BJ’s Christmas Present to the Nation: “A Deal”
It’s Christmas Eve in the covid year of 2020 and our dearly beloved government has already presented the Nation with one lovely gift. Another one is in the process of being wrapped up. The weather, not in the control of government, Whitehall and the MSM, has handed another prezzie to the people in South Wales. Bleak? Oh yes it is!
Spare a thought this morning for people in South Wales who have to clear flood waters from their homes (link) – something they surely could have done without. There will be sunshine on Christmas Day but temperatures will fall below freezing, making for interesting driving conditions (link). Oh, sorry: everybody is stuck in their homes anyway, thanks to the Welsh tier 4, so why worry about driving conditions?
Speaking of ‘tier 4’ – more areas of England will enjoy yon tier from Boxing Day onwards:
“A new highly infectious strain of coronavirus has been found in Britain as ministers announced that six million more people would be moved into the toughest restrictions on Boxing Day. […] From Boxing Day the number of people living under Tier 4 restrictions will rise from 18 million to 24 million, covering 43 per cent of the country.” (link, paywalled)
This strain is the mutation found in South Africa. It doesn’t matter that we’ve known for some time that this mutation exists, it doesn’t matter that the extension of tier 4 areas has been talked about in government covid circles and promptly leaked since the beginning of the week. It’s another very welcome pretext for this government to do as the SAGEs tell them to.
Toby Young in this morning’s LockdownSceptics Newsletter pithily asks: “Is Hancock going to conjure up a new strain every time he wants to tighten the lockdown ratchet?” (link). Well, it has worked once already, hasn’t it, so why wouldn’t he!
I wonder if it has dawned on our SAGEs, never mind Hancock, that this latest mutation might already have spread across the country, just as the ‘UK Covid’ has. After all, the number of infected is very worrying, isn’t it:
“Two cases of the new strain have been found in Britain: one in London, the other in the northwest of England. They were picked up by random sampling.” (link, paywalled)
One thing strikes me as odd: there’s not half the international panic over that strain than there was over the UK one. Reports on travel bans for South Africans were swamped by those about theban on UK travellers. However, “we” are the fastest out of the covid panic starting blocks:
“British citizens, visa holders and permanent residents can enter the country from South Africa but must self-isolate for ten days along with the rest of their household, even if their family did not travel with them. The quarantine measures are so severe they will require a change in the law.” (link, paywalled)
I’ve not found anything describing these ‘so severe quarantine measures’ but noted that ‘a change in the law’ is required. When will Parliament scrutinise this ‘law’? As far as I remember, they were given ‘the right’ to do so, but since they’re in recess and since they’ll only be recalled for a debate and vote on the pending Brexit Treaty, isn’t this another example of the covid government creating precedents and ‘facts on the ground’ which our peacocks can only nod through afterwards?
Meanwhile, ‘Our Sacred Cow’ is trying to wriggle out of blame by the customary moans. See – it’s not their fault that the Nightingale hospital in London is not just standing empty but is now without equipment. Never mind that this situation has been reported on and talked about since the end of the 1st lockdown:
“The Royal College of Emergency medicine said: “With regard to the Nightingale Hospitals, the challenge is safely staffing them. A bed requires nurses, doctors, pharmacists, anaesthetists in some cases, porters, cleaners. The health service already faces staff shortages in many hospitals and some staff are also self-isolating or off sick due to Covid-19.” (paywalled link)
You don’t say! And it’s a totally unprecedented state of affairs, totally unforeseeable, especially since nobody talked about a 2nd wave, ever! Rounding up the latest covid panic, a certain Mr Blair proposed yesterday that government ought to use the mRNA vaccines it already has by giving just one jab rather than the two prescribed. Some scientists think this is a ridiculous proposal, one of them an associate professor of cellular microbiology at Reading Uni, saying that:
“[…] the plan was “ridiculous”, adding there was no evidence that giving just one dose would confer benefits [and] that there was still no evidence that even with full dosing either the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine would prevent virus transmission. He added: “It sends out a really, really bad message that politicians can manipulate the approval of drugs. The responsibility of doses is down to the regulator. How does Tony Blair think he’s qualified to comment on this?” (paywalled link)
Well said, that professor! Nevertheless, former government scientists happily jumped over this Blair sticklet, one telling the BBC that he would do so because the new covid mutants are ‘very concerning’ and vaccinating more people ‘would save lives’, and Whitehall is already ‘in talks’ about this (paywalled link). Isn’t it good to see that the former PM Blair even now has the ear of Whitehall!
It’s also good to see that ‘science’ can be disregarded at will when a politician craves the limelight. Nota bene: ‘science’ is only permitted to be used as argument in support of official ‘health’ politics. Otherwise it can and must be disregarded. In his Diary entry this morning (link) the indefatigable Sir John Redwood makes some pertinent points, using the ‘mask or no mask’ policy as example. Do read the whole thing!
And so to BJ’s Christmas gift to the Nation: “A Deal”. We were told to expect an announcement last evening. It was delayed because “lawyers and negotiators attempted to translate the final compromises, particularly on fishing, into binding legal text.” (link, paywalled). This apparently happy conclusion to the haggling was due to BJ and Ms vdLeyen being in constant phone contact.
There are leaks galore about what’s in ‘the deal’ – but given the Remain bias of most of the Brussels correspondents and certain MSM, I think it’s more profitable to wait until we can unwrap the whole package. There’s surely no need yet for us to bounce off the walls in anger when only suppositions are to be had. Why waste our outrage prematurely! It’s also better to just shrug our shoulders when we read that:
“The race to claim victory had already begun, with one French official claiming Britain had made “huge concessions” in the past 48 hours, “mostly on fish”.” (paywalled link)
They would claim that, wouldn’t they. ‘Tis just the usual EU gossip. While this deal has to be ‘provisionally ratified’ by EU member states – the EU Parliament cannot be recalled – our own peacocks will convene after Christmas. They’ll have to wade through ‘more than 1,000 pages’ of text, but:
“Last night Tory Brexiteers said they were preparing to convene a “star chamber” of legal experts to analyse the details before deciding which way to vote. However, with a Tory majority of 80 and Labour expected to abstain or back the deal, it is likely to pass easily.” (link, paywalled)
Will it matter, will they matter? The whole thing will be whipped through in one day, Royal Assent included, by or on the 31st of December. Wasn’t something supposed to happen on that day?
This is the Christmas Present BJ is giving to the Nation: 1,000 plus pages of “A Deal”. None of us will be able to congregate on New Year’s Eve, to celebrate or object, because BJ and our government have so thoughtfully placed most of us under house arrest.
Meanwhile, let’s wrap up our own Christmas presents for tomorrow, never mind that our own Christmas celebrations have been cancelled by that same thoughtful government. Under the twin shadows of more lockdowns and “A BRINO Deal” let our own celebrations nevertheless be joyful – in defiance of this government, in contempt of the covid misery they’ve wreaked upon us.
Merry Christmas and KBO!
Why is Professor pants down still in government advisory panels. Hes a randy proven failure for who there is a place in Coventry
Many thanks to you Viv for theHerculean task of presenting us with the latest Brexit and Covid turns of events during 2020.
Don’t know how I could have kept up with developments without your invaluable input.
My very best wishes to you for Christmas.
And what’s more, Farage seems to have caved in as well. He seemed quite accepting of this Brexit deal in that video of his. He caved in last year and withdrew 317 Brexit Party candidates including our candidate here in Kent, to give the Conservatives free reign although some of them were ardent and committed Remainers including the MP in my constituency. This will no doubt save him the bother of resurrecting The Brexit Party and rebranding it. Don’t worry, the Heritage Party will do the business instead.
INTEGRITY I think is something VERY IMPORTANT and very nearly impossible to find amongst TPTB nowadays.
It is something to do with HONESTY and adherence to MORAL PRINCIPLES as I understand it.
P.S. So Chamberlain’s piece of paper is 1000 pages long this time.
At least 1,000 pages!
At the time of posting this they’re still haggling – ver mackerel, it is said …
…or Red Herrings?
So, how are things in Sweden?
Oh! None to clever. There’s a surprise.
The UK has had several lockdowns but the figures are still worse. How do you explain that?
Harryagain……..yet another pointless posting.
Don’t worry Harry the lockdown will kill the rest of the Swedes the virus spared (all the ones under 80.)
I am delighted to hear that the BacktoNormal campaign, https://my-sgf.co.uk, has taken off big time with the help of Lockdown Sceptics.
There’s still much to do though. I was talking to a neighbour who I had thought was more clued up than
most ; she said 600 died recently from new mutant strain. I said where did you hear that. She said on the BBC but its definitely true since ITV said it too!!!!! I tried to point out that they’re the worst liars on the planet and to suggest alternative sources such as Lockdown Sceptics, and that I will only believe it if I can do a Freedom of Information request asking which hospitals, how old were patients, co morbidities etc. She couldnt even talk about it rationally but got hostile. Gimme strength.
I have neighbours and friends just like that and some are ardent remainers and hate the Tories but believe everything they say. No comment I give up.
As soon as the Tories took charge of Brexit , I fully expected a “Turnstile Brexit” . out of one door and back in through another.
How predictable. A last minute deal. Never saw that coming down the pike. It’ll no doubt be costing us a lot more than €39m.
The Free Trade Agreement? 2000 pages of legally binding text with god only knows what devilery in the details. Plus the Surrender Treaty already signed. Looks like 4 and half years after the referendum and we are essentially going to see no significant change in major government policy. No borders. Record immigration. Record unemployment. Falling wages. UN goals to adhere to and pay for. Privatised public services. Third world levels of poverty. Medical passports. Political Policing. An impoverished population divided and ruled by a super rich political class. Plus a continuing cycle of emergency threats from which only more government can save us. Rant over. Happy christmas everyone.
MWT…Well you’re right there. It was probably all agreed between Johnson and Barnier on the 1st February when we came out of the political bit of the EU, that between them they would make a mountain of a molehill, have lots of theatrics, lots of fancy dinners to be consumed along the way and gallons of wine tipped down their throats all at the taxpayers expense, the teddies and the like thrown out of the pram just for effect, because all politicians like a bit of pantomine, none more so than our supposed prime minister, and none of them really feel accountable to their electorates and treat us with total contempt, and the whole sorry saga is a big ruddy game to them. Well I’ve got news for Johnson ‘you’re finished, and don’t forget to close the door behind you’.
I thought it was 39 billion, which is 39 billion too much.
Time for a review of what we now know, with the consequent conclusion that the Emperor really does have no clothes.
* Children, in the words of Prof. Woolhouse (infectious disease epidemiologist at Edinburgh University), are minimally involved in the epidemiology of this virus. They are vanishingly unlikely to end up in hospital or to die from it, and there is no know case of a child passing the virus to a teacher.
* Adults who have it but who are asymptomatic are not infectious.
* The PCR test is wildly inaccurate for a plethora of reasons, hugely exaggerating the number of cases.
* And being a case is not life threatening for most people anyway; ergo, using case numbers is the wrong basis for action.
* The NHS exists to save us – not vice versa; ergo, scaring their normal clientele away costs lives.
* The number of deaths during the first wave was fewer than one tenth of those predicted by agenda-driven modellers, but exactly as predicted by three Nobel scientists whose expert opinion was ignored. Yet those same failed modellers are still in the driving seat.
* Deaths during the so-called second wave are comparable with the numbers and pattern from winter 2017/18; so no Covid wave at all.
* As an aside, what scientist with integrity ignores challenges to their hypotheses? That is the fundamental of scientific method.
* All viruses mutate. They do become more infectious but generally become less deadly (killing your host is not desirable) so a mutation could actually be beneficial in creating immunity. ‘Fierce mutant’ is pejorative; but calling it a natural variant is far less scary.
* Those under 60, by and large the working population, with no aggravating underlying medical conditions nor obesity, if infected, will suffer either little reaction, mild discomfort or a nasty few days (much the situation with flu over which we do not close down the country.)
* Over 60s may be harder hit but the vast majority will recover.
* Even nine out of ten over 80s will recover. Given their life expectancy is 82, and the average age for a Covid death is 83.4, that’s good going (and I speak as an oldie myself.)
* Scientific fact that the masks worn by most people are ineffective against viruses, was ignored. Even now, after months of compulsory wearing of masks has demonstrably made no dent in the figures whatsoever, they are still compulsory. Ironically the comfort they apparently afford people make them less likely to distance and therefore more likely to spread the virus.
* New sufferers treated with Hydroxychloroquine (a drug widely used for 65years) plus Zinc or with Ivermectin, recover quickly. There need be no new deaths at all. It ought to be criminal to ignore a proven life-saving treatment, and suggests dark motives for maintaining the propaganda programme of fear and the drive for vaccines.
In summary, why not role out Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine plus Zinc when two cheap prescription drugs that have been approved and used safely for donkeys’ years, that, when given early (i.e. before the cytokine storm phase), stop the virus in its tracks within a few days?
Two clues: the words ‘CHEAP’ and ‘WITHIN A FEW DAYS.’
No massive vaccine profits for big pharma; no reason not to return to normal life; and no basis for The Great Reset.
Phil O’Sophicle. Well done. I’m full of admiration for someone that can produce such a detailed and sensible comment on Christmas Eve.
Thank you Phil O’sophicle I agree with Pauline an excellent summary which I will keep for future reference.