Latest / Mark and Pete / Stolen Artefacts, Cancelled Social Media, and the Annual Flu Panic

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Stolen Artefacts, Cancelled Social Media, and the Annual Flu Panic · Mark and Pete

• 0:05
  Stolen artifacts, cancelled social media and the national
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  flu panic. Welcome to Mark and Pete.
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  This week we have history getting nicked, children
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  ignoring the government, and the nation is told to brace itself
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  for winter. Mark and Pete, 2 blokes with
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  half an opinion. Now here's our first story.
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  Making an exhibition of yourself.
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  Museums are places for inquisitive minds to attract, to
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  then extract an exact historical fact where through the years
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  displays get extremely packed as future generations visit you.
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  As an artifact, Yes, well that might apply to Mr. Pete, but not
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  to Mr. Mark. However, sadly more than 600
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  artefacts of significant cultural value have been stolen
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  from Bristol Museum's archive. What is a brazen attempt and a
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  high value raid? And this has meant that the
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  museum has lost significant positions to be able to educate
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  and inform the public of the history of the British Empire.
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  Now Mr. Pete, I know that many people probably will be thinking
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  what on earth and why would anybody steal such items bearing
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  in mind that each individual item is of historical value but
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  not of monetary value. What is the reason behind this
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  theft? Yeah, Yes, it's interesting,
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  isn't it? It's it's hard to see what
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  what's what could be done with the ill gotten gains that the
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  thieves made away with. Unless it's a there are two
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  possibilities I see here. Either it could be that there's
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  been a specific order, you know, there's certain things that were
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  needed by some like well connected collectors, or it's a
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  grudge against the museum. You know, it's making a
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  political point. Those are the 2 main things, I
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  guess. I mean, it seems unlikely
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  because it's been, as I see it seems to be well conducted.
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  It's unlikely just to be opportunistic themes.
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  So I, I think those two options are possibly the the best.
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  I mean, I suppose The thing is that the Bible says in Matthew
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  chapter 6, verse 19, do not store up for yourselves
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  treasures on earth. And part of the, the reasoning
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  behind that verse is if, if you're putting relying on
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  reliance on things that are physical that you've got locked
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  away, someone's going to stole them or they're going to get
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  used up in some way. So you, you're, as soon as
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  you've got a museum with valuable things stored in it,
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  you, well, you're open to this sort of thing.
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  But you. But you would have thought,
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  well, they're not of any monetary value.
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  And that's why I lean towards the first of these options, that
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  it is the actual meaning of them.
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  That's, that's, that's the reason for the theft in that
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  there's been a collector looking for these items.
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  But you know, I guess it it's might come out particularly if
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  they catch the thieves, but we'll see whether that actually
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  happens. Well, what's incredible is a a
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  fine array of different types of materials have been taken now,
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  one of which is military. Some memorabilia, jewellery,
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  Natural History pieces, even carved ivory bronzes and also
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  silver for greens. Many of the things like that,
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  they're all relatively small items, some of which, as I said,
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  do relate to the British Empire and the Commonwealth collection.
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  So I think you could be right, it could be making a political
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  point. But the thing here is, is that
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  the the loss, because this is significant to the collection
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  for the the Bristol Museum. And naturally those who are
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  actually running the museum are devastated at the fact that many
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  of these items have been taken. What was also part of the raid
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  is that there were much damage as well.
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  Left behind were very broken boxes, displays, even some of
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  the sort of remaining artefacts were scattered all over the
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  floor. So there was a lot of damage.
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  Now psychologically that's pretty damaging for those who
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  actually work at the museum, but also for the community.
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  I mean, the, The thing is, is that the actual Bristol Museum
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  is well noted for its collection and has really, you know, really
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  relied on donations over the years.
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  So could there also be another motivation?
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  Could there be that some of the artefacts that do not relate to
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  the, the British Empire as was could be religious because some
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  of them are sort of Buddhist figures, some of them are
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  related to other religions? Yes.
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  Is it, is it what I have to ask, is it irrespective of the
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  motivation, why do it? It's all it's doing is it's
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  taking away knowledge and history which we learn from.
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  So once you've done that, you're really sort of damaging a
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  generation to understand and contextualise why things
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  happened in the past. Yes.
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  Whatever the reason, as you say it, it's, it's not going to have
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  a good effect. I, I would say if, if, if, if
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  it's, you know, taking back your religious icons or whatever it
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  might be because it's been held there and you don't approve it.
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  What it always making a political point or as, as I say,
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  it may be done toward and there's something that's
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  valuable at least to some collectors.
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  Whatever it is, it's going to have a bad effect.
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  I mean, if you adding to your collection, you can never
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  display it because it's been stolen and they know what it is.
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  If it's making a political point, well, it it hasn't all
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  it's made, the point it's made is it's it'd be a footnote in a
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  news article and it might end up on some obscure podcast
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  somewhere. That's or on the great market be
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  podcast, obviously. Yeah, but you know, it's not.
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  It seems to me that whatever the motivation, I can't think of 1
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  where this is actually going to achieve the ends that they would
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  desire from doing it. So it seems like the equivalent
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  of pointless vandalism. Not, I mean, not just the
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  smashing of cats. The whole thing is.
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  What's what's remarkable is this.
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  Then the police have some CCTV footage and ironically 4 men
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  have been captured on the television and are actually
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  walking away with said stolen items in bags.
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  And of course what makes me think that this is more of an
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  amateur operation is the fact that normally a professional
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  would be more than aware of CCTV and the you can actually see
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  from some of the imagery which members of the public you need
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  to possibly try and identify. So of course, naturally for our
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  listeners, if anybody is aware of these individuals or has any
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  knowledge, please get in touch with the Bristol police.
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  But I, I come back to the, the bigger thing is, is that museums
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  for me are probably one of the sort of sacred places of
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  learning. I mean, when you think about,
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  you know, when you were at school, you probably would have
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  had a school trip taken around a museum, taught about a
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  particular period in history or many other forms of history.
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  And you come away with a much greater knowledge in, in when
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  it's all that you're, it's all there.
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  You immerse yourself, don't you, in the way that, you know, the
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  Romans did things or even the British or any other culture
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  that you might think about. And, and to me, it's so sad
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  that, you know, whether you take away one or many artefacts or
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  damage them or sell them or whatever you intend to do, you,
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  you really have sort of destroyed education for future
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  generations. And to me, that's the bit that I
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  think is quite sickening on this story.
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  But anyway, hopefully, hopefully the artefacts will be recovered
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  and things can get back to normal.
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  Now this is something as a distance story and something
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  that perhaps is slightly unusual, especially if you're
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  locked out. Boys and girls come out to play
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  on social media every single day until they completely went
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  astray. Now they're banned and all gone
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  away. Oh yes, indeed.
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  Now if you were in Australia, yes, Facebook in Australia and
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  many other social media channels have now been banned for young
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  people. Now Mr. Pete, I think that this
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  is one of the great initiatives that we've seen to try and curb
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  bad behaviour on social media affecting the young.
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  Now, what say you about what the Australians have tempted to do
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  to try and help better practice for social media and for public
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  good for those who are younger members of society using social
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  media? Well, I think that this in
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  intent is a good move. I think that social media can be
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  very problematic, especially for for young people, because of
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  they they're being sensitive, for example, to being ridiculed
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  when you're going into your teens, especially you, you know,
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  someone spreading social media lies about you can be very
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  corrosive to your development. I mean, adults don't like it,
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  don't be wrong, but it's worse when you're in your positive
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  years. So I I think this is this is
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  good in intense, but it seems to have been slightly bungled with
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  all the reports of of children being able to get round the ban
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  already. It seems it's not thought and
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  that where whereas private companies seem to be able to
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  secure their website material quite well.
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  I think that means that the social media companies are not
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  really playing ball with the government's intent here.
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  I think that they could, they could help a lot more to prevent
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  people from getting around. I mean, to take one step further
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  though, children really need to be need to be looked after by
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  their parents or other carers. I guess.
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  You know, it's not always the biological parents usually is,
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  but not always. They have a responsibility, you
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  know, it's you can't rely on the firewall all the time.
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  You've got to actually be there with them.
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  And, and there are things that parents or carers can put in
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  place to make sure that they know what's happening on social
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  media with their children, even if the children aren't fully
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  aware, as happened with my own children.
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  They weren't aware that I knew. But I did know.
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  I made sure I was there and I knew what they were doing.
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  Yeah, ways to do that, which I won't reveal here on, on the
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  podcast in detail. But what I would say to parents
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  is just think about it. Sure, they rely on you for
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  having these devices in the 1st place.
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  Surely there are ways to make sure you know what they, what
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  they're using it for and what the content actually is.
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  I was able to figure it out. So I I I think you should be
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  too. Yes, well, what is was seen as a
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  radical step by Australia, a ban for under sixteens.
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  So that's what it really means. Now many of the social media
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  firms, no surprise, have spent many months trying to protest
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  against this new law which effectively in their minds,
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  restricts or requires reasonable steps to keep teenagers and many
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  others under protection. But I think that what Australia
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  is basically saying is it's not enough.
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  What they've seen is that people are deemed to be less safe
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  because you already referenced earlier that there has been,
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  shall we say, victimisations and unfortunately people have lost
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  their lives as a result because of mental depression and many
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  other things. Really what's happened is, is
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  that that world they've got embraced in a social media world
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  that has become corrupt. I'll keep it as simple as that.
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  Now a lot of people have seen the other argument, which is
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  that there was a chap called Paul Task from Net Choice, a
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  trade group representing several big tech companies.
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  And he said Australia is engaged in blanket censorship that will
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  make its youth less informed, less connected and less equipped
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  to navigate the spaces that they will be expected to understand
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  as adults. Well, I can sort of see on that
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  side, but the problem is, is that that world that they were
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  once engaged with is open to a lot of unsavoury content.
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  And I think that that's the point that I think that we need
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  to get to, which is how does the how do the social media
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  organisations stop young people 16 and under from actually
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  accessing content that might cause them harm?
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  Yeah. And and I think that there,
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  there are ways to do this, but they need to be constantly
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  updating as people find ways around them, I think.
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  But it's, it's worth the effort. I mean, this is very serious in
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  that the children will be the adults of tomorrow obvious
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  statement and the the Bible says Proverbs 22 verse 6 trainer put
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  child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not
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  depart from it. Things people learn when they're
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  younger will be how they're going to behave in the future.
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  And if it's social media that's doing that training, then we're
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  all in trouble. Yes, it is a worrying sight now
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  of course, what many people think is, is that Australia is
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  paving the way for what might be for other countries to adopt
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  this type of this model. Being safe online is not just
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  applicable to young children, it's also applicable to adults.
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  And I think that whilst the focus of the moment is on the
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  young people, it also should be for everyone.
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  So absolutely, I think that we're going to see this story
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  run and run. And the likelihood is, is that I
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  think that governments are all around the world should work
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  with social media companies to try and put in protections,
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  better protections to to safeguard everyone who is a
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  user. Now, when we talk about
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  safeguarding people, of course, we're at a time and a period of
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  time in winter when we all need to be safe, especially
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  safeguarding passages and Airways.
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  Coughs and sneezes spread diseases as each nose blows and
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  squeezes. So be careful with your wheezes
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  or everybody simply seizes. Yes, remarkably, yes.
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  The NHS in the United Kingdom said it's the worst case
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  scenario when a number of people in hospital and with flu has
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  jumped by 55% in one week alone. Now the beds that are being
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  allocated to patients have gone from 5000 up to 8000 hospital
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  beds to be filled by flu patients.
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  Mr. Pete, it's no surprise that we're in winter, people do get
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  sniffly, sniffly noses, but that is a remarkable jump, isn't it,
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  When you look at it in comparison to previous years, a
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  very high percentage of people are getting flu.
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  So I guess really with a burdening situation with the
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  NHS, what do we have to do because I think there are some
• 15:57
  concerns over vaccines. What's your opinion on on taking
• 16:01
  flu vaccines? Well, are you jumping in with
• 16:04
  that? Are you?
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  We've had, we've made a lot of comments.
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  People can look back into the archives.
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  We don't want to go over the arguments now about the COVID-19
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  vaccines, but this is separate. We're talking about the flu
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  vaccines and back. I mentioned COVID-19 because
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  back in 2018 there was a huge flu epidemic and people were
• 16:25
  were were left in the corridors of hospitals because there were
• 16:28
  no beds in the wards available. It was a complete disaster.
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  I mention that because it happens every year that you get
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  an increase in flu during winter and you would think that, oh,
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  what we want to do then is make sure the NHS is ready for it
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  each year. But then each year there's a
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  spike in in flu, but sometimes it's higher than others.
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  And when it gets to that year there's panic.
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  Well, actually the NHS tells us to panic responsibly and, you
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  know, and to take the necessary recall precautions.
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  First of all, panic. Secondly, save the NHS because
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  the NHS is being overwhelmed by its own stupidity.
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  And it's, it's a question of planning in advance.
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  What I mean, other areas of expenditure are are likewise
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  ignore. Like, for example, why is it a
• 17:20
  problem every winter if you get snow and ice on the ground?
• 17:24
  Yes, well, it happens every year.
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  Why is it a problem when every few years, you know, every
• 17:31
  generation or so, there's a there's an increase in the
• 17:36
  number of people needing schooling.
• 17:38
  Oh no, there's no school buildings.
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  That's because you knocked down or sold the others what that you
• 17:44
  knew you would need not far into the future.
• 17:47
  It's a a mark and beat mantra. I know Mark, but I'm just going
• 17:51
  to remind the listener, long terminism, localism and long
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  termism. Long termism, not terminism.
• 17:58
  I don't even know what that is. Long termism are the 2 main
• 18:03
  features of the Malcolm Peter prescriptions for solving
• 18:07
  problems. Think long term and you wouldn't
• 18:10
  have any of these issues. As to as to the you asked me the
• 18:15
  head of this, you would say well what about the vaccines?
• 18:17
  Well, there is a particular problem with the vaccine this
• 18:21
  year, but it's it's always the case that flu vaccines by the
• 18:27
  measures of the NHS use are between 20 and 40% effective.
• 18:31
  That's not very good. That is, it doesn't stop you
• 18:35
  from getting it and none of them stop you from passing it on.
• 18:39
  So what exactly is the is the flu the flu vaccine doing?
• 18:45
  To use a polite term, not much. Another term occurred to me, but
• 18:50
  obviously this is a family show. So.
• 18:53
  But this year it's particularly bad because it's outwardly
• 18:57
  admitted the flu vaccine is this year is for the wrong variant.
• 19:01
  It's not the one that's spreading around.
• 19:03
  So you shouldn't be taking. You should be taking the usual
• 19:06
  precautions. If you are vulnerable, if you're
• 19:08
  very elderly or you're overweight or diabetic, then
• 19:12
  please, you know, take precautions against catching the
• 19:16
  flu. You know, don't go to places
• 19:18
  where you're going to catch it. I mean, if you do catch it, bed
• 19:21
  rest and plenty of fluids, you know, these sort of things are
• 19:25
  needed. Yeah.
• 19:26
  You need to remind. It's good to remind people.
• 19:28
  I think many people already know.
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  But what we don't need is the giving of a vaccine that that
• 19:37
  gives you a false sense of security.
• 19:38
  I heard an advert the other day, apparently paid for by the NHS,
• 19:43
  promoting the NHS vaccines, and it was telling elderly people to
• 19:49
  take the vaccine. Then they could do all the
• 19:52
  things that they would normally do when there wasn't a flu
• 19:56
  epidemic, like go to a dance and that sort of thing.
• 20:00
  Well, So what you're doing is. Claiming that a vaccine works
• 20:03
  that doesn't and telling people to go to places and catch the
• 20:06
  flu. What is going on?
• 20:08
  What we need is common sense and long term planning.
• 20:13
  You know, you see, I'm fed up of saying this here, Mark and Pete,
• 20:16
  because people, what is it, Mark?
• 20:18
  People don't listen to Mark and Pete.
• 20:19
  What's that mean to the world? Well, one thing that is true
• 20:24
  which is related to some of the statistics, which is that
• 20:29
  children and young people seem to be more affected in recent
• 20:33
  years and ironically are the ones where, for example, the
• 20:38
  younger group are driving the rising cases of flu.
• 20:42
  OK, there's peaks and troughs on this, but one thing that has
• 20:45
  been suggested is about the wearing of masks, not
• 20:48
  necessarily so that you will be protected, but that you protect
• 20:52
  others. What say you about the mask
• 20:54
  wearing scenario again? Well, I did hear this also, and
• 20:59
  I suppose without swearing it's difficult to get across in a
• 21:04
  pithy fashion. My opinion on the way use of
• 21:09
  masks to prevent the spread of a disease that is spread in the
• 21:16
  air and it's spread by small particles that go through a
• 21:20
  mask. And unless it's a completely
• 21:24
  sealed mask around your face, actually causes people next to
• 21:28
  you to be more likely to catch it.
• 21:30
  Let me give you an example. You're sitting on a train.
• 21:32
  Someone's got the flu and they're sneezing a bit or
• 21:35
  coughing normally. Your the, your projectile of
• 21:41
  your in, you know, any of the virus in your breath goes
• 21:44
  forward. You may even catch it on your
• 21:46
  handkerchief or something, but it goes forward.
• 21:49
  If you're wearing a mask, it goes sideways and infects the
• 21:51
  person next to you possibly, but it's certainly it hits the
• 21:54
  person next to you. So wearing your masks is bad in
• 21:57
  that sense. Also, if you keep them on, they
• 22:00
  get wet because you're breathing into them and then other
• 22:05
  diseases and fungus grows on them.
• 22:07
  So they are not just not a good idea, they're a very bad idea
• 22:11
  and they're making things worse. We found that out during the
• 22:14
  COVID-19 epidemic, where in the recent COVID-19 claimed
• 22:19
  epidemic, where in the recent hearings on the government
• 22:24
  reactions to the COVID-19, what should we call it, COVID-19
• 22:32
  debacle, the use of of masks was to make people aware that it was
• 22:39
  serious rather than having any actual benefits in themselves.
• 22:43
  So why now actually say people should wear masks?
• 22:47
  And they're talking about surgical masks, not some sort of
• 22:49
  gas mask. That, that's right, could.
• 22:51
  Stop, stop particles getting through.
• 22:53
  Why say it now? Is it for the same reason to try
• 22:57
  and get people to responsibly panic as I mentioned earlier?
• 23:00
  I don't know. I can't understand it.
• 23:03
  It's idiotic. I suppose.
• 23:06
  That's the only polite term I can think of.
• 23:09
  Well, we seem to have a running theme here which is be careful
• 23:12
  what you catch. Diseases of winter, social media
• 23:16
  disease. Maybe those who are diseased of
• 23:18
  the mind decide to steal it. I must admit, I think this is a
• 23:26
  a weird time of year, but nevertheless, one of the things
• 23:30
  that I do recommend. Absolutely.
• 23:33
  Let's try and use a little bit of common sense.
• 23:36
  Anyway, I'll leave you to close out.
• 23:39
  Yeah, if only yet. Now, just to close out, I just
• 23:42
  need to remind you, gentle listener, to make sure you're
• 23:45
  subscribed to it. Go to markandpete.com, make sure
• 23:48
  you subscribe there. And if you do that, you can
• 23:51
  comment on this. And in fact, every episode we'd
• 23:54
  love to hear from you. But that's it for this week for
• 23:57
  Mark and myself. Thanks very much for listening.
• 24:00
  Catch you next time.