Real Britain Ros
@realbritainros
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@DailyMirror #RealBritain column by @roswynnejones | Former Feature Writer of The Year | Also: #PeopleMove #BritainTalks #WiganPierProject #TheJourney
Joined March 2013
Just days before UK riots, Britain First's leader Paul Golding says he wants "this country to descend into a f**king nightmare". @hopenothate shared undercover footage with the Mirror that reveals Far Right party's contempt for Britain, and deep racism & misogyny in its ranks.
EXCLUSIVE: Britain First member reveals he wants the UK to become a ‘nightmare’, saying society is becoming a ‘horrific’ and ‘violent’ place to live. Read more:
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This morning Rishi Sunak had the goodwill of many. This afternoon, he betrayed the direction of his government - and perhaps his own dream - with the appointment of Suella Braverman.
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To those including the Tory MP for Dover ludicrously blaming Marcus Rashford's charity work for last night's score line, may I propose a simple solution. You get on with feeding hungry kids and then footballers won't need to.
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Eddie Izzard's just run 28 marathons in 28 days for charity, made a global career out of thin air, words & mimes (in several languages) & raised millions for sport relief. Come back & attack him when you think you've earned the right to spend 1 second standing in his stilettos.
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While this pathetic pantomime plays out I keep thinking of a woman I heard on the radio today. She was saving the last little bit left on her key meter til Friday when her granddaughter was due to visit.
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They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
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I sincerely hope @jessphillips is being properly protected from the consequences of Elon Musk's mental breakdown.
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Alexa show me the Venn diagram of those who support the poor souls escaping the ski slopes under cover of darkness for the safety of Blighty and those who welcome those escaping torture/death/poverty on dinghies in the English Channel.
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Ah, someone showed Steve Baker that polling where his seat goes to Labour at the next election.
BREAKING: Senior Tory Steve Baker calls on Boris Johnson to quit. 💥 . "I'm sorry, that for not obeying the letter and the spirit. the Prime Minister now should be long gone. I'll certainly vote for this motion but he should just know that the gig's up".
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Corbyn basically delivering a speech with policies that tackle the climate emergency, bandit capitalism, housing crisis, broken communities and promote international diplomacy instead of war. No wonder some people are terrified of him ever gaining power #lab19.
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I went wild swimming in Devon last week on my birthday. Afterwards, my ear was a bit clogged with water. Next day felt v sick, which I put down to birthday campfire rum. 3 days later I still had nausea & my ear ached. We went on a hilly car trip, altering pressure in my ears. .
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Doing phone interviews about the government’s obesity strategy while my kids hold up this sign to get my attention
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And it's the first time, I've ever heard a triage nurse at A&E scream.
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He definitely broke something. Sadly, I think it was Britain.
Saying farewell to the Prime Minister before he flies to see Her Majesty. A hero who broke the mould of British politics.
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Tommy Robinson addressing Brexit rally outside Parliament does nothing to advance cause of decent leavers. If you don't ban him from pitching up & find yourself enjoying the frisson of naziboys at your rally, take a look at yourself. Extremists have been waiting for this moment.
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126 fixed penalty notices for the Tory ravers – a party that once brought us the Criminal Justice Act.
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There is no more positive, upbeat, decent, kind or thoughtful person in politics than Labour's candidate in Clacton #jovanforclacton. I can't wait to campaign for him.
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Struck again tonight by sheer brilliant loveliness of the two young people who died in the London Bridge attack. We needed them so much in these times. I hope their families can take some comfort from how proud a whole country is of their wonderful children.
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Overheard at a Peckham polling station just now:.Young Man: 'I might vote for that Brexit Party.".Mum: "You'll get a bloody clip round the ear if you do".
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The Marine Management Organisation report 2019 records there are around 12,000 fishers working on UK registered vessels. That's exact same no of jobs just lost from Debenhams. Plus 13,000 at Arcadia. I'm sure the government will show them all the same level of commitment.
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Troubled by this new tack, which smacks of the welfare scroungers' narrative. The vast majority of people following the rules. Setting us all off curtain-twitching against each other is a distraction technique. This murderous new peak belongs to the government not the people.
“A minority of people are putting the health of the nation at risk by not following the rules”. Home Secretary Priti Patel calls on people to “stay home, to protect the NHS and save lives”.
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Honestly, the replies to this?! I've interviewed many incredible survivors of Rotherham & other rape gangs. The crimes are beyond words or imagination. So are abuses & cover ups involving kids' homes like Shirley Oaks. The common thread is not religion, but paedophiles. And an.
I sincerely hope @jessphillips is being properly protected from the consequences of Elon Musk's mental breakdown.
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The day of Femi Akinnola’s funeral, Britain was in full lockdown. The Mencap support worker was buried in his jeans & T-shirt because funeral directors were not allowed to touch him. Next day, the Prime Minister hosted a cheese & wine party. #RealBritain.
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Pretty sure I just heard all four of my grandparents turn in their graves
Nigel Farage to address far-right rally in Germany
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The incredible scientists (a married couple) behind the coronavirus vaccine are Turkish immigrants to Germany. Luckily, Priti Patel's going to make sure we keep people like that out of the UK.
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And remember this bitter little conference speech from Osborne in his pomp, lambasting Gordon Brown for his "age of irresponsibility"?.He literally said: "Labour failed to fix the roof when the sun was shining.".
The Tories ran the 2010 election on the slogan #BrokenBritain. No-one can say they didn't keep their promise.
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A week later, I still feel terrible. The nausea came back and I had to go to A&E to "check for eggs & legs". No-one wants to hear that sentence with regards to their ear. Happily, neither were present. But I've got an ear infection maybe where the spider bit or scratched me. .
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I'm off this week so I invited a group of holocaust survivors to take over my #RealBritain column with a message for Suella Braverman. Their response is more powerful than anything I could ever write. Indebted to them & @FreefromTorture @Aegis_Trust .
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Boris Johnson (who earns £211,000 a year as public servant) jokes new cabinet role is "zero hrs contract". It's their humility I admire.
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@polcurrency @George_Osborne Absolutely livid about this entire podcast and this extract just about nails why.
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London friends - don't forget to vote, and bring ID. Our city needs you.
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I assumed at first it was wax. But no. It was moving, and its legs were still kicking. It was a spider. Not a small spider but a medium, thick-bodied spider. The nausea immediately lifted and I felt fine, except for being a bit traumatised, along with all my companions. .
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Such powerful contributions from @ayeshahazarika tonight on #BBCQT - such a relief to watch someone articulate so well & so passionately how so many of us feel. Brilliant on Jess Phillips too.
“We should prosecute this… but what we mustn’t do is smear an entire group of people”. Ayesha Hazarika says Elon Musk's comments were “disgusting”, and while we need ask questions on grooming gangs without “fear or favour”, we “must not attack all Muslims”. #bbcqt
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Are you supposed to go to work tomorrow if you have no car and your bosses have sent you no plans that ensure your safety at work? Asking for quite a lot of the nation.
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I recently interviewed someone who had been homeless and forced to sleep in a bin during bad weather, and it was the only bit of their whole awful story where they cried, because it was so utterly humiliating to have to say it out loud.
Multimillionaire invents 'bin pods' for the homeless by joining two wheelie bins
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Find this front pageimage from the #kyivpost very moving. The left & right eyes are of completely different men.
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No surprise that #Budget23 introduces 'stricter' Universal Credit sanctions. When you've given all the carrots to the rich, you're only left with a stick. After refugees, this govt was always coming for welfare claimants. More proof it's going to be a nasty election.
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If Ann Widdecombe wins #CBB I am going to take it worse than Trump-Brexit. Britain you can do better than this.
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Thinking of this moment with @Harryslaststand almost exactly 1 yr ago. Hoyland Working Men’s Club. Harry laughing because it was technically my honeymoon. Glad I spent it with him & john & Orwell
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Mr Speaker - I know the party opposite are desperate to talk about my living arrangements. but the public would rather talk about theirs. when is the government going to end No Fault Evictions?. Brilliant opener to #PMQs from Angela Rayner.
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This is wrong. @faizashaheen should be one of the bright lights of a future Labour Party. I spent the last general election night watching IDS narrowly defeat her. This time around, she was about to defeat him – after years of watching his policies demean and impoverish her.
“Honestly I’m so shocked right now, to be treated this badly”. Faiza Shaheen, who was set to stand for Labour, describes hearing that her candidacy had been pulled over liking a series of Tweets which she claims Labour said would frustrate its campaign. #Newsnight
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Massive thanks to @mrjamesob for his #RealBritain takeover on Friday while I had some time off with the family. Safe hands as always, from Boris to Brexit via ABBA.
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Nigel Farage is "sharing his £4million bachelor pad in Chelsea" with a French fascist. That'll show the Metropolitan Elite.
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Move right out of here, baby, go on pack your bags.
M People singer Heather Small's son is a Labour councillor.
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My ear started banging, cracking, whistling, & a feeling I can only describe as rustling. I stopped being able to communicate with anyone. The nausea was horrendous. I got out of the car spinning, grabbing at my ear. At this point I felt something emerging from it. .
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'Oh my God' is the exact correct response to this. It's exactly what people in #NapierBarracks told me over three weeks ago on Feb 5. That covid was ripping through the place and no proper protection. But those people just didn't matter, did they? .
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May saved final pledge for a dramatic finale. The NHS WILL get that £350 million per wk. Just joking. #brexit.
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But it wasn’t a ‘Good Friday’. It was one of the most tragic Fridays in our country’s history. This is terrible judgement.
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It's rather modest of Rishi Sunak not to mention his own 2016 foray into publishing. 'The Free Ports Opportunity: How Brexit Could* Boost Trade, Manufacturing and the North'.
I knew Starmer was a successful lawyer & understood that you need to be outstanding to become DPP. But I had no idea that his expertise in the field of human rights legislation was so great that he wrote a text book other lawyers consult. Odd that Sunak is doing his PR, though.
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Hold on - 'a caller called James' rang in from Glasgow to 'skewer' Ms Braverman. ?.
Always* a worry when you go on holiday that the cover might be better than you…. *Maybe not always.
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Our #Yr9No10 long film is finally here. We've spent 4 weeks asking young people across the country born in 2010 – the same year as Tory government – what they would do if they were in No10. Today – vote for their future.
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Revising my last tweet after seeing the distress and fear of many on my timeline. Please understand we’ve got you. Community is bigger than government, it’s had to be these nine years. Get some kip. Ask for help. We’ll look for you. In the end, they won’t win. #KeepGoing.
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Amazing how if a dad’s 5 minutes late at the job centre his whole family is left to starve but fine for #FailingGrayling to mess up every single cabinet post he’s had and no sign of a sanction #AllInThisTogether.
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The Tories ran the 2010 election on the slogan #BrokenBritain. No-one can say they didn't keep their promise.
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Harold Smithard D-Day veteran refusing to stick to the script just now on @BBCBreakfast - “The President and all the politicians can keep out of it. All they care about is what’s in it for them.” Get that man a sherry. #TheGreatestGeneration.
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A picture that paints 1,000 words. This has only filled me with more horror, the more I have thought about it.
Last night, Conservative MPs couldn't even look bereaved families in the eye as they held yet another party on the day of the first partygate fines and anniversary of the National Memorial Wall. @BorisJohnson, went in via a back exit to avoid us.
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I've spent this week taking calls from disabled people distressed by the return of Esther McVey to DWP. Here I try to explain why depth of feeling is so strong
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Anyone?.
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Heartfelt thanks to @BootstrapCook for strapping into the #RealBritain hotseat this week & giving me some much needed family time. (Although, hmmm, they may have been a bit *too* good?).See you next week.
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Proud that the Real Britain Christmas guest columnist today is Kim Leadbeater, Jo Cox’s sister #moreincommon
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Captain Hindsight.
Boris Johnson 'now admits he should have brought first Covid in lockdown sooner'
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This is extraordinary piece of journalism. Heartbreaking but so important. Defies every lazy stereotype of Grenfell tenants & leaseholders
“Each floor on Grenfell Tower tells a story” - @katierazz on her special report on the 21st floor. Watch it TONIGHT at 22:30 on BBC Two
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In these times, it felt especially hopeful & poignant to be at #AWritingChance event in Cardiff last night. Hugely proud of my mentee @dar_elias & all the emerging writers proving @michaelsheen's belief that we only change the world by changing the voices we hear. Diolch.
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I've thought of Neil Kinnock's 'I warn you' speech incessantly during the NHS & Cost of Living crises. So I asked him to re-read it for @DailyMirror in its 40th anniversary year. All of it has come to pass. Every. Single. Word. #IWarnYou.
"I warn you not to be young.". "I warn you not to fall ill.". "I warn you not to grow old.". In 1983 Neil Kinnock warned Britain of the dangers of Tory government. 40 years later, every single thing he warned of has come true.
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Oh my god!.
“How to protect your cash from Corbyn” 8-page pullout in the Mail on the Sunday reads like a Private Eye spoof. Dodge tax, buy gold and pay private school fees in advance, obvs
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Can't ever remember ever being asked so many times how I'm voting today. I'm voting Labour. Labour are only party I trust to tackle deep causes of Brexit, and the only left wing party strong enough to take on far right. Don't @ me Libdems. You helped cause Brexit #VoteLabour.
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Mob abuse of Nick Watt is exactly this, horrifying, and deeply anti-democratic. Those enabling this hatred of BBC and other journalists for doing their job, you know who you are.
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It's terrible when the state subsidises free meals for people. Can lead to dependency I've heard.
Delicious lunch at the White Horse in Hascombe - thanks to Paul and Sorrel Morganti and their great team and of course to @RishiSunak! #EatOutToHelpOut
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In 10 days’ time, Paul Nowak, former call centre worker, hotel night porter and ASDA shelf-stacker of Liverpool Irish, Chinese & Polish heritage, will be confirmed as the next General Secretary of the TUC at a critical time for trade unions.
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Condolences to the family of Taalay Ahmed, a reporter and father-of-two shot dead in Ghana doing his job, and the first journalist from the UK killed on assignment since Lyra McKee.
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This week's #RealBritain comes from inside the Napier Barracks where 100s of refugees are being kept behind razor wire & in shocking conditions. I heard from a man with Covid who is sleeping in a dorm with others who are negative as the outbreak spreads.
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Interested to hear it's the concept of White Privilege that's holding kids back, not systemic barriers that working class children have faced for generations that need dismantling. It's almost as if some people find culture wars easier than actual solutions to inequality.
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1000s dying of covid, millions in temporary accommodation, nurses can't have a payrise, while Johnson & Symonds can't put up with John Lewis furniture in *one of their homes*. Hope that's playing well along the 'Red Wall'.
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Ed’s mum Marion has dealt with a lot worse than her sons falling out over politics, Kay. She escaped from the Nazis #LeadersDebate.
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One of absolute privileges of doing this job, is (more often than you'd think) we help get real change for people. Just heard from most lovely woman whose child was severely affected by life in cramped, filthy hostel. Now painting their flat together, starting new job 😢❤️👊.
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Thinking of my friend Abdul, who'd seen his parents murdered in Darfur & been tortured by Libyan immigration before coming to UK. He is terrified of officials of any kind. @ukhomeoffice made a promo video out of people's terror.
BREAKING: The first people set to be removed to Rwanda have been detained.
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Anyone else finding the Gang of 7 a bit. underwhelming? If you're going to take your ball home from the park because you're losing, at least have another pitch ready to play on? Otherwise looks like you're just doing it to sabotage others' chances.
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I was off last week, leaving #RealBritain in the highly capable hands of @doctor_oxford. If you didn't catch the beautiful piece she wrote about the @CovidMemorialUK wall, do please read it here. and do support the wall if you can. Thank you Rachel!.
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Just off the phone to a sobbing reader with a young child facing an empty Christmas on Universal Credit. This is years now of PIP, bedroom tax, sanctions, UC while architects of this brutal, horrible politics swan about looking forward to another lovely family Christmas.
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So people most destroyed by Tory austerity may have just voted for even more right-wing version. Biggest political heist in uk history?.
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This is some of the really brave & important reporting @BenInLDN has been doing for the BBC in his role as LGBT reporter, a role that has apparently offended some really brave armchair pundit bigots.
"It's Poland's Stonewall". Poland has been called the worst country in the EU for LGBT rights, and this week's election could make things worse. I visited the 'LGBT-Free Zones' to meet the people staying and leaving.
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I wish I could work out what it is about Meghan that the right-wing British press don't like.
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I know we're all really missing our parents & other vulnerable family members, but Stephen Kinnock's dropped some vital supplies to his elderly parents & stopped for a chat, not committed a murder. We're all human beings. End of Week 1 is a bit early for Salem Witch Trials.
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I mean doesn't £32 billion tell us there isn't an energy crisis? The only crisis is greed.
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Because there genuinely are people who won't survive another 5 years of this #CameronMustGo.
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It has taken such guts for Kim Leadbeater to stand in this seat. Total respect to her for how she handled this. She's right. The Muslim community of Batley deserve better. And the whole community deserves better than a by-election hijacked by people who care nothing for Batley.
Solidarity with Kim. We should be clear who this is - I've interviewed him myself: He's the leader of the Birmingham anti-LGBTQ education protests. He's not even from Batley.
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It's hard to express the inhumanity of this moment. This is what happens when you show vile hostility to migrants, leaving human beings with no hope. These people are all someone's children. And in a better world they would be our brothers & sisters too.
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I wrote about how Damilola means 'gift from God', but Dami's gift to us was his father, Richard Taylor - who spent almost 25 years campaigning for all our kids to be safer on the streets. RIP Richard.
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This is one of the hardest pieces I have ever had to write. Made harder by not having Peter leaning over my shoulder & making me rewrite the intro three times. We are all devastated and will miss him so, so much.
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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Boris Johnson’s Chief Whip, a man who said something so ignorant about learning disabilities and benefit sanctions I struggled to keep in my press seat.
Who is @Mark_Spencer? Boris Johnson's Chief Whip and what he said on benefit sanctions In this clip Mark Spencer seems to suggest that if only the education system were better, the man highlighted would not have learning disabilities.
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What about the audience? Why not get 5 brilliant people from Bolton to do it instead? Far more invigorating for our blocked, broken politics. Haven’t we all heard enough from London this week?.
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When @yanisvaroufakis led the Greek bailout negotiations, he had a secret weapon. His father's years in a concentration camp refusing to comply with his torturers. I spoke to him about how George's memory inspires him to keep fighting for a better world.
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