This is an inaccurate, misleading and *entirely un-nuanced* claim about Keir Starmer's response to the Race Commission report. Disappointed to see @GoodwinMJ so over-simplify his nuanced response to the "nuanced report"
This is Starmer. "On the one hand there is an acknowledgement of the problems ... on the other hand, there is a reluctance to accept that that's structural". This is misdescribed by @GoodwinMJ as calling the British people racist. That is very *un-nuanced*
Here is Samir Shah of the Race Commission, saying that it does recognise institutional racism. (In the terms of the Matt Goodwin piece, we could now say the Race Commission is calling the British people racist by accepting the Macpherson definition)
One can definitely criticise tone & content of Lab MPs (eg KKK images) or other academic responses.
This is untrue factually of what Starmer
That "by extension" should be challenged. Its a hyper-polarising move, which simply misdescribes & closes down debate on systemic racism
Thread on the Systemic/Institutional racism debate.
Some talk radio or red-top columnists did go for "Macpherson called the British people racists" 20 years ago. But it's not possible to polemicise in that way & claim to be contributing to nuanced debate
Labour has important challenges on race. (So do the Conservatives, of a different kind). Should seek to find common ground.
Acknowledging structural factors is "by extension calling British people racist" is not something Straw & Blair (Macpherson) or Cameron, May govts thought.
Personally, I was surprised so few people (38%) say disagree, while 30% agree, when asked an unhelpfully binary question. (Strongly disagree/Strongly agree is smaller still)
Many people want a better, less binary and, yes, more nuanced debate please.
Prof Goodwin responds. He does not think it is misleading about Starmer (I disagree) and/or Labour/academics (OK, if want to conflate Starmer & Lewis) (& Prof Gopal too!). Lots of voters don't like Britain being called racist. (I agree)
Racism is a serious problem today has 77% support acc to @MiC_Global ... it is not a narrowly held view of people who think saying this is calling Britain racist
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Nobody alive did more to extend reach of racial hate in last 12 months
- replatformed those dedicated to hate, big increase in reach (eg Britain First. Patriotic Alternative. Tommy)
- introduced £ incentives that groom escalating hate
Where & how does the metaphor become actual scrutiny and sanctions?
What can existing tools be used to do?
What new bespoke or general interventions can govt/parliament consider this Autumn?
Elon Musk has personally by both his acts & omissions played a consequential role in making racist violence possible that would have been impossible at such pace & scale without his personal decisions as a corp leader. He is a live threat to our national security & cohesion
"The public will have to go in, & the public will have to sort this out themselves, & it'll be very, very brutal. I don't want them here. I don't want them to live here. They came under false pretences" - Douglas Murray widespread violence
"Probably hundreds of thousands... We have a couple of choices. One of them is - and I say this metaphorically *for the time being*, BUT its NOT that metaphorical. One is to stand up and the other is to beg on your knees ... the British soul is awakening and stirring with rage"
Full transcript. Murray foresees public violence at scale & says he would support, metaphorically for now + actually soon if govt doesn't remove. His targets for state/vigilante removal both asylum seekers who cross Channel+ those Muslims who are pro Hamas
This is the radicalised @elonmusk
sharing the deputy leader of the far right extreme Britain First group who has doctored a false headline.
The owner does not seem to attempt even cursory checks on what/who he is posting to share far right content including misinformation on X
I would propose @nickpickles now be called to go to No 10 or by the SoS to give specific assurances about what has been done to curb the plafform owner not CONTINUING to inflame racial tension in Britain by sharing extreme misinformation SEVERAL TIMES now
@nickpickles Of course X has broader responsibilities as all platforms do. That Mr @elonmusk is PERSONALLY a specific danger illuminates broader problem of X's platform policy. X chose to REPLATFORM dangerous racist groups + people that platform had excluded after the Christchurch massacre
Jacob Rees-Mogg pushes back very strongly against Steven Edgington's effort to relegitimise Enoch Powell. Even Edgington eventually concedes the language is incendiary and racist.
His father William Rees-Mogg wrote the Times editorial in April 1968: "an evil speech".
Powel is much more successful on immigration policy than Rees-Mogg says here: the 1971 immigration act ending Commonwealth free movement (and the 1981 act) reflect that. He loses the argument in 1968 about repatriation and the future of race relations. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
One in six people were born abroad: 10 million people in this society.
Almost one in three people in Britain are migrants, and/or the children and grandchildren of migrants. It is a very large minority of the whole population
The suspect/perpetrator was "the son of immigrants from Rwanda" as Professor Goodwin notes. One of the three victims in Southport was the daughter of an immigrant. Two of the six Tory leadership candidates are the son/daughter of migrants from Africa, a third of Indian immigrants
Child murder is shocking. Professor Goodwin is reinforcing an intuitive response that "the Cardiff-born son of immigrants from Rwanda" merits a different kind of response to "the school caretaker in Soham" or to shocking cases of child murder by other people born in Britain.
Bernie Spofforth @Artemisfornow has unprotected tweets
Much more defiant than apologetic about being crucial early disseminator of dangerous misinfo
She is obvs a unreliable witness: has already now given 3 or 4 mutually contradictory accounts of where she sourced the misinfo
She first claimed she believed the information to be "from a reputable news source" - but she posted it before any non-reputable feed masquerading as a news source had posted it. (No reputable news source ever reported the false information, which was legally restricted)
On July 30th, Spofforth named this poster Sean as her source of the fake name. He is not somebody who could be mistaken for a reputable news source. He posted this at 5pm, editing it at 5.01pm. This was clearly another false attribution of where she got the misinformation.