Following up with Michael Gove
Our headline piece today comes from the senior doctor and regular Lockdown Sceptics contributor. He has done a fact check on Michael Gove’s infamous piece in the Times, now that the hospital data for the week it was published are available.
On November 28th, Michael Gove wrote an article in the Times claiming that the NHS could soon be entirely overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients occupying every hospital bed including the overflow Nightingale Hospitals. When writing this piece, he would have been aware of the up-to-date bed occupancy figures which are sent out to all hospital CEOs on a daily basis. These figures were not available outside of NHS executive and Government circles.
Yesterday (December 3rd) the weekly NHS statistics regarding bed occupancy were published up to December 1st, so the public can now see the data which Gove was privy to when writing his article. I have summarised the highlights below.
First, the headline figure of COVID-19 positive patients in English hospitals (Graph 1). Readers can clearly see the downward trends in the North West, North East and the Midlands in the w/e November 28th and flatlining everywhere else.
Next, ICU patients (Graph 2). Regular readers will know I favour this metric as it is harder to manipulate than most of the other figures. This shows exactly the same pattern as the inpatients. Clear downward trends in the North East, North West and the Midlands. Flatlining elsewhere with a slight rise in the South East reflecting the localised outbreak in the Medway area. Hard to square this with Mr Gove’s apocalyptic warnings of imminent catastrophe – I wonder what the Conservative Party MPs persuaded by the Government’s arguments last week will make of it now that they can see the real figures?
Another piece that came to my attention was in the Daily Mail on hospital admissions, claiming that up to a quarter of official COVID-19 ‘admissions’ may be patients who caught the virus while in hospital. The Mail has probably been looking at Graph 3. The important bit is the gap between the blue and yellow curves – this is almost certainly the number of patients catching COVID-19 in hospital. Professor Heneghan and I have repeatedly commented on this phenomenon and speculated as to its significance, but it appears to have evaded the attention of the NHS in their public briefings.
The Mail did ask NHS England about the figures for in-hospital infections. An NHS spokesperson said:
As the ONS has repeatedly made clear, when infections in the community are high, NHS staff and patients are more likely to be affected. While hospitals are asked to rigorously follow regularly updated guidance on infection prevention and control, the best way to reduce infection rates in hospitals is to reduce them in the wider community.
It’s not clear to me what that actually means. Is it an acknowledgement that NHS staff spread COVID-19 from the community into hospitals? Or an oblique acceptance that hospital infection control measures are inadequate to prevent nosocomial viral spread? A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to a direct question would be preferable – it’s a matter of legitimate public concern.
The spokesperson might want to have a look at the graph of new COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital for the English regions (Graph 4). I have added in trendlines to show that once again, the trend is downward in the North of England and the Midlands and virtually flat elsewhere. And yet the gap between patients diagnosed in hospital and admitted with COVID-19 remains stubbornly between 15% and 20%. Why could that be?
I now move on to bed occupancy levels. On average, 87.7% of available beds were occupied across the country in the week ending November 22nd, compared with 94.9% in the same week 2019. This figure does not include extra capacity at Nightingale hospitals, or the thousands of beds rented from the private sector. One senior NHS executive said that national occupancy data was “not a good guide to how pressured hospitals are”. I wonder whether he has told Simon Stevens, who used exactly those type of metrics to bolster the Government’s case ahead of the lockdown vote on November 5th?
The Government is about to embark on a mass vaccination programme with a series of drugs manufactured, tested and approved by regulatory bodies with impressive speed. Trust and confidence of the public will be paramount if mass uptake is to be achieved. In light of the figures released yesterday, would Mr Gove wish to comment on how the Government’s track record in interpreting and providing access to data on COVID-19 should inspire the trust and confidence of the British people?
Stop Press: The same doctor reports that there was a conference call on Wednesday night for the heads of NHS trusts with Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of the NHS, about the role the NHS would be playing in the much-heralded vaccination programme. Lots of logistical problems were discussed: hiring extra staff, setting up marquees, working out how to bus in thousands of older people, etc. But there is a problem: while we’ve ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, there are actually only 400,000 available (1%). Not clear when the rest will arrive. Simon Stevens thinks “this is a good problem to have” (direct quote). The doctor writes: “So in essence they pushed out the vaccine fanfare on Wednesday for political PR reasons – probably to deflect attention from the CRG rebellion, knowing that they couldn’t deliver the vaccines and are now trying to spin their way out of it. They must have known about this for several days but kept it from the grunts on the ground.”
Where England’s COVID-19 Response Went Wrong
A recent article in Science Direct considers why, despite billions of pounds spent, a test-and-trace system established, and much other activity, the Government still ended up with a second, economically ruinous national lockdown. While the article accepts many of the nostrums about COVID-19 that lockdown sceptics would not, it is worth highlighting as it is a reminder of why the national response has been so damaging.
On the failure to prepare:
At the system level, pandemic planning focused on the threat of pandemic flu rather than other equally plausible pandemic pathogens. There was a focus on the traditional healthcare settings, with planning and preparations for the wider health and care sector rudimentary at best. Pandemic exercises had previously been carried out, such as Exercise Cygnus in 2016. Whilst health stakeholders may have rehearsed these scenarios, little was carried out to implement learning or action on issues identified from these exercises
On the fixation with centralised testing and tracing:
Initially, the narrative given was that contact tracing was not worth doing as the outbreak phase had moved from containment to mitigation as of March 17th 2020. The reality was that testing and contact tracing could not be performed on a large scale as there was no capacity to do this. After considerable criticism from the public, academics and public health bodies, there was a shift in Government policy. Belatedly, more than £12 billion was spent on a centralised testing and tracing system. For context, this staggering sum is more than the combined budget for all of primary care and public health in England. Glaringly, the leadership for this initiative lacked significant public health expertise
On narrow, hospital-centric perspectives:
Much of the preparedness was healthcare centric and built around hospital response. This can have serious consequences when it ignores the wider ramifications of decisions made in the interests of the hospital sector. For example, to create hospital surge capacity in the early part of the pandemic, there were large-scale discharges from hospitals of infected patients back to care homes, where infection control measures were suboptimal. This was a recipe for disaster and unwittingly seeded infections into these vulnerable settings.
On expertise gaps in the scientific advice:
For health emergencies, the UK Government receives its scientific advice from a committee of scientists, Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). Whilst SAGE had expert modellers, behavioural psychologists, infectious disease physicians and researchers, there was a crucial weakness: the surprising lack of technical expertise and experience of communicable disease control and outbreak management. There were no practicing Directors of Public Health or consultants in communicable disease control.
On the politics:
Politics has certainly compromised public health responses. There has been disproportionate political focus on mass testing in the hope that it is the magic bullet solution to the pandemic. Much focus has been placed on England’s faltering, publicly funded, private sector-delivered test and trace system. Even if it had been operating perfectly, transmissions may already have taken place by the time people were tested and traced. There is no perfect test or test system that will detect all cases.
On the lack of strategy:
Finally, there is the lack of a clear national strategy for managing the pandemic. It is not clear if the Government’s aim is for “zero-COVID-19” elimination, suppression to near zero levels or accepting the virus will become endemic and opting for mitigation. Sadly, the current Government seems to have adopted what some might describe as a “hope for the best” stratagem
And in conclusion:
If there is one key lesson from the pandemic thus far, it is the need for a well-resourced public health agency focused on biosecurity that is well prepared and able to scale up its response to pandemic threats. It is vital that this public health agency is independent and able to provide credible and trusted scientific and technical expertise and advice to both the Government and the public without fear or favour.
Worth reading in full. Apart from the plea for more mask-wearing, it is a sane analysis.
Stop Press: On a similar note, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus has just released a report that considers the Government’s reaction to COVID-19. It completely buys into the ‘second wave’ narrative, which is a shame. It recommends a “Covid-Secure UK plan” which involves bringing the reproduction rate below one, minimising transmission and obtaining widespread immunity through vaccination.
Tier Patrol
It’s started. A report, from the MailOnline on the efforts of North Yorkshire Police to police travel between tiers:
A police force has been compared to the Gestapo after guarding its borders using number plate recognition cameras to stop drivers leaving Tier 3. North Yorkshire Police said it is using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to monitor vehicles and track people who might try to leave Tier 3 to go to pubs or restaurants in neighbouring Tier 2 areas.
The force warned people could face “enforcement action” under public health regulations if they are caught making non-essential journeys into and out of the county – including £200 fines, doubling for further offences up to £6,400. But the move has sparked a fierce public backlash as furious Twitter users compare the local police force to the Gestapo, the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch called the police behaviour “totalitarian” and warned of a “growing surveillance state and a civil liberties landslide” with director Silkie Carlo telling MailOnline: “This is not policing by consent.”
Meanwhile, over in the Telegraph, we read:
Police have been criticised for their “overzealous” enforcement of the new rules on pubs, after landlords reported officers arguing over whether Scotch eggs were a substantial meal and threw out customers who had finished eating. Pub bosses in Tier 2 areas said police had visited their premises to argue over the regulations, insisting that Scotch eggs cannot be considered a “substantial” meal that allows punters to order alcohol.
Patrick Dardis, chief executive of Young’s, said officers in London on Wednesday also told customers to leave pub premises as soon as they had finished their meals, preventing them from ordering more drinks. “As if we haven’t got enough to contend with we have had some overzealous officials going into pubs unnecessarily and it’s a bit intimidating for customers,” Mr Dardis said.
“This whole petty argument about a Scotch egg, whether it is or whether it isn’t [a substantial meal] is not relevant. What it actually means is a table meal, a substantial meal, is just made up nonsense.
Daft rules, seemingly made up by the Government on the hoof, are leading to overzealous enforcement by authoritarian police forces. When’s this nonsense going to end?
Questions about the Vaccine
With the roll-out of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine set to begin early next week, after it received temporary authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, Kit Knightly has some burning questions to ask over at Off-Guardian. I quote from the piece and add some other sources:
Does it work?
The claim is that they are “95% effective”, but where did this come from:
The Pfizer vaccine trial included nearly 44,000 people. Half getting their vaccine, half getting a placebo. In total, from the 44,000 people, 170 were later recorded as having become ‘infected with COVID-19’. 162 of them were in the placebo group, eight of them in the vaccine group. The vaccine is therefore credited with preventing 154 cases of COVID-19… or 95%. This implies that the entire trial of 44,000 people is deemed a success based on the potentially multi-variant outcome from less than 4% of those involved. The details of the trial are hard to come by, so we have yet to find out how these 170 people were even diagnosed with COVID-19. Was it a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms? Or PCR test? Either method would raise serious questions about accuracy… Does it work? We have no idea.
The article Kit Knightly links to, by Peter Doshi in the BMJ, is worth reading on this. He writes that:
First, a relative risk reduction is being reported, not an absolute risk reduction, which appears to be less than 1%. Second, these results refer to the trials’ primary endpoint of COVID-19 of essentially any severity, and importantly not the vaccine’s ability to save lives, nor the ability to prevent infection, nor the efficacy in important subgroups (e.g. frail elderly).
Peter Doshi recommends full, open and independent scrutiny of the underlying trial data in order to build confidence in its results and in the vaccine’s efficacy. It is hard to disagree. It is also worth remembering that Matt Hancock, one of the vaccine’s foremost advocates, conceded yesterday that it is not known how long immunity derived from the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will last.
Is it safe?
The potential for complications down the line certainly exists. Further, the vaccine is based on new technology – an mRNA vaccine, which injects viral genetic material to generate an immune response. The technology has been in development for years, but this would be the first mRNA vaccine actually put to use. So, “is it safe?” is “we don’t know”.
However, the vaccine pushers and manufacturers clearly have doubts about its safety, since they have gone out of their way to guarantee they have total legal indemnity from prosecution or civil suits should something go wrong. Not a confidence booster that.
You can find more information about mRNA vaccines from Horizon Magazine here and from Pfizer’s explainer here.
Yesterday, a number of readers flagged up a newly-released Government document – “Reg 174: Information for Healthcare Professionals on Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine“(pdf) – which contains some indications of how much about the vaccine is still unknown.
Summary of safety profile: “The most frequent adverse reactions in participants 16 years of age and older were pain at the injection site (> 80%), fatigue (> 60%), headache (> 50%), myalgia (> 30%), chills (> 30%), arthralgia (> 20%) and pyrexia (> 10%) and were usually mild or moderate in intensity and resolved within a few days after vaccination.”
Paediatric population: “The safety and efficacy of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 in children under 16 years of age have not yet been established”.
Incompatibilities: “In the absence of compatibility studies, this medicinal product must not be mixed with other medicinal products.”
Pregnancy: “Animal reproductive toxicity studies have not been completed. COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162v2 is not recommended during pregnancy. For women of childbearing age, pregnancy should be excluded before vaccination. In addition, women of childbearing age should be advised to avoid pregnancy for at least two months after their second dose.”
Fertility: “It is unknown whether COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 has an impact on fertility.”
Not a confidence-booster that, either. Do read the full document.
Who will get it?
First on the docket are the elderly and NHS workers. We don’t know who will be excluded. Immunocompromised people were excluded from the efficacy study, so presumably they’ll also be excluded from taking the vaccine. If not, that’s a potential disaster waiting to happen (although they have legal protection, so I guess that doesn’t matter).
The question of the hour is: Who will take it first on live TV? Boris Johnson or Matt Hancock? Both are game, apparently, though of course neither wants to “jump the queue”. According to the Telegraph, care home residents will get the vaccine first. The Guardian reports that the staff of the NHS are no longer first in the queue.
Will it become mandatory?
It’s certainly a possibility here in the UK. A few months ago a group of scholars submitted written evidence to the UK Parliament that mandatory vaccinations would be defensible on a human rights basis, and that there was already legal precedent for this action in UK legislation (specifically, treating mental health patients who may be a danger to themselves).
In the end, and this is purely my speculation, I doubt the vaccine will ever be literally legally mandatory. Parliament will reject the “expert advice” suggesting COVID-19 vaccines be forced on people. This will accomplish two goals at once: a) It will give the Government a veneer of “libertarianism”, a thin façade to cover its tyrannical nature. And b) It will allow a potential “third wave” of COVID-19 to be blamed on “vaccine hesitancy”.
Mandatory vaccination and its ugly twin sister, the vaccine passport, are being talked up by a number of ‘think tanks’, most recently by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which yesterday released a report – “How the Government Should Call the Shots: Getting the UK Vaccine-Ready“. Among other things, it recommended :
Urgently approve a digital platform for a health passport that can draw on vaccine and testing data to enable individuals to live freely and safely alongside COVID-19. This platform should also have a paper-based version.
No Tony. Just no.
A reader has been in touch about the ethics of the vaccination drive and the “warped behavioural logic” that underlies it. I’ll leave you with a few snippets from this correspondent’s remarks:
I feel that the Government is deliberately ramping up lockdowns and the fear factor, and will continue doing so probably at least until June, to worry as many people as possible so that they will rush for a vaccine and not ask too many questions. Whereas minor behavioural modification (“nudging”) might occasionally be desirable, inducing mass panic/hysteria (basically terrorising the public, as they have been doing since March) is unethical in the extreme and people should be called to account for it.
Whitty recently said don’t hug a relative at Christmas “if you want them to survive to be hugged again”, i.e., touch a relative and they will die. This for a virus that is as dangerous as a bad flu? SAGE gave the advice that people should not play board games at Christmas. This for a virus that is as dangerous as a bad flu? People are being told to wear masks because, if you walk past someone, you will kill them (remember the policeman on TV earlier in the pandemic screaming at a man walking down the road “You are killing people! You are killing people!”). How can you really make an informed choice after being bombarded in this way?
Is it ethical to push people into having an experimental COVID-19 vaccine that will not provide them with any benefit, for an illness which is no more dangerous than a bad flu? I’m sure that the Government will say that vaccination is necessary, to protect the older and more vulnerable. However, many in this group would die of something else if not COVID-19. You can’t stop people dying. You cannot justify mass vaccination on the grounds that it will save people who will die shortly anyway.
I will not have the vaccine if offered. My view may change in the future. Unlike the Government, I am open to other viewpoints. But I can see nothing in the current situation that justifies the mass vaccination of people, with an experimental vaccine, who are at little or no risk whatsoever – for a virus that is no more dangerous than a bad flu.
Stop Press: The MHRA has released the list of ingredients of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Along with the guidance for health care professionals referenced above, it is available here (scroll down for links and references).
A Postcard from France
Reader Jane Norman has sent us a postcard from France. Lockdown scepticism looks a little different there, but her report touches on many issues relevant to the UK – the ongoing debate about the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and remdesivir, scare stories in the press, and… vaccines.
Sceptics in France have a different perspective on COVID-19 from sceptics in Britain. There it is all about statistics, dodgy PCR tests, and lockdowns versus the Great Barrington Declaration. Here it is about treatment. The face of treatment is Professor Didier Raoult. Didier Raoult has become a household name in France. Some people think he’s wonderful, others distrust him, a man with long white hair and a beard, but absolutely everybody knows about him.
As well as being head of IHU Méditerranée, the huge university hospital in Marseilles, and a world-renowned expert in infectious diseases, he is also a member of the scientific council round Emmanuel Macron, the French equivalent of SAGE. Right at the start he walked out, slamming the door behind him, because he couldn’t work with such a bunch of charlatans. He didn’t call them that in so many words, but that is what he implied. He also mentioned their conflicts of interest with Big Pharma. Raoult is no maverick carping from the side lines. It’s as though someone like Chris Whitty or Patrick Vallance had gone rogue. It’s even better, because Raoult is a hospital doctor. He still wears a white coat.
Raoult and his colleagues at the IHU put out videos several times a week. Some of these have over a million views. So even though he is never invited to speak as an expert on mainstream media and even though the so-called experts are doing everything they can to try to discredit him, his voice is heard.
What does he say? COVID-19 is a new illness. (Not just a bad cold or hyped-up flu then.) The genome has been sequenced. (So, you do have something to work with, despite what some sceptics say.) You must use PCR tests. (Raoult is a great believer in the PCR test, properly administered up to 35 cycles.) You isolate positive cases and treat them with a combination of hydroxychloroquine (to reduce viral load), and azithromycin (to reduce the risk of cytokine storm). This was what he was doing back in March. He has subsequently added zinc to the protocol.
Jane’s postcard from France is worth reading in full and Professor Didier Raoult’s videos are available on the IHU Méditerranée-Infection YouTube Channel.
Round-Up
- “WHO is looking at ‘e-vaccination’ certificates to allow people to travel” – Not surprisingly, the WHO is on board with vaccination passports, but says “antibodies in people who have recovered from COVID-19 should not be a qualification for immunity passports”. Makes perfect sense
- “A global team of experts has found 10 fatal flaws in the main test for COVID-19 and is demanding it’s urgently axed” – From RT. The PCR test is non-specific, has no standard operating procedure, and is enormously variable. Our own Dr Mike Yeadon is one of the global team of experts
- “Van Morrison Sings for the Voiceless” – The National Review looks at Van Morrison’s anti-lockdown songs: “No More Lockdown“, “As I Walked Out“, and “Born to be Free“
- “Not All Deaths are Equal” – Watch Sir Charles Walker MP sharing his grown-up perspective on death during the debate on the tier system on December 1st
- “Faces covered, souls destroyed” – Frank Palmer on the dehumanising impact of compulsory mask wearing and other COVID-19 measures in the Conservative Woman
- “The case for Chinese reparations” – Douglas Murray says it is time for the citizens of the world to be given reparations by China for what it did to us this year
- “Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine: Devi Sridhar urges caution and possible “rethink” on Christmas plans” – Zero Covid zealot Professor Devi Sridhar trots out the usual “don’t hug granny” Christmas warnings
- “COVID-19 passport is a deeply insidious form of coercion that plays to the conspiracy theorists” – Watch anti-lockdown hero Sir Desmond Swayne speak to Julia Hartley-Brewer about the COVID-19 passport
- “Face masks in one lesson” – Podcast from Tom Woods in which he talks to author Allan Stravo about his new book on how to get out of wearing a face mask. Both Lockdown Sceptics heroes
- “COVID-19: Facebook to take down false vaccine claims” – The BBC reports on Facebook’s plans to start removing false claims about COVID-19 vaccines – and by “false” it means anything remotely sceptical. Expect endless cock-ups from Facebook’s crack team of “independent fact-checkers”
- “Supply fears hit vaccine amid warning over initial 800,000 doses” – Problems with the rollout begin. Report in the Telegraph
- “We’re beating the flu too: NHS cases could dodge a winter crisis as influenza cases fall 90%” – From the Daily Mail. Flu cases disappearing almost as quick as COVID-19. Remind us why we need the tiers again?
- “Piers Morgan tries to jump the vaccine queue” – Covid hysteric Piers Morgan has volunteered to take the vaccine on live TV with Hancock. Is he trying to jump the queue? wonders Steerpike in the Spectator. Go ahead Piers. Be our guest
- “Grant Shapps announces ‘high-value’ business travellers returning to England will be exempt from quarantine rules from Saturday” – It’s official. It really is one rule for them and one for the rest. From MailOnline
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Five today: “Needle and The Damage Done” by Neil Young, “Shot in the Dark” by Ozzy Osbourne, “And What If I Don’t” by Herbie Hancock, “Under My Skin” by Steps and “Taxman” by The Beatles.
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 so you can share it. To do that, click on the headline of a particular story and a link symbol will appear on the right-hand side of the headline. Click on the link and the URL of your page will switch to the URL of that particular story. You can then copy that URL and either email it to your friends or post it on social media. Please do share the stories.
Social Media Accounts
You can follow Lockdown Sceptics on our social media accounts which are updated throughout the day. To follow us on Facebook, click here; to follow us on Twitter, click here; to follow us on Instagram, click here; to follow us on Parler, click here; and to follow us on MeWe, click here.
Woke Gobbledegook
We’ve decided to create a permanent slot down here for woke gobbledegook. Today, the BBC’s all new “woke dictionary”. From the Daily Mail:
BBC staff will be given a language guide to help them avoid offending viewers and listeners. The move is part of plans to increase staff diversity and improve the portrayal of under-represented groups on screen.
Director-general Tim Davie said the initiative was “mission-critical” and decisions about the use of language needed to be made by “a diverse group of people”. June Sarpong, BBC Director of Creative Diversity, said the language guide would be published in January “offering our creative teams support”.
She added: “It’s not in any way saying they have to use this terminology, but it’s offering them support in terms of the kind of language that doesn’t cause offence.” Mr Davie said the BBC needed a “rewiring of the core” so that it would be “overt and direct that we are an anti-racist organisation”.
A new panel, including external members, will help the BBC ensure it gives an authentic portrayal of disability. There will also be investment in programmes aimed at progressing the careers of diverse talent, on and off screen.
Mr Davie has previously said the broadcaster must achieve diversity targets for BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) employees of 20% and a 12% representation for disability in the workforce. A gender balance target of 50:50 was already in place. He said: “It’s a bold number, but it is not that bold because that’s where Britain’s going to be very quickly. If you are not moving at that kind of speed, we have got a problem.” He added: “We do need targets and, by the way, the BBC can sometimes be a bit tough on itself. We have seen real progress in certain areas. On screen there’s been outstanding work.”
The BBC has committed to spending £100million of its commissioning budget from April 2021 on diverse programming.
Worth reading in full.
“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.
If you’re a shop owner and you want to let your customers know you will not be insisting on face masks or asking them what their reasons for exemption are, you can download a friendly sign to stick in your window here.
And here’s an excellent piece about the ineffectiveness of masks by a Roger W. Koops, who has a doctorate in organic chemistry.
Stop Press: A reader has spotted an opportunity to pressure MPs:
I’ve heard Jonathan Van-Tam has recently said that it’s a “good thing” that we’ll have to wear masks and socially distance for many years to come.
In the same way that the great Peter Hitchens called for sceptics to write to MPs about the tiered system vote, I wondered if you’d consider pointing out to readers that the requirement for masks has to be reviewed by the Secretary of State “before the end of the period six months after they came into force“. They came into force on July 24th, so by my reckoning they need to be reviewed by January 23rd.
This is less than two months away so perhaps this is something we should start writing to MPs about before it quietly gets renewed without debate.
Not a bad thought…
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 ever since. 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 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 over 700,000 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.
Update 4: The three GBD authors plus Prof Carl Heneghan of CEBM have launched a new website collateralglobal.org, “a global repository for research into the collateral effects of the COVID-19 lockdown measures”. Follow Collateral Global on Twitter 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.
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.
Quotation Corner
We know they are lying. They know they are lying, They know that we know they are lying. We know that they know that we know they are lying. And still they continue to lie.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
Mark Twain
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, one by one.
Charles Mackay
They who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good, or else that it’s a well-considered act in conformity with natural law. Fortunately, it is in the nature of the human being to seek a justification for his actions…
Ideology – that is what gives the evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts. If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe. They all require to have their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sense.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Nothing would be more fatal than for the Government of States to get into the hands of experts. Expert knowledge is limited knowledge and the unlimited ignorance of the plain man, who knows where it hurts, is a safer guide than any rigorous direction of a specialist.
Sir Winston Churchill
If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science.
Richard Feynman
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C.S. Lewis
The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants.
Albert Camus
We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.
Carl Sagan
Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
George Orwell
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Marcus Aurelius
Necessity is the plea for every restriction of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
William Pitt the Younger
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
Joseph Goebbels
Shameless Begging Bit
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And Finally…
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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I used to love going to Makro… they’d check your receipt to make sure you hadn’t pinched anything in the six feet between the checkout and the door…
Just being trolled now.
Yep – taking the piss.
That’s just taking the piss.
Edit, you just beat me to it, calchas. Posting at the same time. 🙂
Leggy’s taking the piss for sure.
Are you sure it’s not us who are being trolled since you are always posting pro-lockdown propaganda? Why don’t you try posting some anti-lockdown item and saying in support “lockdowns are stupid, I hate them and people shouldn’t support lockdowns” -as a for instance. It’s not that difficult to post without ambiguity.
Go screenshot where I’ve posted pro lockdown propaganda and post it. Until then leave me alone.
I don’t have to. You just posted pro lockdown Conservative propaganda saying they support small businesses . Attaching an ambiguous comment doesn’t make it less pro-lockdown. If you now wish to make clear you oppose lockdowns, masking and coercive medication, let’s hear you state that without ambiguity.
Sadly Leggy’s shift has finished so they weren’t able to reply.
can i join in the party? Well i’ll join in anyway, i’m with OK UK you seem suspect
Read this elsewhere from somewhere in the US:
“The kids unfortunately are much worse then the adults your interacting with. I work in a elementary school and my mother in a highschool. What we are both noticing is massive levels of depression. Despite school being an indoctrination center it did have its emotional and mental benefits for most. Students saw there friends, interacted with adults and generally speaking were kept busy even if they were bored. Now these kids are just about locked into their house all day with very little interaction with their peers or other adults. They sleep all day or watch tv/internet/social media. They are not exercising because the only time they did was in P.E. The PE teacher emailed me complaining about the lack of student participation in arguably the easiest class in school (maybe my male bias is kicking in). Considering how school is basically done for the year I see these students dealing with trauma for the rest of their life. Even if we go back to “normal” after the mandatory vaccine injections these kids are still going to have scars. If you know anyone that has kids that you care about a highly… Read more »
Slave training. The damage already inflicted is irreparable. Fuck knows what the vaccine will do to them. An entire generation has been broken regardless of what happens from now on.
Creating zombie drones. Pure and utter evil.
Rather general comment. Try being more specific. For all we know you might think lockdown sceptics are the real zombie drones.
Oh do fuck off you paranoid twat. Is that clear enough for you?
Nope not at all – and don’t get aggressive (against house rules and I know you wouldn’t want get banned from here as that would be a demerit back at base) . Your comments are always ambiguous. You can easily resolve this now by stating who you are referencing when you write “zombie drones” above.
Sorry, but you have a moral duty to make a stand on this. Just, as there is no excuse now for healthcare workers to stay silent, equally for those in education.
Can´t you see we´re winning?
🤷🏻♀️
In a strange way I am addicted to this shit now. It’s killing me but it’s unforgettable and intense. If victory in any sense can be achieved, it will still be at an appalling cost.
If I had to pick one thing to get rid of it would be the masks. If the vaccine is mandated I’m out of here, hopefully taking at least one state enforcer with me.
God is reputed to help those who help themselves. 🙂
I hope that’s true. I’ve been a humanist for years, but Jesus had better things to say about life and death than anything I’ve heard in 2020. If the choice is worshipping god or the NHS then I choose a life lived with meaning over the brutal suppression of humanity.
“This is an obvious takeover plot, and any that cannot understand this fact have not the capability to think, to understand logic, or to see with open eyes the most massive hypocrisy that has ever existed. Nothing is hidden any longer, as all aspects of this fraud are now completely out in the open. The only way for something of this magnitude to be able to go forward is for stupidity to be nearly universal. Consider this comment closely; because it is not made frivolously, as why would any intelligent society allow a governing minority to destroy all love, joy, and life in order to restructure the world for their own benefit at the expense of humanity? Why would any sane person, any sane community, or any sane country, act collectively as beasts of burden to a handful of evil, manipulating, and despicable criminals claiming to be saviors? What could possibly possess Americans to voluntarily acquiesce to such torturous madness? What incentive could possibly be sufficient for the people at large to become voluntary slaves to the state?”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/12/gary-d-barnett/state-propaganda-at-this-level-spells-a-pre-planned-and-fake-manufactured-plot-to-control-the-world/
There’s a scene in an early series of Futurama where the gang are watching a robot soap and they have to change to another program because the robot actor breaks.
We get Hypnotoad.
Fry says: This shows been going downhill since series 3.
I think we’re on Series 3 of the Covid Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZX_ce5M2G4
Absolutely
“Closing schools during the pandemic would result in more overall deaths in the long term than keeping them open, according to fresh analysis of the data that informed the government’s decision on lockdown.
The study, led by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, also revealed that social distancing is a more effective tool at reducing deaths when only employed by people over 70, compared with among the general population. ”
……
“General social distancing is predicted to reduce the number of cases, but increase the total number of deaths when compared with social distancing being practiced by the over 70’s only. This is because Covid-19 related deaths are highly skewed towards older age groups, experts said. ”
https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2020/shutting-schools-increases-covid-19-deaths-study-f
This was actually one of the conclusions in Ferguson’s Report no. 9 (the 510,000 dead report). Using a ‘mitigation’ strategy with NPIs as follows:
However, after considering this strategy, and a full on ‘supression’ strategy, Ferguson then recommended the latter.
Even though they knew it meant the virus would probably come back later in the year, i.e. a second wave would be inevitable.
Johnson, as we all know, got spooked by the 510,000 deaths bollocks and followed Imperial’s advice and the rest is history.
The implication of this study is that in a situation where the population is divided into two distinct subsets, with only one of these, being susceptible to a disease, that there is a trade-off.
General social distancing, outside of the susceptible group, if it reduces the speed of disease transmission will reduce the peak in use of hospital facilities at the cost of increasing rhe ultimate number of dead.
Am I the only one who has noticed the main news media sites this evening have ‘buried’ a lot of coronavirus-related content? It’s all I’m a Celebrity, Crown controversy, Brexit, random UK stories about other things. I note the Daily Mail’s story about Biden / 100 days of masks has disappeared along with a lot of the stuff about vaccines.
Same goes for nearly every other site tonight. Can’t figure out if I’m just cracking up but seems like a coordinated attempt to divert or distract, or minimise views of (growing dissent in) comments?
Yep, I noticed that too.
With the unanswered questions around the vaccine, probably shoved into the too hard bin.
Maybe whoever is running the show will have a think about it and get back to us Monday.
Have barely watched any news for 8 months now.
I can relate to this only i’ve not watched the legacy media much ever. It’s always been bullshit. I believe that no matter what the story if the BBC are reporting it it will be exactly the opposite of what they say.
I’m surprised a reader of this site has only just thought there might be a coordinated narrative. Theories aside – and everyone has got one – I watch telly and hear EVERYONE parroting the same shit. I’m sure I’m not alone.
Everyone couches their language and the little sly digs are all-too common and actually very nasty
The flow of the covid bollox will have been calculated (to the level of a single tweet) by the nudgers choreographing things.
Their model will includes peaks and troughs, quantity and quality variations, personalities/objective stuff, humorous/sad, etc.
In the USA there is the claim that there is the 4 am memo from the CIA to all
approved news organisations which then parrot almost word for word the same narrative. The parroting of phrases is so exact that is seems likely there is a single source. In the USA, during the absurd Impeachment push, the American media went literally overnight from using the phrase “quid pro quo” to “bribe” to describe the President’s alleged offence as it had become crystal clear the vast majority of Americans had no idea what quid pro quo meant!
In the UK it feels more like a class-cultural thing. Nearly all the TV and radio news media take the Guardian as their gospel. The arts, media and political elite all live within ten miles of each other in north and Central London and meet frequently at dinner parties and cultural events. A very constrained and elitist group-think develops as a result.
I’m just worried that vaccines are not mandatory=lockdowns, social distancing and masks don’t go away.
These abominations will end only when we stop them.
i don’t wear a mask i ignore the lockdown and i don’t social distance. Fuyck the police, the courts, the army and the fucking queen
Very interesting.
There was the Fauci business – that was hugely damaging to “Vaccine Squawk-Parroting” as practised and encouraged over here even by otherwise sensible people suchoose JHB. Various media pundits had spent the past few days claiming that the vaccine was definitely safe – stop asking stupid questionw. Perhaps the decision was taken to ratio the Fauci claim we had rushed vaccine approval by swamping the Covid issue with other news – any news!
Greetings sanity-restorers.
Further down here there’s are posts suggesting what to do with these appalling Orwellian Face-Hands-Space posters.
During the summer, my chap and I went on holiday daaan saaaf. It was the first week of compulsory masks in shops and it was pretty bloody miserable. One highlight however was the rather jolly time we had removing council-tax wasting Covid propaganda stickers from benches in pedestrian zones and at bus stops. We merely parked ourselves innocently on said benches and surreptitiously prised said stickers off behind each other’s backs. What a glorious moment it was when they came off in our hands as it were. After 48 hours in one county town there were precisely no stickers left. We left feeling that we had performed a very valuable public service.
Since this vaccine is dangerous to woman who want to get pregnant i am now identifying as a woman or to be more inclusive a person who identifies as someone who can get pregnant. I feel proud to have come out and i’m sure i will be overwhelmed with messages of support.
You’re so fierce and courageous. You go gurrrl. Etc.
Thanks. I don’t want preferential treatment, i just want everyone to know how special i am.
You should totes Insta your hot new titties.
Unfortunately due to Covid restrictions my actual gender realignment surgery has been postponed so if you could all take the vaccine and we can get back to normal i can get my new “titties” quicker
Your courage has inspired me. My wife and kids don’t know but I’m a (no longer) closet lesbian. I feel this could be the start of something special. Let’s call it a great reset.
Yep, the haters had their fingers in the dyke but now it’s about to burst they are about to get their comeuppance.
I can’t believe your new and biologically equivalent mammary glands have been denied you by this fascist government just because a few Brexit-voting gammons expect to get treated for Covid by the NHS they clearly hate and want to destroy.
That’s like equality in a bottle the way you described it, Biker.
Solidarity, Sister
We luv u Biker. Stay strong. Don’t let the haters get to you. U R whatever u want to be!
Van Tam eh?
If only he had stayed with Tubbs running the local shop for local people.
I imagine this dude has a pornhub account
So would you if your wife looked like this…
Brilliant.
I realise this might be an unpopular view but I hate people who keep books. Read them once and pass them on should be the norm and DO NOT under any circumstances show off your books to other people. It’s boring as fuck.
What if you want to read them again?
What if you have fond memories of the nights you spent together in bed?
I think he could fill up your can with pet-rol.
There should be a monument to “The League of Gentleman” – the last non PC comedy programme produced by the BBC.
“Some are born mad, some achieve madness, and some have madness thrust upon ’em.”You decide which you are
Get some of this on another Fucked-up Friday night in Psy-Op la la land
Is that Kurt Cobain with a television on his head?
Very old telly. Probably quite heavy.
Cathode Ray Tube screen. Not ‘very old’ to those who remember them.
I still have one, I haven’t turned it on since 2003.
I hate to break it to you but Jill Dando was murdered because she was gonna expose how the BBC was covering for Jimmy Savile
On “Songs of Praise”? That would have been a shocker!
I remember them. They are old.
Funnily enough, I just switched on Graham Norton as I idly flicked through the box. I rarely watch tv now as I can’t stand to see anything which mentions or touches on the covid crap. I couldn’t stand to see the people sat bloody miles away from each other, especially as we know that once they are away from the cameras it will be all the lovies hugging and kissing. I can’t be the only person who has this immediate sick feeling and impulsively switches off?. My husband thinks that I over react and should just chill, I haven’t been able to chill (whilst sober)for the last nine months, and won’t again until lots of people are behind bars.
‘Perfectly Safe’:
“There could still be severe adverse effects down the road, especially as mRNA vaccines are a new technology.”
https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-conclude-phase-3-study-covid-19-vaccine
“The companies expect to produce globally up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021”
At $19.50 per dose this is a $25 billion bonanza. With complete indemnity against liability for injuries assured, who gives a flying fuck about side effects when there is money like this to be made?
Bingo.
That ‘Pfizer disclosure notice’ is certainly an epic disclaimer!
Reminds me of the disclaimer we had to sign when we went lion and tiger patting in Africa.
That first line in the disclosure notice is basically a licence to lie. Essentially it says even if their predictions turn out to be shit they accept no obligation to change them in the light of new evidence.
The response to Build Back Better is Hit Back Harder.
I like it!
UK Column (already referenced here) is damning about the track record of MHRA – who have rushed through the approval of this vaccine.
https://www.ukcolumn.org/ukcolumn-news/uk-column-news-4th-december-2020
from 41.30 onwards as to MHRA’s shabby history.
Yet it’s they to whom the Government are passing the buck, to say that UK should be the world’s test-bed for this vaccine which other countries are too cautious to have approved yet.
From the bed time reading that is SAGE minutes comes this weeks treat.
“ Direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on excess deaths and morbidity
36. SAGE considered further analysis on the possible direct and indirect impacts of COVID- 19 on mortality and morbidity, in the event of a significant winter peak. This follows analysis shared at SAGE 48. The updated analysis is based on a scenario which is not a projection, prediction or forecast, and which is not SAGE-endorsed. It represents one example of the potential impact and the epidemic could look very different to this.
37. Understanding of morbidity associated with COVID-19 has improved as further evidence has started to emerge on the longer-term impacts of the virus, both for those who initially self-isolate at home and those who are hospitalised. However, several important challenges remain when estimating the impact of long-COVID.
38. In the scenario analysed, the most significant mortality impacts in terms of excess deaths come from direct COVID-19 deaths. The most significant morbidity impacts may occur for the wider population living through a pandemic or under restrictions, changing behaviours, or as a result of the economic impacts of a recession. Much of this impact… Read more »
50 years!
‘Counterfactual scenarios’
Fuck off
Further to this, they use an example of doing nothing as a counterfactual scenario that hasn’t been analysed. Now, I’m not a scientist but shouldn’t that be where you start? Find a baseline and measure the efficacy of various interventions against it. We really are screwed with these sausages in the box seat.
Absolutely. Start with do nothing, it’s actually logical
Nailed it..
https://twitter.com/SulleyTruman/status/1334629572457934850
That’s one hell of a powerful image – sums up the madness that that we are trying to make sense of – and yet the majority have no idea? I can’t work it out.
Just like the government’s claim that even if vaccinated this will not exclude you from self isolation, yet care workers need the vaccine as they could be vectors of spreading the virus.
Been reading The Great Terror and just finished the chapter on Stalin’s personal character. It’s frustrating because there’s nothing there. When you look at the great monsters of the 20th century, Lenin was a humourless psychopath, Hitler was a hysterical drama queen and nervous wreck, and Pol Pot was just completely insane. But with Mao and Stalin there’s nothing there, just emptiness.
Bit like Hancock. Or Zuckerberg.
I’ve read that in the 1930s Stalin was a workaholic. He would often work through the night reviewing and amending execution lists and the Pravda edition for the following day. Essentially a bureaucrat.
His oratory was utterly useless, dull as ditchwater.
An impossible figure to understand. No two accounts of him are the same. Possibly the greatest monster of them all.
What about mass drone murderer Obama? now there is a man without the hint of a personality. Say what you like about Hillary but when she was setting upon Gaddafi you know her twat was twitching like Bill getting off the plane at Epsteins island
Another empty, barren, soulless figure. Different century though.
People who say that jug ear muppet Obama is a great orator crack me up. Christopher Hitches was a great orator, Bernard Cribbins is a great orator, Obama puts you to sleep with his four word sentences
I was never taken in. But I’m an awkward bastard.
I read Wild Swans years back. Mao sounds to have been a complete nutjob.
Frank Dikotter’s trilogy on him is brilliant.
So as a peaceful person all my life having committed zero crimes and taken care of my health such that I have a strong immune system. I now have the prospect of being subjugated to my house for the foreseeable because I have not caught a virus or taken a vaccine for said virus. This is unbelievable and if parliament or the law does not step in at some point I don’t know how this resolves itself.
When in history has a rogue government ever reversed course? This will not resolve itself.
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” – HL Mencken
This is the problem. At some point in the not too distant future, those Millwall fans, The Intercity Firm etc and all those able to express their anger in all sorts of different ways, are going to realise that the government are not only not backing down, but are quite likely to continue doubling down. The final pivoting point as to whether they win or we lose will be when the penny finally drops that there never will be another election thus bringing anyone and everyone who doesn’t want to die on their knees into the mix. The minute a single protester is killed by a policeman or serviceman – carnage. Globally.
Quite what their expecting American civilians to do I’ll never know. They’re armed to their teeth and I don’t anticipate them rolling over to have their tummies stroked.
We might very well achieve a culling of the population but it might not necessarily be the ones they have in mind.
Nah, Millwall boys are too busy matching their mask to their latest clone island and posting pictures on Instagram of their newest pair of Adidas gazelle trainers.
For the record I support Millwall.
Hehe perhaps their crossed line will be the old bill dirtying said trainers. Everyone’s got a boiling point after all.
Pompey for my sins. Nice to meetcha.
A very cool dude, that Mencken geezer.
This is something that happens to many people when they realise that good people can do bad things. The good news is you’ve realised it early and be sure that you have that within you to. To be evil. We all do.
This should spur you in every way to fight against the tyranny. To stop them trying to corrupt you too. For you know it can happen. You may see yourself as a good person but many do until it’s too late.
Read some Jordan Peterson. I’ve basically paraphrased his first chapter of 12 rules.
Come on don’t jump the gun
So we’ve gone from PCR picking up everyone and their dog as positive to lateral flow which has less than 20% success.
Eventually they’ll admit defeat and just do it the old school way. Not feeling great? Go to your doctor.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/04/experts-question-claimed-accuracy-of-covid-19-saliva-tests?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
But how can the LFTs be wrong when they caused cases to PLUMMET in Liverpool? Hancock told us so. That means they must be right. So PCR must be wrong. Solved it.
Saturday 5th December:
Birmingham – 12pm – Victoria Square, Town Hall
Speakers: Piers Corbyn, Jeff Wyatt, David Kurten, Gareth Icke, Vincent from SOR + Local speakers – (SOR) (SUX)
Bournemouth – 1pm – Town Hall (SUX)
London Stratford – 12pm – Olympic Velopark (SUX)
Manchester – 12pm – Piccadilly Gardens
Norwich – 1pm – Chapelfield Gardens (SUX)
Sheffield – 12pm – Town Hall Peace Gardens (SUX)
Truro – 1:30pm – Lemon Quay – Memorial March to remember the victims
York (Information stand/Not a protest) – 12pm – 2pm – St Sampsons Square – Weather permitting (Free Nation)
Sunday 6th December:
Manchester – 1pm – (Location will be announced 30 minutes prior – follow the social media platforms)
All are subject to change.
Please check with individual organisers for more information.
(Individual organisers are in brackets.)
For latest updates please go to the Telegram group ‘Protest Everywhere.’
https://t.me/ProtestEverywhere
Please be safe and know what your rights are when attending events.
So please ensure that you are up to date with ever changing legislation and how that may personally affect you.
@standupx
@event.202
Is there anything happening in Scotland? Anyone know the legality of travelling out with Scotland given I’m in tier 4 (I know I should be embracing disobedience but I really don’t want pulled over)?
It is illegal, I just don’t see how they can enforce it.
You have to just go where you want to go. You cannot let the police keep you within a certain small area. I can’t anyway.
.
Earlier on I posted about the latest H&M advert entitled “Bring On The Future” and I said
‘Notice all in advert live in cinties, cities which are virtually empty of people. The music is soporific The countryside is pristine and only visited and at the end the narrator says “the future world has just begun”.
It shows a world I’d hate. Languid people living vapid lives, like to know who directed it.’
Something’s been bugging me all evening so I’ve just watched it again several times, particularly the first 20 seconds and now I’m well freaked out.
10 seconds in during the things that we are saying farewell to is a clip of two children on an unmade bed, the younger girl looks to me like she has downs syndrome .
Watch it again and tell I’m wrong. Tell me it’s not advocating getting rid of the disabled.
That along with all the other carefully selected people in the future section make it look like an ad for eugenics not clothes
Advertising is and always has been brainwashing par excellence. No surprise that we are being drip fed “our” future in this manner.
Might the video be suggesting that we are bidding farewell to children altogether? I’ll be re-watching Children of Men this weekend.
Also recommended: I Am Legend and They Live, just incase things get freaky. 😉
“Only Britain Soldiers On!”
Yes the girl has downs syndrome, it’s a nod to inclusivity. So are the two middle aged guys who live together and the mixed race snoggers. All very communitarian, vibrant and diverse. Yes empty cities that would look OK in 28 days later but not for our old normal times. Yes pristine re-born grand reveal outdoor landscapes.
My initial thought was inclusivity but on closer watching I’m really not so sure.
Indentity politics is rammed down our throats to distract us from thinking about class
This guy has been tracking that stuff for years.
https://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/disturbing-mkultra-and-child-abuse-paintings-displayed-on-billboards-in-italy/
Just read this post on another website. It’s not mine and I hope the original author does not mind me sharing this, it’s the perfect sum up and rant. There are a lot of people out there sick of this shit too.
“ It’s the lowest of the low to publicise a dead relative in order to sell an agenda that takes lives. This has always been about lives vs lives. Not lives vs economy, or NHS vs Tories, or any of that bunk. It’s lives vs lives. And, I can publicise a friend who committed suicide 2 months ago. Being that he had intermittent suicidal ideation throughout his life, he too was a vulnerable person, not 83 (as is the average age of C19 death) but 41. He expressly voiced his consternation at the effect lockdown would have on his mental health.
His life, apparently, is a price worth paying for a virus that is likely to never go away (like the seasonal cold/flu), has a death rate of less than 1% of those infected, and has hardly registered on the direct quality of life for anyone under the age of 80. The government are acting as if… Read more »
You don’t need to be well read in the classics to make a good point 👍
It wasn’t even a member of his family.His step sisters step dad.A very tenuous link yet he stood up in the House with his lip trembling to help win a vote.
Good outcomes from this week
My MP sent me a reply letter which basically told me to refer to scientific evidence from SAGE for everything he is voting on. Total cop out. It was his get out clause. He gave me the SAGE evidence web link in the letter. This was a new approach by my useless MP. He is scared.
So what else happened this week?
SAGE suddenly admit you cannot catch it twice. Wow. Just wow. What will they admit to next? SAGE are probably the fall guys. I fucking hope so….but lets not forget the politicians. That is all – I’m off to bed and then going windsurfing in the morning.
Good outcomes from this week
My MP sent me a reply letter which basically told me to refer to scientific evidence from SAGE for everything he is voting on. Total cop out. It was his get out clause. He gave me the SAGE evidence web link in the letter. This was a new approach by my useless MP. He is scared.
So what else happened this week?
SAGE suddenly admit you cannot catch it twice. Wow. Just wow. What will they admit to next? SAGE are… Read more »
SAGE also have (in some cases quite substantial) financial & vested interests in the policy which they are
advisingdirecting. Policies which are unquestionably driving people to poverty, homelessness, suicide, & the rest, in not small numbers.Imagine rioting in protest at these loonies. You get branded an extremist.
Imagine shooting these murdering bastards. You get framed a loonie and an extremist.
Imagine giving up and committing suicide. You get framed as a loonie, extremist and mentally ill.
Imagine a country where emotion is replaced with science.
Imagine a world where Liberty is replaced with no Liberty for your own good.
That’s where we are. It’s over. Even the vaccines won’t stop this. Nothing will.
Do stop it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arPCE3zDRg4
I know the situation is frustrating but this sort of talk is really pointless. If you really believe this, then why are you here?
https://www.zoeharcombe.com/2020/11/sage-conflicts-of-interest/
PCR cases ongoing now in Italy, Germany and Switzerland
I got my MLA to finally submit my question on PCR CTs to the public health body here in NI. Took 4months and 4 emails with tonnes of references as to the ongoing events with PCR.
I wonder how they’ll fudge the answer of they even respond
‘ITALY: Drones, police & the military deployed against the population in order to prevent families living in different municipalities spending Christmas together.’
https://twitter.com/robinmonotti/status/1334880879878008838?s=20
We are now all living under martial law.
It’s utterly terrifying. This has happened in 9 months what happens in 9 years. This mission creep is unparalleled.
Something tells me I’d at least have seen a soldier. Or a tank. Or something.
Soldiers have been giving help testing.77th brigade are waging an information war against British people.GCHQ are embedded in Downing st.A curfew has been imposed and social activities curtailed.Peoples movements are tracked and you are not allowed to move freely around the country.
An occupying power would institute similar measures to cement its power.
This is what makes the whole show really terrifying. It’s happening everywhere, but China.
It had already happened there.
It’s not happening in Switzerland, Brazil or Tanzania as far as I’m aware.
Leticia Wright, a wickedly talented actress, has tried to air her concerns on Twitter about the vaccine. Seems like the poor girl has taken a beating for it and had her video removed ..
https://twitter.com/letitiawright/status/1334838855346909184
She had her video removed? the video hosting site wouldn’t be racist now, would it?!
“What vaccines contain is tested and verified by scientist. We can have doubts and questions, but also we should trust our scientists, doctors and providers far more than you did. If you don’t have officials resources about something, please, don’t write and inform yourself.”
Taking a beating from algorithms by the look of it.
This is why I do not use “social” media. Before I found this site, I had never previously posted publicly on the internet.
Yeah, seems a lot of the same responses we’re seeing everywhere now. They’re getting desperate.
Good!
My GP will vaccinate me over my dead body.
GPs won’t be administering the vaccine. hence the NHS emails advocating for volunteers to do it!
I believe she will.