1/. NYE in Rio on the day Brazil’s #COVID19 death toll hit 195,000
Brazil has the world’s 3rd worst outbreak outside US & India
Is it a coincidence that these countries are run by populist nationalists?
Palantir are big in Brazil
Are they in India?👇
Brazil has the world’s 3rd worst outbreak outside US & India
Is it a coincidence that these countries are run by populist nationalists?
Palantir are big in Brazil
Are they in India?👇
https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1330489040387366914
2/. In 2017, Steve Bannon asked @Nigel_Farage be part of a "convening authority" to "knit together a populist nationalist movement around the world".
He mentions Modi in India, but Bolsonaro in Brazil, Trump in US & Johnson in UK would also be part of it.
He mentions Modi in India, but Bolsonaro in Brazil, Trump in US & Johnson in UK would also be part of it.
https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1125022414860095490
3/. Why were some of the most advanced economies in the world so woefully unprepared for #COVID?
The parallels btw UK & US flawed COVID strategies are uncannily similar:
- ignoring WHO warnings
- late lockdown
- lack of PPE
- introducing face masks on the same day, 4 months late
The parallels btw UK & US flawed COVID strategies are uncannily similar:
- ignoring WHO warnings
- late lockdown
- lack of PPE
- introducing face masks on the same day, 4 months late
4/. The most disturbing parallel is the role of Palantir, the shadowy data company, founded by right-wing billionaire, Peter Thiel
#Palantir, who control data for the NHS (the UK's most trusted brand), taught #CambridgeAnalytica (UK's least trusted brand)
#Palantir, who control data for the NHS (the UK's most trusted brand), taught #CambridgeAnalytica (UK's least trusted brand)
https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1341152725355081731
5/. The #PalantirPlan seems intimately connected with genomics. The UK, with it's cradle to grave NHS, is perhaps the ideal petri dish
In Sept @MattHancock launched a new 10 year strategy that will be at the heart of the programme for govt: #GenomeUK!
In Sept @MattHancock launched a new 10 year strategy that will be at the heart of the programme for govt: #GenomeUK!
https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1313196125948649474
6/. If you'd missed this massive new policy announcement, its not your fault
#GenomeUK was launched on a Saturday(!) & was only covered by a few biomedical journals
A week later in his Conference speech, the PM did say he had a 10-year strategy to transform the UK
"Windmills!"
#GenomeUK was launched on a Saturday(!) & was only covered by a few biomedical journals
A week later in his Conference speech, the PM did say he had a 10-year strategy to transform the UK
"Windmills!"
7/. Shockingly, at the same time as launching #GenomeUK, the Dept of Trade sent out this “invitation to invest”.
“The UK offers companies...active life sciences & increasingly expanding access to rich longitudinal data from the NHS’s 65 million patients."
directory-cms-public.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Inve…
“The UK offers companies...active life sciences & increasingly expanding access to rich longitudinal data from the NHS’s 65 million patients."
directory-cms-public.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Inve…
8/. “What!? The govt can’t share my private NHS health data for research purposes, can they?”
They can & they probably already have.
The deadline for you to opt out of the data sharing scheme was the 30 Sept.
You can still opt out👇, but it won’t help.
nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-…
They can & they probably already have.
The deadline for you to opt out of the data sharing scheme was the 30 Sept.
You can still opt out👇, but it won’t help.
nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-…
9/. The govt website👆states that your “confidential patient information” may be shared with “pharmaceutical companies”
An ‘opt out’ only anonymises your data (ineffective) & can be overridden “in an emergency...For example, to help manage contagious diseases like #coronavirus”.
An ‘opt out’ only anonymises your data (ineffective) & can be overridden “in an emergency...For example, to help manage contagious diseases like #coronavirus”.
10/. The site says “NHS Digital will never sell your data”
But the invitation to invest by the Dept of Trade suggests otherwise
The UK has a single healthcare system making large-scale research easier & a “streamlined” regulatory system which can “maximise speed of approvals".
But the invitation to invest by the Dept of Trade suggests otherwise
The UK has a single healthcare system making large-scale research easier & a “streamlined” regulatory system which can “maximise speed of approvals".
11/. “We have a duty to do more especially with data that the govt itself holds which can be used & shared for the benefit of society."
Govt's data strategy hints at the almost evangelical belief: removing barriers to the unfettered use of genomics.
gov.uk/government/pub…
Govt's data strategy hints at the almost evangelical belief: removing barriers to the unfettered use of genomics.
gov.uk/government/pub…
12/. This evangelical zeal for the transformative power of genomics or ‘positive eugenics’, won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s followed Peter Thiel or read Dominic Cummings.
Genomics are transformative.
In the right hands & properly regulated, they are a force for good.
Genomics are transformative.
In the right hands & properly regulated, they are a force for good.
https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1312751830523424770
13/. It also explains how - given the greatest gift any country could have wished for in the circumstances: a two-month head start - the UK & US both squandered it with failures to lockdown, to source PPE, to sort out test & trace, to protect care homes etc.
See #GreenwichSpeech
See #GreenwichSpeech
https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1252354324136521736
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