Is the Covid19 hype now media driven???

Pasty

Member
Location
Devon
Errr, there is no law saying you can't have shares in businesses?

GSK might not even find a vaccine that works. There are several companies working on it worldwide.
It's a clear conflict of interest. You are an intelligent bloke. You must see that. Frigging hell, I'd get in trouble on the parish council for less.
 
It's a clear conflict of interest. You are an intelligent bloke. You must see that. Frigging hell, I'd get in trouble on the parish council for less.

There is no guarantee GSK will be the company that have a successful vaccine though. A potential conflict of interest yes, I agree with that, I suspect this has already been declared however. It's not unusual for CEOs of big companies to be given shares. You are seeing wood, paper and matches and already concluding there is a fire. From what I have read AstraZeneca are probably the leaders in the UK race.
 

Pasty

Member
Location
Devon
There is no guarantee GSK will be the company that have a successful vaccine though. A potential conflict of interest yes, I agree with that, I suspect this has already been declared however. It's not unusual for CEOs of big companies to be given shares. You are seeing wood, paper and matches and already concluding there is a fire. From what I have read AstraZeneca are probably the leaders in the UK race.
But the allegation is that he did not declare it. At the start of most public office meetings there is a declaration of interests request. That is, if there is anything on the agenda which may conflict, you are required to state it then. If something comes up in the meeting and you realise you have a conflict of interests you should state it immediately and may be asked to not comment until that item is over or indeed leave until you are asked back in. I've seen both. Interests can be personal or prejudicial although there are other terms used for both such as pecuniary and so on.

A man so invested in a pharma company should NOT be advising the government on such things. That is my view.
 

Pasty

Member
Location
Devon
Not always possibly with options. There can be constraints that stops sale being possible for a long time.

And besides, I’d rather not have the taxman need to compensate him to that level.
It's totally possible. I worked in the city (remotely) for years. Options can be sold just like that. Even if it's in the form of a equivalent derivative vehicle. Either way, why is he permitted to do the job?
 
Location
East Mids
Having read up on this, apparently his interests were declared within normal civil service rules but just not every time he came on a tv interview. His shareholdings were reduced following appointment to his current role. The advisory committee he chairs has no influence over vaccine procurement decisions. Here is the information in the public domain, as at March 2020 https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-2/cst-register-of-interests-as-at-march-2020
 

Pasty

Member
Location
Devon
Having read up on this, apparently his interests were declared within normal civil service rules but just not every time he came on a tv interview. His shareholdings were reduced following appointment to his current role. The advisory committee he chairs has no influence over vaccine procurement decisions. Here is the information in the public domain, as at March 2020 https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-2/cst-register-of-interests-as-at-march-2020
Civil bloody servants. There is no way he has no influence. He obviously does. Power and money as usual. Of course, he lives in his own private bubble and doesn't every speak to anyone about anything. He's an influential senior figure with influence and a big holding in a massive pharma company. That is just not right. That's the end of it. Rules or not.
 
Location
East Mids
Civil bloody servants. There is no way he has no influence. He obviously does. Power and money as usual. Of course, he lives in his own private bubble and doesn't every speak to anyone about anything. He's an influential senior figure with influence and a big holding in a massive pharma company. That is just not right. That's the end of it. Rules or not.
When I served on a public sector committee, I also had to declare business interests and shareholdings relevant to the work of the committee, as did everyone else. As it was a dairy farming committee, and all but 2 members were dairy farmers, 1 other involved commercially in the dairy industry, every single member but one had some relevant business interest, including some shares (Eg Genus, Dairy Crest). The committee would not have been able to function if we were not able to discuss / advise on matters relevant to some of those interests! Unless you count the one Independent talking to himself?
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
So £4.4m in cash or equivalent - I don’t see him being the type to mess around with putting an extra 20% on the remaining £600k.
If he had known this was coming do you think he would got rid of the other shares. I doubt it. I bet he's kicking himself. If GSK find the vaccine then I'm sure they''ll increase by more than 20%. You would think because of his experience in the pharmaceutical industry that he would be looking at this from their perspective.
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 50-75%

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  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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