Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. All the claims about our preparations & how everything was in order were basically completely hollow, but we didn’t figure this out until the back end of February”

#Cummings claims he was lied to by Hancock & others about the preparedness for COVID

These were not “mistakes”

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

2/. “Lots of COBRA meetings are just a bunch of PowerPoints & not very useful”

#Cummings explains why he didn’t bother to attend any of the 5 Crucial COBRA meetings in Feb 2020 & didn’t advise @BorisJohnson to attend either

He sent ‘his friend’ 33-year-old Ben Warner, instead.

3/. #Cummings has referred to Ben Warner a dozen times

Ben isn’t an epidemiologist, virologist or public health expert

His 2014 thesis was “Engineering the properties of magnetic molecules through the interaction with the surface

#Cummings has now mentioned his brother, Marc👇

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1396033781463756800

4/. WTAF!

“Attempts to reach out to people who ran the government, such as himself, seem to have met with total neglect....The overwhelming impression is that we have been led by a bunch of raging inadequates. While hardnut talk is sadly understandable” @MarinaHyde on #Cummings

5/. @DawnButlerBrent asks #Cummings about #FacultyAI & #Palantir who both have links to #CambridgeAnalytica🔥

“@amnesty say the govt quietly granted access to millions of UK health data records including to controversial data-mining firm Palantir – to build a Covid19 Datastore”

6/. The @amnesty quote is from this article👇

They also say
“We could close our eyes & pretend that contrary to all the evidence, #Palantir is a rights-respecting company or we can call this façade what it is: another company placing profit over people, no matter the human cost”

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1310618298594340866

7/. #Cummings claims he doesn’t know anything about #Palantir

He does

He claims all data is anonymised

It isn’t

He claims it’s very complicated

It isn’t

Govt contracts with #FacultyAI & #Palantir reveal an unprecedented transfer of personal NHS info to private tech firms

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1282474050984517632

8/. 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.👇

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1378967171502592004

9/. Seven months the launch of #GenomeUK journalists are still managing to ignore it!

Seven months after the govt began to seize - & sell access to - the health data of every person in the UK, the @FT finally reported it yesterday!

Patients aren’t asked & can’t opt out #COVID19

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

10/. “What I’m sure of is that #FacultyAI do not have personalised data at all” #Cummings

Faculty are LITERALLY running the #COVID Data Store - a lake of NHS data - with #Palantir

Thanks to @DawnButlerBrent for asking this question. It leads to many more

11/. The #JointBiosecurityCentre (#JBC) took over responsibility for the UK’s #COVID19 strategy in July 2020

SAGE advice is fed to the JBC

They don’t published minutes

Its run by a senior GCHQ staffer

It’s membership is secret but now we know #Cummings attended #JBC meetings!

12/. 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?

13/. 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 who was replace by Claire Gardiner, a senior cyber expert from GCHQ👇

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