Interesting piece by @philipcball. I think I agree. But I share the conflictedness.

I was particularly shocked to learn… (see next tweet) https://twitter.com/philipcball/status/1265321698997473282

…this.

I must have missed it at the time, and it’s…staggering.

Like, R0 is a really basic concept. I don’t think it makes me a maths genius that I could have pointed this out, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I’d never heard of R0 before February.

Add that to Vallance’s timid failure to correct Johnson’s handshaking boast, and it certainly raises some serious concerns about his suitability for the role.

The fact that I would probably have launched into something more like this is probably one of a number of reasons why I am not CSA, in spite of my modest mathematical competence https://twitter.com/statto/status/1234874764633788416

Interesting thread on why Whitty and Vallance can’t try to salvage this given their roles. Not an expert on this stuff at all but feels like we could really do with some of those ‘checks and balances’ for situations like this. https://twitter.com/cptyler/status/1265361107075637248