Dominic Cummings Covid evidence

[Newtonianmechanics]

Is anyone going to watch this man give evidence today?

Apparently there is a vigil in Barnard Castle ahead of this.

The shopping trolleys emoji seems to mean they think Carrie was controlling Boris from the last few days. Wonder if this will feature.

I would think the Breugel the Elder painting most pertinent to the situation, given the evidence we are hearing about Johnson, Sunak and Hancock, is The Blind Leading The Blind

Counsel to the Inquiry Andrew O’Connor KC has now finished his questioning of witness Sir Patrick Vallance.

Final questions are now being put to the witnesses by Pete Weatherby KC who is representing Core Participant: Covid Bereaved Families for Justice.

Have made a new thread if needed.

Final questions are being asked by Nia Gowan who is representing Core Participant: Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru and Claire Mitchell KC on behalf of Core Participant: Scottish Covid Bereaved.

J Menon KC questioning Vallance on behalf of children's charities and organisations.

I think this is looking like a particularly weak spot for the government. SAGE getting knocked back by the Cabinet Office.

Nia Gowman, representing Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru, is now asking about how information was passed between the devolved governments.
She questions whether chief scientific advisers in devolved nations were "disadvantaged" in their access to data.
Vallance says he thinks not - and adds that information received from the devolved administrations was "incredibly important", singling out Scotland in particular.

Philip Dayle on behalf of Core Participant: The Federation of Ethnic Minority Healthcare Organisations (FEMHO).

Dayle asks Vallance about an entry in his diary where he describes a press conference, and says he and his colleagues had agreed in advance not to discuss ethnic disparities in Covid deaths.
Vallance says that is because, at that stage, they were still trying to establish what was causing these disparities.

KC asking questions for disabled groups about structural inequalities.

Vallance gives example: May 2020, receiving info about residential homes for people with disabilities, but says 'policy issue for Cabinet Office to think about'.

Trouble is, the CO didn't give a fuck - and Vallance knows it.

Vallance says that he was "aware" the pandemic and the measures required to tackle it would have an unequal impact.

He says he stands by his witness statement which says that the virus "fed off inequality and drove inequality".

Edited to add that this was in response to Phillip Dayle

Just in case

link to part 2
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/in_the_news/4946971-dominic-c-covid-evidence-2

God this is upsetting about the disabled / children and adults with Down Syndrome / extremely clinically vulnerable list creation.

I 'look forward to' (so to speak) all these questions also being asked of CMO and all the politicians.

via Guardian live blog

Vallance says there was no scientific evidence to justify Covid 'rule of six'

Vallance is now being questioned by Rajiv Menon, counsel for three groups representing children.

Menon asks about a note in Vallance’s diary. He does not show the extract on screen, but he reads it out. Vallance said:

Sage pushing for “can’t we exempt children from rule of 6”. We said no. Not unless CMO wanted to revisit.

Menon asks Vallance to explain this.

Vallance says he thinks this refers to Sage (the Scientific advisory group for emergencies) wanting to exempt children from the rule of six, but the Cabinet Office not wanting to reopen the policy.

And he says the scientists did not really approve of the rule of six anyway. He says:

We didn’t actually think that that had an enormous basis on anything.

He says it was not possible to say why meeting in groups of six might be acceptable, not not in groups of eight or 10.

The fewer contacts you had, the less the risk of transmission, he says.

My stream cut off just when those questions re disability started, I also missed the TUC rep.

Saw this

Gavin Williamson also getting a kicking in Patrick Vallance's diary. Williamson's own permanent secretary in the DfE, Jonathan Slater, told Vallance he hoped to give the then-education secretary "some illusion of ownership" but keep him "away from policy development".

Yep lets mention Australia

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/09/melbourne-public-housing-tower-residents-win-5m-payout-over-covid-lockdown

Ok then riddle me this. If they care so much about health why are they threatening people with loss of NHS prescriptions if they arent deemed to be looking hard enough for work.

All in it together right? Nah now its fucking obvious it was all about protecting our "betters" Which some of us could see three and a half years ago but is even more obvious now. I guess they cant make as much money from the illnesses people on benefits are being threatened over, as they could from Covid!!!!!

Is there any more detail on what was asked by the bereaved families' groups at all?

The structural inequalities and the EM inequalities were clearly something no one in government gave a shiny shit about. And I suspect the scientists too who were just fatalistic about that element. Fair enough - emphatically not their job to consider inequalities but just to point out a virus disproportionately affects the most vulnerable. It's what governments do with that information that counts.

I missed the questions

This is their response on twitter

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1726687956134756586.html

I missed this - please could you tell me what was said?

This thread is quiet today considering Whitty was at the enquiry

I actually watched it for first time due to CW

There’s a second thread, linked below

Come over to the new thread, Jennifer: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/in_the_news/4946971-dominic-c-covid-evidence-2