You seem very certain there’s no story here Andrew. And that scientists cant possibly be subject to or fall prey to influence by political forces. Not so sure about that. Which is why the lines should be very clearly drawn. And before anyone goes ‘what about Iraq?’ 1/3 https://twitter.com/afneil/status/1254156787768532999

Iraq inquiry showed very clearly that the intelligence services were not subject to such influence by political advisers and that we went to great lengths to ensure they weren’t. Do you also justify the secrecy surrounding membership and deliberations of SAGE? 2/3

Given Cummings’ history I think those scientists should be very wary. You and I agree I think that they’ve been far from open/transparent at the briefings and that too may be due to political influence. 3/4

It will also eventually dawn on them that ‘we follow the science’ is a part of the blame game already being played inside government for when the public inquiry comes. They should listen to what @Sir_David_King is saying about the importance of real independent advice 4/4