STILL WE DONT KNOW WHERE THE VIRUS CAME FROM

There may be a connection between the Wuhan lab and the origin of the virus, but the world doesn't know, not as yet....
One theory is that the virus, which occurs naturally in bats and pangolins, escaped accidentally from the Wuhan research facility because of poor safety protocols.
After all, the Wuhan Institute of Virology studies coronaviruses in bats, that is one of its jobs. And it is right next to where some of the infections were first diagnosed.
Indeed on 2 December 2019 the lab moved down the road a short way, to new premises just a few hundred meters from the wet market...was that how the virus escaped, because of China's lax safety record in its labs? Or was the lab move part of its cover-up for something it knew had gone wrong?

On reflection, why was China even studying coronaviruses? What was its purpose? Was it part of a bio warfare weapons program? 

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MY HEROES

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/

Ron Popeil

I've a weakness for smooth talkers, flash harry types ... Arthur Daley, Nigel Farrage, Billy Graham, Max Miller a real favourite ... but wait, there's more ... what is it about them ?

What I really wanted to do in life was sell plates or sets of knives off the back of a lorry down the markets in East London.

Put away your fifty pound notes, put away your tenners, today I'm letting you have this for just a fiver. 'Ere, draw in a little closer love, we don't the old Bill spoiling our party now do we!

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A STORY TO INSPIRE US ALL

Voici une histoire pour t'inspirer à atteindre tes rêves et à ne jamais les  abandonner.  

Il y a de nombreuses années, la femme de mon pote a terminé deuxième dans une concours Miss Scotland. C'était en 1997.  

Plus tard cette année-là, elle a été assaillie par une longue période de malchance.  Elle a souffert pendant des années d'abus de drogues et d'alcool et d'une série de troubles alimentaires.  Elle a perdu une jambe et a dû subir une reconstruction faciale après un accident de la route, la pauvrette.  Plus tard, elle a subi des brûlures à 90 % lors d'une attaque à l'acide non provoquée, la malchanceuse.  Plusieurs de ses dents ont été cassées et un œil a été crevé lors d'une bagarre devant un KFC pour son plat à emporter.  Le stress de tous ces malheurs a causé une grave perte de cheveux et des verrues faciales.  

Mais elle n'a JAMAIS, jamais cessé de croire et finalement, le mois dernier, elle a été couronnée Miss Ecosse 2021.

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GO LONG DEFENSIVES IN VACCINATED MARKETS, LONG CYCLICALS IN JAPAN & EMERGING

To Bank of America global investment strategist Michael Hartnett, there have been three distinct phases to describe market action over the last eight months. 

The first is what he labels the reopening rally, started on Nov. 3 by both the U.S. election and the reports of vaccine effectiveness. That boosted stocks and credit, steepened the yield curve, weakened the U.S. dollar, and led to cyclicals outperforming defensives.

The next phase was the inflation boom, started on Feb. 16 by blowout U.S. retail sales. That led to commodities rising, yields surging, cracks in the technology sector, and value stocks outperforming growth. 

The third phase was what he calls "peak growth/policy," starting on Jun. 16 by the Federal Reserve as well as easing signs from China. That led to a yield curve collapse, bonds outperforming stocks and commodities, the dollar rising, and defensives outperforming cyclicals. 

So what to do now? He says own defensive quality in the second half, as it is both a hedge against peak policy, and peak profits. He advises going

  long defensives in what he calls the vaccinated markets of the U.S. and Europe, 

and

  long cyclicals and reopening plays in markets with vaccine upside, in Japan and emerging markets.

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EAT WITH THE BOSCH, SLEEP WITH THE BRITS

The UK is France's new neighbour and France would do well to remember this. And we are not just neighbours, we are relatives.

And when another of France's neighbours was trying, for the third time no less, to burn their house down, who was the neighbour that came to the rescue and put out the fire?

Well, hmmmmph, that other neighbour is having another go. Best to take a long spoon to the talks about "integration".

Eat with the ..., sleep with the ....

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TRADERS GET COLD IN THE AMYGDALA

Today's Wednesday.

Wednesday, 21 July 2021

You'd have needed a degree in crowd psychology to have been able to predict Monday and Tuesday on the LSE.

The herd of investors (they're not really investors, they are traders) got cold in the amygdala at the thought of covid running out of control over the summer and shutting down the economy, abandoned their positions, and ran for shelter in the dollar bunkers. They sold up and moved to cash, the safety of the dollar, which enjoyed a bounce.

And then the very next day, yesterday Tuesday, FOMO and they all rush back in!

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CONSPIRACY THEORISTS

Normaly, you want to explain something, you have your cause-effect timeline as your plan and proceed left-to-right.

A conspiracy theorist does it all back-to-front. They take the thing they want to explain, then do a right-to-left, picking back through history from the myriad factoids, those that suit their perverse argument.

Anyone can do that, but it's weird and unhelpful.

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REVOLUTION OR EVOLUTION?

All these revolutionaries are the same - utopianists as much as religious extremists (eg caliphate builders).

They begin operations in the same place: your past.

They aim to wipe the past and your memories, clean.

Then they have a nice clean greenfield site on which to construct The New Society. 

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WHO ARE INDIE SAGE?

18 July 2021

Independent SAGE - "Indie-SAGE" they like to be called, borrowing the name of the official advisory SAGE and its name-remit, it's more friendly - link to the official source, SAGE, of independent scientific advice on how to deal with emergencies to government through SPI-B (SAGE). People on "Indie SAGE" are essentially behavioural scientists and some also sit on the official SAGE and make their case to government directly here.

They also face the public, through innumerable tie-ins, like trades unions, newspapers, internet.

It is in practise impossible to separate the data that describes a situation, from the policy for managing the situation. Data, policy and operations are intertwined.

What precedes policy, what conditions policy, are your beliefs and values, ie your politics. Behavioural scientists study the behaviour of people in mass society. In this situation, it is virtually impossible not to hold a Marxist view of society: we are born into "society" and conditioned by our membership of the class to which we belong. After following the social rules on what to think and do, what is left is our personal sphere of freedom.

Contrast this with a true Conservative, who thinks we are born free and consent to join the group while it offers us protection against anarchy and dictatorship. We enjoy maximum freedom to do as we please, which we agree to exchange a part of for this protection.

Furthermore, a Marxist has a vision of a society that is social, equal, diverse and fair. That's really quite different from a Conservative, who abhors the nanny state (read "dictatorship of the people"), with all its tentacles damping down freedom and competition.

So, long story short, Indie SAGE are to be welcomed, they bring a lot of interesting evidence, conclusions and policy recommendations; but we can hear them coming from afar, in their big red Marxist boots!

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FORWARD TO NEW NORMAL

Seems like we are on the way to understanding and living with this bug. We are more confident now and responsibility can be passed from State to the Individual, at lest for prevention.

Much remains to be done: complete the vaccination program, optimise Test and Trace, improve treatments (improve vaccines, hospital procedures, long covid convalescence ...), plan for future 'virus wars'.

Attention should go to rolling out the programs to countries outside the G7. The WHO could help coordination.

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COVID FOR TRAVELING TO ENGLAND

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-for-people-travelling-to-england

https://www.find-travel-test-provider.service.gov.uk/test-type/green

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