The Mail on Sunday

So why is Assange still stuck in prison?

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CAN anyone explain to me why the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is still in the high- security prison at Belmarsh? Is this strict-regime incarcerat­ion justified by any real risk? A British judge has rightly refused his extraditio­n to the USA. The US government is appealing, but if he were freed on bail it is hard to see how he could flee the country when it is almost impossible for normal people to get out of Britain, let alone famous men on bail. Keeping him in Belmarsh, unconvicte­d of any crime, looks like spite. While t he US government appeals – and who knows how l ong t hat will t ake i n our clogged courts – couldn’t Mr Assange at least be sent to a less severe prison?

WILL the face-mask decree ever be lifted? Despite the continuing absence of hard evidence that masks are effective, and the huge success of the vaccine making the case for them still weaker, Covid zealots still speak of them being required for months to come. This is not about logic, or health. It is a sort of pseudo-religion.

Here is a puzzle for you. Almost every part of the NHS allows some exemptions from mask-wearing. The one bit of the NHS which absolutely does not is the Blood Service.

Why? Blood donors are healthy by definition. Blooddonor centres are perhaps the least likely place in the health system to pick up an infection. Blood donation is listed as an essential activity. Covid is not spread through blood.

I’d welcome a rational, medical explanatio­n for this. But I don’t think there is one.

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