@novaramedia I take my hats off to them! Brave, upstanding people who show what true solidarity towards a country is. A country that defends the highest values of the West, yet so many on the left are ideologically blind to.
Senior figures at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, under the command of Andy Burnham, have cautioned firefighters who support Reform UK over their political views.
In a further chilling assault on free speech, staff have also effectively been urged in an email to report colleagues who support Reform.
Fire brigade bosses have also said they are seeking legal advice on what to do about firefighters who decide to stand as Reform UK candidates. This is despite the fact that, unlike police officers, there is no legal bar preventing firefighters from participating in national or local politics.
In their email, fire brigade bosses Mr Petch and Ms Ahmed said: ’We are aware that some staff members have chosen to represent Reform UK in their local areas. We know this may cause concern within our network and wider.
’The individuals involved have been spoken to, to make it clear that as members of GMFRS (Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service) our core values and professional behaviours must be displayed at all times.
’The service is currently seeking formal legal guidance… to ensure we are protected from all perspectives and that our inclusive culture remains safe.
‘Our priority is and always will be ensuring that every member of this network feels supported, respected and safe at work.’
They also confirmed that they would be consulting the Fire Brigades Union on the matter.
In his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, @AndyBurnhamGM — who is also tipped by some to be a future Prime Minister if he wins the Makerfield by-election — is also Greater Manchester’s Fire Commissioner, responsible for overseeing the service.
General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, Lord Young of Acton, has now written to Mr Burnham to raise concerns about the chilling effect this has on free speech.
Lord Young said that the ‘clear implication’ of the email from the fire brigade bosses was that ‘representing Reform UK constitutes an inherent threat to the institution’s culture and values and is to be treated as morally suspect’. He also highlighted that no action appears to have been taken against firefighters who support other political parties.
The letter also states: ‘Staff are further invited to report colleagues who support any groups that go against the service’s values, which effectively amounts to an instruction to inform on colleagues for their political beliefs.
’The email will create a chilling effect on the free speech of GMFRS employees who support Reform.
’The practical effect is that a public fire and rescue service governed by you is treating the lawful political activity of your electoral opponents as a reputational risk to their employer.
‘Regardless of whether this reflects your instruction, it reflects your governance; and a public office-holder who permits his institution to demonise or chill the speech and political activity of those who support his principal electoral rival cannot claim to be discharging that office with the impartiality it demands.’
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Evil rarely announces itself.
Hannah Arendt didn’t warn us that the greatest danger would come from monsters.
She warned us it would come from ordinary people who stop asking questions. People who trade conscience for slogans, curiosity for certainty, and morality for obedience.
The lesson of the Holocaust was never just about one man. It was about what happens when a society decides that thinking is optional.
Every generation believes it would have stood against evil.
History keeps asking the same question:
Would you have?
Or would you have simply gone along because everyone else did?
That’s why Arendt still matters. And that’s why this conversation matters. Because the opposite of evil isn’t outrage.
It’s the courage to think for yourself.
Jeremy Tate thinks the SAT is way too easy—so he invented the Classic Learning Test. He tells Maya Sulkin that he’s ‘in a battle to save Western civilization.’ https://t.co/ATgzeqc7Iv
MASTER-PIECE OF THE UNIVERSE!
There I said it… go watch it now, it’s so much fun!!!!
Perfect cast, action sequences, camp silliness and heart too! It felt super nostalgic and ticked every box .
This movie needs a sequel immediately!
@mastersmovie
An absolute must read for anyone who has or is asking the question… and is genuinely interested in the response… how could this have happened?
First lie wins
https://t.co/Yzi3pm6pv4
The Government’s independent antisemitism adviser said that while it’s “valid as a human right” to be politically active, “taking the NHS into that is a problem”
“That separation of the NHS and people’s viewpoints, I think, has become a problem”
Story:
https://t.co/7yMwZRFb7t
Can a new generation of YouTubers break us out of our remake rut? Spencer Klavan reviews ‘Backrooms,’ a commentary on remake culture itself. https://t.co/J0oWFAhqmk
How did the Ancient Greek Classics shape western civilization, and how did their influence survive when western Europe stopped learning Greek? Our MA students were joined on the island of Samos to hear David Butterfield of @Cambridge_Uni tell the story: https://t.co/J49LuqoTjR
I’m not going to amplify Reform’s ad by sharing it, but the wilful misrepresentation of Kemi Badenoch - selectively quoting what she said about ‘white lives matter’ - is disgraceful and dangerous.
It needs to be challenged, including by those of us who are not Conservatives.
I spoke to @LizfinchEvans from @ukmfa1 about folic acid being mandated in our bread.
We covered all the key things you need to know in 38 mins:
https://t.co/WnoG7dPE1B
Louis Armstrong's feats of creativity reshaped American jazz—and found a way to say what needed saying through his music, writes Joe Nocera. https://t.co/Z44CfO9JFp
Well done, you mouth-breathing cretins. And well done to all the pricks on social media who have done nothing but race-bait over this tragedy. Shameful across the board.
As a psychologist, I’ll bet you £100 this is what happened with poor Henry Nowak. Cops suffer from empathy burn out. 90% of the time they deal with nothing but scum. It doesn’t make it right, but that cynicism will have come into play, here.
They get a 999 call saying, “A Sikh has been attacked.” They arrive at the scene, there’s a Sikh saying he’s been attacked and someone (Henry) acting strangely. The weapon has been hidden. They will have immediately thought ‘drink or drugs’, and they see no obvious wounds. The murderer laid on exactly the scene the police would have expected to see, had the complaint been genuine.
These are pure human confirmation and anchoring biases at play: the cops saw what they expected to see from the info they had going into the situation. They were tricked. Humans make mistakes.
Where the cops royally fucked up was not following normal procedures when someone says they have been stabbed, and checking them all over including skin. They should lose their jobs over that negligence alone and for allowing their biases to override their training.
I guarantee you “I can’t breathe” inadvertently made things worse as that’s what every single scumbag says when they get arrested, since George Floyd.
This absolute tragedy is a sad combination of confirmation and anchoring biases, excessive cynicism, and a criminal failure to follow correct procedures, not to mention a lying, murdering piece of shit and his piece of shit family doing everything they could to confuse the police and muddy the waters. It has nothing to do with diversity.
Henry Nowak should not have died at all, but he would have died whatever the police did. However, in these circumstances he should have died with someone holding his hand, trying to save him, and telling him it would be ok, not in handcuffs being read his rights. The police officers who made this dreadful error should lose their jobs and will have to live with that for the rest of their days.
Final point: well done to the Hants Police detectives who shredded the murderer’s story and secured a conviction.
Given that some people are now trying to *completely* re-write history it is worth recalling which minister got lots of flack back in 2020 for attacking critical race theory.
Thomas Sowell describes how he taught students:
“I’d spend a great deal of time putting together a reading list, where I’d find the strongest argument on one side and then the best example of the opposing view.”
“I didn’t test students on which side they believed. I tested them on whether they understood the arguments on both sides.”
One of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen: a standing ovation for the full Daraxonrasib results
I feel inspired and energised, to put it mildly — we have a targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer now, and nothing is undruggable anymore