🧵 Fascinating conversation with my cousin today. He told of how he recently called in to the @NickyAACampbell show on @bbc5live during a debate about Ukraine... He wanted to put a nuanced position – not supporting Putin, but just stressing the historical perspective: that the conflict had actually been raging since 2014 and that elements of the West had helped to overthrow Yanukovych, the democratically-elected leader.

Age-old social and cultural norms are being overturned at a rapid rate in our country, leaving many bewildered and disorientated. Standpoints that, as recently as a decade ago, were accepted as entirely mainstream now get you the sack. This is chilling. ⬇️ thecritic.co.uk/sacked-for-chr… The woman lost her job simply for stating, as part of an election campaign, her belief in the traditional form of marriage between man and woman. This view was entirely uncontroversial until very recently. Disagree with it, by all means. But sacking someone for it is tyrannical.

🧵 Why do big companies peddle wokery? Is it because they are genuine supporters of it? No. We know that isn’t the case. See, for example, the refusal of these organisations to promote LGBT rights to their Middle East markets. The “principles” are dumped when profits are at risk. Rather, it is because they think it gives them social standing among a particular demographic of customer – young, politically aware, social justice warrior – which has the potential to create real trouble for them if they don’t play along.

[1/5] Imagine an employer fined a worker 40% of his wages for something that at the time was not *either explicitly or implicitly* a breach of policy… [2/5] Then imagine this employer, when later realising it was on shaky ground, hastily created such a policy out of thin air – without consulting staff or considering the impact on the organisation – and then tried to claim the policy had “self-evidently” always been in force...

[1/4] In March, my own general secretary, @MattWrack, rushed out a public statement condemning me, @KateHoeyMP and others on the Left as a ‘disgrace to the traditions of the labour movement’ because we shared a stage with political opponents at a pro-Brexit rally… @MattWrack @KateHoeyMP [2/4] ‘There's no place in the labour movement for lining up with the Tories’ he said. Since then, there have been several examples of labour movement figures on the other side of the debate (inc some of Matt’s close allies, e.g. John McDonnell) doing precisely the same thing…