Double-talking Desmond: is Swayne an anti-vaxxer or isn’t he?
Desmond Swayne.
This is confusing.
Sir Desmond Swayne, a former International Development Secretary, has suddenly become controversial over comments he has made about Covid-19 vaccination.
Angela Rayner took to our TV sets today to complain about him as follows:
"Just saying that he's wrong is nowhere near enough".
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner says Sir Desmond Swayne has "undermined the government's message" after he told anti-vaxxers to 'persist' against #COVID19 restrictions.
More on this #exclusive 👉 https://t.co/K2nIdR0l24 pic.twitter.com/lXpkAkFoje
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 28, 2021
Swayne says it isn’t true (apologies for the presence of Julia Hartley-Brewer in this clip; I know many people find her offensive in any capacity):
Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne responds to accusations made by Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner that he has spread misinformation on Covid: "We are getting very close to thought crime… I believe in freedom of speech. Perhaps the Labour Party doesn't"@JuliaHB1 | @DesmondSwayne pic.twitter.com/QdTEwwF1S5
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) January 28, 2021
Well, what did he say?
According to Sky News, he
urged anti-vaccination campaigners to keep going with their fight against coronavirus restrictions and told them NHS capacity figures were being “manipulated”.
But the story goes on to quote Swayne:
“My remarks … on those subjects mirror what I’ve said in the House of Commons. I was completely unaware that any of them had any traction on anti-vaxx and no anti-vaxx entered into the conversation I had.”
Is he just talking us down the garden path?
Something clearly seems to be wrong. I’m glad he is to attend a meeting with scientific advisers. Hopefully they can straighten out just what this Tory is trying to say.
Or perhaps they’ll just send him for psychiatric help.
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Who on earth thinks Julia Hartley Brewer is “offensive” ?
Upon reflection, such a suggestion seems “offensive”.
As for Covid data…..
“manipulated” may not be the word, but Broadcasters seem incapable of presenting data accurately, in context or without mis-representation.
How are “cases” important ?
And with deaths “with” Covid not the same as “because of” Covid, surely it is excess deaths that are relevant ?
And relative to population, total annual deaths are similar to those from 1965 to 1985.
So why the over- reaction, economy killing lockdown ?
Question: Why do people write “vaxxer” instead of “vaccer”, given that the word is vaccine and not vaxxine?
It’s to do with the way it sounds and the way people might interpret “vaccer”: “Vacker”?