Despite years of divisive scapegoating rhetoric from the UK Govt, the right-wing press, Spiked, GB "News", shock jocks, & people like Braverman, Farage, Laurence Fox, & #30pLee, the UK public now have among the most positive attitudes to diversity & immigration on earth!
"The most dramatic shifts have come in the US, Canada and, in particular, Britain, where the share of people saying there should be strict limits — if not an outright ban — on immigration has more than halved from 66% on the eve of the EU referendum to 31% last year." 🇬🇧
The unexpected success of right-wing authoritarian populist anti-immigration politics may have shocked previously complacent moderates into vocalising their support for #diversity.
We see similar shifts in the public’s attitude towards members of other ethnic groups & faiths.
Just 3% of Americans & 2% of Britons say they would not want someone of a different race as a neighbour, with only Sweden scoring lower across the developed world.
Discomfort with people from other faiths falls to just 3% & 1% in the US & the UK respectively. 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇸🇪
Every day we're exposed to provocative & inflammatory rhetoric which demonises so-called wokeness. However, what vocal proponents of anti-woke rhetoric don't appear to realise is that the more they criticise 'wokeness', the more embracing of diversity & immigration people become!
Concern about racial injustice looks to be RISING farthest & fastest in the UK, US, & Canada - countries where prejudice has FALLEN farthest & fastest.
This suggests that progressives should continue to relentlessly challenge racism, 'invasion' rhetoric, & anti-woke sentiment.👊
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A research paper from the University of Greenwich, 'The case for a progressive annual #WealthTax in the UK' (updated 12th June 2024), analyses the revenue potential of a progressive annual net wealth tax on the top 1% in the UK...
A progressive net wealth tax is a tax on the stock of net wealth (assets minus liabilities), that is designed to raise revenues primarily from only the very wealthiest individuals, primarily to fund public & other essential services, which benefit *everyone*.
#TaxTheRich
The authors present a baseline progressive net wealth tax that only taxes the top 1% wealthiest individuals. Individuals with net wealth above £2.2M (the top 1%) are taxed at a marginal rate of 1%; above £3.6M (the top 0.5%) at 2%, & above £11.2M (the top 0.1%) at 4%.
#TaxTheRich
Today, you might get the impression from news and social media that the far-right has 'taken over' the EU, which is in its death throws: the evidence does not support this view: nationalist/populist hard/far-right parties are on course to get just a quarter of EU seats.
Hard/far-right parties have made not insignificant gains in several countries across the EU, not least France, Italy, Germany & Austria, producing uncertainty about the EU - and Europe's - political direction & future.
However, it's certainly not the landslide you may think.
Europe's nationalist parties have capitalised in the EU Parliament election on voter disquiet over spiralling prices, migration, & the cost of the green transition & will seek to translate their seat gains into influence on EU policy - basically Reform UK's policy platform.
We face housing & climate crises, not migrant & overcrowding crises.
We need more affordable housing, but health is often forgotten about in housing policies. Amid the clamour for economic growth & house building targets, housing quality loses out. Decent regulations & standards are often derided as unnecessary 'red tape'.
In 2022, 'political risk & intelligence analyst' & Egyptian immigrant to the UK, Khaled Hassan, explained in a podcast hosted by the controversial UK-based Campaign Against Antisemitism why he, now 'a proud Jew', converted from Islam to Judaism.
In March 2022, The Jewish Chronicle featured Hassan, describing him as a "hero moderator" of @YouTube videos, "who dared to speak up (but) was silenced as Whistleblower".
He described what he perceived to be as YouTube's failure to remove hateful videos.
Rumour has it, the character leading Nigel Farage away is George Cottrell, an interesting chap, who may give some insight into Farage's 'anti-elite' Reform UK team.
(Btw, I don't agree with chucking drinks over anyone).
Cottrell's mum, The Honourable Fiona Watson, daughter of Rupert Watson, 3rd Baron Manton, is a former gf of King Charles!
I accept no-one chooses their parents, but opportunities for the privately educated like Cottrell, Tice, Farage & Habib are greater than for ordinary folk.
Given Kemi Badenoch's well-documented history of gaslighting, performative cruelty, divisive rhetoric & questionable judgement - which includes the time she told the Covid Inquiry 'there's no cure for poverty' - here's a short thread of some of her 'best bits'... 😬
That time an irritated & condescending Kemi Badenoch told the Covid Inquiry that "we don't have a cure for poverty".
That time Kemi Badenoch was asked how she felt when she first heard about Tory donor Frank Hester saying looking at Diane Abbott made him “want to hate all Black women” & she “should be shot”, & replied: 'It didn't make me feel anything in particular'.