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Sep 21 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Am I alone in seeing the irony of Libertarian-billionaire-funded free-market DEREGULATION cranks - who moan about the 'nanny state' & who want to reduce 'red-tape' & 'clip the wings' of BIG GOVT - whining about DEREGULATED Big Tech corporations threatening free speech?
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Students recruited to create a freedom of expression campaign claim they were censured if they disagreed with the its right-of-centre orthodoxy & discovered the "grassroots" project was an “astroturf” front for Toby Young’s controversial Free Speech Union.
theguardian.com/media/2021/jan…
The FSU ‘Advisory Council’ includes David Goodhart & Eric Kaufmann of the opaquely funded Policy Exchange; David Green, founder of Civitas; & Joanna Williams Project Director at Civitas & Head of Education & Culture at Policy Exchange. sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Policy Exchange is an extremely influential right-wing free-market fundamentalist lobbying group which is part of the Tufton Street Brexit Nexus which ties together fossil fuel interests, climate denial groups and a whole array of Brexit campaigns.

realmedia.press/hidden-forces-…
The prominent & manufactured culture war arguments serve to distract us from the fact that Policy Exchange & the influential global network of Libertarian billionaire-funded free-market "think tanks" now pretty much dictate Liz Truss's Government policy.

As Finland is crowned the 'happiest country in the world' for the fifth year in a row, we KNOW what produces unified happy societies: low inequality, great social support, generosity to one another, & honesty in Govt - pretty much the opposite of the UK.

In a decent, functional country, with a decent, functioning media, journalists would be free to tell audiences the truth about what produces happy societies, & they would more often lift the curtain on the deceitful charade used to manipulate the masses...

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More from @docrussjackson

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Sep 22
#THREAD

120,000 claimants won't be being "ASKED" to take more work, they will be be "FORCED" to.

And if for whatever good reason they decline to take extra work in low paid insecure shit jobs, miles from home & family, they will likely end up ill, homeless, in prison, or dead.
Welfare reforms have contributed to mental health decline in the UK over the last two decades.

Between 2013 & 2018, an additional 60,000+ unemployed people experienced levels of psychological distress that are clinically significant due to the introduction of Universal Credit.
The introduction of Universal Credit led to a significant increase in psychological distress. These cruel & brutal & unethical new changes to government welfare are evaluated purely on a fiscal basis, ignoring the negative effects on health & wellbeing.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Read 20 tweets
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Sep 21
#THREAD

Since 2002, the World Happiness Report has used statistical analysis to determine the world's happiest countries - Finland has won for the last five years, while Britain has slipped from 13th in 2020, to 17th in 2022, sandwiched behind the USA & above the Czech Republic.
The beautiful country is also known for its well-functioning public services, tax-transparency, a news media environment with a strong regional press & a strong public service broadcaster, widespread trust in authority, advanced media literacy, & low levels of crime & inequality. Image
While @UKLabour's 2017 & 2019 manifesto policies were widely ridiculed by Britain's national "news" media as "hard-left", "unaffordable", & "harking back to the 1970s", the very popular policies were in fact to the Right of virtually all of Finland's. 🧐

Read 4 tweets
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Sep 21
#NeverForget that the cap on bankers' bonuses was introduced as part of efforts to improve regulation of the under-regulated banking sector in the wake of the 2008 crash, which led to a decade of brutal austerity, & a dangerous increase in polarisation.

theconversation.com/bankers-bonus-…
In many countries, including ours, unemployment spiked, household wealth evaporated & there were long-term negative effects on global economic growth, income inequality & political stability - & now our Govt is bringing back the same failed neoliberal policies which created this.
There is now good quality research into banking bonuses which suggests caution, with evidence of a direct relationship between “variable executive remuneration” (performance dependent bonuses) & risk taking, & other negative 'unintended consequences'.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
Read 9 tweets
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Sep 21
#THREAD

Just wanted to share a few lesser-known facts about 1930s Germany which given the #CostOfLivingCrisis & a new PM, seem salient, taken predominantly from The Third Reich Trilogy by British historian Richard J. Evans, hailed as a "masterpiece of historical scholarship."
Evans produced the report into the writings of David Irving who had claimed he'd been defamed as a Holocaust denier. The report proved irrefutable: Irving had deliberately distorted & manipulated historical evidence to bring it in line with his prejudices. Irving lost the case.
Almost every day I see the tired old claim that because the Nazis had 'socialist' in their official party name, they *were* socialists - despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, including the fact they imprisoned & executed socialists, union organisers & other left-wingers.
Read 23 tweets
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Sep 20
Really struggling not to lose my account here by saying what I *really* think of this pair of absurd, delusional, shameless, damaged, exploitative, divisive, pathetic, ill-informed, pig-ignorant, shit-stirring, ludicrous infantile pseudo-intellectual grifting asshats. 😇
Not proud of saying that, but perhaps they're right about their version of God - I've not been 'smited' & I certainly feel much better for 'confessing my sins to the almighty' - & I understand she's very forgiving. Lovely fellas. Wouldn't have a bad word said against them. 😇🙏
"Promote yourself, look like a..."

Read 5 tweets
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Sep 20
#THREAD

The political stunt at Martha’s Vineyard is part of a series of legally & ethically controversial moves by southern state Republican governors to transport migrants & asylum seekers to so-called liberal cities to supposedly embarrass Joe Biden.

theguardian.com/us-news/2022/s…
The governors of Texas, Arizona & Florida, who say they are protesting against what they describe as the failure by the federal Govt to 'secure the border' (sound familiar?) have spent millions of taxpayer dollars – including Covid relief funds – on the infantile stunts.
The governors have been using taxpayers' money to transport thousands of migrants & refugees to Washington, NYC & Chicago, making false promises to the migrants about work opportunities, schooling for their children, & immigration assistance – in order to induce them to travel.
Read 10 tweets

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