I was listening to the latest news report that 2021-2022 was the worst year ever for fraud victims in the U.K. – losing £1.3 billion, with the number of incidents increasing by 27% from the year before.
I suspect that even this figure is a significant underestimate because of the reluctance of many to admit and report it. Businesses, relationships and livelihoods can be ruined and, for some, recovery may be impossible. I listen to news with a large tablespoonful of salt but this report actually seems wholly credible.
If there is one thing that the last couple of years has taught me, it is that the public have become poor at risk evaluation, too lazy to question decisions that have the potential to be life-changing for them, too trusting and generally complacent in analytical and critical thinking.
A recent Daily Sceptic article by Professor James Alexander outlines his grand theory that the current three active bodies in contemporary political civilisation are populism, wokeism and liberalism. The following are Collins English Dictionary definitions of each. Populism “refers to political activities or ideas that claim to promote the interests and opinions of ordinary people”. Wokeism: “Behaviour and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice.”
It seems to me populism and wokeism are driven more by feelings and subjective theory rather than logic, shrewd experience and pragmatism. The third, liberalism, is defined as “belief in gradual social progress by changing laws rather than by revolution”. But the Collins definition of revolution is “a successful attempt by a large group of people to change the political system of their country by force”. So there now appears to be more of the population sensitive to injustice, wishing to promote a social empathy via liberalism. This only highlights the further illusion of societal progression because it is actually a small group of powerful elite that are fuelling this ‘revolution’ or, as I prefer to call it, fraud – a moral and intellectual equivalent of the £1.3 billion lost this last year.
The £1.3 billion lost to the public in scams is only based on personal financial transactions mostly involving their bank accounts. The more sceptical among us would include the billions lost and wasted in Government Covid measures (a staggering £400 billion), Net-Zero targets (a mind-boggling £1.4 trillion by 2050) and the trillions of pounds lost through quantitative-easing generated inflation.
How can the public be protected from the sort of fraud they have endured over the last few years? How can we improve risk evaluation and keep our guard? What might make people realise that liberalism, populism and wokeism deny us an essential acute perception of reality and lead us into a dark tunnel of vanishing liberty and diminishing functional security?
It should start in schools, reacquainting children with the virtues of freedom of speech and inquiry. We need to find a way to teach children not just Maths and English but Scepticism – the subject that will safeguard their future social, health and economic prospects by not allowing them to be beholden to the State.
Classes in Sceptical Thinking could put forward motions allowing the pupils to select topics for debating what the Government and others in public life claim and propose and whether the claim is true or the intended action is fair and proportionate. For instance, a topic might be: “Are you hearing just one side of the argument for mass Covid vaccination and not the other side in the media?’ One half of the class puts the case that all viewpoints are being fully aired (stop laughing at the back!), or perhaps that they are not but the media are right to conceal information. The other half would put the case that the public are not getting a full picture, are being prevented from receiving a balanced argument for valid informed consent and that this is fundamentally wrong. In so doing, students would need to develop and exercise critical and analytical thinking in supplying evidence to support their arguments.
This type of freedom of speech appears to be missing these days in the classroom, with pupils being brainwashed into accepting so-called Government approved expert advice or diktats. The return of proper rigorous debate as a core educational subject, on a par with English and Maths, would encourage the whole class to consider things more openly and honestly and in a way that has hitherto been sidelined or completely removed. It would equip pupils with the tools, not only to claim their stake in democracy, but to own it.
At the very least, it would mean more children would grow up asking: “What are our schools and politicians hiding from us? Are we being scammed?”
Dr. Mark Shaw is a retired dentist.
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So no standing indoor events for me?
The coof must be worse in Malta, I’ve been standing and indoors for the last 2 years, how am I still alive!?
Because TheScience™
Don’t mock it.
Or sitting outdoors, apparently. Seems to be a pretty sophisticated national variant.
Careful: you might make the Maltese cross!
They still require proof of purity. Why would you support that?
No, I would not.
And they’re still using the phrase “fully jabbed” despite the fact we know it’s a never ending conveyor belt ride – we’re now up to jab-5/booster-3 (I think)
The term should be, Folly Jabbed.
Fooly Jabbed?
Fully had, it should say.
Agree: No I would not. Plus Only when Malta’s mask mandates vanish will we even think of venturing there. Otherwise it is not an option.
I suppose it’s welcome news in terms of the direction of travel but as an unvaxed person I won’t be going anywhere that still requires testing.
And anyway, Malta is uncomfortably hot in midsummer, crowded, with hardly any sandy beaches, the food isn’t great, the locals aren’t particularly friendly, it’s difficult to find your way around and the standard of driving is appalling, so it’s not in my holiday venue shortlist even without COVID pantomime rules.
Plus, Cyprus is full of Russians, and they are moving in on Malta to get Willy Winka Golden EU passports now.
Malta is a dusty third-world dump situated between Italy (another third-world dump full of unemptied garbage bins) and Libya (another third-world dump).
Parts of Italy are fab, parts less so, bit like most countries. The parts that are fab never had unemptied garbage bins when I was there. Don’t believe everything you see on the news.
Calling Malta and Italy “third-world” is just silly, and renders “third-world” meaningless.
Bit harsh, EF. Most towns and cities in England seem to feature a large indigienous population who don’t even bother using the bins. But I am not sure I’d call it third world (whatever that means).
It wasn’t always like that – before the Brits were kicked out it was a nice place to visit.
England?
So apart from the weather it’s a Blighty doppelganger.
I went some years back. It wasn’t bad and the food is quite good in my opinion (if you like rabbit and I do). But I like swimming in the sea, and although the water was crystal clear and very inviting, there was an influx of stinging jellyfish that particular summer which made entering the water hazardous at best.
Twas Mr and Mrs MAk’s experience. Remarkably unfriendly, considering tourism is practically their only industry…
I didn’t find them unfriendly, just indifferent. I agree about the driving standard though…it’s as bad as anything I’ve seen outside of India. I witnessed a car overtaking a car that was already overtaking a lorry. On a blind bend.
Only when Malta’s mask mandates vanish will we even think of venturing there. Otherwise it is not an option.
Would you go if Black people to be allowed in Malta as long as they paint their face white…
Only good news from this is that there’s a lot more pure-bloods than “they” were expecting and they’re not spending any money in medical apartheid countries.
They can take their PCR test together with their proof of recovery, roll it up and shove it right up where the sun don’t shine.
The PCR would be taken before departure from the UK – sold by one of Javid’s ‘Government approved’ mates.
Or you can just create the paperwork yourself, as we have done throughout. Don’t worry – it’s not forgery if the thing you’re forging isn’t real in the first place. Plus, you get to feel all warm and fuzzy about not giving the crooks any money for (less than) nothing!
This is not a system that can be beaten by cheating it. We lose this game the instant that we play it.
You can’t beat the system, it is always too powerful. You can only frustrate it.
Living freely without fear is a good start and as long as there are some, there is hope.
Let’s face it – freedom has always been too dangerous a proposition for most.
Don’t ever believe the system and its functionaries care about you. Don’t ever believe they’re logical in their actions.
I continue to listen to an audiobook of The Gulag Archipelago. It’s utterly amazing, even for someone like me who has close, direct family on all sides (father, his parents, my mother’s mother, my wife, my in-laws) with first hand experience of totalitarian regimes and who escaped and/or frustrated them.
yes, acrobat has its uses.
As you bring this subject up again… I would point out that I haven’t seen these ‘forged papers’ of which you speak – fake PCR test results?
There are companies in Finland that do PCR tests which are accepted at the airports for travelling – I’m sure the staff at the airport are familiar with what these papers/certificates look like, I don’t, so would have no idea on how to forge one.
So, yes, you are one of the clever ones who knows how to ‘get round the rules’. Most people, however, go through the ‘official channels’ and either go to a company and pay for their ‘tests’ or get themselves ‘vaccinated’ for free.
sideways.
Or take a Vax Control Group plastic membership card, if you’ve joined the VCG.
It looks as official as a driving licence and says ‘[X] must not be vaccinated’.
That’s an honest account of the situation. I read the literature in Dec. 2020 and decided that I must not be jabbed.
Is it recognised officially though??
I’m interested and have spent some time looking around the website, but can’t see whether if you were to present this card for travel purposes it would be officially recognised.
‘Where the sun don’t shine’
Do you mean Port Talbot?
Woop-de-doo!
PS Has the damned Covid Emergency Law been allowed to lapse, or have I missed it because of war?
No thanks. I don’t want my money to go towards an apartheid state. Same goes for Australia, which I will never visit for as long as I live.
I’m saving my money for a trip to Mexico later this year, which managed to avoid such nonsense entirely.
Given the current level of Covid madness in Oz, they might never let you in; or let unjabbed Australians out. Nice meeting you online!
Please be aware Mexico just detained and deported Rommy Tomlinson, apparently under orders from some nameless apparatchik in our Foreign Office. They’re hardly a bastion of liberty.
There are no bastions of freedom. Only countries that are ‘less bad’ than others. I’d put Mexico in the less bad category.
I saw that. The amount of harassment that man has to contend with is astonishing.
Government persecution!
You’ll get murdered in Mexico, and your children will be kidnapped. Why people want to go to Mexico, I have no idea – another third-world dump that Mexicans themselves are desperate to leave.
Mexico is top of our list to visit too.
We won’t be going anywhere that has any restrictions. Given that I am far, far more likely to catch The Vicious Nasty Mousy Squeak Plague from someone who has had the jab why the f should I be expected to jump through hoops? Don’t want my money? Fine, someone else will.
Soon it will be a race to scrap the restrictions, you watch. The dam has only just started to crack.
Only when mask mandates vanish will we even think of venturing to another place. Otherwise it is not an option.
I’ve never been to Malta, I have no desire to go to any place that requires the retard PCR test for entry.
It’s not uninteresting. The locals are grumpy, sure. The islands have been conquered repeatedly over the centuries, which leads to interesting culture. The many sites of prehistoric settlements are fascinating.
The town of Mdina is gorgeous. Valletta has a very unusual “feel” and the many little fishing villages are just lovely.
And, as is normal, people are generally friendlier the further you get from the touristy places.
trouble is, its not possible in Malta to get ‘further’ away from anywhere. Gozo used to be OK but it went the same way 2 decades ago.
Too late. We all know where these and others stand when it comes to discrimination now. Lots of countries I would never visit now even if you paid me. Australia and NZ at the top of the list.
It’s an improvement Malta, but still not good enough for me to cancel my two weeks in Scarborough. Try harder!
Why would anyone book a holiday only to have to rely on the PCR lottery 72h before in order to confirm if you can go or not? You could be completely Covid free and still get unlucky thanks to the shoddy lab practices they use.
Test & Trace | Inside the Megalab with Rob Howes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ0WDXfL26M
Genuine question, when you buy a PCR “test” from people in the business of selling them for as long as possible, can you give the reason for it?
If so, I imagine “Want to go on holiday” might go through a slightly different internal track than “Want another week off work”.
Heck, why not just sell positive or negative results directly?
“We look forward to publishing our first “Postcard From Malta”.”
I look forward not to reading it. Not going anywhere that requires a test or treats vaxxed different to unvaxxed, and not going anywhere that require face panties. They can jog on.
I bet Malta didn’t insist its resident Russian Mafia oligarchs ‘isolate’ for 14 days, nor insist that they shove cotton buds up their noses.
The oligarchs I know (sample size of 1) got fake vaccine certificates anyway
If only people just didn’t go to Countries with entry requirements, or use transport that had restrictions. I wonder how long the requirements and restrictions would continue?
Or go to establishments which do the same.
Every time I see people eating in a restaurant that won’t allow the unjabbed, or attending a concert or sporting event exclusively available to the jabbed; I see the privileged who are prolonging my oppression.
Petty of me, I suppose – I should be glad for the better sort, but I am not.
You are asking people to use some nouse, but sadly that will be much too much for most of them.
Them: I’m looking at what I need to get entry to France.
Me: You don’t need anything, just a passport.
Them: But I think I need an up to date vaccine certificate.
Me: Why are you going there then.
Them: Because I want to go on holiday.
Me: Oh is that more important than resisting tyranny?
Them: There’s not a lot I can do about that is there?
Me: You could try.
Them: Yes but that would mean I actually have to take some action and make some kind of sacrifice in my own life. I’m really much better off shouting meaningless platitudes into the ether.
Me: Er, yes.. I see your point. Carry on voting every few years as usual then. I’m just going to go over here into this quiet corner to die under the tyranny you acknowledge exists but refuse to do anything about. Don’t worry about the countless generations who are going to be affected by these generations inaction.
Them: Okay. I’m off to the Dordogne or the mortuary depending on how I fare in the National Clottery.
Good point – well made.
Tried to have this very same conversation with someone yesterday and all I got was shrug of shoulders and “what can I do about it? I can’t change it”.
Tried to point out that the person could change some of the decisions they were making about things. In the interests of their kids etc. Got nowhere. Not feeling very hopeful today.
I’ve given up with trying now. More brain in a rocking horse than in these moronic virtue signallers.
“Me: Oh is that more important than resisting tyranny?”
How many people on here have been into Tesco’s since last November? Resisting tyranny? “But.. but.. it’s so convenient!”
“I’m just going to go over here into this quiet corner to die under the tyranny under the tyranny you acknowledge exists”
But they didn’t acknowledge it, did they? You just made that up.
Still require the naff test
Until they come to their senses will keep MY money in MY pocket
Ah but wait…
TRPTB will shortly be able to keep “your money” in their digital pocket – and may allow you to spend it on things only they approve but only if you behave
When/should that future arrive I wonder what sort of trade/barter items will be acceptable to say, ladies of the night.
Just asking for a friend.
In all seriousness we must resist, keep our voices heard, march, protest, berate, convert a sheep a day, stick posters everywhere, use cash, lobby for 1984 to be compusory reading in schools etc.
We owe it to our kids to do everything possible to avoid the digital/dystopian nightmare which may unfold.
So nothing to do with lost revenue from tourists then? Everything to do with following the science for a deadly pandemic rofl.
No thanks. I’m not paying for a PCR test or run the risk of being “positive”. Also isn’t Malta a major destination point for so called “refugees” on their way to sponge off the UK and other European countries?
Do you mean the refugees who left their country in just the rags they stood up in, but manage to make a journey of thousands of miles, costing several thousand dollars, pounds or euro, just to wash up on our shore. They are truly inspirational aren’t they and there’s nothing anyone could find suspicious in who they are and how they got here.
Yes, and it being so dangerous a journey to make, worse than what they are leaving behind in fact, they are always considerate to the women in their lives – wives, mothers, daughters – and leave them behind.
All with the latest iPhone and Nike trainers!
Unless everything is dropped it’s still on my red list. Mind you, I honeymooned there 35 years ago and have no desire to return.
We last went to Malta in 1999, it will be marked as one of the worst holidays we’ve had. I first visited about 1970 and thought it was a lovely country, clean, well kept, good roads, nice people. But then the Brits moved out and it seems everything went pearshaped.
The roads in my locality are rapidly reverting to a medieval condition, but still I refuse to blame the Maltese.
Given the number of flights being cancelled at the moment I don’t think I will bother booking a flight anywhere for a good while yet.
The Maltese authorities will still require “unvaccinated” Brits to show a negative test result or recovery certificate, then.
Currently (info from kayak.co.uk) the sovereign countries in Europe that allow us in without such requirements are:
* the 3 in Scandinavia, and Iceland
* the 3 Baltic states
* Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Slovenia
* Ireland
Slovakia is now open too.
I’m hoping Czechia soon opens up. Then I might go to Ljubljana, Budapest, and Prague.
Austria is unlikely, unfortunately.
Let me help you out on this item: “.…further boost for
holidaymakerstheir cash flow…” might be a useful correction!How about Portugal? I would rather go there.
Nope. According to kayak.co.uk, Portugal won’t let unvaccinated Brits in unless we show a negative test result.
Only when Malta’s mask mandates vanish will we venture there. Otherwise it is not an option.
No thanks ….. I’d rather keep my money in the UK and help the British Tourist and Hospitality Industry.
I doubt anywhere will genuinely drop the vax requirement. Like Spain they will tease it but not do it.
What unmitigated tripe, isn’t it?