Charles Moore strikes an optimistic note in his Telegraph column today, arguing that the common sense verdict of the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Ely regarding Jesus College’s Rustat memorial will make it harder for woke fanatics to ‘cleanse’ Britain of any reminders of its colonial past.
A carefully argued judgment by Judge David Hodge forbade the removal of a 17th-century memorial from the chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge. It will help protect our heritage, expose weak leadership in our great institutions and help turn the tide of jiggery-wokery.
Before I explain why, please excuse some recent history.
Two years ago, as the world became infected by a plague which the Chinese regime had tried to hide, I came across the website of the China Centre at Jesus College. Its wording struck me. It made no pretence to academic detachment. Using Xi Jinping’s pet phrase “national rejuvenation”, it praised the “extraordinary transformation” wrought by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership.
Further inquiry showed a pervasive yet opaque college engagement with CCP-backed bodies. Professor Peter Nolan, who runs the centre, would not speak publicly about it. The college’s wider China engagement included a UK/China Global Issues Dialogue Centre, conferences (some not ostensibly China-related), receptions, prize-givings, oily speeches in Beijing etc, backed enthusiastically by Cambridge’s vice-chancellor. No forum criticised the Chinese regime – holding events, for example, about the suppression of Hong Kong or the enslavement of the Uyghurs. Only this month did Jesus finally print figures showing that the college has taken nearly £1.5 million from regime-controlled Chinese sources in the past five years. I think that will prove a conservative estimate.
Journalistically, I had hit a rich seam. Controversy rose. Distinguished alumni expressed unease.
At the same time, Jesus College, so reticent about China, turned on another source of its money. Tobias Rustat, a 17th-century supporter of King Charles II, rewarded for his loyalty in the long years of exile, could not hit back, being dead. Rustat’s donations still pay for college benefactions today.
Given extra impetus by the Black Lives Matter pile-on after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the college has a Legacy of Slavery Working Party (LSWP). In June 2020, I discovered that Rustat was being what George Orwell called “unpersoned” by the LSWP because of his links with the slave trade. In November 2020, the new Master, Sonita Alleyne, said his Grinling Gibbons memorial in the chapel should be removed. Because it is in a Grade 1-listed church, this required legal permission from the Diocese of Ely. The college would petition for this. “The Church is very supportive of our considerations,” added the Master, unwisely pre-empting any court case.
Moore then reminds us just how damning the Judge’s ruling was, even though it was couched in moderate, judicial language.
On Wednesday, Judge Hodge published his 108-page judgment. The removal of the Rustat memorial would indeed cause “notable” damage to the heritage of the chapel, he said. He did not accept the college’s view that the mission of the Church was harmed by Rustat continuing to stay in the chapel after 330 years there.
Although carefully moderate in tone, as good judges are, he was tough on the conduct of the college authorities. The chair of the LSWP, Dr Véronique Mottier, had been “an underwhelming witness’” who was “firmly wedded to her own entrenched opinions and unwilling to recognise any views other than her own”. In several answers, she had “not been frank”; in one, she had been “untruthful”.
The facts about Rustat did matter, the judge said. A student member of the LSWP had emailed all undergraduates saying that Rustat “amassed much of his wealth from the Royal African Company that captured and shipped more enslaved African women, men and children to the Americas than any other single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade”. This stirred up students to support the removal, but it was factually wrong in relation to Rustat. The LSWP never corrected this error, so the college put out “a false narrative” against its own benefactor and never corrected it.
In essence, the judge was saying to Jesus College: “You are wrong in law. You did not do your homework properly. You have not dealt fairly with critics.”
Let’s hope Moore is right about this being a turning point in the battle to preserve our heritage from the woke Taliban.
Worth reading in full.
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Is the algorithm used to determine what counts as “close contact” documented/ published somewhere? And ideally, also the implementation.
If it either isn’t or involves any amount of non-deterministic behaviour, there’s no reason to ascribe more weight to its outputs than to that of flipping a coin.
The authorities have been very vague, other than suggesting that it involves being “in close proximity” for at least 15 minutes.I assume that the time function is relatively easy to calibrate, but that the determination of proximity may depend on the architecture in the immediate vicinity, the state of the smart-phone’s battery, and possible interference from WiFi etc. (I’m pretty sure this was why Robert Jenrick was immediately slapped down a couple of weeks ago when he suggested that the authorities might reduce the sensitivity of the system.) It’s not something that is under their control. (See https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-effective-range-of-bluetooth)
I wonder how long the android OS has been performing Traffic analysis on EVERYONE via bluetooth.
If they’ve been “vague” about this, the default assumption is that the algorithm is the usual “random” mix of out-of-the-blue assumptions, timeouts and hacks intended to reduce the frequency of crashes “real-world software” tends to contain. If it’s also supposed to be “sensitive”, it’s entirely possible that it keeps tack of past results in order to emit as many positive ones as whoever made the purchasing decision wanted to have regardless of “proximity” of anyone to anything.
Hidden software developed to the “specification” of a political agenda is completely untrustworthy.
Good rant…..
But the reality is the full source code is available to the public along with compilation instructions on the NHSX Git hub.
So its the polar opposite to hidden and vague.
I did see somewhere a week or so back an explanation of the algorithm. It is based on a points system and is integrated. Up to five minutes 1m way from an infected phone gives one amount of points, 15 minutes for 2m gives another amount. The total, integrated over time so you can move away from somebody then back again, triggers the alert when it exceeds a certain number (1500 points if |I remember). What it doesn’t reflect is that the 1m/2m calculation is really a finger in the air as the range and strength of bluetooth depends on all sorts of factors.
Nobody mentioned that it might be triggering on white noise…
How do we ping the political classes out of office? They can easily make a decision like in Texas
Texas Prohibits Vaccine Passports
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOXPa5IRqBM
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.
Join our Stand in the Park – Bracknell – Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
The full source code of the app is available online so yes the algorithm is completely public, as is the implementation.
Its all on GitHub.
The car industry has joined calls for the Government to bring forward the date for exempting fully-vaccinated adults from self-isolation rules.
might as well exempt everyone from self-isolating – its unlikely the un-vaxxed are dim enough to have the absurd app (except those who want to be pinged)
I know of a small pub chain who suggested that all staff remove the app on ‘Freedom Day’ (unofficially of course). Meanwhile the competition have had to temporarily close 2 of their pubs due to staff shortage caused by the very same.
In the same way, my vet has a notice on their staff notice board instructing their staff to ensure that the app is deactivated when they are on the premises.
One word : ‘Ludicrous’.
But what isn’t that comes out of government?
More evidence that the pre-2020 pandemic plans were right.
In my view there is no justification for any of this. “Asymptomatic” transmission is an unproven theory, and there is no certainty about how close or how long someone should be near to another before isolating.
In my view we should scrap all of this and lateral flow as well. PCR testing is designed for those with symptoms only. Temperature scanners are used in some places – that would be better than all these tests and pings (if needed at all).
Pingdemic is just lockdown with a new name
I wonder if this “pingdemic” is the result of buggy software or hackers having some fun. Both, perhaps?
Imagine receiving a ping notification for a sub-par performance on your weekly social credit ledger. No of course not, But PCR scores using Ct > 35 is fine. Carry one.
PS: I love the CCP
—
Digital wallet: IamLosin6It#1984
Can’t they just get VanTam to announce that Track’n’Trace has saved 20 million infections and over 60,000 deaths? That way everyone would rejoice at its success and the 680,000 pings a week would be worth it.
The app is basically used by people who cant be bothered going to work.
ITs completely optional, if it advises you to isolate, that too is completely voluntary.
So these people are deliberately choosing to not go to work. Its a convenient excuse.
They might have sent out 689313 ping alerts but that’s not the number being received. Many have deleted the app, many others are ignoring. Others taking tests but not uploading results. The decline in case numbers reflects a mini rebellion gathering pace since the onset of the pingdemic.
how do we ping the political classes out of office? They can easily make a decision like in Texas
Texas Prohibits Vaccine Passports
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOXPa5IRqBM
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.
Join our Stand in the Park – Bracknell – Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
The deaths the MSM wont report: 1000 COVID Stories Share Your Story https://1000covidstories.com/
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.
Join our Stand in the Park – Bracknell – Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell