I was going to write about G.P. turned writer Vernon Coleman, now something of a (currently at least) low-key YouTube personality, regarding his views on Brexit and the Tories, before all our attention turned to Covid. Dr. Coleman had a media presence, and used to write columns for Sunday newspapers and they look a bit humorous, but I took what he said more seriously when I was losing a close relative to cancer and looking for something hopeful. In that helpless state a nurse at he time rightly pointed out you get in during such moments, I was searching around for anything that might help. I came across the Vernon Coleman website and, as he now lists in the things he was first to point out (number 31 on the main page) he indeed was saying that the immune system is a key to fighting cancer. By triggering it, the system can be activated to fight other things such as cancer cells. Over-exercising and so overworking the immune system, he says, may be why these otherwise fit and healthy athletes are susceptible to illnesses. There is research now, possibly not entirely disconnected, also suggesting 'priming' the immune system, ones not overly stimulated particularly in affluent countries, is an important step in fighting childhood leukemia (this is obviously important stuff I don't want to get wrong so - https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/dec/30/children-leukaemia-mel-greaves-microbes-protection-against-disease). So I wondered if Coleman was onto something.
I was intrigued when his name came up again recently, while reading about Brexit. I went down a bit of an internet rabbit-hole and was directed to a book called 'The Shocking History of the EU' by Zina Cohen. A review asked if the author was the same person who had written Dr.Coleman's books on the subject. A search brought up the result of Coleman admitting it was his pen-name, which is common enough, but also that used as he didn't think anything bearing his real name would get mentioned by mainstream reviewers. The following is from the text accompanying the paperback version of the book on Amazon:
Anti semitic Remainers will attack this book which provides provides proof that the EU was designed and created by the men who built and ran the Auschwitz concentration camp...the Nazis who had made millons our of the concentration camps used their money to build the European Union - with Germany in control...the Bank of International Settlements, the Bank of England and a group of Americans aided and abbetted the Nazi bankers and industrialists who created the European Coal and Steel community - which eventually became the EU.
To be clear, Coleman is strongly anti-EU. He is anti many things. He was anti-Corbyn, and pretty much anti-Johnson too but at least Boris was the Englishman who would take us out of the EU and would not drag us into recession... until recently. Now as well as asking on his website if Boris Johnson is a psychopath, Coleman wonders if the coronavirus is being used as a cover by this government to steal democratic rights. Some posts are anti-vaccination, or deny climate-change science. Others are against animal testing, or champion transvestism. The latest 'politics' post claims the EU has broken up the UK, using the separate routes taken by Scotland and Wales in dealing with the coronavirus as part of this plan.
Coleman probably would find being able to annoy people on both the Left and Right - as well as find supporters there - a good thing. Maybe it is, but maybe not when they're likely from either extreme.
Incidentally, Jack King has a similarly themed book promoted on the Vernon Coleman website. This author has a side apparently more robust than Cohen or Coleman. Text on Amazon accompanying King's 'Indisputable Evidence Proving the EU was created by Nazis' says:
Remainers who dispute the accuracy of this well documented book will be identified and sued for libel.
And so to his (Coleman's) YouTube videos. He recently uploaded a video which caused him on his website to swear off social media and maybe the whole internet forever ('I shall never record anything for YouTube again'). The video attracted such vitriol it reduced his wife Antoinette to tears. He clearly adores Antoinette and as she is undergoing treatment for cancer at the moment (of course a cause of distress for the couple, and something Coleman asked for prayers for) and he was seemingly sorry more for her than himself. This self-imposed silence did not last long however. 'I was right about the coronavirus!' is the title of the post really letting us know for sure the doctor's not letting this one go, though there were clues in articles, dated 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 March, written after the one announcing his retirement from public announcements. He now has five videos up on YouTube. The first was a fairly sober affair, albeit questioning the official coronavirus narrative and titled 'The Hoax of the Century?'. There were two first videos - the original deleted and replaced to change in line with amendments made to details in government policies. Coleman sits in a quiet room, reading from a clipboard of paper notes which he peels off. Cupboard with books, seated in a large (leather? - though not sure he'd approve of that so maybe not) chair, so you get the feeling you would not mind having had him as your GP. In the idyllic little part of England he inhabited, seemingly at least in his mind the one he believes in, a gentle and conscientious - if his his memories of practice are anything to go by - doctor and friend would be a reassuring presence. Some of what he says in this video is seductive too, as we struggle with the anxieties the virus brings along with it. Conspiracies can provide a story it's comforting to believe - the biggest relief in these videos being the idea that the virus is not as bad as 'they' tell you.
Again, as I already mentioned in previously, I mentioned conspiracies quite a while back, in an earlier post. It was obvious they were brewing, alongside the rise of the Right. Now we have those who were seemingly championing the right's causes on immigration, Brexit, the climate etc. railing against the restrictions of freedoms the government is imposing - surely a right-wing tactic. And Coleman is no fan of the NHS. I guess he and those who agree with him in these regards would take the side of the argument it's a Communist, Socialist far Left set of ideals - but isn't it fascism to impose house arrest, surveillance etc.? This is a debate that has of course been had elsewhere, but it is related to the confusion conspiracies always cause. Coleman seems concerned about the economy, but why would a doctor so against big pharma, governments and dictatorships and who proudly claims to not be in a anyone's pocket when giving his views ('without bias and without any professional or commercial commitments or allegiances'), who refuses to monetize his videos, who is wary of a cashless society, apparently be putting economic concerns before public health? I suppose it's because he's a freedom fighter, that the lockdown, with ensuing economic collapse, lack of economic freedom, and restriction of rights, will cause more harm and take more lives than the virus. Why not rail against the 1%, a system that places so much emphasis on money and judges an individual primarily by their economic worth, at least when it comes to judging those with the least?
I do think Coleman is one of those we'd call a 'good doctor'. I disagree with a lot if what he's said but I'm fairly sure he is a well-intentioned person, but he's obviously a bit of a contradiction. And he's fond of a conspiracy, and pointing out the stupidity of leaders. There is such a thing as corruption in power, and Neil Ferguson done something really stupid, but the virus is clearly very real too. This make it hard for people to get at the truth. In the videos there's a noticeable shift in tone as Coleman gets more comfortable back in front of the camera. He brings in the EU, there's a smile. At the end of the latest videos he asks for subscriptions to his YouTube channel; this will encourage him to keep going 'as long as I'm allowed'. Playing into his new audience he also says governments are the real danger. He promotes his website where he promotes his books (and those of others). As usual the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Coleman steers clear of 5G conspiracies and says there should be more testing (some in the comments don't like that, because the results are of course untrustworthy too). But he does say this ' damned mangy virus' is basically just a flu. He points to the downgrading of its status on the government website, but new hero of the Left Piers Morgan (perhaps quoting from Private Eye) put it to a minister this was because it meant the government did not have as much pressure on them to produce PPE. Coleman thinks it was done because it's not as serious as originally claimed. He also mentions the many patients who have had treatment postponed while we deal with the virus. This is a concern addressed in the mainstream. His wife is one of these patients, needing follow-up care after her operation. Is this the real motivation behind wanting the lockdown to end? It would be unfair to suggest he's only started campaigning recently but his enthusiasm for all the recent proclamations, taking to YouTube, is a step up. I've not trusted Johnson and began to distance before official advice (I saw the reports from Italy) and will probably continue for longer than they say to. On mistrusting the PM this Coleman would probably agree with me, if not for the same reasons - he actually goes further and suggests paranoia is a 'sensible, healthy, sane condition'. (That's great for mental health...). Maybe it is good to always feel the victim, to have an externalised fault. Or maybe he's right, or a bit, somewhere in the middle. As with wondering why sunbathing is a risk (because it makes distancing hard) and the numbers he is fixated on that he claims are dodgy (for all the covid deaths that are registered killed 'with' not 'by' that he says are proof numbers are inflated, how many deaths from the virus are not yet registered?) maybe I need to steer clear of the rabbit holes? He also says at the end of his latest video we should 'take care of each other'. Yes, but I'd say staying distanced is a good start. We'd also agree that Johnson is untrustworthy - but, even as far back as when Coleman was promoting Boris to get Brexit done, I could have told him that.
The government were looking for a simple slogan. Maybe we can agree on this - here's what Coleman says at the end of one video that could be a part of it... Take care of each other.
(Update 1/9/2020: I was possible too kind. Seems quite an ego trip down the YouTube 'alternative' rabbit hole. Wouldn't mind so much but as what he says is potentially dangerous you have to. Probably shouldn't have given the benefit of the doubt to someone who recently was so in favour of Boris Johnson.)
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