1/. “Palantir expects sales to grow 43% in the second quarter”

#Palantir, run by right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, won the contract to build the #COVID data store for US Health Dept (HHS) & a similar contract in the UK for the NHS in mid-April 2020. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
2/. #Palantir, a shadowy CIA-backed company, reportedly taught #CambridgeAnalytica data-scraping

They won the NHS data-store contract together with
#FacultyAI set-up by Ben & Marc Warner

FacultyAI worked for #LeaveEU & 2019 emails show Cambridge Analytica did work for them too
3/. The NHS is the most trusted brand in Britain.

#CambridgeAnalytica is the least trusted

Granting two companies with links to Cambridge Analytica access to population-wide NHS health data, should give cause for concern

Are #Palantir doing the same in dozens of countries?
4/. In Sept 2020, the UK launched a ten-year strategy, #GenomeUK, which will transform the NHS & put genomics at the heart of the PM’s programme for govt

Incredibly it was launched quietly (on a Saturday!) & received no media coverage

#Palantir appear to have a central role.👇
5/. In the coming decades, genomics will reshape our societies

Population-wide genomic data is the first step

Was the PM alluding to genomics in his “UK as Superman” #GreenwichSpeech?

In the right hands & properly regulated, they’re a force for good

But in the wrong hands...
6/. But we don’t have to wait decades

As well as the unnoticed launch of #GenomeUK

The Dept of Trade sent out this “invitation to invest”

“The UK offers companies... increasingly expanding access to rich longitudinal data from the NHS’s 65 million patients” for “life sciences”

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More from @StefSimanowitz

12 May
1/. Twenty-seven years ago, I was in Soweto, having driven up from Cape Town for Mandela's inauguration with ANC colleagues, Leroy Jones Hemmings & Shaffee & Mira Hussein

We were watching the news - still high from the day before - when it was announced that #JohnSmith was dead Image
2/. Over the decades, the loss of #JohnSmith has grown more poignant

Had #JohnSmith - dead at 55 - lived, he would have swept to in 1997 power rather than Blair & perhaps won another term or two

He would not have gone into #Iraq & the Britain would be a very different place. Image
3/. “The opportunity to serve our country—that is all we ask”

Like Blair, #JohnSmith was a lawyer

Unlike Blair - who'd modeled himself on Mick Jagger & had no interest in politics until he met Cherie - Smith was a dyed-in-the-wool socialist & a rarity: "a conviction politician" ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
11 May
1/. “Ten years after the #IstanbulConvention was signed, women are speaking today with one voice to demand that the Turkish authorities reverse a decision that will put the safety & even the lives of millions of women & girls in peril.” @AgnesCallamard amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
2/. “Since the announcement that #Turkey will quit the Istanbul Convention, women in Turkey & around the world are coming together. Rather than being cowed, women have been on the streets. Rather than being discouraged women have been galvanised” @amnesty
3/. Since the intention pull out of the #IstanbulConvention was announced, women have been protesting.

In Amsterdam, campaigners laid out 70 pairs of red shoes, each pair symbolising one of the 70 women killed as a result of domestic violence in Turkey since the start of 2021.
Read 13 tweets
10 May
1/. MAITLS: Surely you should step up & recognise that when you’re firing, children get killed

HOTOVELY: We were not firing [at] children we were firing at targets of a cruel terrorist organisation, radical Islamics who are trying to kill our children.
@maitlus & @TzipiHotovely
2/. #TzipiHotovely: You can see those youngsters piling those rocks & throwing them at the people praying at the Western Wall”

@maitlis: You really think the #AlAqsaMosque is a terrorist stronghold?

#Isreal’s hardline ambassador to the UK, on #Newsnight.
#Jerusalem #Palestine
3/. “The EU has said the potential evictions are illegal under international humanitarian law. The UN had said they could constitute a war crime under the Geneva Convention” @maitlis

“It’s a legal decision” @TzipiHotovely
#Newsnight #Israel #Palestine #AlAqsaMosque #Palestinian
Read 5 tweets
9 May
JOURNALISTS & OTHERS

“The thing you are scared to write, too nervous to write, not ‘ready’ to write, is waiting for you to write it” @JoelakaMaG

“The thing you are scared to Tweet, too nervous to Tweet, not ‘ready’ to Tweet, is waiting for you to Tweet it”

Find the courage💪🙏🏽 Image
“You call us courageous, but we’re only doing what we have to do. We have no more choice in doing what we do than the sun has choice to rise each day. Perhaps that’s what courage is.” (E.Warner)

I asked Eric, who put his body in harm’s way to stop an illegal war, about courage👇
In the pub, Eric told me another story of where he l’d witnessed courage

Singer & civil rights leader, Paul Robeson, knew there was a danger that day he’d be shot by fascists, but spoke to the crowd anyway...& the crowd gathered around him to protect him from sniper’s bullets.
Read 6 tweets
6 May
1/. Two hundred years ago, a slab of Purbeck stone was set deep into a hillside overlooking London

Called the Stone of Free Speech, it is a place where people have gathered whenever their rights were under threat

It is a reminder from history

Is it time to gather there again?
2/. “The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed.” (Hannah Arendt)

Self-censorship occurs when a journalist or editor makes a decision motivated by fear of the consequences.
3/. “Farewell to the arts, to eloquence.” (Mary Shelley)

We naturally at a time of pandemic turn to science for solutions, but art, literature & history can not only help us make sense of our current world & our responses to it, but can also help uncover truths & offer warnings.
Read 5 tweets
6 May
1/. #ClimateChange doesn’t respect borders

Our laws need to reflect this

Last year, European Court of Human Rights ordered 33 govts to respond to a claim by 6 children in a landmark #ClimateAction case

Today, @amnesty & other NGOs intervene in the case.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
2/. This crowd-funded case challenges the insularity of national legal systems

"The ECHR has also rejected an attempt by those govts to overturn its decision to fast-track an ambitious climate change action brought by six young Portuguese activists."
climatechangenews.com/2020/09/03/six…
3/. The #ClimateCrisis does not respect borders & our laws and policies must reflect this

"To ensure justice for people most affected by heatwaves, drought & fires, states must be required to tackle climate change & its impacts at home & abroad." @amnesty amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
Read 4 tweets

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