RESIDENTS are being warned to check that they really are picking up their favourite newspaper after copies had been replaced with a different publication.
Every week, Wokingham.Today distributes copies to the borough’s leisure centres so that customers can enjoy a free read.
But we’ve been warned that someone has been removing the papers and replacing them with The Light, which contains alternative views about the pandemic.
The publication has been spotted in both Bulmershe and Loddon Valley leisure centres.
The current issue has an article that argues the smallpox vaccine was “modern medical propaganda” and blames India’s recent spike in coronavirus cases on vaccines rather than the Delta variant.
It also features a column by former News of the World medical columnist Dr Vernon Coleman titled ‘Join my army to win this war’, in which he calls the pandemic “fake” and “it was a hoax to claim that we are facing the greatest threat to human health since the Black Death”.
The views expressed have dismayed some people who have picked up a copy.
Cllr Shirley Boyt, councillor for Bulmershe and Whitegates, said: “I’m utterly appalled this is anywhere in the borough.
“People are entitled to free speech, but they wouldn’t dare to knock on (the centres’) doors and ask if they would hand it out. They know it’s not welcome.
“I was shocked to learn from a resident that this was in our leisure centres.”
Wokingham resident Paul said he was left confused and “disgusted” when his wife brought home a copy from Bulmershe Leisure Centre on Tuesday.
“She usually gets Wokingham.Today and thought they didn’t have any copies, so she brought this home instead,” he said. “I looked at it and realised it is really inappropriate.”
He said the newspaper includes adverts likening the coronavirus vaccine to “an app that would screw up a £1,000 iPhone”.
“It’s quite ironic it’s at Bulmershe, given they held a vaccine clinic there,” Paul added. “It’s pretty horrendous.
“I’m not an expert but I know enough about it to know some of the stuff in there, while not lies, is a distortion of statistics.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”
Cllr Charles Margetts, executive member for health, well-being and adult social care at Wokingham Borough Council, said: “Permission was not given for The Light to be made available at the leisure centres and copies were removed as soon as we were aware of it.
“We support the vaccine programme and would very much encourage anybody eligible to get the vaccine.”
