The Chief Mouser is not socially distancing!

Our MSM never cease to amaze me – not in a good way, you understand. There’s been yet another (questionable) poll on the Brexit extension reported in The Express – I’ll look at that below – and there’s the inevitable COVID-19 Pandemic shambles where the broadsheets show that it’s about propaganda for “Our NHS”, not about proper reporting.

So – Brexit first. The Express reports on a couple of polls according to which ‘Britons would prefer an extension to the talks (link). Given the global  coverage of the coronavirus pandemic in the MSM it’s no surprise that the total shambles that is the EU hasn’t attracted much attention.

It’s about money, about the EU Finance ministers not being able to work out some finance packet to help the mediterranean countries who are aiming for a transfer union – they make debts and the ‘rich north’ must pay – see here and here. It doesn’t seem to occur to those polled that we’d have to shoulder a huge part of such financial burden were we to extend the transition period. That a certain Mr Verhofstadt calls for ‘more EU’ is not surprising (here) – and one has to wonder if that’s what those extension-lovers want. 

However, even the Brexit-leaning Express astonishingly only reported on the state of the negotiations well towards the end of that article on ‘Brits want an extension’:

“Writing on Twitter, Mr Frost said: “I want to reassure everyone that UK-EU contacts have been continuing in these difficult times. We have remained in touch throughout, both sides have exchanged legal texts, and last week we had a series of conference calls to explore and clarify technicalities.” The UK’s chief negotiator will share new draft trade proposals with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier next week. He has already tabled a draft agreement with chapters on trade, aviation and nuclear cooperation.” (link)

That ought to put a stop to the extension-lovers’ campaign … nah, I’m not holding my breath.

Before I get to the astounding difference in reporting on ‘Our NHS’ between The Times and the DT, let me mention just a few snippets from their COVID-19 coverage, illustrating their general attitude. For example, any talk about COVID-19 cures is – populist, as Mr Finkelstein writes in The Times: “The worldwide hunt for a coronavirus wonder drug is being hijacked by populists who will only cause us more harm” (link, paywalled) – so shut up talking about alternatives, peasants!

We also had a report which should come under ‘inciting class war’, namely that, according to Tesco, it wuz the horrid English Middle Class in the SE of the country who did all the stockpiling and delivery-slot hogging … (link). Are those the same people who keep telling us to love ‘Our NHS’, to stay in our flats, and who presumably are also in their majority Remainers? ‘Not enough data’ sez my computer …

Then there was the incredibly inappropriate (I’m very polite here!) statement from the lady who is president of the British Veterinary Association, that cats can transmit the virus and should be kept indoors during the lockdown. After their site crashed, she had to back-pedal – not ‘all cats’ were meant to go in Lockdown, only those with infected owners. Nevertheless, No 10 had to get involved:

“Larry the Downing Street cat is not socially distancing. “Larry is absolutely fine,” the spokesman said. “I’ve seen him myself this morning. He’s going about his business in the usual way.” In response to a follow-up question he added, with barely a hint of weariness, that Dilyn, the prime minister’s dog, “is fine”. The government is clearly of the opinion that while cats might pass on the disease to other cats, they cannot do so to humans. A lot rides on that assumption. Larry is known to fraternise with Palmerston, chief mouser at the Foreign Office. And Palmerston, in turn, serves Dominic Raab, who is not only the foreign secretary but also de facto prime minister.” (link, paywalled)

So now we know! This brings us nicely to the state of our government and the Lockdown. According to the DT Cabinet won’t make a decision until Johnson is out of Intensive Care:

“In a Cabinet conference call after Mr Johnson was admitted to hospital, it is understood that there was little discussion of an exit strategy from the lockdown, with the focus still on tackling the spread of virus.” (link)

There will be a COBRA meeting today, reviewing the Lockdown. According to The Times, they’ll agree on a new campaign:

“Britain is to be told to prepare for at least another three weeks in lockdown today as ministers urge the public not to put at risk gains in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak. Political leaders from across Britain will unite to launch a Stay at Home This Easter campaign immediately after a Cobra meeting to review the social distancing measures imposed on March 23.” (link, paywalled)

We then are told that the lifting of Lockdown restrictions will depend on new case numbers even as the general stats are coming under scrutiny, mostly by us peasants. It doesn’t seem to occur to the MSM to question these numbers, not even when they have contradictory statements in one and the same report. See for yourselves:

“The coronavirus death toll was 83 per cent higher than reported by hospital officials during the initial phase of the pandemic, according to an analysis. There had been 1,710 hospital deaths in England by midnight on March 27. However, the figure announced by NHS England the next day was 935. […] Experts said that the discrepancy was understandable given the strains on hospitals, who were focused on clinical work, not statistics.” (link, paywalled)

Ahem – are there no clipboard-carrying managers in NHS hospitals any longer? Are they all ‘self-isolating’ at home, perhaps? A few lines further down there’s this:

“ONS data showed that 11,141 people had died of any cause in England and Wales in the week to March 27, with the five-year average for the same week at 10,130. […] The proportion of deaths that week mentioning influenza or pneumonia was below the five-year average. Whereas this year 18.8 per cent of deaths were linked to “influenza or pneumonia”, Covid-19 or both, the average over the past five years was 19.6 per cent.” (link, paywalled)

Let that sink in! And then see this report in the DT:

“The government said modelling is due next week which will show new trajectories for the virus, but public health officials say the curve now appears to be flattening. […]  Prof Sung-Il Cho, Professor of Epidemiology, at Seoul National University, who has been critical to South Korea’s response, said that when cases dropped to below 50 for a fortnight it would be possible to move to ‘gradual recovery’. Telegraph modelling suggests that, in Britain, cases may fall to that level by the end April or the beginning of May, which could mean that the government could be in a position to start lifting some restrictions by mid-May. (link)

We all understand by now that the question of tests is vital to produce the numbers government and indeed ‘Our MSM’ rely on for their models and panic reports. The Times has a ‘love the NHS’ article on just that issue, referring to the antibody tests we’re supposedly going to be able to do at home:

“NHS laboratories are planning to carry out tens of thousands of antibody tests every day to tell staff and patients whether they have recovered from coronavirus. Britain’s top laboratory doctor is co-ordinating efforts to use existing machines to run highly accurate tests checking whether people have had the virus with the hope of reaching 90,000 a day in the next couple of months.The use of NHS labs could help to plug the gap caused by the failure of home testing kits […] NHS staff and patients needing treatment for other conditions are likely to be the first.” (link, paywalled)

Good gawd – isn’t it ‘Our NHS’ which has difficulties doing ordinary tests and which can’t work with non-NHS labs? And if doctors and nurses are rightly going to be tested first, wouldn’t it be ‘Our NHS’ running those tests anyway? Nah – it’s all good, and you need to go out and clap for ‘Our HS’ tonight again. Or do you? See this, from the DT:

“The Health Secretary’s promise to dramatically ramp up coronavirus tests to 100,000 a day has been thrown into doubt after NHS leaders told him their testing targets were “jam tomorrow”. Health bosses told Matt Hancock on Wednesday that they would not be able to ramp up testing to the required levels without significant help from private and academic laboratories. […] In a frank conference call with health managers, academics and industry leaders, the Health Secretary was told that NHS labs were struggling to meet their targets for antigen tests,” (link)

That’s the same NHS which will be well capable to run all those tests according to The Times! It’s the same NHS which has neglected working with private labs so far and now demands just that! Moreover, there’s now going to be another “new campaign”:

“During Wednesday’s conference call, industry leaders and universities indicated their willingness to help. An official call to action for private laboratories to offer their facilities and crucial reagents will be launched on Thursday.” (link)

You see – it’s not the fault of ‘Our NHS’ for being negligent in accepting the proffered help from private and University Labs. Their ‘help’ can only be accepted once ‘Our NHS’ starts a campaign, not before. 

Obviously, the Lockdown won’t be lifted after the Easter Holidays, no matter if BoJo is in or out of hospital. It’s all due to ‘getting the numbers down’, never mind that these numbers are looking more and more wobbly as time goes on, and never mind that ‘Our NHS’ is promising ‘jam tomorrow’, knowing full well they can’t deliver, while telling Mr Hancock off for promising ‘jam tomorrow’.

So, to cheer you up – really! – here’s the ‘Lockdown Blues’ from Dominic Frisby. Enjoy, and

KBO!