2/. The launch of a new decade-long national health strategy should be big news at anytime, but coming amidst the #COVID19 pandemic & with the potential to shift genome research to the heart of No.10's programme for govt, it is of particular significance.
3/. Genome research has HUGE potential social & cost benefits, not just in medicine
In the right hands & with the appropriate checks & balances it is very important but, when it is being rolled out by this govt in conjunction with companies like #Palantir, scrutiny is needed.
The contract permits processing of data including
👉racial origin
👉criminal records
👉mental health info
👉political affiliations
👉religion
5/. At the same time as 'winning' the NHS contract, #Palantir 'won' the contract to building the HHS "Protect Now" #COVID digital platform for the US Dept of Health
We only know about the detail of these contracts thanks to a lawsuit in the US & the threat of a lawsuit in the UK
6/. On 8 July, the UK govt sidelined SAGE in favour of the secretive Joint Biosecurity Centre headed by a senior spy
On 22 July, Downing St took control of data
On 14 July, Trump ordered hospitals to send all #COVID19 data to HHS Protect, run by #Palantir
Is there a pattern?
“We could close our eyes & pretend that contrary to all the evidence, #Palantir is a rights-respecting company or we can call this façade what it is: another company placing profit over people, no matter the human cost.” M. Kleinman, @amnestyusa Sept 2020.
1. “Why were we faffing around with Excel when the scientists were telling us not to?" @skynewsniall
“The system was designed in conjunction with our scientists... at PHE & the JBC they're all scientists who have been involved in this." @RishiSunak
2. “Scientists” didn’t decide on using Excel. It’s a reporting/admin tool
The scientists would have told IT what info the database needed to hold. The IT team should have designed a database fit for that purpose rather than using an old version of Excel.
3. Sunak is also allowed to claim: “We are now testing 250,000 people a day”
That’s the figure for tests “processed” NOT people tested
When @MattHancock claimed 226,000 people were being tested on 21/9, the actual figure turned out to be around 82,000.
"The UK offers companies system-wide collaborative working, a dynamic regulatory system, active life sciences & increasingly expanding access to rich longitudinal data from the NHS’s 65 million patients"
No distancing, no masks & this photo (via @nytimes) shows the #AmyConeyBarrett super-spreader event last week was INDOOR as well as outdoor, despite official claims
Attendees who later caught #COVID19:
Donald Trump
Melania Trump
Mike Lee
Thom Tillis
Kellyanne Conway
John Jenkins
The govt are acting as if they are beyond parliamentary scrutiny?
Q: Why are people are still unable to get tested & forced to drive hundreds of miles for a test? @TanDhesi
A: “I will not have this divisive language. I just won’t have it. @MattHancock
It is a deliberate & well-rehearsed strategy
If asked about any govt failings, ministers go on the offensive
This was @BorisJohnson ystdy, accusing @Keir_Starmer of "continually trying to snipe from the sidelines & undermine what we are trying to do.”
"And so by malice, stealth & brutishness a pattern is set. Less & less transparency. Less & less scrutiny. Less & less accountability. Until they are entirely unleashed to bundle aside the truth and speak only their truths."
A lesson from history. Emerson Warner writing in 1949.
Two days ago, #Trump mocked #Biden on masks: "I don't wear masks like him. Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen."