Don’t mention James

This month, people have been invited ‘at random’ by letter to take part in the ‘largest Covid-19 testing research study in England’ which is being conducted by Imperial College and, er, Ipsos Mori.

The public’s take-up of this invitation seems to have been affected by perceptions of incompetence in the handling of Covid-19. New letters have been sent out to nudge people into taking part, with different wording.

One of most notable changes in the reworded letter is the absence of Lord Bethell, ‘Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Care’.

A.k.a. James Bethell, whose company Westbourne Communications did PR for fracking company Cuadrilla, and the astroturf ‘Campaign for High Speed Rail’ for magazine editor Nigel Harris and Professor David Begg.

Eat, sleep, spin, reset

On 13 October, just weeks after the official ‘start of construction‘ of its High Speed Two railway, the government has announced that new “cost pressures” are emerging. (Was für eine Überraschung.)

But apparently no mention in this six-monthly report of other ‘cost pressures’, like the now-proposed 5.7 km tunnel in Bromford.