Thread by @StefSimanowitz

1/. I am at #CogX2021 for @MattHancock’s first public appearance - Live Tweeting from the front row

Oh dear! He’s just started & has lost his voice lost his voice

Short pause...
#MattHancock #COVID19 #coronavirus #Genomics #GenomeUK

2/. Matt’s back!

@MattHancock has regained his voice & is continuing his keynote address at #CogX2021

A friend just DMed:

“Maybe he lost his voice when he you in the front row & realised you’re going to ask him about the links btw #Palantir #FacultyAI & #CambridgeAnalytica!”

3/. #MattHancock says that he thinks that GP’s having exclusive control of patient data is “undemocratic”

Instead he says he wants every citizen to control their own data(!?)

He says people are enthusiastic about sharing their health data as long as privacy is assured #CogX2021

4/. “NHS data should be available for researchers who are trusted”@MattHancock

In Sept 2020, the Dept of Trade sent out an “invitation to invest” offering
companies “expanding access to rich longitudinal data from the NHS’s 65 million patients”

The opt out deadline was 30/9/20

5/. According to NHS’s website opting out WASN’T possible during a pandemic

Does this mean the govt have been sharing sharing our NHS health data with private companies for 8 months?

Is this the #DataGrab no one is talking about?

#Palantir & #FacultyAI run the COVID data store

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1378970424269234179

6/. “I want to be able to incentivise all sorts of organisations to be able to put the resources in to develop insights”

Why doesn’t @MattHancock EVER mention #GeneomeUK, the 10 year strategy that’ll transform the NHS & put genomics at the heart of the entire programme for govt?

7/. Shame! @MattHancock wraps up a short Q&A with @AlexandraMousav without taking questions from the floor

As trickle of applause spreads across the room, the moderator spots a man on the back row who is praying

“Bloody praying for us all” you can hear me mutter
#CogX2021 #CogX

8/. Had @MattHancock taken questions I had some good ones for him

Ones he’s yet to be asked

I decided to follow him out the lecture theatre to see whether he might have time for a quick question: a follow-up to the one he side-stepped when @DawnButlerBrent asked him last week👇

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

9/. I followed @MattHancock down the stairs of the Aga Khan Centre

He wasn't wearing a mask!

Incredible! The Health Secretary at a public event, breaching the #COVID19 rules that everyone else here was adhering too.
#Coronavirus #Corona #COVID #GenomeUK

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1265911322643922944

10/. The NHS = most trusted brand in Britain

Cambridge Analytica = least trusted

Yet two companies with links to #CambridgeAnalytica run the NHS data store

Coming up👇a Q&A (live-streamed) with Marc Warner & Jann Tallin, founders of #FacultyAI (who also worked on Leave EU).

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

11/. Today wasn’t the first time I’ve been unimpressed by #MattHancock

I saw him at #CogX in 2019, just before he pulled out of the Tory leadership race (after only getting 20 votes)

Over the past 16 months, I’ve been unimpressed by him every single day.

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1138735367148965889?s=21

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1138735367148965889