190828
  • Log in
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Carl Heneghan’s Disgraceful Treatment by the Covid Inquiry

by Dr Tom Jefferson
21 October 2023 5:00 PM

Since June we have covered the Hallett Inquiry, picking out some highlights (starting with “it was all Brexit’s fault”), explaining what our views were and revealing facts while sharing the odd joke.

Thursday was Carl’s turn to give evidence; for those who endured the wait and blank screens, a few things stood out, especially if you have watched or listened to the exchanges of the previous speakers (this past week, mainly public health folk and modellers).

In my naïvety, I thought the Inquiry would want to tackle basic concepts. For example, what is a case of Covid? Why you pressed to vaccinate children when it was clear they were not a priority? Why did you close schools (for the same reason)? What was done to tackle hospital-acquired infections? What was the evidence for the test and trace programme, mask mandates, granny in the garden and so on?

We had prepared the ground for what we thought would be a searching and fair show, aimed at identifying the mistakes and the costs to society and ensuring that granny would not die in isolation ever again and the police would not check your shopping.

Carl had been preparing for months and twice redrafted the evidence he submitted on September 24th, which he posted on Trust the Evidence. In the end, it came to 67 pages.

With previous witnesses, the KCs seemed to ask what, in legal jargon, were a load of leading questions, phrased in such a way that all the respondent had to do was answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and come out smelling of roses. Strange, I thought. Even stranger was the fawning of both KCs and Baroness over folk whose work we have shown to be based on ‘assumptions’.

I was even more surprised when, in the session preceding Carl’s (which overran its time, gave more fawning time to a modeller and restricted the time allotted to Carl), the following exchange was shown from a series of WhatsApp exchanges:

The context was the famous remote meeting with the then-PM. One person is an official, the other an adviser. The adviser (a modeller) was asked by the KC if the person elegantly identified by the official as “f***wit” was Carl, to which the modeller assented or seemed to. Being a modeller, you are never quite sure what is going on. Maybe this was a revenge act for showing what models are made of. Perhaps it was part of something a bit more sinister.

Then came Carl’s turn. There was no fawning here, just questions seemingly undermining his credentials and canvassing his opinions on the Great Barrington Declaration (GBD). The relevance to Carl is lost on me as he did not write the Declaration nor sign it, as the non-plussed KC realised. This is what I call a Fauci question — asking a researcher to publicly interpret someone else’s work (like I was asked by CNN to do with Dr. Fauci’s statements – which I refused to do). If they wanted to get to the bottom of the GBD rationale, they should have asked those who wrote it or at least signed it. 

Then the KC waded in further:

This is where I started smelling a very big rattus norvegicus.

Then, at the end (when the video had switched off) came the Baroness’s knockout blow: “if there are other matters that you wish me to explore, by all means submit them in writing”. That’s funny, considering the 64 pages were completely ignored.

We will get back on some of the issues that yesterday’s session shed light on, but in my view, this is going to go as follows: it was all Boris’s fault and Rishi’s (politely referred to as “Dr. Death” in the exchange). We should have locked down harder, sooner and longer, and bang! SARS-CoV-2 would have vanished like snow off a dyke. ‘Follow the models’ will be the Inquiry’s closing motto.

We did not lock down soon enough because a band of ‘let it rip’ contrarians delayed this and that and, after all, politicians are only as good as the advice they get.

So, dear readers, here’s the question for you: should we spend any more time covering the Inquiry, given that rattus norvegicus is out of the bag, or should we spend our time on more productive topics?

Let us know your views, please.

Here is the transcript of the whole October 19th session.

Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome and lead author of the latest update to the Cochrane review of physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. This article was first published on Trust The Evidence, which you can subscribe to here.

Tags: Carl HeneghanCentre For Evidence Based MedicineCovid InquiryCOVID-19Great Barrington DeclarationHallett InquiryLockdown Sceptics

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Biden Builds the Wall

Next Post

News Round-Up

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

26 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

 

DONATE

PODCAST

Nick Dixon and Toby Young Talk About the Government’s Plan to Reduce Immigration, Elon Musk’s Message to Advertisers and Keir Starmer’s New Hero

by Toby Young
5 December 2023
2

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editors Picks

News Round-Up

6 December 2023
by Richard Eldred

Sunak Suffers Major Tory Rebellion Over Net Zero As He Relies on Labour Votes to Push Through Electric Car Quotas

6 December 2023
by Will Jones

Study Dismisses Concerns About Sudden Cardiac Deaths of U.S. Students. Here’s What’s Wrong With It

6 December 2023
by Dr Clare Craig

With Climate Change, As With Covid, the Cure is Worse Than the ‘Disease’

6 December 2023
by Guy de la Bédoyère

Did Paris Assailant Deliberately Attack a Group of Filipino Tourists and Why Are the Media Covering It Up?

6 December 2023
by Robert Kogon

Sunak Suffers Major Tory Rebellion Over Net Zero As He Relies on Labour Votes to Push Through Electric Car Quotas

57

With Climate Change, As With Covid, the Cure is Worse Than the ‘Disease’

26

Lockdown Trashed Britain’s Economy – Not Brexit

21

The Black Lie at the Heart of Net Zero Energy Fantasies

78

News Round-Up

18

Sunak’s Last Chance to Stop the Boats: Read Suella Braverman’s Resignation Speech in Full

6 December 2023
by The Daily Sceptic

Study Dismisses Concerns About Sudden Cardiac Deaths of U.S. Students. Here’s What’s Wrong With It

6 December 2023
by Dr Clare Craig

Did Paris Assailant Deliberately Attack a Group of Filipino Tourists and Why Are the Media Covering It Up?

6 December 2023
by Robert Kogon

With Climate Change, As With Covid, the Cure is Worse Than the ‘Disease’

6 December 2023
by Guy de la Bédoyère

Child Mask Mandates Have No Clear Benefits and Cause Harm, BMJ Review Finds

6 December 2023
by Guy Gin

POSTS BY DATE

October 2023
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Sep   Nov »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • Newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Please note: To be able to comment on our articles you'll need to be a registered donor

Already have an account?
Please click here to login Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment