The science has left the building (4)

[SouthWestmom]

New thread inspired by Whitty and Valance exiting stage right today

The Metro nails it.

Do we know what Cummings' neighbours have to say about the statement that there were baying mobs outside his house? Given the strict lockdown rules in place at the time, I struggle to believe that the police would have allowed that state of affairs to continue for long.

So he wasn't in Durham on the 19th.

What happened to May 10th?

And why was Preston asking him specifically about absolutely sure he didn't go anywhere else. I felt there was an undertone of knowing something he wants Dominic to confirm couldn't be true before it's released. So that next time he can't back chain events and find an alibi for them?

Truth twisters indeed...

Yesterday there were statements from Downing Street saying that they weren't going to respond to questions raised from recent stories in the media (regarding the extra trips) because the stories were lies. They should have to explain themselves surely - which parts were lies?

Bbc breakfast's twitter page are asking for people to submit questions ahead of tomorrow's programme.

mobile.twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/status/1264996175767273472

Someone asked earlier why the news conference was late.

It surely had to have something to do with the Durham Police statement - it can't be a coincidence that the police were forced to "clarify" their earlier statement. I bet they were also asked to clarify whether they were going to look into the reports about Barnard Castle; hence him having to insert the weakest bit of the statement about the sight problems - possibly made up in half an hour, whereas he had a week to prepare the rest of it.

What poor sod is on morning tv duty tomorrow? Surely at some stage one of the main players will crack mid-interview, say fuck it and walk out.

I really hope Whitty and Valance did refuse to speak, and continue to refuse to go along with this shite. I have a fair amount of respect for Whitty in particular.

I feel so worried about this lack of accountability and downright lies in front of the public and in a press conference.
What else are they lying about if they can lie blatantly about something that has eye witnesses and is obvious for us to understand?

Another scientist is cross too.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/25/cummings-row-risks-breach-of-public-trust-says-psychology-expert

two paragraphs jumped out at me from that Guardian article:

"Robert West, a professor of health psychology at University College London’s Institute of Epidemiology and Health, who sits on the advisory group on behavioural science for Sage told the Guardian: “From a public health perspective what we now have to recognise is that central government probably cannot be trusted to provide leadership, and other agencies, including local and regional government, are going to have to work together to make up for this. It will be difficult and maybe things will change but as things stand there is a leadership vacuum in the heart of government.”"

and

"In reference to Cummings’ account of why he drove hundreds of miles to Durham during lockdown, West said: “There are so many holes in his narrative that only the most desperate people who want to believe him could do so. Not least is the idea that someone who is not an idiot would drive for 30 miles (coincidentally to a tourist attraction) with his wife and child in the car to check that he was safe to drive.”"

Wow just read that guardian article. He’s a respect UCL scientist and I’m amazed that he is speaking out so candidly, but very relieved.

I believe that the government are so lacking in credibility now in terms of public health message, that something has to be done.

Even hearing Boris tonight mention carry on self-isolating - I mean - what does self isolation even mean anymore?

New respect for Robert West.

There is however hope - he says local and region agencies have a tough task ahead, but they can make up for the lack of decent central leadership.

I noted his (coded but highly supportive) statement about Whitby and Vallence. And hope they will,not be made scapegoats

It is the contact tracing that I am most worried about. It’s so so vital and if people don’t self isolate properly it will not be very effective.

Ironically the contact tracing is linked to DCs companies.

According to the twitterverse his sister owns the contact tracing app company. And Glaxo the pharmaceutical company are in Barnard castle. Lot of conspiracy theory talk about vaccine contracts etc.

Although is that far too obvious, and they are using outrage over this to cover up something else.

@StayinginSummer if “self isolating” means popping back into the office to carry on working and pick some things up, then going out in the car to drive to the other end of the country to a secondary residence, oh and a couple of days later driving to a hospital to pick someone up - well it doesn’t sound too bad. We don’t have to stay in our homes 24/7 for 14 days any more, in fact we are idiots if we do as it is more important to exercise our judgement.

The contact tracing is in a bit of a mess too. Low paid untrained staff. An app that apparently doesn’t work that well, something to do with iPhone settings in uk. And the cloak and daggers over how it was set up and by who.

I’ve no idea how much the contract is and who procured it, but we really should know transparency wise shouldn’t we?

@Lemons1571 exactly. Fudging some issues is not such a big deal, but fudging the self isolation message is a huge deal! Especially bringing it to different regions.

I think Boris was due on about 6pm, but then got delayed to 7pm.

Just before 6pm Sky news chief political correspondent, Jon Craig I think, was on Downing Street. He and Adam Boulton were talking about who would be with Boris and I am fairly sure they said Vallance, and that Chris Whitty had just entered Downing Street.

I wondered if Whitty and Vallance had not wanted to go out and get dragged into all this and had refused, or maybe if a decision was made by everyone, Boris included, not to squander any of their perceived reliability or expertise by exposing them to it. Keep them in reserve, untainted so to speak. Or maybe they were never due to be on?

What happened?

I don’t want the app. I don’t trust it. I don’t want to isolate my whole family for 14 days including my son who has gcse!s next year and school only just restarting. All based on a strangers summer cold or hayfever symptoms.

not to squander any of their perceived reliability or expertise by exposing them to it. Keep them in reserve, untainted so to speak

This I imagine

"[Robert West, a professor of health psychology at University College London’s Institute of Epidemiology and Health, who sits on the advisory group on behavioural science for Sage] expressed sympathy for Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, the chief medical officer for England and the chief scientific officer, who he said were “potentially in such a difficult position” attempting to champion the science with the government"

Nwonder if he said that before or after they were reportedly visiting Downing Street?

According to the twitterverse his sister owns the contact tracing app company. And Glaxo the pharmaceutical company are in Barnard castle. Lot of conspiracy theory talk about vaccine contracts etc.

I don’t think that’s correct.

The contact tracing app is being developed by Marc Warren, who is a Cummings Vote Leave buddy and has been awarded 7 government contracts in the last few months.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/vote-leave-ai-firm-wins-seven-government-contracts-in-18-months

People on Twitter are pointing out that an Alice Sarah Louise Cummings born 1963 has been made a NED at Idox plc and assuming this is Cummings’ sister.

Except Cummings’ sister is called Francesca McDonald Cummings and was born in 1975.