dan barker Profile picture
Jun 22, 2021 8 tweets 5 min read Read on X
In case you're wondering where 'One Britain One Nation Day' has come from:

It's not a government campaign. It's run by a guy called Kash Singh. He trademarked it in 2005, when he was a policeman.

It's sprung to attention because the Department for Education tweeted this today.
Various Twitter commentators positioned it as "Boris Johnson's" strategy, and claimed it was organised by the "Union Unit".

It is not Boris Johnson's strategy, and the overall idea has been around since 2005, so obviously not created by the (2019/20 founded) Union Unit.
It's actually popularised by Philip Davies MP and Esther McVey MP (who are married).

Philip has known Kash Singh for many years (Philip is MP for Shipley; Kash is a former West Yorkshire policeman, and lived in nearby Keighley)
This year, Esther McVey brought it up at Prime Minister's Questions, asking if Boris Johnson would support Kash Singh and OBON.
Yesterday, Philip Davies followed that up, asking Gavin Williamson if he'd endorse it and thank Kash Singh.

He did so, as you can see in this video.

Obviously, Boris Johnson had already given it a nod at PMQs, so Gavin Williamson would have to also support it when asked.

Gavin is Education Minister, which is why, a day later, the Dept for Education twitter account would put out this (now heavily ratiod) tweet.
Summary:

- Not a govt campaign
- Been round 15 years, run local to Esther McVey & Philip Davies constituencies for at least the last few
- This year they've successfully nudged their friend Kash & 'OBON' onto Boris & the DfE

Expect jokes on Friday & it to become an annual topic
As an add-on, a few have noted OBON had an all party parliamentary group. It *seems* that was fairly short-lived, though I guess could be reborn.

@andreajenkyns (another West Yorks MP) launched it with Kash in 2018, but it had already gone from the register of APPGs by Sep 2019

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More from @danbarker

Jun 20
The ‘Assisted Dying Bill’ is on the front page of many newspapers, and at the top of most news websites today.

It may feel like it has got to this stage organically, but much of its success is due to an extremely strong marketing campaign from one organisation - Dignity in Dying - some in public, some less immediately visible, spending six figures on average each month to make it happen.

Whether you are for the Bill, or against it, it is worth knowing a little about how things like this work, and the influence of marketing on lawmaking in the UK today.

Here is a thread summarising just a few of the marketing tactics used to achieve this, from the outside looking in...Image
Firstly: What is 'Dignity in Dying'?

- Dignity in Dying is not a charity, it is a limited company. They do not aim to make a profit - instead they aim to use the money they make (some of which is large donations, some a few pounds each month) to change the law

- Dignity in Dying used to be called the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, and changed names a number of times over their history

- In the last available accounts they spent over £100,000 average every month on campaigning to achieve Assisted Dying legislation

- They also have a ‘sister charity’ (Compassion in Dying). Many of the team, and the marketing experts on their boards, work across both of these organisations.

- At the same time Keir Starmer was elected PM, they appointed a new Chair who had worked directly with him for several years

- They are also behind much of the polling you see telling you how much people are in favour of Assisted Dying, and if you email the All Party Parliamentary Group on 'Choice at the End of Life', you are actually emailing Dignity in Dying

Without Dignity in Dying's work, it is likely the issue would not even be in parliament.Image
As one illustration of just how influential Dignity in Dying is, here is the information on the All Party Parliamentary Group on 'Choice at the End of Life'.

You may have seen the MPs listed here (red circle 1) talking about Assisted Dying. But: You have possibly not seen them explaining that their group's secretary, its point for enquiries, and essentially its funder (through benefit in kind) is Dignity in Dying itself.Image
Read 19 tweets
Oct 14, 2023
I went to take a look at the 'Palestine' protest in London today.

I guess I've seen more than 100 demos of one sort or another in London.

Most banners at this one were from either Socialist Worker, or 'Friends of Al Aqsa', which was formed by the optician @Ismailadampatel. Image
I asked various people what the Socialist Worker/Palestine connection was and even some people carrying 'Socialist Worker' branded signs did not to know. The Socialist Party had various recruitment gazebos at the start of the route too, so I asked there. Image
It felt slightly odd that they were using a demonstration against military action in Palestine so explicitly to try and recruit new members.

The man on the stand said the link was 'anti imperialism', and they recruit there as people are open to anti-capitalist movements. Image
Read 15 tweets
Apr 30, 2023
Here is a very short thread on this news story, and how the story has become bigger than it probably deserves to be:

If you read the text the BBC put out here, it says "Public *asked* to swear allegiance to King Charles"

That's not quite the case... Image
If you dig into it a bit, you find that strangely the news article itself switches the word 'asked' to 'invited'.

Those are pretty similar, but 'invited' is a slightly weaker word. Image
The word 'Public' also exaggerates the difference between 'invited' and 'asked':

'Public invited to attend gathering at parliament square' is different to 'Public asked to attend gathering at parliament square'.

(One means 'anyone may', one means 'everyone should')
Read 11 tweets
Sep 18, 2022
We decided to walk 'The Queue' today, but the wrong way: from the finish to the start.

Here is a short thread of photos, from the gates in front of Parliament Square back to the park in Bermondsey where people collect their wristbands to join the queue...
The exit is actually an odd spot - people leave, get asked if they're ok by Samaritans (a nice idea), and have to either force through the crowds of Whitehall, or wait to cross to the relative quiet of the square.
Here's the final outdoor bit of the queue - where people go through security, under the windows of Parliament, after they've looped through Victoria Towers Garden.
Read 24 tweets
May 10, 2022
On the value of proof reading, and unintended consequences:

There is an NFT project called Azuki. A month ago it would cost you around 34eth to buy one, which at the time was about $100k. Even at the current lows of the crypto market, they were selling at 25eth a few days ago...
As the crypto market has hit a rough patch, one of the team decided to write an article to talk about ups and downs, and that the way out of a crisis is to keep building.

Obviously, they didn't get it proof read too widely.
The blog post revealed - which the writer seemed to think fine - that the team had been involved in several 'rugs' (projects where other people had invested cash, and the team had just abandoned the project, pulling the rug on it).
Read 9 tweets
May 9, 2022
What an inspiring person.

The fund has just passed £500,000 (plus gift aid).

justgiving.com/campaign/Bowel…
This has now passed £600,000.

Worth reading the message, if you have not already.
And... this has now passed £1 million.

justgiving.com/campaign/Bowel…
Read 6 tweets

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