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Robert West
@robertjwest
Emeritus Professor of Health Psychology tweeting about behavioural science, addiction, smoking and political issues.
London
ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology-h…
Joined March 2011
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  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Jan 22, 2022
    In the UK approx 1 in 500 of its entire population has died from Covid so far. In Japan, with similar risk factors in terms of age etc, the figure is 1 in 7,000 and UK has suffered a larger fall in GDP. The main difference is how our governments have chosen to handle the pandemic
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    May 24, 2020
    I am sorry to have to say that as another member of SPI-B I have to agree.
    user avatar
    Professor Susan Michie
    @SusanMichie
    May 24, 2020
    As another member of SPI-B, I completely agree.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Oct 3, 2021
    Japan's PM is apparently set to resign over his poor handling of Covid: 141 deaths per million population in a crowded island and high proportion of older people. Our Covid deaths are 2004 per million with an ongoing death toll of 1000 per week.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Dec 27, 2021
    It is now a near certainty that the UK will be seeing a hospitalisation rate that massively exceeds the capacity of the NHS. Many thousands of people have been condemned to death by The Conservative Government.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Jan 9, 2022
    The media now appears to be mounting a massive “It’s all over - forget about the death and illness” onslaught. If they succeed in their propaganda campaign they will create a sicker, less productive population with reduced life expectancy.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Feb 10, 2022
    Imagine if the UK airline industry had a problem leading to daily crashes killing everyone on board. Imagine if after a while the airline decided it was going to live with it and not even publish figures so that people knew what was happening. That would be corporate manslaughter
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    May 30, 2020
    Speaking in a personal capacity as a human being, it is clear to me that the government is putting 10s of thousands of lives at risk for political expediency.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Oct 30, 2021
    Just a reminder to people who think dying from COVID is fine because we all have to die some time, each death is an average of 10 years earlier than it would have been. And of course the deaths are the tip of a huge iceberg of illness and disability.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Jan 10, 2022
    Yesterday I was called by a BBC morning news programme to discuss going on to talk about whether people were ready to accept the 'everything's back to normal' message. I said I would discuss the need to talk about the need to accept a new normal. I was not invited on.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Jul 4, 2021
    It's like having a government that thinks road safety should be completely up to 'individual responsibility': no traffic lights, no highway code, no law about driving on the left, no crash barriers, ... Absolutely bonkers.
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Jul 5, 2024
    So @andrewfeinstein came from nothing in 6 weeks to 19% of the vote in the seat of the future PM with an inexperienced team with no time to prepare, an allowable budget that is a fraction of Keir Starmer's and no mainstream media coverage.
    66K
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Jun 25, 2020
    UK government: 'Let us be absolutely clear. We are still in danger. On the other hand ... the threat level is low and so no need to shield, go and shop, go to the pub and enjoy the sunshine. By the way it's not safe to open schools. Glad to have cleared that up.'
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Jun 22, 2024
    Starmer is losing ground fast in Holborn & St Pancras as people get to know him better, and Andrew is gaining ground very fast as people get to know him better. With a week and a bit to go, voters in this constituency have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make history!
    user avatar
    Andrew Feinstein for Holborn & St Pancras
    @AF4HSP
    Jun 21, 2024
    Gosh. I'm quite flattered that the Labour Party is spending the most amount of all of its ad spend fighting me!
    83K
  • user avatar
    Robert West
    @robertjwest
    Dec 4, 2021
    The ‘mild disease for most people’ slogan is not helpful. A 1% infection-mortality rate for the UK population with 80% infected is >500,000 deaths.