A quick and dirty thread on the app and test and track. First, remember that the test and track system is *not* the app, and the app is *not* the test and track system. (Short thread)
The test and track system is not dependent on the use of the app - and that’s a good thing, given that the app basically won’t work. Not cooperating with the app (which is what I will do) is not the same as not cooperating with test and track. 2/n
Indeed, as it is currently proposed (if it’s still currently proposed) the app isn’t really about ‘test and track’ or even track at all, so much as about data gathering for future use. The experience in Australia gives some clues to this. 3/n
*An* app could potentially help with this, and they may yet develop one if the noises going around about how badly the Isle of White trial is going are anything to go by, but not this one. 4/n
That the app is a data gathering enterprise, and that’s this data is likely to get into the hands of people at least tangentially associated with Dominic Cummings is part of the point here too: it points at a philosophy of disregard for people’s rights. 5/n
People are there to be manipulated, to have their data gathered and harvested for some kind of assessment of ‘the greater good’ that only the people at the top - and Cummings, as has been demonstrated by the last week or so, is at the very top. 6/n
All that would be irrelevant if the thing worked - but it won’t, and the reason it won’t is related to it being a Cummings-style approach. It would need to be focussed on the real need, not the peripheral potential benefit, to work well. 7/n
It would need to be *trusted* to work well - to get the uptake, to get the full cooperation - and if anyone still trusts anything associated with Dominic Cummings after the last week, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves 8/n
It would need to be developed openly, honestly, clearly and cooperatively to get this trust and indeed to work well. None of that has happened - despite the best efforts of good people at NHSX, primarily because the conception was flawed from the off. 9/n
(Sorry if the order of these tweets is messed up, something a bit weird is happening on my Twitter app) 10/n
Let’s see what happens, though. Things have gone very quiet about the app - which contrasts massively with the initial fanfare and sheer joy on the face of Matt Hancock when he announced it at the press conference. At the moment, though, be clear. Don’t use the app. /end
