“The scientist whose calculations about the potentially devastating impact of the coronavirus directly led to the countrywide lockdown has been criticised in the past for flawed research.”
“Professor Neil Ferguson, of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London, produced a paper predicting that Britain was on course to lose 250,000 people during the coronavirus epidemic unless stringent measures were taken. His research is said to have convinced Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his advisors to introduce the lockdown.”
“However, it has now emerged that Ferguson has been criticised in the past for making predictions based on allegedly faulty assumptions which nevertheless shaped government strategies and impacted the UK economy…”
[Daily Telegraph]
Swedish scientists are sceptical about the Imperial College research that predicted 250,000 deaths in the UK:
I have no idea why Chris Packham used to block me when I had a Twitter account (maybe afraid of the Jew lobby that eventually had me expelled), but I wish him well in blocking this disgusting and pointless HS2 project, which is just corporate vandalism.
As in respect of so many things in the UK, I have to say that British people are very patient, almost superhumanly so. Little sabotage, no violence, no “action directe”…
Meanwhile, more from Derbyshire’s poundland KGB plods…
If only Derbyshire Police were as efficient in dealing with actual real crime as they are in stopping the harmless pleasure of the local people who pay for their jobs, or in acting like a poundland KGB (as with the way in which they have repeatedly treated the satirical singer-singwriter Alison Chabloz).
“Local resident Alex John Desmond wrote on Facebook: “This is a joke, the way this force is acting is not representative of policing by consent which is the way the UK is meant to be governed. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You have taken something beautiful and damaged it.” [Daily Mirror]
“Hate to point out the obvious, but UK has not embarked on the testing campaign because it would rapidly become apparent that we do not have the capacity. That would then lead to awkward questions about the wisdom of running down a country’s health service.
Far better to divert with Dunkirk, mass volunteer campaigns and hand clapping nonsense. Meanwhile our loved ones that work in the NHS are being sent like lambs to the slaughter without protective gear.” [Guardian reader’s comment]
Note how the Conservative Party vote in Scotland is unchanged in both parts of the poll. The SNP’s yet-again increased and unchallenged supremacy is by default: the Conservatives cannot increase their Scottish vote at a time when their decade-long neglect of the NHS has been highlighted by Coronavirus; at the same time, the terminal decline of Labour and the LibDems continues, as it does South of Hadrian’s Wall.
I refuse to believe that (as I privately predicted would happen) the recent acquittal of Alex Salmond on sex crime charges was not a purely political act of loyalty by SNP partisans.
Yesterday, UK “COVID-19” deaths were fewer than in the day before, 20% fewer. I notice that BBC TV News had that as “deaths increase by 209 from the day before”, which is true as regards the total but gives a completely false impression.
In Italy too, the daily total is falling, in their case for the second consecutive day.
It looks as though the virus situation is plateauing across Europe, including the UK. We shall have to see what happens in the next week, but there again, as has been remarked upon, someone who dies with Coronavirus (and may have other serious conditions) is being marked down as having died from Coronavirus. The fact is that rather few people die from this virus alone.
“In the next few days and weeks, we must continue to look critically and dispassionately at the Covid-19 evidence as it comes in. Above all else, we must keep an open mind — and look for what is, not for what we fear might be.” [John Lee, former NHS consultant in pathology, and professor in pathology, in the Spectator]
The fact is that, arguably for the best of reasons, the people of the UK have been put into house arrest for an indefinite period. I do not think that it can last for very long. It will last so long as people feel both afraid of the virus and willing to do what they are told is “the right thing”. The police cannot enforce these dictatorial restrictions by their own power, but only so long as people, or the people, tolerate them.
He wants police to taser people who refuse to “comply” with police “orders” (by going home at once, instead of walking peacefully in parks etc). He says that those people (i.e. ordinary citizens, who pay for the police, by the way…) should then (after having been tasered) also have baton rounds (ie “rubber bullets” about 5 inches long) fired at them. The idiot (a former senior police officer in London, who was later one of those useless “Police and Crime Commissioner” wastes of space) ends his rant (on LBC radio) by wishing that the police could “beat people with long sticks” as in India (he is referring to a long thin baton used in India by their police, and called a lahti).
He had been criticized by then Home Secretary Theresa May. He had also remarked (perhaps understandably, but inappropriately) that he wanted to “batter and break the legs” of one criminal: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-35793654
This is a good example of the madness that is now abroad, with police shouting hysterically at completely harmless members of the public because they are walking alone or with spouses etc in the open air, or driving —again completely harmlessly— along highways or motorways. Screw them! This is not (yet) North Korea.
There is an element in the UK, in the police, on Twitter etc, which is the 2020 re-emergence of the WW2 busybodies who volunteered to walk around urban and suburban areas yelling “put that light out!” etc (a complete waste of time, because the Luftwaffe had this thing called “navigation”…).
Latest Coronavirus forecast
The latest forecasts are that the number of deaths from Coronavirus in the UK might be as low as 5,000, far from the 250,000+ many were predicting (some quite recent estimates were as high as 800,000!).
If that is so, and if something like the 5,000 estimate turns out to be accurate, we shall never know whether that result was because of the strict “lockdown” regime imposed, or or other reason. In the meantime, it is clear that the “lockdown” has given the coup de grace to much of the already-struggling UK economy. I shall be blogging separately about that.
So far, the death toll in the UK (attributed to the virus) is below 1,000.
It struck me very forcibly that, in Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic, and where the Coronavirus situation may now have passed, only 3% of people ever caught the virus, about 85,000 (confirmed cases). True, 3,000-4,000 still died, but one has to remember the size of Wuhan, the 9th-largest city in China. We are talking about a city as populous as London, in broad terms. 11 million inhabitants. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuhan
I am sure of one thing. When this is over, the freedoms we have temporarily forsaken by Government decree, I suspect we won't be getting all of them back.
"We are pleased to announce that the number of deaths were far, far lower than predicted because we, the British people, were magnificent, we went on our doorsteps, clapped for our NHS and thus, saved many. many lives. And for that, I thank you." Boris Johnson, sometime in 2020.
Scientists at Kings College London suggests that as many as 6.6 million Brits may already have had the virus. Total deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the UK are 759, which equates to a mortality rate of 0.0115%
‘I love Big Brother!’ . Fancy a stroll down to the Chestnut Tree Cafe’ ? Their gin flavoured with cloves is very good? Oh , sorry, this isn’t 1984, it’s 2020, so I can’t even leave Victory Mansions. Freedom is slavery. Confinement is liberty. https://t.co/s0CO8jAmYM
We shall never know whether, or to what extent, that is the result of the extreme measures now in place.
Hypocrite of the day
The Transport Secretary, the Jew Grant Shapps, a “businessman” who owns two private planes, now says that British people will have to give up private cars and move to using buses, trams, trains, or start to cycle and walk! What a hypocrite!
Is that part of the hidden agenda behind the Coronavirus Act, which confers almost dictatorial powers upon the present government? Make British people poorer, import even more blacks and browns (the Great Replacement), repress dissent and any political meetings etc?
More police bullying
Looks like the thick plods at Derbyshire Police are firmly intent on making themselves despised, hated and ignored:
Despite posts yesterday highlighting issues of people still visiting the #PeakDistrict despite government guidance, the message is still not getting through. @DerPolDroneUnit have been out at beauty spots across the county, and this footage was captured at #CurbarEdge last night. pic.twitter.com/soxWvMl0ls
A man and wife with dog in the middle of nowhere, labelled by Derbyshire Poundland KGB as anti-social elements and a threat to public health, despite there not being another person for miles around!
Ha ha!
We saw last week where such places in Derbyshire and other parts of the country became dangerously overcrowded, making social distancing extremely hard, and in fact today our officers have had to break up a group having a picnic.
A picnic? Did the police shout out “Sweeney! You’re nicked!” as those picnicking bastards tried to reach for a cucumber sandwich or a Scotch egg?
This really is becoming a bad joke that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Actually, I recommend to all my blog readers that they read the Derbyshire Police on Twitter and, most importantly, the responses. The responses come in two main categories:
intelligent people who understand that the Derbyshire Police (and some other police forces) are going beyond both commonsense and the wording of the (new, dictatorial) law itself;
unintelligent people eager to enforce the strictest and least necessary “regulations” (as misinterpreted by over-zealous police) on other people simply because “authority” “says so” (as the uninformed believe).
Why so many Coronavirus deaths in Italy and Spain?
The present estimate for the eventual total of deaths in UK from Coronavirus is 5,700, but Italy is forecast to top 28,000 and Spain 46,000. I wonder why that is so.
Which are the highest (gross) totals for deaths in Europe from the virus? Italy, Spain, France, UK, Netherlands (so far). Obviously, population levels differ. Still, there is obviously a correlation in the numbers washing hands and the number of Coronavirus deaths.
It could really be as simple as that.
Overkill?
Obviously, the government, faced with Coronavirus, needed to prepare. In fact, it did not prepare well at all. The response has the feeling of a last minute bodge and panic. Now it is preparing mass mortuaries and mass temporary hospitals. These may or may not (probably will not) be required, but I make no quarrel with such preparations.
As to the police, they have rendered themselves a laughing stock. The Kevin Hurley person noted at the top of this blog post —wanting to taser and shoot and beat with long sticks people harmlessly walking or exercizing in parts or open country— may be an outlier, a ranting bully-type and/or (clearly) a control freak sans-pareil, but many of his colleagues up and down the country have been almost as bad, with their Common Purpose “leading beyond authority” arbitrary and illegitimate decisions as to what the law (such as the new mad law) actually is. The police are now in danger of losing all credibility.
The damage done to the UK economy, society, respect for law and order etc may be as good as permanent. Some of that damage may have been unavoidable, but most was avoidable.
What is really behind all this?
The political hit from all this will not be apparent in its plenitude for some time, maybe not until 2021 or 2022. So far, the government is riding fairly high, because there is no Opposition now. Labour is a bad joke far more than it was before the 2019 General Election. Also, Rishi Sunak’s open Treasury wallet has bought off much criticism and has shot Labour’s fox to a large extent, if not entirely. Sunak has buried the “austerity” of 2010-2019, at least in big picture terms. How long is the open wallet sustainable? That is an open question. No-one has asked anyone to pay the bill. Yet.
Evening foray
Seems that my opinion of two days ago was right: the supermarkets are getting on top of the “panic-buying” trend. This evening I went to Waitrose about half an hour before close. Everything seemed to be in good supply despite it being at the end of a Saturday of (I presume) busy shopping. Very few shoppers were there when I visited.
All the “panic-buy” items were still in supply: bread, eggs, water, meats etc, even loo paper! Only two items hinted at public anxiety: there was no flour for breadmaking. Completely stripped, as were items used for breadmaking, such as bicarbonate of soda. Also, all chickens had gone.
I was only there to buy bread and water, but did buy some other things, notably some excellent marked-down bargains (sushi boxes at 35p each instead of £4 to £7; cappuccino mousse at 15p instead of 80p, some nice pasta and pine nut salads at about 30p instead of nearly £4). So a successful ratissage. Hard to get used to the Handmaid’s Tale “militia” (Waitrose marshals) though, shuffling about outside the store and in the foyer, wearing their black clothing, armbands, woollen hats and scarfs covering the lower face.
I expect to stay home, like a good quiescent “Coronavirus” citizen, for a couple of days now.
The midnight hour…
Final thought
The Government is now saying that if the final death toll is not in the hundreds of thousands initially predicted, then that will have been only because of the strict “lockdown” measures ordered. The msm is parrotting that official line unthinkingly, not even questioning it. Why not? The “lockdown” measures were only ordered about 4-5 days ago and have only been effective for about 3 days . There is something not quite right here. Obviously, the “lockdown” will have an effect, but there is little precise evidence so far.
Update, 10 June 2020
Well, here we are three months on from the above blog article. Most the the above holds good. The glaring anomaly is the total of deaths. which in the UK is now taken to be 40,000. However, the statistics are unclear because the NHS has been certifying people who die with Coronavirus (and often also with another 2, 3 or 4 other “co-morbidities”) as having died from Coronavirus. Indeed, it now appears from the NHS’s own figures that the number of those who have died solely from Coronavirus is below 1,400.
The NHS has been seen to “protect” its hospitals, staff and some patients by simply off-loading patients with the virus to care homes, where tens of thousands have died. Scandal. Despite that, it seems that 20% of (known) Coronavirus infections took place in hospitals, a stunning indictment of the low standards of cleanliness in the HS.
Since I wrote the blog article, the vast new “Nightingale” hospitals have opened and then closed (many without having received a single patient), the ordinary NHS hospitals are uncrowded for the first time in decades (as patients wait at home, dying of everything but Coronavirus), and the economy is tanking as few people work as before the panic.
An Expert writes : Yet more intelligent, informed scepticism about the coronavirus panicdemic, for the panic-merchants to find a way to ignore: How deadly is the coronavirus? It's still far from clear https://t.co/tDMjmWlIBv via @spectator
When I saw that initial Peter Hitchens article, I was sceptical, thinking that strict temporary measures were probably necessary to deal with the Coronavirus crisis. Now I have modified my view about both what is happening (while still recognizing the very serious nature of the virus situation) and especially about the repressive laws and overarching “enabling” legislation.
I predicted this https://t.co/b20e0vlba5 on Monday. Some people made a joke about it because they thought I wasn't being serious. Well, I was. This is what life is like when the state is above your head.
The Daily Mail report below shows how the police are starting, once again (as with social media “crimes”), to get above themselves, zealously going well beyond the law and their own granted powers to hunt down people whom they decide should be lectured, spied upon or questioned. They also leave behind ordinary commonsense.
Police officers spying on lone dog-walkers in the remote and deserted parts of the Peak District and other national parks; senior police acting as poundland generals, setting up roadblocks, getting their robots to question motorists about where they are going and “is your journey really necessary?” And so on.
In Derbyshire, police are using drones to spy on solitary dog walkers in the Peak District National Park, people walking miles from anyone else! The very same force that, in the Alison Chabloz case, revealed itself to be a comic opera Keystone Cops outfit and poundland KGB. Incidentally, Derbyshire Police has long had one of the worst records in dealing with actual, real crime; you know, real crime, such as burglary, assault, GBH etc, not “someone said something about Jews on social media”, not “someone walked a dog in a remote part of the Peak District but we got her using our poundland KGB drone”.
Common-sense is lacking. A couple in a car or a man on a motorbike are not going to infect anyone, neither are they going to be infected, not while driving and riding. Of course, the same applies to a girl on a motorcycle…
Always ride safely, of course…
Cede your liberty to the state, @madz_grant and it takes everything, even the freedom to walk alone on the high hills. https://t.co/f9gmeCguQp
There are, as Hitchens and Delingpole say, a huge number of people who cannot wait to see the British people subjected to strict controls at all times. They also cannot wait to see people punished. Many of these “useful idiots” are those who identify with some kind of multikulti pseudo-socialism and spend most of their lives virtue-signalling on Twitter.
Why shouldn’t someone drive from a town to a deserted part of the country and walk a dog or just walk, with or without someone from the same dwelling? The danger of infection (from or to) is much greater in an urban or suburban setting where more people are likely to be encountered.
There are a few brave voices being raised in defence of reasonable freedoms. I do not much like what I have seen on TV and in print of James Delingpole, but this is a courageous and surely correct article:
So Gordon Brown, formerly a major UK political face of the international finance-capitalist conspiracy (or, if you prefer, “consensus”), has come out of hiding to call openly for a one-world dictatorship…It took him a while, but he has now done it.
Give that man a cee-gar!
As soon as the soap opera of Harry and the Royal Mulatta began to unravel, I predicted that they would end up living somewhere like Bel Air or Beverly Hills, with Harry as that stock comic character of American TV, a kind of house-husband, run ragged by his petulant “younger wife” (in fact she is 4 years older than Harry). Royal Married with Children… Well, that has now come to pass: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2020/03/27/prince-harry-meghan-move-california/
Statistical anomaly
It seems that Jews in the UK have been hard hit by Coronavirus and that 5% of all deaths in the UK have occurred within the Jewish element. I am not a statistician, of course, but this seems to me very high, bearing in mind that Jews are supposedly only about 0.3% of the entire UK-resident population. That means that Jews are not only being hit harder (as far as actual deaths are concerned) than non-Jews, but nearly 20 times as much.
I suppose that one has to take into account the fact that London, which is now such a dustbin of peoples, is the epicentre or “hotspot” for Coronavirus in the UK. I read that North West London, the most Jewish part of London, is the hotspot within the hotspot. In fact, the borough of Barnet is said to be the most infected of all.
That in itself does not quite explain why. Is it because Jews travel on business more than most non-Jews (e.g. English people)? I have no idea. Not every Jew is a diamond dealer or finance industry operative, flitting from London to Antwerp to Zurich and on to Moscow or Kiev.
Unemployment: the DWP system cannot cope
Half a million people have just registered as unemployed in the UK, in one week! The DWP system was unable to cope before Coronavirus “lockdown”. Now? Look at what that idiotic creature, Therese Coffey, is saying!
DWP Boss Issues Hostile Coronavirus Statement
Thérèse Coffey warns welfare claimants they face a sanction if they aren't prompt in informing the DWP of isolation.
She then tells self employed people to claim UC despite it requiring a jobcentre visit.https://t.co/821MmGSt9X
In fact, that tweeter is wrong. The global death total at time of writing is about 24,000, not 2,800. The principle remains, though.
Self-awareness takes a back seat…
All those tweeting delight that @BorisJohnson has #Coronavirus are not just very unpleasant but stupid as that signifies that many others will be infected regardless of political affiliation.
The thing is @rmayemsinger that Trump’s over confidence/arrogance make him susceptible to #Covid19. If infected at his age his survival chances are very low. No doubt he will call it a “Fake Virus” and a “nasty” infection but that is not a cure.
“The director of the human rights organisation Liberty has called the government’s new Coronavirus Act the biggest attack on British people’s freedoms in a generation.” [The Guardian]
“Among various measures, the act, which passed on Wednesday, gives police powers to detain people and forcibly test people they suspect may be infectious, removes protections for those detained under the mental health act, and weakens judicial oversight of surveillance.”
“Already on Thursday, the Guardian reported how police in North Yorkshire were proposing to set up road blocks to restrict people’s movements, while Derbyshire police used a drone to shame people who had driven to remote parts of the peak district during the lockdown.”
“In a statement marking the passage of the new law, Martha Spurrier, director of Liberty, said:
This new law is without doubt the biggest restriction on our individual and collective freedoms in a generation. What people may not realise is the extent of its powers, and how long they can be in place for.
It gives the authorities new powers to detain any one of us that they believe could be infected with the coronavirus.
It also removes vital safeguards in care standards, leaving many people who are already at risk, such as disabled people, at further risk, not only of poor care but also of potentially inhumane treatment.
While change is necessary, and some of the measures outlined in this legislation are entirely sensible, others are overbearing and, if left unchecked, could create more problems than they solve.
The breadth of this legislation is also extraordinary. It runs to more than 300 pages and includes some spectacular restrictions, including powers to rearrange or cancel elections.
We’ll beat this virus, but these measures must be a last resort in that battle and these powers must be removed as soon as possible. We cannot and must not sacrifice all of our hard-won rights and freedoms.”
“The Met Police today fined a bakery boss £80 for criminal damage after she put temporary lines outside her shop to keep her customers safe from coronavirus….The officer told the flabbergasted woman that she had graffitied the pavement and if police failed to punish crimes like these there would be ‘anarchy’, adding: ‘I can’t help the law. We’re going to be ticketing soon to stop people congregating – is that wrong too?’.” [Daily Mail]
No wonder that the more elite police used to call their uniformed colleagues “wooden-tops”!
“It came as police forces across the country are facing accusations of overzealousness as they use sweeping new powers to crack down on people flouting the coronavirus lockdown, using road blocks, drones and helicopters to enforce it.” [Daily Mail]
“Critics say the unprecedented powers handed to officers by ministers will see the country ‘sliding into dystopia.'”
“As the row intensified today, Leading QC Matthew Ryder said there was an ‘overwhelming consensus from lawyers that police trying to restrict people to ’emergency travel only’ is unlawful.‘”
“Former MPs also claim police are ‘showing an astounding lack of judgement’ and needed to exercise ‘common sense and respect’ and use their powers elsewhere.“
“But chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Martin Hewitt, doubled down on the measures, telling the BBC: ‘This is a national emergency, not a national holiday.’“
[Daily Mail]
Well, there it is. Police go mad, but are backed by senior national police officers who plainly lack both real intelligence and common-sense. If the police were told by the “weirdos and misfits” now at the heart of “democratic” government to herd us all into some UK GULAG system, they would do it. No question.
The fact is that the police are in danger of becoming an irrelevance, not very good at preventing or dealing with ordinary crime (their main job), better at investigating the odd egregious murder or ultra-high-value robbery, but preferring to act as, indeed, a poundland KGB, censoring and interfering with such matters as social media posts (often completely lawful even under the present repressive legal regime), or “enforcing” (and in fact going well beyond) the rules now laid down by an illegitimate ZOG political regime headed by a clown.
In fact, read this:
“Appearing on BBC Breakfast today, Superintendent Steve Pont from Derbyshire Police hit back at allegations he was ‘shaming’ dog walkers, claiming people were ‘looking for excuses and loopholes as to why they don’t need to stay at home when everyone else does.’ Supt Pont said his force was, ‘here to apply the law the government makes.’ “
[Daily Mail, about BBC TV Breakfast]
There we have the problem in a nutshell. A relatively senior officer of the police says that people were “looking for excuses and loopholes as to why they don’t need to stay at home when everyone else does.“, when in fact people, even under the absurd new law, do not have to stay at home. They are entitled to take daily exercise alone or with co-habitees, they are not prohibited from driving to that place of permitted exercise, they are not prohibited from driving a car or motorbike there or, arguably, anywhere so long as they do not get out and socialize. They are also permitted to shop for food, drink, medicine etc and are not prohibited from driving to shop.
Superintendent Plod, I mean Pont, of Derbyshire Police, has just decided to remake the new law in his own mind as “everyone has to stay at home unless the police permit”. No. No. No.
These social measures, now nodded into law overnight by 650 “democratically elected” idiots, cannot work unless the public supports them and plays ball. The police, by their panic-stricken bullying, risk being ignored if they keep pushing like this. The police should remind themselves that, if everyone ignores them, they are all but powerless.
People —or at least 99% of people— are willing to take reasonable measures to self-isolate, only shop or exercize with care once daily, socially distance, not socialize etc, but the hectoring and basically silly attitude of the police risks alienation of that public.
What after Coronavirus?
Coronavirus will not last longer than (maybe) June in the UK. By that time, either people will have had it (and recovered, in most cases) or infection will not be happening (because the virus lasts for only 1-4 weeks in people: those infected either do not show symptoms, or suffer from them, or die, within a few weeks of being infected); the virus only lasts for hours, days or, exceptionally, weeks on surfaces. The crisis should therefore be over by early Summer. Its damage to our politics, economy (especially) and law will then become apparent.
I need to blog separately about this.
Evening foray
No evening (or daytime) expedition to shops today. In fact, I have been the ideal “UK Coronavirus” citizen, sleeping half the day away and spending most of the rest of the time on the Internet, connected to the wide world.
I noticed that there was a beautiful crescent Moon, completely on its side like a Grail symbol. A planet (Venus?) was very clear too. Must have something to do with the clearer air across the world.
Final thought
Coronavirus will be effectively over by June or July this year, i.e. 3-4 months. The new government powers last until 2022 and the first vote to dispense with them will be only in September 2020. Will the System find an excuse to renew the powers?
He didn’t even sack them which would have afforded them some rights, he has laid them off on no pay when he could have used the government furlough scheme. Horrible man
Sorry to hear that the Adelphi Hotel has fallen on hard times. I stayed there for a few days, ungazetted, when an ad-hoc Soviet ballet company (mainly Bolshoi dancers, if I remember aright) was in Liverpool. That would have been in about 1985 or 1986. My then girlfriend’s small suite had a sitting room with a kind of curtained-off bedroom. An entrance hall led to the sitting room and also to a spacious bathroom.
The prima ballerina, whose name I forget, was unhappily married and thought to be mentally unstable. She had, I was told, a magnificent suite. For her own protection, both in view of her emotional state and because protesting Jews supporting “refuseniki” (Soviet Jews supposedly wanting to emigrate to Israel from the Soviet Union— most ended up in California) might alarm her, a KGB man slept across her doorway all night, every night, in the manner of Russia’s ancient history.
In fact, that dancer was at risk— she later tried to commit suicide in Sardinia, by slitting her wrists in her bath. Her husband was constantly unfaithful, apparently. Also, she was about 40. Not good for a dancer, though the famous ones have often overcome age to retain public affection: Maya Plisetskaya, Margot Fonteyn etc.
In fact, those dancers (the couple) were living a golden or velvet life in Moscow. His and hers Mercedes cars, dacha, luxury apartment etc. A lifestyle most people (whether in Moscow or the UK) never experience. Still, money cannot, as such, buy happiness. It’s just a dull grind when money is short…
The Adelphi was, I thought, a good hotel at that time (now about 35 years ago). A quartet played classical pieces live in the opulent and huge foyer. Among those listening was the then Chief Constable of Merseyside. The hotel was a landmark in Liverpool.
The Labour Party is now weaker than it has ever been, in my view. Weaker even than it was under that unpleasant little hypocrite Michael Foot.
Labour under Corbyn, though weak, was stronger than it now is. Now Labour is going to —eventually— elect a new leader, which could be Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey or Lisa Nandy. All have kow-towed to the Jew lobby, all have otherwise similar policies, though Rebecca Long-Bailey is the most radical of the three. Starmer looks likely to be the choice, because he frightens few horses; as against that, he is as dull as ditchwater.
Labour’s problem can be said to reside in the fact that, outside the Labour Party membership, few people even care which of the three becomes Labour leader.
Labour, for which 10 million voters voted in 2019, is scarcely in the exact position of UKIP after 2015, when UKIP gradually became a joke, an irrelevance and then eventually just a nothing. Having said that, there is a parallel. Labour now has no power to speak of in the Commons, because the Conservative Party majority of 80 can steamroller through almost anything.
Beyond that, there is the point that the Coronavirus rescue package of Rishi Sunak, whatever its deficiencies and flaws, has pretty much shot Labour’s fox on “austerity” etc. All Labour can say is “we would have done more and better…(if we were in power, which we are not, and will not be for years, if ever…)”.
Not a very impressive position. The msm continue to give Labour MPs a platform, as required by OFCOM rules etc, but in reality, Labour has become something close to an irrelevance. In fact, it has been reduced to supporting the Government’s positions in the present crisis.
It is clear that Iain Dunce Duncan Smith’s shambolic “welfare” “reforms” are not only completely stupid but cannot work administratively. Why is this surprising? After all, Dunce only got to Lieutenant in his 6 years of being an Army officer. He never had any responsible civilian job either. How could such a person really conceive a workable social security reform, even if “IDS” were a better person morally than he in fact is?
However, the collapse of the Universal Credit system and other DWP areas, under the weight of the Coronavirus burden, will not help Labour. In fact, any “opposition” will more likely come from within the Conservative Party itself.
I detect no real chance for Labour at present, nor for quite a while into the future. If ever.
Evening foray
I had not intended to make a ratissage on the supermarkets this evening, but in the end I did, mainly to get bread, a couple of food items and some cat treats. I went to the nearest one, a Waitrose outlet a mile or two away. I arrived about 1930, half an hour before closing time. Few customers, but an innovation: outside the wide-open doors, two security men, young and dressed entirely in black. Woollen hats, padded jackets, scarfs wound around neck, covering the lower face. Armbands. Exactly like the militia in the TV series, The Handmaid’s Tale. They lacked only the weapons. They are, it seems, Waitrose “marshals”.
Inside, bought 2 scratchcards (both modest winners, as it turned out), but at first my cash was refused. All part of the new hygiene regime. Card only.
I was curious to see whether the shelves were still being stripped bare. Most bread had gone, though there were a few of the less popular (and more expensive) types available: stoneground rye, sourdough etc. Eggs were very plentiful. Flour seemed to be unavailable. Pasta available, though only the slightly more expensive Italian-made stuff in blue and yellow packing; little of the cheaper “Essential Waitrose” pasta. Pasta sauces mostly gone, though the more expensive Lloyd Grossman jars were there (over £2 compared to £1 for the cheapest Waitrose own-brand line). I bought one jar. Puttanesca. Everything else seemed to be available for those wanting it, even loo paper (only the more expensive brands, though). I found the cat treats. No shortage.
I noticed that fruit, vegetables and everything else that I looked at in passing seemed to be in supply.
My conclusion from that and my drive around yesterday: the supermarkets are gradually getting on top of the bulk-buying/panic-buying wave. People are still doing it, but less so. There must be some people around here sitting on mountains of dried pasta, pasta sauce jars, bread and loo paper. I also noticed that people are obviously not buying the pasta to eat immediately, because there was plenty of fresh pasta for sale.
Anyway, that’s my story…
On the way back, a car would not wait for me at a junction and drove off at speed. A few minutes later, I saw a blue light in my rear-view mirror (when I was learning to drive, belatedly, at age 42, the instructor said that one of my faults as a driver was that I looked in the rear-view mirror more than I looked out of the windshield!). Anyway, I turned off to avoid any contact. Only a few seconds later, the police flashed past down the deserted rural A-road. Were they after that other driver? Was he a suspected Coronavirus “non-essential” driver? Had he been heard humming an Alison Chabloz song about “holocaust” fakery? We shall never know…
Watched a topical film on ITV2: Contagion, about an infectious virus that starts with bats in China, and then gets into the food chain, finally being transmitted person to person until millions are killed all over the world. Wait, wasn’t that the TV news? Oh, no, it was “just a film”…More seriously, I was slightly surprised that an alarming (though well-made) film like that was broadcast at a time like this.
Increasingly, I am finding the truth about all of this elusive. The virus is terrible but, paradoxically, it seems that not many people out of a given population get it and, of those, many and perhaps most do not need any medical care at all. However, quite a number of people are dying of it or at least with it. All one can do is hope that it will go away soon…
There is certainly an unthinking tick-box madness abroad (again) in the UK. Look at this:
Out patrolling the meon valley to find motorcycles out for a pleasure ride. If the government request wont keep you at home we can still deal with motoring offences. Come on people #StayAtHomeSaveLives #23701 pic.twitter.com/GvVHn0eWea
— Hampshire Roads Policing Unit (@HantsPolRoads) March 25, 2020
A motorcyclist out for a pleasure ride may be a nuisance but is not going to infect anyone with Coronavirus (or be infected) while riding. The police, once again (as with so-called “hate crime”) seem to be zealously getting rather above themselves.
The same is true of people out driving. They may be congesting roads (though not at present, surely?) but they are scarcely posing any risk of infection to themselves or others.
We are policing the roads as usual. Only drive if its essential. Please drive/ride safely because you can help control demand on the NHS. Thank you #JOUCVUpic.twitter.com/EXnmwtTH2m
— Hampshire Roads Policing Unit (@HantsPolRoads) March 25, 2020
Increasingly, the police in this country seem to be near-useless when it matters— and, when it does not matter, a petty and oppressive nuisance. By all means, do what has to be done to stop infections by this virus, but for God’s sake use some intelligence!
If the police say that all they are doing is enforcing the (new and seemingly not well thought-through) “law”, then that law needs to be amended as quickly as it is being passed.
As written above, the police seem to have zealously gone beyond even the strict “regulations” laid down by the Government. The police tweeted this:
Needless to add, I hope, the above does not represent what the police are pleased to call “the new rules”.
Greta Nut wants more attention (again)…
Funniest story of the day so far: Greta Thunberg has released a statement to the effect that she has been “self-isolating” since her return to Sweden 2-3 weeks ago. She claims to have had symptoms of Coronavirus but has not been tested.
Translation? She has not been in the news since her ridiculous visit to the UK recently, and in fact has become an irrelevance and/or yesterday’s news, so she wants more mass media attention. She (and those behind her) are therefore jumping onto the Coronavirus bandwagon.
The “caring, sharing” multikulti society…
One final tweet to give you a bit of #corona good news tonight: a bureaucrat in Leicester council was caught stealing from a foodbank. He'd been passing food meant for poor families to his cousin to sell in his shop. The scumbag was sacked today & both reported to police.
I wonder what the criminal’s ethnic background might be?
A word of truth…
Another?
We can't go to the pub due to #CoronaCrisisuk, and that's understandable & accepted. But UK airports are still open to people from #corona disaster zones. This is some special sort of multicult death wish. "We must be mad, literally mad… "https://t.co/JBTvwcV39U
So strange that the New British don't behave like the Old Britons. I thought the air here and the passport changed 'them' into 'us'. #GreatR*placement #CoronaVirusUpdatehttps://t.co/Q0UI55cid7
We are told that The Great Replacement is a “conspiracy theory”, yet you only have to look around you to see that this “theory” has a great deal of factual underpinning.
Femi Who?
During the long haul of the Brexit stuff in Parliament in 2018 and 2019, the intensely irritating figure of an African called Femi Oluwole was ubiquitous. Now 30, his sole achievement seems to have been the completion of a degree in Law and French at Nottingham. He comes from affluent Nigerian parents who are both medical doctors resident in the UK. Though his Wikipedia entry states that he “has worked in NGOs and human rights agencies”, none is listed; I think that whatever he did (if anything) can probably be dismissed as rather unimportant and probably trifling.
Here is what a former “colleague” thinks of him:
@Femi_Sorry was the co-founder of the company I used to work for. He once rung my colleague on Friday night (during her birthday party) and told her he was going to fire the entire team and run @OFOCBrexit on his own. He is a horrible person so good choice here @UKLabourhttps://t.co/oLKiXhJbvL
“Femi” is now in the news (well, in Twitter news at least) for having been expelled from the Labour Party (which he joined only recently). He is also to be found opining for money (I presume) on the pathetic Sky News talking shop, The Pledge. Other deadheads there include ignorant tabloid scribbler Carole Malone and Boris Johnson’s sister, Rachel Johnson. Nick Ferrari, the very pro-Israel radio presenter, seems to be the main talking head on the show.
“Femi” is just one example of the Great Replacement in action. Another is the now-blatant campaign on UK television (soaps, dramas, ads etc) to show black men breeding with white and usually blonde Englishwomen.
When I was still at school, in the early 1970s, there would sometimes be an earnest discussion on whatever Newsnight’s almost identical predecessor was then called (Newsnight as such only broadcast from 1980). The subject? Would there ever be an ethnic minority MP or even Prime Minister? Well, we now know the answer to the first part of that question (Jews were never mentioned, so they must have been regarded by the BBC as “white”).
The same is true on TV and radio. In fact, the fewer blacks and browns that there are in any particular region of the UK, the more ethnic minority presenters and reporters there are on local TV. This is not reflective of the society, it’s social engineering with a very obvious agenda (cf. the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan).
Fact v. fiction
I have seen things which, though they happened, would seem far-fetched in fiction. This is, in fact, not as uncommon as many think. Look at the 1973 novel, The Camp of the Saints, in which old ships and boats invade the shores of Mediterranean France carrying millions of black and brown migrant-invaders. That could never happen! (we used to think…).
Er, yes. It is afrightening read, though surprisingly quiet on the Babylonian effects of the death of money, espcially in Berlin. I have litle doubt that the German money catastrophe, by demoralising the former middle classes, brought Nazism intio being. https://t.co/qbMlhdXYGS
Hitchens is obviously referring to the likelihood that the Rishi Sunak “giveaway” will weaken the pound sterling.
Afternoon drive in the sun, with “Government-approved” stamped on it
Another little (and before any little person “reports” me, fully Government-approved and permitted…) outing this afternoon. Chemist in the nearby town first and then a drive of about 4 miles to a little village shop where —mirabile dictu!— I was able to buy a loaf of freshly-baked wholemeal bread with seeds, albeit at the rather rip-off price of £2. In fact, there were about 30 loaves for sale, mostly identical. Whether that was because a delivery had just arrived (though this was after 1700 hrs) or because the bread shortage panic has now ended, I have no idea. I hope the latter.
Forced agreement
You mean you disagree with me. Well, do you know what, @robhwilliamson – that’s a free society for you. https://t.co/wQQM1RMXQX
I have no idea whether Peter Hitchens is right or wrong about Coronavirus, but tweeter “Rob H. Williamson” is yet another person who, having himself accepted a narrative, thinks that others who express disagreement, dissent or doubt are “incorrect”, “wrong”, and probably need to be repressed, “re-educated” or punished for not going along with the officially-approved narrative in full. cf. the “holocaust” farrago (and by the by I see that tweeter “@robhwilliamson” is a exponent of the Israeli “martial art” thug discipline, Krav Maga).
A few more interesting tweets from Peter Hitchens and others
This is astonishing, if true. Can anyone confirm or refute? If correct, Covid deaths in Italy are being grossly, significantly overstated. https://t.co/8LWXqy8VzI
What a pity that Parliament has all but dispersed and most of the media have already closed their minds. But maybe a turn is coming. https://t.co/M8N0nPBpoo
Can anyone in HM Government (or any of its many toadies and unpaid spokespersons in the formerly independent media) offer an explanation of this anomaly? https://t.co/PvpkGnqD0d
The self-described UK “Left”, pathetic toadies of the State
I myself rarely use those all but meaningless terms, “Right”, “Left”, “far right” (etc) as descriptors. Those who self-describe thus are now not the same species as those who might have described themselves thus historically.
Time and again, I see such people almost begging for State repression, censorship, restriction. The Coronavirus situation is merely the latest example. Such people are forever begging those who head Twitter, Facebook etc to censor those with whom the self-describing “Left” disagrees, demanding that employers or professional regulators sack those of a generally nationalist viewpoint, or demanding heavier State repression and stricter laws against the “Left’s” political enemies.
Old-style socialism, in all forms, from social democracy to Maoism and the puerile worship of Che Guevara and the like, died in or about 1989, essentially. What we now see is a kind of powerless rump, which poses as activist multikulti “socialist” politics but is really just a facade without substance.
We are told that the Coronavirus COVID-19 started spontaneously in a seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, China, a country where people, or some people, treat animals appallingly, and where many eat strange things such as bats.
That may be true. I cannot say that it is untrue. There are, however, dissenting voices, that is to say voices dissenting from the official narrative. I was sent this:
I was at first inclined to accept the official narrative as most likely correct. Now? Not sure.
What interests me more are the socio-political effects of the Coronavirus on the world and particularly the UK. In particular, I noted that the near-dictatorial powers which the Government of the UK has taken on are not designed to last for a few weeks, a few months. No…they are drafted to last for TWO YEARS. I think that we are entitled to ask why that is so.
True, the powers taken by the UK Government can be removed again by Commons vote (every 6 months or, in constitutional principle, at any time), but this government, with its 80-strong majority, can push through extensions easily, if it wants.
Boris-idiot, posing as PM, has shown little or no leadership, but that has not prevented “Conservative” scribblers from behaving like the most sycophantic Stalinists in the Soviet Writers’ Union (of about 1948). Look at this creature:
An assured performance by @borisjohnson who was speaking like the head of a wartime government. ‘We are all enlisted,’ he said.
Most people are natural followers. Few like to have to think for themselves. In this case, spurred by natural feelings of fear, anxiety etc, most people want to “do the right thing” and that can include thinking the “right” thing.
Despite the above, a minority is beginning to question the origin of Coronavirus, the fairly draconian measures now being taken by the UK government and, even leaving all that aside, whether the economic stimulus is being done in the right way.
Peter Hitchens has tweeted scornfully about the situation
Then they are complacent fools, who do not deserve the liberty they inherited, and so will lose it for themselves and their children. Shaming. https://t.co/WtpSz8uCvP
They're exaggerating its importance, and sliding over the fact that people who die *with* coronavirus did not necessarily die *of* it. Average number of flu deaths in England for last 5 seasons was 17,000 deaths annually. Ranged from 1,692 deaths (2018/19) to 28,330 in 2014/15. https://t.co/LxOPcBBfvL
Prepare for an outbreak of informing. The Johnson house arrest scheme is an ideal opportunity for the spiteful and the vengeful, to report neighbours for what would have been legal on Monday. Ugh.
So humiliating to have to confess to foreign admirers of British freedom that our liberties were suppressed by a clown, and the British people rolled over and accepted it. Lots of national songs now need to be rewritten.
Twaddle. Until tonight I was free to leave my home whenever I chose for whatever purpose I chose for as long as I chose, and go wherever I chose, a freedom I used to the full. Now all those freedoms have been extinguished. And by a clown. https://t.co/70O0TDeoO2
Well, almost no dissenting voices. But those who *do* dissent can be guaranteed to receive a slime-storm of abuse and calls for them to be silenced. https://t.co/QZ8U3ly0t5
Perhaps they felt the advice was oppressive and disproportionate ( as it was) . Until today they were free to do so. Now they live in a comic-opera police state Please watch https://t.co/Q9FmTDybIDhttps://t.co/kEt0T4D0J0
Because @KD_dono the danger is gravely over-rated, and the measures proposed unproven, damaging disproportionate and most unlikely to succeed. Listen to a real expert here https://t.co/Q9FmTDybIDhttps://t.co/chyC4T4ngU
Al Johnson's brilliant plan: like a doctor treating a pneumonia victim by amputating his leg. AS a result, the man has one leg, and still has pneumonia. When the sufferer eventually recovers from pneumonia, Johnson will say he has cured him. But he will still only have one leg.
Now listening to 'debate' in Commons on major stifling of personal liberty. One can only assume that there is now a stringent test to prevent intelligent people from becoming MPs. A rare government success if so.
Clown puts country under house arrest. Country doesn't care. So perishes one of the freest societies ever to exist in human history, amid giggles and bad science. And suckers who believe state propaganda. Govt has no idea what it is doing: https://t.co/Q9FmTDybID
Anyone else out there still have any regard for liberty? It is striking that the country of Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus, and the Bill of Rights should be put under house arrest by a clown. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a giggle.
But what is interesting is how many people attack me for attacking this blatant assault upon liberty. This is how you can tell the country is finished. And people used to ask me, they really did, why I urged them to get out while they could.
I'm partly mocking Alexander Johnson's ridiculous, sinister government because I'm worried that tomorrow night he'll come on TV to tell me I am not allowed to mock the government. Unthinkable you say? How unthinkable was national house arrest a week ago?
Ridiculous and Sinister – the policy of the Johnson government. The man who crashed the economy and put the nation under house arrest while he was doing it.
I do not agree with everything written or said by Hitchens, who is also, in fact, not the great champion of freedom he likes to present as (he blocked me on Twitter a few years ago when he discovered a. that I could match his erudition and b. that the Jewish lobby trolls were hostile to me; I presumed that he did not want to lose his lucrative msm work), but his tweets here are important, because they go against both an almost hysterical official narrative and also an unthinking public.
Hitchens is on to something here, and makes a few valid points for sure. He is not alone.
Others have noted unreported factors or strange anomalies in the present government policy:
The economy was due to crash anyway, this virus is the patsy. Also allows them to bring in draconian laws that will be used to control the masses of unemployed in the near future
Just spoke to my friend who is cabin crew on a BA A380. About 45 minutes ago he landed at Heathrow from HKONG and disembarked over 300 British Chinese. Why ffs?
Heathrow arrivals tomorrow morning. Business as usual. In the meantime, I can't leave the house. pic.twitter.com/3hH0ARk9lE
— Randy Twinkler, Lawyer, MMC, MA ,R&C (@ChangePolitics5) March 23, 2020
The “lockdown” relies on people self-censoring, “doing the right thing” if you like. I am not opposed to that as matters stand with “the virus”, but I am very uneasy with where this is all leading.
I am presently blogging separately about where UK society and economy will be in a while. We are approaching a massive change across the world, particularly across Europe. 2022 will bring change on a scale not seen since socialism in all forms collapsed in and after 1989. It’s a 33-year cycle which has interested me for a long time.
We must be clear. These restrictions can only work if the general population goes along with them. I don’t mean “work” in terms of suppressing Coronavirus infections. The restrictions may or may not work in that sense. I do not know. No, what I mean is “will the restrictions work in terms of enforcement?”
Most people will no doubt go along with the restrictions for a few weeks. If this situation continues for longer, probably not. It has been reported that the police have been told to expect 6 months of this! I cannot see the population sitting still indefinitely.
The head of the Police Federation has now said that officers
are unsure how to enforce the new “lockdown” measures;
are already ignoring crime because prioritizing the enforcement of “lockdown”.
I cannot see how the two above statements can be easily reconciled, but the law was ever “a ass…a idiot”, as one character from Dickens expostulates.
At this stage, it is clear that the portentous announcement, by a clownish Prime Minister, of “lockdown”, is a kind of sleight of hand, or if you prefer, confidence trick. The State, as matters stand, cannot actually enforce these strictures. It is reliant on the population agreeing with them and playing ball.
I suppose that the police could impose road blocks between towns or even within towns, but the police officers would have no way of checking whether any one motorist is on a legitimate mission of mercy, of shopping for supplies, of commuting to a “essential” job, or whether that motorist is going to a house party (banned under the regs) or simply driving around because bored. If that last, why shouldn’t he, really? Someone in a car is not going to infect anyone by reason of simply driving around.
It is hard to escape the view that at least part of all of this is designed to create an atmosphere in which a fearful population submits to State orders. Of course, behind that is, also, the real threat from Coronavirus.
Despite the plaudits heaped upon Rishi Sunak for opening the gates of the money dam, I wonder what the outcome will be, a year or two down the line. Not good, I think. However, I shall examine that more in my (not yet published) blog on the socio-economic aspects of the virus crisis.
As blogged about previously, the police in the UK are gradually abandoning the population, especially the white English population. The police, behaving as a Poundland KGB, prefer to concentrate on political or socio-political “crime” such as “racist” tweets etc. Or now, “prioritizing lockdown”.
Another absurdly ambiguous Govt. press conference. Zero clarity re whether people should go to work or not, what constitutes 'essential' etc. Why can't they get their damn messaging right? Health Secretary @MattHancock says 'it's crystal clear'. It's NOT!
Went out not long before darkness fell. Intended to visit a chemist’s, only to find it shut by reason of truncated opening hours. Nuisance. Drove to small village shop a few miles further on. Near to its new 1800 closing time. No bread, but bought a little milk and some local asparagus. I noticed that some dry pasta was available. I myself have no need for any more, but it was heartening to see that not all had sold, even if only basic spaghetti. At least the shelves were not bare, except for the bread shelf (and even that had a sad and solitary roll still on sale).
As for other people: a few couples walking in the country lanes, a few solitary dog walkers too in the semi-suburbanized villages, a few bicyclists. No one at the little shop noted above. Roads very quiet, even the nearest rural A-road. No sign of police activity of any kind, even in the local town. General impression of an almost-closed-down society.
Poignant, but what struck me was the “two degrees” bit. Why does someone with two degrees work in a pub (for years)? The answer —unless the degrees were only completed out of interest— must be that, from the strictly vocational/job point of view, “degrees” (an outdated mediaeval concept anyway) are now next to worthless on the open jobs market (even though quite ordinary jobs now “require” a “degree”). When everyone and his dog has a degree, what is a degree worth? Not much.
The corollary to the above is that one must ask why the State should subsidize those educational qualifications that are valueless, in direct terms, to the State and society.
The nonsense of huge transnational tax-avoiders has to be addressed now: Amazon, Google, Facebook, to name just three.
Amazon is one of the world's richest corporations. It paid very little in tax last year. Now it's offering unpaid time off for workers who are sick and only two weeks' paid leave for workers who test positive for the Corona virus.
#shamblesstayathome Johnson……prepare to lose loved ones, herd immunisation then no herd immunisation, no testing then testing, don't go to pubs or cafes but keep them open, don't go out but go out to exercise. Not exactly inspiring confidence.
I have been writing for some time in my blog pages about the creeping infantilization of Britain, which affects people of all ages, but mainly those under 50 and especially those under 40.
The woman in the tweet above is merely one egregious example. According to her own words, she is a mother —which makes one tremble to think of what monster(s) she is bringing up— and “works in financial services”, which, again in her own words “is…like…investment banking, basically”! I presume that she is somewhere near the bottom of the pile, but even so…
What strikes me in that clip is the sheer “Me Me Me, Want Want Want” rage. She is more like a 2 year old than a (?) 20-something. This goes beyond one young woman’s lack of class. It has political implications. Still, “always look on the bright side of life”…maybe there is some way of utilizing these factors.
[update, 26 March 2020:sadly, the video clip to which I referred has been deleted now; the message too. It was shocking]
Seemingly taken in the North East of England. It makes me wonder whether I myself am being too cautious, not going out, not socializing, not going anywhere inessential, driving out only after dark and to shop in places which are almost deserted, obsessively applying my small stock of travel hand-sanitizing gel even after pumping fuel or touching a shopping trolley at Waitrose.
Maybe I am being a bit of a fool at that (too cautious), but I prefer to be my kind of fool than that of those in the bus photo above, who may well be dead in a month’s time. It can come to any of us at any time, but we can at least play the odds and try to bias them in our favour.
Reality v. Government and msm fantasy
The Daily Mirror report, below, shows the reality of what is happening, not the fantasy of a multikulti, “caring, sharing” “community” where people all care for and help each other, a kind of large-scale Deal Or No Deal, complete with waves of ersatz and completely meaningless emotionalism. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coronavirus-gran-says-sick-husband-21740261
Another thing. We are told that the UK will be put into “lockdown”. Only essential trips out of the home will be permitted. The Army will, we are told, keep “1.5 million vulnerable people” on some list supplied with food and medicine.
So the police, who seem unable to do much about burgeoning crime (except the invented “crimes” on social media), will enforce “lockdown”? Pretty hard task, when many towns, at night, actually have not one policeman or car patrolling.
As for the Army, it is a pretty depleted body these days. About 70,000 personnel, of which by no means all are fit for even limited duty. Will all of the 70,000 be delivering food? No. 50,000? I doubt even that. One and a half million “vulnerable” people (officially), serviced by even 50,000 soldiers works out at 30 “customers” per soldier. Maybe far more. It sounds to me more like fantasy than reality, but we shall see.
Well, I needed bread, the staff of life, so went on a little ratissage after darkness had fallen. The little village shop a couple of miles away now closes at 1800, so I was too late there. A few miles of driving brought me to a Waitrose. No loaves of bread (of any type), but I was able to get a couple of packs of pitta bread. The pasta aisle was empty bar a couple of packs of unwanted odd-shaped pasta (tiny short tubes). No pasta sauce. A few eggs still available. Milk available. Mineral water too. I don’t eat meat, so the completely stripped shelves of lamb, pork and chicken did not concern me. Plenty of steak for those willing to pay; same for smoked salmon etc. I did not see whether there was loo paper on sale. Probably not.
Still hoping to get some brown bread, drove 6 miles to the nearest Tesco. No bread available there either (I’m convinced that the guilty parties are affluent milfs and pensioners, with large freezers). Still, managed to get the last few bottles of pilsner beer. Beer? Why is beer in short supply? This really is madness. Bottles of Inspector Morse-type beer, however, with names such as Catweazle and Monk’s Nose (I made those up…similar ones were there though) were plentiful. Even fine-ground sea salt was gone!
I see that, overall, the panic-buying is slackening slightly. Eggs, milk, kitchen roll were all on sale at both Waitrose and Tesco. I was able to buy my usual shower gel (“Sea Moss”) for the first time in weeks. If I run out of hand-sanitizer for the car and cannot get rubbing alcohol anywhere, I shall have to use cheap vodka, though some is as low in alcohol as 37.5%, and hand sanitizer should be 60% or more. Still, better than nothing. No ordinary vodka is 60%. Even Krepkaya, which in any case is almost impossible to buy in the UK now, is only 50%.
China
The fact is that, conspiracy theories about the virus notwithstanding, the Chinese do and should have a burden of guilt about this. It is their behaviour toward animals which created the conditions for the existence and the flourishing of the virus. In many ways, the Chinese are socially and psychologically backward.
“Out of touch? Moi?…“
Fiona Bruce, who is said to be paid about £600,000 a year by the BBC, was apparently surprised by the anger many of the audience of Question Time feel. That is a good part of the UK’s problem, that so many in System politics and the System mass media simply do not understand why the British people are angry.
After all, Fiona Bruce has no reason to feel angey and aggrieved: she joined the BBC after meeting a BBC producer at a wedding; he got her a job. She is now said to be paid as much as £600,000 per year. Why should she feel angry?! Gratitude would surely be more appropriate… It does raise questions about her understanding of the society in which she lives, though.
I am working on a blog article going beyond the immediate effects of the Coronavirus crisis. In the meantime, my latest impressions and thoughts.
I drove around for half an hour yesterday (Saturday) evening, eventually visiting a small Tesco (supermarket chain) convenience store in a former village now effectively part of a small town. Polite (Polish) staff member (one of only two ppl working there) told me that they had no eggs or milk. I myself bought the very last loaf of bread (crusty brown wholemeal) and the last two longlife (sealed) pitta breads (apparently good until end of May). Admittedly, that was after 2000 hrs, so near their new closing time of 2200 (formerly midnight), but the store would not have been short of goods in normal times.
Driving around, I passed a couple of pubs. Seemed empty, as far as could be glimpsed. On a usually busy evening, almost no traffic. An ambulance was followed by a supermarket delivery van. There is a feeling of “emergency time”. At a location on the edge of a small town, where there is a convenience store, a Chinese takeaway, a Malay/Chinese takeaway, an Indian takeaway and a fish and chip shop (all but the Indian and the convenience store staffed entirely by Chinese), only one car parked instead of the usual dozen.
I see on the TV news the continued madness of the panic-buyers. The Press and msm generally call it “greed”. No, this is a manifestation of an even more powerful emotion: fear.
The Government continues to plead for reason and moderation. This is ineffective because
Emotion is more powerful than intellectual reason. The Government is trying to reason with people motivated by fear, one of the most powerful emotions;
Even on the intellectual level, it may seem reasonable to many to buy a far greater amount of what they usually consume, in a situation where (whatever the authorities may say) there are shortages of some basic items at ground level.
The Government may be correct in saying that, in the big scheme of things, “there is no shortage” of anything, but people see before their own eyes that there are shortages, albeit caused entirely by bulk buying.
The Government asks millions of people to “self-isolate” for three months and maybe longer, but cannot guarantee supplies of food and other essential items to those millions. In those circumstances, bulk buying is not really “panic buying” at all. An elderly (or other) couple might well use 50 rolls of loo paper and 50+ packs of pasta (etc) in three months. Some people probably are buying, even on that basis, far more than they really need, but that is because of the prevailing climate of fearful uncertainty.
There will be reached a peak of buying, but exactly when that peak will be reached is hard to say. It has financial factors (what can people afford?) and simple logistical factors (how much storage space do people have?).
In the end, the lemming-like buying wave, mainly triggered by emotion (fear) will only subside when emotion moves the other way. When people see that the stores are replenished daily and more than daily, when it is seen that the shelves are no longer being immediately stripped bare, consumer confidence will return. Those who bought huge amounts of this or that will start to use what they have been buying; they will not buy more. That in turn will stabilize the supermarket shelves. Equilibrium will be restored.
Only emotion can sway an existing emotional state. Appeals to reason have almost no effect.
The new emergency legislation being put forward has a life of, at present, 2 years, until 2022, despite the assertion by Boris-idiot that the Coronavirus crisis might last only for 3 months more, i.e. until June 2020. Already, local elections have been deferred for a year. It may be that NWO/ZOG dictatorship is planned, not only in the UK, but across Europe. I would not rule out civil or social war by 2022.
#StopHoarding
Twitter is doing what it does best, namely allowing people to tweet well-meaning and totally ineffective pleas. In this case, under hashtag #StopHoarding, to those who imagine that they need 500 loo rolls and a mountain of pasta and bottled water.
As I have blogged on previous days, there is (possibly reasonable) bulk-buying and there is (wholly unreasonable) panic-buying. Yesterday, at 1900 hrs, I visited the little village shop about 2 miles from me, and which I have noted in previous posts. It shuts at 1930. I bought almost the last loaf of bread, a bunch of bananas, some locally-produced asparagus and a few lottery tickets.
I wanted to see whether Waitrose in the nearest town was offering much, and mistakenly thought that it closed at 2100 on Thursday. Turned out that it closes at 2000 on Thursdays, so I arrived with only 10 minutes to get anything I wanted. That being so, I was unable to see whether shoppers had stripped the shelves bare again. I did notice that there was not a single egg left, not even the more expensive ones from rare breed chickens, with sky-blue shells. I myself bought only (again) almost the last loaf of bread and a reduced-price (99p reduced from £2-75) North African vegetable and cous-cous salad thing (which turned out to be quite tasty).
I think that this panic-buying can be halted by supermarkets only allowing one item or pack of anything per shopper. Inconvenient, yes, and some would then go to half a dozen places to evade the rule, but most would not and it would restore equilibrium.
Free speech
Well done, @HullLive [http://hull-live.co.uk], and well done “Will Wright of Hull”, whoever you are. The truth is rarely seen in the newspapers in the UK.
Socialism, National Socialism, “National Communism” and Social Nationalism
“Socialism” has almost as many meanings as “democracy”. We still see people with pedestrian understanding writing or tweeting about how “socialism” is and can only be something akin to the Marxist-Leninist setup of the period before the great change(s) since 1989. Those people say that German “National Socialism” was not “real” socialism. Yet German National Socialism gave the German people a great deal more in every way, both economic and cultural, than did either Weimar Republic social democracy or post-1945 Soviet-style DDR (East German) socialism.
Of course, socialism in the Soviet Union had various faces at various times, from Civil War times (1918-21) when militarization of the workforce was the norm (“War Communism”) to the New Economic Policy of the 1920s under which a controlled form of capitalism and private enterprise was permitted, to the harsh centralized system of Stalin in the 1930s and 1940s, a less severe version in the 1950s to 1980s, and then the fall of the various forms of socialism, all over the world, from 1989.
Hitler took a broad view of the term “socialism”, regarding it as meaning, broadly, “the common weal”. He was not hidebound by artificial or arbitrary “definitions” of what socialism means. For him, what mattered were results. So long as the German people were well-fed, housed, educated, organized etc, he was content.
For me, policy matters, as do results. Artificial theory matters less. I was, at one time, in the mid-1970s, accused of not being so much a National Socialist as a “National Communist”, in other words accused of over-valuing the role of the State. I demur. However, the State does have its rightful place (as seen in the Threefold Social Order concept: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_threefolding).
We in the UK have seen in the past decade what happens when the role of the State is cast aside or into the background. Now, with the Coronavirus crisis, we see that the State, in its weakened condition, is unable to properly fulfil its role of guardian of the people (“…for the welfare of the people is the highest law“— Cicero).
What is now required is what might be called “social nationalism”, not old-style State socialism but a system whereby the State, in its proper place, protects and serves the people and, as part of that, regulates but does not actually run economic enterprises and markets. “Nationalism”? All that that means is that the political organization is rooted in our basically “Aryan” European culture, history and way of life.
Basic Income
A group of 500 academics have signed an open letter to Govt: "It is time for Govts to enact emergency universal basic income, ensuring that everyone in their jurisdiction has enough money to buy the food & other essentials they need to survive.” #UBIhttps://t.co/LjrOLx9pm8
So little Matt Hancock, clearly out of his depth, has been told to “recall” retired doctors and nurses. My thoughts:
the Government has no power to order such recall, only to request it;
retired NHS staff are almost all over 60, many over 70, and so are far more likely to fall victim to Coronavirus and to be seriously affected if they do contract it;
the above is obviously far more likely to happen in the often not very hygienic conditions of a UK NHS hospital.
Worth reading, certainly, but of course the Jew scribbler never once mentions the racial divisions or aspects.
Stuttgart view
A snapshot of Stuttgart life under Coronavirus, from “antifa” cheerleader Mike Stuchbery, who was all but run out of the UK on a rail in 2018.
Message getting through in Stuttgart. Far less seniors out, only folks heading to the supermarket. Saw less than five joggers. We may be okay. This path is usually crowded by those running. pic.twitter.com/C5aBoo48YE
Stuchbery, “writer”, “journalist”, “historian” (all self-descriptions) and one-time schoolteacher, apparently does not know the difference between “less” and “fewer”.
A midnight ramble through Casablanca and beyond
[above: La Marseillaise trumps Der Wacht am Rhein in Casablanca]
Some bulk-buying may not be so stupid in the present situation, but some is very silly and is clearly “panic-buying”, such as the old woman of whom I read, “caught” in an Aldi store trying to buy no less than 80 cans of tomatoes! Enough for months, surely? (She was only allowed 4 cans in the end).
I saw this in the Daily Mail online:
Sainsbury’s in Hertford, at opening time. The photo shows what is happening: hordes of old people (and a few “Vicky Pollard” “chavscum” mothers) lining up to imitate a cloud of locusts. Some stores are prioritizing the elderly, but that may be a misconceived idea.
Where I live, in a generally affluent part of Hampshire, the elderly (who are the majority of the population) are the ones who are bulk-buying almost everything. The local Waitrose is stripped bare within minutes. I spoke to a lady who had been there in mid-morning and already all loo paper, pasta, pasta sauce, tuna, bread, flour and cleaning products had gone; and that happens every single day, it seems. Affluent —or at least not poor— pensioners (many in large houses, with several fridges and freezers) are stocking up for Armageddon.
I went yesterday evening to a village shop and sub-post office. The village has no other shop, just a church, a pub-restaurant and a car dealer. The little shop is a grocery outlet which also sells booze and local produce (prepared crab, smoked trout and salmon, as well as pheasant and other game; local asparagus, local honey).
On an unrelated aspect, it seems to me that small shops and little post offices like that, in villages or areas without other shops, should not have to pay business rates, council tax or even other taxes (eg on profits), for good social reasons. A place like that is more than just a food, drink and postage stamps outlet. It is a community hub.
The owner told me that affluent old people had bought all the bread that morning and did so every morning, and were probably freezing it. This is an area where people, often in sizeable houses, and with comfortable incomes, have 2, 3, or 4 large fridges and freezers.
The joke is that those are exactly the people most likely to spout the “we won the war” stuff, about Britain being a “nation” (which it scarcely is now), “all pulling together”. They all vote Conservative and would deny that they are featherbedded in various ways.
It is not that I dislike the elderly, as such. After all, at 63 I am well on the way myself, and anyone under 40 is likely to regard me as quite “old” (though few who meet me realize that I am that old). However, it seems to me that there is a dual process going on:
an increasingly aged and ageing population; but also
a creeping infantilization, which affects all ages.
Enemies of the people
I have just invented and instituted a new tradition on my blog pages, namely the “enemies of the people” section, to consist of tweets exposing enemies of Britain and Europe generally in the enemies’ own tweets.
I have decided to launch my new section by featuring two-in-one: a Jewish woman called “Dr Miranda Kaufmann”, as well as an apparently similarly inimical organization called “Octopus Publishing” (which may not be all bad; judgment reserved):
— Dr. Miranda Kaufmann (@MirandaKaufmann) March 19, 2020
“Infection” is the buzzword of the day. The fields of academia and publishing in the UK are both infected and infested; both need a purge.
One law for the rich…
BREAKING: Gatwick Airport is axing 200 jobs, stopping night flights and bosses have agreed to take a 20% pay cut as a result of the #coronavirus outbreak.
So “bosses” (whatever that means— in Sun-speak, it can just mean a middle-manager) are taking a pay cut, but the “workers” are being “axed”…
Have these people never heard of 1789, 1848, 1917, 1933 etc?
“Justice”?
Pakistani woman and four others attacked a schoolgirl (was she English? Probably), punching her, ripping out hair, then later intimidating her on Facebook. Found guilty on overwhelming evidence but still denying her guilt. Result? Non-custodial sentence. Quelle surprise. Sentencing judge ludicrously says that “the offence was so serious that he could have sent Mahmood to prison, but decided to spare [her]” because the w** woman is mother of four children and is carer for her mother. And (unsaid) the British people pay for all six of the bastards…and probably others in the family/clan…
“We have, of course, been here before, 10 years ago when the banks were bailed out with few conditions being attached to the money that flowed their way. As a result, they were able to use a chunk of it to keep their top tier employees in the style to which they had become accustomed while branch staff were losing their jobs.” [The Independent]
Guy Fawkes and Iain Dunce Duncan Smith
We still celebrate the end of the Fawkes plot by burning an effigy on a bonfire, the effigy being, even after over 400 years, called “the Guy”. What about Dunce Duncan Smith? Ideas on a postcard…
What are the Jews up to?
“Israel’s secretive Mossad intelligence agency launched a covert international operation this week to fly in up to 100,000 coronavirus testing kits…The local broadcaster Channel 12, which first reported the operation, said Mossad had intended to bring in about 4 million kits from several countries. About 530 cases have been confirmed in Israel, which has taken stringent measures to contain the spread, including shutting down all schools, cafes and malls. On Wednesday evening, it barred all tourists and visitors from entering the country.” [The Guardian]
same with every other corner shop around london. hand sanitizer, for a 75ml bottle, she said “£9.99” and toilet rolls for 9 rolls “£7.99” they’re all a joke 😡
I don't know, just asking. Is there much choice in London now?
— Mark Weightman 🇬🇧🇨🇾 #NoTyranny (@MarkWeightman) March 19, 2020
It’s happening in Portsmouth. They’ve even put an extra £4 on cigarettes. People need to stop using these shops, even when this crisis is over. Show them who’s boss. It’s us, the customers.
Ian Robert Millard 