Plan-B dishonesty

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage with close to 100 million cases over 2 million deaths worldwide. As I've said before we can be thankful that we pursued an elimination strategy here in New Zealand. Still, we can't afford to become complacent, particularly with the emergence of more virulent strains of the virus. (Keep using the COVID app and scanning in!)

Of course there have been groups that have criticised our response - we've mentioned the Billy Te Kahika crowd many times, but also the Plan B group of academics. Shockingly for a group of academics, it was revealed that they've simply deleted an embarrassing post off their website that claimed that elimination must be ended. The original post is available on the wayback machine but the page on their site now simply returns a 404.

I think it's pretty shameful that a group of scientists would delete “data” that is now inconvenient to their message!

Speaking of Billy Te Kahika, one of our skeptical operatives had an interaction with him this past week at Wellington Airport. Here's his amusing story containing 3 dilemmas:

I arrived late at the airport, thanks to mis-judging Wellington traffic, at 17:35 for a 18:00 take off with a cabin bag full of survey equipment which sometimes attracts extra attention in security.

Heading into the pre-security screening zigzag line and immediately in front of me is Billy Te Kahika. He's walking very slowly, fumbling with his phone, as he is just finishing a live stream about the day's protest outside Parliament.

Dilemma 1 - Should I subdue the urge to shout "He's talking bullshit" as I really need to get through security without a fuss? I pass him and carry on around the bend in the line but, as I walk back towards him, notice a $50 note fall from his pocket.

Dilemma 2 - he's a conman, should I tell him about his loss? I do tell him he dropped something and, as he turns to look, the man behind him scoops it up and hands it to him. He looks genuinely grateful and says 'Thanks, you're both gentlemen'.

Dilemma 3 - Briefly consider, but resist the urge, of replying 'thanks, but I think you're a morally bankrupt dangerous influencer'

The survey gear did trigger a second bag scan but was OK after that. I just made the flight annoyed that I didn't confront him but with the certain knowledge it would have been futile.