As a lockdown-sceptical teacher of Philosophy, I tell my students daily that I am currently seeking what I call a ‘Greta in reverse’: a youthful person, ideally of innocent and appealing countenance, who would be willing to face the media and to lead a student strike not against school, but rather demanding the right to be educated, in school, maskless, and face to face, should a second corona-related closure of our educational establishments be proposed.    Since, however, I was never wildly enamoured of the original Greta, who seemed to me strong in irate accusation but depressingly weak in argument and positive proposals, I am aware that my alternative activist – let’s call her Gerta – will need, in the interim, to hone her intellect so that she is armed against the arguments that will be advanced against her.  And if her studies in Philosophy are to serve any practical purpose, it must surely be their aim so to equip her.  Examples are the life-blood of Philosophy, and the silver lining to the dark cloud of lockdown, from my perspective, has been that it has offered a wealth of instances of dire logic and related philosophical failings, from which teacher and student alike may learn and profit. For the benefit of fellow teachers; for any parents who may be nurturing potential...

Animal Farm was a staple of the GCSE English curriculum. Animal Farm taught the young to fear the USSR. Animal Farm taught us about the ‘inevitable’ collapse of revolutions into tyranny. That the intellectuals would cower in fear, the workers would be exploited, and the rhetoricians and CEOs would smugly enslave the population whilst “watching over our welfare”. It taught us that “several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments”. But that in a climate of fear, “no one dared speak his mind”. We read Nineteen Eighty-Four as teenagers. And realised that “no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it”. That the “whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought” making free thinking “literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it”. That “there was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad”. That “sanity is not statistical”. Writers are the prophets of our age because they are bold enough to see through the smog of everyday existence to those recurring patterns of history and human nature. At a time when we are too terrified to peel off our masks and speak out – when it becomes simpler to conform than...

Dear Mr. Young, I have been made aware of your intention to expose the appalling situations within the care industry as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. I am myself a health care assistant (HCA) who works for an agency providing staff within several care settings in the North-West and, during the initial outbreak, had a permanent contract with a care home for whom I no longer work. If possible I would like to remain anonymous for both my personal and professional protection, but will endeavour to assist you as much as possible in exposing the shocking mistreatment of our most vulnerable members of society. I have worked in the care industry for nine years, first as a student nurse then six years as an HCA, and I’d like to give you a little insight into my job role so you can best understand the nature of my position and that of those I support. In my role as an agency carer I tend to exclusively work on a ‘one to one’ basis within care homes. This generally entails working with mentally ill people who require extra support during the day due to challenging/violent behaviour, high anxiety or because they have a high risk of falling. I work with them exclusively to maintain their safety and well-being. In my previous...

The Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre collates clinical data from all the intensive care units in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The data input is done by intensive care specialists, so is probably as accurate as it is possible for a clinical audit to get. On October 9th, ICNARC released a report on all confirmed Covid patients cared for in ITUs since September 1st and compared their finalised outcomes and data with those patients admitted before August 31st. Non-medical readers should note that these are the very sickest patients with Covid – the vast majority of Covid patients admitted to hospital never need intensive care and the vast majority of patients who contract Covid never need to go to hospital at all. There are some striking differences between the two data sets. 856 patients were admitted between September 1st and October 8th – the majority in the North West, North East and the Midlands, compared to 10,894 admitted before August 31st (see graph 1) Graph 1 The median and mean ages of both groups were similar (approx. 60) as was the gender split (70% male) and ethnic mix. There was a slight increase in the social deprivation index and degree of obesity in the group admitted after September 1st. The co-morbidity mix was roughly comparable between the two...

In the summer of 2020, universities across Scotland, England and Wales, indicated that they would be open and ready to start a new academic year in the Autumn. They presented to undergraduates – new and returning ones – that a full physical teaching or hybrid university experience would be delivered within the allowable parameters of the Covid pandemic and in so doing, accepted payment from students for university accommodation, often paid up front or in contracts with strict terms. Within a week of the start of term, many of these universities reversed their position and imposed strict quarantine measures on students, irrespective of whether they tested positive or not. These measures have included an unexpected solitary confinement in halls of residence, for 14 days at a time and sometimes much longer. Some universities have taken it upon themselves to determine what those students will eat and when, delivering food that is often near or past its expiry date and that cannot meet the nutritional requirements and calorific demands of an eighteen year old. In some places, students subjected to such confinement are banned from washing their clothes and no measures are put in place for that basic necessity. Those students who break quarantine are harassed and treated as criminals and the only option presented is to leave the university and...

I am a U.K. GP and feel devastated at the catastrophe unfolding before us and the harm that governmental decisions (un-debated, unchallenged and ignoring the evidence) have done. The last straw was Matt Hancock’s October 9th tweet: https://twitter.com/MattHancock/status/1314555278524911616?s=20 To which I say, what utter rot. As a GP I know hospital activity is less, because we get fewer inpatient/outpatient letters from them, and many of those we do request us to do tests that they are no longer inclined to do. When I see a patient with life-threatening symptoms they are terrified to go to hospital, fearing Covid. Cancer screening has been suspended, and cancer diagnostic tests are delayed, scanty and often not the optimal tests – I am already aware of delayed cancer diagnoses and treatment. Outpatient waits for people with disabling, unstable, chronic conditions have soared. Mental health services are overwhelmed with little face-to-face contact. We continue to see people but the ‘guidance’ from up above makes us triage everyone, limit numbers in our waiting room, wear masks, wipe things down and this significantly slows our throughput. This is made worse by our having key staff frequently and suddenly absent due to requirement to isolate should their child, as children do, get a transient cough. Despite this, in our large practice, not a single one of us has...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxDffEVbO4 We students have sacrificed and surrendered much of our university experience. Freshers’ Week, despite the stories of debauchery we may or may not have heard, is intended to ease the student into university life, giving us an opportunity to meet new people, join clubs and societies, and explore new places. That opportunity has been stolen from us. Life on campus is drastically different, too. I cannot enter a building without one of those dreadful ‘face coverings’ and must wear them during any in-person seminars. I am lucky enough to have one a week; many of my peers have had their entire timetables moved online. There is no chance to connect with lecturers and fellow students, to ask questions after class or socialise. Zoom lectures, for all their worth, can never replace a face-to-face learning experience – let no-one tell you otherwise. At my university, Estate Patrol are everywhere, ready to remorselessly disperse large groups, hand out hefty fines and other penalties in ways that make the Stasi look like friendly neighbourhood support officers. I have heard numerous horrific stories from my Russian family about life in the Soviet Union. How can we call ourselves an advanced free society when the same authoritarian measures are being forced upon us? While our freedoms have been snatched away from us, we are...

Unfortunately, the "city of mosques" has become "the city of maskes" as Istanbul pretends to play its part in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. But before fellow sceptics stop reading or cross Istanbul off their Covid bucket list, there is good news. Despite fairly rigid enforcement of "maske, maske!" in shops, public transport and museums, we walked the streets naked – except for our clothes – without challenge or even a second look from the Istanbulis. The face mask here is not considered a virtue signal, rather it is considered a talisman. It does not matter where it is worn, so long as it is worn. Under the nose, under the chin, on the elbow (yes!) and I even saw one person with a mask on the back of his neck. These all seemed acceptable and, in fact, there were plenty of people who, like us, had simply abandoned them. The police were not enforcing mask wearing and were among the worst offenders for not doing so. Our hotel was next to the Karakoy Police station where Istanbul’s finest sat sunning themselves daily, ready to fall asleep at a minute’s notice. They watched us walk past several times a day without comment. In any case, such is the Istanbul love of street eating that in many of the back streets, if...

Government policy is not based on science This research was compiled by a financial researcher and fund manager who wishes to remain anonymous. There are a few main reasons to be optimistic we should end lockdowns and get back to normal.  We know who this coronavirus affects. The median age of death in almost all countries is over 80 with multiple existing conditions. We are failing to protect old people and are locking up the young and imposing social distancing when they have no risk of death. We can protect the vulnerable more intelligently.Most people have immunity due to cross reactivity and cross immunization. The human immune system is not completely helpless against this virus. Herd immunity levels are much lower than people think and the virus appears to follow a Gompertz curve, which correctly anticipates the virus fizzling out.In most countries, Covid deaths were 40-100% higher than a bad flu year. The virus is bad but it is not the Spanish Flu and is most like the Hong Kong flu of 1968 and the Asian flu of 1957.  They were bad, but we never shut the entire world down for those. Flus are deadly, the world is dangerous, and we will all eventually die. But we won’t all die form Covid.    Here is the complete collection of research and links categorized...

Graphical Illustrations of the Effects of False Positive Results from Covid19 RT-PCR (Swab) Tests at Low Measured Prevalence There’s no doubt Covid-19 “cases” are presently increasing throughout the UK. How much of this is due to increasing test results, possible contamination during tests or in the test labs, and perhaps “cold” positives arising from fragments of inactive virus?Professor Carl Heneghan of The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford has highlighted the importance of both “false” and “cold” positive results on the reliability of RTPCR test results at low disease prevalence.I won’t go into details of the PCR tests and their accuracy, which can be found elsewhere. However, I’ll first briefly mention the test sensitivity and specificity. The test sensitivity measures how accurately truly positive cases are identified. In cases where disease prevalence is low in the population, say less than 0.5%, test sensitivity variations between say 80% and 90% are not important. The test specificity measures how accurately truly negative cases are identified. The false positive rate (FPR) is approximately 100% minus the test specificity %. It was claimed, by Health Secretary Matt Hancock on 18th September on Talk Radio, that the FPR of the current RT-PCR test for Covid-19 is “less than one percent”. This implies a specificity greater than 99%. However, the devil is in the detail. This...