- “Israel assassinates senior Hamas leader in Beirut” – Israel has assassinated a senior Hamas leader in a Beirut drone strike, reports the Telegraph.
- “Claudine Gay resigns as Harvard President over handling of antisemitism” – The President of Harvard University has resigned following criticism of her handling of antisemitism on campus and her alleged plagiarism, reports the Times.
- “Claudine Gay: My part in her downfall” – In UnHerd, Christopher Brunet recalls writing numerous articles over the last two years highlighting dozens of examples of plagiarism attributed to Claudine Gay’s academic record.
- “Onward with inclusiveness” – Claudine Gay’s resignation as Harvard President is unlikely to change much at the university, says Heather Mac Donald in City Journal.
- “Plagiarist Harvard President resigns. Her scientific wrongdoing was fine until a month ago” – On Substack, Igor Chudov has mixed feelings about the recent resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay.
- “Israeli lecturer in U.K.: ‘I am being threatened and I am afraid, there is no one to turn to’” – Dr. Amira Halperin, a lecturer at Coventry University, claims that the university hasn’t taken any action despite her receiving threats from students supporting Hamas, according to ynetnews.
- “GP surgeries could be earning almost £1 billion from ‘ghost patients’” – There were almost six million more patients registered to GPs in England last year than the total population size of the country, according to the Telegraph.
- “Record number of excess deaths amid NHS strikes” – Britain experienced a record number of excess deaths last year amid repeated NHS strikes and the continued cost of the Covid pandemic, reports the Telegraph.
- “Smokescreens – Part One” – In the first of six Substack posts, Dr. Tom Jefferson and Prof. Carl Heneghan delve into the perennial NHS ’winter crisis’.
- “My dog gets better care than my children – the solution to our healthcare crisis is obvious” – As NHS waiting lists continue to balloon out of control, we should be looking at a system more akin to the way we protect our pets, says Lucy Denyer in the Telegraph.
- “COVID-19 vaccines linked to increased risk of swollen lymph nodes in children: Study” – Researchers have found that the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a higher risk of lymphadenopathy, according to the Epoch Times.
- “Long Covid rare in children: Study” – According to a new study, fewer than 1% of children who tested positive for COVID-19 still had symptoms six months later, says the Epoch Times.
- “Ireland confirms their pandemic was just a psy-op ” – New research has found no excess deaths in Ireland between 2020-2022, writes the Naked Emperor on Substack.
- “An overview of the WHO negotiations” – On Substack, James Roguski provides an overview of what is going on with the WHO’s proposed pandemic treaty and the amendments to the International Health Regulations.
- “Tony Blair’s think tank paid to advise countries with poor human rights” – Tony Blair’s think tank is being paid to advise countries with poor human rights records as it expands its global influence, reports the Telegraph.
- “Britain has become a safe haven for terrorists and foreign criminals” – Human rights law stops us from protecting national security and politicians are doing nothing about it, says Philip Johnston in the Telegraph.
- “Reform a bigger threat to Tories and country than Labour, claims Lee Anderson” – Conservative Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson has warned Richard Tice to be “careful what you wish for”, according to the Telegraph, claiming a surging Reform will hurt the Tories more than Labour.
- “Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘cult of personality’ made me uncomfortable, admits Deputy Leader” – SNP Deputy Leader Mhairi Black says Nicola Sturgeon was a “massive asset to have” but that the SNP “shouldn’t be relying on one face or one person”, reports the Telegraph.
- “We’re about to turn our backs on good examples” – The rest of the world is moving in the right direction on school choice, while Labour proposes the opposite, says Mr. Chips on Substack.
- “Ukraine’s new year may end with a brutal Western betrayal” – Spineless leaders are preparing to hand Putin victory, writes Robert Clark in the Telegraph.
- “The circulation state: People, energy, data, money” – On Substack, Dr. David McGrogan discusses how the modern state governs and where it’s leading us.
- “Numale German Green endorses the ecosocialism of Jason Hickel, implicitly calling for a socialist revolution to disarm and deindustrialise the West” – On Substack, Eugyppius flags the recent endorsement of ‘ecosocialist’ Jason Hickel, a leading intellectual of the Degrowth movement, by a member of the Green Bundestag.
- “Why are Gen Z ageing so differently to millenials?” – As the oldest members of Gen Y approach their mid-40s, many people have been left baffled as to why they look younger than Gen Z, according to the Mail.
- “How progressive ideology hijacked the festive season” – Sadiq Khan can’t just sit back and let Christmas follow its well-established course, says Gareth Roberts in the Spectator.
- “Sadiq Khan embodies the worst excesses of the new Left” – While presenting a picture of feel good inclusivity, London’s Mayor presides over a failing city, argues Louise Perry in the Telegraph.
- “Trans model shouldn’t represent women, activists tell UN” – Seventeen women’s rights groups have signed a letter to the charity UN Women U.K. expressing concern about its choice of a biological male as its U.K. champion, reports the Times.
- “Stephanie Davies-Arai” – On Substack, Laura Dodsworth interviews one of the most effective feminist fighters in the transgender trenches.
- “U.S. intelligence has been manipulating Wikipedia for over a decade: Wiki co-founder” – The co-founder of Wikipedia has dropped a bombshell about U.S. intelligence agencies interfering with the online encyclopaedia, according to ZeroHedge.
- “‘I’m not even going to dignify that with an actual response’” – On Sky News, climate contrarian James Woudhuysen gets a frosty response from a Just Stop Oil spokesperson after asking her, “What makes you so confident that you’re right about the world being hotter now than it was 125,000 years ago?”
"What makes you so confident that you're right about the world being hotter now?" – author @jameswoudhuysen
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 2, 2024
"I'm not even going to dignify that with an actual response." – Just Stop Oil spokesperson @ZoeatShinehttps://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3#KayBurleySky 501 / YouTube pic.twitter.com/CL9IhruQki
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He defended lockdown because it’s a weapon in their arsenal. They intend to use it again with even more destructive consequences.
The home testing and PCR industrial apparatus is a sign they aren’t even pretending “normal” is on the agenda.
Its still following the “Everything covid, only covid” and no acceptable that we just need to get on with life.
You’ll always be 1 test and trace visit away from having enforced 2 weeks off work and so on.
Lockdown is more sinister – it wasn’t done because nobody thought they’d get away with it.
Now they’ve done it and fine tuned the psychological tools to keep it applied indefinitely it’ll now be top of their list to “solve” anything, not bottom.
The first lockdown was hard. The rest are easy.
The first lockdown wasn’t hard. That’s the problem. People turned into zombies with such spineless ease that even the evil Pantsdown was astonished. From a free country to a concentration camp in twenty-four hours.
Is anybody participating in this twice weekly testing exercise, I am not aware of anybody among my friends who are being so neurotic.
After several texts and a letter from Ipsos Mori – I emailed them to explain I had no wish to participate in a test not fit for purpose. Also mentioned they did not inform of the Cycle Threshold – if high then also negating the validity of the test. So not Informed Consent.
They acknowledged by email without comment ….. !
Actually I’m feeling a bit miffed that I haven’t been sent a testing kit, not that I would use it but nevertheless I’m miffed anyway.
I put mine straight back in the post box, must be random as I’ve already made it clear to whoever rang about the jab, that it was a No.
He’s an opportunist who has no principles to guide his moral compass. To me he’s always been deeply inadequate; I don’t know what people saw in him.
I’d like people to stop with the lazy “remainers” label though. I voted remain for none of the reasons anyone ascribes to ‘our sort’. Lazy categorisation of individuals intended to disparage and dismiss their viewpoint has been a tactic of both sides for a long time now, but especially over the last year: “remoaners” (boo!) vs “brexiteers” (yay!), “covidiots”, “conspiracy theorists”, “covid deniers”, “anti-vax”. Dismiss the individual, put them in a box and safely ignore their views.
I have said for years that he is an opportunist liar.
And quite blatantly so.
I agree
Has the brilliant “When Politicians Panicked” by John Tamny been highlighted in LS? It has a recommendation blurb from Toby so I imagine it has. Tamny takes aim at lockdowns in particular.
Please, not another Boris apologist trying desperately to extricate the PM from a mess of his own making? Let us be clear, Johnson has been 100% complicit in every policy decision, every expert appointment, every ministerial decree, every wasted billion of taxpayer’s money on crony benefits. He is not suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, but a more rarefied form of Bullingdon Club arrogance in which money and power drive his every move. Lord Acton’s dictum could have been written on Johnson’s birth certificate.
This is no blundering buffoon PM in thrall to the experts, but a psychotically greedy individual driven by Acton’s ‘absolute power’ lust, with the resulting absolute corruption. He realises his limitations, and has long perfected the helpless wide eyed and innocent look. Whether it is Garden Bridges or illegal Water Cannon when Mayor, let alone CCHQ picking up the tab for his legal fees in the Arcuri scandal (and it IS a scandal) the wasting of other people’s money (especially taxpayers’) hardly registers with him. His current princess-in-tow follows the same path with her home decorating, as someone else will always pay the bill, and (again like her mentor) is endlessly plotting her optimum political path regardless of those that have to be sacrificed.
Yet up to this point not one politician or journalist has got close to laying a glove on Johnson, or dared to seriously call him out despite a trail of damage stretching back years. And with the country in economic ruins, hundreds (thousands?) dead from the combination of an experimental vaxx and the human consequences of lockdown (including missed NHS treatments and suicide) Toby (the great defender) has the gall to feature a simpering, naive, cringeworthy article like this that once again tries to paint Johnson as more sinned against than sinning.
Sorry, it just won’t do this time!
In what way is Kim Jong-Johnson presented as sinned against?
You read words that aren’t there.
Indeed. Weakness is not a positive trait and some of the worst authoritarians are extremely weak characters. I see no attempt to excuse our current PM in the article.
I guess the point is he isn’t just a “hostage” of the bad guys. He is one of them.
For whatever reason, the commentariat does not want to believe that bumbling, cuddly Boris is responsible for anything bad, he is being led astray.
It can be hard to believe that anybody so manifestly stupid could also be so utterly wicked. But the two can easily go together.
He projects the persona of bumbling amiability but since gaining some real political power, he’s clearly gone from sociopathic narcissist to pure evil psychopath. The article describes this latter condition very clearly.
The fact that he is so weak that a coven of witch doctators can push him around is a condemnation, not an excuse.
A beautifully written piece, Mr Finlayson. I think he can be both things though: an arrogant liar and under Ferguson’s spell. Boris has been, at least since Oxford, ruthlessly self-promoting, and has used charm and lies from a very early stage to get ahead and enjoy his pleasures. He had beauty – once – charm, immense verbal gifts, a brilliant education; perhaps others always seemed to him little people by comparison.
There was a time when his worst qualities were restrained by a group of sane advisors, but Covid has put Toad Hall into his single hands, and Ratty and Badger are ignored again.
Boris thinks it is in his interests to continue lying to the electorate: the polls and groups tell him so. Whether he fully understands the magnitude of what he is doing is uncertain – but certainly he doesn’t care. What he doesn’t see is that the long term consequences of his current actions will one day destroy him.
But also Boris believes he nearly died of Covid. I think that time helpless in hospital was the first time Boris realised he would die one day. The expertise of the NHS saved him, he believes. (Had he rested instead of arrogantly ignoring the illness, and received one of the early treatments, would this have been avoided?) His gratitude leads to the convenient belief that his own political interests and those of the electorate are one. It is good for us to be lied to. It is good for him to have absolute control.
Let’s not forget that Johnson, as a child, claimed that he wanted to be “King of the World” when he grew up.
He’s in a long list of those, not least of which is Tony Blair
He’s at the head of the list.
I doubt he came anywhere near close to dying – even that he was actually in hospital. It’s just as likely he was hidden away nursing a hangover, just like he hid during the severe flooding.
Don’t forget that last winter, dePiffle and key mockdown orchestrators announced further draconian measures, then promptly went into quarantine because they’d “been near someone who tested positive”.
The transparency is breathtakingly arrogant yet, somehow, the sheeple keep falling for it.
I’m glad someone has a grasp of the historical facts.
“Fairground chaos.” You obviously are unserious!
This man is not fit to lead this nation. He can’t even keep himself under control. He needs to be removed, along with his sidekick Hancock, and his minders Whitty, Vallance and Ferguson.
He has caused more trouble and strife to this nation than any other event or conflict in history (in just 12 months).
Not only should he be removed, he should be charged with treason and malfeasance.
And replaced by whom? I fear we are a rudderless world heading fast over edge and into the abyss.
Men and women who actually like this country and its people, and who honour our heritage, and who possess Common Sense and believe in Common Law – might be a good start.
“Common Sense” is not a good term. Most people who believe in the Covid stuff are using theirs!
I beg to differ. They have completely repressed and ignored it in favour of irrational belief.
Apart from a dearth of decent candidates, the very few who might have the qualities to lead this country out of this disaster are undoubtedly clever enough to realise that such a role is nothing more than a poison chalice. The Powell “all political lives…..end in failure” saw is all the more relevant, when whoever does get landed with this may have to account, not just for an economy and all other aspects of our society (education, health etc.) irretrievably screwed for ever, but the possible aftermath of stuffing the populace full of untested “vaccines”. I suspect that shadow will hang over the country, and the world, for a long time to come.
Meanwhile, the useless, amoral, evil buffoon primps his equally-disastrous “environmental” credentials; an attention-deflector, for which he clearly has as little interest or understanding as anything else. He is, as with Covid, weak, easily-led and interested only in how a posture may benefit him and his petticoat influences.
Put David Davis in as a temporary seat warmer but get that faker out of office!
Honestly? I think Ian Duncan Smith could fit that bill temporarily. He’s not charismatic, and no Teresa May either, but so far I’ve not disagreed with anything he’s said, especially lockdown and CV19.
Yes I’d agree with IDS, although any member of the CRG would do right now!
By any normal person
Don’t forget their common denominator, Blair
Excellent piece but nothing new to most of us. The idea of our current PM as a Patty Hearst figure is one that has been apparent for a while and only the fool that he is would keep on doing the bidding of mostly left leaning or far left “scientists”. The question is how to stop him and only the 1922 can do that. Will they before it really is too late?
I think the Conservative MPs secretly like the thought of an authoritarian government. What’s next – cancelling elections?
How did you guess?
So do the Left-wing MPs in Labour.
All of them seem to be competing to be the most like the dreadful Democrats in the U.S. right now, who see racism everywhere, hate their own country and fellow countrymen, and are doing their absolute best to destroy the country from within, its Constitution, legal system, and especially the voting system.
That image of poor helpless Bojo is the last fling of erstwhile supporters of this dangerous village idiot.
Let’s take to the streets of London tomorrow and let Boris know that not everyone is gullible.
It will be interesting to see how heavy handed the policing of the protest is tomorrow for ‘breaking covid rules’, when I think little if any policing went on for the mass gatherings this week against the new football league.
I would if I could but I can’t, but I’ll be there in spirit if not in body.
Boris disgusts me more and more. A weak minded, easily manipulated amoeba of a man. And to think I helped vote him in. He does more U turns than a dodgy sat nav.
Not that slimey Starmer would have been any better. What an unholy mess, and frankly, whilst the public follow this massively dangerous narrative, our freedoms are being removed daily. If people do not stand up soon, we are doomed to a future I dread.
He disgusted me with his cheap antics during his election campaign. I’m sorry to say he has far exceeded my expectations.
Mr Johnson always wants to be Mr Popular, bet he’s very popular among his globalist friends now
Boris was right to say that it wasn’t the vaccines that led to the reduction in positive tests, hospitalisations & deaths, the age groups of unvaccinated people fell at virtually the same rate as the vaccinated. But neither was it the lockdown. The virus did what viruses do.
Looking at the perspex boxes the Lords sit in to listen to each other, Covid obviously knows not to go any higher than a 30cm above their heads. Is perspex Green, we are perspexing the country. Is it a good investment?
It all depends on your perspective.
Good one
Don’t you just loathe that revolting Americanism ‘stay home’? I can see why they use it. It’s an aural punch delivered to the zombies, followed by an aural knock-out. And it’s revolting.
Please do not use the phrase “ the Troubles” it is an IRA phrase to soften the terrorism inflicted on innocent people .
We are faced with hollowed out person, whose behaviour (outputs) would be trivial to model. People are right to focus on the external influences (inputs). As for being “a man” if there is anything that is left it’s only a matter of time. Ironically all those “experts” have effectively killed him.
History lesson : There were two sides in the Irish terror campaign.
The photograph of Johnson said it all really before I even read the piece. Never in our history have we had a Prime Minister so completely out of his depth.
Johnson never wanted any of this, Hancock made him do it, honest
Johnson is in place precisely because he is weak and easily manipulated etc etc…Starmer too (Dunning Kruger effect) But even before these two dummies were elevated above and beyond their capabilities, the idea that we actually lived in a functioning democracy was a joke, the game was rigged…Bliar saw to that.
Surely any competent Tory MP can see its time to kick Boris out. His ability as a leader, decision maker or intelligent person with the ability to think for himself has gone if he ever had it. He once had Cummings and his team pulling his strings, but now they have gone its anyone he comes into contact with mostly left wing control freaks or his girl-friend who without any idea of the consequences is forcing him into an uneconomic green agenda. If he carries on as leader of the Tories they will be finished and be historically our worst government ever.
“If he carries on as leader of the Tories they will be finished.” Wishful thinking. They are well ahead in the polls. Partly because the opposition is so bad, but ahead they are.
“ and be historically our worst government ever” Indeed, by a long way. Except not many people have noticed.
The appalling opposition is a factor, but I fear that the key issue is the gullibility of the populace.
Not helped by a highly compromised media who are putting out what is little more than propaganda. Most don’t realise it, as they’re used to getting, or still expect to get unbiased news.
Oh dear – the right has been in power for 40 years – but it’s all the fault of ‘the left’.
Tony Blair wasn’t the right.
Yes he was – not the Tory right, but an advocate of the free market and global capital. Look at him now.
Look at the revolutionary BLM Marxist, Patrice Cullors, and her multiple new homes, all bought with donated money.
Not to mention the leaders of every far left government in countries across the world. They all preach equality for all, but that doesn’t mean them.
Rubbish. He was and is a socialist.
Free market Tony Blair exists only in your imagination
My household used to call him the Pink Tory.
our mps are having the easiest time of their lives, why would they want to stop the gravy train?
Excellent article Dr Bradshaw. Thank you!
This is far too easy on Johnson. It’s not the fake ‘experts’ – they have no executive power. It’s his government, and if his increasing absurdities are genuine utterances, then he needs to be removed to a padded cell.
“At present we can hardly be said to be in an epidemic”
We never have been, in terms of GP surveillance data as analysed by the CEBM!
Currently, we’re not even in a minor viral episode.
I still can’t decide if he is one of the people driving it or whether he is being driven. I don’t overly care, however – as you say, he has the executive power and the buck stops with him. Any PM who cannot deal with “experts” is unfit for office.
First sentence – for crying out loud, employ a proof reader! Learn how to use commas! And you mean ‘patsy’, right? Not Patty? Good grief. (Agree with what you’re trying to say though.)