UK Politics – The New Observer

Do we need lockdowns?

The debate about lockdowns tends to get quite polarised. On the one hand some people insist that they are “following the science” and that lockdowns are necessary to get the R number down and “protect the NHS”. On the other hand others argue that they are an excessive restriction of basic freedoms and that they are not cost-free. On this side of the argument people point to the huge economic fall-out from lockdowns as well as other ‘collateral damage’ such as problems with mental health.

The pro-lockdown position in the UK is essentially driven by public health officials. (Having initially gone for ‘herd immunity’ they quickly got cold feet and backtracked when the first deaths started occurring). They study the R number and make predictions (with more or less accuracy) about NHS bed occupancy. The point of lockdowns is to prevent the NHS overflowing. It turns out that the NHS has very little surge capacity.

No meddling in Belarus! The West is at it again

The Guardian reports that the representative of the EU Council of Ministers has said:

The people of Belarus have the right to determine their own future. To allow for this, violence has to stop and a peaceful and inclusive dialogue has to be launched. The leadership of Belarus must reflect the will of the people. There should be no outside interference.

Meanwhile European Heads of State and Foreign Ministers are actively making statements in support of the opposition candidate (who is being harboured and given a platform in a neighbouring state – Lithuania), decrying the elections as “fraudulent” (“without any evidence”) and generally supporting the opposition.

They really are unaware it seems that all this constitutes “interference” of the first order. It turns out of course that “interference” means Russian interference whereas their interference is something else again. Continue reading “No meddling in Belarus! The West is at it again”

What could be worse than profiting from Covid-19?

Please read these two articles. It is all you need to understand what has happened here and (in case you hadn’t already realised it) that the current government and some of its advisers are possibly the most venial and cynical set of people one could ever have imagined would have made their way to the “top” of British society.

Craig Murray

The Good Law project (expand the Tweet)

A large part of the mask order is not fit for purpose and, according to the Good Law project (good for them), does not meet the government requirements (they say those that they believe were in place when the contract was issued). Continue reading “What could be worse than profiting from Covid-19?”

The lying on Coronavirus – as virulent as the virus itself

The Public Accounts Committee has just issued a report in which they commented that the UK government’s behaviour towards Care Homes vis-à-vis Covid-19 was “reckless”.

Someone from PHE (Public Health England – a government body) explained to the Committee:

What was becoming clear in the back-end of March and certainly from the beginning of April was that there was an asymptomatic phase, which means that people can transfer the virus without ever having symptoms, or a significant pre-symptomatic phase, which is where the virus could be shared.

The context is that it wasn’t until 15th April that mandatory Covid-19 testing was introduced for patients who were being discharged from hospitals into Care Homes. Up until that point patients were discharged from hospitals without a test. Some will have been infectious and some not. No one knew. And no one cared. In the words of one consultant this “seeded” Covid-19 into Care Homes. 16,000 people have died as a result. Continue reading “The lying on Coronavirus – as virulent as the virus itself”