ForenSix Opposition - Politics in the Soon To Be Former UK in Autumn 2020

Keir Starmer vs Page 27 of the EHRC Report pic.twitter.com/3l9vi9WD4E

— jewdⒶs // ייִדהודה (@jewdas) October 29, 2020

think this backs up what SV is saying about Starmer explicitly making out that what Corbyn said was denialism itself.

Best of luck to ILX User Radiator/Zebra, hope you're doing OK.

^ thinking of you, lines and dots

yeah, all the best to user barcode in this difficult times

hoping you have some Smiths scampo-based snacks to hand in this difficult time

An actual party would at least provide concrete evidence to these "good left-wing ppl" you speak of that there's another way while a gesture of abstention that can be spun a thousand ways would not.

― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 29 October 2020 bookmarkflaglink

There is very little way under this system as it is and anything that's organised is more powerful than a mere gesture.

Good to see you barold, be well

Suggestions on Twitter that the Corbyn statement was pre-agreed with the LOTO office.

Absolutely seething that you gazumped me ffs.

Isn’t this what they did with RLB?

I’ve heard from a reliable chain of people that comments made at JC’s press conference were the reason and statement was OKed by LOTO.

wait, so if i've got this right: loto was consistently called on to intervene, tom watson made moves to forcefully intervene in ways that would have broken gdpr, and those interventions to expedite the complaints process are the main finding of wrongdoing by the report.

I have to say the report is suspiciously *vaguely* worded throughout: so interference is simply described as interference throughout, often in ways that implies that interference sought to obstruct rather than expedite processes. The leaked report showed examples of attempts to expedite processes in the face of a wilfully obstructive hq team, how to overcome these problems then?

Frustratingly and it seems intentionally vague is how this whole saga has been from the start.

I’m told NEC members in an ongoing meeting are asking which rule was breached by Corbyn today – the specific reason for his suspension – but gen sec David Evans not saying. (Starmer not on the call.)

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) October 29, 2020

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ElhTERYXIAcnLes?format=png&name=900x900

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/28/england-coronavirus-covid-test-and-trace-teenagers?

What a calamity

St*rmer, how do you forensically suspend somebody from the party challenge

Nandy came out with that old nugget "anti-Semitism is a form of racism that punches up" again on PM earlier. I don't care what she was actually trying to say and it unfortunately came out wrong etc.. She's consistently a clumsy communicator and a nasty bigot, who never seems to fail to muddy the waters and end up sounding like a dumb racist tory every time she goes off-piste.

The Guardian has published a cartoon of a beheading, in which Jeremy Corbyn is portrayed as the martyr St John the Baptist [at the court of King Herod]

There are at least two big reasons to question the editorial judgement, in terms of the content and the timing (France) too.

— Sunder Katwala (@sundersays) October 29, 2020

Holy shit, that is... I mean who the hell OK'ed that one?

for fuck’s sake

Liberals xp

unbelievable

Looking forward to the whole company doing sensitivity training

it's almost like they have a very laissez faire no-standards-apply attitude when it comes to attacking an already deposed LOTO of the left.

it's amazing some far-right headcase never murdered jez. It's always easier to attack someone who is frequently on a push iron rather than the man in the hench car who is cosplaying Death Race 2000

the murdoch press has been literally goading anyone who might be inclined for years now so yeah surprising it hasn't happened already

xp I mean they did try and that guy did punch him in the head at a mosque but that was just a laugh wasn’t it

Solidarity to @jeremycorbyn, a kind, decent and truly principled man. He should be reinstated immediately.

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) October 29, 2020

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Elh4L0HXgAE4BTz?format=jpg&name=medium

such risible shit U can't take it seriously of course, but even if there was another melty right-wing arsehole LOTO other than Starmer, perhaps they might have been savvy enough not stoke up an already heated factional war and just quietly ride out the news cycle, just when the Tories needed a distraction from their starving poor children policies that was putting their own party under serious pressure.

Unfortunately if you think that the ‘vile Corbyn cabal’s legacy of hate’ is an ‘exaggeration by political enemies’, you’re part of the problem.

doesn't the word cabal have antisemitic connotations

Thread on EOTHO

Today I m sharing another paper on unintended consequences of a UK policy which makes me cringe at how my tax money is spent all the while debating #FreeSchoolMeals "Subsidizing the spread of COVID-19: Evidence from the UK’s #EOHO scheme". ➡️ https://t.co/ebrSXrQ0hT a thread🧵⬇️ pic.twitter.com/mv7awXn8x6

— Thiemo Fetzer (@fetzert) October 30, 2020

The DID estimates suggest between 8-17% of all detected #COVID19 infections were due to the #EOHO scheme seeding the 2nd wave across the country

You will probably have missed it in the furore today, but the Joint Committee on Human Rights issued an absolutely *damning* report into the bill today. It would leave the UK in breach of international human rights commitments over a fictitious problem. https://t.co/SK0x7llRPZ

— James B (@piercepenniless) October 29, 2020

A good day to bury bad news, evidently.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sars-nigeria-police-protests-uk-government-training-equipment-b1424447.html

We know the government export arms to Yemen already. Doesn't matter, just jobs jobs jobs.

the Tories must have breathed a sigh of relief at this morning's papers. Just as the free school meals campaign was hitting home, Starmer turns his guns on the left https://t.co/jt1p7OfdjJ

— tom (@malaiseforever) October 30, 2020

just as he was getting away with his milquetoast constructive opposition thanks to the work of a man Utd striker, the abysmal cunt scores an own goal

I agree with this view.

It's easy to say 'KS's attacks on the Labour left help him become more electable', etc -- the logic of that is drearily familiar enough.

But in this case I don't think it's correct. During a pandemic that is now once again killing (I think) hundreds of UK people per day, that is causing economic carnage, more mass unemployment to come - with the government specifically under attack via a popular extra-political campaign (Rashford) -- and even with the US situation next week possibly unfavourable to the current UK government --

amid all that, KS has still managed to turn the news cycle into 'Labour turmoil'.

Even if that was worth short-term cost, I don't think the longer-term gain plays out well for him. The party could now be embroiled in legal cases about this for years; an issue that people wanted to say was 'drawn a line under' becomes a perpetual controversy again; KS has guaranteed a 'divided party' and lost all goodwill he had built up from his opponents; and has permanently alienated, say, 10-20% of his coalition of members / supporters / voters? Many of whom were the most likely to campaign and get things done on the ground, as well as giving money.

I just don't think that the pragmatic electoral maths of this add up to a good decision by KS, even by the cynical pro-KS viewpoint which is the opposite of the one I hold.

5% lead for Labour in new IM poll conveniently timed.

it's terrible leadership from him, but there won't be many complaints from the PLP as long as he's Corbyn bashing, even if it is causing long term damage to the electoral prospects of the party, that will certainly come back to bite him on the arse.

Rachel Shabi has a brief thread summing it up well.

It’s beyond frustrating to see Labour yet again descend into factionalism over this issue and thus torpedo the EHRC report. Corbyn’s statement yesterday was ill-advised, to put it mildly - and the party response to it equally so.

— rachel shabi (@rachshabi) October 30, 2020

And another

my overwhelming feeling this morning is one of deep shame and embarrassment. i feel mortified at what my jewishness is used for in this society. i feel ashamed of how some jews have conducted themselves. i feel like i have to be apologetic about how i am racialised.

— michael (@Sisyphusa) October 30, 2020

Having both Livingston and Chris Williamson on your station within 24 hours suggests your revulsion at anti-Semitism is less important than controversy and attention

— Luke Bailey (@imbadatlife) October 30, 2020

is that referring to the BBC or Times Radio?

not sure there's much of a substantive distinction to be drawn there at this point tbh

Times Radio, supposedly let CW spread conspiracy theories, great duty of care to listeners there.

yeah I caught a few seconds of that!

Times Radio is allowed to run adverts depicting itself as an honest reasonable source of news and opinion, i'm pretty sure nothing matters

those ads are profoundly aggravating

You'd like to think this is the last we'll see of Chris Williamson until he inevitably becomes the first person evicted in a Celebrity Big Brother revival but no one ever has the good grace to just shut up and go away any more.

It's also obviously a complete failure on Times Radio's part to treat this like a serious issue but then we all know that.

I'd be interested to know what happened with Williamson's court case the the revisions to the report it apparently forced but Williamson is just about the last person i'd want to hear it from.

He didn’t get mentioned as much as I’d suspect in the report, including on some of the things we talked about at the time (deciding to go off about Israel on the day of the Tree of Life shooting).