We wrote about the Hallet Inquiry assuming “that the Inquiry would genuinely look at events of the last three years and the evidence decisions were made on. Chaired by a British judge who seemed to stand no nonsense from politicians, a widely respected member of the Upper House, what could go wrong?”
It’s beginning to look like “what could go right?” would be the more apposite question.
Mr. Keith, the lead KC of the Inquiry, started proceedings with a very long statement. The Inquiry
will focus on those areas of the pandemic and the United Kingdom’s response to it that have caused the greatest public concern, and where there may be a need in the public interest to make urgent recommendations so that we may be better prepared in the event of the next national civil emergency to befall us. That module starts today, Module 1. It commences that process. It investigates what the state of the whole country’s emergency preparedness response and resilience structure and systems were when the pandemic struck in January 2020.
So far, so good; this is a reasonable formulation of the purpose stated by Lady Hallet.
Mr. Keith, however, then makes a further statement which seems more appropriate for a Barrister in court. You know, the type that you see in the movies, horse hair and all:
The Inquiry will come to hear that the UK and Scotland was not prepared, that the capacity of the U.K. to cope with and recover quickly from difficulties caused by Covid was diminished by years of changes to critical establishment, underfunding, cuts, failures to address inequality, and the effects of Brexit.
Yes, yes, you got it right; read the statement on page 27 of the transcript.
So without a jury and no defence council, we have a series of culprits, including Brexit, that well-known facilitator of lockdowns.
Several points struck us:
Science and evidence are unlikely to play any serious part in what follows as the lead has assigned causality. Basic null hypotheses or questions such as “was the UK unprepared, and if so, why” have already been answered and bypassed.
Cuts, changes etc., seem to be the main culprits and the most improbable of all causes: the B Word.
Italy did not have Brexit but suffered equally. However, Italian healthcare workers did at least have sufficient plastic bin liners to separate those with symptoms in the emergency department.
Macron admitted France was unprepared for COVID-19. Will they claim that it was thoughts of FREXIT that swung it?
Perhaps we are thinking of a fair, logical and honest process. We see little sign of that so far. To be prepared, you must know what works and what doesn’t based on what evidence is available. Also, because you are dealing with respiratory agents, you must be flexible. If you do not have evidence or sound evidence, you should generate it; instead of defending evidence-free decisions by misleading as the CDC Director did with the U.S. Congress.
We’re also left pondering why so many organisations require lawyers.
Our burgeoning covid inquiry team – it’s still Carl and Tom with no lawyers – has noted some oddities in the opening statements.
The Cabinet Office thinks the vaccines saved the day: “Thanks largely to the vaccines, COVID-19 has now been brought under control.” No mention of natural immunity then and its role in the transition to an endemic state – it’s possibly too technical for the cabinet office, so it’s better not to go there.
The UKHSA set out their position and, in a nutshell, decided we’re swamping you: “UKHSA has provided the Inquiry team with evidence in response to two rule 9 requests via corporate statements and the disclosure of over three thousand documents, either as exhibits or part of general disclosure for Modules 1 and 2.”
The Directors of Public Health told the Inquiry we learnt about what to do on the BBC: “At the start of the pandemic, DsPH were learning about new policies and guidance at the same time as members of the public, when the televised 5 pm daily briefings were broadcast.”
On Thursday, the Counsel to the Inquiry set to work taking evidence from the experts. Part of the discussion turned to definitions.
However, the Inquiry is manifesting problems that downstream it might find hard to reconcile; relying on experts to come up with definitions off the top of their heads is troubling as their testimony will be riddled with inconsistencies.
Compare the definition given by Professor Whitworth and Dr. Hammer with Professor Heyman’s and see how much trouble the Inquiry already is.
Weds June 14th:
DR. HAMMER: So the case fatality rate means the proportion of individuals who have become ill who die.
Thurs June 15th:
Q: During the evidence of Professor Whitworth and Dr Hammer yesterday, we heard about something called the case fatality rate.
Answer: Yes.
Q: Is that the number of confirmed deaths caused by a virus in relation to the number of confirmed infections?
Answer: No. Confirmed cases.
Q: Confirmed cases, sorry.
Answer: Yes.
Q: The infection fatality rate is less certain because there are those who may be infected asymptomatically, et cetera?
Answer: That’s correct, yes.
The case fatality rates vary significantly over time because of many factors, little of which was discussed.
The number of cases detected by testing will vary considerably
Selection bias can mean those with severe diseases are preferentially tested
There may be delays between symptoms onset and death, which can lead to underestimation
There may be factors that account for increased death rates, such as coinfection, more inadequate healthcare, patient demographics (older age)
There may be increased rates of smoking or comorbidities
Differences in how deaths are attributed to Coronavirus: dying with the disease (association) is not the same as dying from the disease (causation).
The infection fatality rate might draw some flack; it’s a ratio, but let’s not worry about the semantics of correct epidemiological definitions.
“In epidemiology, the terms ratio, rate, and risk have clear definitions.” However, the rate is often used instead of the ratio. Importantly: ratios have no dimensions and can take any value, whereas rates have a time dimension. So, which is it to be?
These interactions offered opportunities to reveal, agree and clear up some vital issues at the outset. But they are glossed over:
Answer: That’s right. In an outbreak investigation, or whenever there’s a new disease, a case definition is rapidly developed based on what’s known at the time.
Q: But that would change over time, would it not?
Answer: Absolutely, it can change over time, and it generally does change over time.
So what was the case definition early on, and what did it change to, on what basis? Answers on a postcard, please.
Professors David Heyman’s testimony is vague on the case definition; he never once mentioned the crucial role the misuse and misreporting of PCR played and assumed asymptomatic to be asymptomatic at face value (oh, and forgot to mention presymptomatic transmission).
We have shown how unreliable the ascertainment of symptoms (or lack of) was.
Remember? As of March 31st 2021, out of 444 papers mentioning asymptomatics and/or presymptomatics, only 18 were of sufficient quality to answer the question on transmission, and none could shed light on the incidence of transmission from asymptomatics and/or presymptomatics.
A year later, only four more possible studies could be added, with the best quality paper remarking on the difficulties of attribution (note how fast the topic had gone ‘off the boil’ in biomedical literature). But none of these technicalities can disturb the witnesses so far: more certainty peddled to the Inquiry then.
We repeatedly warned the public and our readers about the importance of definitions and testing by PCR.
So, what is a case? The Inquiry is missing opportunities for clarity – it could set out the essential definitions and then ask the witnesses whether there are any they disagree with. If so, why?
We’ll continue to update you on the Inquiry, but if you spot any oddities or irregularities, do let us know.
Dr. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence Based Medicine and Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome who works with Professor Heneghan on the Cochrane Collaboration. This article was first published on their Substack, Trust The Evidence, which you can subscribe to here.
Stop Press: Kevin Bardosh in UnHerd agrees with Carl and Tom’s pessimistic prognosis: “In the 150 lockdown questions sent by Baroness Hallett to Boris Johnson, a number of them are leading questions, suggesting that he did not lockdown fast enough or hard enough. This appears to be the theme of the inquiry, which is continuing the same inversion of the precautionary principle that has dominated in the legal profession: the right to be protected from Covid stands above all other rights, even when scientific evidence is uncertain.” Worth reading in full.
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“World Health Organisation warns XBB.1.5 is the ‘most transmissible’ Covid variant yet as ‘the Kraken’ strain starts sweeping the U.K.”
Can I suggest the next variant is called ‘Fun time jolly feeling’.? Then we can really look forward to catching it.
At some stage post-modern irony might be the only option for nomenclature, once they run out of scary ones. Where they go after “Kraken” has to be “Satan,” and then what’s left for 2024?
Naming so-called variants after sea monsters after a few years of the Greek alphabet is a cynical and clearly planned move to make it sound ‘ooh so scary’ and force the normies back into mask wearing, social distancing compliance. I’m so fed up with this. Not wearing a mask, not social distancing (if I’m well!!), not taking a shot.
A cynic might observe that the “most transmissible” varieties are likely to cause relatively benign problems, which is why they survive and get transmitted. No point in killing the host, after all (and the money people know that as well).
“What we learned in 2022”
2023’s shortest document.?
And the reason for that is because they studiously ignored all actual evidence and data which did not support their anti-science, narrative, propaganda BS.
Anyway, you win Best Comment of the Day. Please accept this Cat Ass Trophy.
Thank you Mogwai. I will treasure it always…
“If Britain were more numerate, we might not have had to endure three lockdowns”
Once basic algebra has been mastered then we should be teaching about budgeting, investments and pensions. Let the brightest kids do the dead hard sums. You don’t need a working knowledge of Differential Equations to be a plasterer.
You never know; maybe competent accountants would have worked out that it would lead to a crash, and not to try “lockdown” at all!
Not sure how useful algebra is. The things you mention are useful. Key maths related skills are ability to look at statistics critically and basic economics, especially related to printing money.
But what got us to lockdowns was not innumeracy or lack of scientific knowledge, but greed, laziness, cowardice, gullibility, lust for power and plain evil.
Most important thing to teach kids – governments will do what they can get away with and they are not your friend, and it’s only the vigilance of the people that keeps them from becoming tyrants.
“Cube can be cuboid, but cuboid can never be cube”…Mr Mazumba, Craigie High School, Dundee, circa 1976.
This has seen me through life just fine.
Maybe learning something about scientific uncertainty would be more valuable, and they could start by teaching the scientists basic truths such as “models do not generate data,” “p-values do not show causes,” and even “crap peer review of crap research papers does not neutralise crap.”
It’s more than scientific uncertainty, though. It’s the corruption of science. And it’s corrupt peer review of corrupt research.
“should be teaching about budgeting, investments and pensions.”
The youth of today will have no requirements for the above subjects if CBDC becomes a reality.
“China’s Covid case ‘explosion’ not due to relaxed rules, WHO says
Then can we deduce that relaxing rules does not cause a case explosion..? Can anyone explain therefore why we are proposing to tighten rules..?
“This is the Times leading article three days into 2023. How can this be real?”
I have long been a critic of the Brian’s and Barbara’s, who turn up to the office with a streaming cold, on the grounds that they are loyal troopers for the company, and subsequently lay-up half the department with their germs. The proposal was to stay home if you are ill (a good idea), and use a mask if you are mixing with others (pointless). It is slowly morphing into something else, and for another reason, the fragility of our blessed NHS.
Well, since our ‘open borders’ policy came into force, we appear to have added 6 million people to our list, yet have reduced NHS beds by 45,000 since 2000. Did no-one imagine that our new citizens were going to get sick at some point, just like we forgot they would need to live somewhere..?
You’re right that the attitude to turning up to work with a cold may have changed. Decades ago, it wasn’t normal to take time off sick for minor ones. Lots of those working their way up didn’t want too much time off sick on their HR records, in case they were held back on account of it.
Help! The NHS needs saving! We must mandate Vicks vapour rub, red flannel and covering the silver in thunderstorms. Only quack remedies can protect a quack health system.
What has changed for Mark Harper. Oh, he’s a minister now…
There are only two explanations for Mark Harper’s ‘conversion’ :
1. Skeletons in his wardrobe
2. Brown envelopes, although a minister’s salary might qualify.
So his initial rejection of all the anti-human outrages was utterly false and amounted to posturing.
Either false or he has now been “got at” or bribed, as you suggest. Either way, disappointing but not surprising.
I do think blackmail and physical threats from organised crime groups are part of the overall equation to ensure the official narrative isn’t undermined – as well as “carrot-based” incentives, of course.
The Times: reliably shyster since 1981.
Today I received an email from Glos CC to say they are dropping out of the so-called “missing link” project as a website producer, with a link to this National Highways one: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-roads/south-west/a417-missing-link/ Evidently, “Something has been done”, in as much as they have held a meeting (sarc). Note the start and end dates, and the outline budget. Have fun.
Stringency Vs Life expectancy decline.
Pretty clear and impressive results.
Kraken !!.. Do me an F- in Favour ! That’s up there with Wancocks William Shakespeares 1st jab moment on GMB when he pissed himself laughing as Morgan tried to cover it , WTF is going on , it’s beyond all levels of sanity now but I bet most proles will fall for it
Oh, for fs sake !
The Kraken, this just makes them less and less believable, yet another cry wolf!
How about, variant “COVID sars Death spiral armageddon end of days bielzibub virus .0.2”
Kraken?
I think it’s hilarious. It reminds me of an 80’s TV space series, Star Trek, or even Red Dwarf.
Hilarious.
“Thunderbirds are Go!”
The NHS is utterly broken already. It just seems like it’s working. They trot out this trope every winter now and I’m surprised we don’t treat it like a sort of Anti-Christmas and have ‘Save the NHS’ chocolates and bunting going up shortly after the real Christmas – we like our festive occasions don’t we? Of course it’s used as the reason to bring back the controls as we all know. Next Christmas, it’ll be ‘NHS tottering along on a gammy leg’ and the one after ‘NHS on a trolley in its own corridor’ and so on. Apparently, according to Sunak in his embarrassingly short and vacuous New Year message, the NHS has been recruiting record numbers of doctors and nurses, and they’re pumping more money into the old girl than ever before…but it’s never enough. She, or he, has become a hopeless addict, addicted to managerial and admin staff on which much of its money goes….it certainly doesn’t go on nurses’ salaries or training. Or beds… When you haven’t got enough beds, maybe it’s time to build some more hospitals and fill them with doctors and nurses and drastically reduce those admin roles and maybe stop funding foreign adventures with your seemingly bottomless treasure chest. Everything is possible in a rational world, just not so in an insane one.
Or maybe slow down or possibly even stop the flood of ‘new patients’ followed by their families, arriving without passports in rubber dinghies.
TPTB in the UK have been systematically dismantling the NHS over at least the last twenty five years. This has also been used as a means of vastly increasing National Debt.
Each Winter we are told the NHS is on the point of collapse – it never is of course but the message helps to increase the sense of victimhood amongst the staff and undermines their morale. At the same time the public have become conditioned to expect poorer services and poorer outcomes because the NHS is under so much pressure.
Meanwhile, successive governments tell us we have a world class health service (clearly we don’t) and in order to save it, just a few more billions are required. Of course the country cannot afford these billions but if the economy is to be trashed there could not be better cover than pissing away money via our sainted NHS. Who would complain?
Why has “diversity and equality’ recruitment continued unabated. Well, this enables funds to be spent on trouble causers while their costs are hidden within the NHS budgets. Make no mistake these ‘diversity’ people are employed to create diversity but their definition of diversity is limited to a hotchpotch of random staff competing against each other and as malignantly directed by the Equality and Diversity officer; these are the sort that remain largely hidden from staff but issue strife inducing mandates to upset and undermine employee moral. The net result is that the whole organisation is permanently on edge and “on the point of collapse.”
At the moment the Unions are aiding and abetting the turmoil by promoting strikes which will simply turn public opinion against health service workers.
This is gaslighting on a par with the Scamdemic.
At some point some turd in government will be appointed to announce that “our world class and sainted NHS is sadly incapable of continuing in its present form and will be broken up,” neglecting to mention that as it collapses it is every man for himself. Of course by this point the economy too will be at or near collapse as the country will be busted. Certainly the loss of our hopeless NHS will exacerbate the death count but with depopulation a central feature of the One World Government agenda this will do nicely, thank you very much.
And lastly – it will all be our fault.
What’s not to like?
Excellent rant, HP!
By the way:
‘At some point some turd in government will be appointed to announce that “our world class and sainted NHS is sadly incapable of continuing in its present form and will be broken up,” ‘
They won’t put a negative spin on this but a positive one about choice and hitting targets and providing opportunity etc etc. It’s the way they roll.
Thanks Aethelred and yes, your final para is correct. The collapse of “our sainted” NHS, although all our fault will of course allow for the doors of our wonderful democracy to be thrown open. The freedom of (no) choice will be an inspiration and an opportunity to…oh, I don’t know.
What about?
“Build Back Better.”
The world now looks at America and laughs at what it’s become, its weak, poor morals and box ticking ideology with a decrepit old president and the worst administration in history have destroyed this once proud nation, its a sh#× hole.If i was Djokovic, I’d hold my head high and go no where near the dump!
I agree.
Djokovic should go on the offensive and tell the U S of A that henceforth he will be refusing any and all invitations to play in that country. No exceptions.
Job done.
Or perhaps more pertinently announce the above and add the rider that he is taking such action in order to support the International Hand Ball players; milk it for all its worth.
If Britain were more numerate, the gene therapy uptake would be in the single digits, not in the high double digits.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-quest-to-re-educate-jordan-peterson-11672854385
Those who sit on the so called professional committees, listening to the whinging bullies who complain “please sir, suchabody won’t do as they are told and should be penalised” make me heartily sick! They need to grow a backbone.
On a lesser note, I’ve been in and out of ‘rsebook jail on several occasions for spreading the truth. Threats and penalties don’t and won’t make me change my mind.
I’ll wear my ‘misinformation spreader’ badge with honour.
Before the mandates, I’d have agreed with Peter Hitchens.
Now, this is like saying to people that although the Nazis lost or are in their final stages, it’s still OK to continue to wear the armband and do the salute.
And he actually expressively confirms that in his article when making clear that this never was nor is about health but out that performative function.
The normalization of masks must be stopped NOW, to prevent their reintroduction via a mandate and also any other assault on one’s bodily autonomy, of which these mask mandates were most certainly the well planned for first step.
Agreed. And I still think it would be a very interesting social experiment to announce a return of clapping for the NHS every Thursday night, in your garden with your pots and pans. I’m genuinely interested how many would still be up for doing that compared with previous years. It’s a handy indicator of just how many brain dead muppets you still have in your midst. Just incase the feedback from the masktards is insufficient evidence…
Kraken. Tsk. They need to be more international in their approach like astronomers are with asteroids. Some cracking monster names they can work through, should keep them going until the next disease entity Billyboy has got lined up for us.
https://list.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_monsters
The next one, in alphabetical order, must surely be Leviathan, swiftly followed by the most deadliest strain of all – Muppet.
ONS weekly deaths publication just out
Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional: week ending 23 December 2022
Looking at the death occurrence data looks like there has been a huge spike in all cause death occurrences in England and Wales over the 2 weeks ending 23rd December 2022.
Caution required here as the last 2 weeks figures can be unreliable because it includes unreliable estimates of deaths that have occurred but not yet been reported. The update of these figures by ONS in the next two weeks should be more reliable as by then most occurred deaths will have been reported. We’ll see if this has been a big spike but I suspect there has been.
The ambulance strike was on 21st December, could be questions asked about that (?)
Here is the chart of death numbers vs the 2015-2019 average
And here’s the same data but this time showing the percentage by which deaths have exceeeded the 2015-2019 average i.e. the percentage by which the green line is above the blue line in the previous chart
And a reminder that even deaths labelled as covid are, as this ONS chart shows, a very small proportion of all cause deaths albeit this is looking at registered deaths up to 23rd December rather than deaths by occurrence date
Don’t like to post up things involving deaths labelled as covid as clearly that’s all it is now, a label in every case for deaths that are actually from a different cause (and some would argue that’s all it ever has been although I wouldn’t go that far)
But that huge caveat aside, if you look at the age distribution of covid labelled deaths from the ONS data, it’s startling that the most boosted age groups form an increasing percentage of all such deaths. And the covid labelled deaths amongst younger people is impossible to see on the chart without x-ray eyesight. And yet the experimental vaccination continues.
The EuroMOMO figures are awful as well: particularly France and Germany. No updated figures from Italy as yet. For week 50 Germany has a higher level of excess deaths by this measure than since before the virus arrived. That’s got to be impossible to ignore.
I think the only thing that could possibly save the NHS, after sacking a load of managers obviously, is if doctors start doling out prescriptions for red pills. They can start with their own staff!
Did anyone else experience issues donating using the Donorbox form (on PC)? It kept asking me to do the Recaptcha and then just hanging. Eventually, after about 5 or 6 goes I got it to work but I have no idea how. Anyway at last here I am!
…I’m on IPad and had to have a couple of goes too….welcome….
Bloody ‘captcha’ is an absolute PITA.
Anyway, glad you are here.
https://metatron.substack.com/p/mainstream-media-is-starting-to-get squeaky bum.
From Joel Smalley…
Last night I heard from someone operating in much higher circles than me with respect to the COVID scam. He informed me that this is the talk in newsrooms all around the UK:
So, they’ve got a bit of a quandry, haven’t they? The tide of public opinion has already turned against them. To continue on their current course of ignoring the facts in favour of the false narrative is just going to make things even more difficult for them to ever regain public trust. To continue the analogy, they are “swimming against the tide”. Or, as I have to tell my kids quite often, when you’re in a hole and want to get out, the first thing you do is stop digging!
And then to prove the point, my inbox is full of links to this Daily Mail article, trying to denigrate the courageous Member of Parliament for North West Leicestershire, Andrew Brigden for daring to try and bring public and political attention to the evident harms of the mass mRNA experiment, especially to children who are at zero risk from the disease:
I wouldn’t subject you to the torment of having to read the pathetic attempt at “journalism” but you should take a look at the comments section!
Take a look now before they disable it!
Propaganda works really well.
Until it doesn’t.
And then those that peddled it suffer the consequences. Let’s hope they are very dire!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11595547/Prestigious-medical-journal-slams-Tory-MP-Andrew-Bridgen-peddling-misleading-Covid-jab-claims.html#comments
We can only hope…..
Many thanks ebg.
There are still quite a few thickos infecting the Fail.
Yes, but at least the majority were on the ‘right side’…which is the best we can hope for.
I do genuinely often wonder what it must be like for those people, and there are a lot of them, who genuinely believe the entire thing….(I also genuinely wonder how they got like that as well!) Who have seen no reason to read or research anything and only know the MSM narrative….which they totally accept as the truth…!!
pandemic, death, masks, overrun hospitals, effective quacksines….
Alternative views to theirs must be bewildering….they must think we are off our trolleys!!? I suppose as the reality of the situation filters through they will come to understand….?
Long, interesting read on VAERS safety signal data which was only released via FOI
They really don’t want the truth out there.
https://jackanapes.substack.com/p/cdc-finally-released-its-vaers-safety?publication_id=747747&isFreemail=true
https://spectator.com.au/2023/01/are-genetically-modified-vaccines-safe/
Adding to the voices asking for the quacksines to be halted….a good article from Australia, where they are at least asking questions like this…..
If only we had equivalent media….
“At the World Health Summit in 2021, Stefan Oelrich, head of pharmaceuticals at Bayer said ‘mRNA vaccines are an example of cell and gene therapy,’ and marvelled that ‘If we had surveyed the public two years ago (and asked) ‘Would you be willing to take a gene or cell therapy and inject it into your body we would have probably had a 95 per cent refusal rate’. But as the unexplained excess death rate continues to rise alarmingly in Australia, it’s long past time for the gene technology regulator to halt the use of the Covid vaccines until their safety can be demonstrated.”
…adding to the posts from Freecumbria…isn’t the lack of any official discussion of this getting ridiculous…??
Clare Craig….Deaths 20% above expected levels in week 51.
2,493 extra deaths.
There were a total of 829 deaths from influenza and pneumonia and 429 that mentioned covid.
Deaths at home 38% above expected levels.
https://ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/latest
Maybe something to lift the spirits?…
https://babylonbee.com/news/world-in-panic-as-science-announces-retirement
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The entire world is in a panic this morning at the news that Dr. Fauci, the living embodiment of science itself, will be retiring in December. The scientific community is already announcing mass resignations now that the High Priest and the mediator between mankind and the laws of nature will be gone. Experts are predicting a dangerous rise in superstition, divination, and Twitter misinformation without the wise and infallible words of Fauci there to guide humanity toward safety and ultimate perfection.
“This is a disaster,” said one scientist. “We are surely headed for another Dark Age without the transcendent wisdom of Gaia’s Oracle here to guide us. The end is nigh.”
Sources say Fauci plans to spend retirement golfing, spending time with family, and weaponizing Monkeypox in his basement.
LOL!
https://newspunch.com/world-economic-forum-declares-pedophiles-will-save-humanity/
Read it and weep.
This is who Jelly Welby is teamed up with.