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Dec 29, 2021 15 tweets 7 min read Read on X
#THREAD

Throughout 2021, every right-wing “news” media outlet & politician has regularly questioned, attacked, & undermined OUR #NHS.

They argue those with the most wealth should pay more, via private health insurance, than the less wealthy.

Allow me to unpick this argument.
SOME wealth inequality is inevitable.

With caveats around those unable to work - eg carers, through disability, ill-health, age etc - it is only fair that those who work harder, have specialist skills or more responsibility, or are more creative & capable than others, earn more.
This short, accessible 2013 video about wealth inequality - since when things have got even worse - shows how inequality is at its highest point in Britain for 50 years, with the gap between rich & poor at its widest since the second world war.

However, private health insurance is the wrong solution, for two main reasons:

1 It would result in a two-tier health service, with those with the most wealth having quicker access to the best healthcare.

2 The wealthy already often pay more for the #NHS through taxation.
Wealthier people are buying their way out of trouble in significant numbers, meaning they'll be less willing to pay taxes to improve the #NHS.

With public spending under pressure, & key Govt figures having strongly criticised the NHS in the past, OUR NHS is in real danger.
The libertarian-right believe in low taxes, but this would accelerate not only wealth inequality, but also mean less money for a national & equitable health service.

Many other western countries understand that a more equal society is better for the vast majority of citizens.
The principle of a more equal society means far more people have the opportunity to access the best education, a fairer & more functional legal system, better policing, improved local & regional public services etc – rather than just a tiny minority of grotesquely wealthy elites.
For forty years, a tiny minority of already grotesquely wealthy & powerful individuals - supportive of & within successive Governments - have used their power, influence & wealth to push for an even more unequal society, not least in order to preserve their privileged position.
The share of wealth owned by the world's richest people soared during the Covid pandemic, & 2020 saw the steepest increase in billionaires' wealth on record.

Meanwhile, 100 million people sank into extreme poverty.
The richest 10% of the world's population now takes 52% of global income & the poorest half just 8%.

The world's richest 1% have taken more than a third of all additional wealth accumulated since 1995, while the bottom 50% captured just 2%.

wir2022.wid.world
"After more than 18 months of #COVID19, the world is even more polarised.

While the wealth of billionaires rose by more than £3TRILLION, 100 million more people joined the ranks of extreme poverty".

Extreme poverty had been previously falling for 25 years.
The poorest half of the global population barely owns any wealth, possessing just 2% of the total.

The richest 10% now own 76% of all wealth.

The world's 52 richest individuals have seen the value of their wealth grow by 9.2% per year for the past 25 years.
A tiny minority of elites use their vast wealth & power to fund a global network of media outlets, think tanks, institutions & political parties, which relentlessly push a neoliberal/libertarian-right agenda in order to protect & enhance their already considerable wealth & power.
They use their power & wealth to: retain access to the best opportunities; to divide voters through divisive culture war rhetoric; to demonise progressives; to accelerate wealth inequality; & to remove worker, consumer, citizen, migrant & environmental regulations & protections.
Unless voters take action now, I fear that Britain will continue to become increasingly unequal & polarised, & its citizens will be subject to an increasingly unaccountable, authoritarian, antidemocratic & dangerously populist nationalist libertarian-right oppressive state.

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More from @docrussjackson

Jun 29
🧵

A few thoughts on Bob Vylan leading the #GlastonburyFestival crowd in chants of "Death to the IDF" (Israeli Defence Force), livestreamed by the @BBC, and the mischaracterisation of the chant by some MPs, news media, and activists. Image
In England, where #GlastonburyFestival is located, all of us have the right to freely express our criticism of anyone or anything - as long as there is no intent to provoke immediate unlawful violence or there is a reasonable likelihood it will occur as a consequence.
In England, free speech is protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. However, inciting violence is a criminal offence under several laws which attempt to balance public safety with free expression rights.

There are a number of key provisions in UK Law.
Read 29 tweets
Jun 26
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Socially isolated and radicalised online, Marcus Monzo, 37, was convicted of murdering 14-yr-old Daniel Anjorin and attacking others with a sword.

He was fascinated by violence, far-right extremism, Incel ideology, conspiracy theories and figures like Musk, Tate, and Hitler. Image
UK society is insufficiently concerned about the harms of extreme online material of the kind pushed by the far-right, incels, & conspiracy theorists.

Debate is too often framed as being about free speech, rather than its sometimes horrific consequences.

actearly.uk/radicalisation…
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Too many cowardly politicians are scared to speak up for fear of being branded 'anti-free speech'.

Read 30 tweets
Jun 10
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Some MPs who have been in parliament for many years NEVER appear on any of the @BBC's "flagship" politics shows - but Reform's privately educated shit-stirring 'anti-elite' former Tory Sarah Pochin - an MP for FIVE WEEKS - gets her own special introduction on #PoliticsLive. Image
Politicians using dangerously irresponsible anti-Muslim rhetoric know their comments are normalising Islamophobia and endanger British Muslim women. Islamophobic incidents rose by 375% in the week after Boris Johnson called veiled Muslim women “letterboxes” in 2018.
#PolitcsLive Image
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theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Read 11 tweets
Jun 2
🧵

"Foreigners" DO NOT claim £1BILLION/month in benefits.

This disgusting anti-migrant dogwhistle by shameless liar and former Head of Policy Exchange, Neil O'Brien MP, is just one of several recent dispicable divisive Telegraph front page lies.

WTAF @IpsoNews? @HoCStandards? Image
The claims that the UK spends £1bn/month "on UC benefits for overseas nationals" (O'Brien) and "Foreigners claim £1bn a month in benefits" (Telegraph) are revealed to be lies in the article: the£1bn relates to "Benefits claims by HOUSEHOLDS with AT LEAST ONE FOREIGN NATIONAL." Image
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To evaluate/make sense of this sensational unsourced claim, additional context is needed (but not provided). Image
Read 57 tweets
May 30
🧵

Chase Herro, co-founder of Trump’s main crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, on crypto:

“You can literally sell shit in a can, wrapped in piss, covered in human skin, for a billion dollars if the story’s right, because people will buy it.”

theguardian.com/technology/202…
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“It’s no accident that memecoins are such a phenomenon among young people who have grown immensely frustrated with a financial system that, I think it’s fair to say, has failed them” - Sander Lutz, the first crypto-focused White House correspondent.

theguardian.com/technology/202…
Read 16 tweets
May 14
🧵In January, Farage said Musk was justified in calling Starmer complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs: “In 2008 Keir Starmer had just been appointed as DPP & there was a case brought before them of alleged mass rape of young girls that did not lead to a prosecution.” Image
The allegation that Starmer was complicit in failures to prosecute grooming gangs is often repeated. But how true is it?

Two Facebook posts, originally appearing in April/May 2020, claimed Starmer told police when he was working for the CPS not to pursue cases against Muslim men accused of rape due to fears it would stir up anti-Islamic sentiment.
In 2022 the posts and allegations saw a resurgence online with hundreds of new shares. They said: “From 2004 onwards the director of public prosecutions told the police not to prosecute Muslim rape gangs to prevent ‘Islamophobia’.

Then, in January, Elon Musk joined in.
Read 40 tweets

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