Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #TuftonStreet
Most recents (24)
#THREAD
Unlike Andrew Neil, I haven't got the luxury of being Chairman of an establishment magazine which represents its billionaire-owner's interests.
Nonetheless, we need to talk about Andrew Neil's climate change stance & history of working for overseas-based billionaires.
Unlike Andrew Neil, I haven't got the luxury of being Chairman of an establishment magazine which represents its billionaire-owner's interests.
Nonetheless, we need to talk about Andrew Neil's climate change stance & history of working for overseas-based billionaires.
Here's Andrew Neil in 2013, asking: "Is the whole global warming schtick over?"
Global warming is, as kids know, the long-term heating of Earth’s climate due to human activity, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
Global warming is, as kids know, the long-term heating of Earth’s climate due to human activity, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
And here's a testy & revealing exchange following Neil's bizarre question, between journalist Andrew Neil & climate expert Bob Ward, who has served as policy & communications director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change & the Environment at the LSE since 2008.
I see one of the far-right's preferred UK academics, Matt Goodwin, was spouting his usual misleading, infantile reality-denying shite at the National Conservatism conference, captured in this now deleted tweet.
Here's the truth about the last forty years:
Here's the truth about the last forty years:
Here's another response to Matt Goodwin's abusurd, misleading, & frankly unhinged claims made at the deeply concerning National Conservatism conference, from @ewangibbs:
Another now deleted tweet from another of the far-right's, #TuftonStreet's, & GB News's preferred academics, David Starkey, who said 'slavery wasn't genocide because there are so many damn blacks', & after the 2011 riots, 'Enoch Powell was right, the whites have become black'. 🙋♂️
#THREAD
As predicted, the President of the opaquely-funded & extremely influential ultra-right free-market US 'think tank' Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, has delivered arguably the most unhinged speech so far at the deeply disturbing National Conservatism #NatC conference.
As predicted, the President of the opaquely-funded & extremely influential ultra-right free-market US 'think tank' Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, has delivered arguably the most unhinged speech so far at the deeply disturbing National Conservatism #NatC conference.
Founded in 1973, the opaquely funded Heritage Foundation's stated mission is to formulate & promote policies based on the principles of "free enterprise, limited Govt, individual freedom, traditional American values, & a strong national defense."
desmog.com/2023/05/15/nat…
desmog.com/2023/05/15/nat…
It is widely considered one of the world's most influential public policy research institutes, maintaining strong ties with #Tuftonstreet's IEA, the Mont Pelerin Society (the organisation coining 'neoliberalism'), &, significantly, the UK Government.
The Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO), gathering in Bournemouth on Saturday, insists it is not a Johnson-revivalist group, despite almost every speaker – among them Priti Patel, Jacob Rees-Mogg & Nadine Dorries – being a noted Johnson supporter.
theguardian.com/politics/2023/…
theguardian.com/politics/2023/…
David Campbell Bannerman launched the CDO in December alongside banker & Tory peer, Peter Cruddas.
Senior Tory insiders, concerned at what they see as a party within a party, are alarmed that former Ukip donor Arron Banks held discussions with Cruddas about the CDO’s work.
Senior Tory insiders, concerned at what they see as a party within a party, are alarmed that former Ukip donor Arron Banks held discussions with Cruddas about the CDO’s work.
Banks told friends he was “helping” Johnson with a potential comeback by using his database to “reach out” to local Conservative associations.
#THREAD
The Who Funds You? project initially ran from 2012-19. @openDemocracy relaunched the project with a series of new audits.
Organisations are rated on a scale from A to E. A is the most transparent. Organisations given an E grade are the least transparent about funding.
The Who Funds You? project initially ran from 2012-19. @openDemocracy relaunched the project with a series of new audits.
Organisations are rated on a scale from A to E. A is the most transparent. Organisations given an E grade are the least transparent about funding.
I agree with @openDemocracy that debates about important issues that affect us all should be as transparent as possible.
That means we need to know who is being paid what, and by whom, to influence public policy.
#TuftonStreet
That means we need to know who is being paid what, and by whom, to influence public policy.
#TuftonStreet
In the UK – and many other countries – there are organisations that describe themselves as ‘think tanks’ & expressly set out to explore ideas & influence public policy. They usually produce research reports & promote them through the media and in policy circles.
#THREAD
#Britain is becoming a brutal, regressive, intolerant, hard-right, antidemocratic, authoritarian state, run by Christo-xenophobic nationalists, who represent powerful corporate interests. Their cheerleaders meet in London in May.
What's their strategy & ultimate goal?
#Britain is becoming a brutal, regressive, intolerant, hard-right, antidemocratic, authoritarian state, run by Christo-xenophobic nationalists, who represent powerful corporate interests. Their cheerleaders meet in London in May.
What's their strategy & ultimate goal?
Moreover, the limitations of message control will be discussed in times of social media and multiple public spaces. Obviously, an effective top-down control of media proves impossible in liberal democracies.
In 1970, Herbert Marcuse wrote in his preface to the second edition of Prophets of Deceit, Leo Löwenthal and Norbert Guterman’s seminal study on the main characteristics, performance, and effects of virulent demagogy originally published in the aftermath of World War Two:
"What first motivated an MP from a Party which last year received £3.5MILLION from individuals & entities linked to climate denial, fossil fuels, & high-pollution industries, who works for GB News (funded by Dubai-based disaster capitalists Legatum), to say Net Zero is 'lunacy'?"
Formed in 2021, the Net Zero Scrutiny Group is made up of swivel-eyed backbench Tory MPs. It claims to accept climate science, but has a number of strong institutional links with the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the UK’s most prominent climate science denial organisation.
#THREAD
The ENTIRE UK press & media, along with every #TuftonStreet think tank, has seized on a survey showing 'falling satisfaction' with the #NHS.
They ALL selectively avoid foregrounding the FACT the public shows VERY STRONG SUPPORT for the principles underpinning OUR #NHS.
The ENTIRE UK press & media, along with every #TuftonStreet think tank, has seized on a survey showing 'falling satisfaction' with the #NHS.
They ALL selectively avoid foregrounding the FACT the public shows VERY STRONG SUPPORT for the principles underpinning OUR #NHS.
The ghouls pushing for private health insurance ignore that the overwhelming majority of respondents agreed that the founding principles of OUR #NHS should ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ apply - 9 in 10 backed the principle that OUR #NHS should be free of charge when you need it.
The ideologically extreme free market fundamentalist ghouls within & outside Government also ignored the FACT that MORE THAN 8 in 10 respondents supported the principles that OUR #NHS should be available to everyone & primarily be funded THROUGH TAXES - NOT private healthcare.
Emily Carver is an ideological extremist from Conservative Home, who works for the opaquely funded free-market #IEA, & represents the interests of fossil fuel corporations & rich libertarians who want to kill the #NHS & remove worker & environmental protections.
#PoliticsLive
#PoliticsLive
The @BBC gives their influential platform to the opaquely funded free-market corporate propagandists, the #IEA, which represents the interests of overseas billionaires, & pushes for lowering taxes, & abolishing the #NHS & worker, consumer & environmental protections.
#PolitcsLive
#PolitcsLive
Ideological extremist Emily Carver moved seamlessly from the #IEA to Conservative Home last year. It doesn't really matter - the global network representing billionaire-interests includes the billionaire-owned/funded press/media, Govt Ministers, & #TuftonStreet 'think tanks'.
#THREAD
Ideologically extreme MPs on the far-right of the Tory party, led by Bill Cash & Danny Kruger, have proposed a series of amendments to the Immigration Bill intended to reduce the legal avenues for asylum seekers & refugees who face being deported.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m…
Ideologically extreme MPs on the far-right of the Tory party, led by Bill Cash & Danny Kruger, have proposed a series of amendments to the Immigration Bill intended to reduce the legal avenues for asylum seekers & refugees who face being deported.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m…
In a very crowded field of Brextremist Tory MPs, 82-year-old Bill Cash is described by Ken Clarke as THE most "Eurosceptic", who was the leader of the Eurosceptics during the Maastricht Rebellion of the early 1990s, reaching its height in 1993.
Hardline Eurosceptic Tory MPs refused to support the government of John Major in votes on the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on European Union) in British law. Major's party had a small majority, giving the relatively small number of extremists great influence.
#THREAD
I've been researching twenty-first century UK non-broadcast 'news' articles featuring #TuftonStreet's ideologically extreme (deregulatory, anti-welfare, anti-union, low tax, free-market) 'think tank' (lobbyist) the 'Institute for Economic Affairs' (#IEA).
I've been researching twenty-first century UK non-broadcast 'news' articles featuring #TuftonStreet's ideologically extreme (deregulatory, anti-welfare, anti-union, low tax, free-market) 'think tank' (lobbyist) the 'Institute for Economic Affairs' (#IEA).
Counting articles is a relatively crude measure, but it's clear that the overwhelming majority present the the #IEA as disinterested/neutral, often using IEA reports & spokespeople to help frame or initiate stories. With very few exceptions, the IEA's funders are never revealed.
From 2000-2023, across all print & online non-broadcast UK news outlets, the #IEA is mentioned a staggering 9,175 times - predictably, mainly in Murdoch's, Barclay's, & Harmsworth's "newspapers":
The Times: 1,278
Sunday Times: 424
Times online: 457
The Sun: 379
Sun online: 133
The Times: 1,278
Sunday Times: 424
Times online: 457
The Sun: 379
Sun online: 133
So Rishi Sunak's ex-boss Richard Sharp not only "gave" the @Conservatives £400,000, & helped arrange an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson just before Johnson appointed him, but Sharp was also a #TuftonStreet think tank Director, resigning just a month before he became @BBC Chair...
In other news...
#THREAD
After a week of discussing @BBC impartiality, ANOTHER appearance from a representative of the opaquely funded ideologically extreme tax-hating #TuftonStreet lobbyists, the IEA.
There are more than 150 UK think tanks, yet the IEA is CONSTANTLY on the BBC.
#PoliticsLive
After a week of discussing @BBC impartiality, ANOTHER appearance from a representative of the opaquely funded ideologically extreme tax-hating #TuftonStreet lobbyists, the IEA.
There are more than 150 UK think tanks, yet the IEA is CONSTANTLY on the BBC.
#PoliticsLive
#THREAD
Pleased to be quoted in this @ScotNational article, discussing Govt pressure on the @BBC, #bbcqt, #BBCBias, Richard Sharp, & the 'tabloidisation' of the BBC.
'BBC 'pro-establishment bias' shown in first six months of Laura Kuenssberg show'.
thenational.scot/news/23377081.…
Pleased to be quoted in this @ScotNational article, discussing Govt pressure on the @BBC, #bbcqt, #BBCBias, Richard Sharp, & the 'tabloidisation' of the BBC.
'BBC 'pro-establishment bias' shown in first six months of Laura Kuenssberg show'.
thenational.scot/news/23377081.…
"Dr Russell Jackson, a senior media lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, penned an open letter to the @BBC in February raising concerns about bias on #bbcqt's panels & from hosts, BBC management's links to the Tories, & a tendency towards platforming dangerous rhetoric."
"Jackson told The Sunday National that the -astonishing response to that letter [which has now been read more than 210,000 times] suggests that a hell of a lot of people are very concerned about what is happening with the broadcaster."
#BBCBias #bbcqt
yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/an-op…
#BBCBias #bbcqt
yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/an-op…
The "star" of the Home Office's grotesque immigration propaganda video is failed UKIPper Steven Woolfe, who nearly succeeded Farage as UKIP leader, until he was in a punch up in Strasbourg with a fellow kipper. He's also featured in #TuftonStreet's abysmal 'New Culture Forum'. 😬
Woolfe's English father was mixed race, born to a British Jewish mother & a Black American father, who abandoned Woolfe as a small child.
His first role as an Employed Barrister was acting as General Counsel for a stockbroking firm Merchant Securities Limited.
His first role as an Employed Barrister was acting as General Counsel for a stockbroking firm Merchant Securities Limited.
Woolfe moved to the Union Bank of Switzerland, London office in the legal & compliance department, & then went onto work for several investment banks such as Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital and Standard Bank as well as Aviva.
#THREAD
The @BBC will not broadcast an episode of David Attenborough’s flagship new series on British wildlife #WildIsles because of fears its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians & the billionaire-owned press.
theguardian.com/media/2023/mar…
The @BBC will not broadcast an episode of David Attenborough’s flagship new series on British wildlife #WildIsles because of fears its themes of the destruction of nature would risk a backlash from Tory politicians & the billionaire-owned press.
theguardian.com/media/2023/mar…
This is symptomatic of something terrible happening to Britain - a rapid slide away from a relatively open, unified, welcoming, forward-looking mature democracy, toward an insular, unwelcoming, backward-looking, polarised, infantilising authoritarian oligarchy.
The decision has angered the programme-makers & some insiders at the @BBC, who fear the corporation has bowed to pressure from lobbying groups with “dinosaurian ways”.
The latest row focuses on #WildIsles, narrated by David Attenborough, which is likely to be extremely popular.
The latest row focuses on #WildIsles, narrated by David Attenborough, which is likely to be extremely popular.
#THREAD
The #PREVENT Review was announced in 2019. Like the controversial Race Report, the Social Mobility Commission, & so much else, it's an ideological stitch up, headed by ex-director of the hard-right anti-Muslim Henry Jackson Society, William Shawcross.
And now this:
The #PREVENT Review was announced in 2019. Like the controversial Race Report, the Social Mobility Commission, & so much else, it's an ideological stitch up, headed by ex-director of the hard-right anti-Muslim Henry Jackson Society, William Shawcross.
And now this:
A draft of the "independent" #PREVENT review, led by William Shawcross, made the dangerously irresponsible claim that 'The Govt’s counter-terrorism programme has been too focused on right-wing extremism & should now crack down on Islamist extremism'.
In 1992, Old Etonian William Shawcross wrote an "admiring" biography of Rupert Murdoch, & in 2011 was appointed a member of the board of directors of the grotesque trans-Atlantic UK-based neoliberal/free-market 'think tank', the Henry Jackson Society.
#THREAD
Free to read article: 'The origins of ‘cakeism’: the British think tank debate over repatriating sovereignty & its impact on the UK’s Brexit strategy', exploring the notion the UK could keep certain EU benefits, or not suffer costs after Brexit.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Free to read article: 'The origins of ‘cakeism’: the British think tank debate over repatriating sovereignty & its impact on the UK’s Brexit strategy', exploring the notion the UK could keep certain EU benefits, or not suffer costs after Brexit.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
The analysis demonstrates how the assumptions behind what article author Andrew Glencross calls #cakeism, originated after 1992 in policy circles associated with #TuftonStreet 'think tanks' & the Conservative Party, particularly the European Research Group (ERG).
They argued that a free-trade alternative to the EU was easy to put in place by simply disaggregating preferred elements of the single market from supranationalism.
This article uncovers the origins of ‘cakeism’ - the notion the UK could keep certain EU benefits or not suffer costs after Brexit.
The assumptions behind cakeism originated after 1992 in policy circles associated with the Conservative Party.
…w-tandfonline-com.hallam.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.10…
The assumptions behind cakeism originated after 1992 in policy circles associated with the Conservative Party.
…w-tandfonline-com.hallam.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.10…
They misleadingly argued that a free-trade alternative to the EU was easy to put in place by simply disaggregating preferred elements of the single market from supranationalism.
A Westminster-centric perspective also meant these proto-Brexiters were unable to countenance any potential domestic disruption caused by leaving the EU.
#UPDATED
A Glossary of Right-Wing Terms & Phrases*
*as used by right-wing politicians & pundits, #TuftonStreet 'think-tanks', the right-wing press & right-wing 'influencers', Spiked, the Spectator, Times Radio, talkRADIO, & Britain's Fox News, GB News.
link.medium.com/T91uAdypAwb
A Glossary of Right-Wing Terms & Phrases*
*as used by right-wing politicians & pundits, #TuftonStreet 'think-tanks', the right-wing press & right-wing 'influencers', Spiked, the Spectator, Times Radio, talkRADIO, & Britain's Fox News, GB News.
link.medium.com/T91uAdypAwb
This creative, divisive, & profoundly misleading use of language by free-market elites, & the hard-right & far-right, has evolved gradually over the last forty years, emerging hand-in-hand with underregulated free-market capitalism, the #climatecrisis, & the #CostOfLivingCrisis.
The manufactured "war on woke" is a distraction, designed to divide voters.
Under cover of COVID, wealth has been transferred from poor to rich on an unprecedented & unimaginable scale, eroding democracy & resulting in hardship, conflict, mass death, & environmental collapse.
Under cover of COVID, wealth has been transferred from poor to rich on an unprecedented & unimaginable scale, eroding democracy & resulting in hardship, conflict, mass death, & environmental collapse.
#THREAD
Last year, the @GoodLawProject launched a legal campaign to uncover the insidious network of 'think-tanks' & lobby groups based around #55TuftonStreet.
These shadowy organisations have a disproportionate & harmful influence over UK politics.
goodlawproject.org/update/success…
Last year, the @GoodLawProject launched a legal campaign to uncover the insidious network of 'think-tanks' & lobby groups based around #55TuftonStreet.
These shadowy organisations have a disproportionate & harmful influence over UK politics.
goodlawproject.org/update/success…
The @GoodLawProject set out to expose who’s behind them & who’s funding them.
They've recently been looking into @RestoreTrustNT, who unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate the @nationaltrust & want to shut down debate on issues like slavery & LGBTQ+ rights.
bylinetimes.com/2022/10/27/the…
They've recently been looking into @RestoreTrustNT, who unsuccessfully tried to infiltrate the @nationaltrust & want to shut down debate on issues like slavery & LGBTQ+ rights.
bylinetimes.com/2022/10/27/the…
In 2021, 'Restore Trust' had 6,100 current & former @nationaltrust members - just 0.1% of its membership - & endorsed Stephen Green, leader of anti-homosexuality Christian fundamentalist lobby group, Christian Voice, which has claimed abortion is comparable to the #Holocaust.
#THREAD
May I join the legion of others saying 'who the fuck is Fiona Bruce MP?'
What do we know about the anti-abortion evangelical Christian Bruce?
And as so few voters have even heard of her, how on earth is she the MP with the fourth biggest outside earnings?
May I join the legion of others saying 'who the fuck is Fiona Bruce MP?'
What do we know about the anti-abortion evangelical Christian Bruce?
And as so few voters have even heard of her, how on earth is she the MP with the fourth biggest outside earnings?
Following her selection as the Conservative Party candidate for the Congleton constituency in 2010, Bruce denied allegations that she had been chosen following an orchestrated campaign by religious groups sympathetic to her evangelical Christian beliefs.
Bruce is a council member of the Evangelical Alliance - a national alliance & member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media & society.
eauk.org/about-us/
eauk.org/about-us/
The revolving door between journalists & 'think tanks' spins almost as quickly as the one between MPs & lobbyists. #Onward is another right-wing lobbying group in the style of, but not quite as extreme as #Tuftonstreet lobbyists.
Money buys influence. Tories represent the rich.
Money buys influence. Tories represent the rich.
Lesser-known 'Onward' is a UK-based 'think tank' producing research, & founded in 2018 by Will Tanner & one of the less ideologically extreme Tory MPs, Neil O'Brien. It is chaired by Danny Finkelstein - a former chairman of the free-market Policy Exchange.
#TuftonSt #HJS #HenryJacksonSociety
I don't know how I came across this, but I'm absolutely gob-smacked!
This is a detailed, lengthy, University of Bath report on just one #TuftonStreet "think tank" & how it intertwines with all the wheels & inner sanctums of govt
I don't know how I came across this, but I'm absolutely gob-smacked!
This is a detailed, lengthy, University of Bath report on just one #TuftonStreet "think tank" & how it intertwines with all the wheels & inner sanctums of govt
whilst its head office is in Millbank, this detailed report blew my mind - read it & think of all the so called think tanks that influence tory policies
this report shows how they could *all* potentially be inter-related
I've not seen so much detail before!
this report shows how they could *all* potentially be inter-related
I've not seen so much detail before!
