The Government just won, 319 votes to 246. We now have mandatory vaccinations in the UK following a snap vote no one knew about, with no evidence provided for it.
I suppose those 319 MPs will #clapforcarers as they sack them?
I am absolutely devastated for the carers, mostly women, who now face untold anxiety, intrusion, joblessness. Let alone the millions of other workers who now face vaccination demands at work due to the expanse of this law.
Where was the safety net for care workers? Or the press?
I am not saying this lightly, the pillars of democracy have absolutely crumbled over the past 18 months.
I am beyond furious.
I am going offline until morale resumes (and it will).
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The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill has second reading in the Commons today. And something strange has happened on the Labour front bench… 🧵
There are problems with this Bill. In practice, it could either make no material change (there are existing legal duties to protect free speech in education) or create more authoritative or political interference with what speech is deemed acceptable or not.
It also contradicts the Government’s Prevent duty, which requires educational institutions to take part in counter-terror-spying-lite, usually resulting in undue suspicion of young Muslims & speech-vetting. If they were serious about free speech, this would be first to go.
Maya’s case was hard for her & many women, esp @jk_rowling, who defended the right to hold the basic belief that sex should not be conflated w gender identity.
The judgment is rightly mindful of the risks trans people can face at work and the difference between beliefs, expression and harassment.
The abuse & silencing women have faced over recent years for basic expression about sex, gender + sex-based rights has been bullying tactics (mostly male) dressed as moral superiority. As always women overcome -esp thanks to @Womans_Place_UK facilitating debates despite hostility
Today's Grand Chamber judgment on UK mass interception definitively vindicates @Snowden's courageous whilstleblowing. The UK's surveillance was unlawful and breached millions of citizens' rights.
But in some ways this is just the end of the beginning of a longer journey...
Together, Snowden, journalists, lawyers, rights groups and supporters enabled this challenge + ensured much needed accountability. Safeguards will improve for millions of people.
But the Court missed an opportunity for a definitive judgment on the principle of mass interception.
Given @Snowden's demonstration of the change one person and one voice can bring, there is perhaps some poetic justice that - in my view - the most historic artefact from today is the dissenting opinion of one Judge Pinto de Albuquerque... Here's just a few extracts from him:
Hugging was never *not* allowed, but the fact absolutely no one in the media checked or questioned this, & that the commentariat seems A-OK with Michael Gove instructing the public on when they can/cannot embrace other humans, is why we’re now living in twilight totalitarianism👎
Ordinary people are just using their common sense about all this. The elitist fantasy of population micro-controls via regulations, statutory instruments, Govnt webpages that change every day, or Michael Gove’s disturbed stream of consciousness, are just that. Fantasy...
Also, this is the sort of territory where you will more or less never see The Fact Checkers who seem to have become more comfortable punching down than actually holding power to account.
The government, which isn’t known for its anti-discrimination credentials, will argue that Covid passes are not discriminatory because you can get the green tick via tests rather than vaccine/immunity.. 🥴 Wrong. Point missed. Here’s why...
First, the Covid pass is a health ID card for segregation via civilian enforcement. It will be a tool of oppression for bouncers, bosses, anyone with authority to police others. Like all suspicionless checks (stop & search) it will be used as a stick to beat marginalised groups.
Second, healthy people without vaccines would have to be tested more than lab rats, likely incurring time off work (soon college/uni?), possibly costs, with an unacceptably high risk of false positives that lead to more missed work, isolation and socio-economic disadvantage.
It’s crystal clear - as Britain falls into the grips of authoritarianism, the pillars of democracy we thought we had have already crumbled.
Because as this is happening, there is NO alarm ringing on the BBC, in parliament or even courts.
Barely. Even. Questions.
Amidst 24h rolling coverage of cases, there has been practically ZERO reflection in the media off the abuse of Ministerial diktat, urgent procedures, police abuses.
Now Christmas is banned just as parliament goes on recess & schools close.
Can anyone see the wood for the trees?
You don’t even need to encourage civil disobedience. Because people WILL see family members at Christmas if they’ve assessed it’s safe to do so.
If you call that a criminal offence, we are a nation of criminals.