Tag Archives: Zoom

Beckett’s ‘silly cow’ comment shows Starmer has turned Labour into a cess pit

The shenanigans after yesterday’s (March 11) meeting of Labour’s National Executive Committee make This Writer glad not to be a member of that party any more.

The fact that Margaret Beckett is being allowed to continue as chair of the NEC after calling fellow committee member Laura Pidcock a “silly cow” on a Zoom meeting is unacceptable.

Pidcock had made a perfectly reasonable point after a motion to recall Labour’s party conference had been rejected with no vote taken, in a snub to party democracy.

The motion sought to recall the full party conference, possibly to coincide with Labour’s women’s conference in June, for reasons This Writer set out in a previous article:

The motion… reads: “Discussion in local Labour Party meetings has been suppressed; motions banned; scores of activists suspended; and anger and disillusionment is exploding across our lay membership across the party.

“Members are leaving in droves and many more are expressing frustration and dissatisfaction at the attack on democracy and free speech. Many members are saying it doesn’t feel like the Labour Party anymore.”

There is also frustration after several ex-officials suspended over the contents of a damning leaked report have been let back into Labour. 

These are serious, party-splitting concerns, and it is unacceptable that Laura Pidcock, asking how members could have this out-of-hand rejection of those concerns explained to them, was dismissed as a “silly cow”.

The reaction on the social media was unequivocal:

The last commenter is right: this is indeed Keir Starmer’s Labour.

And he has made it a cess pit.

I am delighted that I am not a member of an organisation that puts Starmer and Beckett in positions of seniority that they clearly do not merit. I have a feeling that many other Labour members will also abandon the party in the face of this ill-treatment.

And I expect the general public will do the same at the May elections.

Source: Labour MP Margaret Beckett apologises over ‘silly cow’ remark – BBC News

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Lockdown democracy exposes bizarre behaviour at local council

Zoom: who would have thought that holding a meeting over the internet would reveal so much about local councillors?

My sympathies go to the people of Handforth.

Their area of Wilmslow, Cheshire, has become a place of national interest – not to mention hilarity – after a parish council meeting held via the Zoom platform went viral with more than two million views.

Sadly, the reason for its popularity is the misbehaviour of the councillors.

Jackie Weaver, from the Cheshire Association of Local Councils, said she was called in to help and “support” two parish councillors to hold the planning meeting. This is what happened:

The meeting, which took place on 10 December, descended into chaos with some people muttering under their breath while others tried to speak, hysterical laughter, participants answering phone calls and members being reprimanded.

When chairman Brian Tolver, who refused to recognise the legitimacy of the meeting, labelled himself as the “clerk”, Ms Weaver said: “The chairman simply declared himself clerk and notified everybody of the case.

“There is no way of stopping him from calling himself clerk. Please refer to me as Britney Spears from now on.”

Ms Weaver told the BBC there was a “positive spin” to the video going viral as it “raised the profile” of parish councils.

But she said it also showed an element of “bullying and bad behaviour” in local councils, adding: “A lot of us are working very hard – and that includes central government – to try to do something about that.”

I’m not going to link to any of the footage from the meeting. Feel free to click on the link below if you want to see it.

My point is that this is actually good for democracy. By seeing how our councillors behave (or misbehave) we become better-equipped to decide whether we want those particular people to represent us.

It also de-mystifies the processes of local government.

I predict hard times for some of the Handforth councillors in the future, as they are called to account for their behaviour.

But they have actually done us all a service.

Source: Jackie Weaver: Handforth Parish Council meeting goes viral – BBC News

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Abbott pilloried for sharing Zoom platform with racists – by hypocrites

Diane Abbott: she has suffered more racist abuse than anybody you can name – along with any other criticism her detractors can throw at her.

Diane Abbott is under attack again (it’s a Sunday; presumably these people have nothing better to do) – for sharing a Zoom call with racists.

I’ll let her explain:

Before we get into the meat of this, let’s set one thing straight right away: some ignorants have claimed that she was wrong to refer to Uyghur as a place. They were wrong:

Perhaps more serious is the allegation that she deliberately shares platforms with apologists for atrocities:

Some critics have claimed that she could have looked up the named people with whom she was sharing the call, and should have boycotted it when she found out it included atrocity apologists. However:

The reference to John Rentoul is accurate. See:

The point by “Marl Karx” is a good one, though: de-platforming is a recent phenomenon – and not a very clever one. If you leave an event because you don’t like some of the other people on it, you are giving them more space in which to put forward their views. Isn’t it better to attend, and challenge?

Finally, there is the issue of double-standards:

This claim about Starmer provoked a strong adverse response from people who claimed Starmer stuck around. However:

There’s also this:

Inevitably there’s the spectre of Tony Blair. I wish I had Owen Jones’s research resources (or maybe the amount of spare time he seems to have) – although I obviously don’t share his views on what Abbott did. His comments on Blair are interesting and I include only the beginning and the end of them here, so take a look at the whole thread.

Finally, there’s the issue of unwitting support of atrocities by people who denounce them:

It’s possible that we are all guilty of this kind of behaviour. We cannot know that the products we buy are produced under duress, in circumstances we should deplore, if we’re not told.

But then, why aren’t we told?

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

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