Top UK court backs biological definition of 'woman'

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. 

Supreme Court backs 'biological' definition of woman | BBC | Angus Cochrane:

April 16, 2025 - "Judges at the UK Supreme Court have unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law. It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle which could have major implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales. 

"The court sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female.... The Scottish government argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) are entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women. The Supreme Court was asked to decide on the proper interpretation of the 2010 Equality Act, which applies across Britain.

"Lord Hodge said the central question was how the words 'woman' and 'sex' are defined in the legislation. He told the court: 'The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex. But we counsel against reading this judgement as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another'.... He added that the legislation gives transgender people 'protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender'....

"The Equality Act provides protection against discrimination on the basis of various characteristics, including 'sex' and 'gender reassignment'. Judges at the Supreme Court in London were asked to rule on what that law means by 'sex' - whether it means biological sex, or legal, 'certificated' sex as defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.

"The Scottish government argued the 2004 legislation was clear that obtaining a GRC amounts to a change of sex 'for all purposes'. For Women Scotland argued for a 'common sense' interpretation of the words man and woman, telling the court that sex is an 'immutable biological state'.

"Speaking outside the Supreme Court following the ruling, For Women Scotland co-founder Susan Smith said: 'Today the judges have said what we always believed to be the case, that women are protected by their biological sex. Sex is real and women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women and we are enormously grateful to the Supreme Court for this ruling.'

"First Minister John Swinney said the Scottish government accepted the judgement.... Swinney added: 'Protecting the rights of all will underpin our actions.' A Scottish government spokesperson insisted ministers had acted 'in good faith during the legal proceedings, and noted that the Equality and Human Rights Commission was updating its guidance in response to the judgement."

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7pqzk47zo

What is a woman? Supreme Court sees sense – Helen Joyce and Michael Foran | The Spectator | April 16, 2025:

Banned charity song tops UK sales chart

Anti-Starmer protest and charity song Freezing this Christmas hit #1 on the UK's sales and download charts for Christmas week, but got next to no airplay after the state-owned BBC refused to play it. 

Christmas number one: Freezing This Christmas - who are Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers? | National World | Tom Morton:

December 20, 2024 - "'Freezing This Christmas' is a take-off of the crooning Mud perennial Lonely This Christmas - but unlike similar parodies its aim is not to raise a smile but to stoke anger. The fictional band Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers are looking to highlight the plight of pensioners. It was written as a protest against the new Labour government’s decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance. So far 1.6m people have watched the video on YouTube - and the song is, according to bookmaker William Hill, in the running to be Christmas number one.

"The lyrics were drafted by33-year-old freelance writer Chris Middleton from Newcastle. He told the Daily Telegraph: ... 'I saw something on [X] a couple of months ago about trying to do a Christmas song for pensioners and the hook of the chorus just came to me. Lonely This Christmas is my favourite Christmas song so that’s probably why'.... The song has an accompanying JustGiving fundraising page, which is raising money for Age UK. After setting a target of £5,000, so far it has raised more than £35,000 for the charity, and donations can be made here.

The singer is Dean Ager, 51, from Worthing, who usually impersonates Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble.... As well as hundreds of thousands of streams on YouTube, Freezing This Christmas has topped the Apple iTunes download chart - but so far the BBC has not played it."

Read more: https://www.nationalworld.com/culture/music/christmas-number-one-freezing-this-christmas-sir-starmer-and-the-granny-harmers-4918271 

Screen capture - YouTube

Freezing This Christmas racks up just over 14,000 sales in a few weeks but is pipped to top slot by Wham! | The Telegraph | Craig Simpson:

December 20, 2024 - "An anti-Keir Starmer protest song has topped the downloads and sales charts but missed out on the Christmas No 1 slot. Freezing This Christmas, by the parody act Sir Starmer and The Granny Harmers, ... was embraced by the public and reached No 1 in both the Official Download Chart and the Official Sales Chart, racking up just over 14,000 sales in a matter of weeks.

"However, Wham!’s 1984 hit Last Christmas was named Christmas No 1, sealing the top spot for the second year in a row – a first for the charts. The Official Singles Chart is calculated based on all audio, video, streaming, download and physical sales. Freezing This Christmas enjoyed a surge in download sales, but these were not enough to compete with the more than 12 million streams garnered by Last Christmas.

"Despite receiving no radio play, as the BBC refused to give the anti-Labour song air time, Freezing This Christmas finished at number 37 in the Official Singles Chart.

"The refusal to play the track continued even after this final chart position was announced, with the BBC’s Official Chart show Radio cutting the song from its countdown of the Christmas Top 40. Presenter Jack Saunders played both number 38 and 36, but omitted Freezing This Christmas at number 37."

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/12/20/anti-starmer-christmas-song-freezing-this-winter-bbc-charts/

Freezing This Christmas OFFICIAL VIDEO by Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers (Parody of Mud) | Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers | December 1, 2024:

Starmer government stalls freedom of speech act

The UK's new Labour government has put the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (passed in the last Parliament) on hold, and is considering repealing it.  

Government delays university free-speech fines | BBC | Vanessa Clarke & Branwen Jeffreys:

July 25, 2024 - "Controversial new powers for universities and student unions to be fined for failing to uphold freedom of speech have been put on hold by the government. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that would allow time to consider whether the law, which was due to come into force next week, would be repealed....

"The Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act, which was passed last year, said universities had a duty to 'secure' and 'promote the importance of' freedom of speech and academic expression. It would have allowed the OfS to fine or give sanctions to higher education providers and student unions in England from next week. It also included a new complaints scheme for students, staff and visiting speakers, who could seek compensation if they suffer from a breach of a university's free-speech obligations. But a government source told the BBC the legislation would have opened the way for Holocaust deniers to be allowed on campus, and was an 'anti-semite charter'."
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv2gj1x11nmo

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 became law but its implementation has been stopped | Octopus TV | August 25, 2024:

Hundreds of Academics Accuse Labour of Free Speech Betrayal | Guido Fawkes: 

577 academics have now signed an open letter to Bridget Phillipson calling on the education secretary to restore the Tories’ Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. The act strengthened impositions on universities to support free speech on their premises and would introduce a complaints scheme to resolve issues.Richard Dawkins, Niall Ferguson, Kathleen Stock and others have signed. 

"The letter spells out that the act won’t be “burdensome” as Labour claims because government analysis has compliance cost at a tiny £4.7 million and that the complaints scheme would keep cases out of court.... Labour’s response is indignant: 'We make no apology for pausing the Tories’ hate speech charter, which would have allowed antisemites and holocaust deniers free rein on campuses'.... 

"Academics can sign here …

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9GcINYCmoeyuiOLPNmmfJ_cUYNfbbf_m09xMCl7S2RQYASA/viewform

"Read the full letter below:

https://order-order.com/2024/08/23/hundreds-of-academics-accuse-labour-of-free-speech-betrayal/

Is "two-tier policing" real in the UK?

Is there anything behind accusations that UK police are engaging in "two-tier policing"?

Two-tier policing is not a myth | Spiked | Fraser Myers:

August 9. 2024 - "The widespread claims that Britain has a problem with ‘two-tier policing’ have clearly touched a nerve with the establishment. Earlier this week, ... Mark Rowley, Britain’s most-senior police officer, ... issued a statement claiming that it is ‘complete nonsense’ that police would treat anyone differently according to their race, religion or political leanings.... Almost every major media outlet has carried an article purporting to ‘fact-check’ and ‘debunk’ the claims around two-tier policing.... In some cases, the very same outlets that, until now, have been running near weekly articles on how the police are institutionally or structurally racist, riddled with some ‘-ism’ or ‘-phobia’, proclaim that any suggestion of unfairness in policing is preposterous.... 

"It is certainly true that some on the online right are overegging the extent of two-tier policing.... But there are some like-for-like comparisons we can make that really do illustrate the problem.... Just two weeks before the race riot in Southport, riots broke out in Harehills, a diverse suburb of Leeds. This was sparked when social services attempted to take a Roma child into care. Yet while the police were out in force in Southport and in other English towns over the past two weeks, in Harehills, the police simply ran away. Rioters then overturned a police car, set fire to a bus and wreaked havoc for the rest of the evening. The police essentially allowed the rioters to tire themselves out... Strikingly, the day after the Harehills unrest, Leeds City Council issued a joint statement with ‘representatives of the Roma community’ praising that community’s contribution to the ‘diversity and richness’ of the area. Might this be a hint that the identity of those rioters was at the forefront of the minds of the authorities?

"What the deniers of two-tier policing miss is that differential treatment for different ethnic groups is an unseemly, but inevitable outgrowth of the system of multiculturalism. From the late 1980s onwards, the British state has increasingly related to its ethnic-minority subjects via self-appointed ‘community leaders’ who, in turn, can have a great deal of influence over police and local-authority decision-making. (Some on the right miss the significance of this, too, by mistaking this institutional set-up for police ‘prejudice’ against whites.)

"We saw this system plainly in action in Birmingham earlier this week, when masked Muslim men were allowed to roam around Bordesley Green with weapons. An LBC journalist was chased away with a metal poll. A Sky News broadcast van had its tires stabbed at. A man was badly beaten outside a pub, leaving him with a lacerated liver. The police knew that large crowds were planning to gather here but they decided not to show up.

"The next day, Emlyn Richards of West Midlands Police explained why. Speaking to Sky News, he said that his officers had met with ‘community leaders’ to ‘understand the style of policing we needed to deliver’. The ‘community’ (ie, Birmingham’s Muslims) ‘were trying to make sure that [this gathering] was policed within themselves’. So that’s okay, then? Some communities are free to ‘police themselves’ and can decide how certain men with weapons should be policed? That sounds an awful lot like two-tier policing to me.

"Perhaps the most egregious examples of two-tier policing relate to the ‘pro-Palestine’ marches that have been held almost weekly since 7 October last year. The Metropolitan Police – usually keen to bundle Londoners into a van for using offensive language – haven’t just been turning a blind eye to much of the rank anti-Semitism on the streets.... Back in October, members of Hizb ut-Tahrir – now a proscribed terror organisation – gathered outside the Turkish Embassy in London screaming ‘jihad, jihad, jihad’ and calling for ‘Muslim armies’ to invade Israel. In response, the Met put out an extraordinary tweet trying to reassure the public that jihad ‘has multiple meanings’, while chiding those who associate it ‘with terrorism’. In this instance, the police didn’t just turn a blind eye to this call for terroristic violence and war, they were effectively doing the Islamists’ PR for them.

"Meanwhile, the Met seem to have a zero-tolerance approach towards anything that might cause offence to Islamists and anti-Semites. Niyak Ghorbani, an exiled Iranian dissident, has been arrested on multiple occasions for holding up a sign that accurately describes Hamas – the anti-Semitic terror group behind the 7 October massacre – as ‘terrorists’.... Similarly, last year, volunteers for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism were threatened with arrest for a ‘breach of the peace’ over a mobile billboard displaying images of the children who had been kidnapped by Hamas. Police officers have even been photographed tearing down posters of Israeli hostages. The excuse for this anti-Semitic vandalism? To calm ‘community tensions’.... 

"[N]one of these obvious and unambiguous examples of policing double standards feature in the many media ‘debunkings’ of the ‘two-tier-policing myth’. Not for the first time, the ‘fact-checkers’ are less interested in establishing the truth than in defending the establishment narrative. Let’s be frank, two-tier policing is not only real – it is also impossible for any honest person to ignore."

Read more: https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/08/09/two-tier-policing-is-not-a-myth/

"The UK Has A Two-Tier Government!" | Ex-Met Police DCI Says Front-Line Officers "Aren't To Blame" | Talk TV | 

UK gov't restricts puberty blockers for minors

The British government has stopped the use of puberty blockers to transition under-18s within its National Health Service, and is now temporarily banning them for all prescribers.

Health service in England curtails puberty blockers for minors | CBC News:

March 13, 2024 - "Children in England will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics, according to the country's National Health Service (NHS). In a policy document released Tuesday, the NHS said that following a review of published research, 'we have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of [puberty suppressing hormones] to make the treatment routinely available at this time.' 

"Under the new policy, puberty blockers for those under 18 will only be available as part of research studies. One such study is slated to begin by the end of 2024....

"According to a published report by BBC News, fewer than 100 young people in England are currently prescribed puberty blockers by the NHS. The report said they will all [be] able to continue their treatment.

"The blockers have become a contentious issue in Canada, the U.S. and Europe.... They've been banned for minors in several U.S. states. In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith ... plans to introduce similar policies. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he does not support trans kids under 18 taking puberty blockers. The Canadian Paediatric Society and Canadian Medical Association have both stated their support of gender-affirming care."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/england-national-health-service-puberty-blockers-minors-1.7142300

UK Decision to Block Puberty Blockers for Minors Could Impact US | CBN News | March 19, 2024:

New restrictions on puberty blockers | Gov.uk | Department of Health and Social Care: 

May 29, 2024 -"The government has today introduced regulations to restrict the prescribing and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones, known as ‘puberty blockers’, to children and young people under 18 in England, Wales and Scotland. The emergency ban will last from 3 June to 3 September 2024.... During this period no new patients under 18 will be prescribed these medicines for the purposes of puberty suppression in those experiencing gender dysphoria or incongruence under the care of these prescribers.

"The NHS stopped the routine prescription of puberty blocker treatments to under-18s following the Cass Review into gender identity services. In addition, the government has also introduced indefinite restrictions to the prescribing of these medicines within NHS primary care in England, in line with NHS guidelines.... This action has been taken to address risks to patient safety.

"Patients already established on these medicines by a UK prescriber for these purposes can continue to access them. They will also remain available for patients receiving the drugs for other uses, from a UK-registered prescriber."

Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-restrictions-on-puberty-blockers

Net Zero threatens national security, warns former UK security minister

Net Zero is a National Security Threat and Must Be Abandoned, Former Security Minister Warns | The Daily Sceptic | Will Jones: 

March 1, 2024 - "Decarbonising the steel and electricity industry in pursuit of Net Zero represents a real and present danger to national security and must be abandoned, a former Security Minister has warned. Writing in a foreword to a new paper from campaign group Net Zero Watch, Sir Gerald Howarth, Minister for International Security Strategy under David Cameron, said:

Our adversaries are watching us like hawks, so let us leave them in no doubt: we are rearming and rebuilding, and Net Zero is firmly on hold.

"Professor Gwythian Prins, a defence expert and one of the paper’s authors, agrees that with the recent deterioration of the world’s security situation, “luxury beliefs” such as Net Zero must be jettisoned as a matter of urgency:

This is the moment when the music stops. The Port Talbot closure harshly exposes the costs of luxury ‘green’ beliefs. We cannot be dependent on imports for the full range of necessary steels to rebuild our arsenals – the Navy first and foremost – and, most ridiculously, we cannot depend for them on our global antagonists. Furthermore, our armed forces are wholly dependent on oil to keep them in the field, and our electricity grid will collapse without gas. Any attempt to abandon them will leave us entirely at the mercy of hostile powers.

"The paper also includes a contribution from Gautam Kalghatgi, a Professor of Combustion and Energy Engineering, who ridicules plans to decarbonise the armed forces through use of batteries and biofuels....

"Andrew Montford, Director of Net Zero Watch said: 'The ... contributors make it clear that Net Zero is leaving us at the mercy of hostile powers. A Net Zero army and a Net Zero economy could both be brought to their knees in a matter of days. In these dangerous times, our politicians must re-order their priorities.'"

Read more: https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/01/net-zero-is-a-national-security-threat-and-must-be-abandoned-former-security-minister-warns/

Read "The Music Stops: Net Zero and national security": 
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/656f411497ae14084ad8d03a/t/65e18dad4b06fa0c5606a719/1709280690938/Prins-Music-Stops.pdf

BBC misrepresented Covid risk, UK inquiry told

Epidemiologist Mark Woolhouse has told that UK Covid Inquiry that the BBC spread "misinformation" about the risk of Covid, which he suspects was done as "a justification for locking down the entire population." 

 

BBC ‘misrepresented’ Covid risk to boost lockdown support, inquiry told | The Telegraph | Simon Johnson: 

January 25, 2024 - "The BBC was allowed to 'misrepresent' the risk posed by Covid to most people to boost public support for lockdown, the UK Covid Inquiry has heard. Prof Mark Woolhouse, an eminent epidemiologist and government adviser, lambasted the corporation for having 'repeatedly reported rare deaths or illnesses among healthy adults as if they were the norm'. He said this created the 'misleading impression' among BBC News viewers at the start of the pandemic that 'we are all at risk'.... 

"In reality, he said it was known at the time that the risk of dying from Covid was 10,000 times higher in the over-75s than the under-15s. But Prof Woolhouse told the inquiry the BBC did not correct its reporting, saying: 'I suspect this misinformation was allowed to stand throughout 2020 because it provided a justification for locking down the entire population.'

"Prof Mark Woolhouse, a member of the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group, also claimed hundreds of people may have died after being told not to 'bother' the NHS. He told the inquiry people were misled about how the crisis would unfold. And he said orders to stay at home and cease outdoor activity were not needed.

"He said further evidence of this was provided by a briefing dated March 22, 2020, by a sub-group of the UK Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) that focused on the public’s behaviour. This stated that 'a substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened; it could be that they are reassured by the low death rate in their demographic group... the perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging'.

"Prof Woolhouse said the 'misperception' created by the BBC’s coverage that everyone was at risk was a 'barrier to targeting interventions at the vulnerable minority who truly were at high risk from Covid'. In his written submission to the inquiry about the impact north of the Border, he said: 'I fear that the Scottish Government’s pandemic response was compromised as a result.' He also concluded that lockdown had been 'least effective at protecting the most vulnerable precisely because of their need to have contacts with health care and social care workers - self-isolation was not an option.' The expert added: “This should have been recognised from the outset.”

"Prof Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, was an adviser to the Scottish Government during the pandemic, although his submission said his advice was often not heeded by Nicola Sturgeon. He also sat on the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, which was another sub-group of SAGE.... [He is also the author of a book on the pandemic, The Year the World Went Mad. - gd.] 

"Last year, The Telegraph spoke to current and former BBC journalists who described a 'climate of fear' existing in the corporation during the pandemic, with experienced reporters 'openly mocked' if they questioned the wisdom of lockdowns.... Some complained to senior managers about the BBC’s blinkered stance but were ignored. Others communicated via secretive WhatsApp groups to share their frustrations, like members of a resistance movement.

"Prof Woolhouse said the public was 'not given accurate information' about Covid in the early stages of the pandemic. 'Some media sources - notably the BBC television news - did repeatedly misrepresent the risk posed by Covid,' he said. 'One example is that they gave the impression that hospitals were being overwhelmed during the first wave. Some (mainly in London) were, but overall hospital bed occupancy was at an all-time low during that period. A second example is that they routinely reported deaths of healthy young adults, thereby giving the impression that these were common. In reality, such deaths were extremely rare; the great majority of Covid deaths occurred in the elderly, frail and infirm.' He concluded: 'Possibly, this kind of coverage was an attempt to back up government public health messaging; for example, the hugely misleading claim that "we are all at risk".'

"A BBC spokesperson said: 'We reported on the pandemic in line with the BBC’s rigorous editorial standards – using a range of official and scientific sources. We reported on events in the UK and across the world as they happened - featuring ongoing analysis from a range of medical and scientific experts, as well as a range of voices and opinions, including those sceptical of lockdowns.'" 

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/25/covid-inquiry-bbc-misrepresented-risk-pandemic/

BBC INFLATED risk to Brits to IMPOSE lockdown measures | GB News | January 26, 2024: 

UK PM proposes younger-generation tobacco ban

Taking an idea from New Zealand's progressive government, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has proposed a lifetime ban on purchasing tobacco products for those born after 2008.   

Rishi Sunak is following in Jacinda Ardern’s footsteps | The Telegraph | Annabel Denham: 

October 4, 2023 - "It should alarm us that the Prime Minister thought long and hard about smoking prohibition. It would be more reassuring to learn that this was another knee-jerk idea spouted out of the Conservative government’s random policy generator as its remaining days in power dwindle.... Had Number 10 given any deep thought to a progressive cigarette and tobacco ban – which will see the age at which people can buy these products rise by one year every year so that, eventually, no one can purchase them – they would perhaps have realised how ill-conceived, illiberal, infantilising and illogical it is.

"That the idea has its origins in New Zealand – the country that locked itself down for nearly the longest time and refused to let its citizens come home, and requires Māori theory of creation to be taught in science lessons – should have raised a red flag. Sunak, who recently re-instilled hope that he could be the true heir to Margaret Thatcher and cauterise the wound seared by 2022’s mini-Budget, has now aligned himself with Jacinda Ardern. He may be putting this to a free vote, but history will remember who put this legislation on the cards.

"Much as Akshata Murty may have endeared and persuaded delegates in Manchester of her husband’s commitment to Conservative values, there isn’t a shred of Conservatism in this policy. No personal autonomy; the idea that people will make trade-offs – and sometimes choose the unhealthy option, such is the wonder of the human condition. Though more often than not nowadays, when it comes to tobacco, they don’t: the proportion of smokers has fallen significantly in recent decades: from half of adults in the early 1970s to just 14 per cent now. 

"There was seemingly no consideration of the unintended consequences – the black market that this policy will buttress and the corresponding reduction in tax revenues. And, as usual, the nannying measure is being cloaked in the language of public health and justified on the grounds that it will help protect our socialist, creaking healthcare system. 

"Here are the facts, for MPs who may soon have to decide whether to wave through this awful policy. Smokers don’t cost the NHS money, they save it. A 2017 study from the Institute of Economic Affairs estimated a net saving of £14.7 billion per annum at the rates of consumption at the time, with the costs smokers incurred significantly outweighed by the sum of tobacco duty paid and the old-age expenditures avoided due to premature mortality. 

"This policy would limit consumer choice and create a two-tier society, one in which 48 year old John could purchase cigarettes while Jane, his 47 year old wife, would need to procure them in the underground economy. Shopkeepers would be required to decide on the spot whether a customer might have been born in 2004 or 2005. 

"Perhaps most importantly, prohibition does not work. As the examples of South Africa, India and others have shown, it puts smokers or drinkers at greater risk. It hands money to black marketeers at the expense of tax paying businesses: the South African government lost over 1.7 billion Rand (£77 million) in sin-tax revenue in April 2020 after tightening restrictions that March. In the 1920s, prohibition caused a crime wave across America.

"What is the enduring appeal of these paternalistic, petty regulations? They allow politicians to be seen to do something without spending money. As budgetary constraints have tightened while welfare, pensions and NHS spending have ballooned, elected representatives have pulled this lever with ever greater enthusiasm. But they do come at a cost. To businesses, consumers, workers in the form of lower wages. And pretty soon they’ll cost the Tories."

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/04/rishi-sunak-smoking-ban-nanny-state-jacinda-ardern/

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Unveils Plan To Ban Tobacco Among Youth | 10 News First | October 5, 2023:

Sunak slows down Britain's race to Net Zero

Declaring that "If we continue down this path, we risk losing the consent of the British people," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced changes to slow down Britain's drive to Net Zero emissions.

Britain has finally joined the net sensibles | The Telegraph | Matthew Lynn: 

September 20, 2023 - "You might still be able to buy a petrol car for a few more years. You won’t have to rip out your old boiler right away.... [E]xtra taxes on your next summer holiday might be postponed, while that fiddly recycling scheme that required countless different bins could be scrapped. No doubt his critics will try to portray the Prime Minister’s modest watering down of green commitments as turning the UK into a climate-change denying pariah. In reality, the UK is just switching from 'net zero' extremism to 'net zero' sense, joining many other developed countries in recognising that carbon emissions can’t be eliminated right away and all we will do is bankrupt ourselves by trying.... 

"To listen to some of the reaction to the PM’s leaked announcement on climate change you might think he was sending the British army into the rainforest with chainsaws or re-opening the Kent and Durham coalmines.... Sunak is simply proposing some modest tweaks. The completely unrealistic target of banning the sale of petrol cars by 2030 will be pushed back by five years, bringing us into line with most of Europe. The phasing out of gas boilers will be postponed. And there will be no new taxes on flying, at least for now. The posturing that demanded the UK was the world leader on combating climate change, even though we account for only one percent of global emissions, and our stagnant economy can barely afford it, will be scrapped. Instead, we will more modestly adopt global standards.

"That is long overdue. The 'net sensibles', as they might be termed, are in the ascendancy across Europe. France’s President Macon had called for a 'regulatory pause' on climate change, arguing that it should not damage competitiveness. Italy’s PM Georgia Meloni argued in March that 'we cannot help the environment by destroying our industries' while Belgium’s PM Alexander de Croo in May argued climate change legislation should not overwhelm companies, arguing that Europe should 'not try to do everything at the same time'. 

"In a move that you might think would please the kind of hardcore Remainers who also are typically the most extreme advocates of green policies, the UK is simply aligning itself with the EU. It is hard to see anything very controversial about that. The alternative was to simply press on with an insane bid for world leadership, while making life tougher and tougher for families and businesses....

"[T]here is still a long way to go. For example, we could start fracking so that we could secure our domestic energy supplies while we transition to green alternatives, following the lead of Canada’s Justin Trudeau, hardly a right-wing populist. We could allow new oil fields to be developed at the same time as developing wind and solar power, following the lead of President Joe Biden, hardly a climate-change denier. Or we could explore the use of synthetic e-fuels as an alternative to electric cars, as the Social Democrat-Green coalition in Germany is insisting that it should.... 

"[U]nder Theresa May and Boris Johnson, cheered on by the likes of Labour’s Ed Miliband and Sir Keir Starmer, the UK had one of the most extreme climate change plans in the world. It was already starting to drag down the country’s economy, with expensive, unreliable energy, costly regulations, and endless green levies. It should be a relief to everyone that we have already joined the ranks of the 'net sensibles' recognising that climate change is a serious issue but that we can’t make much of a difference by ourselves, and there is no point in bankrupting ourselves in the process. But there is still a long way to go before we finally undo the damage of the last few years - and put in place some grown up climate policies instead."

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/20/britain-has-finally-seen-sense-on-net-zero/

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Net Zero Speech - IN FULL | 10 Downing Street | September 21, 2023:

New UK law criminalizes energy non-compliance

The British government's recently-passed Energy Bill allows for creating new criminal offenses, punishable by fines and/or imprisonment, for non-compliance with the government's energy regulations.

UK homeowners face jail or £15k fine in Energy Bill crackdown | Energy Live News | Dimitris Mavrokefalidis:

September 3, 2023 - "The Energy Bill currently under consideration includes provisions for imposing penalties on homeowners who do not comply with newly introduced energy performance regulations. These penalties encompass imprisonment of up to one year or fines amounting to £15,000 [$25,000 CND]....

"The government aims to reinforce efforts directed towards achieving net zero by granting authorities the ability to establish criminal offences and augment civil penalties. In the Energy Bill, it is stated: 'Energy performance regulations may provide for the creation of criminal offences.'

"Individuals may also face prosecution for providing 'false information' regarding energy efficiency or obstructing an enforcement authority. According to the proposals: 'Energy smart regulations may create offences relating to the obstruction of persons acting on behalf of enforcement authorities.'"

Read more: https://www.energylivenews.com/2023/09/03/uk-homeowners-face-jail-or-15k-fine-in-energy-bill-crackdown/

Net zero: Britons risk facing JAIL TIME for not abiding by Sunak's Energy Bill rules | GBNews | September 6, 2023:

Good God! Is Britain really going to jail people who disagree with net zero? | Daily Express | Lois Perry: 

September 6, 2023 - "Many are questioning the necessity and feasibility of the draconian net zero measures contained in the flagship Energy Bill which cleared the Commons at third reading yesterday, and they're rightly worried property owners facing criminal charges for opposing them.... [U]nder this new legislation, those who fail to adhere to energy consumption regulations could face imprisonment for up to a year and fines of up to £15,000.... Most shockingly, the legislation provides for 'the creation of criminal offences' where there is 'non-compliance with a requirement imposed by or under energy performance regulations'.... 

"The proposed legislation grants the Government (and it could be either party given the election next year) the power to create new criminal offences and increase penalties in pursuit of their net-zero globalist goals. Critics argue that this move starkly contradicts the will of the British people and fortunately has sparked a high degree of opposition from some members of the Conservative Party.... [T]here are very real concerns that these amendments could lead to the criminalisation of individuals who do not comply with the new energy rules. It’s this pandemic-style shift in power dynamics – this time using the Climate rather than Covid - which is the source of worry for many. To address these concerns, it is vital for the electorate to communicate their views loud and clear to their Members of Parliament. It's crucial to ensure that the criminalisation of energy use without public consent does not become a reality.

"My organisation CAR26 conducted YouGov polls in October 2021 and February 2022, which revealed in both instances, that a significant proportion of the British public supports the idea of a net zero referendum. In fact the numbers supporting a referendum went up the second time around. This suggests that there is a desire for a more inclusive and democratic approach to shaping these policies. 

"Before turning the questioning of net zero into a criminal offence, the Government should consider conducting a thorough review and hold a referendum to gauge public opinion.... If a referendum is not pursued (both Boris and now Rishi ruled it out so don’t hold your breath) it is essential to demand clear assurances from the Government that they will not enforce net zero targets without explicitly outlining them in an election party manifesto."

Read more: https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1809903/Uk-net-zero-rules-energy-bill-jail-for-new-zero-jacob-rees-mogg

UK NHS stops Covid & flu shots for most under 65

Englands's National Health Service will not be offering flu or Covid shots to the general population under 65 in next winter's vaccination campaign.  

Flu and Covid booster jabs to be scrapped for under 65s | The Telegraph | Michael Searles:

August 7, 2023 - "NHS flu jabs and Covid boosters will be axed for adults under 65 this winter as the health service attempts to 'go back to normal\, The Telegraph can reveal. The Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is expected to set out plans on Tuesday which will mean 12 million people aged 50 to 64 are no longer eligible for free vaccines.

AstraZeneca vaccine vial and NHS record card;photo by 

R. Wendland, 2021. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

 

"The rollout is also expected to start later than normal for those who are given jabs, with the drive not set to begin until October. The vaccination drive usually starts in early September in an attempt to ensure sufficient protection against an early flu season. Health officials said the later start would ensure that the vulnerable are protected in the depths of winter when viruses are most likely to spread.... 

"Before the pandemic flu jabs were offered to healthy adults over the age of 65, as well as to children and younger adults with health conditions. During the pandemic the rollout of flu jabs was extended to cover those aged 50 to 64 in line with those eligible for Covid boosters.... 

"Uptake of both flu and Covid jabs among those aged between 50 and 64 fell sharply last winter. Just 40.6 per cent of those aged between 50 and 65 in England came forward for a flu vaccination in 2022-23, down from 45.7 per cent the year before. Meanwhile, six million people, or 51.7 per cent, from the same age range came forward for a Covid booster last winter, down from 77.6 per cent the previous year.

"Anyone under 65 in a clinical risk group as well as healthcare workers and carers will still also be eligible for flu and Covid jabs. Children aged between two and 17 will also be eligible for flu nasal sprays, while some who are clinically at risk will be eligible for Covid jabs. A senior health source said the decision to limit Covid jabs to the over 65s would put it in line with recommendations on flu, allowing for 'easier co-administration of both jabs at the same appointment'."

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/07/flu-jabs-covid-boosters-scrapped-under-65s-nhs-winter/

England to deny Covid and flu jabs to under-65s despite fears for NHS this winter | The Guardian | Andrew Gregory: 

August 8, 2023 - "The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the UK government, said on Tuesday its plan for Covid was to offer jabs only to those at 'high risk of serious disease'.... Covid boosters will be offered to residents in care homes for older adults, those aged six months to 64 in clinical risk groups, frontline health and social care workers, people aged 12 to 64 who are carers or household contacts of people with immunosuppression, and all adults aged 65 and over.

"The Department of Health and Social Care said it had accepted the advice for England. The government said in May that people in England under 65 would not be offered flu jabs this winter. It means about 12 million people aged 50 to 64 are no longer eligible for either free flu or Covid-19 vaccines. Last year everyone over 50 was offered both. The Covid jab is not available privately in the UK, so those ineligible this year will be unable to buy the jab themselves....

"Last winter was one of the most challenging on record for the NHS in England. It is expected to face a surge in demand in the coming months with officials anticipating a large number of people needing help for respiratory illnesses, including flu and Covid."

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/08/england-to-deny-covid-and-flu-jabs-to-under-65s-amid-fears-for-nhs-this-winter

Excess deaths rising in Britain

Excess deaths in Britain (so far) in 2023 so far are higher than in 2021 and 2022, and on a trajectory to pass even 2020 levels; while excess deaths among those aged 15-44 are higher than in any of the three previous years. 

Experts call for urgent investigation as excess deaths spark ‘dangerous’ theories | The Express | Lucy Johnson:

Jul 22, 2023 - "An urgent investigation is needed into why excess deaths are near pandemic levels, because the lack of an explanation is fuelling 'wild and dangerous theories'”, experts warn. Government figures suggest the number of extra or 'unnecessary' fatalities this year is higher than 2021 and 2022, and on a trajectory that could even surpass 2020. Of particular concern is the 15 to 44 age group, where cumulative deaths are tracking above all recent years, including 2020.

"Some commentators have suggested delayed medical treatment due to lockdown measures might be contributing to the rise. Others have blamed the indirect impact of pandemic measures, such as increased loneliness and isolation, as well as a rise in alcohol consumption and recreational drug use.

"Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has previously hypothesised that rising non-Covid excess deaths could have been caused by a fall in heart drug prescriptions. But subsequent research has shown there was no such drop. It was also claimed doctors’ strikes coincided with the jump in deaths. However, the British Medical Association said walkouts were not 'the root cause'. It insisted: 'There was no change in mortality trends during strike action.'

"The latest figures mean that since 2019 more deaths are being recorded each week than the five-year average. Only a small proportion of these are now being directly attributed to Covid.

"Dr Charles Levinson, Medical Director of private GP service Doctorcall, said the “silence” from Government was allowing conspiracy theories to flourish, including from anti-vaxxers. He said: 'A refusal to openly discuss these statistics is an abdication of responsibility from parts of the scientific community, leading to an irreversible erosion of trust by parts of society. There has been radio silence on the crisis from almost all, leaving a vacuum which is being filled by dangerous theories.'

"Last night Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine at Oxford University, called for an urgent inquiry. He said: 'There has been a complete failure by the Government to investigate these deaths correctly. This means we don’t know how to prevent further unnecessary deaths, fuelling wild speculation about the drivers.'

"The Department of Health and Social Care said: 'A wide variety of factors have contributed to excess deaths in recent months and we’re taking action to reduce them.'"

Read more: https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1794096/excess-deaths-dangerous-theories

Excess deaths, new UK data | Dr. John Campbell | May 12, 2023: 

UK banks close gender-critical customer accounts

After three former Brexit Party MEPS, including ex-leader Nigel Farage, revealed that their banks had closed their  accounts, members of the public also began sharing their stories, prompting a government investigation.  

Most high street banks are signed up to Stonewall diversity schemes | The Telegraph | Dominic Penna & Simon Foy:

July 3, 2023 - "The majority of High Street banks are members of diversity schemes run by the controversial charity Stonewall, The Telegraph can reveal. Lenders are facing questions over their links to the charity amid a backlash over closing the bank accounts of some people with gender-critical views.... A vicar who questioned his building society’s Pride branding had his account closed, while a Scottish blogger believes action was taken by his bank over his stance on gender issues.

"Stonewall’s Diversity Champions scheme includes guidance to employers on gender-neutral spaces and the use of pronouns. The company also runs a top 100 index that measures employers on diversity and inclusion.... A number of high-profile organisations including the BBC, Channel 4, the Cabinet Office, and the Department of Health have stopped working with Stonewall amid concerns over its schemes.... The Information Commissioner has previously found that the index and the Diversity Champions scheme allowed Stonewall to exercise a 'significant degree of influence over the policies that participating members operate'.

"Last week Nigel Farage, the former Brexit Party leader, revealed that his bank had closed his account, and two former Brexit Party MEPs revealed that their accounts were also closed. Since then, members of the public have accused banks of shutting down their accounts. Among them was Rev Richard Fothergill, a customer of Yorkshire Building Society for 17 years, whose account was closed days after he wrote to the bank to complain about its public messaging during Pride month [see video].

"Stuart Campbell, who runs the pro-independence Wings Over Scotland blog, had his accounts shut by First Direct, owned by HSBC, which he believes was over his stance on gender issues. Barclays recently had to pay out £21,500 in compensation to the Core Issues Trust, a Christian ministry, after shutting its account over its stance on gender identity.

"Banks are facing pressure from the Government to explain account closures, and Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, has ordered an investigation. However, UK Finance, the industry trade body, defended the rights of banks to shut accounts as they see fit, arguing that lenderonly do so after conducting an 'extensive review'. 

"Tide, an online business bank, became the latest to face questions on Monday as the hosts of Triggernometary, a free speech YouTube show and podcast, said they would take it to the Financial Ombudsman after their account was closed.... Tide said any decisions on account closures had 'no connection whatsoever to a member’s beliefs' and that it was 'categorically false' to suggest otherwise.

"Craig Mackinlay, the Tory MP for South Thanet, said he was concerned that ... 'too much discretionary power now sits with some activist banking staff'.... On Monday, Mr Farage said there was 'no coincidence' about banks signing up for Stonewall membership and shutting down the accounts of those who were gender critical.

"A spokesman for Stonewall said that it did not pressure banks on operational decisions, adding: 'There are no requirements in the Diversity Champions programme over how members engage with any customers, and we do not seek to influence operational decisions for any Diversity Champion on matters such as these.'"

Read moe: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/03/most-high-street-banks-signed-up-stonewall-diversity/

Yorkshire Building Society CLOSES Vicar's bank account after airing views on bank's Pride agenda | GBNews | June 1, 2023: 

Medical PPE found dumped in UK's New Forest

A "mountain" of unused medical PPE has been discovered dumped next to a nature reserve in Hampshire, UK, possibly some of the £15 Billion worth of unusable PPE bought by the Department for Health and Social Care during the Covid pandemic. 

‘Mountain’ of unused PPE dumped in nature reserve | The Telegraph - Ewan Somerville:

18 June 18, 2023 - "Thousands of packs of personal protective equipment (PPE) have been found dumped in a mountainous heap in the New Forest. Pictures show hoards of aprons and suspected face masks left in a giant pile in the town of Calmore, bordering the Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve and AFC Totton Football Club. 

"The 'large-scale' discovery was made public at a Hampshire County Council (HCC) meeting, where councillors said they reacted with 'horror' and are demanding answers, though it is not yet known if the items are linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"During the pandemic, the Department for Health and Social Care spent £15 billion [$25 Billion CDN] on PPE that proved unusable and is now being burned, including masks and gowns for NHS staff, prompting Whitehall’s spending watchdog to condemn the 'extraordinary waste'. 

"Now, a report from the HCC’s regulatory committee has revealed that the discovery was made following an investigation by New Forest District Council into use of land at Little Testwood Farm Caravan Park, Hants. The report said: 

'Following their own investigations into the use of land as a caravan park, New Forest District Council reported the large-scale storage of packs of old PPE. It became apparent that thousands of packs of medical aprons had been dumped on the land with no obvious signs that they were being protected or stored for some future use. The concern is that they have been dumped with no intention of removal to a proper facility'....

"The council has now launched an 'enforcement activity' with the Environment Agency, police and New Forest District Council to establish who is responsible and 'whether it was discarded by a Health Trust as substandard during the Covid procurement'....

"A spokesman for the Environment Agency confirmed its officials were due to visit the site next week, adding: 'We are unable to comment further in order to not prejudice any investigations or subsequent enforcement decisions.'"

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/18/ppe-covid-mountain-new-forest-hampshire-abandoned/

Fury over the PPE graveyard | MadNews TV | June 18, 2023 

Secretive UK govt unit surveilled Covid scientists

The UK government's secretive Counter-Disinformation Unit was used during the pandemic to monitor social media posts critical of lockdowns and Covid vaccination of children, including some by prominent scientists.

Exclusive: Ministers had ‘chilling’ secret unit to curb lockdown dissent |  The Telegraph - Investigations team and Tony Diver,

June 2, 2023 - "A secretive government unit worked with social media companies in an attempt to curtail discussion of controversial lockdown policies during the pandemic, The Telegraph can reveal. The Counter-Disinformation Unit (CDU) was set up by ministers to tackle supposed domestic 'threats', and was used to target those critical of lockdown and questioning the mass vaccination of children. Critics of lockdown had posts removed from social media. There is growing suspicion that social media firms used technology to stop the posts being promoted, circulated or widely shared after being flagged by the CDU or its counterpart in the Cabinet Office.

"Documents revealed under Freedom of Information (FoI) and data protection requests showed that the activities of prominent critics of the Government’s Covid policies were secretly monitored. An artificial intelligence firm (AI) was used by the Government to scour social media sites. The company flagged discussions opposing vaccine passports. Many of the issues being raised were valid at the time and have since been proven to be well-founded. The BBC also took part in secretive meetings of a government policy forum to address the so-called disinformation. 

"On Friday, MPs and freedom of speech campaigners condemned the disclosures as 'truly chilling' and 'a tool for censoring British citizens akin to those of the Chinese Communist Party.... In America, Twitter has released similar information showing how the US government also introduced a secretive programme to curtail discussion of Covid lockdowns.

"It can now be revealed that the activities of Prof Carl Heneghan, the Oxford epidemiologist who has advised Boris Johnson, and Dr Alexandre de Figueiredo, a research fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), were monitored by government disinformation units. Molly Kingsley, who set up a campaign to keep schools open during the pandemic, also had her social activity monitored....

"The CDU, which is still operating, was embedded in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The department has 'trusted flagger' status at social media companies including Facebook and Twitter, which means that requests for content to be removed are fast-tracked for consideration. In some cases, individuals whose social media posts were recorded by the units have subsequently faced sanctions by Twitter and Facebook. Ministers denied asking for posts by Prof Heneghan, Dr de Figueiredo or Ms Kingsley to be removed....

"The Government also ran a Counter-Disinformation Policy Forum, which brought together civil servants from the DCMS and technology giants - including Facebook and Google - as well as the BBC to discuss how to limit the spread of what was considered Covid-19 disinformation.....  The Lockdown Files, published by The Telegraph earlier this year, revealed that Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, repeatedly lobbied Sir Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister and now a Facebook executive, about vaccine misinformation.

"The CDU was established in 2019 and was focused on the European elections before turning to focus on the pandemic. During Covid, the unit worked closely with the Cabinet Office’s now defunct RRU, whose responsibilities included tackling 'purported "experts" issuing dangerous misinformation'. The RRU has admitted in an FoI obtained by Big Brother Watch and passed to The Telegraph that it made requests for social media posts to be taken down....

"A government spokesman said: 'The unit’s purpose is to track narratives and trends using publicly available information online to protect public health and national security. It has never tracked the activity of individuals and has a blanket ban on referring journalists and MPs to social media platforms. None of the people named in this report were ever referred to social media platforms by the Government and any claim otherwise is objectively false.' A BBC spokesman said the broadcaster attended the Counter-Disinformation Policy Forum in an observer-only capacity."

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/02/counter-disinformation-unit-government-covid-lockdown/

How the British government manipulated social media to suppress opposition to its COVID-19 policies | History Debunked | June 3, 2023:

1,000s of free car chargers pulled from UK roads

Soaring energy costs have caused thousands of free charging stations to be removed from UK streets, putting a kink in government plans to switch drivers over to electric cars.

Electric car chargers, Newmarket, UK. Photo by Alamsen, 2015. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Thousands of electric car chargers pulled from UK roads after energy price surge | The Telegraph - James Titcomb:

May 7, 2023 - "Thousands of free electric car chargers have been pulled from Britain's roads over the past year as soaring energy costs makes them unaffordable to offer. The number of chargers offering free electricity has fallen from 5,715 a year ago to 3,568, a drop of almost 40%. They now make up less than one in 10 public chargers on Britain’s roads, compared to one in five a year ago.

"The drop in free top-up charging spots is the latest blow to the Government’s ambitions to attract motorists to electric cars by making it cheap and convenient to charge them away from home. The figures, from Zap Map, which monitors installations across the UK and is used by the Government to publish official data on charging points, come as concerns about the price of owning an electric vehicle threaten to slow their adoption.... 

"Free charging points were installed by supermarkets and car park operators as a way to attract owners of battery-powered vehicles, but wholesale electricity prices spiked last year amid concerns about energy security following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While prices have come down, they remain more than double what they were two years ago.

"Tesco stopped offering free electric car charging to shoppers in November. The supermarket was the UK’s biggest provider of free points, having introduced them to hundreds of car parks since 2019. The Irish electricity network ESB began requiring payment for more than 300 previously free charging points in Northern Ireland at the end of April.

"Melanie Shufflebotham, Zap Map’s co-founder and chief operating officer, said: 'Free charging has been more common as an incentive for locations like supermarkets and car parks to draw in customers. But as electric vehicles become mainstream it’s quite reasonable that it is in decline.... We will continue to see lots more chargers and many may still be free as some destinations look to encourage green travel, but the percentage is likely to be low. Meanwhile charging either at home or on the public networks will continue to be more affordable on a pence per mile basis than petrol or diesel.'"

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/05/07/thousands-electric-car-chargers-uk-roads-energy-price-surge/

Meat is crucial for human health, scientists warn

Meat is crucial for human health, UK scientists have warned, as they called for an end to the 'zealotry' pushing vegetarian and vegan diets.

Meat is crucial for human health, scientists warn  | The Telegraph - Sarah Knapton

April 29, 2023 - "Meat is crucial for human health, scientists have warned, as they called for an end to the 'zealotry' pushing vegetarian and vegan diets. 

"Dozens of experts were asked to look into the science behind claims that meat eating causes disease and is harmful for the planet in a special issue of Animal Frontiers. They warned that it is difficult to replace the nutritional content of meat, arguing that poorer communities with low meat intake often suffer from stunting, wasting and anaemia driven by a lack of vital nutrients and protein.

"In recent years, there has been a widespread societal push towards plant-based diets, with schemes such as Veganuary and meat-free Mondays encouraging the public away from meat. The major Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factor Study, published in The Lancet in 2020, also suggested that a diet high in red meat was responsible for 896,000 deaths worldwide, and was the fifth leading dietary risk factor.

"But researchers argue that unprocessed meat delivers most of the vitamin B12 intake in human diets, plays a major role in supplying retinol, omega-3 fatty acids and minerals such as iron and zinc, as well as important compounds for metabolism, such as taurine and creatine.

"In one paper published in the issue, experts found no good evidence to support red meat being dangerous below intakes of 75g per day, and argued that the link between red meat and disease vanished when part of a healthy diet, suggesting it was the rest of the diet that was fuelling health problems. Dr Alice Stanton, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, one of the authors of the review, said: 

The peer-reviewed evidence published reaffirms that [the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Risk Factors Report] which claimed that consumption of even tiny amounts of red meat harms health is fatally scientifically flawed. In fact, removing fresh meat and dairy from diets would harm human health. Women, children, the elderly and low income would be particularly negatively impacted....

"The new edition includes a declaration signed by nearly 1,000 scientists across the globe arguing that livestock farming was too important to society to 'become the victim of zealotry'. The Dublin Declaration includes signatories from the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Bristol, Belfast, Newcastle, Nottingham, Surrey as well as several scientists from Britain’s world-leading agricultural and farming university Harper Adams. 

"'Livestock-derived foods provide a variety of essential nutrients and other health-promoting compounds, many of which are lacking in diets even among those populations with higher incomes,' the declaration states. 'Well-resourced individuals may be able to achieve adequate diets while heavily restricting meat, dairy and eggs. However, this approach should not be recommended for general populations.' The researchers warned that those who need to eat animal products included young children, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, women of reproductive age, older adults and the chronically ill....

"The intervention was welcomed by the National Farmers Union (NFU) who were this week promoting Great British Beef Week. Richard Findlay, the NFU livestock board chair, said: 'This peer-reviewed research confirms what we’ve always known – that red meat is a quality, nutritious protein that plays a critical role in a healthy, sustainable balanced diet.'"

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/29/vegan-diet-meat-scientists-british-beef-livestock-farming/

Read Dublin Declaration: https://academic.oup.com/af/article/13/2/10/7123469?searchresult=1 

Lockdown Files shine light on UK Covid policy

Britain's 'Lockdown Files' Reveal the Sordid Thinking Behind Pandemic Policy | Reason - J.D. Tuccille: 

March 20, 2023 - "When cornered, some politicians grudgingly admit COVID-19 restrictions went too far and made little sense. But that still leaves us wondering as to their thinking when they locked playgrounds, mandated masks, restricted travel, shuttered businesses, closed schools, confined people to their homes, sent cops after paddle-boarders floating on the lonely sea, ignored their own rules, and otherwise inflicted harms worse than a virus could ever manage.  

"Now an important disclosure of communications among British officials reveals just how government officials' minds work when exercising extraordinary power.... The Telegraph this month published The Lockdown Files drawn from 100,000 messages exchanged among government officials. They reveal powerful people warn[ing] that restrictive policies would cause more harm than the disease, decisions made for public relations reasons, media enlisted to suppress dissent, and officials gloating over inconveniences to the public.... 

'WhatsApp conversations contained in The Telegraph's Lockdown Files show that those running the country privately acknowledged the 'terrible' price of lockdowns and twice reimposed the national shutdowns, even as they discussed the damage they were causing to physical and mental health, children's prospects and mental health,' the newspaper's team noted. Among the consequences of which they were directly warned were interrupted medical treatments and ill effects on children.... In addition, officials were 'worried about the Government being sued by the families of those who had died because of the backlog on cancer care and elective treatments.'

"When the British public became resistant to damaging restrictions on business, gatherings, and movement, Hancock openly embraced plans to 'deploy' news of COVID-19 variants to 'frighten the pants off everyone' to encourage compliance with lockdown rules. The idea was sufficiently well accepted that officials referred to their efforts as 'Project Fear.'" Fomenting panic was in keeping with the seat-of-the-pants decision-making driving much pandemic policy. 

"Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson boasted of making decisions based on 'science,' but was more driven by polling — and sometimes by what he himself feared was bad data that overstated risks. Johnson 'appeared to express a desire to lift the country out of lockdown earlier than planned, but said his media advisers – Lee Cain and James Slack – warned him that such a move was "too far ahead of public opinion",' reports The Telegraph. 'When Mr Johnson broached the subject of opening schools before the summer, his health secretary argued against doing so, saying that "everyone's accepted there won't be more on schools until September"' 'The exchanges call into question the prime minister's insistence that lockdown decisions were made on the basis of the best scientific evidence,' adds The Telegraph. 'They also raise the prospect that Britain spent many weeks living under restrictions that could have been avoided'....

"[A]t least a few officials gained pleasure from the pain they imposed on others.... 'Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, said it was "hilarious' that 149 people had been told to stay in government-approved hotels on their return from Red List countries in 2021,' the newspaper summarized. 'He also joked about passengers being "locked up" in "shoe box" rooms'.... For his part, Hancock 'was an advocate of using the police to crack down on anyone deemed to have broken quarantine or lockdown rules, even though the regulations were often open to interpretation'....

"'What was most alarming was the alacrity with which the broadcast news media fell into line – with boundless enthusiasm – as they were given a key role in the day to day dissemination of government authority,' observed The Telegraph's Janet Daly. 'As the medium through which the official information was conveyed – with, as we now know, often misleading modelling projections and outdated death figures – they went from being public service news media to what the BBC notably has always insisted it is not: state broadcasters. From disinterested journalism to Pravda in a single bound'....

"The correspondence in the 'Lockdown Files' was leaked to The Telegraph by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who was collaborating with Matt Hancock on his memoir and was disturbed by what she saw. 'We were all let down by the response to the pandemic and repeated unnecessary lockdowns,' she commented earlier this month. 'Children, in particular, paid a terrible price. Anyone who questioned an approach we now know was fatally flawed was utterly vilified; including highly respected and eminent public health experts, doctors and scientists.' \

"We may never know exactly what members of America's own pandemic-exploiting political class were thinking when they turned the screws on people's liberties. But thanks to the Lockdown Files, we can make a good guess."

Read more: https://reason.com/2023/03/20/britains-lockdown-files-reveal-the-sordid-thinking-behind-pandemic-policy/

"Isabel Oakeshott: The lesson of the Lockdown Files," Unherd, March 7, 2023: 

UK military spied on lockdown sceptics

"A shadowy Army unit secretly spied on British citizens who criticised the Government's Covid lockdown policies," reports the Daily Mail.

Army spied on lockdown critics: Sceptics, including our own Peter Hitchens, long suspected they were under surveillance. Now we've obtained official records that prove they were right all along | Daily Mail - Glen Owen:

January 28, 2023 - "Military operatives in the UK's 'information warfare' brigade were part of a sinister operation that targeted politicians and high-profile journalists who raised doubts about the official pandemic response. They compiled dossiers on public figures such as ex-Minister David Davis, who questioned the modelling behind alarming death toll predictions, as well as journalists such as Peter Hitchens and Toby Young. Their dissenting views were then reported back to No 10.

"Documents obtained by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch, and shared exclusively with this newspaper, exposed the work of Government cells such as the Counter Disinformation Unit, based in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the Rapid Response Unit in the Cabinet Office. But the most secretive is the MoD's 77th Brigade, which deploys 'non-lethal engagement and legitimate non-military levers as a means to adapt behaviours of adversaries'. According to a whistleblower who worked for the brigade during the lockdowns, ...  British citizens' social media accounts were scrutinised – a sinister activity that the Ministry of Defence, in public, repeatedly denied doing.

"Papers show the outfits were tasked with countering 'disinformation' and 'harmful narratives... from purported experts', with civil servants and artificial intelligence deployed to 'scrape' social media for keywords such as 'ventilators' that would have been of interest. The information was then used to orchestrate Government responses to criticisms of policies such as the stay-at-home order, when police were given power to issue fines and break up gatherings. It also allowed Ministers to push social media platforms to remove posts and promote Government-approved lines....

"Mail on Sunday journalist Mr Hitchens was monitored after sharing an article, based on leaked NHS papers, which claimed data used to publicly justify lockdown was incomplete. An internal Rapid Response Unit email said Mr Hitchens wanted to 'further [an] anti-lockdown agenda and influence the Commons vote'. Writing today, Mr Hitchens ... says: 'The most astonishing thing about the great Covid panic was how many attacks the state managed to make on basic freedoms without anyone much even caring, let alone protesting. Now is the time to demand a full and powerful investigation into the dark material Big Brother Watch has bravely uncovered.'

"The whistleblower from 77 Brigade, which uses both regular and reserve troops, said: 'I developed the impression the Government were more interested in protecting the success of their policies than uncovering any potential foreign interference, and I regret that I was a part of it. Frankly, the work I was doing should never have happened.' The source also suggested that the Government was so focused on monitoring critics it may have missed genuine Chinese-led prolockdown campaigns.

"Silkie Carlo, of Big Brother Watch, said: 'This is an alarming case of mission creep, where public money and military power have been misused to monitor academics, journalists, campaigners and MPs who criticised the Government, particularly during the pandemic.... Contrary to their stated aims, these Government truth units are secretive and harmful to our democracy. The Counter Disinformation Unit should be suspended immediately and subject to a full investigation.'"

Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11687675/Army-spied-lockdown-critics-Sceptics-including-Peter-Hitchens-suspected-watched.html

UK Covid boosters discontinued for under-50s

U,K Becomes Latest Country to Ban Covid Boosters for Under-50s | Daily Sceptic - Will Jones:

January 25, 2023 - "Covid booster doses will no longer be available to healthy people under 50 from next month, the Government has said. The reason given by the JCVI, the Government’s vaccine advisory body, is because 'the transition continues away from a pandemic emergency response towards pandemic recovery'. 

"A number of countries have imposed similar bans on boosters for healthy under-50s, a trend that has been linked by observers to safety concerns, though public authorities have not confirmed this. The U.K. will continue to offer the first two doses to over-16s.

"The Government has also accepted JCVI advice that another round of Covid booster jabs should be dished out this autumn to the over-50s and other risk groups. The advisers have also called for senior citizens and those who are immunosuppressed to receive an extra booster dose this spring. These will be the seventh and eight jabs for thousands of Brits. The Mail has more.

Under the 2022 autumn Covid booster campaign which began in early September last year, over-50s, residents and staff at care homes for older adults and frontline health and social care workers are eligible for a jab.   

On top of these groups, five to 49 year-olds who are a clinical risk group, live with an immunosuppressed person or are carers have also been offered a booster – similar to that for the annual flu vaccine....

The JCVI also advised that the booster third dose which became available in 2021, will no longer be offered to those aged between 16 and 49-years-old who are not in a clinical risk group, from February 12th, 'as the transition continues away from a pandemic emergency response towards pandemic recovery'....

The NHS will continue to operate a smaller scale vaccine offer from mid-February onwards to ensure those eligible for first and second doses can still get their jabs, it said today."

Read more: https://dailysceptic.org/2023/01/25/u-k-becomes-latest-country-to-ban-covid-boosters-for-under-50s/