CarolineJMolloy

I think this is what bugs me the most about the willingness of swathes of politicos to swallow a random r-wing internet conspiracy theory - that accepting this particular theory requires you to have paid zero attention to how outsourcing / privatisation / cronyism actually happens

So flipping true 😞

BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview The new Green Party leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted a conference interview on the flagship BBC show

The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester

The party is louder and more left wing than ever.

Bolder. Effective.And surging!

Come on @greenparty.org.uk team.

Let's go!

Join.greenparty.org.uk

I fear too much of the political class who have spent 15 years sneeringly referring to people outside the Westminster village as “keyboard warriors” have now become little more than keyboard warriors themselves

To be honest I think their muted reaction suggested they suspected a massive error

It can simultaneously be true that
A) ID cards are a terrible idea
B) The Blair family are greedy chancers
and
C) There is no evidence of this claim, it stems from far right social media accounts & amplifying it is a lazy failure of basic fact checking, political nous and common sense by #hignify

cc @henrymance.ft.com who brought this to my (and many others’) attention

Why exactly the BBC judges hate speech laws to be relevant to debates about free speech, but public order and so-called terrorism laws not to be, is a highly ideological position that I want the BBC to justify, to Ofcom if necessary - or just admit they made a mistake with this one.

So I wrote a hasty and rambly reply which is all their lazy arse response merits, but im quite minded to follow up with ofcom if necessary, the bbc shouldn’t be easing our slide into fascism quite as willingly as they are

Nick Robinson: How the simmering row over freedom of speech reached boiling point

Many people also asked why we did not mention in the article the arrests of people who expressed support for Palestine Action and the prosecutions of Just Stop Oil protestors. Nick Robinson was looking specifically at how hate speech laws are applied to posts on social media in the UK. Supporters of Palestine Action have been arrested under the Terrorism Act. Just Stop Oil protestors were prosecuted for public order offences. We would say that these cases were beyond the scope of Nick Robinson's article, and that there are separate debates to be had over how the terrorism and public order laws should be applied.

The BBC’s complaints department seems to think it’s entirely ok to 100% elide “hate speech” with “free speech” (as Nick Robinson did)

and that incidents of *actual* attacks on free speech, are an entirely separate debate, presumably for some other broadcaster to talk about

It will save you all of, like, 4p a month, and you’ll lose your right to choose between dull and uninspiring Labour Party leadership / deputy contenders sufficiently friendly to capitalism to not offend the corporate party donors… but you’ll send a message to your union!

Wes Streeting‘s quote yesterday was “if it‘s good enough for Southampton why isn’t it happening everywhere”,

which struck me at the time as an utterly inane thing to say about a pilot project, turns out I was right….

👇

(“Online hospitals” 🙄)

If you’re a union member & fed up with Labour then call your union (assuming it’s affiliated, most are) & tell them you want to keep paying into the political fund (this is important, it allows unions to do good stuff) but that you want to exercise your right to opt out of the bit that funds Labour

How exacfly does this shrink waiting lists? in other words, how does it save doctors time? What exactly are they not doing in an online appointment, that they would do in person? if the appointment isn’t shorter in length, how does this plan shrink waiting lists?

How exactly does this free up any nurse time? What are they not doing virtually, that they would do in person?

I fear rebranding “online consultant follow up” as “online hospital” is really about making the idea of a hospital as *somewhere you go to receive care*, out of date - and getting friends & relatives to do (even more of) the actual job of caring for often very sick people.

My money’s on the Boots app nicking doctors from the NHS in exchange for that nice endorsement the Boots CEO gave Starmer before the election, but what do I know?

NHS ‘online hospital’ plan announced to help cut waiting lists in England NHS experts welcome ambition of scheme due to launch in 2027 but some raise questions about how it will work

a) this is not a hospital, please don’t insult our intelligence

b) seeing patients virtually isn’t any faster for doctors (unless corners are cut), so the only way it delivers faster care is if there are additional doctors. Where are they coming from, then?

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

I know 😢😢

Ah me too! We did Party Piece at school and that was it, hooked!

**

I remember being taught this particular poem at school aged 16 and it opened my eyes to what poetry could be - I went straight out to buy his collected Love Poems, my battered copy of which has sustained me in moments both lovelorn and joyful, from adolescence through to middle age.

Let us not hesitate
Over what we know
Or over how cold this place has become,
But let's unclip our minds
& let tumble free
The mad mangled crocodile of love'

So they did,
There among the woodbines & Guinness stains,
And later he caught a bus & she a train
& all there was between them
Was rain

Ah, RIP, Brian Patten 😢

***
Party Piece

He said:

'Let's stay here
Now this place has emptied
And make gentle pornography with one another,
While the party-goers go out
And the dawn creeps in,
Like a stranger. /

@greenpartytu.bsky.social

In theory it should be possible. @unitetheunion.bsky.social‘s systems don’t seem to be quite set up for it so their political team will need to address.

I’d encourage other Unite / Green Party members to contact their regional Unite office and do this too 👇. Probably makes more sense than voting in a Labour Deputy leadership election so uninspiring that our own union‘s leadership has refused to endorse anyone. Might send a message to Unite…

I’ve asked @unitesouthwest.bsky.social to remove the bit of my political levy that goes to Labour Party, all 4p of it, but keep the rest! The lady I spoke to was having trouble splitting it out, so has passed it on to the @unitetheunion.bsky.social political team. As a Green it feels the right thing

I think probably what we are supposed to do is write to the Unite membership people in our respective region and say we want to opt out of the bit of the political fund that goes to the Labour Party… I will investigate!

As a member of both Unite & the Green Party, am I allowed to vote in the Labour deputy leadership election? Unite seems to think so… is there nothing in LP rules? (I pay political levy, haven’t opted out of any part of it yet).

I only ask cos I’d quite like to write Vote Green on the ballot 😁