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A thread addressing just a few of the issues with Luke Harding's recent account of the #Skripal story, as presented by @FaberBooks via @HarperAcademic. The whole narrative is frankly contemptible, which is clearly how Harding, Faber and Harper view their readerships.
1. Skripal was not a defector. He served time in a Russian prison and was released in a spy swap. Harding says actually this in his text, but the Faber headline writer evidently didn't bother to read that. And who can blame them? It's risible stuff.
2. Skripal wasn't murdered. He was allegedly exposed to an incredibly lethal nerve agent for several hours, but he didn't die.
An important fact you might think, but facts evidently aren't important to Faber's headline writer.
An important fact you might think, but facts evidently aren't important to Faber's headline writer.
3. What does an assassin look like, Luke Harding? Were these two men supposed to be wearing dark glasses and puffer jackets with "assassin" written on the back?
Could Harding possibly patronise his readers more than this? Of course he can...
Could Harding possibly patronise his readers more than this? Of course he can...
4. Harding thinks these two men, who so remarkably did not look like assassins, brought their murder weapon with them through customs. This is the bottle that was found somewhere (no-one really knows where) three months after the event, sealed in plastic and boxed as new.
5. Amazingly, these two GRU Colonels were unheard of to British intelligence. But even more amazing is the fact that the UK issued them with visas and apparently no-one has asked the visa-issuing authorities what these two men claimed they were visiting the UK for.
6. Police apparently didn't bother to tell the hotel owner that one of the rooms had been contaminated by one of the most lethal substances on earth for months. The testing apparently destroyed the only trace. The report about this on the Met's website has been taken down.
7. Death was pretty certain -- except for every single person who came into contact with novichok in Salisbury. Dawn Sturgess, who died months later, still has not had a coroner's inquest to establish her cause of death. But the media have completely ignored that fact.
8. Harding leaves out a lot of detail. They apparently left the house, went to town, fed ducks with bread from their freshly-novichoked hands (no ducks were harmed), went for a meal, then to the pub, and then went and sat on the bench where they were both suddenly both overcome.
9. Atropine is itself toxic and must be carefully administered in cases of organophosphate (nerve agent) poisoning. But the medics who treated the Skripals had no reason to diagnose or treat for such a possibility for at least 36hrs, as they told the BBC:
10. Harding gets this out by a whole day. The medics testified (YouTube link above) that Porton Down didn't supply a diagnosis of nerve agent until the Tuesday. Up until then the Skripals were treated for opiate overdose. "Novichok" can be made by first year chemistry students.
