Yet another shameless, regressive divisive, & purely ideological culture war appointment, as UK’s ‘strictest’ headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh is made social mobility chief. Up there with Nadine Dorries as Culture Secretary.

Smile - or else.

By far the worst ever British Govt.
An utterly absurd gaslighting tragedy.

theguardian.com/society/2021/o…
Says everything that headteacher of a "free school" Katharine Birbalsingh confused Lord of the Flies (about a group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island) with Lord of the Rings (about hobbits featuring a Dark Lord striving for world domination by magic & physical violence).
Just another grotesque hypocrite. No wonder the sociopathic Tories love her.
Remember all that populist nationalist 'Strong Britain, Great Nation' bullshit? Birbalsingh advocates the singing of patriotic songs such as I Vow To Thee My Country or Jerusalem in school assemblies, saying they'd make teenagers feel proud to be British.

telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/…
Inevitably, she's another #Spiked crank, arguing that #BlackLivesMatter undermines teaching children to take personal responsibility, encourages violence & exacerbates racism by making debates harder & encouraging black teenagers to focus on "identity politics or victimhood". 🤪
She claims poor teaching & lack of discipline in classrooms has meant that lessons on black history & slavery are 'improperly communicated' & that #BLM narrows slavery down to the transatlantic slave trade & not other examples of slavery from history.

The hard-right adore her.
In a 2021 debate hosted by the hard-right free-market propaganda outfit, the Henry Jackson Society, Birbalsingh asserted her opposition to what she described as the growth of "woke culture" in education, arguing that it is more focused on "making children into revolutionaries".🤪
She's a Breitbart favourite, letting them into her school, & has retweeted Qanon accounts' fake BLM teaching resources. There was also #pumpkingate, where she signalled to the hard-right her *hilarious* "anti-woke" credentials. Surprised she isn't already a GB "News" presenter...
Remember, she's Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, which will be every bit as pointless, divisive & partisan as the horrific Race Commission was.

It's just another excercise in garnering culture war headlines, & she'll puke out her entirely predictable culture war schtick.
Here she is banging on about 'white privilege' (AGAIN) & stupidly comparing it to "third born privilege".

She really believes nationalism & discipline are the solutions to poverty & inequality, & social or structural factors/conditions should be ignored.

She arrogantly asuumes she has 'the answers', & is utterly devoid of humility. There's zero point in a Social Mobility Commission because she thinks experts, charities or anyone disagreeing with her are just wrong, BECAUSE SHE KNOWS BEST. She doesn't care what anyone else thinks!
Basically, she believes everyone should just STFU about poverty, inequality & racism.

She's the living embodiment of the Mail/Telegraph.

It's all so tired, predictable, & harmful.

She & the Government push a poisonous divisive elite ideology that's barely changed in 100 years.
Allow me to briefly spell out why it’s such a grotesque, divisive, poisonous & misleading ideology.

It’s starting place is that anyone who just works hard, takes risks & has a positive attitude, can succeed - can get rich.

This is a lie perpetuated under free-market capitalism.
This is NOT to deny that hard-work, risk-taking & a positive attitude MIGHT increase your chances of success, but it's only a small part of the story.

It’s an ideology which believes in survival of the fittest & that ideally nobody should receive anything from the 'nanny state'.
This ideology believes ‘market forces’ alone will somehow magically ensure a happy & healthy population, with opportunities for all.

In REALITY, it's delivered low-paid insecure work, failing public services, mass poverty, grotesque inequality & a dangerously polarised society.
This failed ideology ignores or downplays the crucial role of the conditions into which people are born, which can & do profoundly shape & influence a person’s ability to "succeed”: prisons aren’t full of working-class people because working class people are inherently criminal!
This ideology protects & rewards the *already* grotesquely wealthy, & ignores the fact that social mobility is worse now than it was in the 1950s - & this is NOT due to a lack of discipline in schools, nor is it due to concerned citizens discussing inequality, poverty or racism!
This ideology survives despite the overwhelming evidence of its abject failure, because the rich & powerful protect their wealth & power in no small part by investing in newspapers, broadcast media, magazines, think tanks & institutions which deliberately mislead & divide voters.
They scapegoat & demonise the poor, minorities, migrants, foreigners & anyone or anything that poses a threat to them - especially the Left - & they deploy people like Katharine Birbalsingh to paper over the gaping wounds & hide obvious truths with shallow, misleading soundbites.
The idea that 'discipline is the best medicine for poverty' is beyond absurd: racism, poverty & inequalities aren't going to be magically resolved by having more reactionary conservative voices in universities or regressive disciplinarians in schools.

longviewoneducation.org/diversity-thou…
Spiked, Breitbart & Tory favourite Birbalsingh means Culture Wars ON STEROIDS.

Apparently, unlike middle-class parents *NONE* of the BAME parents of kids that go to Birbalsingh's school are 'well-informed' & they "don't really listen to the news". 😳

The Tories have persuaded voters there’s a threat worse than fuel shortages: the goal of the culture wars (particularly the ‘war on woke’) is to make people think that while things are bad, they could be a lot worse if the left was in power.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Birbalsingh on social mobility: "The idea is that if you're born to poor parents or if you're born to rich parents, you ought to have the same opportunity to be able to do WHATEVER YOU WANT with your life & at the moment that is PERHAPS not the case".
WTF?
Birbalsingh: “If a child says teacher is being racist, back the teacher. Whatever the child says, back the teacher. If you don’t, you are letting the child down & allowing them to play you for a fool.”

Dangerously irresponsible & unprofessional bullshit.

independent.co.uk/voices/racism-…
The suggestion that no British teacher has ever been racist toward a pupil is grotesque. Silencing their victims is even worse.

There's a growing body of evidence not just around unconscious bias, but about incidents of explicit racism in our schools.

independent.co.uk/news/education…

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More from @docrussjackson

11 Oct
Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to rewrite the rules of the UK economy ft.com/content/e1028d…
Financial Times September 2019: "A Corbyn Govt promises a genuine revolution in the British economy. Labour’s leadership intends to pursue not only a fundamental change in ownership & tax but a systemic effort to embed reform in a way that future parties will struggle to unpick."
"At the heart of everything is one word: redistribution - of income, assets, ownership & power. The mission is to shift power from capital to labour, wresting control from shareholders, landlords & other vested interests & putting it in the hands of workers, consumers & tenants."
Read 31 tweets
10 Oct
Iain Duncan Smith 💰 #THREAD

Register of Members' Financial Interests at 4/10/21 (04/2020 – 08/2021):

Daily/Sunday Telegraph £10,565 for 43 articles

Sun: £5,110 for 12 articles

Daily/Sunday Mail £2,250 for 4 articles

Daily/Sunday Express £1,150 for 3 articles

Total £19,075
For around 12 hours/month as an Adviser to the Board of Byotrol Technology Ltd, which develops & produces anti-viral/anti-bacterial) products, he gets £25,000 a year.

IDS used to have shares, but curiously they aren't (yet - unless he's cashed in?) declared in the Register.
In August 2021, revenue almost doubled at Byotrol - its pre-tax profits rocketed by more than 600% during its latest financial year, reporting a revenue of £11.2m for the 12 months to March 31, 2021, up from the £6m it achieved during the prior year.

business-live.co.uk/manufacturing/…
Read 4 tweets
9 Oct
Free speech hypocrisy #THREAD

The Right on:

Critical Race Theory: 'Has NO place in Universities!'

Anti-Capitalism - 'Has NO place in schools!'

Pro-Palestine - 'Has NO place in Universities!'

Gender Critical feminism - 'These views MUST be heard in Universities!'

#bbcaq
Free speech is obviously extremely important. But it requires intelligence, context & nuance - not culture war rhetoric.

Would *anyone* support giving a public platform to paedophiles promoting child rape? Or terrorists promoting murder? Or neo-Nazis promoting another holocaust?
Please don't assume that I'm saying there isn't a problem with discussion of some issues. The debate around Kathleen Stock makes it crystal clear that there is: some claim she's transphobic & should be sacked, while others passionately disagree & insist her views should be heard.
Read 17 tweets
9 Oct
Matt Goodwin is a lobbyist for the libertarian tax-dodgers of the Legatum Institute. They love doing culture war BS.

Legatum represent US Libertarian billionaires, fund GB News, & downplay climate change.

I do wish #bbcaq would let their listeners know.

li.com/bio/professor-…
"Goodwin’s Bore: Pretending that the right-wing press isn’t obsessed with the culture war is ludicrous... but being ludicrous is Professor Matthew Goodwin's greatest professional strength. And he'll eat a book of your choice to prove it."

brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/goodwins-bor…
Read 4 tweets
9 Oct
I do wish #bbcaq would let their listeners know what an outsider shit-stirring culture wars crank Matthew Goodwin is before unleasheing his divisive rhetoric on us.
Matt Goodwin is a lobbyist for the libertarian tax-dodgers of the Legatum Institute. They love doing culture war BS.

Legatum represent US Libertarian billionaires, fund GB News, & downplay climate change.

I do wish #bbcaq would let their listeners know.

li.com/bio/professor-…
"Goodwin’s Bore: Pretending that the right-wing press isn’t obsessed with the culture war is ludicrous... but being ludicrous is Professor Matthew Goodwin's greatest professional strength. And he'll eat a book of your choice to prove it."

brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/goodwins-bor…
Read 4 tweets
9 Oct
So unhinged shit-stirring free-market culture wars plank Matthew Goodwin is now on #bbcanyquestions spouting his one-sided divisive rhetoric.

Follow the money.

#bbcaq
Matt Goodwin is a lobbyist for the libertarian tax-dodgers of the Legatum Institute. They love doing culture war BS.

Legatum represent US Libertarian billionaires, fund GB News, & downplay climate change.

I do wish #bbcaq would let their listeners know.

li.com/bio/professor-…
"Goodwin’s Bore: Pretending that the right-wing press isn’t obsessed with the culture war is ludicrous... but being ludicrous is Professor Matthew Goodwin's greatest professional strength. And he'll eat a book of your choice to prove it."

brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/goodwins-bor…
Read 4 tweets

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