Throughout the Covid pandemic, the Scottish Government made a show of imposing stricter and longer restrictions than Boris Johnson’s ‘reckless’ Tory Government south of the border. Yet despite these additional measures, in the two years from the start of the pandemic to spring 2022, Scotland averaged 23.9 excess deaths per million weekly, writes Dr. David Livermore in Spiked. “That was by far the highest in the U.K., with Wales suffering 22.9 excess deaths per million, Northern Ireland 18.8 and England 18.6.”
This obvious failure of Scotland’s response was, remarkably, summarised in an opening report commissioned by Scotland’s official Covid inquiry and written by Dr. Ashley Croft, a public health infection epidemiologist who spent most of his career working for the military and now practises from Harley Street as a medico-legal expert witness.
He told the inquiry that:
In 2020, there was scientific evidence to support the use of some of the physical measures (e.g., frequent handwashing, the use of PPE in hospital settings) adopted against COVID-19. For other measures (e.g., face-mask mandates outside of healthcare settings, lockdowns, social distancing, test, trace and isolate measures), there was either insufficient evidence in 2020 to support their use – or alternatively, no evidence; the evidence base has not changed materially in the intervening three years. It has been argued that the restrictive measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in individual, societal and economic harm that was avoidable and that should not have occurred.
Dr. Livermore says he agrees entirely.
As Sweden’s already-concluded Covid inquiry found, “Several countries which did impose lockdowns… had ‘significantly worse outcomes’ than Sweden”. It also found that the restriction of individual freedom was “hardly defensible other than in the face of very extreme threats”.
Dr. Croft is similarly downbeat about the vaccines, saying “it remains unclear as to whether or not COVID-19 vaccination has resulted in fewer deaths from COVID-19”. Dr. Livermore disputes this conclusion, saying “it seems fairly clear that vaccines did break the link between cases and deaths in the spring and summer of 2021”. However, recent analysis by experts like Dr. Eyal Shahar suggests that much of the apparent effectiveness of the vaccines may be an illusion created by the healthy vaccinee effect, whereby those who took the vaccines tend, other things being equal, to have fewer underlying risk factors.
In any case, Dr. Livermore agrees with Dr. Croft that “the protection they offered was brief and incomplete”.
Long before vaccine passports were imposed on Scots in autumn 2021, there was abundant evidence that vaccines did not stop infection and transmission. This should have blown the bottom out of the case for vaccine passports. That it failed to stop them is a disgrace.
Dr. Croft adds that the “2,362 spontaneous [Yellow Card] reports suggesting a fatal outcome following COVID-19 vaccination” are “of concern”, noting such events are likely under-reported.
But the most important point about Dr. Croft’s report, says Dr. Livermore, is that it so flagrantly defies the Official Narrative of harsh but necessary lockdowns saving the population from the ravages of a deadly plague.
Irrespective of whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, Croft is to be congratulated for addressing the core question: did the Government’s restrictions, deployed at great cost and societal disruption, work?
The fact that he has even asked this question stands in contrast to the groupthink on display at the U.K. inquiry, presided over by Lady Hallett. Its first theme, examining ‘Preparedness and Resilience’, concluded last month. During the hearings, witnesses were indulged in long meanders through Brexit and Tory/Lib Dem austerity. This was despite the obvious fact that adjacent EU countries not previously governed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg experienced similar travails with the virus.
Witnesses also said that Britain had prepared for the wrong type of pandemic, with all of our plans anticipating an influenza pandemic rather than a coronavirus pandemic. But if coronavirus and influenza pandemics were so obviously different, scientists wouldn’t still be arguing about whether the 1889-94 ‘Russian Flu’ – which was comparable to Covid in terms of mortality – was a form of influenza or a coronavirus.
Unsurprisingly, Croft’s report hasn’t gone down well with the lockdown-supporting press in Scotland. He has been attacked as being ‘not an expert’ in viral pandemics. I don’t know Croft and hold no personal brief for him, but his CV indicates a much longer experience of microbiology-related public health than, say, public-health academic Devi Sridhar, who exerted much influence on Scotland’s Covid response. Military medicine – where he spent his career – takes a great interest in epidemics. They have stopped many armies, from Charles VIII at Naples (syphilis) to Admiral Vernon at Cartagena (yellow fever).
Dr. Livermore concludes that “it is telling that Scottish commentators no longer even try to say that Scotland’s lockdowns were a success… there is too much evidence to the contrary”.
“I sincerely hope that Scotland’s inquiry reflects upon this. And that Lady Hallett reads Croft’s report. It might just refocus the U.K. inquiry on the questions that really matter.”
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Same here
just glanced todays offal , Hancocks knock back & Canadas legal murder policy stand out for totally different reasons !
What’s really going on?
‘Important Stories’ discovered a whole network of Telegram chats. A number of facts point to their belonging to the Tajik wing of the ISIS terrorist group “Vilayat Khorasan”.
In chat rooms, sympathizers of the “Islamic State” communicate with each other in illiterate, as the native speaker noted, Tajik with admixtures of incomprehensible native slang. ISIS followers use Tajik with admixtures of Russian, Farsi and Arabic. In these communities, they listen to online sermons from people who associate themselves with “Wilayat Khorasan”.
After his arrest on March 23, Faridun, the person involved in the terrorist attack in Crocus, said that he had listened to sermons on Telegram, after which an unknown person contacted him and offered to commit a mass murder, and also paid 250,000 rubles out of the promised 500,000.
In early March, a participant in a similar chat, where militants are likely to be recruited, posted a link to a cryptocurrency collection to help “captive families” (i.e. imprisoned ISIS terrorists). He later deleted his Telegram account. The channel itself with meetings is conducted in Russian and Tajik languages, Russian-language Islamist propaganda is also published there.
The specified USDT wallet was created on March 14 at 10:24 Moscow time. The first tranche of $550 arrived immediately after creation, the following – in the amount of $325, $550 twice, and $1,100, respectively (a total of $2,525) – were received and withdrawn on the day of the terrorist attack, March 22, from 7:20 a.m. to 6:55 p.m. UTC (from 10 a.m. to 9:55 p.m. Moscow time).
They were withdrawn to the TU4vEruvZwLLkSfV9bNw12EJTPvNr7Pvaa wallet, which is officially declared as a ByBit wallet – one of the few crypto exchanges still operating in the Russian Federation.
According to the official version of the Investigative Committee, the militants left Crocus at 20:11. Traffic camera data also shows that the suspects were detained around 00:00. That is, funds were withdrawn during this period of time. On the same day, the activity of the wallet stopped.’
As of Wednesday, March 28, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations published a list of the dead, which includes 143 names.
https://istories.media/en/stories/
Naughty silly little fibs:
‘Russian state-funded and pro-government media have been instructed by the Putin administration to emphasize possible “traces” of Ukrainian involvement in their reporting on Friday’s Crocus City Hall terrorist attack………learned from a state media employee. A second source from a pro-Kremlin outlet confirmed the report.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that the four main suspects in the attack had planned to flee to Ukraine, where they allegedly had “appropriate contacts,” after the shooting. The agency said the suspects were detained in Russia’s Bryansk region on their way to the Ukrainian border.’
Or not really:
‘According to Lukashenko, Belarusian security forces set up roadblocks, including at the Russian border. “Therefore, there was no way for [the terrorists] to get into Belarus. They saw this, so they turned away and went toward the Russia-Ukraine border,” Belarusian state-run news agency Belta quotes Lukashenko as saying.
Lukashenko also said that he spoke with Putin about the closure of the Belarusian border, which the Russian president had allegedly requested.’
Whatever, it clearly isn’t working:
‘An elderly resident of Ola, a village in Russia’s Far Eastern Magadan region, is facing up to seven years in prison…..he made a comment along the lines of, “They should have taken out more of those parasites’…….police and Federal Security Service (FSB) officers detained the 75-year-old with support from a Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) of the Russian National Guard.’ (For real!)
This kind of thing appears to be widespread
‘In Bashkortostan, police arrested blogger Rustam Absalyamov on criminal charges of justifying terrorism over comments he made during a livestream. According to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti, Absalyamov said that Bashkortostan “was not in mourning” and called for “blowing up Moscow.”
In St. Petersburg, investigators brought felony charges of justifying terrorism against a 26-year-old citizen of Tajikistan over comments about the attack he allegedly made online.
In Nizhny Novgorod, police brought misdemeanor charges against the parents of a teenager who said in a video that she was “grateful” for the terrorist attack because it meant she didn’t have to travel to Moscow.
Earlier, on March 25, St. Petersburg police arrested Nikolai Konashenok over a Facebook post about the Crocus City Hall attack. Among other things, Konashenok wrote, “Why Crocus and not the Kremlin?” He was subsequently charged with the felony of justifying terrorism.’
Meduza
One of those killed by the terrorists:
‘Colonel of the Russian 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade Timur Myasnikov died in the Crocus City Hall attack, he had just come back from Ukraine for his leave when he was shot by terrorists a week ago. He had a long history of fighting for the regime from Tajikistan to Kosovo and Ukraine.’
Fought in Tajikistan………Hmmmm………
Mary had a little lamb…
Covid Jabbed Blood Unsafe for Transfusions
Latest leaflet to print at home and deliver to neighbours or forward to politicians, including your local Reform Party candidate, your local vicar, media and friends online.
Thursday Morning Windsor Rd & Ruddlesway Windsor
There Is No Climate Crisis
From Julian Gillespie: 764 pages of ‘response to questions’ in the People’s Terms of Reference demand for a covid royal commission. Worth reading Dr Ramesh Thakur’s intro (p8-11) at a bare minimum. Hallett might learn a thing or two..
I am pleased to inform you our Responses to Question on Notice have been published.
.. it started with several months of drafting proposed Terms of Reference to meet the ludicrous 12 Jan filing date
.. but first we went to the public with the support of 24 organisation with 9 days to go
.. we received the support of over 48,000 Co-Signatories .. in 9 days
……
.. we were asked to Canberra to provide further evidence, and further evidence we sure did provide
from that Canberra session we received 51 Questions on Notice
.. and in 2&1/2 w!eeks we responded
..with 764 pages
https://julesonthebeach.substack.com/p/update-covid-royal-commission-our
The damning evidence that Sushi is a rubbish PM on migration alone, and a 99% chance of Labour being victorious, so WTF that will look like in reality I dread to think;
”Rishi Sunak’s relentless insistence that his efforts to stop illegal migration are working is undermined by an ever-larger body of evidence of his failure.
It was revealed this week that a record number of migrants (4,644) have crossed the English Channel to Britain so far this year, with 514 arriving in just one single day. This statistical milestone was made more depressing when, reportedly, one individual was stabbed on a small boat stuffed with 60 people. So much for the plan to “stop the boats” being “on track.”
There has been some celebration of the fact that only 29,437 migrants made the perilous journey last year—the second-highest total ever recorded. But Border Force officials think that the upper projection for this year is as high as 50,000.
It is no wonder then that Sunak is apparently asking his Downing Street advisers:
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/uk-stop-the-boats-sunak-oversees-record-number-of-channel-crossings/
As RW has pointed out, in his usual logical fashion, stopping determined invaders is quite tricky and you probably have to be prepared to use force, possibly deadly, to stop them. Unless and until the general public think of these people as invaders, this is not going to happen because even people who would like immigration reduced would be wringing their hands.
Australia, during the Howard and Abbott premierships, succeeded in the tricky task of stopping determined invaders. It required resolute determination on the part of the government along with diligent professionalism on the part of civilian and military officials. These conditions are lacking in the UK which, with few exceptions, has politicians who are spineless and deluded and state civilian and military officials whose loyalty is to leftist political orthodoxy.
An excellent lesson in how to calmly make your point. Worth watching. The woman on his right exemplifies everything that’s wrong with the racial beliefs of the left. She wants everyone to see colour, not character. She wants to be given special privileges because of her colour, not her character. She wants to be allowed to bathe in her victimhood. She wants to ignore class as the real driver of discrimination because that would mean poor white people are being discriminated against, and we just can’t have that can we?
This is what we’ve become – a multitude of different victimised tribes, identifying themselves not by their person, but by their race and/or gender. I’m a victim because I’m black, I’m a victim because I’m a woman etc. You can double the points : I’m a victim because I’m black AND a woman. What a sad little world we live in.
Good to see Steve Sailer get a shout out in today’s NR. His blog is here: Steve Sailer Archive – The Unz Review Always worth a look, including a healthy set of BTL comments. Unz in general is worth a look – uncensored as far as I can make out. The site owner is rich and a firm believer in freedom of speech – though it’s easier in the US.
Sailer was poor on covid though.
“Britons furious as Central London covered in ‘Happy Ramadan’ lights over Easter”
Are they? Why don’t they get up on their hind legs and do something then?
It’s way past the point where previous generations would have marched to London en masse to stop this! It’s just another peice of real evidence that Britain, and all it once stood for, is finished! It’s a weak, cowed shadow of its once proud self
F Britain and the British, they’ll reap what they are letting others sow!
Let’s face it, Dings, most people aren’t bothered and can’t see the creeping Islamisation of our major cities. And if they are, they’re too worried about being called out as ‘racists’ or ‘white supremacists’ or whatever the new favourite trope is to dismiss their concerns. Remember though, this is London, ‘governed’ by a Muslim mayor who is highly unpopular. Out in the countryside is where the real Britain still resides, where Easter means something to people and where very few muslims are in evidence. As true British – I prefer English – we connect to the land because this is where we were born and from which we grew. It’s in our blood. And we are fighting back, although you may now hear about it, in councils up and down the land and asking difficult questions and making councillors squirm. It might not be as effective as a full frontal assault on Downing Street or Khan’s office with pitchforks and rope for nooses but it’s something.
Yes, I’ll go along those lines to a degree but I think it is our generation that is the last chance of this amazing nation, the gradual fading, generation by generation is obvious and,to me, now unstoppable!
As a miners lad from Nottinghamshire, I never thought this next sentence would ever pass my lips!
We need Margaret Thatcher back!
Last I looked Mayor Khan was well ahead in the polls.
Holy smoke! Why would any reasonable person still want to live there if he is reelected?
It reminds me of the film escape from New York, London is turning into a giant prison!
The cities of England, above all London, are lost and cannot now be reclaimed as the rot has gone too far. For now, England lives on in small towns and villages and hopefully the barbarian invasion can continue to be repelled there. Ultimately, London needs to be cut adrift if England is to survive.
Nailed it
!
The British Bulldog:
Born October 1707
Died December 2019
RIP
Sadly, that looks increasingly accurate.
So sad Hux,
The US and even some of Europe looks to be leaving the winter and moving to a more promising Summer with the likely return of Trump and the more right leaning voters in parts of the block
But Britain can only be looking towards entering, at least, a 5 year winter with Kneel Starmer and co
“DUP party officers will meet in emergency session this afternoon. Meeting unexpectedly called this morning.
It comes as the DUP leader’s diary was cancelled yesterday, including a scheduled attendance at the business breakfast at which he was due to speak.”
https://twitter.com/JamieBrysonCPNI/status/1773662589609734473
“Jeffrey Donaldson deletes all his social media accounts…
Mick Fealty on March 29, 2024, 8:40 am Comments Off
This looks ominous…. For now, comments will remain closed, but this is likely to be the beginning of something big. Very big.”
https://www.sluggerotoole.com/2024/03/29/jeffrey-donaldson-deletes-all-his-social-media-accounts/
‘Man, 61, charged over non-recent sexual offences
A 61-year-old man has been charged in relation to non-recent sexual offences, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has said.
A 57-year-old woman was also arrested and charged at the time for aiding and abetting additional offences.
Both are due to appear before Newry Magistrates’ Court on 24 April.
They were both arrested on Thursday. The PSNI said: “As is usual procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service”‘
The man charged is Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, and he has resigned.
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/jeffrey-donaldson-resigns-as-dup-leader-after-being-charged-with-historical-sex-offences/a645718063.html
This is what the future of the UK looks like!
https://www.gbnews.com/news/yobs-storm-shopping-centre-causing-mayhem-security-struggle-contain-antisocial-chaos
“Nigel Farage drops biggest hint yet about return to frontline politics”
Now Nigel is talking about “taking over” or “merging” with the defeated Tories if Reform win the election. Why would any Reform voters want to do that???
More tricks and sleight-of-hand from Nigel. The whole point of Reform is to overturn the LibLabCon stranglehold on British politics, not to win and then be swallowed up by LibLabCon again.
Who can forget what he did to his own Brexit Party candidates in 2019?
““A van driver pulled up next to us and asked what we were doing as he had just heard on the radio we weren’t running,” Selkus wrote. “After a quick verification online, myself and three volunteers put the street stand away.
“I don’t understand why Nigel Farage has betrayed my incredible volunteers and thousands of constituents who will have no one to vote for. I don’t understand why dedicated [candidates] were the last to know they had been stood down and locked out of their Brexit party email accounts and supporter database.”
Robert Wheal, who had been due to stand in Arundel and South Downs, said Farage’s argument about protecting Brexit was “absolute codswallop”. He told LBC radio: “Brexit party supporters have worked their socks off for that party and he’s dropped them like a stone at 12 o’clock yesterday.”
Nigel Farage faces backlash from ‘betrayed’ Brexit party candidates | Reform UK | The Guardian
Re: Farage and Reform UK potentially merging with the Cons-
Another example of political incestousness, resulting in furthering the aims of the uniparty, irrespective of what the downtrodden electorate want.