Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #GE2019
Most recents (24)
#THREAD
'The challenges of studying 4chan & the Alt-Right: ‘Come on in the water’s fine’ (2020).
Unbeknown to the authors, a participant in a workshop at KCL examining how to study 4chan & assess their association with the Alt-Right was a 4chan user...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…
'The challenges of studying 4chan & the Alt-Right: ‘Come on in the water’s fine’ (2020).
Unbeknown to the authors, a participant in a workshop at KCL examining how to study 4chan & assess their association with the Alt-Right was a 4chan user...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117…
For several years now, there has been escalating concern, across national governments, inter-governmental organisations and think tanks, about the rise of far-right extremism & far-right terrorism globally.
press.un.org/en/2018/sgsm19…
press.un.org/en/2018/sgsm19…
Public authorities, commentators and civil society groups have reported that this rise is being cultivated in online spaces, such as 4chan, 8chan, Telegram and Gab. Despite growing concern, there is still limited academic research examining these spaces.
In last week's local elections, just over 1-in-5 voters (21.9%) across Lewes District voted Conservative - yet @LewesCons won 0% of the council seats... Conservative voters across the @LewesDC District now find themselves unrepresented politically on the council.
A thread 🧵
A thread 🧵
2/ If this outcome bothers you, you might want to know that this is the result of the very electoral system the Conservative Party leadership currently supports - First Past The Post (FPTP) - and that it's a system so bizarre that it can even lead to wrong result elections...
3/ FPTP leaves swathes of the electorate voiceless - at #GE2019, 71% of votes cast made no difference to the overall result. It undermines trust in politics & faith in British democracy. When voters realise this, they wonder why they're being denied a fair system & equal voice...
[thread on 2019] In politics, I think it’s important to be honest. If you don’t you’ll either (a) be found out or (b) not learn. So, in that spirit, I have to say that #GE2019 wasn’t the best I’ve been involved in & compared unfavourably to 2017. It’s important to ask why. (1/21)
Of course, there were factors that could be described as external that contributed to how hard that campaign was for us as socialists, Brexit being the principal one. And we now know that many of our own side were working against. But it wasn’t all bad luck & sabotage. (2/21)
I was in Labour HQ for #GE2017, working mainly on @jeremycorbyn’s social media & I have to say, it was breathtakingly exciting. It felt like we were breaking new ground & the connection between Jeremy’s office & the movement outside (offline & online) was palpable. (3/21)
[thread] Every time @LauraPidcock posts anything, no matter what the subject, you can guarantee that someone will pipe up with this gem: “weren’t you the MP that lost one of Labour’s safest seats?”, usually followed by some abuse to the effect that she should STFU. (1/16)
I’m not going to address the abuse today, not because I think it’s ok, but (a) Laura dealt with it very well the other day in a post and (b) even people who don’t agree with the abuse might be fooled into believing the underlying premise. So, let’s examine it. (2/16)
Firstly, how safe was the North West Durham seat? Well, in 2017, Laura won the seat with 25,308 votes (52.8%). Her majority then & going into the 2019 General Election was 8,792. By my calculations, that made it the 168th safest Labour seat in the country. (3/16)
#THREAD
A few facts about Tory MP, Marco Longhi - the new Honorary President of dangerously irresponsible far-right lobbying group, Turning Point UK, which is one of the organisations far-right terrorist Andrew Leak engaged with before petrol-bombing the Dover migrant centre.
A few facts about Tory MP, Marco Longhi - the new Honorary President of dangerously irresponsible far-right lobbying group, Turning Point UK, which is one of the organisations far-right terrorist Andrew Leak engaged with before petrol-bombing the Dover migrant centre.
Longhi grew up in Rome, the son of an Italian airline worker. He trained as a pilot & later studied at Manchester University, following this by working for a time in civil engineering. He then worked in the oil and gas industry, which included five years in South America.
In 1999, Longhi was elected as a Conservative councillor in Walsall, & became Mayor in 2017 and again in 2018.
He became the first Tory to represent Dudley North at #GE2019, after the incumbent, Ian Austin (independent, formerly Labour), stood down.
He became the first Tory to represent Dudley North at #GE2019, after the incumbent, Ian Austin (independent, formerly Labour), stood down.
#THREAD
'Leftist @BBC Maitlis' - here pushing the 1935 myth - did her bit to help Johnson's Tories beat Corbyn's Labour in 2019. And in the ashes of our broken, polarised country, with millions facing poverty, & our economy & public services ruined, NOW she's found her voice? 🧐
'Leftist @BBC Maitlis' - here pushing the 1935 myth - did her bit to help Johnson's Tories beat Corbyn's Labour in 2019. And in the ashes of our broken, polarised country, with millions facing poverty, & our economy & public services ruined, NOW she's found her voice? 🧐
In July 2007, Maitlis was appointed as a (unpaid) contributing editor to billionaire Barclay's right-wing #Spectator. This was approved by her immediate manager, then head of @BBCNews Peter Horrocks, but the decision was subsequently overturned by BBC News director Helen Boaden.
By 2019/20, Maitlis was amongst the highest paid @BBCNews & current affairs staff, receiving a salary between £370,000-£374,999!
This was just over a decade after Peter Mandelson said: "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich - as long as they pay their taxes."
This was just over a decade after Peter Mandelson said: "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich - as long as they pay their taxes."
So Starmer has ruled out including any support for Proportional Representation in @UKLabour’s election manifesto - despite the Tories being in power for more than two-thirds of the last century without EVER winning a majority share of the popular vote. 🧐
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
Fun fact:
Just 29% of the UK electorate voted Tory in 2019, yet under FPTP, this was enough votes to secure an 80-seat majority.
Another fun fact:
Votes/seat #GE2019:
Tory 38K
Labour 50K
LibDems 336K
Greens 886K
Just 29% of the UK electorate voted Tory in 2019, yet under FPTP, this was enough votes to secure an 80-seat majority.
Another fun fact:
Votes/seat #GE2019:
Tory 38K
Labour 50K
LibDems 336K
Greens 886K
#Thread
#Onward, for which this disturbing & dystopian survey was done, is "a modernising think tank" that believes in "a mainstream conservatism that recognises the value of markets."
But who's behind Onward, who is behind JL Partners, & what does the survey tell us?
#Onward, for which this disturbing & dystopian survey was done, is "a modernising think tank" that believes in "a mainstream conservatism that recognises the value of markets."
But who's behind Onward, who is behind JL Partners, & what does the survey tell us?
JL Partners was "formed after three years running the research programme for 10 Downing St, in the heart of politics. Through a range of quantitative & qualitative methods, we know which questions to ask to get the richness of understanding that you need."
jlpartners.co.uk
jlpartners.co.uk
With offices in the UK & USA, it operates "on a global scale with research capability in every major region."
The two key players & cofounders of JLP appear to be James Johnson (left) & Tom Lubbock (right), who both worked on polling at Downing Street for then PM, Theresa May.
The two key players & cofounders of JLP appear to be James Johnson (left) & Tom Lubbock (right), who both worked on polling at Downing Street for then PM, Theresa May.
#THREAD Wealth inequality & Party funding.
Britain's richest 250 people are worth £711 billion - up 8% on last year. The gap between the richest & the rest is at its widest in more than a decade: 2022 sees the highest level of income inequality since 2010 (ONS).
#EnoughIsEnough
Britain's richest 250 people are worth £711 billion - up 8% on last year. The gap between the richest & the rest is at its widest in more than a decade: 2022 sees the highest level of income inequality since 2010 (ONS).
#EnoughIsEnough
The wealthiest 10% of households now hold 43% of all the wealth in Britain; the bottom 50% hold just 9%.
A third of Britain's 177 billionaires, with a combined wealth of £653 billion, have "given" at least £62 million to the Tory Party over the past two decades.
#EnoughIsEnough
A third of Britain's 177 billionaires, with a combined wealth of £653 billion, have "given" at least £62 million to the Tory Party over the past two decades.
#EnoughIsEnough
Since #GE2019, UK political parties have received around £86 million from individuals, companies, unions & other groups - Tories received 63% of all individual donations.
“The Conservative party is now wholly unrepresentative in any way of the UK population.” - Frances Coppola.
“The Conservative party is now wholly unrepresentative in any way of the UK population.” - Frances Coppola.
Short #THREAD on money & #GE2019,
The #GE2019 campaign attracted roughly £19 million in donations from individuals & £6.5 million from companies - £19.3 million (76%) of which ended up in the hands of the party representing the rich - the @Conservatives.
bylinetimes.com/2022/06/14/wha…
The #GE2019 campaign attracted roughly £19 million in donations from individuals & £6.5 million from companies - £19.3 million (76%) of which ended up in the hands of the party representing the rich - the @Conservatives.
bylinetimes.com/2022/06/14/wha…
Much of the rest (more than £4 million) was funnelled to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which kindly stood candidates down in Tory constituencies, allowing the Tories an easier #GE2019.
Labour, by contrast, received little more than £350,000 from individuals & private enterprises.
Labour, by contrast, received little more than £350,000 from individuals & private enterprises.
Top investment bankers at HSBC scooped an average bonus of £596,000 each last year - this was on top of their £479,000 average salary, with one lucky employee falling into the £9.2 - £10million bracket.
NatWest bankers shared JUST £298 million for 2021.
thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/…
NatWest bankers shared JUST £298 million for 2021.
thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/…
#THREAD
Master of 'wedge issues', Lynton Crosby, has been attending Boris Johnson’s meetings in No 10.
The political strategist, whose advisory firm has represented tobacco as well as oil & gas interests, is at the heart of Johnson's political strategy.
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
Master of 'wedge issues', Lynton Crosby, has been attending Boris Johnson’s meetings in No 10.
The political strategist, whose advisory firm has represented tobacco as well as oil & gas interests, is at the heart of Johnson's political strategy.
theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
Like many senior Tories, Crosby is a master of 'Divide & Rule', & an expert in the 'Dark Arts' of voter manipulation, infamous for his 'dead cat' strategy & the promotion of toxic & deliberately divisive 'wedge issues' - evidence of which is everywhere in Britain at the moment.
A 'wedge issue' - a key component of the classic 'divide & rule' political strategy - is described as a political or social issue, often of a controversial or divisive nature, which splits apart a demographic or population group.
Imagine if anyone working in the British press or news media had known about THIS prior to 2019!
What's that? Boris Johnson's antisemitic book came out in 2004, but the UK press & broadcast news media chose to focus on & demonise lifelong anti-racist Jeremy Corbyn instead?
What's that? Boris Johnson's antisemitic book came out in 2004, but the UK press & broadcast news media chose to focus on & demonise lifelong anti-racist Jeremy Corbyn instead?
Well imagine if anyone working in the British press or news media had known about ALL THIS prior to #GE2019!
What's that? Everyone in the UK press & broadcast news media DID know all this, but chose instead to focus on & demonise Jeremy Corbyn anyway?
What's that? Everyone in the UK press & broadcast news media DID know all this, but chose instead to focus on & demonise Jeremy Corbyn anyway?
Or imagine if anyone working in the British press & broadcast news media had known about THIS in 2020! What? Everyone DID know about it, but the UK press & broadcast news media chose to carry on misleading voters about Boris Johnson & demonise lifelong anti-racist Corbyn instead?
#THREAD
The @Conservatives' long-term plan to destroy #Britain's #NHS & replace it with a private health insurance model is nearing completion.
Just add it to the growing list of casualties caused by Tory acts of short-sighted ideological vandalism. 🇬🇧
theguardian.com/society/2022/j…
The @Conservatives' long-term plan to destroy #Britain's #NHS & replace it with a private health insurance model is nearing completion.
Just add it to the growing list of casualties caused by Tory acts of short-sighted ideological vandalism. 🇬🇧
theguardian.com/society/2022/j…
The poor will make do with a dangerously underfunded #NHS, while the rich will hand money to corporations in exchange for profit-motivated superficial corner-cutting healthcare, from which, many @Conservatives with private healthcare interests will do VERY well.
A survey of more than 20,000 frontline #NHS staff reveals that four out of five respondents said staffing levels on their last shift were not enough to meet all the needs & dependency of their patients. The @Conservatives knew this would happen & failed to adequately plan ahead.
Let's have a quick #THREAD on troubled Johnson-brown-nosing robotic hard-right Tory MP Jonathan Gullis - a controversial member of the European Research Group, & a parliamentary backer of FREER, an initiative run by the opaquely funded neoliberal Institute of Economic Affairs.
He stood in Washington & Sunderland West at #GE2017, losing to the incumbent Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, but somehow was elected as the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North at #GE2019, unseating Labour's Ruth Smeeth & becoming the first Conservative to represent the constituency.
At the time of his election, Gullis was employed as a school teacher & head of year at an Academy in Sutton Coldfield, & somewhat bizarrely for a Tory MP, served as the school's trade union representative, but he's spent his time as an MP railing against the Left & the 'woke'.
#THREAD
Somehow I've managed to stay blissfully unaware of grotesque hard-right dimwit & Tory MP Karl McCartney.
Who is ?
Let's allow his words, record, & myriad investigations to speak for themselves...
Somehow I've managed to stay blissfully unaware of grotesque hard-right dimwit & Tory MP Karl McCartney.
Who is ?
Let's allow his words, record, & myriad investigations to speak for themselves...
In March 2017, the Electoral Commission fined the @Conservatives £70,000 following an investigation into Party spending during #GE2015 (the same Electoral Commission that oversees free & fair elections, & which the antidemocratic Tories have just removed independence from).
During #GE2015 coaches of activists were transported to marginal constituencies, enabling its candidates to gain a financial advantage over opponents. In consequence, Karl McCartney was investigated by Lincolnshire Police over spending rules.
thelincolnite.co.uk/2016/06/lincol…
thelincolnite.co.uk/2016/06/lincol…
Yesterday was the worst day for UK democracy in 200 years: following the 1819 #PeterlooMassacre, the UK Govt introduced draconian legislation, reminiscent of the #PoliceBill - the so-called 'Six Acts', which aimed at suppressing any meetings for the purpose of radical reform.
As for the Elections Bill, there were just 6 cases of in-person electoral fraud at #GE2019. For this, the Govt is disenfranchising 3 million or so of the electorate who don’t have ID, the majority of whom are young &/or from poorer & BAME backgrounds, who tend to vote @UKLabour.
As for the UK Government's grotesque Nationality & Borders Bill - & the abhorrent 'deal' with #Rwanda - it has been universally criticised by human rights organisations because, shamefully, it "undermines established international refugee protection law".
unhcr.org/news/press/202…
unhcr.org/news/press/202…
So Tories have: criminalised protest; introduced laws meaning journalists can be jailed for 14 years for embarrassing the Govt; removed independence from the Electoral Commission; introduced voter ID despite just 6 cases at #GE2019; & banned teaching anti-capitalism in schools.😬
It all sounds eerily familiar...
"Alexa, which British political @Twitter accounts have a much higher proportion of Fake Followers than other similarly sized accounts measured by followers?"
Elon Musk - who wants to buy @Twitter & who already has the highest Fake Follower score I've ever seen - should write a book called 'How To Buy Friends & Influence People'.
And let's #NeverForget that according to The Tory-supporting Telegraph, the @Conservatives 'hired an army of tweeters to take on Jeremy Corbyn's supporters on social media'.
In the UK & USA the biggest spenders nearly always win general elections.
In the UK & USA the biggest spenders nearly always win general elections.
Let's have a little look at the @Conservatives' record since #GE2019:
Ignored warnings & let 180,000 people die
Broke rules & laws that everyone else had to follow, then repeatedly denied doing so
Handed £BILLIONS of OUR money to THEIR mates for CRAP products that didn't work
Ignored warnings & let 180,000 people die
Broke rules & laws that everyone else had to follow, then repeatedly denied doing so
Handed £BILLIONS of OUR money to THEIR mates for CRAP products that didn't work
Killed off social mobility
Steadfastly ignored the plight of disabled people
Sold off to overseas investors almost everything left to sell off
Relentlessly demonised asylum seekers, refugees & migrants
Overseen the biggest transfer of wealth from poor to rich in living memory
Steadfastly ignored the plight of disabled people
Sold off to overseas investors almost everything left to sell off
Relentlessly demonised asylum seekers, refugees & migrants
Overseen the biggest transfer of wealth from poor to rich in living memory
Continually lied to voters
Announced their intention to destroy Human Rights
Funded their Party with dirty money from Russian oligarchs
Attacked as 'anti-British' some of our greatest institutions, such as the @BBC, the @RNLI, the @nationaltrust & the @England football team
Announced their intention to destroy Human Rights
Funded their Party with dirty money from Russian oligarchs
Attacked as 'anti-British' some of our greatest institutions, such as the @BBC, the @RNLI, the @nationaltrust & the @England football team
Given our antiquated electoral system, imho the most likely route to removing the Tories from power is still to elect a Labour Govt. But I can also see how UKIP pulled the Tories & 'the centre' a long way to the right, so I'm not averse to a left-wing party led by @jeremycorbyn.
Inevitably, this tweet arouses strong feelings from two (broadly speaking) camps in particular:
1 the 'Starmer's @UKLabour are Tory lite'
2 the ONLY way to dislodge the Tories is by supporting Labour.
While sympathetic to both these views, I'm up for a bit more nuance on this..
1 the 'Starmer's @UKLabour are Tory lite'
2 the ONLY way to dislodge the Tories is by supporting Labour.
While sympathetic to both these views, I'm up for a bit more nuance on this..
It wasn't just UKIP who pulled 'the centre' to the Right - Farage & Tice's (no-deal) 'Brexit Party' was formed in November 2018 & (arguably) not only pulled the Tories even further right, but many (mistakenly) believed it would split the Right's vote & help the Left at #GE2019.
Hard-right Tory MP & GB "News" presenter Dehenna Davison, attacks Britain's free press for the crime of *asking her questions*, after she was photographed with anti-vax literature which she claims was unsolicited.
A GB "News" presenter COMPLAINING about BEING ASKED QUESTIONS! 🤪
A GB "News" presenter COMPLAINING about BEING ASKED QUESTIONS! 🤪
If you're not familiar with Dehenna, here's some basics:
She's from Sheffield, then went to Hull University & during her time there she spent a year working as a parliamentary aide for nonother than Jacob Rees-Mogg, which is presumably where she was radicalised.
Suits you sir!
She's from Sheffield, then went to Hull University & during her time there she spent a year working as a parliamentary aide for nonother than Jacob Rees-Mogg, which is presumably where she was radicalised.
Suits you sir!
On 14 February 2020, it was reported that she had been photographed with two far-right activists at a party to celebrate Brexit on 31 January in her constituency. Advocacy group Hope not Hate called for the Conservatives to undertake an investigation.
In the real world - away from the propaganda of the corrupt Govt & the toxic infantile right-wing press - "levelling up" actually means half of all UK families are WORSE OFF than they were at #GE2019, while the richest 5% are BETTER OFF by £3,300/year. 🤬
neweconomics.org/2021/12/two-ye…
neweconomics.org/2021/12/two-ye…
"Unarguably, Covid has widened Britain’s wealth gap still further, accelerating a divergence already in train for decades. The fortunes of the asset-rich have waxed while those of the asset-poor have waned" - FACTS the corrupt lying Tories ignore or deny.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Donations by the UK's top 1% fell by a fifth in real terms from 2012 to 2019, despite soaring incomes, meaning charities have missed out on over £2BILLION. Over the same period donations from the rest of us rose.
It's a war between the 1% & everone else.
theguardian.com/money/2021/dec…
It's a war between the 1% & everone else.
theguardian.com/money/2021/dec…
#THREAD
This is absolutely catastrophic for Britain.
Gisella Stuart has about as much 'commitment to impartiality' as the law-breaking Vote Leave campaign did when she was Chair.
This is absolutely catastrophic for Britain.
Gisella Stuart has about as much 'commitment to impartiality' as the law-breaking Vote Leave campaign did when she was Chair.
In October 2004, she became the only @UKLabour MP who openly supported the re-election of dimwit warmonger George W. Bush, arguing "you know where you stand with George and, in today's world, that's much better than rudderless leaders who drift with the prevailing wind".
She wrote that a victory for Democratic Party challenger, John Kerry, would prompt "victory celebrations among those who want to destroy liberal democracies. More terrorists and suicide bombers would step forward to become martyrs in their quest to destroy the West".
Tory & @UKLabour vote share*, 1918 - 2019.
Only THREE times since 1918, has a vote swing of over 9% been recorded: to a National Govt in 1931, & to Labour in 1945 & 2017.
*The UK's antiquated FPTP electoral system means seats are more important than either votes or vote share.
Only THREE times since 1918, has a vote swing of over 9% been recorded: to a National Govt in 1931, & to Labour in 1945 & 2017.
*The UK's antiquated FPTP electoral system means seats are more important than either votes or vote share.
On three occasions, the party with the most votes did not win the most seats.
In 1929 and in February 1974, Labour polled fewer votes than the Conservatives but had more MPs. In 1951 the Conservatives won the most seats, but received fewer votes than Labour.
In 1929 and in February 1974, Labour polled fewer votes than the Conservatives but had more MPs. In 1951 the Conservatives won the most seats, but received fewer votes than Labour.
