'Leftist @BBC Maitlis' - here pushing the 1935 myth - did her bit to help Johnson's Tories beat Corbyn's Labour in 2019. And in the ashes of our broken, polarised country, with millions facing poverty, & our economy & public services ruined, NOW she's found her voice? 🧐
In July 2007, Maitlis was appointed as a (unpaid) contributing editor to billionaire Barclay's right-wing #Spectator. This was approved by her immediate manager, then head of @BBCNews Peter Horrocks, but the decision was subsequently overturned by BBC News director Helen Boaden.
By 2019/20, Maitlis was amongst the highest paid @BBCNews & current affairs staff, receiving a salary between £370,000-£374,999!
This was just over a decade after Peter Mandelson said: "We are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich - as long as they pay their taxes."
In her 'easy opposition' tweet, Maitlis didn't bother to check her facts, or she'd have known there wasn't a general election in 1936.
The *1935* GE did result in a large, albeit reduced, majority for the NATIONAL (coalition) Government, led by the Tory, Stanley Baldwin.
The mythical "disastrous" election result that Maitlis refers to, was actually characterised by the RESURGENCE of @UKLabour, who made net GAINS OF OVER 100 SEATS, & their highest share of the vote yet, under what was regarded internally as the caretaker leadership of Clem Attlee.
In a 2019 interview, Maitlis said she was sceptical about the charge that people like her are the “elite”, existing in a liberal bubble, where everyone knows everyone else - despite having Piers Morgan as 'a good friend', & having Emma Thompson’s number in her mobile. 😬
Maitlis's response to the charge that she is part of the 'elite' (her hubby is an Investment Manager, & she hangs out with Piers Morgan) is: “We understand that word for what it is... incredibly elitist people try & gain the populist upper hand by calling everyone else elite.”
“There was a time when everyone was cowed by it. It was like somebody shouting: ‘You’re a racist,’ & you think, ‘Oh my God, what have I said, what have I done?’ Now I hear that word & I just, dare I say, roll my eyes... You have to be very careful as to who’s actually using it.”
Maitlis's husband - whom she met in Hong Kong while he was working in equity capital markets - is investment manager Mark Gwynne. From September 1999 to May 2007, he worked for Merrill Lynch. She proposed to him while on holiday in Mauritius in 2000. So definitely not elite.
Maitlis & her husband often stay at his parents' country estate. Her husband grew up doing 'traditional upper class sports' such as polo, & was taught hunting, fishing & shooting, which is DEFINITELY not elitist, & of course, they'd have NOTHING against Corbyn or his policies.😬
Tom Mills argues that Maitlis’ criticisms of the BBC “are best understood as an expression of a conflict between the liberal and conservative wings of the British establishment… a conflict in which the latter is proving more and more antagonistic”.
Maitlis is a Capital 'C' Centrist who was comfortable at the @BBC, which over the years has shifted so far to the Right that the moderate & sensible policies espoused by Corbyn's Labour - popular & mundane across much of Europe - are mischaracterised as 'radical' or 'hard-left'.
While #Newsnight has criticised the right’s divisive, scapegoating populism, it's rarely as vicious, misleading or mocking as when it's criticising the populist Left. When the Left complain, it's ignored. When the Right complain, it's all over the press...
As for #GE2019, all but two of the Tory gains were in Leave constituencies, so Brexit seems to have been an important factor, along with the press & broadcast news media having for FOUR YEARS relentlessly demonised Corbyn, & framed Labour policies as economically risky & extreme.
Will end with this. 🧐
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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.
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.
In many countries, especially since Musk bought Twitter/@X, underregulated online extreme content has been used to groom and radicalise vulnerable people.
Too many cowardly politicians are scared to speak up for fear of being branded 'anti-free speech'.
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.
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
Britain prides itself in NOT being the sort of country that tells women how to dress. States that do dictate women’s clothing (eg Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia) are vilified as misogynistic & ultra-controlling: the antithesis of the enlightened, liberal west. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
The 'Women's Safety Initiative' is an anti-migrant AstroTurf disinformation group founded by Jess Gill, a Fellow of the Koch-funded climate change denial group, the Foundation for Economic Education, & an apprentice at the Mises Institute. The '1 in 4' claim is a lie.
Before I outline the evidence that (despite what we are told every day by politicians, activists, and news media) there is no discernable link between either legal or illegal immigration and increased crime rates in OECD countries, including ours, some context about Jess Gill.
Jess Gill’s involvement with these radical free-market climate change denying Koch foundation funded organisations is deeply concerning.
The WSI exploits young women to make misleading claims about supposed links between immigration with women’s safety.
"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?
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."
The Telegraph claims that (unnamed) "experts suggested the increase reflected a SURGE in the number of asylum seekers being granted refugee status and in net migration."
To evaluate/make sense of this sensational unsourced claim, additional context is needed (but not provided).
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.”
Despite crypto being bullshit, & memecoins being consciously bullshit, many – especially angry young gullible men – still invest: 42% of men & 17% of women aged 18-29 have invested in, traded or used crypto (2024 Pew Research), compared to only 11% of men & 5% of women over 50.
“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.