The Jonathan Lea Network

Great debut album, never quite followed up their promise.

Vote Corbyn!

Piers... obviously.

Good old Clydes.  In the news again for the wrong reasons. 

I find this kind of nonsense, from supposedly educated people, pretty offensive knowing people who work in our hospitals saving the life of idiots like this once they catch COVID.

Stop embarrassing yourself!

This is so embarrassing. In fact, it is embarassing to be considered part of the British public these days, with idiots like this spouting off so much rubbish. Stick to your legal practice mate, I'm sure someone so ahead of the times like yourself will be overtaking Big Law soon.... 

Sectionable 

My wife a virologist. She graduated top of her class at a great Canadian university and is considered to be an expert in her field.  I showed her the article and she agrees with what he is saying. She says a lot of the experts do. There was a study in Sweden which showed that wearing a mask had no affect on the transfer of the disease. The environment created around the mouth and nose with saliva getting trapped in the mask, and with frequent adjustments of the masks with the hands of the wearer, transferring germs from the hands to the face, actually in the view of many scientists makes the wearer more susceptible and can make disease more likely. Wearing a mask has become so political that no one is allowed to challenge whether it helps or not. 

@09:57 - I agree with most of what you say, but suspect that you may be falling into a trap of thinking that this is somehow unique to the 'British Public'.

Do you imagine, for example, that the French Public are entirely without individuals who vocally share this kind of thinking? 

Jonathan Lea is Clergham?

Masks are awful. I cannot wait until they are abolished in shops! We can all have different views still in the UK, just about. There is no way out of this so either we have these measures for ever or move them to a voluntary basis. I favour the latter but the High Court decided against the challenge to the lockdown laws and Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from I think it was the CA. So there we are.

It was not ultra vires to say we cannot leave our houses, get married etc etc...

Bringing pseudo-religious ranting into the office is deucedly unprofessional.

Anyway, what about those of us who like demonic things? Where’s the diversity?

I've met Jonathan at networking events over the years. He's a nice chap. I don't agree with him on this, but I respect his right to have a view on it. There are differing opinions - it doesn't seem that long ago that the UK government was telling us that masks weren't needed.

I'm sure he'll be delighted to have a platform like ROF for his views to be published! 

Ultimately, we want to live in a society with free choice. Jonathan is absolutely free to run his business however he pleases; if you don’t want to do business with him then you are free not to. The worrying state of affairs is where the officials clamp down on this freedom and enforce financial sanctions because this freedom threatens their agenda. Masks do cause more harm than good (I am free to believe this) and the indoctrination of mask wearing and vaccination is just one step closer to absolute controls - you will soon be unable to trade unless you meet a set of requirements that an arbitrary room of gentlemen in office have deemed essential. Why do they have the say over how we live our lives? This is a slow and concerning manipulation that will lead to total and complete governmental control; one day we’ll wake up and wonder how we ended up in a communist dictatorship. But the people are screaming for their freedoms to be stripped away. Madness. It stopped being about health about a year ago. Covid is a real virus, the control and propaganda is a whole ‘nother level of insanity. 

I don't think he's right on this. But when you have the Torygraph and public figures like Sumption spouting their anti-lockdown agenda, you can see how people can be led to follow that side of the argument 

Is he a regular on the discussion board? I recognise some of that rhetoric.

Everything aside, the medical professional has been wearing masks for a century now. People working with toxic chemicals, e.g. cleaners, scientists/researchers, engineers, hairdressers, builders have been wearing protective masks for decades. The beauty industry has been wearing masks for hygiene reasons.

And NOW that the general public have to wear a mask for half an hour to do their shopping, suddenly, it's limiting their freedom. Like how entitled and selfish can you get? Even if for a century we have been wrong, even if medical science has been wrong for all this time - would it really hurt you? It's a short duration of your life, short duration of your time with a consequence of potentially saving someone's life. Can you please understand how to conduct a risk analysis! Especially as a lawyer, you should understand how this works. 

Also, no, it isn't anyone's 'right' to walk into any place they want without wearing a mask. That place can stop you from entering its premises for a lot of other things even before this pandemic. 

I am fine with lockdown because my financial situation and mental health isn't really affected by it.

But I also recognise that not everybody is in the same boat when it comes to lockdown. Many businesses have gone under or are in a dire situation, people are having serious mental health issues, important hospital treatment such as cancer operations are being put on hold. This is the background to those wanting an end to lockdown (even if we don't agree with all their reasoning and arguments). Jonathan is entitled to his opinion, even if he does like to shout it from the rooftops a bit too often! And I agree with @Anonymous 10.27 -I think he'll be very pleased with the RollOnFriday publicity!! 

"Wearing a mask has become so political that no one is allowed to challenge whether it helps or not."

Of course people can challenge it. He has, very publicly.  But if they are rattling off unsubstantiated crap or pontificating on an area outside their technical competence, we are free to point out what prats they are.

Your argument is akin to people screaming about their free speech being oppressed in national papers and on Twitter.

@10:29 - what about the freedom of others he works with to behave differently?  Fine if he doesn't insist for instance if he allows his PA to drop work at his door, but otherwise he's using his position of power to enforce his personal beliefs on others.

‘Your argument is akin to people screaming about their free speech being oppressed in national papers and on Twitter’

i don’t agree with Jonathan but I also think you are naive if you think people aren’t being cut out of huge forums if they aren’t in lockstep with the views of the progressives who control those forums. 

Absolutely ghastly fellow. I have friends and family working in the NHS working OT hours, and having to cancel operations just to free up space for the COVID-patients heaving into the hospitals. People like this should be banned from receiving NHS services.

Do you want to provide some evidence for that assertion @11:24?

Jonathan is a good-humoured chap and fun company. You have to take what he says with a pinch of salt, as likes to stir the pot and provoke debate. He'll love the fact this is being talked about and the attention it's getting. 

Now that Jonathan is ROF-famous, it's time for him to launch the campaign for Jonathan Lea MP. He will have my vote!

I bet he calls himself a classical liberal flaneur on his social media profiles.

Jono is correct in pointing out the dangers of cultish adherence to the perceived threat of covid (it is real and I have had it twice)... communism & totalitarian state here we come...unfortunately we do not live in a risk free world so politicians need to balance off what risks to the public are tolerable and which are not.. the media and other ‘forces at play’ here have ignored the consequential losses which stem from lockdown (think: far greater excess deaths from untreated cancer, heart disease, mental health and suicides than have been saved from covid). Politicians have had their hand forced into these measures, some of which rightly save and preserve life and others which subjugate us into mindless, helpless minions. Lord Sumption has the facts right but the diplomacy wrong.

"The Jonathan Lea Network"

Sounds pretty damn top, where do I sign up?

Good man for trying to put stop to mindless tyranny! All relevant UK government figures, incl. Johnson, Hancock, Witty and Vallance (as well as the WHO and Dr. Fauci), said masks were pointless and even unhealthy. That was until mid June when there arose a mysterious political need to change the "science" in June last year. Then they all did a huge U-turn but gave no evidence why. Down with masks!

Anyone who goes against the (enforced) public position is fired at.  Congratulations to Mr Lea for taking this stance.   Masks don't protect the NHS, funding does, so there is no point protesting that this attitude is damaging an already profoundly endangered public service. 

We need more voices of reason instead of idiotic fear.

Interesting fellow....seems that he want to be the legal world's Julia Hartley Brewer, who doesn't shy away from publicity or debate, and get his arguments heard. He was probably expecting some publication to pick up his mask ban sign - free PR.

I say give him a seat on Question Time.

Bet my house that Jonathan has posted many of these comments

Princess Leia 22 January 21 12:59

Anyone who goes against the (enforced) public position is fired at.

So do people who agree with current measures.  Exhibit A ^

GENIUS. Great way to bring the in clients - it's not like anyone's be impacted or lost relatives. What an absolute donut! 

@Jonathan (13:45)

Bugger off Jonathan Lea, I'm Jonathan Lea and I'll say what I like where I like.

Whether or not a face mask protects you is surely not the point. Fact is, I can leave the house and pretend to be a ninja. What is there not to like?! 

 

During lockdown #3 I am trying to grow a pony tail to match. 

Wow! Just wow! What a read.  I totally agree with every word and really admire your courage to stand up for common sense. Thank you

@Not Jonathan Lea 13.45

It's a bit small-minded to think only Jonathan would post positive comments. Some of us also hold similar views about masks and lockdown! It's good his points are reaching a wider audience via this news piece, as all too often there's little coverage about the arguments from those who question lockdown. 

@14:31 - thanks Jonathan, really appreciate your words of support.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Lea

This so good, so true and hopefully things will begin to change as there are so many like-minded people who can see what’s really happening.

Jonathan Lea's timesheet today:

0.2 - Making up names

7.8 - Posting on ROF strongly agreeing with myself. 

Jonathan clearly wants his voice heard on this topic - or else why post so much about it on social media. I agree with @13.09 that the mask ban was probs therefore some shrewd little publicity stunt to get to a wider audience via the news like this, and stir up some debate (taking the rough comments with the smooth). Mission accomplished Jonathan.

@15.48 if that's the case, then fair play to Jonathan for getting the publicity from RoF. Not everyone is in the same situation with the luxury of a good salary, a nice home etc during this lockdown. Jonathan is a voice for those of us questioning the impact of lockdown on mental health, wellbeing and livelihoods. And before there are any snide comments, this is not Jonathan or someone related to him.

This sort of nonsense irritates me immensely.  My wife's a staff nurse at a major hospital was hospitalised with covid in November and spent 2 weeks in ICU in an induced coma and on a ventilator, before being eventually discharged.  She's still recovering from the damage done, but she was lucky.  One of her friends from work was hospitalised around the same time, but never made it out of ICU and died just before New Year.  Anyone who thinks the virus is a hoax is quite frankly an idiot.

It seems that posting positive comments for Jonathan, requires a pledge that this isn't Jonathan, or a family member or even his cat! He is a popular guy, so it's not a surprise if people who know him want to stick up for him.

This isn't Jonathan, but as frank disclosure, I've shared a stage with him at work events. I don't agree with everything he says and some of his ideas are far-fetched, but I believe what is really driving him is the argument that lockdown is causing serious problems with mental health and job losses. Glad to see him in the news anyway, as I know he'll want his message to get out there, even if it causes a bit of controversy.

I agree Jonathan, if you actually listen to what he has to say you'll find that Jonathan Lea is a pretty reasonable guy with some well thought out arguments. As the many Jonathans of his acquaintance who have posted above me have already testified.

Cheers,

Jonathan

There is a difference between legitimately raising a concern about the efficacy of lockdowns and denying the existing of Covid or airing your thoughts on the "#neworldorder". 

No doubt Mr Lea believes this to be "good" PR and is of the view that any collateral damage (offence to others, harm to those influenced, discreditation of peer reviewed scientific authorities...) is well worth it.    

???

?@JL

I am in complete agreement with you Jonathan and am completely sick of masks and how they're damaging our children's perception of the world. If people want to wear one it should be their choice but it should also be my choice not to wear one.

17:39 - don't be so dramatic; I haven't suggested anything of the sort.  I too know Jonathan personally and find him to be personable and intelligent.. but (a) he pushes (rather forcefully in my opinion) his opinions on COVID etc. onto others via his social media pages, and (b) he is clearly enjoying the exposure this article has brought to his firm and his views. 

There are two sides to every coin and personally I welcome Jonathan's thoughts, even if I find many of them to be nonsensical - if nothing else he improves for my own personal echo chamber.  My comment at 13:45 was purely observational and intended to raise a smile.  Peace out and keep the debate going x

Classic Jonathan. Everyone who knows him (is there anyone who doesn't??) will be unsurprised.