O/T:- ⚠️Impressed with the leadership [The UK Party Politics Thread]

[sidders]

Boris Johnson is so 'yesterday' that he's not worth the ink / oxygen spent discussing him. I have never known this country to be in such a negative state and not even the prospect of Starmer winning the next election provides relief for we are so broken that mending may not be possible. History will record this as the period that the UK lost its way.
The Tories have seduced the nation with its promise of low taxation and the prospect of a smaller state. In essence this will always mean cutbacks for the welfare state and pain for low earners, the sick, the poor and those on benefit. A more equal society is as far away now as it's ever been.

[Jampie]

https://appgpandemic.org/news/who-pandemic-treaty

"Governments are now agreeing" no they aren't.

Setting aside that your evidence is a site saying a bloke said draft agreements say X, assuming they exist and the third hand natter is accurate (unlikely), the agreements are draft.

[upthemaggies]

"Governments are now agreeing" no they aren't.

Setting aside that your evidence is a site saying a bloke said draft agreements say X, assuming they exist and the third hand natter is accurate (unlikely), the agreements are draft.

That site represents a group of around 20 members of the British parliament and members of the house of lords. What would be the point of signing up to a treaty? To give the WHO less powers than last time and the governments more say??????

[upthemaggies]

A WHO pandemic treaty would be a threat to our freedom
Proposals for a global response shouldn’t see the light of day – healthcare decisions must be taken by national parliaments

KAROL SIKORA
27 May 2023 • 6:00am
Karol Sikora

Charting a course through a pandemic is not easy. Trusting those who are doing so is equally difficult, but given the choice between an elected government in Westminster and the World Health Organisation (WHO) bureaucrats in Geneva, the decision is easy.

Having spent two years as director of the WHO cancer programme, I am more informed than most about the eye-watering waste and incompetence that oozes from every crevice of that organisation. Very strong on politics, very weak on expertise. Just look at how China was treated throughout a pandemic that some say was of their own making, albeit accidentally. Ironically, I was having a beer by the Yangtze River with the cancer centre director in Wuhan in October 2019. We were putting the world to rights, admiring the beautiful sunset and wondering what the next global health problem would be. Little did we know.

Every year the World Health Assembly is held in the main United Nations building in Geneva. Everybody who is anybody in health is there. Health ministers, bureaucrats, and hangers on from the 194 member states arrive in an impressive line of black chauffeured cars, complete with flags and diplomatic plates – quite a sight. But the intellectual content inside the chamber is just appalling. There is more knowledge and lively discussion to be had with a group of first-year medical students. Expensive meals and cocktail party gossip about who’s in and who’s out are high on the agenda – not what’s needed for improving global healthcare.

Now the WHO is considering proposals for a “pandemic treaty”. Last year, its member states agreed to develop a zero draft of what would be a legally binding accord if agreed by all 194 member states. The whole thing fills me with suspicion and dread, because we know that many of its leading member states have embraced lockdowns, vaccine passports, travel bans and border closures in recent years. All were disastrous policies which should never see the light of day again. Even on a basic level, to place the power of implementation into the hands of inept and overpaid administrators would be a catastrophic decision which no responsible elected government should sign up to. Let’s work with our international friends and allies on how best to tackle cross-border health threats, but that does not mean handing the keys to Geneva.

If the WHO is given any level of binding control and made a global authority on public health measures, then I really do fear for all freedom-loving societies. A pandemic response can only be a national decision, considering all different medical, cultural, and societal factors that are so wonderfully different across the globe. It can never be one size fits all – it cannot be done in negotiation with communist states like China.

Sure, the British government handled the pandemic dreadfully and made one bad decision after another. But at least we all have the power to go to our local church or school on election day and register our displeasure. The same cannot be said for treaties embedded into international organisations. The power to take decisions should be as close as possible to the individual affected, especially when it involves health and livelihood across generations.

Critics will say that international co-operation is positive and I agree. Yet that can be done very effectively without the use of the word “binding” anywhere. Scientists and policymakers can be encouraged to share ideas across borders, but we simply cannot sign up to something that we may seriously regret in the years to come.

Right now, just focus on the many, many questions that our government needs to answer about its own disastrous lockdowns.

[countygump]

Heart deaths surge by more than 500 a week since pandemic
Experts say Britain is ‘in the grip of a heart and stroke care emergency’ due to NHS disruptions in care and increasing ambulance delays

By
Laura Donnelly,
HEALTH EDITOR
22 June 2023 • 7:00am
Heart deaths have risen by more than 500 a week, major research has shown, with experts saying “extreme disruption” to the NHS caused by the pandemic may have fuelled the crisis.

The study of government data revealed almost 100,000 extra deaths among people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) since spring 2020.

Experts said NHS disruption to heart care and increasing ambulance delays for heart attack and stroke victims had left Britain “in the grip of a heart and stroke care emergency”.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) analysis of data from the Government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) revealed an extra 96,540 deaths of patients with heart conditions since February 2020.

While excess cardiovascular deaths in the first year of the pandemic were linked to coronavirus infections, heart deaths have remained high since Covid deaths fell.

Cardiac experts said “severe ongoing disruption to NHS heart care” was among the factors driving the continued increase, with record delays for ambulances in recent months.


In December, average waits for ambulances for 999 calls involving heart attack patients breached 90 minutes, against a target of 18 minutes. Response times have been consistently above 30 minutes since the start of 2022.

Meanwhile, care of patients with conditions such as high blood pressure – which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes – has deteriorated.

NHS figures show two million fewer people had their blood pressure under control in 2021 compared with the year before.

The BHF also raised concern about a potential rise in heart problems linked to Covid, with separate research showing those who caught the infection before the vaccine rollout were five times more likely to die in the 18 months after infection.

The figures from March 2020 to March 2023 show 839,467 deaths in England involving CVD – 13 per cent more than the 742,927 expected.

Dr Charmaine Griffiths, chief executive at the BHF, said: “It is deeply troubling that so many more people with cardiovascular disease have lost their lives over the last three years.

“My heart goes out to every family who has endured the pain of losing a loved one, all too often in distressing circumstances.

“For years now, it has been clear that we are firmly in the grip of a heart and stroke care emergency. If little changes, we could continue to see a sustained rise in death rates from cardiovascular conditions that undoes decades of scientific progress to reduce the number of people who die of a heart attack or stroke.

“There is no time to waste – Government must take control of this crisis to give heart patients and their loved ones hope of a better and healthier future.

“It can do this by prioritising NHS heart care, better preventing heart disease and stroke, and powering science to unlock future treatments and cures.”


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...d-19-pandemic/

[upthemaggies]

Heart deaths surge by more than 500 a week since pandemic
Experts say Britain is ‘in the grip of a heart and stroke care emergency’ due to NHS disruptions in care and increasing ambulance delays

Ticking time bomb.

Most people will have no idea they've been damaged, whether that be down to lockdown stress, Covid itself, or the vaccines.

Let's just imagine that it is exclusively Covid that is causing this, not anything else.......

Then you'd need to ask, are the Covid variants that are circulating now causing heart damage?
Is there an accumulative factor? Is for example catching Covid mild twice as bad as catching it once severely?
Does heart damage only occur with obvious cold-like symptoms or is it a "silent killer" with fatigue symptoms and "long covid"?

I'm sure there will be and have been studies into this, but it will be too early to draw any conclusions as that article suggests, "may have" is as good as "may not have". At this stage, blaming lockdowns would be the most convenient, because if it was Covid then it brings into question an ongoing problem and what to do about it, because at the very least the vaccines aren't preventing people catching or spreading it.

[BanjoPie]

Ticking time bomb.

Most people will have no idea they've been damaged, whether that be down to lockdown stress, Covid itself, or the vaccines.

Let's just imagine that it is exclusively Covid that is causing this, not anything else.......

Then you'd need to ask, are the Covid variants that are circulating now causing heart damage?
Is there an accumulative factor? Is for example catching Covid mild twice as bad as catching it once severely?
Does heart damage only occur with obvious cold-like symptoms or is it a "silent killer" with fatigue symptoms and "long covid"?

I'm sure there will be and have been studies into this, but it will be too early to draw any conclusions as that article suggests, "may have" is as good as "may not have". At this stage, blaming lockdowns would be the most convenient, because if it was Covid then it brings into question an ongoing problem and what to do about it, because at the very least the vaccines aren't preventing people catching or spreading it.

“I have developed a wonky knee - I’m sure its because I had all 4 covid jabs”

[upthemaggies]

The BHF also raised concern about a potential rise in heart problems linked to Covid, with separate research showing those who caught the infection before the vaccine rollout were five times more likely to die in the 18 months after infection.

Interesting that this is the only mention of vaccines in that article and it is ruling out (or at least overlooking) the lesser variant factor.

I would think we would all agree that Covid in the early days was not a sentient being that deliberately went about damaging the hearts of those it knew would refuse the vaccine in future and left alone the hearts of those it knew would roll their sleeves up.... and also that the vaccine doesn't magically repair heart damage. So this means vaccinated people are dying of heart conditions.

Any explanation for a vaccinated person having a heart attack or stroke could apply to an unvaccinated person, all except one, unless vaccine shedding is real and significant.

[maddogslater]

Try leaving the crack pipe to a more suitable time of day banjo, thanks.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

Try leaving the crack pipe to a more suitable time of day banjo, thanks.

🤣🤣🤣🤭