"Why do the racists insist on joining our party?" weeps Reform UK, as Reform UK hosts a noted racist

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 3w ago

Reform UK Oxford will host a talk in November criticising "DEI" by the Nathan Cofnas, who describes his belief in + commitment to biological racism as "race realism", writing "in a meritocracy, blacks would disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”.

PSA: schooling does not have to be linear, what you think is the ‘optimal’ route for your kid may be entirely wrong, a happy kid is one that learns. I have had to throw out everything I ‘knew’ re education and am happy to chat with anyone having similar non-linear (including non attendance) issues

‘We don’t have the money for that’ says the former Chancellor who cut NI twice when we couldn’t afford it for purely political reasons.

"It is not our lack of guts that stops us threatening to kill unarmed men for the crime of being on a boat. It is Jenrick’s lack of humanity that means he can." Back in @theipaper.com, where I really need to ask for a new byline pic

Robert Jenrick has confused cruelty with courage

Jonn Elledge: The Reform politician thinks he's brave to say what he does – he's actually just got no humanity

inews.co.uk

At some point Labour and its supporters are going to come unstuck with the constant messaging that, above a certain income level, you should expect nothing from the state apart from an invoice. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This video is excellent and sums it up for me. I still have hope that @zackpolanski.bsky.social *can* clearly make this argument to members. But it needs to be made clearly and unapologetically.

Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · last mo.

This is extremely reasonable and well-put. It clearly comes from a place of principle but is also strategic. The kind of argument that could have, had Polanski made it, meaningfully shifted the vote on the Zionism is Racism motion. But Zack doesn’t have the range.

Another on the list of "things that are obvious from the evidence yet ignored" is "current immigration policy will deliver a great big hole in future budgets". The OBR currently assumes net migration bottoms out at 200k then rises. That isn't going to happen

Rob Ford@robfordmancs.bsky.social · last mo.

Yes indeed, as is often the case. See also: “Labour are losing more votes to the left than the right”, “Kemi is more popular but the Tories are not”, and “Most people really dislike Nigel Farage” - all as obvious as the Pope’s confessional status, yet all routinely missed or ignored.

So they're going to livestream the martyring of an Islamic terrorist. That couldn't possibly end badly, could it?

After new revelations, the @greenparty.org.uk needs to suspend Lubna Speitan immediately - and this can be done within a 24-hour window - and immediately investigate whether there was knowledge of her background within the party. Many of us cannot even consider remaining members otherwise, not

Yes, and I would agree with that argument. The policy process needs to be much more robust for a party with aspirations of being in government. (Although that's now unlikely to be an issue any time soon)

Andy Cooper #backzack@spsblue.bsky.social · last mo.

Then that's an argument that all Green party policy is voted in illegitimately. This it the highest turnout policy vote ever, largest ever conference, +online attendance and proxy votes for those who registered for them (which is unusual as it only applies to card votes). Think-tank led is so worse

This statement would carry a lot more weight were it not for the quite blatant antisemitism that appears to be being entirely tolerated, and Jewish members' concerns dismissed.

The Green Party of England & Wales@greenparty.org.uk · last mo.

Following the vote on the anti-Zionist policy at Green Party Conference, the 5 Green MPs, the Leader and Co-Deputy Leaders have issued a joint statement

I'm not going to wade into the rights or wrongs of the ZiR motion; the internet is where nuance goes to die. I am going to point out that any governance model that allows 1,100 members to define policy for 229,000 others is singularly unfit for purpose and needs to either reformed, or pulled down.

I broadly agree with much of this thread but I will say - part of the challenge opponents of this motion had is that the proposers of the motion were completely intolerant, incapable of negotiation in a way that is very alien to Green culture.

Tristan Grayford@tristangrayford.scot · last mo.

GPEW leadership acted far too late (and, in some cases, not at all) in responding to the ZiR motion, and advocates against the motion didn't put in the work to coordinate opposition. That's what happens when you half-arse something you say is actually really important, you lose!

I happen to think the bible is deeply misogynistic, but I don't think "Christianity is misogyny" should be party policy either.

This is going to be a massive barrier to “highlighting all the good stuff” and is for many voters, and with good reason, seen as unacceptably extreme. It is incredibly naive to imagine otherwise.

We seem to have ended up in a weird position where a Zionist is both defined within ZiR but also literally anyone who disagrees on any point within the motion. The motion text is completely at odds with the actual behaviour that is being encouraged in the party. I don't know what the solution is.

In addition, I think (and have said before) - that GPEW passing a motion that defines Zionism in a way that is opposed by its own group representing Jewish members is hugely problematic and in opposition to its principle of "nothing about us without us".

Rosi Sexton@rosisexton.bsky.social · last mo.

I think reasonable people can disagree on what zionism is and whether or not it is inherently racist. But even if you agree with the statement - being true is not the only test of good policy. (3)

Because of course it's better not to have a party calling for change at all than it is to have one calling for change without using the word "zionism".

The MPs should leave the party and form a new one with a proper constitution that would prevent this dumb shit.

I said some time ago that if I were someone intent on eliminating the Green Party of England and Wales as an electoral threat, the Zionism is Racism motion would be exactly how I'd go about it. (1)

Look, at this point *everyone* agrees we should spend more time away from screens, children and teens especially, outdoors even. But it's not going to work if you say teens should never do physically boisterous stuff in large groups. They're gonna do it anyway because it's thrilling and fun!

Something's got to give. You have to either stop pretending you genuinely want teens to go outside and do things, or you have to massively increase the amount of funding and, crucially, *space* for activities for young people – some of which will be self-organised and, yes, a little bit scary.

When people use AI for writing assistance, it can shift their political attitudes by autocompleting sentences in biased ways. Yet people are often unaware of the AI bias & it's influence This is not merely about the facts presented, but how autocomplete worlds www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Students own the copyright in their work. Unless they have given explicit individual consent to share that copyrighted material with a commercial company we simply do not have the right to do this. I doubt the company points this out. Article via @risu.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Yorkshire Dales school using AI to mark mock exams

Headteacher Julia Polley says students get quicker and more detailed feedback, without teacher bias.

bbc.co.uk

everyone is understandably insanely stressed out right now. we could all probably use a little extra grace in our day to day interactions

@robfordmancs.bsky.social Hi Rob - what's the best way to drop you a message?

The real issue here is that Tice has not, as far as we know, broken any law, & has paid the tax HMRC says he owes. If you and this Labour govt think "aggressive tax avoidance" should be stopped, as you all said before the election, it is now in your power to end it. But you won't. Why?

Torsten Bell@torstenbell.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Richard Tice: - engaged in highly aggressive tax avoidance to avoid nearly £600,000 of tax - did so at a time when the taxpayer was already paying his salary as an MEP Nothing patriotic about this party of grifters www.thetimes.com/article/6f55...

If we made the green energy transition this war would be unthinkable and these authoritarians wouldn’t be in power — not in the US, not in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia, not in Russia. Hydrocarbons are killing our freedom and just plain killing us.

The baffling thing about this age is how this utter chump gets routinely held to much lower standards than anybody else anywhere just by normalising being an utter chump & everyone just accepting that's how it is and who he is

For sometime now the arguments against renewable energy have been almost entirely motivated by narrow, greed driven interests. If you can reduce dependency on fossil fuels for more stable, less scarce, cleaner alternatives, it’s really very hard to see the downsides IMO

Farrukh@implausibleblog.bsky.social · 8mo ago

President Macron making the case for renewables in light of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, "Everything we do to move towards transition is also about reducing our dependence and therefore our exposure to geopolitical risks"