Originally Posted by xsnaggle
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This is damning:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...chology-expert
Robert West, a professor of health psychology at University College Londons 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.
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.
....
They are treating the whole health crisis as though it were a political crisis. If its a political crisis, what you do is try to manage your reputation. If its a health crisis you focus on saving lives, at whatever cost to your political reputation.
He said 40 people were involved in Spi-B, the Independent Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours, which feeds in to Sage, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
I know [concern] is widespread among the group but not everybody feels comfortable speaking out and I completely understand that. But there has been considerable and growing unease, West said. The worry is that the government has said from the beginning it is following the science, and that was never true.
