Anti-vaccine or simply anti-sanity?

UNTIL this week I believed that anti-vaxxers were one of two kinds of people – the clearly insane and the easily misled. But this week I discovered that two people I would not put in that category at all are fervent anti-vaxxers. Indeed to such an extent that for two years or more they have not communicated with a formerly much favoured daughter. Or her children, their beloved grandchildren!

And, thinking back, a man I worked with and held in respect also cut all (digital) contact with me after a spat about vaccines.

So what is this 'cult' – for that is what it seems to be – of opposition to vaccines?

Now I get the idea that 'my body is a temple' and that this would lead to great caution in what was allowed into it. But care and concern is a long way from the fierce opposition to vaccines that we are seeing around us. This is far more akin to the Jehovah's Witness zealot who will watch a child die before ever agreeing to a blood transfusion.

Reading back into history this attitude has some provenance. When Edward Jenner proved in 1796 – with his own child! - that infecting someone with cowpox lymph could protect against the killer of the age, small pox there was fierce reaction. One cartoon even shows people with cows growing out of their arms as a result of inoculation!

But as we all now know and acknowledge smallpox has been virtually eradicated world-wide by the inoculation of the vast majority of people on the planet. And my own life experience shows me that a wide variety of potential killers and cripplers of the human race have been beaten by vaccines, from Poliomyelitis to Tuberculosis.

And I am cautious – I would not have had the Covid-19 vaccine if it had shown any sign of dangerous or severe side effects or contra-indications. It did not and I have had all five of my scheduled vaccinations. At the age of 79 and with severe underlying conditions I cannot afford to get Sars Cov 2!

So my shock at finding people I would consider sane and normal refusing the vaccine and even being hostile to those who disagree with them to such an extreme extent leaves me speechless. Well, if you know me, you will know that is impossible but anyway...

Not surprisingly I have given this some attention but I can find no logical reason – which explains everything of course. Logic, fact, evidence fail to convince these people of the efficacy of vaccination. So the cause of their attitude must be essentially, fear. Not just of the needle but of the entire process that led to the vaccine itself. 

And like the fear of death and religion they become fixated on their own views – they move from evidence base to faith base. They find some support among the extremes of the modern digital world. And they come to believe not only that they are right but that in being so right they must convert others. And if those others, even loved family, will not convert, well, they are cast out of course. Its what cults do. And some go further and commit heinous crimes against non-believers and heretics.

So it is that a young woman and her sons are heartbroken at the inexplicable hostility of their parents and grandparents.

And then the surprise really hits home – these people grew up when I did. In this now so-septic Isle. They will have seen the diseases that vaccines worked so well to eliminate. Their children may even be alive thanks to those very injections! And yet they adopt the cult. They don the cloak of invincibility and certainty that is not supported by any evidence. They even believe they have a duty to proselytise their bizarre beliefs.

I am now guessing that the disappearance from my digital world of my once admired friend and beekeeper followed the realisation that from his POV I was beyond redemption!

Once again I am reminded that there is, in life, nowt so strange as folk!

Refs:

https://historyofvaccines.org/vaccines-101/misconceptions-about-vaccines/history-anti-vaccination-movements#Source%202

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-12114-8

You gotta make a profit or two...

Famously Churchill said there were lies, damned lies and statistics. But there is also the lie about statistics which is intended to create false attitudes and that is what the words used by politicians recently are all about.

These words were even adopted by the media which, of itself, should be a health warning.

But the headlines proclaimed there were nine million people in the UK who were 'economically inactive' – shock!

What!?, said the Tory shires, 20% of our people are not contributing economically? What!?, they are costing the Department for Work millions?

All utter bollocks of course.

Let us start with what might (or even might not) be taken from those words – "economically inactive".

You are being asked to see this as something dreadful, a malaise of laziness and indolence in our society. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Indeed if the words have a real meaning to Tories it will be this – "not making a profit for someone".

That is what they really mean but cannot admit. But it is not even true in any context at all. Let us examine this magic number. 

First, of course it is not 9 million although very close at 8.9. And it is a range of people between 16 and 64.

So, for a start, 2.2million of these are students. Yes, that's right, the part time kids who serve you beer, coffee and burgers in the evenings and study most of the rest of the time. And far from "economically inactive" these days they have to pay for everything eventually with huge and highly profitable loans that will actually weigh heavy in future.

So for 8.9m read 6.7m... but hang on. A further 1.7million are tied to the house, raising children and keeping the home fires burning for a partner (and possibly kids) who are all economically active.

So now we are down to 5 million. Well, no because of those, 2.5 million are long term sick keeping doctors and nurses etc economically active.

So we are finally getting close to a usable number – in fact just 2.5 million... but no, not yet.

You see in that 16-64 group are some who have retired – in fact a cool 1.16million of them. And if they have retired it is because they can afford to and are thus still very active, economically and otherwise.

And so we get to the actual number of allegedly 'economically inactive' – which is about 1.4 million.

Guess what? That is very close to the number of people actually listed as out of work just now (1.382m).

So there you have it – unless you are making a profit for someone you do not count in the Conservative view of the economy. Mind you, they will also deny that it is really the workers who create the wealth which rich people steal.

EDIT: I have been asked for references and there are many; if you Google the words economically inactive and choose "news" you can have a lot of fun. 

How trickle down works and why it matters....

AT last I understand trickle down economics. It has taken a while but recent events have finally given me an accurate picture of how it happens and thus of course why it doesn't help us, the taxpayer.

So it goes like this:

In a crisis Government has to act fast and so they completely ditch the checks and balances built into their procurement process to speed up acquisition of critical kit. But this also means their complex and diligent tendering process is also abandoned.

Now things really speed up. Government ministers spread the word about what they need, how urgently and how easy it will be to win the contracts. Immediately they are inundated with offers of help.

Let us take one easy example. When Covid 19 hit there was a huge need for vast quantities of protective equipment to ensure that front line staff in hospitals and care homes did not go down with the disease. Of course in this day and age there are no 'stocks' of this stuff. 'Just in time' means that everything is made as it is wanted and this saves squillions on storage.

Immediate offers of help came in to Government. One such from a non-existent company with no experience of making this PPE stuff was passed through and placed on what they called the VIP track. This meant it would be waved through without any regulatory or due diligence delays. It was said to be worth £200million and was rapidly agreed. Somehow (not sure how actually) the stuff was produced and offered to Government. Now fortunately one check was still in place – quality control and the kit failed and had to be junked.

So, you ask, what about the trickle down effect? Well it went like this – the person who introduced this to Government got a 10% finders fee – round about £20million in this case. Of course they probably couldn't keep all of it since they owed thanks to other people who waved it through. At the same time a business associate also copped for about the same amount, £20m.

So there you have it – the contract was for £200m and the kit was provided. Sadly of course it went straight into storage we believe as it was useless. And about 20% of the contract trickled down into the pockets of the people who made it all possible.

Of course this example does beg a few questions. 

• Why was the contract fulfilled since the kit was useless? 
• Why did the various fees amount to such a large part of the costs? 
• How did a company that did not exist produce the kit? 
• Was it actually made or simply bought from foreign storage? 
• And finally, when will we, the taxpayer get our money back?

Of course you may mistakenly see this as having some connection with recent events and this is absolutely not the case. It is entirely hypothetical.

However what it demonstrates are the huge benefits to be found for some people in the trickle down process. 

Now, turning to the issue of production since clearly the PP kit was produced by someone, we must assume they were paid and the materials used and the factory in which it was made were all paid for.

According to this example some £160 million was available for these purposes so someone somewhere must have made a huge profit from their hourly pay producing the stuff. 

Even though of course it was useless and is now lying in containers costing us even more. 

But then that too is a form of trickle down – after all someone is getting paid to look after it.. I wonder who and how they got the contract for that?

The plot sickens....

It is either paranoia or percipience. But I have the gravest and most dreadful feeling that we are currently watching an evil Tory plot being played out before our eyes. One which will see the poor get poorer, the vulnerable sicken and die and our cherished institutions swept away in a flood of greed and avarice.

You may say I am a dreamer but this is the stuff of nightmares. For it is surely impossible that intelligent people – and we have to assume the likes of Truss, Kwarteng, Coffey et al are intelligent - cannot realise that their current actions will only pour money into the swollen coffers of the already obscenely rich and suck it mercilessly out of the pockets of the poor, the children, the needy, the children, the vulnerable, the children.

Let us just for a moment examine a few items.

1 – They have removed the limit on bonuses paid to well dressed gents (mostly gents!) in the city and banking for merely doing their job;

2 – they have further removed the 45% rate of income tax which served in part to return some of those ill-gotten gains to the people who actually generated the money in the first place (us, the workers);

3 – they have created new opportunities for asset inflation and excessive profiteering (capital gains tax etc) to create the need for increasing interest rates which will further imperil the fragile housing market and cost the less well off huge sums;

4 – they have sought to offset that by creating yet more opportunities for greed creation with changes to stamp duty.

I could go on – there is much more, like the planning changes that will allow the greedy developers to continue to sit on planning permission for 700,000 houses while the land value increase while at the same time tarmacking over Britain.

Or like they release the brakes on fracking, a process unsuited to British geology, ineffective according to the boss of one of the biggest companies and which will produce not one drop of oil or gas for TEN years and is thus useless in the current situation.

So here is my theory – all this is a devilish plot. They have surmised (and been advised no doubt by the likes of Beastly Bannion or the twerp on QT last evening) that they have no chance of winning the election in two years time.

So they are deliberately wrecking the economy – and our lives along the way - so that when Labour win they can blame them for the mess. Just as they have lyingly done over the 2008 posh bankers crash that was fuelled by – you got it – Tory economics and their innate greed.

You watch – I shall not be around by then I reckon for which I am oddly grateful. This is a shitty world and it is not of my making.

A message to King Charles regarding Bank Holidays...

TODAY is, of course, a Bank Holiday in honour of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. And I very much hope you are enjoying it.

As one of the 10 million over 65 it is for me an ordinary day, although thanks to our collapsing economy vast numbers of retired people will still be working and many will be working today.

So too will the army of people needed to provide police, fire, and health services. Along with the vast army needed to convey people from all over Britain to the funeral. And many many more. They will, we hope, get a 'day in lieu' but not today.

So it seems to me highly likely that, of the working population as many as 50% will actually still be working. And the gift (which is what it is) has no meaning to all those not in work or retired. Or under the age of 16.

It is estimated however that the bank holiday – any in fact – will be a £3.2bn hit to the UK economy.

Now I am not one who wants people to work until they drop – I even have great sympathy for all those who walked the tortuous and frankly bizarre route of today's cortege – but it does seem to this simple foot soldier that dobbing out a Bank Holiday which commerce, business and industry will actually pay for is not the right way forward.

Maybe next time, King Charles you could think about handing a £100 to everyone in Britain earning less than the national average wage? That might hit the spot a lot more precisely.

And it is but a year away when you have to go through something remarkably similar called a Coronation.

How they have made our GPs richer and more remote...

 THE true extent to which our NHS has already been privatised is shown by this capture (below) from the public record of Company House on our local surgery.

It is useful in showing exactly who our GPs are but the more so for showing us how the company they form operates. Each of them is not an employee of us or of our NHS but a director of the company that is paid by us to deliver the services we get from the Elizabeth Courtauld surgery. This structure was a gift from the then health minister and one time GP (!) Andrew Landsley. 

They of course own shares in that company and its shareholder worth is £1.96million (most recent data).

This also show £2.25million cash in the bank – I assume this is a rolling credit from the tax payments made to the company to deliver our health services.

The company they form is Elizabeth Courtauld Medical Ltd – Halstead.

But that company is headed by one doctor who is also the only director of a further company, Kreis Medical Limited – Halstead. She owns all the equity in that and has the following rights: Ownership of shares - 75 to 100 percent; Voting rights - 75 to 100 percent; Right to appoint and remove directors.

It appears that the doctors who serve us are chosen, empowered and controlled by one person but I may be wrong.

They get their money from the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group which is (a la Landsley) a GP run committee (thus paying themselves) which draws it funds from some Essex (or uber) authority which may yet be some way off (and managerial costs) from the NHS itself.

You may be inclined to call this process a gravy train. Whatever, that is our money they are playing with.

There is lots more to be found but I find none of it comforting. It seems to me that we no longer have the GP service that was promised under the NHS acts and that what we now get is just a socially aware private service that could be changed or withdrawn at any time.

Company report: https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/elizabeth-courtauld-medical

http://www.checkcompany.co.uk/company/11508236/KREIS-MEDICAL-LIMITED

A Monarch dies in the digital age...

TODAY saw more than the passing of a much-loved and admired monarch. For today Elizabeth II set a new mark on history – for hers was the first death of a reigning monarch in the age of wall-to-wall television, the internet and social media.

When at the age of nine I heard of the death of her father, George Vi announced it was on a radio. My family shared letters and postcards to spread their feelings. It took days.

This evening we flicked through the digital channels. Some were off air, pointing viewers to the BBC with a placard. Some were broadcasting but without the adverts; just a station ident.

The BBC had little choice but to combine channels, restrain content and launch into a virtually endless programme of the life and times etc. It was done well; it had to be done. ITV was a little less forelocked.

Friday will dawn and we shall see the results of a night of social media, internet, and all that. How will we feel? What will we think. Willi all be too much, too little, too – digital?

Don't blame the Russians - blame the capitalists!

THINKING about the energy crisis into which we are all being plunged is pretty depressing. But it gets worse if you have any sort of background in the industry as I have.

The point is that nothing is unaffected by the massive and frankly inexcusable rise in energy prices. And that means the entire economy of Britain – and every other country – is about to be trashed. With that will go all of us.

Of course, and as is being noted, the rich will just get richer and the medium rich will just get away with it. As usual. But of course they may not if the ordinary people do finally lose patience with the capitalist monsters responsible for our crisis.

And they are. You see not everyone is actually being afflicted by the massive rise in the price of energy – some are actually charging those prices for a product for which base costs have not changed. That's right – the cost of some sources of energy has not risen but the price it can sold for has soared stratospherically. And that notional situation is what the dumbo at Ofgem is watching.

And in that disgraceful gap lies profit – vast, unjustified profit. And dividends. And bonuses. And share options. And ever more utterly corrupt riches stolen at our expense.

Let us start with the euphemistically entitled Energy Price Cap wielded by the Ofgem regulator, better known as the energy business protector. He has two jobs – one is to protect us, the customers from huge price rises. The other is to ensure the lights stay on by keeping the energy business going. Which do you think the regulator is doing best right now? Yep, I agree. Customers are being sent to the wall.

But that's not to protect the energy firms – its to ensure that most of them make huge windfall profits. Because that is what is happening.

The price of your kilowatt of energy is set by the firm selling it you. But it is not actually linked to much that is real. It is based on the notional energy prices set by the 'coupling' of all sources into one basket price. Which currently is huge. But not for all.

Your kilowatt coming from reusable sources like wind and solar is NOT costing a penny more in real terms. It is just priced as if it were. And all the oil and gas we still take from the North Sea is not costing more – it is just priced higher.

And here is the appalling truth – the owners of the wind and solar farms are coining it in. And the owners of the North Sea rigs that are (still!) exporting their product are making vast profits they never expected. And our Government is thus creaming off vast sums from increased energy taxes.

Yep, it's all part of a huge con.

UK energy price rises are massively greater than the rest of Europe. Why? Well the EU decoupled from this pernicious system a while back and while their prices are rising they are variable across type and source of energy supply. Ours are all at the coupled international notional prices of the more expensive kilowatt thanks to Russia mainly.

But hang on you might say. I read that energy demand is falling due to the international economic slow down caused, in part, by the saw damn war.Yes, that's right, it is. So should not prices be easing back? Of course but nobody makes a huge profit on falling prices (except hedge funds but don't get me onto that!).

So prices stay high to feed the offshore chests of the filthy rich. And you? Go freeze; go starve; there are too many of you anyway.

The bill of fare:

• That 'cap' will deliver £84 billion into the enrgy firms from your bills as domestic customers next year.

• The lack of a 'cap' on commerce and industry will mean even higher prices and deliver between two and three times more – possibly £300 billion.

• In your home the following will cost more (a lot more): heating, washing, cooking, washing crocks and cutlery, TV and sound entertainment, communications and computing, even reading after dark...

• Your water and sewage charges will rise since they too use energy;

• So too will you council tax for the same reason;

• Your soccer match or whatever will cost more and night games will be prohibitively expensive due to the light;

• It will cost you more to buy anything because every shop, every restaurant, every pub will be facing a huge increase in energy bills;

• Food will cost more because everything your farmers uses relies on, yep energy;

• Beer will cost more because... you got it;

• It will cost you more to travel because every transport service will be facing a massive increase in costs;

• Fuel prices for your car etc will soar; recharging you electric car will become impossibly expensive;

• Holidays will probably be a thing of the past for remarkably similar reasons;

• Your mortgage will rise rapidly as people find they cannot afford their homes and lose them as well as inflationary pressure on interest rates;

• Clothes will cost more as above. So will food;

• Shops and services will give up the struggle and close, leaving you with less choice and rising prices;

• Your employers will probably have to cut staff to stay in business so you may lose your job;

• And hospitals, doctors, schools – everything will be facing massive increases in energy costs with possible closure.

But there is a hope of a sort. Quite soon, as huge numbers of people, and businesses and public bodies are forced to close or not pay their bills the energy industry will see its customer base and demand for its product crumble.

With any luck, just before we see the end game, someone will put a stop to the entire ridiculous farrago! Keep you fingers crossed; that's all you've got!

If you wonder what is happening right now, read on....

CURRENTLY I am watching a brilliant piece of television that I had missed. How sad. It screened while we were in France last June.

But the drama it depicts is being played out right now, right here in our once beloved Britain. Again.

For what it shows is the aftermath of one of the greatest betrayals of the working man ever perpetrated in this country.

It covers the events of the miners strike. When the Government fomented a strike, choosing the miners as their target, for the express purpose of reducing union power and upgrading the role of the free market economy.

This they did. They needed a war and they mobilised two strands of weaponry – a trained anti-riot force in the Metropolitan Police and an undercover police force to spy those they did not like or trust – the SDS I believe it was called.

They also helped to create a new miners unions composed of strike breakers prepared to scab – under the protection of the heavily equipped Met police – necessary strangers (southerners) in a foreign (midland) land.

And they kind of won their war, our world changed and the unions lost ground along with us, the workers. The repercussions within the shattered communities continued for years and do so now. This is the premise of Sherwood and you should watch – the link is below.

However, I just want to draw attention to current events. The assault on various unions and all workers. The attack on ordinary peoples living standards. The weaponising of all forms of tolerance and liberalism. The steady erosion of democratic rights. They are even targeting the law and a possible last defence of ordinary people, lawyers.

The transfer of wealth and affluence to fewer and fewer people. The steady division made between the British and their one time friends in Europe.

And finally the existence right now of one of the most dogmatic, essentially amoral and at times truly evil Tory Government.

Go on, say I am a dreamer...

Here's the link; it is brilliantly cast, brilliantly acted and superbly directed:

BBC.CO.UK

Sherwood

Two shocking and unexpected murders shatter an already fractured community.

How not to learn by your mistakes....

FOR two days now (it feels like more) we have wrestled with a ridiculous problem. What is worse I have discovered belatedly that I have fallen into a nest of worms that nine or so years ago I swore never, ever to venture near again. I refer to EEE or 3E as it now calls itself.

But first to the moment. We are due to go to France. We do not like Brexit and wished to avoid the resumption of roaming charges (GHU!). Janet switched to a Smarty account which does not charge roaming. I decided to do likewise. Her iphone went on a treat. My Samsung Note 8 (what a terrific camera and phone) did not.

We not why but we do know this – right up to the moment we activated the Smarty SIM everything was perfect. Peachy, indeed.

But then it all went very rotten pear shaped. I shall not weary you with the ins and outs which have occupied us for about 48 hours, stressed to the max and ready to kill. And still it fails to work. SMS? No prob . Talky talky – NO WAY!

I even downloaded all my data and did a factory reset in desperation. Still nothing. Today I learned that Smarty is in fact something to do with – OMG! - 3E!

Two things now occur:

1 – all is explained; they are idiots;

2 – you can fall into the same bear pit twice.

For the avoidance of doubt:

https://smarty.co.uk/

https://www.three.co.uk/

Its been a Covid while since...

 One of the most useful subs I have is to the Office for National Statistics. This latest blog sets the pandemic into context; the detail is revealing, especially of how 'flu vaccinations have pressed down on 'flu and therefore pneumonia.

You may need to register to read:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/howcoronaviruscovid19compareswithfluasacauseofdeath/2022-05-23

What it shows very clearly is how it is vitally important to be sure your comparisons are valid. Covid-19 is new and is a pandemic. All deaths related to it, directly and indirectly are 'excess deaths' to the national norm.

Keep this firmly in mind as you read since it is all too easy to think Covid-19 is no worse than 'flu. In some ways that is correct but misleading as IT IS ADDITIONAL! And critically it kills the mid-aged much more easily than 'flu.

The price we pay for the anti-vaxxers....

THE anti-vaxxers are now costing us taxpayers an absolute fortune and risking the destruction of our NHS. Bit strong? Well probably not.

It is now said that over 75% of those with Covid-19 needing hospital care are anti-vaxxers. And if you look at current infection rates it certainly looks to be true.

Total numbers infected are at last falling but numbers entering hospital are soaring. And that means it is those without the benefit of the vaccine who are getting seriously ill and needing hospital care. In their thousands it seems.

This interpretation is also borne out by the falling death rate. It is the aged and those with pre-existing conditions who mostly constitute the dying - so if that number is still falling it follows that those needing hospital care are fit enough overall to survive the virus, however ill it may make them in the meantime. So, anti-vaxxers.

Now I am not a mean minded person and I firmly believe in the NHS but... if someone takes a serious risk with their lives I think they should pay for their treatment. Not the life saving bit in the event of an accident – but the longer term care that is often the outcome.

And so it needs to be with Covid-19 - an easy route to protection exists in the vaccine and the vast majority of people are sane enough to understand that. So should those who do take the vaccine route have to pay for those who stubbornly and knowingly refuse?

It is certainly neither right no fair to change the system right now. But it is right that now is the time to look carefully at the costs we bear from the activities of our modern world and of our personal decisions.

Should we all bear the hospital costs of the few who undertake seriously dangerous activities or refuse to accept the widely accepted course of safe action?

Should we all bear the cost of the rock climber, the tombstoner, the sky diver, the cave diver etc who takes a risk and falls to serious injury? Yes we should get them to hospital. Yes we should pay to save their lives. But their injuries, knowingly risked, often result in expensive long term care. Should we all pay for that? Or should they be required to insure against these risks?

I say yes, they should and I say that this could reduce the NHS costs to all of us considerably.