1/. “As far as I’m concerned, this completely answers the question” says @trussliz after refusing to answer @JayneSeckerSky’s question three times.
Liz Truss & the entire Cabinet appear to have been ‘media-trained’ to answer questions dishonestly. #Ridge
2/. The purpose of media training should be to help people to communicate their message
I always tell people I train to:
- answer the question
- tell the truth
These Ministers do the opposite
As viewers, we end up shouting at the TV or switching it off!
3/. Too often over the past year, Ministers have been allowed to not just sidestep questions, but blatantly lie
For example, whenever a Minister claims that “no one knew about asymptomatic transmission ‘til May”, it’s a lie
They knew about it January.
4/. For more than a year, the govt have been allowed to get away with claims that they that “stuck to the science”
This despite the fact that they ignored key science, like asymptomatic spread, whilst championing unscientific concepts like “behavioural fatigue” & #HerdImmunity.
6/. Whilst speculation over who paid for refurnishing @BorisJohnson’s flat may grip the media, it is like calling out a plumber to fix a dripping tap, when the sluice gates have been ripped off the dam
7/. BorisJohnson's vanishing texts on Covid lobbying is related to 2 @Foxglove cases including #Palantir's NHS data deals
The #PalantirPlan👇 shows how the company that rprtdly taught #CambridgeAnalytica how to scrape data, appears to be part in of a much bigger global strategy.
It is near its closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit & seem bigger & brighter than usual
April’s full moon is also known as the Pink Moon, as its appearance coincides with the flowering of a type of pink moss.
Astrophotographer, Andrew McCarthy, used 50,000 photos to produce this detailed image of the Moon.
The near side of the Moon is marked by dark volcanic maria ("seas"), which fill the spaces between bright ancient crustal highlands & prominent impact craters. (pic @Mario_Livio)
“By thy pale beams I solitary rove
To thee my tender grief confide Serenely sweet you gild the silent grove
My friend, my goddess, & my guide.”
1/. Tonight I happened upon the grave of William Friese-Greene, “inventor of cinematography”
Born William Greene, he added his wife's name
In 1889, Friese-Greene patented his 'chronophotographic’ camera, which could take ten photographs per second, using celluloid film. #Oscars
2/. Any money Friese-Greene earned he ploughed back into his inventions, going bankrupt 3 times & dying in poverty
His son, Claude, continued to his father's work, shooting "The Open Road", offering a rare portrait of 1920s Britain in colour. #Oscars2021
3/. Just 50 years later, a very different type of documentary about travelling through Britain was made
"Black Safari" is about a group of African explorers who go on a safari by boat along Liverpool-Leeds canals to explore "darkest heart of Lancashire" #Oscars#OscarsSoWhite
Eight months before the start of the Iraq war, Tony Blair wrote to George W Bush: "We don't want to be mucked around by Saddam...the danger is he drags us into negotiation"
This is from the #ChilcotReport, yet still Blair is treated by the media like a respected elder statesman.
To try & get UN approval of the war on Iraq, the US & UK tried every trick in the book
The UN saw through their lies, as did most people around the world