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George Monbiot

8 Nov, 10 tweets, 2 min read

I'm sorry to deflate the mood, but I think it's now time to face some cold realities.
1. It's brilliant that Trump lost, but Biden epitomises the reasons why Trump came to power: the neoliberal consensus that killed people's faith in politics.
theguardian.com/books/2016/apr…
Thread/

2. As parties of the right and former left adopted similar neoliberal policies, disempowerment turned to disenfranchisement. Large numbers of people were drawn to the anti-politics that Trump seemed to represent.

3. Biden will take the reins just as the pandemic and accompanying economic crisis come to a head. Though he didn’t cause them, he will be blamed. He’s in danger of becoming the 21st Century’s Herbert Hoover.

4. *If* he seeks any substantial political reform, he will be hampered by a (probably) Republican Senate and a definitely hostile Supreme Court.

5. Trump demonstrated the absence of effective checks and balances in the US political system, and blazed a trail for other demagogues to follow.

6. Trump might be power-mad and entirely lacking in conscience and empathy, but he is also chaotic and incompetent and lacked a clear programme. In other words, he was a hopeless would-be dictator. Next time we might not be so lucky.

7. He has opened the door to something much worse: an intelligent psychopath.

8. Because there was no blue wave, Biden, even if so inclined, cannot change the outrageously slanted electoral college system, or the allocation of Senate seats. US elections will continue to grant disproportionate weight to rightwing extremists.

9. Biden will say the right things, but his presidency will be characterised by paralysis. This means that all the issues that led to Trump’s election – disillusionment, frustration, anger, polarisation – could be worse in 2024.

10. There might not be a solution. I fear the US could be intrinsically crocked: constitutionally padlocked, beholden to the power of money, irredeemably divided. But at least we should be honest about the problem.

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More from @GeorgeMonbiot

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

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New and exciting:
We're planning what we believe is the world's first live investigative documentary, @rivercide_live
It will investigate a massive and neglected issue: river pollution.
It's low-budget and entirely crowdfunded.
Please help:
kickstarter.com/projects/frann…
Thank you!

Mainstream broadcasters have terribly neglected these issues, with the result that neither the polluters nor the UK's 4 governments are feeling any pressure to stop the death of our beautiful rivers. Bypassing the broadcasters, we'll use a new technique to focus public attention.

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George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

5 Nov

I understand the arguments for keeping schools open.
But why are we pretending that the measures required to make them safe have been taken?
That school staff won't die?
That outbreaks in schools won't spread into the community?
Please read and RT. Thanks
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Not a penny has been allocated by the government for the refurbishments required to make schools safe.
£500m was given to restaurants.
Billions to corporations in opaque, untendered contracts.
But NOTHING for schools.
questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questi…

There was nothing very complicated about it.
The government could have spent the summer holidays carrying out an emergency programme of school works: ventilation systems, windows that open, Nightingale classrooms etc.
It did nothing.
Literally nothing.

Read 10 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

3 Nov

The latest shocking coronavirus scandal:
Like the health department, the Department for Education has quietly replaced experienced clinicians with call centre workers employed by Serco. It's one reason why disaster looms in England's schools.
My column.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

The lockdown will be another failure without a massive, emergency programme of school refurbishment, extra premises and professional health advice. But no such help is on offer.
So school epidemics will spread back into the community, and we'll be stuck in the cycle again.

If the government had set out to screw this up, it couldn't have done a better job. The massive suffering caused by this pandemic will continue until it treats public health more seriously than corporate profits.

Read 7 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

2 Nov

This is the kind of misinformation that can kill people.

Peter Hitchens vs Reality.

@ClarkeMicah

Note how @ClarkeMicah (Peter Hitchens) chooses a graph that ends just before the second peak begins, and tweets it *this morning* to suggest there is no peak. This is a genuinely dangerous act of spreading false information.

I'm afraid it is consistent with his record of climate science denial, his denial of atrocities in Syria, and other outrageous distortions of the truth.

Read 4 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

28 Oct

If you can bear it, please read these four articles, published across 5 months, in sequence. They show how and why the total fiasco of the government's Covid-19 response unfolded.
First: how the government deliberately stood down the system.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Second: how the government bypassed not only the NHS, but all reasonable standards of accountability and transparency in awarding contracts to bizarre corporations: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Third: how it completely trashed the test and trace system by replacing professional civil servants with an incompetent chumocracy:
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Read 7 tweets

George Monbiot

@GeorgeMonbiot

28 Oct

I hope you’re sitting down, because this week’s column should make you very, very angry.
It shows how professional clinicians employed by the NHS in crucial test and trace jobs have been secretly replaced by teenaged call centre workers employed by Serco
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Last week's column covered a major test and trace scandal. But this, in my view, is much worse. Just as we urgently need to improve the failing system and make it accountable, it is deskilled and further privatised.

How the hell are we going to escape the pandemic?

Aside from the fact that this makes the £12bn programme even less likely to succeed, the effect on the young people forced to take on the jobs of health professionals is devastating. No qualifications, no proper training, thrust into roles for which they're entirely unprepared.

Read 8 tweets

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