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Liz Webster 🔶

@LizWebsterLD

10 Aug

Stanley Johnson, like father, like son. Interview from 2009 about his book which is crammed with insights into the Johnson family psyche.

All the things people suspect of Boris are found to be true of his father, by his own account.

independent.co.uk/news/people/pr…

Stanley has fixated on overpopulation yet he’s not embarrassed about having 6 kids and just treats it as a bit of a joke. "The population explosion was taking place in the Third World."

The implication is that the planet should be jolly glad to have so many Johnsons.

Their money comes from an ancestor who left the family farm on Exmoor to find his fortune in the City of London. They have genetic links to Turkish politics and George II.

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Liz Webster 🔶

@LizWebsterLD

7 Aug

Brexit has damaged 🇬🇧position as a gateway to Europe for imported goods and increased red tape

As Thatcher said we were the gateway to Europe, to get investment from Japan here: Honda, Nissan, whatever. So once you’ve imported it, it’s then free to go anywhere.

Thread

There’s now no point. Unless it’s going to terminate in the UK, what’s the point in bringing it here? If it’s going to go into Europe, go to Paris or wherever it may be. And we are seeing that stuff that used to come here is just not coming here anymore.

But Brexit is no longer the only problem on the table, with the prices of imported goods skyrocketing due to the pandemic

For air freight, the prices have doubled or tripled in just getting stuff out the country.

Read 4 tweets

Liz Webster 🔶

@LizWebsterLD

24 Jul

The Times today makes it clear that Johnson is approaching make or break.

Asked to contemplate whether Johnson could be guaranteed to return to form after the pandemic a backbencher said, “Bloody hell. I hope so. I mean, if not, we are all finished.”
1/4

Johnson’s ready made deal is still in the freezer.

Some of the economic consequences of hard Brexit are becoming clear.

Johnson risks being judged to have over promised and under delivered. A populist who offered simple solutions to complex problems.

@BorisJohnson

Proceeding with #FreedomDay despite soaring infection rates and rising hospitalisation….. if it ends badly, with deaths soaring and an NHS staring again at disaster, then that will finish @BorisJohnson

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Liz Webster 🔶

@LizWebsterLD

11 Jul

11,225 volunteers took psychological tests before the referendum and were asked how they intended to vote.

Results suggest that leavers tended to be less numerate, more impulsive and more prone to accept the unsupported claims of authoritarian figures.

thetimes.co.uk/article/da4760…

Authoritarian people, who favour conformity and obedience, make up about a third of the population. In 🇺🇸 they account for a higher proportion of voters for Donald Trump.
The research suggests there may be similar splits in the UK.

“Participants expressing an intent to vote to leave reported significantly higher levels of authoritarianism and conscientiousness . . . than those voting to remain,” researchers said in a paper submitted to the Public Library of Science journal.

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Liz Webster 🔶

@LizWebsterLD

1 Jul

45% thinks 🇬🇧 public made the right decision in deciding to leave the EU in 2016,

BUT an extremely close 44% think it was the wrong decision.

12% don’t know.

82% don’t regret the way they voted!

redfieldandwiltonstrategies.com/vast-majority-…

People asked if Brexit was right or wrong decision according to their 2016 vote is interesting.

It shows that more Remain voters have moved against Remain than Brexit voters against Brexit.

Probably due to #vaccines bounce.

People asked if they believe Brexit is a right/wrong decision via region, shows where the work is needed by activism.

Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 is mirroring 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Read 5 tweets

Liz Webster 🔶

@LizWebsterLD

29 Jun

‘Population Matters’ with patrons: David Attenborough, Chris Packham, Jane Goodall said in 2013 that 🇬🇧 should accept no refugees from Syria.

Britain they believe is full. Neighbouring Arab states ought to deal with the problem.

opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…

Population Matters has long called for “zero net-migration” to 🇬🇧 “one in, one out” - a position more extreme than the BNP. There was also a suggestion that child benefit/tax credits should be scrapped for third and subsequent children.

Malthusian arguments have been used to justify brutal policies ever since the British civil servant responsible for Ireland, Sir Charles Trevelyan, wrote that the great famine there was an “effective mechanism for reducing surplus population”.

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