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12 Oct, 7 tweets, 2 min read
Johnson says number of cases and hospitalisations are higher now than when we went into full national lockdown in March ...

So why are all his measures watered down compared with the lockdown measures in March - even in the Tier 3 areas? 🧵
So why is non-essential retail still open, even in Tier 3 areas?

Why when workplaces are shut is furlough only at 67% instead of 80% in March?

Risks people going out to find 2nd jobs ... and those families slipping into poverty. Why no floor for low waged workers?
Why haven't universities been told to switch to online teaching only?

Many unis have a reading week in a couple of weeks when students often go home - does that risk spreading infection? Should they go home and stay home?
Why was there an evictions ban in March, but no eviction ban now, even in Tier 3 areas?

This is a public health issue

Likewise the Everyone In policy to get street homeless people housed. Where is it? Especially for Tier 3 areas ...
In full national lockdown, the DWP suspended sanctions and conditionality.

Why hasn't it been suspended this time, even in Tier 3 areas?
SAGE recommended a full lockdown across England:
*banning contact inside homes with members of other households
*closing bars, restaurants, cafes, indoor gyms and hairdressers
*requiring university & college teaching to go online

Following the science? 🤔
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-545180…
"In the documents, Sage warned that "not acting now to reduce cases will result in a very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences"...[and] said NHS [Serco] Test and Trace was only having a "marginal impact" and this would "likely decline further" unless the system expanded"

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More from @FisherAndrew79

Andrew Fisher Profile picture
12 Sep
Five years ago today Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader, after an amazing campaign.

By far the definitive book on that period (and up to and including the 2017 election) is @alexnunns 'The Candidate' which captures the energy and optimism perfectly
orbooks.com/catalog/candid…
We were at the QEII centre to hear the result. Jeremy went into the green room with John McDonnell to be told the result. They’d go on stage before it was officially announced. John said if we’ve won he’d wear his tie, and if not he wouldn’t … or was it the other way around?
It didn’t much matter because John came out beaming, despite desperately trying to suppress it. And you can see why. His decades-long comrade had won by a landslide

Quite an achievement for the 200-1 outsider, who only scraped onto the ballot
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Fisher Profile picture
3 Sep
Seeing lots of simplistic "tax rises suck demand out of the economy" nonsense on here - including from people who should know better 🧵 1/n
Do you know what does suck demand out of the economy?

People paying over half their income in rent
Debt repayments at high interest rates
Profiteering utilities and rail overcharging their customers Low wages
Benefit caps or freezes (i.e. deregulation and austerity) 2/n
Of course, *some* tax rises would suck demand out of the economy at this time – e.g. increasing the basic rate of income tax, increasing NI, or hiking Council Tax ...

(but I haven't noticed anyone suggesting these - except Sunak hiking NI for self-employed, which is dumb) 3/n
Read 6 tweets
Andrew Fisher Profile picture
14 May
Interesting comments by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in the Telegraph today ... 👀

Remember when @jeremycorbyn said "austerity is a political choice, not an economic necessity"? Well, it was true then and it's true now ... 🧵
🏦Bailey says, "We can help to spread over time the cost of this thing to society and that to me is important. We have choices there and we need to exercise those choices"
But it's not just the Bank of England converting to anti-austerity economics ...

The IoD's Chief Economist argues, "The best way to address the public debt burden is actually by boosting growth and productivity. For now, the Treasury can tap low interest rates to help fund this"
Read 4 tweets
Andrew Fisher Profile picture
12 Apr
The revelations from that dossier are only surprising for the level of vitriol ...

When we won (with a 59% 1st round mandate in 2015) there was no support to a new incoming team (instead there was hostility) and resources were withheld. It was clear then we were being undermined
It was miraculous that we survived until the 2017 election – let alone delivered a result that was the only time Labour had gained seats at an election since 1997 (and the largest increase in share of the vote between elections since 1945).
The report exposes that the most senior party staff – who are supposed to be neutral in internal elections – organised (badly, evidently) to oppose Corbyn winning in 2015 and in 2016 (and even held discussions about organising another coup in 2017 - codenamed Operation Cupcake!)
Read 8 tweets
Andrew Fisher Profile picture
16 Jan
A quick THREAD on the controversy surrounding Zarah Sultana.

Firstly I know she’s new, and a youthful 26 years old, but don’t patronise her. She’s an elected MP, clearly capable and articulate and her words should be scrutinised just as any MP’s statements should be.
So what were the words in her maiden speech that caused controversy?
Well she’s proudly tweeted it here

N.B. It's the "40 years of Thatcherism" bit that has caused controversy
This has raised the ire of some who have misrepresented her as suggesting the Thatcher and Blair govts were the same
Neil Coyle MP rightly notes some of the great things New Labour did “introducing the Human Rights Act & National Minimum Wage… Sure Start programme & Tax Credits”
Read 12 tweets
Andrew Fisher Profile picture
10 Jan
Thread on Labour leadership ...

So Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips have passed the MP threshold … but they’re still a long way from getting on the ballot paper
1/n
... To do that they need to also get the support of 5% of constituency Labour parties (33 CLPs) or 3 affiliates (two of which must be unions and must together account for 5% of the affiliates section)
2/n
Getting 33 CLPs is not be easy:
In 2015 (a 4 horse race between Corbyn, Burnham, Cooper and Liz Kendall), Kendall only got 18 CLPs.
In a two-horse race in 2016 Owen Smith only managed 53
(not all CLPs will nominate either)
3/n
Read 8 tweets

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