It’s his fault, again, no matter what!
There used to be a time when reporters reported and editors and selected authors wrote opinion pieces. No longer. There used to be a time, not that long ago, when the MSM tried to present ‘balanced’ news, giving space to both sides of an argument. No longer. These days, especially these past weeks, ‘news’ must be looked at through the lens of ‘racism’, and when that doesn’t quite fit ‘the narrative’ of ‘Johnson bad’, good old CV-19 comes to the rescue.
First is the excellent news that the ‘cash machine in the sky’, DfID, has been dissolved and will be merged with the Foreign Office. Of course the creator of that entity, a certain Mr T. Blair, as well as the PMs following him in office, said this was a huge mistake. The current leader of the Labour Party said this was ‘a distraction’ during the CV-19 crisis. They would say that, wouldn’t they!
But don’t be too happy about this decision. After all, Johnson said that the law of allocating 0.7% of GDP would not be changed. Moreover, it remains to be seen if the government will follow recommendations expected in a review later this year. I found it interesting to note that our ministers and mandarins weren’t actually deciding how and where we spend our foreign aid money:
“A review of aid spending, led by Prof John Bew, a member of the No10 policy unit, is expected to recommend abandoning the rules on aid spending set by the OECD, a membership group of 37 wealthy nations. They dictate the countries to which aid can be given, how it can and cannot be spent, and what proportion of money should go to countries with differing levels of poverty. Even within the current rules, the Government has leeway to spend more money on countries that are strategically important.” (link)
Obviously, having ‘leeway’ in how we spend our money as opposed to deciding ourselves if we want to spend our money at all is much to be preferred! ‘Eliminating poverty’ abroad is much more important than doing so at home.
There’s another fly in the ointment. If you thought the DfID personnel would now be sacked, think again. Just because the FO Secretary is now sitting at the top doesn’t mean the DfID mandarins have gone. They’ll keep pushing their favourite spending objectives. I’m just waiting for the usual suspects to come to the fore, pointing out that this re-organisation has to be racist … and naturally, CV-19 had to be mentioned:
“The move, which will appeal to the Tory grassroots, comes at a time when Mr Johnson is facing criticism from many of his MPs over the handling of the coronavirus crisis.” (link)
By now, we’re all heartily sick of the constant barraging of the PM in the MSM, regarding measures dealing with the Pandemic. Mind you, some of that is well deserved, for example when I read that government is planning to ‘release’ the super-shielded from their prison at the end of July:
“According to the Health Service Journal, food parcels and medicine deliveries will cease from August when members of the public who are shielding are released from the measures. However, they will still retain priority for online food deliveries and will remain on a Government list in case they are asked to shield again if a second wave of the virus hits next winter.” (link)
Once one’s on a government list there’s no getting off … Next, there will be a decision about that 2 metre ‘rule’ and those ‘air bridges’ at the end of next week, according to ‘sources’. That’s getting close to that magic date of 100-days-of-Lockdown.
There are however some bad news from ‘Our NHS’. It seems that CV-19 has become a vehicle for NHS Empire building, to ‘keep the NHS safe’ and forget about patients:
“People who break an arm or leg will need to book a slot to attend casualty departments for an x-ray, to keep services safe, MPs were told yesterday. […] Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said A&Es had previously had “elastic walls”, not turning anyone away, a situation that is no longer viable with the coronavirus in circulation.” […] She said booked appointments for A&E care — the system in some Scandinavian countries — was likely to be the answer, with a beefed-up 111 service with greater input from clinicians acting as a triage centre.” (link, paywalled)
‘Our NHS’ has turned into ‘Our CV-19 NHS’ and should remain so because of a 2nd spike, or indeed a flu epidemic:
“At the same hearing, Professor Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), said […] the capacity of the private sector would be needed “for the foreseeable future” and that it would be “no bad thing” to retain the capacity created by the Nightingale hospitals for the winter months, in case of a second wave, or a flu epidemic.” (link, paywalled)
Interesting – the private sector hospitals should stay under full NHS control: socialist health care for all, finally. However, if these ‘capacities’ are being retained, why would one need to book an A & E appointment just in case one breaks a bone? Not being a doctor I don’t understand … I’m also not sure if one needs an appointment in case of a stroke or heart attack. Best not to become ill, innit!
Meanwhile, PHE has published the long-awaited addendum to its report on more BAME people dying of CV-19 than Whites. Yes, as expected, it’s because of ‘racism’:
“Its report is based on submissions from and meetings with 4,000 people, and said “historic racism and poorer experiences of healthcare or at work” meant people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities were less likely to seek care. As NHS staff, it may also mean they are discriminated against when it comes to the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), or are less likely to speak up when they find themselves at risk, it said.” (link, paywalled)
A comment poster asked if BAME people might be less likely to speak out because of language difficulties – but that’s of course a racist question! The report isn’t sufficiently accusatory though. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the BMA Council, lays it on in an opinion piece in The Times:
“As a bare minimum, every healthcare worker must have an occupational risk assessment and employers must make appropriate adjustments to protect vulnerable individuals. NHS England has directed all hospitals and NHS providers to risk assess their staff, yet a recent BMA survey found that 40 per cent of doctors weren’t aware that they should be assessed.” (link, paywalled)
Don’t ask why 40% of doctors (we’re not told if they’re all BAME) were unaware of needing that risk assessment. It has to be due to ‘institutionalised racism’, and more bureaucracy (‘risk assessments’) is the answer. There’s more – the good doctor is now taking on our ‘racist’ society:
“People from deprived areas are twice as likely to die as those who are more affluent, and poverty rates are twice as high among BAME communities. We are faced with a unique opportunity to address fundamental inequalities in our society and in public health, and we must seize it.” (link, paywalled)
Yes, doctors feel now called upon to ‘prescribe’ socialist policies because they’re ‘experts’! There’s more:
“A higher proportion of key workers — such as taxi drivers, shopkeepers, supermarket staff and bus drivers — are from BAME backgrounds, and have been exposed to the virus often without being able to practise strict social distancing or having access to personal protective equipment. The mortality rate among minority communities is in part the result of racial inequalities that prevent BAME people from accessing career opportunities on an equal basis.” (link, paywalled)
It’s odd that I’m not aware of any reports in the MSM, not even at the height of the Fear & Hysteria times, that taxi drivers, supermarket staff etc were hospitalised with CV-19 in their thousands. Surely, had such thing happened, we’d have been told! Perhaps ‘Our MSM’ didn’t report because they’re also racist?
There are good news though: a ‘simple drug might have reduced the risk of death’, according to reports on clinical trials just out.The DT – not paywalled so you can read the article – reports:
“[…] a 10-day course of dexamethasone lowers the risk of death for people on ventilators by one third. Currently, 40 percent of patients with the most severe form of Covid-19 die. That means that, for every eight patients placed on ventilators, three will lose their lives. With the steroid, two will now die. The drug, which can be taken orally or as an injection, also cuts the death rate of people needing oxygen by one fifth.” (link)
That is good news for those so ill they need to go on a ventilator. But see this claim about ‘deaths’, reported in The Times:
“Oxford University researchers said that up to 5,000 deaths could have been prevented in Britain if doctors had been aware of its potential and it had been used from the start of the pandemic.” (link, paywalled)
How could doctors have been ‘aware’ of this steroid’s potential in March? Isn’t the fact that trials were undertaken a sign that doctors, in March, didn’t know, that nobody knew? Isn’t it standard practice to run clinical trials in order to find what works and what doesn’t? Isn’t this why and how this discovery came to light?
I am now waiting for new accusations that, because doctors were ‘not aware’, they are therefore somehow culpable in the deaths of BAME patients. This is what happens when timelines and data are muddled up by our valiant MSM, purposely or due to ignorance, in order to score political points. This is what happens when such muddled reports are being regurgitated by politicians who are as ignorant and as keen to score their political points.
Frankly, there are days when I despair.
KBO!
Viv a thunderstorm here obliterated my comments about the NHS and I haven’t the energy to try again. But one thing has not changed. I am receiving very pale grey on very very light blue recentl days. Is your I.T. man in lock down?
Scrub the first bit, it’s back Viv but I’m still struggling with the pale grey and light blue.
Yes, Pauline, he is, and his staff are on furlough. Its proving difficult to get hold of anyone but Viv is still trying.
Dexamethasone & Recovery
Heartening and hopeful news that dexamethasone lowers the risk of death for people on ventilators by one third.
The DT states that currently, 40% of patients with the most severe form of Covid-19 die.
Where did the DT obtain this figure? Despite the promise at the daily COVID-19 briefing on May 11 by Sir Patrick Vallance that they have the data and Boris stating that it should certainly be supplied it is apparent by its absence.
Data for the 10 countries with the highest number of positive cases shows wildly different recovery rates with the number of people recovering for one death ranging from 5 to 40. For the DT figures 2 people die for 3 that recover which is hopefully an incorrect comparison. NHS can we have the data you promised 37 days ago?
You despair Vivian, well shift up because I am the same ! – Didn’t the deaths of BAME people come from statistics ? – Such statistics were of course pounced on by our MSM ! – The latest Racism, came from the disgusting death of a serial law breaker at the hands of American Police. – Again pounced upon by our MSM ! ….. I’m sure you get the common thread here. – It seems to be our MSM working tirelessly to make everything worse !
If the NHS is ‘retaining control over the capacity of private hospitals’ where does that leave people who subscribe to private healthcare policies?
Is the Government ‘paying’ to retain (or have they simply commandeered it?) the private hospitals’ capacity? If that is the case, should people still be paying their ‘private subscriptions’? Paying for a service that you cannot access doesn’t sound like a viable option to me!!
Perhaps some knowledgeable person could enlighten me!
Vital viewing about the NHS trying to reduce lockdown anxiety while the Cabinet Office agency BIT tries to increase it. Middle segment.
BAME and Belly Up
The British Heart Foundation sent me a tape measure a few years ago which shows the increased risk of developing coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes for waist measurements at the belly button for women and men separately. One side of the tape shows the start of High risk for ASIAN people, the other side for Europeans! This shows that Asian women are at High risk with waists 3 inches smaller than Europeans. Similarly Asian men are at High risk with waists 4.5 inches smaller than Europeans. So years ago the BHF stated this data was robust and itself surely must correlate with increased COVID-19 deaths. Is this factor taken into account in the PHE report addendum? Has the BHF up to date data been included? Time for a diet!
Surely info about the lack of Vit D etc has been highlighted in the past, and generous doses of the stuff can reduce risks of any desease such as CV19 or (famously ) rickets .
Prof Didier Raoult (“Europe’s most published scientist”) was reporting that “500mg of Chloroquine per day during 10 days brings a spectacular improvement and is recommended for all clinical cases that tested positive for Coronavirus . . . actually from all respiratory infections it’s probably the easiest to treat” (UK Column 11th March). Del Bigtree (youtube: The Highwire 17 April) reported that the NIH (& Dr Fauci) knew in 2005 that Chloroquine was effective against coronaviruses – OK it hadn’t been tested against Covid-19 in 2005 but shouldn’t it have been top of the list of options for trials in 2020? But wasn’t there an article in the Lancet that debunked the Choroquine myth? Yes there was, and the Lancet withdrew it when it became apparent that it was based on data sourced from a company that employed a sci-fi writer and an adult content model . . .
It seems that the only country that has got even a modicum of consistency in the CV-19 farce is the country where it was UNLEASHED, China.
The rest of the world appears to me to be approaching the solution/s like a sort of Grand National on steroids.
‘You pays your money, you takes your choice ……….’ There are so many permutations coming from ‘exprienced experts’, to the treatment, avoidance or sourcing of this virus that the best solution is to do what I now do in approaching that once great race. Stick in a pin, blindfolded,,preferably by one of your ‘littleuns’ and throw logic to the winds.
On the other hand, and I am fortunate to be able to do it, stay as far away from humans as possible, engage a large dose of self-control, shop where possible at your little local store………and dig the garden.
Thanks Jim Makin. Amazing how CHQ just gets buried all the time isn’t it. As for steroids – well because I have COPD (chronic bronchitis/emphysema call it what you like) – I inhale steroids. But because I am high risk for osteoporosis it would be inadvisable to take steroids by mouth or into my blood stream.
Added to which we are still hearing about VENTILATORS not about CPAP.
Now I must not break any more bones unless I book an appointment in advance!
Err . . Bureaucracy gone mad in NHS and it’s hangers on or what?
P.S. A statistician posting or commenting on here, found that SMOKERS were LESS likely to be critically ill with corona virus than non smokers or those who had given up. Good. I’m able to do something right.
In my local Sainsbury’s supermarket at 8.00 yesterday evening, the trays containing national newspapers were still full. It wasn’t that long ago that their allocation of newspapers had sold out by 5.00 pm at the latest, and those which remained were bundled up with string to be sent back. Most definitely a sign that nobody is buying newspapers, and the reason must be that the average person no longer trusts the news content any longer, or is fed up with the trivial garbage about so called celebrities, or that the news itself is out of date. Or indeed it could be down to the prices. I do think if the truth be known that there are must be at least a handful of existing national newspapers that are experiencing financial difficulties. Funnily you don’t see them boasting how their circulation is much larger than their rivals.
The sacred cow (NHS) has become even more sacred owing to recent events.
It was always going to become unsustainable at some point as a result of changing demographics yet no-one in government would accept the need for change. Add to that the recent increases in immigration and reform has become ever more urgent, Corona Virus or not. The service has not been helped in its milking by government cronies adding to already excessive bureaucracy.
The PP performance of too many individuals who are not fit for purpose together with antiquated IT systems is another huge problem in my experience, despite the many who do an excellent job.
Are we ever going to get a government prepared to deal with it?
An excellent observation on the state of the NHS, and one which, as you say, requires very serious change.
We know however that no political Party will dare offer the true solution.
Too many votes are riding on it. Have we observed even ONE politician who has displayed an ounce of courage in the last couple of years?
Those who did have been unceremoniously relegated to twelfth reserve.
Iaian Duncan Smith, David Davis and others who were sidelined first by May, and then by Billy Bunter.
Without men of conviction, bolstered by courage, we will end up exactly wher we deserve to be……in the doldrums.
Anyone know where that is? Another six months and all will be revealed……….when Billy Bunters finallly starts telling us the truth………Now THAT will be a novelty.
Probably not Jack Thomas. And I see it as a real tragedy. As I understand it the NHS was one of the good things we got from the post WW2 Labour government but all parties since, one way and another, have turned it into a not fit for purpose, top heavy bureaucracy.
Parkinson’s Law nailed it down observing that all public bodies however they are put together will achieve less over time and cost more and more.
“The move, which will appeal to the Tory grassroots,”
Why would rearranging the deckchairs, but not cutting our largesse, appeal to Tory grassroots?
We shall be borrowing trillions to cover the Covid debt. We don’t have £14bn to give to charity.
So we are effectively borrowing £14bn to give it away to appease opinion amongst those of whom most will wish us ill regardless.
Racism – look where decades of multiculturalism and globalism has gotten us and we were told it was going to be so enriching and beneficial to us. Our cities are being torn up, statues torn down by people that obviously hate our guts, they have such chips on their shoulders that they like to blame us for the sum total of their efforts, the miserable craphole countries that they come from.
This rioting will get worse, look what is happening in Dijon at the moment, I suppose that this is the enrichment that we were promised:
“Elite French Police Deployed as Armed Chechens and North Africans Go to War in Dijon”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/06/16/elite-french-police-deployed-as-armed-chechens-and-north-africans-go-to-war-in-dijon/
In particular, look at this short video clip,it’s frightening, don’t let anybody tell you that this will end well: France and Dijon today, Britain tomorrow.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1272573306298929155
Armed and clearly dangerous “protesters” deserve to be shot on sight. Why should any law abiding citizen be put at risk?
That’s how the Chinese resolve issues, isn’t it, Jack?
Timely reminder Flyer. No British person who is a member of, supports, or votes tactically for LIB/LAB/CON/GREEN can complain. All the evidence has been on the table for at least 30 years of exactly the direction those parties which to take us. They are rotten to the core, they are unreformable.