The Times recently reported that 50,000 more people died last year than normal, in one of the deadliest twelve months on record. That averages at around 1,000 excess deaths per week, though that figure increased as the year wore on.

For the week ending January 13, 2023, excess weekly deaths in England and Wales stood at a massive 2,837 (above the five-year average). Indeed, the total death figure that week was 17,381 – remarkably, a higher figure than for any week of the Covid pandemic, bar just two.

The figures for Scotland and N. Ireland are comparable, while south of the Irish border, a similar spike in deaths in recent weeks has disrupted funeral arrangements and put mortuaries under unprecedented stress. Many of the deaths that are occurring are sudden, unexpected, and happening to young adults, often even healthy athletes. 

Several notable points arise from these shocking facts and figures:

1) The silence of the media

This is a phenomenal news item, yet it is receiving minimum coverage on mainstream media, and virtually none at all on TV news outlets like the BBC, ITV and Sky News. It’s as if few of us are particularly bothered that thousands more people than usual are dying across our country.

Now, suddenly, people dying in unusual numbers isn’t an issue of real concern. Were people’s lives of greater value in 2020 than 2023?

Such anomaly is particularly stark given that current excess deaths are comparable to those that occurred during the Covid crisis, when we were fed death statistics every waking moment of every day for month after endless month. Now, suddenly, people dying in unusual numbers isn’t an issue of real concern. Were people’s lives of greater value in 2020 than they are in 2023?

2) The effect of lockdowns

When media sources do mention the rise in excess deaths, a number of likely factors are generally offered, not least the recent resurgence in flu cases, and Covid’s after-effects. Government data informs us that Covid itself accounted for a relatively small percentage of total excess deaths throughout 2022 and into ‘23. Clearly, other factors are driving the high levels of mortality.

Lockdowns get a lot of blame. A report from the British Heart Foundation found that over 30,000 people in England died ‘needlessly’ of heart disease since the start of the pandemic – 230 excess deaths per week – in part due to treatment delays during lockdowns (the part vaccines might have played in these cardiac arrests is almost universally ignored).

Now we’re told that these very lockdown measures have proved the actual cause of thousands of other deaths and serious health issues all over the country.

In addition, there was a huge drop in the numbers of 40 to 74 year olds receiving health checks owing to lockdowns. Then there have been increased rates of depression and of suicide, increased rates of obesity, of drug-taking, of alcohol abuse, all of which affected large numbers of people during lockdown, having a catastrophic effect on society.

The irony is striking: Lockdowns were enforced to protect us from death and illness through Covid. Now we’re told that these very lockdown measures have proved the actual cause of thousands of other deaths and serious health issues all over the country.

3) The NHS Crisis

One of the reasons most frequently proffered to explain the death surge is the current crisis in the National Health Service, plagued as it is by chronic underfunding and staff shortages (augmented by recent strikes). The NHS is near breaking point, with waiting lists in England hitting a new high of 7.2 million people, the highest number since records began in 2007. A&E waiting times are also at a shocking all-time high.

Failures in the ambulance service may also have had a significant impact – also made worse by recent strikes. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has warned that up to 500 people a week are dying as a result of ambulance and treatment delays.

Using the NHS crisis as the main explanation for the UK’s high excess deaths is untenable.

This brings into question the motive of nurses, paramedics and physiotherapists choosing to strike at the very hour when thousands more people are dying than usual. Not only so, but polls show that such action is supported by 60% of the British public (sympathy vote?). Would even 1% of the public have supported NHS strikes during the height of Covid?

In any case, using the NHS crisis as the main explanation for the UK’s high excess deaths is untenable. Elevated excess mortality is occurring right across the Western world, including nations like Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany, some of whose healthcare services are not under the same degree of strain as here in the UK. Likewise, in the US, a country with one of the most accessible health care systems in the world, the rate of excess deaths is similar to much of Europe (one of the hardest hit age groups being that of the under-50s).

In contrast, South Africa and Bulgaria – two middle-income countries with much lower levels of Covid vaccinations – have reported normal or below-normal deaths for several months. Most intriguingly, in most other African nations, where vaccine uptake was less than 5%, excess deaths are in general not being observed at all.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of doctors and scientists are now raising their heads above the parapet – in the face of threat to careers and livelihoods.

As Neil Oliver put it; “The fact these deaths are happening world-wide means the attempt to blame them on a failing NHS or striking ambulance drivers is for the birds”. Additionally, in different countries, the differing excess death explanations given for what is clearly a surprisingly similar shared problem only causes further confusion.

4) What about the vaccines?

Very few of the media’s reports even mention the possibility that Covid vaccines are contributing to the excess death statistics. This despite the fact that hundreds, if not thousands, of doctors and scientists are now raising their heads above the parapet – in the face of threat to careers – and speaking out about the dangers associated with the Covid jabs. These include increased risk of myocarditis and damage to the immune system, among other effects – although many accept that for the elderly and vulnerable, vaccination has indeed saved many lives.

Where diagnoses can be made, causes of deaths in younger age groups often involve cardiac issues, strokes and blood clots in various organs – the same categories to be found in the vaccine adverse effects lists, such as the MHRA's Yellow Card scheme and America’s VAERS system. Autopsies, when done, often reveal tell-tale findings of spike protein damage.

Not that sole blame for excess deaths can be placed on the vaccines, any more than they can on lockdowns. Sweden vaccinated a higher proportion of its population than the UK did, yet we don’t see such high levels of excess death in that country.

The government is still showing little interest in what appears to be one of the greatest health crises to face Britain.

Speculation increases

Despite increased pressure from health professionals (of all genres), academics, politicians, insurance brokers, funeral directors and now charities (though, sadly, notably few church leaders), the government is still showing little interest in what appears to be one of the greatest health crises to face Britain. Investigations have been promised but nothing has been forthcoming. Just a few days ago, a group of 100+ UK health professionals and academics, ever concerned at the level of excess deaths, repeated a call for “an urgent pause in the Covid vaccination programme, pending a thorough and independent review of all available safety data”.¹

As long as the mainstream media remains eerily silent on this momentous issue, and as long as the government stubbornly and negligently holds back from investigating the matter, speculation will continue to mount as to why we're being barred from ascertaining the real cause(s) of this unacceptable surge in human deaths across our country.

Sadly, without openness and honesty via a thorough investigation, coupled with a willingness to confront and to admit mistakes, many people are simply going to feel unable to trust our leaders in the days ahead.

Endnote

 1 Doctors for Patients UK, The Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART) and the UK Medical Freedom Alliance have also written a joint open letter to the Charity Commission, expressing deep concern regarding “allegations that the British Heart Foundation is involved in concealing and withholding important information relating to the potential of the novel mRNA vaccines to damage cardiac tissue and function”. They call for the immediate release of important information, and for an independent and urgent investigation.