Journalist. Local government editor of @ConHome. Married with three daughters. harry.phibbs@gmail.com, capx.co/author/harryph…
Fulham
- Tweets 28,538
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- Followers 8,571
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I would like to hear an announcement from @nadhimzahawi today that children don't have to wear masks in school tomorrow.
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In 2016 Christine Lagarde was convicted of fraud. Today the EU nominated her to be the head of the European Central Bank. Thank goodness we are leaving this squalid, corrupt outfit. bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-…
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Joe Biden says cutting top income tax rate in the UK from 45% to 40% would have been wrong. The 40% rate here kicks in at £50,270. In the US the tax rate is 22% up to equivalent of £80,000. Then 24% on income up to £153,000. Top rate of 37% kicks in over £483,000.
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Extraordinary exchange on Any Questions, 23 mins in. @montie: "I don't know if you saw that documentary on Channel 4 about rape gangs?" @LucyMPowell: "Oh, you want to blow that little trumpet now, do you? Let's get that dog whistle out, shall we, yeah?" bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002bj…
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Perhaps the BBC might care to correct this? bbc.co.uk/news/business-6609…
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I actually think Rory Stewart would be a worse PM than Theresa May!
When asked what actually differentiates him from the Labour Party, Rory Stewart didn't mention the size or scope of the state, no word on the position of the individual in society, not even a contrast on tax policy!
To him the difference was his romantic love for the EU's CAP.
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Various reporters describing Sir John Major as a "Conservative". But Sir John urged people to vote against Conservative candidates at the last General Election.
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.@KemiBadenoch: "My Government will discard the priorities of Twitter and focus on the people's priorities. When we can't deliver passports and driving licences on time why are we spending millions on people whose jobs literally didn't exist a decade ago?"
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When @MPIainDS became Work and Pensions Secretary in May 2010 there were 2.51 million unemployed. Now down to 1.28 million. His welfare reforms have halved unemployment. A very well deserved knighthood!
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Would it not be a tad inconsistent to accuse Boris Johnson of being a "dictator" and then try to prevent him from calling a General Election?
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.@DanielJHannan: "Historians will look back in wonder at our recent resignations. A sitting prime minister was removed over uneaten cake on the advice of a civil servant who, it later emerged, was planning to work for the Leader of the Opposition." conservativehome.com/2023/05…
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.@DanielJHannan: “Outside the EU, Britain could have become freer and more competitive. We had a Conservative Government with an 80-seat majority, for Heaven’s sake. We could have scrapped Brussels regulations, flattened and simplified taxes, embraced global markets...
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It is a shame. A magazine that used to be anti establishment now peddles corporatist group think.
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Erasmus scheme VERY bad value for money. We put in £250 million a year. In return around 15,000 British students each get around £3,500 a year towards studying abroad - so about £50 million back! Lots of its budget goes on non-educational stuff - eg EU propaganda.
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.@DanielJHannan: “Russia poured £60 million into Western anti-fracking campaigns, using gullible activists to spread scare stories about contamination and earthquakes. It worked, ensuring that Europe remained dependent on Russian energy exports.” telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/02…
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In the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU pledged in "good faith" its “best endeavours to facilitate the trade between Northern Ireland and all other parts of the UK". It now threatens a food blockade. To say that shows a lack of "good faith" is something of an understatement!
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UK Government gives £364 million a year to UNICEF. Of course, UNICEF donating £25,000 to hungry children in the UK is a PR stunt. It should help in countries where children are starving. If UK children are the priority then let Govt cut £364m for UNICEF and give to foodbanks!
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Bad news for people smugglers! Second day running of no Channel crossings. Asylum seekers would evidently prefer to stay in France than go to Rwanda. The deterrence of the new policy already seems to be having an impact. gov.uk/government/statistica…
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Message from Culture Secretary @OliverDowden to museums and galleries on removing statues: "As publicly funded bodies, you should not be taking actions motivated by activism or politics." Could lose taxpayer subsidies if they do. #GoWokeGoBroke telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/09…
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Good news from @CityWestminster: "Having recently fully reviewed our Stonewall membership we have recently withdrawn our membership with immediate effect on a value for money basis."
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Despite having an important and demanding job @RobertJenrick made the time to drop round food and medicine to his parents. He should be commended for that decent behaviour - not vilified.
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Joe Biden has arrived in Rome with an 85-car motorcade for his meeting with the Pope to discuss climate change. The scale of the President's entourage shows just how seriously he takes the environment. dailymail.co.uk/news/article…
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The problem for the socialists is that eventually they run out of Lord Alli's money.
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Astonishingly anti democratic comment. I don’t like the election result. But I accept it. Civil servants are not “in partnership” with Ministers. They are there to serve Ministers. The people we elect. The blob has got out of control. They have got used to calling the shots.
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I wonder if Dominic Grieve popping up last week and declaring that he has “never been more ashamed to be a member of the Conservative Party" might have alienated him from some of the Conservative Party members in Beaconsfield he expects to work on his behalf?
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.@DanielJHannan; “Sometimes, the ECHR rulings are so perverse as to be hilarious, as when a Libyan alcoholic with 78 convictions overturned his deportation order partly on grounds that it was very hard to buy alcohol in Libya.”
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.@DanielJHannan :"The Tories could hardly fight an election promising to leave the EU while several of their candidates refused to accept that policy. Though the pundits are fainting like affronted matrons, voters appreciate Boris’s strength of purpose." washingtonexaminer.com/opini…
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.@spectator: “The Government could make some amends by calling for an amnesty and a pardon for all those who were convicted of breaching lockdown restrictions in 2020 and last year. Fines should be cancelled, criminal records erased.”
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Most important story today? It’s buried in the interview @trussliz gave the Sunday Telegraph. Raising the definition of a small business, in terms of regulation, from 250 to 500 employees.Means big cut in red tape for 40,000 firms. @AllisterHeath should’ve made more of his scoop!
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.@RossjournoClark: “As most people will work out for themselves when they receive their energy bills this spring, the biggest danger they face is not being fried or drowned in a slightly warmer world – it’s succumbing to hypothermia because they can’t afford to heat their homes.”
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Whatever view is taken on climate change, the claim that Britain should apologise for the industrial revolution is absurd. It has been a tremendous benefit to the entire world.
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This front page "splash" from Saturday has proved to be false. It may well have incited some of the unpleasant incidents outside the Cummings home in Islington. Will The Guardian apologise?
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Apparently, this chap wants to be the Labour candidate in the Hartlepool byelection. So he is busy deleting his pro-EU tweets. Not quite quickly enough...
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A month ago Christian Wakeford was among the 99 Conservative MPs that voted against the Plan B restrictions. Good for him. But is it not a bit odd that he's now switched to Labour who complained the measures did not go far enough and imposed tighter restrictions in Wales?
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40 years ago today! Tony Blair first elected as an MP - pledging withdrawal from the EU…
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Conservative Manifesto: "We will champion freedom of
expression and tolerance, both in the UK and overseas. To support free speech, we will repeal section 40 of the Crime
and Courts Act 2014, which seeks to coerce the press." assets-global.website-files.…
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Guess what? The Spectator now sells more copies than The Guardian. @spectator up 16% to an all-time high of 106,900. Congratulations to @FraserNelson, @afneil, @JGForsyth,@IsabelHardman, @KateAndrs, @toadmeister, @questingvole, @JamesDelingpole and most of all Mary Killen!
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Leader in The @spectator: "Net zero can’t last. The UK needs a grown-up energy policy instead. The first step would be to dramatically increase production of our own oil and gas. Fields in the North Sea need to be brought back onstream."
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Hard to expect the police to uphold the law when they are undermined by the Mayor of London.
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.@DanielJHannan: "A 100 years ago, on 21 January 1924, Vladimir Lenin died at his dacha in Gorki. It was already clear by then that socialism required secret police, labour camps, and firing squads since people had to be forced to behave in unnatural ways" telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01…
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“@KemiBadenoch has electrified the leadership race. In less than seven days she has gone from a fringe candidate, dismissed by the big cabinet beasts, to a rival with a serious shot at the top job.”
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BBC says 45,000 dairy cows in Northern Ireland will die due to Brexit. But the Government isn't going to kill them. Nor will the farmers. Will the cows spontaneously combust? Newsnight's "scoop" turns out to be mad rubbish. Remainers are getting unhinged! bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-i…
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.@DanielJHannan: "Why do Brussels negotiators talk of “granting” tariff-free access as if trade were an act of kindness? The EU thinks of itself as a modern empire and its attitude to Britain is that of a metropolitan power toward a renegade province." conservativehome.com/thecolu…
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Oh. Some neighbours became “concerned” about Boris having a row with his girlfriend. So they taped it and played the tape to The Guardian. How caring. theguardian.com/politics/201…
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“I kept coming back to Rotherham,” Andrew Norfolk recalled. “It seemed extraordinary that the authorities knew so much and did so little.” Terrible news that this truly heroic journalist has died at the age of only 60.
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Another press conference with @BorisJohnson at 5pm. Yesterday's one had lobby correspondents trying to score silly points about Stanley saying he might still go to a pub. Would it be better to have science/medical correspondents sent along to ask serious questions?
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Putin's great hope is that the West will lose interest in Ukraine. Boris Johnson's visit to Kyiv today gave out a strong message that we will not. A powerful signal of solidarity which is a critical international priority. All those who believe in freedom should welcome it.
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The Prime Minister proposes to grant diplomatic recognition to Hamas in September - even if they have still not released the hostages or ended their attacks on Israel. This wasn’t on offer to Hamas before 7/10/23. So it is clearly rewarding terrorism. Shameful.
My statement on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and our plan for peace including the recognition of a Palestinian State.
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Brexit polling from @OpiniumResearch - if EU won’t offer an acceptable deal by Oct 31st. Leave with “no deal” 45%, delay Brexit 14%, cancel Brexit 28%, don’t know 14%. opinium.co.uk/wp-content/upl…
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I suppose the alternative scoop would have been: “Cummings skipped science advisory group meetings.”
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A reminder that Lambeth Council managed to obstruct @Miss_Snuffy from opening her free school near the Oval. This proved to be good news for children in Wembley! telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08…
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The BBC has presented BLM as a moderate, mainstream movement favouring harmony, justice and equality. The problem with that presentation is that it is entirely false.
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So having started as the Independent Group (opposing independence for the UK) then becoming Change UK (opposing change in our membership of the EU) this outfit is now called the Remain Alliance (refusing to enter into alliance with other Remainers.) #KeepUp
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Am I alone in thinking that Tony Blair and John Major joining forces to attack the Government will do the Government no harm at all?
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The Cabinet is completely committed to Government policy. This is regarded as rather shocking.
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So not all the money we give to the Pakistan Government is handed on the Taliban. Some is being used to help keep the Russian war machine going. Here's an idea. Why don't we scrap our annual £302 million aid to Pakistan and use the funds to help Ukraine instead?
🚨🚨 Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced Monday that his country will import about 2 million tons of wheat from Russia and buy natural gas.
➡️ Pakistan is the top recipient country of UK foreign aid estimated at around £302 million in 2019/20.
voanews.com/a/khan-after-put…
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Guess what? Poland has found a brilliant way to boost growth and productivity. Low taxes.
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Shocking that this political discrimination has been allowed. What has @TheFCA been doing about it. Another Quango not fit for purpose.
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Winston Churchill: “I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
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.@KemiBadenoch “The only black hole is the one that the Prime Minister is digging.”
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.@DanielJHannan: "To watch Labour frontbenchers now scrambling to argue that, no, an investigation is only an investigation is a piece of irony so funny – so beautiful, indeed – that it could be mounted on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth." telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05…
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Professor Neil Ferguson is completely discredited. His predictions proved wildly wrong over and over again. Yet not only do broadcasters still let him take to the airwaves - they fail to challenge him over his record. spectator.co.uk/article/why-…
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Credit to @spectator for making this key point in its leader this week. So much of the media has managed to miss it.
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.@DanielJHannan: “In reality, of course, all taxes are ultimately paid by working people. An oil company no more pays the windfall levy than your television set pays the licence fee or your house the council tax.”
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We need to stop blaming May. It's a given that she will cling on as long as she can, regardless of how much harm it causes. We need to start blaming the 1922 Committee, the Cabinet and Conservative MPs as a whole for allowing her to continue.
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.@DanielJHannan: "There is something facile and narcissistic about parading your moral superiority over someone who died more than a century ago simply because he upheld the values of his own age." telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06…
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IR35 has punished the self employed with higher tax and less flexibility. Thousands of lorry drivers quit as a result - with consequences that are now all too apparent. @IainDale in the @Telegraph is right. IR35 must go!
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I hope those bishops who made false claims about Cummings, contributing to a climate of hate, will have the grace to apologise. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."
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Oh look. A Conservative Government has been re-elected after cutting tax. I wonder if there could be some sort of message for us here?
Greece, national parliament election today:
91% counted
ND-EPP: 40.5% (-0.3)
SYRIZA-LEFT: 17.8% (-2.3)
PASOK KINAL-S&D: 12.0% (+0.5)
KKE-NI: 7.6% (+0.4)
Spartiates-*: 4.7% (new)
EL-ECR: 4.5%
...
+/-vs. May 2023 election
➤ europeelects.eu/greece
#ekloges #Ekloges2023
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Margaret Thatcher declared her determination for Britain to be a country where the state “is the servant not the master.” This Mail on Sunday endorsement of @trussliz spots that is her vision too. dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic…
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Very encouraging message from @sajidjavid. Not since Nigel Lawson have we had a Chancellor with such a clear mission to cut tax and thus boost free enterprise and individual freedom. It’s our money! thetimes.co.uk/article/sajid…
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80% of Reform UK voters agree with @KemiBadenoch. Only 12% of Reform UK voters agree with @Nigel_Farage.
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Lord Sumption gives the game away, doesn’t he? The referendum was just “a snapshot of opinion”, “the 52 per cent can not expect to carry off all the spoils”. The decision by the Supreme Court was politically driven.
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The implication from this Labour MP is that only newspapers she agrees with should be allowed to continue.
A tiny number of billionaires own vast swathes of our press.
Their papers relentlessly campaign for right-wing politics, promoting the interests of the ruling class and scapegoating minorities.
A free press is vital to democracy, but too much of our press isn't free at all.
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. @DanielJHannan:”There is no way to interpret the EU threat of a vaccine export ban other than as a hostile act aimed at Britain. It exempted every neighbouring state except one. It would not apply to Iceland or Morocco or Turkey or Belarus – only the UK.”telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03…
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.@DanielJHannan: “It takes an effort, four years on, to think about what we went through. The taped-off playgrounds. The insolent police. The bankruptcies. The school children who never got their chance to perform their solo, captain their team or say a proper goodbye.”
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"Like Staff Wellbeing Officers in the public sector. What about the wellbeing of the actual public who can't go holiday because we process a piece of paper on time?"
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Disingenuous for the BBC to claim refusal sing Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory is for practical rather than political reasons. If their choir can sing Jerusalem then they can sing 
Rule, Britannia! and Land Of Hope And Glory.
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Disappointing that the Daily Telegraph should characterise as "moderate" those MPs who refuse to accept the referendum result!
NEW Two more senior Tory MPs facing deselection votes at their annual meetings as 'purple momentum' purge gathers pace telegraph.co.uk/politics/201… via @Telegraph
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The Benn Bill requires the UK agreeing to an extension of EU membership on ANY terms the EU dictates. How can that honestly be described as anything other than a Surrender Bill?
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.@DanielJHannan: "How bizarre that, in a world where slavery was near-universal, we should train our ire almost exclusively on the country that distinguished itself by its abolitionism." telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04…
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“The masks-in-schools mandate, which so clearly impedes learning, has almost no evidential support. It is time for all these orders to be rescinded.”
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.@DanielJHannan: “This isn’t about lives versus money; it’s about lives versus lives.A total shutdown is literally lethal. Loosening restrictions as soon as possible isn’t just a question of freedom or of economic growth; it’s a question of basic welfare.” telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03…
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"If Sunak does go down to defeat at the next election it will not be because he's been too Tory. It will be because he has not been Tory enough — or even Tory at all."
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.@DanielJHannan: “Public opinion has finally begun to turn. For 18 months, YouGov polls have shown unwavering support for every kind of prohibition: closed shops, closed schools, closed pubs, closed borders...
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Have we "had enough of experts"? On the contrary, we do not hear from enough experts - especially from those that dissent from the consensus. A wide array of discordant voices is the way for truth to emerge. But we have had enough of groupthink.
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.@DanielJHannan: “Last week, data published by The Economist showed that Sweden’s overall excess mortality in 2021 was the lowest in Europe.”
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