Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
BORIS JOHNSON ASKED top UK scientists Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance if Covid could be destroyed by blowing a “special hair dryer” up noses, Dominic Cummings has claimed.
In a “low point” while British prime minister, he allegedly sent a video of a man using such a purported device to the men serving as England’s chief scientific adviser and chief medical officer and asked what they thought.
Cummings, his former chief adviser turned nemesis, made a series of claims in his witness statement handed to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.
He said Johnson also asked him to find a “dead cat” to get the coronavirus pandemic off the front pages of newspapers because he was “sick” of it.
A so-called dead cat strategy is the political meddling of circulating striking claims in order to divert attention away from an unwanted story.
Cummings said that in autumn 2020 Johnson asked him to “put your campaign head back on and figure out how we dead-cat Covid”.
“I’m sick of Covid, I want it off the front pages,” Johnson said, according to Cummings.
The adviser, who worked with Johnson on the Brexit campaign, says he replied that “no campaign could ‘dead-cat Covid’”.
In the alleged hairdryer episode, the then-prime minister was said to have sent a subsequently deleted-from-YouTube video to a WhatsApp group with his top scientists.
Cummings wrote: “A low point was when he circulated a video of a guy blowing a special hair dryer up his nose ‘to kill Covid’ and asked the CSA and CMO what they thought.”
He also repeated a suggestion that Johnson was working on a biography of William Shakespeare rather than the pandemic on a two-week holiday in February 2020.
“He was extremely distracted,” Cummings wrote.
“He had a divorce to finalise and was grappling with financial problems from that plus his girlfriend’s spending plans for the No 10 flat (which he raised repeatedly from early January).
“An ex-girlfriend was making accusations about him in the media. His current girlfriend wanted to finalise the announcement of their engagement. He said he wanted to work on his Shakespeare book.”
Meanwhile, the inquiry also heard that a handwritten note reading “We are f*****” was passed between two scientific advisers to the Government at a meeting over the emerging pandemic in March 2020.
The assessment of Britain’s readiness for the impending turmoil was made by data expert Ben Warner, who worked in No 10 and attended talks held by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).
President of the Behavioural Insights Team Professor David Halpern said the meeting on 13 March had been a moment when the “penny dropped” for him that there were “lots of grounds for concern”.
Speaking at the inquiry, he cited evidence that the NHS would be overwhelmed, a lack of preparedness in relation to testing, and “overconfident” modelling of the impact of the virus as issues that were weighing heavily on him.
During the meeting, he had written: “We are not ready” in capital letters on a piece of paper, before Downing Street colleague Warner leaned over his shoulder and crossed out “not ready”, replacing it with “f*****”, the inquiry heard.
“I really felt quite shocked and depressed,” Halpern said today.
“I felt that it’s not our role to do all those things, we’re working on the behavioural aspects.”
He added: “I felt that on people’s faces in the room, there was some realisation of it – a cracking in the confidence.”
Others in the meeting had felt, like him, that the Government should be pursuing suppression strategies, he said.
It came ten days before the first national lockdown was announced on 23 March and three days before Boris Johnson told people to stop non-essential contact and travel.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Siptu The Blueshirt friendly union,
Should be equal pay for equal work
Like our super junior minister gets
@Christopher Doyle:
Should more experienced workers not get paid more?
@Nick Allen:
One common basic pay scale is what equal pay for equal work means in this context.
@Liam H: precisely the problem – zero incentive to perform. Ever wonder why there’s such a huge demand for grind schools ? They’d be non-existent if all teachers performed equally well for their equal pay.
@Christopher Doyle: would it not be fairer to take a bit off the higher tier and give it to the lower tier to even it up? A happy medium to get rid of the unfairness of the inequality.
@shits ville: grind schools have smaller classes. Sometimes even the greatest of teachers can let a person fall thru the cracks if there’s 35 kids in a class
@Keith Gregg: true, but also true is that teachers who just clock in and out are paid the same as excellent and energetic teachers without any threat of sanction.
@Keith Gregg: grinds generally deal with secondary pupils where the average class size is 20. Grind classes are more focused on exam answers than curriculum, and the teachers are generally at the higher end of the educator scale as there is competition for performance that is missing from schools.
Siptu sells out it’s member’s again.
Sells out its young members. As a new teacher I can see this as nothing but hanging us out to dry so they can restore pay to experienced members who will outnumber us. Divide and conquer. They obviously read the FG playbook cover to cover.
@michael: enjoy your holidays and stop moaning
@Fergus Sheahan: I am enjoying my holidays but unfortunately a lot of my colleagues don’t get ‘holidays ‘ as many newly qualified teachers hold down two/ three jobs in order to make ends meet. Teachers don’t get full time jobs anymore they apply for hours, sometimes as little as four hours a week! They can’t claim FIS or job seekers as more often than not the four hours could be spread over 4-5 days. They work all year round.
I’m the only public sector employee amongst my siblings so I completely understand how difficult it is for those in the private system which is why I refuse to buy in to the whole private versus public debate.
I think all workers need to stand together and not play in to the hands of the very people trying to divide us.
@Fergus Sheahan: I’m unemployed and broke for the summer. Unless we get an almost unattainable permanent contract then we don’t get paid if we don’t work. Go do your homework young man.
@michael: Perhaps you might consider an alternate profession? If there aren’t enough positions?
@Stephen Adam: Took 6 years of university to get here so it’s obviously something I’m dedicated to doing. I’m not saying I’m not willing to put up with struggling to find work, being broke and all the rest, I’m just not going to listen to some tosser tell me to enjoy my summer holidays
@michael: that’s fine Michael. But it’s a choice. We choose our professions and there’s advantages and disadvantages to each.
I’ve never understood why public servants expect their relatively well paid jobs to be ever improved at the expense of the tax payer under great of strike.
@Stephen Adam: because public servants serve the public and so are paid through tax revenues. How else could they get a raise? Btw I’m on 32k a year if and when I ever get full time hours. Hardly the gravy train
@michael: whether 32k is good or not depends on how it compares to similar positions in countries of similar size and GDP. It could be a superb salary for the role.
I do find it extraordinary that someone with 3 months off a year would complain about 32K.
Raises should be based on performance – no other reason.
Spineless. FG are breaking their agreement on the extra working hours under FEMPI, and worse, unifying the pay scales as promised. The tenet of equal pay for equal work is the cornerstone of a fair society
LOL!
He’s dermo the 12th he yam, dermo the 12th he yam he yam.
Will we be seeing dermo the 13th before the end of june, or are you the superstitious type??
@Diarmuid: Welcome back Diarmuid. I was worried about you. I know this site is all you have in life, being banned must have been awful for you. If it happens again just contact me via my Facebook page. Im always here to talk if you’re feeling a little lonely. If you don’t think you can relate to a rational sort like myself you can always contact the Samaritans on 116 123. They’d talk to anyone. Stay safe.
@The Risen: There is no way you are a public sector worker?
A straight NO vote from Siptu members is what should be recommended.
Well that can stick it! And SIPTU too!!
@Jonathan Eastwood: Agreed a lot of anger out there, hopeful IMPACT and SIPTU members will vote NO.
Siptu can F off
Unless your a bus or train driver forget it
Useless no good union
Remember siptu supported the community charge and water tax
SIPTU top brass are being blackmailed for their excesses during the Tiger years. Remember the rainy day fund which was being hidden on the HSE books. They all availed of it.
Good to see the workers getting pay back, and the lowest paid ones actually getting an increase over what was taken from them.
There is power in a union!
@Joe Hill: That ‘union’ is an absolute joke.
@Joe Hill: but not arse wipe siptu
Siptu sells public out again, Brown envelope money grabbing back stabbing union
Surprise surprise. SIPTU is not a union, it’s a middleman between the govt and the people it’s meant to represent. Watery shower of money grabbers
Very deep divisions in the public sector unions over this, one wonders will collective bargaining survive it
“Public Service Union” ? The majority of SIPTU members are in the private sector and their membership in the public service are overwhelmingly in the support grades.?
Of course they do. They have done nothing for public servants or retired public servants for years. They of course have got big salary increases. Its the same with that other shower Impact. They have sold out the workers just like the Labour party. Anybody with any sense would cancel their subscription to these clowns. I can assure them that if they ever have a problem the last one to help you will be your union.
Siptu are skanks and only out for themselves .money grabbers
#Backstabbers = Siptu
have your say