Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. We know SAGE recommended a circuit-breaker lockdown on 21 Sept

We know that on that day, the PM & @RishiSunak met controversial anti-lockdown scientists Anders Tegnell & Prof Heneghan & Prof Gupta

Now we know Prof Gupta advised a full #HerdImmunity strategy. #DISPATCHES

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1315946892434472960

2/. We know that the PM did NOT “stick to the science like glue”

Every epidemiologist & virologist will tell you #HerdImmunity is an ‘outcome’ never a ‘strategy’

And yet the govt briefed @Peston that it was their ‘strategy’ on 12/3/20 & it appears the strategy didn’t go away.

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1372460227619135493

3/. Could it be these repeated blunders were not really ‘mistakes’?

@sarahkendzior writes of the Trump admin:

“They cover up crime with scandal & cover up malice with incompetence. They want to project an image of being inept, instead of as having a cruel & well-defined plan.”

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1393095398751879169

4/. The juiciest revelation in @C4Dispatches was the claim that the PM was “bounced into” the second #lockdown

MP @SteveBakerHW claims news that there’d be a 2nd lockdown was leaked to a journalist before the PM had made up his mind

But why would this leak force the PM’s hand?

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1252354324136521736

5/. There was a 2nd #lockdown in November, but @BorisJohnson lifted it at the beginning of December & encouraged people to prepare for Christmas, despite the emergence of the Kent #COVID19 variant

As @chrischirp explains, the govt waited 3 weeks

This delay cost many many lives.

6/. There is a long list of urgent unanswered/unasked questions

Revealing things that were done in the past will help expose what’s planned for the future

But we cannot wait for an Inquiry conclude in 2025: “mistakes were made & lessons will be learned”! westcountrybylines.co.uk/covid-19-and-c…

7/. Another telling moment in @C4Dispatches comes when Prof Sunetra Gupta - whose research was funded by a Tory donor - was asked which Cabinet members she had met at that crucial 21 Sept meeting

“Boris!” she says laughing at the memory

Tens of thousands of lives were at risk.

8/. Gupta received almost £90,000 to fund research “into the prevalence of #COVID19 in the population” in April 2020

The funding was registered a week after Gupta incorrectly suggested that half the UK population may already have been infected by #COVID. opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…

9/. In Dec, the PM was asked why the country wasn’t in lockdown

He passed the question to @uksciencechief who said:

“The Tier decisions aren’t for me”

If lockdown decisions aren’t for Vallance/Whitty/SAGE, who are they made by?

Is the answer “the JBC”?

10/. The JBC or #JointBiosecurityCentre is the body that took over responsibility for the UK’s #COVID19 strategy in July 2020

Advice from SAGE is fed to the JBC

The JBC hasn’t published any minutes for almost a year

Its membership is secret & it’s run by a senior GCHQ staffer

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1316166161067921409

11/. The #JointBiosecurityCentre, was launched as a £9 billion directorate of @DHSCgovuk, on 1 June 2020

It was set up by counter-terror chief, Tom Hurd (son of Douglas) who was at Eton & Oxford with the PM

So what about the JBCs ‘establishing document’?
researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-pol…

12/. In Nov, @EinsteinsAttic put in a Freedom of Information request

In their response, the govt claims the #JointBiosecurityCentre doesn’t need an ‘establishing document’ as it is part of NHS Test & Trace

But Test & Trace = ‘a service’

JBC = ‘a directorate’

Something fishy?

https://twitter.com/EinsteinsAttic/status/1379009027456258049

13/. “I've asked lots of people to tell me what organisations the #JointBiosecurityCentre is joint between...It is in the shadows. We have no idea how exactly it operates." ex-WHO Head @GabrielScally.

Who is part of the #JBC?

How do they reach decisions?

14/. The apparent central role of intelligence service's in the #JBC raises concerns

The centrality of intel & data company #Palantir, in running the NHS’s #COVID data store is also a concern

Palantir rptdly taught #CambridgeAnalytica to scrape data & are interested in genomics

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1310607600422133771

15/. In April 2020, #Palantir ‘won’ the contract to run the #COVID19 digital platform for the NHS alongside #FacultyAI

Both companies have links to #CambridgeAnalytica

At the same time, they also ‘won’ a contract to do the same for US Health Dept (HHS).

16/. “You ask forgiveness, not permission”

Palantir was set up by right-wing PayPal billionaire, Peter Thiel

Their seed funding & 1st client was the CIA, but they have worked with Intelligence agencies around the world

Much of their work is top secret.

17/. In Sept 2020, the UK govt launched a ten-year flagship strategy, #GenomeUK, which aims to 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.

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1378967171502592004?s=20

18/. At the same time as the surreptitious launch of #GenomeUK, conditions on sharing NHS health data were changed

If you didn't opt out before 30 Sept 2020, it appears the govt has had a right to share your data

Opt out possibilities are limited & don't apply during a pandemic

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1313084880826245120

19/. The NHS is the most trusted brand in Britain

#CambridgeAnalytica is the least trusted

Yet #Palantir & #FacultyAI - both with reported links to Cambridge Analytica - are running the NHS #COVID19 data store

At threat, the last frontier in our privacy: our biological selves!

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1392374359579258881

20/. #FacultyAI, run by Marc Warner, worked on the Leave EU campaign

Ben Warner went to work No.10

Asked asked how he ensured that he "did not influence" the awarding of contracts to Faculty, he declined to answer the question

Faculty AI have ‘won’ at least 14 govt contracts.

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1282288536016871426

21/. #FacultyAI won a £250m NHS contract in Aug 2019. This only became public in March 2020

The joint contract for the NHS #COVID Data Store (with CIA-backed #Palantir) was only revealed after threat of legal action

Ben Warner attended 13+ SAGE meetings

22/. When @DawnButlerBrent asked Matt Hancock if he was aware of the rprtdly links between Palantir - how are running the NHS Covid data store with #FacultyAI, Hancock hummed & hawed for some time before saying

“Er...I don’t think I was aware of that”

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1471796744455397379

23/. When @DawnButlerBrent asked Cummings about Palantir’s involvement in NHS data, he claims to know nothing about what #Palantir do in the NHS “other than on ICU bed capacity”

Cummings also says he thinks #FacultyAI “don’t have personalised data at all”

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1403230873445621760