BrightKnight

Actor, writer, filmmaker, theatrical, coach. Progressive, intellectual, geek. Defender of truth, democracy & wine. ProEU, ProPR, #FBPE, #FBPR.

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” #Plato

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

If I were Chancellor for the day...

https://t.co/io4KURvq30

Thoughts on his policy ideas?

#Economics #Labour #Greens #politicaleconomy #EconTwitter #politics #Chancellor #UKBudget #UK

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

@BorisJohnson Get lost, you liar, fraud & criminal sack of crackling!

#partygate
#lawbreaker
#borisliar
#downingstreetparties
#borisjohnsonfine
#COVIDー19

[Marina Purkiss @MarinaPurkiss]

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks...

HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless.

Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it

So where's the wall-to-wall coverage?

Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

[Caroline Lucas @CarolineLucas]

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter dire threat of a Reform UK government https://t.co/PNfl5GnB0X

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Superb post by Lewis here.

RT & join the fight!

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

I know the news Andy Burnham has a route back to Westminster will divide opinion. So, before anything else, I want to speak plainly – to Labour members and voters, to those who have left us, and to anyone on the centre-left, whether you vote Green, Lib Dem, or are simply looking for a politics that hasn't given up on you.

Last week's local election results were, for many of us, existential. Not disappointing. Not a setback. Existential. Look across Europe and beyond at what happens to social democratic parties that refuse to step outside the economic orthodoxy of the last forty years – the one that hollowed out our public services, privatised what was ours, drove inequality to indecent levels, and cleared the ground for the authoritarian right to march into. That is the path we are on. Keir Starmer has refused to see it, and the country cannot afford another general election spent finding out the hard way.

So let me be direct. The Prime Minister should set out a timeline for an orderly transition. I have said this before. I say it again now because the stakes have changed. Reform is not a protest – it is a project. And it will not be beaten by a Labour Party that mistakes managerial caution for strategy.

As regards Andy, I want to set down here that I do not see him as some kind of messiah. Far from it. As someone who has been around frontline politics for more than twenty years, he has made his fair share of mistakes. But for the last ten years he has been a serious, grounded, and effective Mayor of Greater Manchester. The party and the country need their strongest players on the pitch, and he has a great deal to offer at a moment when the national stage has rarely mattered more. I hope the NEC will listen to the overwhelming view of the Cabinet, the PLP, the membership, and the unions, and let Andy stand. And I hope and believe the people of Makerfield will send him back to Parliament.

But that is not a given. We know Reform will throw everything at this by-election. We must do the same and then some. Reform have spent a year being told they are inevitable. Makerfield is where we find out whether that is true. Every advance has a limit. This is where we set it.

Millions of people, including my constituents in Norwich South, need this government to succeed. They need housing, working public services, secure jobs, water and energy that serves them rather than extracts from them. That work is not finished. But the honest truth is that stopping Reform and rebuilding the country is bigger than any one party. It will take a progressive politics willing to listen, willing to cooperate where the public interest demands it, and willing to drop the tribal habits that got us here. The country is ahead of us on this. It is time we caught up.

Makerfield is one of many places where Labour has lost trust. It is an area Andy knows and has lived in for many years. If selected, he will work hard to win that trust back and make the case for a Labour Party worth voting for again. That case has to be made not only to people who once voted Labour, but to everyone who believes the answer to Reform is a serious, democratic, social alternative – not a paler imitation of the politics that created the problem.

This by-election is not about one seat. It is a test of whether Labour understands the moment we are in. No single party is going to stop Reform on its own. The progressive majority in this country is real – but it is scattered across Labour, the Greens, the Lib Dems, nationalists, independents, and millions of people who have stopped voting altogether. Our job is not to demand they all come back to us. It is to earn the right to work with them, on shared ground, for a shared future.

To former Labour voters: come and talk to us again. To Green and Lib Dem voters: we are not enemies. To Labour members and MPs: this is the fight. Let's get on with it.
https://t.co/Ep47xRe3DS

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

@labourlewis @Solly01 Superb post!

I'm on board.

[Pam Ayres MBE @PamAyres]

Please consider signing this petition as I have done if like me, you are appalled at the amount of sewage tipped into our waterways to the vast financial benefit of others. Why would any country sell control of something as crucial as water? It is lunacy.

https://t.co/dsmb1FOmmK

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Digitalisation is great, IF it sits alongside other forms of access. People who cannot engage digitally should not be shut out of basic necessities, such as buying tickets or paying for common purchases.

If this needs to be regulated to enforce, let's do it!

#Digitalisation

[James Melville 🚜 @JamesMelville]

Digitalisation is “for your convenience.” - try explaining that to the 3 million people who are not online in the UK. The majority (67%) are aged 70 or over. The digitalisation of everything is creating digital exclusion for millions of people - in particular, our elderly.

[We Own It @We_OwnIt]

😡😡😡Privatisation is a scam.

🔥Public ownership of energy now!

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Actually, this was 'democratic socialism', which is a better name for the middle road that keeps a market economy & private enterprise but uses higher taxation, regulation, & a welfare state to reduce inequality and insecurity.

#DemocraticSocialism is not the same as #Socialism

[Lisa Give Peace a Chance Tucker-Clemens @TuckerClemens]

👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

[We Own It @We_OwnIt]

Thames Water has run out of road in private hands.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds can STOP pretending it can still be salvaged OR she can wait until it destroys this government.

Email OFWAT now to demand they block Thames Water's deal to dump more sewage in our rivers: https://t.co/RDLrTZJXZS

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

The Paradox of Tolerance:

Should we ALWAYS respect other people's ideas?

It depends...

RT if you agree!

#FreeSpeech #FreedomOfExpression #ParadoxOfTolerence #Progressives #Society

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

With so much misinformation, unsourced memes & chaos online - perhaps we should be guided by the following rules of thumb when evaluating claims & looking to discern the truth behind them online?

#Lies #Misinformation #AI #FakeNews
#Truth #CriticalThinking #EvaluatingEvidence

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Imagine waste water treatment producing green hydrogen as a byproduct!

It's actually possible, feasible, & just needs your support - so RT & spread the word!

https://t.co/U868OslBxp

#Hydrogen #Sustainability #GreenHydrogen #GreenPower #Renewables #energy

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Are we on the brink of a major stock market crash??

Time to think about your investments, perhaps...

https://t.co/BBM1VBMIsZ
#stocks #Incomeinequality #FTSE #money

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Farage lies meet Russian vindictiveness towards UK

In one powerful meme...

He's a traitor, isn't he?

#NigelFarage #FarageLies #FarageOut #ReformUK #RussianInterference #Brexit #MEGA #UK

[Jane Snare @Cosmic3Creepers]

@Heccles94 He couldn't remember meeting Aleksander Yakovenko...

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Time for a Pie rant on the Starmer / Mandelson fiasco, and much to agree with!

Particularly the final line...

https://t.co/YAK5qMGBf8

#Starmer #Mandelson #KierStarmer #Labour

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

Labour are not doing enough to tackle the water issue!

We need definitive action!

#Water #Renationalise

[We Own It @We_OwnIt]

@jackmrankin , the Conservative MP for Windsor, has added his voice to the roster of MPs urging the government and Ofwat to reject the latest Thames Water rescue deal.

Thames Water wants to set its own rules for pollution into the next decade. Has your MP said NO to this outrageous deal?

https://t.co/PHvJzSrpiH

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

@Ed_Miliband Great!

Now we need to explore all options for #energyindependence !

[BrightKnight @BrightKnight15]

@Ed_Miliband Yes - the sooner & further we are independent from imports the better!

#EnergyIndependence #Renewables #energy #energyundercontrol