Mark Fraser

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

Yvette Cooper (who backed the Iraq War) is asked what lessons we've learnt from Iraq

Cooper: ".. this threat from Iranian nuclear weapons"

Among other things Chilcot found the govt deliberately exaggerated the threat as a pretext for war

The govt are doing it all over again

desinteresse Honestly being overworked makes people unobservant and passive and it literally kills people every day. People don't seem to realize that an overworked nurse might not notice your sepsis symptoms and a tired truck driver might not notice. your car when he's merging into the lane. Failing to protect worker's rights impacts nearly everyone kiralamouse THIS. I want workers to be treated well for their own sake, but I NEED workers to be treated well for MY sake. We have got to stop glorifying eroding margin into the negative zones.

Every review of a basic income pilot seems hellbent on "did they reduce their working hours? Well did they? Huh?!"

And I'm saying maybe we're ALL better off when we can ALL calibrate our days to healthier outcomes and the economic breathing room of a solid floor helps there.

Family visas also down, student numbers just about holding up.

Small boats still top way for people seeking to reach us through irregular means

Primarily from the most dangerous countries on earth, who have NO SAFE ROUTE TO ESCAPE: Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan & Somalia.

Dear Lucy On the eve of the by-election, your Labour party spokesperson has admitted to the Huffington Post that a Labour party leaflet has been delivered through doors with your imprint recommending a vote for Labour by a tactical voting organisation which does not exist. This is deeply troubling, it is actually lying to voters. Did you approve this? Do you feel the Labour Party in government should be held to different standards in terms of honesty to the British public? In your last letter to me you mentioned your ‘very extensive data’ and ‘having spoken to over a third of eligible voters’ which led you to an understanding that the by election ‘was a contest between labour and Reform’. Clearly this latest development only tells voters one thing - you will employ any type of political deception (or in Urdu “Dhoka” ) to win. You will be very aware that all three real tactical voting organisations are recommending a vote for the Greens as the best way to stop Reform. Lying to the voters, as you have been caught doing, raises the real prospect that Reform will be the beneficiaries, something you have said that you don’t want. As this is such an important issue, for the sake of your own reputation, I would strongly urge you to apologise to the voters of Denton and Gorton before the polls open in the morning.” Kind regards, Zack Polanski Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales

Dear @lucympowell.bsky.social,

Why did you invent a fake tactical voting company to stop the Green Party beating Reform?

I'm starting to think your letters haven't always been in good faith...

The answer to @martinoneill.bsky.social's concluding question "What is the point of a Labour Party that has scorn for democracy, and puts itself at the service of the wealthy?" is obvious. There isn't one. It seems that the Labour Party - which achieved so much in the 20th century - is finished.

Inside Horden, the County Durham town failed by politics In Horden, County Durham, Westminster slogans have long been left unmet as the population has plummeted.

This sort of framing of stories about 'left behind' places is getting very tired. How have they been 'failed' by politics? They are the product of political choices - which organisations like the BBC have often failed to explain to people.

You can’t defeat the far right by giving them what they claim to want, bc that isn’t what they really want. What they really want- as they occasionally make clear- is racial purity. That’s why measures aimed at reducing migration are not only cruel & self-harming but pointless on their own terms

There's far more that needs to be done to ensure the benefits of economic wealth are felt by everyone. There's also a limit to what can be achieved on that score at present without further devolution - in particular around fiscal powers.

Greater Manchester is doing some things right, especially on transport and green investment, but we shouldn't kid ourselves by looking at a shiny city centre that that wealth trickles down to the 2.5m who live in the area.
fairerhealthacademy.gmtableau.nhs.uk/file/gmca-imd

Concerns about wealth inequality warrant one sentence in the BBC's coverage of Greater Manchester's 'economic miracle' yet deprivation has worsened in Manchester in the last 6 years and near 1/4 of GM residents live in the 10% of most deprived wards. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Tweet from Keir Starmer in 2018 responds to a story about asylum seekers' 20 year ways for refugee status saying "Completely unacceptable. Either make speedy decisions (i.e. under 6 month) or let asylum seekers work. To do neither is a denial of human diginity.

Remember when Keir Starmer thought trapping people for two decades in poverty was "a denial of human dignity"?

It's common sense, and our leaders know it. Let people work, make decisions quickly and let people settle.

On the Responsibility of Citizens Ordinary resistance and ordinary responsibility falls on all of us, whatever our jobs, positions, or roles in society.

Yvette Cooper must have fully understood that her unlawful proscription of Palestine Action was an attack on the fundamental freedoms of a democratic society. She did it anyway.

After today’s High Court ruling, she should no longer remain as a minister.

www.bostonreview.net/forum/the-re...

I asked the Defence minister today to examine whether the £4 million donation to Labour in 2024 by Quadrature. a hedge fund with sizeable investments in Palentir, a client of Mandelson’s company, had any influence on the award of contracts to Palentir, some without competition.

The Times calls Keir Starmer's decision to hire Peter Mandelson an "egregious error" which deserves an "inquiry into the appointment process."

Not included is any demand for an inquiry into their own appointment of him, long after his post-conviction relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was exposed

Screen shot of article text: Jason Stockwood, the Labour government’s new investment minister, recently said that a UBI may be a necessary tool to manage the disruption of AI. Higher structural unemployment, higher taxes on those of us who remain in work, and a universal basic income for everyone else is one possible future in a world where AI turns out to be an engine of pure, rather than creative, job destruction. But there is another option, which is to say that if the choice is between extreme limits on what uses we can put AI to and most of us being paid to sit around and do nothing, then we should choose a world without UBI and AI.

I appreciate the response. You characterized UBI as “being paid to sit around and do nothing.”

I generally agree with much of what you wrote: Jobs are more than a salary.

You don’t need to portray UBI as an obstacle to make that case.

I don't think here is a great place for you to try to clarify what you were aiming to say in your article. Maybe a revised article that sets out your position/arguments on AI/UBI would be best? For me, a guaranteed living income is needed now in the real world, not in some extreme imagined dystopia.

I thought you implied that people getting UBI would choose to sit around doing nothing, rather than find meaning in activity beyond the paid jobs that AI would have destroyed?

Depends what you mean by "jobs" - being employed by another person or organisation? spending more time being a parent/carer? doing something creative and personally satisfying? joining movements for change? growing food?

"if the choice is between extreme limits on what uses we can put AI to and most of us being paid to sit around and do nothing, then we should choose a world without UBI and AI."
The basic flaw here is assuming that without "jobs" people choose to do nothing. All UBI evidence is to the contrary.

What is it about being a highly educated person working at a place like the Financial Times that makes one think Arbeit Macht Frei? What is it about the thought of work being voluntary that makes one think we all will choose not to do anything? It's so frustrating to see them think they're so wise.

Last year we spotlighted Mayday Saxonvale's inspirational story, when they secured the sale from Somerset Council after a five-year effort: www.platformplaces.com/inspiration/...

Now they've secured £1.2M and are launching a community share offer to take the next steps ✨

Find out more ⬇️

At some point, @johnharris1969.bsky.social 's focus will shift from the misery of Labour to the hopefulness of the Greens. Might be time to cheer up.

Let's see if Middleton Co-operative Mayoral Development Corporation can do things differently.

Councils urgently need to be enabled to borrow to build.
“If you invest in council homes, you save massive amounts on the housing benefit bill. You make savings on people’s health because people are living in homes that are warm, safe and dry. You provide space for children to do their homework.”

Three errors here. First, in confusing some kind of SEND classification (20%) with EHCPs (5.5%).

Secondly in assuming it gives automatic right to DLA. Though there is a strong ECHP/DLA overlap.

Third in assuming that those moving to DLA to PIP never work (it's not an out of work benefit).

Socialism in One City The ultimate test for Mamdani’s vision will be successful governance—and so far, it appears to be working.

In 1966 MLK went head to head with Chicago’s liberal mayor, speaking before thousands: “Let us be dissatisfied until every socially oppressive ghetto and rat-infested slum is plunged into the junk heaps of our nation and Negroes and whites live side by side in decent, safe, and sanitary housing.”

Everyone should see this. Watch it, share it - these are the voices we need to hear that are so often ignored in the poisonous debate about hotels.

5 reasons why Facebook should be in (global, cooperative) public ownership Just like the railway, Facebook is a private monopoly running a public service. We, the public, don't have real competition and consumer choice, but we don't have a democratic say as citizens either.

If x/twitter is a town square, why don't we who live in this online town get any say over the rules?

We could all be members and get a vote if it was a coop

I wrote this back in 2018 about facebook but it's relevant to x/bluesky and it's relevant to now

weownit.org.uk/blog/5-reaso...

The PM and Foreign Secretary should be condemning this illegal strike and breach of international human rights law.

After years of arming a genocide and worshipping the “special relationship”, Trump now believes he can act with impunity.