Eliora
This year started with a superb date, 2020. 20/20 vision and so on. How cool is that!
Then the world changed as COVID-19 started to ‘plague’ humanity. Countries locked down. Borders were closed. Families and people were isolated from each other. Governments ran up eye watering debt as they propped up their economies. Kiwis started returning home.
As the year ends what are leaders doing now? UK people are having trouble trusting their government. Any sane Pom would be scratching their head, trying to understand what is meant by their complicated Tier 1, 2 and 3 lockdown rules. As COVID 19 rages on, innocent people could be punished for breaking a Tier rule that no one can clearly define.
An example of a Tier 3 rule.
Pubs and bars will only be able to serve alcohol with a substantial meal.
Michael Gove MP caused scotch egg confusion as he did not agree, changed his mind, and then agreed that a scotch egg is a substantial meal. The joke to simplify the baffling meal mess has become:
- Tier 1 – pints
- Tier 2 – pints with chips
- Tier 3 – no pints.
While the UK public are making a ‘meal out of it’, other businesses are changing their names to a church name to get around this rule.
A Nottingham Tequila Bar has applied to be classed as a place of worship to allow it to open. James Aspell, owner of 400 Rabbits in Nottingham, said it was a tongue-in-cheek gesture to highlight the unfair rules faced by hospitality venues.
bbc.com
Putting this madness aside, many people remain fearful, homeless, and out of work because of this virus. World leaders’ initiatives do not inspire confidence or trust.
Here are four current global initiatives.
1.The Great Reset
The Great Reset is a project by the World Economic Forum to understand what changes will be needed to create a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable world going forward, following the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Masoud Movahed, Agenda Contributor WEF and Researcher in Development Economics, New York University, reports:
Without the intervention of non-market entities such as the state, international organisations and social forces, capitalisation as an economic system simply will not safeguard our planet. WEF
And from Klaus Schwab, the founder, and executive chairman of the WEF at a virtual meeting on June 20.
In short, we need a Great Reset of Capitalism
Klaus Schwab
Back in New Zealand the NZ Herald‘s Political Editor Audrey Young said:
The NZ Labour Party leaps out of the blocks in a reset campaign.
Audrey Young, 7 September 20
Their disturbing mantra is that capitalism and democracy are bad, preferring the state to take more control of its citizens’ lives.
2. A Climate Emergency
A Climate Emergency was declared last week. New Zealand now joins 32 other countries that have declared a climate emergency. The National Party voted against it saying it was nothing but “virtue signalling”.
3.The Global Migration Compact (GMC)
The GMC is again on the annual agenda, coming up on the 9th of December 2020, of the Refugee Law Initiative. The RLI is the only academic centre in the UK to concentrate specifically on international refugee law.
On 26 November,
Boris Johnson Government reaffirmed its commitment to the United Nations controversial Global Migration Compact.
Breitbart
Julian Braithwaite, British Ambassador to the UN in Geneva said:
the British Government is the second largest donor and insisted that it was ready to support the global body on its journey.
Breitbart
The GMC was rejected by the Trump administration, preferring to control its own borders, along with Australia, Poland, Hungary and others who did not sign.
NZ’s Labour-led government signed the controversial agreement on 10 December 2018 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
4. The Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine
The Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine was approved this week in the UK, paving the way for COVID-19 immunisation. Pfizer has constructed a freezer ‘farm’ in Michigan to store its COVID-19 vaccine at -70C degrees. Pfizer says:
its vaccine needs to be kept at this super low temperature and can last in a speciality freezer for up to six months. The specialty shipper needs to be refreshed with dry ice every five days for up to 15 days to keep the vaccine at the right temperature.
A Pfizer scientist told CDC (US Centre for Disease Control) advisory council on August 20:
it is not to be opened more than twice a day and needs to be closed within one minute of opening. The solution must be thawed then diluted which makes delivery and procedure problematic.
Developing this vaccine has taken only months, rather than the typical years for trials. People are cautious. There are those who will not have any injection, let alone one that has not been tested for long.
The JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) favours a precautionary approach and does not currently advise COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy.
Women should be advised not to come forward for vaccination if they may be pregnant or are planning a pregnancy within three months of the first dose.
Reuters 3 December 20
Leaders are asking their people to trust them. The coronavirus vaccination is safe, the Migration Compact is fair, Climate Change is urgent, and the Great Reset will make you happy.
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