Boris Johnson was transferred to the St Thomas Hospital’s ICU yesterday evening. This is dire. I’ll refrain from any speculation about the whys and wherefores nor will I join the armchair medics speculating about an outcome. I do join all who wish BoJo a speedy recovery. It’s not even 24 hours since he’s been hospitalised, and we can already observe that, contrary to the sustained anti-Johnson campaign in ‘our MSM’ since his victory in December last year, he was a much better PM than they described. 

While Johnson’s hospitalization has captured the headlines, it’s interesting indeed that ‘Our MSM’, with one exception, the DM (I never thought I’d say that!), have refrained from telling us that the actual numbers of deaths and infections look to be shrinking a bit:

“In a glimmer of hope after a dark week for Britain, the number of people dying of COVID-19 has now fallen for two days in a row and today dropped 30 per cent from 621 yesterday. Today’s death count is the lowest since March 31, last Tuesday, when it was 381, and marks a 39 per cent fall from the UK’s worst day so far, Saturday, when the deaths of 708 people were recorded. The number of new cases is also lower than it was for almost all of last week, with the 3,802 new positive tests 2,101 fewer than 5,903 yesterday and only the second time since March that the number has been below 4,000.” (link)

While the news about our PM deserves the top space it’s noteworthy that even the DM isn’t screaming about these numbers as they did when they were rising. Are ‘Our MSM’ now in the business of providing ‘bad news’ only, to keep the Nation scared, to accept the Lockdown unquestioned? The Times, for example, warns about the inaccuracy of those numbers and predicts another spike:

“The totals released each day by the Department of Health and Social Care are not limited to deaths that occurred during the previous 24 hours. Yesterday’s total, for instance, included some deaths that happened nearly four weeks ago, reflecting a lag time in individual hospital trusts reporting to the department. The numbers released a week ago, last Monday, had also shown a dip, only to be followed by a large surge the next day. Analysts also cautioned that the numbers did not include deaths outside hospitals in the community so provide only a partial picture.” (link, paywalled)

Why then, given these uncertainties, are ‘Our MSM’ using those numbers unquestioned when they support their machinations to keep us afraid, to accept the Lockdown, to criticise Johnson? You may well ask … Oh, and btw, that quote came from an article in The Times about black patients:

“People from black and minority ethnic backgrounds could be at greater risk of becoming critically ill, statistics have suggested, prompting calls for an investigation into health risks associated with racial heritage. A report from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre found that about a third of the people analysed who were critically ill with Covid-19 were from black, Asian or minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. These communities represent about 13 per cent of the UK population.”  (link, paywalled)

Is the virus “racist”? Or is this about preparing us for our professional race-hate mongers to try using these data to scream ‘racists’ at “Our NHS” … ?

Now back to ‘Teh Tests’. We’re informed that government will try and get our money back from China, for the useless test kits they sold us (link). Perhaps some in government might now start re-thinking their attitudes towards China in general and not just in particular. Melanie Phillips writes in The Times:

“Now there’s much furious talk of scales falling from eyes. MPs are demanding that the government should launch a review of Britain’s relationship with China. Unnamed cabinet ministers have been urging a rethink of the Huawei decision. One government source said: “It’s going to be back to the drawing board after this. Rethink is an understatement.” Really? Will the government emerge from this crisis determined that Britain should regain self-sufficiency and end its dependency on China? Or will it, deeming the scale of the challenge too enormous, take the lethal path of least resistance and short-term benefits just as before? No one can yet say how this crisis will change Britain. But towards China, any pretence is now over.” (link, paywalled)

It ought to be – it’s not just here in the UK that China’s test kits and protection masks have been shown up to be defective. Spain especially but also other EU countries have been sending stuff back. Surely ‘Our MSM’ don’t think it’s racist to  point this out?

So far, the pundits in ‘Our MSM’ haven’t yet asked two vital questions – one being if those defective test kits are indicative of rapacious Chinese state firms trying to make a fast buck, regardless of the health implications. The other, even more important question ought to be: if these are the test kits China has been using all along – what does this tell us about their case numbers and death rates? Are they reliable – or reliable propaganda?

Meanwhile, there are now some more thoughts about lifting Lockdown restrictions cropping up. Here’s Chris Whitty: 

“Chris Whitty acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the government was working on how to balance the effect of the virus against mental illness and financial problems caused by the measures designed to fight it. Ministers have insisted that it is too early to talk about how Britain would exit lockdown because it risks distracting people from the importance of obeying social distancing rules. The three-week restrictions, which expire on Monday, are expected to be extended and the government is under pressure to spell out its longer-term plans.” (link, paywalled)

I find it deplorable that these thoughts didn’t seem to have entered into the considerations which led to the Lockdown. I note also that The Times spins this immediately into an attack on the government, elevating themselves yet again, insidiously, into the position of scrutiniser-in-chief, and never mind that they themselves created the climate of hysterical panic in the first place – a climate not conducive to taking good decisions. 

Meanwhile, the incomparable Sir John Redwood is making some excellent points in his Diary this morning, for example:

“We should not go for the return of just those people who pass a test to say they have had the virus. The right to work should not depend on some government test which might not even be accurate. We do not want to create a perverse incentive to put yourself in harm’s way to try to catch the virus so you can then win your freedom. It is difficult to see how you could enforce a ban on people who had not had the virus from travelling and working.” (link) 

Indeed. It is also hard to see how government, how local authorities, how the police could implement a strategy where people need a ‘test certificate’ to show they are immune. It’s not just about the lack of proper test kits – has anyone in government thought that such chits, if they’re going to be demanded, might be counterfeit? Then what? Sir John Redwood continues:

“The economic cost of continuing with these lock downs will be massive. Unemployment will shoot up to record levels, many businesses will go bankrupt or go through major financial reconstructions, state spending and debt will leap up, and there will be a major reduction in the standard of living and disposable incomes of many people  previously or still working in the private sector. Lock down hits the lower paid in the private sector hardest.” (link) 

Precisely – but this, according to the Lockdown Government, is the price we’re all happy to pay to “Save Our NHS”. Isn’t it? Isn’t it also the price we the people are happy to pay because, by staying in Lockdown, we as well are ‘Saving Lives’, according to that mantra displayed at the front of the lectern from which we receive the daily government news? 

Finally, even given the dire news, we must not let Our MSM off the hook. They created the climate of hysterical panic, bludgeoning Johnson into ‘doing something yesterday already’. Now, having successfully bullied Johnson and the government into the Lockdown trap, they gleefully are trying to paint government as incapable of getting us out. Since the GE victory last December, nothing is ever good enough for them.

Get well soon, BoJo! Already, not yet 24 hours later, we can see how much you’re being missed at the helm of our country. I’m sure you recognise our mantra, which now applies to you as it does to all of us:

KBO!