Emily Carver is an ideological extremist from Conservative Home, who works for the opaquely funded free-market #IEA, & represents the interests of fossil fuel corporations & rich libertarians who want to kill the #NHS & remove worker & environmental protections. #PoliticsLive
The @BBC gives their influential platform to the opaquely funded free-market corporate propagandists, the #IEA, which represents the interests of overseas billionaires, & pushes for lowering taxes, & abolishing the #NHS & worker, consumer & environmental protections. #PolitcsLive
Ideological extremist Emily Carver moved seamlessly from the #IEA to Conservative Home last year. It doesn't really matter - the global network representing billionaire-interests includes the billionaire-owned/funded press/media, Govt Ministers, & #TuftonStreet 'think tanks'.
What sickens me about the @BBC's #PoliticsLive is that its topic agenda is dictated almost exclusively by the UK press - almost invariably by the Murdoch, Harmsworth, & Barclay press - who work hand-in-glove with 'think tanks' & Govt to promote free-market #framing of any issue.
To 'frame' something is "to select some aspects of a perceived reality & make them more salient in a communication text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described."
UK @Conservatives & US Republicans *themselves* adopt increasingly radical (illiberal, antidemocratic, & authoritarian) policies & rhetoric, while relentlessly framing progressives & the Left as the REAL radical menace in an act of strategic misdirection.
Yesterday's #PoliticsLive featured yet another #TuftonStreet free-market think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies. The @BBC NEVER tells viewers these lobbying groups flat refuse to disclose who funds them, thus depriving viewers of essential information.
And here's today's anti-#NHS article from #Spectator economics editor, Kate Andrews, who is also a regular on @BBC politics shows, a regular writer in the Telegraph (also owned by tax-avoiding billionaire Frederick Barclay), formerly of #TuftonStreet's IEA & Adam Smith Institute.
GB "News", which employs 75% of Reform UK MPs, is not a news channel - it's Reform's propaganda wing, co-funded by billionaire Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment firm Legatum, who see it as an investment opportunity to help protect their wealth and interests.
@Ofcom
In the UK, since 1990, 'due impartiality' and 'due accuracy' have been fundamental components of broadcasting - especially for news and current affairs - and imho are essential for a well-informed citizenry and a fair-minded functional democracy.
GB "News" appears to disagree.
The first broadcasting standards in the UK emerged with the BBC in 1922.
Formal standards took shape with the Royal Charter in 1927, which mandated that the BBC provide information, education, and entertainment while maintaining impartiality and serving the public interest.
Voters need to know how right-wing populist nationalist politicians and radical/far-right nativist extremists construct their divisive discourse and rhetoric to exploit the anti-elite climate and fuel violence and division - and what to do about it.
So what can be done to counter divisive narratives and framing and to help Britain to become a more open, inclusive, fairer, less polarised and better multicultural society?
I make several suggestions in the above article, but make more below,
Countering the extreme right’s narrative of feeling "attacked" and needing to "defend" national identity requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach that challenges their framing while addressing underlying concerns and emotions.
The shameless lie that "Britain is lawless" is categorically false, as it contradicts empirical data on crime trends, rule of law metrics, and the functioning of UK institutions. Reform UK often use fearmongering exaggeration and selective framing to create a sense of crisis.
Official data from the ONS and Home Office indicate that overall crime rates in England and Wales have fluctuated but do not support the notion of a "lawless" state. The ONS reported a 7% decrease in total recorded crime (excluding fraud) from 2023 to 24.
#OnThisDay, 21 July, 1969, the Chicago Daily News published: The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
It began: One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
I reproduce it, below.
Harris was born in London in 1917, moving to the US in 1922. A formidable journalist who established a distinct voice integrating incisive social commentary with wit and humour, his weekday column, ‘Strictly Personal’, was syndicated in 200 US newspapers.
The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
That attitude is the main reason America was founded, in all its hope and energy and goodness.
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'.