All is well – our top ministers have got their priorities right: clapping for ‘Our NHS’ yesterday evening …
It’s another three weeks of Lockdown. It’s another morning where the reports in ‘Our MSM’ should come with a health warning. So take care when reading today’s column: first remove all mugs and other hard objects from your vicinity – you might feel inclined to throw them against the wall or, God forbid, your PC.
First though the Brexit news. Frost and Barnier had a video conference yesterday and the dates for more of those have been set, see this article in facts4eu. While government has again confirmed that there won’t be an extension (link), EU diplomats and ‘sources’ in Brussels, slowly coming out of their self-isolation, don’t believe it.
They’ve spoken to Joe Barnes, The Express’ Brussels correspondent, who reports that these ‘sources’ assume there will be an extension and that they’re already thinking of how to utilise the Danegeld we’d have to pay them (link). There’s also speculation that the surge of £ Sterling against the €uro ‘might bring Brussels to heel’ (link) – well, this comes either under ‘many a slip’ and ‘not distributing bears’ pelts’, or under ‘whistling in the dark’. Still it’s worth keeping an eye on this development.
And now – to the continuation of the Lockdown and the staggering ineptitude of the Cabinet. Firstly, they’ve come up with “Five Points” which need to be fulfilled before we’re allowed out:
“They are: ensuring that the NHS can cope across Britain; a sustained and consistent fall in the daily death rate; evidence that the rate of infection is decreasing to “manageable levels”; enough testing and protective equipment to meet demand; and no risk of a second peak large enough to overwhelm the NHS.” (link, paywalled)
And this, to my disgust, is how That Lot came to make that ‘decision’: they actually didn’t dare to do it! Yesterday we were told by those SAGE Government scientists that they only ‘advise’, that the politicians decide. Well, so they did, in a way which looks to me as if they’re trying to get out of taking any responsibility, with their eyes firmly on the future. Failure, damage to our nation: it wasn’t them, they only ‘followed the Science’.
See this extraordinary report in the DT – who are those anonymous Cabinet ministers feeding this information to the author?
“First up was the 9.15am Covid-19 ‘war committee’ where the cabinet sub group took the first steps towards extending the unprecedented measures until May 7. Ministers later admitted that “everyone knew that the decision had already been made,” by the time the full Cabinet met at 11.” (link)
Well – why meet at all, even by video, if that was the case? Are ministers now reduced to nodding donkeys in the face of “Science!”? More details:
“That meeting lasted more than an hour – longer than expected, with the Foreign Secretary joined on the call by Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific advisor. […] According to one cabinet minister, there was ‘no dissent whatsoever’ over the decision to continue with the shutdown put in place by Boris Johnson on March 23. “The consensus was we are going in the right direction but it would be economically much worse in the long run if we try to step out too early and suffer a second wave,” they added. “We are getting to that moment but it’s not a dot on a graph. We were all of the view that we are not there yet.” Another cabinet insider said: “They’re very much still being led by the science.” (link)
The economy? Nah – irrelevant in the face of “Science!”. That, dear friends, is why we are in this mess: those ministers are apparently so scientifically illiterate that they simply accept what they’re being told – provided those scientists are ‘government-accredited’. Other scientists who have dared to question the numbers, the modelling method employed, the simple fact that the government, ahem: ‘Our NHS’ in the form of PHE cannot deliver – that seems to be utterly irrelevant. It’s not just a shambles, as the Express writes (link), it is a disgrace.
Unsurprisingly, the critical point is “Teh Test” – but PHE is still not able to provide them. It never will be, thanks to its structure of stalinist centralisation. We’ve pointed out yesterday that Germany was so successful in testing because they use local labs (link), not one centralised one. Here, be it tests, be it protective clothing: as long as it comes from private enterprise it wasn’t and won’t be used by PHE. Btw – here’s the link to the official organisational scheme of who all ‘leads’ PHE. Look at all those directors – professors all … so close to the lives of us peasants …!
There’s a report in The Times about a pilot test scheme by amazon, sending out tests which can be done at home, with the first gentle criticism of ‘Our Sacred Cow’ in a broadsheet:
“Home coronavirus swab tests delivered by Amazon are being tested as a way out of lockdown amid finger-pointing over who is to blame for unused testing capacity. Almost half of Britain’s capacity is going to waste, with ministers risking a row with the health service by pinning responsibility on a “lack of demand” among frontline workers.” (link, paywalled)
Waste? Blaming ‘Our NHS’? Well I never! More finger-pointing – and note that there also seems to be some backstabbing going on between Whitehall and ‘Our NHS’:
“The government says that there is capacity to do 35,000 a day but only 18,665 tests were carried out in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday. […] The move [to start the pilot scheme] comes amid frustration over why the capacity is not being fully used. Whitehall officials believe that all NHS staff who are self-isolating could be checked today if they came forward. They have criticised health service delays in putting doctors and nurses forward, insisting that tests are available for those who need them, and hinting at a reluctance among some to be checked and return to the front line.” (link, paywalled)
Next, remember that ‘doctors’ leaders’ are not the frontline doctors – and remember that it’s the NHS management which has given out guidelines as to who should be tested:
“However, doctors’ leaders insist that demand outstrips supply, blaming a failure to make swabs convenient and available to staff, including by using drive-through centres that ill workers may find difficult to get to. They have also said that there is confusion about eligibility for testing.” (link, paywalled)
Oh dear … why do we need this ‘he said – she said’ when journalists should do their research and dig out all those numbers? And to confuse the numbers-issue even further, there’s a non-paywalled report about a tracker-app (not the one from government) which shows, allegedly, that the numbers of infected Brits might have dropped dramatically, by 70% (link) – but since there’s no testing …
Somehow I can’t get rid of the impression that government, Whitehall and “Our Sacred Cow” would rather keep the Lockdown going for as long as possible than decide to lift it, not even partially, to save face. And if you still think ‘Our NHS’, i.e. the managers and PHE, are pure as the driven snow, read this non-paywalled report in the DT – the headline says it all:
“Exclusive: NHS volunteer army of 750,000 has been given fewer than 20,000 tasks, data reveals NHS Volunteer Responder scheme has helped a maximum of around 3,500 people every day since its launch, figures have revealed” (link)
No wonder that ‘we’ need to fly in Romanians – from a Romanian CV-19 hotspot even -to help pick fruit and veg (paywalled link): Government simply doesn’t know what to do with the generous volunteers, some of whom would surely not mind doing some work on farms, even if it’s’ for a week only.
It’s also incomprehensible why government is keeping us under house arrest while at the same time allowing people from other, ‘hotspot’ countries, to fly in. The inanity of the government’s response is actually painful:
“Criticism has mounted over the failure to impose health checks or a compulsory period in quarantine for people arriving [from CV-19 hotspots] at UK airports. […] The government has insisted that routine health screening for all passengers on arrival would do nothing to halt the spread of Covid-19 because of the scale of the outbreak in the UK. The incubation period of up to two weeks for infected people also means that testing often fails to identify sufferers.” (link, paywalled)
Yes – you read that right: we don’t need to check those travellers for CV-19 infections because we’re already so infected in the UK, and testing would fail anyway. That’s why we need more tests – for us, not for them! It’s like trying to stop a bathtub from overflowing by removing water by hand, with mugs, while the tap merrily keeps filling the tub up. I’m just speechless!
Keep these notes but let your anger cool down (valerian tea should help). Never forget how our government, ‘Our Sacred Cow’ and ‘Our MSM’ are destroying our Nation. They themselves seem to have become infected by the fear and hysteria ‘Our MSM’ have been propagating for weeks. Oddly enough it looks as if we peasants are immune to that fear. So keep a cool head, and
KBO!
Photo by UK Prime Minister 
It must be THE CUT OF THEIR JIBS!
I was looking at the picture at the head of this article and thinking you two look a bit wet behind the ears and your mien does not express any sort of inner strength or gravitas, in fact I would say I thought them to be colourless.
Yes, I might just recognise them if I chanced to meet them on the street or on public transport., but I feel any conversation even if attempted wouldn’t,t get beyond a highly technical exposition of the weather.
In particular I have watched Raab explaining quite clearly and with measured enunciationa at the lectern, the latest information on the Virus deaths and measures to be taken, but to me, it seems to be like a trio of talking heads reading from scripts prepared by nameless civil servants, sorry in the present case serpents in fact seemingly a system of apparatchiks
There is no animation, there is nothing in the manner which might inspire confidence that he or his kind aren’t presenting some sort of charade to cover their absolute failure to get to grips with the briefs that their exalted positions should command.
I do hope it is in the absence of Boris that they are endeavouring to “hold the fort”, but they singularly and collectively fail to inspire. I do know Maggie got loads of things wrong, but she never gave the impression of ducking nasty issues.
I haven’t quite made up my mind about Boris in this respect, but the usual cut of his jib can be quite enterprising and inspiring.If Boris is found to have feet of clay then gawd ‘Eli us.
CERTAIN THINGS OF A FACTUAL NATURE ARE EMERGING ! ….. The Government could have insisted that items of PPE were held in large stock, due to ‘If it can happen, then it probably will’. – Please note that ‘Government’ covers both main Parties ! – Both Parties are guilty of having the NHS as a Political item, and PM Johnson could do worse than to end this foolishness ! ….. From the provision of new hospitals, plus equipment through to non perishable stock of PPE, should be indented for as items by clinicians. – Passed to the hospital manager to be costed. – Total cost then needs checking by Area Health Administration. – The Chancellor then receives this financial bomb ! – The PM then has to have the nerve to order his Chancellor to place that expenditure, without discounting and adjusting it, as the first item of expenditure to the Nation, which might need items like tax rates increasing, or high priced cancellation of HS2 and similar, and certainly over seas aid cancelled ! ….. The result would be an NHS fit for the job, with sensible hours worked by those lovely people that are employed in the NHS. – Then after a couple of years to let the politicos get their breath back, training to be given, at the Nation’s expense for Nurses and Doctors. – This massive change to be debated in the Commons, so that we can all see who the old style anti social MPs are, and ideally just before a General Election !
Evening Standard reports front page ministers under pressure to embrace masks to prevent risk of easing lockdown. Oh yes the escape route. We all wear old rags round our ‘eads to save the Government’s face. Shout and bang drums too perhaps.
Ludicrous. I’d rather not go out than wear a pointless mask when I have zero fear of the virus and give the old, sick and babies a wide berth as it is. The rest have nothing to worry about except workers at risk of a high viral load like shop workers and of course health workers who understandably might want to wear masks and gloves.
I’m so glad to read your article today Viv. Your exposition has been, as always, on the nose! In the last three weeks I have written three letters to my MP (whom I have just discovered is a Health Minister now!!) containing many of the accusations that you have so eloquently made about the ineptitude of all those in government who have got us into this mess! Every time I hear about the PHE or the ‘Professors” who have been so consistently wrong in their previous outings on behalf of governments, I feel a blood rush to the head and see a red mist in front of the eyes! I expect my blood pressure also rises but I do not take the machine out to check. I am sure I would note like the result!
Needless to say, I have received no reply at all from my MP. I guess she cannot defend the indefensible, so she says nothing at all!
I think I will send her a copy of your article. That should do it! KBO!
Ah! the 5 point test,………. sounds to me like “the 5 card trick”, I never knew what that was, but a certain fella called Brown sure perfected it when we didn`t join the Euro and when his erstwhile bosom pal Blair was screaming for it..
This present 5 point test smacks to me of “collusion”, between the Government and opposition, where on earth did they get this wheeze from?,
yeah the same source they agreed the £10k home expenses `deal` with, to ensure the titular co-operation in imposing the Lock Down that they are now so vociferously crying Crocodile Tears over (that`s if it`s possible so to do!) and yelling for a cessation plan, forgetting or ignoring the fact that they are supposedly at one with Government Action and thus share full responsibility and should be partners in devising such a plan.
Delicious innit propose a set of 5 principles of which at least one at any fixed moment will be incapable of fulfilment and there is the excuse for permanent “emergency” government and full control of the whole population. and onward to Global Government and Global control.
nb I seem to remember the Saintly John Major had a conversation with a German Chancellor of the time, that went something like this “Shon, Shon, you do not know how to contwole your population”
I also remember that the controls/solution recently imposed on Cyprus and Greece would become the default method of dealing with recalcitrant members of the EU.
“… it would be economically much worse in the long run if we try to step out too early and suffer a second wave …” ( and it’d be very much worse for those with advance knowledge that’ve been doing a little bit of short-selling on the side if we did [step out early].)
“They’re very much still being led by the science.” (You mean like global ‘warming’?)
I disagree.
The goal should be to identify and remove infectious individuals from the general population. It is my contention that an initial lockdown (quarantine) period should be long enough (3 or 4 ) weeks to ensure that those that are infected can be identified, relocated and treated. In theory this would leave the whole population virus free. In practice there would be some instances where the lock down wasn’t effective and re-infection occurred.
1. Establish a reliable method of testing.
2. Carry out tests on representative samples of the general population in several areas to identify those uninfected, infected, and immune. Establish the proportions of those infected that didn’t get sick at all, became mildly ill, had a temperature, needed hospitalisation and those that died. (This won’t fix the problem, but will make the problem much easier to fix.)
3. With the timing worked out based on how long it takes for someone to progress from initial infection to immune, plan to lift lockdowns (quarantines) and reimpose them.
I think a flexible policy of limited duration quarantines that could be tailored to suit areas with differing levels of infection is required and need not necessarily be on a national basis. Perfection is both unnecessary and unattainable. We need an approach that is practical and economically sustainable.
Incoming passengers (air, rail, road, boat etc.) should be locked down (quarantined) for 3 or 4 weeks (as long as is necessary) before being allowed to enter the general population.
There are currently several large cruise ships standing idle in Tilbury right now.
The internet is awash with learned medics and scientists (the real ones not the model-jockeys and agenda-pushers) explaining lucidly why (scientifically not politically – we know why politically and media-wise) the headline statistics are divorced from the truth, and giving a far less panic-laden scenario.
The clapping, but so far not the plague, came to my village last night. A small cohort, spaced out of course, strolling down the centre of the deserted road banging drums and shaking rattles and clapping. Weird or what? I trust that was their one exercise for the day! I remembered later what it reminded me of: that moment the travelling circus comes to town in that brilliant film “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” Quite appropriate really.
I’m incandescent with rage, more so than usual today. I got a very sanctimonious email from our residents association saying the police here have been issuing fines like lollipops for the dreadful crime of sunbathing( in wide open places) or walking (in more or less deserted roads). She said sanctimoniously , words to the effect of who do these sunbathers think they are and that they deserve the fine !Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Why do the police persistently try to exceed their authority? Someone said they are told to on Common Purpose courses. Anyone know if that’s true?
Its likely but you judge from what they do. they come across as humanoids deliberately kicking us about My theory is they’re softening us up, getting us used to the tyranny to come under the EU legal and criminal justice system.
Yes, Mike and worse.
Vivian I love the graphic, our dear leaders all dutifully clapping like performing seals!
Mmmm. Looks strangely familiar. I wonder where the idea came from?
Sick man of Europe screams the Mail this morning along with the ‘grim’ warning from of all places Austria as apparently Britain’s infection rate is frightening e.u leaders. Obviously not been or seen what happened in Italy then. This advice from the police in the Telegraph though takes some beating, ” Drive to the countryside but only if the walk takes longer than the driving time’ or even better ‘ move to a friends address for a few days for a cooling off period after arguments at home’, better make sure you leave your C.V bugs at your home though the advice it continues ” Buy tools to fix a fence ‘ but you can’t buy paint and brushes to redecorate a kitchen’ . Issued by the ‘College of policing’ and endorsed by the National Police Chiefs Council. Incidentally today marks the 36th anniversary of the day that W.P.C Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed outside the Libyan Embassy, just a reminder that we once had a police forces that worked for and with the community and one that you could be proud of.
We never had a police force to be proud of it was just a media scam to help the PTB maintain belief in themselves.
None of this bull**** from the ‘College of Policing’ (private company for mad academics and redundant police brass to extract incomes from) is law but the MSM presents it as such.
Let’s throw another cammittee at it. Or, happy thought. A democratically elected CV19 commissioner. who can instantly form another committee to deflect blame
Job done.
Another alternative.
Turn it all over to the Defence forces. Soldiers would get it done. As long as there was no MOD interference or lawyerly/ bureaucratic opportunity to screw it up.