- “Lords approve law that would block UAE Telegraph takeover” – Foreign state influence over British newspapers will be outlawed after the House of Lords voted to effectively block the UAE bid for the Telegraph, reports the Telegraph.
- “Robert Halfon quits as minister and MP in fresh blow to Sunak” – Rishi Sunak has suffered a fresh blow after Robert Halfon, the Skills Minister, quit his post and announced he will stand down as an MP at the next election, according to ITV News.
- “Can it get worse for the Tories? Oh yes it can” – Rebels will surely come gunning for Rishi Sunak in May, but they will only succeed in damaging the party further, predicts Daniel Finkelstein in the Times.
- “Israeli hostage reveals she was sexually assaulted while held by Hamas” –An Israeli hostage has revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a guard while she was held captive by Hamas, according to the Mail.
- “Britain is letting Hamas weaponise international law” – The U.K.’s most recent posturing over the Israel-Hamas conflict encourages the terrorists and is ultimately costing more lives, says Natasha Hausdorff in the Telegraph.
- “Trump urges Israel to ‘finish up’ its Gaza offensive and warns about global support fading” – Donald Trump says he would have responded the same way as Israel did after the October 7th attack but urged the country to “finish up” its offensive, warning about international support fading, according to AP.
- “This dishonest denial of a Covid jab link to cancer” – Shadowy forces preventing open discussion of Covid jab dangers are continuing to put countless lives at risk, says Neville Hodgkinson in TCW.
- “Policy watch: NHS waiting lists” – An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; in the case of waiting, it’s worth five million less on the list, say Prof. Carl Heneghan and Dr. Tom Jefferson.
- “Satisfaction with the NHS falls to record low” – Satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to a historic low, with only a quarter of the British public believing that the health service is working, reports the Times.
- “Warning for men in cities: pollution might be ruining your sex life” – Research suggests that men living in heavily polluted cities find it harder to get erections, says the Mail.
- “Population decline will destroy the West as we know it” – The reality of a declining population is something we need to think about urgently, warns Dr. Stephen Davies in the Telegraph.
- “Churches risk undermining asylum system after Clapham attacker’s conversion, says Home Office” – Churches are jeopardising the asylum system, according to Home Office officials, following revelations that the Clapham chemical attacker was permitted to stay in the U.K. despite lying and failing a Christianity test, reports the Telegraph.
- “How can we avoid another Batley Grammar school blasphemy row?” – Dame Sara Khan, the Government’s adviser on social cohesion, has produced a powerful and brave report into incidents such as Batley Grammar, remarks Stephen Webb in the Spectator.
- “Welcome to Starmer’s Britain, where class hatred will ruin our private schools” – There’s no suggestion of adding VAT to university fees as well, but then that wouldn’t give Labour the satisfaction of smiting the rich, says Allison Pearson in the Telegraph.
- “Keir Starmer ‘snubbing special needs schools’ by ploughing ahead with VAT raid” – Keir Starmer has been accused of snubbing special needs schools amid fears that children with learning difficulties will have “no place to go” after Labour’s VAT raid, reports the Telegraph.
- “Braverman to headline NatCon with Orban” – In the Spectator, Steerpike casts his eyes over the line-up for the upcoming National Conservatism conference in Brussels.
- “Scotland’s pound shop Stasi” – The Scottish Government’s illiberal Hate Crime and Public Order Act isn’t even being enforced yet and already Police Scotland are being accused of behaving like a pound shop Stasi, writes Iain Macwhirter in the Spectator.
- “All Humza Yousaf’s Hate Crime Act will achieve is to stir up more hatred” – Whatever the intention behind Humza Yousaf’s new legislation, it is already looking completely unworkable and, quite honestly, mad, says Suzanne Moore in the Telegraph.
- “Humza Yousaf doesn’t understand his own Hate Crime Act” – Humza Yousaf cannot, or will not, accept that the incoming hate crime laws will have any adverse effects, writes Eliot Wilson in CapX.
- “Calls to restrict powers of Scottish police officers accused of inventing trans-hating parody of J.K. Rowling” – In an open letter, 200 gender-critical women demand that police officers who invented a trans-hating ‘parody’ of J.K. Rowling must be stripped of any role in enforcing new hate crime laws, reports the Telegraph.
- “Rugby legend calls for ‘Flower of Scotland’ to be ditched as sporting anthem” – Scottish rugby legend Jim Telfer has called on ‘Flower of Scotland’ to be ditched as the nation’s sporting anthem because of its anti-English “chippiness”, says the Scottish Express.
- “The suicide of Wales” – Dejection and despair now hang over the Valleys, writes Prof. Brad Evans in UnHerd.
- “‘It’s all much worse than I thought’” – The corporate media are all-in on government censorship, says Michael Shellenberger on the Public Substack.
- “Julian Assange extradition appeal: U.K. seeks assurances from the U.S.” – The High Court has ruled that the U.S. must give assurances that the Wikileaks founder will not face the death penalty, reports the BBC.
- “British farmers are treated with contempt by an ignorant elite” – Westminster has waged an all-out war on agriculture for years. It is no surprise that protests are now starting, says Jamie Blackett in the Telegraph.
- “Customers left with shock bills as four million smart meters ‘go dumb’” – Households are being hit with shock energy bills as four million smart meters are not working properly, reports the Telegraph.
- “You’re not being paranoid: smart meters are out to get you” – The constant changing of electricity tariffs – which Ofgem says could vary by the half-hour – threatens to upset budgets for millions of households, warns Ross Clark in the Spectator.
- “Green investment trusts face vote on future as shares slide” – Green energy investment trusts are undergoing investor scrutiny due to declining share prices, reports the FT.
- “Fantasy policy in Whitehall” – Civil servants are inventing wind farm output numbers to make Net Zero look cheaper, says Andrew Montford in Net Zero Watch.
- “Unusual cold plagues both Northern, Southern hemispheres… Arctic sea ice strengthens” – Despite the “devastating effects of climate change”, Saudi Arabia is looking to open its first ski resort by 2026, writes P. Gosselin in WUWT.
- “Climate change is coming for your wine, study warns” – A new study warns that 90% of wine-growing regions in Spain, Italy, Greece and southern California could lose their ability to grow grapes by 2100 due to climate change, reports the Mail.
- “Climate, the Movie: a review” – Martin Durkin’s important new film touches on questions about democracy and free speech as well as climate science, writes Dr. David Whitehouse in Net Zero Watch.
- “Inside the disturbing world of ‘femcels’” – In the Mail, Ellen Coughlan highlights an upcoming Channel Four documentary on the disturbing online community of ‘femcels’ – where women share fears about being alone forever and post shocking videos of themselves eating their own flesh.
- “Sarina Wiegman labels England kit ‘beautiful’ after Nike controversy” – Lionesses’ manager Sarina Wiegman has described the new England kit as “very beautiful” despite controversy over the altered version of the St. George’s cross on the collar, reports the Mail.
- “Cadbury accused of erasing Easter after selling ‘gesture eggs’” – A Cadbury shop has sparked a backlash from Christians who have accused it of “erasing” Easter by selling “gesture eggs”, according to the Mail.
- “Tribunal of gender-critical teacher collapses over panel member’s political and religious slurs” – A tribunal hearing for a teacher who says she was wrongly sacked for “misgendering” a pupil has collapsed after a member was accused of making anti-Christian comments and posting Tory slurs on social media, reports the Telegraph.
- “Spain’s ‘trans equality’ law is a predator’s charter” – Barely a year after Spain passed its ‘trans equality’ law, gender self-identification is wreaking havoc across the country, says Lauren Smith in Spiked.
- “The Left’s sense of humour bypass” – The likes of Diane Abbott, who can weaponise identity politics based on their colour, sexual proclivities or gender of the day, are incapable or brushing off anything, remarks Dr. Roger Watson in the New Conservative.
- “Nick Ferrari sparks furious debate with obesity claims” – Nick Ferrari has sparked a furious row after claiming it is “always”’ someone’s own fault if they’re overweight, according to the Mail.
- “Scientists turn to AI to make beer taste even better” – Researchers say they have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to make beer taste even better, reports the Guardian.
- “Smartphones rewired childhood. Here’s how to fix it” – Phones have made kids sedentary, solitary, anxious and depressed. But, says Jonathan Haidt in the Free Press, we can reverse the damage.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces Google founder’s ex-wife Nicole Shanahan as his running mate” – RFK Jr. has announced Nicole Shanahan, the rags-to-riches Silicon Valley lawyer, as his running mate for his 2024 presidential bid, according to the Hill.
- “Al Gore, please pick up the red emergency phone” – Shocking aerial footage has emerged, revealing the devastating effect of a hailstorm in Texas on thousands of acres of solar farms.
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I think you have to weight the cost of a life in favour of the young. Any other approach seems unnatural.
Any analysis that doesn’t include a notional cost of lost liberty on the cost side is severely lacking. Governments pay people compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
LOCKDOWN DON’T Work – they kill old people they don’t save old people
Mask don’t work
Where Are the Scientific Studies for Universal Masking?
Why Masks Are a Charade Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/08/23/masks-are-charade.aspx?ui=1fb065e0c4152b58bd4ed94cf29c7cbfad40307fb723460ddabacd55f3c58b0c&sd=20210518&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20210823&mid=DM965507&rid=1242686923
Stand in South Hill Park Bracknell every Sunday from 10am meet fellow anti lockdown freedom lovers, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh.
(also Wednesdays from 2pm)
Join our Stand in the Park – Bracknell – Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
Ouch! I’m hoping that the Daily Sceptic looks with disfavor at the citing of dens of kookery like mercola.com
Yes, there’s a reason they used to say women and children first. Of course that doesn’t mean the old don’t matter or that we should euthanise them. But any adult who puts their own life before children’s should be ashamed.
I’m 74. I have 5 granddaughters aged between 22 and 7. Let’s face it, their likely value to society far outweighs mine. They should have been the priority over the last 18 months. I have my degrees and professional qualifications, I have worked but have been retired for years, therefore I do not make an valuable contribution to the national economy. They have had their futures blighted by the over 50s politicians who have also had their chance to learn. I am a drain – they have a productive lfe ahead of them, in spite of the last 18 months. I don’t want to be got rid of, but I am clear headed enough to know that my value is far less than theirs.
Those preferred value numbers still seem ridiculously high – no doubt to try and get the correct answer.
Do they mention the value of someone who will die in the next month covid or no covid?
My guess is we’d soon come to the obvious conclusion without having to conduct a study.
Removed. Rephrased as a top-level comment,
This sort of analysis does very little to convince people one way or the other.
There are so many arbitrary assumptions like the value of each life or the number of people “saved” that if one disagrees with the conclusions one need only take a few shots at the assumptions and retreat back into the comfort of one’s firmly held belief.
What is the assumption about “lives saved” (by shielding measures)? How do these experts determine this estimate? Seems to me the only way you could calculate “lives saved” would be to compare two similar nations that used completely opposite mitigation strategies – One nation did essentially nothing and another did essentially everything. Then you compare the fatalities from COVID.
Unfortunately, we have only one nation – Sweden – in the “placebo” group to perform such “scientific” comparisons. Still, this one comparison does reveal that there is no statistically significant difference in deaths in Sweden to most of the other countries that did use all the lockdown measures, especially when you look at the age cohorts before retirement age.
In America, one could compare mortality data from Alabama – which had much more stringent mitigation mandates – than its neighboring state of Florida. Florida has better mortality statistics on a per capita basis than Alabama. And Florida has more elderly citizens than any state in the union except maybe California.
In other words, more lives were seemingly “saved” in Florida than in Alabama. But this comparison doesn’t fit the narrative, so we can’t use it, I guess.
https://www.covidchartsquiz.com/state-vs-state
Covid charts quiz. Spot the mask mandates and the lockdowns…
So even better still when you look at age groups
There is no benefit in lockdown because communism has no benefits, mediaeval superstition has no benefits.
Oh dear. Political illiteracy strikes again. What we’ve got ain’t ‘communism’ by any stretch of the imagination.
Lockdown is communist, it is a policy imported from a communist dictatorship that has concentration camps.
No, we don’t have communism.
Communist countries didn’t have communism either.
Some more equal, were they?
No, it’s fascism!
Reminds me of that sketch about comminazis.
The only similarity I see is that neither works.
Both communism and medieval superstition seem to lead away from Liberty and towards our current economic model namely Feudalism (although it’s more stealthily done, even though economic-rent is at at historical high).
There was a story a few years back about Europe’s last feudal society (Sark, I think) coming to an end. Didn’t stay away long, did it?
On the contrary, communism always works, it always succeeds in achieving its goal of destruction for the sake of destruction.
Were any lives ‘saved’. Most commentators, even ‘pro lockdown’ ones seem to say all that happens is the can is kicked further down the road. The impact on overall mortality is minimal at best.
Quite. Given the age and co-morbidity profiles of deaths of/with Covid, the likelihood is that a high proportion of these “saved” people would have died anyway soon, either due to Covid catching up with them or to their existing age/conditions.
We haven’t really saved any lives, which can be verified by looking at the all-cause mortality figures. There is no exceptional about last year in terms of deaths
In a rational world, the latest all cause mortality from Belarus would surely be seen as conclusive (I suppose the BBC didn’t cover it…).
No, of course not. The lives “saved” by lockdowns (which I don’t believe) are more than outweighed by the ones lost by all manner of other conditions, some of which have not yet been able to be calculated (how many suicides, deaths from mental illness, bankruptcy, consistent abuse etc). hese are long term figures, which will not become evident for years.
To the rational mind, it is clear that lockdowns ‘weren’t worth it’. There are simply no significant benefits that can be pinned down, whilst the horrendous costs are plain to see.
But … all these analyses depend on the ‘assumptions’ that are made, and then turned into further assumptions about very dodgy monetary equivalents.
The real problem is that governments in general have made no attempt to analyse the immense obvious penalties of lockdowns against the lack of any claimed and unobvious benefits.
Basically, the exercise is fundamentally flawed.
European COVID-19 Vaccine adverse reactions report.
How’s that line up (in terms of numbers jabbed in the EU vassal states) with the UK’s 1500+ jab victims?
It doesn’t.
I’m convinced our total deaths post-vaccination are too low. At a rough guess, at a minimum it should be at least double, and possibly much higher than that, if we assume only 10% of adverse reactions are recorded.
30 day FB ban for posting this!!!!
The real cost, the human cost, the psychological and spiritual cost, has been incalculable.
People are not numbers or economic units.
Seems to me, we need to make just two observations:
Therefore, the “life cost” of Covid19 is zero and the benefits of the Covid19 response is zero.
Disclaimer: Getting on a bit myself, so I’m heading into the higher-chance end.
I’m 74. My 5 granddaughters matter more in terms of the future than I do. I’ve had my working and academic life, my qualifications, my youth (long, long ago) and it they who should have been prioritised. Blow the emotive response of stupid, politicians and so called experts (who are nothing of the kind) that we mustn’t “kill Granny”. This grandma thinks the young should have been prioritised. I don’t want to die, but I am less valuable than they area and to say otherwise is irrational.
Re: The “lives saved” assumption all we can do is look at the ONE “placebo” nation that did not implement “shielding” measures to save lives or slow spread. This nation of course is Sweden.
In the entire nation of Sweden, fewer than 100 people under the age of 40 have died of COVID.
Sweden has more than 14,000 deaths but the average age of a COVID victim is 82.
Apparently, FEWER people under 70 died in Sweden than in nations that went all in on lockdowns. So one could validly argue that no lives were “saved” by the mitigation mandates.
Yes, the benefit side looks to be zero or negative. I’d say it’s very hard to prove to any reasonable degree there was any benefit, so the assumption is that it was zero. The cost side is easier in that whatever approach you take, it’s going to be massive. In truth, the calculation can be done on the back of a postage stamp.
The economic value of a life is assigned and adjusted according to age. Reid’s calculation considers deaths in terms of economic loss. But might not the creeps behind this scam, have looked at the vulnerable (very old, frail, obese) and seen a value to be gained from their deaths?
So even as a decaying old bat I am worth 1.5 million dollars?lHow much does thirty pieces of silver go into 1.5 million dollars?
In my opinion, doing a cost-benefit analysis of lockdowns is fundamentally misguided because it implicitly accepts the assumption the people are essentially the same as cattle, hence, manageing them in them same way is principally ok and the only question here is whether or nor a particular attempt at manageing peoplecattle was efficient.
I’m not a cow. I object to being treated as such. In particular,
I could continue this list, but these are the three most important points which came to my mind.
Meanwhile: in the Philippines, draconian lockdowns continue.
https://mailchi.mp/tomwoods/goodbadnews?e=8e86beb5bb
“due to the so-called “delta” variant, citizens are expected to remain at home for two weeks (a tired trope by now) and may only exit their residences for essential items with a quarantine pass (one per household). Outdoor exercise was allowed until yesterday, but the authorities probably got spooked into banning it when they saw people still outside enjoying themselves (or trying to be healthy) and not cowering in fear at home.”
In New Zealand, lockdowns have been extended. Parliament suspended. Dissidents rounded up, or getting visits from the police for “re-education”, and Jacinda Ardern has sent $3million to the Taliban.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tb0uDUGU50Y
In Australia, there have been large public protests, and the police have used pepper spray and rubber bullets in response.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bD5-1Z1LXeU
Truckers in Australia are planning to bring Australia to a halt, telling people to stock up on food for at least two weeks.
Would anyone have believed this back in 2019??
Bears. Woods. Popes. Catholics. Fictional Detectives and Excrement. FIGHT. BACK. BETTER. Useful information, links and resources: https://www.LCAHub.org/
2 million lives saved by lockdowns? I don’t see how this can possibly be credible, looking at all cause mortality from Belarus. No lockdowns, no restrictions, no disaster.
Lockdowns were worth it. Not to me or society as a whole. The elite has achieved exactly what they wanted…fear and control. It was planned and they probably can’t believe how stupid and compliant society actually is…and how easy it was to achieve their aim.
In the UK government’s document “The tolerability of risk from nuclear power stations” first published by the HSE in 1988 (last revised 1992) there is a UK government department estimated value put on a human life:
“The Department of Transport’s consultation exercise secured widespread endorsement for its proposed value of life for application in road transport appraisal. This value now stands at £660 000 for a life.”
Adjusted for inflation 1992 to 2021 yields £1,320,000 ($1,810,000). This is less than one quarter the estimate of $7.8 million used in the study by L. Jan Reid.
Well, d’uh!