Passing Observations 11 (A Coronavirus Special)
Tue 12:52 pm +01:00, 26 May 2020Dr Vernon Coleman MB ChB DSc FRSA
For some time now I have included on this site a series of pieces called Passing Observations in which I have detailed items which seemed worth a short mention – but not a longer article. My Passing Observations usually appear in the section under the Miscellany button on www.vernoncoleman.com but this selection, which deals with the coronavirus, is obviously more suited to appear here, under the Health button.
1. I saw a photo the other day of a barman wearing a mask over his mouth. The mask did not, however, cover his nose. Wearing a mask that covers one aperture but not the other is utterly pointless – and does more harm than good in that it probably gives the wearer a completely false sense of security. Incidentally, I wonder if people in nudist camps and on nude beaches will wear masks and gloves.
2. Governments have been so effective at terrifying populations that it will take a good deal of work to persuade people to leave their homes and start returning to a new variety of normal life. But do governments actually want people to leave their homes? Moot point.
3. England has the highest population density of any country in Europe. Mass immigration, constantly under-estimated by the Home Office, and resulting from absurd and onerous EU laws, has caused massive overcrowding in towns and cities. Overcrowding is a well-known factor in the spread of many types of physical and mental disorders including, of course, infectious diseases.
4. By insisting on ignoring the UK Government’s laws about lockdown, the leaders of the toy parliaments in Scotland and Wales may have pleased the bureaucrats in Brussels but they have caused confusion and bewilderment. In refusing to allow English citizens to cross their borders they are guilty of blatant racism – which will be remembered long after the coronavirus ‘crisis’ is over.
5. Regular readers will know that I believe that the BBC is a treacherous organisation. Despite the grave situation in Britain, the BBC is still sending out threatening letters to those who haven’t paid its wretched annual licence fee. The default position of the BBC seems to me to be that anyone who hasn’t paid the licence must be guilty of a criminal offence – even if they don’t need or want a licence. Even if a citizen tells the BBC they don’t need a licence, the organisation’s `gestapo’ will still threaten to come round to check that they aren’t watching television. I ignore the BBC’s letters since I do not have to reply and if their goons turn up on our doorstep I do not have to let them in. The BBC gets enough money from the EU – it’s not getting any of ours.
6. After YouTube had taken down my video entitled `Why did YouTube Ban my Video?’ I protested that the video did not infringe any of their guidelines. YouTube then restored the video. However, YouTube has still banned two more of my videos – even though these did not appear to break any of their published regulations.
7. The National Education Union (a misnamed organisation if ever I found one) is opposing the reopening of schools and is also opposing remote learning for primary school pupils over the internet. The organisation is offering advice to teachers on how to sue schools that are `too keen’ to reopen their doors. My contempt for this organisation and its officers and members is almost tangible.
8. People who live in rural and seaside areas are complaining about city and town dwellers being allowed to visit for the day. They want car parks kept locked and public loos kept closed so that no one can walk along their lanes or sit on their beaches. The police are busy slapping penalty notices on cars which are parked near to pleasant places. `Having no visitors and holidaymakers here has been wonderful for six weeks,’ said one aggrieved local. But Antoinette and I are well aware that allowing visitors to share the landscape is a price that those who live in pleasant parts of the country have to pay for being lucky enough to live in beautiful places. Heavy traffic and badly parked cars can be annoying but it’s the cost of living. The resentment of would-be visitors will be massive and when holiday areas are reopened, many will remember how they were treated. Many rural and seaside towns rely on visitors. In future they will, I fear, have to find some other way to make a living. Good luck to them.
9. The Times newspaper estimates that denying people access to healthcare has already killed a similar number of people to the number killed from Covid-19. The death rate from the latter will almost certainly fall. The death rate from the former will certainly rise.
10. Just two of us research, write and produce the articles and videos which carry my name. Half of the work is done by my wife, Antoinette, who in addition to researching and editing material is also entirely responsible for doing everything which requires electricity. I write out material in longhand on large writing pads. And from then on it’s Antoinette who is responsible for fighting the hardware and software in order to publish the material. I would also like to point out that taking on the establishment isn’t an easy or risk-free business – it can be worrying to wonder if the men in boots are going to come and kick down the door or pop a summons in the post. And Antoinette shares those worries too. Ginger Rogers once said that she had to do all the dance steps with which Fred Astaire dazzled us all but that she had to do them all backwards in high heels. Antoinette has to do all this in constant pain because her cancer treatment has left her with pain which cannot be treated because the hospitals in England are cruelly closed to everyone who isn’t a coronavirus sufferer. I am not a great lover of the NHS at the moment and I have not been clapping on Thursdays.
Copyright Vernon Coleman May 23rd 2020
Vernon Coleman’s international No 1 bestselling book Coming Apocalypse is available on Amazon as both a paperback and an eBook. `Coming Apocalypse’ explains how we got into this mess – and what sort of future we now have.
http://www.vernoncoleman.com/main.htm
