By Ben Kerrigan
An investigation into allegations that the Uk government used scare tactics to get the British public to follow Covid rules is to be conducted by this publication.
An examination into the alleged scare tactics will include assessing the element of intention in relation to then emphasis on modelling and data, and whether the government knew that inaccurate data was being used to scare the British public into complying with Covid rules.
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It will involve lawyers assessing what efforts the government took to verify the legitimacy of data presented, and whether the advisory group of the government, (SAGE) were complicit in those scare tactics or had every reason to trust figures presented to them It will also examine the possible roles played by the Nhs, Department Of Health and UKHSA.
The investigation will be sponsored by a prominent member of society, whose identity will be revealed at a later date, when the investigation is completed.
A number of teachers and nurses, none of whose identity will be made known in advance of the findings, will also participate in the analysis alongside selected members of this publication.
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It follows an article last week by the Daily Mail that the Uk government used scare tactics to to get people to follow Covid rules- one of the key pieces of news last week.
The co-founder of No10’s ‘Nudge Unit’ accused the Uk Government of using scare tactics to get people to follow Covid rules during the pandemic.
Behavioural scientist, Simon Ruda, suggested there had been an overemphasis on modelling and data that he warned was ‘propagandistic’.
Writing in the magazine Unherd , Ruda said fear was initially used to boost public compliance during the first lockdown but had been carried right through the crisis.
‘That fear seems to have subsequently driven policy decisions in a worrying feed-back loop,’ said Mr Ruda, who help set up No10’s Behavioural Insights Team in 2010.
‘In my mind, the most egregious and far-reaching mistake made in responding to the pandemic has been the level of fear willingly conveyed on the public.’
Launched under David Cameron’s Government, the group was responsible for positively influencing behaviour with tiny changes without introducing legislation.
UK health chiefs were criticised by stats watchdog for claiming 200,000 people were catching the Omicron Covid variant every day
The Daily Mail reported that UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which is led by Dame Jenny Harries, was rebuked by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) over the figures publicized by Sajid Javid late last year. The Uk publication has been one of the few publications to occasionally highlight false statistics associated with Covid-19.
Its leader Ed Humpherson said that the claim ’caused confusion and some speculation in the media, which distracts from the message the statistics are conveying’.
The Eye Of Media.Com has also criticized the false statistics published by the British press during times pandemic times , without proper investigation.
The HSA and Health Secretary Sajid Javid were accused of scare-mongering after the gloomy models were shared with MPs on December 14.
His comments, made in a statement discussing the threat of Omicron, sparked immediate confusion over whether the figure was relating to the virus as a whole, or specifically just the super-mutant variant.
But Mr Ruda warned deploying ‘nudge’ tactics during the pandemic may have amounted to ‘state sanctioned propaganda’.
‘Behavioural science was conceived as a means of recognizing and correcting the biases that lead humans to make non-rational decisions.
‘But it’s not obvious to me that the trade-offs many governments are making in their responses to the pandemic are grounded in utilitarian rationality.’
Ministers have been criticised for putting too much stock in ‘worst-case’ Covid scenarios from modelling by its advisers.
The Government has used these projections of cases and deaths to justify restrictive measures to the public or to encourage people to change their behaviours.
One of the more recent models warned of 6,000 daily Covid deaths and 10,000 hospitalisations this winter in a pessimistic scenario.
In reality, there are just 250 deaths per day now — around half of a bad flu year — and 2,000 hospital admissions.
No10’s chief modeller has previously said that the committee does not consider optimistic scenarios because ‘that doesn’t get decisions made’.
While no new restrictions were brought in in England, people were told to cancel their Christmas parties and ‘prioritise’ who they met.
More restrictive measures were reintroduced in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
But Mr Ruda suggested that there were not enough experts within Downing Street’s scientific ranks who challenged the data or advice.
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