Yay! We’re ‘covid safe’ – aren’t we?

Remember that EU Summit? The one where Ms vdLeyen was going to punish perfidious Albion? That seems to have fizzled out somewhat albeit the broadsheets’ Brussels correspondents have produced some intriguing articles on that issue. There are also all those ‘Covid Rules’ and warnings which didn’t interest our broadsheets at all but which the DM has lovingly collected, perhaps because from Monday onwards we’ll be sort-of free, with shops being allowed to stay open until 10pm … oh, and there’ll be a heatwave …! Don’t forget though that the clocks go forward tomorrow and that we’ll all be robbed of one hour’s sleep time.

Before we delve into the Brussels Vaccine Swamp, let’s look at the DM covid articles. They made me think that ‘losing the plot’ is the characteristic not just of the covid politburo and SAGE but also of our elected representatives who don’t represent us. Even the Police isn’t exempt. Starting with them, we read that they won’t arrest those who are going to leave the country on holidays, they’ll only hand out that £5,000 fine. It’s the Border Farce who should do the arresting, a national Police head honcho told the DM (link). Stop giggling, you irreverent lot!

But don’t worry – our covid government is on the case. To keep us safe, they plan to institute that famous ‘traffic light’ scheme, applied to countries across the globe, with different test regimes for all who enter the UK:

“Countries will be ranked from green, amber and red according to which destination is deemed to be the riskiest. People arriving from green countries will require a 15-minute lateral flow test. Arriving from an Amber nation requires negative PCR tests before travel, on arrival, and some form of quarantine. Hotel quarantine will be required for anyone returning from a red list country. However, it is not clear how ministers will decide whether a country is red, amber or green.” (link)

There’s no such list so far, and the covid list makers in government don’t even know which criteria to use. We can be certain of one thing though: anyone travelling will be caught out when the country they’re in suddenly gets their traffic-light label switched and they’ll be stuck in a quarantine hotel on return. That’ll make all of us peasants planning to go on a summer holiday really confident and feeling safe!

Then there are the ongoing vaccination plans. SAGE deems that the jabs already given mightn’t be as effective against the SA and Brazilian variants – by a whole 30%, they say! Oh – that SA strain “can cause up to a 10-fold decrease in the effectiveness of antibodies in vaccinated or previously infected people”, although so far they don’t really know (link). 

That’s reassuring, innit like, but never mind – another group found that the Pfizer jab was seven times more effective – seven times! Amazing! – when given to those who had survived covid compared with those who just got the double-jab or with those covid survivors who got one jab only (link). This surely is breath-taking science, especially when we read that: “The study was done on 237 health workers in Sheffield, Oxford, Liverpool, Newcastle and Birmingham. Most volunteers were female.” (link). Extrapolating from that small number is even more breathtaking than describing the mood of the nation by extrapolating from the various polls run by all and sundry.

Then there’s a report on ‘rebel tories’ rebelling against that pub passport. Where Steve Baker is right he’s right, having told Times Radio that:

“The scheme that they intend, I understand, is that people would have to have two lateral flow tests about three days apart, and then they could apply to the government for 24 hours of freedom. I think if people just mull over how that would actually work, how it would actually feel. That to have one day where you could go and enjoy yourself, you had to have two tests over three days, and during that period, you’d be under the full weight of whatever the restrictions were. ‘That is a pretty despicable way to live. It’s a way to live from which I recoil in absolute horror, applying to the government for 24 hours of freedom after a couple of tests.’ (link)

Too right – but apparently this is ‘only’ a government drive to get the youth to take up their jabs because not being allowed into pubs ‘might focus their minds’. Oh dear! And then Desmond Swayne, telling the DM that primary legislation would be needed for such pub passport, hints that getting the youth to take up the jab might be better done by ‘offering them a bung’ (link). Gawdalmighty! The new medical condition ‘CDS’ or ’Covid Derangement Syndrome’ is everywhere! Politicians seem to be especially prone to suffer from it, even those who at first glance look to be immune. 

And then there’s Lord Sumption who pondered the covid rules in a podcast. He warned that these rules might be in force for as long as food rationing was in force during and after WWII: a whole ten years, remarking that:

“it was ‘politically unrealistic’ to expect the Government to backtrack on social controls anytime soon because the public had become so used to them. [He] suggested Britons had actually started to take comfort in restrictions because they made them feel safe.” (link)

If that is indeed the case, then the ‘Operation Save us From Covid’ has been successful. Sadly though the patient, the Nation, has died due to utter lack of freedom and civil liberties.

As for the EU … well, they have got ‘a loaded pistol on the table’, according to a report in the DT (paywalled link). This allows them to trigger the export ban any time they like even though they won’t because of repercussions such as an export stop of vaccine ingredients made in the UK. One thing has become abundantly clear: the instigator of this despicable performance is France. France’s and the EU’s aim is to stop all AZ vaccine exports until they have caught up with our vaccination rate (paywalled link). How twisted the French attitude is becomes abundantly clear when you read this:

“France’s foreign minister claimed yesterday that because of supply shortages, Britain would struggle to source second doses for those who have already had their first. In provocative comments Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed that the UK programme had been over-optimistic about supplies. He suggested on France Info radio that the EU should not help Britain with a problem of its own making. “The UK is proud to have vaccinated many people with the first dose, but they will have a problem with the second dose,” he said. “We can’t accept any sort of blackmail. The UK is pushing for the first jab, knowing there will be problems with the second one. Europe does not have to pay the price for this policy.” (link, paywalled)

Words fail me – again! As antidote I suggest you read this report in the DM, about the situation in Paris. It’s a beautiful description of the abyss between the French government’s covid attitude and the situation on the ground. In ye olden days kings and emperors went to war to divert their people’s attention from the dire situation inside their borders. Macron and his henchmen are doing the same, instigating a virtual war against the UK about covid vaccines.

The Remain Brussels correspondents slipped two significant items of info into their reports.  One is that ‘secret talks’ have been ongoing between our government and the EU. Allegedly some sort of deal will be reached later today. Here’s the first item:

“Senior diplomatic sources said the secret talks, which began last Saturday conducted by the former EU ambassador Sir Tim Barrow, had helped restore trust despite the public rhetoric. Two sources said the decision to use Barrow rather than Lord Frost, the minister responsible for EU relations, had been key to unlocking a deal. “For us it was very significant that Johnson did not use Frost but instead went through the Foreign Office,” said one EU diplomat.” (link, paywalled)

Perhaps we should disregard all outcries coming from Brussels as ‘just public rhetoric’, no? But BJ stabbing Frosty in the back – we recall that Brussels was and is outraged by his elevation to Brexit Minister – how typically BJ! Note also that we’re back in feudal times where kings and emperors blustered and postured while secret talks went on behind doors closed to the plebs and even the media. “Secret Cabinet Politics”, this was called – and condemned by what were then proper progressives.

Next, that other important item sneaked into a report. We’ve all noticed how there has been a continuous, concerted smear campaign against the AZ vaccine, a smear campaign  spreading from the EU to the USA. In an article about AstraZeneca and ‘anonymous criticism’ of their chairman, M Soriot, The Times dropped in this little stinker:

“[Soriot] has been credited with transforming the company’s drug pipeline, particularly through a series of new cancer medicines, since he joined in 2012 and rejected a £69 billion takeover from Pfizer two years later.” (link, paywalled)

Ah – Pfizer …now where have I heard that name recently … Stunning, isn’t it, how all these reigning heads of state are jeopardising the health of their nations about which they care so much (or so they tell us) are engaging in the vaccine wars driven solely by Big Pharma for reasons of business revenge. 

I feel so safe now and will believe everything BJ, SAGE and the EU tell me about vaccines – not!

KBO!

Photo by retrokatz