This Week's Must Reads - 27 November - 3 December 2023

A summary of this week's most interesting news, studies, reports and articles

I spend a lot of time each day gathering new information and interesting articles. I then pick the most interesting topic and write about it but that leaves a lot of information that I’m not sharing.

Below is a summary of all the best articles and information from this week. This weekly summary is a slimmed down version for all subscribers but more comprehensive daily summaries will be for paid subscribers only.

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Climate Change

• Coming Soon: Your Travel Will Be Restricted By Personal Carbon Allowances. “Experts suggest” your standard of living be reduced by over 85%. “A Sustainable Future for Travel”, warns of “travel extinction”, where some areas suffer such radical climate change that all tourism there ceases, and “personal carbon allowances” that will restrict how often one is permitted travel.

• Eat Less Meat Is Message for Rich World in Food’s First Net Zero Plan. The world’s most-developed nations will be told to curb their excessive appetite for meat as part of the first comprehensive plan to bring the global agrifood industry into line with the Paris climate agreement. The global food systems’ road map to 1.5C is expected to be published by the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization during the COP28 summit next month.

• New Study: Natural CO2 Emissions Nearly Six Times Higher Than Man-Made Sources. Analysis of CO2 residence times [atmospheric lifespan] suggests that 65% to 96.5% of the CO2 concentration increase since 1958 is natural. According to a new study, the claim that increases in atmospheric CO2 are driven exclusively by humans relies on a made-up, disparate accounting model, with the residence time for natural emissions three to four years (which is consistent with actual observations), but CO2 from human sources is claimed to have a residence time of 50 to over 100 years.

Covid

• US Department of Health official who conspired with Anthony Fauci to downplay COVID lab-leak theory reveals 'agonising' over his actions. A senior official from the US Department of Health, who conspired with Anthony Fauci to downplay suggestions Covid-19 leaked from a Wuhan laboratory, says the lessons from the outbreak haven’t been learnt and warns of the chance of another pandemic emerging from high-risk experiments. Dr Kadlec points to the risky vaccine research on live animals conducted by Chinese military scientist, Zhou Yusen, who was creating a vaccine for Covid-19 in October 2019.

• Covid WAS clearly the result of genetic engineering in China. If the inquiry refuses to consider this, the hearings are pointless, says leading scientist Prof Angus Dalgleish. The phrase is straight out of Yes Minister. Michael Gove's evidence to the Covid Inquiry on Tuesday was cut off for straying into what a smooth-talking Government lawyer deemed 'a somewhat divisive issue'. Gove, a Cabinet minister for most of the past 13 years, ventured to state that 'there is a significant body of judgment that believes that the virus itself was man-made'. This goes further than any British official has previously dared. Gove is an exceptionally clever man - and I have no doubt his intervention was deliberate.

• Deciphering the deception...We knew they were going to play pandemic again, as they've been telling us so very decisively for months - that there 'will' be another pandemic and it 'will' be worse than the last one - and it seems now it's go-time. That so many people were united in that belief - with even many of the masked-up Covid diehards opposing the ruthless betrayal of children through lockdown, as their interests were put last whilst the world focused on granny - has set them up for this next planned stage. Because now, the focus isn't on granny any more. Now, there's something far more sinister and scary. Now, there's something that affects children.

Covid Mandates & Lockdowns

• Pandemic-related immunity gap in kids explains surge of respiratory infections in children in China, says WHO. The evidence presented to the WHO team pointed to what’s sometimes called an immunity gap that was created by the pandemic. A dramatic reduction in circulation of other viruses and bacteria created a cohort of kids with few immunological defenses against bugs like influenza, RSV, and other cold-causing viruses, setting the stage for large outbreaks when those pathogens returned.

• The Covid inquiry is pushing pro-lockdown myths. The claim that an earlier lockdown would have saved countless lives is demonstrably untrue. The UK Covid inquiry is dragging on without addressing any of the mistakes that were made in our handling of the pandemic. The inquiry could have provided an opportunity for officials and advisers to finally admit that the government jumped the gun in sending the nation into lockdown as hard, as fast and as frequently as it did. Instead, the opposite has happened. The inquiry has become a pro-lockdown talking shop.

• New Ruling Allows for Indefinite Detention of Unvaccinated at Governor’s Whim. Because of a new court ruling that just came down last week, the state of New York has just gotten one step closer to attaining the ultimate pandemic power—being able to designate certain classes of individuals as a health threat, forcibly relocating those individuals to specially designated “housing facilities” and keeping them there for as long as the government wants. They’d also have the power to control what that person does or does not do.

• No proof face masks ever worked against Covid, claims UKHSA boss who warns they may have even had OPPOSITE effect on spread through 'false sense of security'. Professor Dame Jenny Harries, who now heads up the UK Health Security Agency, said the evidence that coverings reduced transmission is 'uncertain' because it is difficult to separate their effect from other Covid curbs. She also told the UK's Covid inquiry that government advice on how to make a mask using two pieces of cloth was 'ineffective'. Studies showed at least three were needed for even a small effect on the spread of viruses, Dame Jenny said. Meanwhile, she warned advice for the public to wear masks during the pandemic may even have given people a 'false sense of security' that they could reduce their risk of becoming infected if they wore one while mixing with others.

• White House worked with YouTube to censor COVID-19 & vaccine 'misinformation': House Judiciary Committee. The documents, acquired through a source close to the House Judiciary Committee, reveal a level of correspondence previously unknown to the American public, as President Biden and his aides sought to promote coronavirus vaccinations in efforts to quell the raging pandemic. The campaign was led by former White House Director of Digital Strategy Rob Flaherty, who has since left the administration to help run Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign as a Deputy Campaign Manager.

• Five senators ask Biden to impose China travel ban after respiratory illness cases. "We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness," said the letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The rise in cases became a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.

Economy/Energy/Finance

• Just How Bad Is the US Cost-of-Living Squeeze? We Did the Math. After years of inflation, US consumers are shouldering a burden unlike anything seen in decades — even as the pace of price increases has slowed. It now requires $119.27 to buy the same goods and services a family could afford with $100 before the pandemic. Since early 2020, prices have risen about as much as they had in the full 10 years preceding the health emergency. It’s hard to find an area of a household budget that’s been spared: Groceries are up 25% since January 2020. Same with electricity. Used-car prices have climbed 35%, auto insurance 33% and rents roughly 20%.

• Bank of England asks City firms to stress test impact of bond market shock. Big banks, asset managers, hedge funds, pension funds and major insurers have now been asked to model how their operations might be affected by an unexpected swing in bond prices, sharing the results with the central bank by January. The test will include sudden but sustained shifts in the value of corporate bonds and sovereign debt, including government bonds known as UK gilts. While the Bank did not detail exactly what might trigger such a severe shock to financial markets, the description it offers is on a par with the outbreak of a major war.

• Say Goodbye To The Middle Class: Half Of All American Workers Made Less Than $40,847.18 Last Year. If you are wondering why so many Americans are stressed about their finances these days, just look at the numbers. In particular, we should all be deeply alarmed that the median wage earner brought home just $40,847.18 last year. That breaks down to about $3,400 a month, and that is before taxes. Needless to say, you cannot live a middle class lifestyle in America today on just $3,400 a month before taxes. So in most households more than one person must work, and in many cases more than one person is working multiple jobs.

• Financial contagion warning as HSBC is told to brace for ‘catastrophic’ £6.3billion hit. Bob Lyddon fears losses in Hong Kong and China could "blow a hole in the bank's equity". He branded the situation a ‘disaster’ - and warned of a "financial contagion" risk which could have a knock-on effect on Britain’s economy. HSBC earlier this month confirmed it was setting aside £910million to cover expected loan losses, including £412million related to the commercial real estate sector in China - but Mr Lyddon said the actual picture was much worse. "Forty-two percent of HSBC's commercial property loans into China are either sub-standard or credit-impaired: £4.6billion out of £11billion. That's a disaster.

• Britain’s growth outlook is ‘worst I’ve ever seen’, says Andrew Bailey. Bank of England’s forecasts indicate economy will barely grow over next two years. The Bank of England Governor raised concerns over the UK’s future prospects just days after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) slashed its predictions for growth over the next two years. In an interview with The Chronicle in Newcastle, Mr Bailey said: “If you look at what I call the potential growth rates of the economy, there’s no doubt it’s lower than it has been in much of my working life.

• Nottingham city council issues notice in effect declaring itself bankrupt. Local authority issues section 114 notice suspending spending as it admits it cannot balance budget. The Labour-run council attributed its financial problems to issues affecting councils across the country, including an increased demand for children and adults’ social care, rising homelessness presentations and the impact of inflation. Birmingham city council issued a section 114 notice in September because of financial problems compounded by a £760m equal pay bill and failed IT implementation costing £100m.

• US Pending Home Sales Index Slumps To Record Low. After a small bounce last month - following the puke in August - pending home sales dropped 1.5% MoM in October (better than the 2.0% MoM decline expected). This left YoY sales down 6.6% (negative for the 23rd straight month).

• Unrealized Losses at US Banks Exploded in Q3. Unrealized losses on securities held by US banks exploded by 22% in the third quarter. Of course, unrealized losses don’t really matter — until they do. This is yet more evidence that the financial crisis that kicked off last March continues to bubble under the surface. Unrealized losses, primarily on US Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities rose by $126 billion in Q3 and now total $684 billion, according to the FDIC’s quarterly bank data release.

• Rumors of Venezuela Invasion Plans Put Oil-Rich Guyana on Edge. Latin American media are citing Brazilian intelligence as saying that Venezuela is preparing to invade Guyana in the coming days as a dispute over the oil-rich territory of Essequibo intensifies. Reports of alleged preparations for an invasion of Guyana cannot be independently verified, and for the time being, they exist are media rumors attributed to Brazilian intelligence sources.

Health

• Nanoplastics Linked to Changes in Brain Proteins Associated With Parkinson's, Study Finds. Plastics are affecting our environment and possibly even our health in troubling ways – and the tiniest pieces have now been linked to changes in brain proteins associated with certain types of dementia, including Parkinson's disease. A team led by researchers from Duke University in the US looked at the relationship between nanoplastics broken down from polystyrene and the protein alpha-synuclein. A buildup of aberrant forms of this protein has previously been observed in the brains of people with Parkinson's.

• Michael Higgins: 'Anti-racist' doctors would put social justice above medical expertise. New proposal would centre Canada's framework for physician training around 'anti-oppression'. A working group under the auspices of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada believes training future doctors should concentrate more on social justice and anti-racism than “medical expertise.” If implemented, it would elevate what is increasingly a destructive, divisive Marxist ideology over the Enlightenment ideals of science and reason.

• Researchers from SSI have discovered a new bacterial species. Researchers from Statens Serum Institut (SSI) have discovered that the infection is caused by a unique and previously unknown mycoplasma bacterium. They have characterised this new bacterial species and have named it Mycoplasma phocimorsus (from phoca: seal, and morsus: a bite), hence seal-bite mycoplasma.

Middle East

• The moral cowardice of the managerial elites. Why Leo Varadkar failed to make a full-throated condemnation of the monsters of Hamas. Compare the comment he made when hundreds of louts rioted on O’Connell Street last week with the weird tweet he put out when Emily Hand, the nine-year-old Irish-Israeli girl, was finally freed from Hamas’s racist clutches. He damned the Dublin looters as a mob ‘filled with hate’, people who ‘love violence’. And Hamas? What did he say about this medieval terror group that violently abducted an Irish girl from her loving family? Well, nothing. He didn’t mention them in his tweet. He didn’t say what they did. He didn’t comment on their love of violence. Instead, he coyly said ‘an innocent child who was lost has now been found’.

• Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace. Even a conservative assessment of the reported Gaza casualty figures shows that the rate of death during Israel’s assault has few precedents in this century, experts say. While wartime death tolls will never be exact, experts say that even a conservative reading of the casualty figures reported from Gaza shows that the pace of death during Israel’s campaign has few precedents in this century. More women and children have been reported killed in Gaza in less than two months than the roughly 7,700 civilians documented as killed by U.S. forces and their international allies in the entire first year of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to estimates from Iraq Body Count, an independent British research group.

• The wrong kind of victims. Why do the West's ‘pro-Palestine’ supporters refuse to recognise the suffering of the Israeli hostages? Double standards are now informing the response to Hamas’s release of some of the Israeli women and children it has held hostage for seven weeks. For ‘pro-Palestine’ supporters, seeing young Israeli children reunited with their families is not a cause for joy, or relief, let alone fury that they were abducted in the first place. No, it’s an opportunity to doubt their suffering.

• Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago. A blueprint reviewed by The Times laid out the attack in detail. Israeli officials dismissed it as aspirational and ignored specific warnings. The approximately 40-page document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.

• No Outcry Over Rishi Sunak’s Family Investments in Israel. Throughout the prime minister’s unequivocal backing for Israel’s war on Gaza, his family has been profiting from a business that has appointed Israeli military intelligence veterans to senior positions.

Politics

• Inside the UN Plan to Control Speech Online. The UN is escalating its war against 'conspiracy theories' and 'misinformation' by creating an 'internet of trust.' A powerful United Nations agency has unveiled a plan to regulate social media and online communication while cracking down on what it describes as “false information” and “conspiracy theories,” sparking alarm among free-speech advocates and top U.S. lawmakers.

• Sweden and the explosive consequences of multiculturalism. Ivar Arpi on why Sweden’s crisis of integration can no longer be ignored. Where did it all go so wrong for Sweden? The nation once known for ABBA, IKEA and its social-democratic welfare state has now become a byword for gangland killings and grenade attacks. Crime has soared to unprecedented levels.

• European lawmakers vote for abolition of member state vetoes in latest EU power grab. The plans were passed by a majority of 17 in Strasbourg on Wednesday as MEPs endorsed a further step towards a federalized Europe. A total of 291 MEPs supported the proposal put forward by the “Verhofstadt Group,” a group of MEPs led by the arch-federalist Guy Verhofstadt to amend the European Union treaties in favor of greater centralization and limiting the sovereignty of member states.

• Tony Blair Institute annual turnover up by $40 million. The Tony Blair Institute, or TBI as it is known to everyone who works there, describes itself as a “not-for-profit entity that provides expert advice to political leaders worldwide on strategy, policy and delivery, unlocking the power of technology across all three”. To some of those on the inside it is, in effect, a “McKinsey for world leaders”, a consultancy advising governments how to govern (often for a hefty fee).

• BBC presenter Nihal Arthanayake says 'overwhelmingly white' workplace affects his mental health. 'It's really affecting me that I walk in and all I see is white people,' the Radio 5 presenter told a diversity conference. His colleagues responded defensively, he claimed, saying that they were not being racist, which he said was missing the point. Mr Arthanayake added that he has noticed a difference since moving north after living in London for 20 years.

• [2022] Dr. Klaus Schwab or: How the CFR Taught Me to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The World Economic Forum wasn’t simply the brainchild of Klaus Schwab, but was actually born out of a CIA-funded Harvard program headed by Henry Kissinger and pushed to fruition by John Kenneth Galbraith and the “real” Dr. Strangelove, Herman Kahn. This is the amazing story behind the real men who recruited Klaus Schwab, who helped him create the World Economic Forum, and who taught him to stop worrying and love the bomb.

• Poland’s truckers blockade border with Ukraine. The EU cannot ignore this 'peasants' revolt' any longer. Polish truckers are blockading the Ukrainian border in protest against what they describe as Ukrainian grain flooding the EU market and undercutting prices.

Science

• Neanderthals: More knowable now than ever. They have held our fascination ever since we first identified their remains. Today, thanks to new artifacts and technologies, findings about our closest relatives are coming thick and fast. When grown in dishes in the lab, clusters of cells engineered to have one of these Neanderthal gene variants developed into minute brain-like structures that had a more popcorn-like shape than Homo sapiens brain cells do, while those with sapiens genes were more spherical. In another study of a different brain development gene, the sapiens mini-brains formed more neurons in the same time period than mini-brains containing the Neanderthal version.

• One of the largest magnetic storms in history quantified: Aurorae from the tropics to the polar regions. In early November of this year, aurora borealis were observed at surprisingly low latitudes, as far south as Italy and Texas. Such phenomena indicate the impacts of a solar coronal mass ejection on the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. Far more dramatic than this recent light show was, it was nothing compared to a huge solar storm in February 1872. In the modern world, we are increasingly dependent on technological infrastructure such as power grids, communication systems, and satellites. However, this dependency makes us increasingly vulnerable to the effects of large geomagnetic storms.

Technology

• The AI-powered US bomber that China fears. The Air Force’s super-secret B-21 Raider stealth bomber quietly made its first flight in California on Nov. 10, flying from the factory to Edwards AFB at not much more than tree-top level. Yes, right before China’s President Xi Jinping visited San Francisco. All of a sudden China wants to start talks on AI and nuclear weapons. "The leaders affirmed the need to address the risks of advanced AI systems and improve AI safety through U.S.-China government talks," the White House stated on Nov. 15 after President Biden met with Xi.

• Artificial Intelligence Transforming our Societal Structure - The Rise Useless Class. Yuval Noah Harari argues that when artificial intelligence pushes many out of work, we must forge new economic, social, educational systems. Those people who will become unemployed will create a “useless class” which will need to be redirected, as opposed to the remaining “working class” which will be entrusted with the operating of the machinery. The article provides few ideas on how to prepare for the rise of the “useless class.” Looking at the consequences of the AI revolution, possible solutions that will change our societal structure are discussed.

Ukraine

• Ukraine War is Just About Over. The handwriting was on the wall. An Op-Ed in the New York Times entitled “I’m a Ukrainian, and I Refuse to Compete for Your Attention” summed things up nicely: a media junket the author’s friend had been organizing to Ukraine was canceled. The TV crew instead left for the Middle East. The United States controls how the war in the Ukraine proceeds and always has. Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said it was the American side which scuttled any chance of peace in Ukraine as early as March 2022, soon after the war began.

• NATO's Stoltenberg reaffirms Ukraine to eventually join alliance. All NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance but the main focus now is to ensure the country prevails against Russia, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday. Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at Ramstein air base in Germany, he also told reporters that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Kyiv must have "the deterrence to prevent new attacks".

Vaccines

• Pfizer is suing Poland over vaccines. This is how we got here. The court case is the latest fallout from Ursula von der Leyen’s massive COVID-19 vaccine contract. The lawsuit, which comes as Poland prepares for a change in government following its October election, marks the culmination of a 19-month struggle between Warsaw and Pfizer over a glut of vaccine doses. But the roots of the clash can be traced back further: to the enormous 1.1 billion-dose contract the European Commission signed with Pfizer in 2021, which has become controversial for the reported exchange of text messages between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in the run-up to negotiations.

• Is It Possible that COVID-19 Boosters Trigger a Cancer Relapse? Insights from Dr. Dalgleish. COVID-19 boosters are used to activate the immune response by synthesizing antibodies against foreign pathogens, however, some adverse events have been associated with these boosters. In the aggregate via published case series alone, over two hundred cases of cancer or cancer relapse have been reported yesterday by TrialSite.

• Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Approves CSL and Arcturus Therapeutics' ARCT-154, the first Self-Amplifying mRNA vaccine approved for COVID in adults. "Self-amplifying mRNA technology has the potential to be an enduring vaccine option," said Nobel laureate Dr. Drew Weissman, "I look forward to seeing this next generation mRNA technology protect many from COVID-19 and possibly other harmful infectious diseases." sa-mRNA makes copies of the mRNA which generates the production of more protein compared to an equivalent amount of mRNA in a vaccine.

• Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Pfizer for misrepresenting Covid-19 vaccine efficacy and conspiring to censor public discourse.

  

• Dynamics of Serum-Neutralizing Antibody Responses in Vaccinees through Multiple Doses of the BNT162b2 Vaccine. Our data reflect the poor durability of vaccine-induced nAb responses which are a strong predictor of protection from symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. The induction of IgG4-switched humoral responses may permit extended viral persistence via the downregulation of Fc-mediated effector functions.