There are mornings when I feel a bit like ‘Mystic Meg’ as I look at the early-morning front pages. I shake my head and wonder if ‘Our MSM’ are just plain gullible, trusting politicians (especially Labour ones) – or if the various ‘correspondents’ and ‘editors’ are only looking at what the competition writes but never at what their own colleagues write on various subjects. 

I’ll give you four ‘examples’, culled from today’s papers: CV-19 case numbers (yeah, that was inevitable!); local politics; the economy and ‘migrants’. While that last item hasn’t got anything to do with Lockdown, the other three have.

First, those CV-19 case numbers. There’s a report in the DT actually asking in the headline: “Rise in UK Covid-19 cases: is better testing fuelling the increase?”. Welcome to the club, this has been pointed out for some time now, in e.g. Lockdown Sceptics! The hidden gem though is this:

“According to the latest surveillance data from Public Health England, the infection rate is rising among all age groups under 65, and falling in every age group above 65 – those most at risk. Among the 15 to 44 age bracket, the infection rate has risen by 35 per cent over the last five weeks. […] It suggests the recent rise in cases is being driven by cases in younger people who may not have previously been picked up by the testing regime.” (paywalled link)

One might have thought that government and Whitehall would’ve trumpeted this as ‘proof’ that keeping the over-65s in Lockdown obviously is keeping them safe from CV-19, but no, “we” must stay frightened by those rising case numbers!

There is a very interesting report in The Times though. The jaw-dropping headline is “Flu kills five times more than Covid”. It’s not speculation by some ‘Covidiots’ – as if The Times would! – it’s based on the latest data from the ONS. This is amazing because, as the report points out at the end, ‘ministers’ (no names given) now “believe that the ONS figure is an overestimate because Public Health England counts anyone who has ever tested positive as a coronavirus death,”. That makes this report even more fascinating:

“Flu and pneumonia are killing five times as many people as coronavirus at present, with Covid deaths at their lowest since the end of March, […] There were 193 deaths reported in the week ending July 31 that had coronavirus mentioned on the death certificate, […] It is the lowest figure since 103 died in the week ending March 20, on the eve of lockdown. By contrast, 928 people died of flu or pneumonia in the last week of July, slightly fewer than previous years. This was the seventh consecutive week in which more people had died of flu or pneumonia than coronavirus.” (link, paywalled)

For seven weeks more people have died of flu and pneumonia – but “we” must still be frightened about rising ‘CV-19 case numbers’? Why is nobody in government, local and national, making a song and dance about flu deaths, nor about this:

“While fewer than usual died in care homes and hospitals, 676 more died at home than in the average week. Experts fear that this is a consequence of people staying away from the NHS out of fear.” (link, paywalled)

Does anyone, in ‘Our NHS’, in ‘Our MSM’, in government,  actually care that more people died at home, that more people died of flu and pneumonia despite semi-lockdown and muzzle-wearing? There is a clue though why local politicians, especially Labour ones, are so keen on keeping the CV-19 fear going: money.

We’ve read that the precious, world-beating ‘test-and-trace’ wasn’t so good regarding the ‘trace’ part, and that the centralised tracing set-up will shed a third of their employees, to be replaced by local council workers. Just as an aside, we’ve learned that this centralised tracing set-up is run by Serco – the same lot who’re providing ‘security’ for those hotels now housing illegal immigrants in the comfort they’ve not been accustomed to. The Times still veils that fact by describing the tracing system as run by ‘Our NHS’, writing:

“A third of NHS Test and Trace’s call centre staff are to be laid off and the rest deployed regionally to work with councils, […]Council public health directors are pressing for a share of the service’s £10 billion budget to hire staff. Ministers are resisting handing over any money, saying they will offer councils extra testing and dedicated clinical call handlers but that it is up to local authorities to pay for their own staff.” (link, paywalled)

My crystal ball tells me that next year’s local council tax bill will rise by a large amount to cover all those ‘CV-19’ costs. We don’t need no crystal ball though to predict who’ll pay for this: us plebs. After all, our poor local councils must make up for the income lost through CV-19 even though they’ve found a new, lucrative scheme:

“Under emergency coronavirus legislation, local authorities have been given extra powers to close roads, create pop-up cycle lanes and widen pavements without running consultations as part of a £250 million Government fund to create low-traffic neighbourhoods.” (paywalled link)

Yay! Greenery by the back door! Local councils across the country, especially Labour ones, are doing this right now. It helps with that Green Agenda to make our towns and cities hell for motorists – never mind that this means definite death for local High Streets.

These schemes are also used to close off side roads. Islington residents – all staunch Labourites – are now protesting and pointing out that this means longer drives for residents. Oh my, how they were put in their place by their Labour council leader:

“The leader of Islington council, Richard Watts, hit back at suggestions that the road closure plans were “anti-working class”, writing on Twitter: “Car ownership in inner-London is linked to income. The richer you are, the more likely you are to own a car. The truth is we’re stopping affluent people polluting working class communities.” (link, paywalled)

Crikey! That’s class warfare at its finest and never mind that those ‘polluting rich’ are probably those who now work from home in their cushy public service jobs and can afford to toddle to their local organic greengrocer on their posh bikes while the ‘poor workers’ need to get to their jobs in their cars – if they still have jobs, that is:

“The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says that employment fell by 220,000 between April and June, the steepest fall since May-July 2009, when 254,000 jobs were lost. […] ONS analysis of tax data shows that between March and July the number of people on payrolls fell by almost 750,000.” (link, paywalled)

My crystal ball tells me that we’ve not seen the end of rising unemployment since many are still ‘on furlough’, paid by Richi S. who is going to “to protect, support and create jobs to ensure that nobody is left without hope.” (link, paywalled). How nice of him!

However, there’s an economic editor in The Times who casts doubt on the ONS numbers – something his ‘science and health’ editors never do. He writes:

“For June alone, the data was an even bigger nonsense. According to the Office for National Statistics, the employment rate hit a record high of 76.8 per cent and unemployment dropped to 3.8 per cent. Far from a crisis, the data suggests that the UK is in the midst of a jobs bonanza. But of course it isn’t. Last week, the Bank of England forecast that unemployment would hit 7.5 per cent before the year is out and warned that it could climb as high as 11 per cent. Already about two million jobs have been lost or are at risk, on top of the 1.34 million officially out of work. So where are the missing unemployed?” (link, paywalled)

Perhaps I ought to lend him my crystal ball which tells me that many of those are hiding at home, ‘on furlough’, as employers and government are desperately trying to hide the coming economic disaster which will be aggravated by tax rises and possibly inflation. 

And so finally to the illegal immigrants crossing the Channel. That ‘immigration minister’ is back from Paris, praising the French who’ve managed to ‘intercept’ over 1,000 illegals – wow! Never mind that 4,000 at least have managed to slip through that French net!

You’ll be pleased to hear that we’re going to ‘collaborate’ with the French to make this route ‘unviable’ – no mention of money, that would be so uncouth! ‘Plans’ are being ‘considered’ and the French will now also nominate their own ‘National commander’ to oversee these plans, just as “we” have. That’s success, innit like!

My crystal ball tells me these plans will come into force when the autumn and winter storms arrive, leading to fewer crossings. That’s proper success, innit like! However, this next quote shows that the Home Office is taking the proverbial:

“The Telegraph understands the Home Office has chosen not to make these measures public because they “don’t want the smugglers to know what’s going on”, but The Telegraph believes measures being considered include increased coastal foot patrols and drone surveillance.” (paywalled link)

Blimey! And what, you may well ask, does my trusted crystal ball say about that? ‘Expect more illegal invaders in the coming weeks because the people traffickers will push waiting illegals to cross now while the going is still good.’ That wasn’t so difficult, was it!

Meanwhile, as we’re still sweltering in the heat, missing the photos from beaches crowded with Brits who’ve had to stay at home and missing the outcries in ‘Our MSM’ about irresponsible people congregating without mask in pubs and parks, the final prophecy from my trusted crystal ball is that the weather will change. Don’t ask when, it’s not the Met Office! It only says that the weather will change.

Keep cool and 

KBO!

Photo by Gwydion M. Williams