In the 1970s and 1980s, over 30,000 people in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C via contaminated blood products.
When Andy Burnham became Health Secretary on 5 June 2009, terminal patients and activists targeted him immediately. They staged a protest outside his constituency office on 19 June.
Instead of acting, Burnham's department blocked statutory public inquiries, signed off letters denying government liability, and left the archives un-declassified under the standard 30-year rule.
Yet in 2017, conveniently on his very last day as an MP before becoming Manchester Mayor, he went on TV calling the scandal a 'criminal cover-up'.
His speech went viral. The media and victims' groups praised his passion, completely forgetting he himself had sat at the top of that 'covering-up' department. He chose to stay silent until there was zero political risk.
And this is not the only instance.
The Mid-Staffs Scandal (2005–2009), one of the worst care failures in NHS history, saw up to 1200 NHS patients die from systemic neglect. Patients were left in filth and drank from dirty flower vases.
Who was the Health Secretary tasked with handling the aftermath?
Andy Burnham.
His administration ignored 81 separate requests from grieving families, MPs, and health organisations for a full public inquiry, opting instead for a highly restricted, private independent review.
Why?
To protect Labour from an NHS crisis right before the 2010 election. The full statutory public inquiry was only granted after Labour lost— by the incoming Conservative Health Secretary.
Burnham didn't cause the scandals, but he did choose how to handle them. He suppressed the truth when he held power, then played the hero once he left office.
The ultimate political opportunist.
If you were not on the record supporting Jeremy Corbyn I don’t care what you have to say now.
Because you all knew the way he was treated was disgusting.
But you thought “Keir will save us all”.
Get stuffed. The lot of you. A good, honest, decent man treated like shit.
On this Father’s Day I’m thinking of the children whose fathers were slaughtered by Israel.
I’m also thinking of the fathers whose children were murdered by Israel.
I’m also remembering all those complicit in the genocide.
They’re photographed smiling below.
MPs @patmcfaddenmp & @Helen_Whately claim tens of thousands a year in rent expenses.
Yet they want to strip a £29.20/week benefit from a woman who was sexually assaulted & left with a severe anxiety disorder, Agoraphobia.
Shame on you both.
MAJOR BREAKING: Iran’s delegation has just left the venue where negotiations were supposed to take place with JD Vance in Switzerland, because of Trump’s threats.
Iran is demanding Trump apologize.
What a shitshow.
#SundayMotivation#URGENT 🆘
Dear Twitter friends
Please don't let the unthinkable happen - pls don't let these magnificent giants lose their only home 🙏
Perhaps you feel your couple of £ or whatever you can spare won't make a difference - it will!
https://t.co/3MPTB0XBfi
Elon Musk recently became a trillionaire, that means he earns $137 million a day through passive income, through not doing a thing.
These billionaire classes are going to buy more and more assets meaning your families, your communities, your assets, your councils, your governments, your welfare state cannot compete with this kind of aggressive extraction.
This is the end, unless a revolution takes place to tax wealth, not work.
https://t.co/xR4Fw2ZROH
Palestinian lawyer Khaled Mahajneh recounted a brief conversation he had with a Palestinian prisoner during a court hearing, after noticing clear signs of exhaustion and fatigue on him.
In a post on X, he wrote:
“Today, while listening to the testimony of a Palestinian prisoner in court, I asked him whether he had eaten breakfast.
He replied, ‘My last meal was yesterday afternoon.’
I asked him, ‘Are you hungry?’
He looked at me sadly and said, ‘Yes.’
The hearing was halted, and the prison guards were forced to bring him food. That single ‘yes’ summarizes the harsh reality that Palestinian prisoners are enduring inside Israeli prisons.”
Big Tech will absolutely destroy our drinkable water supply to advance their AI products and increase their profits.
Just like the health insurance industry lets people die to increase their profits.
Just like Big Oil destroys the planet to increase their profits.
Just like military contractors donate millions to politicians to start wars to increase their profits.
Just like polluters poison our air to increase their profits.
Just like food manufacturers add poisons to our food to increase their profits.
Billionaire and trillionaire greed is killing us.
Did you know?
The UK gave diplomatic immunity to allow Israeli army chief Gen Herzi Halevi to visit Britain just 3 days after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes”. https://t.co/zN38LtJHWi
"Getting rid of Keir Starmer is not enough. We need to get rid of the politics he represents: corporate greed, anti-migrant rhetoric and endless war."
Jeremy Corbyn.
Reasons for Starmer out are many
But never forget this one:
11th Oct’23
“🇮🇱 does have that right" to cut off water & power from Gaza 🇵🇸
Support for 🇮🇱 starving children
Netanyahu’s 🇮🇱 partner
Starmer is not a ‘decent man’
He belongs in The Hague.