More on covid pandemic 2020-23
Ukraine – what you’re not told
The final chapter in the Journal of the Plague Year 2020-2023? Perhaps.
The expected/predicted/feared increase in covid-19 infections and deaths didn’t happen (at least in the UK) at the end of 2022 start of 2023. Or if it did then the news was kept quiet. What might have happened in the rest of the world is of no real import (especially in the now called ‘Global South’) as for the majority in the more wealthy countries those people are no more than a source of raw materials but otherwise a nuisance.
If in the UK the State didn’t have to deal with another outbreak this last winter that didn’t mean the time was spent usefully. Everyone involved in ‘managing’ the pandemic from the beginning of 2020 has been spending their time covering their backs and pushing the blame on to others – it doesn’t matter who.
The Buffoon blustered his way through yet another unconvincing litany of lies and obfuscations in an attempt to regain the premiership but, by all accounts, even the idiots who have supported his antics in the past weren’t inspired and, with luck, we have seen the end of him at the ‘top’ of British politics. However, nothing can be guaranteed. The British electorate, on more than one occasion, has shown itself more than capable of acting totally illogically and against its own interests.
If the present pandemic is no longer ‘with us’ (although it seems to have become universally accepted that we will ‘have to learn with it’) what hasn’t changed is any preparedness for the next one. There was not a scintilla of strategy in the dealing with the virus in the last three years and there’s little chance that the next one (not if but when) will be treated any differently.
If the State ‘s not doing anything it is hoped that the numerous posts that have appeared in this ‘Journal of the Plague Years 2020-2023’ (finally, definitively, named) can be used as a reference when the next one hits. Although any official ‘enquiry’ will go into thousands of pages and will cost a small fortune there is little doubt it will reach any truly useful conclusions.
If, as Karl Marx said; ‘History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce’ what’s the sequence when the first appearance was a farce?
In this last post in the Journal the references are more for interest than anything else. Some of the articles will have become outdated soon after they were published – and long before appearing on this page – but they indicate the type of thinking at the time. They are included for the potential historical worth they might provide.
Volume Two of the Journal will start to appear once the next pandemic hits. Until then this is the end.
[N.B.] Many of the links below are to articles published by The Conversation. Although I have been referencing that site and its articles since the earliest days of the pandemic I have started to question some of its assertions. This comes not from doubts I might have had about what they have published in reference to the pandemic (although I might have to add a caveat to anything I’ve pointed you to in the past, on reflection) but the almost slavish acceptance it has shown to anything coming out of the Ukrainian Propaganda Unit in Kiev. Many of The Conversation’s ‘contribution’ to the debate about the conflict has often lacked any relationship to reality (as far as I’m concerned). Now, whether they have the same approach to the pandemic I’m not sure. As always, in all these circumstances, it is necessary to follow the money. ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune’.
Pandemic UK 2020-21
The journalist-run, intelligence-linked operation that warped British pandemic policy.
Genetics might explain why some people have never had covid – but we shouldn’t be too focused on finding out.
Pandemic UK 2022-23
Our third covid Christmas – here’s how things might play out.
Covid in 2023 and beyond – why virus trends are more difficult to predict three years on.
Covid pandemic: three years on and nobody wants to talk about it – here’s why we should.
Three years on, the covid pandemic may never end – but the public health impact is becoming more manageable.
Does covid really damage your immune system and make you more vulnerable to infections? The evidence is lacking.
The Pandemic in the rest of the world
Biden ‘vax-only’ strategy of mass infection lies in ruins, destroyed by vaccine escape, immune dysregulation.
Working women helped prevent greater pandemic disaster.
What effect will lunar new year have on covid spread in China? Our modelling shows most people have already been infected.
Vaccines
Covid: unvaccinated people may be seen as ‘free riders’ and face discrimination.
Bivalent covid vaccines have now been in use for a few months – here’s how they’re stacking up against omicron
400% price hike of covid vaccine (at least in the USA, it will almost certainly be the same in the UK and the EU) – Moderna’s expected 400% hike for its covid vaccine sparked outrage on Capitol Hill.
I bonded with covid vaccine sceptics over saunas and Mother Earth rituals – this is what they taught me.
Antibiotics are being inappropriately prescribed for covid, increasing the threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Why the UK needs to rethink its decision to stop boosters for young and healthy people.
Raises for Moderna, Pfizer CEOs highlight continuing trend.
Immunity?
Could the common cold give children immunity against covid?
Origin of the virus
What to make of new findings linking the virus to raccoon dogs.
Covid, bird flu, mpox – a virologist on why we’re seeing so many viruses emerge.
Vaccine mandates
The ethics of covid-19 vaccine mandates: where do we stand and where should we go regarding social and biomedical responses to pandemic?
Infection survey
The ONS has published its final covid infection survey – here’s why it’s been such a valuable resource.
Variants
Where is the next covid variant, pi? A virologist explains why omicron is continuing to dominate.
The ‘kraken’ covid variant XBB.1.5 is rising quickly in the US – here’s what it could mean for the UK.
‘Collateral’ damage
How covid can disturb your sleep and dreams – and what could help.
Children lost one-third of a year’s learning to covid, new study shows – but we need to think about the problem differently.
How covid lockdowns triggered changes in peregrine falcon diets – and what this means for urban pest control.
Covid drugs
Covid drugs: the UK’s treatment and prevention options and how vulnerable people are being forgotten.
Poverty in Britain
Going under and without: Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s cost of living tracker, winter 2022/23, full report.
Tory MPs’ rent expenses soar as they inflict real-terms housing benefit cut.
How Boris Johnson raked in £5m in 6 months after leaving office.
Long covid
Long covid stemmed from mild cases of covid-19 in most people.
Here’s what it’s like trying to access healthcare for the condition.
Supporting a child with long covid – tips from parents of children living with the condition.
A range of diets are said to help manage symptoms – here’s what the evidence tells us.
Long covid: what we know about how the condition affects mental health.
Long covid linked to air pollution exposure in young adults.
More on covid pandemic 2020-23
Ukraine – what you’re not told
