I know there's a lot of cool stuff happening at the Fringe but come on....have a look at this line up I've put together, platforming a diverse range of voices and perspectives to celebrate what working class people can achieve 👏
A thread....
Mar 10, 2023 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
Attitudes to LGBT people are not as stable in rich western countries as many of us assume. With the perfect storm of religiosity in politics, culture war resentment and an ageing, more socially conservative population, rights that are taken as given today become vulnerable.
The fact LGBT rights are even a point of discussion in this debate is the first of many possible red flags. A lot of the rights that we in Scotland hold up as proof we are a progressive country are fairly recently won. Sure, Forbes herself may not undo the progress...
Mar 10, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
People who understand economic inequality, and who truly care about tackling it, rarely use the term 'eradicate poverty'. It's too high a bar to clear. And secondly, you don't need to 'eradicate' it to make society fairer, you need to reduce it. To me it sounds very hug a hoody.
Now I am not saying Forbes is being glib, but what I am saying is that I don't believe eradicating poverty is what gets her up in the morning as she claims. She's a book balancer and book balancers are naturally more dispassionate than tireless anti poverty campaigners.
Mar 9, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
I was very kindly offered some digs by local artists after my show in Dundee. Thank you @studiospaceart for the hospitality. To be honest I'm enjoying connecting with artists I meet on the road. I bumped into @higgins_comedy at Aberdeen Bus Station, too.
We had a great blether about the pros and cons of gigging around, Scottish comedy, and also a good moan about the state of public transport. That bus was supposed to take 3 and a half hours but the driver definitely put his food on the pedal thats for sure.
Mar 9, 2023 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Forbes strategy of appealing to the wider public as a means of leveraging SNP members was high risk and reckless but is working so far. Whether she can recover from her comments earlier in the campaign remains to be seen. It seems many are not even factoring them in.
Not on board at all with her economic philosophy as it does sound like a traditional Conservative model, just nested within eradicate poverty rhetoric, but most people aren't considering things like that.
Mar 9, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
You cant win a culture war against Conservatives. They are not bound by the same strictures as others. In a debate about immigration, you have to keep pointing out and demonstrating that these kinds of 'concerns' are rooted, not in the numbers coming in, but in poor governance.
Look at the areas of the UK where anti immigrant rhetoric is most rabid and toxic. You'll find councils in disarray due to de-funding. Public services breaking down. Transport unreliable. Trends set in motion by UK decision makers long before Britain even joined the EU.
Mar 8, 2023 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Need to take a new approach to snide folk on here. I go out my way to engage if I feel there's misunderstanding but it just registers as a green light for some folk to get way wider than they would if we were chatting in person.
When I'm out in the real world, people are so different than they are on here. If they disagree, they make their point in a decent way. They recognise no two persons views are in complete alignment. They sit around dinner tables at home where everyone has different opinions.
Mar 8, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Preview of my new podcast - Darren McGarvey’s Common People 😀
Click the clip for better view
Mar 7, 2023 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
In education, discrimination is part and parcel of being LGBT. This discrimination can affect socialisation and academic performance. It follows that poorer grades may lead to poorer prospects. Pre-existing educational inequality is therefore exacerbated by lgbt experience/status
Then there's the intersection between lgbt and social class. In Health, where lgbt people may require access to mental health services, support for alcohol or drugs misuse. In poorer areas services are not adequately resourced. For cultural reasons lgbt may also not feel welcome
Mar 7, 2023 • 28 tweets • 5 min read
I tweeted a thing this morning about Angus Robertson endorsing Humza Yousaf. To me it was a fairly standard innocuous comment. A poor mans attempt at a Newthump headline, which followers will know I do attempt on occasion....
....anyway, what happened was, later in the morning, a few people had retweeted it, believing that I was making a wider comment on the leadership. 'What do you expect him to do, support a transphobe' etc. I was surprised by this reaction....
Jul 28, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Re-plumb the drug sector otherwise whatever money is poured in will just flow to same practices currently converging to produce failure. This is not about individuals, its about over reliance on old ideas, professional pride and systems that were never fit in the first place.
Half of all deaths involved methadone - a drug that is supposed to reduce risk of relapse and death.
Even more involved street benzos - demand for which exploded when safe prescribing was restricted over a decade ago.
Both instances arise out of the same orthodoxy.
Nov 13, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I broke the rules but I donate to disability charities 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
It wouldn't be proper to comment on individual cases 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
Nov 13, 2021 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
After all the games Douglas Ross played, curdling the well, he's going down with the same sleazy ship as the rest of them. £30k undeclared earnings - more than the average salary. I look forward to hearing his excuse, but don't have it in me to reserve judgement right now.
Great scoop by @HRwritesnews
Aug 25, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
teachers taking my thread personal - grow up. 'education' is not teaching. education comprises a curriculum, the environment in which it is being taught, the time/resources available, pedagogical practice, peer learning etc. These converge to create an 'education'.
So when I say education quality varies between wealthy and poor areas I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU PERSONALLY TEACH. I am talking about the demands placed on you and your pupils by the socioeconomic conditions in which your school is situated.
Aug 25, 2021 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
Education is where inequality begins. Whatever postcode you can afford to live in will largely determine the school you will go to. The quality of education on offer then varies roughly along lines of affluence and poverty, producing the much discussed educational attainment gap
This is not to suggest the poorest kids are born to fail, or that children of affluent stock fall effortlessly upward, but a place at a ‘good’ school (in an affluent area) gives a child a better chance of not only succeeding in school, but of moving into higher paid, secure work
Jun 22, 2021 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Many take the term white priv literally - they are not part of obscure activitist communities. The online fast tracking of challenging ideas and no parallel discussion of how different social classes may interpret them, is the central paradox of intersectionality.
White privilege is another post modern concept that's very useful as a framework but was rolled out with such aggressive, obstinate moral certitude by MIDDLE CLASS WHITE PEOPLE that is become just another culture war lightning rod.
Jun 7, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Since Matt Haig is screenshotting snippets of his new book about why nothing justifies not eating pasta, I thought I would share a few passages of mine, about how vast proximity gaps in politics and culture are destroying our lives...this one's about the drug death crisis
Jun 7, 2021 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
GB News is going to hit Britain's media landscape like a force 5 hurricane. I know we do quite a bit of sneering about it, but I think they will benefit from really knowing their audience - which will be more diverse than some will ever admit
They are basically extracting YouTubes essence, bottling it, and then pouring it directly back into television. Meanwhile, most UK news orgs are still struggling to compete with the Internet.
May 11, 2021 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
Other things to consider where red wallers are concerned are things like government investment in transport. These don't always make headlines but in places like Darlington, a new train line that creates jobs and quicker journey times is a big deal.
Facts like this will not sit well with people who see Tories as a monolith of villainy, but Sunak has been pretty smart in terms of targeting investment, lobbied by recently elected Tory MPs keen to reward voters trust.
May 10, 2021 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
Hint: people in Darlington don't see themselves as part of a homogeneous blob of political sentiment and nobody there uses the term Red Wall. I guess we should ask: what else could we be wrong about here?
The madness here is that we are now referring to an incredibly diverse sub set of the population in teens largely constructed by London media. I've made a point of paying attention only to people who've visited these areas and I intend to do so myself.
May 10, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
They are only in conflict where movements try to be all things to all people. If I walk into a florist I don't have a right to demand cigarettes - I know where to go if that's what I want. Similarly, movements have a right to prioritise objectives. Find one that fights for you.
I say that in a general non party political way. The problem with ID pol and class is often not the message but the messengers - there's an emotionally intelligent way of bringing these topics to people that does not involve automatic recrimination 😀
