COVID - WHEN THE CURE IS WORSE THAN THE DISEASE

COVID-19 case numbers are said to be rising, although the evidence is unclear. Are numbers really rising or is there simply more testing, and hence more positive cases, being recorded ? The 'Omicron' variant is said to be more infectious, but is this also a figment, created by an increase in testing ? What cannot be denied is that, despite apparently greater numbers of infections, hospital admissions remain at a far lower level than in the height of previous upsurges of the epidemic and the number of deaths recorded daily "with COVID" has barely changed over the last few months. "With COVID" is, of course, not quite the same thing as "of COVID" in any case.

Thankfully, the UK government has yet to offer a 'knee jerk' response to the latest developments and we are told that there will be no new restrictions on our freedoms before the New Year; at the same time, it's suggested that the so-called 'rule of 6' may yet be re-introduced before too long. Sadly, the people of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have already been hit with additional controls.

The evidence in support of further restrictions is scant, bordering on the none existent. For once, it seems that the UK government has got it right while, the socialist administrations in Wales and Scotland have been carried away by their innate desire to manage peoples' lives, and that in Northern Ireland has fallen prey to its fears of past events as well as of the European Union.

While the lugubrious Mark Drakeford and desperate Nicola Sturgeon seek political advantage through their increasingly authoritarian approach to this epidemic, the scientific evidence continues to indicate that they have both picked the 100-1 outsider in a two horse race. COVID-19 is on its way out and will soon be seen to be little more of a real threat than a bout of influenza or, even, the common cold. COVID is not smallpox or 'the plague'; it has far more in common with Legionnaires disease, HIV or BSE, all of which were publicised as being mortal dangers to the entire world population when they were nothing of the sort.

COVID-19 is a new virus and can be dangerous, especially to those with other morbidities or poor life styles. To the vast majority of the population, it is little more than a minor inconvenience. Unfortunately, the measures introduced to control a minor inconvenience have proved rather more dangerous to every day life of most of us than the virus itself. The societal, economic and financial consequences will be with us for decades to come, while the disruption to the education of those at school and university may well have even longer term impact.

COVID-19 will be little more than a memory before very long; the consequences of the measures taken world-wide to combat it will be with us for much, much longer. 

IN MEMORY OF ENGLISH CRICKET WHICH SANK WITHOUT TRACE AT MELBOURNE ON 28th DECEMBER 2021.

Has there ever been a worse England performance or more pathetic post-match comments from a team's leaders ?

The Ashes have been lost after less than an hour and a half into play on the third day of a planned 5-day match. England weren't just beaten, they were destroyed, utterly humiliated and yet the leadership had only the usual tripe to serve up after the game.

Head coach, Chris Silverwood, after seeing his team lose for the ninth time in their last 12 matches, opined that he believed the players still supported him and his methods. "We just have to put performances together and start pushing back", he is reported as saying. Are such statements of what might be called "the bleedin' obvious" the best he can dream up ? Is it not HIS JOB to achieve such an end ? Are not the team's miserable performances principally a consequence of his failure to do 'HIS JOB' ? 

Then there are the words and demeanour of captain Joe Root. Poor Root seems to have but one downtrodden expression on his face and his body language is equally gloomy. He trots out the same worthless banalities after every defeat, spouting such rubbish as "My energy has to be all about trying to win the next game" and "You've got to rally the players. That's a big part of captaincy". Sadly for Root, it's also where his most abysmal failure lies. "We know the areas we need to improve. We have to keep getting better ...... ", says Root; what ? "keep getting better" ? when all they've done is get worse. This is utter rubbish and shows Root trotting out what is little more than a programmed line for the media. Where are the real words of a real leader ?

Root is a fine batsman who is, perhaps, bordering on greatness in that role, but he is no captain; Silverwood has proved to be a failure as head coach. Both must go, Root back to being the team's best batsman by far and Silverwood to obscurity. While there may be no immediately obvious alternative to take on the role of captain, the truth is that almost anyone will do as they can do no worse. As for the role of coach, surely there is some inspirational figure waiting in the wings, some former player who can take over at least for the next couple of games before a permanent appointment can be made.

And finally, there is the role of the ECB, the body ultimately responsible for the almighty mess in which England's test match side finds itself. It is the ECB that decided to banish the real cricket of the county championship to the outer reaches of the season, to days when the weather is often dull and damp and players have little chance to hone their skills in preparation for more arduous contests. Instead, the best months of the season are reserved mostly for assorted limited overs competitions in which bashing the ball around takes precedence over the demands of longer forms of the game. Rather than looking to enhance the championship with innovative ideas, the ECB has chosen to whittle it down to a point at which it is now largely pointless and played at times when spectators will often be discouraged from attending due to the weather, thus providing perfect ammunition in favour of still more cash generating, knock-about tournaments in mid-summer. 

So if head coach Silverwood and captain Joe Root have failed, as they surely have, it is not their failure alone. At the top of the pile are those at the ECB whose failure has been even greater, for not only did they appoint Silverwood and Root, but they have also destroyed the main nursery for future test match players. The ECB is a disaster, simply one of the myriad bureaucratic bodies that now infest our society and set up to meet political ends as much as the needs of the sport. 

English cricket needs a total revamp. The ECB will no doubt set up a committee to review "what went wrong" in Australia and that will be expected to "make recommendations" at some future date, recommendations that will largely exonerate the ECB itself and will suggest various bits of tinkering at the edges of the national structure. Phooey ! 

The ECB should, and must, be disbanded and consigned to the rubbish heap. A far simpler and more reactive body should replace it, with a return to a system much more like the days when the MCC ran things. The county championship for 2022 must be dramatically enhanced and promoted, while the insane concentration on ever shorter forms of the game must be ended. Touring, both to and from England, must be more realistic, with touring sides allowed the opportunity to become acclimatised by playing matches against counties, states, islands or whatever the local structure provides. Trying to cram umpteen test matches, ODIs, 20-20s and heaven knows what else into as short a period as possible must end.

English cricket is in a parlous state. Only major surgery will save it.

MORE WOE FOR ENGLAND'S HAPLESS CRICKETERS

England's pathetic performance in the current Ashes series continued apace in the traditional Boxing Day test match in Melbourne. Once again, their batting crumbled in the face of the Australian attack with only captain Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow scoring more than 30; the rest did little to trouble the bowlers, let alone the scorer.

England had made an attempt to refresh their side, dropping the failing Burns and Pope, and bringing in Wood and Leach for Woakes and Broad; the result was the same old mess. Of the replacements, only Bairstow proved to be of any use. Zak Crawley, whose batting average in 15 matches is not even 20, excluding one major innings, was restored to the line up to no effect while the return of Wood and Leach has yet to produce any benefit.

Let's face it. England's selection, coaching and captaincy are all in need of serious attention. Ray Illingworth, who sadly died on Christmas Day, would have been appalled by the pathetic efforts of this current England team. In his day, players put in a full shift of county matches as well as tests in a domestic season, while on tour in Australia and New Zealand in 1970/71 they played the state sides as well as tests and no one complained about being tired or needing a rest, despite playing 16 first class matches and 13 others. Added to this, the appointment of Illingworth as captain was controversial but ultimately his leadership resulted in the winning of the Ashes despite his team being not dissimilar to that which Joe Root is leading; something of a mish-mash with few genuine stars. The difference was that Illingworth was a Captain and led his side by example, creating a winning mentality despite it all.

England now seem to be on an inexorable path to a 5-0 whitewash, with only the weather likely to save them this humiliation. Root's recent comments about his own desire to record a century highlight his own failure as a captain - his focus should be on his team, not himself. Sack the coach, find a proper captain and change the whole pattern of English domestic cricket. Only then will there be any hope of ever regaining the Ashes against a far more organised and determined Australia.

WOKEISM MUST BE REJECTED.

Watching the magnificent Stanley Kubrick epic, 'Spartacus', one is tempted to wonder how far back in time wokeish revisionism might stretch.

The Roman Empire covered much of Europe as well as parts of north Africa and the modern day Middle East. It was barbaric and forced many millions into the most appalling slavery; gladiators were habitually forced to fight to the death for the gratification of the free populace as well as for the pleasure of the elite. Some unfortunate souls were literally "thrown to the lions" and other beasts. Compared with the activities of the much later British Empire, the Romans, modern day Italians, were a hundred, even a thousand, times worse.

And yet it is the British and their empire which attract the constant attention of the woke extremists. It is the British who are vilified for their part in the slave trades of, particularly, the 18th and early 19th centuries; that thousands of white British citizens were subject to virtual slavery for centuries before this, it is the trade in African slaves that dominates all else. Why is this ?

Surely it is because the wokeish revisionists are not so interested in the basic issues as in destroying our modern society in favour of their own Marxist agenda. They care not for slaves, only for how slavery can be used as a weapon in their ultra-left wing campaign against the capitalist societies which they despise and are desperate to destroy; should they ever succeed, God help those who oppose them, of whatever colour or creed they may be. This is the reality of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement as well as of other recent upwellings such as "Extinction Rebellion" and "Insulate Britain"; it is the reality of those behind the promotion of the climate goblin, Greta Thunberg, who appears too naive to understand that she is simply a convenient tool for people who have a much darker agenda.

Even today, slavery remains in force in many countries, acknowledged or not, while genocide is in progress in China and other places. In many countries, women have few, if any. rights; in some countries, barbaric punishments such as the amputation of hands and feet remain in force, while it is not uncommon for there to be stonings or burnings to death of supposed blasphemers, carried out by fanatical mobs without the intervention of any form of legal process. Why do such atrocities escape the attention of the so-moral Woke ?

Strangely, the Woke brigade seems to ignore all of this and concentrates its fire on the British and one or or two other Western democracies that have done more to promote the rights of the coloured, the underprivileged and disadvantaged, the disabled and every other imaginable 'minority' group, even when these 'minorities' are, in truth, majorities. Western money poured into the bottomless pit that is Africa, is condemned, while Chinese money is welcomed - why ?

Woke ideology movements such as BLM, XR and all the rest are simply covers for a Marxist assault on the Western world. They must be rejected, repulsed by whatever means are available, not pandered to by governments which seem far too keen to jump on any passing bandwagon that makes enough noise. Noise is not public opinion, nor is Twitter; it is the ravings of a minority and should be treated as such. In the end, it is the 'Silent Majority' that will speak, and it's words may not be those which those blown so easily by the wind will wish to hear, let alone be prepared for.

The elite, which is Wokeish by nature, knows this and will take steps to introduce authoritarian measures to prevent it from happening. Either we act very soon, or we are lost.

TIME TO END THE COVID HYSTERIA.

As the Welsh and Scottish 'governments' impose evermore restrictive and authoritarian rules for dealing with the COVID epidemic, and specifically the so-called 'Omicron' variant, while the UK government seems unable to decide what to do for the best, what do we really know about what is going on ?

The 'Omicron' variant of the COVID-19 virus is probably more infectious than earlier variants. It may cause less severe symptoms, less hospitalisations and less deaths, or it may not. We also know that the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions or who are immunosuppressed for any reason are much more likely to be severely affected by all the COVID variants. 'Omicron' may be less susceptible to control by the existing vaccinations though a third 'booster' dose appears to provide quite strong protection.

That's it.

Beyond these few facts, all else is theory, derived from an assortment of modelling and associated projections made by fearful medics, scientists and politicians. The inevitable and real consequences of the often highly restrictive policies they implement seem to be ignored in favour of dealing with a theoretical threat in a draconian way.

Even today, as we live under the threat of yet another lock down, there are reports that the Omicron variant may already be waning; even if it is not, the numbers of hospitalisations and deaths being reported are not rising. Yes, the number of positive tests reported each day are at very high levels but so are the number of tests being carried out daily. Shockingly, it is only the first of these metrics which is ever mentioned, potentially producing a highly misleading and biased picture. 

And so we are told to wear masks, isolate, avoid socialising - basically, to give up any sort of normal life. Schools have been shut, universities defraud their students, pubs and restaurants are on their knees and half the workforce has converted its kitchen into a home office. ID cards, in all but name, have been threatened, even introduced in some parts, under the cover of calling them 'Vaccine Passports'. he police have been diverted from tackling real crime, if they ever do that any more, to tracking down those who dare to defy the new anti-COVID masterplan. 

While all this goes on, thousands upon thousands of people are being denied access to essential medical services and huge numbers of cancer diagnoses are being missed. Thousands of businesses are simply going out of business as their employees are forced to isolate or their customers are told not to visit. Our high streets are empty as retailers close, never to reopen, and their customers are forced to use the online services of the likes of Amazon. 

It seems that the government has adopted an approach of maximum caution even though the evidence in favour of this is scant. In reality, the sooner COVID, of any variant, is free to circulate, the sooner the epidemic will be over. Yes, there will be deaths but how many of these will be directly and solely due to COVID ? Another piece of information that we don't know as our masters have chosen not to share the historic data with us.

It is time for the UK government to get a grip and take proper control. COVID is a risk but it's not dangerous for the vast majority of the population; lockdowns and isolation, lack of access to healthcare and economic bankruptcy are.

TIME TO END THE NONSENSE OF 'TRANS'.

I think I've now heard more than enough about the absurdity of 'trans'.

The human species has 2 sexes, or genders - male and female. That's it. The idea that someone can 'change sex' is ludicrous and simply trying to confuse the issue by claiming that sex and gender are different things makes no sense whatsoever.

Of course, there are a very few people who are unfortunate enough to be born with a genetic abnormality which can cause them to be 'intersex', that is, to have a mixture of both male and female sex characteristics but these people are not 'trans'. They are usually treated medically or surgically, or both, to give them the appearance and overall characteristics of one or other of the 2 human sexes.

Equally, there are people who claim to have been born in the "wrong body" and can and do undergo treatments to adopt the form of the opposite sex. Whatever these people do in terms of cosmetic alterations to their bodies and however they live their lives subsequently, they remain male or female as they were at birth and as they always will be, no matter what pieces of paper they have been issued with to say anything different.

To be clear, I have no problem with people living their lives as they wish to, so long as they don't interfere with or annoy anyone else. However, I do have a problem with these 'trans' numpties who demand all manner of special rights and privileges, deny biological facts and generally make a bloody nuisance of themselves. That major organisations, including public and private bodies, seem so keen to kowtow and accommodate their every whim actually annoys me even more than the individuals themselves as without this bonkers acceptance of lunacy the whole 'trans' issue would surely fade away.

We die as we were born, whatever clothes we wear in the years between. 'Trans' is total nonsense and it's time those in authority said so, loud and clear.

ENGLISH CRICKET ON THE ROPES

Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has taken a pot shot at England's current skipper, Joe Root, posing the question as to why he is captain.

Thus far, the performance of the England team in the Ashes series taking place in Australia has been abysmal. Apart from a couple of decent innings from Root and Dawid Malan, England have been utterly outplayed in all departments - batsmen like rabbits in the headlights, dropped catches, poor bowling strategy, inexplicable selection - all issues which a truly involved and competent captain would be addressing. But not, it seems, Joe Root.

Comparing Root's demeanour and behaviour on the field with that of Mike Brearley, even if Brearley was around 40 years ago, is educational. While Brearley was involved with his players, moving around the field at speed, talking at length with his bowlers as they walked back to their marks and racing back to his own position before they delivered, Root seems, literally, rooted to the spot. He stands at slip looking miserable and constantly bemused; rather than exhibiting confidence and energy, he looks fearful and worn out. Compared with Brearley and others of his predecessors, Ray Illingworth and Michael Vaughan spring immediately to mind, Root is nowhere in sight. 

Yes, he is a fine batsman, but being a fine batsman does not make him a good captain. In truth, he is  not a captain although this is only one of England's problems. Geriatric fast bowlers, poor fielding and a weak batting lineup don't help either. Some have complained that the England player's had too little preparation for this series, but whose fault is that ? Not the players themselves, for sure, but a system which tries to shoe horn far too many test matches, ODIs and 20-20s into too short a period, while having abandoned the once traditional round of games against local sides, in the case of a tour of Australia, 3 or 4-day matches against the various states and an assortment of other preparatory games. In that system, the touring players had every chance to become acclimatised, but no more. Today's players are simply thrown into test matches with little more than net practice.

The consequence of this, added to the astonishing mess that is English domestic cricket, is what we've seen in Australia in the last 2 or 3 weeks - the utter humiliation of England by a dominant and confident Australian team. England's problems go deep and a 5-0 whitewash is surely on the cards, unless the weather, or COVID, intervene. Maybe that will stir something amongst the moribund mob that make up the ECB, though I doubt it.