Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #herdimmunityscandal

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#RishiSunak was at the heart of the #HerdImmunityScandal

Every epidemiologist, virologist & scientist made clear that - without a vaccine - #HerdImmunity was an “outcome” never a “strategy”

On 21/9/20, Sunak & Johnson skipped a crucial SAGE meeting to meet two lockdown sceptics
At the Sept meeting that Sunak skipped, SAGE had advised a circuit-breaker lockdown

Scientists had also warned against #Sunak's Eat Out to Help Out scheme which is closely linked to rise in #COViD19 cases & likely helped trigger a rise in deaths among ethnic minority populations
After #Sunak & Johnson were briefed by the anti-lockdown sceptics, they ignored SAGE’s advice to:

1. introduce a circuit-breaker lockdown

2. close pubs, restaurants & gyms

3. stop households mixing in each other’s homes

4. stop face-to-face teaching at universities & colleges
Read 5 tweets
1/. “I’m not really bumbling. I’m as hard as nails”

In this interview, #BorisJohnson shows that the “bumbling Boris” character is just that: a character

“My approach to politics & human nature is that you can make a good case for anything” #BorisResigns
2/. “#BorisJohnson put on a buffoon mask to become a celebrity, & now he can’t take it off.”
(J Lanchester)

“He seems to know that if we’re chuckling at him, we’re not likely to be thinking hard about his agenda, or doing anything to counter it.”
(J Coe)
3/. In 2020, I dug up #BorisJohnso’s #TakeItOnTheChin

I also found the smoking gun of the #HerdImmunityScandal - the #GreenwichSpeech

“There’s a risk new diseases such as #coronavirus could trigger a panic that goes beyond what is medically rational”
Read 12 tweets
The PM breaking #COVID19 lockdown rules then lying about it is serious

But there are MUCH bigger scandals than #Partygate (many of which I broke)

5/3/20 - #TakeItOnTheChin #HerdImmunityScandal

3/2/20 #GreenwichSpeech👇

15/5/20 #CarehomeScandal

👉the #DataGrab / #PalantirPlan
For me, my investigation began by chance on 8/3/20 when I stumbled on @BorisJohnson’s interview with @Schofe & @hollywills where he said “one theory is we could #TakeItOnTheChin

I clipped it & it went viral

Ironically, this was also the same day as first Briton died of #COVID
As #COVID19 hit, every epidemiologist/virologist made clear #HerdImmunity without a vaccine was an “outcome” not a “strategy”

Every behaviourist made clear “behavioural fatigue” was unscientific

Every expert knew about asymptomatic spread in Feb 2020

Then the penny dropped
Read 7 tweets
"Hancock Cock Inn Cockup”

Ystdy, @MattHancock tried to get @AnnelieseDodds to withdraw a comment re his helping the ex-landlord of his local pub, the Cock Inn, to get a PPE contract

We’ve see the emails

Hancock & Lord Feldman helped 47 firms win 'VIP' contracts worth millions
Ystdy, @MattHancock went on the attack claiming Alex Bourne "never got a contract from the govt" & this was a "fabrication pushed by the Labour Party"

He was lying

@NAOorguk found PPE suppliers with links to Tory MPs were 10x more likely to win contracts
Digging by @JolyonMaugham reveals the contract went to Alpha Laboratories

That contract stipulates that Alpha Laboratories will sub-contract the manufacturing to Hinpack Ltd, owned by Alex Bourne

This info was redacted before publishing in what seems a clear attempt to deceive!
Read 10 tweets
1/. #FreedomOfExpression I’d under attack

A new @amnesty report reveals how govts around the world have relied on censorship & punishment - using new legislation - to shut down reporting & target people who have been critical of govt response to #COVID19.
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
2/. Numerous countries have put in place oppressive laws including Tanzania, Russia, Nicaragua & China

In China, more than 5,500 criminal investigations were opened against people who’d published information about the outbreak in the first 2 months of the #COVID19 pandemic alone
3/. @Amnesty’s report highlights the role of social media companies in facilitating the rapid spread of misinformation around #COVID

The destructive business model of Big Tech means that platforms are designed to amplify attention-grabbing content to engage users

V problematic!
Read 5 tweets
1/. #BREAKING #COVID NEWSFLASH: The “official scientific advisers" behind the #HerdImmunityScandal were in reality were political advisors, appointed by politicians, who's advice had little or no basis in science (e.g. “Dr” David Halpern who has a doctorate in Political Science)
2/. Today’s findings are not new

The truth has been in plain sight from the start

We didn’t need #Cummings to tell us

Indeed, @Dominic2306 ‘revelations’ raised far more questions than answers

It was clear that #HerdImmunity was the strategy & they didn’t “pivot away” from it
3/. Every epidemiologist, virologist or public health expert will tell you that #HerdImmunity is an “outcome” NEVER a “strategy”

Without a vaccine it would involve sacrificing the vulnerable in vast numbers

This “strategy” would also clearly damage the economy

So why do it?👇
Read 12 tweets
The Prime Minister of Britain, @BorisJohnson
“Shall I tell you a terrible truth?”

In this footage of @BorisJohnson from 2013, the then London mayor says that, in politics, you can “make a case for any course of action”.

He also admits that he isn’t really “bumbling”.

He’s “hard as nails”.
“They cover up crime with scandal & covers up malice with incompetence. They want to project an image of being inept, instead of as having a cruel & well-defined plan.” @sarahkendzior

His ‘bumbling’ persona is a carefully constructed disguise

@BorisJohnson is very dangerous
Read 6 tweets
1/. Fortunately for Tory Party donors, friends of govt ministers who had zero experience in supplying PPE, let alone handling multi-million pound contracts, a personal service, including “hand-holding” was provided

Did @MattHancock’s sister & his pub landlord make use of this?
2/. About £9 billion in PPE contacts went to companies run by friends or associates of Tory MP’s

In some cases they delivered unusable goods

The govt PPE tsar has financial interests/personal ties to at least 7 companies awarded hundreds of millions of £ in contracts #COVID19
3/. Corruption has become the air we breath

But don’t let that distract you

The #ContractScandal is part of the #HerdImmunityScandal

Investigating procurement ultimately leads to a dead end

The #PalantirPlan explores the motivations go beyond money.
Read 4 tweets
1/. Excuse me, but I’m confused

On 5 March 2020, @BorisJohnson told @Schofe on @thismorning:

“One of the theories is we could take it on the chin...allow the disease to spread through the population”

14 months & 150,000+ deaths on, WHY are the media shocked by these comments?
2/. The #TakeItOnTheChin clip I dug out on 8/3/20 went viral (2.5m views in 48hrs)

But incredibly it was ignored by the media

At the time, I thought the PM was floating the theory as a rhetorical device - a straw man he could tear down later - but I was wrong

He was serious!
3/. Not only did the mainstream media fail to report on #TakeItOnTheChin, but some tried to brand it “fake news”

“Fake news merchants on the cesspit that is Twitter are distributing a clip of the PM!!!” screamed @TheSun

The PM wasn’t “advocating” it, but he had clearly said it.
Read 7 tweets
“I think what the public wants, is for us to move on from this #BarnardCastle thing” said @BorisJohnson & his entire cabinet

What the public wanted was transparency & accountability

@maitlis deleted this tweet about @adamboultonSKY’s story

The media were largely silenced
By asking why #Cummings hadn’t been sacked by the PM, @maitlis was doing her job

Political journalists NOT asking this question were failing to do theirs

Cummings’ trip to Durham proved to be one of the 2 clear drop points in adherence to lockdown rules.
“Some journalists are sitting on explosive information that should come out in real time.” @joncoopertweets

Shrinking space for journalism is something we witnessed in the UK during the Iraq War

Is it happening again now?

Would journalists be able to comment if it were?
Read 4 tweets
1/. Let’s not forget, that #DominicCummings - who employed ‘eugenicist’, Andrew Sabisky - was central to the #HerdImmnityScandal which is central to the #PalantirPlan

It puts genomics at the heart of the programme for govt, using the UK as the petri-dish for a ‘brave new world’.
2/. “I feel we’re all paying the price for a girl laughing at his poem in 6th form” @MarinaHyde on Cummings

#DominicCummings imagined the mood of these photos was very James Dean. Instead they reveal his narcissism & complete tone-deafness
#CummingsGate
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
3/. Here’s a good #HerdImmunityScandal intro

It’s long, but gripping & it has #Cummings’ grubby fingerprints all over it

#HerdImmunity is an outcome not a strategy. Every scientist will tell you that

This thread starts to unpick WHY the govt knowingly went against the science.
Read 7 tweets
In this chilling 2013 interview, @BorisJohnson admits he’s not really bumbling

“I’m hard as nails” he says

He also tells us “a terrible truth about politics & human nature”

That you can “make a good case for any course of action.” #HerdImmunity #COVID19
When the subject moves to ethics, @BorisJohnson becomes more guarded

Asked whether he believes one "can derive the ethics from the science" he avoids answering

Perhaps he’s aware that discussions of genomics can easily slip into the subject of eugenics.
I know!

Most of us switch-off at the mention of “genomics”, but it is crucial to understanding how the world is transforming & how “super forecasters” see the need for society to transform too

This thread👇offers a potted summary of just some of what is going on. #GenomeUK
Read 13 tweets
It is vital for @Peston to reveal who was his senior Downing St source that told him UK strategy was “allowing #COVID19 to spread through the population”

These were the identical words @BorisJohnson used in his #TakeItOnTheChin interview

It is in the public interest we know.
Every virologist will tell you that herd immunity without a vaccine is - by definition - not a preventative measure

The govt knew this

The No.10 press office has never attempted to correct @Peston’s story & yet govt ministers claim that #HerdImmunity was never their “strategy”!
Contrast No.10’s reaction to the @Peston story with their reaction to the @thetimes story that #Cummings had said the govt strategy was #HerdImmunity “& if that means some pensioners die, too bad”

They claimed it was “a defamatory fabrication”

No action for defamation was taken
Read 9 tweets
Wow!

@MattHancock has announced that the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jenny Harries, will be the first chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency which will aim to plan, prevent & respond to health emergencies like pandemics

How is #JennyHarries still in a job
2/. Jenny Harries has been a handmaiden of the #HerdImmunityScandal

#HerdImmunity is an outcome, NEVER a “strategy”

On 12 March, the govt stopped community testing

On 26/3, #JennyHarries falsely claimed that community testing was "not an appropriate mechanism as we go forward”
3/. Stopping community testing - as the UK did on 12 March - would only make sense as a strategy if the UK’s strategy was to allow #COVID19 to spread through the population

Questioned by @Jeremy_Hunt, Jenny Harries changed her story to a claim of capacity issues. #JennyHarries
Read 17 tweets
1/. 18 years ago as the bombs rained down on #Iraq as Operation Shock & Awe began, Eric Levy was in Baghdad in a power station

He'd gone to #Iraq with hundreds of human shields to try & stop an illegal war & to protect Iraqi civilians by staying in civilian infrastructure sites.
2/. Eric - now 92 - was one of about 80 human shields who stayed throughout the #IraqWar

"The war was illegal & immoral. We may have failed to stop the invasion, but by putting ourselves in harm’s way, we sent a clear message to the world"

That's courage
vice.com/en/article/kw5…
3/. In 2003, a convoy of 3 double- decker buses left London for Baghdad

On board were 50+ human shields; the first hundreds of Western
anti-war activists to travel to #Iraq

None knew what lay ahead

All of them knew that they might not be coming back. zcomm.org/zmagazine/the-… ImageImage
Read 29 tweets
1/. #AYearAgoToday SAGE formally advised lockdown

The govt claimed “the science had changed”

On 13 March, in a meeting attended by 18 govt representatives, SAGE first recommended lockdown

On 14 March, the PM & @carriesymonds hosted a baby shower

On 24 March, UK locked down👇
2/. #AYearAgoToday, @grantshapps said the #coronavirus response of other countries - i.e. lockdown - was "populist" & unscientific

Meanwhile, after the govt promoting #Herd_Immunity,
@MattHancock claimed "We have a plan...Herd Immunity isn't part of it"
3/. #AYearAgoToday, the media reported that the govt had abandoned #HerdImmunity because "the science has changed”

"Pivoted away" was the favoured phrase

But it wasn't true

The science had stayed the same

And the #HerdImmunityScandal was far from over.
Read 9 tweets
1/. Exactly one year ago - on 3 February 2020 - @BorisJohnson made THIS speech:

“There’s a risk new diseases such as #coronavirus could trigger a panic that goes beyond what is medically rational, to the point of doing real & unnecessary economic damage.”
2/. The PM's #GreenwichSpeech was the first time he’d mentioned #COVID19 publicly & it’s clear that the govt already had a plan

“Medically irrational responses” causing "real & unnecessary economic damage” = LOCKDOWN

The Govt’s strategy = #HERDIMMUNITY!
3/. Whilst this was the first time that the PM mentioned #COVID19 publicly, he’d known about it “right at the start” of Jan.

@MattHancock warned him & recalls his surprise that MPs weren’t aware of “the single biggest issue that's about to come & hit us”.
Read 10 tweets
1/. On 3 February 2020, @BorisJohnson made the #GreenwichSpeech

Me, @peterjukes & @BylineTimes broke this story on 16 April

This clip👇was viewed 1.3m x

Peter’s analysis where he calls it “is a smoking gun of the #HerdImmunityScandal” had 1.2m views

But it was ignored by MSM.
2/. Referring to #COVID19 publicly FOR THE FIRST TIME, the PM said:

“There’s a risk that new diseases such as #coronavirus will trigger a panic & a desire for market segregation that go beyond what is medically rational to the point of doing real & unnecessary economic damage.”
3/. For months, I tried to flag this vital clue to journalists

The speech offers a vital clue as to the otherwise incomprehensible decisions - delaying lockdown etc. etc.

In June, a @C4Dispatches exposé in included the #GreenwichSpeech, but no other media seemed interested.
Read 4 tweets
Still lack of checks at airports. We know about Brazilian & S.African variants so why not close off the air corridors?

Victoria Aitkins: “Travel measures take a little bit of time...There’s a delicate balancing act btw controlling the virus & the economy”
Ystdy, @YvetteCooperMP asked the PM what the govt are doing to stop new S.African variant spreading in the UK.

Why have people been able to travel from SA to UK for last 4wks without being tested & can go on public transport.

@BorisJohnson didn’t know!
“Oh god!”

Questioned about his govt’s repeated inexplicable failures to try & control #COVID19 at airports & lack of action to protect the UK from a new Brazilian variant of #coronavirus @BorisJohnson appeared to mutter “oh god” under his breath.
Read 10 tweets
JOURNALIST: Why, after 10 months, are there still no checks at airports?

@BorisJohnson: Um...er...We will be bringing in measures to...um...er...to ensure that we...err...test people coming into this country & prevent the virus...er...being re-admitted.

@piersmorgan last July👇
The PM, #BorisJohnson, also says at the start of his answer👆
“Just to repeat, schools are safe” on the same day he just introduced a new #lockdown & shut down schools because they’re not safe.
#Lockdown3 #schoolclosures #COVID19 #coronavirus #HerdImmunityScandal #covidbriefing
#BorisJohnson makes clear his strategy is sometimes to PRETEND not to know what's going on so that when he ACTUALLY doesn’t know, people won’t be able to tell the difference

The trouble is that we can ALL tell

Is the #BumblingStrategy really govt policy?
Read 8 tweets
1/. On New Year’s Eve last year, I sent a post-midnight cartoon to friends with a message saying hold on tight & enjoy the ride & a Rilke quote: “And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been."

Nothing could have prepared us for what lay in store. #COVID19
2/. We’d hardly had a chance to recover from our hangovers before US assassinated General Soleimani, dramatically escalating tensions with #Iran

Until 20 January & Trump's departure, a danger of "Rapture-believing" hawks launching strikes on Iran remains.
3/. At the time of the Iran airstrike - while @BorisJohnson was holidaying on a private Caribbean island with his pregnant girlfriend - another crisis was brewing: #COVID19

@MattHancock says he knew about COVID at the v start of January & informed the PM.
Read 7 tweets
“Sweden hoped herd immunity would curb #COVID19. Don't do what we did” write 25 leading Swedish scientists

“Sweden’s approach to COVID has led to death, grief & suffering. The only example we're setting is how not to deal with a deadly infectious disease” usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
UK & US are also attempting a
#HerdImmunity strategy despite the fact almost every epidemiologist/virologist will tell you that Herd Immunity is an “outcome”, never a “strategy”

Late lockdowns, keeping schools/workplaces open etc are political decisions not just scientific ones
I’m not a scientist. 8 months months ago, i knew nothing about communicable diseases

But I stumbled on @BorisJohnson’s #TakeItOnTheChin comments

They led me to the #GreenwichSpeech, the #HerdImmunityScandal, #Palantir/#PalantirPlan & #GenomeUK

I’ve just been joining the dots.
Read 5 tweets
#BREAKING: England to enter second national lockdown for a month from Thursday 5th November

Hear the details from @BorisJohnson here. #CovidUK #Lockdown2 #lockdown #coronavirus #BreakingNews #BorisJohnson
This is terrifying!

#BorisJohnson says even if the NHS had DOUBLE the capacity it still wouldn’t be enough

The NHS has 150,000 beds & with the Nightgale Hospitals there is even greater capacity

Its biggest weakness isn't space, it's staff shortages.
#Lockdown2 #covidbriefing
The reality of “Yo-Yo” #lockdown has been known about since May👇

Govt scientists have modelled for 2nd, 3rd, 4th waves etc. but this modelling was not shared publicly by the secretive #JointBiosecurityCentre running the UK #COVID19 response.
#lockdownUK
Read 13 tweets

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