There was big news on the evening of Tuesday, May 5, 2020.
N.B.: This post contains mature content.
Professor Neil Ferguson — aka Professor Lockdown — resigned from SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) in the UK. He remains in his post at Imperial College London.
He violated lockdown himself — with his married, left-wing lover, who is also a mother of two.
Apparently, the woman and her husband, also an academic, have an open marriage, so her gallivanting across London on two occasions was no big deal.
Ferguson is married but separated from his wife; they have a child.
The Telegraph broke the story. Christopher Hope, Chief Political Correspondent and Assistant Editor, is one of the journalists who co-wrote the article. Click twice on the image to see it. A summary follows:
For thee, but not for me.
Looking at it in another way:
A lot of people following Ferguson’s dodgy predictions about coronavirus — and, before that, foot and mouth, BSE (mad cow disease), swine flu, ebola — think this excuse is just a cover:
We await an exposé of this dangerous man. It’s midweek, therefore, time enough for a big splash in the Sunday papers.
The Telegraph was not alone in putting Ferguson on their front pages for Wednesday. Click on the photos to see them and the articles:
Here she is with a box labelled #EndFossilFuelSubsidies:
‘What is Avaaz.org?’ you might ask. You can read more about the activist organisation here. The name means ‘voice’ in a hybrid of various languages. It is an American organisation, supported by the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and founded by MoveOn.org, a group alleged to have ties with Soros.
This woman also opposes Brexit. Apparently, she is Austrian:
The exclusive Telegraph article says, in part (emphases mine):
Professor Neil Ferguson allowed the woman to visit him at home during the lockdown while lecturing the public on the need for strict social distancing in order to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The woman lives with her husband and their children in another house.
The epidemiologist leads the team at Imperial College London that produced the computer-modelled research that led to the national lockdown, which claimed that more than 500,000 Britons would die without the measures.
Prof Ferguson has frequently appeared in the media to support the lockdown and praised the “very intensive social distancing” measures.
The revelation of the “illegal” trysts will infuriate millions of couples living apart and banned by the Government from meeting up during the lockdown, which is now in its seventh week.
On at least two occasions, Antonia Staats, 38, travelled across London from her home in the south of the capital to spend time with the Government scientist, nicknamed Professor Lockdown.
The 51-year-old had only just finished a two-week spell self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus …
The first of Ms Staats’ visits, on Monday March 30, coincided with a public warning by Prof Ferguson that the one-week-old lockdown measures would have to remain until June.
Ms Staats, a left-wing campaigner, made a second visit on April 8 despite telling friends she suspected that her husband, an academic in his 30s, had symptoms of coronavirus.
She and her husband live together with their two children in a £1.9 million home, but are understood to be in an open marriage. She has told friends about her relationship with Prof Ferguson, but does not believe their actions to be hypocritical because she considers the households to be one.
But one week before the first tryst, Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, clarified during the daily Downing Street press conference that couples not living together must stay apart during lockdown.
Prof Ferguson sat on Sage, whose advice has guided the Government response during the pandemic, as well as the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), which advises the chief medical officer and the Department of Health …
Ms Staats declined to comment.
This will get people’s backs up. More on that below.
Only in the past week has the government allowed certain establishments to reopen, e.g. DIY stores and some restaurants offering delivery or takeaway service only.
These small pleasures are significant when Britons cannot work or are separated from their loved ones.
This was the newly reopened KFC in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on Tuesday, May 5. To be fair, Deliveroo drivers are in some of these cars, but not most of them:
https://twitter.com/journokatie/status/1257712964058185728
Earlier on Tuesday — Ferguson resigned from SAGE in the evening — Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle made a brief annoucement in the Commons:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said several days ago that now was not the time to lift lockdown.
He will be making the annoucement on Sunday, all being well.
However much we like Boris and want him to get well soon, a number of us are getting itchy feet. Car use is up, as per the transport slide we get nearly daily on the government’s coronavirus briefings.
Will Ferguson’s resignation change the government’s mind about lockdown?
https://twitter.com/LeighHarvey612/status/1257784895360962561
Some experts have also criticised the social distancing rule, which Ferguson and his lover clearly ignored:
There is also a suggested letter that Britons can send to their respective MPs:
https://twitter.com/WeWillBeFree82/status/1257211435114999808
I’ll have more in another post on Sweden’s sensible precautions, which Boris, too, was asking us to follow until the evening of Monday, March 23, when we went into lockdown.
I don’t know if this SAGE chart from March 6 is the real deal, but it wouldn’t surprise me:
https://twitter.com/simondolan/status/1257629942646521857
https://twitter.com/antonharvey/status/1257654860872388608
https://twitter.com/simondolan/status/1257669833312870401
https://twitter.com/simondolan/status/1256159323555876865
Over the weekend, #endlockdownuk began trending on Twitter. If people were restless then, they must be downright furious now:
https://twitter.com/novertarian/status/1257740142355365893
https://twitter.com/KTappin/status/1257036635927187459
https://twitter.com/Orang3Coin/status/1256972381710618626
https://twitter.com/novertarian/status/1257698489267638273
https://twitter.com/novertarian/status/1256583420202844160
Neil Ferguson will have done more singlehandedly than any boffin over the past century to make the average person mistrust, if not hate, science.
Also, thanks to him, no one will trust government medical officers or scientific advisers for at least a generation.
In the meantime, Boris, please do the right thing and phase out the lockdown steadily and sensibly STARTING NEXT WEEK. Thank you.
Churchmouse Campanologist 
9 comments
May 7, 2020 at 7:13 am
john cheshire
CM, I am always conscious of the two Biblical admonitions: motes and beams and being the first to cast a stone; but it has long been obvious to me that every time a stone is unturned, another slug is exposed.
Invariably they are lefties and generally have very low morals, both in their personal lives and in their professional behaviour.
Having said that, I believe normal people eventually see through these people. Was it Winston Churchill who said you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time but you can’t fool all the people all of the time.
Again I’m paraphrasing but didn’t Jesus tell us to expose these lists and deceivers and have nothing to do with them?
Anyway that’s what I think of Mr Ferguson and his paramour.
One last thought, I wish the MSM would stop using the word scientist all the time when referring to such people. Why can’t they be more specific? If he’s a biologist then call him a biologist, for example. I think Mr Ferguson is an epidemiologist, so why not refer to him as such?
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May 7, 2020 at 10:10 am
churchmouse
Most young journalists probably don’t know what an epidemiologist does. They probably also doubt that the average person does, either — hence, ‘scientist’.
That said, although Ferguson is officially known as an epidemiologist, his MA is in Physics and his DPhil is in theoretical physics. So he isn’t an epidemiologist by training.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Ferguson_(epidemiologist)
He’s more of a statistician and mathematical modeller working on pandemics/epidemics.
Even then, his calculations have been a disaster with regard to everything on which he’s worked.
As an arts major who is maths shy, even I could have come up with more realistic probabilities and projections.
He also never gives a middle way. Everything in his models is an extreme worst case scenario or nothing.
The reality is that he leaves behind him a swathe of destruction. Look at what he did to our farmers and our livestock. That bit isn’t in his Wikipedia entry, although it is in others. He’s a big part of the reason why a) beef and lamb are so expensive and b) we have fewer farmers than we should today.
I would really like to know whether he has an agenda, because it certainly doesn’t seem as if he likes ordinary people — or Western civilisation.
Recall that he thought the British would not follow social distancing or hand washing advice. Yet, we did. How little trust he had in us.
Perhaps an investigative journalist will reveal his true motivations. We shall see in the weeks to come.
As you rightly say, people are not fooled and, yes, we must expose deceivers among us.
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May 7, 2020 at 4:25 pm
daughnworks247
Ferguson is a dirty scheming rat.
Enough!!!
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May 8, 2020 at 11:54 am
churchmouse
Totally agree, Daughn.
Police won’t be doing anything to him or his girlfriend, though. Meanwhile, the ordinary citizen is getting grief — and in some cases, fines — for sunbathing alone in the park or buying a bottle of wine at the supermarket.
Boris will be making an important announcement on Sunday re lockdown. I don’t see how he can extend it to June, given the circumstances.
I’ve been looking at Sweden’s figures. Re deaths per population, with no lockdown, they did no worse than the UK which is still in lockdown. They had social distancing and banned gatherings of 50 or more people — what they term a ‘common sense’ approach.
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May 8, 2020 at 12:21 pm
daughnworks247
Wondering what will happen for Holidays in Italy, South of France, and Greece, this year.
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May 8, 2020 at 12:31 pm
churchmouse
Nothing going until September at the earliest, I hear, at least in France. Am hoping it will be earlier.
Occasionally I hear a news report about people getting or not getting refunds for their holidays. Some companies are offering rebooking for next year at no extra charge.
All those places — and parts of England (London, the South Coast, Peak District) — will be taking a huge hit.
I will be curious to return to Cannes next year (God willing) and see what’s still open.
How are you faring with your hospitality business? When will you be able to reopen?
My prayers go to you and everyone else in this now-beleaguered industry.
Who could have imagined this would happen? Words can’t describe it.
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May 8, 2020 at 5:59 pm
daughnworks247
We never closed, Churchmouse. It’s weird. Traffic is lighter than normal, but many are seeking us our because our B&B is cleaner, and perceived as being safer.
Strange, eh?
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May 9, 2020 at 8:28 am
churchmouse
Fantastic!
Delighted to read that.
I’m sure your B&B actually IS cleaner and safer than the others. Well done!
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May 8, 2020 at 9:01 pm
75th anniversary of VE Day — and the UK is in lockdown | Churchmouse Campanologist
[…] … and resignation from SAGE for having his mistress over — twice: […]
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