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@docrussjackson

4 Dec

#THREAD on press responses to Arthur.

Some people DO need removing from society.

It's often impossible to know exactly what caused or motivated their despicable behaviour: some have been abused themselves, others have psychological problems, there may even be biological causes.

Whatever the cause, some behaviours are intolerable, & it's only right that they should be removed from society.

But it is often impossible to be 100% certain about what motivated a person to engage in cruelty toward children.

There's certainly something wrong with them.

However, certain sections of the press are imho deeply irresponsible in their reporting of child abuse.

What I object to is the predictable, instant, & speculative demonisation of social workers, police officers & doctors by some sections of the press, without knowing the facts.

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@docrussjackson

3 Dec

#THREAD

The horrific news about Arthur has of course shocked, angered, & distressed all of us.

And I hate to say it, but the predictable, instant, & opportunistic politicisation of this tragic case by the usual toxic newspapers, makes me feel sick & angry.

Here we go again...

In January 2003 Lord Laming published the report of his official inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie.

She had been sent to Britain by her parents from the Ivory Coast, in the hope she would receive a better education. She was in the care of her great-aunt.

With her boyfriend she systematically tortured Victoria over several years until she died in 2000. The aunt and boyfriend were imprisoned for life for murder in 2001. An official inquiry was immediately announced.

The inquiry lasted 62 days and took evidence from 128 witnesses.

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@docrussjackson

2 Dec

#THREAD

In 2019, one of the USA's foremost civil liberties lawyers published a book describing how America’s constitutional checks & balances were being pushed to the brink by a president consciously following Hitler’s extremist propaganda & policy template from the early 1930s.

@Conservatives

Imho, the rhetorical & policy similarities displayed by Boris Johnson & the UK's @Conservatives, to the ones used by the Nazis & the Trump administration, are now impossible to ignore.

British democracy is under threat.

milwaukeeindependent.com/articles/civil…

Trump "became the twenty-first-century master of divisive rhetoric... Hitler didn’t take power by force. He used a set of rhetorical tropes codified in Trump’s bedside reading that persuaded enough Germans to welcome Hitler as a populist leader."

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@docrussjackson

2 Dec

#THREAD on #ToryLies.

Over the last week, Priti Patel lied about funding to tackle domestic violence, Gillian Keegan lied about Randox, Sajid Javid lied about Govt promises, Matt Hancock lied about #NHS contracts, & Boris Johnson lies all the time.

What kind of liars are they?

This #THREAD quotes extensively from, & is based on, an article from US based "online relationship therapy platform" 'Regain' - which imho is appropriate, given the long history of Boris Johnson's affairs & failed relationships.

regain.us/advice/infidel…

Defining what it means to lie & how bad it is, can be challenging: it involves questions of intent & expectation.

Clearly, when someone deliberately gives a false or misleading statement or answer to a question, this is lying, & it's a big problem - *especially* in politics.

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@docrussjackson

1 Dec

@YouGov

Interactive @YouGov tracker, asking "what are the most important issues facing the country at this time?"

Includes options such as health, immigration, crime, the economy, environment etc, with a breakdown by age, gender, politics, region & social grade.

yougov.co.uk/topics/politic…

The issues deemed most important overall (latest poll 29th November):

Health: 51%
The economy: 41%
The environment: 39%
Britain leaving the EU: 26%
Immigration & asylum: 26%
Crime: 17%
Housing: 16%
Education: 11%
Welfare benefits: 10%
Defence/security: 8%
Tax: 7%
Pensions: 7%

Overall, 26% think 'immigration & asylum' is the most important issue: among 8 - 24 yr olds it's just 12%, but ask the over 65s & it's 48%.

Whereas for 'the environment', it's the most important issue for 39% overall, 46% among 18-24 yr olds, & just 29% for the over 65s.

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@docrussjackson

1 Dec

"In 1945, Britain was the leader, not only in democratic & constitutional matters, but in building the welfare state. It was a new Jerusalem, the model for all social democracies elsewhere." - Professor Vernon Bogdanor, 2012.

gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-e…

"Every country would follow the National Health Service, every country would follow British methods of securing full employment, running the economy and so on, and there were predictions in the early 1950s of a new Elizabethan age. Britain was to be an example to the world."

"That was certainly the feeling of the Attlee Govt & the Churchill Govt which succeeded it. People do not feel that anymore. People are much richer than they were, of course, & they have a much wider choice. (But) is it a better world than the one we hoped for in the 1950s?"

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