Making quiet things louder since, ooooh, ages ago. Also enjoy life on two wheels in Lycra.
United Kingdom
Joined July 2017
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Rich M retweeted
It is easy…tempting indeed…to be distracted by the sound & fury of the battle between two powerful men – the billionaire who owns X and has turned it into a megaphone and the British Prime Minister. However, this story is much more important than a clash between Elon Musk and Keir Starmer. It is about how to protect girls and young women from terrible sexual abuse. For more than 10 years official reports and police investigations have revealed that some have covered up and others have played down the fact that gangs of men - mainly but not exclusively of Pakistani origin - have targeted, groomed, raped and tortured mainly white girls. Musk has attacked and abused the PM and his safeguarding minister Jess Philips for refusing to agree to a new inquiry into what really happened. The Conservatives and Reform UK have echoed his call if not his language (which, the former head of counter terrorism, has warned risks inciting violence). Now the one woman who had not commented when so many others had has broken our silence. Professor Alexis Jay - who chaired the Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse which reported more than two years ago and who led the investigation into the cover-up of masss rape in Rotherham more than a decade ago - has told me on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme there is no need for a new inquiry. What’s more she argues that it would get in the way of what needs to be done – implementing the findings of her report which was published more than two years ago. Professor Jay refuses to comment on the words used by Musk or, indeed, Farage or the shadow Justice secretary – the Conservative Robert Jenrick who has argued that what is to blame is mass migration of millions of people with what he calls "alien cultures". However, she had a clear message for them all. Those who "politicise child sexual abuse" are ignoring the needs of the victims she says. In another interview on the Today Programme I asked Robert Jenrick whether he accepted the Conservatives in government for 14 years had failed to do enough to tackle a problem that was first highlighted more than a decade ago. Why, I asked him, had Tory ministers failed to implement the recommendations of the inquiry? Why had they refused calls for a second wider national inquiry when they had the power to set one up. I asked him whether he’d ever raise these issues as a minister in the Home Office and pointed out that there was no mention in the parliamentary record Hansard of him ever raising the subject before Elon Musk did. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, I asked Jenrisk whether he now wanted to stop immigration from those "alien cultures" he condemns despite the fact that immigration from, say, Pakistan has recorded since Brexit and that many of Pakistani heritage have and are serving this country proudly - not least the former Home Secretary Sajid Javid and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. You can hear his answers by listening back to the Today programme on @bbcsounds at 8.10 (that's 2 hours & 10 minutes into the programme) and Professor Jay's at 7.30ish (one hour & 30 minutes into the programme)Jenrick, like Messrs Farage and Musk insists that much more is now known about what happened in the past and much more needs to be known about what might be happening now right across the country. So they argue that there is a case for that second enquiry. Jay argues that that would distract from implementing the protections that are needed now and which the Home Secretary hastily announced last night - making it an offence to know about but not report or to actively cover up child sex abuse and improving the collection of the data on who the offenders really are.Having spent years investigating these crimes - unlike some who read a few tweets before firing off their own ill informed opinions - she is clear about two things. Firstly, the scandals exposed in Rotherham and Oldham - the covering up of mass child abuse - has undoubtedly happened elsewhere any may still be happening now. Secondly, child sexual abuse is not limited to any one group in society as repeated scandals have revealed.
I've written this long post to put into context the clips of the interviews I'm also posting which I know will be taken out of context by some who want to abuse their political opponents more than they want to stop the abuse of young girls
A man who usually talks about trousers gives a better analysis of tariffs than most economists.
I’ve worked with a lot of people over the years, but meeting @MichaelRosenYes is a definite highlight.
Rich M retweeted
How Musk broke Twitter and helped elect Trump
(Location: Tesla European HQ, Amsterdam)
Rich M retweeted
The key lesson of the Trump victory for us is that Labour has to deliver the significant improvement in quality of life that people can feel or we face the rise of right wing populism that has swept America. Half measures won’t be enough.
Rich M retweeted
The thing that baffles me is that good and serious people have seen versions of what happened tonight in the US for eight years and are still surprised that people don’t see the world as they do.
1) Voters think “the economy” is “can I afford to live” NOT “we are doing better nationally than others”. Inflation is politically more important than GDP
2) Immigration matters, both the sense of control/uncontrolled and the raw numbers, particularly when money is tight. See 1
3) Don’t take voters for fools: in this case don’t insist a clearly gaga leader is up to the job
4) Don’t try to fight a charismatic opponent with someone who can’t answer basic questions about why they want to be in charge. The ability to communicate is not an optional extra for politicians, it is a core part of the job description
5) Go woke, go politically broke
6) What the metro elites regard as an illogical vote is not necessarily illogical for people who are struggling and angry - see 1,2,3,4,5
Personally I think democracy matters very much and some/much of what Trump says is appalling but until his opponents learn the lessons above, voters will keep voting for someone who manages to encapsulate what they feel
Rich M retweeted
Until tonight I was not aware that there is a popular singer called Celeste.
Until tonight, 5 lovely women from Liverpool weren't aware that there is a French avant-garde post-hardcore, post-black metal band called Celeste.
Sadly for them I was not the one at the wrong gig.
Rich M retweeted
Word of the day is ‘recrudescence’ (17th century): the return of something terrible after a time of reprieve.
Rich M retweeted
The Palace of Versailles has around 15 million visitors a year, and France hasn't had a monarchy for 232 years since they excuted all but one. So, for all the Royalists out there, bleeting on about tourism.....shhhhh.
Rich M retweeted
Under Labour plans 73% of farms won’t pay any inheritance tax at all, the smallest farms will be protected and those that do pay will have ten years to pay it.
The bleating you hear is very rich people being asked to cough up a bit of money - when they die - maybe.
Rich M retweeted
The Country Land and Business Association says the new £1m cap on agricultural inheritance tax relief will "harm 70,000 farms". That's 1/3 of all farms.
What does the actual data show? Less than 500 farms/year will be pay more tax as a result of this change every year. Possibly as few as 100.
Rich M retweeted
Lots of over-the-top coverage right now about the £1m cap on inheritance tax agricultural property relief (APR).
Quick thread:
A voice of sanity. Seems a shame he can’t ever go for the to job himself really.
I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians.
I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor.
My time as Governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics. I’m proud of the work I did to help clean up our air, create jobs, balance the budget, make the biggest infrastructure investment in state history, and take power from the politicians and give it back to the people when it comes to our redistricting process and our primaries in California.
That’s policy. It requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election, and I know it isn’t sexy to most people, but I love it when I can help make people’s lives better with policies, like I still do through my institute at USC, where we fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people.
Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.
It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand.
I want to tune out.
But I can’t. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets. To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious.
And I will always be an American before I am a Republican.
That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious.
For decades, we’ve talked about the national debt. For decades, we’ve talked about comprehensive immigration reform that secures the border while fixing our broken immigration system. And Washington does nothing.
The problems just keep rolling, and we all keep getting angrier, because the only people that benefit from problems aren’t you, the people. The only people that benefit from this crap are the politicians who prefer having talking points to win elections to the public service that will make Americans’ lives better.
It is a just game to them. But it is life for my fellow Americans. We should be pissed!
But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me but helped no one else else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea - that won’t solve our problems.
It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful.
We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger.
That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you. I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz.
Vote this week. Turn the page and put this junk behind us.
And even if you disagree with me, vote, because that’s what we do as Americans. vote.org
I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that people on here who use the phrase “let that sink in” are, without exception, absolute fucking dickheads, usually spouting some right wing #speakyourbrains type bullshit.
#LetThatSinkIn #twats
Rich M retweeted
Preparing this for when Musk inevitably claims that "Tommy Robinson" is a political prisoner (feel free to send to anyone who does in the meantime)
1. He plead guilty
2. His offence is contempt of court. That means he admits he didn't do what a court ordered
3. He breached the court order 10 times by repeating defamatory statements
4. Freedom of speech is protected in UK law. It doesn't allow you to defame people or to ignore court orders, like the US 1st amendment wouldn't protect you if lying under oath
5. He was denied a visa to visit the States while Trump was President - he was jailed in 2012 for illegally entering the US on a false passport
Rich M retweeted
No you’re not. You’re an app. But not a news app. Some people post their news on you, while others post unverified and compacted bullshit. It’s like calling a running sewer the number one source of premium content in the city.
Rich M retweeted
Trump reveals his dementia in an interview with Bloomberg, as Harris puts his fascism in the context of his dementia. A THREAD
Oh dear @campbellclaret and @RoryStewartUK
I’m a big fan of your podcast, but you owe your tour crew a huge apology. Invading their bus space for the sake of an Instagram clip? Not cool. Not cool at all. Bunk space is private and sacred, you really shouldn’t have been there.
