Another observation regarding Covid-19 that worries me is how the communist country of China was able to trace any Chinese person who said anything about the virus that wasn’t in step with party propaganda and were soon arrested. China’s state-owned mass surveillance system tracks citizen’s movements and can even warn them if they are walking into a Coronavirus hotspot. It all starts with every citizen obtaining a National ID card. A citizen would need the card to buy a mobile phone, computer, TV or even an app. Everything a citizen does can be tracked back to the individuals National ID card. In areas of lockdown it can even track the user. If the user is meant to be in quarantine the authorities would be automatically notified of the offence and the user dealt with. The same system can backtrack a citizen’s movements, so if a person becomes a Covid-19 sufferer the state can see where they had been in the past few weeks. If a citizen non-sufferer ventured outside their phone could warn them if they were getting too close to a virus carrier. Other countries such as Iran, Israel, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan are also using the Chinese Track and Trace system during the Coronavirus pandemic, but several lawyers and liberty organisations are concerned that once the pandemic has passed, few will stop this breach of liberties.
It amazes me on how the British government can allow Chinese companies like Huawei (which is state owned) be part of the new G5 telecoms network in the UK, even as Boris’s friend Mr D Trump (I think the D stands for Dettol, but I might be wrong) had warned him against doing so. I for one will not touch anything that China has touched and I think millions will follow.
Other rumours include disbelief on the numbers of Covid-19 new cases and deaths being reported by the Chinese communist party especially when they reported that there were no new cases for three consecutive days. The BBC World news stated on the 17th of April 2020 that “the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated late last year, has raised its official Covid-19 death toll by 50%, adding 1,290 fatalities. Wuhan officials attributed the new figure to updated reporting and deaths outside hospitals. China has insisted there was no cover-up”. IMO if you believe that there was no cover-up then you’ll believe I’m the Pope.
Critics also stated that the silencing of American journalist was to hide the truth. Two nurses in Wuhan, who wished to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the pandemic, told the Financial Times of “hidden” infections that met the national criteria for confirmed cases but were not being recognised in the city’s official count, helping to keep it at or near zero. China’s National Health Commission, the government agency is very secretive when it comes to the true figures across China.
Other Biochemical rumours stated that China was also angry that the BBC Panorama program in November 2019 which had highlighted the systematic brainwashing of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in a network of high-security prison camps. Official documents, seen by BBC Panorama, show how inmates are locked up, indoctrinated, and punished.
Many westerners including the President of the United States of America believe that the World Health Organization, (WHO) was a cover-up accusing the WHO of mismanagement. Mr Trump stated in his daily briefing on the 14th of April 2020 stated, "I am directing my administration to halt funding while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus." As the USA pays ten-times more than China to the funding of the WHO hopefully the WHO will remove its blinkers and report what really is going on in China.
As a Christian one theory that I would like to think could be true is that the Coronavirus was sent by God as a wake-up call to us all. The virus spread around the world and reached its peak at Easter time when Christians rejoice at the crucifixion of Jesus and His rebirth on Easter Sunday, as Jesus died to save us all. I can’t help but wonder at the choice of crucifixion by the Jews, as Jesus would have died from asphyxiation as the weight of His body would have made breathing impossible, as it does with Covid-19.
One of the good things to come out of the pandemic was that it made many of us appreciate the benefit of our community and that we can still help our fellow man. It reminded us all about the benefit of friendship and love and how love can save us all. It could also be a wake-up call on how we are killing the planet that God created for us in seven days. Global warming, plastic pollution, and the destruction of countries through civil war, are all things that make God sad, and we must find a way to overcome these man-made problems. I’m sure that God would have also noticed the sheer greed of some people and certain countries. If you look at oil production around the world, countries such as America, Russia and Saudi Arabia have kept the price of crude oil high (pre-Covid), so that they alone could benefit. These three countries were pumping so much crude oil that they found that they had nowhere to store it once the worldwide pandemic was in full swing and demand dropped to a record low.
If you look at the banking industry across the globe who always look after number one. Bankers pay themselves millions every year, even when their bank makes a loss. The greedy footballers who are paid a fortune for kicking a ball around for 90 minutes a week. The greedy speculators who gamble with other people’s money by forward buying (spot-market) essentials such as wheat, oil and a host of other essential items, which inflates the price we all end up paying for our daily bread. The greedy drug barons, tobacco basses, alcohol producers and bookmakers who get rich on the addiction and hardship of others. The greedy owners of companies like Amazon (which is owned by the richest man in the world) who allegedly makes him richer by not looking after the people who make the fortune for him (see chapter 26. Internet taking 1,000’s of jobs). Who knows but in a few years’ time we may be thankful God sent us this message?
Several critics (myself included) have moaned about the government not buying in testing kits, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE’s) or ventilators earlier and that the lock-down should have started much earlier. It also upset many people to learn that our airports were still letting planes land from all over the world where other counties had closed their airports. The British government arrange for flights to collect stranded people from Covid-19 hot spots across the world, at tax payers expense, yet didn’t quarantine passengers for 14 days upon arrival in the UK. Several flights were arranged from Bangladesh which had recorded a high infection rate and I wonder how many Brits were killed for this oversight. From June the 15th 2020 people arriving from overseas had to self-isolate for 14 days but why would anyone bother getting on a flight only to be told to isolate once they land. This is crazy and sounds as if the government really doesn’t know what it is doing. The old saying of ‘locking the stable door once the horse has bolted’ springs to mind.
Time will tell if the critics are proven right or wrong but I must admit that I was upset to see Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt, Chairman of the Health and Social Care Committee giving Matt Hancock the current Secretary of State for Health and Social Care a hard time when many of today’s NHS problems were caused by the heavy handed treatment and under-funding dished out by James Hunt when he was Health Secretary from 2010 to 2018 where he starved the NHS of funds and set the moral of Junior Doctors to an all-time low. For readers with short memories Mr. Hunt also stood in the contest to become Prime Minster but lost out to Boris.
I feel that I should also point out that it does make me cringe when politicians have been singing the praises of our nurses and doctors during this pandemic when just three years ago on the 28 June 2017, Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Matt Hancock, Rishi Sunak, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Grant Shapps, George Eustice, Michael Gove, Priti Patel and hundreds of conservative MP’s voted against lifting the cap on public sector wages including doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters and police officers.
IMO Boris and his chancellor were (at the time of penning this chapter) doing their best to make sure that the ordinary worker won’t suffer too much but we all know who will pick up the bill in the end. Yes, you got it in one, you and me and all our children an
d their children for generations to come. Add this to the massive bill we are all paying for the 2007-2008 banking crisis and it may be a good idea for the country to declare bankruptcy and start again. I would like to know who we owe these trillions to. Someone or a country had to have the money to lend to us in the first place and it would be nice to learn how they amassed these massive sums of money in the first place.
Couldn’t Care Less About Care Homes.
Having had to use the services of care homes to house my wife’s relatives I can tell you that care homes in the UK have been struggling for the past twenty years or more and the government has turned a blind eye on this valuable sector who IMO do a great service to our country. On the 13th of May 2020, the Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer stated in Prime Minster Question time (PMQ’s) that the government had said that the Covid-19 infection of care home residents was “unlikely”, in advice that was issued up until mid-March. The Prime Minister was left squirming when confronted with the evidence and Matt Hancock the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care who was sitting next to the PM in parliament was wishing that the PM stopped digging as he was making matters worse. The only good thing to come out of this huge cock-up was that the government would now make a £600 million for infection control in coronavirus hit care homes. Two days later Matt Hancock the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care stated at the daily briefing from Downing street that he had instructed local authorities provide a daily report from them stating greater details from care homes in their area. Pity he didn’t do this from the start.
Another U-turn by Boris happened on the 20th of May 2020 again after the Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer stated in Prime Minster Question time (PMQ’s) why the government were charging workers in the NHS and care homes from overseas £620 for medical cover. These low-skilled and low-paid workers such as cleaners, porters and others were discriminated against yet the doctors and nurses couldn’t work their miracles in an unclean environment.
If to prove that the government got it totally wrong the i newspaper reported on the 9th May 2020 that “the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it is investigating a “very small” number of incidents where hospitals who treated individuals for Covid-19 were not tested before the patients were discharged back to their care homes. The incidents led to the virus being transmitted to others, the CQC said.
Care homes that cater for the aged population as well as homes that cater for many disabilities must supply their own PPE’s but this was exceedingly difficult for them to do as other organisations such as the NHS were also struggling to find suppliers. Test was another stumbling block at the pandemic as care home residents and staff were also being pushed to the back of the queue. With an ever-growing aged population the government must sort this mess out or more care homes will be forced to close. The problem will be if hospitals can’t release patients to care homes, then the elderly will continue to tie up much needed hospital beds.
Another big problem for the future of care homes in the UK is the governments new policy on immigration. On the 18th of May 2020, the controversial immigration bill was voted through the House of Commons. The new bill that will come into effect from January 2021 will work on a points system. One of the major point scores gained by the applicant will be if the applicant is applying for a job that will pay a salary of £25,000 per year or more. Most care workers today earn a maximum of £19,000 so they will not be given a visa. This will cause a major problem for everyone as the NHS and care homes can’t run without these valuable care workers, so they will have to pay workers a minimum of £25K. This will mean that the rates charged to residents will have to rise and the government will via the NHS have to pick up the bill.
Another worrying titbit (or tidbit to American readers) that I heard about some of the current care workers was that they were working two different 8-hour shifts at two separate care homes. This alone could spread the virus from one care home to another. Some care workers from overseas were also living in overcrowded accommodation where several immigrant families share the same facilities. This must have added to the number of deaths in care homes.
What the government must do is to introduce a new law covering the employment of all staff in both our NHS hospitals and care homes. Anyone working in this sector must be registered with the NHS and would be paid via the various hospitals or care home but the new NHS human resources division must be copied in on who was being paid and the hours they worked. If this were done then a simple check could be made to see if there were any duplications. Currently, the NHS and care sector rely on agency staff and end up paying the agency a lot extra for the pleasure. These agencies should be put out of business as anyone wishing to work for the NHS or care home must be employed via the NHS Human Resources division. This could not be done straight away but it could be introduced to start next April. I can assure you that this would save the country millions of pounds every year and at least it would stop the double working that currently is going on.
Immigration and Covid-19
The Conservative government promised the electorate that they would sort out the immigration problem but the new immigration Law will do little to reduce the number of illegal immigrants already in the country. The Government won the 2019 election by promising the electorate in many Labour strongholds that they would sort the problem out but nothing is being done to correct the problem and every day hundreds of immigrants are still crossing the English Channel. This should be stopped with the boat being confiscated and the immigrants sent straight back to France on the next available ferry. If the government fail to get tough with France then the flooding of illegal immigrants in our towns and cities across the UK will only get worse.
It was also shocking to see on Sky News on the 17th of June 2020 that the “Home Office does not know how many people are in UK illegally, National Audit Office report finds”. It went on to state that “An up-to-date estimate of the number of illegal immigrants in the United Kingdom has not been produced for 15 years, according to a report. The National Audit Office (NAO) said the last estimate in 2005 suggested there were around 430,000 people in the country with no right to remain. But independent research since has put the figure at more than one million, Whitehall's spending watchdog said”. It is noticeably clear that immigration has not been checked or even taken seriously but if the government wants to reduce the number of unemployed post Covid-19 and Brexit then they should deport these “illegals’” as soon as possible.
Should China be made to pay?
No country will do well out of this pandemic and I do believe that there will be a backlash and people will stop buying anything that is made in China. I do hope that western countries insist that any item made in china will need to have the Chinese flag shown on the front of any packaging so that people can easily see where the product was made and can then chose if they want to support the Chinese communist party or not. Listings and advertisements on the likes of Amazon, ebay and Google should also make it clear to potential customers that they are buying a product made in China.
Were the Chinese communist party at blame for not acting upon Dr Li Wenliang findings and those of Shi Zhengli, the Wuhan laboratory's globally respected expert in the transmission of animal-born coronavirus to humans in December 2019. If they had made the world aware of the problems in December 2019 and placed Wuhan city in lock down then, could the pandemic have been avoided?
I’m convinced that the western world will never get to the bottom of who was to blame for Covid-19 but what the Chinese Communist Party can’t deny is that their inaction to make the world aware of the problems in December 2019 led to the deaths hundreds of thousands of innocent people around the world and caused bedlam in the financial stability of many nations. China should be made to pay for their mistake and when they refuse the western world via the United Nations should ban all flights to and from China until they pay up. If any country such has Russia uses its veto then they should also face the ban. The
UK and Europe should also follow the USA and put an import tax of 30% on any item made in China.
Prisons during the pandemic.
During the pandemic prison officers played a major role in protecting staff and inmates during these difficult times. Sadly, Catherine Kelly who worked at HMP Manchester died from Covid-19. Catherine was 65 years old and had worked 12 years for HMP. Many prison officers stayed at hotels so that they didn’t risk taking the virus home to their loved ones. It was nice to see that the OYO Hotel group were offering cheap rates to all key workers across the UK. Hopefully, all prison officers can keep everyone safe during these terrible times.
Covid-19 update:
Prison.org.uk stated on the 12th of June 2020 that “The number of prisoners who have tested positive for Covid-19 flatlined in the most recent data released by the Ministry of Justice. 490 prisoners were confirmed to have had the virus across 80 prisons, no change in 24 hours, while the number of infected staff rose by three to 964 across 105 prisons. At least 23 prisoners and nine staff are known to have died, as well as one prison escort driver and one NHS trust employee working in a secure training centre.”
Boris and Cummings Saga
Nothing about this saga sounds right and it has been alleged that Cummings must have something over Boris as people have never seen a PM take a hit to his popularity to defend the undefendable before. Was the story about Boris nearly dying from Covid-19 in hospital a set up? Not one paparazzi photographer saw him going in or out of the hospital and Boris only thanked two overseas nurses for caring for him in hospital a few weeks later. Jenny McGee from New Zealand and Luis Pitarma from Portugal allegedly nursed Boris when in the Intensive Care Unit at St Thomas's hospital. Was this spin doctoring taken to a new level?
The Bedford Heist Page 8