I am mystified. Why are things being suppressed? Why are we being denied information? We seem to be subject to hidden censorship. Who are the censors?
I have recently come across two examples: one relating to climate change; the other – somewhat indirectly - Covid.
Climate change
First, climate change. A few weeks ago, over 1,200 scientists, led by a Nobel Laureate, Professor Ivar Giaever of Norway, issued what they called the World Climate Declaration. The scientists include (to my knowledge) some of the most eminent in the field. They state, very boldly and unambiguously: “There is no climate emergency”. They “strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy proposed for 2050”. They state “Climate models . . . are not remotely plausible as global policy tools . . . they blow up the effect of greenhouse gases . . . and ignore the fact that enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial”.
The first thing I need to say is that, obviously, they may all be wrong. The scientists may be among the most eminent in the world, but experts can be wrong. And there may well be other experts who take a different view. But the points they make are unquestionably relevant to political decisions being taken by our government and by governments around the world.
Yet, believe it or not, none of the main newspapers seem to be interested at all. Here I would really like to be put right. I have asked many people whether they know about the WCD. No one I have spoken to has heard of it. I’ve also asked people better at searching these things than me whether it has been reported in the main newspapers. No one has so far found anything.
What is going on? Plainly, we are deep into political territory. We are also deep into the uncertainties of scientific predictions of the future. The 1,200 scientists themselves point out that “we are far from understanding climate change”.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know more about the uncertainties, not less? But the mainstream consensus disagrees. Wouldn’t it be good to test rigorously the “settled” opinions that are the basis for the net-zero policies that will unquestionably cause immense damage? The conventional wisdom says No. Best not to rock the boat; best not to mention it in public.
Anyone who wants to tread into these dangerous waters and who wants, apparently in defiance of the instincts of our national newspaper editors, to look at the WCD can go to www.clintel.org and read about it. It lists the ambassadors, who include Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT and Professor Ian Plimer of Melbourne, Australia, but not perhaps the most learned of them all, Professor William Happer of Princeton (presumably because they only need one ambassador from the USA).
My question is not whether they are right or wrong, but why we aren’t even allowed to know about it.
Covid
Now for Covid, although the apparent censorship may not be about Covid at all. Again, what is going on? Who is behind it?
The facts are that over the last few months more people have been dying, of things other than Covid, than would be expected on the basis of the normal averages for recent years. This is so, not just in the UK, but also in most, if not all, other comparable countries. The numbers are significant: between 10 and 15 % higher non-Covid deaths. To repeat, more people are dying at the moment than we would expect. So far as I understand, there is no doubt about the facts, although there is considerable uncertainty about the cause.
The censorship relates to the possible causes, although the fact of the excess deaths has certainly not been highlighted in the press.
The worrying fact is that the excess deaths seem to have occurred at much the same time as some of the vaccine rollouts. Could this be the cause or at least one of the causes?
Over to Dr John Campbell who does regular talks on YouTube. He discusses excess deaths in a talk given on Sunday 18 September 2022. He makes it very clear that he is making no suggestion that the increase could be due to any side effects of the Covid vaccines. But he also makes it even clearer that, if he did make that suggestion, he would be in danger of being cancelled by YouTube.
He also quotes an amusing comment by someone called “Julie”. She says that she participated in a survey on Long Covid: she was surprised to be asked about her sexual orientation (not thinking that could have much to do with Long Covid!), but even more surprised that she was NOT asked about whether she had been vaccinated and when.
Dr Campbell points out that it is impossible to get information about vaccine status.
What is going on? It feeds into conspiracy theories, which I am temperamentally averse to believing. But the fact appears to be that there are people in authority who don’t want us to know about the consequences of vaccination. They don’t publish information about vaccine status: and they warn Dr John Campbell that they will cancel him if he steps out of line.
I should add that Unherd, an online magazine that (as its name suggests) is happy to publish sceptical pieces, has an interview with an analyst from a bank (presumably independent) who is firmly of the view that the cause of the excess deaths is not the vaccine. He is less convincing about what the causes might actually be.
The Daily Sceptic
As I write, the Daily Sceptic is battling with PayPal who have unilaterally closed its account for alleged (and unstated) breaches of its rules.
The Daily Sceptic was founded by the journalist Toby Young (whose personal accounts have also been closed). It started as one of the earliest sceptics about the wisdom of lockdowns, calling itself the Lockdown Sceptic. It now broadens its focus and covers climate change policies and, indeed, vaccinations. Has it published things that are in disagreement with whoever is dictating what we are allowed to think on these subjects? Who knows? PayPal won’t say.
Toby Young also founded an organization called the Free Speech Union, which helps people who are thrown out of their jobs or otherwise damaged because of what they have said. PayPal has also closed its account.
What - in the name of John Milton and of John Stuart Mill - is going on? Answers on a postcard please.
Tony Herbert
25 September 2022
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