1/. In May, when we could only meet one person, the PM was drinking in the No.10 garden

When our Christmases were cancelled they we’re having parties

On 5/3/20, when the PM was saying “one theory is we could #TakeItOnTheChin” the 1st Briton died of #COVID19
(Pic @Coldwar_Steve)
2/. Around the table with @BorisJohnson are:

👉Dominic Cummings, with a glass of wine, one week before the #BarnardCastle story broke

👉Andrew Reynolds, the guy who’s investigating whether anyone in No.10 broke #COVID19 rules by attending parties

👉Carrie Symonds with the baby
3/. “You can meet one other person from outside your household in an outdoor, public place. But please keep 2 metres apart. Please stick with the rules & don’t take risks”

@MattHancock, 15 May 2020, the same day as the #DowningStParty & 2 days after the #CareHomeScandal broke👇
4. “There were no parties”

“There may or may not have been parties but I'm assured by people who attended the parties that no rules were broken”

“There were parties but no rules were broken”

“If the press ask, we say the parties were work meetings”

“They were work meetings”👇
5/. Some people are suggesting that #CarrieSymonds appears to be holding a cat or a lynx rather than a baby! @Number10cat #BorisJohnson #No10party #COVID19

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More from @StefSimanowitz

13 Dec
1/. #DidITellYouAboutTheTime I saved @wyclef's life?

It was in 2005, & I was in the stalls of a packed Hammersmith Apollo to see the Fugees reunion gig

@MsLaurynHill came out & did a solo of Lost Ones

Then @PrasMichel joined her & they did How Many Mics

But where was Wyclef?
2/. Before I go on, I should say that the pics (from the gig) are by Tabitha Fireman tabathafireman.com

This was the days when no one pulled out a smart phone during a gig 'cos smart phones didn't exist

But if anyone DOES have footage, please share

It would help the story
3/. I should also say I thought it was a stonking show, unlike @TheCSullivan who gave it this 2-star review!

She also describes @wyclef as being "avuncular" that night

"Avuncular" wouldn't have been my adjective of choice

I'd have gone for "out of it"!
theguardian.com/music/2005/dec…
Read 8 tweets
9 Dec
1/. Eight years ago, when news of Lou Reed’s broke, atheist minister @AndyPakula tweeted:

“Would anyone like to organise a rocking memorial service for Lou Reed? I’ll supply the London church”

I got in touch

Six days later, 150 gathered for the 3 hour “Wake on the Wild Side”.
2/. “Lou Reed helped us explore the darkest corners of our minds & souls & to accept it was OK to be ourselves. He taught people to live the whole of life. The parts that suck & the parts that are painful. The part where we live & the part where we die.” ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/wake-wild-side…
3/. The entire 3hr Wake on the Wild Side was live-streamed & is still on @YouTube👇

Readings, reminiscences, a meditation & performances with song sheets given out for the audience to sing along to Satellite of Love, Sunday Morning & Walk on the Wild Side
Read 5 tweets
8 Dec
1/. Happy 93rd birthday Noam Chomsky!

Years ago, I was working for @libertyhq & Chomsky was keynote speaker at our conference

I volunteered to pick him up from an event at the LSE & drive him across town to our event

I parked outside - on a yellow line - & ran in to get him. Image
2/ I ran up a staircase & along a corridor to the lecture hall where Chomsky had just finished his lecture

He was at the front of the hall surrounded by a mob of eager students

I fought my way to through the crowd, eventually managing to introduce myself & slowly prise him away Image
3/ When we got outside, a traffic warden was writing me a ticket

I tried to explain but the traffic warden was having none of it

"But this is Noam Chomsky! One of world’s greatest thinkers” I said

"If he's so clever,” he replied. “How come he’s parked on a double yellow line?"
Read 6 tweets
7 Dec
Something about this entire #no10ChristmasParty doesn't pass the smell test

Lots of people - possibly journalists themselves - knew about it, so why has it taken a year to come out?

Who is doing the drip drip leaking?

It feels as it if is being deliberately dragged out

Why?
Magician's call it "misdirection" - creating distractions - controversies for the media to chase - to mislead or discombobulate their audience

A master of it was Putin's advisor, Vladislav Surkov

Some suggest Cummings spent time with Surkov in the 1990s
For 11 days solid, ministers have been saying "a party didn't happen & even if it had, it didn't breach the rules"

It's like the time an unbriefed @Helen_Whately was savaged by @piersmorgan...& then went back on his show 6 days later, equally clueless
Read 4 tweets
6 Dec
1/ I once had a confrontation with FW de Klerk

He’d come to Borders bookshop on Oxford St in 1999 to promote his new autobiography

After he’d finished his mini speech about how he’d saved South Africa he asked if there were any questions

I was in the front row

My hand shot up
2/. Before I go on, I should say that me & FW had a bit of history

I'd been an anti-apartheid activist since my school days in the 1980s

After university, when the ANC were unbanned, I’d flown to South Africa to work for them

I stayed until after the election victory in 1994.
3/ I should also say that I'd spent a few lunchtimes in the bookshop near my office skimming FW's autobiography & doing some research into his background

After all, you don't rise to the top of the deeply racist National Party in the 1980's without being a bit of racist yourself
Read 14 tweets
1 Dec
"Hancock Cock Inn Cockup”

Ystdy, @MattHancock tried to get @AnnelieseDodds to withdraw a comment re his helping the ex-landlord of his local pub, the Cock Inn, to get a PPE contract

We’ve see the emails

Hancock & Lord Feldman helped 47 firms win 'VIP' contracts worth millions
Ystdy, @MattHancock went on the attack claiming Alex Bourne "never got a contract from the govt" & this was a "fabrication pushed by the Labour Party"

He was lying

@NAOorguk found PPE suppliers with links to Tory MPs were 10x more likely to win contracts
Digging by @JolyonMaugham reveals the contract went to Alpha Laboratories

That contract stipulates that Alpha Laboratories will sub-contract the manufacturing to Hinpack Ltd, owned by Alex Bourne

This info was redacted before publishing in what seems a clear attempt to deceive!
Read 10 tweets

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