As the Covid lockdowns continue in all parts of the island, there continues to be criticism of the heavy-handed approach adopted by both jurisdictions. The northern lockdown is due to end on Friday, but there is a strong possibility that it will be extended. First Minister Arlene Foster said earlier that she hoped that there […]
Britain has entered a second period of hard lockdown to avert a wave of Covid-19 patients swamping hospitals. Holiday travel overseas is banned. However, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that visiting the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas will be permitted, as an exception. This follows consternation in the media over a woman with terminal breast cancer […]
‘Answer a fool according to his folly’, is advice that could be adapted to ‘answer your opponents according to their stated principles, rather than yours.’ It calls them out on their inconsistency and prejudice and tends to put them on the defensive. This is not what the delegation of bishops did when they met Taoiseach […]
Why does one kind of protester in Ireland get batoned over the head by police during lockdown, while others can demonstrate freely? Ben Scallan reacts. #gript
Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, and then, latterly, the Brexit Party, has announced in recent days that he will set up a new political party – Reform UK – for the sole purpose of opposing the Coronavirus Lockdown introduced by Boris Johnson’s Government. Reform UK is not a new party, […]
Perhaps no country in the world has been the subject of more debate and scrutiny during the Coronavirus pandemic than Sweden. In the eyes of those who oppose the lockdown approach adopted by almost every other western country, Sweden is the example of a country that has successfully battled the virus without imposing draconian restrictions […]
Last week, we published a story about mounting concerns amongst teachers that the Government’s public spin about the safety of schools is not matched by the realities on the ground. Teachers across the country told us, here at Gript, that they felt that there is a concerted effort by the authorities to artificially depress the […]
Peadar Tóibín says the government is refusing to address the expected surge of cancer and other deaths as access to services continue to be restricted in the lockdown. #gript
We should be wary of spending too much time analysing daily case numbers, but since we all do it anyway, here’s an interesting observation here from HSE supremo Paul Reid: The positivity rate in testing has now come down over the past 8 days. The number of close contacts is now down to an avg. […]
The original rationale for COVID lockdowns and strict social distancing was to “flatten the curve” so as not to overwhelm hospitals with too many acutely ill patients. We have accomplished that: though things came close in New York City, demand for ventilators in the US has not exceeded our hospitals’ surge capacity. But in many […]
Is professor John A. Lee an expert in infectious diseases? Not quite. He’s a pathologist – he studies causes of death and the effects of diseases and injuries. He’s pretty qualified, but by no means a world leading expert. Still, he was more than qualified enough, apparently, for a guest slot on Prime Time last […]
A senior Catholic Bishop has said that the Government’s dismissive attitude to the desire of Catholic to attend Mass is not good enough, and that the Catholic Church has taken the restrictions “far too easily”. Reverend Alphonsus Cullinan, the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore was responding to the government’s announcement that religious services would have to take […]