Presentation on corporate failings of British government in managing the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, March-September 2020. 200910 middletonj vr3 corporate manslaughter

1. 👨⚖ Equity, Politics and Hypocrisy. Lessons
from other countries and the case for
corporate manslaughter
John Middleton

7. The danse macabre
We are not in a war, we are in a civil
disaster, the biggest act of governmental
failure ever in the UK. We are victims of
serial acts of negligence and wilful
mismanagement. It is the biggest single
act of corporate manslaughter our
country has known. People have said it
before about war propaganda; in the era
of coronavirus, blind acceptance of our
rulers’ orders will get you killed.
Middleton J. Personal blog. The danse-macabre
moves offline, out of sight, out of mind. June 27th
2020. Https://www.aspher.org/articles,4,80.html

8. • Recorded deaths down to 36? – the same number as in Venezuela, or Lebanon, or Kosovo
– in their entire outbreaks.
• On June 22nd, it was down to 15 around the same as Cyprus, Georgia and Madagascar.
And two more than the Diamond Princess cruise ship which held the world spell bound
for days as its disaster unfolded.
• Our rolling average at 19th June was 130 – similar to Kazakhstan, Oman and Kenya’s entire
epidemics.
• Our death toll for the 15-22nd June was 949 – the same level as Japan has had in its entire
outbreak.
• We are the COVID-19 deaths capital of Europe, with over 43000 deaths recorded, and
more than 63000 excess deaths.
• Any one of these numbers in a single news story would be a major disaster capturing
public attention for days or weeks. Too big for a car crash. The UK death toll is still around
a Boeing 737 crash everyday. Or a Eurostar every five days, from our train-wreck
government.
• Middleton J. Personal blog. The danse-macabre moves offline, out of sight, out of mind. June 27th 2020.
Https://www.aspher.org/articles,4,80.html

10. Corporate manslaughter
the prosecution must be brought against an ‘organisation’ which falls within the
definition in the Act with the consent of the DPP;
the organisation must have owed a duty of care to the deceased (this is a question
of law for the judge);
there must have been a gross breach of the duty of care as a result of the way the
organisation’s activities were managed or organised (this is a question of fact for
the jury);
the way in which the organisation’s activities were managed or organised by its
senior management must have been a substantial element in the breach (also a
question of fact for the jury);
this caused the deceased to die (the usual principles of causation in criminal law
apply); and
the harm causing the death was sustained in the UK or some other place subject to
the UK’s jurisdiction.

11. Corporate manslaughter
An organisation to which this section applies is guilty of an offence if
the way in which its activities are managed or organised (a) causes a
person’s death, and (b) amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of
care owed by the organisation to the deceased.

12. Corporate manslaughter
• Section 1(3) caveats this by going on to state that an organisation is
only guilty of an offence ‘if the way in which its activities are managed
or organised by its senior management is a substantial element in the
breach…’. The Act defines senior management as persons who play
significant roles in the making of decisions about how the whole or a
substantial part of its activities are to be managed or organised, or
the actual managing or organising of the whole or a substantial part
of those activities.

13. Corporate manslaughter
• An ‘organisation’ is defined in the Act as a corporation (e.g. a
company),
• a police force, certain government departments and Crown bodies
listed in a schedule and some
• unincorporated bodies (such as partnerships) where they are an
employer.

14. Criminal negligence ? Corporate manslaughter ?
PPE - although the legal experts are seeking to defend local service
managers from the threat
Failure early on on ventilator procurement - not just ducking out of the
EU deal - fortunately for government the professionals
decided ventilators weren’t so essential
Systematically ‘protecting the NHS ‘ by exporting patients to nursing
homes, after LGA had warned DHSC time and again about this-
probably the most negligent and fatal
Telling the press good news when there wasn’t any at VE day, ‘Magic
Monday ‘was reckless but been repeated many times over since May
10th
Deloitte contract exclusion of data sharing and continuing failure of
NHS track and trace
•

23. Race and ethnicity risks Black men 4X
as likely to die from COVID_19
Risks-
• Pre-existing Health risks- long term
conditions, diabetes, obesity
• More likely to be in high risk
occupations-health, food
processing, transport, security,
front-line health and social care
• Institutional racism- not being
listened to when concerned on
risks (Kevin Fenton PHE report,
West Midlands Labour Party
report)
▲Journal
American Medical
Association, May
2020
◀︎ UK
Office of
National
Statistics,
April 2020

27. Institute of Health
Metrics and Evaluation
Washington (Gates
foundation funded)

28. Public mask wearing
mandated early on-
Czechia, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Poland

34. Postscript
Don’t say you’ve cracked it ….
Trump-’no American deaths’
Ardern, New Zealand 100 days COVID free
Czechia Charles Bridge, Prague street party
Johnson ‘Beer, cricket on the green and haircut….’
Israel, Iran, Hungary,

35. Thank you
johnmiddleton@phonecoop.coop