“In moments of crisis, real leaders stand up & make tough decisions.
Two weeks ago @BorisJohnson was jovially bragging talking about shaking hands with people with #coronavirus. Five days later he was talking about #herdimmunity” @GNev2
“I cannot believe the govt is still leaving it to the public to decide if they should avoid pubs, bars, restaurants etc - when most other countries are ordering lockdowns” (@piersmorgan)
Britain & Belarus were the only countries in Europe not to shut schools
In the recording, @DominicRaab says: “I squarely believe we ought to be trading liberally around the world. IF we restrict it to countries with ECHR-level standards of human rights, we’re not going to do many trade deals with growth markets of the future.’
“He made those who struggled to keep to the rules feel like fools & has allowed many more to assume they can now flout them. The PM knows all this but chosen to ignore it.” @maitlis
on Cummings
The PM was also choosing to ignore ‘the science”. #COVID19
Everything that @maitlis said in this monologue Is accurate
The next day, the BBC issued an apology
"It says a lot about the political culture in the UK that the only person who has faced any consequences for Cummings' action is a journalist who pointed them out." @AdamBienkov
2/. It was clear that @Peston & his “senior No.10 source” had not understood #HerdImmunity which - as every virologist will tell you - is an OUTCOME never a STRATEGY
Allowing #COVID19 to spread
without a vaccine would be madness & result in mass deaths.
3/. Rather than correct @Peston & his “senior No.10 source” @uksciencechief came out publicly to defend “the strategy”
#HerdImmunity without a vaccine is, by definition, not a preventative measure
1/. “Not so long ago, Britain was the envy of the world
It had the world’s best healthcare system...the world’s finest public broadcaster...growing wealth & happiness...& was part of the world’s most successful political union
2/. Britain became afflicted by a fever dream of nationalism: the biggest lie of all
Nationalism says: “we’re better off on our own. We’re better than them. We should be competitors with everyone. Our only motivations are greed & self-interest”
1/. Just over a year ago, in a pre-lockdown world, I travelled to #Turkey with a high level @amnesty delegation to observe the judgement in the case of #OsmanKavala, a philanthropist who, at that time, had been unjustly behind bars for more than two years.
2/. The hearing of OsmanKavala & 15 other Turkish civil society figures - all facing the same absurd charges - was taking place in a court in Silivri high security prison, Europe's largest jail
The dock had space for 250 defendants
This was a courtroom designed for mass trials
3/. We watched proceedings from the back of the gargantuan courtroom
"So much space in this courtroom yet so little room for justice," I thought
But suddenly, the judge stood & declared #OsmanKavala & all co-defendants in this Gezi trial, were acquitted.