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Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

6 Jan

The Guardian's brilliant investigations team has bottomed out the sleazy PPE Medpro deal. Well worth reading. theguardian.com/world/2022/jan…

There is one - for me - standout feature of the story and it is this: huge amounts of money were paid to those with political connections for help in winning contracts.

This is very far from the only such instance - similar points might be made about for example the £130 Pharmaceuticals Direct contracts (where we have a hearing in February) - and it raises this unanswerable question...

Read 6 tweets

Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

5 Jan

@RazaRazahusain

Next week we will publish advice from @RazaRazahusain and Eleanor Mitchell, instructed by @LeighDay_Law, on the removal of citizenship provision in the Nationality and Borders Bill.

In the meantime, I want to make some points about what that clause does. THREAD

@WindrushLives

The brilliant @WindrushLives account has tracked the extension over time of the power to remove citizenship but, as matters stand, the Home Secretary can remove citizenship if she is satisfied that doing so is "conducive to the public good". /1

That account has also explained how the power to remove citizenship can sometimes be exercised even if the consequence is that it will leave someone without citizenship of anywhere or "stateless". /2

Read 16 tweets

Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

2 Jan

@ProfDPrabhat

A really troubling read about clause 9 of the Nationality and Borders Bill which will enable Priti Patel to remove the citizenship of individuals - and them to be rendered stateless - without even being told.

By @ProfDPrabhat. theconversation.com/stripping-brit…

The power to remove citizenship without notice "affects minorities and those of migrant heritage much more than it does white British nationals born in Britain" and taking away notice requirements means "potential challenges in courts will be eliminated at source."

In case Raab's plans to ignore international human rights norms didn't quite signal how ugly an international outlier the UK is, Professor Prabhat notes that: "Currently, no other country can make its own citizens stateless by depriving them of citizenship without notice."

Read 7 tweets

Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

1 Jan

Desperate stuff. The clown-show of a Government has run out of lateral flow tests - and apparently we're to blame?? The truth is, we have worked with at least three UK based testing companies to help them tackle this Government's sleazy VIP procurement. telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/3…

Of course Government wants someone else to blame for its failures. But the only antigen LFT contract we have challenged is this one - where billions went to a Chinese startup for LFTs that were recalled in the US amidst suggestions of falsified data. latimes.com/business/story…

In case you doubt the dishonesty of this Government when it comes to testing contracts see their denial - "completely false" - of our revelation of a VIP lane and then the undeniable proof. People not fit to run a church raffle have blown £37bn.

Read 7 tweets

Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

30 Dec 21

Pleased people are asking aloud about the weird editorial choices BBC News makes. When trying to reconcile the BBC in your heart with that before your eyes, perhaps ask whether the weird choices involve punching up or down; do they embed or do they challenge establishment power?

I doubt the BBC's place as a wellhead of establishment power has changed. I think, instead, the world around the BBC has. Social media, Brexit, internationalism, etc, all challenge establishment power in lots of new ways such that the BBC's wellhead status now gets exposed.

@BBCr4today

I will never forget @BBCr4today (having persuaded me to come on under false pretences) then attacking me for being too rude about Government figures. A perfect illustration of how it sees its role: speaking 'truth' not to power but to those trying to keep power accountable.

Read 5 tweets

Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

22 Dec 21

Once upon a time we thought it was a good thing for bigots to think twice before sounding off. Now the Government, aided by the sections of the press, attacks those who criticise bigotry.

Of course, the targets of bigotry are always those without power. And so the Government's stance, aided by sections of the press, entrenchs the ability of those with power to punch down at those without.

And there is no loss of free speech. Free speech is the right to speak; not to speak without consequence. The framing of it as a right to speak without consequence has as its intent the demonising of those who push back against the bigots - those without power (and their allies).

Read 7 tweets

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