up. Please feel free to use it as reason for or against anything you want to support or oppose.
Thing is, we never saw this public masking before the shamdemic. If this virus ever was a serious threat, it has now at any rate ceased to be. Has anything changed to make the current situation different to 2019, apart from psychologically?
Oh, we did. In the middle ages, so-called plague doctors used masks to try to avoid succumbing to the plague. This didn’t work and the practice was again discarded. Until a Chinese guy called Wu (you couldn’t make this up) managed to convince himself that masks must work against the plague in 1911 (during the so-called Manchurian Plague). This then convinced our (still) boombaby overlords that another valid and pleasingly exotic (imagine it’s from China!) alternate truth had been found and hence, we were unkindly asked (or rather, harshly ordered) to forget what had been common knowledge for the last 600 years.
They proved with the jabathon that they are not interested in the best outcomes for their patients. Quite simply, there are far too many NHS employees who think the service exists for their benefit and see patients not as paying customers but as a massive inconvenience.
Quite right.
Like those bus drivers who are happy to drive a bus but hate picking up passengers. A few are to be found in every city.
“there are far too many NHS employees who think the service exists for their benefit“
But that’s just it – it does (like all other nationalised industries)
The article’s photo helps me identify seven idiots I hope I need never meet, let alone depend upon in any way, let alone for my health and wellbeing (mental and physical).
About to break into a high energy “Jeruselama”, routine by the looks of it.
I’ll be honest, the stupidest thing I saw today was when I went to an exhibition and outside the loos was a sign that read, “Please use before entering the toilets”, next to a big bottle of hand sanitizer. I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t have seen that pre-Covid and it just seemed to sum up the Clown World, topsy turvey reality that we all unfortunately must deal with. But not a single muzzle was spied ( not even on the 3 chahuahuas being pushed around in a buggy ) so that was a reasonable trade-off.
Maybe it was the modern version of the old engineers joke that you could always tell an engineer, because they were the ones who washed their hands before having a shit.
My GP surgery in Wales still insists everyone wears a mask when coming into the building, and the reception staff are pretty aggressive about enforcing the rule.
I’m not sure, though, whether the nurses and doctors in the surgery could refuse to see a patient who refuses to wear a mask.
And even if in theory they shouldn’t refuse, I’m not sure what a patient could do to force the issue if they were refused an appointment in practice.
Has anyone on this site challenged such GP rules successfully where they live?
Absolutely.
Tell ’em you are exempt.
That should suffice.
I remember two instances where I had to go further, both in the District Hospital.
The first was the kind official who said that without a mask I must stand 2m away from her screen. I, of course, complied but made a performance of not being able to hear / understand her. She tired of this dumb show before I did.
In the other instance, I was curtly reminded that “We do have Covid cases in here, you know!”, to which I responded “Well, I never! Who would have thought it. Sick people in a hospital! Do you also have ladies who are pregnant and due to give birth, in another ward, perhaps?”
She didn’t persist.
Many thanks for your reply, and I’m v impressed with your determination to resist this particularly stupid ‘health’ measure!
It’s happening again because only a very small proportion of the general public read beyond the headlines, which are produced by institutions that refuse to tell the truth, presumably because they fear they’ll lose their funding (by Gates/Soros/whoever).
I have now written twice to the CEO of Bedford NHS Trust (David Carter) asking him for the rationale behind forcing people to wear masks in hospitals and GPs surgeries and………..
Surely the sunk cost fallacy with regard to all the PPE that is still unused and being stored somewhere – what better way to get rid of it than persuade everyone that they need to use it?
The Mask re introduction is just an excuse a cover if you will excuse the pun for an NHS that is so incompetent, so utterly self absorbed in keeping itself fully stocked up with tax payers cash, without supplying anything other than a 3rd world service, it has cunningly found a blame. Us, If we don’t wear a bit of cloth over our faces when entering its hallowed halls of death, we are the ones responsible for its inability to perform, the bit of dirty cloth on your face is according to the NHS the best medicine, the cure all and preventative for all diseases, and if not worn then its our fault that the system is breaking down.
We own the NHS, we decide, its unfit for purpose, its management structure and people couldn’t manage a sh– flow in a sewer, so deny them their excuse, refuse the cloth covering and sue those who have the temerity to treat us as saps.
Typical NHS behaviour. Two pig ignorant administrators in positions of such authority that they can make bovine faeces decisions in the total absence of any empirical evidence and absolutely nobody with the relevant clinical expertise can challenge these thickos.
This must be why “the NHS is the envy of the world” Ho, feckin ho ho.
Surgeon tells it like it is…
Save the image I posted below. And bookmark this
https://brownstone.org/articles/studies-and-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/
“More than 170 Comparative Studies and Articles on Mask Ineffectiveness and Harms”
The tale of the young lady on GB News this week who has hounded by 11 hospital staff members, threatened with being dragged out and the police called because she refused to wear a silly mask with 650-micron holes in it. (A micron is a micro millimetre, or one thousandth of a millimetre)———–The virus is only 5 microns so will and does easily pass through the mask. Imagine throwing 100 snooker balls at some scaffolding. Sure a few balls may hit a pole but most will go straight through. ———–We now live in age where “official science” masquerades as “science” and it is used in a kind of scientific dictatorship where no questions are permitted, and we must simply obey. Just like the “official science” regarding climate. The climate we are told is changing due to humans and that is the end of that discussion. No questions are permitted. Even when the facts don’t fit the theory, which is mostly all of the time, we must all pretend that they do, or we will be dragged out into the street in the case of the young lady on GB news, or have not a rag left on us because we are “climate deniers”, one of the most truly unscientific and infantile terms ever.
Just refuse. My GP receptionist asked if I would wear a mask and I said no. Nothing more was said. At a hospital for tests, the letter said masks must be worn, there were signs everywhere saying they must be worn and everybody was wearing them. I didn’t and nobody said a word. Be brave otherwise the government wins.
FOIA request for their so-called evidence, me thinks.