Share this page!

Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Twitter logo
23 May, 13 tweets, 11 min read
With #Cummings’ admission of what has been obvious from the start & is what me & a handful of journalists have been saying all along, it’s surely time for @peston to come clean & tell the nation who in No.10 briefed him on 12/3/20 that #HerdImmunity was the UK’s #COVID19 strategy
2/. But #Cummings’ thread raises more questions than it answers

We KNEW #HerdImmunity was the strategy & the govt didn’t “pivot away” from it

In Feb, @Dominic2306 rprtdly said the strategy was “herd immunity to protect the economy & if that means some pensioners die, too bad."
3/. Every epidemiologist or virologist will tell you #HerdImmunity is an “outcome” never a “strategy”

Without a vaccine it would involve “sacrificing the vulnerable on the altar of the economy in truly vast numbers”

It was clear this “strategy” would ALSO devastate the economy.
4/. On 3 February 2020, it seems PM was already hinting that the UK would avoid “medically irrational reactions” to #COVID19 that would “cause real damage to the economy” - i.e. “lockdown”

Surely, #Cummings had a big part in writing this #GreenwichSpeech?
5/. So WHY did our govt follow a strategy that they knew was unscientific, would kill many people & wouldn’t protect the economy?

This is the question I began asking in 8 March 2020

It’s the question journalists should have been asking

But it leads to some disturbing answers
6/. These repeated blunders were not ‘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”

So what’s the plan?
7/. This thread👆& linked threads expose the apparent logic behind the otherwise seemingly illogical #HerdImmunity strategy

It puts #Cummings - whose company paid £250K to #FacultyAI - at the heart of the picture

FacultyAI run the NHS COVID Data Store with CIA-backed #Palantir.
8/. Isn’t bizarre that #Cummings who it appears has done more than anyone to control & manipulate the media - using the pandemic as a cudgel - is now coming out to criticise the media’s abysmal reporting of #COVID19?

This doesn’t pass the smell test!

Are we being played again?
9/. The story that #Cummings had a 'Domoscene conversion" on #HerdImmunity has been floating about for over a year

But was it just that? A ‘story’

I treat stories originating from inside govt with a big pinch of salt especially when there are only a handful of possible sources
10/. As #Cummings points out re his supposed volt face on 12/3/20, there was no SAGE on 12/3

But there was one on 5/3/20

A crucial one to decide on lockdown

Only the big players attended

It was Cummings’ 1st SAGE meeting

Its decision appear to contradict their own science.
11/. A key question is why - if #Cummings was so against #HerdImmunity - he stayed in govt & why the PM & Cabinet risked all to defend him after #BarnardCastle?

The mounting death toll didn’t seem to ruffle the govt

The risk of losing Cummings did

Why was he so indispensable?
12/. I hope I'm wrong, but I find the idea of "#Cummings as whistleblower" hard to swallow

All the stories, e.g. the leaked emails, originate either from him or No.10

He's not telling us anything that wasn't already known

Could we have been softened up to the idea for a while?
13/. One of the ‘penny drop moments’ in my 16-month investigation came from an unlikely source

Tweeting in May 2020, Steve Baker MP tweeted a clue to the govt’s strategy of deliberately sewing confusion though shifting messages, leaked briefings & the creation of controversies👇

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Stefan Simanowitz

Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @StefSimanowitz

Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
24 May
@Dominic2306 FACT: I acknowledge that in the next tweet, Dom (Tweet 10)

FACT: There was a SPI-B meeting on 12/3/20 (attendees not listed)

FACT: There was a SAGE meeting on 13/3 & some of the docs are marked 12/3

FACT: The redacted ‘minutes’ were only released in May gov.uk/government/pub…
@Dominic2306 FACT: The claim in the Sunday Times was that you changed your mind on #HerdImmunity in mid-March

This tallies with your own claim: “we stared to figure out plan B”

FACT: @ShippersUnbound says the “if pensioners die too bad” comment was “at a private meeting” at the end of Feb. ImageImage
@Dominic2306 @ShippersUnbound @BylineTimes @BBCNewsnight @maitlis @jonsnowC4 @cathynewman @TanDhesi @justinmadders @mrjamesob @DawnButlerBrent @Keir_Starmer FACT: On the day the PM was telling @Schofe that “one of the theories was we could take it on the chin”, you were attending the SAGE meeting that - bizarrely - concluded social distancing wasn’t necessary

On the same day, a 70yr old woman became the first Briton to die of COVID
Read 10 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
21 May
1/. As we dig out our sequins & prepare for the #Eurovision Song Contest, it's hard to believe that it's only been a year since the final of the Corona Vision Song Contest
150+ entries
32 finalists
12 categories
Only one winner
#EurovisionSongContest2021 #eurovision21 @Eurovision Image
2/. "Let the virus inspire us!"

Coronavision tapped into that extraordinary burst of creativity in those early months of the COVID pandemic

Our slogan - "We have a category for that" - meant that even if you couldn't sing you could enter for "Worst Song" podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/pol…
3/. “Now we’ve been blessed!
The Coronavision Song Contest
People vote & chose the best
Coronavision Song Contest”

One highlight of the competition was when @gloriagaynor RTed this version of @LoveTinaTurner's Simply the Best!
#Eurovision #Eurovision2021
Read 5 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
20 May
1/. "Govts aren't insensitive to the outside pressure & when world opinion is concentrated on one weak spot, it can succeed in making govts relent...That is why we have started Appeal for Amnesty, 1961"

It's 60 years since @amnesty launched with this OpEd
theguardian.com/uk/1961/may/28…
2/. The idea of @amnesty founder, Peter Beneson, was a simple & beautiful one

To harness the power of public opinion to change the world for the better

Six decades, on that idea still fizzes with energy & boundless potential & Amnesty Intnl's work has never been more important.
3/. In 1977 - 16 years after it was set-up - Mumtaz Soysal, an ex-Prisoner of Conscience accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on @amnesty's behalf with a poem

"Soon night will fall & they'll close the cell doors
I don't feel lonely
I am with the whole of mankind & mankind is with me"
Read 4 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
17 May
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
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. Image
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.”
Read 19 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
13 May
1/. A year ago today, I broke the #CareHomeScandal

The reason so many had died in care homes was b/c the govt had INSTRUCTED hospitals to send people “who may have #COVID19” to care homes WITHOUT TESTING

The guidance was issued on 2 April 2020

Yet NO journalist had reported it
2/. As I’ve been doing since March 2020, I shared this widely

15 days later ITV reported it

Whilst I may have “broken” dozens of #COVID19 scandals, I no more “discovered” them than Cook discovered Australia

But by asking WHY these scandals happened, I did make a BIG discovery.
3/. The govt STILL claim that they put “a protective ring“ around care homes

The 2/4/20 guidance proves that, despite knowing about asymptomatic spread, the govt did the opposite

Who issued the instruction?
Was it approved by a Minister?
If so which one?
Read 10 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
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
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.
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"
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @StefSimanowitz has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @StefSimanowitz!

Read all threads by @StefSimanowitz

:(