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Mar 16 • 24 tweets • 13 min read
#THREAD

After a week of discussing @BBC impartiality, ANOTHER appearance from a representative of the opaquely funded ideologically extreme tax-hating #TuftonStreet lobbyists, the IEA.

There are more than 150 UK think tanks, yet the IEA is CONSTANTLY on the BBC.

#PoliticsLive Image
At least the @BBC say which organisation Reem Abrahim is from!

Blah blah blah, 'cut taxes', 'economic growth', 'red tape', 'deregulate', 'Brexit opportunities' - the same old failed mantra the anti-@BBC, anti-#NHS, & anti-Union IEA have pushed for decades. Here's a quote from me from this weekend's Sunday National:

It's all so predictable, & so depressing.
Wow! Now the IEA's Reem Abrahim is saying "The state should not be intervening when it comes to 'childcare regulation' (providing child care costs) but you raise an important point here: people aren't having children AT THE RATE THEY SHOULD BE!" 😬 Image
And from the ridiculous to the completely absurd, now they've got shouty ideological extremist Alex Phillips, from the ideologically extreme Richard Tice's ideologically extreme Reform Party (MPs - zero) to share her, er, shouty wisdom. Image
"What the OBR said is that 'we don't necessarily think the migrants coming in in this MASS INFLUX are going to contribute to the workforce at a greater ratio than the NATIVE population, so we're essentially just building & growing at AN EXPONENTIAL RATE the population!" AAARGH! Image
"5.2 million people are on out of work benefits... it's probably politically impossible for the Govt to get those people back in to work because again once you give people that reliance on the state it's much more difficult for them to come off it!" - IEA.

A quick fact-check: Image
This claim that "5.2 million people are on out of work benefits" is often pushed by every single free-market think tank & news & politics media outlet.

Here's Fraser Nelson in the billionaire-owned right-wing Spectator, & #TuftonStreet's Migration watch on Murdoch's TalkTV: ImageImage
The clear suggestion is that a life on the dole has become preferable to work, & that slashing benefits or limiting eligibility could fix the UK’s worker shortage. Of course, it's simplistic & misleading propaganda. Here's why:

theguardian.com/business/2022/…
The right-wingers pushing the figure of "5.2 million" ALWAYS neglect to mention that about 3.3 million of these claimants were either on incapacity benefits or had “no work requirement” under the universal credit regime! What does this mean?
It means they're exempt from having to find work because of disabilities, caring responsibilities, or they are above the state pension age.

It's also based on the assumption that less than £400/month for a single adult over 25 is enough to keep millions from work out of choice!
£400 is close to 10% of the average wage, making it ALREADY one of the LEAST generous out-of-work benefits among rich countries.

The UK is already the second-most unequal G7 country after the US, perpetual cumulative cuts to welfare, education, social & healthcare services have caused 330,000 excess deaths between 2012 & 2019.
Back to shouty Alex Phillips: "I'M GOING TO CALL EVERYBODY OUT talking about 'rhetoric & divisive language', I don't understand where this SUPPOSEDLY 'divisive language' is being heard! BECAUSE I'M NOT ATTACKING MIGRANTS, WHAT I'M SAYING IS A MILLION PEOPLE EVERY FOUR YEARS... Image
"...IS COMPLETELY UNSUSTAINABLE! YOU CANNOT BUILD HOSPITALS & HOUSES FAST ENOUGH & WHAT ISN'T BEING DISCUSSED HERE IS THE NEGATIVE IMPACT THAT HAPPENED ON THE BLUE COLLAR WORKERS IN THIS COUNTRY!!" - Alex Phillips, from Richard Tice's Reform Party.

Image
Just time for a quick plug of the Daily Mail's take on a non-@BBC TV show from yet another woke leftist, Jeremy Clarkson, under the guise of asking if local planning rules inhibit economic growth.

"WE NEED TO DEREGULATE TO LIBERATE THE PLANNING SYSTEM!" - IEA 🤪

#PoliticsLive ImageImage
I wish that *just once*, the #TuftonStreet lobbyists, the Reform Party, the Reclaim Party, & the Government would just try to be honest with voters.
#PoliticsLive #BBCBias #bbcqt

In case anyone was wondering, Sunak's ex-boss @BBC Chair Richard Sharp not only helped arrange a loan for Boris Johnson just before he appointed him, & "gave" the @Conservatives £400,000, but Sharp was HIMSELF a #TuftonStreet think tank Director!
#BBCBias
How would the @Conservatives react if @UKLabour appointed an ex-Goldman Sachs Labour donor to the role of @BBC Chairman? Well, we don't have to speculate, because it happened in 2001.

Britain needs an INDEPENDENT @BBC, with an INDEPENDENT Chair.

#BBCBias
Image
Good grief.
The graphic at the top of the following thread, showing IEA links to Tory MPs, was put together by Jonathan Gornall & published in the BMJ in 2019. My brief analysis of #IEA mentions in twenty-first century non-broadcast UK news outlets follows.

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More from @docrussjackson

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Mar 18
“Following the outpouring of support for Gary Lineker & his compassionate stand on behalf of refugees, this government knows it is on the back foot & is once again ramping up the cruelty to distract from their own failures.”
- CEO, Freedom from Torture.

theguardian.com/politics/2023/…
"We are concerned to hear that journalists from organisations judged to be critical of the government’s immigration policy have not been invited... Democracy depends on an open & transparent relationship between government and the media."
- Martin Bright, Index on Censorship.
“Index on Censorship believes that access to government ministers, both domestically and as part of international visits, should not be treated as a reward for favourable coverage.”
Read 4 tweets
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Mar 18
#THREAD

I've been researching twenty-first century UK non-broadcast 'news' articles featuring #TuftonStreet's ideologically extreme (deregulatory, anti-welfare, anti-union, low tax, free-market) 'think tank' (lobbyist) the 'Institute for Economic Affairs' (#IEA). Image
Counting articles is a relatively crude measure, but it's clear that the overwhelming majority present the the #IEA as disinterested/neutral, often using IEA reports & spokespeople to help frame or initiate stories. With very few exceptions, the IEA's funders are never revealed. Image
From 2000-2023, across all print & online non-broadcast UK news outlets, the #IEA is mentioned a staggering 9,175 times - predictably, mainly in Murdoch's, Barclay's, & Harmsworth's "newspapers":

The Times: 1,278
Sunday Times: 424
Times online: 457

The Sun: 379
Sun online: 133 Image
Read 7 tweets
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Mar 17
#THREAD

20 years ago today, Robin Cook resigned.

"It is false to argue that only those who support war support our troops. It is entirely legitimate to support our troops while seeking an alternative to the conflict that will put those troops at risk."

Below, I'll just give the later part from Robin Cook's resignation speech - still one of the most important, ethical, truthful & moving speeches ever given in the UK parliament.

Here's a link to the full speech:

publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cm…
"Only a year ago, we & the USA were part of a coalition against terrorism that was wider & more diverse than I would ever have imagined possible. History will be astonished at the diplomatic miscalculations that led so quickly to the disintegration of that powerful coalition".
Read 35 tweets
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Mar 17
#THREAD

We know *precisely* what the reaction of the @Conservatives & the right-wing media would be to a @UKLabour PM making an ex-Goldman Sachs banker & one of its biggest donors, with zero media management experience, the Chairman of our @BBC - because it happened in 2001. Image
Here's what Raymond Snoddy, writing in Murdoch's Times on May 4th, 2001, shortly before the appointment of New Labour donor & ex-Goldman Sachs banker Gavyn Davies said about his proposed appointment:
"A few eyebrows were raised when Davies became @BBC vice-chairman, but moving up to Chairman would be a step too far. The reason is that he is irredeemably attached, privately & publicly, to New Labour." Image
Read 22 tweets
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Mar 17
So Rishi Sunak's ex-boss Richard Sharp not only "gave" the @Conservatives £400,000, & helped arrange an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson just before Johnson appointed him, but Sharp was also a #TuftonStreet think tank Director, resigning just a month before he became @BBC Chair... Image
In other news...
Read 4 tweets
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Mar 17
#THREAD

The MET police - which Sunak, Braverman & other Tory MPs & the entire right-wing media, absurdly claim is "woke" - is riddled with deep-seated racism, sexism & homophobia & has failed to change despite numerous official reviews urging it to do so, says the Casey report. ImageImageImageImage
The MET commissioned the report in 2021 after the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer, Wayne Couzens. The report will consider whether Met failings result at least in part from institutional misogyny, homophobia and racism. Image
Lady Casey will criticise the force for failing to tackle its problems despite decades of warnings from previous official reports, and she will illustrate her findings with damning new case studies. Image
Read 11 tweets

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