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A LAB leak is now considered the most likely origin of the Covid pandemic “behind closed doors” of the Government, it has been claimed, after Boris Johnson signalled that security measures would be enhanced to prevent accidental escape.
On Monday, the Prime Minister told the House of Commons the UK Biosecurity Strategy would be refreshed to protect against “natural zoonosis and laboratory leaks” in a public acknowledgement of the threat from insecure research facilities.
There is mounting suspicion that Covid-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology that had been experimenting on bat coronaviruses in the years before the virus first emerged in Wuhan city.
The Government has issued a call for evidence before drafting a new biosecurity strategy, which will deal with “accidental release and dual-use research of concern, where life science research is capable of being misapplied to do harm”.
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, of Magdalene College, Cambridge, who has submitted evidence for the strategy, said: “The official view (within government) is that it is as likely as anything else to have caused the pandemic.”
“Behind closed doors most people think it’s a lab leak.” ?
Kamiso
Are you saying that Iam64 is not allowed to express any views on an open forum unless they concur with yours? Whose permission are we supposed to gain before “jumping in”?
Not at all. I’m saying she has no need or excuse to jump into a conversation I’m having with another poster. She was attacking me and her input was neither necessary or warranted.
GrannyGravy13
Laugh away Whitewavemark2
Mobilising can mean getting ready, or in civi speak getting your ducks in a row
By the way, you still haven’t said what you think should have been done in 2014…
gg13 I think I will bow out if this conversation at the moment with you as it is clear that you are very understandably on edge.
Can I just say for what it is worth, which isn’t very much I know, but I think that Putin will certainly go fully into Ukraine, but will stop there, certainly for quite some time, as he will not have the support from his generals to go further.
tickingbird
*Iam64*.
Tickingbird, rather rich of you to accuse growstuff of being childish
China and Russia are colonising the world
And????? What’s that got to do with this?
Rather rich of you to jump in uninvited too!
Are you saying that Iam64 is not allowed to express any views on an open forum unless they concur with yours? Whose permission are we supposed to gain before “jumping in”?
GrannyGravy13- Many of us are on edge and we don’t have the worry of adult children in the forces. I dope your adult children and all our service personnel stay safe. The news from Ukraine is awful
??*GG*.
Germanshepherdsmum
I know, GrannyGravy and it worries me very much. We live not far from USAF and RAF bases. We love seeing the fighter jets and transport planes. We don’t love the idea of what they may be told to do.
I am really on edge, AC has been involved in far too much action during their many years in the forces, I just hope and pray that their luck doesn’t disappear this time.
I know, GrannyGravy and it worries me very much. We live not far from USAF and RAF bases. We love seeing the fighter jets and transport planes. We don’t love the idea of what they may be told to do.
volver
Galaxy
And I am going to tell you that the strategy you are using has been proved time and time again not to work. You call other people easily led but seem unable to learn from the previous mistakes of others.
I am glad there is discussion of the leak, whether it's in the Telegraph or in the numerous other places it is currently being discussed. Most people dont get information from newspapers these days and this discussion has been happening in various formats for some time.
Its seems possible that they werent wrong about the leak and actually the misdirection came from those trying to censor that discussion.
.I'll say this once then I'll not be saying it again on this thread.
In a world that is riven with propaganda, somebody has to call it out. The Telegraph took a story about biosecurity and used it as an excuse to dig up old stories about the source of the virus.
They may be right and they may be wrong. So what do we know about the source of the virus that we didn't know before? Sweet Fanny Adams, that's what. So why should it be front page news? That is what I am objecting to. The Telegraph are making this a much bigger story that it actually is, and misleading people. If we were to ask a lot of people posting on this thread if they thought this bolsters the ideas that the origin was a lab leak, they are likely to say yes. If we ask people that this confirms it was a lab leak, some of them would say yes.
Maybe it was a lab leak and maybe it wasn't, and of course we should talk about it. But what this is doing is maliciously using old news to make people think that more has been found out about the source of the leak, when that is not the case.
If you don't think fake news is dangerous, today of all days, then that says a lot. And I'll not apologise for pointing out when people are being blatantly manipulated towards believe something has happened when it hasn't. Suggesting that this is not the way to go about things is patronising to the very people you accuse me of calling "stupid".
As the article was in The Telegraph, there is every possibility that they were churning out an article about something that most people had already worked out, in an effort to distract us all from what their boy Johnson is up to.
It’s not a joke Germanshepherdsmum there are 1,000’s of armed forces families extremely concerned at the moment.;
Deployment is moving troops into place.
Laugh away Whitewavemark2
Mobilising can mean getting ready, or in civi speak getting your ducks in a row
By the way, you still haven’t said what you think should have been done in 2014…
Perhaps they’re just doing a little cross-country march?
GrannyGravy13
Whitewavemark2 mobilising troops does not necessarily mean ^boots on the ground^
? oh what does it mean then?
Whitewavemark2 mobilising troops does not necessarily mean boots on the ground
No, for goodness sake every time you disagree with me you argue that I am arguing for “boots on the ground”.
You know very well that I am not, so why do you keep saying such a silly thing.
Crimea - was “given” to Ukraine by USSR during the 50s, but of course Ukraine was still under the USSR influence. Why the USSR did this has never been terribly clear as the Crimea was always dominantly Russian in culture and population This all changed of course when Ukraine rid itself of its Russian overlord and declared itself a democratic republic in 2014, and turned its face to the west.
Putin immediately took back the crimea, almost certainly because of its strategic value. The west I think took the pragmatic view, largely because of the history attached to Crimea and frankly it would be more trouble than it was worth to Ukraine. Ukraine however has never laid aside its claim to Crimea.
Whitewavemark2
growstuff
GrannyGravy13
Urmstongran Vladimir Putin’s strategy was/is definitely genius. He has played the world like toy puppets.
I agree with you.
No I do not agree. A genius is stealthy and successful in his aim, but neither is true of Putin.
It has been clear for years what his intention was and we watched and did nothing as he interfered in elections and referendums, many arguing that there was no interference when report after report said otherwise. He could have been stopped then.
This is someone who has for years worked towards regaining a Russia that only existed for a few years in the 20 century.
There is nothin genius about Putin, but this is a chancer, with a high opinion of his strategic ability, which has been reinforced by the wests reluctance to say “enough”
The Wests reluctance to say enough has kept the peace on the Continent of Europe. Would you have had NATO/EU troops mobilised when Russia went into Crimea?
Russian and China have formed an informal alliance against the rest of the world, this could not have been stopped, however much the West doesn’t find it palatable President Putin has played the long game, and that in itself is why this strategy is being hailed as genius. I have posted (no idea on what thread, I am really stressed today) that there is a fine line between a genius and a madman…
President Putin, has bided his time, his strategy which has been known since 2014 is probably going to set Europe on fire.
Is that the same Trump who has called Putin “A genius”?
You may not like Trump or his comments but he’s not far wrong is he? Putin has ran rings round everyone.
Whitewavemark2
What we should be talking about is that China is supporting Russia.
This too.
Iam64.
Tickingbird, rather rich of you to accuse growstuff of being childish
China and Russia are colonising the world
And????? What’s that got to do with this?
Rather rich of you to jump in uninvited too!
Galaxy
I loathe Trump but if he said the world is round I would agree with him, we seem to have got into a situation where we cant look at a statement logically because we are blinded by dislike for a person.
Exactly.
And your later point about Facebook's power is also very relevant.
What we should be talking about is that China is supporting Russia.
Whether or not there was a leak from a laboratory will never be confirmed because the Chinese will never be truthful, nor allow a proper inquiry. The WHO inquiry appeared to be a complete whitewash. They were apparently not allowed to look into certain things/areas/documentation.
What do you think the agenda of The Telegraph is volver?
I dont worry too much about the Telegraph its political leanings are clear and out in the open.
You couldnt find out what was going on though could you because of the hysteria of 'fake news' that was screamed endlessly just a few short months ago. I just find it interesting that the telegraph gets such a reaction when very few people uttered a peep whilst that hysteria was happening. Why was that? Perhaps the people who read the telegraph arent the only ones who are easily led. Perhaps that applies to all of us, led by whatever political narrative we follow.
Galaxy
I think recycling of stories happens in most papers so no it doesnt particularly worry me. As I have said much more worried about Facebook (who to say have a slightly larger reach is an understatement) deciding that it wasnt permissible to discuss it much more scary in terms of democracy. The influence of those media is waning each day, the power lies elsewhere now.
The issue of Facebook banning discussion about something is perfectly valid, I agree with you on that.
However the Telegraph are not just recycling old stories, they are pretending the story has moved on when it hasn't. And we're not just talking about it reaching the readership of the Telegraph, here we are talking about it, aren't we? They are leading people to believe that they possibility of a leak from a Chinese lab has been confirmed, when it hasn't. They are contributing to a narrative about China that suits their agenda. For the record, I wouldn't trust the Chinese as far as I could throw them, but I want to know what is really going on, not the speculation of some Telegraph journalist.
That's what this thread is about. And if that doesn't worry you, it should.
Galaxy
I loathe Trump but if he said the world is round I would agree with him, we seem to have got into a situation where we cant look at a statement logically because we are blinded by dislike for a person.
Oh my goodness, how I agree with this. So, so true.
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