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SA – While I know that the White Helmets have been exposed and discredited for fabricating distressing incidents and making false claims to deliberately exacerbate an already incendiary situation in Syria, I am absolutely certain that Dr David Nott would never intentionally attempt to politicize the harsh reality of his demanding humanitarian deployments. Is it possible that someone of truly admirable moral character might occasionally misconstrue the far less ethical motivations of other volunteers or combatants during a highly stressful engagement in a major war zone? If that is true, under the circumstances, I can forgive such an inadvertent error.
While I might not necessarily agree with every soundbite attributed to a particular individual, I know from my own personal experience that comments made in haste can be warped out of all proportion by toxic media, especially true when it suites a Tory Government’s jingoistic agenda. When the person quoted has made such an immense personal sacrifice, by contributing on the ground in such an important practical way, I feel duty bound to honour their commitment and try to understand their unique perspective on a truly harrowing situation. Meeting and talking to David Nott as I had the opportunity to do so at the RSM and elsewere, I need no further convincing that he would have no intention of “shilling for” anyone. He may well be a serious adrenaline junkie, but he is also a genuine humanitarian hero saving innocent lives.
The bold decision to volunteer in a combat zone is something that no aid worker ever takes lightly as there is always a significant element of personal risk involved. In Aceh we were told by the UN that the GAM Rebels had never attacked any of the aid workers or tried to impede their interventions, but we were warned not to wear clothing that could be in any way construed as military. As dusk settled and we finished diner together before piling back into the trucks on the long journey over the mountain from Medan to Meulaboh, we were reminded that our convoy would be entering GAM rebel territory, “no lights, get some rest and try to sleep…” I was one of two non-Indonesian Medical Volunteers on a journey to a humanitarian deployment experience I will never forget.
The rebels respected our work on behalf of the impoverished and exploited local population devastated by the Boxing Day tsunami, but their armed resistance still continued. I was seconded to Cut Nyak Dhien, the only Hospital left standing in Meulaboh, where I assisted an Indonesian Navy Surgeon whose Hospital had been obliterated. On one occasion two Indonesian soldiers were bought in; one died and one came to the OR where he was in Surgery until midnight. I took over managing his ventilation until he could be Medevaced out in the morning; “hand-bag” took on a whole new meaning! It felt really scary to be left alone with an unconscious patient and an armed soldier with whom I struggled to communicate; the “no guns allowed rule” wasn’t adhered to that time in Surgery or in transit.
My very limited glimpse of conflict was disquieting enough, but it increases my unreserved respect for David Nott because I know what he must frequently contend with on his humanitarian missions is full scale bloody war. A reference to the Geneva Convention during his presentation sent chills down my spine as this reality leaves aid workers a lot more vulnerable. To clarify, what David was referring to was “Protocol II,” a 1977 amendment to the Geneva Convention relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts. It defines certain international laws that strive to provide better protection for victims of internal armed conflicts; the civil wars which take place within the borders of a single country. Despite the more limited scope Protocol II provides, to respect the sovereign rights and duties of national governments, Syria is one of just a handful of countries that have not signed this Protocol.
When you get a rare opportunity to directly interact with David Nott it is immediately apparent that he is a man of strong principals, driven by genuine compassion for the desperate victims that he treats under extremely dangerous and challenging circumstances. There is no underlying agenda beyond his passionate commitment to life-saving surgery that he engages in at considerable risk to his own life. I sincerely doubt that anyone is driven to take such massive personal risks just to make a political point! In any war there is inevitably wrong doing on both sides; as a Humanitarian Medical Volunteer you are often forced to choose the least worst option driven by the overarching determination to preserve life. There are no easy choices.
If I could take a huge megaphone to the vital issue of how the Covid 19 Pandemic will reap a immeasurable catastrophic impact on the Developing World, I certainly would as this looming crisis remains sadly neglected by the mainstream media. Unfortunately our highly connected world does not permit the luxury of sufficient time to institute comprehensive preparations in a Pandemic; those countries who, through extreme poverty and conflict, are already ill equipped to deal with a widespread, highly contagious, infection will be hit the hardest with the greatest loss of life. But we need to understand that “their problem” is right in our back yard and will be ready to engulf the privileged industrialized nations of the world in a second brutal shock wave of despair. Global eradication is the only way to protect ourselves from a deadly mutation if our selfish neglect allows Covid 19 to morph and incubate overseas.
The core statements of my previous post are worth repeating: “The untreated prevalence of Covid 19 in the Developing World increases the likelihood of mutation to an even more deadly strain that we absolutely cannot allow to incubate unimpeded. The Spanish Flu epidemic morphed into a more deadly disease that hit many countries with a second wave of infection and death; we cannot be certain that a vaccine will save us from a similar fate. Covid 19 will not cease to be “our problem” when it is eliminated here! We cannot simply detach the UK from the enormity of the far greater looming crisis overseas because we are just one international flight away from importing a new wave of infection. As Dr. Nott reminds us, this is such a virulent, highly infectious virus that we must treat the global population as one; if we fail to heed his advice we will be forever held hostage by its lingering presence in the poorer nations of the world.”
I featured the Newsnight interview with Dr. David Nott because it was a very well conducted, sympathetic and civilized opportunity to highlight an area of healthcare that I too feel absolutely passionate about: Global Health and how impoverished countries in the Developing World can be assisted in dealing with this Pandemic. You are a very intelligent and thoughtful contributor, but I worry that you might not have understood the focus of the most vital component of my message; perhaps in hindsight you will review the points made from a new perspective. While I am as always respectful of other people’s views, I also hope that this response has clarified my message and succeeded in defending the integrity of a truly remarkable humanitarian volunteer, Surgeon David Nott.
The news this morning is that Theresa May, the former PM who did so little to relieve the burden on the “just about managing,” has mouthed off about how our Government should be meeting our global obligation to offer help in this crisis. Her dishonourable track record of broken promises remains part of a well established ongoing Tory legacy of lies. The current leadership is totally devoid of humanitarian compassion with a laser like focus on exploitation of this crisis both domestically and overseas. It could have been so very different with a progressive Government at the helm, a decisive course of action saving countless lives in the UK and a strong team to restore our international reputation by demonstrating global leadership. If we fail to investigate and correct the injustice of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election we are destined to continue on the current trajectory of disaster under Boris Johnson’s Tory boot. We cannot give up the fight.
Kim
We will have to agree to disagree. I have no doubt whatsoever that Mr Nott has great talents as a trauma surgeon and that he took personal risks to go to Syria. I have been following the Syrian war, a proxy war in which the west supported rebels which were intermingled with Al Qaeda and still are. These efforts were supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey and there are many documented atrocities by these ‘rebels’. It is one thing to volunteer to work in a war zone but as you well know and recognise, you must never be partisan if you do so.My point is his partisan views and advocacy of military intervention by our Government in the civil war in Syria. It is not the place of a medical volunteer to make the statement that ‘Assad must go’.There is no doubt that Mr Nott is well intentioned having seen the horrors of this and other wars first hand. However the article he penned for the Guardian linked above takes the view that all of the blame in this civil war goes to the Syrian government which is an opinion and not fact. Moreover he advocates the use of a no-fly zone and uses expressions that are in my views biased towards the rebels who are a major part of the conflict.
Moreover Mr Nott glosses over some facts and I would particularly like to draw attention to his statement:
“I packed my gas mask and spent six weeks in Aleppo just after that statement in 2013. Aleppo was a very moderate city. The rebel side was controlled by the Free Syrian Army.”By 2013 the major faction controlling Aleppo was Al Nusra front which is affiliated with the global terrorist organisation Al Qaida. This statement means that Mr Nott did not appear to be aware of the details of who the rebels were, or has chosen not to mention this fact.
Obviously Mr Nott has never operated in the Government controlled part of Aleppo and therefore has not witnessed the equally appalling suffering of children and other civilians in this gruesome civil war and this may be that he was refused entry by the Syrian government. However the nett result is that he is making a partisan judgement and calling for military action, both of which have no place in his capacity as a medical practitioner. In also using a propagandistic approach by using a photo circulated in the internet of a Syrian child that has been a victim of an air raid, and also allowing a photograph of himself dressed in theatre gowns, I believe he brings the profession into disrepute.
The Syrian civil war is a very complex issue and the use of journalistic procedure to sway the public is well practiced by politicians and journalists but should not be done by medical professionals.
Other than the above, Mr Nott appeared in many radio programmes with the same purpose, urging our government to intervene. To you, it may be a call to observe the Geneva conventions but not when it is part of calling for a regime change, as you yourself state. We all know that calling for humanitarian intervention is a code for western intervention for regime change. We have seen it in too many places such as Yugoslavia and more recently in Libya where an well off country has ended as a failed state. So please: Mr Nott is not my hero.SA – I am sorry that we must respectfully agree to disagree with regard to the individual identified in my last post. Sadly, your very strong feelings against this person have inadvertently potentially obscured an extremely important message that I was trying to convey with regard to the catastrophic damage that Covid 19 will reap on the Developing World. Venting for or against the personal choices of someone who has no real influence over policy is redundant so I will not reopen that grievance afresh. I regret that my most important message has passed you by as less relevant, but I hope that my comments made sense to at least some who may have read them. This only goes to prove my point that so few of us really care about the millions who will silently suffer and die in countries we have so grotesquely exploited for centuries.
We ignore their desperate plight at our peril, as it is vitally important that we treat this and future Pandemics on a global scale with an equality of purpose for the good of all humanity. Failing to act decisively in unison to completely eradicate this scourge will allow Covid 19 to mutate and incubate unimpeded among massive populations whose healthcare systems we have already decimated with our selfish greed. The warning signs are there and we cannot afford to ignore them. The challenge of this Pandemic could be an important turning point with a unique opportunity to establish universal cooperation not just on healthcare, but on poverty and global inequality or it could mark yet another horrific milestone on our road to self-destruction and extinction. I fear the latter will be chosen.
There are no committed humanitarians left among the core of global leadership who might still be willing to champion the greater good for all humanity; those illustrious few who did rise to prominence were harshly demonized and driven out by the wealthy elite and powerful decision makers who operate by stealth to infect the populace with their hateful propaganda. Civilized nations that could once have genuinely called themselves democracies have allowed populist dictators to seize power, just as we have now done in the UK. For me, the seemingly unwinnable fight to correct the injustice of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election is more important than ever at this time. If we could just manage to overcome our fatalistic complacency to investigate this fraud, a global champion of integrity might emerge to rescue us from the dystopian nightmare that lies ahead in our not too distant future.
I am sorry that we disagree on this one too. Of course I agree that Covid-19 is going to be a great problem, cause more death and suffering in the third world where medical resources are limited. But my main point is that it is part of the problem, and not only during the covid-19 crisis, but for a long time, that the activities of the west have been directed at creating conflicts and not trying to help developing countries. The Syrian war is something I avidly followed because it was clear at the outset that it was an engineered uprising, even though the initial grievances were genuine, but it was highjacked by extremist jihadis and there is considerable evidence that they were supported by the west and through such repressive regimes as that of Saudi Arabia. Something similar is still ongoing in Yemen with much less heart wringing, even though we know our government not only supplies weapons but also support and intelligence to that regime. In my previous post I stresses that it is important for those presenting humanitarian aid in such situations of conflict should remain non-partisan otherwise they blur their own message. Mourning the sufferings of those in a conflict zone, whilst supporting no fly zones, and advocating the removal of the legitimate head of a government, does not belong to humanitarian intervention but could be construed instead as hypocrisy. That is my point and exactly this, that it is David Nott who has done his own cause a great injustice by penning that article and allowed himself to be seen as a champion for regime change in Syria. That to me is very black and white.
SA – I am no advocate of unnecessary foreign military intervention, crippling sanctions or regime change, but our rapacious greed and negligence are so often the seeds of deprivation that germinate to become a catalyst for internal strife and conflict. Sanctions that fail to penalize or restrict warped governance merely punish the most oppressed citizenry of the world, but we need to go a lot further than criticizing our government for taking sides and supporting dictators to join the fray in proxy wars. The ongoing morally bankrupt scavenging of vital medical personnel, that I witnessed the ramification of firsthand on my tour of sub-Saharan African, has decimated global health infrastructure. This has critically weakened the ability of many Developing World countries to combat the severe threat posed by this or any other Pandemic.
The tiny island nation of Cuba has performed an exceptional service to humanity by alleviating this gross imbalance through their successful program of Medical Diplomacy, training thousands of foreign Doctors in Havana at the world’s largest Medical school and sending their own Doctors all over the world to support the most beleaguered Healthcare services overseas. Sadly, western Industrialized nations are only prompted to make a similar positive humanitarian intervention when the situation in the global south poses a direct threat to their own security and wellbeing as it did with Ebola and as it does right now in this crisis. It shouldn’t take the threat posed by sustained infection just one long-haul flight from our major cities to force us to offer something other than bombs and guns.
This Pandemic presents an opportunity for positive supportive intervention that is not only necessary for our own control of a recurring spread of this highly contagious disease, but is desperately needed to prevent massive loss of life. We are in a stronger position now to pressure our Government to end the obscenity of supplying Saudi Arabia with the arsenal to bomb Yemen into oblivion. When I sailed into the port of Hudaydah in the 70s the Peace Corps described Yemen as one of the three most impoverished countries on earth; such extremes lead to conflict as the populace have so little to lose in a civil uprising. Extreme poverty and oppression drive ordinary citizens to choose violent rebellion as the risk posed by armed troupes is outweighed by the harsh reality of perpetual exploitation and starvation.
In Aceh the presence of foreign humanitarian volunteers on the ground exposed the exploitation and deprivation that was fuelling the armed conflict. Neutrality protects Medics serving in a combat zone since as we are committed to treating all of the injured with equal priority and respect for saving lives. Despite the natural wealth of oil reserves discovered off the coast under Indonesian Government control, basic services like Healthcare were minimal in Aceh so our initial focus on emergency trauma surgery soon turned to long neglected procedures. Within a year of the tsunami the Indonesian Government was forced to end the oppression and negotiate with the rebels for peace; this was a worthwhile outcome following a devastating disaster. It is often possible that an extreme catastrophe can force a positive change of direction and I can only hope for such an outcome following this crisis. I hope you can agree with me that this is a worthwhile goal.
Of course I agree with you on that goal. But sadly there is no sign that even this Covid 19 disaster did not stop the US to ramp up sanctions and make increasing war like signs against Iran. The crisis is also being politicised by the US administration to increase a propaganda war against China. Luckily so far our government and the EU do not seem to follow on this.
My fears are also that this incompetent government is still dragging its feet on essential steps to really reduce the virus by early detection and quarantine of early cases rather than self isolating at home when these infected will likely infect the rest of the family. I heard a discussion on radio 4 two days ago when the journalist asked this question and the answer, I can’t remember who it was, said that the infected person could be isolated in a room of their own and with possible washing and toilet facilities of their own. This beggars belief and shows that some people don’t realise the realities of how most people live in cramped accommodation with single bathrooms and toilets and not in mansions with en-suite facilities in each of numerous large bedrooms, which the speaker was thinking of.For once the other day I felt genuinely glad that the Covid 19 crisis had cleared the streets, as we were relieved of the jingoistic overkill that would have marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day. I do not begrudge the veterans that fought in WWII their time to shine with pride over defeating the Nazis, but it’s no longer about showing respect for fallen heroes, anymore than “Clapping for Carers” is about showing respect for beleaguered NHS staff and Care workers. Despite respectful praise for veterans this Tory Government is actively perusing an agenda to cull the last of them remaining alive today with their negligent and reckless lack of support for their Carers that now leaves them critically exposed to Covid 19 in Care Homes. An impressive fly past obscures the truth as Tories fly-tip the elderly in a “Holocaust of Care.” The Tories all cheered when they denied the Nurses pay rise; their hypocrisy is absolutely sickening.
Why is there no expense spared to celebrate the victory of WWII or the remembrance of those who died? It servers a hugely important purpose in preparing the next generation of cannon fodder in readiness for the next unnecessary foreign intervention. Naive lads can join the Army at 16 when they are considered still too young to vote. We now have the military visiting our schools to soften up impressionable minds bombarded by constant messages of patriotism and pride in the Empire we once ruthlessly controlled, wielding cruelty and exploitation across the globe. We cling on to the redundant Trident subs in the pretence that we remain a global super power, but all we are now is the go-to place for supplying deadly weaponry to foreign despots. Despite the lunatic in charge of the largest and most lethal arsenal on earth, America is calling the shots now; the British are sinking into global irrelevance, but still longing for those glory days.
Reported in a Morning Star Article: “MoD admits to dropping bombs on Iraq two weeks ago despite supporting global ceasefire during Covid-19 pandemic; The Peace Pledge Union accuses the government of attempting to hide from scrutiny.” According to what is reported in the article, “BRITAIN staged air strikes in Iraq during PM Boris Johnson’s hospital stay this month just a week after the government offered support for a global ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic.” They reported that, “In an online statement, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that the government was continuing to take “whatever steps are necessary … to keep the nation safe.” This occurred despite Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announing on April 3 that Britain backed the UN’s calls for a global ceasefire during the crisis. According to the article, “The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) accused the government of attempting to hide from scrutiny by quietly mentioning the bombing while the media is focused on Covid-19.”
The damage still being wrought through foreign intervention is exemplified in this Canary Article that elaborates on how, “US sanctions have helped to make Iran the biggest coronavirus victim in Asia.” In the article the Canary reveal how, “The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has hit Iran harder than any other country in Asia. At the time of writing, it has a death toll of 6,486. One factor that has contributed to such a high number has been US sanctions, which Donald Trump’s government actually increased during the pandemic.” They contend that, “This situation highlights why it’s more important than ever to stand up to Washington’s awful US foreign policy machine.”
Another Canary Article exposes the latest US attempt at regime change in South America featuring: “A dramatic sea invasion of Venezuela by US mercenaries shows just how bizarre the coup attempt has become.” In the article the Canary state with some surprise over the candour of the reporting paper that, “based on this latest attack and historical analysis, it seems that they were right all along. Even the Washington Post commented “Maduro may have a point” about the threat of US intervention in the context of this latest episode. Though the US government and its puppet Guaidó have so far denied having a hand in this latest escapade, history shows conclusively that it would hardly be out of character.”
In a critique of British pride and exceptionalism the Canary article: “Why I won’t be celebrating Britain on VE Day” summed up exactly how I feel. They highlighted how, “Other countries celebrate May Day as International Workers’ Day and observe it on actual May Day (1 May). But in the UK, we’ve become wedded to the idea that it has to be on a Monday.” Our May Day celebration was, “far from memorialising the achievements of workers around the world.” This year May Day was moved from the Monday the 4th to the Friday the 8th to merge with the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
In an all out attack on our pompous British superiority complex the article pointed out why the UK is not so special. “Because it isn’t. OK, the NHS is one of the world’s best health systems. But as a country, we’ve hit a pattern of voting for politicians committed to its demise. So what else have we got? Shocking levels of inequality. A not-very-free press. And a staggeringly, brain-meltingly awful government response to the coronavirus pandemic. Maybe the UK is different. Just not in a good way.” The author relayed personal sentiments regarding the call for celebration saying, “But I won’t be helping our feckless, clueless, shameless government sweep its failings under a red, white and blue carpet of nostalgic jingoism. No ‘socially distanced street party™’ for me. Maybe I’ll clear the drains instead. It would feel more appropriate.”
Considering the obscene level of Tory propaganda that swamps our airwaves via the heavily right leaning BBC it is a wonder anyone is aware of any other news beyond the dictates curtailing our freedoms due to Covid 19. There is an awful lot that the Government we would rather we didn’t know about, so we do not ask awkward questions that expose their horrific genocide agenda both here and overseas. But relentless scrutiny and demanding accountability has never been more important than it is right now. The Covid 19 crisis has stopped all talk of Brexit so the Tories can crash us out of the EU without a deal. The gathering rumours about the Covert 2019 Rigged Election have been quelled as people worried about their own safety due to Covid 19, but the two issues are inextricably linked because a full investigation exposes the truth we are cursed with the dangerous decisions of Boris Johnson. We need the Tories out of office ASAP.
As the monotonous repetition of Tory Government propaganda exploits the Covid 19 crisis, by adapting the science to fit the reality of grotesque negligence and failed policy, we avidly await the well deserved scrutiny that will expose the lies we are being told. All of the BBC programming has radically shifted to prioritizing support for the Government’s messaging as our state broadcaster has come under stricter Tory Government dominated control; this is one of the core red flags warning us of the impending dictatorship. There is little or no opportunity for opposition or devolved Governments to provide input before decisions are taken and dictated as scripted by Boris Johnson and his disreputable team. Expect revised dictates on Sunday to be presented to Parliament on Monday as fixed policies that cannot be altered or amended; that is the reality of dictatorship that we must vocally appose.
I meant to post this a few days ago, but it is no less tardy than Hancock’s procurement of PPE or access to testing for Healthcare staff! PMQs on Wednesday began with Speaker Lindsey Hoyle wishing Boris Johnson well, congratulating him on the birth of his latest baby and welcoming him back to his “rightful place” in the chamber. I almost gagged, the “rightful place” for “part-time Prime Minister” Boris would be behind bars serving a very lengthy prison term for culpable negligent homicide! Thankfully aside from this nauseating reminder of the usurper’s stolen position of leadership following the Covert 2019 Rigged Election, fawning over the PM was kept to a minimum during this last session of PMQs. Starmer’s first question is a grotesque reminder of how completely out of touch with reality Johnson still remains, repeating Boris’s own delusional claim about our “apparent success” dealing with Covid 19 in the UK. Boris is oblivious to the fact that we have the highest death toll in Europe… Starmer asks, “ how did it come to this?”
Insisting that it is not just in this contrary but around the world, Johnson feigns regret over the tragedy of the appalling statistics; thankfully on this occasion we were spared the superficial Tory lament of “my heart goes out to…” We are drowning in a sea of hollow Tory sentiments as the PM desperately dives for cover behind a Guardian opinion piece by Spiegelhauer that excuses a Tory desire to ignore the horrific unfolding data while they complete their “Slaughter of the Sheeple,” with a targeted cull of the elderly providing a “Final Solution” for eliminating the financial burden of providing for Social Care! There must be no comparisons allowed as the Tories pursue their ruthless agenda while repeatedly claiming to be “governed by the science.” Johnson states that, “the one overriding principal and aim is to save lives, protect the NHS,” while in reality his reckless decisions have deliberately put thousands of lives at risk and the steady advance of privatization will consume our treasured NHS.
While Johnson says that there will be a time in the future to analyse the data and reflect, we all know he has no intention of ever allowing an independent inquiry to scrutinize his catastrophic failures and hold him or his team to account for the huge death toll. There’s another subtle change in the language appearing now, more double-speak to support a continuation of the “herd immunity” eugenics program. Johnson pretends to speak for “the people” claiming that they want us to “suppress the disease.” In reality what we really want is to totally eradicate Covid 19, not simply suppress it. In the drive to get the plebs back to work there is talk of an “acceptable level of infection.” This too is code for maintaining infection rates sufficient to achieve the “Holocaust in Care.” Those who can work survive to subsist on pittance wages the “economically inactive” pensioners and the disabled will be sacrificed.
In a rebuttal Starmer tells the PM that the Government has been using slides like this for weeks to do international comparisonsso his objection, “just really doesn’t hold water.” Like a fatalistic drip, drip, drip Starmer drives home the watchword “slow” saying that, “many are concluding that the UK was slow into lockdown, slow on testing. slow on tracing and slow on the supply of protective equipment.” He admits that, “deaths in Hospitals are falling, but deaths in Care Homes are continuing to go up… At the Preess Conference last night the Deputy Scientific Adviser said what this shows us is that there’s a real issue we need to get to grips with in relation to what’s happening in Care Homes.” He went on to say that, “twelve weeks after the Health Secretary declared that we were in a Health crisis…. why hasn’t the Prime Minister got to grips with this already?”
The PM said he was quite right and that he bitterly regrets the problems. He then said that, “a huge effort has been gone into by literally tens of thousands of people to get the right PPE to Care Homes, to encourage workers in Care Homes to understand what is needed.” This statement was deliberately, gratuitously insulting to dedicated Care Home staff as it implied that the cause of the supply problem was not that of the Government, but due to Care Home staff being too ignorant to know how to protect themselves. Skating past this obnoxious insult Johnson said that, “he is not right about what he just said about the state of the epidemic in Care Homes.” “Boris Shitting” his way forward Johnson said that, “if he looks at the figures in the last few days there has been a palpable improvement!” I was reminiscent of the famous Monty Python’s “dead parrot skit”…the patient has a pulse…. Ignoring the blatantly obvious reality Boris blathered on, “We must hope that this continues and we will insure that it does…” More death guaranteed!
Starmer calmly countered by saying that, “using the slide put up last night that shows, I accept there’s a lag, but sad they’ve been rising in every report from the ONS and I have heard before that numbers were falling, you said that a week ago, that is not borne out by these slides.” By way of warning Starmer says, “we will wait to see what the next slides bring.” Moving on to his next question he said that, “on the 30th of April the Government claimed success in meeting its 100,000 tests a day target, since then, as the Prime Minister knows, the numbers have fallen back. On Monday just 84,000 tests and that meant available tests were not used, what does the Prime Minister think was so special about the 30th of April that meant that testing that day was so high?”
Boris Johnson longingly recalls a previous compliment paid by Starmer over meeting the target, “he was right last week when he paid tribute to the amazing work of the NHS, the logistics team and everybody involved in getting up from 2000 tests a day in March to 120,000 by the end of April. He is right that capacity exceeds demand and we are working on that.” He then tries to reinforce a rather obvious lie by falsely claiming that, “were running about 100,000 a day.” NOT! He desperately tries to detract from ongoing failure by setting another goal, “…the ambition is to get up to 2000,000 a day by the end of this month and then to go even higher.” In a pretence that Starmer required persuading, he then said, “as he knows testing is going to be critical to our long term economic recovery.”
Starmer admits, “I did pay tribute last week and I am glad the target is now 2000,000 by the end of this month, but of course just having a target isn’t a strategy. What is needed is testing, tracing and isolation, that’s the strategy.” Johnson or at least his Health Secretary, Mat Hancock, may seriously regret setting another target that the Labour opposition will hold them to come the end of the month. Starmer continues, “contact tracing was the strategy, but it was abandoned in mid March, we were told that this was because it was “not an appropriate mechanism, but yesterday the Deputy Chief Medical Officer said that it was to do with testing capacity. Can the Prime Minister just clarify the position for us, why was contact tracing abandoned in mid March and not restarted sooner?”
Boris Johnson claimed that, “it was readily apparent to everyone that has studied the situation, scientists will confirm, the difference in mid March was the tracing capacity that we had that was useful in the containment phase of the epidemic, that capacity was no longer useful or relevant since the transmission from individuals from within the UK meant that it exceeded our capacity then.” The Tories let the virus take hold and then could no longer control the situation. But it was time for Boris to boast, “the testing, tracking and tracing operation we are setting up right now is for as we come out of the epidemic and we get the new cases done we will have a team that will genuinely be able to track and trace hundreds of thousands of people across the country and thereby drive down the epidemic.” He sounded confident, “so to put it in a nutshell it’s easier to do now that we have built up the team on the way out than it was as the epidemic took off… most people with common sense can see the particular difficulty we had at the time.”
Starmer tried to clarify for the record, “I think the Prime Minister has confirmed that it was a capacity problem. Can I wish the Government well on the tracking and tracing now and on the App that’s being trialled in the Isle of Weight? We all want that to succeed and we will all support that.” Starmer turn to protective equipment, “where clearly there are ongoing problems. Just this week the BMA survey said that 48% of Doctors had to buy their protective equipment for themselves or rely on donations: that’s completely unacceptable and its obvious that this problem is going to get even more acute when the Government asks people to return to work. We are clearly going to need a very robust national plan for protective equipment, can the Prime Minister reassure the public that they won’t be asked to return to work until that plan is in place.”
The Prime Minister tried to sound conciliatory saying, “I certainly can and I share his frustration about PPE and the frustration that people have felt across the house and across the country…” He then veered off course to, “pay tribute to hundreds of thousands of people involved in the logistics of supplying literally billions of items across the country in a timely way.” This was blatant self-congratulatory spin as few would agree the delivery was “timely.” He claimed that, “there have been no national stock outs of any PPE item;” not true where PPE runs out at the front line! But Boris hadn’t finished boasting, “we are now engaged in a massive plan to ramp up domestic supply and…” he name dropped Lord Dyson again, “we are able in the long term to satisfy the domestic needs of this country…. We will be laying out the details of that plan on Sunday.”
Starmer was ready for him, “I was going to come to the plan. There are millions of people on furlough as he knows, millions with children at home struggling with caring responsibilities if they are to return to work and if their children are to return to school, they need reassurance, we can all need that reassurance that it will be safe to do so. They do need to know what is the Government’s plans are for the next stage. Will he give that reassurance by setting out the plan, as he says he will, and will he come to this house on Monday to set out that plan and answer questions across the house?”
The Prime Minister said, “of course I will.” He then started into a devious excuse for dropping the plan on the public without allowing for any opposition scrutiny. He said, “the reason for setting this out on Sunday is very simple; we have to be sure that the data is going to support our ability to do this, but that data is coming in continuously over the next few days and we want, if we possible can, to get going with some of these measures on Monday. It would be a good thing if people had an idea of what’s coming the next day, that’s why I think Sunday, the weekend is the best time to do it, but of course the house will be fully informed and the house will have a chance to debate and interrogate me or the Government on that.” Sure, after we have had it rammed down your throat with no opportunity for input or chance to object; this is what a dictatorship looks like: the UK is a dictatorship!
Ian Blackford, speaking for the SNP, also welcomed Johnson back in Parliament to face the scrutiny of opposition by reminding him that “the UK death toll was close to 30,000, the highest in Europe and second highest in the entire world, but that some estimates put it even higher.” Whilst he agreed that the worst thing we could do was ease up the lockdown too soon and allow for a second peek of this deadly virus he wanted the PM to remind people that non essential travel is not permitted and cautioned that we should only be led by the best medical and scientific advice not the politics of posturing.
The PM took advantage of the question by praising how in the last few weeks the ability of the Governments of all four Nations had come together to deliver very clear messages for our people. As if saying “you will do as I dictate” it was a stark reminder of how severely weakened all opposition had become. Johnson will continue grabbing every advantage he can to solidify absolute control emphasized by his words, “I think the collaboration has been extremely helpful working with the Government in Scotland… the unions, business…” he reeled off factions that had been successfully brought to heel and were most certainly not being consulted or included in decision making, “to get un-lockdown plans right.” He continues, “this is absolute common sense as it would pose an economic disaster if we were to pursue a relaxation of these measures now in such a way as to trigger a second spike.”
Johnson has strongly hinted that the Tories will select policies to perpetuate a slow, agonizing continuation of the current suffering with the working poor forced to return to normal, whether the situation is safe or not, to keep the infection rate at a manageable level that does not overload the NHS and the death toll targeting the “economically inactive scroungers.” The focus will shift towards the economic recovery at the expense of waiting to get test, track and trace fully operational functioning effectively to eradicate the virus completely. Eradication is not a sincere Tory objective as a series of ongoing errors of judgement will continue to leave the most vulnerable including those in Care Homes exposed to the disease to cull their numbers in their “Final Solution” for Social Care a totally preventable “Holocaust in Care!” We cannot allow this rogue Tory Government to continue with this atrocity.
Ian Blackford pointed out that, “some of his people not following his own advice the Scottish Secretary of State has been making political arguments about the constitution rather that scientific ones about saving lives. He is not the only one this is not the time for opportunistic politicking this is the time when we must all work together to protect the NHS and save lives.” Blackford criticized the PM saying that, “he is making announcements on Sunday about easing the lockdown but this cannot be done without the cooperation of all of our devolved Governments. We must end this period of mixed messaging from the UK Government. Will the Prime Minister commit today that the substance of his address will be fully agreed to with the Devolved Nations so that all of our Governments continue with this vitally important work saving lives.”
Johnson said he shared this aim saying, “we will try to make sure that the outlines of this attract the widest possible consensus;” that would be after he had dictated the plan they would be forced to adhere to without question. Delighted by his prohibition on political arguments that he claimed “would be warmly welcomed across this country” it was obvious the PM saw this as elimination of scrutiny not a limitation on Tory grandstanding. There is a growing concern that the current expressions of willingness to be supportive during this time of crisis are being taken advantage of by a regime intent on cementing absolute power without scrutiny or accountability. The opposition parties cannot afford to go soft on Boris Johnson and his reckless team as he is proving himself to be an untrustworthy manipulator determined to cover up the ruthless Tory agenda that borders on deliberate genocide.
The SNP featured prominently during this PMQs asking tough questions that put Boris Johnson and the Tory Government on the spot. Marie Black brought up Universal Basic Income again saying that the increase in Universal Credit would not help those on ESA, so why didn’t sick people deserve an increase? The PM claims they have removed the seven day waiting time, but in his eagerness to quash any hope of UBI he revealed that the Tory strategy wasn’t to eliminate Covid 19 but to, “suppress the disease right down and allow economy to start up again.” David Lyndon stated that the Benefit Cap was a cut and would he now “scrap the cap?” This elicited a typical Tory boast of extravagant largesse pledged that will probably evaporate over time.
Lillian Greenwood said council workers were the unsung heroes of this crisis, pointing out who had born the burden of austerity and who cannot bear the burden of Covid. She demanded of the PM, “will he give councils a cast iron guarantee that they won’t be asked to do so.” While acknowledging the pressures local councils faced and bragging about a significant bail-out for Nottingham he deviously evaded any solid promise of protection for cash strapped councils across the board, even if he had done, few would believe him. In an earlier question Mike Amesbury had reminded Johnson of his Government promise to compensate councils and asked “how will he fulfil that promise and not return to austerity?”
Boris Johnson has now decided that the shameful Tory record of austerity, to which he wholeheartedly subscribed, is corrosive to his new messaging. In an effort to completely disavow the past, he is pledging no return of austerity; he has even tried to ban any mention of the ”A” word as he seeks an alternative spin on deprivation and exploitation for the future. This is a very raw wound that we cannot allow the Tories to cover with a cheap sticky plaster. It is our moral obligation to relentlessly remind Johnson of his own personal culpability in decimating our NHS, the hypocrisy of his constraint on a pay rise for those he now applauds as heroes, the funds stripped out of Social Care and public services: this shame is his Achilles heel, he knows it and we must never let him live it down. Forget the fully sanitized “A” word, the opposition must bang on about the sick reality of Austerity at every possible juncture.
The pain and suffering of the last decade will not end with a radical change of heart transforming the Tory Party. Inequality is hard-wired into their DNA and the dystopian nightmare that awaits us under this Tory Government will be more of the same with a minor rebranding of the measures they will insist are necessary to revive the economy for the benefit of the wealthy elite. The serious errors that have cost so many lives will continue unabated as we remain powerless to even moderate the reckless policies that are killing our citizens. As I have insisted so many times before our only option is a full investigation to expose the Covert 2019 Rigged Election and correct the huge injustice inflicted on the British people by removing Boris Johnson and his rogue Government from office ASAP. As the death toll continues to spiral out of control the urgent necessity of this action will gather momentum.
Kim
What a marvellous achievement you writing is documenting all these ongoing. I wish we had a similar high level analysis in the other discussion forum. It seems to be degenerating into accusations against the scientists rather than against the politicians. Keep up the good work.This forum is far too long and verbose; I will never have time to read it all.
What I need is evidence – in a structured list of topics, each linking to a section that supports it, so that the evidence can be examined topic-by-topic.
You’ll get nowhere with Avaaz; they only promote certain campaigns. And to whom would a petition be directed anyway? If the government rigged the election they would simply ignore it.
I am also suspicious of the UK Labour Party leadership election result. I cannot understand why so many people who joined the party specifically to support Corbyn would suddenly support Starmer, one of the Parliamentary Labour Party group that tried to undermine Corbyn.
My own position is that UK democracy is now so hopelessly corrupted that direct action is the only remaining option.
With powerful Brexit fuelled nationalism I am not sure that direct action will achieve much. Boris’ ratings are probably sky high because Jo Public thinks he will get Brexit done and can’t see that the emperor has no clothes. After all he has battled the virus personally.
As to the Labour party, I rejoined after having left with the Iraq war and have considered leaving. But that would weaken the left of party, there is still hope that Starmer, who was after all in the Corbyn cabinet as a key figure, may not purge the new members and that the new members may still keep the party from straying back to Blairism. I thought of resigning but am holding off for the time being.SA – I am grateful for your appreciation of what I am attempting to do with my prolific writing here. For some people it seems my efforts and my motivation may require a bit more explanation.
Clark – You say that, “This forum is far too long and verbose; I will never have time to read it all.” While I can totally accept your criticism of my shortcomings both as an investigator and as a writer, acknowledging that many of these comments are indeed lengthy, please be assured that no one will force you to read through each and every post in its entirety. On occasion you may just find the odd useful nugget of information, a few interesting Links or some shocking new piece of evidence revealed, but all of that requires a lot of dedication in order to accomplish a high standard on such a regular basis. I do the very best I can.
You go on to state your personal needs, that I am certain are shared with a great many other readers, “What I need is evidence – in a structured list of topics, each linking to a section that supports it, so that the evidence can be examined topic-by-topic.” I’m sorry if you don’t think that might be expecting a tad too much from private individual contributors? What we all desperate need ASAP is to entice a strong team of professional investigative journalists to consider working full time on investigating the Covid 2019 Rigged Election. This is our only hope of fully exposing the truth to such a degree that this nationwide act of fraud is widely and unequivocally accepted as fact with such certainty that it totally delegitimizes the Tory Government forcing them out of office.
Until we can attract that vital level of professional engagement I am trying my level best to fudge the gap and keep the reality of this gross injustice a live topic rather than a well buried, easily forgotten rumour. Several factors could potentially play a very significant role in helping to achieve our goal aside from attracting professional investigative intervention:
1. A dramatic increase in Social Media, Alternative Media and even Conventional Media publicity.
2. Growing widespread public concern over the Tory Government’s gross mishandling of the Covid 19 epidemic with the UK death toll spiralling out of control.
3. The emergence of a credible Whistleblower or several Whistleblowers coming forward to reveal critical pieces of evidence implicating the Tory Government in wide-scale electoral fraud and corruption.I have already admitted in past comments that I am not well connected on Social Media; despite trying to interest people with a far better chance of being heard, this remains a weakness. However, I am trying to contact people all the time and sometimes it only takes a tiny spark to ignite a media firestorm; the more that appears in writing the more chance of fanning that flame of resistance. If the gross injustice of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election is an issue of serious concern to you, it is important to realize that nothing can be accomplished by complacently waiting to be spoon-fed information. If you expect results you must be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get involved. If you have a well established Social Media presence exploit that asset, if you have any valuable contacts please get in touch with them and I hope that if you uncover any pertinent information you will share it with us here.
Serious concerns over the Tory Governments abysmal, self-serving manipulation of the Covid 19 crisis are increasing with each day that their chaotic eugenics “Herd Immunity” plan claims more lives. Under more vigilant media scrutiny they would probably have been forced out of office by now, but it is only a matter of time. The shambolic shift in policy in an effort to force the working poor to risk their lives travelling on crammed public transport to get back to their jobs will cause another preventable spike in cases and increased mortality. The BBC and compliant media will not succeed in glossing over the stark facts much longer; in the end it will be one or two heart rending news stories that bring the UK public to the tipping point of what they will no longer tolerate.
The new Labour Leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has failed to impress with his insipid enabling of this out-of-control Tory Government. You were right to be suspicious of the UK Labour Party leadership election result; I too share your concern as it makes no sense. No one has even attempted to explain how Starmer, a seriously committed remainer, managed to secure the leadership after so many Labour voters supposedly “lent” their votes to the Tories over the stance on Brexit that he aggressively championed. These former Labour voters had a perfect chance to make a statement with their choice for a new Labour Leader, but they chose the man advocating for a second referendum? For me this unfathomable anomaly is further proof that the so called “borrowed votes” that Boris Johnson claims were responsible for his fake “landslide victory” were stolen in the Covert 2019 Rigged Election.
The ruthless smear campaign to oust Jeremy Corbyn with lies about anti-Semitism is starting to come unravelled with the release of an investigation that was leaked to the media; Craig has also passed it on to the EHRC! Starmer’s attempts to cover it up have not helped him gain credibility or support as he is steadily being exposed for dubious donor support, dragging the party to the right and failing to call out the Tory Government for their catastrophic errors and dangerous policy strategies. Both Starmer and the Tories might have hoped that Jeremy Corbyn would quietly remove himself from any offending acts of rebellion, but they were very wrong. Corbyn is a relentless campaigner and he hasn’t stopped speaking up for the poor and disadvantaged in Parliament as highlighted in this recent Article in the Canary: “Everything that’s wrong with centrist politics today, in one anti-Corbyn rant.”
In the Article focusing on Corbyn’s most recent response in Parliament it revealed that, “On 11 May, Jeremy Corbyn challenged Boris Johnson’s controversial coronavirus (Covid-19) speech the day before. In particular, he focused on how the government’s easing of restrictions would disproportionately affect working-class people the most, stressing that it would “make the inequalities in this country even worse”. He also signed a statement calling Johnson’s speech a ‘thinly veiled declaration of class war’.”
It was heart warming to read the compliment from SA that recognized what I am attempting to accomplish by the rather lengthy documentation of Prime Ministers Questions and interviews with the guests on Andrew Marr’s program on Sunday. I pick through these broadcasts and the daily propaganda “Press Briefings” to find and highlight revelations that trip up the Tory Ministers and the sycophantic expert advisors. When I catch them lying, glossing over the facts or grossly misleading the public, expect to see it in print here; it might be longwinded, but it is documented. Few people will take the time to wade through Erskine May to see a written record of what was said in Parliament and BBC broadcasts conveniently disappear when they are embarrassing to the Government. I will continue to point out the glaring hypocrisy and flaws here in case the news is “reinvented” to cover up the truth.
I believe that I have already shared my perspective on Whistleblowers here in past comments, but it is worth repeating. I was fired as a Whistleblower for attempting to raise issues of concern over patient safety in the US Hospital where I worked; here in the UK I suffered a similar experience that sabotaged my NHS retraining. In both situations they were extremely serious issues that I tried to resolve internally through discrete reporting to a line manager, which resulted in targeted persecution and removal. Innovative, analytical and creative people can unwittingly fall into the trap of uncovering a critical safety problem that controlling, profit driven, managers do not want to address; they are not “troublemakers,” but are often driven by a strong social conscience.
Being targeted as a Whistleblower can have a devastating impact on your life. The first component of discrediting the issue, that a line manager is concerned you will expose, is to isolate and thoroughly discredit you personally through false accusations of poor conduct. The term “disruptive” has become a euphemism for anyone prepared to speak truth to power. Former colleagues are too intimidated to come to your defence and you become totally ostracized in an effort to convince you that no one will ever believe what you have to say. One of the main objectives of my writing here is to convince any potential Whistleblowers, who might have critical evidence to impart, that there are people who will take that information seriously and support their exposure of controversial facts no matter how “disruptive” that exposure might be!
You say that I’ll, “get nowhere with Avaaz; they only promote certain campaigns.” While it is certainly true about their promotion strategy, I do not seek to blame Avaaz for the poor response to my Petition. Avaaz was chosen as a hosting site partially due to the appeal beyond the UK and my desire to make people in other parts of the EU aware of the protest. Most of the Petition hosting websites leave it to the petition writer to gain support and signatures on their own and Avaaz is certainly no exception. Sadly, I must take full responsibility for not doing a good enough job of promoting the Petition to Investigate the Covert 2019 Rigged Election; if I had a strong Social Media following I know it would have fared a lot better.
With regard to what might be accomplished via the Petition, the main benefit is to increase the profile of this very important Petition cause so that a significant number of people know that the Covert 2019 Rigged Election is in serious question and the legitimacy of the current Tory Government is in considerable doubt. To be certain, Boris Johnson could not be shamed out of office, as he has no shame, and his rabid Tory Ministers would not relinquish power without a fight, but massive public pressure has accomplished this goal in the past and we cannot afford to give up hope. SA I really doubt that the pro Brexit vote has gained any ground; if anything it has weakened as older supporters are being killed in the Tories “Holocaust in Care” and concern over crashing out without a deal has increased due to the Covid 19 crisis. Right up to December of this year we will remain in the EU transition period and could appeal to the European Court to correct this injustice that may also negate the legitimacy of the EU Referendum.
Yes, absolutely you are dead right, “UK democracy is now so hopelessly corrupted,” but we cannot fix the system without removing the prime perpetrators of that corruption. British politics is about to get warped out of all recognizable semblance of democracy as we move towards full dictatorship. There will be no new opportunity to vote for a change of Government in five years time unless we transform the electoral system to insure the safety of our votes. We need to “Rescue our Watchdog” and all the other neutered Watchdogs that have been corrupted by money, power and greed, but that cannot happen under this Tory Government. It is futile to even attempt to correct the multitude of grotesque injustices that have been inflicted on us through austerity and jingoistic foreign policies, without committing to fight tooth and nail to remove the usurpers from their highly damaging control over our governance.
Kim
I agree with all you say above but would just like to add a slightly different perspective of why all your splendid efforts are not producing more effects even on this somewhat varied but generally progressive website. The reason goes to heart of what the system does. Conformity is very important to get by. You describe your own personal experiences and it is the story that is a recurrent one. The system pays lip service to whistleblowers but only when the boat is not rocked. Corporations have departments for ethical practice, but only to enhance their image, drug companies sponsor medical research but only publish and promote that which brings in the money. Famous whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowdon are criminalised, whilst Journalists who expose wrongdoings are either criminalised, like Assange, or de-platformed, like Seymour Hersh. The system does not like whistleblowers.
But also the system has led to a general reduction of scrutiny on power. I put it to you as a thought experiment that the elections were really not rigged at all and the voting results were genuine. How? A lot of preparation into this has been in the making from 2015. Many attempts were made to replace Corbyn using all sorts of methods, from him being a friend of terrorists, to being a communist, to being a Russian implant, to being lax on the security of the UK. This was openly talked about including supposedly pep talks from security services, open criticism from military leaders and so on. None of this stuck and the results of the 2017 elections confirm this. They however finally managed to get through with the AS row, because of a very concerted effort to tap on a subject which has been elevated beyond discussion. The well documented racism of the Tories, despite the increasing Islamophobia and xenophobia engendered by Brexit were all glossed over and racism itself developed a hieratical system, which itself has serious racist implications, but it seems nobody noticed. It is possible that the landslide victory was not due to a faked result but due to the very meticulous propaganda which was put in place. It is not surprising if you look at this massive propaganda, plus the fact that his enemies were also within his party and even his cabinet that he lost.
If you look at the approval ratings of Boris Johnson you may get some insight into this. I know the limitations of these polls but nevertheless, despite this shambolic performance, his ratings are going up! it is only recently in April that there was a spike who thought he was doing very badly, but even this is coming down. Now how bad could he get before this changes?
Clark could come in here handy because of what he has written a lot about, and that is conspiracy theories. I guess what he is saying is that without facts it is easy to drift from a suspicion of a conspiracy, to a conspiracy theory. This slide comes when you get in a frame of mind that something has happened but cannot prove it. It seems to me that the fine line happens when instead of facts and findings dictate the conclusions or even suspicions, that the conclusions and suspicions start to guide the findings that are difficult to prove.
Please do not misunderstand what I say, I think what you are doing in terms of documenting all the current happenings is extremely valuable and is a repository for the future but the fight must be wider than focussing on rigged elections. After all the marked shift to the right is a very universal phenomenon, not confined to this country. It is a function of the predominance of neoliberalism and globalisation of capital.SA – The single most important tenant of this accusation about the Covert 2019 Rigged Election remains extremely relevant even if there was no manipulation of the postal vote last December: UK Elections are a wide open invitation to industrial scale fraud. This has been observed and documented by well respected British Judges and politicians going back even further that the ten years the Tories have been in office. A potent combination of the unscrupulous outsourcing of UK wide Electoral Services, without the most rudimentary oversight, the disempowering of our Electoral Watchdog, the wholesale takeover of the BBC and mainstream media, plus the toxic manipulation of PsyOps online propaganda, have resulted in the evisceration of our democracy. My Petition focuses on the urgent need to fully expose and remove these serious ongoing threats whether they were weaponized by the Tories in 2019 or not.
On the premise of “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” the refusal to address the serious flaws that have on multiple occasions been clearly identified has now totally obliterated the integrity our Electoral System: we either deal with it right away or we abandon the pretence that there will ever be an opportunity for meaningful public voting again in this country. All of the classic markers of dictatorship are falling into place within a matter of just a few short months; if anything this has been accelerated due to the distraction of Covid 19. The BBC has gone from annoying right wing bias to the official state mouthpiece of the Tory Government with all opposition voices heavily criticized or censored out. Page 48 of the Tory manifesto openly pledged to gut our Judiciary, removing the independent decision making check on Governmental power; this is another key marker of an emerging dictatorship.
The comprehensive surveillance of our citizenry has been enabled by public fear over the Coronavirus and the introduction of a new App ostensibly designed to help with tracking and tracing of infected individuals in the hope of controlling the virus. However, there are legitimate concerns that this App will be used by the Government to control our freedom of association and will target dissidents as the rebellion among the UK population grows stronger with the enforcement of more punitive Tory policies. The Canary Article exposes impending dangers to our civil liberties with, “Claims that GCHQ-advised coronavirus track and trace app has security and privacy flaws”
In this highly critical article the Canary worryingly report that, “The NHS has opted for a version of the coronavirus (Covid-19) track and trace app that reportedly has in-built security flaws that could seriously impinge upon personal privacy. It’s also understood that the spy agency GCHQ has a hand in its development.” They elaborate on the inherent dangers in adopting such a Centralised model that led most EU countries opting for an effective track and trace system that does not infringe on civil liberties or gift an untrustworthy Government free access to a permanent surveillance capability. According to the Canary, “the BBC has reported that the NHS has rejected the Apple-Google coronavirus track and trace app and instead opted for a different, ‘centralised’ model.”
Although the Government is likely to tout the advantages of this model since their App would work even if the device was not active and on-screen with a model where the matching process is via a computer server, but the BBC report that Apple and Google argue such a model will enable hackers to “use the computer server logs to track specific individuals and identify their social interactions.” A number of articles I have linked to in the Daily GasLamp have exposed the full extent of how such information can be maliciously engineered to target the fears and insecurities of disenchanted voters to manipulate election results with the principal malign individual who took advantage of this PsyOps technology now occupying a commanding role as Boris Johnson’s most senior advisor.
In the Daily GasLamp Post entitled, “Big Data and Covid-19,” they highlight two major issues with the newly developed Track and Trace App: “Cronyism” and “the End of Democracy.” The GasLamp went on to elaborate on the specific dangers:
“The privacy concerns have been highlighted by 177 cyber experts. They have written an open letter to the government to stop the app being used as a mass-surveillance tool. Why?
• The UK government stated that it would not use Apple and Google’s built-in privacy protection systems to anonymise data collected from apps on iPhone and Android smartphones.
• This allows the government to create a database that could then be used to de-anonymize users, and just like Cambridge Analystica and other AI/Big Data companies have proven, be used for other purposes.”In another recent Canary Article entitled, “US surveillance company’s involvement with NHS is ‘crossing a red line’, warns civil liberties group,” there are ominous warnings for the public, a dubious US company comes under fire with growing concerns over the misuse of personal data. The Canary report that, “Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group (ORG) civil liberties organisation has warned The Canary that surveillance and analytics firm Palantir is “not a company you want handling sensitive personal data”. He says that Palantir is already “crossing a red line” by analysing NHS data as part of efforts to combat the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.” If this Tory Government really want to dispel the rumours of stealing votes to accomplish a fraudulent Election victory they should avoid adopting all of the classic tools of a corrupt authoritarian surveillance state.
When you analyse the subject of Conspiracy Theories as Clark has tried to in his Discussion Forum, the overriding principal should always be that the Conspiracy Theory itself does not serve to negate necessary action or detract from the genuine need for robust scrutiny. One Conspiracy Theory about Covid 19 is a typical example of this serious mistake. Would a lab origin for the virus make any material difference to the urgent need to prevent the rampant pandemic spread of the disease? I would say not. However, this theory has been weaponized by Donald Trump to demonize China in a faltering effort to detract from his own failures and massive blunders in US Covid 19 policy that continue to cost countless lives. I refuse to give such a worthless theory oxygen, as it serves no purpose what-so-ever in limiting loss of life to the disease. However, if my assertion with regard to what I call “the Covert 2019 Rigged Election” is proven wrong there will still be a significant positive impact from fully investigating the fraud allegations.
The reality is that we could remain complacent and sink even further into the abyss under the delusion that the specific guaranteed proof of systematic corruption has yet to be validated and doesn’t warrant our attention. The salient point is that the conduct of the Tory Government from their blatant conflict of interest involvement with every aspect of our supposedly free and fair Elections, their crony awarding of contracts to bypass the bidding process, their manipulation of our state broadcaster the BBC and other media outlets in addition to their determination to ignore the repeated calls for electoral reform were bound to strongly implicate guilt. Dubious practices and total lack of transparency imply guilt as surely as running from the scene of a crime! Why would they so determinedly wedge open the door to wide-scale corruption and manipulation of the vote without considering just how much their actions would invite suspicion, unless they were intent on utilizing that weakness to steal power?
Alternatively we can take the opportunity presented by the significant preponderance of a multitude of highly suspicious anomalies in the result of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election to make a very reasonable demand for a comprehensive nationwide Investigation. This would either confirm the worrying implications that the unfathomable result was not a miraculous Tory “landslide victory,” but the product of industrial scale fraud… or not. If we continue to allow this Tory Government to dictate our future unchallenged, whether they have earned that right or not, we will guarantee the complete dismantling of our democracy, with a steeply rising death toll under their failed policies of austerity and “Herd Immunity” offering the prospect of decades of dictatorship once the regime becomes fully established. Think about it: Hitler was once voted into power!
Even if the Tory Government were totally exonerated of any wrongdoing, the investigation would fully document the unacceptable lack of safe voting standards within our Electoral System here in the UK. The public would not want the system to be corrupted even further as it would render all future voting meaningless to establish and entrench Governments that have zero public mandate for authority following sham Elections. There would be immediate demands for proper oversight, reduced outsourcing, stronger security for Postal Votes and a legitimate way to challenge dubious results in future, all of which are among established demands of long-postponed radical reform. My Petition is solidly focused on achieving this desperately required reform as we really must “Rescue our Watchdog!” I hope you will agree that this is a worthy end goal and now understand why it is important to encourage people to Sign my Petition by sharing the link.
Kim, you write beautifully and very clearly, but I don’t have time to read at present.
If it’s any consolation I have the same problem with most journalism; there are many articles which contain facts and reasonable suspicions but embedded among human interest and ideological argument. Our world has become more complex and interconnected, and just abstracting the salient points takes up much of each reader’s time.Recently, I have spent much of my time battling on the recent threads trying to counter the denial of covid-19 itself, trying to demonstrate that assessing science is actually the quite simple consideration of evidence rather than guesswork about individual scientists’ professional reputations, characters and sources of funding. I might not convince many commenters but there are far more readers than commenters, and I have found it very encouraging that new usernames have emerged and contributed to arguments about evidence; it shifts the balance. Over the years I have seen many threads become monopolised by conspiracy theorists, who make no attempt at coherency between their various arguments but are unanimous in their contempt for anyone who “supports the official story”. I’ll come back to all this; everything is interconnected, and I think that an important effect of conspiracy theory upon the side-lining Jeremy Corbyn has been overlooked. Debate degenerates into untestable arguments about imputed motive eg. “he’s anti-Semitic!” rather than objective discussion of evidence and policy.
I will try to find time to read this whole forum thoroughly, collate the content into a form convenient for those like myself, and then post it. Meanwhile, if you can please help find lawyers who would mount a legal challenge against this government (I also am looking for such); current government policy is clearly criminally negligent. I think a legal challenge will be the quickest way of forcing rapid change; the government would be forced to change course as soon as they realised they were under legal challenge, because continuing their negligence would then progress to wilful malice against the population. By neglecting to supply masks the government is increasing exposure of the population to an infection of unknown severity. Surely that must be illegal. A court case would also expose reams of internal government communications; that is what has worked eg. in challenges against pharmaceutical companies.
Sorry, I have no more time right now but I will be back. Please keep up the good work Kim, and hello SA, good to see you here.
This search might be helpful.
Lawyers for Extinction Rebellion – Let’s see if we can rebel against our own extinction by the government.
Clark – I note that you comment in a lot of areas and undoubtedly share Craig’s and indeed my own passion for fighting injustice and dealing equitably with the serious issues that our people and our planet face. This can easily lead to becoming overwhelmed by all the really awful things that tend to dominate our news cycle to the point where one feels helpless and depressed. Beware, the onslaught on our mental health is just as dangerous as the risk to our physical wellbeing. I thought we had reached a turning point in December and things were about to change for the better under a progressive Government. The sickening result of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election plunged me into severe depression; it was such a massive shock because it made no sense after Boris Johnson’s truly disastrous election campaign. I am trying to dig myself out of that dark place in the only way I know how; my writing and my protest over the injustice of the Stolen Election in the hope that we can reverse the damage.
It could all have been so very different under a decent Government ditching all the toxic anti-immigrant rhetoric and getting Brexit reconsidered in a way that would be acceptable to everyone without punishing the most impoverished regions of this country. The long-suffering working poor would have got a pay rise and public sector workers including our NHS staff would have felt genuinely valued for their contribution to society. Struggling social programs and public services would have seen real investment instead of shallow, soon to be broken, promises and we would have started into a major shift towards a green economy. But that dream was shattered by Johnson’s triumphant crowing about his “landslide victory” and we now face another decade or more of deprivation.
Having lived all over the world, and travelled a lot when I was younger, I am just as passionate about UK foreign policy; ending the arms sales and support for oppressive despots slaughtering civilians in Yemen, Gaza and elsewhere. This hateful strategy would have ended with a man of peace taking office; our unnecessary military interventions and coercive regime change through harsh sanctions would have ended with an abrupt shift away from jingoistic sabre rattling and British exceptionalism to restoring peaceful global diplomacy. I imagined Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe coming home for Christmas and supportive moves towards Venezuela, Cuba and the Palestinians as we broke rank with Trump and adopted a tougher stance towards Israeli atrocities.
Some issues that Corbyn discreetly avoids talking about would start to emerge after he came into office, like ditching Trident as well as Craig’s crusade for the release and fair treatment of Julian Assange. I have no doubt that the Covid 19 Pandemic would have been handled differently, because Corbyn would have prioritized the most vulnerable in our population first; the Care Homes would not have been abandoned. “Herd Immunity” would not have been harnessed like the Nantucket Sleigh Ride to savagely cull large numbers of “economically inactive” pensioners. If we had taken defensive measures early on to stop the virus entering the UK we would not be in the mess we are in now as we could have kept pace with testing, tracking and tracing while building stockpiles of PPE early. Instead of being the horror story of Europe we could be emerging into the summer sun like New Zealand.
But I am sure you know all this, so why am I bringing it up? Because, without removing this Government, the most we can do now is after-the-fact damage control while the Tory wrecking ball is still swinging towards us at full force. The stealth version of Herd Immunity will continue to be relentlessly perused until the “Holocaust of Care” has fully achieved the Tory “Final Solution” for Social Care. Any required spending will be channelled towards Tory donors as they maximize profiteering from the crisis before dumping the working poor with the bill exacted in more austerity, swinging cuts, benefit and wage freezes. Just when we all think the misery cannot possibly get any worse we will be dragged out of the EU without a deal to suffer another huge hit targeting the poor.
All of the issues that normal compassionate people like Craig, you and I care about will continue to be impacted by the most hard Right wing Tory Government of the past century and no amount of public protest will stop them. The reason I will not allow myself to get distracted by the Covid 19 crisis or deviate from a laser like focus on correcting the injustice of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election is that the only way to reverse all of the catastrophic damage wrought by a decade of Tory misery is by removing Boris Johnson and his wretched Government from office. We simply cannot afford to just back down or stop banging on about this incredibly important issue because Boris Johnson is an aggressive cancer that must be completely excised from the body politic or his repugnant team and their rabid policies will metastasize to destroy every last precious aspect of our once free society.
Yes, I agree that at some point we will need a full legal team to go after Johnson and the leading people in his regime, but first we must gather evidence and, since we cannot rely on the police to go after such politically powerful offenders, this will require really dedicated professional investigative journalists. What has been uncovered and documented so far, here and elsewhere, amounts to a few promising leads, but the details need to be fleshed out before we will be able to present a legal team with a strong case for prosecution. Right now Johnson can still hide behind the “unprecedented crisis” excuse; mistakes made… no clear cut culpability defence. I’m certain that his Election fraud would be easier to unpick, there is no crisis defence to justify what occurred. The Tories are relying on the fact that they have removed all power from the Electoral Commission and the police don’t have specific grounds to charge them with. But, a professional Investigative Journalist could dig up enough evidence for us to consider bringing a case.
In the next few weeks it will become obvious to the EU that the reckless decision making that is costing so many lives in the UK is part of a concerted agenda of deliberate genocide directed towards the elderly, the disabled and the poor; more on this to follow soon. The Tories have ignored the WHO recommendations to the detriment of the population as a whole and they have already been heavily criticized for violating the human rights of our disabled population. There are ways in which the EU can put pressure on member states who dismantle the freedoms and protections of the democracy on which the EU was founded. Britain would represent a far too powerful domino to fall under the boot of authoritarian dictatorship; the EU have already been too complacent about serious violations in Hungary and Poland that curtail the power of the Judiciary and the freedom of the press. If the Tories are able to follow through with their manifesto agenda the UK will represent the most egregious attack on democracy in the history of the EU.
Added to this injustice will be the horror of the massive death toll exacted on the UK population through a deliberately engineered dangerous policy that was bound to cost lives; I don’t think the EU can just ignore such a profound genocidal governance crisis. It is important to note that the Tories are eradicating their most reliable voting demographic with their “Holocaust of Care.” In future the Electoral System will be securely controlled to deliver a fake Tory victory, without the help of pensioners. The Tories don’t need to throw a bone to the working poor by delivering on their false promises of “levelling up” before they “allow” another sham Election in five or ten years time. Another crippling pay freeze is on the way that is the Tory plan to repay NHS staff who risked their lives caring for the sick. Already more NHS and Care staff have “died in action” than British troupes killed in the Iraq war! Doctors and Nurses did not sign up for dangerous combat; fake adulation with community clapping will not hide the betrayal of more pay cuts.
As the deadline for requesting an extension to the Brexit transition period draws near it will soon dawn on the EU negotiators that the UK never had any intention of agreeing a Brexit deal to minimize the harm to both UK and EU citizens, but their opportunity to intervene is urgently needed. I believe that if we can prepare a strong legal case before the fateful crash-out date, the EU Court would be very receptive to our plight. The alternative risks having a former trading partner turn into a rapacious tax haven whose starving populous could become a wave of refugees desperate to escape their hollowed out failing authoritarian state. The Petition launched isn’t accruing many signatures, but with the right Social Media attention it could take off again at some point; it contains the right focus demanding a full investigation that would expose, identify and demand correction of our Electoral System.
My writing is cathartic, but it also has a distinct purpose. I feel a dire need to keep this frail and flimsy protest banner frantically waving, despite the political storm raging around us threatening to tear our pathetic emblem of fading democracy to shreds. You really can actively champion and practically support more than a dozen progressive causes just by fighting to remove this toxic Tory Government from power. While other causes are eminently worthy they represent an increasingly impossible challenge while we still remain under toxic authoritarian rule. If we can seriously delegitimize the validity of that fraudulently usurped governance, we can work towards their removal. While I respect your views and your input there is so much more you might consider doing. If you have contacts, post on Social Media, get in touch, and enlist their help; can you locate a professional investigative journalist? Email a journalist or call a friend; making a difference is part of the healing process we all crave: you too can be a part of it.
I am getting well behind with my reporting as this was meant to go up days ago covering interesting interviews on last Sunday’s Marr show. Andrew Marr and his guests tried to make sense of the Boris Johnson’s new messaging as the Government no longer wants all of the plebs to “Stay at Home.” The change to “Stay Alert” is a bit vague to say the least. Normally a person is considered to be alert and oriented once they are awake, but this suggests a far wider connotation regarding the need to “stay alert to potential danger.” Stay Alert is all about compelling people to take responsibility for their own safety even if they are expected to return to an unsafe working environment. This is totally unacceptable and all of the major Trade Unions have said they will not advise any of their people to go back to work unless reasonable safety standards are met. The Government hasn’t exactly formed a great track record with regard to keeping our NHS staff and Carers safe while heavily reliant on them to keep on working.
The Tories have ditched the sheer hypocrisy of telling the public to “Protect the NHS” during a period where the Government has repeatedly abandoned their responsibility to provide a reliable, ongoing supply of adequate PPE, to reduce the risk to staff, and to organize timely testing of all Healthcare providers in Hospitals, Care Homes and GP Practices. The new buzz words are “Control the Virus;” once again this implies that this duty is entirely under our control and conveniently removed from the Government’s remit. What is even more worrying is that it would seem to indicate that the Tory agenda is not the total eradication of this disease, but a plan to maintain the disease at a manageable level of infection and mortality for the foreseeable future.
This “turning on of the tap” is the next phase of the eugenics “Herd Immunity” plan that the Tories never really abandoned because a “Slaughter the Sheeple” to cull the “Economically Inactive Scavengers” will save the Government a lot of money moving forward. “Save Lives” remains unchanged, but we should ask, whose lives are the Tories intent on saving? The poor and disadvantaged are becoming infected and dying at twice the rate of the privileged while the BME community has been hit particularly hard. Several days ago there were reports that over 40 of London’s bus and MTA workers had died of Covid 19; there are legitimate fears over going back to work that might derail the Tory plan. Sadly, the only lives that really matter to them are the wealthy Tory elite; just the fittest and strongest of the expendable slave labour force, those forced to work lengthy hours for pittance wages, will be spared.
With two right wing pro Tory guests to review the papers, Jo Cobern from the BBC and Frazer Nelson Editor of the Spectator, there was no pretence at any political balance as the BBC continues its lurch to the far right. Most of the above realities were readily glossed over without too much scrutiny during the Paper Review, but there were juicy rumours that Mat Hancock was about to become the fall guy after seven days of not meeting his own 100,000 test target while 50,000 tests were shipped off to the US for processing! Other matters raised were the Unions recommending no return to work until there were safety guarantees and that the schools potentially going back may also present a problem. The impending imposition of a fourteen day quarantine on those entering the UK was also discussed, but all of these measures remain a matter of speculation awaiting Johnson’s dictates later on.
Marr interviewed Professor Peter Horby, chair of NERVTAG to ascertain what we might expect from Medical science to help combat Covid 19. A Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health he is on an expert committee of the Department of Health (DH), and the Group Leader Epidemic diseases Research Group Oxford (ERGO). Marr said, “He is also running the world’s largest clinical trial of potential treatments for Covid 19” and when they spoke he asked “whether we will get an effective treatment for Covid and when?”
Horby replied that, “Treatments in many ways are easier as we are looking at drugs that are already used.” He explained how, “these repurposed drugs are already on the shelf in the pharmacy, if we can test those and show that they work we can give them immediately to everyone.” He went on to say that, “with vaccines you are giving them to a much wider population and you are giving them to people who are not yet sick, so the risk-benefit balance is very different… you need to be a lot more careful with new vaccines. He felt there was a reasonable chance we could find drugs that work, ‘perhaps even this year’.”
Marr asked about the drug Remdesivir that had been approved for emergency use in the United States. This broad-spectrum antiviral drug, that was originally developed by the pharmaceutical company Gilead as a treatment for Ebola, could potentially be used in the treatment of Covid 19. Horby said that there had been a small Chinese trial had not shown significant results, but announced on the same day, a US trial “had shown that the drug was capable of reducing the duration of Hospital stays by five days.” Horby said “they hadn’t yet seen any benefit on mortality” further results are yet to be seen. Personally, I remain sceptical of “Big Pharma” in the US with their huge profit driven agenda. Marr commented about the drugs “being made widely available if they work, but Remdesivir is not widely available,” noting that Horby was unable to get sufficient supplies of Remdesivir for his own trial.
Horby said that, “there are two sorts of drugs the repurposed drugs and then there’s the experimental drugs. Remdesivir is not yet properly licensed for anything so it is not yet available on the shelves.” Marr said “can you just explain to us how your trial works?” “The recovery trial is a national effort,” Horby sounded hopeful in his reply, “here in the UK we’re in an excellent position, probably better than anywhere else, because we’ve got the NHS and we’ve also got a national research infrastructure, so we managed to open the trial across the whole of the UK, it’s open in all the devolved Nations… in 117 Hospitals… it means we can get very big numbers so we’ve now enrolled 9500 patients… we believe is the biggest trial anywhere in the world, it puts us in a very good position to get some very clear answers about whether these drugs are beneficial.”
Marr bought up Hydroxychloroquine that had unfortunately gained a really dangerous rap due to the incredibly reckless intervention of Donald Trump. Horby decried the President’s dangerous intervention, insisting there was no reliable evidence. Criticizing the “anecdotes we hear from small studies aren’t good enough,” he said “this has well known side effects… you have cases of people poisoning themselves with this drug.” However, he failed to inform us that this very affordable drug is still included in the trials as a potential treatment for Covid. Hydroxychloroquine is not an experimental new drug and it doesn’t have significant side effects when properly administered; it has a reasonable safety profile and is currently widely used overseas for the treatment of Malaria.
Horby said that people seeking treatment should sign up for the trials. Marr switched back to Remdesivir and valid concerns, “the company would ramp the price up, it becomes hard to get and incredibly pricey.” That is their business model! He wanted to know if the pharmaceutical companies were going to make it unaffordable. Horby shared the concern saying, “it is incredibly important that there’s a global solidarity around these issues, there should be no opportunity for these companies making vast profits from these drugs; everyone across the world no matter what their income including the poorest countries should have access to drugs like this. If they work they need to be licensed out for generic produced so that they can be made available to everyone at cost price.” I was left wondering what kind of happy pills he had consumed before the interview!
Marr asked, “from what you have seen so far is it more likely to be a combo of two or even three drugs that are being used widely?” Horby elaborated, “Covid has two aspects to it, you have got the virus and the viral replication… the antiviral drugs kill the virus and stop it replicating, but there is also a lot of inflammation, so we have other drugs to target the inflammation.” He said you will need both and the best approach was with a combination, “one or more antivirals plus something that dampens down the immune response to the virus.” Marr turned to focus or Professor Horby’s role as the chairman of NERVTAG, quoting one paper that warned of 100,000 deaths if we got the release from lockdown wrong. Horby said we could very easily be back in a situation of crisis.
Marr asked about the “R” number that we have all been hearing so much about. Horby admitted it was an estimate based on all sorts of data sources that are imperfect. From what I have learned so far about the missing data from lack of testing I would say that “imperfect” was a major understatement! Horby deftly papered over the cracks saying, “we need to improve the information streams that will allow us to have a more precise idea of what’s happening and then we can calibrate the public Health response so that we keep it under control:” more doublespeak! I couldn’t help noting the emphasis on controlling the virus rather than irradiating Covid 19. Questioned on regional differences, Horby said that “the “R” number is a composite… lots of small epidemics and we are so interconnected that it may not make sense to different restrictions in different parts of the country.”
Marr said, “your committee advised the Government to stockpile gowns and they didn’t” Horby stumbled after he had to admit to problems with PPE, but he tried to cover for Government’s mistakes saying “a lot of their early planning was based on Pandemic influenza” saying it had been “more extensive than any of us were expecting.” On the one hand stating there was now “no excuse,” but then following with the standard excuse of global shortages. I couldn’t help thinking that if it were bullets there would be no supply issues…
Marr said that, “Richard Horton who’s the Editor of the Lancet, had a bit of a go at committees like NERVETAG he said that most of the participants in SAGE… are actually Government scientists that are on the payroll of the Government, we did not have truly independent scientific advice; this is a system that is corrupted we do not have people who are truly able to give truth to power.” Horby was asked if he could give truth to power. More prevarication followed, but I noted that Dominic Cummings’s presence at meetings and the potential for his unscientific input was not mentioned by Marr – last week’s news…
Horby asserted that Marr was mistaken as he tried to justify the people participating in these influential committees in a profuse defence, concluding that they were, “completely independent and not influenced by politicians.” Marr said NERVTAG had been criticized too, he was asked why initially they had assessed the disease as only a “moderate risk?” Horby claimed that this was misunderstood, “the risk assessment was, what was the actual risk right then to the people in the UK at the time” according to him “it was not used as a trigger for any action.” Immediate risk, not impending risk: did that justify negligent inaction? Why wouldn’t they want to fully anticipate and plan for the worst and be fully prepared; this made no sense, a very questionable response at best. Horby must have been extremely relieved that the interview was over as, in my opinion, he did not equipped himself well.
Marr interviewed Jonathan Ashworth, the Labour Shadow Health Secretary asking his opinion of the new messaging. Ashworth was not impressed with the vague instruction to “Stay Alert.” He questioned the clarity of the message, saying “this virus really does exploit ambivalence and thrive on ambiguity.” Marr pressed him for a definition, but Ashworth just emphasized how deadly the virus was and our disgraceful UK standing with the highest death toll in Europe. He was particularly concerned for those from poorer backgrounds and those in the BME community who were extremely vulnerable; he said many who survive will have long-term health problems. This uncovered a serious concern as we are all acutely aware of how the total lack of empathy from the Tory Government has impacted our disabled population in the past: the future is bleak for those crippled by Covid.
“We always knew that getting out of lockdown was going to be a difficult and complicated process” Marr said, “Labour has been calling again, and again, and again for a path out of the lockdown” he wanted to know if they felt any responsibility for the confused messaging at the moment? Typical ploy to target Labour, who aren’t in Government, for blunders that the Tories are never held responsible for. Ashworth didn’t take the bait, saying “we have seen different briefings for different newspapers… at the same time I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask the Government what the strategy is.” He kept the focus on the Government’s responsibility saying, “we know we need more testing… we abandoned our contact tracing…”
Marr interrupted saying, “I’m sorry to jump in” and claiming there was a contradiction between asking for clarity now and wanting to know what will happen in the weeks ahead; he was determined to call out Labour for scrutinizing and demanding clear instructions from the Government. Ashworth remained unruffled saying, “we must treat the public like they’re grownups” Labour wanted a general strategy offering more clarity, not a fixed date like what was briefed to the papers. It must be noted that the vague Sunday briefing was expected to take effect the very next day! Labour were asking for “a route map… the lockdown is a blunt tool it is not a strategy in itself.” Ashworth was concerned for those whose cancer treatment was on hold and he said, “taking children out of school for so long has huge implications for our young people as well.” Ashworth didn’t think his questions were unreasonable.
Marr said “can I ask your view on ending the lockdown differently in different parts of the country…” He reeled off numbers London has 86 deaths per 100,000 and he offered other areas in comparison like Norwich with only 5 per 100,000, but all were treated the same. Ashworth went to the heart of the matter saying he thought there was “a case for targeted testing and tracing regimes.” He was not in favour of the Tory, “just pick a big number approach.” He wanted to target deprived areas, BME communities, but also certain cohorts of within the workforce, all healthcare workers and care homes. However he considered releasing restriction by area was a mistake as wealthy people could afford to relocate so it was not a good policy.
Marr asked about a Labour policy that people in rent arrears should be given two years to pay it back, but many in the Labour Party considered this far too cautions and think that, “arrears accrued during Covid 19 should be written off completely.” Ashworth said “as we come out of this crisis society cannot be the same again it shows that we need more public investment, investment in our public services, we need strong infrastructure in this country.” He said “we need to build our economy so it’s not based on low pay and zero hours contracts.” He wanted a debate on, “how we rebuild the country after we come through this, but in the meantime we need the support to get through this.” Ashworth noted that, “a lot of people will be worse off because of this crisis.” I wouldn’t count on the most severely deprived getting a bail out from the Tories any time soon!
Statistician Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter from the University of Cambridge was described by Marr as, “an advisor to the SAGE committee on Covid 19, much quoted by ministers about the difficulties making international death comparisons.” Strange how that unusual name had been mentioned so often over the past week, I was really curious to see how fiercely he would defend his much quoted article. Marr started by asking him, “how many people are infected in the UK?” This was a prompt for the professor tp reel of a string of mind boggling numbers and he obliged. Spiegelhalter started that with, “some very rough back of the envelope sums” we’ve had maybe 35,000 deaths from Covid 19…” In reality it is becoming widely accepted as being far higher than that.
He elaborated further saying, “the infection fatality rate, the proportion of people that get infected who go on to die, is on average less than 1%, multiply that up, you get 3½ million infected with the virus but it could be much higher than that…The infection fatality rate could be half that… 7 million in this country at least infected.” He said it was, “extraordinary that we don’t know the basic facts yet. We have heard from Sir Ian Diamond, the Head of the Office for National Statistics that they had finally got asked to do a proper survey; April 17th they finally got asked and they will start getting the results this week, of how many people have got it and how many people have had it.” Spiegelhalter said it was “the one bit of criticism he was prepared to make about the Government is the fact that the testing the development of the testing has been so delayed.” Just ONE!
Marr asked about the number of excess deaths per week or month at the moment, he wanted to know what he could tell us about that. Spiegelhalter said, “That is the most useful figure to look at. If we look over the last four weeks of the data from the Office of National Statistics, which is the most reliable source of information it goes up to just April 24th so it is still 2 week old data, we can see that instead of over those four weeks the 42,000 deaths we would normally expect at this time of year instead we had 79,000! That’s nearly double, that’s 37,000 extra deaths, but only 2700 of those had Covid 19 on the death certificate. That leaves about 10,000… which are kind of unexplained. What has caused these extra deaths?”
Spiegelhalter tried to account for the unexplained deaths, “…the spike in non Covid excess deaths… some of them will be under-diagnosis, but Ian Diamond was attributing them to indirect deaths or collateral damage, the damage caused by the disruption to the Health Service.” He said this, “was clear looking at the data from Care Homes and people’s homes. There’s been a massive shift from deaths in Hospitals into deaths in Care Homes and homes, not necessarily a bad thing for people to die in more familiar circumstances, but a lot of death happening out of Hospitals that we wouldn’t have expected at this time of year. More than half the deaths in Care Homes, running at three times the normal rate are not being labelled as Covid. This is unbelievably important due to people not going to Hospital and not calling the ambulance when they are ill.” He said, “it didn’t even take into account the damage in the longer term due to lack of chemotherapy, elective surgery and so on, that is also a massive issue.”
Marr highlighted how Spiegelhalter had had a slight run in with the Prime Minister when he criticized him for, “quoting you in terms of the uselessness of international comparisons.” Spiegelhalter did appear somewhat annoyed at the way his recent article in the Guardian had been misconstrued and he had criticized the PM over statements on international comparisons. He said that he was motivated to write the article because he was, “sick of the media based who’s top or doing the worst.” He added that, ”because of the enormously different ways that different countries were reporting their data it was a completely fatuous exercise to do a sort of Eurovision between who’s the worst in Europe, but I should have made myself clearer.”
Spiegelhalter went on to explain that what he was talking about was, “look at the bad countries in Europe, UK, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy; I was not saying that we can’t make any comparisons at all because clearly it’s important to note that we as a member of that group is way above in terms of their mortality above Germany, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Norway who have low fatality rates. If only to say what’s happened in this country is not inevitable, it doesn’t mean it had to happen.” He admitted he had not been very clear and that, “then I found my paper was being quoted by ministers to support the claim that we cannot make any of international comparison.”
Spiegelhalter said he, “thought it would go away, but finally Boris Johnson used it in a response in parliamentary questions I felt forced and my colleagues encouraged me to actually go public and say please don’t do this, it’s not what I meant, don’t use this to make the claim that we can’t make any comparisons. I tweeted that out at it’s my one and possibly my only viral tweet with over 10.000 re-tweets.” Marr responded, “you said it wasn’t inevitable that we had that number of deaths and that finally leads to are we talking about policy or are we talking about clustering of people in London and other issues?”Spiegelhalter replied that there were, “so many reasons why countries can differ let alone the policy… the age distribution,” he said he, “hadn’t realized that in Ireland 6% of the population is over 75 and in England it is literally double that 12% of the population are over 75. This is a disease of the over 75s almost completely. There are many comparisons, we are a densely populated country they are still making… these fine comparisons are extremely difficult indeed. However, when you see massive differences between countries, then they it is really worth trying to investigate why.” Marr picked up on his point that it was a disease of the over 75s and wanted to ask, “how scared should most of us be of dying of Covid 19?”
Spiegelhalter said it was, “an interesting question because as lockdown was released we are going to be turning from a societal threat into risk management. I think it’s very important that we are aware of what the risks are… people’s anxiety should be roughly proportional to the actual risks that they face.” Spiegelhalter offers more numbers, “the ONS reported nearly 30,000 Covid deaths up to April 24th. People are worried about children, let’s look at the young group… among the young, children under 15, only 2 have died out of 10 million. This is the tiniest risk, people talk about protecting our children this is bit of a delusion, but we have to think of the potential for spreading the virus.”
“If you look at personal risk for young people it’s staggeringly low. If you look at under 25s, there’s 17 million of them in the country and we have had 26 deaths among the under 25, they may have had other complications, but that is one or two per million that’s about the same as the risk from accidents or sudden deaths over a couple of days. Let’s compare it with the over 90s, more than 1% of the over 90 have so far died from Covid just in four weeks, that’s 10,000 times the risk of the younger people. It is very difficult to communicate that staggering gradient in risk… the risk doubles every 6 or 7 years.”
Marr pitched in, “so we’re talking about the over 70s and over 75s? He asks how well are these press briefings communicating the situation?” Spiegelhalter was scathing in his reply, admitting that he had watched the previous day’s broadcast and quite frankly he said he had, “found it completely embarrassing. We get told lots of big numbers, the precise numbers of test done, 96,978, well that’s not how many tests were done it includes ones that were posted out. We are told 31,587 people have died; no they haven’t its far more than that. This is not trustworthy communication of statistics and it’s such a missed opportunity.”
Spiegelhalter concluded the interview by saying that, “the public out there are broadly very supportive of the measures and they are hungry for details for facts, genuine information and yet they get fed this what I call ‘number theatre’ which seems to be coordinated by a number ten communications team rather than genuinely trying to inform people about what is going on. I just wish that the data had been brought together and presented by people who really knew its strengths and limitations and could treat the audience with some respect.”
The Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick was next up, asked by Marr what the Prime Minister meant by “Stay Alert?” Jenrick said that, “at ten o’clock tonight the Prime Minister will lay out a roadmap for the next phase of the virus, we’ve passed the peak and so we do think this is the right moment to update and broaden the message.” So Stay Alert will mean stay alert by staying home as much as possible, but stay alert when you do go out by maintaining social distancing, washing your hands, respecting others in the workplace and the other settings that you’ll go to. This will be a cautious message because the rate of infection is still high and the public are understandably anxious.” There was a hint of more people being expected to return to work, but Jenrick’s blind confidence in the shambolic new messaging and the full implications of the Governments instructions remained vague until much later in the day.
What most people were told at ten o’clock, literally just hours before they might be expected to head back at work, was that “Stay Alert” meant navigating the close proximity danger on crammed public transport to get to their totally unprepared workplaces where maintaining social distancing would be impossible. The total lack of warning or any consideration of preparedness for the ongoing health and safety risks obviously did not concern the Government at all. Just keep washing your hands – the Tory Government is washing their hands of all responsibility for the inevitable second wave spike in Covid 19 cases.
– “the infection fatality rate, the proportion of people that get infected who go on to die, is on average less than 1%, multiply that up, you get 3½ million infected with the virus but it could be much higher than that…The infection fatality rate could be half that…”
No. IFR studies internationally are converging on between 1% and 1.5%. It could go higher if covid-19 is allowed to run riot, which causes initial high viral load on each infectee, and hospital overload, but there are no good indications of it being lower.
Regarding comparisons of fatalities between countries, by far the most important consideration is how soon lockdown was imposed; see the chart I compiled here. Early lockdown means less deaths. Comparisons of demographics pale into insignificance by comparison.
– “we’ve passed the peak”
This is such a stupid, misleading phrase that has become popular recently. No. We avoided the peak with the lockdown, and if the restrictions are loosened we’ll just start ascending towards the peak again. Best estimate for numbers infected to date is still the ICL model, which is still under 6%. If we need 60% to have been infected to achieve herd immunity (which is very optimistic, and if that’s even how covid-19 works, it hasn’t existed long enough to find out) then there’s still the potential for this to get 60/6 = ten times worse.
I really don’t know which is worse, government policy or corporate media coverage. Both are entirely unfit for purpose. And remember that the politicians themselves gain many of their impressions from the corporate media. The best thing I have found to do with it is simply avoid it.
Regarding the lack of independence of SAGE:
Kim, you wrote:
– “My writing is cathartic, but it also has a distinct purpose. I feel a dire need to keep this frail and flimsy protest banner frantically waving, despite the political storm raging around us threatening to tear our pathetic emblem of fading democracy to shreds.”
A brief summary of my own efforts:
I got involved with this website over a decade ago, and I found it empowering. Craig’s activism, coupled with public support through this site, achieved a number of successes mostly in the fields of deportation, foreign policy, and forcing issues into the corporate media.
I joined up with the Labour Party to support Jeremy Corbyn; that brought me considerable hope, until the recent General Election and Labour leadership election. But throughout, trying to achieve anything within the Labour Party was like trying to wade through treacle.
I got involved with Extinction Rebellion in October 2018, and that has been incredibly rewarding. But then suddenly covid-19 arrived, making direct action and civil disobedience irresponsible.
It is all most frustrating, but what else can we expect as we hurtle towards the collapse of civilisation?
Love and rage, Kim.
Clark
Thanks for the Independent SAGE link, it was such a good explanation, in very clear, non-political way of why the government’s action are wrong. For a start why would an independent scientific advice to the government be shrouded in secrecy? Why does the government want to introduce a biosecurity organisation when all the existing epidemiological and public health structures have been neglected? It sounds like a militaristic, political approach to public health issues.
It was a very clear message: for the public to believe in what the government calls the ‘science’ we need to be open about what this is unadulterated and unpoliticised. I hope they get somewhere, it was a breath of fresh air.Interestingly the correspondent from the Daily Mail was trying to imply that this group had a left leaning political agenda, and was effectively silenced by the answer and didn’t get his follow-up question.
– “why would an independent scientific advice to the government be shrouded in secrecy? Why does the government want to introduce a biosecurity organisation… It sounds like a militaristic, political approach to public health issues”
This is England, friend; militarism is everything. The head of the state church crowns the head of the armed forces. England has essentially the same structure as Saudi Arabia, which is why one of England’s princes visits the al-Sauds once a year to sell them modern weapons and do their sword dance. The metaphor couldn’t be clearer.
– “for the public to believe in what the government calls the ‘science’ we need to be open about what this is unadulterated and unpoliticised.
Precisely. ‘Occult’ simply means ‘hidden’, the polar opposite of science, in which we disclose everything, methods and results, so that others can replicate our work, or fail to. That’s how science empowers. But empowerment of the public is the opposite of what the capitalist-political system needs, therefore science is occluded, piece by piece.
Love and Rage, SA.
There is now a time lag between the vital weekly governmental scrutiny opportunity that is presented at Prime Minister’s Questions and my comments posted reporting on the highlights of PMQs. This allows time for me to research and evaluate any other relevant supporting or notably conflicting data that is best analysed at the same time during a week when critical details can often get lost in the overkill of Covid 19 news. This was particularly important this week with a number of fixed dates when public policy changes were made documented by the BBC in a later Newsnight broadcast that I have now decided I will post tomorrow. The BBC must have researched and fact-checked before the broadcast so I will include verbatim quotes for comparison and contrast with earlier verbatim statements made at PMQs. I consider this significant evidence of a pattern of deliberate exposure to risk and culpable negligence that I refer to as a “Holocaust in Care.”
At the last PMQs the main focus was on the situation in Care Homes where the Tory Government has had a policy of facilitating the mass culling of our elderly population in this shocking Holocaust in Care, a move that appears to be the Tory “Final Solution” to eliminate the “burden” of Social Care in providing for “economically inactive” pensioners. It is ironic that included among the Tories current target cohort are the hallowed veterans who fought to protect us from the scourge of a genocidal authoritarian dictatorship! Kier Starmer preceded his questions by remarking that, “The Prime Minister said we need to rapidly reverse the awful situation in our care homes – but earlier this year and until the 12th of March the Government’s own official advice was and I’m quoting from it ‘it remains very unlikely that people receiving care in a care home will become infected’.”
Starmer continued with his first question, “Yesterdays ONS figures showed that at least 40% of all deaths from Covid 19 were in Care Homes. Does the Prime Minister accept that the Government was too slow to protect people in Care Homes?” The PM emphatically denied the accusation in a breathless tirade, “No Mr. Speaker, it wasn’t true that the advice said that and actually we bought to lockdown in Care Homes ahead of the general lockdown and what we’ve seen is a concerted action plan to tackle what is unquestionably the appalling epidemic in Care Holmes and a huge exercise in testing is going on a further 600 million pounds I can announce today for infection control in Care Homes and yes it is absolutely true that the number of casualties has been too high, but I can tell the house that as I told the Right Honourable Gentleman last week and indeed this week the number of outbreaks is down and the number of fatalities in Care Homes is well down. Ther e is much more to do, but we are making progress Mr Speaker.”
Starmer’s rebuttal was swift, “I’m surprised the Prime Minister queried the advice of his own Government up to the 12th of March. I do of course welcome any fall in the recorded numbers and he’s right to reference that, but the Prime Minister must still recognize that the numbers are very high.” These policy decisions are well documented and could provide damning evidence against the Government in a court case. Starmer identified a particular article validating the impact, “The daily Telegraph carried the following quote from a Cardiologist, ‘We discharged no suspected or unknown cases into Care Homes which were unprepared, with no formal warning that patients were infected, no testing available and no PPE to prevent transmission, we actively seeded this into the very population that was most vulnerable.’ Does the PM accept that the Cardiologist is right about this?”
The PM was clearly taken aback by this revelation and responded with insincere accolades, unable to call out the raw truth of the Doctor’s statement without insulting heroic NHS staff he stalled for time saying, “Well Mr. Speaker, I have the utmost respect for all our Medical profession who are doing an extraordinary job in very difficult circumstances.” Boris Johnson then reverted to a diversionary slalom away from the question to brag his way out of providing an answer saying, “but what I can tell the house is that actually the number of discharges from Hospitals into Care Homes went down in March and April and we had a system of testing people going into Care Homes and that testing is now being ramped up across all the 1500 Care Homes in this country.” I doubt these claims would survive a robust fact-check.
Starmer kept up his uncomfortable questioning of the PM asking, “Mr. Speaker, I want to probe the figures the Prime Minister’s given us a little bit further the Office of National Statistics records the average number of deaths in Care Homes in each month. For the last five years the average for April has been just over 8000. This year the number of deaths in Care Homes for April was a staggering 26,000, that’s three times the average,18,000 additional deaths this April. Using the Government figures only 8000 are recorded as Covid deaths; that leaves 10,000 additional and unexplained Care Home deaths this April. Now I know the Government must have looked into this, so can the Prime Minister give us the Governments views on these unexplained deaths?”
The PM scrambled to find an appropriate reply, “Well Mr. Speaker Coronavirus is an appalling disease which afflicts some groups far more than others, I think that the whole country understands that in particular the elderly, and he’s right to draw attention as I’ve said to the tragedy that’s been taking place in Care Homes.” He continued his redundant statement of the obvious saying, “The Office of National Statistics is responsible for producing the data that they have, the Gov has also produced data which not only shows that there has been, as I say a terrible epidemic in Care Homes.” The question remained unanswered as Boris Johnson started into another slalom run of diversionary banter.
The PM reverted to bragging about painfully slow, gradual improvements by continuing his reply saying, “but since the Covid, the Care Homes Action Plan began we are seeing an appreciable and substantial reduction, not just in the number of outbreaks but also in the number of deaths and I want to stress to the House and also to the country that solving the problem in Care Homes is going to be absolutely critical to getting the “R” down not just in Care Homes but across the country is going to be absolutely critical to our ability to move forward as a nation with the steps program that I announced on Sunday. We must exit and we will.” Johnson managed a clear run taking the subject so far in the opposite direction that most will have forgotten the question.
Starmer wasn’t perturbed, determined to drive home his point he elaborated on the unanswered question of unexplained deaths asking, “The Prime Minister says that solving the problem in Care Homes is crucial but that can only happen if the numbers are understood and therefore I was disappointed that the Prime Minister doesn’t have an answer to the pretty obvious question as to what are those 10,000 unexplained deaths.” This was a point that the opposition will hope is picked up by the press, hence the emphasis of Starmer’s rebuttal.
Keir Starmer continued with another question, “Mr. Speaker yesterday the overall figures given by the Government at the Press Conference were those who died of Covid 19 was 32,692 each one a tragedy. For many weeks the Government has compared the UK number against other countries. Last week I showed the PM his own slides showing that the UK now has the highest death total in Europe and the second highest in the world. A version of this slide has been shown at the number 10 Press Conference every day since the 30th of March, that’s seven weeks. Yesterday the Government stopped publishing the international comparisons and the slide’s gone. Why?” A recent Skwawkbox Article elaborated on the issue of the disappearing data slide.
This expectation of transparency really got Boris Johnson rattled and his hesitation showed, “Er, Mr Speaker Er, as, as he knows very well the UK has been going through an unprecedented once in a century epidemic and he seeks to make comparisons with other countries which I’m advised… I’m advised are premature because the correct, the correct and final way of making these comparisons will be when we have all the excess death totals for all the relevant countries. We do not yet have that data… now Mr. Speaker, I’m not going to try to pretend to the House that the figures when they are finally confirmed are anything other than stark and deeply, deeply horrifying this has been an appalling epidemic…”
Johnson needed another triumphant slalom run of diversionary bragging so he continued with, “what I can tell the House is that we are getting those numbers down, the numbers of deaths are coming down, the numbers of Hospital admissions are coming down thanks to the hard work of the British people in reducing the ‘R’.” Certain no one would want to challenge public effort Johnson continued, “Mr. Speaker, in reducing those numbers of fatalities we are now in a position to make some small modest steps to begin to come out of the very restrictive measures that we’ve had. I think people do understand what we’re trying to do as a country and as for the international comparisons that he seeks to draw now, I think he will have to… he will have to contain his impatience.” There were a few pathetic Hear, Hears of support from the Covid depleted Tory benches.
Starmer continued to profess bewilderment saying, “Well I’m baffled, it’s not me seeking to draw the comparisons these are the Government slides that have been used for seven weeks to reassure the public and the problem with the Prime Minister’s answer is that it’s pretty obvious that for seven weeks when we weren’t the highest number in Europe they were using them for comparison purposes and as soon as we hit that unenviable place they’ve been dropped and last week he quoted in defence of Professor Spiegelhalter. What Professor Spiegelhalter said at the weekend was this that we need to think about it we should use other countries to try and learn why our numbers are so high and so dropping the comparison, means dropping the learning and that’s the real risk.”
Starmer continued, “I want to ask the Prime Minister now about the changes that are coming into effect today. The real concern for many people is childcare.” He went on to quote the mother of a young child apologizing for its length by saying that it reflected queries that all members of the House would have been getting. It was over what they should do about childcare, essentially what exceptions would employers be expected to make for their workers to provide for childcare needs, as both she and her husband were expected back at work while nurseries remained closed. Starmer asked, “What advice would the Prime Minister give her?”
Boris Johnson felt the need to start with a defensive rebuttal, “Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker just on his earlier point about not learning from other countries, nothing could be further from the truth, we are watching intently what is happening in other countries and it is very notable that in some other countries were relaxations have been introduced there is signs of the “R” going up again and that’s a very clear warning to us not to proceed to fast or too recklessly and I hope that people, I hope the country does understand that.” In reality, this Tory Government has made a conscious choice to totally ignore the strong evidence of all of the International experts informing the WHO on best practice with regard to global Pandemic advice and head off in the wrong direction advocating “Herd Immunity.” They are still heading in the wrong direction because Tories never learn lessons.
The PM returned to the more recent question saying, “on the specific point that he rightly raises about people who have anxieties about going back to work when they don’t have adequate childcare, and I think I was very clear with both with him and with the House earlier in the week, that in so far as that people may not be able to go back to work because they don’t have the childcare that they need, then their employers must be understanding and it is clearly as I said an impediment it’s a barrier to your ability to go back to work if you don’t have childcare. I’d be very happy to look at the specific case that he raises if there’s anything more that we can do to shed light on the matter.” If there is no Government mandated protection in place to cover this situation workers know they will be exploited.
Starmer says he is grateful to the Prime Minister for indicating that he’ll look into that particular case, reminding him that it’s one of very many. He moves to another important point saying, “The Prime Minister is asking the country to support decisions that will affect millions of lives, these are not easy decisions, I recognize that they’re very difficult balanced decisions that the Prime Minister and his Government has to make. After the confusion of the last few days gaining public confidence in them is crucial, crucial the Prime Minister said that his decisions were and I quote ‘driven by the science, the data and public health.’ So to give the public confidence in the decisions, can the Prime Minister commit to publishing the scientific advice that his decisions were based on?”
This was a tall order from the most opaque Tory Government in living memory and the PM was determined to avoid any scrutiny evasively saying that, “Now Mr. Speaker, all SAGE advice is published in due course as the Right Honourable Gentleman knows.” With that classic prelude to obfuscation he continued, “and let me be absolutely clear with the House that SAGE has been involved in every stage, and our scientists and our medical officers have been involved in every stage, of preparing this strategy and I want to remind the House that what we are doing is entirely conditional and provisional,” deftly evading the question altogether. It was time for another thrilling slalom run of insincere complements and bragging as Boris Johnson prattled on, “The UK has made a huge amount of progress and the people of this country have worked incredibly hard to get the “R” down; we cannot now go back to square one we can’t risk a second outbreak and we will do everything to avoid that.”
So this was Boris Johnson’s valid excuse for keeping the entire country in the dark, guessing over exactly what scientific advice might be driving the reckless Tory Government’s shambolic policy making that was so radically at odds with the WHO and most other countries? The Prime Minister concluded with his baseless assumptions regarding public understanding and support, “I think that actually when they look at what we’re advocating as the way forward, the Steps Process that we’ve set out, I think people can see exactly what we’re trying to do as a country and they can see that everybody is still required to obey the social distancing laws, the social distancing rules. And after a time the common sense of the British people got us through that first phase of the disease I’m absolutely confident they will get us through the next as well.”
After thanking our NHS Nurses on International Nurses Day Ian Blackford asked, “Mr. Speaker, last week the Prime Minister, in response to my questioning, noted the ability of the Governments of all four Nations to come together and to deliver a very clear message for our people. Events on Sunday could not have been more disastrous from this Government, the Prime Minister has made confusion costly, the devolved administrations shut out, widespread confusion amongst the public and a total disregard from this Government for workers safety. Very sadly we have seen the images of London buses being packed this morning. Mr. Speaker will the Prime Minister accept that the clear message in Scotland is Stay Home to Protect the NHS to Save Lives.”
The PM responded, “Mr. Speaker indeed the message throughout the country is of course that you should stay at home if you can, unless you, unless the specific circumstances that we’ve outlined apply, but I must say I don’t accept the characterization of the cooperation that we’ve had across all four nations that the leader of the SNP makes. In my experience there’s been intense, it’s been going on for days and days, and weeks and weeks, and actually I think if you look at the totality of the measures that we’re taking as a country there is much more that unites us than divides us and we will go forward together.” Johnson said, evoking the sad memory of a courageous Labour MP cut down in her prime due to bigoted far Right hate messages and incitement provoked by Brexit extremists. In view of Boris’s notorious intolerance and total lack of collaboration, it was not an appropriate remark.
Ian Blackford offered a reality check saying, “Mr. Speaker the reality is that the Prime Minister has failed to deliver a clear message and he doesn’t address the point about London buses being packed this morning. The Prime Minister is threatening progress made against the spread of this virus by the general public, who have following the advice to stay at home. The Prime Minister is putting worker’s safety at risk by calling on those who can’t work at home to go to their jobs without any guidance on health and safety.” These chaotic scenes were captured and well documented on Social Media and it made an absolute mockery of the Government’s social distancing strategy. Few if any of the commuters were wearing masks because the Government has insisted that wearing masks is pointless; terrified that the general public will commandeer any of the dwindling PPE supplies. Expect another spike in infections!
Blackford moved on to his second permitted question saying, “only last Monday the Health Secretary launched a test – trace App trial, on Sunday the Prime Minister appeared to leap frog any success with that by announcing easing of restriction! Before any lockdown easing and to avoid undermining the progress made so far the Prime Minister must make sure that there are sufficient levels of testing available and the ability to test, trace, isolate is fully in operation. Why is the Prime Minister throwing weeks of against this virus into jeopardy undermining the work of our outstanding NHS?”
Boris Johnson, caught out by the absurdity of jumping the gun on lockdown, appeared hesitant to reply before returning to London buses, “Er well Mr. Speaker forgive me, he raises the point about London buses… which is quite right and I don’t want to see crowding on mass tran…” Don’t say “mass transit,” there are no masses allowed! Correcting his error, the PM continued, “on public transport, in our capitol or anywhere else, and we’re working very actively with TFL to insure that what we do is, we have more capacity, we discourage people from going to work during the peak and that the operators and in particular TFL lay on, particularly more tubes, more tube trains, when those are necessary throughout the day… and a huge amount of work is being done, we also want to see proper marshalling at stations to prevent crowding of trains.” It was probably considered best not to mention expecting all those poor bastards socially cleansed out of London to walk or cycle for countless hours just to get to and from work.
It was time for another self-congratulatory slalom to avoid criticism over the testing void. The PM longed for support as he began his reply, “I must say that on his point about test, track and trace, the test, track and trace is going to be a huge operation for this entire country…” He needed to drag Blackford into his shambolic plan saying, “and I think actually he should pay tribute the work of those hundreds of thousands of people who are now responsible for massively escalating our test, track and tracing operation.” It was another nauseating round of “don’t you dare insult the people.” Johnson went on to claim, “We now test more than virtually any other country in Europe…” The key word here was “virtually” as this probably referred to “virtual testing” a bit like “your test is in the mail…” I doubt that boast was a true fact, more likely another impressive piece of Boris Shit?
Johnson was swiftly twisting and turning as his bragging rapidly advanced, “and it’s got, the rate of acceleration, the rate of increase, has been very, very sharp indeed and we will go up to 200,000 by the end of the month, but he’s absolutely right that this should be entirely, the success of this program is absolutely vital if we’re to be able to move on to the third step, the second and third steps of our roadmap.” The PM would rather we didn’t notice the reduction in his commitment for the increased level of testing by the end of this month to 200,000; what happened to 250,000? It was time to pull the recalcitrant SNP Ministers into the Tories bogus roadmap against their will. Boris Johnson’s fake majority in Parliament will give the Tories the ability to shut down all of the devolved Governments following crash-out Brexit in a few months time; they will not hesitate to bring the devolved nations to heel.
Among other issues raised, Conservative Julian smith asked if there would be a more permanent solution for rough sleepers, 90% of whom had been taken off the street in response to the crisis. The PM indulged in self-congratulatory glory that ignored the harsh reality of the escalation of homelessness under a decade of Tory austerity. Liberal Democrat Ed Davey made a pitch for extending the help offered to the Self Employed to which the PM responded by accusing him of attempting to take credit from the Tories over measure they had introduces; I did not het the quip, but a number of MPs were obviously amused by it. Tory MP Dr Jamie Wallis took the opportunity to criticise Labour for their slower release of lockdown in Wales; an attack that the PM eagerly lapped up.
Labour MP John Spellar asked about the returning of nationals from overseas and the dismissive abandonment of those claiming leave to remain in the UK who were experiencing a similar persecution to the Windrush victims. The PM claimed to be “doing best we can.” The SNPs, David Linden was concerned for the welfare of asylum seekers after lockdown created more hardship and insecurity for this group. The PM claimed that no one is being ill treated, but I am not convinced of that with Pretty Patel in charge of their fate. There were the usual number of Tory, “does the Prime Minister agree with me,” self-congratulatory “stroking” non questions that do not warrant documentation.
Hard core Tory Brexiteer Peter Bone started insulting the Electoral Commission for it’s case against the Leave organizations that appears to have now been dropped; he appealed for the PM to leave “Leave” alone and abolish the Electoral Commission. It does not surprise me that the case fell apart since the Electoral Commission is completely toothless: A Watchdog that cannot watch is just a dog! The fabricated majority won via the Covert 2019 Rigged Election now means that the Tories have the absolute control that they need to finally euthanize the dog. In the US Donald Trump is removing regulatory bodies to eliminate his accountability to the American people; expect Boris Johnson to do the same. We need to Rescue our Watchdog before it is too late.
Stewart Hosie from the SNP but in a desperate plea to extend Brexit transition period since it would be negligent to proceed. No, No, No, the PM embraces negligence; his boot will stomp down hard on our neck! Neil Gray also of the SNP protested about businesses who were not living up to their furlough obligations to support workers and asks the PM to set up a furlough appeal process. The PM says he will take up case. Kate Griffiths expressed concerns over vulnerable older NHS staff who should be removed from frontline duties. The PM appears to agree and included BME staff in the cohort of concern. Our solitary Green MP, Caroline Lucas asked the PM to make sure that as we emerge from the current emergency we will not deepen the climate crisis; specifically requesting no Government handouts to polluters. The PM went into meaningless waffle overdrive.
A final intervention from Tory William Wragg was yet another excuse for self-congratulatory stroking as he began by enlisted the PMs agreement in shallow praise of NHS staff, then appealing for Healthcare to return to normal. Boris Johnson started bragging about how they had protected the NHS, without bothering to mention how that had been achieved at the expense of abandoning the elderly to die in Care Homes. As tedious as it is to fully document the endless deliberately devious prevarications of Boris Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions, I feel it is important in this instance in order to place the PMs statements in the same post as contrasting revelations that could solidify the complicity of this Tory Government in a Court Case. These exact words, as identified within quotation marks, are fully verified as accurate through the official Governmental transcript of Erskine May.
There was a real eye opening segment of on Newsnight later the same day that ties in with Wednesday’s PMQs, but this post is already way too long so I will post it tomorrow. I think the evidence is mounting and this Tory Government is continuing to paint themselves into a corner. The daily Press Briefings are becoming more repetitive with their nauseating propaganda every day. Thanks for posting that Link to alternative SAGE; I need to look over their information to get a glimpse of reality. Keep digging to uncover more material and damning evidence to help secure the removal of this dangerous Government from office; don’t give up the fight.
This week’s Prime Ministers Questions was particularly important with regard to trying to hold the Government accountable for the massive death toll in our Care Homes that there was fair warning about, but was instead exacerbated by insane policy decisions that gave the strong impression of a deliberate cull of our vulnerable elderly population. With a number of fixed dates when public policy changes were made fully documented by the BBC in a late Wednesday Newsnight broadcast that I will elaborate on here the earlier exchanges at PMQs are open to closer scrutiny. The BBC Newsnight team must have researched and fact-checked before the broadcast so I will document segments for comparison and contrast with earlier verbatim statements made at PMQs. I consider this significant evidence of a pattern of deliberate exposure to risk and culpable negligence that I refer to as a “Holocaust in Care!”
Emily Matlis began Newsnight on Wednesday the 13th of May by saying that, “The guiding principal was so clear, the more we stay home, the more the NHS is able to cope, the more lives we save, and stay home we did. The NHS did cope, but the death toll from this Pandemic has been horrendous. The NHS was perhaps underwhelmed, spare capacity in the newly built hospitals, free wards and empty Emergency Departments. It’s now clearer how many of the deaths were happening outside; 40% of all recorded Covid 19 deaths have so far happened in Care Homes. So why were those dying in Care Holmes not treated in Hospital and why were Covid patients released from hospital to live in Care Homes with Britain’s most vulnerable?”
These questions were at the core of a heated political row earlier that day that exploded at PMQs and continued on well into the afternoon. According to the BBC’s Nick Watt, following PMQs a volley of letters went back and forth between Sir Keir Starmer and the Prime Minister. Few are aware that the MPs are strictly prohibited by the rules of Parliament from claiming that another MP has outright lied to the House which, considering the appallingly high proclivity for lying among current politicians, has become far too quaintly genteel to support genuine transparency! The spat centred on the official advice given with regard to Care Holmes. Johnson claimed the statement was taken out of context, but the PM was dancing on the head of a pin, since the actual wording was fully verified and as such extremely damning with regard to the Tory Government’s lax Covid 19 containment policy.
Dementia specialist Dr. Jamie Wilson, appearing on Newsnight, said he believes major mistakes were made, cautioning that, “The Care Home population is extremely frail and vulnerable and most are over 80 with many co-morbid conditions. It was in that population it was very clear from the early Chinese data and the data from Lombardy that this population had a mortality rate of at least 20%. So when you add up all those factors it seems really quite incredible that patients were being discharged back to Care Homes and indeed that Care Homes were being mandated to take them back, even when there was a high risk they were Covid positive.”
Newsnight then highlighted how Jenny Harries, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, had stated in a daily Press Briefing that, “although those being moved are tested now in Hospitals, even prior to that testing there was a policy whereby an individual who was moving into a Care Home would be retained in safe isolation within the Care Home because it was recognized that this was a risk group … they are all having a test now but they would have been treated in much the same way before this.” The most serious problem with Harries’s frank admission of culpability is the delusional confidence that private Care Homes would be fully staffed and sufficiently equipped with appropriate PPE to provide safe isolation let alone complex medical care. Covid patients who deteriorate end up on a ventilator before they eventually die, but where was the access to ventilation equipment in Care Homes and the ICU trained staff to direct and monitor their use?
Care Home staff are taught stringent management of infection control as a critical component of their standard practice due to the vulnerability of the people that they care for. However, the simple aprons and gloves suitable for regular use were not sufficiently protective when staff were expected to deal with such a virulent virus while face masks and visors are not standard. All Care Homes purchase their own kit, but increasingly they were unable to access supplies as the PPE was requisitioned towards the NHS. At the same time Primary Care services were closed to them; GP s and District Nurses weren’t coming into the Care Homes so there was no clinical support. Although Nursing Homes will have a qualified Nurse on staff, Residential Care Homes do not. Tests remain inaccessible; we discovered that the Government cannot even guarantee that all Care Homes are going to be offered testing until the 6th of June!
Architect of the disastrous reforms to the NHS, Andrew Lansley, came under critical fire from Newsnight’s Emily Matlis, she asked, “what was the point of underwhelming the NHS when so many were dying outside it” Lansley attempted some rather typical Tory spin centred on the word “context” claiming that “the intention was to look after Care Home Residents.” Matlis was not satisfied stating that, “the Government had advice from Patrick Valance, the Chief Medical Officer, right at beginning, in January, warning that a looming crisis in Care Homes was on the way, they knew that was happening, they could see that was happening, yet they decided that they’d move patients without testing them into Care Homes with vulnerable people. What kind of craziness was that?” Lansley said it should never have been allowed. The road to hell is paved with good intentions…
There were no numbers published for weeks, then the words of Boris Johnson claiming “an apparent success at not overwhelming the NHS” when clearly the deaths had been going on outside, was a point that has angered us all, but Lansley tried to defend the Tory Government’s incompetence by claiming that these problems were not exclusive to the UK! Matlis attacked Lansley’s reforms reminding him that, “400 Health Professionals wrote to the Lords in 2011 they begged the Lords to reject your reforms they actually told you it would disrupt, fragment and weaken Public Health capabilities and would undermine the NHS’s ability to respond to a communicable disease outbreak emergency.” In defence of his reforms Lansley said “you know that’s not true, it didn’t fragment the Public Health Service, if anything it ought to have strengthened it.” Well, “Ought to” didn’t happen and our NHS is still on the ropes.
The horrific extent of the Care Home tragedy was elaborated on in the Canary Article, “Worrying data’ reveals more than 12,500 people in care homes have now died with Covid-19.” In the article which includes graphs of the data they quote Sarah Deeny, Assistant Director of Data Analytics at the Health Foundation, who said: “Today’s data – which accounts for care home residents that have died in hospital – shows that previous figures have significantly underestimated the extent of Covid-19-related deaths among residents, which total 12,526 – 51% higher than previously published.” The article also verifies the delays in testing noting, “Despite recent announcements, there is still complete confusion about testing, with care homes telling MPs they have been unable to access tests. The Government’s own Covid-19 recovery strategy can’t guarantee that every care home for the over-65s will even be offered tests until June 6.”
In a detailed breakdown of the relevant policy decision dates, that for purposes of clarity I will quote word for word here, Newsnight revealed: “Up until two months ago Care Homes were advised that they did not need to take any extra special precautions against Coronavirus. Advice issued on the 25th of February said there was no need to do anything differently at Care Homes on the grounds that there was no evidence of transmission of the virus in the UK. On the 13th of March that advice was dropped and on the 19th of March the Government instructed NHS Hospitals to create space for Covid patients by clearing 15,000 beds, many of which were occupied by Care Home patients. On the 2nd of April Public Health England said that patients returning to Care Homes did not have to test negative for Coronavirus. It said negative tests are not required prior to transfer and admission into the Care Home. Just over two weeks later the Government said that patients entering Care Homes would be tested for the virus.”
The above instructions might even have be considered understandable if the NHS had been totally overwhelmed as was the case with the Italian Healthcare system at the peak of their Covid 19 crisis. But, on the 4th of May the Guardian announced that the new Nightingale Hospital would be closing the following week on the 15th of May. The impressively well equipped Nightingale Hospitals remained barely used at all so the one at London ExCel relocated their last 12 patients to shift to standby mode cautiously awaiting a second surge in Covid cases. A serious amount of public money was invested on the rapid creation of these facilities, no doubt channelled into the greedy pockets of Tory donors who earned lucrative contacts to supply the high-end equipment. Meanwhile vital PPE was not seen as such a big money spinner; dime store kit that could be ordered from China and to hell with the delay!
In her Guardian Opinion piece, Polly Toynbee asks, “How can Britain trust this floundering crew of fibbers to tackle coronavirus?” She highlighted reasons for the rapid erosion of public trust over ridiculous comments made my Tory ministers like the Health Secretary saying, “Take Matt Hancock’s dumbfounding claim on Friday: ‘Right from the start we’ve tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes … we’ve made sure care homes have the resources they need.’ What sentient voter doesn’t know that to be a flat-out lie? No testing and no PPE, as care homes – some close to bankruptcy – were pressured to take untested, possibly infected, hospital patients, without enough doctors, staff, training or isolation space. Taking the public for fools destroys trust.”
The Tories have come up with this new cosy sounding piece of propaganda to try to convince the public that they are trying really hard to protect our Care Home residents, but don’t be fooled by the chime of their latest clanger. In reality the Government’s much touted “Protective Ring around Care Homes” is far more like a bell pealing as a very loud voice yells “bring out your dead!” It’s really sick and it’s no joke. Just keep “Washing your Hands;” Boris Johnson and his Tory cabal have already Washed their Hands of all responsibility for the safety of the British people. The Canary report that even the mainstream media are now acknowledging that the death toll has surpassed 50,000.
In a Skwawkbox exclusive: “As govt claims peak passed and eases lockdown, it is TRIPLING temporary mortuary capacity – in preparation for huge new ‘spike’ in deaths” they report that, “Creation of temporary mortuary space for 30,000 bodies was reported during supposed ‘peak’ of pandemic. Now, as government relaxes lock-down, sends workers back to work and children back to school, it is more than tripling that capacity and warning funeral directors to prepare for massive new ‘spike’.” What genocidal scourge is this Tory Government planning to inflict on the people of this country? We must demand a full investigation so that the second we have enough evidence to prove their corruption and criminal negligence we can take swift action to get them removed from office to end this “Holocaust in Care” or any further “Slaughter of the Sheeple.”
