Whistleblower: 37% of NHS Staff Are Absent “Due to COVID-19” In Yorkshire and North-East
An NHS whistleblower has leaked a slide deck dated November 2nd. In the words of the leaker, it’s a “pretty standard high level (NHS England) briefing, looking at operational areas and the general picture”. It’s full of interesting data that I’ll be working through over the next couple of days, but the thing which jumped out after a brief perusal was the figure for “regional Covid-related staff absences” in Yorkshire and the North-East – a whopping 37%! As the whistleblower says, “This has to be due to false positives, no way can over 1/3 of staff all have Covid.” (The figure is even higher in the Midlands – 40%.)
This confirms my analysis, published last Wednesday, of why the ‘Quad’ took the decision to place England under a second lockdown, in spite of knowing that Covid hospital admissions were unlikely to exceed those during the peak of the first wave, when no NHS trust anywhere in the country was overwhelmed. As I said then, they were just worried about certain hotspots – specifically, those in cities in Yorkshire and the North-East. And the reason for their anxiety was because NHS England’s critical care capacity in those areas is now lower than it was in March/April. Why? Because hospital trusts have been ordered to admit non-Covid patients (unlike during the first wave) and because intensive care units are under-staffed.
Another difficulty is that there are fewer specialist intensive care nurses than there were in March/April, partly because some of them have asked to be reassigned to other departments after the stress of the first wave and partly because hospitals are obsessively testing all their staff using the unreliable PCR kit because they’re terrified of “healthcare-associated infections” (nosocomial transmission of the virus). The upshot is there are fewer intensive care nurses and some of those that are still around have been sent home and told to self-isolate for 10 days. Another issue is that those with young children who’ve been sent home from school and told to self-isolate – because a child in their bubble has tested positive – are having to stay at home to care for their kids. And yet another issue is that some schools and NHS trusts are telling nurses to self-isolate for 14 days if one of their children has been identified as a “contact” of an infected person, even though that’s not something NHS Test and Trace are insisting upon.
If 37% of staff in Yorkshire and the North-East were absent for Covid-related reasons on November 2nd, that was clearly what was fuelling anxiety, not the ‘second wave’ baloney that Witless and Unbalanced obediently trotted out. (A reader made the same point: the NHS has a manpower problem.)
And yesterday brought further confirmation that staff absence is the issue, not a fear of rising hospital admissions, with the news that NHS England has relaxed the one-to-one rule, saying nurses can now look after two patients at the same time. Here’s the tell-tale paragraph in the Telegraph:
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals across Grimsby and Scunthorpe, said it was struggling with staff shortages after dozens of nurses and doctors were ordered to self-isolate.
So there you have it. The reason we’ve gone into lockdown is because of staff shortages within some NHS trusts thanks, in part, to the false positive rate of the PCR test and the over-zealous enforcement of quarantining for those who’ve come into contact with “positive” cases.
Stop Press: On the Spectator‘s Coffee House Shots podcast on Saturday it was disclosed that that the NHS asked the Government for extra resources over the summer to build capacity for the so-called second wave. Apparently, it refused on the grounds that its “world beating” Test and Trace system would ensure that extra capacity wouldn’t be needed.
Top Doctor Says NHS In Contempt of Parliament
What follows is a guest post from my doctor friend who has cast his eye over the latest weekly data released by NHS England. He believes the NHS was wrong to withhold crucial data from MPs ahead of the vote on Lockdown 2.0, creating the impression that the service was on the brink of being overwhelmed when Sir Simon Stephens and others knew perfectly well that it wasn’t.
On November 4th, the British Parliament voted to enforce a lockdown of the population in order to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed with COVID-19 admissions.
In support of the Government, Professor Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance provided graphs of dubious provenance suggesting catastrophic consequences if lockdown was not re-introduced. These projections subsequently turned out to be grossly inaccurate.
Sir Simon Stevens, the head of the NHS in England then presented figures suggesting that the NHS was in imminent danger of collapse from Covid pressures in the coming weeks. He stated that the number of Covid patients in some hospitals was greater than the number in the spring and that in total there were enough Covid patients in England to fill 22 hospitals.
Conservative MPs complained that the information they had been provided with was insufficiently detailed to allow them to make an informed decision on the matter. The motion was duly carried.
On November 5th, the NHS released weekly Covid statistics in respect of inpatients and patients in mechanical ventilation beds (only 30% of patients in these beds are actually being mechanically ventilated).
Analysis of these figures throws up some interesting findings.
Firstly, the 850 bed Liverpool University Hospital – regarded as the epicentre of the outbreak in the North West of England.
Here is a graph of Covid patients in Liverpool.
As you can see from this graph, the total number of Covid patients has been flat or declining for the last 10 days. The proportion of patients in ICU as a percentage of the total has also declined from about 17% at the start of October to 5% currently. This could mean that Liverpool has a low threshold for admitting patients from the community with Covid symptoms. Or that a substantial proportion of the ‘Covid’ inpatients in Liverpool may have positive covid tests but no symptoms of the disease.
Either way, the number of Covid patients in the ICU at Liverpool’s main hospital has fallen from 29 on Oct 22nd to 19 on November 3rd. This does not look like a hospital in imminent danger of collapse.
Comparing the Liverpool figures to the wider England figures shows a similar pattern – there is a clear measurement artefact on September 11th, but the percentage of Covid hospital patients admitted to ICU has fallen from 15% in the spring to 7% now, and the proportion of patients needing mechanical ventilation has fallen from 70% to under 30% (ICNARC reports). This may mean either that the severity of the disease is lower than in the spring, or the number of Covid patients in hospitals is being over-estimated by including asymptomatics. Whichever way one looks at it, the burden on the healthcare system is a lot lower than in the spring.
Graph 3 is a graph of the daily Covid admissions in hospitals across England expressed as a three day moving average. Seems to have flatlined for the last week. Unfortunately, Sir Simon forgot to inform the public with respect to the daily discharge figures of Covid patients, so I can’t provide a graph of how discharges compare with admissions. Anecdotally I am informed that most patients spend three to four days in hospital and are then discharged, so in many hospitals the influx of symptomatic Covid patients is balanced by discharges.
The balance between Covid admissions and discharges has troubled me for some time. Looking at the granular level data released in relation to admissions from the community and diagnoses in hospital seven days after admission, it appears that there is a very significant percentage of in-hospital infection with Covid. The NHS will not voluntarily release information about the number of patients who go into hospital without Covid but contract it having been admitted for another medical matter. The Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine has already identified this problem and the Daily Mail has submitted Freedom of Information requests to force individual NHS Trusts to divulge this information from the spring wave of COVID-19.
The way information is released by the NHS is difficult to interpret. Graph 4 is derived from calculating the number of patients with a positive Covid test within the last 24 hrs and subtracting from that the number of patients with a positive Covid test within seven days of admission. The difference between those two figures is probably the number of patients who tested positive for Covid from a test conducted while in hospital. It is possible that this graph may overestimate the number of in-hospital infections, but the NHS does (or should) know this figure accurately – if they don’t release the information, they can’t complain when third parties try to make reasonable estimates from the data that they do provide. By my rough calculation this appears to be running at close to 20% across English NHS hospitals. Something else Sir Simon forgot to mention.
It is disturbing that the Daily Mail has had to resort to statutory instruments such as FOI requests to extract information on hospital-acquired infections that should be publicly available. In relation to a number of highlighted cases of deaths, hospital spokespeople were quick to make the assertion that “a death with Covid does not necessarily mean a death because of Covid”. That’s a true statement, but it appears that the NHS counts all patients carrying Covid as positive cases when it suits them, and excludes the same patients from the numbers when it doesn’t.
The comment from Dr David Nicoll, a leading neurologist from Birmingham, that the NHS “acts like North Korea by obfuscating figures” is in my experience entirely accurate. Some weeks ago I wrote an article advising readers of Lockdown Sceptics to be on the look-out for NHS revision of statistics by altering counting methods, burying embarrassing information in the middle of dense spreadsheets and concealing bad news. I think the issue of hospital acquired infection is a good example.
The data released on November 5th do not support the assertion of a health service close to collapse. Further, this information was clearly available before the vote on November 4th and should have been given to MPs before the division. Data from the ONS death statistics up to October 16th suggest that there has been a slight increase in the number of deaths compared to the five-year average for this time of year. However, the deaths in hospital from all respiratory causes including COVID-19 are lower than expected for this time of year – the excess deaths are occurring in people’s homes, not hospitals. It’s extremely unlikely these excess deaths are due to COVID-19 and much more likely they are due to heart disease.
Taken together, I find this situation troubling.
Professors Whitty and Vallance present information to the public, now accepted as grossly flawed and exaggerated, in support of a Government motion to severely restrict civil liberties.
The head of the NHS presents a one-sided, unchallenged narrative of imminent healthcare collapse, without mentioning that admissions across the UK appear to be levelling off, or that the percentage of patients needing critical care has dropped substantially, or acknowledging the percentage of hospital-acquired Covid infections. Information held by the NHS executive which should be in the public domain is concealed and suppressed, even from elected parliamentary representatives before a crucial national vote.
There has been no presentation to the public of the known healthcare costs of lockdown. Data on this issue will be published in the open literature in the next few weeks – too late to avert a damaging second lockdown.
Could someone explain to me why this situation does not constitute contempt of Parliament?
Dissent is suppressed by ridicule, exclusion or intimidation. Valid alternative interpretations of the data are ignored. Inconvenient metrics in relation to hospital-acquired infections or death rates are concealed. It’s not clear to me what path this Government is following, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a scientific one.
Daily Covid Cases Drop by 11.5% compared to last Sunday
Yesterday’s 20,572 coronavirus cases mark a significant drop of 2,682 compared to last Sunday’s total of 23,254. This cannot be due to Lockdown 2.0, which was only imposed on Thursday, and suggests cases were falling before the latest restrictions were imposed, just as they were before Lockdown 1.0 was imposed on March 23rd. The MailOnline has more.
Today’s all-settings death toll marks a drop of 3.7% on the 162 deaths reported this time last week.
It is also fewer than half the 413 deaths reported on Saturday – but figures on Sunday can be lower than usual due to a delay in processing over the weekend.
The positive drop in case numbers adds fuel to criticism against Boris Johnson’s trigger-happy lockdown put in place this week.
The Prime Minister pushed ahead with nation-wide restrictions amid concerns rapid spread of the virus in September and October is leading to surging hospital admissions across the North of England and sparking fears the NHS could be overwhelmed again.
But the move has proven controversial as streams of data from various sources – some official and some not – seem to show that the local lockdown policy was working.
Of today’s figures, England recorded 122 deaths, while Scotland announced three.
In Wales, 19 new deaths were reported, along with 744 new cases, as it prepares to leave its ‘firebreak’ lockdown tomorrow.
Seven deaths were recorded in Northern Ireland and an additional 420 cases.
Today’s figure come on the fourth day of England’s national lockdown, with Tory MPs warning Boris Johnson he will face a “massive revolt” if he tries to extend it beyond December 2nd.
Worth remembering that we’re still nowhere near Witless and Unbalanced ‘Graph of Doom’ prediction of 50,000 new positive cases per day and a very long way indeed from 1,000 deaths a day, let alone 4,000.
Looks like the British public were sold a pup by Boris and his henchmen.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Ex-Conservative MP David Mellor in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday said that the dossier Boris presented to the public last Saturday was so dodgy even Tony Blair wouldn’t have touched it.
Protestors in Manchester Chant: “Take Off Your Masks”
There was a sizeable anti-lockdown protest in Manchester yesterday, resulting in four arrests. The Manchester Evening News has more.
Hundreds of people gathered in Piccadilly Gardens in central Manchester today to protest against the national lockdown.
The protest is believe to have got underway in the city centre at around 1pm.
There appeared to be little social distancing and none of the protesters appeared to be wearing masks.
Condemning the protest on Sunday evening, Greater Manchester Police said they estimated 600 were in attendance and said police officers responding to the incident were left injured.
They also said a large number of people had travelled to Manchester for the protest – including one group who came via coach from Cumbria.
Assistant Chief Constable Mabs Hussain said: “I would like to use this opportunity to publically condemn this gathering. Both the organisers and attendees were irresponsible – increasing demand on police who are also responding to calls regarding serious incidents and people who are in immediate danger across Greater Manchester.
“Under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, officers authorised a Section 34 Dispersal Order. They also arrested four people on suspicion of public order offences and issued 24 £200 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs). Enquiries are ongoing to also issue an FPN to the organiser.”
He added: “Whilst responding to this gathering, a number of officers were injured. This is unacceptable behaviour towards officers who were simply doing their job and protecting people. Investigators will now work to identify those responsible and ensure they face justice.”
Worth reading in full.
Was Boris Bounced Into Ordering Lockdown 2.0?
According to today’s Mail, Boris is furious about having been strong-armed into agreeing to a second lockdown after being shown dodgy data. Political Editor Jason Groves has more.
Boris Johnson believes he was bounced into ordering a second national lockdown, a Cabinet ally said last night.
The Prime Minister reluctantly signed off a new lockdown in England last weekend after being warned by Government scientists that deaths could rise to 4,000 a day – four times the peak seen in April.
The decision was rushed out with minimal Cabinet consultation after news of the warning, and the PM’s reaction to it, was leaked to news organisations, including the Daily Mail.
The 4,000-a-day figure has since been widely discredited and Government scientists have been forced to correct other dire warnings used to inform the lockdown decision.
Some data last week suggested that the second wave may have levelled off or even peaked before the lockdown was introduced last Thursday.
Yesterday another 156 Covid deaths were reported across the UK, down from 162 a week earlier.
Some 20,572 cases were recorded, a fall of 2,682 on the previous Sunday’s total of 23,254.
One Cabinet minister last night told the Daily Mail that Mr Johnson felt he had been pushed into the decision.
“I think he is concerned that he may have been bounced into it,” the source said.
“He was really, really cross about the leak because at that point a different decision might still have been made.
“There is also concern that some of the information used to inform the decision now seems to be crumbling.
“In fact the figures seem to be suggesting things were getting better before the lockdown began – we are being shut down for a month when we did not need to be.”
The source predicted the episode would harden the PM’s attitude against any attempt to renew the restrictions.
“It means a third or fourth lockdown is very unlikely,” the source said. “All of this goes against his political inclinations.”
Do we believe this? Or is Boris just trying to escape the blame for a political decision he took knowing full well it wasn’t supported by the data? It wouldn’t be the first time he wanted to have his cake and eat it. Not for nothing is the Prime Minister known as “the slippery pig” by some Tory grandees.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Mail on Sunday ran a powerful editorial yesterday saying that if Lockdown 2.0 doesn’t end on December 2nd it’s “curtains for Boris”.
Number of People With Suicidal Thoughts Trebles Since Lockdown
The number of people seeking help because of suicidal thoughts has tripled since lockdown, according to a new investigation, with some ambulance services seeing cases rise by almost two thirds. The Telegraph has more.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists said mental health services were “overflowing” with patients, with growing numbers struggling to cope with anxiety, psychosis and depression. Experts said millions were battling isolation, fear and post-traumatic stress, with many only seeking help when their crisis had become acute.
The number of people needing support and advice because of suicidal thoughts has tripled, with similar trends being seen among those with anxiety disorders, the new data shows.
London Ambulance Service has seen a 68% rise in suicides and attempted suicides, with crews now attending 37 cases a day compared to 22 this time last year. A survey of almost 700 psychiatrists revealed that six in 10 are now dealing with an increased number of emergency cases, including people needing to be sectioned for their own safety.
One doctor said bed shortages were so extreme that he had recently been unable to secure a specialist bed for a 17-year-old boy suffering from psychosis anywhere in the UK.
Very worrying.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: 50 charities and top doctors have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister urging him not to abandon cancer patients. Data from first wave suggests 35,000 extra deaths may be caused by cancer next year as a result of the second lockdown.
Message From the People’s Republic of Wales
A Welsh reader has sent an encouraging message.
Luckily for us we live in Wales, albeit by about 75 yards, and our “firebreak” ended yesterday. I’ve had a good look at the Welsh Government guidance that will apply from today. To be fair to Chairman Drakeford, he has clearly taken some sensible advice, presumably following the “non-essential” items furore, and toned down the rhetoric. With the exception of pointless face coverings, a “rule of four” in pubs and restaurants and daring to cross the border from plague-ridden England everything else appears to be guidance, as opposed to law, which will not be enforced by the police. He has clearly realised, or been told, that people respond better to gentle encouragement than diktats which I, with fifteen years experience of hostage and suicide intervention negotiation, could have told him from the outset.
For those of you unfortunate enough to live in England I have had a good look at the latest nonsense from Boris and his cronies and am of the view that it is all completely unenforceable. Everything comes with the “reasonable excuse” caveat but doesn’t define a reasonable excuse so if you are approached by the police for breaching one of the regulations simply claim to have a reasonable excuse as you don’t appear to have to define what that excuse is. People also need to understand that Fixed Penalty Notices are not compulsory so if a police officer tries to issue you with one, particularly if it is for a ridiculous sum of money, simply refuse to accept it and ask to be summoned to court instead. Preparing a summons file is a laborious task which most officers don’t have time to do and, in any case, the CPS have failed to prosecute anyone so far as the law is so vague.
Liverpool School Update
Readers will recall that on Saturday I published a letter that parents had been sent the previous day by the head of Broadgreen International School informing them that the Army would be testing their children today using the new lateral-flow test. Among the letter’s many horrors was this paragraph:
Under normal circumstances parental permission is sought for the testing of children, however under these very challenging circumstances that is not possible, therefore we would ask that if you wish to exclude your child from this test please do so in writing to me first thing on Monday morning.
Is that even legal? I got a message on Twitter from Liverpool City Council yesterday which suggests that it isn’t. It said: “Hi Toby, the letter sent to parents at this school was incorrect – parental consent is required. This is an entirely voluntary testing programme and only parents who return the consent forms will have their child tested.”
I replied as follows: “Thanks for letting me know. Have parents at the school been informed? And will you be issuing guidance to schools to make sure this mistake isn’t repeated?”
I then got this back: “Hello Toby, parents at the school have started to be informed and we are in conversation with schools across the city.”
I sincerely hope this is true. Liverpoool’s schoolchildren should not be used as guinea pigs in the roll out of Boris’s ‘Moonshot’ testing programme, and certainly not after their parents have been given so little notice and told that unless they object their children will be tested.
Stop Press: The school has indeed delayed the testing and informed parents that “opt in” consent will be required.
Stop Press 2: A paper published on April 20th by Professor Derrick Cook concluded that the ELISA and lateral flow immunoassays were “inadequate”.
Round-Up
- “Trump Is Gone. Trumpism Just Arrived” – Brilliant analysis of the US election results by Andrew Sullivan
- “Groupthink is the disease that forced us into this crisis” – Luke Johnson on top form in yesterday’s Sunday Times
- “Revealed: How thousands of patients died of coronavirus they caught in hospitals” – Article in the Mail on Sunday about nosocomial infection
- “Continuous lockdowns will be human disaster on colossal scale” – Saira Khan, a Mirror columnist, has become a lockdown sceptic
- “Court Declares Gov. Newsom’s Abuse of Power Unconstitutional” – Californian court rules the Governor has abused his powers by issuing countless coronavirus executive orders
- Conversation with Sir Desmond Swayne – Louise from Save Our Rights Uk talks to Sir Desmond Swayne about the lockdowns
- “Wales prepares to come OUT of two-week lockdown” – First Minister Mark Drakeford says infection rates are plateauing in the principality
- “Dominic Raab warns ‘mutated version of coronavirus’ linked to Danish mink farms could undermine COVID-19 vaccine efforts” – No shit Sherlock
- “‘Mink virus’ alert as hospitals ordered to keep suspected cases in isolation” – The Telegraph has an exclusive: every hospital in the country has been ordered to isolate suspected “mink virus” patients amid increasing efforts to prevent a mutant strain of Covid from spreading to Britain
- “One in eight shops failed to reopen after first lockdown” – The Times reports that 5,552 shops remain closed
- “Thousands flock to UK beauty spots during first weekend of national covid lockdown as Brits enjoy the great outdoors” – The Sun says few people if any observed Lockdown 2.0 yesterday
- “Ministers warn lockdown flouters that the police are preparing to escalate their response” – The Telegraph says police are going to issue more on-the-spot fines
- “18 Trump rallies have led to 30,000 COVID-19 cases: Stanford University study” – Sounds unlikely and worth noting that similar studies weren’t done to see how many cases the BLM protests led to
- “Douglas Murray: Lockdown obsession is a ‘prelude to total collapse’ if it continues” – Douglas Murray on Sky News Australia warns that lockdowns cannot continue for much longer
- “I will never forgive the clowns who cancelled Remembrance Sunday” – Peter Hitchens’s column in the Mail on Sunday say he will never forgive the Government for cancelling Remembrance Sunday
- “Tesco & Sainsbury’s close off non-essential parts of stores amid English lockdown” – The Government promised not to do it, but it’s happened anyway according to Retail Gazette
- “Our ship of fools sails on, from one destructive lockdown to the next” – Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph is becoming quite despairing
- “Is the cost of another lockdown too high?” – Good article in the Spectator by Philip Thomas
- “First do no harm” – The open letter to Boris from nearly 500 health professionals and scientists pulled together by UsForThem and Recovery that I mentioned yesterday
- Piers Corbyn Harassed by Police – Disturbing footage of Piers Corbyn being harassed by the police on leaving Bromley Magistrates Court
- “The Real Normal Podcast – Episode 21” – A podcast devoted to the infamous episode in 2007 when PCR testing led the Profs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to misdiagnose a Whooping Cough outbreak
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Just one today: “The Gates of Delirium” by Yes, “Walking on the Edge” by Wilko Johnson and “I’m Walking Backwards For Christmas” by the Goons.
Love in the Time of Covid
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums, including a dating forum called “Love in a Covid Climate” that has attracted a bit of attention. We have a team of moderators in place to remove spam and deal with the trolls, but sometimes it takes a little while so please bear with us. You have to register to use the Forums, but that should just be a one-time thing. Any problems, email the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster Ian Rons here.
Sharing stories: Some of you have asked how to link to particular stories on Lockdown Sceptics. The answer used to be to first click on “Latest News”, then click on the links that came up beside the headline of each story. But we’ve changed that so the link now comes up beside the headline whether you’ve clicked on “Latest News” or you’re just on the Lockdown Sceptics home page. Please do share the stories with your friends and on social media.
Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, I’m bringing you an extract from Andrew Sullivan’s column about the US election results, which, according to him, shows how fed up to the back teeth most Americans are with woke dogma.
And this was also clearly and unequivocally a rejection of the woke left. The riots of the summer turned many people off. In exit polls, 88 percent of Trump voters say it was a factor in their choice. On the question of policing and criminal justice, Trump led Biden 46 — 43 percent. For the past five years, Democrats have been telling us that Trump and his supporters were white supremacists, that he was indeed the “First White President” in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ words, that all minorities were under assault by the modern day equivalent of the KKK. And yet, the GOP got the highest proportion of the minority vote since 1960! No wonder Charles Blow’s head exploded.
We may find out more as exit polling is pored over, but in the current stats, Trump measurably increased his black, Latino, gay and Asian support. 12 percent of blacks — and 18 percent of black men — backed someone whom the left has identified as a “white supremacist”, and 32 percent of Latinos voted for the man who put immigrant children in cages, giving Trump Florida and Texas. 31 percent of Asians and 28 percent of the gay, lesbian and transgender population also went for Trump. The gay vote for Trump may have doubled! We’ll see if this pans out. But it’s an astonishing rebuke of identity politics and its crude assumptions about how unique individuals vote.
Why did minorities shift slightly rightward after enduring four years of Trump? First off, many obviously rejected the narrative being pushed out by every elite media source: that the core of Trump’s appeal was racism. They saw a more complicated picture. I suspect that many African-Americans, for example, were terrified of “defunding the police” and pleased to be economically better off, with record low unemployment before Covid19 hit. Many legal Latino citizens, perplexing leftists, do not want continued mass immigration, and are socially conservative. Asians increasingly see the woke as denying their children fair access to education, and many gays just vote on various different issues, now that the civil rights question has been largely resolved by the Supreme Court.
Obviously a big majority of non-white and non-straight voters still backed Democrats. But the emergence of this coalition of minority conservatives is fascinating — and, of course, a complete refutation of what critical race theory tells us how minorities must feel. Ditto the gender gap. It’s there, but not quite the gulf we were led to believe. We have again been told insistently that being female in America today is a constant nightmare of oppression, harassment, violence and misogyny; and that no one represents this more potently than Donald “grab ‘em by the pussy” Trump. And yet white women still voted for Trump 55 to 43 percent. Among white women with no college education, arguably those most vulnerable to the predations of men, Trump got 60 percent support. This is not a wave of rage; and it suggests that the left’s notion of patriarchy is, in 2020, something many, many women just don’t buy, or do not believe should outweigh other, more important issues.
And look at California, one of the most leftist states in the country, and minority-majority. The initiative to allow public institutions to discriminate openly on the basis of race — in order to favor some groups over others on the Ibram X. Kendi model — decisively failed, after months of unceasing propaganda about “white supremacy” and the need to counter it. So did an attempt to regulate the gig economy and to expand rent control. The appeal of assimilation and economic success among Latinos is not, pace the critical race theorists, an attempt to gain the advantages of “white-adjacency”. It’s simply the American way, paved by generations of immigrant groups before them.
This is one of the best analyses of the US election results I’ve read so far.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Sarah Phillimore, a barrister specialising in child protection, has started a CrowdJustice fundraiser so she can bring a case against the police to get them to remove a ‘non-crime hate incident’ they’ve recorded against her name. Donate here.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a one-stop shop down here for people who want to buy (or make) a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and it has the advantage of not explicitly claiming you have a disability. But if you have no qualms about that (or you are disabled), you can buy a lanyard from Amazon saying you do have a disability/medical exemption here (takes a while to arrive). The Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. You can get a “Hidden Disability” tag from ebay here and an “exempt” card with lanyard for just £1.99 from Etsy here. And, finally, if you feel obliged to wear a mask but want to signal your disapproval of having to do so, you can get a “sexy world” mask with the Swedish flag on it here.
Don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face masks in shops here.
A reader has started a website that contains some useful guidance about how you can claim legal exemption.
And here’s an excellent piece about the ineffectiveness of masks by a Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry.
Mask Mandate: According to Fox News, Biden is planning to implement mask mandates nationwide as one of his first acts as President.
Stop Press: West Midlands Police challenged a shopper in Sainsbury’s who wasn’t wearing a mask. He explained that he was exempt because he suffered from anxiety and they threatened to arrest him unless he either put a mask on or left the shop. The West Midlands Police later apologised: “We got this wrong and we’re sorry for any upset & distress we’ve caused.”
The Great Barrington Declaration
The Great Barrington Declaration, a petition started by Professor Martin Kulldorff, Professor Sunetra Gupta and Professor Jay Bhattacharya calling for a strategy of “Focused Protection” (protect the elderly and the vulnerable and let everyone else get on with life), was launched last month and the lockdown zealots have been doing their best to discredit it. If you Googled it a week after launch, the top hits were three smear pieces from the Guardian, including: “Herd immunity letter signed by fake experts including ‘Dr Johnny Bananas’.” (Freddie Sayers at UnHerd warned us about this hit job the day before it appeared.) On the bright side, Google UK has stopped shadow banning it, so the actual Declaration now tops the search results – and Toby’s Spectator piece about the attempt to suppress it is among the top hits – although discussion of it has been censored by Reddit. The reason the zealots hate it, of course, is that it gives the lie to their claim that “the science” only supports their strategy. These three scientists are every bit as eminent – more eminent – than the pro-lockdown fanatics so expect no let up in the attacks. (Wikipedia has also done a smear job.)
You can find it here. Please sign it. Now well over 600,000 signatures.
Update: The authors of the GDB have expanded the FAQs to deal with some of the arguments and smears that have been made against their proposal. Worth reading in full.
Update 2: Many of the signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration are involved with new UK anti-lockdown campaign Recovery. Find out more and join here.
Update 3: You can watch Sunetra Gupta set out the case for “Focused Protection” here and Jay Bhattacharya make it here.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
There are now so many JRs being brought against the Government and its ministers, we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
First, there’s the Simon Dolan case. You can see all the latest updates and contribute to that cause here.
Then there’s the Robin Tilbrook case. You can read about that and contribute here.
Then there’s John’s Campaign which is focused specifically on care homes. Find out more about that here.
There’s the GoodLawProject’s Judicial Review of the Government’s award of lucrative PPE contracts to various private companies. You can find out more about that here and contribute to the crowdfunder here.
The Night Time Industries Association has instructed lawyers to JR any further restrictions on restaurants, pubs and bars.
Christian Concern is JR-ing the Government over its insistence on closing churches during the lockdowns. Read about it here.
And last but not least there’s the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. You can read about that and make a donation here.
Samaritans
If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected] or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year, providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them.
Stop Press: Dr Gary Sidley has come up with a list of five reasons to be cheerful about coronavirus.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. Doing these daily updates is hard work (although we have help from lots of people, mainly in the form of readers sending us stories and links). If you feel like donating, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links we should include in future updates, email us here. (Don’t assume we’ll pick them up in the comments.)
And Finally…
You will enjoy this. It features a group of television presenters watching a music teacher’s video in which she plays a song she’s written to help her adapt to online teaching and learning. The song – and their reaction – is priceless.
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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Hi, to everyone living being! Wake up. Watch http://www.freedomplatform.tv, http://www.infowars.com http://www.davidicks.com, http://www.brighten.com Switch off mainstream censored media and think how protect yourself and your kids against to be slotted, stand out from medical and political dictatorship, from stolen your freedom and life.
Data manipulation.
If you listen to the BBC they will tell you that a further 532 people died of Coronavirus today, they will report it as a massive increase, the highest since whenever. It’s absolute nonsense.
Look at the detail of the 2 charts both taken from today’s latest figures released at 6:18pm: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths
The true picture is of falling deaths. These deaths have come from all over the past 2 months. This is so scandalous on the part of the government & the BBC.
Van Tam – another one up to his neck in conflicting pharmaceutical industry interest.
T cells have been totally disregarded, nonsensical hogwash, just as ‘herd immunity’ was basically tin foil hat nonsense. Now, magically t cells are our saviour, induced by a mega bucks vaccine. I’ll stick to my natural immune system, thanks.
Nice.
Meanwhile there has been no update to the JCVI priority list for vaccination since September, which has at the top old inmates and workers in care homes, closely followed by the over 80s, and so on down the age range. I bet there aren’t many of them in the trial volunteer group. So how is the likely effect being assessed?
The wild virus does seem rather prone to setting off a severe auto immune reaction. I don’t fancy my chances with a vaccine any more than I would catching it, at my age (well over 70).
The piece also says that the extraordinary pandemic conditions mean there’s no point in doing the usual sort of cost benefit analysis. Like they don’t for any other part of this omnishambles. I wonder if it’s been decided whether it makes sense to immunise the over 80s with dementia against flu? If so, why not make the same analysis for CV19, how hard can it be?
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi-25-september-2020/jcvi-updated-interim-advice-on-priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination#fn:1
The bit with the brigadier in full camo was beyond ridicule. First you lick the plastic spatula, then you put it up your nose? No thanks.
All that for a test allegedly with a 50%… Read more »
Amazing isn’t it. They didn’t exist a few weeks ago, everyone was succeptible. Now they’re our only hope.
“The industrial-technological system may survive or it may break down. If it survives, it MAY eventually achieve a low level of physical and psychological suffering, but only after passing through a long and very painful period of adjustment and only at the cost of permanently reducing human beings and many other living organisms to engineered products and mere cogs in the social machine.”
Theodore Kascyinski.
Another author in a similar vein (minus the terrorism) well worth reading is Dmitry Orlov.
Yes. Old Ted (possible MK-Ultra subject) hit lots of nails on the head, despite the amateurish terrorism.
I like Orlov’s comparison of the West to the Soviet Union in the late 80s, and I agree with him that we are actually in a worse position.
The Five Stages of Collapse and Shrinking The Technosphere were great reads at the time, and are even more relevant now.
You don’t have to be a Biden fan to see that the amount of Trump worship and election conspiracy rubbish on this site is doing the 77th Brigade’s job for free.
Put away your party preferences and read Bidens speech on mask wearing.
Both candidates are heavily flawed and probably too old.
Trump could have opened up the country months ago and spoken out against the State imposed tyranny like he originally said but didn’t, also disappointed he caved in on the masks. He also cut taxes for multinational businesses who despise him whilst not doing much for the poor who often voted for him.
However Biden is pro mandatory masks, compulsory vaccines and harsh lockdowns so I believe he is the worst of 2 evils as a lockdown sceptic.
To be honest Trump has been greatly constrained by states’ rights.
THere is no doubt in my mind that Trump was to be preferred. In a rally in North Carolina on October 23rd he said:
“Normal life will fully return”
I can’t imagine those words coming out of the mouth of any other western leader.
Yes, I know he has made problematic vaccine statements, but I have to give him the benefit of the doubt, as there is no question that he was the better choice.
Bear in mind also, that those forces that hate Trump the most are also those forces pushing covid for all it is worth.
Trump is an impediment to the forces riding the Covid scamdemic.
BS. I’ve seen no evidence of Trump worship here. He’s a flawed human being. What we are seeing on our MSM is Biden worship as if he is a fully functioning man in his mid fifties when he is clearly senile, because people who aren’t senile don’t forget their wife’s name, their opponents’ names this time round and last time round, which city they are in and a key part of the constitution of the USA.
Trump’s instincts on Covid have all been right and Biden’s all wrong.
Covid cult
Trump cult
Both cults.
One is a cult – the other a substituted 3rd letter.
Let’s see, what is the attitude of a worshipper? Maybe this:
2016-2020: “The 2016 election was stolen by Putin. The American electoral system is horribly vulnerable to corruption, which is the only explanation for Trump winning. We must now [ab]use every element of the Constitution to remove the president. To that end, we solemnly put our faith in Mueller for months after it’s become clear he’s got nothing, and then in a trinity of aging hookers under the tutelage of the ‘porn lawyer,’ and then…, and then…”
Now: “The USA has an electoral system that is incorruptible. Only a lunatic could allege otherwise. In a mature democracy we must all accept the outcome of the system.”
Near future, if the legal process goes Trump’s way: “This is literally fascism! No-one can have any faith in this evil system that has just demonstrated structural racism! It will be totally understandable if rightly angry people riot through every city in America [nudge].”
Is it an act of worship to point out rank and extreme hypocrisy and intellectual incoherence? I should have thought democracy depends on the ability and willingness to point out such things in the conduct of the powerful.
‘Whataboutery’ is always the mark of a lost argument.
“Is it an act of worship to point out rank and extreme hypocrisy and intellectual incoherence?”
Not at all – it’s a good description of Trump.
Now – how about sticking to the knitting?
Looks like Annie has won today’s likes competition:
375 Annie
356 Ceriain
348 Richard O
337 calchas
307 Sceptic Hank
It’ll only encourage her …
Who gives a flying F Mabel? Or is this judged to be good disruption wherever you are based?
I welcome a bit of light hearted distraction tbh!
Really? Think I’ve noticed you before wading in with supportive comments for other disruptors. Most people here aren’t po-faced. We have our fun but we are focused on the task at hand which is to stop us going any further down the dangerous path our leaders have told us we must follow. I am personally boycotting this Mabel Cow nonsense and if “she” posts again I will encourage others to boycott the disruption.
When did you join here Mabel and why the unhealthy obsession with this ranking site? Do you post about anything else?
Sometimes we must unfortunately say thinks that others do not ‘like’, but even those things have to be said.
The Telegraph is full of pro vaccine propaganda today such as –
‘Vaccine hope for fans return – but will season be over before it is widely available?’Adding Covid-19 vaccine records to a digital health passport may fast-track the return of crowds to the Premier League next year
Of course when we said this would happen several months ago we were called ‘conspiracy theorists’ and got lot of stick from the trolls in the Telegraph comments section.
Also pretty sickened by all the sucking up to Joe Biden – he is very corrupt, creepy around women and children and mentally declining. Yet they are saying he is the new JFK. Are they serious? glad I cancelled, and hope a few more readers will.
It’s going to take more than a daily shot of Adrenochrome to stop Creepy Joe’s brain from turning into Emmental before next summer.
He is obviously just being used as a vehicle to get the equally suspect Kamala Harris in power to completely destroy America for the New World Order.
Is that what they used for the debates?
Exactly. In what sick, twisted world is it acceptable to push mandatory, universal distribution for an experimental vaccine that has barely finished its first trial as the condition for “returning to normal”?
The Telegraph, like every single other MSM outlet, is not on our side, and never has been.
Had a bit of hope for the Telegraph a few weeks ago. They seem to have gone full Biden / vaccine propaganda today. Biden’s mask speech today was pretty sickening and I can’t believe a ‘Conservative’ paper wouldn’t call out such virtue signalling nonsense. Fox news is equally dreadful.
Sadly I expect the Guardian will be campaigning for mandatory vaccines as its readership don’t seem particularly interested in personal freedom and liberty any more.
The vaccine propaganda will be wall-to-wall in MSM for months on end. I’m expecting a massive internet purge as well, which in all probability will include this website.
The propaganda campaign was started months ago and I agree it will only get worse. The Deep State says we can’t question vaccines (and neither can medical professionals), all very sinister. I expect this site will be safe and most interesting content regarding Covid was censored weeks / months ago on YouTube / Facebook.
I don’t care if the Covid fanatics take the vaccine, just don’t want it forced on me / or have a ‘health’ passport. Now believe the whole thing is a scam not opportunism.
Digital/health passport tied with Digital currency is the end of freedom as we have known it.After we are all on UBI due to the collapse of the economy the government decides whether we eat or not.
Think the Soviet sphere of influence – USSR and its satellites. All mass media in the UK is essentially globalist but they are allowed to follow their own paths as long that suppresses populism. The Telegraph argument to the politiburo in Moscow or Davos or wherever would be that they do everything they can to promote globalism eg through their Pfizer vaccine propaganda but objective local conditions mean they must oppose more lockdownism unless it leads to a populist revolt led by Farage or someone else,
I think we understand that but they are on the side of the Tories and as we know there is a substantial Tory rebellion re lockdown.
“he is very corrupt, creepy around women and children and mentally declining”
… a sort of Trump Mk.II then?
What a load of crap.
There’s not the slightest evidence that Trump is a paedo, he has no trouble getting very attractive much younger women and clearly isn’t senile.
Your distinctive feature is that you complain about commenters being party political and then exceed them tenfold.
My comments about Trump certainly aren’t ‘party political’. They’re just observational – about a profound idiot who shouldn’t, in any party, be near a position of power, whatever the opposition.
Beyond that, it’s irritation at the amount of diversion going into focusing on the inadequate who is Johnson’s spiritual brother when we are facing massive issues here.
Trump does have a very questionable business history with bankruptcies, we know he likes women, never seen him act creepy like Biden around children, he rambles sometimes but seems sharp mentally and physically for his age.
“we know he likes women”
That’s a good thing!
Yep,another conspiracy theory becoming fact.Its beginning to look like this was all a ruse to get us to accept our zero carbon future.
Getting ultra paranoid here. I’ve never been on Twitter, I’ve just closed my FB account (apparently it’s still active for 30 days 🤔😤).
Please can you recommend a safe search engine (I currently use Google – but not logged in)? Cheers A
Brave broswer and duck duck go is a good combination
and if your really paranoid nordVPN and protonmail
and if your really really paranoid
TOR net and an onion browser
Good recommendations. Surf Shark VPN also seem good.
Much appreciate. 🙏
Thank you, I shall check these out
Proton also do VPN.
as above… I use surf shark vpn.. I also use duck duck go and start page and various addons in firefox to further anonymise me.. but no doubt I’ve fucked up somewhere and they can see who I am. Winston Smith. Afraid of rats.
Thank you
I think this is the most depressed I’ve been since March. It’s almost as though the latest news about an effective vaccine has just cemented the Covid suppression narrative. Journalists covering the news did not question the press release in any way – the fact that pharmaceuticals have a track record of misrepresenting facts, the immense profit that is riding on a Covid vaccine, the desperate scramble between pharma companies for track position, the lack of any independent analysis of data to cross check their claims.
I read or listen to the news and cannot find any relief from this malaise, other than this website. But it is painfully clear to me that all of the arguments presented here are lost – the government is not listening. The opposition parties even less so. I am constantly hearing talk of ongoing restrictions and changes to human interaction extending ever further into the future.
I wonder if the only way out of this is for a new political party to win popular support to challenge this awful version of the future. I’ve heard Farage has formed a party to challenge lockdowns, but nothing seems to be happening fast enough or earnestly enough.… Read more »
If the Covid-19 agenda goes all the way, life will not be worth living. It’s that simple.
No one is coming to save us. Every institution you can think of at local, national and international level is fully on board with the dystopian nightmare being constructed around us.
As for our fellow citizens, if they are not already rabid, zealous cult members then they are too ignorant or lazy to perceive what is being done to them. Which in terms of the end result amounts to the same thing.
I have given up trying to rationalise this. We are in hell.
But why? Why would they want to live it? Surely there must be thousands in the NHS, military and police that want their ‘normal’ life back? They cannot all buy the ‘we’re doing this for your own good’ propaganda?
I think a l lot of the people we see walking around have “gone”. They are not who they were before this year. NPCs in every sense.
Anyone I have contact with can’t or won’t see it. Anytime I try to warn/ inform them I’m either met with pitying smiles, or left feeling I’m a scaremonger trying to ruin their little head in the sand lives. It’s too far fetched, too conspiracy, too scary. They go on following the rules, and will do even up to a microchip, thinking it will end soon, life will go back to normal.
For me, I have to find purpose in a life that looks like it will be increasingly restricted, still in shock that this has happened at all and
hoping maybe it will pass, or be defeated.
There will come a point very soon when all such people will have to be abandoned to their fate. Indeed having contact with anyone who has been vaccinated will be extremely dangerous. Think Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
In some ways I have as I don’t want to be around wittering planks talking about how many people have got covid, ” isn’t it awful”. But I am very isolated in my stance having no one who thinks as I do. They are like pod people, but ultimately we share their fate too, having not enjoyed the ignorance of not being aware of an evil undertone. This website is a real blessing for those of us in “pod land” alone. Sorry for not being more upbeat, usually I can get above it but sometimes the compliance really gets to me. Moan over 😩
What about seeking out a group local to you, Bailie ? KeepBritainFree/StandupX/SaveOurRIghts etc.
Will do, but from Northern Ireland and haven’t found one yet
That’s a very moving description of what life has come to for those of us who are awake to the ‘evil undertones’ as you put it. I’d not thought of the believers as being better off in their ignorance before ….
Looking after my grandchildren is my salvation. The morning was spent on the beach with the 3 yr old building sandcastles, trying to answer tricky questions about how deep we would have to dig to get down to water. (he had heard about this somewhere).
This afternoon was spent inside a huge cardboard box we had made into a bin lorry. Playing with them and seeing the world through their eyes is the perfect way to forget the outside world with its compliance and lies and I just wish their future was in my hands not this technocratic nightmare I see ahead.
I am glad I am already 58. I have had a damned good life really. I can’t complain, although another ten years would have been good, while I’m still physically in fairly good shape.
So, I expect I shall withdraw to books and nature as long as that is possible, although I have always enjoyed meeting people, that won’t reall be possible any more in the way that it was.
I don’t think we’ve seen the end of the ‘big events’ though. I think we’re just getting started.
We always win. Sometimes it takes a while.
It sounds simplistic, and it’s not easy, but try to stay positive. Observe the signs of normal life all around you, there are plenty this time around. Nobody is locked in if they do not wish to be, this country as a police state in its current form would be laughable.
My career is hanging on the edge, so I’m under no illusion as to the severity of this situation in terms of economics and stability. But over the past few days I’ve met up with friends, taken my kids to play with their friends and even been out for drinks! You mustn’t let them consume you.
Normality will win because it is what most people really want. That is a fact.
I’ve been trying to follow that course for a while now, but I feel like a fraud, just going through the motions, fiddling as the Rome of our freedoms burn, whether we watch or not.
I keep hoping if I voice the worst of my fears then they can’t happen.
Me too, but the reality is too difficult to ignore. I have a 13 yr old and he was fine all through home learning and the summer, but being at school now is clearly impacting him – constant messaging about obeying the rules and not putting others lives at risk is taking its toll I think. He’s also suffering in other ways – all his extracurricular activities are essentially dead for the foreseeable.
It doesn’t make you a fraud at all. My cousin and I met in London on Saturday with the intention of ‘exercising’ into a protest that didn’t ultimately materialise.
We were disappointed so went off to Southbank to have a few pints instead. As we stood there among the bustling crowd, we realised that what we were doing was ultimately a very effective form of protest in itself. We were part of demonstrating that the so called ‘lockdown’ means nothing at all.
Stick with it, behaving normally means a lot. I’ve seen so much normal behaviour over the last few days that I’m sure we are going to win now. I’ve had some low moments over the last few months.
Thank you LL for your upbeat message. 🙂
Are you new here Archie?
Only been on the comments a couple of times, but have been reading the column for a good while. Only thing that’s kept me sane…
Er so you choose to come on here now with that very long depressive screed after virtual silence. Sorry don’t buy it.,it’s v rare I would say for people to announce their depression like that. That sounds much more like disruption to me,
Are you the lockdown sceptics version of a Covid marshall?
Grow up.
Because you care, you are part of the solution.
Don’t let the bastards grind you down!
Nigel Farage is certainly the wrong character to lead an anti lockdown party, for a start he threw us under the bus during the first lockdown which he fully supported and was out banging his pan every week. He is very divisive and will roll over to backing the Conservative party if they ever soften their stance.
Better backing the Libertarian party https://libertarianpartyuk.com/ or Heritage Party https://heritageparty.org/ they both seem to believe in freedom far more than Farage who will just become a hate figure for the left and remainers.
90% v 99+% ( for most age groups). That’s all you need to know. ‘Just do the math’. But then again, there’s no accounting for stupidity, as everyone on this site knows.
Vernon Coleman’s latest video got me thinking:
https://brandnewtube.com/watch/how-the-coronavirus-has-permanently-destroyed-health-care_kwZO73zRatSupLc.html
If we take the approximate spend for the NHS as £130 billion per year and there are 70 million people in the UK, that works out at over £1.8m per person.
WTF!!!?
Apologies, that’s wrong.
It’s actually over £1800 per person.
Still, it’s an interesting video though!
In my defence, the original figure was not a calculation.
It was just a scenario.
That’s all right then. Yours, Patrick
What a hero Dr Coleman is.
You can see the emotion at the end of the video.
This is what a real human being looks like.
How odd. Joe Biden gets declared President Elect by the MSM. A couple of days later Pfizer issues its hallelujah vaccine press release and BBC presenters start wearing broad idiot smiles declaring everything will be back to normal in the Spring. To be fair while Emma Barnett was wearing the grotesque smile, Deborah Cohen as so often on Newsnight provided a balanced report. Strange she hasn’t been sacked yet.
As for the Pfizer trial it involved a staggering 94 (possibly fit and healthy for all we know) people.
If anyone at the BBC is smiling, then we are in serious trouble.
At least we can be confident that all of the idiot presenters are going to be thrown under the bus with the rest of us. They think they are in the elite, but they are not.
Indeed as Uncle Joe once said of some comrades, they are “dizzy with success”.
Matt Frei on Channel 4 News looked positively ecstatic like a witness to the Miracle of Fatima reporting from DC. The best lol moments are when they interview the Dem propagandists and they describe their guy – apparently an accomplished centrist, full of integrity, brilliant negotiator, will stand firm against the Chinese and N Korea, defender of minority rights, lucid, engaging etc – and, as Matt or whoever nods along you’re thinking “WTF!”.
Matt F has always irritated the hellout of me, he nearly always has had a smirk on his face
Useful Idiots was Lenins phrase
Embarrassing journalism fail: ABC deletes ‘fake news’ tweet attributing traditional UK bonfire night fireworks to Biden win
https://www.rt.com/usa/506220-abc-fireworks-biden-mistake-bonfire/
Lol. Why? They lie about everything else.
I have a feeling they knew full well it was fake news when they published it. The retraction of a story never gets much attention and the original would have been viewed by millions.
Don’t forget the stock market angle – a fair amount of blood on the carpet last week, nice little dip,oil tanking, get in, and up 5% today. Kerching!! I commented on the vaccine below, it could be tap water and nobody would be the wiser. Not only that, they would be able to claim 100% safety and never face a payout or risk bringing vaccines into disrepute.
After watching the council covid response panel meeting, one thing I took away from it.
Everybody involved does not any any real understanding of the wider issues surrounding covid outside of their very narrow job roles.
The councillors who had no specific job roles were just useless. The
brainwashingPR lady who handled “the messaging” still thinks she works for Vodaphone pushing out PR for a new call package.The lib Dem councillor…well she is something else. She loves the face nappies. An absolute……
Seriously what a bunch of Charlies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoCYYVmDbMU&t=21s
1:32:07 Is where the magick starts on this WEF video
Wake up.This is the future they have planned for us.It is no longer a conspiracy when they tell you what they are want to do.
A hideous green future which serves as the pretext to enslave us all.
The road to utopia with be paved with bones as usual.
So have the valiant BBC Reality Check fact-checked the appellation “President Elect” being applied to Creepy Corrupt Joe Biden by their BBC colleagues on the corporation’s News website? Any fule know it’s only the Electoral College and no one else who makes one of the candidates “President Elect”. So should be an easy call for them to slap down Sopel, Bryant and Zurcher.
Writing the above reminded me that back in 2016 there were swamp creatures who said there would be nothing wrong in electors voted in to support Trump switching their allegiance to Clinton on the basis that Trump would undermine the constitution.
Response from BBC: The facts have been subjected to Propaganda Compatible Reprogramming (PCR) testing and found to be 100% true without side effects. It is well known that we have facts for all occasions. Thank you, goodbye.
You mean: “We got it about right. ” – to quote the BBC’s favourite phrase.
Well this couldn’t be clearer for me. This report calls for an Immediate enquiry into the Governments actions in 2020 but recommendation 8 outlines something that should see those with signatures on blanket DNRs be tried in criminal court.
“The blanket imposition of DNACPR notices without proper patient involvement is unlawful. The evidence suggests that the use of them in the context of the Covid-19
pandemic has been widespread. The Court of Appeal has previously held that there is no legal requirement for the Government to implement a national DNACPR policy.
However, the evidence suggests that the absence of such a policy has, in the context of the pandemic, led to systematic violation of the rights of patients under Articles 2 and 8 ECHR. The systematic nature of this violation means that it is now arguable that the Government is under such an obligation. Whether or not the events of the pandemic have changed the nature of the Government’s legal obligation, we consider it would assist in the protection of patients’ Article 2 and 8 rights if the Government did now set out such a policy.
Such a policy should make clear, amongst other things, that DNACPR notices… Read more »
Am I correct that ECHR will not apply in this country from 1st January 2021?
In which case, all the government has to do is stonewall this for another 6 weeks.
No. Not correct. Totally different treaties. We will still be part of ECHR. ECHR is an effective condition of EU membership but is not part of the EU treaties.
Thanks for clarifying. I am surprised. Mind you, what difference do any of these declarations make when a government can piss all over them any time it wants?
I think Putin’s Russia is still part of the ECHR which tells you everything you need to know about the effectiveness of international human rights treaties.
It’s good honest cultures that create human rights, not treaties.
Hi bebop, also from norn Ireland. We received a phone call from my dad’s Gp, on a Sat morning just prior to lockdown asking if we would consider a DNR as they were reviewing case files. He is still at home with mild dementia. We refused of course, but in retrospect was quite sinister.
A very interesting article was recently published in Lancet that sought to understand which factors correlate, on a country level, with covid related outcomes. The study was observational, so it can only show correlation, not causation, but it can still give pretty strong hints as to which factors protect people from covid, and which factors increase the risk of being harmed.
Ok, let’s get to the most important thing, which the authors seem to have tried to hide, because they make so little mention of it. Lockdown and covid deaths. The authors found no correlation whatsoever between severity of lockdown and number of covid deaths. And they didn’t find any correlation between border closures and covid deaths either. And there was no correlation between mass testing and covid deaths either, for that matter. Basically, nothing that various world governments have done to combat covid seems to have had any effect whatsoever on the number of deaths.
Author: Sebastian Rushworth, M.D.I am a practicing physician in Stockholm, Sweden. I studied medicine at Karolinska Institutet (home of the Nobel prize in medicine). My main interests are evidence based medicine, medical ethics, and medical history.
That general lack of correlation with government interventions and impositions has been known for a long time – and from a variety of sources.
You are right, that correlation isn’t causation – but if there’s no correlation, then there’s certainly no causative relationship.
Ivor Cummings has a store of papers which show lockdowns have nowhere close to the impact they spin them as
http://www.tinyurl.com/LOCKDOWNSTUDIES
Error 404
404 with Ivor’s other link as well: https://tinyurl.com/LockdownsCostLives
Naughtiness afoot?
Blind woman pushed and abused for not social distancing.
No comment necessary.
Everyday I feel more like Winston Smith.Last week T cells didn’t confer immunity.Now a vaccine which stimulates T cell response is the saviour of mankind.
The level of lying and darkness is not only not slowing down, it is increasing exponentially.
We have crossed the threshold into hell, I’m convinced of it.
ITN are even trolling us by saying if the vaccine announcement came a week earlier Trump may have won.
Orange man called it when he predicted “it’ll be over, lockdown, if they win”. (I paraphrase a bit, friends….)
Orange man don’t lie!
Was that Mad Moore? Always looks like he’s been let out of the TDS ward of the local psychiatric hospital. He was gibbering away on election night as though Biden had already won even as Trump was pulling away . Maybe he knew something.
Dear Richard, that’s what I feel too. This is so hard. I just don’t know where this is going. It’s getting really dangerous for us sane ones, if this insanity doesn’t eat itself or otherwise run out of momentum.
In my opinion it’s a form of mass hysteria. It’s happened before many times in history but this time it’s global.
The question for us is how can we end it, although the spell is clearly wearing off from the majority.
‘Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.’ (Charles Mackay).
It’s definitely mass hysteria. But is it natural or induced?
Induced. msm & SPI-B.
There is no debate and no dissent in a totalitarian society. This is the shock that I think a lot of us on here have still not fully adjusted to, because it flies in the face of generations of freedom in our respective countries.
Me too. I’m actually re-reading Nineteen Eighty-Four now and it’s uncanny.
France. Interesting to see the effect on the R factor by mask mandate indoors,outdoors,curfew and lockdown. Virus seems to be undisciplined
https://twitter.com/JohnDStats/status/1325878417007448070
I live in France. I know no-one who has had it, or knows anyone who has had it. I never see a testing centre, or people waiting for tests. but i do see terrified older people, and I see mask wearing younger people.
But eventually my wife and I will very reluctantly go along to the pharmacy to get our couple of ‘magic’ jabs to be allowed out of our house, out of our area, out of the country.
And all because the wrong person was in the WH.
Until the next vaccine required for renewal of basic rights. There will be one every 6 months at least.
One problem is, of course that the ‘R’ number is, anyway, a purely theoretical entity bred of dodgy data and crap models – and with the solidity of Scotch mist.
Spoiling the party today as regards the Pfizervaccine. The most in need, elderly, have never been included in trials
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2771091
The Exclusion of Older Persons From Vaccine and Treatment Trials for Coronavirus Disease 2019—Missing the Target
“Older adults are at greatest risk of severe disease and death due to coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19). Globally, persons older than 65 years comprise 9%of the population,yet account for30% to 40% of cases and more than 80% of deaths”
“Our findings indicate that older adults are likely to be excluded from more than 50% of COVID-19 clinical trials and 100% of vaccine trials. Such exclusion will limit the ability to evaluate the efficacy, dosage, and adverse effects of the intended treatments. “
“If the older age group is excluded from vaccine trials, efforts to ensure effectiveness, titrate dosage or frequency, and assess adverse effects in the group most vulnerable to COVID-19 will not be possible”
“Some have argued that only vaccination of younger populations is needed to achieve herd immunity (67% level of immunity), and therefore, vaccination of older adults is not essential; however, the high level of immunity required, coupled with the fact that many settings (eg, nursing homes)… Read more »
This is true, but it implies that a real vaccine was ever envisaged, It isn’t. Its a placebo for the populace, it is the foundation for the end of the ‘terror’ promulgated by the media/governments , no more. Its not ‘medicine’ , its a psyops. Just get used to the idea. You have resisted an illusion. Now it can end, the WH is secure.
They need to get people eager to accept regular doses of vaccine security blanket. Once enough people do so willingly coercion will bring the rest. Then as Kissinger said it’s game over , they can start injecting anything and blame sudden outbreaks of mortality on new pathogens which will require yet more jabs. Everyone one else will go down slow with side effects from the adjuvants.
‘WH secure’ when US Electoral College / Supreme Court judgments are made. And not before.
Surprising to see so many on here following msm waffle.
I wonder if this will be picked up by the press? The blatantly obvious, that the vulnerable group should be the main focus of trials, has been conveniently side stepped in nearly every report so far. Good find.
Only the healthiest volunteers (guinea pigs) are ever included in vaccine trials. They have to ensure it doesn’t have crazy adverse side effects in young, healthy people before they even mess around with giving it to older and unhealthy people. If young, healthy people don’t do well in the trials it never makes it past that phase. I haven’t had a chance to look in depth at what was put out today, but two things popped out at me: 1) They claim it prevented infection in subjects believe not to have been exposed to the virus. There is no way of knowing for sure since antibodies fade quickly and these young, healthy people may have had the typical Covid experience and not even known they had it. They also may live in areas where there is community immunity and just haven’t been exposed since I don’t believe these were not challenge trials. 2) The guinea pigs may have t-cell immunity and, therefore, wouldn’t become infected anyway. I’m guessing this little detail was overlooked since all of a sudden the medical community has “forgotten” that there are different types of immunity.
Knowing my mask phobia someone just sent me a meme that gets it so wrong I’m so upset… there’s a hashtag in it that reads “wearingiscaring” – does this suggest I don’t “care”??! Let’s slip an extra “s” in there and start trending “wearingisSCARING” I’m at my wits end about abusive mask propaganda. I find it the most upsetting thing in this whole nightmare.
You’re right: Wearing is scaring, that’s the point.
You need to block the meme sender!
Same with anyone finding phobia teasing funny, don’t let them insult you.
Wearing a mask is submitting to the total enslavement and complete destruction of humanity, it’s that simple. Whoever sent this to you is evil.
If you think the mask propaganda is abusive, just wait until the vaccine propaganda kicks into high gear.
You need that person out of your life.
They are evil and wrong and stupid and you are not. They cannot take that away from you. Ignore them, or push back, as you please. You’re better than them, do not allow them to upset you.
I suffer similarly — lots of anxiety with mask wearing and even seeing people masked up. A good friend of mine was sending me similar memes early on and I had to tell her to stop. She and I fundamentally disagree on everything Covid and have simply agreed not to go there. Neither of us wanted to lose a 20+ year friendship and, so far, we’ve stayed respectful and friendly. But anyone who knows about your mask phobia and triggers you purposely, needs to be called out or worse. I’m sorry you were upset today and I completely understand. I’m already anxious because I’m taking an Uber tonight and will have to wear a mask. It’s my last time in the city before we move out for good; it’s my best friend’s birthday and we’ve been friends for 40 years so we’re eating out on a patio. I won’t see her again until the spring and I’m going to suck it up just for tonight. Crossing my fingers the traffic is light and I won’t have to keep it on for too long.
You could just point out that on the day masks became compulsory there was about 35k positive cases in the country. There are now over 500k.
You could argue that they help spread the virus using that logic.
The truth is you cannot stop a virus and all the measures taken haven’t made any difference.
Hi Neil!
Mask wearing is a reinforcement technique for a circular argument. It goes something like this:
Why do we have to wear masks?
Because of the pandemic.
How do we know there is a pandemic?
Because we have to wear masks.
So do I.
.
Exclusive GPs will be paid £12.58 per Covid vaccination jab administered – but will only receive payment after the second of two doses – as details are due today about the DES at the heart of the campaign.
https://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/coronavirus/gps-to-be-paid-12-85-per-jab-as-details-set-out-for-covid-vaccination-campaign/?fbclid=IwAR3hmlhvXi8GoGANOgDgY5QG5EBm4blpk9tAnCBvxOqTP9bo3EvA-X9MIYI
How GPs are going to administer vaccines over either email or telephone I will never know.
The GPs won’t do it of course… They’ll just get the money.
I wonder if the doctor will see you now
That’s another £188,700,000 that we’ll have to fund, on top of the £445,000,000 for the doses themselves.
President Elect Bidet turns truth inside out:
“The goal of mask wearing is not to make your life less comfortable, or to take something away from you. It is to give something back to all of us, a normal life.”
Depriving you of oxygen and all human interaction takes nothing away if you are a demon.
Which Biden is, no question. This is a mandate straight from hell.
Gimme strength!!!!
Can’t be posted enough
Whitty Logic = measures taken reduced the virus in the first months – we didn’t wear masks
Hence due to Whitty Logic masks are not necessary.
Also Whitty Logic – masks are necessary
If only Whitty would realise he was Twhatty.
I really do fear for America now.
If Trump had won (assuming he has not) it would really only have delayed the inevitable for four more years. The problem with the Donald seemed to be that although he has/had popular support, he didn’t seem to have much party support and there didn’t seem to be any heir waiting in the wings. In some ways it might be for the best if he goes – he may actually be able to do more outside the White House than in.
You’ve been listening to the MSM. Republican Party registrations have risen hugely. If you remember back in 2016 most of the big RP operators hated him and said it. People like Cruz and Graham understand that if they lose this Presidential election they will never win another one. They simply won’t be allowed to.
People in the UK don’t understand quite how serious this is. It’s not a Westminster game. The Democrat power network is seeking total control of American society.
You should. Don’t believe the BBC “healing Presidency” crap. I don’t actually think Biden is that vindictive himself – he thinks everyone is as corrupt and corruptible as he is, and so isn’t much given to virtue politics. But senile Joe won’t be able to control what happens under his name. Jill Biden, his full time carer, will probably be the most powerful person in US politics until Biden is replaced by Harris some time next year, I think around September.
Not sure if picture will show up!
As requested by Rosie
It does show!
Thanks, that made me laugh 🙂 🙂
PS It will only be visible to passing cats and Dogs soon!
And I will be watching very closely how compliant our furry friends are!
What are you supposed to do? Jump on top of the pole??
Not on this site, because I only started posting recently, but on others that were up and running in March, I predicted that this virus would miraculously vansh soon after the November US elections if there was the ‘right’ result. Now right on time we have the miracle vaccine for a non-existent deadly virus.
My wife and I werein Thailand from Jan, mixing freely with hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists in Bangkok. Many from Wuhan on direct flights. We drank and eat in China town. We stayed in Thailand for 3 months, everything was normal, everybody was living as normal. Then mid-March the US sent out the signal that everything was to change, lockdowns, no flights etc etc. We quickly ‘escaped’ back to 2 months of house arrest in France
I told everyone I could about our experience and that it was manufactured. I said that it was designed to crater the US economy and affect the election, nothing else had worked.
I don’t think most believed me, perhaps they still don’t.
Now one week after the election we get the miracle vaccine to rescue the world, just as predicted.
Its BS of course. It could be tap water,… Read more »
It looks like they rigged the election, which they could have done anyway – the whole world didn’t have to lock down to acheive that. And I don’t see China and Russia going along with the charade just so Joe Biden could be president. I would also add that nothing is over, we will be in some form of lockdown for months at least.
China has for sure. Russia just wants discord, doesn’t care who wins/loses.
Its over.
And if older people who take the vaccine start dropping like flies, will you be so keen to submit?
You can forget international travel as well, that is gone, forever.
(unless you can afford a private jet)
Tish. Apparently there are still dinghies crossing the Channel.
it is poison no way will i go along with it and i think many others feel the same way at least hope so!
Not a fucking chance am I submitting to a vaccine.
that’s the spirit ! me either ! and our best thing[ plus free no wonder they don’t mention it ] is your own immune system which they’re trying to destroy by telling people to stay away form everyone and not let you
breathe in healthy bacteria and viruses to get more immunity .
Well, my immune system had a good assault today. Clearing out a load of rat detritus in a very narrow roof space.
You seem to have dismissed the possibility of travelling without taking the poison pill. No point surrendering before they’ve even fired a shot.
Today’s UK Column was very strong and worthwhile watching. It covers a lot. About ten minutes in it covers the NHS, worthwhile watching from the start in my opinion.
https://youtu.be/UMn56nPDCEY
(Probably already posted below, sorry I haven’t checked)
Perhaps explain the extraordinarily low infection and death rate in Africa. This is not a disease affecting everyone the same way. Why so high infection and death rate in South America Indian regions(another study, please)?
https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(20)32310-9/fulltext
High prevalence of pre-existing serological cross-reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 in sub-Sahara Africa
“High prevalence of serological cross-reactivity against SARS-CoV-2 in pre-COVID-19 pandemic plasma samples from sub-Sahara Africa.”
“Pre-COVID-19 pandemic plasma displayed strong reactivity against other human coronaviruses.”
“Exposure to other coronaviruses may induce cross-reactive antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in sub-Sahara Africa
Low SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease in sub-Sahara Africa(SSA) appears to correlate with pre-pandemic serological cross-recognition of HCoVs, which are substantially more prevalent in SSA than USA.”
The region has an overwhelmingly youthful population. No other explanation is necessary.
Uganda average age 16, Nigeria average age 18
Brazil average age 31 Peru average age 31
USA average age 38 UK average age 40
Italy average age 46
Genetics will affect the impact of any disease including this one, as well as diet, lifestyle and nutritional status.