Boris Johnson asked if blowing hairdryer up nose could ‘kill COVID’, Cummings claims
Boris Johnson asked his most senior scientific advisers if blowing a “special hair dryer” up your nose could kill COVID, according to Dominic Cummings.
Mr Cummings’s full evidence statement to the COVID inquiry has been revealed, following his blockbuster in-person grilling on Tuesday.
In the document, which runs for more than 100 pages, Mr Johnson‘s former chief of staff – who has since become a vocal critic of the former prime minister – outlines a number of uncomplimentary scenarios which he says occurred at the top of government.
Politics latest: Former top civil servant recounts ‘jarring’ Hancock incident
The then Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a barber shop in April 2021
Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge
Sky News Monday to Thursday at 7pm.
Watch live on Sky channel 501, Freeview 233, Virgin 602, the Sky News website and app or YouTube.
Mr Cummings wrote: “A low point was when he circulated a video of a guy blowing a special hair dryer up his nose ‘to kill COVID’ and asked [Sir Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance] what they thought.”
The video has since been removed from YouTube, according to Mr Cummings.
Mr Cummings also claims that, within Downing Street, there was uncertainty about whether the prime minister himself was “the source of false stories”.
The former adviser raises a story that claimed the government “had brought in masks because of focus groups even though we knew they didn’t work.”
This was “the opposite of the truth”, according to Mr Cummings.
Read more:
Key WhatsApp messages from the COVID inquiry
Johnson: COVID was ‘nature’s way of dealing with old people’
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Cummings says PM was known as a ‘trolley’
Mr Cummings recounts how, in autumn 2020, Mr Johnson was “sick of COVID” and wanted it “off the front pages”.
He also claimed Mr Johnson asked him to come up with a “dead cat” strategy – in which a distracting story is used in an attempt to switch the focus of journalists.
The adviser, who worked with Mr Johnson on the Brexit campaign, says he told the prime minister “no campaign could ‘dead-cat COVID”.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Mr Cummings also suggested that Mr Johnson was distracted during the early phase of the pandemic.
His statement said: “He had a divorce to finalise and was grappling with financial problems from that plus his girlfriend’s spending plans for the No 10 flat (which he raised repeatedly from early January).
“An ex-girlfriend was making accusations about him in the media.
“His current girlfriend wanted to finalise the announcement of their engagement.
“He said he wanted to work on his Shakespeare book.”
The inquiry also heard today how Number 10 was “unbelievably bullish” in 2020 before the full effects of the pandemic were felt in Britain – with some senior figures allegedly “laughing” at the severity of the situation in Italy.
Italy was among the European countries first hit by the virus – leading to shocking scenes in the north of the country, as Sky News reported at the time.
Voting is under way in local elections across England, as well as in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election.
Due to Ofcom rules, Sky News is limited on what it can report until polls close at 10pm.
The votes mark the first electoral test for the party leaders since last year’s general election.
In total, 23 of England’s 317 local authorities are holding elections, alongside the Isles of Scilly.
The make up of around 1,270 parish councils are also due to be decided.
Read more:
Follow local elections results here
Where are they and how do I vote?
And six metro mayors are up for election.
The West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Doncaster, and North Tyneside mayoralties already have a mayor in place – while Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire are choosing a mayor for the first time.
Meanwhile, a by-election is being held in Runcorn and Helsby after previous Labour MP Mike Amesbury agreed to stand down following his conviction for punching a man in the street.
While this result is likely to come in overnight, most local election results won’t be known until Friday.
All voters in these elections must be over 18, and be registered.
Join Sky News presenter Jonathan Samuels and deputy political editor Sam Coates from midnight as the results start coming in. Lead politics presenter Sophy Ridge, political editor Beth Rigby, and data and economics editor Ed Conway will be taking over on Friday to report and explain what has happened.
North Carolina’s House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the state’s treasurer to invest public funds in approved cryptocurrencies, which will now head to the Senate.
The House passed the Digital Assets Investment Act, or House Bill 92, on its third reading on April 30 by a vote of 71 to 44.
Republican House Speaker Destin Hall introduced the bill in February, which would allow the treasurer to allocate 5% of the state’s investments into designated digital assets.
The investments can only be made after obtaining an independent third-party assessment confirming that the crypto holdings are maintained with a secure custody solution and risk oversight and regulatory compliance standards are met.
New amendments allow the treasurer to examine the feasibility of allowing members of retirement and deferred compensation plans to elect to invest in digital assets held as exchange-traded products (ETPs).
The House also passed a related bill, the State Investment Modernization Act, or HB 506, with little discussion on April 30, in a 110 to 3 vote.
The bill aims to create the North Carolina Investment Authority (NCIA) to take over investment management from the treasurer.
If passed into law, authority to invest in digital assets would transfer from the treasurer to NICA, and it would require approval from its board of directors based on third-party assessments to make crypto investments.
Local news outlet NC Newsline reported that Treasurer Brad Briner supports both bills.
Arizona leads the crypto bill race
North Carolina is second to Arizona in the state-level race to approve legislation allowing local governments to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Related: New Hampshire Bitcoin reserve bill heads to full Senate vote
On April 28, Arizona’s House approved two bills, SB 1025 and SB 1373, proposing different methods for the state to establish a crypto reserve.
Arizona is the only state whose House and Senate have passed crypto-related bills, which are both awaiting Governor Katie Hobbs’ decision.
Magazine: ZK-proofs unlock trillions in Bitcoin for DeFi — BitcoinOS and Starknet
Nearly 30 crypto advocate groups led by the lobby group the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for clear regulatory guidance on crypto staking and staking services.
The CCI’s Proof of Stake Alliance (POSA) group argued in an April 30 letter to the agency’s Crypto Task Force lead, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, that staking is fundamentally a technical process, not an investment activity.
“Staking isn’t niche — it’s the backbone of the decentralized internet,” the letter said.
The letter responded to the SEC’s call for public input on whether staking and liquid staking, where crypto users lock up their tokens to earn more, should be regulated under federal securities laws.
The coalition called for the SEC to support responsible inclusion of staking features in exchange-traded products (ETPs), and “avoid overly prescriptive rules that could freeze market structures and stifle innovation in the staking space.”
The group argued that staking fails to meet the securities-defining Howey test definition of an “investment contract” as stakers retain ownership of their assets.
They added that blockchain protocols, not a staking provider’s efforts, determine rewards, and providers don’t deliver profits through managerial decisions like a company does.
The letter requested that the SEC Issue principles-based guidance similar to recent SEC staff statements on proof-of-work mining.
“In the past 4 months, we’ve seen more movement and constructive dialogue with the SEC than in the past 4 years,” the group said. “Now, the industry is stepping up with concrete principles to include in guidance — a reflection of this new collaborative approach.”
Related: Ethereum ETF staking will have little impact without multimonth rally: Analyst
The group argued that the existing securities disclosure regime is ill-suited for staking services, which are fundamentally technical rather than financial in nature.
Big names in support of staking clarity
The Proof of Stake Alliance includes several high-profile crypto organizations and companies, including the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), blockchain software firm Consensys, and the crypto exchange Kraken, which restored staking services in the US earlier this year.
The SEC has yet to approve a crypto staking exchange-traded fund (ETF) and delayed the decision on allowing staking for Grayscale’s spot Ether ETF on April 14.
In April, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart predicted that an Ether ETF that includes staking could come as soon as May.
Magazine: ZK-proofs unlock trillions in Bitcoin for DeFi — BitcoinOS and Starknet
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway