Some people had fun in Soho last night. But crowded streets inevitably led to a lot of alarmist nonesense. The story in the Mail about last night’s revels is headlined: “‘A second wave won’t be long in the making!’ Exhausted police officer predicts fresh Covid spike after ‘long late shift peppered with pub fights, drunken violence and drunken, drugged-up fools’.“
A senior police officer has predicted a fresh coronavirus onslaught after confronted with “pub fights, drunken violence and drunken, drugged-up fools” last night.
Social distancing was declared to be in tatters today after jubilant drinkers called time on lockdown and descended on the nation’s pubs.
Cities across Britain were heaving last night on a scale not seen since Boris Johnson ordered bars to shutter over a hundred days ago.
Yeah, that won’t happen. Everything will be completely fine.
They Seek It Here, They Seek It There
Good piece by Professor David Spiegelhalter in the Observer about how misleading some of the headline figures are. This bit in particular Jumped out:
The Office for National Statistics has just reported that the number of people in England testing positive was previously decreasing but has now levelled off. There was some additional modelling, but the raw data comprised “swab tests collected from 23,203 participants, of which 12 individuals tested positive for COVID-19”. This small number of positive tests means there is great uncertainty as to current infection levels.
In other words, the virus has nigh on disappeared – that’s what “levelled off” means – particularly when you factor in the high number of false positives.
Is Merthyr Tydfil the Next Leicester?
My heart goes out to the residents of Merthyr Tydfil. According to the Telegraph, Covid cases have increased from 10 to 179 per 100,000, overtaking Leicester. Does this mean a local lockdown is imminent?
Probably not.
Health chiefs in Wales have said there is no evidence that the infections – linked to an outbreak at a meat plant – have spread to the community.
As a result, there are currently no plans to extend lockdown measures in the Merthyr Tydfil.
Public Health Wales has said the surge in cases stems from increased testing, after a cluster of 130 cases at the Kepak meat plant. Most of the positive cases were uncovered on the same day, leaving health chiefs hopeful that the outbreak can be stamped out.
Pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants are due to re-open in Wales on July 13th. Let’s hope this doesn’t cause any delays.
Up the Junction
A reader tells me about the miserable experience of using Clapham Junction mainline station:
I just wanted to drop you a line to ask if you were aware of the passenger “new normal” experience that is now Clapham Junction railway station? Notwithstanding the face masks mandatory rule, which makes no scientific sense especially as the general masks act as an aerosol, when we alighted at Clapham Junction yesterday afternoon the scene was Dystopian with circa one hundred members of staff, all wearing masks and looking agitated herding passengers through the station. My partner and I are in our 40s and felt stressed and alarmed. For a child, the experience would have been frightening. I feel it’s got nothing to do with safety but Orwellian control – there’s an illogical one way system which means there’s only one exit which is the Grant Road end (if you know the area) which in the winter months is not well lit and funnels people under bridges to get round to St John’s Road.
The inconvenience of a detour I can live with but it was the experience of so many “officials” wearing masks and herding passengers through narrow underground walkways that was disturbing. And for who’s benefit? I wonder how the decision to enforce wearing of facemasks came about. If it was to encourage the use of public transport it will do the opposite. As with much of the last four months debacle the decisions are laced with political games, as we’ve seen with Sturgeon ordering masks to be worn in shops. The rate she’s going Scotland will be a third world country when this is over if making transport and the retail sector so unpleasant people keep their wallets firmly shut.
Once we finally got round to the station exit (as it was in saner times) we were faced with the view in the attached photo. Although Debs were in trouble Before Coronavirus, it just about summed up the calamity of this Government’s creation.
Double-Counting
A reader in Toronto has been in touch to flag up a possible explanation for the rising case numbers in southern and southwestern US states.
Your recent post about double counting of Pillar 2 tests in Leicestershire got me thinking whether that could be a factor in the recent spike in cases in the U.S.
So here’s a link to, for example, Johns Hopkins data for Arizona.
Among other things, the percentage of positive tests has been growing steadily and now stands at 25%. On the face of it, this is very alarming. It also doesn’t seem to pass the sniff test, as hospitals should theoretically be overwhelmed.
So here’s an interesting disclaimer on the same page: “When states report the number of COVID-19 tests performed, this should include the number of viral tests performed and the number of patients for which these tests were performed. Currently, states may not be distinguishing overall tests administered from the number of individuals who have been tested. This is an important limitation to the data that is available to track testing in the U.S., and states should work to address it.”
So they’re as much as saying there’s double counting going on. And if people who test positive get retested until they’re negative, that would have the effect of artificially increasing both the number of “cases” and the “percent positive”.
The same page also has an admonition for states not to include antibody tests in their reporting. So if some states are doing that, that could also help to explain the rise in “cases” and “positive tests”.
Arizona is a more extreme example, but Texas and Florida are also showing strong increases in “percent positive” to 14% and 18% respectively.
Another problem with the data, in addition to double counting, is that not all of it is up-to-date. This story in azcentral has a rather bed-wetting headline, but contains this gem towards the end:
Arizonans have reported delays in getting tested and waits of as long as three weeks to get results. The daily cases reported are not all from the previous day’s results — they could have been tests conducted weeks ago
A Publican Speaks
There was a great interview with Hugh Osmond, founder of Punch Taverns, one of the UK’s largest pub chains, on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House this morning. Hugh is an arch-sceptic who regularly passes on his latest findings to me and which I reproduce in the daily updates.
I was alerted to this by a reader:
It was a breath of fresh air to hear the views of an intelligent Lockdown Sceptic being broadcast on the BBC – he says some pretty powerful stuff and is direct, well-informed and authoritative.
Somewhat amusingly, the host Paddy O’Connell starts to sound rather concerned, maybe even mildly flustered, that the clear and direct messages being transmitted by Osmond are flying in the face of the Received Wisdom of the bed-wetters at the BBC and so he tries to interrupt Osmond on a number of occasions to stop the flow of pointed remarks! But Osmond definitely succeeds in getting his message across.
If you haven’t heard it, then I am sure you will enjoy it and I am also sure your Lock-Down Sceptics audience will love listening to it.
You can listen to Hugh on Broadcasting House by clicking here and going to the 17 minute 54 second mark. The interview lasts about nine minutes.
Venetian Advice
After my request for travel advice yesterday – the Young family is heading to Venice in a couple of weeks – I’ve had a lot of emails like this one:
The thought of going on a flight dressed for a Russian chemical attack fills me with horror, I’m due to go to Venice in September and am thinking of driving, it’s a couple of days, but that can be part of the holiday, You can park in/near Venice, carry all the junk you want. And no masks! And all those French and Italian wine regions to stop in.
Round-Up
And on to the round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘New Paper Demonstrates Strong Efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine. Mortality rate cut in half!‘ – A new study in the Journal of Infectious Diseases appears to show that Hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment
- ‘Elderly man faces arrest after a shove in an elevator‘ – Some poor oldster in Florida is facing charges for being a bit jumpy
- ‘A Virus Walks Into a Bar…‘ – Alarmist piece in the New York Times about how bars are infection hot spots
- ‘Tribute to driving instructor Adrian Care‘ – Sad story about a driving instructor in Worcester who’s committed suicide. Another collateral death
- ‘Distorting science in the Covid pandemic‘ – Latest blog post from arch-sceptic Dr Malcolm Kendrick
- ‘WHO Quietly Admits Chinese Communist Party Never Reported Coronavirus Outbreak‘ – Shocking report in Brietbart. Turns out, China never told the WHO about the Covid outbreak. The WHO found out from other sources
- ‘We’ve all turned from normal humans into muzzled masochists!‘ – Peter Hitchens’s column in today’s Mail on Sunday is, as always, worth a read. He points out that Leicester’s rise in cases coincided with a rise in testing in the city
- ‘Haggard, hunched and morbidly obese: Horrifying model reveals what you could look like if you worked from home for the next 25 years‘ – Amusing story in the Mail. The “model” is indeed horrifying and looks unannily like me after 100 days of Lockdown Sceptics
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A few weeks ago, Lockdown Sceptics launched a searchable directory of open businesses across the UK. The idea is to celebrate those retail and hospitality businesses that have re-opened, as well as help people find out what has opened in their area. But we need your help to build it, so we’ve created a form you can fill out to tell us about those businesses that have opened near you. Now that non-essential shops have re-opened – or most of them, anyway – we’re now focusing on pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as other social venues. As of July 4th, many of them have re-opened too, but not all. Please visit the page and let us know about those brave folk who are doing their bit to get our country back on its feet. Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
Note to the Good Folk Below the Line
I enjoy reading all your comments and I’m glad I’ve created a “safe space” for lockdown sceptics to share their frustrations and keep each other’s spirits up. But please don’t copy and paste whole articles from papers that are behind paywalls in the comments. I work for some of those papers and if they don’t charge for premium content they won’t survive.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the last 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. It usually takes me several hours to do these updates, which doesn’t leave much time for other work. If you feel like donating, however small the amount, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here. (Please don’t email me at any other address.) I’ll try and get another update done on Tuesday.
And Finally…
Good satirical piece in the always amusing Babylon Bee. The headline reads: “State Governor Mandates Everyone Wear Snorkels In Case They Fall In A Pool.”
U.S.—As governors clamor to follow the ways of SCIENCE and save lives in their state, one state Governor has read some very scary statistics from SCIENCE and decided to go the extra mile to protect the safety of his citizens. “Starting today,” he said, “All citizens of my state will be required to wear a snorkel at all times, both indoors and out. This will prevent thousands of tragic deaths resulting from people falling in their backyard pools. SCIENCE says we must do this.”
Every person in the state will be required to wear a snorkel, preferably paired with goggles, 24 hours a day. When pressed as to why they were necessary indoors, the Governor replied, “Hello! Sinks? Bathtubs? Showers? There are water hazards everywhere inside the house! We can’t be too careful! SCIENCE!”
According to the order, anyone caught without a snorkel will be required to pay a $15,000 fine or face eight years of jail time. Second offenders will be shot on sight. “We must do this to save lives and obey SCIENCE!! We are in this together,” the state Governor exclaimed before tripping on a microphone chord and falling headfirst into the press pool.
Discussion
Comments
This week across the site:
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I anticipate many more to come in my industry but a big US and Caribbean tour operator has announced they are ceasing trading. They said due to Corona Virus (we all know it is due to lockdown and Govt. policies) but very sad after 27 years of business. Multiple job losses, cancelled holidays etc.
https://www.fr24news.com/a/2020/07/funway-holidays-will-close-on-september-30-for-vacationers.html
https://medium.com/@vernunftundrichtigkeit/coronavirus-why-everyone-was-wrong-fce6db5ba809
The comments about asymptomatic cases is spot on
I live in Washington State. Our police don’t enforce these orders, either. The Sheriff made a statement saying that he wouldn’t be enforcing any of it. Not sure about the local police, but they don’t seem inclined to enforce it, either.
But that doesn’t stop napoleon-complex governors. What my governor has done is place this burden on local business owners. His actual quote was: “No mask, no services!” Even though he has threatened individuals with a misdemeanor criminal offense for not wearing a mask, the real threat is against business owners. He encourages people to turn in business owners who do business with anyone not wearing a mask, and fines are issued or the business is closed down.
Why bother with police when you can turn the population on itself? This is a pretty classic strategy employed by totalitarian dictators. Again, I would have expected to see rioting in the US based on this – but no. People are more than happy to run around grocery stores taking pictures of their neighbors.
I remember reading in the Gulag Archipelago when Solzhenitsyn would frequently lament the behavior of the population, saying that if even a small number of Russians would have… Read more »
Notice in loo in car park: ‘These toilets are not inspected and cleaned after every use. You use them at your own risk.’
Coming soon: the new blockbuster film, Indiana Jones and the Toilet of Doom.
What on earth do you eat in Wales?
My knowledge of british cuisine relies 100% on the following: Aubrey/Maturin, Horatio Hornblower, and the 1980’s productions of sherlock holmes and poirot.
I’m assuming things have improved?
Gosh, you should come visit sometime! We have (had) one of the most eclectic, exciting food scenes in the world!
So old normal then?
Flat earth ‘a danger to shipping’ President of the Royal Society says.
‘Seeing that the earth is obviously flat, it’s equally obvious that any ship sailing over the horizon will fall off the edge.
‘The fact that this has never been observed to happen is irrelevant. All sea-going traffic must be banned immediately. It’s too dangerous. We must follow the science.’
The Dutch version of PHE, the RIVM, now admits they won’t be able to properly secure the Dutch corona website “Infection Radar”. According to Dutch national (state) tv news (computer translation):
RIVM website “Infection Radar” only operational again after summer
The Infection Radar site, with which RIVM wanted to map new outbreaks of the coronavirus, will remain out of the service for the time being. RIVM expects to have the site operational again in September at the earliest.
A month ago, the NOS reported that Infection Radar contained a vulnerability that could allow someone to view the completed forms of other users. RIVM then quickly took the site offline.
Participants in Infection Radar indicated once a week whether they had corona complaints. When registering, they also provided information about their personal and medical situation.
(Original Dutch link: https://nos.nl/artikel/2339872-rivm-site-infectieradar-pas-na-zomer-weer-operationeel.html)
So, yet another COVID-19 plan by a European state goes under because the SS “State to the Rescue” hit an iceberg…
https://youtu.be/1CZzdSzUZLE
Short video showing Sen Scott Jensen MD giving some serious concern to the manipulation of c19 death cert reporting. Unusually American doctors have received instructions how to fill in the form. For maximum profit or something else.
Yes. Let’s not forget, the USA is another country in very important respects, not least their for-profit, differently incentivised health care system.
Who the bloody hell do the BBC think they are!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53320155
Quote, not attributed to an “expert”, or anyone other than the reporter:
Only 22% of people testing positive for coronavirus reported having symptoms on the day of their test, according to the Office for National Statistics.
This hammers home the importance of “asymptomatic transmission” – spread of the virus by people who aren’t aware they’re carrying it.
Later in the article we have:
Asymptomatic transmission was warned of by the World Health Organization and the government’s scientific advisors, but they weren’t able to quantify how great a risk it was.
“Asymptomatic transmission was warned of by the World Health Organization and the government’s scientific advisors, but they weren’t able to quantify how great a risk it was.”
Well, that’s a lie (they said the risk was very low), but what do you expect from the supine state broadcaster?
I love that. Asymptomatic transmission is the primary assumption upon which universal masking relies. Yet, we keep hearing about how “recent developments show the efficacy of universal masking,” while the actual science points in the opposite direction. What “recent developments” are being referred to, here? Political and social pressure…
And if history tells us one thing, it’s that political and social pressure makes for really good science!
Yeah, really annoyed me reading that, especially since the WHO says that asymptomatic spread is very rare.
Has anybody looked into asymptomatic transmission of the ‘flu or the common cold. Rhetorical question to an extent, because I assume nobody has bothered.
… don’t be silly, matt, of course they haven’t.
Historically, we haven’t gone around wearing masks for the same reason we don’t all go around wearing helmets and knee pads. In spite of what every workplace claims, “safety” is not our #1 priority. We view every aspect of our lives in the context of the rest of our lives.
Obviously, if masks are necessary for covid, they are also necessary for the flu. So why haven’t we worn masks every year since 1918? Because of context. Masks suck. They are uncomfortable and they are hot, they hide our faces, create a false sense that something is always wrong; and, we all know that they are unnecessary for the vast majority of people, even if we pretend that they actually do work.
Right now, we have been forced to forget all of the context of life and view everything solely as: “how does this impact, or how is it impacted by, covid.”
Easy enough example of that is those times when we go back to living our lives. Interact with someone at work, or at a kid’s baseball game, or at a restaurant or anywhere else… after a while, you again focus on whatever it is you’re there… Read more »
Nobody has looked into anything. It’s like civilisation died and everything is being relearned with this new virus.
Vaccinate Texas Police?
Surprise, surprise:
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for COVID-19
The sceptic president! How convenient!
He announced it himself to reporters shoving mics in his (masked) face. Clearly not on deaths door.
Statistically the chances of getting the virus are low… so anyone else think it is odd that so many presidents and other leaders have been infected?? Is it to make them more easily malleable to the NWO?
I cannot speak with authority. But I’ve been a criminal defense attorney, and something that has always caused me to be skeptical of conspiracies is simple human nature. Keeping a secret is difficult. Even the smallest conspiracies fall apart. Massive conspiracies seem destined to fail. That’s the funny thing about bond villains. What happens when one of those henchmen goes to a bar and yaps to the pretty blond about the secret active-volcano lair? One of the better examples of a real “conspiracy,” lately, would be the behaviors of Joseph Epstein. Politicians can get away with a lot, and presumably secret organizations could get away with quite a lot as well… but it really is difficult to pull off grand schemes unnoticed.
More likely, groupthink sets in and people tend to be influenced by character traits that they all share. This explains the media both in the US and in the UK (I think).
You’re right, though, that a lot of political leaders have seemed to be infected. I think that may be a product of testing… you and I would generally have to stand in line and show symptoms.
Has anyone else noticed the lack of very famous people, i.e. celebrities and actors rather than politicians, who have not been infected, and I’ve not heard of any that have died, with the exception of Eddie Large. There’s been no shock deaths of someone such as Clooney, for example.
Seem to remember Tom Hanks caught it at the beginning of the ‘pandemic’??? And of course Prince Charles.. But yes, no deaths – they are maybe all taking hydroxychloroquine?
Perhaps a ploy by him to show no symptoms, speedy recovery etc?
Went to a Tesco, Melton Mowbray. Know some of the staff there & was told that the one way arrows, queuing were being removed tomorrow. Tesco only do things corporately so this will be nationwide.
That’s a good start! I presume the muzzles and face guards and plexiglass stays in place for the staff for now?
No muzzles observed on the staff, 1 customer had one. Plexiglass remaining.
Got told off because I went straight to an empty till instead of going to the far end of the shop to wait to be told. They didn’t stop me though!
Bravo. Are the little Hiters starting to shrink?
Customer is always right.
“Is the customer always right” was a question on a Pizza Hut application form when I was at university. I put no. Didn’t get the job.
We will see.
Really?
Not in Gulag Wales, I suppose.
If the official death toll is 44,000, does that mean that 44,000 people have been killed by the virus, or does it mean 44,000 people have died with the virus on their death certificate? Any hard evidence on this?
Also, who is WFB?
William F. Buckley was the founder of National Review. That is why I say “critical thinking.” We are seeing a ridiculous amount of “studies” and all sorts of “conventional wisdom” that has developed over the past several months – and so much of it is self-contradictory or simply doesn’t pass the sniff test. We seem to have lost the ability to actually think. We see a piece of information in the form of a hastily published study or a newspaper article or some statistic, and we react to it… but we don’t sit down and think critically about it. We no longer seem to process information because we’re too busy reacting.
That makes sense, thanks. I don’t know much about him, although I remember watching this some time ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y021WAdUlW8
Interviewing the great Thomas Sowell.
I agree with your subsequent comments, unfortunately.
Old interviews with Sowell are all fantastic. He was recently interviewed here:
https://ricochet.com/775332/uk-an-economist-looks-at-90-tom-sowell-on-charter-schools-and-their-enemies/
And also on the Ricochet podcast from a couple of weeks ago.
That’s a great interview, as are all of his that I have seen.
The issue of charter and private schools is almost as depressing as the fact that covid has emboldened many of our leaders to declare themselves emperors (and go largely unchallenged).
I just pulled my own kids out of their private school because the state is requiring masks on kids – of course, having no idea what the virus will be doing in September, and already knowing that it doesn’t impact kids. And, as with everything else, private schools are not exempt from governors’ edicts. But I cannot stand the thought of subjecting them to the sort of psychological abuse that is being mandated.
The fact that so few people push back is truly frightening. We really have gone mad.
(I am reminded of a Chesterton, book, I believe it was “The Napoleon of Notting Hill.” He had a unique treatment of the issue of “madness,” that was probably a product of his era. I’d be absolutely fascinated to see his response to covid)
As children are at negligible risk from CV19, wearing masks is not only unnecessary, but potentially harmful. As the California doctor said, you don’t wrap someone up in bubble-wrap, stick them in a room on their own and expect them to develop a healthy immune system.
In real life, I am an attorney who represents kids in foster care. Perhaps the most difficult and long-lasting impact of child-abuse is a fear of human contact. Obviously, I’m not equating these things, but I think it is a very dangerous thing for us to artificially create this fear of human contact in entire generations of children. That is to say nothing of the way human immune systems develop.
I’m seeing a business opportunity here, for starting up small unofficial schools in the homes of people who can accommodate a group up to 30 – isn’t that allowed now in one’s own home, to have 30 people in one place?
Also, with respect to death certificates, we already know the numbers are way off. Due to the fact that my own governor has issued mandatory masking (which I’m ignoring) for the entire state, specifically citing my own city as the reason why, I have spent a lot of time looking at the actual numbers for my city. On the Department of Health’s own website, at one point, it was openly stated that the criteria for a covid death was that a person had died after having tested positive. Several cases had to be removed – gunshot and overdose deaths. If you tested positive and died a month later of any cause whatsoever, you’d be a covid death. I don’t know how much of this is malicious (my experience with conspiracies is that they simply don’t ever work) and how much of it is simply due to our inability to develop a system of keeping track of these things.
Surely there were procedures to ensure cause of death was accurately recorded, procedures that have been deliberately altered so that cause of death is no longer accurately recorded.
That’s what I thought had been going on. Many thanks.
I believe Scotland’s c 19 emergency death certing has a similar tested positive or has med notes saying showed c19 symptom/s in last month then c19 is a cause and counted as c19 death. Please check this i am unable to currently.
Yes.
As in, we’re unlikely to really know.
There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that people have had CV19 added to their death certificate, but relatives don’t believe it’s what caused their death. My sister’s FIL is one example: He was 91, had undergone hip surgery for a broken hip, had heart failure, which was given as cause of death, but he also had CV19 as an additional cause, although he’d apparently shown no symptoms. I’ve read a lot of these accounts.
I doubt that there will be a proper assessment. The PTB are only too happy to go along with the case total at the moment. When they get attacked for it, maybe they’ll take a harder look at it.
Very similar story regarding an old guy in the next village to mine. Terminal cancer, weeks to live, fell at home, broke his ankle, once in hospital he was tested positive for covid 19 but no symptoms, died a week or so later from his cancer but covid on his DC.
As many have pointed out, the only true measure is to look at all-cause mortality at the end of the year and see the extent to which it differs, if at all, from recent average years, and then do some analysis. There’s so much variation in how covid deaths are reported, the comparisons are probably not that valid. For sure a number of countries, like the UK, definitely saw a significant spike in deaths for a period of a few weeks, some of which may have been caused by covid, but the picture is confused by lockdowns, which may have caused additional deaths.
The lockdown will certainly be causing additional deaths, so I don’t see how a comparison of total deaths will help.
Agreed, and the really scary question is whether lockdown has been maintained deliberately, to skew all-cause mortality figures and obfuscate Coronovirus actually killing only a negligible number, simply moving some deaths forward slightly. Could it be that dark? Killing people via lockdown to cover their own arses? The complimentary fiddling of death cert processes points that way. Next step, cancer deaths going on the Coronovirus count because Coronovirus caused them not to be diagnosed.
In those countries that continued post-mortems, they certainly found that Covid played a part in some deaths, but I don’t think it is listed as the actual cause of death in any cases, but is listed as a contributing factor.
Where PMs were no longer conducted, and before testing was ramped up to today’s levels, doctors had to make a call whether Covid was a factor or not. Generally speaking, in these cases, Covid is not quoted as the primary cause. Generally speaking.
It is a very interesting issue. I’ve had discussions with doctor friends who have treated covid cases and definitely think that it is something unique and pretty deadly in some cases. That alone should lead to some pretty important questions, but people don’t seem to be asking those questions.
I have said many times: Imagine if we tested everyone in the hospital for presence of the common cold? Imagine if every time a person who died tested positive for the cold, it was listed as a cold death? I am not suggesting that covid is, and has always been, nothing more than a cold. But we are creating a situation with so much noise that we’ve essentially removed our ability to properly investigate the situation to see what is actually going on.
The last (even worse) time we locked down. Didn’t we?
“In the 2017 to 2018 winter period, there were an estimated 50,100 excess winter deaths (EWD) in England and Wales (Figure 1). The number of EWD observed in 2017 to 2018 was higher than all years since the 1975 to 1976 winter period when there were 58,100 EWD.”
Lots of anecdotal evidence plus whistleblowers.
It’s happening all over the locked up countries not just this one – in Poland I know of a friend of my son’s girlfriend’s family who was getting on a bit was undergoing treatment for blood clots prior to all this covid hysteria.
Poland cleared the hospitals (some of her friends were nurses so was getting the updates and latest from them) and locked down the care homes and all hospital treatments were stopped so the old boy hadn’t had treatment for months and could’t get a GP’s appointment as they were refusing to see anyone.
A few days ago he collapsed in the street from a blood clot hitting his lungs and no-one would help him as they all said “covid-19 infected”. It just happened that my son’s girlfriends mother was walking past and saw what was happening, explained that he had blood clots, not covid-19 but still no-one would help.
He was taken to hospital, cause of death – covid-19, blood clots not mentioned.
I thought everyone here knew it is just where it is mentioned on a death certificate.
It is a notifiable disease (unlike flu) so has to be noted if the recently deceased tests positive.
At the end of may, the ONS stats said 90.4% of deaths had more than two comorbidities, so you can more than likely say that they werent FROM COVID-19.
In another post in ber,e, someone is currently trying to get the Care Home figures for deaths with “Confirmed COVID-19” and “Suspected COVID-19” which made deaths exponential rise in care homes after they were added to the form on 10th April. I hope they get them as I would expect that a large majority we only suspected and doctors and paramedics would not attend Care Homes.
Toby, I’d be curious to see your treatment of this:
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/bad-news-about-the-virus/
Early on, National Review (does anyone even remember WFB’s old comment about standing athwart history yelling “stop?”) became just another medium for relatively uninformed covid-hyperventilating commentary. That it keeps this up is truly discouraging.
LOL. The article refers to someone called Choe, presumbaly one of the many “experts” we come across, but there’s no information about who she is, or in what she has expertise.
So it’s mutated to be more contagious but less deadly….. they mean it’s turned into a common cold?
You’d think people would ask that question. The assumption of the article is that it is more contagious but not more deadly. How do they know that? He doesn’t say. So he follows with the assumption that if something is more contagious and the same amount of deadly, deaths will still go way, way up. Of course, that is something that a person could fairly easily fact-check. Note the two lines of reasoning and pretend that you were grading college papers.
1) Cases are going way up but deaths are not. Therefore; deaths are a lagging indicator and the other shoe is about to drop. People are about to start dying in droves.
2) Cases are going way up but deaths are not. Therefore; maybe it is more contagious and less deadly?
Or
3) “Cases” are going way up but deaths are not, therefore maybe it’s just as contagious and just as deadly as it’s always been, but we never got around to testing swathes of the population who have the viral infection but not the disease before, in a similar way that we don’t test perfectly healthy people for the ‘flu “just in case”?
Absolutely.
Turned into a cold from a cold.
A lot of studies are of the form:
The virus has spread widely let’s see if there’s any common link. Look the most prevalant form of the virus is now this. What else can we say about it? Well it does seem to be spreading faster than before…
Conclusion: current form of the virus spreads faster than before
In my own town, you can look at a bar graph that shows overall tests and positive tests. The percentage positive has varied, but remained relatively constant. The positive tests appear as a curve, but the overall tests appear as pretty much an identical curve.
I do not hear enough discussed about how the increase in positives tends to correlate almost directly to the increase in tests performed.
Conclusion is “virus spreads faster than before,” but how did they rule out “virus is far more widespread than we previously assumed?” The two are not mutually exclusive, but the latter also seems very important if you’re hoping to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Think it’s likely to do with who’s doing the study and why. If they’ve been asked to show a certain outcome then that’s what they’ll look for. It’s unusual for people to undertake studies just for the sake of it.
Extract from The Telegraph live feed. I think the response to this is something that rhymes with “clucking bell”, as Blackadder would say:
Oxford professor re-opens pub’s socially distanced dining pods
Oxford country gastropub The White Hart of Wytham re-opened last night, launching its new al fresco dining pods with Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at the Jenner Institute in Oxford, there to cut the ribbon.
Prof Gilbert attended with a member of her team, Teresa Lambe, enjoying dinner in one of the pods and receiving a warm reception from all the evening’s customers.
Owner of The White Hart, Baz Butcher, said: “Our 16th-century pub has long been popular with Oxford academics alongside villagers and the wider foodie community, so it seemed more than appropriate to recognise and express our gratitude to one of the University’s current innovators at this momentous time.”
Gilbert adds: “It was wonderful to be able to enjoy the White Hart’s excellent food in the new pods, which provide for sheltered and screened outdoor dining. We had a relaxed evening with great service.”
There are 10 pods in the pub, made using mostly recycled materials by one of the pub’s patrons. Each accommodates two couples or a family… Read more »
Meanwhile, none of this stupidity in Swedish eateries, and yet the hospitalisation and death rates continue to fall..
Another dose of madness. Accidental chemical poisonings surge as children eat hand sanitiser and public clean food in bleach
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/accidental-chemical-poisonings-surge-children-eat-hand-sanitiser/
It must be over -the Daily Mail uses the term fizzles out (despite the link name) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8497533/Virus-likely-brought-forward-deaths-elderly-vulnerable-ONS.html
They’ve updated and actually put fizzle in the headline:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8497533/Virus-likely-brought-forward-deaths-elderly-vulnerable-ONS.html?offset=4&max=100&jumpTo=comment-567130245
I got this comment on:
Nothing here that us sceptics haven’t been saying since March. MSM just catching up now when it is all over – so why are the idiots in charge hellbent on forcing muzzles onto everybody?
The Daily Mail change their minds more often than the WHO…
Good to get that message in front of the public. Many may not agree, but anything that sows doubt helps the cause.
They’re coming for us in Wales
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-53320433
After resisting the urge to impose face masks anywhere the Welsh Government are about to crack. I’m surprised it’s taken so long. How will they justify the fact that they’ve advised against making them mandatory so far? What new evidence will they invent? Answers on a postcard….
Relentless.
They don’t need evidence when they are wheeling out the sheeple to do their work for them.
Sadly, I agree. But at the same time, I wonder how happy people will be to comply if they try and enforce this everywhere. I sense that people are relaxing more and I wonder how many people are really buying into the ‘2nd wave’ crap when nobody round here knows anyone who has a) had the virus at all or at least within the last 2-3 months.
Yesterday brought our Monday yomp over the hill to shop, Morrisons, which has done reasonably well throughout in staying calm, has taken out the antisocial distancing circles (replaced them with obscure tape markings which everyone was ignoring) and they’ve re-opened the cafe. It looks almost normal if you ignore the perspex screens. Stupid! I think to reclaim parking spaces, they have replaced the massive queue barriers with a metal maze which crams people closer together. Oo-er Missus, 2nd wave in the High Peak!
No swerving and only 3 masks in the whole trip: A frail old chap, then a crazed-looking woman in filthy gloves. The 3rd was a man who got off the bus as we were drinking coffee on a wall. My husband said, ‘Get some oxygen, mate’ and he whipped it… Read more »
They will expect everyone not to remember anything before yesterday and claim it was the plan alls long.
“Ministers ‘looking at evidence’ on face coverings”
If this were true, the conclusion can only be that mandating them is completely unwarranted.
I also see Bojo and co are about to crack:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/07/wear-face-masks–coverings-over-nose-and-mouth-stresses-no-10
If anyone actually reads the content of this article, which is doing its best to make it sound like the ‘2 new studies’ actually provide evidence for their effectiveness, you’ll see the best they can come up with is ‘several other countries’ are doing it, and ‘83%’ in Italy wear them (where apparently they’re about to become no longer required, according to my Italian colleague – tho I can’t verify that as dont speak Italian)
For anyone reading this: The Royal Societies own paper that cites those 2 studies as justification for it’s position and new press campaign for muzzling, concludes that “The study by Canini et al52 was stopped early because of poor enrollment; the study had only a 38% chance of detecting a 40% additional protection by masking. Not unexpectedly, the study found no masking effectiveness.”
That is direct from their actual findings. The second one is a bit lengthier, so I won’t repost – but in summary, take up was insufficient so they just made up… Read more »
If they do this, I will simply refuse to comply. If asked why, I’ll say I am a rational person and follow the science. If they fine me, I will rip it up in their faces. If they jail me for repeated non-payments of fines, so be it. I will no longer follow their arbitrary rules. If enough of us do this, those seeking to control us are powerless. If I’m the only one resisting, so be it. I’m waiting for my Prisoner T-shirt bought from the Portmeirion website. “I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own!”
I’m with tou, WILL NOT COMPLY.
How amazing that they will all follow Nicola Sturgeon – she must be an amazing leader and setting a great example.
A broad smile here victoria.
Picture two really disgusting piles of horror and unpleasantness. One makes a distant posh sound when you tread on it, the other makes a sound more familiar. This is the genius of sturgeon.
I’ve had a bizarre conversation with someone who thinks Nicola S is showing real leadership skills in a pandemic. There really wasn’t a gap in the conversation to halt the flow. It was depressing. Do you think NS is visualising leading the SNP army to fight off the English? It looks like it.
I took a train journey today with my 3 daughters (5, 9 & 13). The trains unusually punctual and almost empty. On the train out there were 4 other passengers (2 of whom were muzzled) on the return journey 5 passengers-2 of whom were muzzled when they boarded, but took them off when I asked them a question and couldn
t make out their answer. I was expecting to be asked to wear a mask or for someone to enforce it at some point but no one said anything-a couple of the station staff wore them, the train drivers and guards didnt. It was an interesting anthropological experience…depressing though it is to see intelligent looking people muzzled and gagged.Nearly fell over laughing in Carmarthen – my first visit since lockdown. When my 70 yr old friend John, commonly known as Tramp, caught sight of a few people in muzzles he said he was surprised to see all these dangerous bastards in town but glad they’d been prevented from biting us!
Interesting thread on Twitter regarding Japan:
https://twitter.com/motokorich/status/1280377831101304832
The new Japan model: “government hopes not to lean too much toward public health experts, who often recommend actions that would lower virus transmission but at the expense of halting the movement of people, thereby harming the economy”
Article linked in the thread for those not on Twitter:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/07/06/national/japan-coronavirus-subcommittee/
Thanks – that is positive.
Regarding face mask exemption badges, you can also get them here and please consider supporting this charity. They’re Edinburgh based, great for our fellow sceptics in Scotland:
https://www.euansguide.com/news/face-mask-exempt-badges/
thanks for this. I have ordered and donated.
Ordered and donated. Thank you Bart.
Ordered and donated. Thanks Bart.
Many thanks, Bart. Just ordered 3 (my donation got spat out but I’ve emailed them to sort it out) and they say there’s a high demand. Fancy that!
Thank you. Ordered and donated through “Just Giving” as I had the same problem as Miriam.
Thanks Bart. I’ve ordered and donated.
Ordered and donated. Thank you!
Something that has been slowly making its way into my despondent thought processes: for many many years now, our so called betters have proclaimed that diversity in every aspect of life is the way forward and that cultural and social relativism amount to ‘right think’.
Now, those very same movers and shakers are insisting on uniformity- conformity-in dress, acceptable social norms and trust in the establishment.
Secondly, and I hope that scientists here might confirm or refute if I’m wrong, I’ve always assumed that total eradication of pathogens is impossible, so why the Zero Covid push by Wee Krankie?
Political gain?
Someone can correct me here, but I think the only disease humans have managed to completely eradicate is smallpox. Attempting to eradicate a coronavirus seems to me to be laughable… Even if one country could somehow manage it, they would have to maintain a closed border until the end of time unless the entire world also eradicated it simultaneously.
Exactly.
That’s correct. Even illnesses like polio, leprosy, beri-beri, rickets are still around the only reasons why there virtually zero here in the West is the higher standard of living and are now easily avoidable.
so called betters have proclaimed that diversity in every aspect of life is the way forward and that cultural and social relativism amount to ‘right think’.
Well they might consider themselves “betters” – I certainly don’t. Most of that crowd are not very self aware individuals.
There is nothing wrong with diversity, but they forget to include viewpoint diversity. In fact, they seem to be extremely hostile to viewpoint diversity.
If you are interested in the subject Jonathan Haidt is a leading thinker in this area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterodox_Academy
“I’ve always assumed that total eradication of pathogens is impossible.”
I think it depends. I think smallpox has been eradicated.
“why the Zero Covid push by Wee Krankie?”
She’s a politician.
To me:
Zero Covid = taking your ball and going home or wishing the problem away
Well quite.
Thank you. Will read it
Zero covid is simply changing the goal-posts in order to maintain power. I know that sounds conspiratorial, but it’s the truth, even if it is subconscious. We knew that people would not likely go for lockdown, which is why it was “two weeks to flatten the curve.” In the US, governors issued “emergency declarations” to enable them basically dictatorial power. Those orders are extended and extended and extended. Once people are focused solely on covid, they lose all context. At what point do we go back to thinking of this in relation to the flu? We keep hearing “masks work!” Ok, let’s pretend that they do – we don’t allow our governments to force people to wear masks in order to protect against the flu or the cold, even if we believe that doing so would “save lives.” We can only have these conversations when we think in a vacuum.
The Zero-Covid push is maybe not any sort of intentional strategy; it is the product of us spending 100% of our time and energy focused on this single issue, and completely losing context. This is what virtually any conversation would end up looking like if we handled everything in… Read more »
I commented on the Independent Sage discussion on Youtube with the following:
Once you accept mandatory mask wearing there will never be a situation where they won’t be mandatory until the virus is eradicated. Which could easily be never.
Some of the symptoms of Covid are similar to those of the flu. A number of people have been sure they have had Covid but tested negative. We do not wear masks during the flu season every year – if masks are so effective for viral infections, one might ask why we have never done this; why has it never been recommended before?
Will we now be expected to wear masks every winter, as a so-called precautionary measure?
Mark B posted this link below (https://dailysceptic.org/2020/07/05/latest-news-68/#comment-43747)
A ‘Nordic’ comparison: Sweden has lower overall mortality than Finland – and Scotland!
http://inproportion2.talkigy.com/nordic_comparison_4jul.html
What stood out for me in particular was the attached graph. Now it’s been argued that lockdowns have brought the death rate down faster than without one. Looking at the slope of death graphs I can accept this argument.
However looking at the graph from the linked comparison we can clearly see the slope of Scotlands graph is far steeper on the way in compared to Sweden. Is this indication that Lockdown caused people to die faster? Direct comparisons are difficult and you can make data say many things but this graph certainly indicates to me that lockdowns may well have made things worse.
I think that lockdowns actually caused people to die faster and that’s one of the reasons why there was a spike in deaths. Think about it, people were kicked out of hospitals, they were in there for a reason in the first place, either at the end of life or suffering from something that if it wasn’t treated properly could result in complications resulting in loss of life. I think (and I’ve no way of knowing) that it’s not unreasonable to say that a lot of the people who died in hospitals were in fact re-admitted to hospitals after having been kicked out, if you see what I mean? Presumably the upheaval of prematurely leaving hospital can cause stress on the body that could cause death quicker, plus if people would’ve remained in hospital they would have received care that would have meant they would’ve lived longer. All in all, lockdown kills and no one in the MSM or the government is willing to admit it. It’s a disgrace. Johnson has said today (I think) that people died in care homes because they didn’t follow the guidelines, as far as I know the reporter didn’t challenge them and say the… Read more »
That’s my thinking as well. I’m just wary of saying any single piece of data is definitive proof of anything and don’t want to say that everyone should think like me. This is just one of many pieces of data that backs up my thoughts and people should look at it relative to their own research. If people agree with me based on what they’ve found that’s great because it will be independent of me telling them to agree with me.
Yeah, that’s the attitude I’m trying to adopt but at the moment I just want to shake people so that they come to their senses, which obviously isn’t helpful!
They know the lockdown kills. They brand it as “indirect COVID 19 deaths”.
One thing for sure is that most survived heart attacks actually occur in hospital settings. Hundreds of them. BHF figures: in normal times 280 per day outside hospital cardiac arrests. Overall survival is around 7/10 but out of hospital survival is only 1/10. So if most of the arrest cases have been forced out of hospital settings, hundreds more will die per day! This is just CA, you then have strokes, vascular dementia etc etc.
This graph, if I am reading it correctly, is the most impressive for me:
Cumulative mortality for Nordic countries
So Swedish cumulative mortality sits right between Norway and Finland, which were praised for their lockdowns which supposedly led to an order of magnitude less Covid-positive deaths than Sweden.
Indeed. One wonders if the difference in covid deaths per million between Sweden and their neighbours was in large part down to counting things differently.
Don’t know, but one thing that annoys me is when people compare the Scandinavian countries as if they were similar entities – they are not! Sweden has a far larger population than any of the others and also a far higher proportion of the population that are not ethnic Scandinavians. As BAME groups are more vulnerable to the virus, that makes a lot of difference to illness rates; also non-ethnic Swedes tend to live in multi-generational and crowded households.
Found this video interview of Bill Gates which starts about 5:00 in.
What to watch for next if this virus doesn’t work to cow us all?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=176&v=BYPPY4IXgSA&feature=emb_logo
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07XQJYD58/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’ve just bought one of these; could be useful for other specs reliant sceptics
Just collected the wife from the hairdressers (a national chain), she’s feeling more human again after a new colour etc but she says one part of her wishes she hadn’t gone as it was so depressing.
The wife explained to the staff and other customers that guidelines are voluntary and not law and she was then told by the staff that they all are under threat of being instantly sacked if either a customer reports them for any infraction of the “guidelines” or if top management does a spot check and finds them not complying in any way no matter how small.
The older ones know it’s all bullshit but need the jobs.
The younger 20-25 year olds are shit scared (her words) of going out, contracting the virus and are convince they are all going to die horribly even meeting people. When she tried to explain to them how small the chances of this happening were they wouldn’t listen as they were basically brainwashed and programmed to be scared.
The other customers stopped talking o her when they all started praising the wonderful NHS etc and she started telling them how they had actually been killing people -again no-one… Read more »
Sadly, the lack of fully-developed frontal lobes and life experience from which to acquire wisdom, makes them easy prey. The comparison with the Cultural Revolution becomes scarily more obvious.
It’s not entirely the fault of the public, Cheezy. An educated and informed populace is viewed as a threat to the Establishment.
Wow, sounds like you created a really relaxed and friendly environment! It’s better not to take people on like this, you’re only making yourself stressed and wound up. People don’t respond to a direct challenge of their choices, they will change their mind slowly along with the rest of the herd, most people conform and they like to. It can’t be news to you that most people are superficial and a bit dumb? In the past have you tried to engage people in the hairdresser in nuanced political debate? No, you just stick to chatting about the dog and their latest holiday to Malaga! There is a reason for this! So why are you trying to now, and being disheartened by the results!?
After months of telling me not to “engage” with people as they won’t listen the first time she goes somewhere by herself she gets frustrated and sounded worse than I get at times when talking to dumbasses.
What got her heckles up was the taint of fear being instllled in everyone by either government, their friends or employers and it was palpable.
She told me before they could have a good old debate in the hairdressers, now no-one wants to rock the boat and wants to obey and conform.
Getting disheartened? Maybe after all these months but then something happens to change my opinion of people and what is happening for the better. It’s always darkest before ether dawn a step saying goes.
Suggest seeking out an Eastern European view point. I have a wonderful friend who is horrified at what they are seeing as this is bringing back storys and memories of the communist years. They are light years ahead of seeing through the propaganda.
The son’s girlfriend is Polish and they are over there at the moment visiting her elderly parents and to get a haircut before here opened up and with less crap over there.
Speaking to them lots of people know something is wrong but either going along with it for a quiet life like here or don’t know how to fight back.
Majority of people thought the Polish lockdown was so the incumbent president could steal the election by cheating the postal votes as they were not opening polling stations – don’t know how that went or if he won or not. Will have to check.
Facemarks compulsory in shops and on public transport and big fines by the Police but opening up pubs and restaurants quicker than here so some things more normal than here, some not.
Quiet life is something people learn. This is where many non LS site skeptics are I would suggest.
I know what you mean.
Neighbours asked for some sites to look at as they were sceptics and want more info so I sent them links to facts, figures, research, this site and so on so they could do their own research and make their minds up for definite.
After 2 days they said “no more”, not because I sent them too much but because thinking that the government could actually do something like genocide against the old and incarcerate a complete population with nearly zero evidence and without rebellion made their brains hurt (their words) and they didn’t want to think anymore so gave up.
GPs actively give such advice, don’t pay attention to the news as it causes stress.
All they need to know in a friendly, jolly way-
https://youtu.be/H6b70TUbdfs
The Tiny Dot
Masks and Poland?
I know a book about that – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus
Maus is my favourite graphic novel and one of my favourite books.
I would urge everybody to read it.
My OH is Ukrainian. Likewise.
.
John. What you have written here is basically the same as saying all English people (you) cannot give an honest opinion because both Sage groups are bought and have chips on their professional shoulders.
I’m sure you didn’t intend to but youve kind of ignored all the millions of decent people knocking about in Ukraine.
Well, I would normally avoid political debate or debate on controversial topics with all but close friends and family. But the stakes are high right now, as high as they have been for a long time, certainly in my lifetime. If people’s attitudes are not challenged, how will they ever change their minds?
It’s true most won’t, but some might. I would say there is a case for chipping away bit by bit. Of course, there are ways of doing it that may give you more chance of success – stealth sometimes better than a full frontal assault.
Well done you for trying but it sounds rather hopeless with the young – its like trying to get blood out of the stone.
There’s a few thinking ones around if you can find them which is good, some are on here.
Very true – Poppy is one that comes to mind.
Agree with all that. Every member of my family thinks I’m crazy… At least your wife is onside. I have literally nobody to talk to about this stuff… 🙁
Well you have us lot on here – plus as well as the wife (who does tell me to stop now and again) I have 4 friends dotted around the world who are all sceptics and that is it.
No-one else is interested in talking about anything other than soap operas, big brother, talent shows and other brain dead stuff.
This conservation with a university student is beyond satire.
In fairness, most of this is not new.
The “powers that be” – however you might want to define them – are frightened of the public.
I suppose that might be the military top brass, civil service mandarins, the judiciary and government.
So they push drivel down our throats to keep us happy. All of those shit tv programmes, “strictly”, “bake off”, “dragons den” and my pet hate “come dine with me”.
They are aided in this by national newspapers and the state broadcaster, the BBC.
I know it sounds a bit paranoid, but they do it because they fear an educated populace.
They fear we might rise up against them and overthrow them if we are fully informed.
Better to keep us dumb and obedient. That’s their attitude.
the government push the Four “F”s as the opiate to the masses to keep tehm dumbed down: Football, Fosters, Facebook and F*****g
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-leicestershire-53284626?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5f0451051fc5ad0653b5cbb8%26Town%20cancels%20Christmas%20lights%20switch-on%20due%20to%20Covid-19%262020-07-07T11%3A31%3A24.694Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:5e5ab4b0-4115-4cdd-bcdd-a9463378caab&pinned_post_asset_id=5f0451051fc5ad0653b5cbb8&pinned_post_type=share
Wow! Obviously they don’t think we’ll be covid free for sometime. Madness!!
For future you can use bitly.com (https://bitly.com/) to shorten links. The above link becomes this when used:
https://bbc.in/2DiV0UA
Ta! Didn’t know that 😱
Probably just aiming to save money: you know, those fact-finding intense working visits to the Bahamas don’t pay for themselves!
Just read this on a friend’s FB wall: “I went up to town today and I nearly screamed the entire time. The backs of my ears are sore from the mask as it rubs the scars on the back of my ears, so it literally HURTS to wear a mask. And yet, I’m wearing one.
Humans are awful.”
Further proof, as if it were needed, that mask-wearing is just the latest performative piety. I feel I’m going mad.
Masochism seems to one of the key components of the programming for many.
Someone I know posted up a picture of herself newly masked up, saying that it felt like asthma – but saying that as if it were some kind of badge of honour. What’s happened to virtually all of my friends??
I like that phrase “performative piety.” It sums it up.
From the ONS stats today:
In Week 26, the number of deaths registered was 3.4% below the five-year average (314 deaths fewer), this is the second consecutive week that deaths have been below the five-year average; the numbers of deaths in care homes and hospitals were also fewer than the five-year average (103 and 815 deaths lower respectively), while the number of deaths in private homes was 745 higher than the five-year average.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending26june2020
The private home ones were probably people trying to get their GPs to answer the phone.
Private homes have always been more dangerous than work places, of course – a point I made at the beginning of the Lockdown. [Not to blow my own trumpet, of c ourse!]
A good overview of Sweden including many graphs showing that 2020 is not a remarkable year for deaths. Ivor Cummings is looking at doing a short video on it at some point:
https://twitter.com/HaraldofW/status/1280383235604860928
See my post below with updated stats from Sweden..
Like shooting fish in a barrel with a sawn-off shotgun, it’s getting boring now.
Look who is a contributor to the Royal Society:
“The Royal Society actively supports open access publishing through our gold OA journals, green OA policy, open access membership programme, and now through our Read & Publish option for 2021.
Read & Publish (R&P) is a new way for librarians to purchase both content and open access publishing with one simple yearly fee. R&P customers will be able to access all our content and accepted articles will be published with no APC fees to pay at the point of use.
Many researchers must publish open access as part of their funding agreement, and Royal Society publishing policies meet the guidelines set down by a range of major funders including the Wellcome Trust, Research England, NIH, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, HHMI, UKRI, European Commission. All Royal Society journals are Plan S compliant.”
No surprise on these tannic their president is taking then.
Committee ember picked at random and guess who he has links to?
https://royalsociety.org/people/john-bell-11067/?commitee=/about-us/committees/committee-on-general-and-honorary-candidates-168/
“In 1993, he founded the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, a leading international centre for complex trait common disease genetics. He… Read more »
I noticed the pernicious nudging about mandatory muzzles cited RS and WHO evidence.
Some couples would not be missed if they were lost at sea.
Well done!
I notice from the link that John Bell is non-executive director of Genentec Inc. Here’s a flavour of what they’re about:
It has been amazing to see our scientific and health care communities mobilizing during these extraordinary times. Such is the devastating human toll and global impact of COVID-19 that developing tests, treatments and vaccines has become an urgent, unifying priority for health care providers, policymakers, and the biopharmaceutical community alike.
https://www.gene.com/stories/what-will-we-learn-from-covid-19?topic=policy-regulatory
Genentech chief Alexander Hardy: ‘This pandemic is a chance to show the best of the drug industry’ Genentech’s chief executive says people are depending on drug companies to make a difference
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/05/25/genentech-chief-alexander-hardythis-pandemic-chance-show-best/ (behind paywall)