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Ian Dunt Profile picture
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17 May, 4 tweets, 1 min read
Instead of being able to embrace our newfound freedom today, it's all couched in uncertainty because Boris Johnson let the Indian variant in. And now he's setting up his next mistake.
The APPG warned about this last month: passengers from red, amber & green list countries mixing for extended periods in overcrowded arrival halls, allowing for further transmission, which could then be seeded back into the community.
And yet nothing is done. We just crack on, making the same old mistakes, putting at risk everything we've sacrificed. Maybe we'll be alright. Maybe we won't.
What's heartbreaking is that today we could be celebrating opening up with a sense of confidence that we'll never have to go through an extended lockdown again. But we're not. Because Boris Johnson absolutely cannot learn how to get his head out of his arse.

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More from @IanDunt

Ian Dunt Profile picture
18 May
Government must be patting itself on the back for somehow making the Indian variant story about people who refuse the vaccine. Incredible to see journalists accept this narrative without the slightest critical appraisal of it.
There's a chance it has a minor role, but in reality vaccine refusal numbers are extremely low. The threat of a more transmissible variant is about tiny percentages of very large numbers of infections overwhelming the NHS and driving us back into lockdown.
And the reason we're facing that threat is because Boris Johnson allowed it in the country. Even now, he has not put in place the measures, like financial support for isolation, which could halt the spread.
Read 4 tweets
Ian Dunt Profile picture
17 May
They are fucking this up at extraordinary speed.
Fool that I am, I actually thought Johnson might have learned something when he unveiled that slow exit from lockdown.
We're now back to where we were after the first lockdown: great big leaking holes in the strategy, muddled and impenetrable government communication & belated decision-making.
Read 6 tweets
Ian Dunt Profile picture
14 May
Not commenting on the Beckett thing, but generally: I notice a lot of commentary on how Patel can be so anti-immigration given her heritage. It's very widespread, including among people I admire. And it's actually a bit messed up.
I get it emotionally. There are members of my Latino family in the US who voted Trump, which made me furious at the time with the lack of solidarity.
But people are not defined by their ethnicity. Acting like Asians are betraying their heritage because they have right-wing views, or take anti-immigration positions, basically robs them of the freedom of political conscience which white people enjoy.
Read 5 tweets
Ian Dunt Profile picture
11 May
There was no reason for the Indian variant to even get to the UK. It happened because Boris Johnson was weeks too late - once again - banning travel from the country.
India announced it was concerned about the variant on 24 March. The UK put Pakistan and Bangladesh on the red list on 9 April - but inexplicably excluded India.
It finally announced that it would put India on the red list on 19 April, but tabled it for later in the week, which encouraged people to squeeze onto flights before the deadline.
Read 5 tweets
Ian Dunt Profile picture
9 May
Minor shadow Cabinet reshuffle in the end.
Rayner made, well, lord of all sorts of stuff: Deputy Leader, Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.
Dodds goes from shadow chancellor to Party Chair & Chair of Labour Policy Review. Rachel Reeves takes her old job.
Read 8 tweets
Ian Dunt Profile picture
9 May
A few siren voices say Labour should just give up on the Red Wall, as it can't win it back and anyway shouldn't appeal to those values. That would be suicide.
First electorally. Let's say everything went right for Labour at the next election: SNP taking seats off Tories, Lib Dems securing LD-Tory marginals, some rapidly liberalising suburban seats going Labour.
They would still need Red Wall seats. And certainly they'd need to not lose any more. That's the only way to remove Johnson from power, let alone get a majority.
Read 7 tweets

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