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Dear , Thanks for signing our petition to end the lockdowns in Australia. So far we have had 1,300 valid signatures, and the number is still growing. But we could always do with more, so please circulate the URL to friends, family and colleagues. I thought you might appreciate some updated information on what is happening around Australia and the world. (Much of this information is courtesy of Professor Gigi Foster at UNSW). The arrival of a number of vaccines means that countries will start to deal with COVID differently as public fear subsides. This does not mean that COVID is going away – no vaccine is 100% effective, and the vaccines will probably need to be adjusted each year for the COVID season - which means we will have to learn to live with it. So it is important to keep the pressure up on governments to act more rationally. Ultimately it needs better governance, and it was heartening to see the Queensland Greens attempting to get parliamentary oversight of the Chief Health Officer’s decisions in the Queensland parliament. A good model for what needs to be done is in “Policy making during crises: how diversity and disagreement can help manage the politics of expert advice”, published in the British Medical Journal. A group of UK doctors has put up an open letter against lockdowns here: https://usforthem.co.uk/first-do-no-harm/ More broadly, doctors and medical professionals across the world are represented here: https://worlddoctorsalliance.com/ An excellent compendium has been compiled of evidence against the wisdom of lockdowns and opportunities to push against them, though the site’s curators/moderators keep themselves well-disguised: https://evidencenotfear.com/ Perhaps a reason for the mysterious stewardship of the above site is the sort of phenomenon discussed here: https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/coronavirus/2020/10/why-scientists-fear-toxic-covid-19-debate?fbclid=IwAR2_4Yqo0bsLFeJplJJVxdnbHo9xQYxxavtvSPW44lvJhg1ALSnRic9ehVY It's not easy leaning against the majority, but if you’re feeling the pressure this video might give you a lift: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyDsjHZHsGc And if you want to understand just how extreme, or not, your local lockdown is, here is a lockdown severity response tracker: https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/research-projects/coronavirus-government-response-tracker The ABC Four Corners team have put together a program about the costs of lockdowns in Australia as told by people on the ground, including those paying the costs: https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/the-job-ahead:-surviving-australia%E2%80%99s-covid-19/12711470 For those who prefer to fight the fines imposed on people found to disobey lockdown restrictions, rather than help people pay them: https://www.rebelnews.com/fight_the_fines_australia Ivor Cummins, is a trained engineer turned health guru who has been talking sense all the way during the pandemic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvFhIFzaac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmoM1AMdd4g In this radio interview Maajid Nawaz confronts a SAGE epidemiologist about the costs of lockdowns: https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/maajid-nawaz/epidemiologist-on-cost-of-second-lockdown-coronavirus/ Gigi Foster has also been making appearances such as: https://www.mixcloud.com/Troublemag/gigi-foster-the-economics-of-a-pandemic/ (interview for Deep Trouble podcast) https://news.yahoo.com/uk-lockdown-cost-covid-19-coronavirus-treasury-select-committee-economist-161611405.html (story following my testimony to the UK Treasury Select Committee) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1skjFx_FLKcBx4ij3l7hFT5fwSOBQOpgL/view?usp=sharing (panel discussion with Gigi Foster, David Limbrick MP and Sanjeev Sabhlok, moderated by Daniel Wild of the IPA, organised by Bev McArthur MP) Speaking of the IPA, that organisation has conducted the following modelling of the costs of lockdown policies: https://ipa.org.au/publications-ipa/media-releases/modelling-finds-covid-elimination-strategy-equal-to-entire-health-defence-education-and-welfare-spend-combined To round it off here are some other informative pieces from the UK media: Regards,
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