Tory lockdown sceptic Desmond Swayne has lashed out again at his government, telling fellow sceptic Julia Hartley-Brewer that people would not tolerate living under restrictions indefinitely. He quite rightly points out that the imposition of lockdowns is supposedly to protect the NHS, but the government is now moving the goalposts in order to prolong the misery. At one point in the interview Sir Desmond appears to promote an insurrection: "At some stage people have got to rise up and bring it down". It may well come to that when the warmer months arrive, although in the Netherlands they are not waiting for spring to make their feelings known.
Click below for the clip.
At the moment the only upward curve in the UK pandemic is deaths, while new cases and hospital admissions are falling. Deaths tend to lag four weeks behind hospital admissions, so one would expect deaths to start coming down next month, at which point we will be thanked for our compliance and told that the latest lockdown is working. In fact, broadcast media is already using words to that effect, despite no evidence to back it up. If the current UK lockdowns were effective then new cases would have started to come down around 10-14 days in, but new cases were already dropping before England (and Scotland) went into lockdown - and this was despite a huge surge in testing over the New Year period.
Lockdown is smoke and mirrors. There is no evidence that it makes any impact at all, primarily because no-one can say with any certainty what would have happened without them.
As Richey pointed out recently, the stark contrast between California and Florida suggests lockdowns may have little effect on the virus. California enforces a strict lockdown, including a curfew, while in Florida everything is open and people are not even required to wear face coverings. Lockdown enthusiasts will be flabbergasted to learn that there is little difference between their infection rates, with libertarian Florida currently enjoying a slightly lesser rate.
The comparison between California and Florida was the focus of a MailOnline report over the weekend.
