Ex-BBC star Sue Cook, 71, accuses broadcaster of unbalanced Covid coverage and pushing too hard to shut down UK by forever 'wheeling out' 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson over other scientists

Veteran BBC presenter Sue Cook has slammed her former employer for its 'unbalanced' Covid-19 coverage, claiming they constantly 'wheeled out' scientist Neil Ferguson ahead of other experts.

The 71-year-old former Crimewatch host criticised the corporation for its ease at inviting 'Professor Lockdown' on to push for shutting down the UK to combat the pandemic.

Cook also said she had stopped listening to the BBC's Today programme after becoming 'disillusioned'.

It comes after the academic - known as 'Professor Lockdown' after his apocalyptic warning that 500,000 people would die led to the national shutdown - spoke on Today earlier this week to warn that the Government may need to shut pubs in order to keep schools open. 

Veteran BBC presenter Sue Cook has slammed her old employer for their 'unbalanced' Covid-19 coverage, claiming they constantly 'wheel out' scientist Neil Ferguson before other experts

She said: 'One thing that annoys me about the BBC is the people they choose to platform and the people they don't

'I've seen some interesting people like Professor Karol Sikora, Carl Heneghan, Ivor Cummins… but all you see for some inexplicable reason is Neil Ferguson, all the time you see Neil Ferguson being wheeled out. 

'What a discredited… what a load of things he's got wrong in the past. I would like to see some other people, other voices.' 

'All you see for some inexplicable reason is Neil Ferguson, all the time you see Neil Ferguson being wheeled out,' said Cook

Professor Lockdown: The Government adviser who resigned after meeting his married lover

Former government adviser Professor Neil Ferguson earned the title Professor Lockdown after work he produced, alongside colleagues at Imperial College London, predicted more than half a million people could die from Covid-19 without a lockdown.

The report is widely believed to have triggered Boris Johnson into declaring that the nation should 'Stay at Home in March'. 

The 52-year-old resigned from his position on the SAGE committee in May, after it was revealed he had broken lockdown rules to meet with his married lover in London.

He has stood by the Imperial College London report's predictions, telling The Life Scientific: 'If anything, it might have been an underestimate because we didn't take account of the fact of what actually happened to mortality rates if the health system collapsed, the mortality rates could have been even higher.'

Last month on Radio 4 Professor Ferguson was asked about the potential for a 'circuit-breaker,' lockdown.

He told the broadcaster additional measures were needed 'sooner rather than later,' but played down any impact schools reopening may have had on infection rates.

He said it was 'completely unanticipated,' that reopening schools would lead to a surge in testing demand. 

He added: 'We saw a huge surge in testing of children, most of whom, 97% of whom, tested negative. That surge in demand was not anticipated.'

Appearing to point the finger at the Government for the fiasco, he added: 'Sage was never responsible for predicting the demand for testing, what we've been involved in predicting is the likely infection levels in the population. 

'Then the test and trace system has been intended to plan for the demand.'

 

Neil Ferguson was dubbed Professor Lockdown in the spring when the crisis began because he convinced Boris Johnson to order millions to stay at home.

Matt Hancock has admitted that his advice, which included apocalyptic warnings of 500,000 UK deaths, had heavily influenced the Government's policies. 

But he was later publicly shamed after it emerged that he had asked his mistress to travel across London from her £1.9million home at least twice. 

Ms Cook added: 'I don't want to give my opinions on things, that's not a BBC journalist's job at all, the job is to giving everything a fair hearing and let people make their own minds up using the facts.' 

Cook also said she had stopped listening to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme after two decades.

'After 20 years of listening to the Today programme, I had to turn it off a few months ago,' added Cook.

'I don't know what's happened to the BBC. I now listen to Talk Radio because I get my concerns addressed on Talk Radio.

'Everyone from the butcher to someone walking their dog past me in the street all say, 'what is going on with the media?'.

'It was such a privilege to work for the BBC when I first started out in the 1970s.

'I was just knocked out by how wonderful it was working for the BBC. I've been so loyal to them for years and years but the last couple of months has really disillusioned me terribly.' 

Responding to Ms Cook's comments, a BBC spokesperson said: 'The BBC interviews a large number of people, representing a wide range of viewpoints and expertise, including distinguished epidemiologists.'

Earlier this year, Professor Neil Ferguson, a former adviser to the Government before he resigned after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover, stood by his prediction that half a million people could have died without a lockdown.  

Work he produced alongside colleagues at Imperial College London suggested that if no action was taken to slow down coronavirus, at least 510,000 people could have died.

The report is believed to have triggered the Prime Minister into ordering the nation remain at home.

The doomsday report published on March 16 by Imperial's Covid-19 Response Team predicted that death rates would rise if swift action was not taken.

It said: 'In the absence of any control measures or spontaneous changes in individual behaviour, we would expect a peak in mortality (daily deaths) to occur after approximately three months...

'The higher peak in mortality in Great Britain is due to the smaller size of the country and its older population compared with the US.

'In total, in an unmitigated epidemic, we would predict approximately 510,000 deaths in GB and 2.2million in the US, not accounting for the potential negative effects of health systems being overwhelmed on mortality.'

Earlier this week BBC director general Tim Davie said the BBC was changing how it worked with the public, including who it speaks to on its programmes

The report was published just one week before Britain's total lockdown started, and Professor Ferguson's work was credited with pressuring politicians. 

Later defending his team's notorious predictions, Professor Ferguson told The Life Scientific: 'I completely stand by .

Scientists who could also be called to share their expertise on coronavirus 

Professor Karol Sikora- founder and medical director of Rutherford Health

Professor Karol Sikora, who studied medical science and biochemistry at Cambridge University, is the founder and medical director of Rutherford Health.

He went on to become a house physician at The Middlesex Hospital and registrar in oncology at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London.

He worked with Nobel Prize winner Dr Sydney Brenner while he was a research student at the Laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge. 

After obtaining his PHD at Stanford University in California, he returned to direct the Ludwig Institute in Cambridge.    

The professor has been Clinical Director for Cancer Services in Hammersmith for 12 years.

Professor Carl Heneghan- clinical epidemiologist

Carl Heneghan is a clinical epidemiologist who is the director of the NIHR SPCR Evidence Synthesis Working Group- a group of nine primary care departments belonging to the School of Primary Care Research.

The scientist, who is a practising GP, currently chairs WHO guidelines on self-care and cardiovascular disease.  

Mr Heneghan, who has more than 400 peer-reviewed publications, also directs the Oxford COVID Evidence Service.

In addition to investigating drugs and devices, the epidemiologist is also editor in Chief of BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine. 

Scientist Ivor Cummins- Chief Program Officer for Irish Heart Disease Awareness

Ivor Cummins, who completed a Biochemical Engineering degree in 1990, has been researching the causes of chronic diseases since 2012.

The scientist has spent 30 years in corporate technical leadership positions and shares his research at conferences across the world.

He is currently the Chief Program Officer for Irish Heart Disease Awareness. 

In 2018, his book 'Eat Rich, Live Long' detailed how people could take control of their health and prevent disease by losing weight.

'If anything, it might have been an underestimate because we didn't take account of the fact of what actually happened to mortality rates if the health system collapsed, the mortality rates could have been even higher.'

This week Downing Street officials refused to rule out shutting pubs altogether after Professor Ferguson said it might be the only way to keep schools open. 

The scientist said it was not clear that the government could contain the virus while keeping children in secondary schools and suggested that the wider population would have to 'give up more' to maintain the education provision- including shutting bars and restaurants altogether.

Downing Street declined to rule out making the trade-off, saying that all measures were being kept 'under review'. 

Sue Cook's full interview with Anna Brees can be viewed here. 

Back in July it was revealed BBC Radio 4's PM programme editor will move to the Today show from September, replacing editor Sarah Sands.  

Ms Sands announced she was stepping down as editor of Today back in January, in the wake of the BBC's decision to cull 450 jobs in the corporation's news department under plans to complete its £80m savings target by 2022.

During her tenure, Ms Sands has faced criticism over the direction the programme has taken amid falling listener numbers. 

She came under fire for allegedly making the programme 'too soft'. But later hit back and said people had been polarised by Brexit and found it 'intolerable' to hear views they disagreed with.

The appointment came just weeks after it was revealed the BBC had demoted its editor position to a 'toothless' new 'executive' role with less power to set the news agenda. 

It comes amid plans to cut the number of live political interviews on the morning broadcast as part of the corporation's plan to save £80 million. 

Since then Tim Davie has been appointed the new director-general of the corporation.

Speaking at an Ofcom debate on Wednesday, Mr Davie admitted the corporation needed 'modernising' to reflect the whole of Britain and must do more to connect with all viewers.

The new director-general also said the BBC would be 'judged by action now' on diversity and he had asked all of its leaders 'how they can change their part of it'.

But Mr Davie in addition told a virtual Ofcom conference with other broadcasting chiefs that the universal, licence fee model was the best way of funding the BBC.

'That's about out of London, it's about programming choices, who speaks for us, who we put up in the newsroom. All those things need modernising to represent what is a more diverse Britain.'

He said he was 'not just talking about traditional' concepts of diversity. 'I'm talking about how secure you feel in your life, how comfortable you feel in your community, all of that,' he added.

'We need more diverse voices and that is a challenge for every single institution, not just broadcasting...

'l have lit a fire on this. We won't recruit in the same way. And we need to look more broadly across the UK so that everyone says 'the BBC is for me' and 'my views are represented'.'

Mr Davie said: 'Speeches on are great - but we need to be judged by action now. I've asked every leader in the BBC how they can change their part of it... and if you don't have enough diversity in your leadership, people don't believe you.' 

He also told how he believed that the TV licence fee model was the best way of funding the BBC. The current licence fee model is guaranteed until December 31, 2027 - the end of the current charter.

'I haven't seen a model that beats the current one at the moment, a universally funded licence fee,' Mr Davie said.

'The vast majority of households think it offers very good value. That's what the BBC needs to focus on. Under my leadership, we'll focus on that.'

Neil Ferguson's 510k COVID deaths forecast was 12 TIMES too high and panicked No10 into full lockdown 

Downing Street was panicked into a full national lockdown after its scientific advisers Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance were given doomsday mortality projections by Imperial College's Neil Ferguson, a biography of Boris Johnson by investigative author Tom Bower reveals.

Bower tells how a critical meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies on February 25 was presented with the 'reasonable worst-case scenario' from Professor Ferguson under which 80 per cent of Britons would be infected and the death-toll would be 510,000 people.

The author writes: 'This was an improvement on Ferguson's earlier assessment that between 2 per cent and 3 per cent would die – up to 1.5 million deaths. Even with mitigation measures, he said, the death toll could be 250,000 and the existing intensive care units would be overwhelmed eight times over.

'Neither Vallance nor Whitty outrightly challenged Ferguson's model or predictions. 

'By contrast, in a series of messages from Michael Levitt, a Stanford University professor who would correctly predict the pandemic's initial trajectory, Ferguson was warned that he had overestimated the potential death toll by 'ten to 12 times'.'