"Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker says he will donate two months' salary to the British Red Cross to help in their work in the fight against the coronavirus."
What is it they say? Oh yeah - too little, too late.
Clive Myrie, 5pm News slot, announces that Nissan will be topping up their Sunderland workers' 80% wages from the Government to 100%. It sounds as though Nissan is really keen to retain the Sunderland workforce! Now how long ago was the BBC telling us that the plant was likely to close if we left the EU?
Not sure how long ago, but it felt like every day. And let's not forget Airbus...they were supposed to be leaving as well as the BBC told us so often. Airbus have since made clear their determination to maintain the UK connection.
C-19 deaths in Sweden without a total lockdown: 30 per million.
C-19 deaths in Italy with a total lockdown: 230 per million.
C-19 deaths in Spain with a total lockdown: 216 per million.
C-19 deaths in Netherlands with a total lockdown: 78 per million.
C-19 deaths in France with a total lockdown: 69 per million.
C-19 deaths in UK with a total lockdown: 43 per million.
The response of the media? Sweden has got it "wrong". Think about it: Sweden's deaths per million should be rocketing up without a full lockdown, according to the Lockdown Cultists' theory. Why are they actually lagging behind?
We're hearing a lot about C-19 infections being acquired in hospital. This could be part of the hysteria package. People with C-19 are likely being hospitalised unnecessarily and the C-19 virus is spreading around in hospital.
Is Holland a fair test? - They were firmly committed to the herd immunity strategy until very late in the day & didn't introduce lockdown until 16th March.
A fair test? Sounds fair since that was 18 days ago - way past the stated incubation period for cases from before the lockdown.
The theoretical maths behind the Lockdown Theory is that you close down your society and economy and - hey presto! - about 10 to 14 days later you see a flattening of the upward trajectory. They are all backtracking on that now, but that was the statistical promise, the reason we crashed our economies - it wasn't so we could endure six months of needless hell. But it ain't happened. It was clearly BS since places like Northern Italy have had lockdowns for over a month now and still the death toll is rising at an extremely rapid rate.
Deaths have risen 60-fold since Netherlands introduced the lockdown. Is that not a sobering statistic?
Do we really think it would have been more if they had continued with the herd immunity policy? I don't actually like the phrase "herd immunity" since it meets public resistance, making them feel like they are being experimented (whereas the Lockdown is the true experiment as this is the first time it has ever been tried)... call it PASTICHE (Protect All Susceptible To Infections Causing Health Emergencies). So over 70s and those with serious health conditions would be encouraged to self-isolate and fully supported in self-isolation with free food deliveries, free broadband, escorted exercise opportunities etc. - maybe even a Public Recognition Income Payment to recognise their contribution to society through self-isolation.
We need a Moses to lead us out of our Lockdown Exile.
Boris is capable of doing it if he recovers his health and also recovers his nerve - now we know the experts have, yet again, be proved wildly wrong in their predictions.
We need a definite timeline for beginning the return to normality. There could be various elements, including the following:
1. Antibody testing for workers in important economic sectors of the economy...anyone found to have already been infected could be released for work away from home. This could maybe start within the next 7 days. This way the full range of shops could be reopened, even if on reduced opening hours. Likewise lots of businesses could restart full activity.
2. Gradually roll out antibody testing to the whole working population - maybe 30 million or so...
3. Introduce a proper system of support for elderly and vulnerable to self-isolate.
4. Reopen schools and other centres of learning.
5. Antibody testing for elderly and vulnerable as many of them will have been exposed as well - so they can be released from self-isolation if they test positive.
6. Allow mass gatherings with staggered increases in crowd nos over several months till we get back to normality.
7. Continue to build emergency hospital capacity, PPE production, ventilator production, testing capability, training of ancillary critical care staff, and warehousing of emergency equipment. Spend billions on this if necessary until we have a truly robust and resilient system in place that can cope with a resurgence or a new virus in the future.
Just came across an interview on Sky News by Adam Boulton of some expert in Sweden, defending their sensible and balanced approach (basically herd immunity) to the Coronavirus. Stockholm looked quite bustly. As the expert pointed out, locking people up at home isn't really a long term solution, the risk to the elderly and vulnerable remains, unless you are going to keep them permanently isolated.
There was also a graph flashed up showing cases were doubling every 3 days under the lockdown. Interestingly though, the graph showed a decline from doubling every two days to three days BEFORE the lockdown was introduced (by a few days)...so that was probably due to voluntary measures and following of government guidance.
Did we really need to crash the whole of our economy? I don't think so.
Now we have to rescue our economy from the wreckage - and quickly, otherwise the whole thing will go up in flames with incalcuable consequences.
Fraser Nelson article in the Telegraph from yesterday - behind a paywall so I can't see the whole of it, but I like the headline ("To Swedes, it’s the rest of the world engaging in a reckless experiment" - how true!) and I agree entirely with their risk analysis:
"Faced with what many there believe will be a manageable illness, Sweden has decided – for now at least – that lockdown represents a greater risk"
We should be having a wider debate about this but the PC lobby (comprising NHS Cultists, Remainer hopefuls, flock-followers, and Marxist opportunists) has latched on to the Lockdown Cult and the PC media (BBC, Sky and ITV) is doing its bidding in putting out a steady drumbeat of pro-Lockdown propaganda.
Only problem is there is no evidence that Lockdowns (a) work as intended (b) are more effective at curbing Covid-19 than a herd immunity approach or (c) provide overall societal benefits (given that Lockdowns damage primary health care and education, and create disease).
Te UK has sleep-walked into some sort of socialist paradise. The money tree has unlimited funds to offer, the public sector is apparently adored by all for their front line work, the NHS has become a deity, government is issuing decrees on all matter of subjects, we are told to trust them.
I saw the 8.00 o'clock clap last night, realising that on the BBC's coverage all the featured groups were themselves paid by the public purse. In the main, they were celebrating themselves, their 'community' which is in effect is a form of socialism We are treated by the BBC to 24/7 coverage of how the public are showing support for the angels and heroes of the public service, the quality of broadcast TV and website has never been poorer. And yet, we must all applaud.
What attention is being paid to the plight of the SMEs of the UK? They are seeing years of patient business building being thrown away - withering on the vine. Government initiatives to compensate them are paternalistic and IMO are intended via the banks to weaken the asset base of the small companies in the way RBS have in the past. These small businesses won't be able to reestablish themselves. As for the high street, this must be the final nail in the coffin for the familiar brands.
I agree with you MB, the cure is worse than the disease. I can't believe that a Conservative government can have played into the hands of the metro-lib-left - and now there are hints that the Brexit process might have to be stalled.
Yes, the plight of SMEs is being completely ignored. Up and down the land the future of hundreds of thousands of businesses is in the balance. Another week, another month and we will see a huge number of failures.
I should of course have included in the PC Lobby who are backing the Lockdown (and even want to see it extended) the Climate Change Nutjobs who see this as a dry run for the introduction of a non-capitalist, low productivity economy which by definition will be a low carbon affair.
1pm news - Nightingale Hospital - Nice bit of negative spin from Jane Hill: "The hospital was built in just under a fortnight." Or, as an unbiased broadcaster might put it, 'nine days, or just over a week.'
“I just wonder whether you think ..no hang on..keep faith with this government... there is no alternative to this government at this moment ...I’m not saying that’s what I think.”
Jeremy Vine today at 12:23 clearly saying what he thinks and probably echoing the thoughts of most at the BBC who wish for a Labour government. He was asking listeners to call in about Matt Hancock’s call for 100,000 tests a day.
BBC says on its website it's a "field hospital" -that sounds suitably desperate, doesn't it? - as far as the BBC are concerned...It doesn't look like a field hospital to me. It looks like an emergency hospital.
Yes! Ones erected by the French Army are considerably smaller and in tents. V.Derbyshire set the tone for this one on (I think) Monday: the hospital was 'makeshift' = "temporary and of low quality." (Cambridge English Dictionary).
WHO is urging Europe and the USA to continue with their lockdowns, even though the figures show that they are ineffective. WHO Is controlled by China. We have to see their recommendations as primarily political now, not health related.
Sweden - sensible measures, no mass lockdown - 33 deaths per million.
South Korea - sensible measures, no mass lockdown - 3 deaths per million.
Russia - only just moved to a lockdown - 0.2 deaths per million.
Fair play to Sky News for reporting from Sweden in a balanced way.
Was around 8.33 pm...
Swedish expert criticises Neil Ferguson of Imperial College as grossly pessimistic with his 250,000 deaths prediction - completely groundless. It was that Imperial College report which panicked Boris into a total lockdown. Swedish expert interviewed states Imperial College recommendations based on unrealistic extended lockdown and quarantine for 18 months...will create huge economic and societal damage.
HIGNFY - Congratulations to Hislop, Merton & Co for managing to make the programme even less entertaining, yet more squirm-inducing, than usual - we hit the 'Off' button at 8.10pm.
I must have hit the off button at 8.00 pm, metaphorically speaking...
4.35 million viewing figures? Hardly That Was the Week That Was, Monty Python, Spitting Image or even Not the Nine O'Clock News.
How is Hislop's impersonation of a satirist going these days? Last time I looked it was piss-poor and his jowls were so wobbly he reminded me of a blancmange someone had tried to use to put out a cigarette. The great Peter Cook, a true satirist, must be spinning in his grave.
So what did they get up to Sis? The usual Boris-bashing with a bit of Matt-spanking thrown in?
MB Lol! Hislop seems to have been aware of the jowl-wobble problem & filmed himself from a high angle to disguise it. Merton seems to be afflicted with JWobble too - perhaps it's what happens to BBC employees who are paid a great deal for doing damn all - rather in the manner of John Simpson.
They spent most of the time tittering at each other's feeble jokes, aimed mainly at Boris. Hislop attempted to stir up popular resentment of the fact that Boris & Hancock had 'managed' to be tested for C19, when others had not. I suspect most people would rather feel that those working 20-hour days to fight the virus were being kept as fit as possible.
These Face Time or Skype contributions are proving to be a great leveller. Remote working plays havoc with comedic timing whether by 'satellite delay' or by being unable to catch the eye of the canned laughter man. If the corona virus kills off programmes such as The One Show or HIGNFY, then some good might come from it after all.
John Simpson is the Jowl-Wobble of them all since Edward Heath parted this world.
Yes, I think most people not blinded by hatred of the "effing Tories" will accept it's sensible to monitor closely the health of leading ministers in Government. Hancock has recovered well, indeed seems more on the ball than before while Boris (with Prince Charles) continues to look like he should be in bed with a duvet over his head.
Makes me wonder - how long can Boris continue operating as PM if he is so unwell? I think if it goes on another week, he'll have to step aside temporarily.
Why do BBC news often follow what the government has to say with Jimmy Krankie saying much the same thing? I thought it was the government of the United Kingdom. What’s their game?
Sometimes I think the BBC doesn't know what it wants. It would like Scotland to split and rejoin the EU, and Northern Ireland to reunite with the South, preferably without another civil war. But on the other hand, it doesn't want a permanent Conservative majority in England or England and Wales. That's one of the oddities of our situation: England or even England and Wales is probably the most Conservative country in Europe, despite our media, business, charity sector and academia being I would say the most left wing.
I think Google must be manipulating Lockdown inquiry searches. I know there are sceptics out there - I saw the ones from Sweden speaking on Sky News this evening. But it's really difficult to find a search inquiry that will bring up items sceptical about Lockdowns, even if you build in a heavy sceptical element into your inquiry...you just get a load of out of date references from February and mid March.
It's similar to the sorts of things they do if you try and research Climate Change, Tommy Robinson or other "sensitive" subjects.
I said before the PC lobby are fully invested in the Lockdown Cult so I shouldn't be surprised, I guess - Google being totally PC and quite prepared to mess with the record.
Interesting Triggernometry discussion with Carl Benjamin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqNE41S3vs0
Good debate...
The three seem fairly satisfied that the Coronavirus crisis is putting PC ideology into retreat.
Hmmm...I'm not so sure.
The current crisis, certainly in the UK, is making us more dependent on and more subject to the diktats of the state. There is also a natural tendency towards altruistic behaviour when we see others in need in this sort of common crisis. It seems to me that people are being attracted towards a collectivist mentality.
The Climate Change extremists will use the Lockdown as a reference point for creating a post-capitalist society.
The Remainer Rump will try and use the crisis to engineer a postponement of our real exit from the EU.
The fact the Government are spending hundreds of billions of pounds in this crisis is a powerful argument against the "no money tree" defence of responsible Government spending.
He's sceptical about the "trace and treat" mythology for why places like Hong Kong and S Korea are doing so well. He has heard it suggested that the Sars pandemic which affected them so badly provides a cross-immunity for Covid-19. This could make sense.
We have a disease that is highly infectious and which can present asymptomatically - no health service however well placed can counter that given that one person can infect 50,000 it is said.
But if Sars conferred some degree of immunity then that makes a lot more sense.
As I understand it S Korea had MERS as well, even though MERS was primarily a Middle East outbreak. So that would be in addition to SARS? Don't know about Hong Kong ref MERS.
Neil Ferguson on Today – telling us what the government will do. Not could, or should, or ought to do. No, it sounds as though, in his mind at least, he is telling our government what to do and they will do it. Very little challenge in the interview. On a separate matter, can anyone explain why it is wrong to use one’s car at the moment? Do cars spread the disease? I’ve seen two people, driving alone in their cars, wearing masks. My first thought was that, if they’ve had a dodgy curry, why not just wind down their windows?
I wish I'd kept count of the number of times I've heard rival experts treat Ferguson's predictions with utter contempt.
Made me wonder whether you could die from vomiting into a face mask...I think the answer is probably yes (especially with the fancier, super-duper masks), as it is a well known risk factor with diving masks.
The reason behind the "car ban" is pure nanny state, just in case we have an accident and burden our NHS superheros even further... There is also advice to avoid DIY, gardening, drinking heavily,stairs, sitting down too long,standing up too long, spending too much time in bed...
Here and there are shafts of light piercing the self-imposed gloom of the Lockdown Cultists.
In the Mail today:
"PM's virus adviser warns Britain might still need to adopt herd immunity in its fight against coronavirus as lockdown measures have 'painted the country into a corner' - after UK death toll soars past China's to 3,605 with more than 38,000 cases"
Prof Graham Medley, the government's chief pandemic modeller, says we've painted ourselves into a corner with no opbvious exit strategy. The lockdown is doing huge damage to our economy and our mental health. He warned the current restrictions would not steer the country out of the pandemi.
At last some true science with a nice topping of common sense. As the good Professor says, we need to bring back the herd immunity policy (just give it a more cuddly name this time!).
If we follow Mad Fool Ferguson we shall swiftly enter a new Dark Age.
Laura Kuenssberg on Kier Starmer election; Remember too in Dec, many voters we talked to expressed no particular affection for Johnson or the Tories, but they were unimpressed with Labour on Brexit and simply couldn't imagine Corbyn on the steps of Downing Street
Hmm..’many voters’ showed enough affection to give him a resounding victory and stonking majority at the election.
‘Many voters’ and ‘some say‘ Laura is suggesting Boris only won because Corbyn was so bad.
Charlie - re: Starmer. Guido has a new AI bot for comments that is letting all sorts of previously banned w0rd5 get through. Cheer yourself up, have a good laugh and read the BTL comments. https://order-order.com/2020/04/04/watch-starmers-victory-speech/#comments
Have you been starmered? "To starmer: to suck the life out of a room, with weakly wan sermonising of no merit or practical import."
I was genuinely surprised that he won. I had expected RLB to win, even though she's not exactly an electrifying presence herself.
I had forgotten how ploddingly bovine the Labour membership is. They aren't Blairites but they just voted in a Blairite as Leader because that was the way the herd was moving! lol Oh well, there will be trouble up the mill for sure.
There was probably a bit of lookism involved as well as RLB looks a bit weird with her facial features being too small. Even Marxists can be swayed by looks...as opposed to a correct dialectical analysis of historical trends. :)
Tweets Andrew Neil today; Man stabs 2 people to death, injures seven others outside a bakery in France. Some say he shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before knifing at least nine people queuing to go into the bakery in Romans-sur-Isère, southern France. Sudanese national in his thirties arrested at the scene.
I don’t see this being reported by the BBC unless it is hidden deep in the bowels if the website. I suppose that like the 7 year old girl stabbed in Bolton recently there will be omertà type silence again.
Strangely enough, they have covered it on the News site. The BBC tells us that, "The motive for the attack remains unclear" - this despite the fact that several witnesses have stated that the attacker shouted, 'Allahu akbar.'
The BBC goes on to quote the Prosecutor's Office as saying that, during a search of the suspect's home, "handwritten documents with a religious connotation were found." This quotation is incomplete: the rest of the sentence said, "in which the author complains notably of living in a country of unbelievers." Now, why would the BBC have omitted that? ( My source is 'Le Monde,' France's most respected quality daily paper.)
It's a knife attack apparently, according to the BBC headline...not a terror attack. A lot of the headline is taken up with the full name of the town - Romans-sur-Isère - which 99.9% of Brits will never have heard of, so why bother?
It's offensive they still leave this sentence in: "The motive for the attack remains unclear"
1. Crows are always fascinating to watch...among the most intelligent of birds. They looked rather peevish this week in my part of London. Discarded takeaway pickings must be down 100%. There was I thought a definite look of resentment in their eyes...they know it's us humans who supplied the food in those boxes but can't fathom why we've suddenly stopped.They want to know where we're hiding them.
2. Mixed messages again from our pretty useless Government. We are being told to Stay At Home...no exceptions. Just "Stay at Home". But the rules and regulations say you can leave your house to exercise. And obviously dog owners could be accused of mistreatment and cruelty if they don't exercise their dogs. 26% of the UK population own a dog.
What is the message?
3. BBC are hiding how Democrats in the USA were encouraging people to congregate in Chinatowns across the USA after the Coronavirus outbreak first became known. Diversity clearly top priority over public health. This is Super-Spreader Pelosi at work in San Francisco:
Sweden, the one country in Europe defying the Lockdown Cult and refusing to destroy their whole economy has seen their daily death toll fall over the last three days from 69,to 50 to 15 (the equivalent of about 75 in terms of UK population, pro rata). Remember how the hysterical Lockdown Cultists were suggesting a few days ago that Sweden was on the brink of an unprecedented medical disaster because of its obdurate refusal to join in the dangerous full Lockdown experiment.
A few things the BBC are enjoying a little too much at the moment; Kier Starmer The contentious issue of herd immunity (their description) The continuing idolisation of the NHS Hammering Trumps handling of the crisis The police crackdown Thursday clapping Ignoring the economic fallout Their renewed power Gunning for Boris and the government Home broadcasting Field Hospitals Lack of testing and PPE Ventilator shortages
Yes, the BBC seem certain they have ridden out the post election storm over political bias and the licence fee. They have exploited the situation by reversing their earlier decision to get rid of 450? Newsroom positions. I suspect they will take their reprieve as a nod to increase their PC ideological output.
- Keir Starmer...The man of a thousand grubby compromises becomes the heroic man of principle.
- The contentious issue of herd immunity...no mention of Sweden's reduction in daily deaths from 69 to 15 over last 3 days...that wasn't supposed to happen!
- The continuing idolisation of the NHS...while claiming to be dedicated to impartial journlism and scientific rigour the BBC are dedicated cultists: they love the Lockdown Cult, the XR Greta Cult, the Race-Think Cult, the PC Cult, the Diversity Cult and the Depatriarchalisation Cult. The NHS Cult is one of their favourites.
- Hammering Trump's handling of the crisis... even though the US death toll per million is less than the UK's, than France's, than Netherlands, than Belgium's, than Italy's and than Spain's.
- The police crackdown...If only (they think) we could crack down like that on everyone who doesn't agree 100% with our PC ideology.
- Thursday clapping...It might be the two minute love-in at the moment but wait till the BBC organises a two minute hate.
- Ignoring the economic fallout...the current crisis proves, as the BBC thought all along, tht money does grow on trees or at least on licence fees.
- Their renewed power...Yes, we the BBC are again the nation's darling - a kind of transgendered Vera Lynn with Police back-up.
- Gunning for Boris and the government...Yes, but carefully calibrated to maximise divisions within the Government. How many times has Michael Gove met Lord Hall for lunch one wonders.
- Home broadcasting...a chance to show off our Islington interiors, just to make it absolutely clear we have nothing in common with the repulsive hoi polloi.
- Field Hospitals...while making little or no inquiry into what is the real state of play in terms of patient numbers in critical care.
- Lack of testing and PPE...GPs are self-managing and you would think they must have some sort of responsibility themselves to ensure safe working for partners and employees on their premises but no - it seems not, according to the BBC.
- Ventilator shortages...it's almost as if they are enjoying them, indeed, and will be a little put out when no one dies for lack of a ventilator!
Interestingly the ventilators aren’t much help according to those who use them, up to 80% on them die - some from complications made worse by the ventilator
Yesterday was a quiet day spent making coffees for Mrs C and the lad whilst they painted my office. It was Mrs C’s choice to do the painting – apparently she finds it therapeutic (although the odd expletives I overheard suggested otherwise). After all the recent home cooking (by me) I felt that they deserved a decent tea so I rang round all the Chinese takeaways within a 4 mile radius. They were all closed and had similar recorded messages, citing the C-outbreak. One blamed a shortage of ingredients. Another, who sounded very Zen, said that they would reopen “When the time is right”. So I drove up to Denby Dale to an Indian takeaway. They were doing a roaring trade, with six little Toyotas providing a home-delivery service. I ordered, and waited outside, and noted that 5 of the 6 drivers were wearing face masks, and only one of the six wore a seatbelt when they zoomed off with their deliveries. After tea, with nothing on ‘normal’ telly, I remembered hearing an advert / promotion on Today for the National Theatre’s One Man Two Guvnors on YouTube. We’d never watched YouTube on the telly before, but the search function was straight forward, there were no adverts, and the filming was as good as you’d want. Thank you to Today for guiding me further away from the Beeb. And Sue, if you are looking for something different, try - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzqcRwWVv8k
Scrolling down, I came across a photo of King's Cross Station which must be over ten years old. It shows the distinctive double arch façade with the 1970s single storey extension before it was removed. There have been two major projects since then - the façade itself, and the public open space in front of the terminus.
Sloppiness by the BBC? To make it worse the photo is credited to Sophie.Did she actually take the photo, or was there some incompetent photo editor involved?
Errr... the picture on the BBC page looks remarkably similar to Google Streetview images from this year and last: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.530132,-0.123906,3a,75y,22.16h,89.21t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEuB-e0Yq89KG_O-tkewHMg!2e0!5s20180501T000000!7i16384!8i8192
The 1970s frontage can be seen in this image from 2008: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5301156,-0.1239267,3a,75y,22.16h,89.21t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sm-2cKr_STrNtPt5U_QPPKg!2e0!5s20080801T000000!7i13312!8i6656
Plenty of evidence that more and more people are becoming increasingly sceptical about the Lockdown Cult. Various stories in the newspapers today supporting that trend. People are showing increased interest in what's happening in Sweden. Matthew Syed trying to head that off by saying no one can know the future. True, but you can examine the evidence. The evidence is plain: there is absolutely no correlation between total lockdowns and suppression of the disease (in fact if anything, it's a negative correlation).
We are told that Rishi Sunak is locked in battle with Hancock and wants a definite path out of the lockdown in order to save us from an economic disaster of unparalleled proportions (for once the "unparalleled" has a justified use). Already forecasts are talking about a 7% drop in GDP. It could be a lot worse once all the effects play through. I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking at a 20-30% reduction overall. You might think for instance that Boots are doing well at the moment but I was in a branch the other day and it was near-deserted with all the aisles with beauty products blocked off. Their custom must have dropped 90%. Just think about how the shrinkage in retail activity will play through. You might think there will be a like for like replacement with online purchases but I doubt it. The evidence I am hearing is that online delivery systems are finding it difficult to cope. People wait a long time for deliveries and that discourages further orders.
With shops shut, there is no point in companies using local newspapers and magazines to advertise their wares - that must be a big blow to such publications. People don't buy flowers so much, and so the flower supply chain suffers as well. Millions of chain effects that amount to a huge recession, which in turn means a huge reduction in government revenue and a huge rise in the welfare budget.
It could take 20 years to recover from this self-inflicted harm to our economy. We need to stop this crazy slow suicide now. Cut the rope that's strnagling us and let us breathe again.
But what is Moronic Matt Hancock proposing? Denying us even our daily exercise. The guy is a total liability. He needs to be sacked.
I am not sure we can limp on like this for much longer. Boris is clearly quite seriously unwell. IS he really doing the job of PM at the moment and should he (for his own personal well being)? I don't think anyone would begrudge him taking time off till his child is born. It's only another 2 or 3 months I think...
Someone needs to lead us back to sanity. Who? Who will step up and make clear that we have the emergency hospital capacity in place and can now return to a sensible "protect the elderly" policy while letting the economy restart as best it can (it will still be in a parlous state of course).
They are all cynical enough to execute a complete about-turn. But who has the courage and panache to do it well?
No, the evidence is not plain that lockdowns don't work. See this evidence from Israel seen in www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com Community stamps out coronavirus. The 6,000-member religious Jewish community of Kiryat Yearim (Telz-Stone) was hit hard with coronavirus when an infected resident returned from France. Saving life is paramount, so the community enforced complete isolation on 2,000 residents. There are no recent cases.
Anonymous - Clearly I was referencing national lockdowns...a far more complex affair than a village or a small religious community opting to self-isolate.
But, an exclusive religious community isolating itself is, in principle, no different from an elderly person isolating themselves. In other words, there is no need for a national lockdown...the elderly and the vulnerable can self-isolate without any need for the whole economy to be wrecked.
I don't believe "saving life" is paramount if you mean saving the lives of people who are very likely to die very soon in any case. It cannot be right to curtail children's education, put a block on ordinary family life, destroy millions of business, take away people's livelihoods and risk many more deaths further down the line, just to signal virtue in "saving life" now. 17,000 people die of flu in the UK every year and we don't shut down the economy to try and stop that.
The only reason we've had national lockdowns is to save governments from having to admit they have totally inadequate arrangements in place for dealing with pandemic emergencies. It's never been about "saving lives". Until there is a vaccine, no one in Kiryat Yearim is safe from the virus. They might have to self isolate for a year or 18 months.
Beff reveals her bias with this on twitter ; Starmer’s 1st interview as Labour leader. - Tone statesmanlike & speaks to mood of country. ‘Parties have to pull together’ - Projecting new focus & authority, after the vacuum created by a 4-month leadership race - Has a ‘mountain to climb’ but this assured first outing
It didn’t take long and I would guess most in the MSM are going to join in with this type of positive PR now they have a Blairite they can swoon over. Rest assured, we will hear it loud and clear from the BBC crowd.
That didn’t take long. Here is Peston adding his tuppence. He has won the prize by a country mile for the biggest ego and the most irritating git of the crisis.
Tweets Peston; Dodds vs Sunak, Nandy vs Raab, Reeves vs Gove, Thomas-Symonds vs Patel. Decent contests all. And Ashworth has been impressive in health at this critical time, most would say.
Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed is on Snobbery: 'Snobbery is defined as the behaviour or attitude of people who think they are better than others. Laurie Taylor explores the social history, meaning and changing nature of this sense of superiority.' Hm...I wonder if he will cover the superior sense of the Remainer / moral custodian and preacher BBC.
Emma Barnett... please place a health warning at the start of your posts if you are going to mention that name. I've not seen, heard or thought about that woman for several weeks and now my recovery has taken a huge setback...
Symptoms of Barnettovirus: high temperature as you listen to her relentless virtue signalling, raised blood pressure as she interrupts a Conservative Minister for the tenth time in a minute and persistent coughing with disbelief at the idiocy of her claims and suggestions. If you have any of these symptoms you should self-isolate by turning off Radio 5 Live, not watching Newsnight and not reading the Sunday Times.
Keir Starmer pledges to tear out (sic) the poison of anti-semitism from the Labour Party. I am not sure that appointing the Chair of Friends of Palestine as Shadow Foreign Secretary is necessarily a good start...she must have shaken plenty of hands that are only too alive with the virus. Let's hope she hasn't caught it.
Well I was wrong about Keir Starmer being elected Labour Party leader so I take the opportunity to say I was right about Boris being much more ill with CV than was being admitted and that we might have to seriously consider him standing down temporarily.
He's just been admitted to hospital "for tests" apparently.
Some facts for a change. This is from ONS's weekly mortality report:
"The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 20 March 2020 (week 12) was 10,645; this represents a decrease of 374 deaths registered compared with the previous week (week 11).
The average number of deaths for the corresponding week over the previous five years was 10,573; this means that the overall number of deaths in week 12 of 2020 was slightly higher than previous years.
Of the deaths registered in week 12, 103 mentioned novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which is 1.0% of all deaths."
So deaths are only slightly higher than in previous years and Covid-19 is being attributed to only 1% of deaths. Of course, because this is a novel virus, we can expect that to rise.
But we are not in some kind of end-of-days scenario which some of the scarier news reports with low throbbing synth notes like to suggest!
So the question might fairly be put: why are we driving our economy off a cliff edge?
Thank you for these figures MB. However yoo shouldn't need to do this work; this is exactly the sort of ferreting out of information that our journalists, particularly those in the BBC as we pay their salaries, ought to be doing. There are some positive signs emerging as, for example, the Daily Telegraph is exhibiting a healthy scepticism in some of its articles. In Scotland the chief medical officer has clearly demonstrated what she really believes by her weekend jaunts to her holiday home, although Sturgeon, who clearly has despotic tendencies, seems to be threatening even tighter application of this cruel lockdown!
It's not exactly ferreting is it - to google the ONS site!lol
This is the problem with the PC style of reporting which is now deeply embedded in our media community. They know there are thousands of "no go" areas for reporting and they carefully tread around them.
Once a few of the fake-sages of the Left-liberal elite had signalled that it was virtuous to support a Lockdown (note it was the arch-globalist Macron who on the international stage pressed hard for early adoption) then the media nearly all fell in line.
However, it is clear that there is some resistance on this occasion. Peter Hitchens, Janet Daley, and Matthew Parris for instance are all striking sceptical notes. There have been a number of reports on Sweden's approach, which is bound to raise questions. There must be at some level pressure from business to get back to normal.
I agree this is a cruel lockdown - the effects on children and the young are terrible: sub-standard education, no socialising with friends, lovers torn apart, weddings cancelled or postponed...
Lazy comparisons with WW2 won't do (sorry Ma'am)...if this was WW2 the nearest parallel would be that were in a situation where our own Government had ordered the RAF up in the air to bomb the whole of London because it was known to contain some German spies.
It's time to set out anew the tenets of BBC News reporting:
1. No amount of money no matter how great is sufficient for the NHS. A Conservative government will always be blamed for any shortcomings in the NHS's performance - regardless of poor management or administration. Any shortage of PPE or ventilators, however temporary, will be the government's not the NHS's fault. The NHS only employs angels and heroes - there are no shirkers or skivers amongst their millions. All must be seen to applaud at eight, in North Korean style, paying homage to the NHS. Failure to do so will be 'noted'.
2. Self isolation does not apply to BBC reporters such as Mark Easton or Dan Johnson. They are front liners helping us to isolate by casting aspersions upon anyone outside except themselves.
3. Instead of rigorous investigation (as above in MB's piece), the BBC airwaves must be full of heart-warming Skype messages from like-thinking folk.
4. No new BBC programmes can be made due to the lockdown. Repeats of Blue Planet, Outnumbered or other similar feel-good programmes (as the BBC would see it) will suffice. Any thought-provoking output should be avoided.
Good post Arthur. Panem et circenses. Bread and circuses. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about and that’s the real purpose of the BBC and many of their programmes aimed at the home audience.
The careful manipulation of political debate, the establishment propaganda, cultural Marxism, the cult of NHS worship. It is there to placate the masses.
Arthur, this clapping for the NHS reminds me of, years ago, watching a film of a Chinese Communist Party general assembly. When the dear leader (Mao or Deng Xiaoping) took to the podium the delegates started applauding and the clapping went on for what seemed about 20 minutes. Presumably the delegates were literally frightened for their lives in case they should be seen to be the first one to stop! The thing about all such tributes, where the participants are coerced to take part, is that they aren't really tributes at all.
***HEALTH WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCE TO EMMA BARNETT***
So, there was a quasi-religious miraculous occurrence this morning on Radio 5 Live...the Great Dimbo descended from the clouds of cushioned comfort to speak unto the nation (and Emma Barnett).
He brought healing words of much comfort for our people...condescendingly, he had decided that, on balance, the Queen's address deserved some grudging praise, though one was left with the suspicion that HM the King Dimbo could have done much better. Still, he said even the lifelong republican in his household (who's that? is it an old retainer? his nanny?) was moved to tears by it.
He further averred that we all needed to obey the rules and that nobody can tell what will happen in the future...ah yes, wise words.
But I think the main reason he had deigned to make this rare descent among the hoi polloi from his olympian vantage point was the need to take a snidey pop at Boris, whom he clearly hates. Something about how Boris had revelled in "Brexit and all that" which had given him power, and what a blow it must be now to see that power slip away from him. No doubt said with that slight smirk on his lips that we know so well from Question Time.
Those Remainers are World Record Grudge-Bearers aren't they!
'Care home boss: hospitals refusing to admit residents with coronavirus'
Here is an extract:
... 'Rachel Beckett, chair of Wellburn, which has 14 homes across the north-east including several in the York area, claims hospitals are refusing to admit any residents who test positive for the virus and the firm has received calls from local doctors instructing it to be prepared for 'multiple end of life situations.' ' ...
This isn't the NHS that the BBC would have us perceive.
The gods are certainly tormenting us: first making Boris perforce Gloomster-In-Chief - what an irony that was - and now taking away the prize of the Prime Ministership from his hands through this wretched illness.
If it's hubris, it seems a little harsh...
We can only wish him better as we would any other democratic politician in the same circumstances.
Unlike some I don't blame the media for demanding answers on various aspects of the handling of the virus crisis but I do have complete and utter contempt for Jeremy Hunt, sniping from the sidelines, when it was he who failed to prepare properly for the pandemic after the 2016 exercise. It cannot have helped Boris to know that his every step was being dogged by this deceptively well mannered assassin intent on revenge.
MB - Re: Jeremy Hunt, I can't, for the life of me, understand how he can be chairing the select committee, when he is clearly an interested party - "No man shall be a judge in his own cause."
France has been in lockdown now for 20 days, and a very severe form of lockdown it is too. Today they announced a staggeringly high death toll of 833.
There were over 5000 new cases in the latest one day category in France (compare with Sweden, which doesn't have a total lockdown - new cases are 376, equivalent to about 1800 on a pro-rata basis, accounting for the population difference). France had a jump of 23,000 cases in one day just two days back.
We need to start disbelieving the "lockdowns work" myth being propagated so assiduously by the BBC.
And let us never forget that it was the execrable Macron who bounced us into a Lockdown - threatening to blockade Britain and starve us if we didn't.
MB, the basis of your hypothesis may be wrong. Sweden is a very different type of place and has very responsible citizens, it is spelt out in this article https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/sweden-is-adopting-a-flexible-coronavirus-response-and-betting-on-social-obedience/ar-BB12ew9l Swedes really do try very hard to do the right thing and so the environment is probably pretty similar in reality. Peer pressure to conform is much higher than in France or here. I do think that without regulation a significantly larger part of the UK population than the Swedish one would not co-operate.
However since the Swedish approach is in effect very similar to ours, just using a different means of compulsion, I think your constant criticism of lockdown is both faulty and potentially dangerous. I do wish you would wait for at least another two weeks to see what happens.
You can't accuse Brits of being irresponsible. We've been docile and conformist, nearly all obeying the rules (apart from hypocritical health officials). I think you're engaging in an ill founded stereotype there. Italians have also been very respectful of the rules in Northern Italy.
It is NOT similar in Sweden - that's very misleading of you to say so. Cafes, bars, shops, and offices are open. Gatherings up to 50 people are allowed. They are trying to keep the economy going.
Those are huge differences. Many more people are going into work as normal. There are no bans on sunbathing or mixing with friends.
...and may I add...if you are going to run with stereotypes - how do you explain the unruly Greeks' incredibly LOW figure for deaths per million - about 7 per million. Way lower then Sweden, the UK, Italy, France or Spain.
I am not really going with stereotypes as such since I know quite a lot of Swedes. Their employers are very responsible in general and H&S is taken very seriously indeed. There are elements of British society , which are also present in Swedish society, which in my experience do indeed live by their own set of rules and do not simply follow government advice.
I cannot explain Greece other than the rather flippant expectation that they go on skinning holidays in Italy rather less than the more affluent parts of Europe and may still be at a lower point in the curve. How do you explain it?
Sweden is also now the land of hand grenades exploding on street corners in Malmo...so I wouldn't go by a narrow range of experience/
How do I explain it? I can't. Greece definitely argues against the air pollution and Chinese tourist hypothesis since Athens is also a centre of very bad air pollution while Greece must attract its fair share of Chinese tourists I would think (though maybe not so much in winter, I would accept).
One thing that would be worth investigating is whether populations that have evolved protection against malaria have some sort of immunity. It's interesting to note that Southern Italy is not being affected to anything like the same extent as Northern Italy. The population of Southern Italy like the population of Greece show signs of evolution re malaria. I was prompted to this thought because several scientists have pointed to therapeutic success re Coronavirus when using anti-malarial drugs. (Why there should be this connection between the two diseases, I have no idea.)
I also note that the Sub-Saharan African population doesn't seem much affected by Covid-19 so far - they too are adapted to malaria, in fact its most virulent forms.
But there are many puzzles around the world. The Chief Scientific Officer noted every country is different. He reference demographics. Indeed but on that basis Japan should be experiencing a worse death toll than Italy, given its extremely aged population. But Japan's death per million figure is 0.7 per million! 0.7!! Compared with 283 for Italy and it's probably more like 400 actually in Northern Italy). The current orthodoxies about spread and vulnerability makes no sense.
But, sadly, you won't hear any honest appraisal of the disease from our CMO, CSO or Government...it's just "paint-a-picture" stuff.
Another thing I would add: this disease is so infectious (they say one person can theoretically affect 50,000 within a matter of days)and there are so many asymptomatic sufferers that I cannot really see how any country - unless it really brought down the shutters and had access to limitless testing could prevent it spreading, assuming their populations are not immune to it in some way.
So there's another puzzle. Why is a country like Japan with its extensive contacts with China so little impacted by the virus? Similarly for South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and even Hong Kong within China.
Emily seems to have a very poor grasp of our constitutional framework (in particular the central importance of Cabinet Government) or recent political history (she seemed to be under the misapprehension that Lidington deputised for May at times of ill health). She also can't pronounce anaesthesia. Still, she's not an Airhead, oh no.
She did manage not to look gleeful at the recent turn of events, which was something I suppose.
More facts...Interesting video. You can pause at 02:37:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaIzj3s3p4A
Official report on Covid-19 critical care patients up to 26 March. We have 285 critical care units.
Of these 178 had admitted at least one Covid-19 patient. About 25% of units had no Covid-19 patients at all. (There was a report on Salisbury hospital on Newsnight tonight, which was pretty much saying nothing much was happening, except a lot of sensible prepping).
A total of 846 admissions. So an average of 4.75 critical care patients per unit up to 26 March. Looks like a little under a quarter of the patients had either died or been released on recovery, so that figure of 4.75 is probably more like 3.75 for current patients.
It would help if the media actually made reference to these official figures but they prefer to create a doom-laden mood in line with the desired narrative: ICUs overloaded, doctors deciding who gets treated etc etc.
Similarly with deaths of NHS workers - immediately attributed to Covid-19.
The NHS employs 1.2 million people or about 2% of the population. If 10% of 600,000 deaths are to people aged under 60 that would be 60,000 and of those perhaps about 1200 would be NHS workers. Divide by 12 and that would mean 100 deaths per month of NHS workers aged under 60. What percentage of the 100 might be "unexpected" or "sudden" and involve pneumonia or similar? I don't know but it seems likely there will be tragic "unexpected" deaths of NHS workers in normal times and they could well involved respiratory failure.
The latest report into patients admitted into critical care so far from the intensive care national audit and research centre (IANARC), showed 2,621 admissions up to 3 April, most of whom are still there. The mean age was 60 and 73% of them were men. More than 35% of them were overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 30, and 37% were obese.
With 1559 patients in Intensive Care that would be about 7.4 patients per unit.
There were about 5,900 critical care beds before the crisis. That has been increased substantially I believe but currently it means at 3 April we were using about 24% of the previous number of critical care beds for Covid-19 cases.
Nto surprisingly, obesity is a big issue in the UK in terms of the disease, which might explain why the age profile is so much lower here (average age around 60) compared with Italy where it was around 80 last time I checked. Italians generally look a lot slimmer than Brits.
Back in the 1980s Born Again Christians were told to ask "What Would Jesus Do?" when faced with difficult dilemmas.
In these troubled times I have a similar rubric: I ask "What Would John Sweeney Do?" and then hving determined would he would do, I advocate doing the exact opposite.
Here is Sweeney on his Tod's latest:
"April6 UK PM Boris Johnson is in intensive care. To the critics who say let's end lockdown asap: get a grip. This is an awful disease to which there is no cure. If our PM is at death's door, then we are all in trouble."
Yep, no logical or evidential connections between his assertions there! So let's not follow Sweeney's advice. Rather, let's wind down the Lockdown at top speed and create community immunity as quickly as possible.
There we go I've solved the problem - rebadge "herd immunity" as "community immunity".
Below are links to two articles from independent news sources. Between them they illustrate the total confusion surrounding Covid-19 statistic gathering and attribution figures.
I found them well worth a read as they somewhat contradict each other politically, but both come from left leaning sites.
I'm not surprised to hear that. It's not just misrepresentation with Sopel...he does sometimes spread untruths. Sometimes he uses the unqualified noun to aid his deception e.g. "Doctors have condemned Trump..." could mean all doctors, some doctors or two doctors out of 2 million. Most hearing it will assume it means "all" or "nearly all" doctors - not "Ten Democrat donor doctors" which it probably does.
Roger Harrabin's latest bonkers article: Coronavirus: Don't bail out airlines, say climate campaigners
Nearly 5 billion people use air travel every year and Harrabin is suggesting they stay grounded. He is using other campaigners to make the case but hiding behind others is an old trick of the BBC.
I heard someone recently citing a figure which equated air travel with social media in terms of energy use. All those climate fanatics are enthusiastic users of social media, no?
I haven't got the source or the figure, if anyone is wondering. It was probably from the radio. Struck me as telling.
1. This guy Prof Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, is a walking disaster zone. He's the guy who sanctioned the "two symptoms" advertising (fever and persistent cough) which misled millions about whether they had the disease, encouraging them to go into work and infect their colleagues becuase their symptoms didn't fit the advertised ones.
He failed to put in place arrangements to protect himself, the PM or the Health Sec from being infected with Covid-19.
It now emerges he has banned all experimental treatments e.g. chloroquinine, despite good results reported by many clinicians with various approaches around the world. In the UK you are only allowed to treat with paracetamol and oxygen. This is crazy.
Is he now going to kill our PM through a lack of experimental therapy?
He also led us into this Total Lockdown impasse, rather than following a sensible approach as in Sweden.
Clearly in his role as Chief Medical Officer he must have some role in pandemic planning. All the indications are that the planning was woefully inadequate.
He has a lot to answer for.
2. Mr Goshi just told me on Sky News that the Coronavirus "doesn't discriminate" between people. I read elsewhere, in several publications that Black and Asian members of our community are being affected disproportionately (hugely so). I suspect this relates principally to diabetes. Diabetes is vastly over-represented in our Black and Asian populations and is treated at immense cost to the NHS (several billions every year). It's one of those things that wiseacres like Jonathan Portes always seem to forget to include when totting up the sums to ensure a positive result for any cost-benefit analysis of the effects of migration.
Yes, I read that. The BBC are treading ever more carefully with their depiction and reporting of POC. This incremental change continues to accelerate. It’s not just the reporting, the BBC picture library also tells the story.
They are illustrated disproportionately with POC so long as it is a positive role model story.
Bad news and bad people have much free POC images.
It all supports the ongoing cultural Marxism narrative.
Rather like John Simpson, Jeremy Vine embodies the BBC. Just listen to his show, the topics, his comments and interventions and you see the BBC metro-liberal groupthink laid bare.
The hot topics of the day are just there to support the overriding BBC narrative. It’s groundhog day, 300 times a year at 12 noon.
At the moment the daily topics are mostly about coronavirus. Today is no different, they are just a smokescreen to continue the propaganda on the BBC narratives. Trump bashing - he is an idiot and messed up on coronavirus Tory bashing- the government messed up on coronavirus Boris bashing- we wish him well but he messed up on coronavirus
Every topic has the pretence of balance but you are never in any doubt about the target under attack and left-liberal values always provide the answer or solution.
Yes, the 'just asking' technique of throwing something contentious out there in the third party is a favourite party trick. He then invites debate from listeners having primed them with two opposing views from the usual roster of guests.
He knows all to well that he is deliberately creating the conditions for argument and conflict which he believes makes for better entertainment.
He's a metro-liberal baiter who is poking a stick to cause pain and discomfort. The format exploits and stokes social and political division. It's a million miles away from the Jimmy Young type of political discourse from whom he took over.
Suddenly every rich Tom Dick and Minnie seems to be giving money for the NHS or the poor or something. Sometimes it's a large sum like a million - that's a lot but maybe the donor is worth a few hundred million. Which makes you think. Hm...how generous.
I see The Sun has launched an appeal, donating 50k itself, for NHS staff. I'm not sure what it is for exactly. It seems rather vague. But raising money seems to be the thing, at least in the media.
The Sun reports that the BBC is also at it - when is it not? - for something to do with the virus. What exactly? It was announced by the usual suspect, Lenny Henry, that those two BBC mega takers of money, Children in Need and Comic Relief are joining forces and the comic relief is for a comic called Peter Kay who will have a Big Night In to restart his career. A good time will be had by Henry and Kay while the good and kind watchers will dig out the pennies from their diminishing hoard. I don't suppose they will be the billionaires who've no doubt lost a considerable amount of wealth from the fall in the FTSE. But who else has any money to spare these days after they've lost work or businesses? Oh, I know. The BBC. Maybe it should do a whip round among its own staff instead of taking the begging bowl out to the public yet again.
It's on a familiar BBC theme: "Why overcoming racism is essential for humanity’s survival".
So it's a BBC article? Hmmm...you'd think so but that's actually a very good question.
It's by Tom Oliver. A BBC journalist you might suppose. But hang on - it's a very, overtly so, politicised article e.g. linking Nigel Farage closely to Nazi/attitudes. Tut-tut...our BBC journalists are supposed to be impartial.
OK, so is Tom Oliver a BBC journalist? Another good question! The article doesn't tell us.
We are told at the end of the article, not who Tom is (the mystery remains) but that "This article is part of Life's Big Questions, a new series by The Conversation that is being co-published with BBC Future."
"What is BBC Future?" you ask...yet another good question...
As a cult might, they avoid the question and answer: "We believe in truth, facts, and science. We take the time to think. And we don't accept — we ask why."
So far so spooky. But then one's eye is caught by a more brutish statement on a strap line below:
"This website is produced by BBC Global News, a commercial company owned by the BBC (and just the BBC). No money from the licence fee was used to create this website. The money we make from it is re-invested to help fund the BBC’s international journalism."
Right - I wasn't aware of this creepy outreach organisation.
But let's go back...who are or is "The Conversation" who are co-publishing with this creepy BBC Futures outfit? And who the F is Tom Oliver?
So "The Conversation" it turns out is supposedly an "Independent news website that only publishes articles written by academics and researchers." It also states it is a charity.
Who is funding this strange "independent news organisation". Well it seems its individual funders are nearly all hideously white, which must be of concern to the likes of Tom Oliver so obsessed for the need for diversity!
https://theconversation.com/uk/friends
Jon Snow would probably have a stroke if he saw that assemblage of the pale. But, interestingly, they are only the small fry...so who are the real big funders?
You might be surprised if I told you it was me and you. Yes - we have to admit it...we are to blame. I'll explain...
I was fully expecting the usual Soros foundations. There may be one or two (I can't be bothered to trace them back). But the vast majority of funders of this bogus "independent news organisation" with bogus charity status are British universities! And of course the vast bulk of their finance comes from me and you through the tax system.
https://theconversation.com/uk/partners
Yes, our Universities feel the need to fund "an independent news organisation" that just happens to be rabidly in favour of Leftism, Globalism, Race Obsession, XR Greenism, Extreme Anti-Male Feminism, Socialism, Marxism and all the rest. A flavour of the content is given by one article headed: "This anarchist thinker helps explain why we feel so driven to help each other through the coronavirus crisis " The thinker referred to is Kropotkin. The article is just tendentious nonsense. I've read my Jane Austen...plenty of examples of young bourgeois ladies feeling the urge to provide "mutual aid" to impoverished peasants without the need for a supporting anarchist philosophy!
And, let's not forget Mr Oliver, the commendably modest Mr Oliver who has no job title attached to his artlce. Who is he? Let us consult the Twitter thing:
Seems like Mr Oliver likes to mix business and pleasure or academia and politics at least.
So - what a tangled web! BBC and our universities colluding in overtly political communication, Fake News and Green XR Propaganda.
This is scandalous. All funded by the taxpayer and licence fee payer! If we had a populist government as opposed to a Conservative Government it would be stopped immediately...immediately, not at some far distant "Charter Review" juncture.
These networks of influence are a real poison in the body politic.
A couple of things I picked up on looking at 'The Conversation' website (well, you do have to look FOR it): It was founded in Melbourne but its news operation is effectively London based now. One of the founders Andrew Jaspan is credited as a former editor of UK newspapers, as well as Australian: The Observer, Scotsman. No sniggering at the back, please but 'Stephen Khan is Executive Editor of The Conversation, and its Editor in the UK. Before joining The Conversation in 2013, during the initial phase of its international expansion, #he was a news editor at The Guardian.# He has also been deputy foreign editor of The Independent and Scotland editor of The Observer.'
Chris Waiting, CEO, '... previously worked for the Associated Press as Director of Strategy & Development and #for the BBC as Chief of Staff# where he advised the COO and Director-General. He has an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from London Business School.'
Also noted, as a non-Executive Director is one Caroline Thomson. It doesn't credit this but was she not the COO at the BBC who was a candidate for the DG job which went to the Buggins who lasted all of six weeks? And to be fair they do have a couple of ex-Daily Mailers on the staff and even an ex-Sun man. For 'balance' I'm sure.
Thanks for the additional background. I just find it incredible that Universities find it acceptable or desirable to plough money into an "independent news organisation". Of course it's not really a news organisation, it's an opinion organisation.
Stig Abell was an ex Sun editor. You couldn't find a more dedicated PC Globalist - now ensconced in the BBC Arts burrow. Likewise the Mail has turned in recent years, becoming anti-Brexit, pro-EU and pro PC Globalism.
So, the fact that there are ex Mail and Sun journos doesn't necessarily even offer any "balance" at all.
To me, it feels like a huge vanity project so academics can air their opinions and prejudices.
I'm still laughing at the "white wall" of funders though!
Yes, the idea of Abell at The Sun always seems to me incongruous - I first came across him on Sky Press Preview by which time he had moved on to the TLS. No sooner had the PM gone into the hospital than he was on Sky supposedly reviewing the papers but actually touting for a national government including all those old ex-PMs floating around. Am not saying this lot couldn't do with some help but the eager opportunism of Abell annoyed me.
Hanley presents the issue as a form of class issue between the have's and have-nots. She effectively introduces the increases in London's population, where the percentage of overseas born is about 40%, directly into the left-lib camp.
On this site, comments about the impossibility of housing London's increasing population have pointed to the fundamental lack of available building land. Promises to 'build more affordable housing' has a hollow ring. It is disingenuous for Hanley to suppose that it is a class issue.
Construction sites are still allowed to operate. Many of the workers are from Eastern Europe and live in extremely cramped accommodation, sometimes 10 to a house. They often travel on public transport. They cannot maintain social distancing at work. It's obviously a recipe for further spread of the infection and makes a nonsense of all the restrictions.
Once again, Laura K and the BBC have misjudged the mood of the nation. By seeking to undermine the government by exploiting Boris's hospitalisation, they are misguided. I would guess that the vast majority of the country are willing Boris better, and can't wait to see his return after personally enduring the effects of the virus. This has provided a strong bond between the UK and their chosen PM. But, the recent history of the BBC indicates that they have no empathy with their audience - just with some ephemeral bond with an imaginary audience.
Here's today's headline from Auntie's twin sister:
'Power Vacuum fears as PM remains in intensive care'.
They can't have heard the update about Boris not having pneumonia, not needing a ventilator but being in good spirits and stable. How is that Laura, Beth, Peston and the The Guardian failed, when everyone else did hear, understand, and then welcome the clear message?
It is the funniest part of the day to hear the trio's pre-drafted and therefore largely irrelevant questions delivered in a such sour manner.
The BBC has undertaken two reality checks on Pres. Trump at the end of this report. One Is about WHO funding, the other about ventilators.
Both have been written to challenge Trumps claims. They couldn't find much to fault but once again it is further proof of TDS still rampant at reality check and the BBC. They have an such an obsession it is slowly consuming them.
The TDS is on full display on Sky News as well. It extends now to pretending that Biden has mental competence when clearly he does not. In summarising the presidential race they now cover up entirely for Biden's many senile lapses - confusing dates, times, places, people (even his wife and his sister!) and concepts. Not a single mention of that very important factor! For the PC Globalist media, they know they will have to lie to get Biden elected (just as they lied about HRC's health, private computer use and taking bribes for influence through the Clinton Foundation). They are quite prepared to do it, by trying to make Trump look like a fool while making Biden look statesmanlike. They suppressed Clinton's many health episodes. They will do the same with Biden's dementia episodes.
The MSM here and over the pond take the electorate for fools. Which they are not. The UK saw straight through the lies and pro-EU propaganda and voted for Boris. The US electorate will make their judgement on Biden and see through the lies despite the media onslaught. Trump will get a second term.
I tend to agree Charlie, but no one can say for sure what will happen, on that we can be sure! :)
However, I think the media onslaught does have a big effect. Trump can never budge above 50% in the popularity ratings because of it. He can fire up his base but the MSM prevent him getting a fair hearing beyond that.
It's similar over here I think. Because the MSM protect Labour in so many ways, a Far Left, pro-terrorist, pro-Sharia Labour leadership could still secure 32% at the polls.
There was a prime example tonight on Newsnight with Emily have three leftists on to discuss the political and economic fallout from the Coronavirus crisis. They were Vicky Price (ex con), Joseph Stiglitz and Yvette Cooper. It was easy questions for all the Leftists but Yvette Cooper, Labour MP, especially was treated like a font of all knowledge as Emily asked her respectful open-ended questions.
Contrast with how La Maitlis would tackle a Conservative representatives or even someone representing conservative ideas. We'd see a complete switch in demeanour and the easy, consensual conversation would be replaced with aggressive questioning, numerous interruptions, gotcha moments and all the rest. I don't think the average viewer notices all the bias techniques. They just pick on the mood being generated and so view Conservatives less favourably.
...and its Germany pulling into the lead, Austria on the inside...China accelerating fast from the back of the pack...USA looking like its ready to move up a gear any moment...Japan at a steady gallop, moving nicely as we pass the 4 furlong mark...and, then...the UK, trailing badly behind...a good six lengths to the rear, but as any BBC commentator will tell you, that's a good position to be in at this stage...bringing up the rear, safety first, no chance of a fall.
Calling Craig... as Shaw Taylor used to say on Police 5 (you have to be over 50): "Now, can you identify these two men...?" Either two Morecambe hipsters or two of something else...
Just a note...I think I heard on Sky today someone refer to the Lockdown Cult as an experiment that started in China and had never been tried before. How often do you hear that on the MSM?
It WAS an experiment. It had never been tried before but of course, China being a totalitarian state found it easy to implement.
But why did Europe follow this bizarre experiment?
Trump is right about WHO being a Sinocentric organisation now. It was WHO who were pressing for global lockdowns, to equalise the damage being done to China. We have to remember China was in a v difficult situation . If it had not gone with the dramatic theatre of a lockdown, then Trump and others might have started blocking Chinese imports.
In my view the evidence shows that there are wild fluctuations between countries regarding how the virus impacts and we have no idea as yet why that should be so - it's nothing like how the Spanish flu of 1917/18 affected the whole world with at least a rough equality. However, it suggests that Lockdowns are only very marginally effective. We see that countries like Sweden, Taiwan, S Korea and Japan that haven't had Wuhan-style total lockdowns have far fewer deaths per millions than those countries that have gone with total lockdowns.
Also, I notice the "experts" keep extending the date by which a total lockdown should take effect. Now they talk about 26 days. This is absurd. An effective total lockdown should be having dramatic suppressive effects within 14 days at the latest according to the models. The fact this doesn't happened shows that Lockdowns are a bogus solution.
Now that WHO are facing questions, look who has quickly played the race card.
“WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that he had been subjected to months of attacks, including racist ones against him and black communities.”
Yep, the leader of WHO, working hand in glove with probably the most racist nation on earth - the Han Chinese State - which bans nearly all immigration, has one million Uigurs under lock and key and is systematically destroying both Tibetan and Uigur culture.
The BBC News website has a headline 'Coronavirus cases near 1.5 million worldwide' but fail to ask a basic question:
When China has a population amounting 18.4% of the world's total, why does it have only 81,000 cases when out of the 1.5 million it should have 276,000. As the worldwide total increases, this disparity will raise more questions about the accuracy of China's reporting, or alternatively what measures they have been able to take in order to counter the virus.
Brendan is on the case, asking why Maitlis is the current darling:
" She had a pop at the government – as is her wont; Maitlis is one of the least objective journalists in the already objectivity-challenged BBC – and she asked us to feel sorry for poorer people in small homes who will be having a hard lockdown. Yes. We know. Unlike Ms Maitlis, some of us actually know and are related to people like that, which is why we cautioned against a stringent lockdown precisely as the media elite, including the BBC, were incessantly barking at ministers: ‘Where’s the lockdown? Bring it on. us under house arrest.’ Maitlis’s soppy sermon was the BBC at its worst."
Yes, it will be featured because the BBC News have been granted a one-on-one interview with a PM. That's unusual - news indeed. There's a hint of the BBC's yearning to remain at the heart of the EU. They may see themselves as saviours of the EU project.
Yes, if the BBC can help facilitate a coordinated response by highlighting this, they can feast on it for months by saying how the EU ‘came together’ to conquer the virus - all for one, one for all.
It could be a strategic move by the BBC who believe that Italy will be able to ease their restrictions two weeks or so before the UK. This would allow a window to claim that the EU - Italy and Germany - have handled the virus so much better than the Conservative government. Good old EU.
The propaganda channels tell us the NHS Cult event tonight was supported as enthusiastically, nay, even more so this evening.Rageh Omar indulged in a frankly sentimental, even schmaltzy, oration concluding we love "each and every one of them"...er no, I certainly don't love the nurses and doctors who have ignored relatives' symptoms, failed to make allowance for their extreme age, stayed hidden on wards or shown evidence of incompetence, and - even allowing that those are in a minority - I don't love the majority either...love is a big word...you love your partner in life and your immediate family or a few close friends...not 1.2 million NHS workers! Let's just say we greatly admire their skill and steadfastness.
Anyway, against the propaganda, my local experience was that the "Great Clap" was far quieter this week...much more so.
I think we should show our gratitude in due course. A medal and a significant ex gratia payment might be appropriate. But this ain't North Korea yet and I think compulsory displays of sentiment are a bad idea.
MB I had a dream last night that Phase 1 of this was over. In Phase 2 there were crowds on the streets and they were all clapping for the wealth creators. I guess that the economy was on life support.
ITV reporting on trial treatments in UK. A woman who had recovered from Covid-19 was interviewed - looking remarkably well after being hospitalised with "anti-malarial drugs"...I bet it was chloroquinine...but of course the one thing they were never going to do is tell the viewers that (a) President Trump had championed this potential treatment and (b) our Chief Medical Officer was blocking emergency use of the drug.
1. Why do Newsnight presenters treat Mayors with such deference compared with the contempt they display towards many Parliamentarians. Even Andy Street, a nominal Conservative, was treated with respect. This is generally true of all the media: Mayors get a free pass for some reason.
2. BBC finally admitting that Lockdown is having a terrible effect on health services to children and other people with health issues. In other words the Lockdown is killing people. Fewer referrals, fewer people presenting themselves, people too scared to go to the GP or A&E. Very late in the day but at least, to be fair, they are addressing the issue.
"Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker says he will donate two months' salary to the British Red Cross to help in their work in the fight against the coronavirus."
ReplyDeleteWhat is it they say? Oh yeah - too little, too late.
Gosh. All of two months' salary! I am overcome.
ReplyDeleteAnd how many people's license money adds up to that?
DeleteClive Myrie, 5pm News slot, announces that Nissan will be topping up their Sunderland workers' 80% wages from the Government to 100%. It sounds as though Nissan is really keen to retain the Sunderland workforce! Now how long ago was the BBC telling us that the plant was likely to close if we left the EU?
ReplyDeleteNot sure how long ago, but it felt like every day. And let's not forget Airbus...they were supposed to be leaving as well as the BBC told us so often. Airbus have since made clear their determination to maintain the UK connection.
DeleteMB Airbus - That'll be cos we 'do' the engines & the wings, both of which come in handy when building airliners!
DeleteYep, Sis, that might have something to do with it! lol
DeleteC-19 deaths in Sweden without a total lockdown: 30 per million.
ReplyDeleteC-19 deaths in Italy with a total lockdown: 230 per million.
C-19 deaths in Spain with a total lockdown: 216 per million.
C-19 deaths in Netherlands with a total lockdown: 78 per million.
C-19 deaths in France with a total lockdown: 69 per million.
C-19 deaths in UK with a total lockdown: 43 per million.
The response of the media? Sweden has got it "wrong". Think about it: Sweden's deaths per million should be rocketing up without a full lockdown, according to the Lockdown Cultists' theory. Why are they actually lagging behind?
We're hearing a lot about C-19 infections being acquired in hospital. This could be part of the hysteria package. People with C-19 are likely being hospitalised unnecessarily and the C-19 virus is spreading around in hospital.
Is Holland a fair test? - They were firmly committed to the herd immunity strategy until very late in the day & didn't introduce lockdown until 16th March.
Deleteie PARTIAL lockdown!
DeleteA fair test? Sounds fair since that was 18 days ago - way past the stated incubation period for cases from before the lockdown.
DeleteThe theoretical maths behind the Lockdown Theory is that you close down your society and economy and - hey presto! - about 10 to 14 days later you see a flattening of the upward trajectory. They are all backtracking on that now, but that was the statistical promise, the reason we crashed our economies - it wasn't so we could endure six months of needless hell.
But it ain't happened. It was clearly BS since places like Northern Italy have had lockdowns for over a month now and still the death toll is rising at an extremely rapid rate.
Deaths have risen 60-fold since Netherlands introduced the lockdown. Is that not a sobering statistic?
Do we really think it would have been more if they had continued with the herd immunity policy? I don't actually like the phrase "herd immunity" since it meets public resistance, making them feel like they are being experimented (whereas the Lockdown is the true experiment as this is the first time it has ever been tried)... call it PASTICHE (Protect All Susceptible To Infections Causing Health Emergencies). So over 70s and those with serious health conditions would be encouraged to self-isolate and fully supported in self-isolation with free food deliveries, free broadband, escorted exercise opportunities etc. - maybe even a Public Recognition Income Payment to recognise their contribution to society through self-isolation.
Why does the BBC not tell us how very, very senile Biden is? -
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRmSTb0NIJQ&feature=emb_rel_end
We need a Moses to lead us out of our Lockdown Exile.
ReplyDeleteBoris is capable of doing it if he recovers his health and also recovers his nerve - now we know the experts have, yet again, be proved wildly wrong in their predictions.
We need a definite timeline for beginning the return to normality. There could be various elements, including the following:
1. Antibody testing for workers in important economic sectors of the economy...anyone found to have already been infected could be released for work away from home. This could maybe start within the next 7 days. This way the full range of shops could be reopened, even if on reduced opening hours. Likewise lots of businesses could restart full activity.
2. Gradually roll out antibody testing to the whole working population - maybe 30 million or so...
3. Introduce a proper system of support for elderly and vulnerable to self-isolate.
4. Reopen schools and other centres of learning.
5. Antibody testing for elderly and vulnerable as many of them will have been exposed as well - so they can be released from self-isolation if they test positive.
6. Allow mass gatherings with staggered increases in crowd nos over several months till we get back to normality.
7. Continue to build emergency hospital capacity, PPE production, ventilator production, testing capability, training of ancillary critical care staff, and warehousing of emergency equipment. Spend billions on this if necessary until we have a truly robust and resilient system in place that can cope with a resurgence or a new virus in the future.
Just came across an interview on Sky News by Adam Boulton of some expert in Sweden, defending their sensible and balanced approach (basically herd immunity) to the Coronavirus. Stockholm looked quite bustly. As the expert pointed out, locking people up at home isn't really a long term solution, the risk to the elderly and vulnerable remains, unless you are going to keep them permanently isolated.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a graph flashed up showing cases were doubling every 3 days under the lockdown. Interestingly though, the graph showed a decline from doubling every two days to three days BEFORE the lockdown was introduced (by a few days)...so that was probably due to voluntary measures and following of government guidance.
Did we really need to crash the whole of our economy? I don't think so.
Now we have to rescue our economy from the wreckage - and quickly, otherwise the whole thing will go up in flames with incalcuable consequences.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/02/swedes-rest-world-engaging-reckless-experiment/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr
ReplyDeleteFraser Nelson article in the Telegraph from yesterday - behind a paywall so I can't see the whole of it, but I like the headline ("To Swedes, it’s the rest of the world engaging in a reckless experiment" - how true!) and I agree entirely with their risk analysis:
"Faced with what many there believe will be a manageable illness, Sweden has decided – for now at least – that lockdown represents a greater risk"
We should be having a wider debate about this but the PC lobby (comprising NHS Cultists, Remainer hopefuls, flock-followers, and Marxist opportunists) has latched on to the Lockdown Cult and the PC media (BBC, Sky and ITV) is doing its bidding in putting out a steady drumbeat of pro-Lockdown propaganda.
Only problem is there is no evidence that Lockdowns (a) work as intended (b) are more effective at curbing Covid-19 than a herd immunity approach or (c) provide overall societal benefits (given that Lockdowns damage primary health care and education, and create disease).
Te UK has sleep-walked into some sort of socialist paradise. The money tree has unlimited funds to offer, the public sector is apparently adored by all for their front line work, the NHS has become a deity, government is issuing decrees on all matter of subjects, we are told to trust them.
DeleteI saw the 8.00 o'clock clap last night, realising that on the BBC's coverage all the featured groups were themselves paid by the public purse. In the main, they were celebrating themselves, their 'community' which is in effect is a form of socialism We are treated by the BBC to 24/7 coverage of how the public are showing support for the angels and heroes of the public service, the quality of broadcast TV and website has never been poorer. And yet, we must all applaud.
What attention is being paid to the plight of the SMEs of the UK? They are seeing years of patient business building being thrown away - withering on the vine. Government initiatives to compensate them are paternalistic and IMO are intended via the banks to weaken the asset base of the small companies in the way RBS have in the past. These small businesses won't be able to reestablish themselves. As for the high street, this must be the final nail in the coffin for the familiar brands.
I agree with you MB, the cure is worse than the disease. I can't believe that a Conservative government can have played into the hands of the metro-lib-left - and now there are hints that the Brexit process might have to be stalled.
Yes, the plight of SMEs is being completely ignored. Up and down the land the future of hundreds of thousands of businesses is in the balance. Another week, another month and we will see a huge number of failures.
DeleteI should of course have included in the PC Lobby who are backing the Lockdown (and even want to see it extended) the Climate Change Nutjobs who see this as a dry run for the introduction of a non-capitalist, low productivity economy which by definition will be a low carbon affair.
1pm news - Nightingale Hospital - Nice bit of negative spin from Jane Hill: "The hospital was built in just under a fortnight." Or, as an unbiased broadcaster might put it, 'nine days, or just over a week.'
ReplyDeleteThey just can’t help themselves.
Delete“I just wonder whether you think ..no hang on..keep faith with this government... there is no alternative to this government at this moment ...I’m not saying that’s what I think.”
Jeremy Vine today at 12:23 clearly saying what he thinks and probably echoing the thoughts of most at the BBC who wish for a Labour government. He was asking listeners to call in about Matt Hancock’s call for 100,000 tests a day.
But as asked on World at One , "is it really a hospital??"
ReplyDeleteBBC says on its website it's a "field hospital" -that sounds suitably desperate, doesn't it? - as far as the BBC are concerned...It doesn't look like a field hospital to me. It looks like an emergency hospital.
DeleteYes! Ones erected by the French Army are considerably smaller and in tents.
DeleteV.Derbyshire set the tone for this one on (I think) Monday: the hospital was 'makeshift' = "temporary and of low quality." (Cambridge English Dictionary).
Unknown - I think they lifted that from the Guardian.
DeleteWHO is urging Europe and the USA to continue with their lockdowns, even though the figures show that they are ineffective. WHO Is controlled by China. We have to see their recommendations as primarily political now, not health related.
ReplyDeleteSweden - sensible measures, no mass lockdown - 33 deaths per million.
South Korea - sensible measures, no mass lockdown -
3 deaths per million.
Russia - only just moved to a lockdown - 0.2 deaths per million.
Sorry meant to put in France which brought in an early and severe lockdown : 100 deaths per milliion!
DeleteFair play to Sky News for reporting from Sweden in a balanced way.
ReplyDeleteWas around 8.33 pm...
Swedish expert criticises Neil Ferguson of Imperial College as grossly pessimistic with his 250,000 deaths prediction - completely groundless. It was that Imperial College report which panicked Boris into a total lockdown. Swedish expert interviewed
states Imperial College recommendations based on unrealistic extended lockdown and quarantine for 18 months...will create huge economic and societal damage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Auq9mYxFEE
HIGNFY - Congratulations to Hislop, Merton & Co for managing to make the programme even less entertaining, yet more squirm-inducing, than usual - we hit the 'Off' button at 8.10pm.
ReplyDeleteI hit the off button in 2014
DeleteI must have hit the off button at 8.00 pm, metaphorically speaking...
Delete4.35 million viewing figures? Hardly That Was the Week That Was, Monty Python, Spitting Image or even Not the Nine O'Clock News.
How is Hislop's impersonation of a satirist going these days? Last time I looked it was piss-poor and his jowls were so wobbly he reminded me of a blancmange someone had tried to use to put out a cigarette. The great Peter Cook, a true satirist, must be spinning in his grave.
So what did they get up to Sis? The usual Boris-bashing with a bit of Matt-spanking thrown in?
MB Lol! Hislop seems to have been aware of the jowl-wobble problem & filmed himself from a high angle to disguise it. Merton seems to be afflicted with JWobble too - perhaps it's what happens to BBC employees who are paid a great deal for doing damn all - rather in the manner of John Simpson.
DeleteThey spent most of the time tittering at each other's feeble jokes, aimed mainly at Boris. Hislop attempted to stir up popular resentment of the fact that Boris & Hancock had 'managed' to be tested for C19, when others had not. I suspect most people would rather feel that those working 20-hour days to fight the virus were being kept as fit as possible.
These Face Time or Skype contributions are proving to be a great leveller. Remote working plays havoc with comedic timing whether by 'satellite delay' or by being unable to catch the eye of the canned laughter man. If the corona virus kills off programmes such as The One Show or HIGNFY, then some good might come from it after all.
DeleteJohn Simpson is the Jowl-Wobble of them all since Edward Heath parted this world.
DeleteYes, I think most people not blinded by hatred of the "effing Tories" will accept it's sensible to monitor closely the health of leading ministers in Government. Hancock has recovered well, indeed seems more on the ball than before while Boris (with Prince Charles) continues to look like he should be in bed with a duvet over his head.
Makes me wonder - how long can Boris continue operating as PM if he is so unwell? I think if it goes on another week, he'll have to step aside temporarily.
Yes, Arthur: we shall be on our doorsteps applauding The Grim Reaper if he inadvertently removes HIGNFY and The One Show from our screens.
DeleteArthur - Agreed, on both progs!
DeleteWhy do BBC news often follow what the government has to say with Jimmy Krankie saying much the same thing? I thought it was the government of the United Kingdom. What’s their game?
ReplyDeleteI think the game is to break up the UK, so that NI & Scotland can go off & rejoin the EU.
DeleteSometimes I think the BBC doesn't know what it wants. It would like Scotland to split and rejoin the EU, and Northern Ireland to reunite with the South, preferably without another civil war. But on the other hand, it doesn't want a permanent Conservative majority in England or England and Wales. That's one of the oddities of our situation: England or even England and Wales is probably the most Conservative country in Europe, despite our media, business, charity sector and academia being I would say the most left wing.
DeleteI think Google must be manipulating Lockdown inquiry searches. I know there are sceptics out there - I saw the ones from Sweden speaking on Sky News this evening. But it's really difficult to find a search inquiry that will bring up items sceptical about Lockdowns, even if you build in a heavy sceptical element into your inquiry...you just get a load of out of date references from February and mid March.
ReplyDeleteIt's similar to the sorts of things they do if you try and research Climate Change, Tommy Robinson or other "sensitive" subjects.
I said before the PC lobby are fully invested in the Lockdown Cult so I shouldn't be surprised, I guess - Google being totally PC and quite prepared to mess with the record.
Interesting Triggernometry discussion with Carl Benjamin:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqNE41S3vs0
Good debate...
The three seem fairly satisfied that the Coronavirus crisis is putting PC ideology into retreat.
Hmmm...I'm not so sure.
The current crisis, certainly in the UK, is making us more dependent on and more subject to the diktats of the state. There is also a natural tendency towards altruistic behaviour when we see others in need in this sort of common crisis. It seems to me that people are being attracted towards a collectivist mentality.
The Climate Change extremists will use the Lockdown as a reference point for creating a post-capitalist society.
The Remainer Rump will try and use the crisis to engineer a postponement of our real exit from the EU.
The fact the Government are spending hundreds of billions of pounds in this crisis is a powerful argument against the "no money tree" defence of responsible Government spending.
Very interesting observation by Peter Hitchens:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cryhDORfCMw
He's sceptical about the "trace and treat" mythology for why places like Hong Kong and S Korea are doing so well. He has heard it suggested that the Sars pandemic which affected them so badly provides a cross-immunity for Covid-19. This could make sense.
We have a disease that is highly infectious and which can present asymptomatically - no health service however well placed can counter that given that one person can infect 50,000 it is said.
But if Sars conferred some degree of immunity then that makes a lot more sense.
As I understand it S Korea had MERS as well, even though MERS was primarily a Middle East outbreak. So that would be in addition to SARS? Don't know about Hong Kong ref MERS.
DeleteNeil Ferguson on Today – telling us what the government will do. Not could, or should, or ought to do. No, it sounds as though, in his mind at least, he is telling our government what to do and they will do it. Very little challenge in the interview.
ReplyDeleteOn a separate matter, can anyone explain why it is wrong to use one’s car at the moment? Do cars spread the disease? I’ve seen two people, driving alone in their cars, wearing masks. My first thought was that, if they’ve had a dodgy curry, why not just wind down their windows?
I wish I'd kept count of the number of times I've heard rival experts treat Ferguson's predictions with utter contempt.
DeleteMade me wonder whether you could die from vomiting into a face mask...I think the answer is probably yes (especially with the fancier, super-duper masks), as it is a well known risk factor with diving masks.
Neil Ferguson is an expert and the BBC repeatedly tell us to listen to the experts because they are always right.
DeleteWe must also listen to BBC reporters and presenters who are not experts but their opinions are also always right.
The reason behind the "car ban" is pure nanny state, just in case we have an accident and burden our NHS superheros even further...
DeleteThere is also advice to avoid DIY, gardening, drinking heavily,stairs, sitting down too long,standing up too long, spending too much time in bed...
Here and there are shafts of light piercing the self-imposed gloom of the Lockdown Cultists.
ReplyDeleteIn the Mail today:
"PM's virus adviser warns Britain might still need to adopt herd immunity in its fight against coronavirus as lockdown measures have 'painted the country into a corner' - after UK death toll soars past China's to 3,605 with more than 38,000 cases"
Prof Graham Medley, the government's chief pandemic modeller, says we've painted ourselves into a corner with no opbvious exit strategy. The lockdown is doing huge damage to our economy and our mental health. He warned the current restrictions would not steer the country out of the pandemi.
At last some true science with a nice topping of common sense. As the good Professor says, we need to bring back the herd immunity policy (just give it a more cuddly name this time!).
If we follow Mad Fool Ferguson we shall swiftly enter a new Dark Age.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8186507/PMs-virus-adviser-warns-Britain-need-adopt-herd-immunity.html
Boris must:
- Stop the Lockdown
- Protect the Elderly and Vulnerable
- Restart the economy
Laura Kuenssberg on Kier Starmer election;
ReplyDeleteRemember too in Dec, many voters we talked to expressed no particular affection for Johnson or the Tories, but they were unimpressed with Labour on Brexit and simply couldn't imagine Corbyn on the steps of Downing Street
Hmm..’many voters’ showed enough affection to give him a resounding victory and stonking majority at the election.
‘Many voters’ and ‘some say‘ Laura is suggesting Boris only won because Corbyn was so bad.
Charlie - re: Starmer. Guido has a new AI bot for comments that is letting all sorts of previously banned w0rd5 get through. Cheer yourself up, have a good laugh and read the BTL comments.
ReplyDeletehttps://order-order.com/2020/04/04/watch-starmers-victory-speech/#comments
Thank you John, just had a look 👍🏼
DeleteHave you been starmered? "To starmer: to suck the life out of a room, with weakly wan sermonising of no merit or practical import."
DeleteI was genuinely surprised that he won. I had expected RLB to win, even though she's not exactly an electrifying presence herself.
I had forgotten how ploddingly bovine the Labour membership is. They aren't Blairites but they just voted in a Blairite as Leader because that was the way the herd was moving! lol Oh well, there will be trouble up the mill for sure.
There was probably a bit of lookism involved as well as RLB looks a bit weird with her facial features being too small. Even Marxists can be swayed by looks...as opposed to a correct dialectical analysis of historical trends. :)
Tweets Andrew Neil today;
ReplyDeleteMan stabs 2 people to death, injures seven others outside a bakery in France. Some say he shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before knifing at least nine people queuing to go into the bakery in Romans-sur-Isère, southern France. Sudanese national in his thirties arrested at the scene.
I don’t see this being reported by the BBC unless it is hidden deep in the bowels if the website. I suppose that like the 7 year old girl stabbed in Bolton recently there will be omertà type silence again.
Strangely enough, they have covered it on the News site. The BBC tells us that, "The motive for the attack remains unclear" - this despite the fact that several witnesses have stated that the attacker shouted, 'Allahu akbar.'
DeleteThe BBC goes on to quote the Prosecutor's Office as saying that, during a search of the suspect's home, "handwritten documents with a religious connotation were found." This quotation is incomplete: the rest of the sentence said, "in which the author complains notably of living in a country of unbelievers." Now, why would the BBC have omitted that? ( My source is 'Le Monde,' France's most respected quality daily paper.)
It's a knife attack apparently, according to the BBC headline...not a terror attack. A lot of the headline is taken up with the full name of the town - Romans-sur-Isère - which 99.9% of Brits will never have heard of, so why bother?
DeleteIt's offensive they still leave this sentence in: "The motive for the attack remains unclear"
+++PLAGUE WATCH+++
ReplyDelete1. Crows are always fascinating to watch...among the most intelligent of birds. They looked rather peevish this week in my part of London. Discarded takeaway pickings must be down 100%. There was I thought a definite look of resentment in their eyes...they know it's us humans who supplied the food in those boxes but can't fathom why we've suddenly stopped.They want to know where we're hiding them.
2. Mixed messages again from our pretty useless Government. We are being told to Stay At Home...no exceptions. Just "Stay at Home". But the rules and regulations say you can leave your house to exercise. And obviously dog owners could be accused of mistreatment and cruelty if they don't exercise their dogs. 26% of the UK population own a dog.
What is the message?
3. BBC are hiding how Democrats in the USA were encouraging people to congregate in Chinatowns across the USA after the Coronavirus outbreak first became known. Diversity clearly top priority over public health. This is Super-Spreader Pelosi at work in San Francisco:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFCzoXhNM6c
"Come to Chinatown! Come join us!!"
For what it's worth, I saw this yesterday. Unfortunately it's all too believable but it doesn't help us much now.
ReplyDeletehttps://legalinsurrection.com/2020/04/wuhan-cover-up-evidence-suggests-real-death-toll-16-times-the-official-number-reported-by-china/
Sweden, the one country in Europe defying the Lockdown Cult and refusing to destroy their whole economy has seen their daily death toll fall over the last three days from 69,to 50 to 15 (the equivalent of about 75 in terms of UK population, pro rata). Remember how the hysterical Lockdown Cultists were suggesting a few days ago that Sweden was on the brink of an unprecedented medical disaster because of its obdurate refusal to join in the dangerous full Lockdown experiment.
ReplyDeleteLänga svenskarna!
A few things the BBC are enjoying a little too much at the moment;
ReplyDeleteKier Starmer
The contentious issue of herd immunity (their description)
The continuing idolisation of the NHS
Hammering Trumps handling of the crisis
The police crackdown
Thursday clapping
Ignoring the economic fallout
Their renewed power
Gunning for Boris and the government
Home broadcasting
Field Hospitals
Lack of testing and PPE
Ventilator shortages
Starmer - Yes, Charlie, they see him as the man who will, one day, take us back into the EU. I agree with your other points, too.
DeleteYes, the BBC seem certain they have ridden out the post election storm over political bias and the licence fee. They have exploited the situation by reversing their earlier decision to get rid of 450? Newsroom positions. I suspect they will take their reprieve as a nod to increase their PC ideological output.
Delete- Keir Starmer...The man of a thousand grubby compromises becomes the heroic man of principle.
Delete- The contentious issue of herd immunity...no mention of Sweden's reduction in daily deaths from 69 to 15 over last 3 days...that wasn't supposed to happen!
- The continuing idolisation of the NHS...while claiming to be dedicated to impartial journlism and scientific rigour the BBC are dedicated cultists: they love the Lockdown Cult, the XR Greta Cult, the Race-Think Cult, the PC Cult, the Diversity Cult and the Depatriarchalisation Cult. The NHS Cult is one of their favourites.
- Hammering Trump's handling of the crisis... even though the US death toll per million is less than the UK's, than France's, than Netherlands, than Belgium's, than Italy's and than Spain's.
- The police crackdown...If only (they think) we could crack down like that on everyone who doesn't agree 100% with our PC ideology.
- Thursday clapping...It might be the two minute love-in at the moment but wait till the BBC organises a two minute hate.
- Ignoring the economic fallout...the current crisis proves, as the BBC thought all along, tht money does grow on trees or at least on licence fees.
- Their renewed power...Yes, we the BBC are again the nation's darling - a kind of transgendered Vera Lynn with Police back-up.
- Gunning for Boris and the government...Yes, but carefully calibrated to maximise divisions within the Government. How many times has Michael Gove met Lord Hall for lunch one wonders.
- Home broadcasting...a chance to show off our Islington interiors, just to make it absolutely clear we have nothing in common with the repulsive hoi polloi.
- Field Hospitals...while making little or no inquiry into what is the real state of play in terms of patient numbers in critical care.
- Lack of testing and PPE...GPs are self-managing and you would think they must have some sort of responsibility themselves to ensure safe working for partners and employees on their premises but no - it seems not, according to the BBC.
- Ventilator shortages...it's almost as if they are enjoying them, indeed, and will be a little put out when no one dies for lack of a ventilator!
Interestingly the ventilators aren’t much help according to those who use them, up to 80% on them die - some from complications made worse by the ventilator
Deletehttps://www.spectator.co.uk/article/Ventilators-aren-t-a-panacea-for-a-pandemic-like-coronavirus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/03/coronavirus-survivors-recovery/
Yesterday was a quiet day spent making coffees for Mrs C and the lad whilst they painted my office. It was Mrs C’s choice to do the painting – apparently she finds it therapeutic (although the odd expletives I overheard suggested otherwise). After all the recent home cooking (by me) I felt that they deserved a decent tea so I rang round all the Chinese takeaways within a 4 mile radius. They were all closed and had similar recorded messages, citing the C-outbreak. One blamed a shortage of ingredients. Another, who sounded very Zen, said that they would reopen “When the time is right”. So I drove up to Denby Dale to an Indian takeaway. They were doing a roaring trade, with six little Toyotas providing a home-delivery service. I ordered, and waited outside, and noted that 5 of the 6 drivers were wearing face masks, and only one of the six wore a seatbelt when they zoomed off with their deliveries. After tea, with nothing on ‘normal’ telly, I remembered hearing an advert / promotion on Today for the National Theatre’s One Man Two Guvnors on YouTube. We’d never watched YouTube on the telly before, but the search function was straight forward, there were no adverts, and the filming was as good as you’d want. Thank you to Today for guiding me further away from the Beeb. And Sue, if you are looking for something different, try - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzqcRwWVv8k
ReplyDeleteLol at Tom Slater of Spiked:
ReplyDelete'Keir Starmer’s unbearable nothingness'
And that's only the headline.
'Listening to his victory speech was like slowly drowning in blancmange.'
Tom is not impressed!
On the BBC News website I saw an article:
ReplyDelete'Coronavirus: Sophie Raworth's deserted London'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-52155029
Scrolling down, I came across a photo of King's Cross Station which must be over ten years old. It shows the distinctive double arch façade with the 1970s single storey extension before it was removed. There have been two major projects since then - the façade itself, and the public open space in front of the terminus.
Sloppiness by the BBC? To make it worse the photo is credited to Sophie.Did she actually take the photo, or was there some incompetent photo editor involved?
Errr... the picture on the BBC page looks remarkably similar to Google Streetview images from this year and last:
Deletehttps://www.google.com/maps/@51.530132,-0.123906,3a,75y,22.16h,89.21t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEuB-e0Yq89KG_O-tkewHMg!2e0!5s20180501T000000!7i16384!8i8192
The 1970s frontage can be seen in this image from 2008:
Deletehttps://www.google.com/maps/@51.5301156,-0.1239267,3a,75y,22.16h,89.21t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sm-2cKr_STrNtPt5U_QPPKg!2e0!5s20080801T000000!7i13312!8i6656
Yes, sorry - my mistake. I'm overeager to find fault with the BBC. It's the isolation!
DeleteEasily and understandably done!
DeleteA hundred lines for naughty Arthur: 'I must not find fault...'
DeleteMind you, one black ill-defined monstrosity obscuring the view of the magnificent façade looks much like another.
Delete+++PLAGUE WATCH+++
ReplyDeletePlenty of evidence that more and more people are becoming increasingly sceptical about the Lockdown Cult. Various stories in the newspapers today supporting that trend. People are showing increased interest in what's happening in Sweden. Matthew Syed trying to head that off by saying no one can know the future. True, but you can examine the evidence. The evidence is plain: there is absolutely no correlation between total lockdowns and suppression of the disease (in fact if anything, it's a negative correlation).
We are told that Rishi Sunak is locked in battle with Hancock and wants a definite path out of the lockdown in order to save us from an economic disaster of unparalleled proportions (for once the "unparalleled" has a justified use). Already forecasts are talking about a 7% drop in GDP. It could be a lot worse once all the effects play through. I wouldn't be surprised if we're looking at a 20-30% reduction overall. You might think for instance that Boots are doing well at the moment but I was in a branch the other day and it was near-deserted with all the aisles with beauty products blocked off. Their custom must have dropped 90%. Just think about how the shrinkage in retail activity will play through. You might think there will be a like for like replacement with online purchases but I doubt it. The evidence I am hearing is that online delivery systems are finding it difficult to cope. People wait a long time for deliveries and that discourages further orders.
With shops shut, there is no point in companies using local newspapers and magazines to advertise their wares - that must be a big blow to such publications. People don't buy flowers so much, and so the flower supply chain suffers as well. Millions of chain effects that amount to a huge recession, which in turn means a huge reduction in government revenue and a huge rise in the welfare budget.
It could take 20 years to recover from this self-inflicted harm to our economy. We need to stop this crazy slow suicide now. Cut the rope that's strnagling us and let us breathe again.
But what is Moronic Matt Hancock proposing? Denying us even our daily exercise. The guy is a total liability. He needs to be sacked.
I am not sure we can limp on like this for much longer. Boris is clearly quite seriously unwell. IS he really doing the job of PM at the moment and should he (for his own personal well being)? I don't think anyone would begrudge him taking time off till his child is born. It's only another 2 or 3 months I think...
Someone needs to lead us back to sanity. Who? Who will step up and make clear that we have the emergency hospital capacity in place and can now return to a sensible "protect the elderly" policy while letting the economy restart as best it can (it will still be in a parlous state of course).
They are all cynical enough to execute a complete about-turn. But who has the courage and panache to do it well?
Rishi , maybe.
Delete‘Cometh the hour, cometh the man.’
I wouldn't say no. He seems to have a firmer grasp than Raab - and Gove I just don't trust...I wouldn't put it past him to derail Brexit.
DeleteNo, the evidence is not plain that lockdowns don't work. See this evidence from Israel seen in www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
DeleteCommunity stamps out coronavirus. The 6,000-member religious Jewish community of Kiryat Yearim (Telz-Stone) was hit hard with coronavirus when an infected resident returned from France. Saving life is paramount, so the community enforced complete isolation on 2,000 residents. There are no recent cases.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-kiryat-yearim-successfully-kicks-coronavirus-out-1001324115
Anonymous - Clearly I was referencing national lockdowns...a far more complex affair than a village or a small religious community opting to self-isolate.
DeleteBut, an exclusive religious community isolating itself is, in principle, no different from an elderly person isolating themselves. In other words, there is no need for a national lockdown...the elderly and the vulnerable can self-isolate without any need for the whole economy to be wrecked.
I don't believe "saving life" is paramount if you mean saving the lives of people who are very likely to die very soon in any case. It cannot be right to curtail children's education, put a block on ordinary family life, destroy millions of business, take away people's livelihoods and risk many more deaths further down the line, just to signal virtue in "saving life" now. 17,000 people die of flu in the UK every year and we don't shut down the economy to try and stop that.
The only reason we've had national lockdowns is to save governments from having to admit they have totally inadequate arrangements in place for dealing with pandemic emergencies. It's never been about "saving lives". Until there is a vaccine, no one in Kiryat Yearim is safe from the virus. They might have to self isolate for a year or 18 months.
Beff reveals her bias with this on twitter ;
ReplyDeleteStarmer’s 1st interview as Labour leader.
- Tone statesmanlike & speaks to mood of country. ‘Parties have to pull together’
- Projecting new focus & authority, after the vacuum created by a 4-month leadership race
- Has a ‘mountain to climb’ but this assured first outing
It didn’t take long and I would guess most in the MSM are going to join in with this type of positive PR now they have a Blairite they can swoon over. Rest assured, we will hear it loud and clear from the BBC crowd.
"What you doin' Beff?" "I'm talkin' up Keef... even though he's about as excitin' as a box of past-their-use-by dried lentils."
DeleteThere's hearing & then there's LISTENING. - NOPE, not a chance! ;)
DeleteThat didn’t take long. Here is Peston adding his tuppence. He has won the prize by a country mile for the biggest ego and the most irritating git of the crisis.
DeleteTweets Peston;
Dodds vs Sunak, Nandy vs Raab, Reeves vs Gove, Thomas-Symonds vs Patel. Decent contests all. And Ashworth has been impressive in health at this critical time, most would say.
Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed is on Snobbery: 'Snobbery is defined as the behaviour or attitude of people who think they are better than others. Laurie Taylor explores the social history, meaning and changing nature of this sense of superiority.'
ReplyDeleteHm...I wonder if he will cover the superior sense of the Remainer / moral custodian and preacher BBC.
Here's a list of people who think they are better than others:
Delete1. All Labour Party Members
2. Hope Not Hate who think they are hopers not haters even though they do a lot of hating to gives us hope.
3. All Charity CEOs on £150k plus per annum
4. All Today presenters.
5. Emma Barnett
6. John Sweeney
7. The idiot Nihal
8. Rachel Shabi
9. Greta Thunberg
10. All Lib Dem members.
Emma Barnett... please place a health warning at the start of your posts if you are going to mention that name. I've not seen, heard or thought about that woman for several weeks and now my recovery has taken a huge setback...
DeleteSymptoms of Barnettovirus: high temperature as you listen to her relentless virtue signalling, raised blood pressure as she interrupts a Conservative Minister for the tenth time in a minute and persistent coughing with disbelief at the idiocy of her claims and suggestions. If you have any of these symptoms you should self-isolate by turning off Radio 5 Live, not watching Newsnight and not reading the Sunday Times.
DeleteKeir Starmer pledges to tear out (sic) the poison of anti-semitism from the Labour Party. I am not sure that appointing the Chair of Friends of Palestine as Shadow Foreign Secretary is necessarily a good start...she must have shaken plenty of hands that are only too alive with the virus. Let's hope she hasn't caught it.
ReplyDeleteWell I was wrong about Keir Starmer being elected Labour Party leader so I take the opportunity to say I was right about Boris being much more ill with CV than was being admitted and that we might have to seriously consider him standing down temporarily.
ReplyDeleteHe's just been admitted to hospital "for tests" apparently.
Hats off, you were spot on. And you noticed it a few days ago before it was even a news item....Or your wife did ; )
DeleteBeff reporting from outside No 10. Apparently Boris has been taken to somewhere called
DeleteHospy-Toe. I'm not sure where that is.
Some facts for a change. This is from ONS's weekly mortality report:
ReplyDelete"The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 20 March 2020 (week 12) was 10,645; this represents a decrease of 374 deaths registered compared with the previous week (week 11).
The average number of deaths for the corresponding week over the previous five years was 10,573; this means that the overall number of deaths in week 12 of 2020 was slightly higher than previous years.
Of the deaths registered in week 12, 103 mentioned novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which is 1.0% of all deaths."
Here's the link:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending20march2020
So deaths are only slightly higher than in previous years and Covid-19 is being attributed to only 1% of deaths. Of course, because this is a novel virus, we can expect that to rise.
But we are not in some kind of end-of-days scenario which some of the scarier news reports with low throbbing synth notes like to suggest!
So the question might fairly be put: why are we driving our economy off a cliff edge?
Have the Swedes got it right? I think they have.
Thank you for these figures MB. However yoo shouldn't need to do this work; this is exactly the sort of ferreting out of information that our journalists, particularly those in the BBC as we pay their salaries, ought to be doing. There are some positive signs emerging as, for example, the Daily Telegraph is exhibiting a healthy scepticism in some of its articles. In Scotland the chief medical officer has clearly demonstrated what she really believes by her weekend jaunts to her holiday home, although Sturgeon, who clearly has despotic tendencies, seems to be threatening even tighter application of this cruel lockdown!
ReplyDeleteIt's not exactly ferreting is it - to google the ONS site!lol
DeleteThis is the problem with the PC style of reporting which is now deeply embedded in our media community. They know there are thousands of "no go" areas for reporting and they carefully tread around them.
Once a few of the fake-sages of the Left-liberal elite had signalled that it was virtuous to support a Lockdown (note it was the arch-globalist Macron who on the international stage pressed hard for early adoption) then the media nearly all fell in line.
However, it is clear that there is some resistance on this occasion. Peter Hitchens, Janet Daley, and Matthew Parris for instance are all striking sceptical notes. There have been a number of reports on Sweden's approach, which is bound to raise questions. There must be at some level pressure from business to get back to normal.
I agree this is a cruel lockdown - the effects on children and the young are terrible: sub-standard education, no socialising with friends, lovers torn apart, weddings cancelled or postponed...
Lazy comparisons with WW2 won't do (sorry Ma'am)...if this was WW2 the nearest parallel would be that were in a situation where our own Government had ordered the RAF up in the air to bomb the whole of London because it was known to contain some German spies.
It's time to set out anew the tenets of BBC News reporting:
Delete1. No amount of money no matter how great is sufficient for the NHS. A Conservative government will always be blamed for any shortcomings in the NHS's performance - regardless of poor management or administration. Any shortage of PPE or ventilators, however temporary, will be the government's not the NHS's fault. The NHS only employs angels and heroes - there are no shirkers or skivers amongst their millions. All must be seen to applaud at eight, in North Korean style, paying homage to the NHS. Failure to do so will be 'noted'.
2. Self isolation does not apply to BBC reporters such as Mark Easton or Dan Johnson. They are front liners helping us to isolate by casting aspersions upon anyone outside except themselves.
3. Instead of rigorous investigation (as above in MB's piece), the BBC airwaves must be full of heart-warming Skype messages from like-thinking folk.
4. No new BBC programmes can be made due to the lockdown. Repeats of Blue Planet, Outnumbered or other similar feel-good programmes (as the BBC would see it) will suffice. Any thought-provoking output should be avoided.
5. ...
It's worth looking at this BBC News website piece:
Deletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-52175851
'Coronavirus, People making a difference'
Entries include:
'Teachers create playground rainbows'
'Fundraising to feed frontline NHS staff'
'Make a difference: Helping a homeless man find shelter'
There is never a word about the destruction of the SMEs. It's ALL about the public sector.
Good post Arthur.
DeletePanem et circenses. Bread and circuses. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about and that’s the real purpose of the BBC and many of their programmes aimed at the home audience.
The careful manipulation of political debate, the establishment propaganda, cultural Marxism, the cult of NHS worship. It is there to placate the masses.
Arthur, this clapping for the NHS reminds me of, years ago, watching a film of a Chinese Communist Party general assembly. When the dear leader (Mao or Deng Xiaoping) took to the podium the delegates started applauding and the clapping went on for what seemed about 20 minutes. Presumably the delegates were literally frightened for their lives in case they should be seen to be the first one to stop!
DeleteThe thing about all such tributes, where the participants are coerced to take part, is that they aren't really tributes at all.
Panem et circenses. Bread and circuses.... Charlie, how about a modern equivalent: pizza and Netflix?
Delete***HEALTH WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS REFERENCE TO EMMA BARNETT***
ReplyDeleteSo, there was a quasi-religious miraculous occurrence this morning on Radio 5 Live...the Great Dimbo descended from the clouds of cushioned comfort to speak unto the nation (and Emma Barnett).
He brought healing words of much comfort for our people...condescendingly, he had decided that, on balance, the Queen's address deserved some grudging praise, though one was left with the suspicion that HM the King Dimbo could have done much better. Still, he said even the lifelong republican in his household (who's that? is it an old retainer? his nanny?) was moved to tears by it.
He further averred that we all needed to obey the rules and that nobody can tell what will happen in the future...ah yes, wise words.
But I think the main reason he had deigned to make this rare descent among the hoi polloi from his olympian vantage point was the need to take a snidey pop at Boris, whom he clearly hates. Something about how Boris had revelled in "Brexit and all that" which had given him power, and what a blow it must be now to see that power slip away from him. No doubt said with that slight smirk on his lips that we know so well from Question Time.
Those Remainers are World Record Grudge-Bearers aren't they!
Midday News: French radio (RTL) is reporting that Boris has been given oxygen - no mention on BBC News.
ReplyDelete“At the end of this there is going to be a hell of an enquiry, isn’t there“ - Jeremy Vine.
ReplyDeleteHe prefaced that comment by stating that there two key issues; not enough ventilators and not enough testing.
Those are the key questions in the minds of the liberal-left as personified by Vine and the BBC.
Not the lockdown, not the strategy, not civil liberties, not the economy, not the NHS. That’s not up for debate.
An enquiry into the usefulness of the BBC during this crisis would be more appropriate.
DeleteBoris on oxygen...
ReplyDeleteSo is the Government's Lockdown policy. It's only the artificial injection of media puff, in defiance of the facts, that's keeping it alive.
Sweden's deaths per million still 36% LOWER than the UK's and 82% LOWER than Italy's, despite having NO mass lockdown.
Did you know that according to Wikipedia, Emma Barnett is a member of the Women's Equality Party.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the BBC's policy on having members of political parties fronting their flagship, supposedly impartial, news programmes?
I’m sure many are undercover members of The Labour Party and maybe a few Conservatives.
DeleteMaybe sees it as atonement for her dad employing all those women
Delete"all those women" = "modern slaves".
DeleteI’ll add a word if I may Monkey Brains
Delete"all those women" = "modern sex slaves"
I was mindful of the anti-spam software, but it seems you got through!
DeleteThere's no room on the BBC News website for this story from Yorkshire:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18359376.care-home-boss-hospitals-refusing-admit-residents-coronavirus/
'Care home boss: hospitals refusing to admit residents with coronavirus'
Here is an extract:
... 'Rachel Beckett, chair of Wellburn, which has 14 homes across the north-east including several in the York area, claims hospitals are refusing to admit any residents who test positive for the virus and the firm has received calls from local doctors instructing it to be prepared for 'multiple end of life situations.' ' ...
This isn't the NHS that the BBC would have us perceive.
At the daily conference did I really just hear Tom Newton-Dunn ask if the the PM is sick enough to deserve a hospital bed?
ReplyDeleteThe state of MSM! They should all hang their heads in shame.
I think the answer's a definite yes...
DeleteSo sad about Boris. Let's hope he pulls through.
ReplyDeleteThe gods are certainly tormenting us: first making Boris perforce Gloomster-In-Chief - what an irony that was - and now taking away the prize of the Prime Ministership from his hands through this wretched illness.
If it's hubris, it seems a little harsh...
We can only wish him better as we would any other democratic politician in the same circumstances.
Unlike some I don't blame the media for demanding answers on various aspects of the handling of the virus crisis but I do have complete and utter contempt for Jeremy Hunt, sniping from the sidelines, when it was he who failed to prepare properly for the pandemic after the 2016 exercise. It cannot have helped Boris to know that his every step was being dogged by this deceptively well mannered assassin intent on revenge.
MB - Re: Jeremy Hunt, I can't, for the life of me, understand how he can be chairing the select committee, when he is clearly an interested party - "No man shall be a judge in his own cause."
DeleteExcellent point, Sis.
DeleteFrance has been in lockdown now for 20 days, and a very severe form of lockdown it is too. Today they announced a staggeringly high death toll of 833.
ReplyDeleteThere were over 5000 new cases in the latest one day category in France (compare with Sweden, which doesn't have a total lockdown - new cases are 376, equivalent to about 1800 on a pro-rata basis, accounting for the population difference). France had a jump of 23,000 cases in one day just two days back.
We need to start disbelieving the "lockdowns work" myth being propagated so assiduously by the BBC.
And let us never forget that it was the execrable Macron who bounced us into a Lockdown - threatening to blockade Britain and starve us if we didn't.
MB, the basis of your hypothesis may be wrong. Sweden is a very different type of place and has very responsible citizens, it is spelt out in this article https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/sweden-is-adopting-a-flexible-coronavirus-response-and-betting-on-social-obedience/ar-BB12ew9l
DeleteSwedes really do try very hard to do the right thing and so the environment is probably pretty similar in reality. Peer pressure to conform is much higher than in France or here. I do think that without regulation a significantly larger part of the UK population than the Swedish one would not co-operate.
However since the Swedish approach is in effect very similar to ours, just using a different means of compulsion, I think your constant criticism of lockdown is both faulty and potentially dangerous. I do wish you would wait for at least another two weeks to see what happens.
You can't accuse Brits of being irresponsible. We've been docile and conformist, nearly all obeying the rules (apart from hypocritical health officials). I think you're engaging in an ill founded stereotype there. Italians have also been very respectful of the rules in Northern Italy.
DeleteIt is NOT similar in Sweden - that's very misleading of you to say so. Cafes, bars, shops, and offices are open. Gatherings up to 50 people are allowed. They are trying to keep the economy going.
Those are huge differences. Many more people are going into work as normal. There are no bans on sunbathing or mixing with friends.
...and may I add...if you are going to run with stereotypes - how do you explain the unruly Greeks' incredibly LOW figure for deaths per million - about 7 per million. Way lower then Sweden, the UK, Italy, France or Spain.
DeleteI am not really going with stereotypes as such since I know quite a lot of Swedes. Their employers are very responsible in general and H&S is taken very seriously indeed. There are elements of British society , which are also present in Swedish society, which in my experience do indeed live by their own set of rules and do not simply follow government advice.
DeleteI cannot explain Greece other than the rather flippant expectation that they go on skinning holidays in Italy rather less than the more affluent parts of Europe and may still be at a lower point in the curve. How do you explain it?
Sweden is also now the land of hand grenades exploding on street corners in Malmo...so I wouldn't go by a narrow range of experience/
DeleteHow do I explain it? I can't. Greece definitely argues against the air pollution and Chinese tourist hypothesis since Athens is also a centre of very bad air pollution while Greece must attract its fair share of Chinese tourists I would think (though maybe not so much in winter, I would accept).
One thing that would be worth investigating is whether populations that have evolved protection against malaria have some sort of immunity. It's interesting to note that Southern Italy is not being affected to anything like the same extent as Northern Italy. The population of Southern Italy like the population of Greece show signs of evolution re malaria. I was prompted to this thought because several scientists have pointed to therapeutic success re Coronavirus when using anti-malarial drugs. (Why there should be this connection between the two diseases, I have no idea.)
I also note that the Sub-Saharan African population doesn't seem much affected by Covid-19 so far - they too are adapted to malaria, in fact its most virulent forms.
But there are many puzzles around the world. The Chief Scientific Officer noted every country is different. He reference demographics. Indeed but on that basis Japan should be experiencing a worse death toll than Italy, given its extremely aged population. But Japan's death per million figure is 0.7 per million! 0.7!! Compared with 283 for Italy and it's probably more like 400 actually in Northern Italy). The current orthodoxies about spread and vulnerability makes no sense.
But, sadly, you won't hear any honest appraisal of the disease from our CMO, CSO or Government...it's just "paint-a-picture" stuff.
Another thing I would add: this disease is so infectious (they say one person can theoretically affect 50,000 within a matter of days)and there are so many asymptomatic sufferers that I cannot really see how any country - unless it really brought down the shutters and had access to limitless testing could prevent it spreading, assuming their populations are not immune to it in some way.
So there's another puzzle. Why is a country like Japan with its extensive contacts with China so little impacted by the virus? Similarly for South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and even Hong Kong within China.
:::NEWSNIGHT WATCH:::
ReplyDeleteEmily seems to have a very poor grasp of our constitutional framework (in particular the central importance of Cabinet Government) or recent political history (she seemed to be under the misapprehension that Lidington deputised for May at times of ill health). She also can't pronounce anaesthesia. Still, she's not an Airhead, oh no.
She did manage not to look gleeful at the recent turn of events, which was something I suppose.
More facts...Interesting video. You can pause at 02:37:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaIzj3s3p4A
Official report on Covid-19 critical care patients up to 26 March. We have 285 critical care units.
Of these 178 had admitted at least one Covid-19 patient. About 25% of units had no Covid-19 patients at all. (There was a report on Salisbury hospital on Newsnight tonight, which was pretty much saying nothing much was happening, except a lot of sensible prepping).
A total of 846 admissions. So an average of 4.75 critical care patients per unit up to 26 March. Looks like a little under a quarter of the patients had either died or been released on recovery, so that figure of 4.75 is probably more like 3.75 for current patients.
It would help if the media actually made reference to these official figures but they prefer to create a doom-laden mood in line with the desired narrative: ICUs overloaded, doctors deciding who gets treated etc etc.
Similarly with deaths of NHS workers - immediately attributed to Covid-19.
The NHS employs 1.2 million people or about 2% of the population. If 10% of 600,000 deaths are to people aged under 60 that would be 60,000 and of those perhaps about 1200 would be NHS workers. Divide by 12 and that would mean 100 deaths per month of NHS workers aged under 60. What percentage of the 100 might be "unexpected" or "sudden" and involve pneumonia or similar? I don't know but it seems likely there will be tragic "unexpected" deaths of NHS workers in normal times and they could well involved respiratory failure.
The latest report into patients admitted into critical care so far from the intensive care national audit and research centre (IANARC), showed 2,621 admissions up to 3 April, most of whom are still there. The mean age was 60 and 73% of them were men. More than 35% of them were overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) between 25 and 30, and 37% were obese.
DeleteThe link for the report Charlie refers to can be found here:
Deletehttps://www.icnarc.org/About/Latest-News/2020/04/04/Report-On-2249-Patients-Critically-Ill-With-Covid-19
So 69% remain in Intensive Care.
With 1559 patients in Intensive Care that would be about 7.4 patients per unit.
There were about 5,900 critical care beds before the crisis. That has been increased substantially I believe but currently it means at 3 April we were using about 24% of the previous number of critical care beds for Covid-19 cases.
Nto surprisingly, obesity is a big issue in the UK in terms of the disease, which might explain why the age profile is so much lower here (average age around 60) compared with Italy where it was around 80 last time I checked. Italians generally look a lot slimmer than Brits.
Back in the 1980s Born Again Christians were told to ask "What Would Jesus Do?" when faced with difficult dilemmas.
ReplyDeleteIn these troubled times I have a similar rubric: I ask "What Would John Sweeney Do?" and then hving determined would he would do, I advocate doing the exact opposite.
Here is Sweeney on his Tod's latest:
"April6 UK PM Boris Johnson is in intensive care. To the critics who say let's end lockdown asap: get a grip. This is an awful disease to which there is no cure. If our PM is at death's door, then we are all in trouble."
https://twitter.com/johnsweeneyroar/status/1247245253603663873
Yep, no logical or evidential connections between his assertions there! So let's not follow Sweeney's advice. Rather, let's wind down the Lockdown at top speed and create community immunity as quickly as possible.
There we go I've solved the problem - rebadge "herd immunity" as "community immunity".
Can't wait to hear Beff mangling that one:
Delete"communi'y immuni'y"!
Below are links to two articles from independent news sources. Between them they illustrate the total confusion surrounding Covid-19 statistic gathering and attribution figures.
ReplyDeleteI found them well worth a read as they somewhat contradict each other politically, but both come from left leaning sites.
https://off-guardian.org/2020/04/05/covid19-death-figures-a-substantial-over-estimate/
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/04/us-will-cover-up-its-own-coronavirus-death-toll.html#more
Jon Sopel just lied outright on Today about U.S doctors and their reaction to Chloroquine.
ReplyDeleteHe really is a nasty, nasty little man.
08.40 am GMT.
I'm not surprised to hear that. It's not just misrepresentation with Sopel...he does sometimes spread untruths. Sometimes he uses the unqualified noun to aid his deception e.g. "Doctors have condemned Trump..." could mean all doctors, some doctors or two doctors out of 2 million. Most hearing it will assume it means "all" or "nearly all" doctors - not "Ten Democrat donor doctors" which it probably does.
DeleteRoger Harrabin's latest bonkers article:
ReplyDeleteCoronavirus: Don't bail out airlines, say climate campaigners
Nearly 5 billion people use air travel every year and Harrabin is suggesting they stay grounded. He is using other campaigners to make the case but hiding behind others is an old trick of the BBC.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52190502
British public to Harrabin: F*** off!
DeleteBBC no longer fit for purpose. Close it down now before it does any more damage.
I heard someone recently citing a figure which equated air travel with social media in terms of energy use. All those climate fanatics are enthusiastic users of social media, no?
DeleteI haven't got the source or the figure, if anyone is wondering. It was probably from the radio. Struck me as telling.
+++PLAGUE WATCH+++
ReplyDelete1. This guy Prof Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, is a walking disaster zone. He's the guy who sanctioned the "two symptoms" advertising (fever and persistent cough) which misled millions about whether they had the disease, encouraging them to go into work and infect their colleagues becuase their symptoms didn't fit the advertised ones.
He failed to put in place arrangements to protect himself, the PM or the Health Sec from being infected with Covid-19.
It now emerges he has banned all experimental treatments e.g. chloroquinine, despite good results reported by many clinicians with various approaches around the world. In the UK you are only allowed to treat with paracetamol and oxygen. This is crazy.
Is he now going to kill our PM through a lack of experimental therapy?
He also led us into this Total Lockdown impasse, rather than following a sensible approach as in Sweden.
Clearly in his role as Chief Medical Officer he must have some role in pandemic planning. All the indications are that the planning was woefully inadequate.
He has a lot to answer for.
2. Mr Goshi just told me on Sky News that the Coronavirus "doesn't discriminate" between people. I read elsewhere, in several publications that Black and Asian members of our community are being affected disproportionately (hugely so). I suspect this relates principally to diabetes. Diabetes is vastly over-represented in our Black and Asian populations and is treated at immense cost to the NHS (several billions every year). It's one of those things that wiseacres like Jonathan Portes always seem to forget to include when totting up the sums to ensure a positive result for any cost-benefit analysis of the effects of migration.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52194018
Deletethis just in...
It seems that the Beeb is happy to discuss it,as long as it is "over there", not seen anything relating to racial disparity in the UK.
Also, it seems to hint that socio-economic differences are the cause, rather than genetic differences. Perhaps both contribute.
Yes, I read that. The BBC are treading ever more carefully with their depiction and reporting of POC. This incremental change continues to accelerate. It’s not just the reporting, the BBC picture library also tells the story.
DeleteThey are illustrated disproportionately with POC so long as it is a positive role model story.
Bad news and bad people have much free POC images.
It all supports the ongoing cultural Marxism narrative.
Free=fewer.
DeleteRather like John Simpson, Jeremy Vine embodies the BBC. Just listen to his show, the topics, his comments and interventions and you see the BBC metro-liberal groupthink laid bare.
ReplyDeleteThe hot topics of the day are just there to support the overriding BBC narrative. It’s groundhog day, 300 times a year at 12 noon.
At the moment the daily topics are mostly about coronavirus. Today is no different, they are just a smokescreen to continue the propaganda on the BBC narratives.
Trump bashing - he is an idiot and messed up on coronavirus
Tory bashing- the government messed up on coronavirus
Boris bashing- we wish him well but he messed up on coronavirus
Every topic has the pretence of balance but you are never in any doubt about the target under attack and left-liberal values always provide the answer or solution.
yes - and (i think) 90% of the population does not subscribe to these lib-left values.
DeleteThe problem is that only c.50% of them are prepared to say so.
BBC narrative re-enforces that notion that it is "wrong to be on the right" and keeps non-lefties on the political closet.
So i think it is a real problem.
on the closet = in the closet!!
DeleteVine is also constantly on the look-out for something new to 'ban' using the 'we are just asking' technique beloved of the BBC's wesite.
DeleteYes, the 'just asking' technique of throwing something contentious out there in the third party is a favourite party trick. He then invites debate from listeners having primed them with two opposing views from the usual roster of guests.
DeleteHe knows all to well that he is deliberately creating the conditions for argument and conflict which he believes makes for better entertainment.
He's a metro-liberal baiter who is poking a stick to cause pain and discomfort. The format exploits and stokes social and political division. It's a million miles away from the Jimmy Young type of political discourse from whom he took over.
Notorious right wing YouTuber Tim Pool condemns Trump
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJP4EzXYVwE
Suddenly every rich Tom Dick and Minnie seems to be giving money for the NHS or the poor or something. Sometimes it's a large sum like a million - that's a lot but maybe the donor is worth a few hundred million. Which makes you think. Hm...how generous.
ReplyDeleteI see The Sun has launched an appeal, donating 50k itself, for NHS staff. I'm not sure what it is for exactly. It seems rather vague. But raising money seems to be the thing, at least in the media.
The Sun reports that the BBC is also at it - when is it not? - for something to do with the virus. What exactly? It was announced by the usual suspect, Lenny Henry, that those two BBC mega takers of money, Children in Need and Comic Relief are joining forces and the comic relief is for a comic called Peter Kay who will have a Big Night In to restart his career. A good time will be had by Henry and Kay while the good and kind watchers will dig out the pennies from their diminishing hoard. I don't suppose they will be the billionaires who've no doubt lost a considerable amount of wealth from the fall in the FTSE. But who else has any money to spare these days after they've lost work or businesses? Oh, I know. The BBC. Maybe it should do a whip round among its own staff instead of taking the begging bowl out to the public yet again.
PC Ideologues are brilliant at creating ever-expanding networks of influence. Take this article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200403-how-to-overcome-racism-and-tribalism
It's on a familiar BBC theme: "Why overcoming racism is essential for humanity’s survival".
So it's a BBC article? Hmmm...you'd think so but that's actually a very good question.
It's by Tom Oliver. A BBC journalist you might suppose. But hang on - it's a very, overtly so, politicised article e.g. linking Nigel Farage closely to Nazi/attitudes. Tut-tut...our BBC journalists are supposed to be impartial.
OK, so is Tom Oliver a BBC journalist? Another good question! The article doesn't tell us.
We are told at the end of the article, not who Tom is (the mystery remains) but that "This article is part of Life's Big Questions, a new series by The Conversation that is being co-published with BBC Future."
"What is BBC Future?" you ask...yet another good question...
As a cult might, they avoid the question and answer: "We believe in truth, facts, and science. We take the time to think. And we don't accept — we ask why."
...continued...
DeleteSo far so spooky. But then one's eye is caught by a more brutish statement on a strap line below:
"This website is produced by BBC Global News, a commercial company owned by the BBC (and just the BBC). No money from the licence fee was used to create this website. The money we make from it is re-invested to help fund the BBC’s international journalism."
Right - I wasn't aware of this creepy outreach organisation.
But let's go back...who are or is "The Conversation" who are co-publishing with this creepy BBC Futures outfit? And who the F is Tom Oliver?
So "The Conversation" it turns out is supposedly an "Independent news website that only publishes articles written by academics and researchers." It also states it is a charity.
Who is funding this strange "independent news organisation". Well it seems its individual funders are nearly all hideously white, which must be of concern to the likes of Tom Oliver so obsessed for the need for diversity!
https://theconversation.com/uk/friends
Jon Snow would probably have a stroke if he saw that assemblage of the pale. But, interestingly, they are only the small fry...so who are the real big funders?
You might be surprised if I told you it was me and you. Yes - we have to admit it...we are to blame. I'll explain...
I was fully expecting the usual Soros foundations. There may be one or two (I can't be bothered to trace them back). But the vast majority of funders of this bogus "independent news organisation" with bogus charity status are British universities! And of course the vast bulk of their finance comes from me and you through the tax system.
https://theconversation.com/uk/partners
Yes, our Universities feel the need to fund "an independent news organisation" that just happens to be rabidly in favour of Leftism, Globalism, Race Obsession, XR Greenism, Extreme Anti-Male Feminism, Socialism, Marxism and all the rest. A flavour of the content is given by one article headed: "This anarchist thinker helps explain why we feel so driven to help each other through the coronavirus crisis " The thinker referred to is Kropotkin. The article is just tendentious nonsense. I've read my Jane Austen...plenty of examples of young bourgeois ladies feeling the urge to provide "mutual aid" to impoverished peasants without the need for a supporting anarchist philosophy!
And, let's not forget Mr Oliver, the commendably modest Mr Oliver who has no job title attached to his artlce. Who is he? Let us consult the Twitter thing:
https://twitter.com/Tom_H_Oliver?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
We find that poor Tom is:
"Author of The Self Delusion, book on human interconnectedness http://fal.cn/36alg Tweets not my own! Professor of Ecology at University of Reading."
Mr Oliver seems to have all the hallmarks of a rabid Green Party supporter. I found this:
https://www.reading.ac.uk/news-archive/press-releases/pr718956.html
Seems like Mr Oliver likes to mix business and pleasure or academia and politics at least.
So - what a tangled web! BBC and our universities colluding in overtly political communication, Fake News and Green XR Propaganda.
This is scandalous. All funded by the taxpayer and licence fee payer! If we had a populist government as opposed to a Conservative Government it would be stopped immediately...immediately, not at some far distant "Charter Review" juncture.
These networks of influence are a real poison in the body politic.
Meant to add: H/T to Stewgreen on the other channel.
DeletePlease don't feed his ego. Half of what he writes doesn't make sense and I'm sure he doesn't even read half of what he is so desperate to link to.
DeleteA couple of things I picked up on looking at 'The Conversation' website (well, you do have to look FOR it): It was founded in Melbourne but its news operation is effectively London based now. One of the founders Andrew Jaspan is credited as a former editor of UK newspapers, as well as Australian: The Observer, Scotsman.
DeleteNo sniggering at the back, please but 'Stephen Khan is Executive Editor of The Conversation, and its Editor in the UK. Before joining The Conversation in 2013, during the initial phase of its international expansion, #he was a news editor at The Guardian.# He has also been deputy foreign editor of The Independent and Scotland editor of The Observer.'
Chris Waiting, CEO, '... previously worked for the Associated Press as Director of Strategy & Development and #for the BBC as Chief of Staff# where he advised the COO and Director-General. He has an MA in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University and an MBA from London Business School.'
Also noted, as a non-Executive Director is one Caroline Thomson. It doesn't credit this but was she not the COO at the BBC who was a candidate for the DG job which went to the Buggins who lasted all of six weeks? And to be fair they do have a couple of ex-Daily Mailers on the staff and even an ex-Sun man. For 'balance' I'm sure.
Thanks for the additional background. I just find it incredible that Universities find it acceptable or desirable to plough money into an "independent news organisation". Of course it's not really a news organisation, it's an opinion organisation.
DeleteStig Abell was an ex Sun editor. You couldn't find a more dedicated PC Globalist - now ensconced in the BBC Arts burrow. Likewise the Mail has turned in recent years, becoming anti-Brexit, pro-EU and pro PC Globalism.
So, the fact that there are ex Mail and Sun journos doesn't necessarily even offer any "balance" at all.
To me, it feels like a huge vanity project so academics can air their opinions and prejudices.
I'm still laughing at the "white wall" of funders though!
Yes, the idea of Abell at The Sun always seems to me incongruous - I first came across him on Sky Press Preview by which time he had moved on to the TLS.
DeleteNo sooner had the PM gone into the hospital than he was on Sky supposedly reviewing the papers but actually touting for a national government including all those old ex-PMs floating around. Am not saying this lot couldn't do with some help but the eager opportunism of Abell annoyed me.
Predictably, the coronavirus lockdown has exposed the inadequacy of big city overcrowded housing, especially that in London.
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian has an article by Lynsey Hanley 'Lockdown has laid bare Britain's class divide'. seen here:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/07/lockdown-britain-victorian-class-divide?CMP=share_btn_tw
Hanley presents the issue as a form of class issue between the have's and have-nots. She effectively introduces the increases in London's population, where the percentage of overseas born is about 40%, directly into the left-lib camp.
On this site, comments about the impossibility of housing London's increasing population have pointed to the fundamental lack of available building land. Promises to 'build more affordable housing' has a hollow ring. It is disingenuous for Hanley to suppose that it is a class issue.
I should add that the coronavirus seems to spread most easily in densely populated areas, London, New York, Istanbul, Madrid etc.
DeleteConstruction sites are still allowed to operate. Many of the workers are from Eastern Europe and live in extremely cramped accommodation, sometimes 10 to a house. They often travel on public transport. They cannot maintain social distancing at work. It's obviously a recipe for further spread of the infection and makes a nonsense of all the restrictions.
DeleteNot on the BBC, I wonder why?
ReplyDeleteEU's science chief resigns over 'disappointing' Covid-19 action
https://euobserver.com/tickers/148021
Once again, Laura K and the BBC have misjudged the mood of the nation. By seeking to undermine the government by exploiting Boris's hospitalisation, they are misguided. I would guess that the vast majority of the country are willing Boris better, and can't wait to see his return after personally enduring the effects of the virus. This has provided a strong bond between the UK and their chosen PM. But, the recent history of the BBC indicates that they have no empathy with their audience - just with some ephemeral bond with an imaginary audience.
ReplyDeleteHere's today's headline from Auntie's twin sister:
Delete'Power Vacuum fears as PM remains in intensive care'.
They can't have heard the update about Boris not having pneumonia, not needing a ventilator but being in good spirits and stable. How is that Laura, Beth, Peston and the The Guardian failed, when everyone else did hear, understand, and then welcome the clear message?
It is the funniest part of the day to hear the trio's pre-drafted and therefore largely irrelevant questions delivered in a such sour manner.
No empathy, no emotional intelligence and piss poor journalism. They are not having a good virus.
DeleteI read that earlier.
DeleteThere was no mention of who had these fears of a power vacuum. It was "just a headline".
The BBC has undertaken two reality checks on Pres. Trump at the end of this report.
ReplyDeleteOne Is about WHO funding, the other about ventilators.
Both have been written to challenge Trumps claims. They couldn't find much to fault but once again it is further proof of TDS still rampant at reality check and the BBC. They have an such an obsession it is slowly consuming them.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52213439
DeleteThe TDS is on full display on Sky News as well. It extends now to pretending that Biden has mental competence when clearly he does not. In summarising the presidential race they now cover up entirely for Biden's many senile lapses - confusing dates, times, places, people (even his wife and his sister!) and concepts. Not a single mention of that very important factor! For the PC Globalist media, they know they will have to lie to get Biden elected (just as they lied about HRC's health, private computer use and taking bribes for influence through the Clinton Foundation). They are quite prepared to do it, by trying to make Trump look like a fool while making Biden look statesmanlike. They suppressed Clinton's many health episodes. They will do the same with Biden's dementia episodes.
DeleteThe MSM here and over the pond take the electorate for fools. Which they are not. The UK saw straight through the lies and pro-EU propaganda and voted for Boris. The US electorate will make their judgement on Biden and see through the lies despite the media onslaught. Trump will get a second term.
DeleteI tend to agree Charlie, but no one can say for sure what will happen, on that we can be sure! :)
DeleteHowever, I think the media onslaught does have a big effect. Trump can never budge above 50% in the popularity ratings because of it. He can fire up his base but the MSM prevent him getting a fair hearing beyond that.
It's similar over here I think. Because the MSM protect Labour in so many ways, a Far Left, pro-terrorist, pro-Sharia Labour leadership could still secure 32% at the polls.
There was a prime example tonight on Newsnight with Emily have three leftists on to discuss the political and economic fallout from the Coronavirus crisis. They were Vicky Price (ex con), Joseph Stiglitz and Yvette Cooper. It was easy questions for all the Leftists but Yvette Cooper, Labour MP, especially was treated like a font of all knowledge as Emily asked her respectful open-ended questions.
Contrast with how La Maitlis would tackle a Conservative representatives or even someone representing conservative ideas. We'd see a complete switch in demeanour and the easy, consensual conversation would be replaced with aggressive questioning, numerous interruptions, gotcha moments and all the rest. I don't think the average viewer notices all the bias techniques. They just pick on the mood being generated and so view Conservatives less favourably.
They’re off.
ReplyDeleteGermany restarts car production on 20 April.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/08/coronavirus-live-news-us-trump-threatens-who-funding-uk-boris-johnson-global-cases-latest-updates?page=with:block-5e8def4e8f08008f0919f659#block-5e8def4e8f08008f0919f659
...and its Germany pulling into the lead, Austria on the inside...China accelerating fast from the back of the pack...USA looking like its ready to move up a gear any moment...Japan at a steady gallop, moving nicely as we pass the 4 furlong mark...and, then...the UK, trailing badly behind...a good six lengths to the rear, but as any BBC commentator will tell you, that's a good position to be in at this stage...bringing up the rear, safety first, no chance of a fall.
DeleteCalling Craig... as Shaw Taylor used to say on Police 5 (you have to be over 50): "Now, can you identify these two men...?" Either two Morecambe hipsters or two of something else...
ReplyDeletehttps://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-police-hunt-pair-who-licked-hands-and-wiped-them-on-supermarket-food-11970683
Just a note...I think I heard on Sky today someone refer to the Lockdown Cult as an experiment that started in China and had never been tried before. How often do you hear that on the MSM?
ReplyDeleteIt WAS an experiment. It had never been tried before but of course, China being a totalitarian state found it easy to implement.
But why did Europe follow this bizarre experiment?
Trump is right about WHO being a Sinocentric organisation now. It was WHO who were pressing for global lockdowns, to equalise the damage being done to China. We have to remember China was in a v difficult situation . If it had not gone with the dramatic theatre of a lockdown, then Trump and others might have started blocking Chinese imports.
In my view the evidence shows that there are wild fluctuations between countries regarding how the virus impacts and we have no idea as yet why that should be so - it's nothing like how the Spanish flu of 1917/18 affected the whole world with at least a rough equality. However, it suggests that Lockdowns are only very marginally effective. We see that countries like Sweden, Taiwan, S Korea and Japan that haven't had Wuhan-style total lockdowns have far fewer deaths per millions than those countries that have gone with total lockdowns.
Also, I notice the "experts" keep extending the date by which a total lockdown should take effect. Now they talk about 26 days. This is absurd. An effective total lockdown should be having dramatic suppressive effects within 14 days at the latest according to the models. The fact this doesn't happened shows that Lockdowns are a bogus solution.
Now that WHO are facing questions, look who has quickly played the race card.
Delete“WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that he had been subjected to months of attacks, including racist ones against him and black communities.”
Yep, the leader of WHO, working hand in glove with probably the most racist nation on earth - the Han Chinese State - which bans nearly all immigration, has one million Uigurs under lock and key and is systematically destroying both Tibetan and Uigur culture.
DeleteThe BBC News website has a headline 'Coronavirus cases near 1.5 million worldwide' but fail to ask a basic question:
DeleteWhen China has a population amounting 18.4% of the world's total, why does it have only 81,000 cases when out of the 1.5 million it should have 276,000. As the worldwide total increases, this disparity will raise more questions about the accuracy of China's reporting, or alternatively what measures they have been able to take in order to counter the virus.
It’s always the inconvenient truths that the BBC choose to ignore. Anything that would undermine the narrative.
DeleteBrendan is on the case, asking why Maitlis is the current darling:
ReplyDelete" She had a pop at the government – as is her wont; Maitlis is one of the least objective journalists in the already objectivity-challenged BBC – and she asked us to feel sorry for poorer people in small homes who will be having a hard lockdown. Yes. We know. Unlike Ms Maitlis, some of us actually know and are related to people like that, which is why we cautioned against a stringent lockdown precisely as the media elite, including the BBC, were incessantly barking at ministers: ‘Where’s the lockdown? Bring it on. us under house arrest.’
Maitlis’s soppy sermon was the BBC at its worst."
https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/04/09/the-staggering-hypocrisy-of-the-bbc/
3pm News Channel: strapline says, "Italian PM tells BBC the EU risks failing as a project over virus response."
ReplyDeleteWill that be discussed, or even nentioned, on the 6pm News? I'm not holding my breath!
Yes, it will be featured because the BBC News have been granted a one-on-one interview with a PM. That's unusual - news indeed. There's a hint of the BBC's yearning to remain at the heart of the EU. They may see themselves as saviours of the EU project.
DeleteYes, if the BBC can help facilitate a coordinated response by highlighting this, they can feast on it for months by saying how the EU ‘came together’ to conquer the virus - all for one, one for all.
DeleteIt could be a strategic move by the BBC who believe that Italy will be able to ease their restrictions two weeks or so before the UK. This would allow a window to claim that the EU - Italy and Germany - have handled the virus so much better than the Conservative government. Good old EU.
DeleteThe propaganda channels tell us the NHS Cult event tonight was supported as enthusiastically, nay, even more so this evening.Rageh Omar indulged in a frankly sentimental, even schmaltzy, oration concluding we love "each and every one of them"...er no, I certainly don't love the nurses and doctors who have ignored relatives' symptoms, failed to make allowance for their extreme age, stayed hidden on wards or shown evidence of incompetence, and - even allowing that those are in a minority - I don't love the majority either...love is a big word...you love your partner in life and your immediate family or a few close friends...not 1.2 million NHS workers! Let's just say we greatly admire their skill and steadfastness.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, against the propaganda, my local experience was that the "Great Clap" was far quieter this week...much more so.
I think we should show our gratitude in due course. A medal and a significant ex gratia payment might be appropriate. But this ain't North Korea yet and I think compulsory displays of sentiment are a bad idea.
MB
DeleteI had a dream last night that Phase 1 of this was over. In Phase 2 there were crowds on the streets and they were all clapping for the wealth creators. I guess that the economy was on life support.
ITV reporting on trial treatments in UK. A woman who had recovered from Covid-19 was interviewed - looking remarkably well after being hospitalised with "anti-malarial drugs"...I bet it was chloroquinine...but of course the one thing they were never going to do is tell the viewers that (a) President Trump had championed this potential treatment and (b) our Chief Medical Officer was blocking emergency use of the drug.
ReplyDelete:::NEWSNIGHT WATCH:::
ReplyDelete1. Why do Newsnight presenters treat Mayors with such deference compared with the contempt they display towards many Parliamentarians. Even Andy Street, a nominal Conservative, was treated with respect. This is generally true of all the media: Mayors get a free pass for some reason.
2. BBC finally admitting that Lockdown is having a terrible effect on health services to children and other people with health issues. In other words the Lockdown is killing people. Fewer referrals, fewer people presenting themselves, people too scared to go to the GP or A&E. Very late in the day but at least, to be fair, they are addressing the issue.