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UK: £3.5bn furlough claims fraudulent or paid in error - HMRC


BBC
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 12:00 UTC
HMRC
© SOPA
HMRC is now reviewing 27,000 "high risk" cases where abuse or fraud is suspected
Up to £3.5bn in Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme payments may have been claimed fraudulently or paid out in error, the government has said.

HM Revenue and Customs told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee it estimates that 5-10% of furlough cash has been wrongly awarded.

Latest data shows the programme has cost the government £35.4bn so far.

The scheme has paid 80% of the wages of workers placed on leave since March, up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

Speaking to MPs on Monday, HMRC's permanent secretary, Jim Harra, said: "We have made an assumption for the purposes of our planning that the error and fraud rate in this scheme could be between 5% and 10%.

Comment: We're only just beginning to see the true cost of the lockdown:

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Bullseye

'Britain cannot live in terror, we must reopen, focus on the damage to our economy' - Professor Sir John Bell

Professor Sir John Bell
Daily Mail
Mon, 07 Sep 2020 22:12 UTC
Heathrow Airport coronavirus

The spike in infections reported in the past few days was to be expected as life slowly returns to our streets and workplaces. Pictured: A deserted Heathrow Airport last week
Britain urgently needs to shift its mindset from a terror of the Covid-19 virus to focus on the damage already done to our economy - and the worse that is yet to come.

The spike in infections reported in the past few days was to be expected as life slowly returns to our streets and workplaces.


Comment: And yet dishonest governments are behaving as though this took them by surprise and in turn are reimposing lockdown restrictions.


They are concerning and, yes, we must be prepared for a second wave of Covid-19 while working hard to contain localised outbreaks to prevent it.

We must not, however, let this hamper our efforts to return to normality.

Comment: Also check out SOTT radio's: Objective:Health - Gov. Response Killed More Than Covid - Interview with Denis Rancourt

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House

"Demand Is Insane": NYC moving companies turn people away, suburban & rural housing snagged up, as big city COVID-exodus accelerates

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 02 Sep 2020 17:54 UTC
new york city abandonned covid
© Getty
The pandemic-induced summer of escape from New York continues at a moment violent crime is on the rise, restaurant and public venue closures make the city less appealing, public transit is reeling in debt, and remote working set-ups are giving those with means greater mobility.

More worrisome trends... or rather signs of the times signalling that for many the gentrified Big Apple has, as one family recently put it, reached its "expiration date". Two separate NY Times reports on Sunday detailed that moving companies are so busy they're in an unprecedented situation of having to turn people away, while simultaneously the suburbs are witnessing an explosion in demand "unlike any in recent memory".

And then there's fresh data showing that during the pandemic Americans are fast getting the hell out of the more expensive "real estate meccas" of New York and New Jersey.

Comment: The Covid fiasco plus riots in the streets have lead many to conclude what they should have a long time ago - highly populated urban centers are not the places to be when modern civilization is taking a nosedive.

See also:

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Biohazard

French supermarket installs 'test' Covid-19 disinfection door, case numbers fall

Joanna York
Connexion France
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 12:00 UTC
shop disinfect

Shoppers pass through a new disinfectant door to enter an Intermarché supermarket in France.
The disinfectant door has been installed as a "test" since the beginning of September in the Intermarché supermarket in Monastier-sur-Gazeille, Haute-Loire (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes).

Shoppers who choose to pass through the door to enter the supermarket are misted with a disinfectant spray.

Store manager David Accaries told France 3 the door was installed to make sure customers felt safe when visiting the supermarket. He said that in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis: "People were afraid, they were panicking. We didn't know if we had to wear masks, we didn't know what was going on. It was total uncertainty. We had a very difficult time."

Comment: Nuking all bacteria, including those that are beneficial to our immune system, will make many more people more susceptible to illness. This has been proven throughout a plethora of studies, such as children growing up in homes where excessive amounts of cleaning products are used as well in adults who were prescribed numerous antibiotics as children.

Meanwhile, also in France, Macron demonstrates how to wear a mask:

See also:




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Sheriff

BLUE FLU: Entire Rochester police leadership quits as BLM riots continue to rock city

James Anthony
The Post Millennial
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 01:22 UTC
rochester police chief La'Ron Singletary

Rochester's Police Chief La'Ron Singletary, along with his entire command staff, resigned on Tuesday in the wake of the riots following the release of body cam footage showing the arrest of Daniel Prude.
Rochester's Police Chief La'Ron Singletary, along with his entire command staff, resigned on Tuesday in the wake of the riots following the release of body cam footage showing the arrest of Daniel Prude in March, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.


Comment: See: Disturbing new video from Rochester shows man die during arrest - UPDATE: The officers have been suspended


Rochester's Mayor Lovely Warren confirmed Singletary's resignation in a press release, saying that he and Commander Morabito both announced their retirement. She thanks the Singletary and Morabito for their service, saying that she appreciated their work.

Warren felt it necessary to reassure Rochester residents that the community will continue to have a police force. She said "the Rochester Police Department will continue to serve and protect our residents and our neighborhoods." Singletary will remain at his post through the end of September.
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Clipboard

In Europe, 1 in 8 deaths linked to pollution: report


Deutsche Welle
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 09:27 UTC
pollution
The EU's environment agency has detailed how environmental pollution has a deadly impact on Europe's population. Poorer and marginalized communities suffer the worst of it, according to the report.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) said in a report published Tuesday that 13% of deaths in Europe were the result of environmental pollution. The Copenhagen-based agency said environmental pollution caused more than 400,000 premature deaths in the EU per year.

"There is a clear link between the state of the environment and the health of our population," said EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius.

The report said the novel coronavirus pandemic had shown how vulnerable Europe's population was to "human health and ecosystem health." It noted that vulnerable populations, including children and the elderly, were at most risk of succumbing to environmental pollution.
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Attention

Gatherings of more than six people to be banned in England

Harriet Line
PA Media/Yahoo! News
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 09:10 UTC
family eating dinner
Social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England from Monday as the Government seeks to curb the rise in coronavirus cases.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will use a press conference on Wednesday to announce the change in the law after the number of daily positive Covid-19 cases in the UK rose to almost 3,000.

The legal limit on social gatherings will be reduced from 30 people to six. It will apply to gatherings indoors and outdoors - including private homes, as well as parks, pubs and restaurants.

Gatherings of more than six people will be allowed where the household or support bubble is larger than six, or where the gathering is for work or education purposes.

Exemptions will also apply for weddings, funerals and organised team sports in a Covid-secure way.

Comment: Now it's all about 'cases' and a perfect cover to continue with the dismantling of any freedoms you migh have remaining. See also:

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NPC

Authoritarian idiot Andrew Cuomo says Trump caused coronavirus outbreak in New York

Cassidy Morrison
Washington Examiner
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 14:27 UTC
Andrew Cuomo
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that President Trump caused the pandemic destruction in New York by failing to block travel from Europe earlier.

"Donald Trump caused the COVID outbreak in New York. That is a fact," Cuomo said.

Cuomo added that the viral strain that hit New York, the first epicenter of the virus in the United States, came from Europe with millions of travelers to New York long before Trump's March travel ban.

"It was not the 'China virus.' It was the European virus that came to New York," Cuomo said. "And then 3 million Europeans got on the plane and came to New York, and they brought the virus. January, they brought the virus. February, they brought the virus. March, they brought the virus."


Comment: But it was Cuomo (along with NYC Mayor deBlasio) that went full retard with their idiotic lockdown, despite many of the facts that came out about the virus months ago.

No Cuomo, you're not going to get away with blaming Trump for your ignorance, your power trips, and your egregious errors in judgment that have negatively impacted the lives of millions.


Comment: 33,000 numbered dead is likely a vast inflation of the real numbers considering that hospitals were financially incentivized to call so many deaths "due to Covid-19".

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Bizarro Earth

Two Myanmar soldiers taken to the Hague after confessing to Rohingya killings - reports


Reuters
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 12:21 UTC
ICC international Criminal court

"This demonstrates that Canada's tendency to apply double standards when it comes to Israel is very unpopular with Canadians," IJV's National Coordinator Corey Balsam
Two Myanmar soldiers have been taken to The Hague after confessing to murdering minority Rohingya Muslims during a 2017 crackdown, two news organisations and a rights group reported on Tuesday.

The two men admitted to killing dozens of villagers in northern Rakhine state and burying them in mass graves, according to the New York Times, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the non-profit Fortify Rights, citing statements the men made on videos filmed in Myanmar this year.

Reuters has not seen the videos cited by the news organisations. The New York Times said it could not independently confirm that the two soldiers committed the crimes to which they confessed.
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Mr. Potato

UK gov concerned people aren't taking 'harmless' coronavirus seriously

Peter Stubley
Independent
Tue, 08 Sep 2020 21:05 UTC
Wexham Hospital
© Getty Images / Steve Parsons
FILE PHOTO: Patient Jenny Legg (left) with senior occupational therapist Wayne Lee in the Emergency Department at Wexham Park Hospital near Slough on May 22, 2020 in Wexham, United Kingdom.
Coronavirus a 'continuing threat' that could surge again in UK, Jonathan Van-Tam warns

Infections among young people will filter through to older, more vulnerable contacts, says deputy CMO

Coronavirus cases are surging again in the UK because "people have relaxed too much", the deputy chief medical officer has warned.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said the British public should start taking the pandemic "very seriously again" or face a "bumpy ride over the next few months".

He described the rise in cases to nearly 3,000 per day - predominantly among those aged 17 to 21 - as "a signal we have got to change this now".


Comment: Rising cases that are overwhelmingly asymptomatic is hardly anything for people to worry about. If these cases were hospitalizations and deaths, you can be sure the government would let us know.


Comment: So it's not yet a problem but there's a risk? Is it any wonder that even mainstream voices are decrying the lockdowns as a HUGE mistake.

RT reports:
Last week, the health secretary sounded more optimistic. The test-and-trace system, as well as other responses to the pandemic, were now "so good that the country could avoid a major resurgence in cases of the virus, as seen in countries such as France and Spain," Hancock predicted.

Promoting the government's planned new trial of mass weekly testing on a population-wide level, Hancock said that he remained "very worried" about an upsurge in cases, but the country was "in a better position than some."


Testing the population will rather predictably result in an 'upsurge' in 'confirmed' cases.


Britain has been gradually easing a relatively strict lockdown since early July, opening pubs, restaurants, shops and gyms, if social distancing is being observed.


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