Matt Axworthy

British trade unionist in USA. Passionate about healthcare, workers rights, combating fake news and opposing racism. All views are my own.

[David Baddiel @Baddiel]

There’s a new German compound word that means something like “surprising sadness” being minted as we speak.

[Steffi Ede @MumofFatCassie]

I would gently remind everyone of the consequences of being taken in by former Mayors with an excess of hubris and an unjustified belief in their own talents who ride in on unicorns making illusionary promises of hope and sunlit uplands. #r4today

[Matt Axworthy @MJAxworthy]

There’s always a tweet.

This is what he said when Corbyn was destroying the party, but now they are in government with a huge majority he’s happy to force out the party leader

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

I have never taken part in a coup against any Leader of the Labour Party and I am not going to start now. 2/3

[Liam Holman 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @Liam_Holman99]

Getting rid of a PM after just two years just because he hasn't made enough progress is objectively dumb.

[Brendan May @bmay]

Congratulations to Labour for winning a seat they already held, so they can unseat the very leader who won them all the seats they hold. Is there a German word for this form of self-indulgent suicide?

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

And for those suffering from very selective amnesia, let me remind you once again that Russia has been carrying out regular and systematic mass missile and drone strikes against Ukraine — including power plants and heating infrastructure, hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, supermarkets, as well as historical landmarks and national heritage sites — since 4 a.m. on February 24, the very first day of its full-scale invasion.

At that point Ukraine could not even dream of striking any targets inside Russia, let alone Moscow, and remained practically powerless to do so for many months, if not years, of the war.

So you can go to hell with your “now Russia will strike back.”

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

Cervical cancer deaths fall to zero in young women given vaccine https://t.co/JM73OorKHT

[Matt Axworthy @MJAxworthy]

@juliasuzanne76 @cgdav135 If Burnham loses then Starmer may hold on as PM and turn things around, or he may just get replaced by someone else. Either way we avoid Burnham becoming PM, so that’s a win for the party and the country

[ian bremmer @ianbremmer]

upside of not publicly releasing the terms of the iran deal: harder to say it’s bad if you don’t know what it is.

[Ben Kentish @BenKentish]

Very notable that Andy Burnham’s defence of the triple lock is that scrapping it would be unpopular, rather than the policy itself making any sense.

[Matt Axworthy @MJAxworthy]

Andy Burnham is a joke

[Lucy Fisher @LOS_Fisher]

NEW: Burnham *rules out* awarding financial compensation to Waspi women demanding billions of pounds, following an angry backlash within Labour

Greater Manchester mayor has instead floated the idea of offering early access to cheaper travel schemes as recompense

https://t.co/J2IMe6jLW2

[Oz Katerji @OzKaterji]

To paraphrase Taylor Parkes, the issue is not that Graham Platner has some skeletons in his closet, it's that he hangs his clothes in an ossuary.

[Sai Ishaya @Sai_Ishaya_]

It's absolutely baffling to see the backlash against this announcement.

Imagine complaining that the UK is securing a multi-billion-pound private investment.

Let's look at the actual numbers: taxpayers are funding £1.3bn for local roads & a new rail station. In return, Universal is spending £5 billion to build the park and another £1 billion operating it.

Bedford(& the UK) gets 28,000 total jobs, a massive revitalization of a former industrial site, & a projected £50 billion economic boost.

The sheer cynicism around projects like this is exactly what holds the UK back. If we treat massive, job-creating investments as something to be outraged about, we only guarantee our own economic stagnation.

[Jeremiah Johnson 🌐 @JeremiahDJohns]

Reporting from the Financial Times on Xinjiang remains incredibly grim:

* In some areas, 90% of children are taken from parents to be educated in boarding schools where they aren't allowed to speak Uyghur
* Officials monitor who eats during Ramadan and report those who skip meals
* Basic items like prayer mats and religious text are considered illegal contraband
* Adult Uyghur women are pressured to marry Han Chinese men, and there are official goals to sterilize a certain % of them.
* Xinjiang has the largest prison capacity in the world relative to population
* Huge numbers of Uyghur prisoners are now being shipped across the country in forced labor schemes, as a way to dodge Xinjiang sanctions/boycotts
* The CCP shut down all 10 existing Uyghur-language publishers, none remain. They fed one university's book collection into a shredder.

There's a lot going on the world, but it's worth remembering that China is still actively engaged in cultural genocide. They're barely even hiding it, they openly talk about the need to 'correct' Uyghur culture and create 'ethnic unity'. They are openly destroying an entire culture as efficiently as they can, cutting children off from parents, restricting language, restricting religious practice, forcing sterilizations and intermarriage, imprisoning anyone who resists the tiniest amount and shipping them out to forced labor factories. That is what the CCP is.

https://t.co/gHK9ZS38Vx

[Kevin Hague @kevverage]

say what you like about Peter Murrell using the SNP’s funds to spend £85 on gourmet beans, at least he didn’t waste the money trying to make an economic case for independence

[Trades Union Congress @The_TUC]

BREAKING 🚨| The number of people in a union in the UK has GROWN by 192,000 - to 6.6 million.

There has never been a more important time to be a member of a union.

When unions do well, working people do well.

It pays to be in a union.

[Matt Axworthy @MJAxworthy]

Burnham ram two terrible leadership campaigns in 2010 and 2015, where support for him declined as members heard more from him. If he’s tied with Starmer now before a campaign begins his best chance is if Starmer resigns

[John Rentoul @JohnRentoul]

Find Out Now poll of 306 Labour members, 15-16 May

[Matt Axworthy @MJAxworthy]

Saw the Mandalorian and Grogu. Certainly not the best Star Wars movie but lots of fun moments, lots of action and a lot of fan service. Kids really liked it. Felt more like watching a season of Mandalorian with better special effects, but was definitely a step up from season 3

[Matt Axworthy @MJAxworthy]

Rage against the machine
Smashing Pumpkins
Pulp
Florence and the Machine
Beck
Muse
Foo Fighters
Primal Scream
Dead Prez
Dispatch

[Geoducker @Thriceforlife]

Introduce yourself with 10 bands you’ve seen live

1. Thrice
2. Aerosmith
3. The Prayer Chain
4. Michael W. Smith
5. Limp Bizkit
6. Finch
7. Five Iron Frenzy
8. Slipknot
9. Rich Mullins
10. Pearl Jam

[Matt Axworthy @MJAxworthy]

@lukeakehurst @iamhamesh The only part of this tweet that doesn’t seem likely is the word impressive