Boris Johnson ignored warnings from Covid scientists about public messaging

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Original article by Finlay Johnston republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Image of Elmo and former Prime Minister Tory idiot Boris Johnson
Image of Elmo (left) and former Prime Minister Tory idiot Boris Johnson (right)

A Cabinet Office scientist who raised concerns over ‘stay alert’ was told it was ‘too late’. SAGE was not even asked

The government’s scientific advisers said they were cut out of decisions on pandemic messaging and compared Boris Johnson to Donald Trump after he tweeted out new guidance before they could flag concerns.

The Covid inquiry today heard the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) was not given the chance to advise on the ‘stay alert’ slogan before it was announced by the PM on social media in May 2020. The new messaging, which replaced the ‘stay home’ slogan as the first wave of the virus began to ease off, was heavily criticised at the time for being confusing.

An email was shown from Theresa Marteau, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), in which she told fellow members that the ‘stay alert’ messaging had “the potential to do much damage” and said “our advice has not been sought”.

Marteau said the proposed new guidance could increase the R number – the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected person – bringing “all the expected negative health and economic consequences”.

She told colleagues that government officials should be urgently made aware of their “concerns” and they needed to “intervene” before the message went out to the public that evening.

But further emails showed the scientists’ responding to Johnson tweeting out the message before they were able to advise on it. They expressed concern about his decision and one wrote: “We have learnt so much from Donald Trump…”

Another email shown to the inquiry revealed that a behavioural scientist in the Cabinet Office who worked on government communications did raise concerns about the guidance after finding out about it, “only to be told it was too late”.

The official said, in another email shown to the inquiry, that their team had not been consulted. In the email to SAGE members, they wrote: “The messages are kept so elusive by a small group of mainly number 10 advisers”.

They added: “I am so sorry that despite being the behavioural scientists inside the government communications service we don’t have a handle on this either. It’s so often partially political and in this case I was also told they wanted to keep it deliberately small so that there’s not too many cooks, which is also a cultural issue.”

In another email, the head of the SPI-B group of behavioural scientists said chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance had issued a warning that members of SAGE and SPI-B should avoid “getting drawn into a govt operational move and losing reputation as a response”.

The email also suggested those inside No.10 were “concerned about our correspondence”.

Lucy Yardley, co-chair of the SPI-B group and a behavioural science expert, said following this incident: “Things didn’t improve in terms of being consulted…on the whole the communications tended to go ahead with very little input from SPI-B.”

Days after the new messaging was announced, Johnson was accused of misleading Parliament by suggesting Vallance and chief medical officer Chris Whitty had signed off on it.

James Rubin, who chaired the group alongside Yardley, earlier told the inquiry that their advice was not heeded and that it “seemed to disappear into a black hole”.

Rubin gave the example of explicitly advising the government against using fear in their messaging when a new variant of Covid arose in December 2020.

“We argued against [using fear] on multiple occasions,” he said.

The inquiry was then shown WhatsApp messages from Matt Hancock, then health secretary, and Simon Case, cabinet secretary.

In the exchanges, Hancock and Case said they intended to “frighten the pants off everyone with the new strain” and that “ramping up..the fear/guilt factor [is] vital”.

Yardley also expressed her concern about the government’s Eat Out to Help Out campaign.

“The ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ slogan… that came at a really crucially problematic time, because it was during the summer and that was when there was a really missed opportunity. That was when the infections were low and we could have all hopefully kept them low”, she said.

The inquiry continues.

Original article by Finlay Johnston republished from Open Democracy under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence.

Continue ReadingBoris Johnson ignored warnings from Covid scientists about public messaging

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Been thinking about the Soapoperafication of UK politics. Lets have these poor actors playing shallow plots, eh?’

Try this one. It’s your fault that I killed those two people. You were the first owner of the car. It doesn’t matter that there were sixty or however many in between. You’re obviously responsible and that’s it. Nah, Nah, Nah.

[There’s also a more serious analysis involving Neo-Con shits but who’s doing rational rather than soap-opera bullshit?

10 mins later: minor spelling and grammar.

17/03/18  https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

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What it’s like to be a suspected terrorist

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I think that it started over thirty 0dd years ago. My insane radical political parents involved me in their radical political protests while I was in my early teens. I was neglected and    abused and starved of love and affection.

Want a zebra crossing? You need a can of white paint for that. Let’s occupy the the Dept of Trade and Industry boardroom, British Steel Wales boardroom, let’s picket Bob Scholey British Steel’s boss’s house. Thatcher lied about creating a Welsh fourth television channel – now S4C. “Who, where, when and why made the Queen tell a lie?” aping a Telegraph advertising campaign at the time. At fifteen I was arguing with nuclear power PR men and wiping the floor with them.

We were used to being routinely followed and it was accepted that the phone was tapped by local Special Branch (political police). It was easier then because they couldn’t hide so easily. There was a story about a real-world experiment at that time: posting unexposed camera film to many addresses and virtually none of it arrived undamaged. They weren’t that bright – it was clumsy and coarse – but you knew they were the enemy. How is it different to repressive regimes where they open your post and listen to your phone calls if you’re a political dissident?

Police magicked a story about a mini being seen at the scene of a Welsh holiday-home arson and – as if by coincidence – I was driving a mini that had been stored away in a garage for a couple of years. That was a fantastic car with a hundred and forty thousand miles on the clock. You could really throw it about and slide it sideways. I took it through a deep flood on the road with people standing around their much larger wet stopped cars – feel the power of a splash guard on the distributor and WD40.

In my teens I was a radical political activist taking part in some variously successful campaigns. They were scared. There’s a very capable youngster here opposing Capitalism and nuclear BS. And then there was that other thing about names, dates and numbers which I knew nothing about at the time.

So once you’re suspected of being a suspected terrorist you’re watched for ever. Everything you do is watched like a hawk and interpreted in the most perverse ways but it’s much more than that.

All the people you meet are tainted so that they are also suspected terrorists – at least until they are cleared. Their financial transactions are delayed until it’s clear that they do actually want to expand their business. Your doctors surgery starts treating you like shit until you twig that they’ve been served a non-disclosure disclosure notice – we want to know everything about your suspected terrorist and if you tell anyone else we’ll come down on you like a ton of bricks.

I’ve got an old – some would say classic – motorbike, a bicycle or two, lawnmowers and other petrol garden tools, an old yacht to maintain and I also maintain a close friend’s old 1.9 IDT. I need to buy parts for them but it’s not accepted that I buy parts to maintain these vehicles. It’s what sort of bomb can he make with all these filters? What bomb can he make with this acetone (to clean carburettors)? Is he making a water bomb with that coolant temperature sensor?

The 1.9 IDT was owned from new. It was delayed for hours on it’s first 1000 miles service while our own hidden police radio was fitted.

[7/10/17 There was a persistent drain on the battery recently so that the car refused to start if unused for a couple of days. I had to learn how to do a parasitic drain test and identified the drain as the shared power feed to the air conditioning and OBD2 diagnostic port. The OBD2 port would be an ideal place to feed a hidden police radio – on a new car it would not be expected to be used for many years. I would expect such a hidden police radio to be based on mobile phone technology and that after fourteen years or so the battery is worn out. Problems have been experienced using the ODB2 port.]

A real problem is that once you’re a suspected terrorist all your rights vanish. One of the messages of the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes is that suspected terrorists can be murdered with immunity. ed: Actually the message is all we need to do to conduct a political execution is to call you a suspected terrorist.

Everything is interpreted according to their twisted logic: He must be a terrorist because we’ve been watching him for 30 years. The flaw here of course is that if he’s a terrorist, then why has he never done any terrorism?

Fake terrorism bullshit looks very different from my perspective as a suspected terrorist. All this fake, manufactured terrorism BS. Terrorism at election time? It doesn’t take much to see through that one does it?

Suspected terrorists are killed dead so that there is never a trial and they always take their passports along? I believe that there has been entrapment like that trying to kill me. They’ll say well he was well known to authorities, we’ve been watching him for thirty years.

Blair’s butler Ian Blair was a real Fascist. He attacked me personally for cutting political critique i.e. attacking his master. He was quite simply a blatant Fascist murdering bastard. I’m sure that there is loads of fictional BS on me from his master’s Fascist era.

ed: I may expand this post

25/8/17 This may be a draft for a better-written article. There’s a lot to include.

About contacts being regarded as suspect. I think it was Snowden that revealed that contacts up to 3 steps removed are checked. For example I am registered to email lists that offer items for free so that they are kept from the rubbish tip. So, everyone offering by email or reading or receiving emails would be the first step, all their contacts would be the second step and all their contacts would be the third step.

Obviously this is a huge and futile practice involving a lot of wasted effort. It follows that a large part of it will be automated so that totally innocent peoples’ computers, phones, etc will be hacked by GCHQ automatically. In the past I’ve been regularly unsubscribed from such mailing lists by the spooks so that they can avoid this futile heavy workload.

31/8/17

This was probably about 6 or 7 years ago. I went to a local concert as part of a local festival. It was about 9pm and it was the end of it. I got there and bought a pint. I was clocked by a mounted policeman. Ten minutes or so later two fire engines turned up to a hotel nearby on a false alarm.

Local police are much better in recent years. They’re probably aware now that it’s politically-motivated BS.

I saw a sniper watching me on a roof while I was at Swansea Marina very recently.

[7/10/17 It was very strange. He was on a roof about 150m away with a good view of me as I emerged from the cabin in the morning. The trouble is that you climb a few steps to emerge from the cabin so you tend to be looking upwards – in this case at rooftops. He scurried away soon as I was watching. It could have been somebody dressed in black just hanging around on a roof early on a cold morning.]

I want to stress again that this is about politics and nothing to do with counter-terrorism. Ian Blair, former boss of the Metropolitan Police was blatantly promoting Tony Blair’s government. There is likely to be all sorts of BS on police records from that era. The effect is harassment of political activists.

Counter-terror programme is “doing a fantastic job” insists Home Secretary Amber Rudd during Leeds visit

 

6/8/17 [About this blog]. I’m sure that there has been efforts to hide the popularity and influence of this blog from me. All stats – even ones that I’ve installed have been useless. The popularity of this blog varies wildly partly because it’s often not updated for extended periods. There have been times when it was massively popular which is seen in indirect feedback other than stats.

There’s also the absence of comments. While I do use Kismet spam filter, I’m sure that I also have a secretary at GCHQ censoring many comments before it reaches Kismet. I’ll get about one genuine comment a year. Not even abuse gets through. Surely this blog is offensive enough to attract abuse?

11/10/17

Internet security: While I do the basics like run Linux, a firewall and ensure that my system is kept up-to-date with security patches I recognise, appreciate and accept that I am one individual against huge odds. I have some understanding of computer security issues e.g. I understand Edward Snowden and Julian Assange (he needs to get out more) and can program a little but I’m no match for government agencies and many others. Is there a defence against zero-day exploits that insecurity agencies buy and develop? Mobile devices are a serious security issue. It’s probably best to simply accept that security is illusory unless there’s a dedicated team addressing it, and even then …

I noticed someone vulnerability scanning [me] many years ago. It came from Royal Mint Square, E1 very close to Tower Bridge. There are a lot of companies there – I didn’t pay much attention to who it was although it was a private company. I ping flooded them back. They didn’t notice until I ramped it up so not that good at it.

Getting noticed: I tend to use bank cards a lot so that I am easily monitored. Riding a motorcycle (with the number plate on the back) and sailing a little I avoid Auto Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). What it means is that I can surface somewhere unexpectedly.

Generally, it’s not anything near as bad as it was under the Fascism of the Blairs. I get surprised by attacks from unexpected sources. I was surprised by the blatant attacks from Ian Blair. I have recently been surprised by attacks from a GP. People follow different agendas.

13/12/17 People follow different agendas … and in the case of army and police they follow the agendas of the people in charge of them. On occasion I have been followed to protect me.

12/7/18 I get the impression that during the Blair era that there was a continuous forever emergency crisis so that the army was deployed against political critics. I certainly saw that with Chinook helicopters watching me in an urban area. Not subtle, that.

Continue ReadingWhat it’s like to be a suspected terrorist

Election campaign has nothing to say about synthetic make-it-up terrorism

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Shall we have some?

Neo-Con Terrrism BS that is …

Cos I have an awful lot to say about that

ed: What happens is that there is not really any terrrism. What they do is call anyone who opposes them a terrrist.

Would you like some examples?

 

Why is this election BS not scaring you no end from fake manufactured terrorism?

Why are they not doing that?

 

We’ve had no mention of absolute nonsense terrrism for weeks. Is this BS no good for a UK election?

Is terrrism BS only good between elections to keep you scared?

Are you really so ignorant to believe everything on TV?

Hmm

Continue ReadingElection campaign has nothing to say about synthetic make-it-up terrorism

Message from the new head of GCHQ. Be afraid and embrace the new bullshitism

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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29891285

So the new head of GCHQ says tech

Oh this is all so much bolox

The new Head of GCHQ is in charge of ~ of how does this work? ~ we’re not criminals listening to absolutely all communications into and out of the UK. We can’t be criminals invading the privacy of all you criminal bastards – WE’VE GOT IT ALL. Oh and that criminal Angela Merkel.

Look you’re all criminals, we’re listening to all of it so we can scare you senseless to do as you’re told. Aren’t you afraid of terrrists. I’ll see what I can do.

[ed: These tech companies are bastards too. They’re not playing the game. Why aren’t they totally afraid of these imaginary terrrists too? They’re not playing the game. They’re not playing the be afraid of terrrists game. Bo Woo Woo Woo Hu!

These tech companies who have techies and intelligent people are not playing the game. Oh dear, I wonder why that is. Not.

Praps they realise that it’s all bullshit by Neo-Con scum. I would at least appreciate them that much. You know, they’re not stupid or not as stupid as you presume.

I’m not that clever but I’m not that stupid.

The new GCHQ boss. Is that the best you could do?

I’d better address that bullshit that the new GCHQ boss is spouting. It’s just that there was much crap that he’s overwhelmed me. So much total nonsense coming from the new twat in charge of GCHQ. So much shit.

There’s so much shit you’ll have to give me a day or two. I’ve got to swim through it and reach for air.

ed: It seems quite easy really. GCHQ boss says you have no right to privacy cos he’s got to chase terrrists. Terrrists are imaginary to make you afraid and accept repression. GCHQ boss watches you skudding.

How long till they insist on watching? No, it’s OK they probably got it bugged anyway in this ‘free’ society. They are only protecting your ‘freedom’ after all.

Do be terribly afraid of terrrists. Don’t be afraid of dying when you cross the road which is far more likely.

The main point about about this new GCHQ boss is that he’s pushing the discredited bullshit terrrism agenda. Oh FO. The USians may have swallowed that. The rest of the world didn’t or at least they don’t now.

FO GCHQ boss YFOS(hit).

Some tech company is gonna employ me as head of tech-terrrism relations soon. I can do that. Gizza, gizza, I can do that.

The dominant belief system is depending on imaginary terrrists. Fear. It’s nonsense and it has been demonstrated repeatedly that these b’stards engage in false flag operations to manufacture that fake fear.

It is very likely that tech companies are fully aware of your BS. Tech companies are not required or expected to follow your false prospectus.

Your false prospectus of imaginary terrrists scring the hebbegebbe out of us. That’s Bolux and I would expect that  that is accepted in not only tech companies. I would expect that  that is accepted in all big companies – that  that is total BS.

People believing in that ridiculous BS is diminishing quickly …

later: Why should tech companies comply with the BS nonsense of terrrism?

Why should tech companies allow political BS method of control  – in this paticular instance, the imaginary threat of terrrism  – exploit and disempower people? Should they? Why should they?

Politicians and GCHQ do the fear. Tech companies do the tech.

Looka like this new GCHQ boss gonna scare you senseless. There’s a Woolaf!

Be afraid. Be afraid. GCHQ boss says BE AFRAID!

Continue ReadingMessage from the new head of GCHQ. Be afraid and embrace the new bullshitism