1/6 Interesting to talk to @BillGates for the launch of the #Goalkeepers report on the UN's #SDGs. His key message: development now in reverse and we need to unite to build up again. Also good on: Sweden, WHO, Vaccines, and the prospects for winter telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
2/6 On the coming months: “I'm pessimistic about what the fall in the northern hemisphere is likely to look like. If we don't have interventions, the death rate in a number of countries including the US will go back up to the levels that we had in the spring."
3/6 On a vaccine: “By next summer, we'll be getting vaccines out to all the countries of the world... I'm optimistic that next year will be the year that we bring the numbers down very, very dramatically, and that this thing will be over by sometime in 2022.”
4/6 On the "irony" of America leaving the WHO: "Is there some country that is in the hallways and influencing what goes on in the WHO?’ The answer is, ‘absolutely, yes’. That country is the United States of America. “
5/6 On the real impact of the pandemic: “We’ve been set back about 25 years. I would expect substantially more deaths from the indirect effects than from the direct effects. All countries must work together to end the pandemic and begin rebuilding economies".
6/6 Big read here on the report itself: How the pandemic set global development back '25 years in just 25 weeks'
🧵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...
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”.
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.
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
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...
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....
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 ...