Boris Johnson has been Prime Minister for 3 years, but will be out on his ear in weeks.

Let's look back at his first speech from the lectern of never-ending-impending-doom in Downing Street.

#UKpolitics #Boris It's important to hold political leaders to account by reviewing their promises later.
And it will be illuminating to see what he and his ministers (including the next Prime Minister) have chosen to actually do beyond the rhetoric.

Let's go...

Bizarrely, I’m writing a gentle comedy about fascism — including the ‘Charter Cities’ wet dream of the libertarian extremists, which has its roots in origins of fascism.
The topic of charter cities is getting attention now, so I’ll collect useful notes in this living thread… The concept of a charter city is a place that is run by corporations, rather than by civic government. There's a dogmatic belief that they must have _total_ control to create the 'perfect' city, so they can ignore citizens, and override national laws and regulations...

On the French side of the border they have completely remodelled their ports and Eurostar terminal in readiness for Brexit. Big infrastructure work, expanding customs areas.
The French customs can only occupy as many extra new booths as the UK gov built, which is none

https://twitter.com/edwinhayward/status/1550740146798182402

Ironically, on the French side, many of the UK customs booths often stand empty because the UK hasn’t recruited enough new border/customs staff for the new Brexit worlds. I’ve often seen only two or three booths open and long queues

Considering how low the membership numbers are of the Conservative party within the UK, it wouldn’t take many of these non-British ‘abroad’ members to have an effect on the result…

https://twitter.com/tomstocktontees/status/1550161276382461954

Here’s their promise to allow votes in the leadership election to non-uk voters…

The whole country is soon going to be as successful as P&O

https://twitter.com/kwasikwarteng/status/1550081224890351617

“Bing bong. Network Rail would like to announce that due to a contract train driver being unfamiliar with the braking system, the 14:30 to the West Country will not now be stopping at Lands End.”

Our small block of flats in London had another visit from local Conservative candidates. Most people are out, but those here explained why they wouldn’t vote Tory. The candidates then recorded a video in our front garden explaining how they’d heard first hand from residents… …about the ‘problems with Labour’, how the Labour council wasn’t solving the problems with the NHS (??!!), and concerns about Keir Starmer! They heard nothing of the sort here.

The culture of lies has permeated the conservative party now, at all levels

Isn't it odd that UK ministers who:
- Came to power through Brexit, which was partly funded with Russian cash
- Lead a political party which has received £££m from Russians
- Have had personal donations from Russians

don't want to introduce meaningful sanctions against Russia? Russia's strategy under Putin hasn't been the olde worlde of recruiting agents and spying, so much as just making it very very lucrative for people to do the things they already want to do (get power and influence) in a way that aligns with Putin's interests

There was a vitally important debate in parliament today, which it’d be easy to miss because of the Johnson chaos.

In a striking speech former minister Liam Byrne laid out to MPs what some journalists have been ringing alarm bells about for years…
hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-0… Parliament was told plainly that President Putin is “pursuing a hybrid war against the west and against us”

I think the decision to surrender to the virus and just let it rip through schools is one the U.K. will deeply regret in 5 years - and for the rest of the lives of that generation - as the longer term impact of having had the virus becomes clear at scale

https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1483880077318307848

Judging from early research papers that are starting to come out, this will be a generation that will grow up with a higher incidence of diabetes, infertility, lung disease, heart problems, and early onset Alzheimer’s. What will the impact on this generation be? And on society?

Speculation grows over casting for next Bond

https://twitter.com/christiancalgie/status/1483429326724943875

"The names Cock, Matthan Cock. Oh hang on, that's not right"

One of the exhausting facets of life at the moment is the civic duty of countering disinformation being spread in friendship groups. It starts off with someone who is already ‘lost’ — they bought into Trump/Brexit/anti-climate, are fully captured by those networks and soak it up They join in discussions and spread the disinfo. Some people in the group roll their eyes, but feel they can’t say anything as don’t want to argue, upset anyone. But others are drawn in, ‘oh my god I haven’t seen this anywhere! It must be a coverup!’ and become disciples…

The Daily Mail attempted a hit job today on the lovely people who volunteer as organisers of @UKGovCamp — but f’ed it up. The comments weren’t by a civil servant, they were by me — and they misquoted me to achieve their spin. Here’s an insight into Daily Mail ‘journalism’... @UKGovCamp Background: UKGovCamp is a conference for anyone (really, anyone) who wants to work on improving public services and civil society. It’s usually on a Saturday, so people give up their own time. Attendees include dedicated public servants from civil services, local authorities...

I really feel I shouldn’t, on having my passport checked by a Border Force agent on entry to UK, get to know how the border agent voted in the Brexit referendum, or how angry they are that remainers like me “want to have our cake and eat it” by maintaining connections with Europe It’s a week later and I’m still shaken by the abuse of authority in his display of vitriol from his little booth, trying to provoke me into an argument in a situation when he has power over me. I had to just mumble and nod and bite my tongue.

One of the failures of journalism in this period has been the unwillingness to do ‘the dog that didn’t bark’ stories.
Time and again something is promised or threatened, doesn’t happen, and is then simply regarded as ‘no longer a story’. But it is the *absence* that is the story

https://twitter.com/steveparks/status/1190197350813306880

We’ve had years of ‘If Brexit isn’t done by x date millions will take to the streets and there’ll be violence’ being breathlessly repeated by excited hacks from a Leaver’s baseless claim - giving it authority and having the effect of embedding that belief in the public mindset

As my tweets this morning show, the shocking state of journalism in the UK is a big part of why we’re in such a mess. The public simply don’t get the facts, the evidence or any sensible analysis with which to understand events or the choices they need to make In some cases it is pure bias - the tabloids, far-right blogs funded by foreign sources - but in others it’s simply incompetence, and getting carried away by ‘the game’ of journalism, rather than the profession of reporting

It’s now clear that Brexit isn’t going to happen. They’ve tried and failed (Johnson doesn’t really want the deal he struck, that was a fig leaf for no deal). The question now is how long does it take to accept that as a nation, stop and move on - today, January, 1 year, 5 years? The same ministers who have backed Brexit keep banging on about how government should be more like the private sector, so here’s there chance - if a private sector org had spent billions for 3.5 years and not made it work, the project would be killed. That’s what needs to happen

I’m at the @ODIHQ members evening, on How To Be Trustworthy With Data.
Very relevant to some of our current projects - but also to our sector as a whole.
I’ll keep some notes in this thread...
#ODIMembers First up is @RooMarcus giving an overview of the ODIs thinking in this area.
They recently did some research with @theRSAorg which found public demand for an ethical approach to their data was strong...

The average age for children to get their first smartphone is now 9. There are benefits in terms of connectivity & fun - but psychologists have identified an impact on the health & happiness of children too. How can that be minimised?
The BBC thinks AI is part of the answer... Alice Webb, Director of Children’s at the BBC, soft launched ‘BBC Own It’ today at the #BBCTechConf in Broadcasting House. It’s a new smartphone app using artificial intelligence to help protect and support children on their devices...
bbc.com/ownit

Today I’m at #BBCtechconf in Broadcasting House, a gathering of BBC staff working on leading edge tech and external experts. I’ll cover some of the discussions in this thread... The first session is Who’s AI Is It Anyway - but in the session was setup with an interesting provocation: could AI replace government? The panel includes @IndraJoshi10 from NHSX. She talks about AI being more about supporting rather than repacking...

Here’s an example of how BBC gets played by extremists. Ran a headline since last night that Tories will build 40 new hospitals. It’s since emerged that was a lie.
BBC deletes tweet, and edits the 40 claim out of story - but doesn’t explain what changed, why, or highlight the lie

https://twitter.com/alexwickham/status/1178244508242325504

Story should now be “Government lies about hospital building on first day of Tory conference.”

There need to be consequences for political lies. But now they’ve had 16 hours of the ‘40’ hospitals claim topping news, and it’s in national conscience. Quiet correction will be lost

As the Supreme Court considers vital questions to protect our parliamentary democracy, I found a tearful woman at the feet of Sir Winston Churchill...
#Prorogation #ProrogationCase This statue of one of Britain’s most famous parliamentarians and Prime Ministers stands in his old constituency, Woodford, on the edge of the green. It’s still well-respected by local people
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodford_…