“There’s been a sharp rise in the number of people not eligible for a test coming forward for testing”

@MattHancock blames people without #COVID symptoms getting tested inappropriately for current testing fiasco

That’s right folks. It’s our fault again!
This pattern of blaming the public for not following govt guidelines has been used throughout

And it’s not just the public who are blamed by @BorisJohnson’s govt

NHS staff were blamed for the shortage of PPE because Hancock said they were using too much.
The most obscene attempt to shift blame has been @BorisJohnson on #CareHomeScandal. He claimed:

- “clinicians made the final decision” to discharge from hospitals

- care homes didn't "follow procedures"

- scientists didn’t know about asymptomatic spread
This narrative that the public are to blame for the spread of #COVID19 has been amplified in the media with constant stories of “Covidiots” breaking the rules.

Here @BBCFergusWalsh blames the lack of #facemask wearing on the public rather than on 4 months of govt mix messaging.
“Go to work. Don't go on public transport. Why are you not in work? Eat out but don't visit your sister. Go on holiday. Quick come home. Blame the public rather than the contradictory policy.”

Issuing of contradictory messaging is not purely accidental.
If it’s hard to discern the strategy underpinning the govt’s #COVID19 response, that’s maybe because it’s meant to be.

But their ‘comms strategy’ - chaotic as it is - offers some important clues.

Could creating uncertainty have been part of the goal?
But the most unforgivable example of public blaming came in the govt’s concept of ‘lockdown fatigue’

This spurious idea said that if we locked down too early, people would get bored

The media didn't question it

The delay cost tens of thousands of lives.
In the face of the horrific evidence from Italy & in defiance of WHO & their own behavioural scientist group (SPI-B), the govt refused to lockdown...right up until 24 March!

I’m still trying to find out who the concept of ‘behavioural fatigue’ came from.
undercovid.org/articles/nudgi…
Ultimately, it matters little where the ide of “behavioural fatigue” came from.

What matters is how it progressed to something used by the govt & their scientists to justify late lockdown.

A month ago, I began a correspondence with BIT putting 4 simple questions to Dr Halpern.

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More from @StefSimanowitz

10 Sep
1/. Missing from discussions around #operationmoonshot has been any mention of the govt’s proposal to change medicine regulations to make it possible to use unlicensed #COVID19 vaccines.

This would ensure manufacturers & suppliers couldn’t be held liable.
gov.uk/government/con… Image
2/. The new regulations would authorise of the supply of unlicensed vaccines, side-stepping EU legislation that - for safety reasons - requires biotechnological medicines to be authorised via the European Medicines Agency, & any product licensed by the European Medicines Agency. Image
3/. The consultation document makes clear that a “vaccine would only be authorised” if the licensing authority was satisfied of its “safety, quality & efficacy” & points out that ‘unlicensed’ does not mean ‘untested’. Ultimately the balance of risk & benefit needs to be assessed. Image
Read 6 tweets
9 Sep
“Covid Marshalls” coming to a street near you!

They won’t have any official powers but they’ll be there to keep an eye on anyone they think has broken the rules or maybe planning on breaking the rules.

Imagine the sorts of people who’ll be applying for that job. #COVID19 #COVID
“People who think they can take responsibility for their own health and their own risk are misunderstanding the situation." @BorisJohnson explains the importance of #CovidMarshalls.

Er...try telling that to #DominicCummnings, Prime Minister
#COVID19
“Still boiling”
#BarnardCastle #DominicCummings #cummings #BorisJohnson #CovidUK
Read 8 tweets
9 Sep
For the third day in a row, @amnesty & 40 other legal observers, have been denied access to the technology that would allow them to observe the extradition hearing of @wikileaks founder #JulianAssange.

This was the letter we received yesterday.
#Assange
In her letter, the judge expresses her "regret" at her decision to deny remote access to the proceedings to @amnesty but offers no reason for her decision

Instead, she sets out rules to ensure the court is #COVID19 safe

But remote access is FAR safer than practices I witnessed.
Telling legal observers - some of whom are from the European Parliament - that they have to compete with the public for one of 8 gallery seats results in a scrum of people at the doorway to the court.

There was no distancing & even court officials & police weren't wearing masks. ImageImage
Read 12 tweets
3 Sep
"Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak whispers the o'erfraught heart & bids it break." (Shakespeare)

On Saturday, 6 months after the first Briton was reported to have died of #COVID, #CovidMemorialDay will be a moment to give our sorrow words. covid19memorialforest.fund/press-release-…
There will be a service in Newington Green Church, 5pm, (numbers limited) & a candle-lit vigil in Trafalgar Sq, 8pm

If you're not in London, we're hoping there'll be vigils held in cities, towns & villages across the country

Why not do one where you are?
(see @CovidMemoryDay) Image
#CovidMemorialDay is formed of:

@ForestOfMemory who are ALSO planting a forest;

@HelpThemHelpUs_ who are ALSO supporting NHS frontline staff; &

@HearOurElders, who are ALSO capturing the wisdom or our elders whilst they are with us

But we ALSO need you
Read 8 tweets
1 Sep
1/. On the 7th of September, Julian Assange is scheduled to appear court for the start of an extradition hearing that could take weeks before concluding.

The UK should not extradite #JulianAssange

The US should drop the changes against #Assange. PETITION amnesty.org/en/get-involve…
2/. If extradited to the US, Julian Assange would face detention conditions that could amount to torture as well as the possibility of an unfair trial.

It is vital that the right to freedom of expression & access to information are protected. @wikileaks
3/. Under the Espionage Act, #Assange faces up to 175 years in prison.

This would set a dangerous precedent for all journalists who publish classified information of public interest.

Due to #COVID19 restrictions, Assange has not been able to see his lawyers for over 6 months.
Read 40 tweets
29 Aug
For one of the first times since the 1930's, the British Union of Fascists flag was unfurled in Trafalgar Sq today

Like Hitler's Nazi's, Mosely's Nazi's were defeated

Britons came onto the streets of London to fight them gave their lives to rid Europe of the scourge of fascism
Camus writes: “The plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good: it can lie dormant for years…and perhaps the day will come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it will rouse up its rats again & send them forth to die in a happy city.”
“The most sophisticated tyrannies are ones that have a showman as their frontman. Clown or blowhard. Jester or villain. The type of showman doesn’t matter. Their audience will love them just the same." (Emerson Warner, 1949) #DonaldTrump #BorisJohnson
Read 8 tweets

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