If it is, it’s exactly the kick up the backside that the people of the UK need.
Admittedly, it uses an expletive for which I would prefer to see a less offensive word substituted; many people are put off by such language.
But it does confront us with the big failure of Boris Johnson’s tenure at 10 Downing Street: his decision to make it easy for people in the UK to catch Covid-19 (and it was a conscious decision, let’s not forget) has cost at least 120,000 lives.
I don’t know the prognosis for Lorna – the woman in the image – but the mere fact that Covid-19 has been allowed to infect her has clearly caused her huge discomfort (as it does to anybody who has it).
And the long-term effects – known as “long Covid” can be life-altering.
Millions of people are likely to be affected by the disease in the long term, and the blame for this can be attributed entirely to Johnson and his government of imbeciles.
And they would not have been allowed to inflict it on us if they had not been voted back in as the government in December 2019.
So this poster makes a good point, wouldn’t you agree?
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This is great news at a time when companies seem keen to ramp up the stress on employees who already have enough worry with Covid-19.
British Airways has agreed to end so-called “fire and rehire” employment practices.
The company came to the deal after nine days of strike action over the Christmas/New Year period which the union United said caused “overwhelming disruption to the company’s cargo services”.
Unite had proposed a urther nine days of strike action to start on January 22 but the first three days were called off at the last minute, after progress was made at the negotiations.
Another round of strikes due to begin this weekend has also been called off.
The deal is as follows:
End of “fire and rehire” (the last area of BA where this was a threat)
Workers will revert to previous contractual provisions subject to agreed changes
No compulsory redundancies
Improved pay protection for staff whose pay sits above the new agreed rates
An increase in pay for a significant proportion of staff
Members who did not sign the new contract and were dismissed will be offered their jobs back on the agreed terms.
Unite’s members will have to be balloted on the deal, and it is understood that they are likely to accept it.
It’s a great victory for Unite, but let’s not minimise the step that BA has taken at a time when other firms are opportunistically forcing employees to re-apply to do the same job they’re already doing, but for less money and with fewer work-related protections.
BA is setting an example, and even if nobody else follows it, let’s applaud that choice.
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I guess everybody who was clamouring for the identity of the Tory MP who was accused of rape earlier this year is happy that they didn’t get what they wanted.
But here’s a thing:
Police say the allegations against a former minister did not meet the “evidential test”.
Haven’t we heard that line too many times, in connection with rape investigations that should have been taken all the way?
And also, considering the time of year, is it possible that this has been cleared off the decks because nobody in authority wants it dragging on into a new year?
I know.
There’s no evidence to support those suggestions here.
I simply have a doubt about whether there’s a reason for that.
Betrayer: it seems an online campaign against left-wing news sites was launched by people close to current Labour leader Keir Starmer. Is he trying to be more Tory even than the Tories?
An organisation claiming to campaign against fake news – but actually targeting left-wing political websites – was set up by Labour Party employees, research has revealed.
It seems the ownership of the Campaign for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and Stop Funding Fake News (SFFN) were well-hidden but detective work by John McEvoy at The Canary (one of the organisation’s victims) has teased out the facts.
This is a clear attack on the freedom of press: The neoliberal right-wing of the Labour Party created a bogus campaign called "Stop Funding Fake News" to try to censor and shut down independent left-wing media outlets like @TheCanaryUK
And it seems the facts show that the CCDH was launched by none other than Labour leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, one Morgan McSweeney.
CCDH is a not-for-profit NGO which was initially registered on Companies House as Brixton Endeavours Limited. At the time of incorporation, 19 October 2018, the organisation’s only director was Morgan McSweeney – Labour leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. McSweeney was also the campaign manager for Liz Kendall’s leadership bid.
Brixton Endeavours Limited was officially renamed the Center for Countering Digital Hate on 30 August 2019, and McSweeney did not resign his directorship until 6 April 2020. The resignation was listed on Companies House on 4 May 2020, the day CCDH and SFFN’s relationship was formally acknowledged.
Although CCDH was first named on Companies House in August 2019, it has been in unofficial operation since December 2017.
SFFN was originally set up separately from CCDH, but it seems the founding chief executive of both was the same man – Imran Ahmed, who has also worked closely with Labour figures previously involved in the campaign to remove Jeremy Corbyn as party leader.
According to his Twitter profile, Ahmed is the “founding CEO of CCDH & SFFN” – suggesting he has been involved in SFFN since it was first launched in early 2019.
Ahmed has worked as special advisor to Hilary Benn, reported to have encouraged a vote of “no confidence” against Corbyn in 2016, and as head of communications for Angela Eagle, who launched a leadership challenge the same year. Both Benn and Eagle “consistentlyvoted” for the Iraq War.
He now also sits on the steering committee of the UK government’s Commission for Countering Extremism, where he advises on “conspiracist “news” sites”.
SFFN and CCDH’s websites were also registered on the same server, on 28 January 2019 and 24 April 2019, respectively.
CCDH also shares its address with “Blue Labour” campaign group Labour Together, formerly directed by McSweeney, and now co-directed by Labour shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy.
So we see that CCDH and SFFN are closely connected to Labour Together, to right-wing MPs Hilary Benn and Angela Eagle, and to the Labour leader Keir Starmer.
And what has it done?
Firstly it should be made clear that not everything done by these organisations has been bad. They have successfully campaigned for the removal of some genuinely poisonous individuals from the social media and raised the alarm over online misinformation about Covid-19.
But its most vicious campaigning has concentrated on the Left, it seems:
While posing as a neutral body concerned with “the rapid rise in Fake News”, operated by people who are supposedly “pro-truth, pro-balance and pro-responsible news”, SFFN in fact appears to be a highly politicised pressure group, and part of the wider onslaught against the British left.
A statistical analysis of SFFN’s lobbying efforts supports this assessment. Between its founding and the 2019 general election, SFFN targeted The Canary – which the campaign acknowledged was its largest target – more than any other website, with 176 individual posts on Twitter. The operation has been scaled down since the election, with 42 individual posts targeting The Canary in a greater amount of time.
Canary editor-in-chief Kerry-Anne Mendoza is currently suffering her second Twitter ban within a week in what seems clearly a co-ordinated campaign of harassment against her.
Apparently CCDH and SFFN have only one patron:
CCDH lists Countdown figure Rachel Riley as its only patron, adding that it receives additional funds from “philanthropic trusts and members of the public”.
It is not known whether Riley has also funded SFFN since 2019, at which time she celebratedThe Canary being “on its last legs” due to SFFN lobbying. Riley did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Hmm. I won’t comment too heavily onthis as This Writer is currently being sued for libel (on very tenuous grounds) by Riley. Suffice it to say that she has been fighting her own crusade against Jeremy Corbyn and left-wing politics for several years now.
There is strong evidence to show that CCDH and SFFN are fronts for an anti-left-wing propaganda campaign run by people within the very organisation that should be supporting lefty news endeavours.
Perhaps it is time these people were put on the spot and, rather than accepting their accusations without question, we put their own credentials to the test.
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Happy hater: Priti Patel’s new law would have deported her own parents. The big question is: would she care?
“Dumpy she-Hitler” Priti Patel has publicly celebrated ending a fundamental freedom for every citizen of the United Kingdom.
Her Immigration Bill has just passed into law, meaning that those of you living in the UK will find it just that little bit harder to leave the country in the future – especially if we’re going to the European Union.
As for immigrating out of the burnt-out wheelie bin Patel and her fellow Tories have made of the country – forget it!
She didn’t mention that in her publicity tweet, though.
No – like the true-blue fake she is, she emphasized the aspect that would appeal to the Brexiters who voted for her cruelty…
After many years of campaigning, I am delighted the Immigration Bill which will end free movement on 31st December has today passed through Parliament.
… little knowing that it affects them as much as it does people from other countries.
Priti Patel, no doubt with that awful smirk on her self righteous face was boasting today about ending our 'Freedom of Movement' Wait until the Brexiters realise they're fucked too.
It’s worth reminding ourselves that Patel’s own parents would not have been allowed into the UK under the laws that she has introduced – that’s the level of hypocrisy she exemplifies:
And a timely reminder, in light of her "delight" at ending free movement, that Patel's own parents arrived in the UK in the 60s for purely economic reasons, ("economic migrants") before Idi Amin decided suddenly to expel Asians from Uganda in 1972https://t.co/dMigfS0jFx
Still, it seems unlikely her parents will be upset by their daughter’s new law – father Sushil Patel ran for election to a council as a representative of UKIP, meaning that – in her family – she’s probably the nice one.
Vilification of this hateful spite queen has been running through Twitter since she made her announcement – but it seems she is protected by a thick shield composed entirely of bigotry, from which the condemnation will rebound like water off a snake’s skin.
We can enjoy it, though:
Priti Patel has tweeted to boast that the immigration Bill is now law and will end freedom of movement on 31 December.
Boasted!
Happy to have reduced the freedoms of British citizens as well as Europeans. Despicable and narrow minded.
Priti Patel, no doubt with that awful smirk on her self righteous face was boasting today about ending our 'Freedom of Movement' Wait until the Brexiters realise they're fucked too.
How ironic that this has come on a day when supporters of Donald Trump have been announcing that they plan to quit the United States and come to the UK.
They’ll get cold comfort here: all they’ll find is Priti Patel waiting to deport them.
They’ll probably end up on Ascension Island or St Helena.
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Still the most apt comment on Keir Starmer: his namesake Hardie obviously didn’t say those words but if he were alive today, he might well follow through on the threat.
It’s the new policy from the Labour leadership: do as we say, not as we do.
Why is it permissible for Keir Starmer, David Evans, Angela Rayner, Lisa bloody Nandy, uncle Tom Cobley and all in the shadow cabinet and the NEC to spout any tripe they like about the suspended former Labour leader, while gagging rank-and-file party members?
It isn’t, as far as This Writer can see. Party rules certainly don’t allow for it.
And party members aren’t standing for it.
The edict, mentioned in the Mirror yesterday, is a repeat of what Evans and Starmer said back on October 29 when Corbyn was suspended – and party members ignored it then, too.
There have been petitions and open letters signed by members from CLPs across the UK, and individuals have spoken out on the social media and in their own groups.
They will continue to do so, because the Labour Party was founded on the principle that everybody is equal and, in this case, Starmer and the others have led by example.
They made a huge fuss about Corbyn’s suspension when they announced it; they can’t complain about everybody else making a fuss about it now.
And the way they are tackling the issue has been likened to Russian politics under Stalin in the 1930s:
An MP who was at the meeting… said: “In 40 years I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a bit scary.
“It’s like 1938 in the USSR, with the show trials. I’m not, and never have been, a fan of JC but it makes me feel a bit nervous.”
Starmer will hate this comment. He has already been labelled Keir Stalin over his ham-handed handling of Corbyn’s suspension.
And worse was to follow as Labour – and ex-Labour members took to the social media to hammer him:
I'm trying hard to understand current Labour Party rules. Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, Margaret Hodge, Ruth Smeeth are allowed to comment on the EHRC report but the MP for Islington for 37 years, and an LP member for 55, is not . Have I got that right? #ReinstateJeremyCorbyn
It is thanks to @jeremycorbyn that I am involved in local politics. Corbyn inspired me, gave me #hope and gave me the confidence to access politics – a working class Northerner who had no interest whatsoever.
All of the above are good, valid comments but I would draw particular attention to the one below. Unlike the others, it comments on the posture adopted by Starmer and his cronies who are currently infesting the Labour Party’s top positions:
Jeremy Corbyn was suspended for telling truth on the EHRC report but the truth is that the current lot couldn’t give a damn about AS or any form of racism for that matter.
It’s the last 5 years of socialism they see as a stain on the party. #ReinstateJeremyCorbyn
That is what rings true, in everything Starmer has done since he became party leader – ironically on a “continuity Corbyn” ticket.
He isn’t a socialist. He’s a neoliberal, cut from the same mould as Tony Blair, Iain McNicol and Peter Mandelson. He hates the socialism that swept Corbyn to the leadership and boosted party membership to more than half a million.
And that means if you are a Labour member who joined because of Corbyn, Keir Starmer hates you.
He will try to drive you out. He has probably succeeded in pushing out many of your colleagues already.
He is trying to annul the votes of those who have left from the current NEC elections, in order to gerrymander a victory for hard-right-wing candidates, because he thinks that will send you on your way.
He is proving, every day, that he fooled huge numbers of you; you elected to the head of a democratic socialist party a man who is neither a socialist nor a democrat.
He deserves all the exposure you can heap on him. So to Labour members I say:
Ignore Keir Stalin’s dictat to stay silent about Jeremy Corbyn. If you all speak up, there’s nothing they can do about it.
Expose the inconsistencies in his posture. His closest colleagues have broken party rules and they have committed acts of genuine anti-Semitism. Why has he taken no action against them?
And demand that the party leadership return to following its own rules by suspending all those who have broken them – including Starmer himself.
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Eton: all the pupils have had Covid-19 tests, whether they needed one or not. By sharp contrast, just you try getting one!
It seems the timing of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s comments about “carping” over Covid-19 tests has turned the issue into a farce.
As reported on This Site earlier, complaints have been rising because people have been sent miles – sometimes hundreds of miles – out of their way for tests.
This Site reported a few days ago that the government seems to have ordered some testing centres to shut, even though they still had usable tests.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 infections are soaring across the UK, with nearly 4,000 new cases announced on September 16 and outbreaks in more than 1,000 schools.
In Parliament, Rees-Mogg said:
“The issue of testing is one where we have gone from a disease that nobody knew about a few months ago to one where nearly a quarter of a million people a day can be tested.
“And the prime minister is expecting that to go up to half a million people a day by the end of October.
“And instead of this endless carping saying it’s difficult to get them, we should be celebrating this phenomenal success of the British nation in getting up to a quarter of a million tests for a disease that nobody knew about until earlier in the year.
“That is a success of our scientists or health experts and of our administration.”
This Site stated earlier that apparently the only way to be sure of a test in Rees-Mogg’s Tory UK is to pay for it – or to be a member of Parliament like him.
To that, we can now add that pupils at private schools can also be sure of a test – even if they don’t have any symptoms.
This is embarrassing for Rees-Mogg and the government as they had been “carping” about asymptomatic people clogging up the testing system.
@Jacob_Rees_Mogg do explain how every single asymptomatic Eton College student returning to Eton last week was able to get a Covid-19 test but people who have symptoms,including those living in areas with the highest rates of infection,for example,Bolton with the highest, cannot. https://t.co/476yQd7WNE
Rees-Mogg: this Hitlerian image fits well with the comment by Katy, below.
Jacob Rees-Mogg thinks we should “stop carping” about his government’s failure to set up a Covid-19 testing system worthy of even the most technologically-backward banana republic.
Complaints have been rising because people have been sent miles – sometimes hundreds of miles – out of their way for tests. This Site reported a few days ago that the government seems to have ordered some testing centres to shut, even though they still had usable tests.
Apparently the only way to be sure of a test in Rees-Mogg’s Tory UK is to pay for it – or to be a member of Parliament like him.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 infections are soaring across the UK, with nearly 4,000 new cases announced on September 16 and outbreaks in more than 1,000 schools.
And what does he say?
Amazing. @Jacob_Rees_Mogg says we should celebrate the national success of Test & Trace.
I have a German film crew coming round this pm to ask me WTF has happened to Britain’s Test & Trace. The whole damn world knows it’s an arrant failure.pic.twitter.com/3V4Y9rXAVq
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Rishi Sunak: ‘Please don’t force us to eat your diseased chicken, Mr Trump! Look – we’ll cancel our tax on your tech companies! They can take as much money as they like from operating in our country and we won’t ask for a penny! Will that persuade you, Mr Trump? Mr Trump? Are you there..?’
Could there be a more blatant display of the UK’s newfound powerLESSness in the world?
The UK imposed a tax on tech companies like Facebook last year, expecting to bring in £500 million per year from firms that make more than £25 million each and would otherwise pay very little indeed.
But now Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to axe it, in the hope that doing so will encourage Donald Trump not to insist on sending chlorinated chicken to the UK.
Sunak doesn’t even have the bargaining power to say he’ll do it on condition that Trump relents on his determination to foist food poisoning on the United Kingdom.
The justification to the rest of us? “Oh, it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”
I don’t know about that. £500 million is a lot of money to most of us.
The whole situation is pathetic.
The Johnson government, in the footsteps of Theresa May and David Cameron, has reduced Britain from Greatness to a state that can only be described as Little.
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Dawn Butler: she’s proved many times that she is an MP who actually cares about her constituents’ lives – but that won’t stop her being victimised by Metropolitan police.
Almost exactly a month after two black athletes were stopped and handcuffed by Metropolitan police, Brent MP Dawn Butler has suffered the same humiliation. For the same reason?
Ms Butler, a Labour MP, was stopped while travelling as a passenger with a friend, who is also black.
Police who stopped her said the car was registered in North Yorkshire – but changed their tune after they realised who they had pulled over, and said they had input the licence plate into their system incorrectly.
A likely story!
This was the third time Ms Butler has been stopped and searched by police since she became a member of Parliament. She described it in the video she took of the incident as follows:
It’s like you cannot drive around and enjoy a Sunday afternoon whilst black.
Her friend, who was driving, has been stopped “regularly”, according to the Guardian‘s report. In that case, Met police officers should have got the hang of tapping his plate number into their system (I would have thought).
On July 8, athletes Ricardo dos Santos and Bianca Williams were stopped and handcuffed while their three-month-old son was left in the car.
No social distancing procedures were followed in that incident and it seems unlikely that any were employed in that involving Ms Butler.
According to the Guardian,
Another officer, a woman, had “inflamed the situation” by saying tinted rear windows on the car could be illegal.
How interesting that Met officers are still using this hoary old chestnut after being called out on it after the July incident – and on previous occasions, when the tints were all found to be entirely legal.
In this case
The law about tinting on windows applies only to the windscreen and front windows.
In fairness, the Met response to Ms Butler’s report of the incident has been much more reasonable than to the athletes.
Is that because, in addition to being black, she is a member of Parlament?
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