On March 11th the EU published its weekly death figures from CV 19. Unlike most countries the EU does not give its citizens a daily up date. The sad news was the death toll had exceeded 560,000. This compares with 530,000 for the USA. The U.K. media reporting U.K. deaths daily and US deaths regularly ignored the EU deaths again.
We should expect the U.K. CV 19 death rate to continue to plunge as most people at risk get a jab. The U.K. and the US are well ahead of the EU in getting people vaccinated. Shouldnât the UK now enjoy a benefit from this success? Isnât it now safe to let us relax more of the controls? We need to get more services re opened, more leisure and hospitality available with suitable social distancing and air flows.
A year has now passed since the government first locked us down. Over that long tine the U.K. has made good progress with treatments and with vaccines. We now have much more understanding of the disease and how to combat it. We need to use these advances to permit more relaxing of the rules and restoration of more business and social activity. Itâs time to get our freedoms back.
March 14, 2021
Good morning.
To answer today’s heading, No! We should not use either the carrot or a stick. It is up to us to choose what we put into our bodies.
The cynic in me has always believed that this ‘miracle cure’ would be the government’s way out of the mess it wandered into. It can claim to have saved the nation and elevate PM Alexander Johnson to God like status even though he was presiding over an absolute shambles.
Despite the grim reading of the death figures, I still do not know of anyone who has dies of this terrible disease or, know of anyone who knows someone who has died. Curious that ! And that is despite asking around.
What concerns me now is the future. I read on a website of a company that sells tools and materials, to both trade and private, that they can no longer sell to Northern Ireland. I am concerned as we clearly do not have someone at the helm who I consider fit and proper. We have a Parliament which I do not consider fit and proper. And we have a country that is more concerned with having enough toilet rolls and ‘staying safe’ than it is with freedom and democracy. We are not in, but still governed by the EU and the ECJ and no one seems all that bothered despite the above.
Those the God’s wish to destroy they first make mad.
March 14, 2021
+1 well said Mark B
March 15, 2021
In this case it is the other way around. It is those who are clearly already deranged who are destroying this country and its people.
March 14, 2021
Well youâd better get a move on then.
A lot of us are losing the will to live.
Which rather puts our incarceration into perspective doesnât it?
And what about all the deaths caused by imprisonment, masks, lack of society, sunlight and the withdrawal of healthcare?
An exercise in immunity destruction.
March 14, 2021
Everhopeful, please don’t lose the will to live. There is yet hope:
‘Repeal Coronavirus Act and end all Covid-19 restrictions’.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/561995. So much more is known about Covid-19 now.
March 14, 2021
Thanks!
Signed…39,360
March 14, 2021
Done
March 14, 2021
I’ve signed it too. Although it irks me to have to beg that idiot Johnson or his maniacal sidekick Hancock for anything.
March 15, 2021
Thank you for that. I’ve signed it in the full understanding that it won’t have any effect. Once a bunch of totalitarian thugs have given themselves these powers to take our freedom away they will never, ever, relinquish them.
March 14, 2021
@EH; “A lot of us are losing the will to live.”
Some might, but vast numbers of other’s appear to have found renewed freedoms from the rat-race, online hobby retailers report record trade! Vut you are correct, some of these people have indeed lost their freedoms and are accepting of the fact as the alternative being a real risk that they or their loved ones could loose their life, not just their will…
March 14, 2021
No government has the right to put its people in this position.
Stop wasting money. Stop pandering to the entire world.
Get a decent health service.
Get a sane government.
Stop peddling the ridiculous guilt trip!!
March 14, 2021
We have one of the most stringent lockdowns on the planet. We were told to sacrifice Christmas and defer it to Easter but at Easter time we will be in a worse lockdown than last year before we had a vaccine.
The Government keeps moving goal posts backwards but never forwards. It is telling us how well the vaccination is going but behaves as though the vaccines do not exist. Now Imperial are telling us that masks indoors and social distancing will be with us for years yet.
March 14, 2021
Thy are telling us we will definitely need a third vaccination booster although they haven’t yet justified the exact reason why this should be such a certainty… especially as vaccinations are much more effective than expected.
March 14, 2021
If only the untargeted national lockdowns had worked, Jerry, but they haven’t. Even you can take the UNL dates of imposition and lifting, with the 4 week infection-to-death cycle, to the ONS all deaths graph and see for yourself, instead of meekly swallowing what the BBC tells you.
March 14, 2021
@NickC; You really do not have first clue. The ONS “all deaths” data actually shows the need for restrictions/lockdowns, not allowing an even greater level of Covid infection, further filling the hospitals more CV19 patients to the exclusion of all others.
March 15, 2021
Jerry, How can the ONS all deaths graph “show the need for” anything? It’s historical. The graph inflexions do not coincide with the historical start and finish dates of the lockdowns. It’s that simple – even you can grasp it if you bother to look.
March 15, 2021
@NickC; “The graph inflexions do not coincide with the historical start and finish dates of the lockdowns. Itâs that simple”
No it is not, good grief…
A lockdown will always be out of sync with the data, because they are almost always reactionary [1], usually late in starting and then either early or late in ending. The ONS data shows the effects of high infection rates and hospital wards filling up with Covid patients to the exclusion of other clinical need.
[1] rather than either pre-emptive or otherwise synchronised to the cause of the lockdown
March 16, 2021
Instead of blustering, Jerry, look at the ONS ‘all deaths’ graph. Add the c4 week infection-to-death cycle to the start and finish dates of the lockdowns (as I originally said), and see for yourself that those dates do not coincide with the inflexions. Hence the general untargeted national lockdowns do not work to reduce deaths.
March 17, 2021
@NickC; “Instead of blustering”
Talk about the filthy frying pan trying to call out the slightly dusty kettle!
“look at the ONS âall deathsâ graph.”
How about you try to understand the ONS data NickC, don’t just look at it, and then concoct irrelevant rants that fits your anti-lockdown agenda.
The lockdown does not and has not caused the excess deaths, not being able to be admitted to hospital or not seeking an appointment to see a doctor (for fear of infection) do, neither are caused by a lockdown but rising CV19 infections rates. The ONS “all deaths” figures would have been even higher without the lockdowns.
March 14, 2021
Everhopeful,
You are correct the Govt has overseen an outright attack on the immune systems of the groups likely most affected by CV19. The risk of losing their lives has been increased, whilst the lives they are living have been made tragedies. The Govt has run policies providing feel-good to some middle class (and above), often people who are oblivious or not caring to the damaged done elsewhere. The inhumanity shown by this Govt and its advisers is a level of vileness that I never thought I would witness in the U.K.
March 14, 2021
+1
Me neither! Agree 100%.
March 14, 2021
The inhumanity shown by this Govt and its advisers is a level of vileness that I never thought I would witness in the U.K.
Vileness.
Lack of regard for freedoms.
Suppression of dissent.
Censoriousness.
March 14, 2021
SNP passes anti-hate speech law even if the speech is in your own home. But who will report you?
Don’t worry – smart phones are already listening. We are being walked into a nightmare.
March 15, 2021
Matthu:”Donât worry â smart phones are already listening.”
yep. Smartphones, Siri, Alexia, your voice activated television. All are listening all the time. The authorities don’t even need a court order, they already snoop on internet traffic.
March 14, 2021
+1
March 14, 2021
JR has become extremely gullible. Who would believe a word Johnsonâs says? Even if his comment in the unlikely event was true who would be confident he would not make a U-turn the next day after speaking to his mistress?
Illustrative but not exhaustive:
Three weeks to squash the Sombrero?
World beating track and trace?
It would be inhumane to cancel Christmas?
It is safe to return to school tomorrow?
04/01/2021- when 70 year olds vaccinated and pressure off NHS the country would be opened?
Brexit is done anyone? Tell them to go whistle for money? Will leave as one nation? No checks or borders?
Illegal Immigration of boat people: when they arrive send them straight back?
Of course exaggerated claims and unreliable figures by Whitby and Valance could be added or the utterly ridiculous predictions by Ferguson who was wrong on Foot and mouth, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Chinese virus etc.
Govt is bringing back legislation on 25/03/2021 to extend legislation for another six months!
March 14, 2021
MPs had better not approve this extension when there is no current emergency…
March 14, 2021
I see that the news is not good from S. London.
Too much lock down.
March 14, 2021
And too much of the heavy-handed control mechanisms.
The same as feebly protested by an MP….to no effect.
At least it is being reported by MSM now!
March 14, 2021
Yes, it’s funny that the police attack peaceful vigils and anti-lockdown protests, but run away from the BLM and ER rioters.
March 14, 2021
The return to normality should remain phased, based on the evidence. We have tried too many false dawns only to return to darkness.
Once all 50 year old people have had one jab, if one can believe the efficacy of one jab, then all internal UK business should enjoy an accelerated return to normality. International leisure travel should be confined to those with two jabs,and jab passported by destination agreement. If we find ourselves in jab surplus after vaccinating the UK and supplying our Commonwealth, we could consider supplying near holiday destinations such as Greece and Spain.
Award and recognition should go to those who created the vaccination and those who designed the organisation for its rapid application in the UK. Our only problem is that the final details are in the hands of politicians.
March 14, 2021
The ‘vaccines’ do not prevent catching the disease or shedding the virus if you do. It prevents severe infection in most people and makes it possible to be asymptomatic, making it more likely to spread it because you think it’s something less serious. This is a reason for the experts wishing to continue lockdown. Because if they allowed people who had been vaccinated out, they would think they were safe and then genuine cases would increase again. As long as they save the NHS they are keen to have everyone jabbed, even if young people don’t get serious symptoms anyway and it’s experimental.
March 14, 2021
A,
I do not think so. Two jabs three months apart and now planning for a third in three months time in the autumn. Does that sound like a good vaccination? I am not sure where the surplus will be.
March 14, 2021
Agricola, There have been no “false dawns”. Covid19 is an opportunistic seasonal disease – I nearly said *like* influenza, but that would evince howls of protest, so I’ll say – in the same manner that influenza is. Nor is covid19 particularly serious for the majority of the population. And if you’re convinced that a vaccine will protect you from covid19 then why are you bothered about restricting the rights of the unvaccinated?
March 14, 2021
Virtue is its own reward.
That is something that the cynical can never grasp.
March 14, 2021
Did you just call the BAME communities ‘cynical’ MiC ?
March 14, 2021
No, how ever did you infer that?
March 14, 2021
Because – as you are aware – they have such a low uptake of the vaccine that there is a special campaign to encourage them to do so. Personally I sympathise with their point of view but took the vaccine to get us out of lockdown as soon as possible.
March 14, 2021
Or in your case “virtue” signalling, Martin.
March 14, 2021
Some of our freedoms shouldn’t have been taken away in the first place. Any decent programme manager would be concentrating on ‘realising benefits’ – but this timid government, bound in knots by a timid PM, seems addicted to controlling us. The next impending disaster will be EU tourist destinations opening up to British tourists but the British government not having sorted out the ‘proof of vaccination’ problem – despite having had a year to crack it. I get my first jab on Tuesday and the second on June 5th. If I am not then able to book a holiday, the very next day, both my MP and the PM, will be getting short, sharp and forceful letters.
P.S. And my nearest ‘local’ will not be opening as soon as it it is allowed to – probably because early April is not conducive to outdoors drinking and eating. The government’s addiction to one-size-fits-all policy-making is something else that needs to change.
March 14, 2021
Good Morning, Sir John,
The Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART) set out clearly in their latest bulletin where we are, and demonstrate with facts and data that it is indeed safe to relax more of the controls on us.
I would like to suggest that many will find their latest bulletin clear and helpful, and more than anything encouraging.
https://www.hartgroup.org/covid-19-bulletin/
March 14, 2021
Yes, the European Union has the best part of twice the US population, and so its deaths-per-million are rather lower when the tallies are analysed further.
However, both are put to shame by the magnificent efforts of countries as diverse as China and New Zealand, and Senegal and Norway.
March 14, 2021
The US and the UK can never do any right in MiC’s eyes.
What was that about people being cynical ?
March 14, 2021
Hi Martin. The average age in Senegal is 18 – is achieving that really a magnificent effort ?
March 14, 2021
OK, how about Japan, China, Australia, Vietnam, Taiwan, New Zealand, Norway, etc. etc.?
March 14, 2021
Which would you have preferred: that we had closed all of our county and international borders to all traffic including imports (New Zealand, Australia)?
Or that we had nailed people into their houses to enforce isolation (China)?
March 14, 2021
We wanted to be more like Australia and New Zealand and even voted Brexit but were called racists.
March 14, 2021
No, it doesn’t.
If you want to go and live under a regime like China’s – be my guest.
If we had 5 million people living here it would be easy to control the virus. And, if we weren’t a major trading nation.
March 14, 2021
MiC, since when is 450 million nearly twice 330 million? Or are you confusing the EU with Europe?
March 14, 2021
If you look at the ONS chart for England in Figure 1 here:
https://tinyurl.com/d2ubvcze
you will see that while the Covid-19 infection rate has fallen, and continues to fall albeit a bit more slowly, it is nevertheless still too high.
At least an order of magnitude higher than last summer when people relaxed and started to become careless and helped to kick it off again.
We must just try to be patient and aim to go no faster than the government’s schedule.
March 14, 2021
Denis, could that partly be increased testing capability and therefore more false positives?
March 14, 2021
I don’t think so, increased testing by the ONS started long ago, in early May, and they watched the positivity rate decline and then climb back up, decline and then climb back up even higher, and then decline back to the levels of last autumn but not the summer, so far.
Andrew Marr interviewed the head of the ONS this morning and he said just that:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/14032103.pdf
“ID: Well any decisions about earlier openings or later openings are down to the policy makers. What I would say is that the message is good. If you look at our large survey, 400,000 people taking part, we are currently reporting in England, .37 of a percent, Andrew. Thatâs about 6,000 cases a day. Those are rates that we havenât seen since late September with slightly lower numbers in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland but equally theyâre coming down. So all that is good news. But letâs just remember that number of .37 is still very, very much bigger than the sorts of numbers we were seeing last summer at about .04 of a percent. So thereâs a way to go.”
There may be uncertainty about the precision of the numbers but the general picture is reliable.
March 14, 2021
Denis, there is another variable in that last May Matt Hancock was insisting that only those with symptoms should be tested, now there is a large percentage of random or nonsymtomatic testing. There is a Lancet paper that details this along with the assertion that PCT tests can produce 0.8% to 4% false positives. Do a search for ” Lancet false positive PCR”.
March 15, 2021
K-D, Even taking the maximum 4% negative error on 0.37 and a maximum 4% positive error on 0.04, one should see that 0.355 is still 8 times bigger than 0.042.
So whatâs your point?
March 15, 2021
That doesn’t apply to the ONS survey, which has always looked at random samples. Almost all of those providing swabs prove to be uninfected, of course – in England that was just a tad below 98% even at the height of the infection at the start of the year – then there are those who are infected but have no symptoms, and then there are those who are infected and symptomatic. Of the latter group some may also present to the NHS and get tested again and so officially recorded as new cases and added to the total announced each day, but some may decide that they can just carry on with or without added precautions and successfully avoid getting entangled with the NHS and reported in the daily statistics.
March 15, 2021
Hefner,
It’s not 0.8% to 4% of positive tests its of the whole sample i.e. 1 million plus tests as detailed by your Sky link the other day
March 17, 2021
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/methodologies/covid19infectionsurveypilotmethodsandfurtherinformation
“Test specificity measures how often the test correctly identifies those who do not have the virus, so a test with high specificity will not have many false-positive results.
We know the specificity of our test must be very close to 100% as the low number of positive tests in our study means that specificity would be very high even if all positives were false. For example, in the most recent six-week period (31 July to 10 September), 159 of the 208,730 total samples tested positive. Even if all these positives were false, specificity would still be 99.92%.
We know that the virus is still circulating, so it is extremely unlikely that all these positives are false. However, it is important to consider whether many of the small number of positive tests we do have might be false. There are a couple of main reasons we do not think that is the case.
Symptoms are an indication that someone has the virus; therefore, if there are many false-positives, we would expect to see more false-positives occurring among those not reporting symptoms. If that were the case, then risk factors such as working in health care would be more strongly associated with symptomatic infections than with asymptomatic infections. However, in our data the risk factors for testing positive are equally strong for both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections.
The percentage of individuals reporting no symptoms among those testing positive has remained stable over time despite substantial declines in the overall number of positives. If false-positives were high, the percentage of individuals not reporting symptoms among those testing positive would increase when the true prevalence is declining.”
March 14, 2021
Denis, If you look at the ONS deaths graphs you will see that deaths continued to decline after the first lifting of the untargeted national lockdown restrictions in mid May 2020. Despite your claim that people became “careless”. Rather, it appears that covid19 is (now) a seasonal disease.
March 14, 2021
The deaths are a lagging indicator, behind the anonymised positive test results in the random ONS samples, the identified positive test cases announced each day and the hospitalisations.
March 15, 2021
Denis, Indeed they are, and research indicates that the infection to death mean time was about 4 weeks for the first UK general untargeted lockdown. As I have said before. The cycle is likely to be longer now due to better treatments than last March/April.
March 14, 2021
We are given the impression that the UK has come second in the world for vaccination and that as a result, deaths have fallen, unlike the rest of Europe, where they have struggled to find enough shots.
The figures for covid deaths up to 7th March compared to the date when vaccines were beginning to work are available. I will add the link later.
Total to 7.3.21by which time almost all of the vulnerable had been jabbed in the UK followed by the figure for 3.1.21 and proportional increase.
France 88,600 65,037 1.362
Germany 71,394 34,574 2.080
Italy 99,785 24,453 1.320
Spain 71,456 51,078 1.348
UK 124,501 75,024 1.680
The UK had the strictest lockdown and by far the most vaccination. The greatest total and second highest increase since the vaccines started to work.
Germany had a low toll until the new year and still has fewer overall than the UK. The other countries are remarkably similar.
How can the UK government claim that its strict lockdown and mass vaccination is s success?
March 14, 2021
Sorry, the website has deleted the spaces between the figures.
March 15, 2021
Thatâs one of the beauties of a ridiculously set-up website. And this new incarnation is even worse than the previous one.
March 15, 2021
Stred, Thank you for that information. The UK government claims its general untargeted lockdowns “work” via didactic bluster but no evidence. I should point out (again) that there is at least a c4 week delay between infection and death which the government and some commenters here appear not to understand.
March 14, 2021
I travelled 20 miles to Basingstoke and 20 miles back for my vaccination. Very pleasant experience, particular being able to get out and about. A week later, I had an antibody test from UK Biobank to test whether I had developed or previously been exposed to any Covid-19 antibodies. Test was negative.
There is no level of confidence stated whether I am or am not now able to pass Covid-19 so I am unsure what benefit I personally get, or what benefit I give to others by having had the vaccination, but I am glad that I had it. A bit like the flu jab. Better than wearing a mask outside.
Do I need a reward? No. The feeling of possibly having done something worthwhile is reward enough. Not quite as much possibly as being a part of UK Biobank. But that is quite possibly the only reward. The possibility of my being able to travel again will quite likely be conditional on my agreeing to allow myself to be tracked and traced and periodically be confined to my house and agreeing not to attend or address any gatherings or criticise government reaction online.
March 14, 2021
@matthu – a little early if you were expecting to see ‘antibody’ results from the jab, need 3-4 weeks
March 14, 2021
Really? I had moderately unpleasant flu symptoms 12 hours after my first vaccination. I felt fine the next day. I assumed my immune system had kicked in and done the necessary.
March 14, 2021
@Mike, ‘antibody’ test results was all that was mentioned. Felling rough, is an indication something good is going on but doesn’t confirm full antibody existence.
March 14, 2021
Yes, itâs time to get all our freedoms back. No more dither and delay.
March 14, 2021
Yes, the freedom to live, work, study, perform, retire, and the rest, as an equal, in thirty countries of Europe would be most welcome.
Bring it on.
March 14, 2021
But not at the expense of our independence, not to be ruled by bureaucrats we can’t remove, and not to deprive us of our right to decide who can come here, Martin.
March 15, 2021
Hee hee hee, youâre a funny guy: we now have our own independence monitored by our own bureaucrats we canât remove and it is clear as daylight that we have now recovered our indefectible right to decide who can come here. Isnât it, NickC?
March 16, 2021
Hefner, Our bureaucrats are controlled by our politicians. True, that control is imperfect, (perhaps due to 48 years in the EU?), but our control of the EU’s bureaucrats was none existent.
March 16, 2021
you had your chance for decades – still chosen Wales !!
March 14, 2021
Didnât Johnson say âdata, not datesâ? I donât recall a caveat that stated âbut only if the data can be used as an excuse to extend the lockdownâ.
March 14, 2021
The reward for vaccination is that you increase your chances of staying alive and well.
Which also helps keep others alive and well.
Simples
March 14, 2021
One of my daughters has a friend around 40 years old living and working here from Czechia. She has been vaccinated as part of protection for front line workers.
When talking to her parents back home, she found they have no prospect of vaccination and were stunned that her daughter had got AZ over here. They were encouraged to ask for it – their doctor said ‘nobody ever asked for it here’ -just shows you the ridiculous damage done by the deniers in the EU.
I hope they will be able to get it.
March 14, 2021
Fred, they may be aware that AZ has been suspended in some ten countries now, over concerns on adverse reactions. Not everyone gets their news from the BBC.
March 14, 2021
Philip are you suggesting the BBC is covering up a problem with AZ injections in the UK?
March 16, 2021
No – this was about a month ago.
March 14, 2021
Or should there be a punishment for the 4th worst death toll of 195 Nations thats the UK on 188.87 per 100,000. Why so much worse than comparable countries ,like the Netherlands on 94.78 ,Ireland 93.09 Germany 88.4 ?
The USA has managed 162.79 has shocking and disgraceful performance, given its wealth and sparse population ( more wilderness than Africa). Compare Canada on 60.44.
If you look at the body count over time there are 2 great corpse mountains The first was after the government delayed lock down and the second after it opened too early , told people it was safe to go out and actually subsidised dangerous behaviour.
The people who are responsible might at least show some contrition and why not a ,little respect the those who got it right ( again!!!! )
PS To the fan of Modern Monetary theory …Nick C – Bangladesh can print money . Why not purchase a Western Health service and ,…ooo ponies and sweets , for everyone ? It is baby babble dressed in a pseudo academic style. There is no Magic Money Tree ! Debt matters and trusting a dog with your sausages sausages is a wiser choice than believing a words Sir John Redwood says about it
March 14, 2021
Newmania, No, I am not a fan of MMT, which I regard as an low-grade excuse to debauch the currency. As for your call to punish the high – in comparison to other countries – covid19 death toll in the UK, shouldn’t you make sure that all these other countries are measuring deaths in the same way? No one is infallible but if you don’t get your facts straight perhaps you could acknowledge it as I do?
March 14, 2021
Many of those who have been seriously ill or died since Christmas (at least here in the UK) were not actually in the original “at risk” groups (the clinically vulnerable or elderly), since before Christmas the real at risk groups have been the 20-60 age groups with no known vulnerabilities, and until as many people as possible in those age ranges have also been vaccinated there is still substantial risk of another post-lockdown spike and thus even greater damage to the economy should the numbers of working age people (perhaps in essential industries or the supply network) either fall ill or have to self isolate due to exposure to the virus. We might have got the original CV19 virus beat but our problem is now the more transmissible mutations.
As for the science behind the unlock timetable, and hospitality in particular, it was proved late last summer and autumn (due to the crazy “Eat out to help
infectout” scheme from HMT), in the run up to lockdown No.2, it is impossible to adequately mitigate for risk in an environment that is by nature enclosed and/or face coverings can not be worn due to the nature of the task at hand or the product on sale is for table consumption. I suppose open air theatres, with social distancing & drive-in cinemas could be allowed to reopen early.March 14, 2021
So what if the EU/EU26 report weekly! This constant snipping at the EU is getting tiresome now we have (a sort of) Brexit. Perhaps there needs to be more comparisons made between how the UK has dealt with the pandemic compared to non-EU countries, say Australia, NZ & Singapore etc, all of who have done a far better job than the UK govt(s) have. In fact let’s start comparing economic and social policies too…
March 14, 2021
Our problem now, Jerry, is the unprecedented use of cold virus mutations to justify locking up healthy folk, ruining their lives and livelihoods, damaging children’s education and mental health, etc. etc.. Not to mention the problem of people who are content to see this happen.
March 14, 2021
@Hat Man; When I hear the sort of clap-trap you and others come out with I do wonder how in hell this country survived SIX YEARS of total war, 1939-45, many people being bombed out of their homes each night, loved ones dead or missing, children sent to live with total stranger, grow a spine man…
March 15, 2021
Jerry, That’s bottom clutching. My parents were bombed early in WW2 – fortunately it was a dud, but it still took the house roof off. But they didn’t cower in their house, and the government didn’t require them to do so. Their generation would tell you to grow a spine man . . . .
March 15, 2021
@NickC; “But they didnât cower in their house, and the government didnât require them to do so”
What, you mean your parent didn’t take any ARP precautions, and they refused their national issue gas masks, and would have ignored the gas attack warning had it come? Try reading up on WW2 ARP laws etc, as they affected the civilian, you might be surprised just how authoritarian and total those emergency war time laws were.
“Their generation would tell you to grow a spine man”
Why, considering they are, by and large, the generation who have done as the current govt has asked and have thus been shielding or actively taking preventative measures for the last 12 months, and many didn’t need to be asked to do so.
March 14, 2021
Obesity is a vulnerability but it isn’t being disseminated as such in the Government broadcasts.
We are still seeing report of “Fit and healthy 20 something dies of CV-19” and yet the picture shows someone who is clearly obese. We are not allowed to say that being fat is unhealthy any more.
Political correctness is a murderous doctrine.
In any case. The average age of death was bound to get lower as those in older groups have already been taken by CV-19 or are better protected. We need to be looking at the death/hospitalisation rates and no longer the infection rates.
Lockdown kills too.
I wager you more young people have committed suicide in lockdown than died of CV-19.
Young people do not want to live in your awful cotton wool world. Stop taking everything that makes life worth living from them over a disease which has a minute chance of hurting them.
Stop nannying everyone.
March 14, 2021
@NLA; When was excise made illegal?!
From day one of the first lockdown, explicitly, it was not made illegal, in fact it was one of the few exceptions from the general Stay at Home order. You do not need a gym to get exercise or get fit.
“yet the picture shows someone who is clearly obese.”
Yes but such obesity had long since become the norm, long before lockdown #1, hence the sugar tax, and the increased nutritional information on packaging (especially ready meals and fast food…), due to our changed lifestyles from the increased use of computer at home and in the work place, never mind far less physical work.
“Political correctness is a murderous doctrine. “
Indeed, and just as much as political dogma is, in fact the Joseph Rowntree Foundation -for example- have been reporting on such issues since 1904…
“I wager you more young people have committed suicide in lockdown than died of CV-19.”<
If so it wasn't the lockdown but the sort of woke nonsense (consumerism) that the UK has nurtured for far to long now, decades before even the SARS outbreak some 20 years ago, that demands anything and everything, especially if you're young, has to be served on a platter here and now, otherwise "life's not worth living"…
March 14, 2021
Well said, No Longer Anon.
March 14, 2021
Your made up data about the 20-60 age group being most at risk is nonsense.
March 14, 2021
Shrewabury hospital is still full with Covid patients and most are between 30-50. Apparently more this time around are not making it.
March 14, 2021
FUS – How do you know they are covid patients? However that could very well be true as the new word “covid” covers EVERY eventuality and outcome.
March 14, 2021
I’ll rephrase especially for you Paul. Shrewsbury hospital is full with many patients who have Covid together with others who haven’t and according to the people who work there ( I think they know more than you and I) they are having to send locals to Telford now. The number of patients in hospital are higher than normal and those with Covid are younger. I am only telling you what I have been told from someone who was recently sent to Telford instead of being treated locally.
March 14, 2021
If you look at the monthly beds stats provided by the NHS, the number of beds with covid patients in England on 11th March was 9092 which was 8% of the total beds. They did occupy 35% of the Mechanical Ventilated Beds 1454. FUS may be unfortunate to live in an area with higher percentages, however here in the SouthWest the percentage is 15% of Mechanical Beds and 3% of total beds. Even in London only 10% of beds are covid patients. https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/Covid-Publication-11-03-2021.xlsx
March 17, 2021
@DaveK; I’m always more likely to believe local reports than cold stats.
The issue might be available staff, not the nominal number of available beds, give the high intensity staffing levels in Covid and ICU wards, never mind depletion of staff levels due to cautionary pre-test (result) self-isolation & false-positives.
March 14, 2021
I still expect more under 50s have killed themselves in lockdown than died of CV-19
March 15, 2021
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending26february2021
Yes, the ONS excess deaths chart figure 4 shows that younger people, mainly men, are not dying in greater numbers.
Also, if you want to see how steep the decline in death rate towards the average is, figure 7 is encouraging. It seems that there were many patients who were very ill after missing treatment and those coming in now stand the same chance of surviving as usual. Even deaths at home have reduced to normal after being well above since March 20.
March 14, 2021
Not sure of the purpose of this post given the government has made clear that its precautionary principle based approach is going to continue with no easing of the roadmap. I would have been interested in your view about Johnsonâs latest caving to the eco lobby in terms of whatâs now certain to be refusal of planning permission for the Cumbria mine.
March 14, 2021
MPC,
The Govt’s actions are not based on a precautionary principle. The Govt has tried a never before used lockdown of healthy people without consideration of how this affects virus evolution (let alone the people, society and the economy). The Govt is pushing what are still emergency experimental vaccines to a low virus risk healthy population, without consideration of long term consequences which are unknown, or again the evolutionary risk. This Govt has taken two hugely dramatic punts, in each case treating tens of millions as guinea pigs. If this Govt is doing anything it the opposite of the precautionary principle.
March 14, 2021
Caterpillar, Exactly so.
March 14, 2021
Fully agree with your coment on the Cumbria Mine. We are sleep walking to disaster and these Eco lobbyists are doing their best to ensure that.
Wake up people before it is too late as we have not got long to go.
March 14, 2021
Many will be, once again, dismayed by those on the right of the party demanding yet another premature re-opening of the economy. Can we not learn from recent history and reflect upon the tens of thousands of unecessary deaths that resulted from the last summer and christmas re-openings?
If there is one thing that we have learned about the Chinese plague virus, it is amazingly infectuous. More so the new variants. Indeed, the more people this virus passes through, the greater the chance of another – possibly worse – mutation. Do we really want to risk another explosion of cases and a further lockdown later in the year?
We have fought a long and difficult battle with this virus. Finally, we have restricted access at our borders, imposed quarantine for those who do get in, implemented aggressive testing special measures when new variants are detected and imposed an admittedly draconian lockdown. Now, just as the vaccination program (44% of the population as of last night) shows signs of achieving its objective, it is essential that we keep to the four conditions set by the PM.
March 14, 2021
SK – What are those four conditions – control ,control, control and control of the masses? The real conspiracy theorists believe that their government cares about them, the media would never mislead or lie to them and the pharmaceutical industry that makes billions from sickness wants to cure them. News is not what happens. It is what a fairly small group of people decide is the news.
March 14, 2021
Is the vaccine making a difference or not ?
Lockdown kills too and will continue to kill long after it has ended.
March 14, 2021
Sakara, When “re-opening” took place last summer (from mid-May on) the result was a reduction in deaths. There was nothing “premature” about it.
March 15, 2021
Covid 19 is a seasonal coronavirus which coincidentally will be gone by 21st June anyway (see 2020 graph). The main hope is when it reappears in late September that the vaccine is effective against whatever variant turns up. A cursory look at the current graphs shows a steep fall in deaths, much steeper than 2020. Considering what has changed, the vaccine would seem a good explanation.
March 14, 2021
Flu kills all ages every year, though, interestingly, much of last years and all of this years flu deaths have been ‘reclassified’ as a covid virus death. Why?
That aside, I don’t recall anyone ever suggesting a reward for having a flu vaccination, or threats of denial of services for not having this vaccine!
The idiocy surrounding this particular virus has to stop and let common sense return to these shores.
March 14, 2021
Good comment – one I fully agree with
March 14, 2021
+1
March 14, 2021
Well said. Rewarding people to take this (still experimental until 2013) vaccine doesnât feel right.
March 14, 2021
Suzette, Exactly. The idea of a “reward” for vaccination – like a child given a sweet for tidying his toys away – is ludicrous and illustrates the government’s view of the public – as children to be bribed and managed.
March 14, 2021
Perhaps that’s because the flu jab is only offered to those at risk of serious illness and mainly to the over 65s. Flu is not like Covid and long Covid is something I wouldn’t want to deal with.
March 14, 2021
The flu jab is offered to specific people, but anyone can ask and have a flu vaccine, including children.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/child-flu-vaccine/
March 14, 2021
Normally only when the over 65s have been vaccinated and only while stocks last. That is the policy where I live now and the same in Scotland.
March 14, 2021
Fedupsoutherner, Any virus can give rise to long term effects, the covid19 virus is no different.
March 14, 2021
Fully agree
March 14, 2021
“The sad news was the [EU] death toll had exceeded 560,000.”
……well I’m not surprised, France is and always has been in the driving seat of the EU, and Germany thinks it should be. Perfect situation for vaccine squabbling = no fair and coordinated vaccine plan for the rest of the member states.
However, it is not our problem and we should let them knock themselves out. We have enough of our own problems to solve without concerning ourselves for the ungrateful EU.
March 14, 2021
Germany had no excess mortality in 2020, according to official figures. If I was German, I’d wonder on that basis what the point about a coronavirus vaccine was anyway.
March 15, 2021
Germany was doing very well until about, 27th December 20 when between then and 7th March, the total number doubled. I can’t see any reason for this. See the number in my post above. Their rates of deaths are also coming down despite having only s third of the number of the UK.
March 14, 2021
Yes please.
March 14, 2021
The original aim of the vaccine was to reduce serious illness and death. There is now evidence that the benefits of the vaccine have surpassed this aim in that the general incidence of any level of this disease is decreasing.
A study of over a thousand NHS employees in East Anglia (where regular testing is conducted) is alleged to have shown that people who have not had the vaccine are four times more likely to test positive than those who have had the vaccine. Of course, NHS employees will have had the second dose but I think the Government needs to seriously consider easing up the pressure on the brake pedal.
March 14, 2021
For the avoidance of doubt, easing restrictions should NOT mean allowing several hundred people to gather tightly packed in a public space. The demonstration on Clapham Common was embarrassingly irresponsible and put the Police in a very difficult position. This sort of emotive action which is egotistical and self centred, seems to becoming more commonplace nowadays. The people who originally wished to organise this vigil sensibly called it off and recommended a perfectly respectable and effective alternative.
I also think that those politicians who have criticised the police for enforcing the Law should consider their position.
March 14, 2021
i think that is the whole point of vaccination.
Of course the fact that we continue to have seamless borders hasn’t helped and won’t help. British women who are an easy target and live within these vaccinated isles being held face to floor on Clapham Common while our immigrant “friends” get shepherded to hotels and Heathrow resembles a dance hall.
March 14, 2021
Indeed.
One thing this crisis has proven is that open border policy trumps even the nation’s health and safety.
The Tories can no longer hide from the fact that they are up to their necks in it. They will sacrifice the lives of their own voters to keep the borders open against the express wishes indicated in those votes.
– the Brexit vote
– an 80 seat Tory majority
– an earth shattering disease…
None of it makes a jot of difference and if it doesn’t now it never will. We now have socialism and Marxism on speed.
March 14, 2021
I tend to agree with you
March 14, 2021
When you say “It’s time to get our freedoms back.” what do we hear in the media? A member of the House of Lords and a leading politician in Wales either arguing for (or not ruling out) a 6 pm curfew for men. And no public outcry? Where is the Conservative voice arguing loudly for freedom? Is there a Conservative voice in this country any more? What do they stand for?
If we don’t stand up for our freedoms, they will be taken away. (Glad to see that the Duchess of Cambridge was out and about in London yesterday.)
March 14, 2021
Interesting that it’s now that the misandrists launch their assault – after all the provocations they could have risen to.
We’ve nearly reached the full set in the Marxist putsch.
How about the most severe punishment for those who commit crime and leave the vast majority of innocents alone ? Nope. We can’t have that, can we !
March 14, 2021
Matthu, +1
March 14, 2021
And in other news it would appear your government is in total denial about problems at our borders, lack of customs agents lorries traveling empty etc with disastrous consequences for many businesses.
Lord Frosts hubristic defence last week doesnât ring true.
March 14, 2021
Tory = Pro EU…. (but don’t tell anyone)
March 14, 2021
NO! There should be no reward of partial freedom in response to being good little minions, this is a dreadful way of ‘thinking’, at best, it is more propaganda. Freedom should be absolute and returned in full immediately and unconditionally , any discrimination by any group based upon ‘the’ vaccination must be stopped. Decent MPs (if there are any) will stand against the continued monstrous unethical behaviour of the Government … likewise they will stand against Patel’s plan to gaol people for 10 years if their political protests might have the chance of annoyance.
What is needed now are:-
1) Immediate, unconditional freedom.
2) Immediate release of mid-year to mid-year all cause mortality rate figures alongside pre-covid mortality forecasts and adjustments to these for the kind of ‘interventions’ the Govt has carried out.
3) The leading members of the Government, its advisers and SAGE to all stand down (remain in their homes, perhaps on universal credit) whilst a full and independent inquiry is carried out to assess the consequences and legality of the actions undertaken.
March 14, 2021
What he said.
March 14, 2021
I agree with your ‘what is needed now’ proposals.
Re: 3) I strongly believe is fitting that who propose this extremely undemocratic draconian rubbish also experience first hand what they want to do with the population. And should an enquiry rule in their favour and they still think its a good idea, then they must continue to live within the same rules.
No more of this for thee, but not for me double standards.
March 14, 2021
+1
March 14, 2021
+1.
March 14, 2021
Caterpillar,
+1
The Tory Party is an empty vessel, not worth a cast vote, indeed I will cast my vote with relish to hasten its demise.
March 14, 2021
Caterpillar, You are right, freedom must never be in the gift of the government. That was one of the main reasons to vote Leave. Our liberties are time immemorial.
March 14, 2021
Perhaps we can all start to have our hair cut at last, although from my viewing of the television it would seem that most sportsmen and women, presenters, news readers, politicians have hair that does not seem to grow at all.
Now nearly 3 months into lockdown, before that the tier system, and all hair salons have been closed for more than 4 months, given hair grows at a rate of 15mm per month that means 60mm (2.5 inches) of growth minimum.
I wonder, do they all have partners who are experts at cutting hair ?
March 14, 2021
Yes, I noted with interest there doesn’t seem to be many politicians suffering from a lack haircuts
March 14, 2021
I’m very pleased to read, Sir John, that you feel it’s time we had our freedoms back. We have had it up to here with this Government but I wonder what you and your fellow MPs are going to do about it. I predict there will be a Government majority at the next vote on extending the lockdown rules, as most MPs totally fail to represent their constituents. Shame on them all.
But we have taken note of the success the Danish people had in November last year when 9 days of protests resulted in a Government climb down on draconian rules relating to this virus. Having totally lost the support of the people of the capital and the country, I wonder how the Met or any other police force would now deal with protests. A repeat of the Clapham Common response? They wouldn’t dare, would they?
March 14, 2021
A number of businesses should never have been closed in the first place, chlorinated indoor swimming pools, covid-modified gyms, and even socially-distanced pubs. This is about the political problems of leaving these open while closing schools. The way people’s minds work was illustrated yesterday when an interviewee in Wales, where schools are being opened in stages, commented that it was easier there to get a haircut than an education.
March 14, 2021
No but there should be a penalty for refusing it unless there are very good medical reasons for doing so. The easiest thing would be a vaccine passport. If youâve got one you can go where you like. If you havenât thatâs up to you but it will mean there are all sorts of things you canât do. It should of course be mandatory in the NHS if you want to go anywhere near patients – no vaccine no job.
Still more lies from senior EU figures over the vaccine. No wonder the take up there is less than it should be. Itâs a good thing most of these nincompoops donât have to stand for election!
March 14, 2021
The vaccine manufacturers do not claim that their products reduce transmission, Richard1.
They may or they may not, they’re experimental so far. Depriving people of jobs, and their liberty to lead a normal life, on the basis of what you don’t know, looks to me like ideological terrorism.
March 14, 2021
Philip P., sound comment. I could never justify advising or administering an untested drug as a prophylactic measure. I would consider any adverse reaction to be indefensible. Such buccaneering blackmail has no place in a civil world as had obtained up until a year ago.
March 14, 2021
There seems to be some component of these vaccines that triggers authoritarianism and a compulsion to punish those who don’t make the same choices as you. Are you (Richard1) so sure that you are prepared to assume full responsibility for any consequences of the decision you want to make on behalf of others? The Nuremberg Code was created after WW2 to prevent coerced participation in medical experiments.
March 14, 2021
+1
March 14, 2021
The economy has been wrecked, millions of lives and livelihoods adversely affected, and almost certainly thousands of lives lost due to lockdown. Lockdown rather than covid. I did not agree with the lockdown policy after the first one, but we are stuck with it now and the only route out is mass vaccination. That needs more or less everybody to be vaccinated. I do not like compulsion any more than any other freedom loving Conservative, but needs must, and given the immense cost of lockdown we cannot afford to indulge anti-vax drivel on the grounds of personal choice in the way we normally might.
March 15, 2021
There is a very effective treatment used in other countries but which our government refuses to allow. Even the USA allows it. It’s called Ivermectin and it’s very cheap and safe.
March 14, 2021
+1
March 14, 2021
Herd immunity has worked its magic
March 14, 2021
Like a cut finger, sticking plaster, sutures, it’s Mother Nature who has the last say in healing.
March 14, 2021
It’s like a cut finger, bandages, sutures, sticking plaster, it is always Mother Nature who has the last word in the healing process.
March 14, 2021
spot on
March 14, 2021
You dont have to reward people just improve the new vaccination centres offered to the under 60âs. Previously people were invited locally, now you have to log on and are only offered inconveniently timed appointments a 30-40 minute drive away. If take up rates drop that is the reason not the younger age group, the fact is most of us work and canât just take a couple of hours off.
March 14, 2021
End the lockdown completely before the May elections. If Boris doesn’t claim the prize I bet that Nicola Sturgeon will.
March 14, 2021
Oh, so health policy should be all about keeping the Tories in power, and nothing to do with saving lives?
Seems to be what I’d expect from you.
March 14, 2021
It’s about satisfying the voter.
March 14, 2021
As someone who has always been in favour of exercising caution rather than lockdown measures, I would agree that we should open things up.
However, I don’t want to be in the position now that schools are open, for the cases to rise dramatically and government does a U-turn.
It’s not right that relatively safe restaurants have to stay closed, whereas league football carries on with infections spread amongst teams.
March 14, 2021
But infections are becoming dislocated from deaths/hospitalisations as the vaccines make the disease less lethal.
It is deaths/hospitalisations we should now be reacting to, not infections.
March 14, 2021
Exactly right. An infection that does not kill – or only kills a very few exceptionallly vulnerable people – is not a problem and should not even be an issue for government ministers to worry about at all. After all, how much time and effort does the government normally spend on the annual flu infection? Very little. The NHS organises vaccinations for the elderly and that’s it. Let’s treat Covid now the same way. No masks, no restrictions, no worries. Let the laboratories develop their improved vaccines and leave it to GPs to administer these.
March 14, 2021
âItâs time to get back our freedomâ You say, but the impression your government is giving, John, is that you want to delay to keep in line with Europe, we all know theyâd go ape if you just opened up the whole of the UK for business a month or two before them. Donât you think our rates are really dropping severely because your government did finally make incoming visitors quarantine properly, just how much virus overload we imported will never come clear. Being locked up since Christmas Eve is extreme , transmission is supposed to be a fortnight without people coming in to the UK with new versions of the virus it would have been over a month ago.
March 14, 2021
Given the proportion volunteering the present incentives are more than adequate.
the only reward required is for the authorities to believe what they tell us. If the vaccine works as stated then herd immunity must be here and nothing more needs doing. If not, why are they saying so?
Bear in mind that infections started to fall just before both the latest lockdown and the start of the vaccination program we must have been at herd immunity naturally for that season, and nearly at herd immunity for peak season.
March 14, 2021
Speaking of plant diseases, I wonder if there are any border checks on live trees, plants and timber which come from EU countries. Last night I was told there are none, i.e. the same situation as before ‘brexit’.
March 14, 2021
So how much money do you think the Tories should give to a favoured contractor, to outsource the inspection and enforcement in relation to whatever new rules might be imposed in that respect?
ÂŁ22 billion sound about right?
March 14, 2021
Iago : âSpeaking of plant diseases, I wonder if there are any border checks on live trees, plants and timber which come from EU countries. Last night I was told there are none, i.e. the same situation as before âbrexitâ.â
I have no idea if the government has taken any action.
But I can say that I met a government phytosanitary inspector who was desperate for Brexit so they could halt the import of new pests and diseases coming into the UK, particularly from plants and trees coming from Eastern European countries.
Some were very nasty.
March 14, 2021
Why are they still guided by infection rates ? The rates we should now be guided by are hospitalisation/death rates as the vaccine has changed the severity of the disease.
I had my vaccine yesterday and I did it in large part to protect people who have not bothered to look after their own health. I did it to be set free from a lockdown for a disease that was highly unlikely to hurt me.
I have an arm which feels like it has been hit by a hammer and a bit of a headache. On hearing news from Northern Ireland of blood clots I will be most annoyed if my health is adversely affected by the vaccine.
The only reward for young people and fit people is to be released from lockdown as quickly as possible.
Otherwise Boris will lose us every advantage that the vaccine successes should have brought.
March 14, 2021
Of the headache I have it may be down to the six cans of lager and two ales I had last night – the data on that may have been corrupted.
March 14, 2021
You are right. It’s deaths that count and there seems a constant ration across the globe regarding cases v deaths. Check any Nation for these stats and there will be around 1.0-2.5% deaths from the total number of cases. ie 25 per thousand or less. This figure is less than the corresponding stats for Influenza, ie 3% or 30 per thousand.
March 14, 2021
The EU is not a country. It is a group of 27 countries which trade closely together and work together for mutual benefit. Allowing them, for example, to sell shellfish to each other.
Those 27 countries have a combined population of more than 450m people, well above the 330m who live in the US. Despite having almost 40% more people than America, EU countries have only about 5% more deaths.
The 27 have about 6.5 times as many people as the UK. But only 4 times as many deaths. And 20 EU countries combined have, in total, fewer deaths than the U.K.
We only ever lost our freedoms for so long because our government was so inept. NZ, Oz and much of the Far East have carried on pretty much as normal – after taking the sort of firm action against the virus which Tory backbench MPs would not allow here.
March 14, 2021
So now you surprise me by your claim you were and are in favour of a total lockdown of our borders Andy.
No coaches no eurotrains no ferries no air travel and no dingies.
Which is what New Zealand did.
March 14, 2021
Not entirely true. NZ is still allowing New Zealanders to fly in and out. Indeed, I have a friend who returned to NZ just last month. But they have proper quarantine there. For everybody.
I get that it is easier for NZ than us. They are further away. But we have been completely inept. For our government – and the minority which supports it who are weirdly obsessed with borders – youâd have thought they could have actually closed ours in the face of a once in a century pandemic. They didnât – and still havenât.
And in the same way that they were too gutless to cancel Christmas when they should have done, they refused to cancel summer holidays last year – further spreading infection. COVID would have been all but done here with a strict 4 month lockdown. Instead, a year on, we are still dealing with this Tory mess.
Incidentally people say New Zealandâs zero Covid strategy is unsustainable in the long term. This is true. But when NZ is fully vaccinated the country can reopen to the international community and deaths going forward will be minimal.
They are a county of 5m with 26 Covid deaths. We have 13.5 times as many people and 4800 times as many deaths. A shocking failure.
March 14, 2021
So you agree New Zealand has not allowed anyone not a citizen to come in.
Even they are tested and have to isolate.
70 million v 5 million
Population density
Average age
Diversity
Fitness and obesity rates.
Not a simple as you think Andy.
March 14, 2021
It seems censorship of alternative views to government policy is alive and well, even on here.
March 14, 2021
@Brian Harris
Yes Brian, but remember we have the power at the ballot box. And I dare this government to try and ban the next GE.
March 15, 2021
…and that is a real possibility, but by then the damage will have been done and we will have lost too many years from our lives…. IF we ever come out of this.
March 14, 2021
Can the injection into millions of people of substances, which have been knocked out in eight months, without any long-term safety tests, be regarded as sensible, let alone a success? to combat a disease which does not affect the vast majority of people?
March 14, 2021
My thoughts exactly.
March 14, 2021
It is simply a cavalier irresponsibility.
March 14, 2021
Sir Joh, we all want to be released and resume some semblance of a normal routine. The however is and it is the only reason we still struggle is less the 5% of the population just doesn’t care, they certainly don’t take one iota of notice of the flaky genuinely flawed government propaganda.
Covid-19 is a serious problem and it is a war we are fighting, but this Government is by any measure seeking a ‘cloak and dagger’ excuse to invoke state control of its citizens. Already the ‘Snooperâs Charter’ is gaining momentum, there are some times that there could be reasoning for this, but they/the requests should be controlled by a Judge/The Courts and not Governments – not a universal excuse to control.
So-called ‘Just Cause’ for control of any type should never be a Government prerogative, it is for the legal system to make this ‘call’
March 14, 2021
While there is a big difference in population density the US by any measure has not been exposed to anywhere like the same draconian dictatorial Government control as the UK. Yet the US has taken a hit no different to the UK, the US is rolling out its vaccination program that is on target to pull well ahead of the UK by May – having started later.
US business, as in the bit that bank-rolls a future is well up to speed.
Its the subtle difference between a population that believes in itself, pulls together while remaining a free sovereign and independent democracy. The UK suffers in that it keeps inheriting governments, that at best only deploy a pseudo democracy, are frightened of its citizens so has to control them at the ‘micro’ level. Above all in the UK we have Governments that engender a dislike of achievement, of self reliance and the engagement of all, so much so the Government actually encourages the tearing down of society. The ‘Great Reset’ asperation comes to mind, to model society in your own image you first have to tear down the existing. All this is playing out in real time
March 14, 2021
God no. Not more government debt.
March 14, 2021
I do question the validity of these Covid 19 stats, particularly with regard to the numbers of deaths put down to the virus.
Last year it was revealed that the the UK death figures included a death in a car crash but signed off as a Covid 19 victim. How so? We were to learn at that time, any deceased who had had a positive (or false positive) test for the virus prior to the death, regardless of time lapsed, was signed off with Covid 19 as the cause of death. No matter the deceased was suffering from other illnesses or condition or by suicide et al. The only way to prove a cause of death is via an autopsy and I doubt any were carried out on the virus victims.
So, I suspect that many of the Covid 19 dead this year can also be placed in the “died WITH Covid 19 plus others” category. It is significant that the death numbers for Flu and Pneumonia have fallen against the rise in virus deaths. In fact dear ‘Captain Tom’ had contracted pneumonia before Covid19 yet his cause of death was registered as Covid 19.
There is a distinct difference between dying OF the virus (solely) and dying With the virus (amongst other illnesses) that is not mentioned in the statistics. In which case, the figures for the UK are grossly exaggerated. The yearly average over the previous five years up to 2020 was 500,000 deaths and in August last year, the ONS placed Covid19 24th on the league table of causes of deaths, way below Flu and Pneumonia. No explanation of the discrepancy has been forthcoming from PHE nor SAFE and it’s past time their stats are scrutinised by an independent scientific body before any more damage is done to our economy.
March 14, 2021
Should there be a reward for vacination ?
Interesting question.
For starters I don’t think any British citizen should be out of pocket because of what was caused by China. It would be nice to see the Boris governemt grow some balls and make China FULLY compensate every man woman and child in this country. If that means the bankruptcy and closing down of China, so be it.
Manufacturers of plastic muck need to have their days of exploiting cheap labour brought to an end. The planet cannot sustain their greed driven antics. One global virus after another plus a serious rubbish disposal problem and climte damage isnt acceptable and must stop.
As for the vaccine: why, given that the virus was caused by another country, am I having to use MY fuel and MY time to go and get the damn thing ?
Fortunately, unlike many poor souls, I have not lost direct income as a result of an uncontrolled industrialised China, but I require compensation for the diesel I just used to go to the vaccination centre, and say; ÂŁ500 for my time.
People had their freedoms taken off them, lost their jobs…….AND NOBODY CAN TELL ME KIDS DIDNT SUFFER AS A RESULT !
Time to make China pay.
March 14, 2021
How, exactly?
March 14, 2021
MiC
Demand the money, or just cease trading with them and shut the buggers down.
March 14, 2021
The covid controls irritate and annoy me. I am very concerned that Ministers and all manner of bureacrats will expect to re-exercise their powers on any number of other matters in the future.
However I think the government should stick strictly to the present plan. Success or failure can be judged against it. If they change it will all be confusion again. We need clarity and certainty not dithering and the desire to gain popularity by conceding to the latest pressure.
March 14, 2021
Keep the lockdown going to 2030
March 14, 2021
As someone who has opposed the lockdown from the start, of course I want our freedoms restored as quickly as possible. A new report out today confirms that hospital-acquired infections are a much bigger problem than is admitted, with between 30 and 65% of all infections being caught in hospitals by people who did not have the virus when they went in! Solving this problem would do more good than closing schools, shops and sports grounds.
Restoring our freedoms would also avoid any more police heavy-handedness against people peacefully going about their own business. The police have been aggressively suppressing anti-lockdown protesters for months, and Conservative politicians haven’t batted an eyelid, so their hypocrisy now of complaining when women protesters have received exactly the same treatment is sickening.
March 14, 2021
+1
March 14, 2021
Today is Mothering Sunday and, yet again, I’m spending a treasured family event on my own. I can assure you that no online generated card or bunch of flowers can ever replace the presence of my lovely daughters. I expect Mr Johnson to stand by his pledge that his vaccination programme will release us from captivity; not as a reward, but as a right. Thank you.
March 14, 2021
+1
This is dangerously close to tyranny.
March 14, 2021
BJC
“I expect Mr Johnson to stand by his pledge”
……he’s a fudger, waffler, faffer, and bodger. Expect nothing short of being sold down the river.
March 14, 2021
“I expect Mr Johnson to stand by his pledge . . .”
If he does, it will be a first.
March 14, 2021
Our freedoms should never have been taken away in the first place. Now apparently we have to beg for them as a ârewardâ. Unbelievable.
March 14, 2021
Exactly!
Elected Members of Parliament have been in dereliction through the whole length of this fiasco.
March 14, 2021
+1
And getting paid.
March 14, 2021
Barbara
You dont have to beg to anyone. If you feel that way you can always write to government and tell them why you will be slinging them out on their backsides at the next general election. It’s called democracy.
March 14, 2021
You know as well as we do, Sir John, that these figures represent deaths ”with” covid, ie covid-related. They are PART of the average number of deaths over a year. Not these enormous numbers of people dying IN EXCESS of the usual ”natural wastage”.
So no – there should be no ”reward” for a vaccine. People should be well-informed and then make their decision based on HEALTH reasons, not financial ones. We know there is no longer an ”emergency” that we must try to contain.
March 14, 2021
Here we go again! This is just so infuriating. Here is another example of how the EU is deliberately sabotaging British businesses, while we bend over backwards to help their EU rivals. British airlines are banned from operating in the EU, but EU airlines are given permission to operate in the UK! Read this and weep: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-9358325/Revealed-EU-red-tape-robbing-airlines-trade.html
There are only three possible explanations: (i) Boris Johnson doesn’t care about British companies and British workers; (ii) Boris Johnson is too cowardly to do anything to upset the EU; or (iii) Boris Johnson is too stupid to see that by retaliating he could offer British companies compensatory work in the UK and possibly even force the EU to change their policies. Which do you think it is? And will you, Sir John, ask questions of ministers to rectify this problem?
March 14, 2021
The solution is very simple. Just ban dual nationality.
March 14, 2021
Regarding the airline trade it seems just another spiteful attack to strangle our economy into submission on top of the ruinous shellfish issue and WA/NIP etc to further the thoughts in the minds of voters that we would be better off in after all. Maybe this is part of the plan.
Would the NIP be an issue now had the Irish not voted for a second time in 2009 to approve the treaty of Lisbon having failed in 2008. (âIrish European Constitution referendumâ) along with other referenda either cancelled or ignored. The EU will âdo what it takesâ- as they say.
Now we read we have to pay another 10bn or so annually for some years as part of the divorce on top of the amounts since 2016 and more ad-infinitum. What on earth for I ask? They should be paying us for heavens sake!.
Just what have we been signed up to? I fear for the future of the UK economy not to mention of the EU’s little helper north of the border.
March 14, 2021
From our Rotterdam agents
Non EU imports are stockpiling awaiting customs clearance, the infrastructure to cope with Brexit simply isnt there, further complicated by social distancing, so not just British but also imports from the US, Japan, China, etc all backed up 3-5 weeks and the backlog is getting longer. But (and it is a big but) British imports are somehow always at the back of the queue.
Meantime from a Jersey fisherman friend, under the “deal” the Jersey waters have been “shared” with French boats, and access to the French markets “continued” for Jersey boats, but… after completing all the new paperwork, except the “value” because that cannot be ascertained until the fish is sold at market where prices naturally fluctuate, this “error” is sufficient for French customs to confiscate the fish and levy a fine with no right of recourse.
The “deal” should be scrapped and similar non tarrif barriers to EU imports put in place, instead our government does the opposite.
March 15, 2021
The EU airlines fly over UK airspace to Ireland and America. This disgusting action by Brussels should be matched by very slow permits to fly over.
March 14, 2021
I’ve noticed you haven’t commented on the really really bad Brexit news yet this might help you.
Majorities of Britons believe Brexit has been bad for the UK economy and trade, according to new polling for The Independent which offers the first indication that the fallout from leaving the EUâs single market and customs union in January is cutting through with voters.
The polling by Savanta ComRes was conducted before it was confirmed on Friday that a precipitous 40.7 per cent fall in goods sales to the EU in January took place, with experts blaming Brexit for a large chunk of the lost exports.
Figures showed that 39 per cent thought Brexit had so far been bad for trade, against just 18 per cent who said it had been good, while 37 per cent rated it bad for the UK economy, compared to 25 per cent who said its effects have been beneficial.
March 14, 2021
I feel the UK membership of the Customs Union beckons
March 14, 2021
according to new polling for The Independent…..
……which isnt.
March 14, 2021
What we have is NOT what we were offered on the ballot paper. I did not vote for a ‘deal’, the Tories sneaked that in.
March 14, 2021
A reward for [the Covid?] vaccination begs the bigger question as to whether there should be N.I. discounts given for those who have all their vaccinations up-to-date, do not smoke, or are not obese etc..
March 14, 2021
I think that JR was suggesting a ‘reward’ for the country as a whole for the progress of the vaccination programme rather than individual rewards for those who choose to have it. I have no problem with private individuals offering such rewards out of their own pockets, I believe that one such person in Israel offered a scoop of ice-cream per jab. This is different from the sinister proposal that people should be ostracised for non-compliance. In fact since the vaccines were (over-)paid for with public funds the dissenters are already paying for the vaxxers to have their shots.
March 14, 2021
Using simply Covid death rates to judge how well a nation has handled the pandemic is unreliable.
It is clear that wealthy and democratic countries with high population density, ease of travel, sufficient funds to test for the disease and with many elderly and obese people will have seen high death rates.
On the other hand authoritarian regimes who have compliant populations are able to enforce severe lockdowns and where necessary manipulate their death rate statistics.
March 14, 2021
Australia, New Zealand, and Norway have very low mortality rates.
I won’t upset you by listing the huge, populous nations, which have also done brilliantly, but who do not speak English as a first language.
March 14, 2021
I appreciate it is a government requirement to refer to covid 19 as a disease. It is not, it is a virus. It is in the same family as the common cold. Since when has the common cold been classed as a disease? Of course it hasn’t and no cure has been found for it, even after over 50 years of research. Enough of this fear mongering.
Further, if you remove all the deaths due to flu, pneumonia, heart disease, death as a direct result of halting life threatening diagnosis/treatments, traffic/household accidents, falling off ladders etc and anyone tested within 28 days of a positive result using the dodgy PCR tests, which this government insist the cycle counts are twice as many times as even WHO recommend, then the deaths from this virus can hardly be classed as a pandemic. Yes it exists, yes it has and will kill some vulnerable people, but when you exclude all the above deaths, people who have died of covid 19 is probably less than 30,000 and the government are destroying the lives, livelihoods and mental health of millions of people for this?
Though, I grant you, the government propaganda programme to strike fear into the populace has been largely successful, and it would appear, you, nevertheless it is disgraceful draconian behaviour.
I suspect people like me are a pain in the rear to the likes of Hancock and his band of fear mongering behavioural psychologists because we will insist on applying real analysis and common sense to the situation.
March 14, 2021
+1
March 14, 2021
Itâs as if the Government want the restrictions and authoritarian policing to continue.
Iâve been following the stats published by the ONS. The weekly death rate is compared to the 5-year average. I would expect the 5-year average to move on a year from the figures used in 2020. This is not the case. The ONS is using the exact same figures they used last year. Why is this? Is it because including last yearâs figures in the average would make the current death figures appear lower?
A certain Mark Twain quote comes to mind.
March 14, 2021
Why should I and others have a jab in the arm with some experimental product that affects one’s DNA, has not been fully tested and from which the pharmaceutical companies are immune from prosecution for a government and MSM promoted virus that 99% of the population will recover from. The real conspiracy theorists believe that their government cares about them, the media would never mislead or lie to them and the pharmaceutical industry that makes billions from sickness wants to cure them.
March 14, 2021
For goodness sake. The vaccines do not alter your DNA.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2021/01/11/covid-19-vaccines-cant-alter-your-dna-heres-why
There are MANY reliable sources of information rebutting this conspiracy junk. I’m fed up hearing about conspiracy theories which are rubbish and doing such a lot of harm.
March 16, 2021
It is not a vaccine but go ahead and have the jab and be aware that the Pharmaceutical companies are immune from prosecution.
You did not read my last sentence.
March 14, 2021
It does not alter DNA. Utter rubbish.
March 14, 2021
On balance I agree with you, although less interested in what other countries are doing as the main focus must be on the UK.
The thing I am looking forward to its holidays and going to Spain for the x2 annual sun sea sand and nighlife
March 14, 2021
David Brown
Why would you want to go to an EU country for your holiday and contribute to their economy ? Britain not good enough for you ?
March 14, 2021
An article in the Spectator, and therefore from the government though it could have been placed anywhere in the mass media, floating the vaccination of children, a vanishingly small number of whom get the Chinese communist party disease ( have I got myself binned now?). Johnson and co are obviously without principle or morality and have no allegiance to the people of this country.
March 14, 2021
I agree with your last sentence, but would also apply it to the millions who voted for his party.
March 14, 2021
I’ve just realised that within the next couple of weeks the government will ask MPs to vote to extend the Covid restrictions for another SIX MONTHS. Maybe this is why you are testing the waters here to see what your readers think? Given the change in circumstances there is no way any self-respecting, freedom-loving or even just logical MP could possibly vote in favour of this extention – especially since the restrictions do not even touch upon one of the main drivers of this epidemic: hospital-acquired infections. Not only therefore are the restrictions no longer necessary, they are not even relevant to the problem!
March 14, 2021
Some very selfish remarks in that personal freedom is more important than collective freedom in the war against the virus.Yes ,businesses and jobs have been lost but I have been dealing with lives which have been lost. One day I am speaking to them , a few days later ” oh did you know Mr so and so has died , or Your local GP Dr X has died or that young pregnant mum has died. Many say that we should let all mix , perhaps an even greater death toll would gladden the hearts of some of these bumptious contributors!
March 15, 2021
Well said Margaret.
March 14, 2021
I may be wrong and the vaccine may indeed prove to sufficiently reduce hospital admissions but as our government is so determined to protect OUR NHS, I don’t think we will be free until we identify a cure.
March 15, 2021
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/uk-scientist-warns-coronavirus-lockdown-risks-more-deaths-a4386661.html
13 March 2020
Boris Johnson’s top scientist has defended the Governmentâs battleplan against Covid-19 and said âyou canât stop itâ.
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned that temporarily suppressing the looming epidemic with a four-month âlockdownâ would risk it exploding into an even more devastating outbreak next winter.
Longer term, six out of 10 people will need to contract the virus to get âherd immunityâ, he added.
âYou canât stop it,â he told BBC Radio 4âs Today programme, predicting it is likely to become an annual, seasonal outbreak.
It seems our experience shows Sir Patrick to have been correct. Who will be called to account for the vast waste of money and resources produced by Lockdown?
March 15, 2021
@Sir John,
I strongly advise every Tory to listen to the videos of Jordan Peterson on YouTube. He’s a brilliant Canadian clinical psychologist whose nailed what is really wrong in our world – regarding the attack from the left on Conservatism. He describes himself as a classical liberal (certainly of a Judaeo/Christian background and I imagine sympathetic to the philosophy of Edmund Burke but don’t know for sure. He would also be hugely sympathetic to what is best about our Greco-Roman heritage as well).
For the real battle to defend the type of classical Conservatism of Edmund Burke has now really shifted from politics in government to the universities / media / arts – which are spouting social liberal / postmodernist rubbish. If we want to bring taxes right down etc and to create a strong, sovereign UK for the future that’s where the battle really lies. Methinks.
March 15, 2021
Having done the analysis of the C19 yellowcard data with a IT colleague and crunched their numbers (not easy in PDF format) the conclusion is both AZ and Pfisser vaccines are both efficacious and show no spike/increase in blood clots compared to normal prevalence ***
Therefore my view is it’s just another spin / orchestrated EU bashing of AZ at the political level, to add to the unreasonable legal action they are now embarked on with UK over NI Protocol implementation. All very malign.
Whilst HMG continues to call them our friends and partners, I am certain the silent majority are ready for us to reciprocate by enacting pedagogical border policing/processes to slow the imports of EU goods, especially food. Though HMG may prefer a few more months to allow companies to reorganise their supply chains away from EU, there is clamour and real resolve to see foreign lorries queuing up on the other side, with their produce rotting, to make them come to their senses.
*** Daily Mail 15/03: Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said there was ‘no demonstrable difference’ in the number of blood clots between the general population and AstraZeneca recipients.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘We have to remember that there are 3,000 blood clots a month on average in the general population and because we’re immunising so many people, we are bound to see blood clots at the same time as the vaccination, and that’s not because they are due to the vaccination.
‘One ought to also remember that Covid causes blood clots. So, the risks of not having the Covid vaccination far outweigh the risks from the vaccinations.’
March 16, 2021
Great achievements, as well as some serious mistakes, have been made through actions instigated by this government to lead us to the present position, whereby the vast majority of our population will soon be protected to a satisfactory degree from this particular viral pandemic.
We now need to get used to the low risk of becoming seriously ill with this virus. Continuing with measures which impact harshly on our social, spiritual and economic lives simply runs the risk of needlessly falling foul of the law of diminishing returns in its widest sense.
This year, on March 20th 2021, the Spring Equinox will take place, and as you say, a year after the first lockdown on March 16th 2020. (To call it an anniversary, which indicates more anniversaries to come, would be an abhorrent concept.)
From today onwards, therefore, I will be switching on my porch light at dusk, before 20.00 hours, and turning it off at 21.00 hours, to indicate that we will welcome anyone of good intent through our front door, whether or not they have had covid or the jabs.
The symbolism is that this withdrawal of liberties began in 2020 but must be reversed in 2021. It may not mean anything outside our household. But it does to us.