Trying to make sense of the car crash that is 2020, is a tricky business. Which is why conspiracy theories are born. From a laboratory manufactured bioweapon to tracker vaccines, that know what you had for breakfast. One man’s conspiracy theory is a trillion men’s misinformation. Clutching at straws is what human beings do, when our world is in meltdown. In writing this piece I do not wish to trivialise the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in. The very nature of Social Media and the light speed a rumour, falsehood or fabrication, can whizz around the globe is frightening. I sincerely urge you to stay safe by continuing to practice good hygiene and physical distancing. As well as avoiding public gatherings and by isolating yourself, if need be. It’s a tough call but these are tough times. So, in no particular order here are some of the more colourful Coronavirus conspiracies that are nuttier than Secret Squirrel doo-doo. First, as I’ve already mentioned, features a swarthy ...

If you think where you live has been hit hard by COVID19, spare a thought for the poor people of Latin America. Cases of Coronavirus have been rising acutely. Back in May I wrote about COVID19 outbreaks in Brazil. If anything, things have got worse, with over 3 million confirmed cases of Coronavirus. Second only to Trump's America. It doesn’t get much better when you look elsewhere in the region. Picture a league table of the Top 10 COVID19 countries in the world, 5 of them would be Latin American. Mexico, Chile, Columbia and Peru, now join Brazil in having major outbreaks, with each country’s hospitals, groaning under the influx of new cases. It was thought that the first confirmed Latin American case occurred in Brazil back in February. Recently evidence has emerged that the first cases actually occurred in January. The virus seems to have found exactly the right conditions to thrive and flourish. Spreading down through Central to South America, while racking up over 5 millio...

Whether 'tis nobler in the ballot box to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous unpopularity. Or to take up arms against a pandemic of troubles.  And by opposing end them. W oe is the fate of Trump’s Disunited States of America, that the stark reality of digging modern day plague pits would be required to achieve herd immunity from COVID19. Of course, this would mean the most vulnerable amongst us, would frequently receive a visit from G. Reaper for months, possibly years. For everyone to contract the virus, a lot of people will have to die before the upside of herd immunity would be seen. In the States, Corona fatalities are nearing 170,000. That figure would be a drop in the ocean if herd immunity was allowed to run its course.  So, what is herd immunity?  It is the point where most of the population, (figures vary between 60% to 90%), become immune to the virus either by being infected and recovering from the disease or by vaccination against it. This theory has ...

President Trump, as if waving an invisible magic wand, wished COVID19 away. ‘I think we are going to be very good with the Coronavirus. I think that, at some point, that it's going to sort of just disappear, I hope.’ Hmmm. This comes as Donald’s United States of COVID19 recorded 43,000 new cases in just one day. Gawd Bless America! The Lone Trumper? Donald’s own Republican Party called for the President to wear a mask in public, to set a good example. Donald had resisted wearing a mask, saying it would be unseemly for the commander-in-chief to wear a mask as he meets heads of state. Changing his tune, he assured America that he does wear one. ‘I sort of liked the way I looked. It was a dark black mask and I thought it looked OK. It looked like the Lone Ranger.’ For any millennials out there, the Lone Ranger is a fictional masked ex-Texas Ranger, who rode the Old West shooting bad guys. Just wear the f***ing mask, Ke-mo sah-bee! The masked Democrat? As waves of COVID1...

Black America’s COVID19 mortality rate is 2.4 times higher, than their white American counterparts. After George Floyd’s kerbside murder, the mortality rate of the average black guy in the street, must have shot up too. African-American communities feel like they’re fighting two pandemics at the same time, COVID19 and racism. As a church leader put it, ‘There's COVID-19 and there's COVID-1619 — the year when slavery came to America.’ Black America Can’t Breathe! Even before George was caught on camera, pleading to the white cop, ‘I CAN’T BREATHE!’, America was already fighting for air, facing its worst public health crisis for a generation. 100,000 Americans have failed to make it past the first six months of 2020. With a significantly larger proportion of that body count being black. Needless to say, the inherent racism within the American Health System doesn’t work in their favour. If the Cops don’t get ya… With Coronavirus seeking out and then decimating African-Americ...

The world has a choice, develop herd immunity and let COVID19 run its course. Leaving the world with a massive body count. With few escaping the loss of a friend or a family member. OR… The human race searches for the 21 st  Century holy grail. A vaccine, that can be distributed on a massive scale to save a significant amount of humanity. Obviously, the latter is more attractive, so how are we doing on our quest? The race for a COVID19 vaccine is on! I better kick off with a word of caution, the development of a safe vaccine for a new illness like COVID19, can take up to 18 months to get to us. That’s with accelerated approval and research moving at unprecedented speed. Saying that, the first COVID-cure-off-the-rank, of course looks like coming from China. This vaccine is being developed by two giant Chinese pharmaceutical companies and it has just completed a second phase of testing. They say it might be ready to go to market by the end of 2020, which is astonishing. In fact,...

Fixing society by letting COVID19 run rampant and cull the elderly, weak and homeless, is a radical point of view to say the least. When you realise such callousness comes from a Californian County official, it’s terrifying. Especially if you’re old, weak or live on the streets. This heartless, ‘let nature take its course’ doctrine, was hurriedly hushed up and the offender, the now infamous Ken Turnage, removed from a Facebook post from the Antioch City Council. Zee Führer  Turnage. Before the post was taken down, the County official stated, ‘We would have significant loss of life, we would lose many elderly, that would reduce burdens in our defunct Social Security System, health care cost. Once the wave subsided, jobs would be available for others and it would also free up housing in which we are in dire need of’. Turnage, then stressed that COVID19’s natural selection would ‘cull the herd’ of people he considered undesirable, which includes the mentally sick. Allowing C...

I can only speak for myself but if I wasn’t a sandwich short of picnic before COVID19, I sure as hell am now! The whole world, including yours truly is still becoming familiar with their new normal. Practicing social distancing and spending more and more time at home. Living 24/7 in my own skin, without the distraction of travel or an overpriced coffee, is a sobering experience. There is only so much of a Netflix addiction I can take and believe me, I can take a lot. It’s not knowing when this pandemic will ease up, that’s let the kangaroos loose in my top paddock. (As they never say in Australia.) You a Cooler King? It’s little wonder that the prison system has for years used social isolation, in the form of solitary confinement, as a form of punishment. In the Great Escape, The Cooler King played by the King of Cool Steve McQueen, was always being thrown into ‘The Hole’. Luckily for him, Zee Germans allowed him to take his baseball and glove with him, otherwise he might have...

The Coronavirus pandemic is always on the lookout for the most vulnerable, in the worst conditions. When these two circumstances align, it doesn’t hesitate to send the grim reaper to harvest innocent souls. Sending red lines on graphs shooting upward, at acute angles on news programmes around the world. Such a situation occurred recently in Brazil. A meat packing plant, full of indigenous workers with little access to clean water and health services. BOOM! COVID19’s ship had truly come in! South America’s U.S.A.? Brazil’s death toll is flying faster than the great Jairzinho going down the wing. Surpassing 21,000, its consistently clocking up deaths of over a thousand on a daily basis. Indigenous leaders aren’t sure of how many of this total, are from their community, as indigenous names aren’t always used when being admitted to hospital. Brazil zoomed past Russia, in total infections (330,890) behind the Big Daddy of the COVID19 pandemic, the United States. We’ll Meat Again!...