Dear Constituent

I am seeking changes to the way the government responds to the pandemic. I wish them to do all a government can to save lives, and to help the vulnerable find the protection they need and want from the disease. I also wish to see the government avoid measures which do substantial damage to jobs and livelihoods.

I am urging the government to work closely with medics and pharmaceutical researchers to identify more treatments to cut the death rates. There are various steroids, anti virals, clot busters and antibody treatments that have now been found to help or may emerge from trials as useful additions to treatment. Health professionals have also now discovered using non invasive ways of administering extra oxygen are often best. There are also issues about whether Vitamin D and zinc supplements can help. I have urged more emphasis on seeking new ways of treating and preventing.

I have been very critical of the data and forecasts used by government advisers to urge Ministers into adopting lock downs. The basis of defining a death has been changed several times during the pandemic and there are issues about whether CV 19 deaths have been overstated whilst understating other lung infections and serious co morbidities in the mainly elderly people dying.

The latest forecasts for cases and deaths take the form of very wide ranges where the upper figure is three times the lower figure, making them meaningless as planning forecasts. There is an absence of reliable published data on hospital bed occupancy which seems to be the main worry of NHS management and the scientific advisers. We must not close the economy down to save the NHS if it can now cope thanks to building the Nightingales, greatly expanding intensive care facilities and recruiting many more staff.

I am pressing for substantial changes to lock down plans. I see no need to close outdoor sports facilities. I think a range of specialist retailers should stay open with suitable measures to cut risks of infection spreading. Pubs and restaurants should be allowed to sell drink as well as food for take away. Government should work with business and offer help to improve air extraction so more can function safely indoors.

I do support the schools staying open as this is important to the development and future prospects of children and teenagers. This disease is usually very mild in young people. I have urged the resumption of non CV 19 work by the NHS, as many more people die of causes other than CV19 every day.

If you are suffering particular problems with your job or business from the proposed lock down please let me know as I am pressing for change from Ministers. Without serious change to this policy I am unable to support it in a vote.

Yours sincerely

John Redwood

156 Comments

  1. Ian Wilson
    November 3, 2020

    Thank you for another excellent analysis. I find Boris’ statement “there is no alternative” nauseating when 40,000 scientists and doctors have offered one, and you have suggested other ways to alleviate the effects of the virus too.

    You are right to question the statistics used for decision-making – they make no sense at all. I note that yesterdays’s recorded number of infections is the lowest for a couple of weeks and while that is far too short to claim a trend and weekend figures tend to be haywire it does make one wonder about the dire forecasts of doom.

    1. Simeon
      November 3, 2020

      The data isn’t a driver of the policy but a cover for it. It is not the state scientists that are in control. They’re not the ones with the money and the power! They are serving an agenda. I suspect Johnson, gormless as he is, is following the state scientists, but the state scientists themselves are following a wider and deeper agenda.

      What is interesting is that dissenters amongst scientists have the opportunity to speak. Those behind what is going on evidently do not have total control. At least not yet.

      1. Radar
        November 3, 2020

        Johnson is out of his depth and under the spell of the CSO and CMO.

        1. Hope
          November 3, 2020

          J, of Johnson is in th business of giving away free money couldmImhave some please. I paid taxes all my working life and never got anything firstmrime around. If I am expected to pay extra tax for the amount he is borrowing I would like my fare share of Ā£2,500 a month or whatever the going rate is for a life on welfare.

          Additionally my wife and I have not been in holiday this year, could we be put on Patel’s list for an all inclusive break in a four star hotel. I know criminals who illegally entered our country get longer and a monthly allowance to spend. Perhaps four weeks and the allowance would help me to help out to eat out. Subsidised food bought on free govt. money.

          Could Patel also provide free travel for my family to join us. It would be cheaper than a flight from Greece. Unlike the illegal criminals and their families my family have jobs and pay tax as well.

          I trust Sunak and Patel will give me an early reply. On the plus side no extra costs for uman rights lawyers will be required at taxpayers expense.

          Thanks in anticipation of your help.

        2. Simeon
          November 3, 2020

          He would be out of his depth in a puddle!

      2. Hope
        November 3, 2020

        But Fake Tory MPs do have a choice to vote down this authoritarian dictatorship tomorrow.

        I noticed Steve Baker MP give a set up question to Johnson on Lord Sumption’s view. Both wrong. Is baker now in it for press kudos and vanity? He wrote an article about the dystopian manner of the govt. He has now caved in from that view and his question in stark contrast, why? Is his memory failing him?

        1. Simeon
          November 3, 2020

          Ah yes, Steve Baker, the ‘Hard Man’ of Brexit! A Tory to his core.

          PS Though I know exactly what you mean by Fake Tory, I think that the Tories of today are perfectly genuine. It’s just that Toryism is no longer worth a spit.

    2. oldtimer
      November 3, 2020

      So long as Johnson is driven by the wrong objective (save the NHS) and abandons the objective that really matters (save the economy on which all else depends, including the NHS) then we get the disastrous nonsense of another lockdown. The Conservative party needs to replace him asap.

    3. Mike Durrans
      November 3, 2020

      +1
      We just need facts- the government lackies are giving us twisted statistics to confuse and mislead.
      We do not need rules or laws for a illness just give those that need it protection and leave the rest to CAREFULLY lead their lives.

      To paraphrase Too many professors and not enough nurses

    4. Martin in Cardiff
      November 3, 2020

      You and John imply that the medics and scientists of absolutely the whole world have not been trying hard enough.

      All the therapies and prophylactics that you mention are undergoing rigorous and expeditious examination. Some have already been discredited on solid grounds, others found to have some beneficial effects and yet others remain unproven.

      However, nothing whatsoever has been found which offers a dramatic cure as yet, and so to base policy on a fantasy that it has is beyond reckless.

      1. Edward2
        November 3, 2020

        Who is talking of a “dramatic cure” ?
        The various treatments being tried are to improve the survival rate and to reduce the number of serious cases.

  2. Iain Gill
    November 3, 2020

    Thanks John
    It needs more than that too

    1. Mike Stallard
      November 3, 2020

      I look down for support for the lock-up. Not one commentator supports it. Yet both Labour and Conservatives do.
      Watch out both parties! You are right out of touch with Joe public!
      (Think Brexit, think Hillary!)

    2. Hope
      November 3, 2020

      JR, might have forgotten what Johnson told the nation- Eat out to help out, get back to work, it will be gone by the end of the summer- now he is saying spring, we were promised months ago of a world being test and trace- while letting in plane loads from virus hot spots without any testing and told it was insignificant! Johnson keeps referring to Europe but not successful countries South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam etc.

      Come on JR, Johnson is an inveterate liar and comes across as a complete fool lacking any coherent strategy, no cogent reliable statistical information whatsoever- nine months on from the outbreak- when he chose to be absent.

      Anyone sacked for this catastrophic public health policy failing? No.

      Czars and task forces hired all of whom have made no difference whatsoever.

      MSM have not even asked Witty and Valance for their change in stance on herd immunity or masks! They have not been asked to provide written comparative analysis, with charts, on other deaths as a result of their recommendations. Nor why death are only counted as dying ‘from’ covid 19 not ‘with’ to bolster figures.

  3. Polly
    November 3, 2020

    PS. It’s clearly madness to support Johnson in any circumstances.

    Whether it’s C-19, Net Zero or “Build Back Better”, his crazy ideas will wreck the UK.

    Polly

    1. Sea_Warrior
      November 3, 2020

      Seconded. He’s been found out. Decision-making by this government is shambolic. Sir John and his fellow back-benchers need to dig down and find the roots of the chaos.

      1. Hope
        November 3, 2020

        Do not forget Fake Tory Govt. introduced the culturally marxist Relationship and Sex Education Act being forced to brainwash children of tender years from September.

        Ā£10 billion contract given to supply hotels for illegal immigrants for ten years while forcing indigenous old people to sell their homes for adult care!

        Dullard Johnson is making Sturgeon look brilliant!

    2. Nigl
      November 3, 2020

      Smacks of personal animus rather than objective evidence. Unless of course if can see into the future. Can you? Of course not.

      1. Polly
        November 3, 2020

        I liked Boris Johnson originally, but this Boris isn’t the original.

        Does he have an understudy ?

        Polly

        1. Simeon
          November 3, 2020

          This is the real Boris Johnson. You just know him better know šŸ˜‰

      2. agricola
        November 3, 2020

        Tend to agree with you Nigl. All Boris’s critics overt and covert seem to take on the aura of armchair generals. They all think they know what needs to be done, myself included, but we do not have the responsibility of making such decisions, nor will we be standing in the dock if we get it catastrophically wrong. My best guess is that Boris is buying time until a vaccine is ready to be rolled out, first as a means of protecting the vulnerable and later the less vulnerable population as a whole. He is between a rock and a hard place, should he minimise deaths or protect the economy. Many would have him pick up the blame for the irresponsible behaviour of a minority during past months. Nobody in government has access to the crystal ball that some of our contributors seem to possess that reveals the perfect path forward.

      3. Lynn Atkinson
        November 3, 2020

        Do you believe that Boris can? Whitty? Fergusson? ….thought not.

      4. Jiminyjim
        November 3, 2020

        The one thing we do know is that they are planning to increase testing massively – the Moon Shot. And we also know that if they do, they’ll find more positives, mainly amongst people who are asymptomatic. And they’ll find more false positives. And finally, we know that they’ll then use the numbers to restrict the people of this country even more. The plan to increase testing of people with absolutely no symptoms needs to stop or it will destroy our country!

        1. fedupsoutherner
          November 3, 2020

          Jiminyjim I thought exactly the same as you today. More testing, more false positives and so more lockdowns. You couldn’t make it up.

    3. BOF
      November 3, 2020

      Agreed.

    4. Martin in Cardiff
      November 3, 2020

      You and others here seem to be under the illusion that reality consists only of what happens in England, and that things are what a minority – to which you belong – believe them to be, irrespective of the facts.

      Open your eyes, wake up, snap out of it, and look around the world at what less confused and delusional countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and others are doing, and, especially, at what their PEOPLE think.

      1. Edward2
        November 3, 2020

        Ditto you with France Germany Spain and Sweden.

  4. Ian Wragg
    November 3, 2020

    The bigger picture is using void as camouflage to sell out on Brexit.
    This has been planned for some time with the objective of pursuing the so called Big Reset.
    Farage understands this and once again will do what is necessary to thwart what is the Labour Lite tory party.
    We are once again being ruled by the opposition which we didn’t vote for.
    Prepare for a dramatic backlash against these totally stupid measures.
    I’m 75 and have no intention of being locked in the house.
    Your not doing this in my name.

    1. Ian Wragg
      November 3, 2020

      Covid

      1. Hope
        November 3, 2020

        We read Patel briefed chief constables not to allow protests over two last weekend. Boats loads allowed in but peaceful protest prohibited!

        Scientists and experts in the papers today all claiming graphs used were not accurate or any basis to lock down the country!

        I am no expert, but even I could tell their estimates or surveys on estimates were totally unfit for purpose on such an economic self destructing course. What was it Johnson said: ‘whack a mole’ was the way forward. Previously it was ‘squash the sombrero’, Is it now: I ucked up!

    2. Mark B
      November 3, 2020

      Good man.

    3. Simeon
      November 3, 2020

      Whilst understanding your frustration, with respect, Brexit is an irrelevance in the context of the UK government seeking to control its population, relieving them of basic freedoms. What is the point of being a sovereign nation if our government is going to treat us this way? Without a radical change in how we are goverened, Brexit – even a clean and proper Brexit – would change nothing for ordinary people.

      1. Ian Wragg
        November 3, 2020

        Brexit never was and never will be an irrelevance.
        It is our destiny which the Liberal elite are desperate to thwart.
        It’s going to be a long slog, thank the lord we have Farage to lead us.

        1. Simeon
          November 3, 2020

          National sovereignty and self determination are necessary for any self-respecting country, but they are not sufficient. Our governing class, whether actual or prospective, are failures.

          I would love to believe Farage is the answer. I think he deserves credit for his achievements, but I think his failure of nerve and judgement last summer will take alot of getting over. I’m also not convinced that he has a coherent vision for government. Nor do I believe his electoral appeal is as broad as Trump’s is, or at least was, and perhaps might still be. I think there’s too much of the old-style conservative authoritarian in him, and not enough of the libertarian, his views on lockdown notwithstanding. But he’d be an improvement…

      2. Dave Ward
        November 3, 2020

        “Without a radical change in how we are governed, Brexit ā€“ even a clean and proper Brexit ā€“ would change nothing for ordinary people”

        Indeed – we are now in a far worse situation than under the “All Controlling” EU…

    4. agricola
      November 3, 2020

      Brexit is a separate question and a potential elephant trap for Boris and the conservative party. If when it is announced as done and dusted there is any doubt about who controls our fishing grounds (territorial waters), how we choose to support our industry, or who is responsible for the law in the UK , then both Boris and the conservative party have a major problem that cannot be hidden beneath a smoke screen of Covid. At that point enter Nigel Farage stage right.

      I would maintain that with fishing we need a rolling diminution of access by foreign boats to our waters, but more important control of how they fish. It could be five years before a re-equiped and trained UK fishing industry is ready to replace much of the foreigners currently fishing. The EU fishes our waters because they have decimated the Mediterranean , their Atlantic Coast, and their waters of the Channel and North Sea. Examine the final agreement with the EU on fishing under a microscope.

    5. Ian @Barkham
      November 3, 2020

      +1
      As there is no reasoning for everything else, it is not a conspiracy to believe these controls are just part of the mind bending to enforce a Brino, Brexit light with the EU still ordering and ruling the UK.

      The UK Government failed when they didn’t follow the will of the People in the referendum when they voted for a ‘Clean Break’

      The revolution is around the corner.

  5. No Longer Anonymous
    November 3, 2020

    Boris has to go and we are in grave danger so long as he and his advisers are in power.

    1. Simeon
      November 3, 2020

      As I say in my comment below, Johnson isn’t the cause of the problem, he is a symptom. It is the Conservative Party that has to go. But we are at the mercy of MPs, having surrendered our sovereignty for five years. So, four more years of this, unless MPs bring down the party from within.

      Will Sir John and others resign and attempt to force a General Election? If they did (big, big ‘if’), would the remaining Tories form a government of national unity (in the circumstances, a contemptible notion) with Labour and the rest? At least that might open the eyes of more people to what is really going on. If Sir John understands the severity of the situation, he really has nothing to lose from resigning the whip. As a bare minimum, he would release himself from culpability. Better late than never.

      1. Lynn Atkinson
        November 3, 2020

        Boris is the problem and if he is the excuse to get rid of the present Tory Manifesto, that would be a failure of the Tory Parliamentary Party.
        Boris must be replaced and the manifesto reinstated.

        1. Simeon
          November 3, 2020

          He was ringingly endorsed by both MPs and the wider membership. That should tell you all you need to know. We all know who you believe is the solution, but it will not happen, as I’m sure Sir John would be happy to say himself. Twenty years ago, if he’d joined the nascent UKIP, he would have been more prominent – a consigliere to Farage’s Don perhaps. What I don’t understand is why you have faith in a party that has denied your favourite a role of any significance for the best part of twenty years.

  6. DOMINIC
    November 3, 2020

    You’re fighting a losing battle fella.

    Most know on here know you’re a decent human being but the party you belong to and those who lead to it are now and have been for many years utterly abhorrent, insincere and duplicitous in their aims and objectives to reposition this once great party towards that which embraces globalist and authoritarian politics

    We have passed the stage where most consent to these Marxist impositions and have now entered a stage in which most now know that what we are seeing is something other than a State focused not on protecting human life from this clinical event but creating a nation exposed to suppressing and containing human life

    In effect both parties are now engaged with Labour’s authoritarian client State (including the BBC and the politicised NHS) to recreate hell on earth by using fear and a disease to take away our liberty and impose Socialist ideals that will last for generations and cause great hardship

    It is now about political power over individual freedom and the consequences will be catastrophic

    1. Nigl
      November 3, 2020

      And did I see a pink elephant just float by?

      1. No longer Anonymous
        November 3, 2020

        Did I see a BBC street interview of anyone not supportive of masks and lock downs ?

        More chance of a pink elephant !

      2. Hope
        November 3, 2020

        Nigel,

        Mr Walker Tory MP made it clear there is a feeling among the political party in parliament yesterday. Keep looking through rose tinted glasses.

      3. Glenn Vaughan
        November 3, 2020

        You should consider changing your medication Nigl.

      4. Everhopeful
        November 3, 2020

        It wonā€™t work you know.
        It is too late for those tactics.

    2. Nigl
      November 3, 2020

      Should I be wearing a tinfoil hat to prevent the microwaves, the authorities are beaming at me to control my thoughts?

    3. Everhopeful
      November 3, 2020

      Have MPs noted what is happening in Slovakia??
      Is THAT what they want/are planning?
      Liverpool?

    4. Fred H
      November 3, 2020

      the party used to be able to disguise its horrendous in-fighting, EU swayed politics, halfbaked would be socialists, and lives spent in privileged cloud cuckoo land.
      No longer. It is clear for all those with eyes and a functioning brain.

  7. agricola
    November 3, 2020

    I said most of this yesterday in half the space, but it fell to the moderators axe. I wonder why.

  8. Sea_Warrior
    November 3, 2020

    ‘I see no need to close outdoor sports facilities.’ Good. I won’t bore you again about golf – you dislike repetition as much as the late, great Nicholas Parsons – but I’ll register my disgust that outdoor tennis is now deemed more unhealthy than staying indoors in front of a TV. There is a strong measure of lunacy in the government’s plans. Just who is responsible for drawing them up? Politicians? Civil servants? Scientists? Spads? We need to know who.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      November 3, 2020

      Golf, tennis, bowls, outdoor swimming (indoor swimming without using the changing rooms), garden centres.

      All the things that are now banned just highlights the fact that the data is homogenous and no one has interrogated the granular detail to determine exactly where transmission most often occurs (the 10 PM curfew for instance does not appear to have prevented transmission, nor masks).

      I would accept being locked down if it could be proven where I might catch this virus in my daily existence.

      4,000 deaths per day (speculated) doesn’t do that. I desire more and better information.

    2. Ian Wragg
      November 3, 2020

      The whole premise for the lockdown has been well and truly trashed.
      The so called science driving this is nonesense to cow the population so when the government throws a few crumbs of relief we will be so grateful.
      Charlatans the lot of them.

    3. beresford
      November 3, 2020

      There’s no justification for closing down socially distanced indoor fitness facilities either, as the infection stats are miniscule, but the point of this lockdown is to keep you at home and you have to travel to use facilities. Presumably it is fine for rich people with private swimming pools and tennis courts to carry on using them.

    4. Everhopeful
      November 3, 2020

      READ (World Economic Forum) re sport. Nobody has ever thought to tell us the extent to which we are signed up to all these global bodies!

      From WEF website.

      ā€œThe purpose of the Global Future Council on Media, Entertainment and Sport is to advance a positive future for the industry, focusing on creating an economically sustainable, truly inclusive and thriving media ecosystem. Through the lenses of technology and social justice, this is fulfilled by developing recommendations, implementing pilots, engaging the public and driving adoption of new business models throughout the media ecosystem, specifically in the following areas:ā€……..

    5. Fishknife
      November 3, 2020

      It’s fairly simple SW, We’ve been holed below the waterline, one big one is education, another is essential workers. The question is will we sink before we get a vaccine if we close off all the other little holes, the jury is out, we may need to close part of education as well.

    6. Alan Jutson
      November 3, 2020

      Interestingly a family member who is fastidious about keeping to the rules, and who has the NHS App was told by auto message to self isolate due to coming in contact with someone, who has later tested positive for covid.
      They have done as required, even though they do not get sick pay.

      Turns out a next door neighbour has the virus, and they have not been in even close contact with them for weeks.

      Given the NHS App works on bluetooth with a range of about 10 metres, that walls are no obstacle, that most people do not turn off the tracing system when at home, and they live in a terraced house could this be a false alarm ?

      Given bluetooth has that range and can penetrate walls, how many others who live in terraced, semi detached houses, apartments, or houses of multiple occupation, halls of residence etc etc are also being told to self isolate on perhaps the same false basis.

      Family member has now turned off the tracking system whilst at home and in isolation to avoid being told to self isolate time and time again, which now defeats the object of them scanning delivery drivers, care people, and other family members who are in the same bubble.

      I agree you should ask some questions and question the science and technology JR.

    7. bigneil(newercomp)
      November 3, 2020

      Of course they want you to stay indoors for 4 weeks – so they can ferry in ( unseen ) the families of the young immigrant males that fill all those rubber dinghies that Border Force are employed to fetch and care for. What/who do you think all the brand new housing estates are going up for? Millions of us thrown on the job scrapheap – unable to afford a new house – immigrants put in them, fully furnished by the taxpayer of course, for us to pay for.

    8. Iain Gill
      November 3, 2020

      No need to close swimming pools either, it’s completely counter productive. We need to keep the national fitness level as high as possible.

    9. Zorro
      November 3, 2020

      Will people now understand that they do not really care about the health of the population….?

      zorro

  9. Simeon
    November 3, 2020

    Sir John,

    If you want government to do the right things, then first you need a new government. A new government would only be new if comprised of representatives of a new party. I think you know what you need to do, but will you do it? Anything less is utterly ineffectual.

    (Merely voting against the government in protest is not enough. Rebellion is not enough. Mutiny is not enough, for the leader is not the cause of the disease but a symptom.)

    1. BOF
      November 3, 2020

      +1

    2. Martin in Cardiff
      November 3, 2020

      Yes, the country does need a party for the votes of teeth-grinding, deranged, right wing fanatics.

      1. Edward2
        November 3, 2020

        You have a party for the votes of teeth grinding, deranged left wing fanatics.
        It’s only fair.

      2. Simeon
        November 3, 2020

        I presume you replied to the wrong comment. Easily done, as I was indeed suggesting a political alternative. But I do not subscribe to a right-left paradigm. Perhaps this explains your confusion?

  10. Fedupsoutherner
    November 3, 2020

    I would like you as my MP. At least you are active but you’d have more luck talking to Farage than Boris. He seems to have lost his way since becoming PM. Good luck John.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      November 3, 2020

      Boris Johnson is the same Prime Minister as he was Mayor of London, I don’t think he has lost his way. He is who he is.

      1. Lynn Atkinson
        November 3, 2020

        +1 yep, it was so ott nobody believed it, but that is really him!

  11. Mark B
    November 3, 2020

    Good morning

    A good Constituency MP at work, looking after everyone irrespective of whether they voted for him or not. Pity that the government are hell bent on doing the opposite.

  12. JayGee
    November 3, 2020

    There is absolutely nothing in your blog post that normal human beings haven’t been saying for months now. We need to know who is responsible for drawing up all these plans. Name these faceless and nameless people. Meanwhile, Shinfield View Care Home, a care home on your patch, has an outbreak of Covid. How did that happen?

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      November 3, 2020

      We need to know why the Barrington Declaration has been outlawed for discussion on the BBC.

    2. IanT
      November 3, 2020

      No one will ever really know I suspect – unless staff testing reveals something.
      But I’m pretty sure someone will blame Boris for it – after all – it is ALL his fault isn’t it? šŸ™‚

      1. Lynn Atkinson
        November 3, 2020

        Yep!

    3. Mike Wilson
      November 3, 2020

      I think it is fairly obvious how the virus got into a care home. Someone, despite, no doubt, taking all the relevant precautions, took it in there. It is practically impossible to stop a virus spreading. As for it being on Mr. Redwoodā€™s ā€˜patchā€™, do you expect him to don a cape and fly around every building in his constituency personally preventing the spread of this mild and irritating virus.

  13. davews
    November 3, 2020

    A excellent letter John but how many of your herd following constituents will actually read it. You don’t actually say so but the forecasts of 4000 deaths a day on which the new lockdown is based has now been found to be based on old data and hence invalid, more recent data shows a worse case figure of 1000 a day, and with the sharply lower figures yesterday still many times what it will turn out to be. No doubt afterwards they will all say ‘ah, lockdowns work’ whereas in reality the alarmist figures were never going to be reached anyway. I agree you are not going to change the car crash policies but at least you are speaking out.

  14. Javelin
    November 3, 2020

    Before the lockdown I sampled 10 different health authority pandemic plans and reported that they all had completely different requirements and strategies. For example some had zero stockpiles of PPE others had six weeks.

    Health Authorities are required by law to implement ā€œminimumā€ health care standards. Having a pandemic plan was a minimum standard but what was in it was not a standard. So each health authority went off at great cost to create their own plan.

    I suggest somebody now gets all these plans together and comes up with a pandemic plan that forms a minimum standard. This includes sourcing PPE from the UK and not China. The plans also have to categorise different pandemic profiles so that the plan can be customised for the demographics in each health area.

  15. Nigl
    November 3, 2020

    There is zero evidence of external transmission, in my sport, hockey, the only cases I am aware of, and in some numbers, are the university teams reflecting them totally ignoring the distancing rules, with the knock on I guess, of spreading it wider to their families etc. Indeed I think there is a good case to close Unis down, a severe but more ā€˜targetedā€™ solution.

    Hockey clubs and other sports have done an excellent job on both distancing, closing changing rooms and showers, masks et and we see the result of no infections. Apart from adult participants, they host hundreds of young people, both for training and their youth teams every week and you are denying them that for no reason, this must change, NOW.

    As for pubs/restos etc. Sorry, clear evidence (an excellent article in El Pais) showing how Covid concentration and therefore ones chances of catching it, build up in closed environments, the more exposure, the more risk, made worse by how near people are to each other.

    Extra ventilation, air filtration (expensive) all essential however the kicker is a quick test on the door for every customer, combined with regular surface contamination testing.

    We are getting very close to this instant test, cost unknown at present. It cannot come soon enough.

  16. Nutrient Dense
    November 3, 2020

    Thank you.
    If there are issues about whether vitamin D and zinc supplements can help why not just encourage everyone to eat a healthy, old fashioned, nutrient dense, real food diet.
    The body manufactures vitamin D out of cholesterol in the presence of sunlight. Foods containing vitamin D include butter, eggs, liver and seafood.
    An inability to taste or smell is a sign of zinc deficiency. Zinc is involved in the blood sugar control mechanism and thus protects against diabetes. It is found in red meat, fish, nuts, seeds and ginger.
    Not forgetting the all important vitamin A from animal sources which enables the utilisation of protein, minerals and water soluble vitamins. Found in butter, eggs, liver and seafood.
    Funny how these foods are the very ones that have been demonised!

  17. Richard1
    November 3, 2020

    Good to hear you will be voting against this nonsense. The serious and credible scientific challenges to the ā€˜dataā€™ – actually forecasts – have not been answered. All underlying assumptions and the output on which SAGE bases its advice should be subject to rigorous expert scrutiny, preferably in public.

    The only opposition to this is coming from the Conservative back benches. Starmer is pathetic.

  18. Javelin
    November 3, 2020

    If you want evidence for a vote I suggest you contact the head office of a respected hairdressing company, such as Toni and Guy and speak to their chairman. I know if you contact them your support will be well received. Just search for ā€œToni and Guy head officeā€

    Search for top 100 franchises in the UK then get on the phone to their head offices for a morning. You will learn more in a morning than reading newspapers all year.

    1. Coiffed
      November 3, 2020

      Bruno , toni’s brother used to do my hair in the 70s.

  19. Roy Grainger
    November 3, 2020

    I hope today the Science Committee haul Whitty and Vallance over the coals over their weekend efforts. Whilst I understand their advice on actions to take is sincere (but it is up to government whether to accept it or not) it is unacceptable to politically spin it as they did by alarmist presentations of spurious incorrect data and charts deliberately designed to scare. In particular showing a ludicrous Ferguson prediction of a worst-case 4000 deaths per day – something no country has come close to with world deaths only 6000 per day – based on an old model which overestimated the current deaths – which we know exactly – by a factor of four or so. The real worst-case may be bad enough but that was simply unethical and also counter-productive because it means we are now even more unlikely to believe any of their projections, even the correct ones (if any).

    Total case numbers are now levelling off and declining in many areas. Deaths should follow after 3-4 weeks or so. The best we can hope for is that this trend will continue and Boris can save face by claiming it is all due to the lockdown and move on.

  20. David Cooper
    November 3, 2020

    From Lord Sumption’s address to Steve Baker’s Zoom conference yesterday (go to “stevebaker.info” for the full text), very much in line with our kind host’s theme: –

    “What the last 6 months have shown is that decisions made in cabinet cabals, without wider deliberation or exacting Parliamentary involvement are likely to be less well thought out, less coherent, and more impulsive.”

    ā€œI have no doubt that a desire to minimize Parliamentary scrutiny has been a deliberate policy, and not just a welcome accident… What seems clear is that if Parliament cannot rise to the challenge of curbing the most determined attempt in modern times to rule by executive decree, then I seriously question whether it can claim any real constitutional relevance.ā€

    1. Mary M.
      November 3, 2020

      100,173 people have signed the petition ‘Repeal the Coronavirus Act 2020’.

      Over 100,000 signatures cannot be ignored by the Speaker.

      Fantastic result, just in time for the debate and vote on the continued curtailment of our freedoms (National Lockdown No. 2).

  21. RichardM
    November 3, 2020

    Would you request they cease giving PPE and related contracts through untendered contracts to companƬes who either massively overcharge or fail to deliver with no consequences ?
    Serco have now been booted out of AWE at long last after years of failure and should never have been awarded the Covid tracing contract either.

  22. Dave, Spencers Wood.
    November 3, 2020

    Well if you are actually seeking my views as a constituent.

    Your government has the next four weeks to sort out the failings that have led to us being in this position AGAIN.

    Rather than getting too far into the detail of the restrictions, I’d prefer it if you ensured your government used this time to learn and implement what South Korea and other countries did to drive the cases down to near zero. That’s what will minimise the human and economic cost. Otherwise we will be doing this all over again every six months until a vaccine or cure comes along.

  23. Leslie Singleton
    November 3, 2020

    Dear Sir John–If the very wide ranges are the best that can be done at present, then that’s that. Better to plan best as can be done on even a wide range (mean and worst case better than nothing perhaps). Or would you prefer that the numbers be fudged (even more?) so they look spuriously precise and accurate. Hopefully the analysis and the forecasts will improve and soon.

    1. Leslie Singleton
      November 3, 2020

      PS–Anyway it’s not the range of forecasts as such that is of most concern but the fact that different ‘experts’ give vastly different views on essentially the same statistics about what has actually happened. Who chooses whom to believe? Puzzles me that anyone would put faith in Imperial these days after their record yet Ferguson is wheeled out regularly (the BBC love him) and yesterday Kings were loudly saying that some doom and gloom numbers are no less than four times overstated. Do these people ever talk to each other? Time for SAGE to bow out. Irrespective of how right they are (not much) they don’t pay enough attention to the proverbial big picture and essentially ignore the business and mental health effects not to mention the diminution of non Covid healthcare and probably much else. There is only one right answer even if just a best guess (with + – if necessary). From the present communication one might think there is one right answer for Health and another for the Economy.

  24. Sharon
    November 3, 2020

    I sincerely hope enough MPs realise whatā€™s going on and donā€™t blindly follow the government on this…and vote it down in Parliament- but Iā€™m not holding my breathe.

    Their lockdown strategies are unbelievably harmful in so many different ways.

    I woke in the night, last night, and because of ā€˜the government ā€˜ had had to cancel seeing my grandchildren…I cried in the middle of the night (what the heck?)

    And the worst part was, it was because of ā€œthe government ā€œ locking us all us from seeing family and friends, not from any other reason…..

    I know Iā€™m far from alone in this but….. there is something quite sick in all of this!

    1. fedupsoutherner
      November 3, 2020

      +1

  25. Nigel
    November 3, 2020

    Spot on Sir John. Boris has lost the plot. Get the Brexit negotiations (or lack of them) out of the way, and get him out.

  26. Norman
    November 3, 2020

    Stay the course, Sir John – you are spot on with that letter. We may have to endure the mistakes of others, but it would be folly to embrace chaos. I have written to my own MP to ask him to oppose the new lockdown, essentially, as per the following:
    “I believe the wide variation in the stats, their highly questionable interpretation, and the relative mildness of symptoms in most people, suggest that a further lockdown is unnecessary. Add to this that even some within the WHO are saying that lockdowns should only be applied as an initial response whilst intelligence and resources are assembled in the face of a new disease scenario ā€“ not as a continuing method of control which will cause disproportionate economic damage…. Covid-deaths in Australia are dwindling to single figures – a seasonal pattern with many viruses, just as here, with winter approaching, we are seeing a rise in incidence. Typically, respiratory viruses do not survive long in dry, sunlit conditions.” “I regret very much that the PM has been put in this position, but at very least, he should be aware that there is a large body of informed opinion that seriously doubts the wisdom of a further lockdown. Thank you for your representation on this issue.”
    Thank you, too, Sir John, for listening, and for all your good work on behalf your wider constituency.

  27. Everhopeful
    November 3, 2020

    As ever, a great letter!
    Now..all rational hands to the pump to stop this lockdown?
    I said months ago that the drugs ARE NOT NEW. They are selected from and used routinely in respiratory illnesses. There has never been any genuine reason not to use them!
    I fail to see why people who are au fait with the internet can not search for the sites of the various global bodies we are signed up to and READ them!
    Then join up the dots!

    Pubs now banned from ā€œtakeawayā€ beers. NO MYSTERY! WEF wants to limit our access to alcohol! If not ban it completely.

  28. Lifelogic
    November 3, 2020

    Well done keep up your good works.

    One problem I have had is the new laws for landlords on Electricity Certificates making it illegal to let without them (& also the older laws for energy performance certificates and other safely certificates). Often the tenants do not want to let people in to do these jobs. This means you then cannot get them done and are prevented from agreeing new lettings costing money and forcing up rents. Also the new laws means electricians are busy and it can be hard to arrange at all.

    A suspension or abolition of these laws would be most welcome they are largely pointless red tape anyway. Little at all to do with actual safety.

    So we are to test everyone in Liverpool each week? Surely this is more total lunacy. If we have that many spare tests these could clearly be used far more efficiently by targeting people who really need to be tested (for job or other personal reasons) all across the UK. Why on earth just test Liverpudlians?

  29. Edwardm
    November 3, 2020

    Thank you JR.
    One of the few MPs with a fine analytical mind, and who seeks and weighs-up the full range of evidence, factors and concerns.

  30. turboterrier
    November 3, 2020

    Very gĆ²d entry .

    Unless you are practising on walking on water the only thing that is going to change is that the grass roots are going to have to rise up and say enough is enough..Our present PM ,cabinet and advisors have not exceeded anyone6expectations in fact the reverse.. every facet of the party has to totally reinvent itself.. we as a party and a nation are on the road to no where. Too many fundamental mistakes not only in the political classes but also in the civil service..We as a nation who ultimately pay government deserve better. Like with the last PM too many politicians all with their ow secret agenda….The days of playing soft ball have long passed and sadly too many who could see the direction we were heading were ignored.. The only good thing the situation we are in extends across all the present parties that are represented in this parliament..

  31. Lifelogic
    November 3, 2020

    New “cases” recorded yesterday about 10% down on new case recorded on the same day last week. If cases are declining why are we shutting down?

    The pandemic is surely almost over as a large problem as much of the UK are near herd immunity.

  32. Mike Wilson
    November 3, 2020

    Where is the data? The virus feels like a myth where I live but I can only find figures for the whole county. Even those figures show the virus is almost non existent in Dorset yet the businesses in a small town that are vital to people here – the shops, cafes and pubs – are being closed again. For heavenā€™s sake, where is the local data and , if necessary, local lockdowns?

    The government is in a state of panic. The response should be data driven and much more localised. They havenā€™t even waited to see if the Tier 3 restrictions worked.

  33. Ian @Barkham
    November 3, 2020

    Sir John

    As a constituent thank you.

    While those seeking an exit policy are just politically mixing it up. We as a Country would do better if there where more stringent health checks at our borders. The technology now exists for Corvid results in less than an hour and is required for UK citizens entering other Countries. Having this lock-down then easing out of it without these checks naturally mean we will import another lock-down – silly!

  34. Ian @Barkham
    November 3, 2020

    Sir John

    The Government and their advisors are not being honest with those that are paying their wages. There is no ‘data’, but there are contradictory estimates, based on what has been shown to be flawed maths. It is wrong for anyone to say ‘data supports’ – estimates are just guesses. As no one has ever handled a situation like this it all remains a guess until proven.

  35. ukretired123
    November 3, 2020

    Good luck SJR in your efforts to stop the rot in the unsound Govt thinking and poor forecasting using what seems to have been digitised Crystal balls on steroids with hindsight.
    Your experience of checking out previously woeful forecasts over decades has been one of your powerful tools overlooked the the many esp MSM.

  36. Iain Moore
    November 3, 2020

    I have been banging on about the lack of published Covid data for a long time, why were we being denied the information? No good answer has ever been given, the possibility of rank incompetence was there when it was found they were using Excel 2003 spreadsheets but that doesn’t explain the secrecy we keep coming up against. The workings to support the claim for 4,000 deaths the other day was denied us, and now we find they out and out lied to us on the charts they presented at the No 10 briefing.

    What is going on? I found it unbelievable when they made the claim that we may need to keep bodies in ice rinks, when they use such emotive arguments you know their arguments are threadbare , but what is behind it? I don’t know, yet again, just like in March, we are being shoved into lockdown just when the Covid infection rate is flattening, and in the worst areas, like Liverpool, in retreat.

    The most frightening things I have heard of late, is Boris boasting that the state has its arms around us, and Blair saying he has Covid advisory teams embedded in Governments around the world.

  37. formula57
    November 3, 2020

    “Without serious change to this policy I am unable to support it in a vote. – speaking for England, as promised. Thank you.

  38. David L
    November 3, 2020

    I would guess that after the Covid outbreak declines to a minor irritant (as it will whatever we do) the British public will accept without question the government claims that it was the lockdowns “what done it” and we’ll see Honours cascade upon the SAGE advisors and the Sec. of State for Health. Any vaccine will be reaping rich rewards for its investors (the very same advisors? Surely not) as we all clamour for it. Sorry for the cynicism but I’ve given up getting angry at the situation.

  39. SecretPeople
    November 3, 2020

    Same conclusions as many of us in a nutshell. Thank you for pushing back with your common sense and practical solutions.

  40. Bryan Harris
    November 3, 2020

    Very good points

    Can you also persuade the government to investigate why some people simply shrug the virus off without ill effects — analyse the state of their bodies, their immune system, to see what makes them able to do that.

    1. fedupsoutherner
      November 3, 2020

      bryan, those that just shrug it off probably were those that were tested false positive. They probably had nothing wrong with him in the first place. A friend of my daughters had to be tested and was found positive but then had to be tested again because of her husband and was negative. Same as a friend in a care home. Tested negative when in hospital and then positive the same day in the care home. Totally unreliable.

      1. Bryan Harris
        November 4, 2020

        fedupsoutherner

        I agree that testing is a waste of time given that it doesn’t guarantee anything – You could certainly catch the virus right after being tested – so what is the point when symptoms are a better judgement……………. There are major questions about how accurate these tests are – Making them an expensive smoke screen to show ‘something is being done’

  41. villaking
    November 3, 2020

    Sir John, well done for fighting this battle. The questionable data is a vital issue and if it can be shown to be dubious that would help. There is a key question that PHE will not answer directly: Are Covid hospital admissions always people admitted for Covid or does it include people admitted for other reasons but then testing positive after admission. If you could extract an answer from the government on this it would he very illuminating. We know that deaths is measured as anyone at all dying for whatever reason who has tested positive in the last 28 days so since deaths increase ay way this time of year it is unsurprising that on this measure “Covid” deaths are increasing. You may be able to scratch below the surface on the admissions question and reveal further misleading data.

  42. BJC
    November 3, 2020

    Are we sure it was Boris Johnson who walked out of that hospital? A random number, not my health, has now dragged me into a “vulnerable” grouping, yet it’s as valid as using the colour of my eyes. A wise man once said “We don’t believe you” and I’m neither unhealthy nor vulnerable and Mr Johnson can take his bunkhum and “go whistle”.

    We are again looking to those we annointed with powers to represent us to stop abdicating their responsibilities by blaming the government for strategic mistakes in which they have actively colluded. There’s no justification whatsoever for MPs to support a government, whether “reluctantly”, with a “heavy heart”, or for overt political opportunism, when their decisions are based on likelihood/invalid/out-of-date data and there’s no assessment of their impact. This isn’t a game, it’s our lives and livelihoods and it’s incumbent on MPs to base their decisions wholly on broad evidence-based information that stands up to scrutiny. Without it, they have an absolute duty to deny the government the excesses of their powers; that’s their job.

  43. Molluscs
    November 3, 2020

    Dear Sir John
    You and the small group of others around you are people of great principle and seem to understand the need to consult beyond the current cabal of mathematicians, psychologists etc- seemingly any “ologist” other than eminent epidemiologsists- that form SAGE. Your efforts are really appreciated by people like me who cannot understand the logic behind trashing the economy to fight a disease proven to be deadly to a very specific group of people who could be protected for far less cost than the ridiculous freedom sapping measures employed by team Boris. Thank you John

    1. Graham Wheatley
      November 3, 2020

      +1

  44. Lifelogic
    November 3, 2020

    Professor David Livermore: 4,000 Deaths a Day is implausible – on Lockdownsceptics.org today.

    Not just implausible it is totally absurd. Surely Sage are either they lying for political effect to scare people or they are clearly incompetent & totally deluded.

    1. Lifelogic
      November 3, 2020

      It reminds me of Blair and Campbellā€™s dodgy dossier. Surely just blatant lying?

  45. Richard
    November 3, 2020

    45,000 Public health scientists & doctors have. Ow signed the Great Barrington Declaration. https://gbdeclaration.org/view-signatures/

  46. formula57
    November 3, 2020

    Concerning NHS capacity, Peak Prosperity’s Martenson makes the point that duration of patient hospital stay is significant and treatments now (specially with Ivermectin) can shorten that time materially.

  47. glen cullen
    November 3, 2020

    You need to tell Boris that a test is diagnostic and not a cure

    Reported that Liverpool is to trial mass testing which is a new weapon against covid-19

    Best tell our government that testing, to date hasnā€™t cured a single case of covid-19

    1. a-tracy
      November 3, 2020

      Are they going to make them wear a badge when theyā€™ve been tested with their unique clearance number or how will they know they tested everyone in Liverpool?

      1. glen cullen
        November 4, 2020

        Its an easy step to tyranny

  48. Iain Gill
    November 3, 2020

    The chancellor’s words in today’s telegraph are delusional. Is he really so far removed from ordinary people that he believes this?

  49. John E
    November 3, 2020

    The headlines today about ā€œWinning the War against COVID by Springā€ are especially depressing.

    They confirm this lockdown will last all winter causing immense damage to all our lives.

    They also show how inappropriate political thinking is in managing this crisis. The virus isnā€™t some human enemy that can be persuaded by propaganda. And despite his continued delusional posturing Boris is no Churchill.

  50. J Bush
    November 3, 2020

    Sadly, I am not one of your constituents.

    I have written to my constituent MP who sadly always votes for whatever the government proposes, including May’s appalling mistakes and failures.

    So I don’t hold out much hope for her changing her mind and applying common sense this time either.

  51. Wokinghamite
    November 3, 2020

    I would say, by all means explore the new methods and treatments, but let that be in addition to lockdown, not instead of it. Urgent action is needed. The infection rate threatens to get out of control and overwhelm the N.H.S.. That is quite apart from many avoidable deaths.

    1. Lynn Atkinson
      November 3, 2020

      R = 1 admitted tonight. Therefore no growth in the ā€˜infection rateā€™.

  52. James Bertram
    November 3, 2020

    Without serious change to this policy I am unable to support it in a vote.

    Sir John, good intentions.
    I take it you will vote against the government, not just abstain.
    And I hope that you will not be bought-off by any mild tinkering of the policy – ‘serious change’ means exactly that.
    I hope enough of your colleagues will have the courage to vote against, so as to defeat this monstrous lockdown policy.
    I hope, too, that you will call for the sacking of Johnson’s current scientific advisers.
    As Dr Mike Yeadon (Chief Scientific Officer for respiratory diseases at Pfizer, now retired) says: the government and advisers are lying to the public. The presented statistics by Whitty and Vallance are again exaggerated nonsense, and there is no comparative data given for overall death rate monthly/annual averages (overall deaths are below average for this year in comparison – from the top of my head, I recall, something like only 8th highest in the last 27 years?), nor comparative data for average hospital bed occupancy for this time of year.

  53. Maylor
    November 3, 2020

    Glad to read from the comments on here & elsewhere that what was once regarded as mad conspiracy theories are now fast becoming the accepted norm.

    Something is going on. I wonder if it is connected to the US election or the World Economic Forum ?

    1. Graham Wheatley
      November 3, 2020

      I would guess the latter. And Agenda-21 of course.

  54. gregory martin
    November 3, 2020

    Seems to me that to avoid doubt, we need a referendum on whether we accept “The Great Reset”

  55. The Prangwizard
    November 3, 2020

    Covid is proving a very convenient and suitable cover for attacks on alcohol use and consequentially the associated social life, falling in line with encompassing UN directives. Boris supports such, part of Global Elitism.

    1. a-tracy
      November 3, 2020

      I wondered about the alcohol thing? Just bizarre, someone can go to a supermarket and buy and obscene amount of alcohol but pubs have been told they canā€™t sell their pints that are going to rot in the cellars in closedown as takeaway this time – why exactly? Iā€™d sell a Ā£3.00 pie with a free pint or lager rather than throw it down the drains like the government wants them to.

  56. ian
    November 3, 2020

    You have now been inturned apart from some company people who are still allowed to travel out of the country, but anybody can still enter the country.

  57. Ian @Barkham
    November 3, 2020

    Sorry to use names, but it is clear from todays MsM. The Government is placing the citizens of the UK under House arrest on the say so of a guess by Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College. Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty have taken this guess as verbatim even while knowing this is just guess that has know foundation in reality. It is already contradicted by the on-going ONS figures

    The only thing proven is the modelling of these guesses that then become estimates from this source have over time been 100% wrong. Every time 100% wrong

    Being churlish but warranted, these people receive full pay and compensation while forcing those that fund their remuneration into poverty and hardship. Are we all in it together? I don’t think so, there is no sharing of the burden, just punishment of the many by the few.

  58. john biggart
    November 3, 2020

    Good entry today Sir John,

    Replacing the air in a busy confined space with fresh air from outside should help reduce any viral load but, without a heat exchanger, would cause enormous loss of heat during winter.

    UV air disinfection systems are an inexpensive way to control any viral load (all airborne viruses) without the loss of heat.

    1. turboterrier
      November 3, 2020

      John Biggart

      Back in the 80s There was heat recovery units that had an electronic filter attached to them surely after all this time they must have improved to possibly scrub the air cleaner. Manufactured by an English company J&S from Northamptoon if my memory is right.

  59. Ian @Barkham
    November 3, 2020

    As of 2 days ago the Governments advisors promised 1,000 deaths a day. The actual rate yesterday was 136 average rolling week less than 200. This is before lock down has started, and is the basis for the national lock-down.

    Who pays, not those wannabee advisors.

  60. Philip P.
    November 3, 2020

    If the first lockdown worked, why are we having a second lockdown?
    If the first lockdown didn’t work, why are we having a second lockdown?

    1. Bryan Harris
      November 3, 2020

      ???

    2. fedupsoutherner
      November 3, 2020

      Great post Philip

    3. Everhopeful
      November 3, 2020

      +1
      Their ā€œpoliciesā€ are totally incoherent.
      Rather like a toddler making up a story.

    4. Lynn Atkinson
      November 3, 2020

      Exactly!

  61. Ian @Barkham
    November 3, 2020

    Government scientist prediction of infections for October 96,000. Others using similar ‘stats’ guessed it would be half that. Actual total for October 24,000

  62. TooleyStu
    November 3, 2020

    SJR,

    I work for a UK Ltd design company in Aerospace, Motorsport and F1.

    We have clients in Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Dorset, Sussex, Staffordshire and Oxfordshire.

    Request for quotation in Oct 2020 = zero.
    Invoices in Oct 2020 = zero.

    All staff currently furloughed, this has kept us above water.
    In Jan 2021 ‘ALL’ our Software Licences and Indemnity come up for renewal.
    I am unsure how long we can survive.

    Tooley Stu

    1. Mark B
      November 3, 2020

      You work in an area in which the UK is a world leader. It would be criminal to lose such skills.

      This government is wrecking terrible havoc. All because the say so of fools.

      1. Lynn Atkinson
        November 3, 2020

        +1 we need to be rid of this long before 2021!

  63. Fedupsoutherner
    November 3, 2020

    In shropshire only 60% of people are being contacted with the track and trace system.

  64. Jiminyjim
    November 3, 2020

    Lord Sumption this morning said that we have shown those governing us that we will succumb to a policy of instilling fear in the population……..and that we need to be scared of that, because they’ll NEVER forget the lesson they learned during COVID about how little we care about our freedoms

  65. Graham Wheatley
    November 3, 2020

    One of the big dangers in all of this is that the Tories will lose next election on the back of these measures and hand Labour the keys to no.10.

    Once in power, Labour will not only preserve the current powers this government have allowed themselves, but they will expand upon them.

    We are at the most dangerous time in our history than we have ever been.

    Good to see your name on the list of dissenters Sir John, thank you!

    To all other MPs : VOTE AGAINST THE MEASURES TOMORROW, or you will be remembered by your electorate for not having done so – and there will be political consequences for all of you in the next General Election.

    1. Martin in Cardiff
      November 3, 2020

      Don’t be silly.

      Can you imagine, for one moment, the Tories having ever brought us Freedom Of Information, for instance?

      It’s the most anti-authoritarian law that I ever remember being passed here.

      1. Graham Wheatley
        November 3, 2020

        ?
        “anti-authoritarian”?
        Seriously?

        You are living in a parallel universe to the rest of us, Martin.
        ….Or you are really Boris Johnson or Matt Hancock.

  66. forthurst
    November 3, 2020

    The issue of co-morbidities in identifying the causes of deaths involving Covid-19 is a red herring. People do not normally die of the flu, yet the flu causes many deaths annually. Do we quibble about these deaths on account of the health of the individuals prior to the onset of disease? No. So let’s stop trying to attenuate the statistics for Covid-19 and accept that they as with other infectious causes of death may involve those who are already in poor health and may not be entirely accurate either.

  67. czerwonadupa
    November 3, 2020

    Why have a standing army of two and a half million when with one virus you can bring the western nations to their knees. And with the prospect of the embalmed looking puppet taking over the White House & the stuttering blond mop top we have in No 10 the west & this country in particular have never been in more danger than we were in 1939.
    Since 1945 it seems every replacement has been worse than the previous model with sound bites like “You’ve never had it so good” & “Things can only get Better”

    We shall have a harder Christmas than we have known since the war. No not Johnson but Ted Heath on 24th December 1973

  68. glen cullen
    November 3, 2020

    Beheadings in France, and multiple deaths in Austria and almost nothing in the news; brexit nothing

    1. Caterpillar
      November 3, 2020

      Figaro.

    2. Martin in Cardiff
      November 3, 2020

      It’s all over the news.

      And what is new of any significance over brexit?

      1. glen cullen
        November 3, 2020

        7:30pm please go to BBC news page and SKY news page websites – nothing

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