Thread by @JolyonMaugham

Just worth reminding ourselves, as we look at how the likes of Kate Bingham and Dido Harding are delivering for the nation, what's actually happening on the ground. /1

We've invested vast sums in (at least) two pieces of unproven testing technology. The first is a kind of LAMP test by a company called Optigene. We've spent £323m on Optigene technology - how is it performing? /2

Ummm. Not so good, to be honest.

As this Guardian report discloses it failed to pick up more than half of all people who actually had Coronavirus. I'd say that's pretty sub-optimal. /3 theguardian.com/world/2020/nov…

The other unproven testing technology we've spent vast sums on is by a company called Innova. We've entered into two contracts with Innova, one for £496m (ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NO…) and the other for £138m (ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NO…). These ones are doing much better, right? /4

Not really, to be honest.

I set out some of the concerns I had with untrained operatives using Innova tests on asymptomatic individuals in a way that defied the certified uses of those tests in this thread. /5

https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1322619116902121474

I've since been contacted by an insider - only one, mind you - who tells me that (as you would expect given the way the tests are being mis-administered) that they, too, are failing to pick up loads of positive cases. /6

And this is the thing, with cronyism.

It's not just that it's hopelessly unfair only giving jobs to pals you went to Eton or Uni with. It's not just that it shuts the door in the face of brilliant kids who clawed their way up from working class backgrounds. /7

It's also that - if you don't get the best people for the job because you're appointing from a tiny pool of your mates - the whole country suffers. More people die, more lives are ruined, the economy suffers.

So we at @GoodLawProject think it's a profound social evil. /8

And that's why we're suing. You can see our letter to the Government - and you can, for a better and a fairer country, help us with the costs of the litigation here. goodlawproject.org/news/cronyism/ ENDS