Greetings From Venice
I’m in Venice where today is supposed to be the climax of Il Redentore, an annual festival held on the third weekend in July celebrating the end of the plague in 1576 that killed 50,000 people. In 1576, the Senat decided to build a small wooden church on Giudecca Island, now known as the Redentore Church (Church of the Redeemer). It’s actually opposite the hotel I’m staying in on the main island and I can see it out of my window as I write. If things were unfolding as planned, a temporary bridge would be built out of barges across the Grand Canal and thousands of people would cross to the Church and give thanks to God for ending the plague.
But of course it’s been cancelled. The local authorities took that decision on July 10th, just one week before the festival was due to begin, delivering yet another blow to the local businesses that depend on tourism, which is the vast majority. Tourism is the city’s main source of income, with 23 million people visiting in a normal year, but that’s dwindled to almost nothing during the pandemic. The cancellation of the Festival of the Redeemer follows the cancellation of the last two days of the Venice Festival in March, as well as the postponement of the next Venice Biennale from 2021 to 2022. The hotels, museums, restaurants, bars, cafes, water taxis and gondoliers are all struggling to stay in business.
The irony is that the absence of tourists makes this the perfect time to visit. Normally in July, the old city is like Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon, with the main thoroughfares becoming virtually impassable, let alone the narrow streets. But now, almost the only people here are Italians, either the local residents, or visitors for the day from nearby areas. I’m having a lovely time wandering around museums and churches with my family, and eating at the city’s finest restaurants. You have to wear face coverings in shops and all the visitor attractions, as well as the communal areas of the hotels, but apart from that it’s heavenly. Or it would be if I wasn’t constantly being reminded that without a massive bailout a lot of these businesses will go bust. Not only will that mean tens of thousands of people losing their livelihoods, but also less tax revenue to spend on the city’s crumbling buildings and infrastructure. Not that the Italian Government will be in a position to plug that hole. The entire Italian economy has been propped up by tourism for years and the ongoing travel restrictions around the world, as well as the public’s irrational fear of the virus, will mean a huge black hole in the country’s finances this year. I fear for the future of this beautiful city.
Must-See Interview With Professor Carl Heneghan
Freddie Sayers, the Editor of UnHerd, has done another of his interviews with high-level lockdown sceptics, this time Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson from Oxford’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. And it’s a blockbuster. Both pour scorn on the conventional wisdom about the virus. Here are some of the highlights of Professor Heneghan’s contributions:
- On the effectiveness of masks: “By all means people can wear masks but they can’t say it’s an evidence-based decision… there is a real separation between an evidence-based decision and the opaque term that ‘we are being led by the science’, which isn’t the evidence.”
- On whether this a proper pandemic or just a bad bout of seasonal infection: “One of the keys of the infection is to look at who’s been infected, which shows a crucial difference when comparing the pandemic theory to seasonal theory. In a pandemic you’d expect to see young people disproportionately affected, but in the UK we’ve only had six child deaths, which is far less than we’d normally see in a pandemic. The high number of deaths with over-75s fits with the seasonal theory.”
- On the lockdown strategy: “Many people said that we should have locked down earlier, but 50% of care homes developed outbreaks during the lockdown period so there are issues within the transmission of this virus that are not clear… Lockdown is a blunt tool and there needs to be intelligent conversations about what mitigation strategies can keep society functioning while we keep the most vulnerable shielded.”
- On whether trying to suppress the spread of the virus is a good idea: “The benefits of the current strategy are outweighed by the harms…When it comes to suppression, only the virus will have a determination in that. If you follow the New Zealand policy of suppressing it to zero and locking down the country forever, then you’re going to have a problem… This virus is so out there now, I cannot see a strategy that makes suppression the viable option. The strategy right now should be how we learn to live with this virus.”
- On the infection fatality rate: “We will be down about where we were with the swine flu: around 0.1-0.3% which is much lower than what we think because at the moment we are seeing the case fatality.”
Worth watching in full.
DHSC Has No Fear of Winter Surge
A reader with a relative who’s quite high up in the Department of Health and Social Care has some inside dope about the “second wave”:
A very close family relative who works in the DHSC turned up today with some interesting information. Apparently, there is in reality within the Department’s walls no current expectation whatsoever of any big health crisis in the winter to come, regardless of the current propaganda campaign telling us we face catastrophe. “How so?” I hear you cry. The reason is simple. They’ve twigged, as has anyone else with half a brain, that a large number of the people who might be susceptible to to the so-called second COVID-19 wave or an outbreak of influenza have – wait for it – already died.
Round-Up
No time for a proper update today, but here’s a round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours (and a special thanks to Mitesh Kariah who has been tirelessly flagging stories up for me for months):
- ‘Stop pretending the BLM protests were peaceful‘ – Micheal Tracy points out in UnHerd that the BLM protests were far from peaceful
- ‘The COVID Coup‘ – Good essay by Angelo Codevilla in the American Mind. He’s one of us
- ‘“Take it or leave it” deals put rail on track for nationalisation‘ – Looks like re-nationalisation of the railways is looming in spite of the fact that Labour lost the last election
- ‘Scientists criticise modelling that predicted 120,000 winter deaths‘ – Professor Robert Dingwall, who sits on NERVTAG, says the projections are based on “flawed” mathematical modelling
- ‘Extra cancer victims may reach 35,000 after screening and treatment missed‘ – That’s 35,000 in the next 12 months, as estimated by Cancer Research UK. The charity warns that deaths caused by delays in care will exceed coronavirus casualties
- ‘Government suspends publication of daily UK-wide death toll over accuracy concerns‘ – About bloody time
- ‘Here’s why BLM protests, crowded beaches and eased lockdown have not caused a second wave‘ – The Telegraph‘s Paul Nuki, usually a lockdown defender, puzzles over why mass events don’t seem to have resulted in an uptick in infections
- ‘Rouhani says 25 million Iranians may have been infected with coronavirus‘ – Given that only ~14,000 Iranians have died of COVID-19, that’s a very low IFR (if true)
- ‘Impose sanctions on China over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims‘ – UK Government petition objecting to China’s appalling treatment of Uyghur Muslims. Sign it to show solidarity with Maajid Nawaz who has gone on hunger strike to draw attention to this abuse of human rights
- ‘Face Masks Mandated by UK Government Specifically Say They Don’t Protect Against COVID-19‘ – Anything other than tight-fitting, surgical-grade masks are utterly pointless, and the evidence that even they are effective outside healthcare settings is threadbare
- ‘The mask slips‘ – Listen to Brendan O’Neill, Tom Slater, Fraser Myers, and special guest Lee Jones pour scorn on mandatory face coverings in the Spiked podcast
- ‘London ponders its future as pandemic turns capital into a ghost town‘ – Depressing article in the Telegraph‘s business section
- ‘The most logical explanation is that it comes from a laboratory‘ – Well-known Norwegian virologist Birger Sørensen and his colleagues have examined the virus and concluded it cannot have evolved naturally
Theme Tune Suggestions by Readers
Only one today: “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” by Heaven 17.
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 – particularly if they’re not insisting on face masks! 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 Folks 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.
I know it becomes difficult to navigate the comment threads after 24 hours. One alternative to continuing to post below my updates is to move to our new Lockdown Sceptics Forums, which webmaster Ian Rons has just created. (You’ll need to verify your email address before you can start posting.) Apologies for not creating them sooner. Any problems, email Ian here. Or just email him to thank him for creating such a great website. (For some reason, the Forums have become a spam magnet so we’ve closed them temporarily while Ian writes some code to stop that happening.)
Gone Fishin‘
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation recently to pay for the upkeep of this site. If you feel like donating, however small the sum, please click here. But I’m on holiday until Saturday, July 25th and won’t be doing much work on this site for a week. If you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here.
Salem 2.0
I thought I’d give my readers something to chew on while I’m on holiday: Salem 2.0: The Return of the Religious Police to the Public Square. This is a book about cancel culture that I’ve been working on for a while now, but which took a back seat during the coronavirus crisis. Hoping to get back to it as the crisis recedes – although that’s happening more slowly than any of us hoped. It’s a work in progress, so don’t expect too much.
Discussion
Comments
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No mandatory face masks.resist.
http://inproportion2.talkigy.com/cause_of_death_20jul.htmlNine out ten leading causes of death were below average in June.Strange?
http://inproportion2.talkigy.com/cause_of_death_20jul.html
Link got messed up
No iatrogenic fatalities?
https://coronavirusbellcurve.com/science-and-common-sense-in-the-debate-about-masks/
The best update about science about masks.This is now only a political decision to require masks.At the moment 130 countries require them up from about 10 in March.If masks were effective why does Japan(tradition of face masks since 1918) have influenza epidemics, in fact a rather severe one recently? Look at Los Angeles and Poland requirment dates of masks and the increase of SARS Cov-2 virus afterwards.Instituting the masks at the end of the pandemic in many Euoropean countries is politics and has nothing to do with science. You can never stop the spread of any respiratory virus with masks.Common sense that during the height of symptoms in an epidemic a mask would reduce the spread mechanically in ill people.But you can never stop the spread in the end of the respiratory virus in the population.It has never happened before in mankind.Biggest hybris ever to think that is possible now. Just shows the medieval stage of thinking in our politicians.
DONT FORGET.. new page already set up for Monday
https://dailysceptic.org/2020/07/19/latest-news-79/#comments
Notice on breakfast tv this morning that BBC are starting to soften us all up for Friday , A piece on how people in retail and service sectors have been subject to abuse and violence because of them trying to impose social distancing (and all the other rules). Clearly preparing for the abuse that they will get this friday when they try to impose the mask rules…. and how we must therefor be nice little sheeple and do as we are told
Had a couple of interesting things happen today.
1) Was in the garden as guy was delivering next door neighbour’s paper. Couple of sentences about the weather, then he was off ! Plandemic, Gates, social control, cashless society, all off his own bat. He makes mugs, is going to bring me one. 🙂
2) As my OH likes to spend her time and our money at the Hove tkmaxx, I found myself in the Burger King next door. Nice coffee, and a toilet. Coming out of the loo, I received a full-blown anti-lockdown rant from a fellow customer. He was very very angry, talking tyranny, bollocks, fake crisis, media control, etc.
Was amazed, both of these scenarios are usually me, bending the ears of total strangers. Very encouraging, although I have thought for a while that, to a large extent, polls are faked, and that social media is controlled and/or infiltrated by 77 etc. I would venture that a lot of normal people are realising this is the nonsense we know it is. Huzzah.
Farmers Market yesterday – only one stallholder in a mask. Asian lady selling vegan snacks. Told her I would purchase a courgette… Read more »
A very welcome read! Thanks. I sense the same hopeful under current you do. People are wise.
I’ve found a good way of p*ssing off mask wearers now, when they talk to me I keep asking them to repeat themselves. It’s amazing how wound up they get, and eventually they pull the mask down and say “it’s this bloody mask no one can tell what I’m saying!”
Stood at the meat counter in Waitrose yesterday. Had to wait about two minutes as a masked father and daughter (about 8) got served. I watched with interest and in that 2 minutes, they must have touched the masks about 20 times between them and the father had to pull his down for the counter guy to understand. They both also touched the counter surface several times.
Also saw so many elderly struggling around looking visibly distressed behind the masks. Was like a bad dystopian nightmare.
And also coming closer. If they tell me off, I would say “well, if you want me to social distance you’ll have to take that thing off as I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1284842740006531074
Pepper spray, choke hold, for not wearing a mask in Canada. They’re flattening the curve of our civil liberties.
To be fair, I think he was arrested for not leaving private premises when requested to do so.
(Plus he is a barbarian, white socks with black shoes/grey trousers, ffs).
Exactly so, I’very just noticed your post but made a similar point in my reply to RDawg.
Sorryabout the I’very – that’s the crazy autocompletion talking.
Telegraph getting oven warmed up.
By Christmas Boris’s goose will be well and truly cooked.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/19/lockdown-may-cost-200k-lives-government-report-shows
Shame they’re still quoting Ferguson’s half a million dead without lockdown, however.
Worst case scenario was 120,000 yesterday so they’ve bumped that up. Going on Fergusons past record that means 12-20,000 deaths which is way lower than normal.
I spotted the corona death count creep too. Funny how it’s predictable. Patterns from liars do always become predictable.
I’ve been reading some of the comments about ‘following the guidelines’ issued by government, eg for churches, so they can re-open, like taking down tapestries from the walls.
As with all if this lockdown, it is all a con – these are guidelines, so, no, don’t take the tapestries down – what is the point? They are on a wall, so how are they going to affect or even infect anyone?
Wearing masks us the only think that has been made mandatory in law. Everything else is open to interpretation, common sense, whatever.
Unfortunately, the MSM & government have done such an incredible job with Project Fear, people are thinking they gave to do exactly what the guidelines say. They don’t.
So, in a church, if there were a group of half a dozen, who prepared to be sensible, they could start up the services again, including singing.
It is like the emperor’s new clothes – we all have to wake up very quickly.
I think part of the problem is that insurers will be telling churches etc to follow government guidance in full.
But even if on eof the congregation gets a positive test for covid, no-one could ever prove it was caught in a non-compliant church. So I don’t see a problem!
Somebody commented yesterday (I think) that their daughter’s school wasn’t allowing shorts for PE next year because of skin contact with surfaces.
I would like to hope that teachers were above the average level of education, but this is insanity. Have people really been indoctrinated to the point where they think that the virus transmits through skin contact?
I despair of my fellow man, I really do.
Indoctrinated to think that Dr Evil was right to wear the isolation suit. That was a stupid comedy people!
I think this woman should be cancelled as she is clearly not apologetic about her slave-owner ancestor:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53444752
Can the BBC get more hypocritical? I don’t think it’s possible, but am willing to be surprised. Reading the article linked above made me want to throw my laptop through the window. It says everything any reasonable argument against the iconoclastic race warriors makes, yet is promoted on the BBC’s news page, whereas another person making those same arguments but hailing from the wrong background will instantly find themselves at the centre of a twitter mob and probably losing their livelihood/being prosecuted for hate crimes.
Indeed, we have to back reason and free speech on all fronts. Perhaps the BBC need reminding they were part of the oppressive imperial system establishing pro-imperial propaganda outfits in nearly all of Britain’s colonial outposts. When is the BBC going to apologise and start paying compensation to the peoples they oppressed? Their pretend friend Orwell was scathing about the BBC’s role in maintaining empire.
Thank you for your reply to Edgar. You have saved me sacrificing anger tokens by describing so well. The answer is yes the BBC will get more hypocritcal as it continues to tail-spin in desperation.
Are the BLM movement and apologists going to claim compensation from her? Surprises me that the BBC actual admit that the africans were responsible for creating the slave trade. Noted however that the huge diagram only refers to slave movements from africa to the americas. Doesnt mention any slave movements internally within africa of from africa to the arab areas . Coincidentally, C4 news had a piece on black/people of colour (delete as necessary) relocating from USA to Ghana (going back to my roots) because there is no racism there. Really? The African states have such a recent history of brotherly love
They agree with the idea of other people having to wear masks, just not them.
More likely, the “surveys” are rigged…
Anyone read anything on the current situation in Melbourne? Cases still rising or just more testing? Or is Australia just a victim of not allowing CV to spread far enough the first time ie they hit the stop button not the pause button
Hi folks,
I attended the protest today in Hyde Park. I quite enjoyed it, although sadly was hijacked a little by a few 5G conspiracy theorists.
I did a few Tweets throughout the day on my Twitter page: https://twitter.com/WeWillBeFree82
As you can see from the comments, 90% have been supportive but sadly I also received some vitriolic abuse, with some even wishing death upon me. Nice.
This does not do wonders for my mental health and as I write now I am feeling very low. The general consensus of the public mood is extremely pro mask and it worries me how easily the public have been duped by the fear mongering.
I emailed a few pics to Toby so he might use them in future updates. I’m sure you have probably seen some of the coverage in the national press?
Anyway, I am pleased I can find solidarity with you all. I think I need to take a little break from Twitter and fighting the good fight, purely for my sanity. I’m not nearly as thick-skinned as Toby.
Goodnight everyone.
Ryan
Well done Ryan for attending the demo – try not be low and don’t let the bastards get you down, it’s really not worth it (though it happens to all of us periodically).
We’re all batting on your team! Have a drink or two, watch a nice movie and tomorrow is another day and the sun will be out.
Night and sleep well.
Thank you.
Ryan – don’t feel low. You’re on the side of the angels, and however many devils and sheeples beset you, you are armored with righteousness.
Cheers Matt.
Something doesn’t quite compute with this supposed big majority in favour of masks. If it’s true, why aren’t they all wearing them already? My impressions over the past few weeks are that it’s fairly constant at around 1 in 20.
Thanks for caring to post Ryan. Remember you are dealing with a very small demograph within the twitter storm
Hi Ryan, there a way to do social media, and that is to post your tweet and then just let people respond to it, do not read the replies or you just get sucked into the world of negativity and it waste s your time. Turn off alerts and notifications so you don’t get alerted every time someone replies.
Replying isn’t worth it as those sending the hateful tweets are so insulated in their own bubble that you cannot reason with then anyway.
Hi Skipper,
Absolutely. I think you’re right. Very easy to get caught up in the comments and as you say, probs best not to read them.
Thanks for the support.
Screw Twitter. You know it makes sense. 🙂
Thanks for the report and hope Toby uses for your photos. Keep up the good fight.
https://twitter.com/JenRoss4Scot/status/1284735066304909313/photo/1
Keir Starmer,the man to replace Boris.
Twitter comment
Has everyone gone completely mad?
what a massive bunch of charlies
It does seem that way!
One day in a future campaign, I’d love to see THAT image being used against Labour as an illustration of the complete abdication of responsibility by the opposition, in a time of national crisis. CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS?
As P. Hitchens said: they’re actually paid to be in opposition, not in concert.
There are no words.
Actually, there are lots of words, but I hesitate to use any of them.
You’ve heard of the Twittersphere – well this is the Twattosphere.
He’s the main player responsible for bringing Shamina Begum back to the UK!
Sky’s Michelle Clifford just did her live piece from Barcelona wearing a mask. I counted her fiddle with it (it kept dropping down below her nose) EIGHT times during the course of a 2/3 minute slot. Hope she washes her hands regularly!
Par for the course! Meanwhile in the supermarket this morning the young girl (unmasked) on the checkout rubbed her nose with the ends of her fingers just before she started handling my purchases and did so a couple more times before the transaction was complete. What is the point of the elaborate anti-Covid measures if supermarkets can’t train their staff in the most basic health measures?
Some very interesting comments here from a like-minded reader of The Slog:
The masks-in-shops idiocy took me a bit by surprise so I’ve been checking out work-arounds. …. I have the maxim ‘Your Gaff your rules – My credit card my rules!” and flounce off.
…. I always thought the best way to fight bureaucracy is to let different wings fight it out amongst themselves. I’m going to give the [TFL] exemption card a go in some of the local shops – ‘if its good enough for the Mayor…etc.’. If I’m challenged I’m going to say I’m claustrophobic and can’t help myself punching in the face anyone within swinging distance.
…. Other things to do? Anyone in London please do join in Piers Corbyn’s protest March on 1st August – details here- https://www.standupx.info/. Would be great to see a few thousand there.
Having raised their £30k they will be serving No10 a writ to prove Covid19 actually exists on 22nd July. Please do throw them a few bob if you can.
Further developments in my contaminated test kit box set: Police have now handed my case over to Trading Standards. Something I suppose… but not good enough I’m… Read more »
Hi Toby and brilliant comment contributors!
I may be in the minority, and I hope I am not!
It would be amazing if someone could come up with a list of countries who do NOT recommend nor mandate face masks whatsoever. We can then show how it has not affected their situation, as we all know full well it will not. Might be a good “sticky” along with the excellent database of businesses Toby introduced.
From a selfish point of view, I have worked from home throughout this pandemic, and am therefore extremely fortunate and would wish hardship on no one. As such, if we had a list of such countries, it might give me a list of potential countries to move to, as I am sure as hell fed up with this one. As I keep saying, we are in Communist China, and it is simply being dressed up differently because we are Western. We can’t think, we can’t challenge the narrative, we can’t wear what we like. I am truly sick and tired of this.
The only satisfaction I have these days, is my 12 year old daughter appears to be popular and is incredibly forthright… Read more »
That is dealt with here.
There WILL be evidence but they will ignore it or explain it away.
Though not if I can help it…!
Belarus, especially if you like saunas and wodka.
No one is interested and that is the way it should be. However, I report no clap for the Bint in my area. Not a sound at all. I don’t know when it was due but there has been no clap. It was a sick idea that even highly passionate SNP supporter did not get behind, at least in my area.
I went out shopping in two supermarkets yesterday, M&S and Sainsburys, very few wearing masks, I thought there would be more, Asda was the same when I went there on Friday. I saw no staff with masks on.
An interesting article in The Telegraph saying we could have 200,000 deaths due to the lockdown, large numbers mostly due to delayed healthcare. In my case instead of an in person consult with my doctor, I filled in long drawn out forms and got email advice back several times since April, which was not great as when I was examined on Friday in person, I was immediately put on the 2 week cancer referral, my symptoms are horrible, and I am furious, beyond furious, incandescent with rage would describe how I feel right now. Hopefully I will be OK, but as a self employed person who also got no government compensation when I couldn’t work during the lockdown period this is another kick in the teeth.
Thanks Boris
Your sorry experience will be multiplied thousands of times across the country. All the best for speedy and effective treatment from hereon in.
Thanks, it’s such a relief to be able to talk to like minded people on here, it’s been a godsend for me during this horrible time.
Sending you kindest thoughts.
I feel sick inside and so angry because of what is happening to people in your position. My husband is waiting on a hernia repair — not urgent, so we’re not complaining — but I know there must be tens of thousands across Canada in far worse situations than ours. From the beginning of this nightmare I’ve tried to counter the argument that the government is mandating lockdown to save lives with the counter-argument that they are possibly saving some lives, but at the expense of other lives. Whether you’re a bedwetter or a lockdown skeptic, you’re privileging some lives over others. The fallout in lives lost because of the overreaction to this virus will far exceed the lives lost to the virus in the form of economic depression, increase in poverty, delays in medical testing and care, suicides, drug overdoses, etc. Why were so many of us able to see this clearly back in March and others will never see it or will only see it when it hits them? My hope is that you get the care you need very soon. Hugs.
Keep your spirits up
That is awful, I am so sad to hear about your health problems. An example of how the cure is worse than the illness. We should NEVER have locked down and prevented people from receiving treatment that they need.
Brilliant post from John Ward today.
He asks some very damning questions and suggests why they will never even be asked.
These questions go unanswered for all kind of reasons: the media have now kept the public in the dark for so long on Contrick19, even to ask them would leave some people baffled; and all three men [Trump, Bloris and Macron] are careful to avoid contrarian interviewers.
But that they add up to a pattern is undeniable. For example, to reject the relevance of such questions is to suggest that our politico-bureaucratic élites are mathematically dyslexic, economically illiterate, and incapable of reading engagingly expressed medical opinion condemning Lockdown, extolling herd immunity, and raising doubts about the possibility of a viable Coronavirus vaccine in the first place.
Or even, taking on board that an inevitable reduction in the global population of 0.0064% represents a cull of the old and ill that is almost homoaeopathic in its nature – and most certainly not a “reason” to plunge the global economy into a slump of unparalleled severity.
https://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2020/07/19/an-inquiry-into-media-enquiries/
Seconded, John Ward is the source of many keen insights, well worth following…
Re the Blackburn Covid “outbreak”
Blackburn mosque ‘faces police investigation’ over 250 at funeral
One law for us……….
And if you want a bit of amusing reading, a fairy story before bedtime
Learn how the BBC is working to strengthen trust and transparency in online news
an oldie but a goody
It reads like the begging letters in the Grad!
Is it because a lot of people are cancelling their tv licences?
No wonder Blackburn is being threatened with lockdown! However, it proves that lockdowns are political and nothing to do with public health.
Good for tge folk in Blackburn. They know where their humanity lies. Give a shit about religion, those folk chose to turn out to respect and give dignity to another human. They did so agaisnt what other human decreed. Good for them and well done. It’s a fine example to set.
Stopping mass gatherings along with migration controls (quarantine) has always been part of our response to particularly dangerous pathogens. There’s an argument to be had over whether Covid is more dangerous than a bad flu virus (probably not). It’s the total halting of everyday life and the mandatory mask-wearing that should be the prime focus of our scepticism,
And funerals aren’t a valid part of everyday life?
You seemed to be saying that mass gatherings are always OK. I don’t agree with that. For at least 500 years closing down mass gatherings has been part of a rational considered response to novel pathogens. Sweden restricted gatherings to 50 (with various caveats). That seemed like a sensible response.
And religion doesn’t get a free pass…
But theatre does…
“I agree – a life without theatre, live sport, live music, dating, new films, dancing, parties, drinking and chatting in pubs, holidays abroad, proper funerals and wakes, shopping without masks, proper weddings etc etc is a wretched sort of life. We should be prepared to take some risks to enjoy the savour of life.”
My opinion is that respecting dead is more important to family life than a trip to the opera. But I accept others may have a different opinion.
Gatherings have repeatedly shown no increases, from the beaches of Bournemouth to the closed casket funeral of Mr George.
I guess I end my conversation here with you OKUK, it appears you may be looking to argue.
Exactly. Everyone has different opinions but pathogens don’t care whether they are at a funeral or a play. I am being entirely consistent.
How do you feel about 175 people attending a gathering? 50 is quite radical compared to 30.
You can argue about precise numbers. But banning mass gatherings in the face of serious public health threats has been part of our armoury for several hundred years now. It’s served us well I suspect. Total lockdowns ie imprisoning whole populations are a malign innovation.
I was not arguing about anything pal. Don’t spin your opinion towards me.
It is absolutely right that we dignify death by resprctful funerals. You come out arguing its is correct practice to condemn people who have done just that. At the same time posting virtuously in favour of funerals elsewhere. Have your opinions, but don’t expect politeness with language suggesting I am argueing.
I asked you a question, how do you feel about 175 people at a funeral? The reason I asked was because you claim 50 is ok but 250 not.
It seems you perhaps are an arbiter of the allowed, if not then perhaps a more considered approach towards those who hold a different view might be appropriate.
Agreed…let’s try and encourage and appreciate basic acts and traditions of humanity common to us all in these disturbing times where they want to shut down life to “save lives”…it is very easy to set people against each other as we have seen
Yes and it’s very noticeable that it’s the Muslim communities that are being targeted.
Really? You’ve got to be joking. The Police know the extent to which laws have been ignored but gave done v little. Similarly with the Roma community in Sheffield which pretty much ignored the laws from the get-go. If you’d said sun bathers and dog walkers have been targeted you’d be right.
A smile is something we can all give. It will soon become an act of protest in certain places soon in England, as it is already in other parts of UK, can you imagine!
The Oxford University discovery that the PHE method of calculating deaths is missing a ‘sunset clause’ meaning that anyone who has ever tested positive for Covid will necessarily die from it is stunning in many ways.
It is stunning that PHE and ONS, who are both arms of Government, with enormous resources, a staff of likely hundreds of statisticians, most with masters or doctorates have not spotted this and allowed it to persist. How incompetent can these organisations be that it needed a couple of Oxford Professors to point it out to them.
Of course this feeds into all the other publicised statistics. The headline figures released by PHE and regurgitated by the media are confirmed (tested) ‘cases’ and deaths. The confirmed cases figure is cumulative and takes no account of the fact that most of these ‘cases’ have either not had symptoms or have recovered. I am not sure if they even subtract the number of dead from this ‘cases’ figure. The actual best estimate of present infections (‘cases’) by the ONS in the UK is 24,000, not the much scarier figure of 295,000 which is in error by an order of magnitude. (10 times seems to be the… Read more »
Excellent observations.
Another urgent thing that needs numerate brains to consider is the PCR false positive rate. As I have posted before, the number of cases relative to the number of tests is currently running at about 0.5% in England. Is the false positive rate really much better than this? Or are local lockdowns, and associated economic destruction, being enacted based on false (or FAKE) positives?
Haven’t people also suggested that genuine positives include people whose nasal cavities retain traces of viral particles following their bodies having successfully dealt with infections weeks before.
To me that would seem like a false positive also. But I am no expert. I have emailed Prof Hennegan at the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford to suggest they look into this, given their recent success in debunking PHE death stats…
Tests are only tests for what the test is looking for! They can’t answer philosophical questions. lol The average human has something like 80000 cancer cells in them at any one time. Does that mean everyone has “got” cancer? Of course not!!
Our decision makers (politicians) are renowned for having fallen asleep in their maths class and most do not know the difference between a kilowatt or a megawatt so they rely on expert advisors in their decision making. If PHE can make such blindingly obvious mistakes in their statistical analyses there is no hope for sensible decision making.Other Government departments, even the Treasury, have admitted that they have not analysed the financial implications of the lockdowns and other measures taken. Its the blind leading the blind.
Absolutely agree. I was already tearing my hair out in March about the complete lack of understanding of the numbers by the powers that be. Even then, there was a fixation on the exponentially increasing number of cases, without any consideration of the number of tests, which was also increasing exponentially. At the time I became quite depressed about it…
Great post and really pleased to see you back, BobT
Solution:
* Only carry a bit of cash. Leave your cards at home.
* Walk to the supermarket – do not drive.
* Do not give your name to any officer. You can always say “Seth Brundle” if they insist.
Did I mention I thought Boris should resign?
Tonight live at 21:30 Mark Windows.
https://windowsontheworld.net/live-shows/
There is live chat too!
Thanks. Mark is great at spelling out what we see locally and how it fits in with the global aims.
I asked the manager at M&S about the compulsory muzzling and unfortunately she doesn’t know as nothing from head office has come yet.
Was rather unimpressed by her reply, that said this branch I went to today wasn’t the usual branch I go to..
Something that I think will die with the ‘old normal’:
Before everyone became aware of ‘the science’, models and statistics, I’ll bet that most people not only weighed up risk on the basis of raw figures, but on a personal assumption that they were to, some extent, immortal. If they were reasonably healthy they might have the idea at the back of their minds “I never get flu. And even if I do, I’ll be fine”. They probably had this attitude to their own driving skills, or abilities in dangerous sports.
I think this is an essential element in the human psyche that allows us to be conscious, highly rational and logical beings, and yet ignore potential horrors that could befall us every day when we leave the house.
The practical result, in our own minds, is that we used to perceive zero risk from infectious diseases.
I think the government and media have upset a very delicate equilibrium that each of us had achieved in our minds. The difference between perceiving zero risk from leaving the house, and 0.001% risk, is huge. Humanity may never recover, it seems to me.
A fair, concerning and ultimately sad comment. The answer lies in what is human spirit. If they wire in an bureaucracy that seals this change you could be right. If personal liability for flu switches into this model forced with c19 I see no reason other than human nature to think we have lost a fundamental element from humanity.
I should add that I, personally, have managed to re-achieve that perception of zero risk (or at least zero fear) from Covid through ‘doing my own research’, but also a mitigation based on the idea that in the extremely unlikely event I catch it and die, it doesn’t matter because life’s not worth living in the ‘new normal’, anyway.
I agree – a life without theatre, live sport, live music, dating, new films, dancing, parties, drinking and chatting in pubs, holidays abroad, proper funerals and wakes, shopping without masks, proper weddings etc etc is a wretched sort of life. We should be prepared to take some risks to enjoy the savour of life.
I feel that lockdown is a form of torture invented by puritanical psychopaths. When you analyse lockdowns, your life is taken away from you. Many businesses have had to close and people have not been unable to work and many have lost their jobs permanently. Family and friends are important and in the early days of lockdown we couldn’t see people from outside your household and there are now still restrictions in place. Our hobbies and leisure activities were taken away. Pubs, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, concerts, festivals, gyms and hotels were closed.
Is this torture?
https://youtu.be/3yk3xezML8Q
The Puritan v Cavalier divide seems to reflect a universal antithesis across all societies. Genuine crises often allow Puritans to get a grip on real power.
Fear of this virus is elevated into the stratosphere. It’s just so INSANE.
Don’t think so. Holiday area here, everybody doing everything they can to act as old-normal as possible. It’s only the perpetual terror porn that keeps most people zombified. And the terror merchants are beginning to scrape the barrel.
Have hope.
I have some of that hope too. A mighty amount. The coming friday may jolt you, Scotland being culted is not a true indication of compliance. Even so, hope exists more strongly for the opression upon us.
Real world is not found on a screen despite the claims of media. Hope exists as does spirit.
Hope is hard to find right now but that said we have been out on tour recently and have met with a fair few people. Many aren’t so “into it all”, they kind of believe the story, some just are totally bemused at it all like me, wondering what the hell happened to people, some are just not very bothered at all. Some really like it, especially the working from home bit and they don’t give a crap what has happened to the old normal. Many are still shielding, not worried about themselves but their parents, child, baby etc
Some people were into it at first then started thinking something was wrong with the story and now are raging sceptics.
Country folk seem to be much less paranoid and naturally sceptical but still quite “into it all” I met some cycalists and they didnt cycle anywhere for 16 weeks incase they needed an ambulance, they didn’t want to strees the NHS.
Then you have the PPE people, usually not seen anywhere outside of town centres.
We went to a few pubs that had varying degrees of insanity going on, the pub owners were all pretty pissed off with all the… Read more »
And the young have the most skewed perception of their own risk — they seem not to realize that driving to work carries more risk than getting the virus. Like you, I have days where I don’t want to live in the “new normal” either. The virus at work here is temporary (I hope) insanity and it has interfered with people’s ability to dispassionately assess risk. I’m afraid that the only “cure” is for lives under the draconian rules and resulting economic carnage to become so miserable that people do a re-set and opt to take their chances with the virus. Here in Canada we are still in what I call the CERB coma (Canada Emergency Response Benefit) which is paying people to not work, commercial landlord rent relief, tenant protection from eviction, protection against mortgage foreclosure, etc. When the patients awaken from their comas and their jobs don’t come back, they can be evicted or lose their homes, perhaps then they will understand that the cure is worse than the disease. Oh, and they’ll realize they have traded their rights and freedoms for a false sense of “safety” from a virus that was not likely to unduly harm them… Read more »
Very wise words Barney. This is my concern. It’s odd how people can appreciate the incredible complexity of ecology in the natural world but not that our human culture also exhibits a similar balanced complexity. Scientists rarely understand human culture, Following the science in this contact could prove deadly.
I think humanity can recover but government and epidemiologists need to stand back and let the patient sit up in bed first! Constant reiteration of risk is imolding a return to robust good health.
Why aren’t you weaaring a mask?
Why aren’t you?
I am wearing a mask!
No, that’s just a piece of cloth. The scientific research shows that only surgical masks make any difference.
Health Secretary Mr Hancock, who insisted coverings will be required in venues like Pret when people buy things to go.
However those eating inside the sandwich chain would not need to wear a mask.
He suggested the crucial point was people needed to wear masks if they were not receiving table service and claimed ordering at the bar is not permitted at pubs – despite official guidance saying it is.
What???
He needs sectioning. Not intended as a joke.
Oh yes, multiple sections, plus full evisceration, mincing and the pissing on of ancestors gravestones.
I pride myself on my moderation.
I’d spare the ancestors. They didn’t know they were going to produce filth.
He needs to be defenestrated from the Tower of London!
I suggested earlier that he should be put in the stocks and pelted with used face muzzles.
Moderation is fine in moderation I find!
Did I mention Boris should resign and take Hancock with him? I’m more convinced of this than I was earlier.
Hancock is basically trying to stop people buying food without wearing a mask.
I’ll bring a pitchfork – that will be more than the maximum needed for antisocial distancing
I would have dismissed your comment until recently, but I’ve been thinking about the panic buying before lockdown. The Mrs and I often questioned why the papers were allowed to panic people and why nothing was done to prevent panic buying for – what – two or more weeks till ‘rationing’ came in. By this time shelves were often stripped. I think the answer may be it was used to disturb people, make them feel vulnerable and prepare for the rest of the propaganda process.
Yep, sounds likely. They are evil, these SPI-B fuckers, but pretty competent so far.
Hancock is as mad as a box of frogs nowadays. I think it’s all too much for him.
Since when was it not?
This reminded me of a famous gag from Geordie genius, Bobby Thompson (aka The Little Waster):
Mother-in law to Bobby: Do I look different?
Bobby: You’ve had your hair done?
Mother-in-law: No, I’ve got my gas mask on!
Or as Groucho might have played it:
– Why aren’t you wearing a mask?
– Why aren’t YOU wearing a mask?
– But I am wearing a mask.
– Call that a mask? You should go the whole hog. Not that I’m comparing you to a hog. ..well, not the WHOLE hog. Try a ski mask, then I can look deeply into your eyes and say: “Hey weren’t
you that guy who ran me off the slopes back in Colorado?” Talking of slopes, where’d you get that dress – a Moroccan bazaar?