1/. On New Year’s Eve last year, I sent a post-midnight cartoon to friends with a message saying hold on tight & enjoy the ride & a Rilke quote: “And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been."

Nothing could have prepared us for what lay in store. #COVID19
2/. We’d hardly had a chance to recover from our hangovers before US assassinated General Soleimani, dramatically escalating tensions with #Iran

Until 20 January & Trump's departure, a danger of "Rapture-believing" hawks launching strikes on Iran remains. https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1328768602158342151
3/. At the time of the Iran airstrike - while @BorisJohnson was holidaying on a private Caribbean island with his pregnant girlfriend - another crisis was brewing: #COVID19

@MattHancock says he knew about COVID at the v start of January & informed the PM. https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1261780103551475718
4/. Despite knowing about #COVID19 at the start of the year, the govt did nothing to prepare & later falsely claimed #COVID was “an invisible mugger”, that lockdown was delayed “to stop people getting bored” & that “no one knew about asymptomatic spread”!
5/. Britain was given the greatest gift any country could have wished for in the circumstances: a two-month head start...& yet:

Test & trace - disastrous
Care home protection - 2mths late
PPE shortages
Closing borders - 3mths late
Lockdown - 2 weeks late
Face masks - 4mths late
6/. It made no sense!

How & why had Britain knowingly got itself into this dire situation?

I started digging

The discovery of the PM's #TakeItOnTheChin comments (5/3) led me to the #HerdImmunityScandal which in turn led me to a key SMOKING GUN: the PM's #GreenwichSpeech (3/2) https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1250894405323628545
7/. Over the last 9 months, I traced this story both forwards - to see where it was carrying us - & backwards, in search the source(s).

Along the way I stumbled on dozens of hair-raising ‘front page stories’ but only #TakeItOnTheChin & the #CareHomeScandal made the front pages.
7/. Over the last 9 months, I traced this story both forwards - to see where it was carrying us - & backwards, in search the source(s).Along the way I stumbled on dozens of hair-raising ‘front page stories’ but only #TakeItOnTheChin & the #CareHomeScandal made the front pages.
7/. Over the last 9 months, I traced this story both forwards - to see where it was carrying us - & backwards, in search the source(s).Along the way I stumbled on dozens of hair-raising ‘front page stories’ but only #TakeItOnTheChin & the #CareHomeScandal made the front pages.
7/. Over the last 9 months, I traced this story both forwards - to see where it was carrying us - & backwards, in search the source(s).Along the way I stumbled on dozens of hair-raising ‘front page stories’ but only #TakeItOnTheChin & the #CareHomeScandal made the front pages.
7/. Over the last 9 months, I traced this story both forwards - to see where it was carrying us - & backwards, in search the source(s).Along the way I stumbled on dozens of hair-raising ‘front page stories’ but only #TakeItOnTheChin & the #CareHomeScandal made the front pages.
You can follow @StefSimanowitz.
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