Last week, the Singapore government lifted the outdoor mask mandate. It still ‘encourages’ people to wear masks when outside. Nonetheless, as Mothership reports, most Singaporeans still wear masks outdoors. This matches with my own experience. Out on the street, less than one in a hundred people do not wear masks—myself among them. For those of […]
When Waves Combine
What happens when the next wave of Covid meets the Great Resignation? Singapore is going to find out—and it will be ugly. The Straits Times presents an optimistic picture of the labour market. Among other things, unemployment fell from 3 percent to 2.6 percent, retrenchments dropped from 26110 to 7820, and the Ministry of Manpower expects […]
Riding Out the Great Termination
The world is in the throes of the Great Resignation. Workers are quitting en masse, seeking better prospects elsewhere, triggering a labour shortage across the board. Hidden in this trend is the Great Termination: vaccine mandates, official or otherwise. In Singapore there is no formal mandate. However, unvaccinated workers are barred from returning to the […]
No Jab, No Job Comes To Singapore
No jab, no job has come to Singapore. The government won’t call it that, of course. They are simply barring the unvaccinated from returning to the workplace, even with a negative pre-event test, starting 15 January. Partially vaccinated workers have until 31 January to complete their vaccination regimen. Employees who cannot work from home risk […]
Walking Alone in the Age of Covid
All my life, I have walked alone. In all things I have forged my own path. As a child, I favoured solitary pursuits over group activities. My tendencies drew me away from the crowds, and towards the meditations of the ancient philosophers, the craft of art, the way of sword and pen in accord. In […]
The Covid State
History remembers pandemics as periods of great human suffering. The Black Death. The Spanish flu. Smallpox. The Covid era will be remembered not merely for the severity of the disease, but the rise of the global Covid state. Big Government wants supreme power over the lives of the people. Big Pharma seeks a captive market. […]
Adapting to Omicron
Omicron is the word on everyone’s minds now. The word ‘Covid’ conjures up memories of lockdowns, mandates, restrictions, a full-court press of fear and flip-flops in the news. With the Omicron variant, it’s so tempting to fall back into the old patterns of thinking. As for me, I’m quietly optimistic. The data is extremely limited […]
On Truth and POFMA
The Minister of Health has determined that a statement I made in this post, dated 20 October, is false. The Prevention of Online Falsehood and Manipulation Act Office has required me to post corrections on that post and on social media. Having seen the government’s official position, I acknowledge that I have shared what the […]
The Cost of Compliance
Compliance is easy. The state says you must get vaccinated. The media says you must get vaccinated. The celebrities, the scientists, the influencers, every public personality say you must get vaccinated. The government says you must get vaccinated or you’ll be banished from public life, and you must incur significant financial costs just to exist. […]
A Parallel Economy for the Pandemic
Among the many Covid restrictions Singapore has passed to date, the unofficial vaccine mandate is the most insidious. In a single stroke, tens of thousands of workers are forced to choose between the jab and the job—as well as students who are about to enter the workforce. The Ministry of Manpower claims that termination for […]