This takedown of Allison Pearson’s question about Wuhan and Covid-19 was simply magnificent

John Plunkett. Updated January 2nd, 2021

This isn’t the first takedown of Allison Pearson’s pandemic musings we’ve featured on here, but it might be the most spectacular.

The Daily Telegraph columnist saw footage of large crowds celebrating the New Year in Wuhan, China – where the virus is believed to have originated – and had a question.

And it prompted no end of replies with lots of different points of view, as you might imagine.

But no response went anywhere near so viral as this thread by Sam Bowman – @s8mb on Twitter – because, well, have a read for yourself.

Good question @allisonpearson! What did they do in China and Wuhan that has allowed them to get back to normal? pic.twitter.com/oLOtKg1suG

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

Well, they *didn’t* try to infect their teenage children at university, like you said we should. pic.twitter.com/Pvr356JMW6

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

They didn’t treat Covid like a lie, and *didn’t* listen to people like you who said they were “pretending” that it was a lethal pandemic. pic.twitter.com/eOgrU8J4sE

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

They didn’t cancel lockdowns as people like you said *we* should. pic.twitter.com/nEgx3p8s3S

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

They didn’t tell people that you were more likely to kill your granny by not seeing her than by seeing her, like you did. pic.twitter.com/zyxMbyR56t

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

They didn’t worry about people being “demeaned” by wearing a face mask, like you said you would be when you wrote that you were refusing to wear one. pic.twitter.com/1StWdWLzEn

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

They didn’t let people decide to ignore the rules because they didn’t like them, as you did in June when you said quarantines for travellers and distancing in pubs were too much, because “Covid19 now exists almost exclusively in hospitals and care homes”. pic.twitter.com/KFPpfYTrjI

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

They didn’t listen to people who thought unemployment “outweighs any risk posed by the virus”, like you said in April. pic.twitter.com/JkxV7RXbgV

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

So what *did* they do in China, @allisonpearson?

Lockdowns, school closures, travel bans, mass testing, contact tracing, and masks.

The sort of thing you opposed every step of the way this year. Thanks a lot.https://t.co/yO9AslRc1u

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) January 1, 2021

Brilliantly done. And just a few of the things people were saying about it.

https://twitter.com/alexvtunzelmann/status/1344999920613339137?s=20

https://twitter.com/StanCollymore/status/1345148855118082050?s=20

This thread is just devastating. https://t.co/R5p3nz0KPE

— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) January 1, 2021

This is such a deliciously damning thread, not just of Alison Pearson, but of the whole denialist schtick of those in the UK media who are opposed to taking the measures necessary to bring this terrible pandemic under control https://t.co/zQ7eUalE1g

— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) January 1, 2021

With all the receipts https://t.co/nPkVClZ9xE

— Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) January 1, 2021

This thread is one of the most ferocious burns in Twitter history.@allisonpearson, RIP https://t.co/iMBbLVPdfv

— Terry Moran (@TerryMoran) January 1, 2021

Taggart voice: "There's been a murder"
This takedown is just splendid. https://t.co/ckHUXUaIYz

— Barry Glendenning (@bglendenning) January 1, 2021

Not everyone was impressed, but that just made it even better.

https://twitter.com/JuliaHB1/status/1345003020480872448?s=20

Source Twitter @s8mb