The curve has been flattened, but the Scottish Government is changing the goalposts. Now the lockdown has to be extended because the "R number" is not considered low enough.
Although how they work that out without mass testing is beyond me.
There are clear signs of a resurgence of poverty and demand at food banks. Influential voices are calling for a Universal Basic Income, which sounds caring and egalitarian on the surface, but it will actually lead to a nefarious dependency on the State, where people will not be allowed to receive their payments unless all their "papers" are in order, including their vaccination record.
It will be yet another means of exerting control.
All the signs point in this direction. Businesses are teetering on the brink of collapse. Jobs are going to be lost. Poverty is on the increase. Control and surveillance is on the increase.
We are turning into Eastern Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall. And people are cheering it on. The Scottish Government held a bizarre two-day public feedback exercise before the extension of the lockdown was confirmed. Most of the comments asking for the lockdown to be partially or fully lifted were "locked by a Moderator".
So although there are many people cheering this enforced house arrest on, there are also many voices opposing it. But those voices are being silenced.
SHOW NOTES
How R0 is calculated
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1804098/
Wired on R0
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/coronavirus-r-number-uk
New £43m Louisa Jordan hospital is empty
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52350867
Prof Michael Levitt interview
Telegraph: Government scientist Neil Ferguson resigns after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/exclusive-government-scientist-neil-ferguson-resigns-breaking/
Prof Neil Ferguson interview
▶️ 3Speak
