Tweet

Dominic Minghella

12 Oct, 6 tweets, 2 min read

It's official: our pandemic response was horrendously, shockingly bad. We knew that, but thanks for confirming it.

But I don't buy the defence that herd immunity was the product of well-meaning "fatalistic group think". The tone for this was set by Johnson, who saw himself as

the "cloak flowing supercharged champion" of liberty in the face of "panic beyond what is medically rational". (Greenwich Speech, 3 Feb 2020)

That's not "group think" . That's one man setting a course. Right from the get-go.

One man. Insisting on fighting a virus with ideology.

And did he even learn? Again and again he denied and refused and hoped the virus would respond to his machismo. The British people suffered unimaginable loss. And after all that, what does he say? "Let the bodies pile high." His response always was, and remains, ideological.

This is why England must remain defiantly mitigation-free, sky-high cases must be borne, and a thousand deaths a week must be accepted. Because of one man's devotion to "freedom". Because one man believes he can emerge, "cloak flowing", as our "supercharged champion".

I don't see group think. I see the evidence of the man's public and private utterances, from "cloak-flowing" to "freedom day", in setting a catastrophic course. If there was group think, it was in following his dangerously charismatic lead. It's time to stop doing that.

https://twitter.com/DMinghella/status/1446757026009341956?s=20

PS. If you agree that it's time to stop playing 'follow my leader' with a man like Johnson, read on. Join me and many others. We've had enough. Because it's not just his handling of the pandemic, is it?

https://twitter.com/DMinghella/status/1446757026009341956?s=20

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More from @DMinghella

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

27 Sep

The Johnson regime will not keep you safe.
It will not ensure fuel makes it to the pumps.
Or food from farm to table.
It won't ensure you can afford to warm your home.
It won't ensure hungry kids get fed.
Or NHS staff get paid.
It won't take simple steps to protect against Covid

It won't ensure pubs and restaurants have enough staff to get back to normal.
It won't protect the poorest from NI rises and UC cuts.
It won't protect farmers or factories or those relying on the borders being open.
It won't protect those who need the protection of the law.

It won't protect human rights.
It won't protect those whose families have been divided by war.
It won't protect the arts and musicians who can't tour.
It won't protect the NHS or its beleaguered, depleted staff.
It won't protect people of colour from xenophobia and racism.

Read 6 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

16 Sep

Does the ordinary British bloke in the street know that they have Covid "passports" in Europe, and they are freer because of them?
I don't think he does.
1/10

Does the ordinary British woman in the street know that there are no empty shelves in European supermarkets, and that the shortage of HGV drivers only exists in the UK, because of Brexit?
I don't think she does.
/2

Does the ordinary bloke in the street know that in the USA and in Europe, they've been vaccinating kids for months without drama?
I don't think he does.
/3

Read 11 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

29 Aug

Man literally recorded conspiring to assault a journalist in charge of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Man who directed public funds to his mistress in charge of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Man who proudly signed international treaties with no intention of honouring them in charge of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Read 6 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

28 Aug

I don't want our children to get covid, or long covid, or wind up in hospital at the rate of 1,100+/month. This regime does want them to get covid, and long covid, and has no problem with 1,100+/month of them winding up in hospital. This regime has contempt for our children.

There is no other way to interpret a strategy combining high community prevalence with the removal of mitigations in schools.
2/6

And the repeated forays into disinformation - schools are not vectors, covid is benign in kids, "natural" infection is better than vaccination - only add a layer of cruel confusion onto a bizarre policy of enforced exposure to a terrible virus.

Read 6 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

19 Aug

If my policies in government had caused a breakdown in the supply chain such that food wasn't making it to the shops and restaurants of modern Britain, I would apologise, resign, and crawl under a rock in shame.

If I had presided over 150,000 deaths, and effectively caused many of them....

If I had lied to the people, lied to the Queen, and made a mockery of Britain's democratic norms....

Read 10 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

24 Jul

When you think of all the disruption to school life the kids have endured, to tell them now that we're happy for them to catch it - when we have approved vaccines we could give them - seems like something of a hard boot in the teeth.

And to suggest, as one member of the vaccines committee has publicly done, that long Covid is "in the mind" when the evidence is the opposite is yet another insult. And speaking of mind, the cognitive harms even to those who feel recovered are worse than a stroke! Lord help us.