The Official Estimate of the Collateral Damage
Friday saw the publication of the Government’s assessment of direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19 on excess mortality and morbidity. The Daily Mail has the details:
More than 100,000 people are likely to die from non-coronavirus causes because of the pandemic, according to an official Government estimate.
By the end of next month the chaos in hospitals and care homes will have led to 46,000 avoidable deaths, Department of Health research has suggested.
Cancellations to routine operations may cause 18,000 excess deaths in the long-term, on top of hundreds more from cancer.
Officials calculated that over the next few years another 40,000 people may die due to the economic impact of lockdown, including rising unemployment and mental health issues.
The Government paper says the overall death toll of the pandemic will be 222,000, with 54% dying from the virus.
Overall, scientists suggest there will be 105,000 additional deaths because of the enormous disruption to non-Covid NHS care, as well as the economic downturn.
The document, dated December 17th and published yesterday by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), was drawn up by civil servants at the Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office.
It laid bare the unintended consequences of lockdown in detail, but stressed that the overall death toll would be far higher without the draconian restrictions.
So far more than 103,000 people in the UK have died after testing positive for COVID-19.
Without lockdown, another 97,000 would have died from this winter alone, the report said.
The document also suggested the number of virus deaths could reach 122,000 by the end of next month…
The research supports a series of warnings from health charities that non-Covid patients are becoming “collateral damage” of the pandemic.
It said that plummeting non-Covid hospital admissions led to 4,000 excess deaths early in the pandemic, when many people avoided A&E even when they were suffering a heart attack or stroke.
Continuing disruption to emergency care could lead to a further 10,000 deaths in the second wave, the document said.
The cancellation of operations and outpatient appointments could cause 18,200 deaths.
And the impact on GP services could result in at least 1,400 deaths over five years from missed cancer diagnoses, according to an early estimate which only examined figures up to August.
Excess deaths from non-Covid among adults receiving social care could hit 32,000 by the end of March due to reduced support and a rush to discharge vulnerable patients from hospital.
The report illustrated how even with a successful vaccination programme deaths are likely to remain well above pre-pandemic levels for years.
Of the 222,000 toll, 61,000 deaths were estimated to take place after this March.
The report said that the health impact of the ensuing recession is likely to be much worse than previously feared because “the bounce-back and recovery are likely to be at a slower pace than previously predicted”.
When assessing the Government’s claim that the Covid death toll would be roughly twice as high absent the three lockdowns, it’s worth remembering that Sweden’s deaths per million in 2020 were bang on the EU average in spite of not imposing any lockdowns last year. That suggests the lockdowns imposed in every other EU member state did nothing to reduce Covid mortality.
The report itself goes into more detail.
Under our central scenario there is a loss of approximately 1.3 million QALYs as a consequence of this pandemic induced recession. These health losses are largely accrued in the medium to long-term, with the morbidity affects largely falling in the medium term and the resultant mortality impacts falling in the longer-term. Under the upside scenario, there is an estimated 0.23 million QALY loss in the medium and long-run and under the downside scenario, there is an estimated 2.7 million QALY loss in the medium and long-run from COVID-19
Overall, our analysis suggests that the recession resulting from COVID-19 and restrictions on activities to contain it could have large effects on lives through unemployment, mental health impacts, loss of income and increased financial uncertainty. These impacts are likely to have medium and long-term consequences on population health in terms of increased morbidity and mortality
This analysis also presents an increase in the impact of the recession on medium and long-term health compared to our previous update. This is because more recent economic forecasts suggest the bounce-back and recovery are likely to be at a slower pace than previously predicted, and therefore the health impacts from the economic downturn accumulate over a longer period of time than previously considered.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Psychologist Dr Oliver Robinson is hosting a webinar on Saturday February 13th, 4 – 6pm, examining the the (in)effectiveness of lockdowns in bringing down infection rates and the impact they have on mental health. Tickets are £10 each—£5 if you’re eligible for the concessionary rate – and can be purchased here.
The Catastrophic Impact of School Closures
On January 29th, the Education Endowment Foundation published a paper on the effect of school closures and subsequent support strategies on attainment and socio-emotional wellbeing on school pupils in Key Stage 1. The paper focusses on the the impact on the attainment gap in reading and maths and is based on assessments taken by nearly 6,000 Year 2 pupils in 168 different schools in the autumn term. The paper takes a standardised sample of assessments carried out in 2017 as its counterfactual; as its estimate of what progress might have made had pupils been in school as usual.
The findings are concerning, though not surprising:
This study confirms that, following the disruption to schooling in the 2020 spring and summer terms, Year 2 pupils had significantly lower achievement in both reading and maths in autumn 2020 when compared to performance seen in Year 2 in the autumn term of 2017. This represents a COVID-19 gap of around two months’ progress for both reading and maths.
The adverse effect is most pronounced among disadvantaged students. In both reading and in maths, the researchers found that the difference in standardised test scores between pupils on free school meals and pupils not on free school meals represented a gap of seven months of learning. It could not assess how far the gap had grown as a result of lockdown, as the 2017 data did not make this comparison, but by way of context, it says that the 2019 disadvantage gap was approximately six months. It concludes: “It seems that the disadvantage gap is wider than earlier estimates, and will likely be further exacerbated by school closures in early 2021”.
Worth reading in full.
Schools in England and Northern Ireland are set to remain closed until at least March 8th, and in Scotland and Wales until at least the middle of February. It will be difficult, when schools finally do re-open, to repair the damage done. The Prime Minister has penned an open letter to parents, in which he says:
When all this is over we’re going to be putting hundreds of millions of pounds into nationwide catch-up programmes so that nobody gets left behind.
Stop Press: A new piece of research carried out in Norway has found “minimal child-to-child and child-to-adult transmission in primary schools”. In other words, reopening primary schools now would not increase Covid infections.
Stop Press 2: Lockdown TV on Unherd has a special report on the closure of schools, getting perspectives from Katharine Birbalsingh, Headmistress of the Michaela Community School in northwest London, Miriam Cates MP and Alex Gutentag, a public school teacher from Oakland in California.
Stop Press 3: Boris Johnson will have to significantly increase the education budget when the crisis is over, says Isabel Hardman in the Spectator. She interviewed Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the Education Select Committee, and the Labour Peer Lord Adonis for the Week in Westminster, and both agree that education needs to be a post-pandemic priority for the Government.
Stop Press 4: Lockdown Sceptics may just have found a point of agreement with Professor Devi Sridhar. Who would have thunk it?
University Clamps Down on Rogue Scrabble Players
An anonymous reader of Lockdown Sceptics writes:
Anyone quaking in their boots with the current round of Covid terror sweeping the nation will be reassured to know that university officialdom is on top of the crisis. My neighbour’s son is at a university in the north of England. The other day he spurned the piffling misdemeanour of attending an all-night rave with several hundred other party people and went for the blatantly lethal and inconsiderate option of playing Scrabble with one other person from his hall and two from the adjacent building. Fortunately, the ever-vigilant university surveillance hit squad operatives who patrol the compound all night pounced on this incipient super-spreader hotspot and broke up the illegal mass-gathering of four Covidiot-insurgents. That they’ve all already had Covid of course counts for nothing as obviously they might have been re-infected.
The young maniac is now under ‘investigation’ but one of his tutors has advised him to write a letter claiming his mental health is under duress and that he needed to see other people. It’s reassuring to know that young people today are being made fully aware of their responsibilities, and in this case presenting this reckless fool with either being labelled as a vicious, semi-criminal member of the under-class of Covid subversives, or afflicted with mental illness. Either will serve as a warning to others and teach him a lesson he’ll be paying for for the rest of his life, the best way to treat a seditious young person. It’s also useful to know that the universities are finding productive ways to spend their extortionate fees to keep us all safe instead of wasting it on teaching or offering any other services.
Stop Press: For more on the experience of students during the lockdown, listen to the Planet Normal Podcast with the Telegraph’s Allison Pearson and Liam Halligan. In the latest episode they speak to a third-year geophysics student at the University of Durham.
My Mask Battle With the NHS
A reader has written in to share his experiences of getting treatment for his toe over the last few months, an experience dominated by masks.
Last September 29th, I went into a hospital up in the North East to have my big toe joint replaced with a silastic one.
I’ve never worn a mask anywhere and do not possess one. And when I bowled into the ward early in the morning, without a mask, nobody said a word to me. The nurse who was assessing me agreed when I said that mask wearing was a lot of nonsense, but said she would be sacked if she were to say that openly. She burst into tears when I sympathised with her and she said the strain was getting to her. Many of the staff on the (largely empty) ward agreed that masks were pointless, but they dare not dissent. The surgeon turned up wearing a serious-looking surgical mask and his couple of side-kicks were also wearing masks, but cheaper-looking versions. By this time I was in a hospital gown lying on a bed. None of them said a word about my being bare-faced – so to speak. The porter was the only person who handed me a mask and insisted I wear it otherwise he refused to push me down to the operating theatre. I offered to walk but he was having none of it. I held the thing up to my face and he seemed satisfied.
I’ve been back a few times to various hospitals since the operation to see nurses and others and have been shouted at about not wearing a mask and subjected to considerable rudeness and hostility from the staff and other patients who have ganged up on me. On a couple of occasions I’ve covered my mouth with a silk polka dot scarf which seems to satisfy all concerned.
I have tried to obtain a consultation with the surgeon since he did the operation because I am not satisfied that he’s got it right. I was promised a “telephone consultation” with the great man, which turned out to be with his young female registrar who was less than sympathetic and, as she could not see my foot, was of limited help. I told her I wanted the surgeon who did the operation to have a look at it, because the orthotic specialist I’d seen a week earlier (without mask) advised that the surgeon should see the joint because he was concerned the toe did not seem to be “on straight”.
The registrar said the surgeon was not offering “face to face consultations due to the Covid pandemic”. I said I couldn’t understand why not, seeing as he could be masked up and in full anti-virus outfit if he was concerned about catching it. I asked if he was still doing private operations and whether if I paid he would see me. She replied that she knew nothing about his private practice, with the clear implication that she did not want to know either. She made it apparent, by her manner, that she thought I was being a nuisance, but agreed to ask the surgeon if he would arrange a face-to-face consultation.
Yesterday I got a copy of a letter from the registrar to my GP, saying the surgeon “has agreed on this occasion to review [me] in person…”
The letter ended: “On previous visits [he] has declined to wear a face covering but is not medically exempt from doing so. We would kindly ask [him] that he complies with hospital policy and wears a suitable face covering when attending his appointment, otherwise he may not be seen.”
It is not an exaggeration to say that the whole mask-wearing thing causes me “extreme distress”, which in law is enough to exempt me. But the NHS is not concerned about that. They really mean it when they say we have to “protect the NHS”.
YouGov’s Numbers Don’t Add Up
Our next post comes from a Lockdown Sceptics reader who has scrutinised a recent YouGov study about the numbers of people who know someone who died from COVID-19, and found that it doesn’t really make sense.
YouGov have published a study of how many people know someone who has died of COVID-19. They have asked people in 16 different countries.
At first glance the results look coherent – countries with higher death rates are at the top, ones with notoriously low death rates at the bottom. So 19% of Spaniards claim to know someone who has died of COVID-19 while only 2% of Chinese and Singaporeans do.
However, 2% of Chinese is 28,000,000 people. And China claims that only 4,600 people have died of COVID-19. That would mean that every Chinese individual who died of COVID-19 was acquainted with over 6,000 people. Is that a reasonable number?
Based on those poll numbers, how many acquaintances did COVID-19 victims in other countries have?
Well, here is the answer:
What to make of the results? There seems to be a big disparity between countries.
Are the Chinese the most sociable people on earth? Does a typical Australian or Indonesian have five times more acquaintances that your typical European? Are Mexicans the most personally affected by COVID-19 in the world ?
Or perhaps some countries are hiding deaths? China is always under suspicion of lying about its data. But what about Singapore or Australia? Are those governments hiding deaths too?
The most plausible explanation is something that many Lockdown Sceptics probably already suspect: that YouGov polls, many of which rely on panels of people to fill them out regularly, aren’t very reliable.
You might be tempted to go further.
If you click on the “See Full Results” link you will see some fascinating stats. YouGov will have you believe that 23% of Mexicans claim to have lost a family member.
But it seems YouGov doesn’t put much faith in the Mexican data so it has left it out altogether from the summary they publish and which is circulating in Twitter.
We can safely conclude that this particular YouGov poll should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Trudeau Administration to Face Legal Challenge on Travellers’ Quarantine
Much like other Governments around the world, the Trudeau administration announced last week that travellers coming into Canada will be subject to mandatory quarantines. The National Post has the story.
Travellers coming into Canada will be forced into mandatory hotel quarantines, part of a suite of measures designed to keep Canadians at home as the Government grows increasingly concerned about the risk of new Covid variants that appear to be more transmissible.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the quarantines and several other restrictions on Friday outside Rideau Cottage.
Trudeau said travelers will pay for their hotel stay of up to 72 hours while waiting for a negative Covid test. He estimated the cost at approximately $2,000 as they will have to pay for lodging, food, Covid tests and security ensuring they remain inside.
Anyone testing positive for the virus will have to finish their quarantine in a designated quarantine facility, where the Government will cover the costs.
Travellers testing negative will be able to finish their 14-day quarantine at home, but Trudeau said the Government would step up surveillance of those quarantines. Private security firms have been hired to knock on doors of returning travellers to ensure they’re staying at home, and the Government will be making regular phone calls as well.
Starting Sunday and extending to the end of April, Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat will cancel trips to sun destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. All international passenger flights arriving in Canada must land at only four airports, in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal, as part of this stepped up screening.
Trudeau thanked the airlines for taking the steps to help limit the spread of the virus.
“We all agree that now is just not the time to be flying,” he said. “By putting in place these tough measures now, we can look forward to a better time when we can all plan those vacations.”
Though the announcement was made on Friday, the impact of the new law was already kicking in on Thursday evening, as an Edmonton pastor found out when his wife touched down in Calgary. The Western Standard has the details.
An Edmonton pastor may have found out the hard way Thursday night about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic…
The new rules weren’t even announced yet Thursday night, but it appears officials at YYC Calgary International were ready.
“(My wife Nikki) arrived in Calgary tonight and when she got there she was greeted by a Police Officer and an AHS official,” wrote Pastor Chris Mathis on his Facebook page.
“They rejected her results and told her she needed to go immediately to an isolation facility. She was told if she resisted she would be arrested. She called me, and I immediately asked to talk with the officer. I talked with both a police officer and the AHS official, they reiterated what she had said to me. I asked for the address of where she would be, they said they could not give me the location address as it was confidential.”
“I asked for their names, again they would not give me any information or their names. I pushed, I questioned, I tried to fight but they said they would arrest her if she resisted. They would not give me any information on where they were taking my wife.”
“She was not allowed to get her vehicle from the airport, she was immediately put in a white van surrounded by police escorts and taken to an unknown facility that is under full surveillance and has security at every entrance and exit. You can imagine I am barely keeping myself together wondering what in the world has happened in our country in what seems to be overnight.”
Unlike other Governments, this administration is facing an immediate legal challenge (not directly related to the incident described above) from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. The letter (pdf) providing notice to the Transport Minister the Honourable Omar Alghabra states:
Your Government has increasingly shown a disturbing and even aggressive opposition to the constitutional rights and freedoms of Canadians.
It has come to our attention that the Federal Government is now arresting Canadians at the border and transporting them to secret federal locations even when they possess a negative PCR test. The citizens you are holding have not been convicted of an offence, have not had access to a lawyer, and have not appeared before a judge. Your officers are even refusing to inform family members of where their loved ones are being held. This policy aligns with practices of repressive regimes and undemocratic regimes, and is completely unacceptable.
Your arrest and detention of Canadians in this regard is unlawful and unconstitutional and we hereby demand their immediate release, such that they may continue with any necessary isolation protocols in their personal residences.
This is not China or Cuba, or Chile under Pinochet, or Spain under Franco, or theocratic Iran. We are not prepared to permit you and your Government to turn Canada into a repressive replica of countries that have no respect for human rights and civil liberties…
The Order further mandates that, regardless of a negative Covid test result, any person entering Canada must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival…
Quarantining all citizens re-entering Canada, in addition to mandating negative test results, impairs liberty in a manner that is arbitrary, disproportionate, and overbroad, and therefore violates the principles of fundamental justice…
The mandatory quarantining of all Canadians, merely because they exercised their Charter right to leave or enter Canada, is not rationally connected to any legitimate public health objective. It is not rational to impose a 14 day quarantine upon asymptomatic individuals who are able to provide negative test results confirming their lack of infection.
Stop Press: On the subject of travel restrictions, it is worth reading Lord Blunkett’s rather libertarian letter to the editor of the Telegraph
The announcement by Priti Patel relating to quarantine rules and subsequent media interviews with Michael Gove raise several issues.
First, it is clear that the detail and practical arrangements had not been thought through. No plans appear to exist to save the aviation industry or to retain the capacity of our airports for freight and passengers in the future.
Secondly, making it “illegal”, in Ms Patel’s words, for British citizens to leave the country without permission is unprecedented. While measures such as withdrawing British passports have been taken in the past for very specific counter-terrorism or policing reasons, we have never in peacetime forbidden our own people to travel.
Strict requirements on their return may well be justified but historically only autocratic and totalitarian regimes have banned their own citizens from leaving the country.
Lord Blunkett (Lab), London SW1
Stop Press 2: Health Passports continue to gather momentum, though it doesn’t seem likely they’ll help much when it comes to escaping Gulag Britain. Travel Weekly reports that British Airways is to trial a new travel health app called VeriFlY on flights between London and the USA from February 4th. With both countries having closed their border to residents of the other, it is hard to imagine that there will be many people available to give the app a try.
Neil O’Brien Refuses to Debate Prof Carl Heneghan
Speaking on talkRADIO on Friday, Carl Heneghan, the Oxford Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine, said he would be happy to debate Neil O’Brien MP.
An opportunity, surely, for Neil O’Brien to convince people of his case? A challenge to be seized. Alas, Neil O’Brien didn’t see it that way:
Round-up
- “Social distancing may have to remain in place all year” – Ministers have been warned that unless a vaccine proves to be 85% effective, Brits may have to keep social distancing for the rest of the year, according to the Telegraph
- “Virus ‘definitely’ began in China, say US scientists… and the outbreak started in October 2019” – The Mail on Sunday reports on the latest revelations from investigations into the origins of COVID-19
- “Nadhim Zahawi: I couldn’t save my uncle from Covid, but I can save the country” – In an interview in the Telegraph, vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi explains why he is so determined to vaccinate the country
- “Lift lockdown once most vulnerable are vaccinated, urges Senior Tory” – Mark Harper, Chair of the Covid Recovery Group, has called for lockdown to be lifted once everyone aged 50 and over has been offered the vaccine
- “Vaccines – A national effort in the national interest: Letter from the Editor” – The editor of the Yorkshire Post describes the blowback the paper experienced from people in power after it published its report that vaccine supplies to the region were to be reduced in order to allow other areas to catch up
- “Unmoored from all but a few friends, I fear lockdown has atrophied my social muscles” – Writing in the Guardian, Emma Brockes worries about the lockdown’s long-term impact on social health
- “The uncomfortable truth about death” – The pandemic has forced us to confront uncomfortable trust about our own mortality says Dr John Lee in UnHerd
- “Covid, Tango and The Lagom Way” – Watch BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Claudia Nye interview Sweden’s Chief Epidemiologist Anders Tegnell in a new short film
- “The EU’s vaccine nightmare” – In the latest episode of the Spiked podcast, Brendan O’Neill, Ella Whelan and Fraser Myers look in to the row over vaccines
- “A cancelled hysterectomy” – The latest episode of the CoronaStories in which Christine speaks to a guest about the pain of having a much needed operation cancelled, with no new date yet arranged. Previous episodes are worth a listen as well
- “Media Manipulation; More on Lockdown Scepticism, Cathedral and Church Closures” – The latest episode of the Irreverend podcast includes discussion of the Covid media messaging and the case for opening churches
- “Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 performance may have been less stellar than it seemed” – Beneath a headline that might be considered an understatement, CNN reports that COVID-19 deaths among New York nursing home residents may have been undercounted
- “Bill Gates shocked by ‘evil’ conspiracy theories: ‘I hope it goes away’” – The Washington Times reports the magnate’s horror at finding himself, along with Dr Anthony Fauci, at the centre of COVID-19 conspiracy theories
- “The catastrophic impact of Covid forced societal lockdowns” – A deep-dive into the whys, wherefores and follies of lockdowns on the AIER blog, concluding that it is way past time to get back to normal
- “How has your life been affected by lockdowns?” – The campaign group Time For Recovery campaign is asking for people to share their story
Theme Tunes Suggested by Readers
Four today: “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by The Animals, “All Things Must Pass” by George Harrison, “What About the Children” by Yolanda Adams and “Germ Free Adolescents” by X-Ray Spex
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 as well as post comments below the line, but that should just be a one-time thing. Any problems, email Lockdown Sceptics 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, we draw your attention to Disney’s new animated movie Raya and the Last Dragon which has been criticised for the lack of South Asians among its cast of voice actors. NewsBusters has more.
One would think that looks and race would not matter for voice actors — after all, the viewers never see the actors in animated movies. But just as comedians aren’t allowed to be funny, even voice actors can’t act unless they perfectly resemble their characters.
On Tuesday, January 26th, Disney dropped the second trailer for Raya and the Last Dragon and the movie is once again generating a lot of controversy. While some fans are excited to see a movie portraying South East Asian culture, others criticise Disney’s inattention to which region of Asia its actors are from.
Based on South East Asian traditions, Disney says the fantastical story is set “in the fantasy world of Kumandra” which is endangered by monsters. Although 500 years ago dragons had protected the humans, only one remains alive and it is up to young Raya to “track down the last dragon in order to finally stop the [monsters] for good”.
Besides the film’s starring Vietnamese actress, Kelly Marie Tran (known for her role as Rose in Star Wars), nearly all of the cast are East Asian (Chinese and Korean). Although Raya and the Last Dragon was written by South East Asian-American screenwriters, Adel Lim (Malaysian) and Qui Nguyen (Vietnamese) and its lead actress is of South East Asian descent, Disney’s Representation effort just wasn’t enough for some people.
“I am actually very conflicted about the new Raya and the Last Dragon casting. I love all those cast members,” said one Twitter user. “But basically everyone except KMT is East Asian. Imagine how big it would be if they actually casted Southeast Asian actors. SE Asian actors are sorely lacking in Hollywood.”
Another user, Laura Siriku, commented, “Listen, I’m all for Asians playing other Asian ethnicities, but the roles of South East Asians have been little to none,” she said. “With #RayaAndTheLastDragon celebrating South East Asia, I feel like it’d be a huge moment to have SEA being able to play their own heritage.”
Several others have possibly more legitimately complained that the world of Kumandra and Raya’s story are based on a collection of South East Asian cultures. Unlike nearly every other Disney Princess, Raya is not based on the unique culture of a single country but rather a region with vast cultural diversity…
The movie will premiere on Disney Plus on March 5th. Luckily for Disney, the movie has simultaneously generated plenty of excitement from fans who not only want to appreciate other cultures on the screen, but shockingly just want to enjoy a great movie.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Responding to Kehinde Andrews’ new book, The New Age of Empire, the British-Nigerian writer Ralph Leonard has penned an elegant defence of the West and the Enlightenment.
Stop Press 2: Writing for the Spectator, Jake Wallis Simons, Deputy Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, says that that Black Lives Matter should be looking to Martin Luther King for inspiration, rather than Malcolm X.
Stop Press 3: John McWhorter, a contributing writer at the Atlantic, has reminded schools and colleges that campuses are not, in fact, bastions of social injustice. They must resist he says “destructive anti-racist demands”.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
We’ve created a one-stop shop down here for people who want to obtain a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card – because wearing a mask causes them “severe distress”, for instance. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and the Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. And 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. Another reader has created an Android app which displays “I am exempt from wearing a face mask” on your phone. Only 99p.
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. See also the Swiss Doctor’s thorough review of the scientific evidence here and Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson’s Spectator article about the Danish mask study here.
Stop Press: Everyone must wear a mask now, even the Long Man of Wilmington. Sky News reports that the 72 metre tall chalk figure had a mask added to his face by some local pranksters. Luckily for the historic, South Downs landmark, this was deemed an act of vandalism, and the mask was swiftly removed. As for the rest of us…
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 in October 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 three quarters of a million signatures.
Update: The authors of the GBD 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. Sign up to the newsletter here.
Judicial Reviews Against the Government
There are now so many legal cases being brought against the Government and its ministers we thought we’d include them all in one place down here.
The Simon Dolan case has now reached the end of the road. The current lead case is the Robin Tilbrook case which challenges whether the Lockdown Regulations are constitutional. 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 and Runnymede Trust’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.
Scottish Church leaders from a range of Christian denominations have launched legal action, supported by the Christian Legal Centre against the Scottish Government’s attempt to close churches in Scotland for the first time since the the Stuart kings in the 17th century. The church leaders emphasised it is a disproportionate step, and one which has serious implications for freedom of religion.” Further information available here.
There’s the class action lawsuit being brought by Dr Reiner Fuellmich and his team in various countries against “the manufacturers and sellers of the defective product, PCR tests”. Dr Fuellmich explains the lawsuit in this video. Dr Fuellmich has also served cease and desist papers on Professor Christian Drosten, co-author of the Corman-Drosten paper which underpins the SARS-CoV-2 PCR test protocol. That paper, which was pivotal to the roll out of mass PCR testing, was submitted to the journal Eurosurveillance on January 21st and accepted following peer review on January 22nd. The paper has been critically reviewed here by Pieter Borger and colleagues, who have also submitted a retraction request.
And last but not least there was the Free Speech Union‘s challenge to Ofcom over its ‘coronavirus guidance’. A High Court judge refused permission for the FSU’s judicial review on December 9th and the FSU has decided not to appeal the decision because Ofcom has conceded most of the points it was making. Check here for details.
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.
Shameless Begging Bit
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And Finally…
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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Just scrolling through the headlines here, without looking at detail –
”Most Likely to Become Infected in Belgium, Spain and the UK….”
And, looking at the illustrating photo – I’d say ”those silly buggers who are wearing muzzles out of doors when they could be helping their immune systems with a few lungfuls of good fresh air.”
https://youtu.be/yKxM4ToLLR8
“Even the Robert Koch Institute and other health authorities cannot present decisive proof that a new virus named SARS-CoV-2 is haunting us. This alone turns the talk of dangerous viral mutations into irresponsible fearmongering and the so-called SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests definitely into a worthless venture.”
https://off-guardian.org/2021/01/31/phantom-virus-in-search-of-sars-cov-2/
Great read, thank you.
I’ve just watched ‘A tale of two Januarys’ on the same site…..absolutely compulsive viewing!
Yes – superbly made and to the point.
Theoretical Virus: 10 Reasons SARS-CoV-2 is an Digital Creation
Yes everything points to the greatest fraud in human history. A disease that hasn’t officially been verified using long established methods, a model debunked as garbage disposal, using a test by its inventors own admission is not suitable as a diagnostic tool, confirming a disease most people blissfully unaware they have and deaths including anyone tested by a test that measures nothing confirming a disease that isn’t officially recognised & may have been run over by a bus.
I dunno what it is but something just doesn’t feel right, just a hunch LOL. I suppose its all just a coincidence nothing works.
This scam is only the overture to an even bigger grift, the great global warming theatrical event. A hypothesis impossible to prove, on a planet that has been warming for the last 15000yrs and a climate that has never been static in the natural history of planet earth. They even show the frozen remains of long extinct mammals taken from thawed permafrost as evidence of AGW & how we will all perish if the ice melts! See any problem with that?
I guess I must just be a… Read more »
The polar bears are thriving.
And Greenland is growing.
(Rowan Dean of Sky News Australia has had some cracking good reports over the past few months.)
“Neil O’Brien refuses to debate Prof Carl Heneghan”
I seem to remember asking on here, will O’Brien debate any of the heavyweight lockdown sceptics. It would appear I have my answer.
But, I would rather like to know why, if anyone knows. Does he consider anyone who questions lockdowns not worthy of debating? Can he really justify this? And who will he actually condescend to debate?
Answers on a postcard to the address that I can’t give you because of the Covid spies…
So the old chap Tom, who has pneumonia and as such was unable to have the ‘jab’ has tested for Covid. Johnson wishes him a speedy recovery – the man is a 100 years old, for goodness sake. All respect to him, but how could his family make such a circus of the man’s final hours and of course it will be Covid that dunnit, not the fact pneumonia and extremely advanced age were at all relevant. This past year has seen deaths at 90 years plus treated with the same horror as that of a child or teenager – do people have no perspective on the life, death cycle.It really is a case of stop the world I want to get off.
Handjob is currently on ancestor.co.uk trying to find out if he’s a family member.
Astonishing scenes in the Commons today when the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Handjob, announced, while wiping tears from his eyes, “My mum’s mate’s auntie’s second cousin’s dad’s uncle’s pal’s step-sister-in-law’s daughter Susan’s Grandad has died. Tom was like a father to me…”
Absolutely brilliant, Ceriain, could you post that again tomorrow where it’ll bring rave reviews!
PW
There is nothing more cringworthy than a Tory politician pretending to show emotion over some long lost distant relative they never knew (probably never did) exist. IDS started the tory tears fad. They really do think we’re idiots.
But he was fit an healthy. He did a hundred laps of his garden. I saw it on television, so it must be true.
My cousin has been TERRIFIED by those heart-wrenching photos on TV of people on ventilators, because she’s unable to consider that their relatives would allow this, if they were real people. ”I don’t want to end up like that”, she sobbed, having spent the last year living a normal life and just following the rules. I tried to explain they were just actORs. No good.
These manipulative people are EVIL.
Some encouraging news the majority of my Nursing colleagues have woken up to the Bullshit narrative.The main weapon in the propaganda machine is the fabled symptomatic transmission myth.Lesson one coughs and sneezes spread diseases etc.How can I transmitt a sufficie viral load without positive symptoms? Asymptomatic generally speaking infers absence of disease.Did I miss something before I slipped into my symptomless coma.The propaganda is baseless and generally taking the piss out of the public.
Asymptomatic transmission myth.
This care home is really diligent with staying safe.
Discarded face rags abhorrent face guards ill fitting gloves all casually discarded on the staff room floor.Care Homes are currently defacto Euthanasia units.Last Sunday a mob of District Nurses descended on my establishment and jabbed the lot.So far one death and counting.
Jesus
Sad and appalling. Unfortunately, nothing surprises me anymore.
My relative (a trainee nurse) was working recently on the ”covid ward” – and what happened? Yes, she contracted it, and is now a bit poorly, no more.
But how the HELL did she ”contract” it?
Oh shut up SAGE, don’t pretend like you care now. https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/coronavirus-lockdown-could-indirectly-cause-19735629
It’s garbage, isn’t it? Posters on here and elsewhere have been speaking of this for a year now.
The figures they quote are also total rubbish (that’s models for you: garbage in, garbage out!); for example:
That’s 800 a year! 800 lives a year is all they think would be the price of all those who have lost jobs, businesses, etc. The rest of their report is just as bad.
These people need locking up!
Vested interests?
https://www.zoeharcombe.com/2020/11/sage-conflicts-of-interest/
Bill Gates is a liar. Set his pants on fire.
Heard of planned obsolescence? That’s what the Globalists want to do to us.
Make your life miserable and pointless, and then say, “Ah, but if you’re really depressed about this, we’ll give you the chance to have “voluntary” (or involuntary) euthanasia!”.
Start a petition requesting PM Johnson and his cabinet to resign their posts. They are inept, not fit for purpose.
I told you that Pfizer is a joke. Here it is again, just in case it hasn’t sunk in yet:
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/pfizer-fined-2.3-billion-illegal-marketing-off-label/story?id=8477617
copy and paste it, memorize it and never ever again think that you can trust this company.
Well – I know there’s time to waste at the moment – but it might be an idea to do something purposeful with it.
They’re not ”inept” and I’d guess they are perfect for purpose. They’re doing very well indeed – exactly as directed. Do you really believe they’re more than useful idiots? Would people like that really be allowed at the top of the tree?
Israel again- try to make sense of this if you can..
57 year old Israeli man, gets covid last year, gets symptoms, recovers, goes to Turkey in January, gets South African variant (yes, in Turkey), tested positive, feels fine. Turns out the antibodies from his first infection protected him. In addition to not feeling unwell, none of his family members got sick either. Amazing discovery – the human immune system works! In the meantime, Israeli health officials are concerned that the Pfizer vaccine may not protect against the SA variant…..
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-who-recovered-from-covid-19-reinfected-with-south-african-strain/
The outbreak is still raging in Israel, nothing to do with the mass mRNA experimentation. Easier to blame uk and SA mutants.
Mutants! The gift that just keeps giving.
Mayday.
My father has been offered a jab. Mother is advising him to have it. Children (my sister – who works for the NHS – and I) are against.
We see it as a small(ish) additional threat with little if any proven benefit in terms of mortality (which is all that matters).
Do we go along in silence with the autonomous judgment of our elders? Do we talk with him? Or do we go for the duct tape?
As I write the answer is obviously the middle one. But I’m going to post anyway, because there must be lots of us in this position. Youngish elderly parents who watch the television news, versus young(ish) middle aged children who don’t, and have a rather different view of all this.
As happened with my parents. You talk to him. Hopefully he will listen. My parents did. Three weeks later they had forgotten everything I said. It was their decision. But at least I tried.
I am surprised this was down voted.
I am in the same position, but trying to talk to my parents is even more difficult as they are in Germany and we can only speak on the phone.
In the end they are capable to make their own decision.
Informed consent without causing offence.
Duct tape I liked that.
A point worth making perhaps is to consider if something bad were to happen it might be helpful to recognise all resonable efforts were made to inform.
You know what’s right anyway Ovis.
Basics, I hope one day we may be able to address each other by our real names.
Talk with him obviously if you feel concerned about his choice.
But in the end, there’s really no reason to get too concerned about it. Any threat is likely to be limited, and it’s absolutely his decision and not yours.
Myself, I’d oppose taking the vaccine more for political reasons than fear of any health consequences, and it wouldn’t be the first political disagreement I’d had with my parents if they’d disagreed with me (neither still alive now, so not an issue – I’d be more likely to be the parent in this situation). Had I tried to bully them into taking my view, they’d have given me short shrift I think, because they knew their own minds.
Lock him in his room until he comes to his senses.
Send boxes of insects to Klaus Schwab. Bon Appétit Klaus!
Sit them both down and let them watch the first 40 minutes of this.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/onWqOMszB3Pc/
(Dr Simone Gold address to fellow US medical professionals.)
Then at least they will be better informed to make a choice, knowing a bit more about the experimental procedure that he is agreeing too and the potential risks.
Thankyou Richy, I’ve emailed him the link.
Mine were offered the jab and I made no comment either in favour or against, believing it was entirely their decision and not for me to attempt to influence in any way. I phoned on the evening after they were jabbed to make sure they were OK, which they were. Father then asked me if I would be having it when my turn came. I replied that I would not. He became rather excitable and told me that was “stupid” and that I should do so in order to protect people and save lives etc (and, presumably my own!). He then calmed down a bit and conceded that there were two sides to every story but it was hardly the respectful consideration I afforded them!
Let’s pretend that it is not an experimental gene therapy and a thoroughly tested vaccine. If he takes it tomorrow , he will only be protected in May. Only small amount protection by March. The chance of catching the virus in march/april will be close to zero. What‘s the point?
I’m in much the same position, except that my dad (81) is a retired GP who believes everything the so-called experts say. He’s a lost cause and not in very good health, but my mom (79) is a different story. She’s in very good health and her mother just died at almost 101, so she could have another 20 years ahead of her. She knows how I feel about the “vaccine” and has so far said she hasn’t thought too much about it yet as it isn’t on offer. When she’s called up, so to speak, she’ll make a decision. I have gently pushed her to do her homework or talk to me before deciding, so now it’s up to her. I wouldn’t feel right about not at least planting the seed, but I suspect she’ll go along with my dad in the end. I’ll be at peace either way.
My Dad died of the big C several years ago and my Mum has sensibly taken the advice of my sister and myself not to get the jab under any circumstances, so I can breathe a sigh of relief on my side of the family.
My in-laws on the other hand… I sat them down a few weeks ago and calmly explained everything to them: the risks of the previously unsuccessful mRNA vaccine technology, the already documented nasty side effects and how they aren’t being reported by the MSM, the negligible risk of C19 to people under 80 with no underlying conditions, that C19 is more than likely last year’s predominant flu strain rebranded, etc, etc. At the end of our conversation my MIL simply said “I’ve had the flu vaccine every year now for the last few years and I’ve always been fine, so I’m quite happy to have the COVID vaccine as well.” (So clearly I did a rubbish job of explaining that mRNA vaccines aren’t like ‘normal’ old-school vaccines containing inactivated or attenuated viruses!!)
I tried, I really did. If anything happens to her or my FIL (who is in his mid 70s with heart failure and… Read more »
I’ve been thinking about the future of the NHS when (if?) this is ever all over.
I suspect that they will use the the last year as an excuse to say something along the lines of:
“It’s obvious that in its present form the NHS is unable to cope with a pandemic situation and we need a new paradigm. Given the huge successes of the private sector with regard to the Test and Trace program, the app, and of course the vaccinnes, we believe it is time…”
Am I alone?
No, you are not alone. From March I have seen this as ‘Shaft the NHS,’ with the victims co-operating in their own demise.
Maybe we should copy any one of the social insurance systems which have all coped so much better than the NHS.
Austria, Switzerland Germany Holland Japan, Singapore Australia etc etc etc all have a better system than the pathetic NHS.
Copy what has been proven to work.
I think we should make our own choice and go our own way as a sovereign democracy. For what it’s worth, I quite like the national model for health. I don’t think any system will ‘work’ unless we are prepared to put life before the avoidance of one cause of death, and recognise that sometimes there is nothing that can usefully be done.
Fatalism has been much underrated. It is not served well by sounding so much like ‘fatal.’ But what it means is a recognition that some things are not under our control. Life and death ultimately is up to the fates (fata). There are times when we can either accept that or make things worse. I believe this is one such time.
Yes, so whats wrong with the social insurance model?
Its proven to work in almost every 1st world country apart from UK and USA.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, just take a hard look at what is the best fit for UK and move to it.
A huge advantage of the social insurance model is the increase in personal responsibility for ones health / life choices that is stimulated.
I like the Japanese / Singapprean version, other prefer the one Oz has.
To an extent it doesn’t matter exactly which, as they are all superior to the Stalinist model we have in this country.
‘Stalinist’? Political illiteracy isn’t a good look for the sceptical cause.
You wrote that as though it would be a bad thing.
What is it that is so holy about the NHS bureaucracy that even a lot of the folk here, who’ve all been royally shafted by the “save the sainted NHS” propaganda and the institutional dishonesty we’ve seen, still believe we must “save the NHS”?
I mean, why?
Is it somehow inherently better than all possible alternatives? Clearly not. In fact, it’s hugely culturally and politically damaging, in making health explicitly the responsibility of the government, and by creating endless political rows over divvying up the economic and political spoils of its immense annual budget, and the sheer power of running businesses of the colossal size involved.
Are there poor people suffering and dying all over Europe where they don’t have a national health bureaucracy like ours? No.
Like the BBC, take it behind the barn and get it over with.
God, Mark, you’re right; it does read like that. It wasn’t meant to.
I, perhaps, should have started with something along the lines of, “I wonder what the zealots and NHS worshippers would think when/if such an announcement was made.”
As well as agreeing with everything you have written, I believe the NHS is one of the biggest wastes of money on this planet. I’d be happy to see it dismantled tomorrow.
Yawn. Another hobby horse grand national for decrepit nags.
There’s a need to get a head of steam to ditch the shit-show and then get rid of the Tories who’ve done the damage before looking at remodelling the NHS.
Watch the first 10 minutes of this video looking in detail at two WHO documents, one from 2005 and one from 2019 which are expressing the need for a pandemic simulation to take place before September 2020 in which all members (over 100 countries) would have to take part to reveal their level of preparedness for a potential future use of bio weapons – could this be what’s happening now?:
https://www.richplanet.net/richp_guest.php?ref=726&part=1&person=20
The evidence would suggest so.
https://www.rt.com/news/514204-austria-covid-lockdown-protest-vienna/
A Tale of Two Januarys
https://off-guardian.org/2021/01/31/watch-a-tale-of-two-januarys/
Compulsive watching!!
Early 2020…
Me: Why don’t we lockdown for flu?
Somebody: Because we have a vaccine.
2021 – So now we have a vaccine…
Excellent point! (I remember getting the same response.)
I expect they’ll just say the vaccine does’t necessarily stop transmission. And round and round we go….
Neither does the flu vaccine(s).
I’ve a few work colleagues who last year were hopeful that the vaccine would get us out of this mess
I’m finding it hard to resist asking them how the vaccine is working out for them
Waiting for an appropriate moment to slip it in
Just seen the poor elderly people queuing up for the jab
on the news.They were saying they just want to see their families.
This is evil there is no other word for it.
Government ministers and advisers have repeatedly stated that the vaccinated have to follow all the rules.
That’s not the impression most people seem to have. Elderly chap who just got his jab has posted on local FB page that he’s now happy to drive anyone else to the vaccine centre!
Then he isn’t paying attention.
Yes indeed truly wicked
If they are told that they should still avoid their families I really hope anger will boil over
No time like the present!
But you’re not allowed to die from Covid remember. Dying from flu is just one of those things.
The MDU on Twitter: “The government must act now to ensure all NHS healthcare professionals currently making enormous sacrifices are exempt from #covid19 related clinical negligence claims, says MDU’s CEO Dr Chris Tomkins in an opinion piece for @bmj_latest. Read more: https://t.co/qzUlrp71W6 https://t.co/PAiz6fURko” / Twitter
Why would there even be a need for this, unless…
Yes, they want blanket protection, no questions asked. Harold Shipman anyone? I also thought the article today with comments from Dr Alison Pittard regarding intubation was ‘curious’ in both content and timing.
You may have seen this previously. Doctors and nurses seeking indemnity… wanting it backdated to March 2020.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9154805/Doctors-nurses-fears-prosecuted-switching-Covid-patients-life-support.html
DNARs, sedative palliation, refusing admission, closing services, deterring NHS access,…’Govt said to do it’. That spring spike is not simply Covid.
“making enormous sacrifices”
That’ll be ‘going to work’ each day, then.
And still getting discounts in lots of supermarkets and other shops as well…
Doing the job they trained for and are paid for. Just like everybody else who is employed. But on solid gold pedestals.
My thoughts exactly.
After more than ten months…
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/31/public-should-told-consider-face-masks-outdoor-spaces-scientists/
Some good comments.
There’s that 70% more infectious number again.
These articles have one intention only
They’ve never actually proved that, have they? Modelled only, I believe.
modelled and its their high bar number. latest was 30-70%.
I can’t think of a more general range to say: “It’s more infectious, but not 100% more infectious”
Good work if you can get it
Certainly is. Say what you like, and no need to prove any of it.
“Scientists” They may have been doing science once – not any more. They’ve gone power mad.
There is only one scientist on SAGE as far as I am aware (except for Vallance, who chairs it). The rest are a mathematical modelers, social anthropologists and behavioural psychologists.
As a former “scientist” (specifically a microbiologist) they make my blood boil! If I had produced such shoddy, inaccurate work back in the day I would have been hauled up in front of my boss and would probably have lost my job! But no, these evil-doers carry on spouting their rubbish and instilling fear with no criticism and no awkward questions!
They can eff off and when they get there they can eff off a bit more.
The top voted comments are scathing.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/cna-nursing-home-whistleblower-seniors-dying-like-flies-after-covid-injections-speak-out/5735639
Had a great moment while out at the shops today. Popped in to my local B&Q and for the first time the lady didn’t even bother to ask where my mask was. I just gave her a nice smile and said hello which she seemed to appreciate. There were a fair few people in there without masks to be honest which was really refreshing. Finally, the lady on the till (who some might put in the vulnerable bracket, shall we say) was also unmasked (though she was behind a 3fr perspex screen which covered about 30pct of the till front so maybe she felt Covid Secure!?), and when I came to pay she oddly said “thanks for that its really appreciated”. Not sure what she meant but a part of me thought it was because I didn’t have a mask on and actually had a conversation with her.
All about the small wins people.
I honestly couldn’t care less about going to the shops unmasked anymore. I have never been properly challenged and am ready to talk back at people where necessary as I know we are not in the wrong at all. I feel so sorry for… Read more »
Apologies if posted elsewhere, struggle to get all posts loaded once over 1k! The shop video from Edinburgh in the comments yesterday, an arrest and fine given.
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/6612068/cops-make-arrest-shop-edinburgh/
Just watching bbc coverage of Russian protests.Have they no self awareness?
Are the demonstrators demanding access to the gee whizz western vaccines instead of the fuddy-duddy Russian one?
No they are against the Evil dictator Putin.How can people watch this and not realise what has happened to this country
I know, you’d need a heart of stone not to laugh
I said the same yesterday about the BBC continuing to report on the situation in Hong Kong. They have the audacity to maintain the same rhetoric about freedom fighters pushing back against the tyrannical China, while the UK, by Neil Ferguson’s own admission, follows China’s political mechanisms to suppress freedom.
It’s a mark of pride that I do not own a TV licence and have made my home live-TV-free.
President John Magafuli has a history of annoying those who are worried about what they call overpopulation.
He has repeatedly called for Tanzanians to have more children.
https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/president-magufuli-again-urges-tanzanians-to-bear-more-children-to-boost-economy-2705536
the more I hear about him the more I like him, a man who embraces life, and just laughs at this sinister death cult
A message for all NHS workers and political scum!
“Look into their eyes and tell me why you allowed them to die when there is cheap, off the shelf well known drugs to cure them – YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS”
Just saw an advert for the NHS earlier (I was at my brother’s home – a support bubble if the pigs must know) and it was full-blown unadulterated propaganda. It was twisting our civil beliefs about how we should ‘normally’ consider this tyranny to be an alien concept, and making the viewer consider that the ‘new normal’ is better. All the typical imagery of NHS workers doing cool poses and pinning up pictures of rainbows.
It makes me fucking sick but I don’t trust doctors anymore!
… similarly generalizations about doctors. They’re no different from the generalizations about sceptics.
Sounds like you have a good grip on this situation. Please help me understand what is a sceptic of this clusterfuck? Someone who has a slight itching hesitation to the complete breakage of our customs and society and family unite – or someone who utterly opposes lockdown?
And when I may need to see my doctor (it was nigh on impossible during the 1st lockdown, due to my doctor being too scared to see me in person) what should I say when approaching the uncomfortable question about where they stand on this tyranny?
Is all part the new new anti propaganda war. Just like people generalize about me being a granny killer for not wearing a muzzle. There is no more rational thinking in war, it’s us (or me) against them.. Watch this space…
Further to my response to RickH, because my doctor refused to see me, I had to attend my local ‘super-hospital’ instead. It was deadly silent, just nurses and doctors hanging round in groups, gossiping and showing each other photos on their phones. They waltzed around, care-free.
Besides the length of time I sat waiting, watching ambulance drivers and nurses laughing and flirting, it was the stifling suffocating oppression of wearing the damn mask that was unbearable.
I always recall the first 45 minutes I sat in the waiting room watching subtitled BBC news Covid propaganda, completely on my my own, until eventually a door opened nearby and loud laughter and banter spilled out into the large empty room.
After audibly double-checking who was next on their list (again I must stress: I was the only person there), they gave me a shout.
I went in and the two women did a pre-check on me. The atmosphere was like staff readying themselves on their last shift before a holiday. I left the room and went to the ambulatory ward. As far as I’m aware, this was also the place they were testing for Covid.
An hour and a half later, I… Read more »
Disgraceful. Doctors have turned out to be the biggest cowards of this whole debacle. I haven’t trusted them for decades, and my dad is a retired GP.
Stupid generalisation about ‘all NHS workers’ doesn’t help. It undermines a rational case and does the 77th Brigade’s job.
Yes it’s not NHS workers fault, neither is it my fault! No victors in war, but we’re not going down without a fight .. watch this space.
I have 4 close relatives who are nhs doctors and 2 friends. I cut relations will all 6 of the fuckers about 6 months ago. I will not be associated with the enablers of the fraud.
Dr Matthew Spalding (on the Delingpod yesterday) just stated that Liberty is a much more robust word than Freedom. Vive la Liberté!
SAVE THE NHS
I’ll repeat it
SAVE THE NHS
I repeat it because it has been bandied about ad nauseum for the past twelve months. But what does this slogan even mean? The slogan is vacuous to the point of being meaningless
We should know what the slogan means shouldn’t we?, our house arrest for the past twelve months is predicated on it
What is the NHS? What is it they want to ‘save’
Do they mean ‘save’ the staff, or the buildings, or the equipment? All these things are largely the same as they were last March and are likely to be largely the same next March and the March after
What would a ‘saved’ NHS look like?
How would you measure an ‘unsaved’ NHS. How would you measure a ‘saved’ NHS?
When if ever would the NHS be considered to be saved? Was it ‘saved’ last February but not ‘saved ‘ by March
How do you achieve something that is impossible to measure?
What an excellent point, one that I have not seen made before
Hats off!
Indeed what does it even mean?
What does “overwhelmed” mean in the context of hospitals?
The lack of any objective criteria in use as part of the biggest stupidest spending spree and removal of freedom in UK history is just incredible
I ask a lot of questions like that. One of the most potent questions you can ask is “What does that actually mean?” It’s amazing how often people can’t answer it.
I don’t want to save it.
me neither! I want to see it burned to the ground. the NHS must be destroyed.
Saving the govt from the fallout from media reports of people dying in the corridors more like.
Of course that’s happened in other years, but in those days no one cared about winter illnesses. In fact they still don’t, unless it’s covid.
This winter must be the first for decades that we haven’t seen patients dying on trolleys in hospital corridors.
Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save HMG’s face.
https://youtu.be/cQ_KjaHGoy8
Hancock leaks UK personal medical data to police. – Mahyar Tousi covering based on Big Brother Watch work
Isn’t information given to health care professionals ‘medical in confidence”?
Theoretically
It isn’t theoretical. It is as a matter of common law a duty.
Old but absolutely essential in ant-mask narrative https://www.sott.net/article/442455-German-Neurologist-Warns-Against-Wearing-Facemasks-Oxygen-Deprivation-Causes-Permanent-Neurological-Damage#
Would this be exaggerated in asthmatics, smokers, COPD sufferers and smokers, I wonder?
First thing that came into my head was Blazing Saddles, when Hedley Lamarr is trying to recruit bad guys:
Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?
Applicant: Rape, murder, arson, and rape.
Hedley Lamarr: You said rape twice.
Applicant: I like rape.
LIVES AT RISK’ Workers at Covid testing centre shown ‘fighting, boozing and snoozing’ in shocking video
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/6610073/workers-covid-testing-centre-fight-booze/
Wolverhampton.
“Lessons will be learned’, “retraining”, blah, blah, blah…
“Immensa Health Clinic, Wolverhampton, received a £119million government contract.”
Thank you key workers! You’re keeping us safe!
Hahaha. But a short drive away from me. Might pop up there tomorrow.
Report back if you do.
I most certainly will
I well and truly learned not to trust rags like the Sun after Saint Piers Morgan materialised those photos showing ‘British troops’ abusing Iraqi prisoners for his sick-bag-rag the Mirror.
That being said, the sewage plant a few blocks away has been hijacked and turned into a testing centre (I kid you not) and there is a sense that the place has been shut down. Never any activity there (apart from the shits floating around).
Aware of rag point and agree entirely.