coronavirus
-
How to Avoid Catching Covid – July 2025 update
The vast majority of the population of the UK have had at least one confirmed or suspected Covid infection but some people, including myself and my husband have never had Covid and many people have only had it once. In some cases this will be down to luck, or to some little understood aspect of Continue reading
-
‘Calm mongering’ : Constructing False Narratives about Covid-19
The ways in which the UK government, the health services and general public seem to be in complete denial about the continuing dangers posed by Covid-19 and its impacts on health, the economy and society is a key theme discussed across this website. This blog discusses a recent paper from the US which coins the Continue reading
-
Missed Opportunities: The First Eighty Three Days of 2020
Analysis of what witnesses said at the Covid-19 inquiry and other sources suggest that Britain was ill prepared for the pandemic, and went into the first lockdown far too late, and as a result many lives were lost, the NHS more or less collapsed in the sense that staff were subjected to intolerable pressures from Continue reading
-
UK Heath and Security Agency (UKHSA) Make up the data!
On Thursday 10 October the UKHSA announced plans for a series of weekly updated graphs about so called ‘winter viruses’, based on data that is already available. So far so good – there is nothing wrong with presenting data more clearly in graphic form. Except it was not OK. The post has now been removed Continue reading
-
How to Avoid Catching Covid
This blog is a revised and updated version of my previous blog on this subject which was published May 2023. The vast majority of the population of the UK have had at least one confirmed or suspected Covid infection. This reflects the fact that governments and authorities have allowed the virus to rip by failing Continue reading
-
Summer Wave 2024
Whilst politicians, the media and the UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) continue to pretend that Covid-19 is now a seasonal illness that strikes in late Autumn and Winter, the UK, in common with many other countries, now seems to be entering the second significant wave of infections of spring/early summer 2024. This blog provides Continue reading
-
Mask Abuse and Discrimination
Summary Back in 2020 and 2021 it was normal for people in the UK to wear masks, and it was sometimes mandatory in healthcare, supermarkets and other public buildings, for example. However, after the so called freedom day in July 2021 fewer and fewer people wear masks, even in very high risk settings which has Continue reading
-
Preparing for the Next Pandemic
Earlier this year the World Economic Forum at Davos held a discussion about ‘Disease x’ and how to prepare for it. This blog discusses the issues focusing on the UK context in terms of preparedness for another pandemic. I am fully aware that we are still in the current pandemic as confirmed by the World Continue reading
-
Failings of the British Public Broadcaster – the BBC
Summary I have posted a number of my complaints made about BBC news coverage of Covid-19 on this website. In my assessment the BBC has shown a consistent, pro government bias throughout the pandemic and has failed in its public duty to warn the public about the continuing dangers posed by Covid-19. I and many Continue reading
-
WHO – Covid-19 is airborne!
Yes, we have known for years that Covid-19 is airborne (SARsCoV2) and indeed, individual officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) have been admitting it for years. Yet a powerful body within the WHO has clung onto their original line that it is transmitted by droplets. This all changed on 28 March when the WHO Continue reading
GILLIAN SMITH About Me
I am a semi retired social researcher and have previously held a number of senior social research positions in Whitehall Departments. See an interview with me here. I live in a London suburb with my husband who has suffered multiple serious illnesses over the last few years. I myself am living with MND.
This series of blogs represent a personal, evidence based perspective based on living in the UK at a time when we are all meant to be ‘living with COVID’. Although I am a social scientist by training, I have worked closely with people from different disciplines throughout my career in order to present a complete picture of the evidence on specific policy issues. I am therefore scientifically literate but where I quote evidence based on research beyond my particular expertise it is always validated with relevant experts. I am a member of the Clinically Vulnerable Families group, though please note that the information presented here and any views expressed are my own. We are a friendly, supportive group and can be found via Facebook in private mode or in public mode via X (formerly twitter) Or BlueSky.Social
.
Living on Plague Island 