Tories and Labour front bench have both pushed for schools and businesses to re-open in spite of obvious dangers and clear warnings from scientists and unions
The rate of new coronavirus infections in the UK has hit a 44-day high, with more than a thousand cases according to the government’s official figure – itself universally acknowledged to be a fraction of the real number of new sufferers.
But the breakdown of cases shows the disaster is driven by the spread of the virus in England – health is devolved to the Scottish, Welsh and Irish governments, who can decide their own public health measures – with Johnson and Hancock presiding over a rate of infection (shown in brackets as new cases per 100,000) double that of the UK’s other nations:
- England: 988 (1.76)
- Scotland: 48 (0.88)
- Wales: 26 (0.82)
Northern Ireland does not report on a weekend.
But the blame for this emerging new spike wears two rosettes. Johnson and Hancock have been a disaster that would have been worse had many people not chosen to ignore them on multiple occasions – and had the UK’s independent media not relentlessly exposed their lethal slowness and arrogance.
But Labour leader Keir Starmer and his front bench have done worse than simply fail to oppose Johnson’s insanity and willingness to sacrifice lives. They have frequently and actively pushed for a faster return to schools and reinforced Johnson’s long unwillingness to recommend masks in public – ignoring or often undermining the efforts of unions to resist Johnson’s haste and protect workers from the dangers clearly posed by pushing millions back into classrooms, workplaces and public transport.
The exception to this was Rebecca Long-Bailey in Shadow Education – and Starmer kicked her out on a pretext after a huge row about his eagerness to push children and teachers back into schools.
Unions and even the government’s own scientific advisers have been warning for months that this haste would lead to new infections and needless deaths, while international studies have demonstrated the dangers. Even Hancock eventually had to admit it was driving the Leicester hotspot.
Now we are seeing the consequences as those warnings come true.
The Tories knew their actions were going to cause this – why else would they triple England’s mortuary capacity – and the same information was available to Labour’s front bench.
As the media will often say (without actually holding anyone to account for it), the primary responsibility of a government is to protect the lives of the people it governs. The same applies to the Opposition.
Even if avoiding actual opposition was a viable electoral strategy, there is no excuse for not opposing measures that were clearly going to kill our people – let alone for actively pushing and supporting them.
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I have to admit to being slightly biased but in my opinion Starmer has done no favours for the Labour Party, his sycophancy towards the Government has been strange to say the least, hopefully he will start being a leader for the sake of the Country
More wet knickers for the innumerate and scientifically illiterate from the Mail’s doppelganger 🙂
What a stupidly article! No wonder the right keep winning if this is the intellectual calibre of the opposition.
My calibre after months of lockdown has increased so much I could be ammunition for a 15 inch naval gun.
Hugh Pennington just interviewed on BBC News talking about whether schools are a CV risk – at the very end he said something like “… and of course they can then go home and infect their elders and betters” ffs.
Haven’t heard that expression in years.
Attacking the messenger is a giveaway for what your are
Oh? What are I?
What a stupidly article!
What a stupidly (sic) person!
…And you have the brass neck to call other ‘illiterate’.
Probably a cut’n’paste fupuck – I’ve done it myself once or twice when I couldn’t be arsed to proof read a longer comment.
That’s no excuse on a 32-worder though.
wanKUH!
Again attacking the messenger says more about you
The govt mantra really should be ” work till you drop peasants “. They don’t give a flying f@#k about anyone.
May 2020
SARS-CoV-2: fear versus data
“ in OECD countries, SARS-CoV-2 does not seem to be deadlier than other circulating viruses. In addition to coronaviruses, there are 16 endemic viruses in common circulation in developed countries (adenovirus, bocavirus, cytomegalovirus, enterovirus, influenza A H1N1 virus, influenza A H3N2 virus, influenza B virus, metapneumovirus, parainfluenzae virus 1, parainfluenzae virus 2, parainfluenzae virus 3, parainfluenzae virus 4, parechovirus, picornavirus, rhinovirus, syncytial respiratory virus), and 2.6 million deaths from respiratory infections (excluding tuberculosis) per year have been noted in recent years worldwide There is little chance that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 could change this statistic significantly. Fear could have a larger impact than the virus itself; a case of suicide motivated by the fear of SARS-COV-2 has been reported”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920300972
You really want to base a ‘fear vs data’ argument on a study dated Mar 2 2020 when the UK cases were reportedly 40 and deaths were 0?
SARS-CoV-2 does not seem to be deadlier than other circulating viruses. In addition to coronaviruses, there are 16 endemic viruses in common circulation in developed countries (adenovirus, bocavirus, cytomegalovirus, enterovirus, influenza A H1N1 virus, influenza A H3N2 virus, influenza B virus, metapneumovirus, parainfluenzae virus 1, parainfluenzae virus 2, parainfluenzae virus 3, parainfluenzae virus 4, parechovirus, picornavirus, rhinovirus, syncytial respiratory virus), and 2.6 million deaths from respiratory infections (excluding tuberculosis) per year have been noted in recent years worldwide There is little chance that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 could change this statistic significantly
Let’s see your evidence which contradicts it.
I’m a lazy man and quite happy just to pick your nonsense apart if it’s all the same to you.
New Labour and the Tories in lockstep, who’d of thought of that? It’s as if they’re trying to prove George Galloway’s comment, new Labour and the Tories being two cheeks of the same arse, right.
Labour appears to have (hopefully temporarily) lost the Labour plot.
Some people on here are a waste of space. If you aren’t concerned about an airborne virus that can kill, will kill, and if not leave permanent disability and affect your family and friends then you’ should be allowed out ever.
I am horrified at people’s incredible selfishness over the weekends. Yes the hysteria is fanned by the media etc, but 4+ months in that excuse does not wash anymore. Or us that all the speel of ‘taking back control’?
In Germany about a week or so ago, over a 1,000,000 people took to the streets of Berlin protesting about the draconian measures to control a virus which has a fatality median of about 80 and the vast majority of them had 2 or more serious illnesses and has a mortality rate of about 0.011%. Professor Sucharit, a renowned professor of medicine, Dr Wodrag plus many many other Professors and doctors have explained the flaws in this so called “ pandemic “. The German people understand very very well, through their history, where these totalitarian measures are leading to and won’t wear it. Pity other people don’t wake up to what is taking place
Bubba, you read it so carefully you got your principal character’s name wrong.
The Prof. Dr’s name is Sucharit Bhakdi.
Like most of your persuasion he says “We need more evidence before we act” – which would be all fine and dandy if the virus would kindly slow its spread and wait for the evidence-providing technology to catch up.
In the age of mass air travel and transport of goods, a virus that can survive travelling on the surfaces of goods, and be spread by the pre-symptomatic, has innumerable transmission routes worldwide.
Without the measures that have been taken, however incompetently, the infection rate would have been vastly greater and the number of deaths immense.
Acting fast was not only best practice, it was the only possible response.
Snowflakes
It’s your choice, hide behind the couch if that’s your thing
But please stop making up the etymology
If your lucky they might have a vaccine in the next 7 years, your chances of dying from it are going down on a daily basis, but then again it’s only a matter of time before the next one comes along
Merde happens
Try giving best advice to those who are vulnerable to the virus
Then give us the statistics and relative risks
Then for the love of god let people make their own choices
Cars “can kill, will kill and if not leave permanent disability”, but that doesn’t stop most people leaving the house and crossing the occasional road. You sound like you’re well up for a bit of house arrest yourself and your authoritarian tendencies are showing when you wish the same on others. A sad case of hysteria via media brainwashing. Still, the streets are a lot less cluttered these days, so, silver linings…
According to a NHS document issued in June, the median age of deaths from Covid 19 is 80 and 95% of the fatalities had two or more serious illnesses such as dementia, cancer, emphysema, heart diseases, Parkinson’s and a myriad of other diseases which kill people. Therefore, the vast overwhelming majority of people died with Covid19 not because of it.
Moreover, the reporting of Medical Certificate of Cause of Death has been changed. Many deaths are being reported as Covid -19 when no such examination has established it. For example, my next door neighbours father, who had dementia plus cancer and was 92 years old, had a MCCD stating Covid -19 when no such examination had taken place. My partners best friends father died from dementia, which he had suffered from for many years and was 89, MCCD stated Covid -19 when no such examination had taken place. There have been many incidences of this happening and NHS doctors have stated it . In other words the statistics are not reliable.
Yet, the insane policies of this “ pandemic “ have meant over 2,000,000 operations have had to be cancelled, there are numerous empty wards in hospitals and people who should have had serious operations for cancer have also had them cancelled. Anyone who has or had this cancer will know how serious that can be. Yet, I don’t see the same concern from some people on here screaming about Covid 19 about Cancer a disease which effects all ages, both sexes, all races and kills over 100,000 people every year. Not forgetting of course heart operations, plus of course the mental diseases and subsequent deaths because of isolation, fear due to a totally unnecessary lockdown. It’s a pity more people don’t give that more thought instead of letting fear rule their heads.
The Tories knew their actions were going to cause this – why else would they triple England’s mortuary capacity?
Is this necessarily significant? When hospital capacity was increased (maybe not by a third, I have no idea) by setting up those unused Nightingale hospitals, it showed that the Tories don’t have much knowledge about anything!
The Tories are only the puppets, same with Starmer, that are 2 sides of the same coin. BIG Business and the establishment calls the shots!
What does Piers Corbyn say?
………..yes & the sporting events have been cancelled!
Mc Bullshit makes another appearance like a bad penny. Now, once again unable to provide the slightest evidence, data, documentation to disprove that this virus which is the cause of a ” pandemic ” has a fatalities rate of about 0.011% in Germany. Hardly qualifies as a pandemic. In addition, the 1,000,000 + demonstrators in Berlin recently made their feelings very clear that they will not have the wool pulled over their eyes unlike you.
Just to remind you the notion of a ” pandemic ” was based on the predictions of the good Professor Ferguson who made a complete ball’s up on his estimates of fatalities, just like he had in the other supposed ” pandemics “.
Yet, the WHO accepted his and Imperials work as fait accompli. The odd bung of $400,000,000 to the Prof plus Imperial and the $1000,000,000s the WHO have received from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which have made $1,000,000,000s from their interests in the giant international pharmaceuticals corporations, helped them with their decision to call it a ” pandemic “.
Some people never learn and I see you are one of them dear old Mcbullshit.
David McNiven, 10.08.2020 12.22pm “ I am a lazy man…” Substitute the word dummkopf for lazy and that sums you up precisely. Ready to swallow and regurgitate any old shite. Get back to your wee tales of the riverbank book and let the grown ups get on with facing down this hyperbole about a “ pandemic “.
Going to provide some expert evidence of that too are you, Bubba?
Explaining the globally-accepted theory as resulting from “the odd bung” is as infantile as one would expect from you.
It also ignores the fact that ALL academic research is grant funded.
‘Bunging’ scientists for favourable product testing has happened – big tobacco, big pharma – but bunging all the others NOT to peer review your tame ‘expert’ is laughable.
We only know bunging happens because peer review happens and they get found out.
Your theory falls apart unless 99.99999% of the scientists in the world are dumber than a woodwork teacher.
So the real scandal is: Why did anyone ever listen to this guy?
Imperial College epidemiologist Neil] Ferguson was behind the disputed research that sparked the mass culling of eleven million sheep and cattle during the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. He also predicted that up to 150,000 people could die. There were fewer than 200 deaths. . . .
In 2002, Ferguson predicted that up to 50,000 people would likely die from exposure to BSE (mad cow disease) in beef. In the U.K., there were only 177 deaths from BSE.
In 2005, Ferguson predicted that up to 150 million people could be killed from bird flu. In the end, only 282 people died worldwide from the disease between 2003 and 2009.
In 2009, a government estimate, based on Ferguson’s advice, said a “reasonable worst-case scenario” was that the swine flu would lead to 65,000 British deaths. In the end, swine flu killed 457 people in the U.K.
Last March, Ferguson admitted that his Imperial College model of the COVID-19 disease was based on undocumented, 13-year-old computer code that was intended to be used for a feared influenza pandemic, rather than a coronavirus. Ferguson declined to release his original code so other scientists could check his results. He only released a heavily revised set of code last week, after a six-week delay.
So the real scandal is: Why did anyone ever listen to this guy?
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/05/08/so-the-real-scandal-is-why-did-anyone-ever-listen-to-this-guy/
Vaccines are very big business: this Feb. 23 CNBC article, for example, describes the vaccine market as six times bigger than it was 20 years ago, at more than $35 billion annually today, and providing a $44 return for every $1 invested in the world’s 94 lowest-income countries.
Notably, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – which has an endowment of $52 billion – has given more than $2.4 billion to the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2000, according to a 2017 Politico article. (While over the same time frame countries have reduced their contributions to the world body, particularly after the 2008-2009 depression, and now account for less than one-quarter of the WHO’s budget.)
https://off-guardian.org/2020/04/04/did-bill-gates-just-reveal-the-reason-behind-the-lock-downs/
Now, Young Mc Bullshit get back to your wee tales of the riverbank book and indulge your imagination there. Let us grown ups get on with facing down the hyperbole of the “ pandemic “.
You’re getting more repetitive by the day – even for a bot, Bubba, that’s not healthy.
Early onset Alzheimer’s or a software issue?
Nobody gives a fuck.