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Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

4 Jan

In September we sent our kids back to school - with much trepidation, but at least with the promise of vaccination for teens (albeit 1 dose) by half term. That half-hearted teen vaccination programme essentially failed, and schools drove 50k/day cases throughout the autumn.

In January, as the focus starts to shift to 5-11 year olds, are we to send them back on a similarly unreliable promise that they will be vaccinated? Parents can have little confidence in this government's capacity or willingness to protect children.

We've endured all kinds of disinformation - from kids don't get it, to kids don't spead it, to masks don't work, to faux concern for mental health - and what it all boils down to is - sorry, but your government will not protect your kids.

Read 8 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

4 Jan

There's a terrible idea going round that I thought we had dismissed in all but extremist circles. But it was repeated today on Radio 4 by an august professor. It is the suggestion that kids are vaccinated more for the social good than their own good. Therefore the risks...
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... associated with vaccine for kids have to weigh more heavily in the cost/benefit analysis. The underlying thought is "they're getting vaccinated more for us than them" so we must proceed with great caution. Sounds reasonable, but it really is lousy thinking. Here's why:
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Forget, for a moment, that children do get seriously ill with covid and remember that, even if they were 100% invulnerable, it would remain in their palpable and direct interest to have healthy, living family members at home.
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Read 6 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

2 Jan

And in case you're wondering whether they really might give a f*ck about the mental health of our children, don't forget these are the people who presided over worsening child poverty, vast cuts in education and CAMS, and had to be shamed by a footballer into feeding hungry kids.

So be very clear: this is not about the welfare of our children. The refusal to install air filtration and mandate masks; the bizarre delays in child vaccination - they're all part of a "take it on the chin"/"let it rip" narrative that's killing our loved ones, every single day.

Our children, as the song goes, are our future; the idea that you'd positively WANT them to catch a disease which you KNOW causes long term, multi-organ issues by the truckload, and hospitalises more than 1,000 kids every month, instead of taking simple precautions to render ...

Read 5 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

27 Dec 21

Are all Tories awful? Of course not. Never been my kinda folk, but you'll find good people in any tent. Until recently. These crack-Tories put power before country, and torpedoed our economy and our international standing. They blew a 4%+ hole in our GDP and sent navy gunboats
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.to try to intimidate our French neighbours. These guys are not representative of British conservatism, but of something far darker. They brought the same short-sighted ideology of hyper-selfishness to public health, killing 170,000+ of us, and used schools as a political..
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dividing line to try to paint themselves as the champions of freedom (and legitimise their shocking, repeated, failures to act). Far from standing for conservatism, they have undermined and assaulted almost every institution, from the Royal Family to Parliament to the courts;
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Read 8 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

10 Dec 21

They say anti-Covid measures go against the British way of life.
No. It is British to be mindful of others. To go out of our way for others. Dunkirk came to define British spirit because it was a story about how civilians could play a heroic role in securing the safety of others.

Nationalists and libertarians want us to believe in a Britain of me-first selfishness and isolationism. That is their Britain, and, wrapping themselves as they do in the flag, they think they own - and they get to define - the very concept of Britishness.

But there is a better Britain than the one they portray. It is a decent Britain, a fair Britain, an open Britain. Proud of its democracy, its rule of law, and its protection of the vulnerable. That's why - to the surprise of some - I use the flag, and the words, #takebackBritain.

Read 7 tweets

Dominic Minghella

@DMinghella

20 Nov 21

Nobody voted for the privatisation of the NHS.
But that's what the Health and Care Bill allows.

Nobody voted for more sketchy health care contracts, given out in private.
But that's what the Health and Care Bill allows.

#BooTheBill

Nobody voted to lose the right to go to court when services are withdrawn.
But - you guessed it - that's what the Health and Care Bill allows.

This repellent Bill is in Parliament on Monday and Tuesday.

What can we do to fight it?

#BooTheBill

1 Join the demo at Parliament, Monday at 5pm, Richmond Terrace.

#BooTheBill

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