This page is dedicated to news on the coronavirus, covering political, economic and scientific aspects.

Director of Big Brother Watch: How Covid-19 has accelerated the creation of a surveillance state.

(21/4/21) The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the realisation of privacy advocates’ worst nightmares: to combat a health crisis, we have readily handed over our rights to everyday life to the state, which is auctioning them back to us with enhanced tracking systems as the price tag. Read the full post in the New Statesman.

Covid fascists are demonising the non-vaccinated

(15/2/21) Well, that didn’t take long. ‘We are all in this together’ has been replaced with ‘It’s us and them’. You are with us or you are against us, and if you refuse to submit to a de facto compulsory vaccination you are against us and should be stripped of your civil liberties. Read the full post in the Conservative Woman.

The risk of eternal lockdown

(8/2/210) The UK has one of the highest death rates in the world. Is this because our lockdowns have been too late and too loose, particularly in their later iterations? Might our looser lockdowns, taking into account their collateral damage, been all sound and fury without accomplishing very much, and might stricter, earlier lockdowns have been more justified? Read the full post on UnHerd.com.

MP David Davis calls for Vitamin D therapy to be rolled out 'immediately' after study finds it can 'reduce Covid deaths by up to 60%'

(13/2/21) Vitamin D reduces Covid-19 deaths by 60 per cent, a study has found, as MP David Davis today called for the therapy to be rolled out in hospitals immediately to 'save many thousands of lives.' Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

The largest experiment ever seen, and we’re all guinea pigs

(2/2/21) Which of the following is the more reasonable approach a society might take in the outbreak of an epidemic? 1) To quarantine the sick and take reasonable precautions to stop those who are identified as vulnerable from contracting the illness. Or 2) to attempt to ‘control the virus’ by preventing millions of healthy people from having contact with other healthy people. Read the full post in the Conservative Woman.

Humanity could face a far worse pandemic than Covid ‘on the scale of the Black Death’ warn experts

(6/2/21) Environmental writer John Vidal, who is working on a book revealing the links between nature and disease. He says that governments must face up to "the nightmare scenario" of new diseases - or a new, more lethal strain of an older one - emerging "which is as contagious as measles, and as deadly as Ebola". Read the full post in the The Sun/a>.

How quickly will Ministers and their advisers relinquish the powers they now enjoy? What further mass experiments will be judged necessary in the name of fighting Covid-19?

(6/2/21) On July 26, 1963, passengers boarded a Northern Line tube train at Morden in South London heading for the City. What those passengers did not know – could not know – was they were an unwitting cast of extras in a secret experiment conducted by government scientists from Porton Down. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

The UK Government seems to be Covid-19's staunchest ally

(2/2/21) The handling of Covid-19 by the UK Government has been immeasurably poor. Filled with contradictions, miscommunication, confusion, and laziness, the people of the UK have paid for this incompetence with 100,000 deaths. Read the full post in the Comment Central.

Alex Brummer: You pay workers £132m to stay at home EVERY DAY... how long can it go on?

(4/2/21) According to the latest available data, 18% of the workforce – that’s some 4.5 million people – are currently on the state payroll, receiving 80 per cent of their salaries, through the furlough scheme. Latest estimates from the OBR, projected before the 3rd full lockdown in January, put the cost to the Govt of Covid at £280bn in the year ending on April 5, 2021 – or around £11,200 for every household in the country. That takes Govt borrowing to over £400bn. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Government accused of using Covid fear tactics to inflate anxiety levels of British public

(24/1/21) A group of 47 psychologists has claimed the government is using covert strategies to keep people in a perpetual state of heightened fear to make them obey Covid-19 restrictions. This, they say, amounts to a strategic decision “to inflate the fear levels of the British public”, which it states is “ethically murky” and has left people too afraid to leave their homes for medical appointments. Read the full post on Daily Express.

Analysis: Why the second Covid wave is nothing like the first

(18/1/21) Dig into the data, and the narrative that the current wave is deadlier than the one that hit in the spring begins to unravel. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

Tory MP: People will ‘rise up’ unless Boris develops corona exit strategy

(23/1/21) Lockdown sceptic Sir Desmond Swayne MP predicted that unless the government devises an exit strategy for coronavirus restrictions, Britons will “rise up” and demand the laws be changed. Read the full post on Breitbart.

Covid-19 reverse psychology: Did Johnson play the left by ‘pretending’ he didn’t want a lockdown so it could get public support?

(28/10/20) The ‘liberal-left’ narrative that the UK Tory government wanted to pursue Covid-19 ‘herd immunity’ instead of a lockdown has been shattered by official filings which appears to show the opposite was the case. The phrase ‘smoking gun’ is oft-overused, but it is surely appropriate in relation to the report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper that the UK government struck a deal worth £119m with an American advertising company, OMD Group, urging people to ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ a full three weeks before Boris Johnson ordered a lockdown. Read the full post on RT.com.

US Department of State factsheet: Activity at the Wuhan Institute of Virology

(15/1/21) As the world continues to battle this pandemic – and as WHO investigators begin their work, after more than a year of delays – the virus’s origin remains uncertain. The United States will continue to do everything it can to support a credible and thorough investigation, including by continuing to demand transparency on the part of Chinese authorities. Read the full factsheet on the US Dept of State website.

Bamboozled and lied to by the state broadcaster

(16/1/21) A timely poll by the Recovery campaign on Twitter asked a straightforward question: ‘Has the BBC provided “impartial news and information” about the Covid-19 situation, as required by the BBC Charter?’ Within hours the votes had poured in – 20,336 of them, and 93.9 per cent answered 'No'. Read the full post on Conservative Woman.

Victims of swine flu jab to get £60m payout

(2/3/14) Sixty people are to receive a multimillion-pound payout from the government after they suffered brain damage caused by a swine flu vaccine. Most of the victims are children but they also include six health workers. Peter Todd, a lawyer representing many sufferers, said the government would face a bill of at least £60m — £1m for each victim. Read the full post in the Sunday Times.

Swine flu jab wrecked our children's health: It was rushed in amid fears of a global pandemic

(27/3/13) Narcolepsy is a neurological condition which interferes with the brain’s mechanisms to control wakefulness and sleep, leaving sufferers constantly tired and likely to fall asleep any time, anywhere. Two years on, Josh has been identified as one of a group of children who developed this crippling sleep disorder after receiving a jab to protect them against swine flu. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

COVID-19: How mortality rates in 2020 compare with past decades and centuries

(11/01/21) The fall in mortality improvements during 2020, compared with the previous year, was the single biggest annual drop since 1929. In fact, if you were to put together a list of the worst years for annual changes in mortality improvements going all the way back to 1842, 2020 would be the third biggest annual fall in mortality improvements, after the Great Freeze of 1895 and the flu pandemic of 1929 (and somewhat worse than 1847, during which there was a severe cholera outbreak, and 1915, the midst of the Great War. Read the full post on Sky News.

Coronavirus: Hospital secretaries drafted in to help on wards as worst weeks lie ahead

(12/01/21) Words fail us. 10 months into the crisis, the NHS has just worked out that they need more staff! 'Hospitals are calling for “immediate additional staff” to help care for the influx of COVID patients – with plans to bring in students, social care workers & even secretaries'. The story in the Independent continues: 'The admission by NHS England that more staff are needed in the capital, came after its hospitals were asked to supply dozens of nurses to staff the Nightingale Hospital in east London, which has still yet to open.' This is a TOTAL failure by NHS Management. Read the full post on The Independent.

Workers refusing vaccine or testing could lose wages, lawyers warn

(7/1/21) Workers refusing to be vaccinated or tested for coronavirus could be threatened with pay cuts or face legal battles with their employer if they are unable to work, legal experts have warned. Vaccinating the country is key to ending lockdowns and the only route back to normality, Boris Johnson has said, but there is no guarantee everyone is willing to get the jab. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

These are the 16 MPs who voted against the third national English lockdown

Well done those brave 18 MPs who did the proper thing. It is worth reading the extracts of speeches by Sir Desmond Swayne and Charles Walker because they make such a strong case. Read the full post on Conservative Woman.

We are putting woke idiocy above saving lives

Apparently retired GPs who want to help in the vaccination program here have to show that they have had training in ‘conflict resolution, equality, diversity and human rights, fire safety, and preventing radicalisation’. Read the full post on Spiked Online.

Guess where Professor Lockdown got his ideas ... China’s police state

'If lockdown is an effective policy, then the guillotine is a good cure for a headache' says Peter Hitchens. The shame of it is that the lockdown fanatics did ‘get away with it’, and continue to do so. That is, quite simply, because most of the responsible people in our society did not stand up for wisdom and freedom but allowed themselves to be swept away in a flood of State-sponsored fear, like so many pawns. Read the full post in the Mail On Sunday.

Just 388 people aged under 60 with no underlying health conditions have died of Covid-19 in England's hospitals since the start of the pandemic

(28/12/20) The figures show that 1,979 previously healthy people died in hospitals in England after testing positive for Covid-19 between April 2 and December 23. Just 338 of these people were aged 40 to 59, with another 44 aged between 20 and 39, and just six under the age of 19, according to the data. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Dr John Lee: Free us from this futile cycle of Covid contagion and control

Lockdowns are a triumph of ill-judged priorities and poor understanding of the virus. The only thing that we can be certain about is the tremendous collateral damage lockdowns inflict. In the past nine months, families have been torn apart, businesses wrecked, jobs lost and opportunities destroyed for millions. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

I’m a scientist, and I won’t be having the Covid jab

(21/12/20) No one really knows the long-term risks for the first universal vaccine in history developed in less than a year. The only recent smaller-scale precedent is the vaccine for the swine flu epidemic of 2009-2010. People are still suffering from narcolepsy - a chronic disorder of the nervous system that causes excessive and often uncontrollable drowsiness - which is a side effect of the swine flu vaccine. Read the full post in the Conservative Woman.

Vaccination passports are on the way

(21/12/20) A contract has been already been awarded for a Covid Certification Passport. The contract award winner is someone called The Hub Digital healthcare division which has already has ‘launched a unique Covid Testing Platform backed by Innovate UK‘ – but one of the many outfits benefiting from and with vested interests in the Government’s Covid gravy train. Read the full post in the Conservative Woman.

COVID-19 asymptomatic spread revisited

(22/11/20) Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, told a press conference that from the known research, asymptomatic spread was “very rare.” “From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual.” She added for emphasis: “It’s very rare.” A gigantic study conducted in Wuhan, China, of 10 million people, confirmed the same. Read the full post on the American Institute for Economic Research website.

Belgian minister tweets EU's Covid vaccine price list to anger of manufacturers

(18/12/20) A Belgian minister has blown the lid off a sensitive and commercial secret – the price that the EU has agreed to pay for the leading Covid vaccines. Read the full post in The Guardian.

Lockdowns may actually prevent a natural weakening of this disease

(22/12/20) Where the sceptics have a point is that it is a worrying possibility that lockdowns could prevent this natural attenuation of the virus. They keep the virus spreading mainly in hospitals and care homes among the very ill, preventing the eclipse of lethal strains at the hands of milder ones. If so, and it's only a possibility, then not only do lockdowns fail to wipe out the disease, they may be prolonging our agony. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

How to stop the NHS being overwhelmed

(18/12/20) As the UK faces more damaging restrictions and a continuing crisis because of Covid, perhaps we should ask whether, instead of repeated lockdowns to stop the NHS being overwhelmed, we should seek to expand NHS hospital capacity. The Nightingales should become ‘fever hospitals’, allowing isolation and preventing disease spread, while addressing the needs of sick Covid patients. Read the full post in the Spiked online.

School closures and blanket social distancing measures 'increased coronavirus deaths'

(8/10/20) Blanket social distancing measures and school closures during the coronavirus pandemic may have increased the overall death rate from the disease, researchers have said. A new analysis revisited the piece of work by Professor Neil Ferguson and colleagues from Imperial College London which predicted that hundreds of thousands of deaths would occur if no action was taken to stop the spread of Covid-19. Read the full post in the Evening Standard.

Sir Patrick Vallance: 'We may be wearing masks for a year'

(8/12/20) The public may have to wear masks for another year, despite a “watershed moment” beginning Britain’s national vaccination programme, Sir Patrick Vallance has said. As hospitals across the country began administering jabs to the most vulnerable, the chief scientific adviser suggested that restrictions may remain in place long after its full rollout. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

Two-tier policing and the rotten heart of the state

(30/11/20) The collapse of trust in policing is surely surpassed only by the total discrediting of our political system. Parliament has ceased to function in any meaningful way, draconian legislation being passed with little to no scrutiny by our elected representatives. Covid and our puerile representatives have enabled the government to act in ways utterly contrary to precedent and alien to our parliamentary tradition. Read the full post on Conservative Woman.

Portuguese court rules PCR tests "unreliable" & quarantines "unlawful"

An appeals court in Portugal has ruled that the PCR process is not a reliable test for Sars-Cov-2, and therefore any enforced quarantine based on those test results is unlawful. Further, the ruling suggested that any forced quarantine applied to healthy people could be a violation of their fundamental right to liberty. Most importantly, the judges ruled that a single positive PCR test cannot be used as an effective diagnosis of infection. Read the full post on Zero Hedge.

UK Govt to roll out ‘vaccine stamps’ in passports by next year

(30/11/20) The British government is reportedly set to introduce vaccine stamps in passports by next year for those who have been inoculated against the Chinese coronavirus, ostensibly to boost the travel industry. Read the full post on Breitbart.

(29/11/20) A survey of UKIP Eastern Region members has been conducted mainly to understand the range of opinions on the coronavirus crisis and the government's response and strategy. Broadly, there is majority dissatisfaction with the performance of the govt, a majority support for the first lockdown but not for the second - and certainly none for a third. There is little confidence in SAGE, and an unhappiness with government rule by decree. View the full survey results and questions on UKIP Cambs & SE Cambs website.

Strict Covid tiers system won’t be lifted ‘until Easter Monday’ in bid to protect NHS

The gloomy warnings are set to spark fresh uproar among some Conservative MPs. One Tory rebel said: "If it is a big rebellion then Boris is in trouble.... It is a bit like having affairs — once you have voted against the Government once, it is easier to carry on doing it.” They are furious that ministers have ordered entire regions into tiers together, lumping Covid-free villages in with hotspots just because they fall under the same council. Read the full post on The Sun.

£6m borrowed for every Covid death: Economist CHRISTOPHER SNOWDON calculates the terrifying price Britain's paying for the pandemic

(27/11/20) In March, a three-week lockdown 'to flatten the curve' became a 31/2 month lockdown to flatten the economy.... The Govt has laid waste to the world's fifth-biggest economy on the basis of dubious projections from risk-averse academics whose jobs are secure no matter what.... The additional £339billion debt incurred to deal with Covid is the equivalent of £6million for every person who has died with the virus.... The OBR expects the national debt to hit £2.7trillion within four years... Where are the 'reasonable worst-case scenarios' for unemployment, bankruptcies, debt, economic growth and mental health? They certainly haven't been made public.... Make no mistake, five years from now our economy will be smaller than it was at the start of 2020. Read the full post on Daily Mail.

Vaccines may not prevent the transmission of Covid-19 from vaccinated to unvaccinated, Moderna chief doctor warns

(25/11/20) If it turns out that the vaccines only prevent serious complications of Covid-19 and do not prevent the transmission of the virus from one person to another, then that means “getting back to normal” will take longer and rely on a vast majority of the world population getting vaccinated. Read the full post on MSN.com.

Hancock's former neighbour won Covid test kit work after WhatsApp message

(26/11/20) An acquaintance and former neighbour of Matt Hancock is supplying the government with tens of millions of vials for NHS Covid-19 tests despite having had no previous experience of producing medical supplies. Read the full post in The Guardian.

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: We're not going to take it any more. You can sleep with your wife but can't play tennis with her.

(6/11/20) The list of what’s allowed in lockdown and what isn’t is a catalogue of sheer insanity. For instance, you can shoot ducks, but you can’t feed them. You can sleep with your wife or husband, but you can’t play tennis with them. You can buy a pint to take away using an app on your mobile phone, but can’t drink it inside or immediately outside a pub. Marks & Sparks can sell you a prawn sandwich, but not a pair of socks. Knickers are ‘non-essential’ on the High Street, but freely available on the internet. You couldn’t make it up. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Stillbirths nearly double during UK’s first lockdown

There were nearly double the number of stillbirths during the height of the coronavirus lockdown, with concerns the “protect the NHS” message may have discouraged women from seeking urgent medical help. Read the full post on Breitbart.

Calling the Boffins' bluff: How No10's experts manipulated data and drew biased conclusions to 'terrify' England into locking down

(2/11/20) It was the Halloween horror no one had been expecting: a series of mind-boggling graphs and charts presented at Saturday's Downing Street press conference that purported to show the Covid-19 pandemic was out of control and a second national lockdown was needed. But do the graphs and charts really support this? Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: If this was 1940, Boris Johnson would stand down The Few to 'protect the RAF'

(3/11/20) Coronavirus has seen the whites of the Prime Minister's eyes and he's blinked. Rather than muster the resistance, he's thrown his hands in the air. Saturday's shambolic announcement of another England-wide lockdown was an act of abject surrender. Once-ebullient, swashbuckling Boris Johnson has turned into the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard Of Oz. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Coronavirus excess fatalities: How pandemic is impacting the lives and deaths of those who don't have COVID

(14/10/20) Long after deaths in hospitals and care homes dropped down to normal levels, deaths at home have remained elevated. The vast majority of these so-called excess deaths are not down to COVID-19 - at least not directly. They are deaths from cancer, from heart disease, from all the other causes that commonly take people's lives. Read the full post on Sky News.

Home Secretary Priti Patel will order police to stop protests involving more than TWO people during lockdown

(3/11/20) Protests of more than two people will be banned during the month-long lockdown set to start on Thursday, according to Whitehall sources. Ministers have said the rules need to be clear and Home Secretary Priti Patel is said to have briefed chief constables over the weekend to tell officers to enforce the rules. However, it is believed that some senior officers are worried that the move is too oppressive for a liberal society. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

A warning from Australia: Boris Johnson's cure is worse than the disease

(2/11/20) Victoria has become famous for using lockdowns to ‘defeat coronavirus.’ Dr Anthony Fauci mentioned Australia as a country that did “quite well”. We haven’t defeated the virus. The virus is at bay but the only thing truly defeated is Victoria and Victorians. The state last week got out of its second lockdown of the year. Just like you were told yours will only last one month, we were told it would last six weeks. It lasted 112 days. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

Former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption calls coronavirus curbs tyrannical and a 'breathtaking' infringement of democratic rights

(26/10/20) Lockdowns and other Government-imposed Covid curbs contain all the ingredients of totalitarianism, a former Supreme Court judge warns. Orders to remain at home and rafts of new laws to restrict what people can do amount to a 'breathtaking' infringement of democratic rights. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

LORD SUMPTION: I'm yet to meet a single person who plans to obey the ban on meeting friends and family indoors... why on earth should they?

(17/10/20) Everything in science is provisional but one thing is certain about Covid-19. Lockdowns do not stop the disease. They merely postpone infections until after they are lifted. They can work only if they are kept in place indefinitely. We do not need epidemiologists or mathematical modellers to tell us this. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Proof UK is sick of lockdown: Focus group reveals voters are despairing of Boris Johnson's coronavirus policies

(23/10/20) Dramatic evidence of a growing revolt against the coronavirus lockdowns emerged last night. The public think the rules won't work, they will break the law if necessary to see their loved ones and believe it is time to 'get Britain back to normal'. These are among the key findings from focus groups that suggest traditional opinion polls have failed to spot a decisive change in attitudes toward the pandemic. Read the full post on Daily Mail

Only one in ten stay at home for two weeks when told to self-isolate, Sage documents reveal

Of people who were contacted by NHS test and trace and told they had been in close contact with someone with coronavirus, only 10.9 per cent isolated for 14 days. The shockingly low number comes after the test and trace system was given a beating by the country's top scientists who admitted it doesn't work when the number of new coronavirus cases is too high. Read the full post in The Sun

Lockdown restrictions do not work because so many people secretly ignore them – and with good reason

(23/10/20) A sizeable part of the population is opting out of a system supposed to prevent the spread of the epidemic because they have become more frightened of ruining their livelihoods than of contracting Covid-19. Read the full post in the Daily Mail

Coronavirus has seen MPs develop herd immunity… from common sense

(22/10/20) If you remove political ­posturing from the discussion, the reality is that natural immunity to Covid-19 is the only way out of the current maelstrom. The question is, how we are going to get there. Read the full post on The Sun

ALEX BRUMMER: How terrifying the country now owes £2 TRILLION - and it's the young who will have to pay

(21/10/20) Each of Britain's 25m households now has a public debt burden of £80,000... The growing fear is that young Britons — like those in Greece, Italy and Spain whose lives were shattered by the euro crisis of 2010 — will become the UK's troubled lost generation. What I find disturbing about the current borrowing binge is how much of the money has been wasted. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

A third more deaths occurring at home than before Covid in England

(19/10/20) About a third more deaths in England are occurring at home than before the Covid-19 pandemic, data has revealed, with the majority down to causes other than the coronavirus. In April, the UK government launched a campaign to encourage people who were unwell to seek medical attention. But the latest data suggests those with life-threatening conditions are still shying away from hospitals. Read the full post on The Guardian.

Covid-19 vaccine protocols reveal that trials are designed to succeed

(9/9/20) It is clear from these studies that the vaccines currently under trial will not be the silver bullet needed to end the pandemic. We must do all we can public health measures to control Covid-19 as China and other Asian countries have successfully done. Read the full post on Forbes.com.

Lockdown deaths could end up higher than Covid fatalities – we all should want to prevent that

(20/10/20) Despite an unwillingness from most of the mainstream media in this country to have a science-based debate on the true cost of lockdowns, the approach the Labour Council Leader of Manchester is advocating is almost identical to the one proposed in the Great Barrington Declaration. Read the full post in The Sun.

The government's secretive Covid contracts are heaping misery on Britain

(21/10/20)What is this about? Why is failure rewarded? Why are contracts issued with so little accountability or transparency? There may be a perfectly reasonable explanation, but you might expect the government’s Anti-Corruption Champion to investigate. Or perhaps not. He is John Penrose MP, Dido Harding’s husband. Read the full post on The Guardian.

Britons like the late Peter King are being sentenced to slow, agonising deaths ... by No 10's panic squad - PETER HITCHENS

(17/10/20) One of the filthiest tactics of the Panic Merchants is to claim that anyone who opposes their strangling of the country is callous and cares only about money, not life. Dissenters have been pelted with slime of this kind by Johnson, the man who ruined Britain, and by his dense sidekick, Hancock – perhaps the first Health Secretary in history who does not know that malaria is spread by mosquitoes. Read the full post on Daily Mail.

Prof Angus Dalgeish: The truth is, we DO have herd immunity against influenza and for measles

(15/10/20) While there is also an effective vaccine for measles, herd immunity plays a vital part in protecting babies until they can be given the vaccine at a year old. We do vaccinate the vulnerable against flu, but that is because a new mutated form of the virus arrives every year. We may well find ourselves in the same position when it comes to Covid, with or without a vaccine, which clearly undermines the idea of lockdown as a silver bullet. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Corona - figures and fakery

(13/10/20) "Covid-19" isn't a simple virus but a family member of a complex cluster of viruses which mutate according to their own timelines. It is hubristic to think that we can "defeat" it. This government is acting like a 10-year-old child who has been handed a Rubik's Cube. The child is jubilant when she "solves" one side but becomes increasingly frustrated when she then mucks the rest of it up. The attempts to "correct" the initial error become addictive. The failure to do so ever more histrionic. Read the full post on Comment Central.

Tory rebellion as 42 MPs vote against Boris’s Coronavirus curfew

(14/10/20) Forty-two Conservative MPs rebelled against their government in a retrospective vote on imposing a 10 pm curfew on pubs and the hospitality industry, in the latest backbench revolt against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s coronavirus regime. Read the full post on Breitbart.

Matt Hancock is wrong about herd immunity

(14/10/20) What does Mr Hancock mean by “reaching” herd immunity? Herd immunity is a continuous variable which increases as people become immune and decreases as they lose immunity or die. Indications of the herd immunity threshold having been reached are available from the time signatures of epidemics in various parts of the world. Read the full post on Unherd.com.

Is Britain really a nation of lockdown-lovers?

(14/10/20) The picture that the British public are eagerly and happily skipping into another lockdown is misleading. Notwithstanding the difficulties and divisions posed by the geographically uneven nature of further lockdown areas, as well as a slimmer version of furlough and financial support, the public mood is very different to the one we saw in April. Read the full post in the The Spectator.

Chris Green MP: Why I’m resigning from the government

(13/10/20) I now believe that the attempted cure is worse than the disease and that this second six-month phase will not see the delivery of a solution via mass vaccination. The government will then begin its next phase of control. Read the full post in the The Spectator.

Richard Littlejohn: Driven by fear and dodgy science, this was bound to end in tiers

(13/10/20) Boris continues to swallow 'The Science', regardless of the consequences, and refuses to entertain the notion that there may be any legitimate alternative. But believing yours is the one true path isn't science, it's religion. And the Cabinet is increasingly beginning to resemble one of those Waco-style death cults. Read the full post on Daily Mail.

Continual lockdowns are not the answer to bringing Covid under control

(10/10/20) Seven months into this crisis, the UK remains stuck in endless cycles of lockdown measures, its media still fixated on paralysing debates about how serious the virus really is and what the optimal strategy for addressing it should be. But lockdown itself doesn’t fundamentally change the virus or its trajectory. It just buys us time. Read the full post on The Guardian.

The 'cure' for Covid is worse than the disease. Why Prof Angus Dalgleish joined a growing rebellion against Cromwellian corona restrictions

(9/10/2) We now live in a land where students are locked up on campus like prisoners, where businesses are ruined by state edict, where grandparents are banned from hugging their grandchildren and where train passengers are fined for failing to wear masks — all in the name of containing a virus that does not kill 99.9 per cent of its victims. Yet the virus continues to spread. It is high time the Government pursued an approach which puts the real public interest before failing dogma. Read the full post on Daily Mail.

Lies, Damned Lies and Health Statistics – the Deadly Danger of False Positives

I believe I have identified a serious, really a fatal flaw in the PCR test used in what is called by the UK Government the Pillar 2 screening – that is, testing many people out in their communities. Because of the high false positive rate and the low prevalence, almost every positive test, a so-called case, identified by Pillar 2 since May of this year has been a FALSE POSITIVE. Read the full post on Lockdownsceptics.org.

Herd immunity could have saved more lives than lockdown, study suggests

(7/10/20) Blanket social distancing and the closure of schools may have cost more lives than if herd immunity had been allowed to build slowly in the community, a study suggests. A reanalysis of the Imperial College modelling that led to lockdown in March shows that shutting schools and preventing youngsters from mingling may have had the counterintuitive effect of actually killing more people. Read the full post on Daily Telegraph.

Scientists tell us there IS a better way to tackle coronavirus. So why is it being ignored?

(8/10/20) My suggestion is not that the signatories of the Great Barrington Declaration are right in every respect and the Government is entirely wrong. It is simply that there must be a better way than the one we are taking, and if the Government (and some of the media) weren't so frightened of debate we might find it. Read the full post on Daily Mail.

Tory MP Steve Baker gives government a week to revise 10pm Covid curfew before he votes against it

Senior Tory Steve Baker has told ITV News he will oppose the 10pm curfew on hospitality venues when the coronavirus restriction is put to a vote in the Commons next week. Mr Baker said he intends to give the government a week’s “space to revise what they’re doing”, or he’ll "encourage" other Conservative MPs to vote against it too. Read the full post on ITV News.

Read the Great Barrington Declaration on coronavirus. And then sign it.

(8/10/20) As infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists we have grave concerns about the damaging physical and mental health impacts of the prevailing COVID-19 policies, and recommend an approach we call Focused Protection. Read the full post on GBDeclaration.org.

Coronavirus: Health experts join global anti-lockdown movement

(7/10/20) Thousands of scientists and health experts have joined a global movement warning of "grave concerns" about Covid-19 lockdown policies. Nearly 6,000 experts, including dozens from the UK, say the approach is having a devastating impact on physical and mental health as well as society. They are calling for protection to be focused on the vulnerable, while healthy people get on with their lives. Read the full post on BBC News.

The rise of the shy lockdown sceptic

(1/10/20) When it comes to our response to coronavirus, there is a growing chasm between theory and practice. We know what we are supposed to say but we also know what we need to do to make our lives bearable. It’s time the government stopped relying on polls and started focusing on what people are actually saying and doing. Read the full post on The Spectator.

This overlooked variable is the key to the pandemic. It’s not R.

(30/9/20) There’s something strange about this coronavirus pandemic. Even after months of extensive research by the global scientific community, many questions remain open. Why, for instance, was there such an enormous death toll in northern Italy, but not the rest of the country? Just three contiguous regions in northern Italy have 25,000 of the country’s nearly 36,000 total deaths; just one region, Lombardy, has about 17,000 deaths. Almost all of these were concentrated in the first few months of the outbreak. Read the full post in The Atlantic.

Covid: Is it time we learned to live with the virus?

(28/9/20) Like other coronaviruses, all the evidence on Covid points to infections giving people some immunity that then wanes, but is followed by re-infections that cause milder illness. Over the years this is likely to lead to coronavirus becoming just another of the seasonal virus we experience every year. Read the full post on the BBC.

The dangers of a Covid ‘elimination’ policy by Dr John Lee

(22/9/20) Once a nation decides to live with a virus, relatively asymptomatic spread of the virus among large sections of the population is a good thing because it speeds our progress towards collective immunity – which is where, irrespective of what governments do, we will end up in equilibrium with the virus. Through vaccination or infection, this is how viruses dwindle. The main differences between countries will be in the size of the own goals that their responses cause in the meantime. Read the full post on The Spectator.

Are you infectious if you have a positive PCR test result for COVID-19?

(5/8/20) PCR detection of viruses is helpful so long as its accuracy can be understood: it offers the capacity to detect RNA in minute quantities, but whether that RNA represents infectious virus may not be clear. PCR results may lead to restrictions for large groups of people who do not present an infection risk. Read the full post by the The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.

The impact of Covid-19 on UK small business

(23/9/20)

• Covid-19 could cost small businesses up to £69 billion in total
• 234,000 small businesses have already stopped trading
• one in five small businesses don’t think that they would survive another lockdown
Read the full post on Simply Business.

Ever harsher Covid laws are a sign of weakness, not strength

(29/9/20) As fear diminishes, particularly among those who are at least risk, so does consent. The increasing severity of the punishments is a sign that the authorities are losing their grip. People can see that the 10pm ‘curfew‘ is creating the unintended consequences that every bar-stool epidemiologist predicted. The Prime Minister seems to think that he can keep this up for “perhaps six months”. We shall see. Read the full post on Cap X.

The true cost of coronavirus on our economy

(26/9/20) In the long run, Britain can withstand bungling politicians shaking the magic money tree. Historic levels of debt and unemployment won’t finish us, but the overreaction to Covid-19 will leave scars that define the decade. Future generations will be bewildered that a prosperous country threw its economy off a cliff in a failed attempt to suppress a disease that kills less than 1 per cent of those infected, most of them in their eighties and nineties. They will have every reason to wonder, since they will be the ones paying off the debt — or, more likely, paying the interest on the debt. Read the full post in the The Spectator.

Anti-lockdown protesters clash with police after at least 15,000 gathered against virus restrictions in Trafalgar Square

(26/9/20) Anti-lockdown protesters today clashed with police after at least 15,000 demonstrators descended on Trafalgar Square as part of a rally against coronavirus measures in the UK. Attendees of the 'We Do Not Consent' rally ditched their masks as they crammed into the London square this afternoon, despite Metropolitan Police pleading with people to stick to Britain's coronavirus restrictions. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

For Britain's sake we need to fight this LOCKDOWN TYRANNY - Nigel Farage

(22/9/20) It is clear to me that our civil liberties are now at risk by an administration that increasingly seems to act like an elected dictatorship. That’s why I believe that no new Covid measures should go through without parliamentary scrutiny by MPs and a proper debate in the country. With the way Boris is behaving, you would have thought Jeremy Corbyn had won the last election. Read the full post in the Daily Express.

Parliament’s bars exempt from 10pm coronavirus curfew

(28/9/20) Parliament’s bars will not be subject to the 10pm curfew or have to gather customers’ details despite the imposition of tougher rules on pubs last Thursday. Facilities serving alcohol on the parliamentary estate are understood to be exempt from the earlier closing time on the basis that they fall under the description of “a workplace canteen”. Read the full post in the The Times.

Lord Sumption: What kind of a country have we become when arrogant bullying is seen as the proper function of Ministers?

(26/9/20) What kind of country have we become where arrogant bullying of this kind is regarded as a proper function of ministers? We now learn that the Government expects current restrictions to last six months. Until what? Until the virus obligingly departs? Until there is an effective vaccine, whenever that may be? Until the next ill-considered idea for reordering our lives? What is the plan, now that the risk of overwhelming the NHS has subsided? Where is the exit route? These are all important questions. But all we get for answers are sub-Churchillian blather from the Prime Minister and snarling threats from Mr Hancock. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Lockdown 'could kill 75,000 over five years' (non-COVID deaths). The virus death toll? 42,000

(25/9/20) Nearly 75,000 people could die from non-Covid causes as a result of lockdown, according to devastating official figures buried in a 188-page document. The startling research, presented to the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), will further increase pressure on Boris Johnson to hold back on introducing further coronavirus restrictions. Read the full post on Daily Mail.

Confused, contradictory and over cautious, this isn't the Boris Johnson that Britain voted for

(24/9/20) In effect, the vast majority of people, who have little or nothing to fear from the disease, are being made to accept life-changing economic and other sacrifices on behalf of a minority of the population. This is too high a price. The Boris I knew 20 years ago — with whom I used weekly to discuss the affairs of the world, after we had quickly agreed the subject of my column for the Spectator magazine — would never have kow-towed to the likes of Chris Whitty. Somehow this most independent-minded of men has become a prisoner of the system. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Dr Michael Yeadon on the government and its scientists lies on COVID-19

(23/9/20) This is a thread from Twitter by ex-Pfizer doctor Michael Yeadon exposing the lies being fed to the UK people by the government and its scientific 'experts'. Read the full post on Threadreaderapp.

A blind refusal to see sense: Exasperated academic HUGH PENNINGTON explains why he signed a stinging protest letter to Boris Johnson

(22/9/20) The greatest weapon we possess in the battle against Covid-19 is the evidence accumulated by scientists. Although this is a new disease, essentially unknown a year ago, we have gathered a vast amount of data on it. Yet the British Government appears to be paying far less attention to this vital evidence than it should be. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Swedish experts claim vindication on COVID: Positive coronavirus test rate hits its lowest level yet with only 1.3% of Swedes who are swabbed found to have virus

(10/09/20) Sweden's 'herd immunity' strategy of not locking down the country has been justified, experts say, after it emerged only 1.3 per cent of people tested for coronavirus actually have the disease. The tiny proportion, from more than 120,000 tests carried out over the past week, represents a huge drop from the peak of the pandemic when it stood at 19 per cent. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

The cure is worse than the disease: Dr JOHN LEE argues that the coronavirus lockdown could cause more long-term harm that the illness itself

(13/9/20) The supposed cure for coronavirus is turning out to be worse than the disease. As analysis by the Mail reveals today, more lives are being wrecked by the official response to Covid than by the virus itself. In a bizarre paradox, ill-directed efforts at protecting public health are creating a public health disaster. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Lockdown-free Sweden's coronavirus case rate is now lower than Nordic neighbours

(4/9/20) Lockdown-free Sweden saw its coronavirus case rate drop below its Nordic neighbours Denmark and Norway today to just 12 new infections per million people over the past week. 'Sweden has gone from being one of the countries with the most infection in Europe, to one of those with the least infection in Europe,' the country's state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said at a press conference earlier this week. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

It's not just the airlines - UK plc is in a tailspin as well says Richard Littlejohn

(3/9/20) Right now, we live in a Land of Hopeless Tories, frightened of their own shadows. Great Britain plc, not just the airline industry, is in a tailspin. Singing Rule, Britannia isn’t going to save us. Is Boris Johnson up to the job? Based upon his lacklustre demeanour over the summer and his shambling PMQs performance this week, the jury is out. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

One person's Working From Home is another's P45 - Richard Littlejohn

(27/8/20) Working from home may be a temporary expedient, but it must never become a way of life. Cities are the very lifeblood of our civilisation. Without them we are poorer economically, culturally and spiritually. This madness can’t be allowed to go on. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

We may be closer to herd immunity than previously thought

(3/9/20) Are we a lot closer to achieving herd immunity with Covid-19 than has been made out? Now, a paper in the BMJ suggests that we may have seriously been under-estimating the number of people who have been exposed to the virus SARS-CoV-2 and who as a result may have gained some degree of immunity to the infection. Read the full post on The Spectator.

Coronavirus: Herd immunity may be closer than thought

(3/9/20) Tests for antibodies may be dramatically underestimating the proportion of people who have been infected with the coronavirus, scientists said. The claim, made in The BMJ, implies that it is possible some parts of the country are far closer to herd immunity than had been thought. Read the full post on The Times.

Enough is enough

(27/8/20) After nearly half a year into this pandemic, our hard-won trust is being eroded, confidence sapped and fundamental rights stripped. “Adding mask rules is just a measure of last resort when governments have run out of ideas to show they’re acting responsibly.” Read the full post on The Monocule Minute.

You are now 67 times more likely to die from something other than COVID

(27/8/20) Case numbers are almost irrelevant given that testing has increased dramatically, together with the fact that most people are asymptomatic or only mildly inconvenienced even if they have the virus. The ‘R’ number is at best a guess by the ‘experts’. It is hospitalisations and deaths which should determine policy, and these are now so small as to be insignificant from a policy-making perspective. The UK never shut down and hid from flu and other diseases – this nonsense must stop now. Read the full post on Facts4eu.org.

Coronavirus: Biggest cities deserted as only 17% of staff return to the office

(27/8/20) Fears are growing over the future of city centres after the latest figures show that the number of workers returning to offices has not increased since June. Some city centres have even had the numbers back at their desks fall as staff take their August holidays. Read the full post in The Times.

Yale prof: ‘Evidence overwhelming’ for fighting COVID with hydroxychloroquine

(26/8/20) An epidemiologist at Yale School of Public Health praised the proven benefits of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in fighting COVID-19, emphasizing at the same time that opponents of HCQ have no science to back them up. Read the full post on LifeSite.

Europe is at last waking up to its lockdown folly

(27/8/20) Did you hear it? Beyond the second wave sirens and the schools debate, the sound of the penny dropping on the global stage. In recent days, world leaders have hinted at an extraordinary admission: lockdowns are a disaster, and we can’t afford to repeat the mistake. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

Lockdowns and masks do not lead to reduced COVID transmission rates or deaths, new study suggests

(26/8/2) Governments have conducted an unprecedented social, economic, and political experiment in controlling whole populations’ behavior, with high economic and human cost. The authors ask the right question: has this experiment in government-managed virus control and suppression made a difference? The startling answer they found, after examining data from around the country and the world, is that the evidence simply is not there. Read the full post by the American Institute for Economic Research.

Thousands join massive London rally against Covid tyranny

(1/9/20) The authorities weren’t expecting this. Over twenty thousand thronged Trafalgar Square in London to protest against the New Normal of curtailed civil liberties. Unable to control a contagious coronavirus, the government is controlling the people instead. But the backlash has begun. Read the full post in the Gateway Pundit.

Coronavirus could spread through AIR CON on buses, say Chinese scientists

(1/9/20) Coronavirus spreads through air conditioning units on buses, scientists have warned after two dozen cases were linked back to a single passenger in China. Twenty-four passengers on the bus in Zhejiang Province tested positive for the virus after a single hour-and-a-half journey on January 19. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Summer flu is now more deadly than Covid

(11/8/20) In the week ending 31 July, these are the Office for National Statistics tallies for cause of death (as measured by mentions on death certificates): influenza and pneumonia, 928; Covid-19, 193. This is nothing new: more people have been dying of flu than Covid-19 since the middle of June. Read the full post on The Spectator.

Coronavirus hospital admissions inflated at height of pandemic

(21/8/20) Hospital admissions for Covid-19 were over-reported at the peak of the pandemic, with patients who were taken in for other illnesses being included in outbreak statistics, it has emerged. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

The Covid doomsters are wrong: The UK is heading for recovery

(17/08/20) Despite a tide of negative reporting, the UK’s overall strategy is clear and is having success. Economic policy has been well judged – in contrast to the EU and USA – and can pave the way for radical measures to boost the economy’s long term potential growth rate. Read the full post on Briefings for Britain.

No lockdown, no masks, no hysteria... NO PROBLEM: Sweden didn't go into a corona coma - and it's living in glorious normality.

(22/8/20) In the first three months, Sweden’s economy shrank by approximately 9 per cent — less than half the downturn in our own economy. Our children stayed at home; theirs went to school. Our businesses closed; theirs stayed open. Our social and cultural life ground to a halt; theirs continued — with some sensible restrictions. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Covid will be present ‘FOREVER’ and UK population will need ‘repeated vaccinations’, warns SAGE scientist who says another national lockdown is 'possible'

(22/8/20) Professor Sir Mark Walport, who is a member of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said that, like flu, repeat inoculations will be required to control outbreaks - but Covid-19 will never be 'eradicated by vaccination' like smallpox was. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Lockdown ‘will mean fewer healthy years for many’

(17/8/20) The impact of the lockdown and the ensuing recession will cause a greater loss of quality of life than Covid-19 itself, according to a government report. Read the full post in The Times.

Was Sweden’s refusal to lockdown a gruesome mistake?

(14/8/20) With Denmark, like locked-down Spain and France, now witnessing a significant second wave of new infections, there is some reason to think that Swedish thinking on this might have been right. The jury is going to be out for a long time yet. Read the full post in The Spectator.

Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin slams UK government over its handling of the coronavirus crisis

(17/8/20) Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin today launched a blistering attack on the government over its handling of coronavirus, saying the UK should have followed the Swedish model. Martin - whose pub business has been hit hard by coronavirus - praised the Swedes and their lead scientists Johan Giesecke and Anders Tegnell for refusing to follow the crowd and enter lockdown. Read the full post in the Evening Standard.

Cancer patients to pay heavy price for checks lost to coronavirus lockdown

(16/08/20) Thousands of lives may be lost to cancer because 250,000 patients were not referred to hospital for urgent checks, says a report to be published this week. Family doctors made 339,242 urgent cancer referrals in England between April and June, down from 594,060 in the same period last year — a drop of 43%. Read the full post in the Sunday Times.

Herd immunity is still key in the fight against Covid-19

(8/8/20) Covid-19 is a terrible disease, and the primary goal should be to minimise deaths. How is this done? The key is age. The risk of Covid-19 mortality varies more than a thousandfold between the oldest and youngest members of society. The pandemic will not be over until we reach herd immunity, either through a vaccine or through natural infections. Read the full post in The Spectator.

Lockdown 'killed two people for every three that died of coronavirus'

(7/8/20) Lockdown killed two people for every three that died of the coronavirus, shocking new government figures have revealed. It is thought that as many as 16,000 people died because they didn't get medical care between March 23 and May 1. In the same period, 25,000 Britons died of the virus. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Sweden’s COVID-19 strategy is already paying off

Sweden didn’t go into full lockdown. There was plenty of social distancing, lots of lectures on washing your hands, and some restrictions on movement, but schools remained open and so did most businesses. It has done a better job of protecting output than any other major, developed country. And if a second wave does arrive in the fall or winter, the rest of the world should take note — and not rush straight back into lockdown no matter what the pressure to do so might be. Read the full post in the The Spectator.

Heart attack deaths rose 40% during lockdown as experts say No 10's 'Stay at Home' drive could have deterred thousands from getting medical help

(5/8/20) Analysis by University of Leeds experts found hospital admissions for heart attacks plummeted by 50 per cent in April and May in England. The data also suggested that deaths rose from the most mild form of heart attack, which is usually treatable if patients are given quick medical attention. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Coronavirus is nasty but there's more to life than imprisoning ourselves, says Professor

(2/8/20) In attempting to achieve zero-Covid, we may eradicate industry, commerce, trade, travel, arts, leisure, learning, sports, culture, liberty and privacy. We will imprison ourselves in our homes, too scared to venture far, to mix with others. We have never thought it necessary to do this with other infections. Could we live alongside the Covid-19 virus as we live with other viruses? Read the full post in the Daily Express.

Lockdown-free Sweden is seeing a 'very positive' downward trend in cases, country's coronavirus expert reveals as he dismisses wearing masks on public transport as 'pointless'

(29/7/20) Sweden is seeing a 'very positive' downward trend in coronavirus cases after its much-debated decision not to go into lockdown, its top epidemiologist says. Anders Tegnell said the number of seriously sick patients was 'close to zero' with the curve of new virus cases also bending downwards. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Facebook, Google/YouTube, Twitter censor viral video of doctors’ Capitol Hill Coronavirus Press Conference

(27/7/20) Facebook has removed a video posted by Breitbart News earlier today, which was the top-performing Facebook post in the world Monday afternoon, of a press conference in D.C. held by the group America’s Frontline Doctors and organized and sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots. The press conference featured Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and frontline doctors sharing their views and opinions on coronavirus and the medical response to the pandemic. Read the full post in the Breitbart.

Don’t fall for the virus ‘second wave’ narrative

(28/7/20) The second wave is here! In Catalonia in Spain and in a few states in the southern United States the doomsayers have found what they were looking for: proof that all this continued social distancing and now enforced mask-wearing is worth it. Read the full post in the Conservative Woman.

Lockdowns DON'T work, study claims

(23/7/20) Lockdowns have not had a big impact on coronavirus death rates around the world, scientists have claimed. A study has claimed the drastic measures don't even work. They found whether a country was locked down or not was 'not associated' with death rate. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Coronavirus: The Under-40s Dilemma

For Covid-19, the elderly have been overwhelmingly the worst hit. For the Spanish flu of 1918, the young working-age population were the ones severely affected. And in another coronavirus peculiarity: the fact is that the virus leads to virtually no fatalities of people below 45yrs. Read the full post on ZeroHedge.

Why did the UK’s coronavirus response go so wrong?

(17/7/20) The cost of Covid-19 in the UK, in 45,000 lives lost and considerably more if 'excess' deaths are included, in long term illness for tens of thousands, and in damage to our prosperity, is changing everything. But did the shock have to be so great? Could the government have done more to protect us? Read the full post in the The Spectator.

Anatomy of a fiasco: how Britain’s pandemic defences failed

(4/7/20) The UK’s plan for a disaster appeared to contain no plans for disasters. It immediately left politicians and officials floundering without a guide. A decade of public sector cuts, an incoherent lack of communication between local and national government, and a total lack of ministerial grip — perhaps not least because several key players themselves caught the virus — worsened the crisis. Read the full post in The Spectator.

Britain will opt out EU coronavirus vaccine scheme over fears Brussels would leave us at the 'back of the queue' when doling out doses

(9/7/20) The EU initially demanded that Britain drop its support for vaccine development in this country, which is under way at Oxford University and Imperial College. So our EU 'friends' are showing their true colours again! Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Deepening mystery of the Leicester lockdown charade

(10/7/20) Speculation continues about who or what was supposed to have caused the apparent rise in covid-19 cases in Leicester, mainly focusing on the ethnic minority communities of East Leicester. what exactly is the point of this lockdown, unless as the anonymous doctor suggests, it is a tool of control or some sort of experiment to disguise the truth that was never a need for lockdown in the first place? Read the full post in Conservative Woman.

Richard Littlejohn: If hordes of shoppers are free to mob Primark, why can't they go back to work?

(15/6/20) Here’s the £300billion quesion: If it’s safe for them to flock to shopping malls, what reason is there for preventing them earning a living? Effectively, at least half the country is on a six-month summer holiday, paid for by the taxpayer with money we haven’t got. Never mind the hundreds of billions of pounds it is costing up front, what about the lost tax revenues, too? Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

These people have no idea what they're doing: Ex-Supreme Court judge LORD JONATHAN SUMPTION gives a devastating verdict on our political leaders' handling of the crisis

(21/6/20) Does the Government have a policy for coronavirus? Indeed it does. In fact, it has several. One for each month of the year, all mutually inconsistent and none of them properly thought through. These people have no idea what they are doing... They are destroying our economy, our cultural life and our children’s education in a fit of absent-mindedness. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Excess deaths is the only way of discovering the true number of COVID deaths

(16/6/20) Epidemiologists have said that excess mortality - deaths from all causes that exceed the five-year average for the time of year - is the best way of determining the number who have died from a disease outbreak because it is internationally comparable. Read the full post in the Sky News.

No evidence for two-metre rule, Oxford experts say

(15/6/20) Professors Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson, from the University of Oxford, said there is little evidence to support the 2m restriction and called for an end to the "formalised rules". Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

Adding up the damage Britain’s Covid-19 policies have caused

(20/6/20) It is clearer every day that (despite the polls) the lockdown is causing more harm than good; Churchill would grit his teeth, rip the plaster off, and get the country back to school and back to work. Read the full post in The Critic.

Is Britain's Covid-19 death toll HALF of the 50,000 already recorded? Expert claims official tally may be too high...

(11/6/20) Britain's actual coronavirus death toll could be half of the 50,000 already recorded, according to one expert. Professor Karol Sikora, a former World Health Organization (WHO) cancer adviser, said doctors may put the virus on death certificates if there was 'any hint' it could have been the cause, without hard proof. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Unemployment could taken SEVEN YEARS to fall back to pre-coronavirus levels according to experts

(9/6/20) Leading economists told the Treasury Committee they predict 'really high unemployment for the foreseeable future' as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This is despite programmes like the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS), which has pumped billions of pounds into trying to prevent widespread laying off of staff. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

UK economy likely to suffer worst Covid-19 damage, says OECD

(10/6/20) Britain’s economy is likely to suffer the worst damage from the Covid-19 crisis of any country in the developed world, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Read the full post in The Guardian.

Dr John Lee: The way ‘Covid deaths’ are being counted is a national scandal

(30/5/20) We have no idea how many of the deaths attributed to Covid-19 really were due to the disease. And we have no idea how many of the excess deaths were really due to Covid-19 or to the effects of lockdown. Read the full post in The Spectator.

The director of Israel’s Health Ministry, on the COVID hysteria: ‘Nothing can justify this destruction of people’s lives’

(22/5/20) 'If you look at the 1950s, we had the Asian flu. In the 1960s, there was the Hong Kong flu. These were worse than this pandemic. Any reasonable expert – that is, anyone but Professor Ferguson from Imperial College who would have locked down everybody when we had swine flu – will tell you that lockdown cannot change the final number of infected people. It can only change the rate of infection.' Read the full post on Spiked Online.

Local Govt: Mass Muslim Street Prayers a ‘Serious Lockdown Breach’

(30/5/20) Authorities in Blackburn said they will “take action” over a gathering of Muslim men praying in the streets which constituted a “serious breach” of coronavirus lockdown measures. Read the full post on Breitbart.

'You are not going to die from COVID-19'

(25/5/20) Good news. If you are under 65, in reasonably good health and do not have a vitamin D deficiency, you have only a tiny chance of dying from COVID-19. And if you are younger than 34, your chances of dying from the virus are so small as to be almost statistically undetectable. Read the full post in the Washington Times.

Delingpole: The mainstream media are bought, paid for – and doomed!

(26/5/20) I believe the newspapers — and all those TV news channels suffering similar collapse — have brought about their own destruction. The mainstream media have failed in their most basic duty to report on the news. Instead, what they have served up increasingly is politically-driven advertorial and propaganda. Read the full post on Breitbart

Coronavirus could lead to millions of unintended pregnancies, according to UNFPA

(30/4/20) The COVID-19 lockdown could lead to millions of unintended pregnancies if it goes on for six months, states the UNFPA. The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency has looked into what the effects of disruption to contraceptive services will have on some of the most vulnerable people around the world. Read the full post on Forbes.com

Startling figures reveal extent of Government support for beleaguered economy

(27/5/20) The extent of government support for UK businesses is made clear in official figures released today (27 May), with lenders approving loans of £27.5 billion so far through the three main HMRC-backed funding schemes. Read the full post on Forbes.com

I'm an NHS doctor – and I've had enough of people clapping for me

Even those who liked it at the beginning are becoming wary of the creeping #clapping fascism, the competition to make the most obvious and noisiest display, the shaming of non-clappers. Read the full post in The Guardian.

The lockdown has done untold damage to this country

(20/5/20) In lockdown Britain, there’s one way to think and one way to behave. You must accept the lockdown or risk being demonised as a hateful individual and possibly being beaten by the police. You must mask your face, keep your distance, foreswear sex, go shopping, go home again. Question nothing. Eat your meals, get your exercise, watch the news, go to bed. And await deliverance by officialdom. Read the full post on Spiked Online.

Adding up the damage Britain’s Covid-19 policies have caused

95% of victims dying with covid-19 have serious pre-existing conditions. The average age of those dying of covid-19 in the UK is 80+yrs, and fully a third are residents of care homes. The damage to the economy is calculable, but dizzying: an extra £300 to 500 billion deficit will mean higher taxes, higher borrowing and therefore less investment. It is clearer every day that (despite the polls) the lockdown is causing more harm than good. Read the full post in The Critic.

Coronavirus: How scared should we be?

What is remarkable about coronavirus is that if we are infected, our chances of dying seems to mirror our chance of dying anyway over the next year, certainly once we pass the age of 20. Read the full post on BBC online.

Boris: take back control: Steve Baker MP

(24/5/20) The government needs competitive expert advice. It is obvious that if Oxford’s Professor Sunetra Gupta or Sweden’s Professor Johan Giesecke had determined the scientific advice of SAGE, measures to stop the virus would not have been so hard nor gone on so long. Read the full post in The Critic.

Lockdown-free Sweden's economy is surviving better than ours: Retail sales are UP amid pandemic and GDP took a much smaller hit than UK's

(21/5/20) The UK is suffering far graver economic damage than Sweden after Britain imposed a lockdown and the Scandinavian country did not. Britain's GDP has already seen a larger slump than Sweden's this year, with only one week of lockdown included in the figures so far. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

The CDC confirms remarkably low coronavirus death rate. Where is the media?

(22/5/20) The CDC just came out with a report that should be earth-shattering to the narrative of the political class, yet it will go into the thick pile of vital data and information about the virus that is not getting out to the public. For the first time, the CDC has attempted to offer a real estimate of the overall death rate for COVID-19, and under its most likely scenario, the number is 0.26%. Read the full post in the Conservative Review.

Oxford epidemiologist on COVID-19 lockdowns: 'We might have done better by doing nothing at all'

(21/5/20) A University of Oxford professor who produced a competing model to the apocalyptic Imperial College model said there's a chance that doing nothing would've been a more effective COVID-19 response than the various lockdowns implemented around the world. Read the full post in The Blaze.

Many US states have seen LOWER infection rates after ending lockdowns that are are now destroying millions of livelihoods worldwide, JP Morgan study claims

(22/5/20) A JP Morgan study suggests lockdown measures have not only resulted in economic devastation but could have also resulted in more COVID-19 deaths. Strict stay-at-home orders put in place in most states to stop the spread two months ago has so far seen nearly 39 million American lose their jobs. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Thousands of lives could have been saved if Britain imposed lockdown a WEEK earlier than March 23, claims government scientific adviser

(22/5/20) The shock study suggested enforcing strict rules to fight the coronavirus crisis on March 16 could have limited the number of deaths to 11,200. Prime Minister Boris Johnson sent the country into lockdown on March 23, 60 days ago, banning people from meeting up with others or making unnecessary trips. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Unicef warns lockdown could kill more than Covid-19 as model predicts 1.2 million child deaths

(13/5/20) 'Indiscriminate lockdowns' are an ineffective way to control Covid and could contribute to a 45 per cent rise in child mortality. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

We should be very wary of the R value - a rise in the Covid-19 infection rate actually means that lockdown is working

At the end of last week, you may have seen some rather scary news: the R value, the average number of people infected by each person who has Covid-19, had gone back up.But I want to suggest (as in fact Edmunds himself did) that this isn’t the bad news people seem to think; in fact it’s a product of our success, rather than of our failure. Here’s why. Read the full post on Unherd.

Coronavirus: Why Taiwan won't have a seat at the virus talks

(17/5/20) Taiwan has been applauded internationally for quickly and effectively stemming the spread of the virus, and says it should have a platform to share its experiences with the world. But China - which says Taiwan is part of its territory - has blocked Taiwan's attendance at the World Health Assembly since 2016. Read the full post on BBC online.

Imperial College model Britain used to justify lockdown a 'buggy mess', 'totally unreliable', experts claim

(17/5/20) The heralded model United Kingdom experts have largely used to guide their coronavirus policies is “totally unreliable,” according to experts. The criticisms follow a series of policy turnabouts, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to extend the national lockdown. Read the full post on Fox News.

Damning exposé of Welsh Government's fatally cack-handed response shows how Britain would have fared if the Opposition had been handling this crisis

(15/5/20) This is Wales, effectively a one-party state where a hollowed-out media, reliant on public-sector advertising, has for years failed to hold its government to account properly, and where an entrenched ruling elite are allowed to fail almost with impunity. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

No one is immune from the economic storm to come

(17/5/20) Our economy is in collapse. We have taken on debt at a rate not seen since 1945. A new generation is about to learn what mass unemployment feels like. How, in the circumstances, can we be so relaxed about extending the closures? Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

Hydroxychloroquine has about 90 percent chance of helping COVID-19 patients

(28/420) To date, the total number of reported patients treated with HCQ, with or without zinc and the widely used antibiotic azithromycin, is 2,333, writes AAPS, in observational data from China, France, South Korea, Algeria, and the U.S. Of these, 2,137 or 91.6 percent improved clinically. Read the full post on AAPs online.

Killing the elderly in care homes to save the NHS. Nice work, Boris!

(19/5/20) “Kill the Oldies. Save the NHS.” Perhaps Boris Johnson should think of adopting this for his next slogan because it’s what his government has done. In fact, it’s the second most scandalous aspect of his record so far in dealing with the Chinese coronavirus. Read the full post on Breitbart.

Rishi Sunak warns of 'severe recession'

(19/5/20) In speaking to the Economic Affairs Committee of the HoC, the Chancellor warned of a 'severe recession, the likes of which we haven't seen'. Read the full post on Guido Fawkes.

Lord Sumption: Set us free from lockdown, ministers, and stop covering your backs

(17/05/20) ‘How could [the govt’s] unpreparedness possibly justify depriving the entire UK population of its liberty, pushing us into the worst recession since the early 18th century, destroying millions of jobs and hundreds of thousands of businesses, piling up public and private debt on a crippling scale and undermining the education of our children? Read the full post in the The Sunday Times.

Second more deadly wave of coronavirus 'to hit Europe this winter'

(18/5/20) European countries should brace themselves for a deadly second wave of coronavirus infections because the pandemic is not over, the World Health Organisation’s top official in Europe has said. Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

Why countries SHOULD shut their borders: Scientists find air travel is main driver of COVID-19 outbreaks

(7/5/20) Air travel was the main driver behind the spread of coronavirus, according to a study which adds more weight to the theory that closing borders helps avert major crises. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Experts respond to government NHS app rebuttal

(6/5/20) Last night the Health Department came back to Guido about our Ten Problems With the New NHS App story with a list of rebuttals, which Guido is happy to publish in full. To discuss them properly, Guido compiled his own team of expert geeks who went through the Government’s points and responded to them one by one overnight. Read the full post on Guido Fawkes.

Coronavirus: Sajid Javid proposes different lockdown rules based on age to reopen economy

(9/5/20) Britain must turn its attention to the economy now it is through the peak of the coronavirus crisis, Sajid Javid has told Sky News. He urged Boris Johnson to now focus on economic recovery after questioning the Bank of England's prediction that the economy will bounce back from what it predicts will be the deepest recession in 300 years. Read the full post on Sky News.

Covid-19: four fifths of cases are asymptomatic, China figures indicate

(2/4/20) “There can be little doubt that covid-19 may be far more widely distributed than some may believe. Lockdown is going to bankrupt all of us and our descendants and is unlikely at this point to slow or halt viral circulation as the genie is out of the bottle. What the current situation boils down to is this: is economic meltdown a price worth paying to halt or delay what is already amongst us?” Read the full post in the British Medical Journal.

Imperial College’s Covid-19 coding is unintelligible

(8/5/20) It may be surprising to those outside the bubble, but it is no great secret within the academic community that the quality of most computer codes used is very poor. Prof. Neil Ferguson’s group at Imperial have now published their pandemic modelling code, and it is even by those standards exceptionally abysmal. Read the full post in The Critic.

18 million people entered the UK as the COVID-19 pandemic was raging

(7/5/20) 18 million people entered the UK in the three months before lockdown with hardly any of them undergoing health screenings or being put into quarantine, it has been revealed. This means that “tens of thousands of people were entering from coronavirus-affected countries,” including Italy and Spain and were then allowed to circulate amongst the general population. Read the full post on ZeroHedge.

UK’s coronavirus lockdown was ‘futile and hasn’t saved any lives’, claim leading experts

(7/5/20) Researchers say that closing all non-essential businesses and ordering people to stay at home did little to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases across Europe. But the scientists, from the University of East Anglia, found that closing schools and banning mass gatherings did work to slow the spread. Read the full post in The Sun.

Just 332 under-45s have died in UK from Corona. It's madness to keep them from work while our economy burns

(5/5/20) The figure could not be more cataclysmic. Just 4,321 new cars left the showrooms and took to Britain's roads in April, the lowest number since a shellshocked and impoverished Britain emerged from the fog of World War II in 1946. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption gives a withering critique of the Government's lockdown

(3/5/20) COVID-19 is not the greatest crisis in our history. It is not even the greatest public health crisis in our history. But the lockdown is without doubt the greatest interference with personal liberty in our history. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Boris Johnson must end the absurd, dystopian and tyrannical lockdown - Steve Baker MP

(3/5/20) On March 23, as we debated the Coronavirus Act, Boris Johnson told the nation in a statement, “From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction - you must stay at home.” Read the full post in the Daily Telegraph.

The science says it’s safe – we risk a generation on the scrap heap unless we send kids back to school now

(5/5/20) If children don’t return to school until September, the total amount of lost classroom time will grow to almost half a year. As it is, kids suffer from something researchers call “summer learning loss”. This describes all the things they forget during their summer holidays. If you increase that holiday from six weeks to six months, the impact on their futures will be catastrophic. Read the full post in the The Sun/a>.

Government releases the membership list of its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE)

(4/5/20) The Government has finally released the membership list of its Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). Read the full post in the Guido Fawkes.

It’s time to set ourselves free

(4/5/20) THE Government is knowingly and willingly inflicting widespread unemployment, poverty, illness and death on its own population, by force. Not a thought has been given to measuring the lockdown effect on the welfare of the 99.5 per cent of the nation’s population who were never likely to get seriously ill or die from Covid-19, and comparing that with the overall impact of the illness. Only the welfare of the NHS matters. Read the full post in the Conservative Woman.

DOUGLAS MURRAY: We need to make China pay for coronavirus…and we need to walk away

(2/5/20) Whatever the origins of this virus, we must show China that there is a cost to lying on this scale. A cost to causing the whole world to be locked in our homes. And a cost to starting this global pandemic — whether deliberately or not. Read the full post in the The Sun.

Britain's coronavirus crisis could result in 18,000 more people dying of cancer in the next year

(29/4/20) The coronavirus crisis in the UK could result in 18,000 more cancer deaths in the next year and a further 2million general NHS operations have also been axed, it was revealed today. Cancer treatment has been put on hold to make room for thousands of patients who are hospitalised with the killer virus. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

Coronavirus: Has Sweden got its science right?

(25/4/20) Sweden's strategy to keep large parts of society open is widely backed by the public. It has been devised by scientists and backed by government, and yet not all the country's virologists are convinced. Read the full post in the BBC online.

Coronavirus lockdown: Are the five tests being met?

(27/4/20) After Easter, when the government announced lockdown was to continue for another three weeks, it set out five tests that had to be met before restrictions were eased. Read the full post on BBC online.

EU ‘watered down’ report on Chinese disinformation about Covid-19

(27/4/20) The European Union’s foreign policy chief is facing questions over allegations that a report about Chinese disinformation over Covid-19 was watered down in response to pressure from Beijing. Read the full post in the The Guardian.

Coronavirus: Birmingham's Nightingale hospital 'has no patients'

(26/4/20) Birmingham's Nightingale hospital is "not being used at all" 10 days after it was opened by the Duke of Cambridge. Set up inside the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), the site is intended to take up to 500 coronavirus patients at a time from 23 Midlands hospitals. Read the full post on BBC online.

Could the lockdown have side-effects no one has considered?

(2/5/20) Rapid mutation could easily frustrate attempts to develop an effective vaccine, as the virus mutates away from the immunological controls stimulated in the body by any given vaccine. This is why it is unwise to rely on a vaccine to map a way out of lockdown. Also, large differences in the initial virulence of the virus could explain why different places saw such large apparent differences in the severity of their epidemics. Even if we put aside the substantial differences in management of Covid between countries (and even in different regions of the same country), it is possible that local epidemics showed a ‘founder effect’. That is, some people brought back to their homes a more severe version of the virus than others. Read the full post in the The Spectator.

Did coronavirus come from a Chinese lab?

(27/4/20) Animal passage research involves taking deadly viruses and enhancing their ability to spread quickly through a population—research that took place over the objections of hundreds of scientists, who have warned for years of the program's potential to cause a pandemic. Read the full post in the Newsweek.

China warns Australia: Drop coronavirus probe or pay an economic price

(27/2/20) The Australian government’s call for China to explain its bungled handling of the deadly coronavirus pandemic could spark a boycott by Chinese consumers, who may no longer travel and study in Australia or buy major exports including beef and wine. Read the full post in the Breitbart.

Lockdowns don’t work

(21/4/20) There’s no evidence of lockdowns working. If strict lockdowns actually saved lives, I would be all for them, even if they had large economic costs. But, put simply, the scientific and medical case for strict lockdowns is paper-thin. Read the full post in the Public Discourse.

The ghouls using Covid-19 to bash Brexit

(23/4/20) Every tragedy is an opportunity in disguise. At least, that’s how those most vehemently opposed to Britain leaving the EU seem to view coronavirus. To them, the global pandemic is just one more opportunity to battle against Brexit. Read the full post in the Spiked Online.

Are we mythologysing 'our NHS' to a dangerous degree?

(26/4/20) This welcome surge of cheerleading for the NHS has turned into worrying adulation – does the London Zoo really need a giant banner reading ‘NHS’ with enormous embellished red hearts on either side posted on the giraffe house? Thursday night claps have become frenetic displays that have led some to draw unflattering parallels with less pleasant regimes than ours. Read the full post in the Sunday Telegraph.

If Sweden succeeds, lockdowns will all have been for nothing

(25/4/20) When foreign commentators discuss Sweden’s light-touch response to Covid-19, they tend to adopt an affronted tone. Which is, on the surface, surprising. So far, many signs appear encouraging. The disease seems to be following the same basic trajectory in Sweden as elsewhere. Read the full post in Daily Telegraph.

EXPOSED: Cancer victims forgotten, vital operations cancelled and ghost town A&Es where patients fear to tread - a devastating exposé of how those WITHOUT coronavirus are shamefully left behind

(24/4/20) ‘A tragedy is unfolding because people are scared of catching the coronavirus if they set foot in a hospital,’ she explained. ‘They are staying at home even if they have serious illnesses and this will cost countless lives. Where are all those with heart attacks and strokes? No one is coming here.’ Read the full post on Briefings for Britain

'Just not true' we're too lazy for farm work, say frustrated UK applicants

(20/4/20) British applicants for jobs harvesting crops have said farmers have made it virtually impossible for them to secure the work despite a national appeal for a “land army” to save the UK’s fruit and vegetables. Read the full post in The Guardian.

After coronavirus, will China be welcome in the ranks of the civilised world?

22/4/20) Coronavirus will change the world. When the globalist pin-up Emmanuel Macron is saying France’s supply chains need to become more ‘French’, you know there will be a seismic shift. We all need to understand that the Chinese Government is no friend of Britain’s. When this nightmare is over, the civilised world should ask if China is welcome in our ranks. I suspect the answer from Trump and others will be a resounding no. Read the full post in Daily Telegraph.

Why is Sweden still faring BETTER in coronavirus crisis than Britain - despite having NO lockdown?

(23/4/20) Sweden is piling up coronavirus cases more slowly than Britain - without the need for an economically crippling lockdown. Britain's three-day average has been consistently higher than Sweden's since March 28, five days after Boris Johnson ordered the lockdown. Read the full post in Daily Mail.

WHO special envoy for Covid-19 David Nabarro: We must learn to live with Covid-19

(21/4/20) "We have all got to learn to live with this virus, to do our business with this virus in our presence, to have social relations with this virus in our presence and not to be continuously having to be in lockdown because of the widespread infections that can occur". Read the full post on BBC online.

Lockdown risks ruining economy, say senior Tories

(23/4/20) Senior Tory MPs warned the government yesterday that its “safety-first” approach to coronavirus was putting tens of thousands of businesses at risk of going under. Growing numbers of Conservative backbenchers are becoming nervous that the impact of the lockdown on the economy could be devastating. Read the full post in The Times.

Sweden resisted a lockdown, and its capital Stockholm is expected to reach ‘herd immunity’ in weeks

(22/4/20) Unlike its neighbors, Sweden did not impose a lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak. The strategy — aimed at building a broad-base of immunity while protecting at-risk groups like the elderly — has proved controversial. But Sweden’s chief epidemiologist has said “herd immunity” could be reached in Stockholm within weeks. Read the full post on cnbc.com.

People coming into the UK not asked to self-isolate as the virus is already so prevalent, Matt Hancock tells MPs

(17/4/20) People arriving in the UK from abroad are not being asked to self-isolate because coronavirus is already so prevalent, Matt Hancock has told MPs. The Health Secretary told the Health & Social Care Committee that the decisions was similar to many other countries but is being kept under review. Read the full post on MSN.com.

‘There’s no direct evidence that the lockdowns are working’

(17/4/20) Is there any evidence the lockdown is doing any good at all? Dr John A Lee, a recently retired professor of pathology and NHS consultant pathologist, has repeatedly called for a critical and dispassionate examination of the evidence in relation to Covid-19, raising questions about the government and its advisers’ interpretation of the data. Read the full post on Spiked.

Coronavirus peak is past and now lockdown worse than virus, expert insists

(21/4/20) The pandemic has peaked and draconian measures are now unnecessary, a leading scientist claimed yesterday. Carl Heneghan, director of the centre for evidence-based medicine at Oxford University, said that the impact of the lockdown was “going to outweigh the damaging effect of coronavirus”. Read the full post in The Times.

The Crash of the $8.5 Billion Global Flower Trade

(17/4/20) A post showing how a global trade in flowers has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. But it could be any other global industry. Read the full post in Bloomberg.

Nicola Sturgeon inserting independence agenda in virus response

(20/4/20) Let’s not kid ourselves. At every turn the First Minister has sought to insert her own personal priority of Scottish independence into her response to the coronavirus pandemic. Read the full post in The Scotsman.

China must pay for its Covid crimes

(16/4/20) China knows it is in a strategic battle with the West; it is time we realised this basic fact, too. Using their comparative advantage of getting through the virus first, Beijing is pursuing its geostrategic interests via ‘mask diplomacy’, soft power, trying to change the basic narrative by offering hard-hit countries medical supplies, both as a showy humanitarian gesture and as a sign of their system’s supposed superiority. Leaving aside that these supplies must be paid for and some are defective, the whole exercise feels like an arsonist expecting gratitude for providing their victim with a watering can. Read the full post on CapX.

Is Covid-19 more widespread – and less deadly – than we thought?

(20/4/20) Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital performed antibody tests on 200 random members of the public they found on the streets of Chelsea, near Boston. They discovered that 32 per cent of them had antibodies suggesting they had already been infected with the virus. Read the full post in The Spectator.

U.K. paid $20 million for new Coronavirus tests. They didn’t work.

(17/4/20) Found to be insufficiently accurate by a laboratory at Oxford University, half a million of the tests are now gathering dust in storage. Another 1.5 million bought at a similar price from other sources have also gone unused. The fiasco has left embarrassed British officials scrambling to get back at least some of the money. Read the full post on msn.com.

Was this catastrophic lockdown ever needed?

(15/4/20) The decision has been taken to keep Britain in lockdown for another three weeks as the Cabinet continues to debate whether it should be eased. This is potentially disastrous – especially if it turns out that the lockdown has been of limited value in containing the virus. Read the full post in Conservative Woman.

Coronavirus: Public must risk prosecution to challenge lockdown fines, says Justice Secretary

People must risk criminal prosecution in order to challenge fines for alleged lockdown breaches, the justice secretary has said.Read the full post in The Independent.

Sweden says controversial virus strategy proving effective

(19/4/20) Sweden’s unusual approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic is starting to yield results, according to the country’s top epidemiologist. Anders Tegnell, the architect behind Sweden’s relatively relaxed response to Covid-19, told local media the latest figures on infection rates and fatalities indicate the situation is starting to stabilize. Read the full post in Bloomberg.

Top Swedish Epidemiologist slams all Western lockdowns as wrong

(18/4/20) Watch the interview of this top Swedish epidemiologist (35mins) on the #COVID-19 crisis which is damning of all Western lockdowns. If you don't have time, just read the brief notes summarising the interview below the video pane. Read the full post in Guido Fawkes.

Lockdown protests gather momentum around the world

It isn’t just America that is seeing an anti-lockdown protest movement, as this weekend civilised Germany saw protests erupt against the government’s quarantine policies. Elsewhere in the world, tensions are rising. Read the full post in Guido Fawkes.

Coronavirus: Cancer treatment cutbacks could lead to 60,000 premature deaths, oncologist warns

(16/4/20) Vital cancer care has been stopped in various regions with a postcode lottery developing whether a patient's chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery is delayed or even cancelled by their NHS trust. Some patients are being told chemotherapy is no longer an option because it would leave their immune system weakened. Read the full post in i online.

This government is being run by scientists

(16/4/20) What we learned on Thursday is that, at least while the Prime Minister is convalescing, the boffins of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies are - in effect - running the country. This is not government by our elected representatives as we conventionally know it. Read the full post in ITV online.

How Britain can avoid a second peak of Covid-19 - and restart the economy

(20/4/20) The challenge for the Prime Minister is how to tread this middle path between lockdown and normalcy; how to make the number his epidemiologists give him work for Britain PLC. Read the full post in the Sunday Telegraph.

Germany newspaper Bild sends £130bn bill to China

(20/4/20) Germany has sparked outrage in China after a major newspaper put together a £130bn invoice that Beijing "owes" Berlin following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Germany has followed France, the UK and the US in directing its coronavirus anger at China, where the virus originated. Read the full post in the Daily Express.

Six questions that Neil Ferguson should be asked

(16/4/20) Steerpike in The Spectator reveals that Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, does not have a good track record in making accurate predictions about pandemics. Here are six questions that should be asked of him. Read the full post in The Spectator.

Blindsided: how coronavirus felled the global economy in 100 days

(9/4/20) A singular event has economists asking the same questions as everyone else: how far is there to fall – and can we ever get back? Now the chances of a V-shaped recession look less likely. Even from the small amounts of data available it is obvious economies are in the middle of a collapse unprecedented in modern times. Read the full post in The Guardian.

China must not cash in on coronavirus after destroying lives around the globe

(13/4/20) Covid-19 risks opening the door to Beijing’s dominance over world trade and commerce, at unimaginable cost to our freedoms and democracy. Rattled world leaders, from Australia to Germany, are drafting emergency laws to prevent China mopping up crown jewels in pharmaceuticals, minerals, artificial intelligence and robot technology. Read the full post in The Sun.

Coronavirus: A visual guide to the economic impact

(3/4/20) The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in China, has infected more than 550,000 people. Its spread has left businesses around the world counting costs. Here is a selection of maps and charts to help you understand the economic impact of the virus so far. Read the full post on BBC news online.

Still Confused About Corona

(3/4/20) I know I’m no scientist or doctor, and I’m starting to doubt myself, because I can find few people who share my scepticism about the ‘Corona pandemic’, the World Health Organisation (WHO), politicians in general, and the MSM (mainstream media), but here are some of the facts and figures that have been getting my attention. Read the full post in African Unauthorised.

Has the government overreacted to the Coronavirus Crisis?

(31/3/20) Like a growing number of people, I’m beginning to suspect the Government has overreacted to the coronavirus crisis. I’m not talking about the cost to our liberty, although that’s worrying, but the economic cost. Read the full post in The Critic.

Lord Sumption warns against police overstepping limits

(31/3/20) Draconian police crackdowns on drivers and walkers during the Covid-19 outbreak are disgraceful, a former Supreme Court judge said yesterday. Lord Sumption said that the UK was in danger of becoming a “police state” if other chiefs mirrored the recent approach taken in Derbyshire as he warned of forces becoming a “disciplined hierarchy” operating at the command of ministers. Read the full post in The Times/a>.

China Concealed Extent of Virus Outbreak, U.S. Intelligence Says

(1/4/20) China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials. Read the full post on Bloomberg.

China has hit back hard at accusations it has lied about the scale of the coronavirus outbreak, as foreign politicians call for a “reckoning”

(3/4/20) China hit back hard today at accusations it has lied about the scale of the coronavirus outbreak, rubbishing warnings from foreign politicians that it must face a “reckoning” when the pandemic is over. The catalyst for the diplomatic sniping was a classified report by US intelligence agencies, which concluded China was providing the world with inaccurate numbers of confirmed cases and deaths within its borders. Read the full post on news.com.au.

China reopens markets selling bats, pangolins after COVID-19 effect dips

(31/3/20) China's "wet markets" have reopened - selling bats, pangolins and dogs for human consumption. The markets are under watchful eyes of guards, who ensure no one is able to take pictures of the blood-soaked floors, slaughtering of dogs and rabbits, and scared animals cramped in cages. The move is dangerous as scientists believe that the Covid-19 causing coronavirus first lurked in a bat in China and hopped to another animal, before getting passed on to humans. Read the full post on NDTV.com.

Faulty virus tests cloud China’s European outreach over Covid-19

(1/4/20) The 1.2 million Chinese antibody tests that the Slovak government bought from local middlemen for 15 million euros ($16 million) are inaccurate and unable to detect Covid-19 in its early stages, according to Prime Minister Igor Matovic, who only took office last month. “We have a ton and no use for them,” he said. They should “just be thrown straight into the Danube.” Read the full post in Bloomberg.

Delay Brexit deadline amid coronavirus, say MEPs

(30/3/20) Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged by a group of MEPs to delay his Brexit deadline as countries around the world battle the coronavirus. The European Parliament’s largest group of MEPs said the pandemic puts pressure on the chance of securing a trade deal by the planned date. Read the full post on BBC online.

Coronavirus means that we must now treat China like a hostile state

(1/4/20) When the Government says that there needs to be a “reckoning” with China once the coronavirus emergency is over, its focus must be much broader than simply examining Beijing’s culpability in creating the pandemic. Read the full post in The Telegraph.

Coronavirus: 20 per cent of small businesses could collapse within a month

(2/4/20) Almost a fifth of all the UK’s small businesses will collapse in the next month, despite the government’s current support measures, it is feared. According to accountancy group the Corporate Finance Network, the current coronavirus lockdown measures mean that 18 per cent of all SMEs will have to close within the next four weeks, putting around 4m people out of work. Read the full post in Conservative Woman.

If the virus is so bad, why are European death rates down?

(4/4/20) It will be some time before we fully understand the true nature of this coronavirus crisis. However even at this stage a picture is beginning to emerge based on some initial hard data. It is a picture that is quite different to the one routinely presented in the mainstream media, where a fixation on the reported case and death statistics (which understate cases and overstate deaths) gives a misleading impression of the real situation. Read the full post on Conservative Woman.

China concealed extent of virus outbreak, U.S. Intelligence says

(1/4/20) China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country, under-reporting both total cases and deaths it’s suffered from the disease, the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a classified report to the White House, according to three U.S. officials. Read the full post in Bloomberg.

Faulty virus tests cloud China’s European outreach over Covid-19

(1/4/20) As the coronavirus landed in Italy and began to sweep across the continent, European leaders turned to China for testing kits to quickly identify infection hot spots. Some are already regretting it. Read the full post in Bloomberg.

Coronavirus: How to understand the death toll

(1/4/20) AT LAST A BALANCED ARTICLE ON THE THREAT TO LIFE FROM THE CORONAVIRUS.

The death figures being reported daily are hospital cases where a person dies with the coronavirus infection in their body. It could be the major cause, a contributory factor or simply present when they are dying of something else. And most people who die with coronavirus have an underlying health condition, such as heart disease or diabetes, that may be more of a factor in their death. Read the full post in BBC online.

Coronavirus timeline: How the world will change over the next 18 months

(25/3/20) Countries – and people – are resilient. Coronavirus will bring about a revolution in the way that Britain lives and works, but many of the long-term shifts it ushers in would likely have occurred anyway, even if not quite this quickly. The test for our society is how we look after those who lose out once society reorders itself. Read the full post in Esquire.

Curtailment of our freedom must not go on indefinitely

(29/3/20) The UK is enduring restrictions of liberty that three weeks ago were unthinkable. A rapid return to normal life is vital. Read the full post in The Telegraph.

How to understand – and report – figures for ‘Covid deaths’

Every day, now, we are seeing figures for ‘Covid deaths’. These numbers are often expressed on graphs showing an exponential rise. But care must be taken when reading (and reporting) these figures. Read the full post in The Spectator.

Delingpole: #CovidNazis – UK Police force clamps down on rural dog walkers

(26/3/20) The coronavirus pandemic is turning sections of the populace into tinpot fascists. I call them #CovidNazis. Today I’ve been running a Twitter competition to see who can find the most egregious example. Read the full post in Breitbart London.

Chinese-backed company's mission to source Australian medical supplies

According to a company newsletter, the Greenland Group sourced 3 million protective masks, 700,000 hazmat suits and 500,000 pairs of protective gloves from "Australia, Canada, Turkey and other countries." Read the full post in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Video: How wildlife trade is linked to coronavirus and why the disease first appeared in China.

(6/3/20) Both SARS and COVID-19 are in the "coronavirus" family, and both appear to have emerged from animals in China's notorious wildlife markets. Experts had long predicted that these markets, known to be potential sources of disease, would enable another outbreak. The markets, and the wildlife trade that supports them, are the underlying problem of these pandemics; until China solves that problem, more are likely to emerge. View the 9 minute video on YouTube.

Pandemic Panic: Can Governments Protect Jobs and Markets?

(24/3/20) Mauro Guillen, professor of international management at Wharton and the creator of an online course on the coronavirus crisis that the school plans to launch on March 25, believes that the challenge on the economic front is whether policy makers can find a way to prevent firms from laying off workers and if they can help calm panicky markets. Read the full post in Knowledge @ Wharton.

COVID-19 and the NHS—“a national scandal”

(28/3/20) “When this is all over, the NHS England board should resign in their entirety.” So wrote one National Health Service (NHS) health worker last weekend. The scale of anger and frustration is unprecedented, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the cause. Read the full post in The Lancet.

How deadly is the coronavirus? It’s still far from clear

(28/3/20) Governments must remember that rushed science is almost always bad science. We have decided on policies of extraordinary magnitude without concrete evidence of excess harm already occurring, and without proper scrutiny of the science used to justify them. Read the full post in The Spectator.

Can globalism survive COVID-19?

As COVID-19 sweeps the world, it is toward the nation-state model that many countries are racing in the hopes of salvaging their population and their economies. But the salesmen of globalism have decided that the way out of this particular crisis is yet more globalism. Read the full post on Liberty Nation.

Is the Coronavirus as deadly as they say?

(24/3/20) If it’s true that the novel coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines, then the extraordinary measures being carried out in cities and states around the country are surely justified. But there’s little evidence to confirm that premise—and projections of the death toll could plausibly be orders of magnitude too high. Read the full post in Wall Street Journal.

Abolish the World Health Organization - the WHO has become another pointless organization pandering to the world’s worst actors

(24/3/20) The direction in which the WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has steered the WHO, and his unwillingness to diverge from Beijing’s public pronouncements, should trouble the world. Read the full post in The US Spectator.

Downing Street says China faces a 'reckoning' over the coronavirus and risks becoming a 'pariah state' as Boris Johnson faces pressure to scrap the Huawei deal

(28/3/20) Boris Johnson’s allies turned on China over the coronavirus crisis yesterday, as Britain’s death toll from the epidemic reached four figures. Ministers and senior Downing Street officials said the Communist state now faces a ‘reckoning’ over its handling of the outbreak and risks becoming a ‘pariah state’. Read the full post in Daily Mail.

'Confused, dangerous, flippant': rest of world pans PM's handling of coronavirus

(24/3/20) The international verdict on Boris Johnson and his zigzag handling of the pandemic has been damning, with responses ranging from bafflement and disbelief to anger. Many consider the prime minister’s initial laissez-faire approach to the crisis, followed by contradictory signals about his government’s strategy, as an inexplicable bout of British exceptionalism. Read the full post in The Guardian.

Coronavirus is a one-off opportunity for the EU – can they take it?

(23/3/20) For a long time, Europe has been a relatively dwindling force, economically sclerotic, politically divided and strategically (with the exception of France) an afterthought in terms of having full spectrum militaries, who can do everything from warfighting to peacekeeping. All of these power realties contrast with the two superpowers of the era, the US and China. The coronavirus upends the game, thrusting all the cards high into the air. Read the full post on CapX.

Coronavirus: The unintended consequences of the UK lockdown and why millions of people could already be infected

(20/3/20) Documents studied by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) showed that social-distancing "lockdown" measures to keep people apart may need to be in place for most of the year to control the spread, and millions may already be infected, according to worst-case modelling. Read the full post in The Telegraph.

COVID-19 Is the Chinese Government’s Curse upon the World

(17/3/20) If the Chinese government spent as much time working on educating its people and regulating dangerous markets as it does on secrecy and propaganda efforts, maybe it wouldn’t have to worry as much about diseases being named after it. Read the full post on National Review.

Nigel Farage: The coronavirus is yet another reason to rethink the West's relationship with China

(18/3/20) The West appears to be facing its worst crisis since 1939 because of a new global pandemic. Thousands of people have died. More, we are told, will die. And the economic shock to the system has been profound. Yet one country, China, seems to be above criticism. As China begins to expel American journalists, I am left wondering: who are the villains of this piece? Read the full post on Newsweek.

French border guards impound trucks filled with 130,000 face masks bound for Britain for NHS workers battling coronavirus

(21/3/20) French border guards impounded trucks filled with 130,000 face masks bound for the UK leading to hurried negotiations between the British and French governments. The masks were meant for brave NHS workers battling coronavirus across the country. Read the full post in the Daily Mail.

The Other Chinese Virus

(18/3/20) There is a long history of attaching geographic names to diseases. If the present instances are unfair to the Chinese people, who have suffered massively from the outbreak, a better name would be “Xi’s disease.” Read the full post on National Review.

Coronavirus is leading Great Britain towards economic Armageddon

(18/3/20) The war against the coronavirus is primarily medical, but also increasingly economic. The UK is now in the midst of its worst recession in living memory: the collapse in output has been sharper than during the credit crunch, the ERM crisis, the recession of 1982 or the turmoil of the Seventies. Read the full post on The Telegraph.

Timeline: The early days of China's coronavirus outbreak and cover-up

(10/03/20) One EU country – Germany – now represents 25% of the total EU27 economy. In this simple but unusual Brexit Facts4EU.Org report, we look at the absolute basics of the UK and German economies. In particular we consider the question: Why has Germany got so rich from the EU, but the UK has not? Read the full post on Axios.com.

Novel Coronavirus Information Center

Welcome to Elsevier's Novel Coronavirus Information Center. Here you will find expert, curated information for the research and health community on Novel Coronavirus (also referred to as COVID-19 and its temporary title 2019-nCoV). All resources are free to access and include guidelines for clinicians and patients. Read the full post on Elsevier.com.

Coronavirus: How does COVID-19 attack the human body?

(2/3/20) The most common signs that you may be infected with coronavirus are breathing problems, and that is because its first port of call is the lungs. Just like the flu, coronaviruses are respiratory diseases and can spread when an infected patient coughs or sneezes, spraying small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth, which may contain the virus. Read the full post on Sky News.

Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab

(22/2/20) The Chinese government hasn't actually admitted that the coronavirus now devastating large swaths of China had escaped from one of the country’s bioresearch labs. But evidence has emerged suggesting that this is exactly what happened. Read the full post on New York Daily Post.

Chinese laboratory that first shared coronavirus genome with world ordered to close for ‘rectification’, hindering its Covid-19 research

(28/2/20) The Shanghai laboratory where researchers published the world’s first genome sequence of the deadly coronavirus that causes Covid-19 has been shut down.
The laboratory at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre was ordered to close for “rectification” on January 12, a day after Professor Zhang Yongzhen’s team published the genome sequence on open platforms. Read the full post on South China Morning Post.

How does the new coronavirus compare with the flu?

(19/2/20) The new coronavirus outbreak has made headlines in recent weeks, but there's another viral epidemic hitting countries around the world: flu season. But how do these viruses compare, and which one is really more worrisome? Read the full post on LiveScience.com.