An Oxford don wrote in the British Medical Journal on 18th February 2021 that we should consider criminalising those who deliberately spread “misinformation” about the merits of Covid 19 vaccination, where that results in someone’s untimely death.
Her comments follow a report published by the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science where she is the Director. That report estimates 63,000 more deaths occurred in Britain in 2020 than would normally be the case, because of Covid.
To put that excess in context, the normal level of deaths per annum is 600,000 – so the increase is 10.5%.
I am not sure how the professor thinks her proposal to criminalise vaccine related misinformation [ie telling lies or deliberately misrepresenting the truth] could in reality be implemented. Indeed, I wonder why she should select this particular subject for special treatment. Surely any form of lying resulting in someone’s death from any cause is a matter of potential consideration for criminal sanction. But then that would open the floodgates and expose powerful people and interests to criminal culpability.
Take for example official announcements from governments, such as the French. In Spring 2020, the French Health Minister was stating categorically that the wearing of masks had no proven efficacy against Covid 19 contagion. They were not required. There was no point. That, however, was when France lacked stocks of masks to supply the entire population.
That shortage was because French manufacturing capacity had all been closed down earlier this century. And – as we later found out – while official stocks did exist, they were unreliable because they had been in storage too long. It turned out that the official administration responsible for their maintenance had overlooked the matter. They had forgotten about them – even though official policy required such preparations to face a pandemic.
By summer 2020, the advice from government was exactly the opposite. And we witness ever since the totally incomprehensible sight of people wearing surgical masks in the open air, on the street and even on the beach. Yet Official Advice says that closed spaces [ie indoors] should be regularly ventilated by opening windows to reduce the risk of contamination from Covid.
And what about the distorted presentation of Covid statistics ? When do we ever see in any news media or government statement a comparison with normal annual death rates ? FYI, normal global deaths exceed 50 million per year; normal death rate for UK = 600,000; and for the USA = approaching 3 million.
This last week saw increasing media speculation and pressure for some form of Covid certificate or passport. The EU council of 25th/26th February actively pushed the possibility and the British government was earlier this month caught out lying about its reported preparations for such a digital certificate. The vaccine minister denied it, but then the Transport Secretary came out within days saying precisely the opposite and calling his version “a clarification”.
Of course, such documentation is also very misleading [misinformation?]. Certifying someone as having been tested or vaccinated does not exclude that person subsequently becoming infected with Covid 19 or from being contagious. That is officially recognised, and I refer you to my last blog post.
In fact, such “passports” or certificates create a false sense of security. Someone could well die from contact with a person bearing such a passport. Under the learned don’s proposal, that would surely make the government criminally liable !
But why have governments created this crisis by their drastic reactions ? Was it deliberate, as conspiracy theorists maintain ?
My answer is this. Politicians are now obsessed with image. Substance is to be manipulated to enhance their own image, or to smear their opponents. They feel that they have to be seen to solve the problem, even though they can’t. This combines with today’s Materialistic philosophy of life where Man must control everything. Man is accountable to man. Man thinks he is his own god. Man is god. Surely all our technical advances and capabilities prove this ! We can solve the problem. We can vaccinate our way out of it. And with vaccine passports we can get back to social and economic normality.
But we won’t. Note the reports today on one internet news channel. The UK Finance Minister warns about tough economic times ahead because of government financing of their measures to combat Covid 19; health professionals are reporting serious levels of mental health issues including increased suicides and attempted suicides because of lockdown measures.
Governments play at god, but mere mortals pay the price with their mental health, their liberties, and their economic welfare.
Governments are now the primary problem.
Just what sort of mentality now prevails in democratic governments when the UK’s Secretary of Health wants a 10 year prison sentence for lying about where you have travelled from on a Covid 19 form ? People have served less time for murder …
Ray Catlin
Conservatism Institute 