Ten things the Labour Party could talk about that would be popular with a large proportion of UK voters. We could start talking about them now.
1. There are some institutions in our society that ought not to be sources of private profit: e.g. NHS, Schools, Prisons and Probation.
2. Britain is one of the most unequal of the developed nations. We need to reduce inequality and make the country fairer with opportunities for all.
Oct 12, 2019 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Today on our #PeoplesVote street stall I got complaints about rubbish on the streets, austerity, homelessness, high pay for executives, and money wasted on HS2. Every time I gently suggested that these things were not due to the EU, and that Brexit wouldn't make them any better.
It was pretty clear that all the anger and frustration over 40 years of neglect in our smaller northern towns, the lack of decent jobs, the general feeling of hopelessness, had all been weaponised by the leave campaign. The EU has been used as a scapegoat.
Aug 21, 2019 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
OK, to summarise. What we didn't necessarily know about Brexit in 2016, but we are fairly sure about now. (Most projects would expect you do your due diligence - and have a project plan, and clear objectives) BEFORE starting work).
1. There will be a medium-term shortage of medical isotopes (diagnostic and therapeutic). Medicines, especially temperature-sensitive ones like insulin, hormones, and targeted immunotherapy, will be in short supply. People could have their health put at risk, and some may die.
May 1, 2019 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Thread: Lots of Labour voters, who know their fave party have stitched us up, are nevertheless struggling with the idea of voting LibDem in the upcoming elections. 'But the tuition fees!' they say. I hope they consider this carefully. It sounds very like that line Trump used...
so successfully; 'But her emails!'. Smart campaigning. Pick on something your opponent got wrong, and make sure it outweighs everything good about them. If tuition fees is the first thing you think of, you're being played.
Apr 6, 2019 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
1. Thread. I'm going to go on a bit of a rant now, if you don't mind.
It looks like we are going to have an EU election. Whether or not the people we elect actually sit as MEPs, the results of that election will be taken as a proxy referendum on the EU. Remember the GE of 2017?
2. Labour led us up the garden path with its "constructive ambiguity" AKA "fence sitting", so millions of pro-EU voters were induced to vote Labour. It was Peak Corbyn. Afterwards, that was construed as "88% of votes were for pro-Brexit parties so the "People" must want Brexit".
Mar 14, 2019 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Dear @BBCNews. If you are tired of sourcing your Brexit vox pops from pool halls in Luton and markets in Lancashire, could I suggest some alternative sites where you could obtain the views of the British public? Here goes...
An NHS hospital in London
A science park in Cambridge
A pharmaceutical factory in Hertfordshire
A university campus just about anywhere
A language school in Eastbourne
A livestock market in Cumbria
A wine bar in Edinburgh
A chemical works on Teesside
Aug 14, 2018 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
I'm told my "memes" are not memes, because memes have variants. Like this one did. So what I have is not a "meme stash" but a "Cellar of Infographical Awesomeness". I've got some more.
Here's a summary of what we actually expect MPs to do. Hold them to account!
Aug 13, 2018 • 18 tweets • 6 min read
People have been asking me about my meme stash. Every time I see some useful Remainy data on twitter I save a copy to my hard drive. Thought I would share some favourites with you in case you need them. See thread below.
Here's one for "The EU was only supposed to be a Common Market and now it does all this other stuff." No. We knew what we were getting into from the outset.
Jul 21, 2018 • 20 tweets • 6 min read
If you want to explain why the June 2016 was dubious, and why there now needs to be a #PeoplesVote, there are various arguments you can make. The most obvious one is that the Electoral Commission found the Leave campaign had broken the rules on funding...
...as the UK is a signatory to the Venice Commission, we should care about the validity of referenda. Somebody will say "but it was only advisory" in which case - why are we still acting on it? venice.coe.int/webforms/docum…
Nov 13, 2017 • 19 tweets • 6 min read
1/ Bear with, bear with. This is a long thread… EU Withdrawal is being debated in the H of C this week. MPs seem to think they have to support Brexit because it was “the will of the people”. Let’s just summarise the reasons why it’s not.
2/ The UK is a representative democracy. We pay MPs and peers to make intelligent decisions on our behalf. Referendums are not the way we generally do business, mainly because unlike an election, it’s hard to change our minds when the ‘facts’ change.
