Coronavirus: Thread

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UK Disinformation Unit Monitored Headmaster Who Questioned COVID-19
Vaccines For Children

https://www.theepochtimes.com/uk-disinformation-unit-monitored-headmaster-who-questioned-covid-19-vaccines-for-children_5110810.html
https://www.theepochtimes.com/uk-government-admits-to-monitoring-covid-lockdown-critics-on-social-media-platforms_5019567.html
https://www.theepochtimes.com/its-my-legal-duty-to-safeguard-children-against-harm-british-headmaster_4622234.html
https://www.theepochtimes.com/england-sees-39-percent-rise-in-children-needing-help-for-serious-mental-health-problems_4958619.html
https://www.theepochtimes.com/uk-government-admits-to-monitoring-covid-lockdown-critics-on-social-media-platforms_5019567.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10499655/Antibodies-unjabbed-Covid-survivors-stronger-protection-two-doses-study-claims.html?s=09

A headmaster who questioned the effects of lockdown and masking on
children, as well as the mRNA vaccine rollout, was reported to the
UK’s terror watchdog and had his social media posts monitored by
government disinformation units.

In January, Westminster confirmed that it had monitored lockdown
critics including Conservative MPs and journalists on social media
platforms via its disinformation units, after documents were obtained
by the civil liberties group Big Brother Watch.

Headmaster Mike Fairclough, who has 20 years’ experience in running
the state-funded West Rise Junior School for 7- to 11-year-olds in
Eastbourne on the south coast, told The Epoch Times that he also had
been monitored.

Fairclough was one of the very few voices in education, and the only
serving headmaster, to express concerns over the effects of the
response to the pandemic on children and the resultant mental health
problems.

    “My personal belief is that the risks from these vaccines outweigh
any possible benefits for a child,” Fairclough told The Epoch Times.

    “I have conveyed my opinion using my social media channels,
generally by reposting and quoting mainstream media articles which
have supported my stance,” he added.

Fairclough said that colleagues within the education sector have
remained “publicly silent” on the subject of the vaccines for children
and that “there is still an air of fear and caution around even mildly
sceptical conversations about it.”

A person using a computer in an undated file photo. (Dominic Lipinski/PA Media)
Counter Disinformation Unit

Fairclough submitted requests for copies of his data held by
government disinformation units, which The Epoch Times has seen.

The Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU), part of the Department for
Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS), leads the UK government’s
operational response to “domestic disinformation threats online.”

During the pandemic, the government used different units including the
CDU, the Rapid Response Unit, and the Government Information Cell.
Each had roles in “tackling harmful narratives online,” and monitoring
and flagging “disinformation” content to social media companies.

A government spokesman previously told the Epoch Times that these
units used publicly available data, including material shared on
social media platforms, to assess UK “disinformation trends and
narratives.”

A government spokesperson told Epoch Times by email: “Online
disinformation is a serious threat to the UK and public health, which
is why during the pandemic we brought together expertise from across
government to monitor disinformation about COVID.

    “These units monitor publicly available data, including material
shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends
and narratives.

    “They do not target individuals or take any action that could
impact anyone’s ability to discuss and debate issues freely.”

He added that “they did not target individuals or take any action that
could impact anyone’s ability to discuss and debate issues freely.”

One Twitter post was flagged by the CDU in February 2022. Fairclough
wrote: “Natural immunity is more powerful than vaccines. Antibodies in
un-jabbed Covid survivors are ‘stronger’ over time than in people
who’ve had two shots but no infection.”

“Hence no need to vaccinate naturally immune children against
Covid-19,” he wrote, adding an article from the Daily Mail that
reported on a study that found that people who’ve had COVID-19 but no
jabs may have longer-lasting immunity than those who’ve been
double-jabbed.
Prevent

Fairclough also said that because of his views, he was reported to the
Home Office’s flagship counter-extremism policy Prevent, which aims to
identify people at risk of committing terrorist acts.

    “Thankfully, I’ve been cleared of all wrong-doing each and every
time and therefore continued to campaign,” he said.

The email came from a whistleblower who had raised concerns about
Fairclough’s opinions relating to “the anti-government and
anti-vaccine messaging” he posted on Facebook and other platforms. It
was also sent to Ofsted, the Children’s Commissioner, and the
Department of Education’s Counter Terrorism team.

An investigation found “no evidence of Mr Fairclough breaking
Headteacher Standards and principles afforded those who hold positions
of trust and high standing members of the community.”

There are 362 pupils at West Rise who come mainly from the local
council estate, places which are often part of England’s poorest
neighbourhoods. The school has a very close connection to nature, with
a farm, a forest school, beekeeping sites, and children are taught to
use knives and guns and to forage for food.
‘Galloping Authoritarianism’

The Free Speech Union (FSU) told The Epoch Times by email that
Fairclough had approached them to discuss legal options.

    “The way he’s been treated is a disgrace,” said FSU founder Toby Young.

    “Prevent was set up to counter extremism, not to monitor critics
of government policy. This episode is typical of the way the state
apparatus of counter-extremism, which was originally set up to protect
people from terrorists, has been repurposed to suppress domestic
dissent,” he said.

    “This fundamental shift, with the so-called counter-terrorism
experts training their spyglasses away from ISIS training camps and
towards domestic citizens like Mike was happening before the pandemic,
but has accelerated significantly over the past three years,” he
added.

Young said that we “need to urgently address this galloping
authoritarianism before Britain descends into an Orwellian dystopia.”

    “The real extremists are the officials in shadowy parts of the
British state who’ve been so captured by woke ideology they’ve
convinced themselves that a schoolteacher who has concerns about
forcing children to wear masks in lessons is a threat to national
security,” added Young.

Fairclough was suspended from Twitter last year, though he has now
been reinstated.

“If you are in fear, and you can’t actually speak out when there are
clear harms going on, then they’ve got you,” he said.

“Moving forward, we need to be able to have a culture which celebrates
different opinions and which embraces questions about things,” he
added.