CoronaVirus? The real issue for the Nation is: cats or dogs …!

BoJo has it – Matt Hancock has it – Prince Charles has it: yes, the CoronaVirus doesn’t recognise any borders, doesn’t distinguish between VIPs and the common herd. According to one report, it was at a meeting in the Cabinet Office where either Johnson infected Hancock or the other way round. Professor Chris Whitty is now also self-isolating. Important as this is, there are other news which are deeply worrying – and I don’t mean the spread of the virus or the rise of the death rate.

But firstly, let’s look at who else in the Cabinet may or may not have become infected. It is of some importance since these are the people who are governing us. The Times reports somewhat sniffily:

“The infection of three leading figures will lead to concerns that the virus is spreading in Downing Street. It will also prompt questions about whether those in government are following the social distancing guidelines that they are issuing to the nation. All three men attended the cabinet in person on Tuesday and The Times has learnt that until this week the government was still holding emergency Cobra meetings on coronavirus in person without any social distancing. Those meetings included Mr Johnson, Mr Hancock and Professor Whitty as well as Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary. Mr Johnson and Mr Hancock were seen crowding round Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, after prime minister’s questions on Wednesday in a clear breach of social distancing guidelines.” (link, paywalled)

Oh dear! So ‘Our Rulers’ were not observing their own rules? However, The Times omitted tor report on the status of Sir Mark Sedwill. We read in the DT:

“Three days earlier, on Tuesday morning Mr Johnson had chaired his first Cabinet meeting via videolink with nearly all of his Cabinet ministers dialling in remotely. Only Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary and Prof Chris Whitty, the Government’s chief medical adviser, were with him in the Cabinet room at 10 Downing Street. […] That left Sir Mark as the only other person to attend that Cabinet meeting who had not fallen victim to the virus. Aides said yesterday he was not showing any symptoms.” (link)

 Are they really all ‘fighting the illness from their sickbeds’ (link), and will all ‘work from home’, using modern technology? Mind you, I don’t think for a moment that they and their self-isolating families will have to contend with the atrocious conditions the rest of us have to contend with, namely trying to access online grocery store sites.

There’s a quite amazing piece of Brexit ‘news’ though which shows to me that Brussels is trying very hard to utilise the CV-19 Pandemic to keep us In. Joe Barnes reports from Brussels:

“The next round of trade negotiations is scheduled for April 6. But with restrictive measures imposed on both London and Brussels, a decision is yet to be made whether they will go ahead. Last night a European source revealed it had been “impossible” to hold talks via video link because they couldn’t agree on an exact format. “It has proved impossible to have video conference, but we are still trying to make a way to work,” they said.” (link)

This is rather staggering. Brussels is perfectly capable of holding video conferences of the EU leaders – one took place on Tuesday where the Mediterranean countries demanded much more dosh from the Northern ones, in support of their plight fighting the CoronaVirus. The previous Brexit meeting planned for March 18th was already cancelled because video conferencing was deemed impossible. One might have thought that in the meantime, or indeed for the next round planned for April 6th, the EU might have been capable of establishing such video links. This is, after all, Brussels, not Moldova (no disrespect for that small country!) we’re talking about.

While the virus case numbers rise, while the death rates rise (see e.g. here), the issues driving our MSM are still ‘Teh Tests’ and how we live under Lockdown. The Professional Medical bodies are still working out a guideline on how to triage properly (paywalled link), on who ought to get precious places on ventilators: oldies v young, or sick v more sick. Well, forgive them – this was unforeseeable, and now they’re all working their socks off in our hospital. Surely, since they have to make these life-and-death decisions case by case, nobody would criticise the doctors, would they! Except bureaucrats … 

I won’t bore you with articles by the next lot of experts coming to the fore, telling us how to cope with life in isolation the way they do. I must however warn you of the increasing danger threatening us all should we venture out. Firstly, there’s some uncertainty as to what is and isn’t permitted:

“Sara Glen, deputy chief constable of Hampshire, admitted that police were effectively powerless to stop people from exercising more than once a day. She said: “There is nothing in the legislation that talks about once-a-day exercise. It talks about exercise only with a household member.” (link, paywalled)

It’s as if a horde of local tinpot dictators have been waiting for just such an occasion where they can insist on ‘rules’ to be obeyed to the letter – according to their interpretation.

Secondly though, when I read that an ex-Police chief said the police should be allowed to fire baton rounds at those who ‘break the curfew laws’ or taser them (link), I felt sick. Is this Robert Peel’s ‘police’ – or is it a semi-military force where a post-code lottery determines if you’ll be shot at or not, where we, the people, must obey and not use our common sense? None of us want to fall victim to the virus, after all.

And how far will this dictatorship go? We’ve seen that dissent is already being brandmarked, where people asking questions are being labelled ‘Covid-Deniers’. Many of us have been aware of this groundswell, manufactured, surprise surprise, in ‘our MSM’. Read Brendan O’Neill’s article about this here. Free Speech, anyone? Not while we’re being conditioned to fear ‘Teh Virus’!

Just as in the decades-long Climate Change debate, we’re told to ‘accept the science’ without question and never mind that this “CV-19 science” is transforming our lives, taking us into very ugly directions. There is praise for the draconian Chinese methods because the ‘Lockdown is saving lives’ (link, paywalled), according to the Scientists whose model was the basis for that Lockdown. We’re told that we ‘must learn from China’, that this method ‘works’ (link, paywalled).

We know that China has been stepping up it’s propaganda effort to obscure their culpability. News that the kits they sent as generous gift to various EU countries doesn’t seem working – because the kits don’t work:

“Despite China’s rush to provide EU countries with aid, reports have already emerged from both Spain and the Czech Republic that the hundreds of thousands of coronavirus tests Beijing has delivered are not fit for purpose. That will do little to help China’s already battered image.” (paywalled link)

How much better for China that ‘our MSM’ praise their dictatorial, hi-tech control methods! I wonder where all the human rights activists are! surely some of them should write about this. now?

The Times editorial also gives a nod to the less draconian methods used in S. Korea or Japan but points out that their success might be due to modern smartphone technology (link, paywalled). Who needs police drones and baton rounds when we can all be made to have a smartphone with the right apps, to show that we’re ‘ok’! 

We however, according to Michael Gove, can look forward to being issued with a chit – after testing, natch (link). Tests ‘will be rolled out’: testing for the virus, testing for antibodies – the main thing is that there will be tests! Soon! Don’t ask if these tests wouldn’t need to be repeated in case one does get infected after having tested negative.

Is the modern hi-tech solution to fight the virus to issue all of us with a smartphone, with a daily test app and a link to government? Wouldn’t we need G5 and Huawei to support this mass use of telephony? What happened to developing a vaccine, to developing ‘a cure’? No, testing is the key, and don’t ask inconvenient questions!

I leave you with something stunning – some graphs based on actual data. This information, these graphs, come from the EU. I’m grateful to the readers who sent me the link. Frankly, I couldn’t believe my eyes – see for yourselves here. Just look at that! The important data points are at the end of the graphs. Why then are we and the rest of the world trashing our economies? There truly are dark days ahead!

And finally: the true ‘cultural divide’ in Britain is the one between dogs and cats, or rather the lovers of them (link, paywalled). That is stupendous, a subject worthy of debate, especially now, because talking about the virus 24/7 is not conducive to good health. Since you ask – there’s no news on the whereabouts of Dilyn …

As always and now more than ever: take good care but be extra vigilant and above all – question everything! Enjoy your garden, enjoy your hobbies, play with your cats and dogs and

KBO!