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Showing posts from February, 2021

All Hail the Tories

 In the past year, every social narrative I've ever encountered from the hard left has done a complete 180.  The first being the idea that big multi-national corporations are evil. This is one I actually agree with, although I was never exactly getting out the guillotine. They promote consumerism and waste, they kill smaller businesses, they don't pay employees properly and just treat people as a number. Not to name any names but lets make one up, call it Schmamazon, I know people who have claimed it needs "dismantling" and that it's entirely corrupt. So why are the same people not seeing the problem with a lockdown that has doubled their profits?  Another concept that's been scrapped is fast fashion and sweatshops being terrible. Again, I agree, and I prefer to buy quality products that will last me a long time even if it costs a little more. And yet, an independent investigator said Boohoo had "capitalised on the commercial opportunities offered by lock

I Am Not Essential

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 A big part of the absurdity that surrounds me is the way businesses, people, and experiences are being labelled "essential" and "not essential". One reason why this disturbs me is because a couple of years ago I jotted down a rough idea for a story that I never got around to writing. The story was that some kind of disaster was looming, and people had been categorised into "valuable" and "non valuable". Those who were valuable were taken away and saved, and everyone else was left. This is a chunk of draft I wrote down.  I cannot make this up. Some of the reasons I had written down were: mental health problems, learning difficulties, and type of job considered unimportant. Basically, everyone who is currently suffering due to lockdown were the ones who my imaginary government considered "non valuable". Even in 2017, this idea was so wrong to me that it fitted an evil power-grabbing establishment.  The way that Covid deaths are suddenly

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

 When someone criticises my articles, the first thing I ask them is "have you read it?". More often than not, they say no. They might say "I don't need to!" or "I know what it will say", but if you don't know for sure what you're taking issue against, that's a hell of a gamble with which to begin your argument.  This is how it's come about that people have decided I am "anti-vaxx", or a "crazy conspiracy theorist". If you've read my other posts you'll be aware that this is not the case, but people glancing at my Facebook feed may get a different impression. I'm not usually one to be bothered by people making false assumptions about me, because if people don't want to take the time to get to know me that's their problem. But when it comes from people who preach aggressively about being considerate of others, showing kindness and acceptance, thinking before you speak and keeping an open mind, it doe

V is for Vaccine

 I have had vaccines for polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, mumps, and rubella. I think they are highly important in medicine and health. The diseases vaccines have been able to eliminate are the ones that do not mutate easily, unlike coronaviruses. I do not take the flu vaccine, and those of you who do will know that it does not give immunity to the virus. Flu vaccines can only reduce your chances of becoming seriously ill with the virus, and only by between 40 and 60%, AND only when most circulating flu viruses are well matched to the vaccine viruses. For this reason I personally don't consider the risk of vaccination to be worth the benefit, for flu. I have caught flu many times (including swine flu, which in 2009 was called a pandemic and made headlines for overwhelming the NHS, just saying. No lockdown then.) but being a healthy person I recovered from the illness and moved on with my life.  Now, I am presented with another vaccine. To me as a healthy person,

PCR: Positive Case Rigging?

PCR tests, since March 2020, have been the beacon that led us into lockdown. Our freedoms have rested in the hands of those vital positives and negatives, those numbers have been used as the guideline for how long or how strict lockdowns should be. One would be sensible to assume that PCR tests, being such crucial indicators of our situation, are an accurate and medically recommended resource. Unfortunately, “sensible” has not been a prevailing quality of our government yet this decade.  In terms of accuracy, PCR assays in the UK do have analytical sensitivity and specificity greater than 95%, but these quality assurance processes take place under idealised conditions with hospital samples that contain higher viral loads than most people being tested. This means that the accuracy in real life applications is likely to differ substantially from the official tests.  You may also have heard reference to the amount of cycles the sample is put through. The WHO website published a “clarifica

Ask 3 Questions

 I do not think spreading coronavirus is a good idea. All my life, I’ve done everything I should to avoid spreading any germs. Would I visit my grandparents if I felt under the weather? No. I probably wouldn’t visit anyone – especially if I knew something nasty was going round. Most people I know are always fans of keeping things clean, keeping hands washed and covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. These are things that any reasonable person does, and does with extra vigilance when something new comes out. Covering your mouth and nose at all times just in case you cough or sneeze or, god forbid, breathe – this does not seem so reasonable to me. Nor does lockdown. I feel that there are 3 main questions to ask about lockdown – is it sensible, is it sustainable, and is it proportionate? If you think asking these questions makes me a bad person (regardless of what the answers are) then I don’t want to be considered “good” by you. Is it sensible? Imagine you are talk