It has been a minute, as the cool kids are fond of saying. A lot has happened, both in the world generally and my life specifically.
1. Steyn lost, at least temporarily. But truth ultimately won the day:
In the realm of environmental insanity, it was disheartening to see Mark Steyn admonished to the tune of USD$1m by a climate change brainwashed jury in Washington D.C. However, and while it is unlikely that this seven-figure punitive damages verdict will withstand appeal, what Steyn and his fellow defendant, Rand Simberg, did succeed in doing was eliciting evidence demonstrating that Michael Mann’s (in)famous hockey-stick graph was as many had believed: the most tortured example of manipulated statistics to have ever deceived a generation. Steyn and Simberg both deserve hero’s praise for withstanding more than a decade of Mann’s pathological abuse of the legal system, and for exposing Mann and the hidden clique funding him as the incredibly duplicitous villains of their own story.
I followed the trial most days as work and other commitments permitted via the D.C. District Court’s WebEx link. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind by the end that the whole thing was a ridiculous farce - Mann failed to litigate several of his claims, his lawyers were exposed wilfully lying to the jury about the value of supposed lost grants, and there was absolutely no evidence advanced to support the quantum of alleged damages. Had the trial happened 10-12 years ago at the time Mann first filed his clown world lawsuit, the verdict would have, in my honest opinion, been vastly different. Only in today’s mainstream media climate-change brainwashed and hurty-words obsessed woke world could someone as small as Mann be victorious while hiding behind a group of expensive and illicitly funded lawyers, pointing at Steyn like a whining schoolboy and stammering to the effect: “He hurt my feelings!”
2. You have to be antisemetic, because standing with Jewish people is now extremism
Anyone observing events in London beyond those reported in the mainstream media will have noticed that Pro-Palestine marches and other forms of activism have largely gone unchallenged, and in many cases been supported by the Police and Mayor’s Office. Conversely, police officers have: (i) removed posters around London showing missing or kidnapped Israeli women and children; (ii) arrested and, after public backlash, released a protester who rightly labelled Hamas as terrorists; (iii) refused to intervene against muslim and Pro-Palestine protesters who glorify terrorism and terrorists - such as those celebrating the recent Houthi terror attacks in the Red Sea (here) and others carrying flags or chanting calls for jihad (here), and disingenuously sought to claim ISIS flags were something other than the call for jihad that any informed person knows them to be (here).
We also have universities in London where Pro-Palestine and muslim students are allowed to chant pro-Palestine and anti-Israel slogans and make speeches calling for donations to charaties sympathetic to their cause, and where Jewish students live in fear of harassment and abuse (here and here). While I am not Jewish, in recent years I count many wonderful and generous Jewish people as some of my closest friends - almost like family, in fact. I personally have had to provide pastoral support to a female Jewish student who experienced exactly this in one of her midwifery classes - from fellow students in one of what is supposed to be the caring professions.
Which segues nicely to the third item…
3. Destroying a century-old painting is acceptable, because Palestine!
On the 8th of March, 2024 we were greeted with news that an as-yet unnamed but known member of Pro-Palestine, anti-Israel activist group called Palestine Action had entered the University of Cambridge’s Trinity College and damaged a painting of Lord Balfour, an early 1900s politician. Palestine Action claimed responsibility on twitter/X, citing the 1917 Balfour Declaration as the pivotal moment that they say, began the ‘ethnic cleansing of Palestine’. While the Balfour Declaration declared sympathy for the Jewish people, and announced the British Goverment’s support for establishment of a national home, Balfour stated categorically in his cover letter that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.
Lord Balfour through his various declarations and reports could be said to have had significant input in the granting of sovereignty and independance to former colony countries such as Canada and India, and there is nothing in his writings to suggest, as Palestine Action contend, that he in any way would countenance the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of any peoples. As yet, and three days later, this known member of Palestine Action has not been arrested - and there appears to be nothing in today’s media reports to suggest police are even taking action to identify or search for her.
But let’s be clear… Gen Z Moana didn’t just damage the painting as the Trinity college spokesperson says. That downplays and belies the true extent of her actions. She completely and maliciously destroyed an irreplaceable and priceless 110 year old artwork - first with red enamel spraypaint, and second with a blade, a dangerous and unlawful concealed weapon she had secreted into Trinity College.
But what about me?
The last month has been tumultuous.
My 11 year old son is homeschooled. No, we aren’t members of some strange religious sect or cult. And yes, as many who know me are aware, I do have a fundamental disagreement with the proliferation of nonsense that has displaced real education in schools now - such as critical race theory, trans-based sex education and all the other woke and identity-based ideologies. However, it wasn’t even for these reasons. My son and most of his classmates simply weren’t thriving in their Year 4 class, and rather than look at all the ideology nonsense they were drilling into the children each day and the fact that the teacher spent almost no time in the classroom, leaving two teaching assistants to attend to the class. No… the school constantly sought to blame the children, repeatedly harassing parents to allow them to ‘evaluate the children for special needs diagnoses’. It seems that, for the school he was at and from what I am now hearing, many others, the school’s focus had become to register as many children as they could as requiring SEN intervention. This has two effects. First, each SEN-registered child becomes a source of additional funding for the school from the local council. Second, SEN registration can have the effect of extinguishing the parent’s right and ability to remove their child from council-managed education and home school without explicit approval from the council. The teachers kept pressuring me to get my son ‘diagnosed’ and approved for SEN. His inability to thrive and learn in school was apparently his fault. Not theirs.
Two years later and while his classmates are struggling to complete Year 6 of primary school and prepare for High School, I have spent much of the last couple of months helping my son preparing for several IGCSE exams… you know, those exams your 14-15 year old son or daughter who is in year 9 at high school will sit later this year. That’s right… the kid who was, according to them, to blame for his inability to learn in their council overseen primary school has engaged with his love for learning of math (algebra, trigonometry, calculus), science (chemistry, biology) and computer science (programming) and leapfrogged several years ahead of his peers. After a day-trip to Bletchly Park he even recently coded his own python-based enigma machine. For those who think home schooling is cheap and easy… I’m here to tell you it is anything but. Being father, teacher, chauffeur, invigilator, technical support and all of the other roles, and providing him all the materials (books, computer, internet, electronics, tutors etc.) is itself a full time job and costs as much as cheap private school fees might.
But. It’s. Worth. It.
During the last few weeks we moved house. The house we moved into had been largely intact and liveable when we viewed it mid-2023, but in the months it took the vendor to get the tenants out of the property so I could have vacant possession, the tenants - who I can only assume were disgruntled at having the property sold out from under them, took to leaving holes in the plasterwork of almost every room (some around a foot, or 30cm, in diameter), smashing powerpoints and even the cistern of the downstairs toilet, removed internal doors and left them haphazardly arranged in the garage, removed chattels, two light fixtures are damaged such that putting bulbs in them trips several fuses, and they even left a 2tonne skip brimming with rubbish in the front yard. I had to move as the lease was up on the house I had been renting, and I needed to be closer to London for work. But three weeks into the new house we are still largely living out of boxes as I clean and repair each room one at a time and repaint them. The added expense has pretty much cleaned me out financially - even with me spending my nights and weekends doing much of the work (except electrical and plumbing) myself.
The third issue I am dealing with is what appears to be sudden onset of failing eyesight. Most people who know me know I am a prolific reader, which is possibly why I have been so suited to academic research. One ophthalmologist says I have a rapidly developing posterior cataract. Another says I have Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) that either started gradually after an operation on my left eye in 2019, or rapidly after I suffered a bout of acute biliary colic in the second half of 2023, but which has only started to significantly really damage the lens surface in the last couple of months. The NHS just loses you in a black hole. I keep getting letters saying I am referred to this specialist or that, and that I am on their ‘list’… whatever that means. All we know is that most NHS consultants have two year or more waiting lists and people either die or their condition becomes untreatable or permanent before they matriculate to the top. The TLDR is that I have days where I can read for several hours, and other days where I suffer headaches and eye strain after several pages. I have to sleep with my eyes filled with a lubricating ointment and taped shut - which does seem to make things a little better after a long night. I am (still) awaiting an appointment with a private ophthalmologist from Moorfields - which, like the house repairs, could become very expensive, very quickly.
Where to from here:
Well, I have just been shown another bundle of documents relating to the Lucy Letby trial that I am going to try and read over the next few weeks come hell or high water. The complete Lucy Letby material I have written (both that which is published here on my substack and that which remains unpublished due to the current reporting restrictions) may end up becoming a book - if there is sufficient interest. I have also just released the first of two or three papers written with Professors Fenton and Neil from Where are the Numbers? looking at the statistical manipulations of vaccine studies - this first one showing that every covid-19 vaccination study used at least one form of the misclassification ‘cheap trick’ (here). The deeper analysis to be exposed in the next paper looks at not just the misclassification bias in Covid vaccine studies, but a range of manipulations and biases evident in studies of other vaccines such as influenza (flujab) and measles (MMR). I am also working on something regarding the tricks that were used with respect of predictive models and national statistics to create fear and compliance during 2020. Finally, I am following the case of a Birmingham nurse whose prosecution for similar alleged offences as Lucy Letby may start in the next 12 months.
Stay tuned for these and more…
Dear Sir, I see you are receiving all sorts of medical advice regarding your sight problems. As a private clinician of over 30 years experience, and a strong eye for research in areas of interest, I want to just say that the biliary colic you mentioned, along with the cataract can both develop as a result of a diet bot too high in carbohydrates AND too low in saturated fats. If, for example, you've been generally following the much repeated advice to keep saturated fats down due to vague cardiovascular risks, then this has, in all likelihood, resulted in a diet higher in carbs than is healthful. It is Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs) that cause cataracts. These are the direct result of repeated episodes (e.g. thrice daily) of raised blood glucose, which is what dietary carbohydrates are. STARCH (root veg and cereal grains) is chains of glucose, and SUGARS which are, technically, pairs of 'sugars' i.e. disaccharides, and they all get turned in to glucose (i.e. sucrose = glucose and fructose; lactose = galactose and glucose; maltose = glucose and glucose etc) and the glucose from all sources binds to proteins throughout the body (which is what we are made of, so they are literally everywhere) and prevent them from functioning properly. The most vulnerable are the finest proteins, such as the lens, the smallest capillaries, e.g. in the kidneys, retinae, and in the toes etc, and it is due to this that diabetics, with their generally excessive blood glucose, get clobbered in the kidneys, eyes and feet first with subsequent issues of sight loss, amputations and dialysis.
I should add that GLUTEN is a dastardly player in human health, and indeed in human history, as it can play havoc with our immune systems. This can manifest in virtually any tissue damage you can to name, including liver and gall bladder inflammation.
So, if I may be so bold, I suggest you drastically lower your carbohydrate intake (that includes fruit by the way, it's sweet you see, i.e. has sugars in) and in doing so ensure that the gluten is removed, as gluten is but a small part of cereal grains, the rest of which is mostly starch, i.e. glucose. Oh, and do not for a minute think that oats are a safe grain. They are just as bad for humans as are wheat, rye and barley when it comes to both gluten and glucose. Rice and corn are really just high in carbs/glucose. Their gluten is very much less reactive in humans than the type in wheat, oats, rye and barley.
I expect that you are fully aware of all this, but in case you were not, I am happy to offer you my suggestions to enable you to regain your health.
I too home educated, so I am a great supporter of others who do the same, and who free their beloved children from the arseholery of state education.
Re meibomian dysfunction, I have recently come across a case whereby the cause for the swollen eyelids was found to be cashew nuts. She stopped eating them and the eyes recovered, despite being told she had 'pouting' meibomian glands and therefore blepharitis. Nope - it was a food reaction. Not saying yours is the same, but be aware, individual reactions to foods are extremely complex and hard to work out. Listen to Tammy Peterson talking about her process of discovery and recovery from lifelong mysterious food reactions with an English vicar, Helen something, quite recently.
Good luck and thank you for your excellent work. Much appreciated.
Goodness what is not happening you!. The eyes matter most so you have to give them kindness and rest. I am hoping you are going to do a Lucy Letby book. Its hard getting a bomb site for a house, but you do seem to have a gift for turning wastelands of the mind into beautiful premises, so I think you can do the same with your house!
its interesting you say you are homeschooling your child, I am sure many people would love to take their kids out of the madness and give them what they were originally sent to school for, a real education.
Noted the bit of vandalism of the painting with dismay.
I did actually coming home one evening get caught in a Palestine march, that was because we were all put off the tube at Victoria and I had to walk to Vauxhall. it was a huge crowd , and I did see one poster which had three pigs heads on it decapitated with blood drops underneath, so I think there was obviously an element of that in the crowds. it was a massive number of people.
great newsletter thank you. I'll buy your Lucy book when its out. But care of the eyes, first.
Enjoyed your newsletter.