Who is Rishi Sunak?
Leslie Jordan, Nova Scotia protest ban, Globalism, Rishi Sunak, Elon Musk and Twitter
Greetings everyone, and welcome back to Rounding the News! This is your weekly news roundup presented by Rounding the Earth, a popular Substack series turned burgeoning research community, working hard every day to “un-flatten” the Earth.
I’m your host, Liam Sturgess, coming at you live from Vancouver, Canada. I am very excited to take you down a rabbit hole today that will bring some unexpected surprises, and help contextualize some of the ongoing questions of who exactly is running things, these days?
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Let’s jump right in!
Health
Actor Leslie Jordan dies, crashes his car
On Monday this week, actor Leslie Jordan suffered a medical emergency while driving and crashed his car into the side of a building in Los Angeles, California.1
For several weeks in leading up to the incident, Jordan had reported experiencing shortness of breath, and had made an appointment with a cardiologist. At this time, it would appear Jordan experienced a fatal cardiovascular event leading to the crashing of his car.2
It does not appear as though he died of injuries sustained during the accident, as he was declared dead on the scene. Furthermore, the recording of the official cause of death was “deferred”, suggesting further investigation was required before a conclusive cause could be reached.3
Sadly, this is yet another in a seemingly endless line of “sudden deaths” across the world, which is now capturing more and more people who are very visible in the public eye.
As of 1:00PM Eastern time today (October 28, 2022), DIED SUDDENLY was trending on Twitter in Canada with some 30,100 Tweets.
Law
Nova Scotia judge rules COVID protesters shouldn’t have been penalized
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeals has ruled that an injunction prohibiting COVID-19 protests should not have been granted in the Canadian province last year. From CTV News:4
The original, sweeping court order was granted by provincial Supreme Court Justice Scott Norton on May 14, 2021, the day before three outdoor gatherings were planned to protest public health restrictions brought on by the pandemic.
The judge effectively banned public gatherings planned for the next day, basing the decision on evidence from the province's chief medical officer of health that the outdoor gatherings would spread COVID-19.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, represented by lawyer Nasha Nijhawan, later appealed the order, arguing it was too broad and allowing it to stand would be a violation of Charter rights.
A panel of three Appeal Court judges unanimously sided with the civil liberties group, ruling Wednesday that Norton was wrong to grant the ban without opponents being able to attend the hearing. …
Cara Zwibel, a spokesperson for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said in an email that the decision is a "a strong signal to governments and courts across Canada that the Charter cannot be ignored when responding to urgent public policy issues."
Premier Tim Houston said Wednesday that it's too early to say whether the government will appeal the court's ruling. However, Houston wasn't critical of the actions of the former Liberal government, which sought the injunction.
"At that point in time, governments had a collective responsibility to keep people safe, and I know that's what the intention of the government was," Houston said at the legislature.
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Geopolitics
The UK has its new Prime Minister (again)
There is a sense of whiplash in the United Kingdom at the moment, with the power of both the government and monarchy rapidly changing hands multiple times in a very short period.
After the resignation of Boris Johnson - and the comically short tenure of his appointed replacement, Liz Truss5 - the United Kingdom is now welcoming the third Prime Minister to occupy the post in the year 2022. This is, of course, amplified by the unfortunate passing of Queen Elizabeth just under two months ago,6 and the swift transfer of the monarchy to the former Prince - now King - Charles.7
As an outsider looking in, I have little context or lived experience that would allow me an instinctual understanding of the cultural and psychological impact of this whirlwind. I imagine I’m not alone in wondering: who exactly is this new Prime Minister? Is this just another in a line of politicians bought and paid for by the establishment, or is he a buck to the system?
Let’s see what we can find out.
Who is Rishi Sunak?
Rishi Sunak is a 42-year-old politician born in Southampton, England in 1980.
Family
His parents were born in the African countries of Tanzania and Kenya, their own parents having previously emigrated from India. The pair separately emigrated to England, where they met and married.8 His father worked for the National Health Service, while his mother operated a pharmacy that later employed Sunak as a bookkeeper.
In short, Sunak’s family history a classic story of a multigenerational immigrant family whose son achieved great things as a first generation Briton - not the least of which is becoming the first non-white Prime Minister in the country’s history.
Education and Goldman Sachs
Sunak attended Winchester College, an elite private school that has produced a number of very powerful people over the years. He even served as “head boy” while attending.9 Some examples fellow alumni are:10
David Clementi, former Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of the BBC;
David Hannay, attendee of at least two meetings of the secretive Bilderberg Group; and
Roundell Palmer, Minister of Economic Warfare under Winston Churchill during World War II.
He then went to Oxford University’s Lincoln College, where he reportedly did very well. After graduating in 2001, he was hired as an analyst by uber-bank Goldman Sachs. He worked there until 2004, at which point he jumped ship to earn his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2006 as a Fulbright Scholar. Interestingly, it would seem at least some of his professors at Stanford don’t have any memory of him attending. From the Daily Mail:11
Yet when approached by DailyMail.com on Monday, Sunak appeared to have had little effect on the 137-year-old school, with his former professors admitting they had no words he could say about his student.
Irving Grousebeck said that he had ‘no recollection of him to share’, while Andy Rachleff added that he ‘does not’ remember the soon-to-be Prime Minister – who was one of 400 in his graduating class.
Several others also confirmed that they did not remember the new PM, with many saying they didn’t have any recollections other than a vague one of a ‘very bright’ student.
Very interesting. Let’s put a pin in that for now.
The Children’s Investment Fund Management
Completing his MBA at Stanford, Sunak returned to the United Kingdom to join The Children’s Investment (TCI) Fund Management as a partner.12
TCI Fund Management was founded by a Brit named Sir Chris Hohn (assisted by a gentleman named Patrick Degorce), as was its sister organization, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF).
While I hadn’t previously heard of TCI Fund Management, I am familiar with CIFF. I first learned of it during a July 2022 presentation at the World Council for Health General Assembly by Fahrie Hassan, who laid out the conflicts of interest underlying the infamous COVID-19 Together Trial.13 I highly suggest watching his whole video presentation.
For those who aren’t familiar, the Together Trial was a huge, multinational research initiative that managed to torpedo ivermectin as an institutionally-supported therapeutic for COVID-19.14
Here’s a screenshot from Hassan’s slide that I remembered seeing:
As you can see, CIFF is included in a cluster of organizations providing research funding to Dr. Francois Venter, a Principal Investigator in the Together Trial. I independently verified that this is true, as you can see from his COI disclosure on this even more recent paper from December 2021.15
How many other problematic funders can you spot in this paragraph? Within the context of the Together Trial and this above publication alone, CIFF is rubbing elbows with the likes of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Unitaid, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, USAID, Merck, Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson and a few lesser-known (but still relevant) entities controlling the global COVID-19 situation.
A quick search of the handy-dandy Campfire Wiki reveals a few more connections:
Wow! This organization is busy, working in various forms with very influential organizations worldwide.
Camber Collective is a consulting firm that works with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization; Crown Agents is a coalition of powerful banking interests and supranational organizations; Options Consultancy Services is another WHO consultant that also works with the governments of the United States and United Kingdom, as well as United Nations agencies.
That’s just a sampling of who CIFF is associated with. Use the Campfire Wiki to your advantage, and go down the rabbit hole that I and Operation Uplift have helped open up for you.
You know you're curious.
Okay, so that’s all very interesting. Sunak worked for this organization between September 2006 and November 2009.16 It's the next part of his career that really gets... interesting!
Theleme Partners
Leaving TCI Fund Management in 2009, Sunak joined a new firm called Theleme Partners as a founding partner, which launched in October 2010. The move wasn’t without a bit of drama, though, as Patrick Degorce (who helped found CIFF) was also the founder of this new venture.17
From The Guardian:18
…around the time of the [2008] financial crisis, TCI split. Patrick Degorce, a co-founder with Hohn, left to start his own fund called Thélème Partners, taking Sunak with him to work in America, where he invested in companies including News Corp and the US hospital group Community Health Systems.
Guess what else Sunak and Degorce’s new firm invested in?
WOAH.
As it turns out, Theleme Partners bought in to Moderna long before most people in the general public knew what mRNA was. From the Wall Street Journal:19
The first time hedge-fund manager Patrick Degorce met with biotech company Moderna Inc., it was a hail-Mary effort to find a cure for his wife.
It was 2011 and the woman who was his high-school sweetheart before marrying him had recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Mr. Degorce enlisted several friends in his search for treatments, including experts in cancer and thoracic surgery. One had told him he should meet with Moderna, then a startup near Boston that had about 10 employees.
He was so intrigued by what he heard that he began personally investing in the company starting in 2012. He also gave a $500,000 grant to fund Moderna’s initial expansion into cancer research, including the hiring of its first two oncology scientists. …
Few investors are better positioned to benefit from Moderna’s rise than the 51-year-old Mr. Degorce and his $2.5 billion London hedge fund Theleme Partners LLP, which had a quarter of its fund in Moderna earlier this year and is one of the company’s 10 largest shareholders. It now has a roughly 20% position.
Wow.
So, the hedge fund that Sunak joined in 2009 and launched in 2010 made first contact with Moderna in 2011 - the same year Stéphane Bancel became CEO.20 In 2012, Sunak's boss Patrick Degorce invested “personally” in Moderna and paid for its expansion. Sunak was "one of the executives managing [Theleme Partners'] US office", meaning he would have had direct oversight of the firm's interest in Moderna.21 By early 2020, Theleme Partners had “a quarter of its fund in Moderna,” making it “one of the company’s 10 largest shareholders” with “a roughly 20% position” as of October 2020.
Catamaran Ventures
Sunak stayed with Theleme Partners until 2013. He then returned to the United Kingdom and began as director of Catamaran Ventures UK, an investment firm he incorporated with his wife in June 2013 in partnership with his father-in-law's Indian company of the same name.2223 Catamaran holds positions in Elon Musk's SpaceX and Reddit.24
Entry into politics
According to his profile on Encyclopedia Britannica, Sunak dipped his toes in with the Conservative Party in 2010 and joined a think tank called Policy Exchange soon after. Policy Exchange recently hosted an interview with Bill Gates.
He was chosen to run for federal office on behalf of the Conservative Party in October 2014, winning in 2015.25 He resigned his position as director of Catamaran Ventures UK in April 2015, and was re-elected in 2017 and 2019. He was pro-Brexit, and supported Boris Johnson's appointment as party head. This apparently paid off, as Sunak was then appointed to the elite Privy Council and chief secretary to the Treasury.
Enter COVID-19
Apparently, it’s not just us foreigners who had no clue this guy existed until this week. As written in The Conversation:26
He was largely unknown outside the party until 2020 – a new MP making his way in parliament, impressing people but not holding high office.
However, things change quickly in politics, and the resignation of Sajid Javid in February 2020 left an opening in government. Johnson handed Sunak the job of chancellor – one of the greatest state roles in the UK. His honeymoon in the role was cut short by the arrival of COVID. Sunak found himself not only having to deal with the financial impact of a pandemic but was also tasked with appearing on television on a practically daily basis to update the country on his decisions.
At this point, it’s fair to say Sunak has wound up in a bit of a conflict of interest. As described in the Guardian in November 2020:
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has refused to disclose whether he will profit from a surge in the share price of the Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna, one of the biggest investments held by the hedge fund he co-founded before entering parliament. …
It is not known whether the chancellor retained any investment in the Theleme fund after leaving. Theleme is registered in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven which does not make company records public. Ordinarily, a partner in a hedge fund would own a stake in the management company and have money invested in its fund.
A year ago, Sunak declared in the list of ministers’ interests that he was the beneficiary of a blind trust. The contents of the trust have not been disclosed to the public.
Stock market filings show that Theleme has a $500m (£377m) investment in the US-based Moderna, which accounts for around 20% of all the money it manages, about $2.5bn.
Shortly after the news of Moderna’s successful trial broke, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, revealed that the government had secured an advance order for 5m doses of the vaccine. …
The chancellor appears to have retained contacts with his former firm. John Sheridan, a partner at Theleme, was reportedly asked by Sunak to build a financial model for the government’s business loans programme.
Sunak was in a very powerful position during the government’s deliberations on COVID-19 policies. He was part of the “quad committee” set up by Boris Johnson to make decisions “with secrecy in mind,” comprised of Johnson, Matt Hancock, Michael Gove, and Sunak.27
To this day, Theleme Partners has disclosed owning 6,354,406 shares of Moderna.28 That’s a value of $907,727,000.
I rest my case.
Note: I didn’t even have time to get into InfoSys, or Sunak’s relationship with the World Economic Forum. There is so much about this guy that needs more exploring. Stay tuned.
Culture
Elon Musk really did buy Twitter - and people have requests
After months of “will he, won’t he” drama, Elon Musk has officially bought Twitter - and according to Salon, has declared himself “King Twit.”29
As I was finishing up writing today’s show, I saw that the Twitterverse was publicly calling for Musk to reinstate the large number of people who have been permanently banned from the platform for such charges as “medical misinformation” - despite being top professionals in their respective fields.
Dr. Peter McCullough was trending, with 6,506 messages mentioning him specifically. If I understand correctly, McCullough is the most cited cardiologist in the United States as relates to COVID-19, meaning his peer-reviewed, published research is not something that can be waved away so recklessly.
Others, meanwhile, are naming Drs. Robert Malone, Pierre Kory and Kat Lindley as additional examples of leading physicians and researchers that fell victim to a censorship campaign mounted by the White House itself.30
Allow me to join in the chorus: reinstate these brave, hard-working professionals who stood up under hellfire to protect their patients and ensure the well-being of as many people as possible in the United States, and indeed, worldwide!
Thank you all for tuning in to this week’s Rounding the News! I have been Liam Sturgess, and you can find me at www.LiamSturgess.com or @TheLiamSturgess on Twitter.
Don’t forget to subscribe to us here on YouTube, Rumble or Rokfin, or on Odysee, Bitchute or Brighteon where we also publish our videos. Finally, become a subscriber of the Rounding the Earth Substack, and support our shows by sending us a Superchat, Rumble Rant or tip on Rokfin.
Coming this Tuesday:
France, L. R., & Melas, C. (2022, October 24). Leslie Jordan, beloved actor and social media star, dead at 67. CNN. https://web.archive.org/web/20221026052641/https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/entertainment/leslie-jordan-dead/index.html
Leslie Jordan Dead at 67. (2022, October 24). TMZ. https://archive.ph/DNXCc
Leslie Jordan’s Official Cause Of Death “Deferred”; Further Investigation Needed. (2022, October 25). Yahoo. https://archive.ph/9CWam
Tutton, M. (2022, October 26). N.S. Court of Appeal rules injunction on COVID protest shouldn’t have been granted. CTV News Atlantic. https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/n-s-court-of-appeal-rules-injunction-on-covid-protest-shouldn-t-have-been-granted-1.6126408
Lawless, J. (2022, October 20). Truss quits, but U.K.'s political and economic turmoil persist. CTV News. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/truss-quits-but-u-k-s-political-and-economic-turmoil-persist-1.6117133
Bowden, G., Jackson, M., & Coughlan, S. (2022, September 8). Queen Elizabeth II has died, Buckingham Palace announces. BBC News. https://web.archive.org/web/20220908203502/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886
Dugan, E., & Davies, C. (2022, September 9). King Charles to address nation as period of mourning for Queen begins. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/09/king-charles-to-address-nation-as-period-of-mourning-for-queen-begins
Wallenfeldt, J. (2022, October 25). Rishi Sunak | Biography, Wife, & Net Worth. Britannica. https://web.archive.org/web/20221027205759/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rishi-Sunak
Butcher, S. (2020, February 14). Precocious 39 year-old ex-Goldman Sachs analyst gets lucky. eFinancialCareers. https://www.efinancialcareers.co.uk/news/2020/02/rishi-sunak-banker
Winchester College. (2018, February 24). Wikispooks. https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Winchester_College
James, E. (2022, October 24). Rishi Sunak studied at Stanford but NONE of his professors recall him. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11349439/Rishi-Sunak-studied-Stanford-NONE-professors-remember-him.html
Hutchings, W. (2007, January 24). TCI adds four partners. FNL London. https://archive.ph/7WNsI
Follow the Money: Conflicts of Interest with Fahrie Hassan. World Council for Health. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221027221206/https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/multimedia/conflicts-of-interest-fahrie-hassan/
Together Trial Ivermectin: impossible data, critical issues, randomization/blinding failure, data pledge violation, protocol violations. Reis: Effect of Early Treatment with Ivermectin among Patients with Covid-19. (2022, October 22). C19 Ivermectin. https://c19ivermectin.com/togetherivm.html
Venter, W. D. F., Sokhela, S., Calmy, A., Mkhondwane, L., Bosch, B., Chandiwana, N., Hill, A., Sekwese, K., Mashabane, N., Pozniak, A., Khoo, S., Ali, M., Delaporte, E., Lalla-Edwards, S., Clayden, P., Marconi, V. C., Siedner, M. J., Boffito, M., Serenata, C., & Carman, M. (2021). Weight gain stopping/switch rules for antiretroviral clinical trials. AIDS, 35(Supplement 2), S183–S188. https://doi.org/10.1097/qad.0000000000003092
MrRishi Sunak. Financial Services Register. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://register.fca.org.uk/s/individual?id=003b000000LVKnuAAH
Journal, D. (2009, January 9). TCI Co-Founder Patrick Degorce Has Left Hedge Fund. Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DLB-4126
Goodley, S. (2020, March 8). Rishi Sunak: the bit-part hedge fund partner now managing the economy. The Guardian. https://archive.ph/S84SD
Chung, J. (2020, October 2). The Millionaire Who Gave Moderna a Shot. Wall Street Journal. https://archive.ph/f7OHe
Huang, G. T. (2012, December 6). Xconomy: Moderna, $40M in Tow, Hopes to Reinvent Biotech with “Make Your Own Drug” - Page 2 of 3. Xconomy. https://archive.ph/E1RCN
Garside, J. (2020, November 17). Rishi Sunak refuses to say if he will profit from Moderna Covid vaccine. The Guardian. https://archive.ph/nyJNO
Quite positive that Rishi will do well as a MP, says Murthy. (2015, May 8). Business Standard. https://archive.ph/ld4uw
CATAMARAN VENTURES UK LTD people - Find and update company information. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08561424/officers
Where We Invest. Catamaran. Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20220710004838/https://catamaran.in/portfolio/
Richmond (Yorks). UK Parliament. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://electionresults.parliament.uk/election/2015-05-07/results/Location/Constituency/Richmond%20(Yorks)
Honeyman, V. (2022, October 24). Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: who is he and how did he end up with the top job in British politics? The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/prime-minister-rishi-sunak-who-is-he-and-how-did-he-end-up-with-the-top-job-in-british-politics-193151
Tominey, C. (2020, November 2). After the lockdown leak, what does the future hold for Boris Johnson’s “quad” committee? The Telegraph. https://archive.ph/8myql
Theleme Partners LLP reports 0.28% increase in ownership of MRNA / Moderna Inc - 13F, 13D, 13G Filings. Fintel. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://archive.ph/7kVnh
McClure, K. (2022, October 27). Elon Musk has officially dubbed himself “Chief Twit.” Salon. https://web.archive.org/web/20221028170214/https://www.salon.com/2022/10/27/elon-musk-has-officially-dubbed-himself-chief-twit/
Lungariello, M., & Chamberlain, S. (2022, September 2). White House, Big Tech colluded to censor “misinformation”: lawsuit. New York Post. https://archive.ph/sEUPg
Good post. Lots going on as per usual these days. It seems Liz Truss wasn't World Economic Forum -Bilderberg-Globalist enough for the kleptocrats. Rishi Sunak however fits their goals nicely.