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Mafevema #CommonGround Profile picture
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25 Feb, 4 tweets, 2 min read
I read this article by @OborneTweets when it was published. I reread it tonight. I found it even better. On this day when @MPGeorgeEustice has been allowed to get away with lying once again about the "shellfish ban" that never was (a simple subject on 2/
opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…
which any good journalist could inform him/herself in 30mn, Oborne's article is a searing analysis of the sad state of affairs we are in. The daily repetition without shame of truly gigantic lies is unbelievably corrosive. It is soul destroying. It stains us all. 3/
The lazy cowards who allow these lies to be propagated without challenges & allow themselves to be used as conduit for propaganda for the sake of basting in their warm proximity to Power should not be called journalists. They are mere mouthpieces. The fact that they remain 4/
occasionally capable of producing good journalism - provided that is that they probe only those who are not in power- make them even more despicable.

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More from @mafevema

Mafevema #CommonGround Profile picture
20 Feb
Why is Johnson's speech at the Munich conference hailed in some quarters, even by some journalists that should know better, as "a major policy speech" with "substance"? I went to read it expecting for once to be pleasantly surprised. Alas! Thread gov.uk/government/spe…
It is full of the usual misplaced optimism not backed by any serious analysis, jingoism & digs at other EU leaders with transparent, nearly servile efforts to regain favour with the new US administration. A few examples:
The speech starts with the trademark rethorical device beloved of the UK right (whether to attack "woke' culture or pro-EU sentiments): A wildly exaggerated overblown simplistic statement that you then go on to "disprove"
Read 15 tweets
Mafevema #CommonGround Profile picture
19 Feb
Yes. David Frost is there to implement the deal, nothing more than the deal & to hold the line on sovereignty at any costs.
This will suit not just the UKG but the EU too. At least Frost is unlikely to moan about the direct consequences of his refusal to compromise e.g on mobility or SPS
It may have the advantage that he will tell the brutal truth to businesses. At least business eill know where they stand: in a very lonely place where they are seen as potential casualties for the greater good. Tories like Frost likely think it a benefit to get rid of the "weak"
Read 9 tweets
Mafevema #CommonGround Profile picture
9 Feb
I thought I would take a look at the SPS agreement recently entered into by New Zealand & the EU. Specifically to understand why entering into such an agreement would be an INTOLERABLE INFRINGEMENT of the UK sovereignty which was the reason the UK refused a similar SPS deal? 🧵
I also wanted to check whether it would be a pragmatic step for improving trade between the UK & EU in relation to all the issues on fish, oysters (bivalve molluscs), rotting pigs, seeds, we have heard about in recent days. Here it is:
eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…)
The agreement (SPSA) aims "to facilitate trade in live animals & animal products between the EU & NZ by establishing a mechanism for the recognition of EQUIVALENCE of sanitary measures maintained by the2 Parties consistent with the protection of public & animal health". Shocking?
Read 9 tweets
Mafevema #CommonGround Profile picture
9 Feb
No surprise there. Good article.
And good comments on the "perceived" left-wing bias of the BBC:
"I say “perceived”, because the new director general of the BBC is a former Conservative councillor, its new chairman has donated £400,000 to the party in recent years, and opaquely-funded right-wing think-tanks have a regular spot on BBC political debate programmes.
Read 4 tweets
Mafevema #CommonGround Profile picture
8 Feb
Flexibility & pragmatism work both ways. The obdurate hostility of the UK & its refusal to soften its rigidity on the "sovereignty mantra" on a multitude of what should have been purely technical & pragmatic issues injecting dogma into them, will provoke theguardian.com/politics/2021/…
rigidity in return.The UKG's propension to negotiate technical issues in the glare of the tabloids with public letters, making them political points, rather than working quietly in committees behind the scene is entirely counterproductive. As pointed out by @MatthewOToole2 there
are obvious technical fixes like agreeing alignment on rules for food, plants & animal origin products .
Read 5 tweets
Mafevema #CommonGround Profile picture
8 Feb
A great article by @NickCohen4 but also worrying. "The Tories wanted to use the fury of the Ulster Protestants Carson led as a weapon against the Liberal government."
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Perhaps the Tories want to use the furor of Unionist as a weapon again but this time against the EU & Ireland which outsmarted them at every turn of the negotiation?Perhaps Gove really wants to destroy the GFA?
You write that the Tories then "did not care that rejecting Home Rule would lead to war in Ireland". Can we assume they, ruthless as they are, would care that rejecting the NI Protocol would lead to a hard border in the island & a renewal of hostilities?
Read 6 tweets

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