• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

New Ad For NHS COVID-19 App Admits it’s Unfit For Purpose

by Toby Young
21 August 2021 12:02 PM

I received an email this morning from David Livermore, Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of East Anglia, about the Government’s latest ad (see above). Apart from the inadvertent admission that ‘pinging’ is a woefully inefficient way of interrupting the chain of transmission, it’s breathtakingly illiterate. The drudge working for 23Red or Freuds, or whichever agency the Government has paid hundreds of millions of pounds to write its propaganda, has no idea how to use the simple comma. Prof Livermore queries one of them, but by my reckoning the commas after “virus”, “every day”, “need” and “together” are all superfluous. I would make a crack about the copywriter lacking a good GCSE pass in English, but, alas, you can get a First in English at Oxford these days and still be semi-literate.

Dear Toby,

Did you see this Govt advert… torn (rather badly) from Friday’s D Tel, and doubtless published elsewhere too?

Put aside the peculiar use of the royal “we”, the slippery “up to” and the redundant comma after “need”.

It’s the rare candour that matters.

First, the Govt is paying to say en claire that “Even if we have been vaccinated, we can still get the virus and pass it on”. That one sentence, which is supported by mounting evidence, demolishes their whole argument for Vaccine Passports.

Second, the “up to 2,000 new infections per day” sounds a lot until one sets it against the current daily tally of c. 30,000-35,000 positives by PCR and the fact that the App pinged around 600,000 souls in July, or an average of just under 20,000 per day.

Taking the upper limit of “2000 cases per day” therefore suggests that the App prevents far fewer than 10% of cases and that a maximum of 10% of those pinged are actually infected. Counterwise, 90% of cases are not forewarned by the App and 90% of those pinged are inconvenienced or frightened when they are not infected

Such figures would ordinarily lead any developer to conclude ‘Not fit for purpose’ and it is rare to see a ‘vendor’ damn their own product so comprehensively in so few of their own words. Gerald Ratner famously did it in the 1980s, describing a sherry decanter that his eponymous company was selling for £4.95 as “Total crap”. Which it doubtless was. But, at least he hadn’t developed the wretched thing using £22 billion of our money and didn’t have the temerity to suggest it was our moral duty to start using it.

Best,

David

Tags: LiteracyNHS COVID-19 AppPropaganda

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

English Rules on International Travel Have Changed 50 Times Since the First Lockdown, Analysis Shows

Next Post

Sydney Anti-Lockdown Protest Organiser Sentenced to Eight Months in Prison

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

77 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic | Episode 43: William Yarwood on Labour’s Welfare Farce, Niall Gooch on Catholicism vs Lib Dems & Tilak Doshi on Trump’s Climate Science Fightback

by Richard Eldred
4 July 2025
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Germany is Not Being Honest About Who is Assaulting Children at Swimming Pools

5 July 2025
by Eugyppius

News Round-Up

5 July 2025
by Toby Young

The Renewable Industry’s Dirty Little Secret Has Just Been Exposed

5 July 2025
by Will Jones

Pet Hates: Are Muslims in Britain Really Trying to Ban Dogs?

5 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

Ofcom Still Isn’t Sure What a Woman is – But it’s Sure There’s Going to be a Climate Apocalypse

4 July 2025
by Will Jones

Germany is Not Being Honest About Who is Assaulting Children at Swimming Pools

19

Ofcom Still Isn’t Sure What a Woman is – But it’s Sure There’s Going to be a Climate Apocalypse

24

Pet Hates: Are Muslims in Britain Really Trying to Ban Dogs?

12

Defunding Gavi is Good for Public Health

12

The Renewable Industry’s Dirty Little Secret Has Just Been Exposed

11

Germany is Not Being Honest About Who is Assaulting Children at Swimming Pools

5 July 2025
by Eugyppius

Defunding Gavi is Good for Public Health

5 July 2025
by Dr David Bell

Pet Hates: Are Muslims in Britain Really Trying to Ban Dogs?

5 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

Aberdeen’s Ditching of ESG Proves the Green Finance Revolution is Dead

4 July 2025
by Tilak Doshi

The UK’s Crisis Point is Fast Approaching

3 July 2025
by Dr David McGrogan

POSTS BY DATE

August 2021
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Jul   Sep »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

August 2021
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Jul   Sep »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Germany is Not Being Honest About Who is Assaulting Children at Swimming Pools

5 July 2025
by Eugyppius

News Round-Up

5 July 2025
by Toby Young

The Renewable Industry’s Dirty Little Secret Has Just Been Exposed

5 July 2025
by Will Jones

Pet Hates: Are Muslims in Britain Really Trying to Ban Dogs?

5 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

Ofcom Still Isn’t Sure What a Woman is – But it’s Sure There’s Going to be a Climate Apocalypse

4 July 2025
by Will Jones

Germany is Not Being Honest About Who is Assaulting Children at Swimming Pools

19

Ofcom Still Isn’t Sure What a Woman is – But it’s Sure There’s Going to be a Climate Apocalypse

24

Pet Hates: Are Muslims in Britain Really Trying to Ban Dogs?

12

Defunding Gavi is Good for Public Health

12

The Renewable Industry’s Dirty Little Secret Has Just Been Exposed

11

Germany is Not Being Honest About Who is Assaulting Children at Swimming Pools

5 July 2025
by Eugyppius

Defunding Gavi is Good for Public Health

5 July 2025
by Dr David Bell

Pet Hates: Are Muslims in Britain Really Trying to Ban Dogs?

5 July 2025
by Steven Tucker

Aberdeen’s Ditching of ESG Proves the Green Finance Revolution is Dead

4 July 2025
by Tilak Doshi

The UK’s Crisis Point is Fast Approaching

3 July 2025
by Dr David McGrogan

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment