by Thomas Andopelo
Here in Spain, a full seven weeks of house-arrest has now “relaxed” into a British version of lockdown, the primary concession being that people are now allowed out for a walk or to do something sporty. And what better way to stop the virus in its tracks than to insist that the under 70s exercise this right only between 6 am and 10 am or 8 pm and 11 pm – thus ensuring they are all out on the street together?
Such evidently absurd stipulations have convinced me that, for the politicians at least, Covid-19 has targeted brains rather than lungs. Nevertheless, there is widespread approval, and the traditional Spanish attitude of treating laws more like suggestions is noticeably absent.
The pervading attitude here appears to be that if we lock down for long enough the virus will eventually get bored. It is as if, metaphorically speaking, we have all climbed up a tree to escape from a tiger, which is now pacing around below. Given time, everybody expects that it will get fed up and wander off somewhere else, never to return. No-one wants reminding that at the foot of the tree is our food and water and after being stuck up the tree all day we are getting muscle cramps and feeling very thirsty. (Nor is it mentioned that we didn’t get a very good glimpse of the tiger and, in fact it might only have been a fox.)
Another taboo topic here – as in the UK – is any mention of the age demographic of most of Covid-19’s victims, a detail which is absent from almost all media reports. Taking any comfort from the fact that it primarily affects the over-70s and that therefore the lockdown could be better targeted at this age group is tantamount to saying that old people are expendable. Instead we are told “Lo paramos unidos” (we will stop it together), and so the least vulnerable group – under-18s – is now decimated by cabin-fever and remain isolated along with everyone else.
Spain’s likeable habit of doing things together has, in the case of Covid-19, led to a form of group-think that is wholly intolerant of dissent. Anyone found in the street outside of designated hours is a social pariah, and not wearing a mask is the new walking-around-in-just-your-underpants.
So uniform is opinion in Spain that it is only alternative UK-based media outlets or independent journalists broadcasting on the web that have provided me with any reassurance that I am not being gaslighted alone.
A lone voice in the wilderness is a YouTube character called “Spiriman”, a straight-talking, Granada-based medic whose scathing commentaries on government health policies recently described how, in the absence of having any patients to treat, hospital doctors were left “scratching their balls”. Worse still were his observations that a great many small, privately-owned bars that form part of the soul of this historic city could not possibly survive the continued quarantine, and that the myriad economic and social effects have thus far played no part in policy-making.
In a posting that received more than a quarter of a million views, Spiriman accused the government of treating its citizens like children, incapable of basic common sense. It is an attitude that I have had confirmed whenever I ask people what harm an earlier relaxation of the quarantine could have caused: apparently, Spanish culture just wouldn’t allow it. Many think that other people just wouldn’t be able to help themselves kissing one another and licking door-handles, apparently; and I can’t help wondering how hard it must be to engender a sense of personal responsibility in people if you never actually provide them the opportunity. It would suggest that the same people that are clearly concerned about becoming infected on the one hand suffer an inability or refusal to minimise their contagion risk on the other. A simple visit to the supermarket will tell you how false this assertion is and how seriously people take the current situation, so why does the government assume otherwise? Could it be that mistrust of its own citizens is masking the lack of faith it has in its own competence?
As we enter week eight, those areas that are considered ready are implementing “Phase 1” of unlocking. Bar terraces can open at 50% capacity along with smaller shops and markets, while hotels can open provided their communal spaces remain closed.
In the absence of data to show what proportion of the population have been exposed to the virus, it remains to be seen where exactly Spain is in the course of its spread and how quickly the government will implement all four stages of the “desescalada”.
Of course it is immune systems alone – rather than lockdowns – that will stop Covid-19, and that microscopic showdown will happen sooner or later, with or without the aid of politicians.
In months to come, when countries jostle for the position of “best response”, it probably won’t be per capita deaths that distinguish them, but how quickly social and economic life returned to normal and what remains of trust in their governments. Sadly, I suspect that Spain will be somewhere at the bottom of this table.
Granada, 10th May 2020.
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Courts seem to exist primarily to provide income for the legal profession and satisfaction to the political profession.
With the summary provided it is difficult to understand why Simberg should only have been fined $1,000 in comparison to Steyn’s $1 million.
If Mann’s lawyers intentionally deceived the court, have they been arrested? Has Mann been charged with perjury?
Good luck to Mark Steyn and I hope he gets all his legal costs back, and more, and that his health steadily improves.
Courts seem to exist primarily to provide income for the legal profession.
I recall the tale of the 2 lawyers in a case concerning a contested will. Bumping into each other in the court’s toilets, one of them said: “Let’s spin this out for a few more weeks; after all, if we settle now, the money will only be frittered away by the beneficiaries”
That was exactly the case with my late grandfather’s estate. He had intended to leave equal provision to his stepson, son, and daughter, but the daughter chose to dispute her step-brother’s entitlement to an equal share. The case rumbled on, to no-one’s benefit other than the lawyers, with the legal costs being deducted from an already modest estate.
My daughter is a lawyer. I had hoped she would pursue something more honourable such as used car salesman, traffic warden or pole dancer – but no such luck.
Or estate agent?
I once saw a painting of two farmers arguing over a cow, one pulling at its horns, the other at its tail, with a lawyer sitting on a stool between them milking it. Sums them up.
Good news.
Mark Steyn one of life’s most intelligent Good Guys
This case should now start to crumble the rest of project Climate fear !!
The Climate Con. Mann is no scientist. To rephrase what the judge wrote – Mann is a liar and a charlatan.
Steyn was taken to court, not on the ‘science’, but in comparing Mann to a child predator. The case had zero to do with ‘science’.
That Mann lied is of no surprise at all. That seems to be what ‘the science’ is – an industry of liars, thieves, self promoters, totalitarians and self worshippers.
TheScience™
Roger Pielke Jr, The Honest Broker’s take…
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/in-bad-faith
“…A Washington DC court sanctions climate scientist Michael Mann and his lawyers for misconduct extraordinary in its scope, extent, and intent.”
New administration in Washington, new verdict. Justice seen to be done.
The times they are a changin’.
Even back in the 17C the approval of the legal profession was not high. I present Dick the Butcher from Henry VI Part II who advised, “The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers”. A tad extreme, I agree, but a useful first step in the general push to improve our society.
Agreed. Also to note that in Shakespeare’s time, “lawyers” meant lawmakers, i.e. politicians.
Are lawyers over-represented in the UK House of Commons, at the expense of engineers and scientists? Judging from the “debate” over the Climate Change Bill, I would not be surprised if some backbencher were to introduce a Bill To Repeal The Second Law of Thermodynamics in order to Save The Planet. (As today is International π Day, we could reflect on the 1897 attempt in Indiana to “adjust” the values of π.)
And he also blocked Steyn on X when he got news of the 5K fine, reduced from around 1 million.
Protestors storm the BBC amid anger over funding to Syria, with the persecution and murder of Christians and other minorities like the Alawites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cd0sFtooj8
Mann said “….. research is distorted and the truth about the climate threat is dissembled”.
He hit the nail on the head but not in the way he intended.
One of the funniest distortions was when Mann used the Tiljander proxies upside down (the age of some lake sediments went the wrong way). That is, owing to a silly slip, a slide was presented upside down at some conference of The Climate Faithful, yet the obvious blunder was downplayed. The joke is easily understood by non climate scientists. Perhaps Macavity Mann has finally been nailed to the crime scene!
Apperently there is no comment from Gavin Schmitt on his Real Climate blog which was one of Mann’s cheerleaders.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
Perhaps he’s writing a detailed explanation of why he supported a lemon.
It would seem that Mann is a serial liar. I’ve just checked the Guardian and can’t find anything about this, however I did quickly find an article there about Mann winning the original $1m. They mention the hockey stick but nothing about it being discredited.
Perhaps an aspiring poet could pen something on deniers v liars in the style of The Great McGonagall.
The image of Michael Mann makes my foot itch.
Perhaps now we will see an end to Mann made climate change.
I wouldn’t be so sure. The Minnesotans thought the Mann era was over in 2011, yet he’s still around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMqc7PCJ-nc
Here is some commentary on the original Mann defamation claim. https://junkscience.com/michael-mann-defamed-or-defined-by-hide-the-decline/
There is far more behind this article than a defamation suit. One starting point might be YAD06 – the Most Influential Tree in the World – and its part in Mann’s downfall.