Some thoughts on the EHRC report into the Labour party, with the qualifier that I’m dosed up on pain meds….
The EHRC produced a strong, solid document. It shows that the issues Jewish people and others were highlighting as problems within the Labour party were, in fact, problems. Please read it.
Antisemitism is often pernicious and many still struggle to understand what it is. The EHRC report helps to clarify in several areas, especially on denialism. Please read it.
Reading it, I felt relief that Labour antisemitism has been handled seriously - but also frustration and disappointment that other minorities have not had complaints of racism taken as seriously. This is utterly wrong and has to change
(Here's a piece I wrote a few months back, about the EHRC not investigating Conservative Islamophobia lrb.co.uk/blog/2020/augu…)
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.
Finally, our media and political conversation on racism, including antisemitism, is absolutely woeful. It is fuelling misunderstanding and division and a climate in which it feels almost impossible to discuss these issues seriously or helpfully.
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It was manifestly clear that Boris Johnson was unfit to be prime minister. His many failings were known. Yet during last year’s election, much of our press rallied to declare him perfect for the job.
Let's look back at some election 2019 editorials shall we?
The Daily Mail on Boris Johnson: This man is a liberal, outward-looking, One-Nation Tory
The Sun: Boris has been in power only four months, hamstrung all along by a Remainer parliament. He could be a great PM and he deserves a chance.
The Times: Johnson’s “flaws are in plain sight” but everyone should vote for him to keep Corbyn out.
So much of the Sunday Times piece is utterly damning. This, among many lines: a source said preparations for no-deal Brexit "sucked all the blood out of pandemic planning". (But this crisis is not about politics, apparently)
A senior department of health insider:
“I had watched Wuhan but I assumed we must have not been worried because we did nothing.... We could have been Germany but instead we were doomed by our incompetence, our hubris and our austerity.”
Also: the British Healthcare Trades Association was ready to help supply PPE from February but it was only on April 1 that the government accepted its offer of help. Current shortages for NHS and care workers could have been avoided.