‘Britain’s early handling of the Coronavirus pandemic was one of the worst public health failures in UK history’
This parliamentary report is embargoed until midnight. But its contents is utterly devastating
‘PM could have saved thousands by locking down earlier’
Pretty much every single person who made such an obviously deadly & flawed decision is still in power now.
‘Groupthink, British exceptionalism & a deliberately “slow & gradualist” approach meant the UK fared “significantly worse” than other countries’
If the UK media had any collective integrity, we’d also have a report into what happened. Every single word of this also applies to it
‘Despite being one of the first countries to develop a test for Covid in January 2020, the UK “squandered” its lead & “converted it into one of permanent crisis’
The report is utterly damning. But will there be any actual consequences?
If you want to understand import of today’s devastating report, please please do not rely on @NickTriggle’s BBC report.
It’s a stark illustration of how the govt’s failures were facilitated by a press that failed - & still fails - to hold it to account bbc.co.uk/news/health-58…
‘Herd immunity “group think” led to “public health failure”
- Covid strategy cost lives
- Scientific advice not challenged
- Ministers accused of fatalism
Read @IndependentSage’s @martinmckee & his response for @bmj. ‘Darkness’ ‘secrecy’ data supplied only on a ‘need to know basis’, the government’s corrosive lack of transparency a key factor in our catastrophic response
I’m so incredibly DELIGHTED for @mariaressa but I also want to explain why this decision by @NobelPrize is so important at this moment (& why it’s more very bad news for Facebook)
Maria is facing prison in the Philippines for the outrageous charge of ‘cyberlibel’ & she has shown such courage in standing up to Duterte. If you’re new to her work, this is an interview I did with her for @observer in April:
Totally normal for a leading human rights lawyer & ex-Labour PM’s wife to be advising a spyware firm accused of facilitating horrific abuses of human rights. theguardian.com/politics/2021/…