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Paul Nuki Profile picture
@PaulNuki
Mar 14, 2020 • 13 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
Whoever it was in Downing St who briefed out the #Herd_Immunity line has done immense damage to the UK government response to #COVIDー19 thread...
The phrase is normally used in the context of vaccination and seldom - if ever - as a public health strategy in which the majority of the population is allowed to become infected with a little understood and sometimes lethal illness...
It's hard to believe anyone with a medical background would have used it in a briefing. How often do you hear drs recommending exposure to seasonal flu as a strategy for example..
Whoever it was betrays a cynical (and flawed) *political* thinking which I find hard to imagine is shared by any of the gov's medical or scientific advisers...
The UK does need to get a Brexit deal negotiated. It does need to sort it's social care problem. It does need to build proper capacity into the NHS but the notion that allowing an epidemic to spike when it can be flattened might help is both reprehensible and idiotic...
Trust is all in times like this. It may not fit with some peoples agendas but it is trust in the authorities in China, Singapore, Taiwan Italy etc that is getting people through covid lockdowns in Asia, not coercion...
The UK government was doing well up until that off- record briefing. It now needs to deal with whoever was responsible and get back on track with the strategy for properly flattening the epidemic so the most vulnerable are properly protected..
That strategy is properly documented by the @WHO and @ECDC_Outbreaks and, I'm sure, is what the @DHSCgovuk and @PHE_uk continue to be fully aligned with... telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/0…
For some twit politico to pretend otherwise is self serving bullshit. There is no shortcut to getting round this virus. But there are established methods for dealing with it. Use them.
This thread explains in more detail..
Good to see UK Health Secretary @MattHancock formally kill off the "herd immunity" nonsense in today's Telegraph (free to read) telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/…
Another update: The Times pins the blame for the original briefing on David Halpern, of the Whitehall nudge unit. I have no idea if it was him or not but whoever it was a bollocking is much deserved Image
Hmmm... Thought this worth adding even if the thread is a week old now...

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More from @PaulNuki

Paul Nuki Profile picture
Apr 11
🧵There are several unexplained facts and unanswered questions about the IDF drone strike which killed seven @WCKitchen workers in Gaza last week.
Here's quick thread summarising our investigation over the past week... 1/x
telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
First, the most senior IDF commander dismissed for his role in the strike is a settler who signed an open letter in January calling for the territory to be deprived of aid, The Telegraph can reveal... Image
Michael Mansfield, KC, one of the UK's leading lawyers, says the letter is important because it "is plainly relevant to a particular state of mind”.Image
Read 10 tweets
Paul Nuki Profile picture
Jun 29, 2023
You may or may not remember this man, but on or around 16 Aug 2020 he vanished.
Or to put it correctly, he *was* vanished by operatives of the DHSC.
Imagine then my surprise when he appeared at the #CovidInquiry on Wednesday alive and well - and hungry for revenge ...
You may not recognise him on account of the comedy mustachio he's borrowed from Mr Spud, but his name is Selbie, Duncan Selbie.
He's the former CEO of Public Health England and is viewed by DHSC as one of the most dangerous men ever to have walked the corridors of Whitehall.
Such were the security concerns surrounding his evidence, he appeared via video link from a safe house in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, KC Kate Blackwell was scrambled for duty at the 11th hour and arrived in her whip with only moment to spare.

Read 16 tweets
Paul Nuki Profile picture
Jun 22, 2023
The #CovidInquiry is dry but hugely important.

In a bid to make it accessible, while keeping it accurate, I've been penning daily Twitter threads.

You'll meet Good Chap Letwin, Ballroom Hunt, The Brain and The Eviscerator...

In publication order:
First blood, Sir Chris Wormald...
The good chap theory of disaster planning...
Read 5 tweets
Paul Nuki Profile picture
Jun 22, 2023
It's hard to exaggerate the power of Prof Chris Whitty's brain.
It's like the Brain of Morbius (Dr Who '76) but dedicated to good rather than evil.
So when he was wheeled into the #CovidInquiry today I was well excited, init...
And The Brain did not disappoint.
It spoke at 453 words a second, causing the Inquiry stenographer to combust, but was perfectly clear on slow-mo rewind.
There was no bluster, only a tincy bit of equivocation and plenty of new, very precise, thinking...
KC Kate, aka The Eviscerator, was limbering up for the more debonair (and possibly slippery) Patrick Vallance later in the day, so it fell to a chap called Keith something-or-other to tackle the brain.
It was a good choice as Keith has a big brain too, according to his website
Read 24 tweets
Paul Nuki Profile picture
Jun 21, 2023
Poor old George. He styles himself a man of vision but, as he was led from the dock at the #CovidInquiry yesterday, he left a behind a transcript that makes plain he abdicated his responsibilities in protecting Britain while Chancellor from 2010 to 2016.
covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/upl…
As he took the stand, the blood drained from his face and he seemed ready for a headline diverting scrap.
Attack was realistically going to be his only form of defence and, for an instant, I thought it was his warmer half, Dominic Raab, who was sitting there, coiled and prone

But George needed a chap to lock swords with. Someone who would enjoy a good old knock-about but knew where to draw the line. Instead he got KC Kate Blackwell, aka the eviscerator...
Read 18 tweets
Paul Nuki Profile picture
Jun 20, 2023
Before we get to not so gorgeous George Osborne, it's worth a brief reflection on Oliver Letwin's evidence of this morning.

It might be summed up as the *good chap* theory of disaster planning.... Image
Now Oliver is a fine sort of fellow, astute and reflective, and it would be unfair to twat him about the head too hard, even when he's made a right Horlicks of things, as appears to be the case with getting the nation ready for Covid 19.
The KC was gentle and, after establishing Oliver's modus operandi - to be bloody nice to people and they'll be nice to you - he focused on two key issues ...
Read 11 tweets

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