The Government’s Gamesmanship and Outright Cheating on Covid and Vaccines Diminishes Us All

There follows a guest post by Dr. Mark Shaw, a retired dentist and regular contributor to the Daily Sceptic, who says the Government’s handling of the pandemic has lost all sight of what honesty and fair play mean.

In my last post I mentioned how important sport is to me. From a young age it was becoming easier to see, through sport, what was right and wrong, fair or unfair. The rules of the game instilled moral lessons that would help me decide who I could trust – win or lose. Playing fair in competition brings to mind the words of Shakespeare: “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

But there are many ways rules can be bent and players, whether professional or amateur, exploit this. I’ve been guilty of it myself. 

In the game of squash there are many instances where one might not be sure that a particular shot is strictly within the rules – and, if unsure, it seems reasonable to allow the game to play on. If present, a referee can decide on it. Sometimes players know that their shot or position is not within the rules but might see that the opponent or referee missed it. I might question an opponent after such an incident and I remember the ones that called this ‘gamesmanship’. But if a competitor does this repeatedly he or she gets a reputation, loses integrity and becomes known for cheating.

These particular aspects of sporting rules can reflect life. Gamesmanship isn’t sport and it is not fair. The moment we suspect foul play we should own up immediately. The gamesmanship element is then removed and that can give all involved mutual respect, the feeling of a greater good, and that it’s only a game. But I’ve learnt that this doesn’t always happen so have to ask what, when given the chance, did someone omit to say or do more than what he or she did actually say or do.

Looking at the way Covid has been handled by the Government I ask whether they have played fair or whether they have used gamesmanship to achieve their goals and whether the actual rules themselves were clean.

What have the Government and those in the media not said or done? Have they allowed full debate on focused protection and provided full unbiased, uncoercive, transparent information on issues such as masks, lockdowns, testing, the vaccination of healthy individuals and the efficacy and safety of these vaccines? Were any lockdown sceptic or vaccine sceptic journalists allowed to ask questions at any of the daily Government press briefings.

Panda has compiled a damning list of studies and statistical analyses that have been not been given fair coverage by most news outlets. Even the U.K. statistics watchdog criticised the Government for hiding Covid data on more than one occasion.

With respect to the vaccines, it’s clear that the Government and most media have not been providing accurate information that the public have a right to know. For instance, Public Health England has yet to provide full data on vaccines to anyone outside a select few, so it is not possible to conduct full independent analyses of safety and efficacy. The ZOE Covid Study, which receives Government funding, suddenly changed its methodology in July in a way that appears to fit more closely to the Government narrative.

If a cheat is in a position of power then another ploy to circumvent the previously established rules is to change them and/or replace the referee. So:

• Instead of recording deaths due to Covid they can now be classed as deaths with Covid, with all kinds of deaths from other primary causes chalked up to the virus;
• If cases (in the clinical sense) had always been referred to as those people with symptoms (patients) they can now change the definition to include anyone ‘testing positive’. The rules have very significantly and conveniently been altered; 
• Emergency Covid legislation can be brought in to change the law (the referee) and, when these powers are enforced, the rules may not be equal for all teams. One rule for some and another rule for others?

Let’s not beat about the bush – all this is cheating!

We are all familiar with drugs and sport. Who can forget when Ben Johnson was disqualified from the 1988 Olympics or when Lance Armstrong was exposed? People I had once hugely respected, now disgraced. The more that is at stake the greater the obfuscation, the more professional the set-up and the larger the web so whole teams can become involved. As much as it meant everything to win they had forgotten that it shouldn’t have been the be-all and end-all. Life is hugely devalued unless lived fairly. Drugs never needed to be the way for these supremely talented fit young men.

For the majority of the public wondering about Covid vaccines for healthy children and boosters for adults they could do with asking, as is consistent with properly informed consent, whether these drugs are unnecessary for a disease that kills outright such a tiny fraction of the non-elderly and non-vulnerable in our society. Once you have also scrutinised the data regarding vaccine efficacy and safety, weighed up the pros and cons and questioned why the Government and much of the media have hidden so much scientific research and consistently failed on their promises, you may also question whether they have indulged in gamesmanship, acted with integrity and can be fully trusted?

The be-all and end-all of life isn’t just for the individual number or record of years lived – it’s for society as a whole to live fair and square, however long or short each single life turns out to be.