🚨 This week, the UN Special Rapporteur on Poverty and Human Rights, @srpoverty, presented a hugely important report to the @UN on the role of economic insecurity in giving rise to far right populists like @reformparty_uk and @TRobinsonNewEra. 1/🧵

Lovely to be part of @Reddit 's 'Ask Me Anything' over the past week. Hundreds of thousands of folks interested in #UBI it seems - people want change! 💪🏻 https://t.co/NoxHjROM7F

Anyone interested in #basicincome / #UBI can come over to @Reddit and the Ask Me Anything page now to ask me anything here https://t.co/NoxHjRPjXd @BasicIncomeOrg @Autonomy_Inst @UBILabNetwork

Time is very much of the essence, as just a couple of minutes scrolling this app and its timeline of popular fury and disaffection will tell you. Read @srpoverty 's excellent report here: https://t.co/99N0DCocwV. And do something like joining @TheGreenParty now. Thanks! 🙏🏻

This has major implications for Left organising. As colleagues like @meadwaj @NotJustYouHere & @GreensOrganise have been arguing: we need to (re-)build community, build bridges across isolated (and thus antagonistic) communities, AND push hard for redistributive politics. 8/🧵

One last piece - community ALSO matters hugely in this. The report cites research showing that, in the UK, communities with above average pub closure rates were more likely to vote UKIP! As social life breaks down, isolation rises, along with resentment that is exploited. 7/🧵

From the report: "The response to the threat of the far right must be to take social protection seriously as a human right...Redistribution through social protection is not just an economic issue". And it's one that all parties need to take as seriously as @TheGreenParty. 6/🧵

But guess what? IT'S BULLSHIT! And there's an obvious way to address it: making sure that we all enjoy good quality, free, universal public services on top of economic security through policies like #basicincome. The money exists if our leaders choose to redistribute it. 5/🧵

Narratives of 'deservingness' are vital here - they create a hierarchy of in and out groups, 'natives' who deserve a slice of the ever-shrinking pie and other poor folk who don't. This translates into social security policies and political discourse that dehumanises. 4/🧵

I've said this recently on @AJEnglish: https://t.co/rD2pACY6aD. The key point is that the right create economic security and sow division to distract us from it. They blame 'others' like migrants or boats, allowing the super-rich to get away with increased wealth extraction. 3/🧵

Drawing on evidence submitted by researchers from all over the world, including me and colleagues @UniofBath, it makes clear what progressives and people like @ZackPolanski have long been arguing: far-right populism thrives on economic insecurity and fear. 2/🧵

New paper with @EqualRightOrg and @BasicIncomeOrg on 'Basic Income for a Just Transition', published for #COP30. Climate justice begins with people, and economic security is the foundation for resilience, dignity, and lasting climate action. https://t.co/tzdYHEWnIf

Absolutely huge news for @TheGreenParty in and around Bath - 1000 members,m doubled since August! This is a social movement AND a political party 💪🏻

80% of Reform MPs went to private school. Their money comes from billionaires and oil and gas. They don't work for you.

🇳🇴 Norway chose socialism. 🇬🇧 Britain chose Thatcherism. Today, Norway 🇳🇴 has world-class public services, thriving farms and democratic wealth. Britain 🇬🇧 has food banks, failing infrastructure, and billionaire capture. That’s the legacy of the choices we made and the lies we

This is a great piece by @johnharris1969 on the tragedy of austerity (and Tory/Labour neglect) destroying a vital part of the public sphere - youth centres. Something @TheGreenParty will definitely address.

Lastly, congrats to Stuart Bridge and the @bathnesld for winning, and fair play to all the candidates on their efforts. It was genuinely nice to meet and chat with the Labour, Reform and Lib Dem teams last night - we are all people and all have way more in common than not! 💚 4/4

A massive thank you to everyone who got involved, the many local volunteers, new members of the party, friends from the school gates, and comrades like @BathNESGreens @OrdLeftBath @NAJ562 @CllrSamRoss who put in hours with heart. Really exciting and inspiring. 🥰 3/4

The rise of Reform, even locally, is a wake-up call: we need a politics that unites rather than divides us. I’m proud of the campaign we ran, of everyone who helped make it happen, and of the fact we came 2nd on a shoe-string ahead of legacy and billionaire backed parties!💪🏼 2/4

A huge thank-you to everyone in Widcombe & Lyncombe who supported me and @TheGreenParty yesterday. We grew our share of the vote, built strong foundations for the future, and proved there’s an appetite for honest, accountable, community-driven politics here in Bath. 💚 1/4