Do you feel this way about the lockdowns, too?

Which scientists can we trust?

Paolo Cabrelli | 05 Oct 2020 "What's next? Front doors being welded shut?"   Dear Reader,   I'm sensing something amongst our readers…   A growing disaffection about the severity of the lockdown measures.   I sense you're starting to get uncomfortable with being told where you can go and what you can do.   Look, I'm no 'anti-masker'… and I am sure you too are a rational person who trusts the merits of science.   But what are we supposed to think… who are we supposed to believe when respected scientists are waging public debate about the lockdown?   As reported by The Guardian:    "Rival groups of scientists are at loggerheads over how government should handle the Covid pandemic, with one advising that only over-65s and the vulnerable should be shielded, while the other backs nationwide measures."   The uncertainty breeds anxiety… and a certain level of distrust.   One of our readers felt so strongly about this they wrote in to say:   New lockdown measures are anything but 'proportionate'. The 'case' numbers are getting similar to April but hospitalisations and deaths are not following suit, suggesting higher 'cases' are a result of higher testing and potentially high false positives due to unskilled labs being run by auditors rather than scientists. On that basis, we are being offered 'martial law - lite' as the solution when we don't really know if there is a problem, with the veiled threat of 'full fat' if we are not all good little proles. What next, front doors being welded shut? Boris is going to be a one term PM for sure.  – ANONYMOUS     Maybe that sentiment chimes with you, too.   You have to wonder if the pandemic isn't being used as another "power creep" by the government.   Frankly, that would be normal.   In times of crisis the powers that be have the tendency to push through 'emergency laws' that never seem to go away.   The awful terrorist attacks we've seen in the 2000s have paved the way for the surveillance state we live in… and the increasing use of facial recognition.     In the name of 'keeping us safer' we are asked to trade in our right to privacy.   What you may not realise is that the financial system has this same architecture of control already in place, too.   In fact, following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, the government laid out a blueprint for extreme financial restrictions, here in the UK.   This blueprint is reserved for times of deep stress in the financial system.   Look around… what do you see?   A wave of unemployment.   Recession.   Businesses closing.   Government borrowing at levels not seen since the aftermath of 2008.   The desperate spectre of negative interest rates.   Fears of a housing price crash are mounting.   It's starting to look like the ingredients of a disaster.   No-one can say for sure what will happen next. The events of the last 6 months show us that life has a lot of surprises in store for us.   But when you add up the economic problems right now, no one would be shocked if it triggered a severe financial panic.   It's not just Boris' threat of the army on the streets you should be concerned about…   It's the potential for the marshalling of your private wealth.   Be prepared. There are steps you can take to limit the effects of some of these controls.   In the event that we see this architecture of control enforced… you will need to have a plan in place.   And the time to do that is now.   Read this urgent briefing and get up to speed – while you're still ahead of the threat.   We'll show you what these financial confinements could be…   Some measures you can take right now to shelter at least a small portion of your wealth from them…   And a game-plan to protect and even potentially grow your wealth should we see a deep financial emergency.   There's nothing we can do about the physical confinements right now.   But you may sleep a little easier knowing more about the proactive measures you can to preserve your financial freedoms.   Read this today.   Paolo Cabrelli Publisher, Southbank Investment Research

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