Thread by @karamballes

1/🧵Been wondering how much of a factor class and privilege have played in the UKs woeful pandemic response.

The arrogance of the establishment and its client media has been on full display this week with politicians and commentators believing they know better than scientists.

https://twitter.com/ReicherStephen/status/1358357447157645313

2/ People in power generally don't recognise the nepotism or cronyism that propelled them into their positions.

Most acknowledge the current cabinet arent the cream of Conservative thinkers, loyalty was the key characteristic for selection.

3/ I can appreciate why its difficult for some to accept the benefits of birth and the circles they move in, no one wants their achievements devalued, but its problematic when the privileged believe we live in a true meritocracy.

4/ Of course we do have some social mobility in the UK, however while some working class end up in powerful positions, we don't see the children of the powerful ending up in the powerless positions an increasing number of the working class face

5/ A low paid parent gives their 18 year old child £5 to stick in a fruit machine=irresponsible parenting

Jacob Rees-Mogg's dad gives him thousands to gamble on the stock market when he's early teens=fantastic parenting, CV highlight, sets him up for a career on finance

6/ Perhaps I should have said £5 to bet on horseracing as a better example.
Both racing and stocks are forms of gambling, but social attitudes to these are very different.
Ah but the context is different I'm sure people will say, and that's exactly the point.

7/ "The house always wins" is the recognised reality of normal gambling, the odds are stacked against the gambler.

Is this the case when it comes to financial markets?

The odds are stacked in favour of the rich, their hedge funds and trustfunds.

8/ Problem with ppl gaining positions due to privilege believing they deserve their position at the top is when they flip their thinking and start thinking that the people at the bottom deserve to be at the bottom, that inequality of wealth is the product of inequality of ability

9/ Recent flirtations with eugenics style thinking comes as no suprise.

British and in particular English exceptionalism begins at the top and trickles down, some of the establishments echo chambers distill the exceptionalism into the exceptionalism of the ruling classes.

10/ We end up with ministers confusing high income with "high value" in areas like migration, I always thought value was about what you get for your money.
I'd suggest a wealthy asset stripper doesn't provide the same value as a low paid care worker

11/ The sense of superiority, that they know better ends up producing some sickening attitudes.
IDS lecturing UC claimants
Mogg suggesting he would have survived Grenfel because of common sense.

And now they are applying the same superiority to science.

12/ This is how we end up with Toby Young telling virologists why they're mistaken
Chope debating Costello
As for the recent coordinated attacks on @chrischirp, these are despicable.
Too much of the media are the establishment, and so they give too much weight to their own views

13/ Superiority of privilege is shit when it comes to the science of pandemics.

Much of the media bought into the idea of herd immunity last March because they are too trusting of the politicians and lobbyists who move in the same circles combined with exceptionalism.

14/ Unfortunately the attitude of those who think they know better than the general scientific consensus (and there is one, dont believe the RW rags who try to make out the community is evenly divided) has influenced policy leading to poor decisions like delayed measures and

15/ rushed reopenings. I heard a Tory peer this weekend saying we should end lockdown now to get ahead of the curve.
Its not just failing to understand epidemiology, its once again a sense that every other country is getting it wrong.

16/ And the tribalism of the press means they end up backing ignorant and arrogant politicians against expert professionals.
I'm tired of media pundits working safely from home telling us how much risk they're willing for others to take.

17/ Groups disproportionately impacted by Covid are those who have lost out for a generation due to class influencing politics
High density housing, already poorer health outcomes, inadequate sick pay to support isolation, these living and work conditions increase transmission

18/ We have a warped debated in the UK, the press briefings get more questions about foreign holidays than about agency workers who slipped through the cracks in furlough or the lack of masks in classrooms.

19/ We see the impacts of class in the education system.
Eton paid around £45k in September to provide regular PCR testing while in January state schools got unreliable LFTs and were even expected to replace isolation with these until pressure forced a u-turn.

20/ The fact we have the largest class sizes in Western Europe, and are 10 years into a retention crisis, with many education setting overcrowded and poorly ventilated due to lack of investment means our education system is inherently less covid secure than other countries

21/ Eton shut a week early before Christmas without mention. State schools trying to do the same were threatened with court action.

Nurseries are still fully open so parents can continue working.

22/ Look at the attitude on law enforcement and its reporting, how much attention do house parties get in comparison to employers not protecting their workers with appropriate safety measures?

Only one I can think of is the clothes factory in Leicester.

23/ Their arrogance in their ideology combined with cronyism has led to the awarding of contracts that have weakened our response.

Test and Trace was supposed to be our most powerful tool for cutting transmission, saving lives and protecting the economy.

24/ So if someone asks why the UK response has been so bad I think my answer will be..

Our class system

Lack of accountability, narrative, policy, procurement, working and living conditions, a crumbling welfare state, health inequality, class is a factor in all of these

25/ We need to be pandemic proofing our country, the measures will benefit the majority because during a pandemic we can see the problems of the poor are the problems of the whole.