Richard G Wilkinson

Social epidemiologist, co-author of The Spirit Level, also of The Inner Level, co-founder of The Equality Trust. Born at 310.5 level of CO2.

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

*BRITISH WRITER PENS THE BEST DESCRIPTION OF TRUMP*
Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.
So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump's limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.
I don't say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with Trump, it's a fact. He doesn't even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.
And scarily, he doesn't just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It's all surface.
Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don't. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He's not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He's more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.
There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless or female – and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy' is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and most are.
• You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.
This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.
After all, it's impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

[Silverfox @Silverf40414185]

@Suzierizzo1 Release the unredacted Trump Epstien files and videos, except those of the survivors.

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

Stop arms sales to Israel
https://t.co/qfgKl9inkR

[MetJam @MetJam_]

Oxford, the longest running continuous weather station in UK history, with temperature observations stretching back to 1815, has preliminarily broken its maximum temperature record for May yesterday by OVER 3ºC with a temperature of 33.7ºC. Unprecedented in its 211-year history.

[Andy #Rejoin #Climatejustice #NHS @andycorneys]

Riddle me this. Why is it that even though we know & have known for decades that burning fossil fuels will destroy our planet, we want to expand them? We are so close to disaster & yet we don’t even discuss it, why? We’re not stupid, just obviously suicidal. Our kids are fucked!

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

Surfers Against Sewage are to meet the government to discuss the sewage pollution scandal. Sign the petition to demand change. Over 270k have signed - help get this to a number Starmer can't ignore. https://t.co/9KGaCAyBx8 via @38degrees

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

What climate change means for Britain: beware... It's not good. We need to be prepared.
https://t.co/j9ANL31847

[Kate Pickett @ProfKEPickett]

Great analysis from Equality Trust https://t.co/rpoW1iJs6P

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

https://t.co/hGi7kcHi3X

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

Could an MP @UKLabour stand as a caretaker PM on behalf of Andy Burnham till he becomes an MP?

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

@its_mizuko_ 34

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

@NormalIslandNws He doesn't give me any sense of enthusiasm or hope.

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

This is an important article. Please circulate more widely and also retweet.
https://t.co/QRHDWN9R6n

[Richard G Wilkinson @ProfRGWilkinson]

If there was an election today where I live, I'd vote Green - but there isn't. But where you can vote, please vote Green.

[FactsReason @FactsReason]

@johnmcdonnellMP @vicderbyshire was out there batting for starmer too …. Oddly ….. she made it seem as if it was a Tory problem 😂
@BBCNewsnight

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

John McDonnell, "What we've seen is No 10 overriding, interfering, pressurising civil servants, we can't go on like this"

"Keir Starmer's office controls everything, he wasn't listening to any of us"

"As soon as Mandelson's name came into the frame I told Keir Starmer if you appoint this person, people will think you've lost all sense of judgment"

"Keir Starmer never listened, what happened McSweeney took control"

"No leader should allow that to happen"

[Double Down News @DoubleDownNews]

The media sold Keir Starmer as 'forensic, decent & capable' PM

He was NEVER any of those, as we made clear yrs ago:

"Starmer is a LIAR in charge of a brutal, authoritarian, inhuman political machine, but you simply wouldn't know about that if you read or watched British media"

[New Direction AFRICA @Its_ereko]

🇧🇷🇨🇺🚨 BREAKING: Lula just said what the world has been thinking. "Stop this damned blockade on Cuba and let the Cuban people live their lives." Cuba has problems. But they are Cuba's problems. Not Lula's. Not Trump's. Not the empire's.

The US has punished Cuba for decades. Sanctions. Blockades. Regime change attempts. None of it worked. Cubans are still standing. Still surviving. Still waiting for the world to let them breathe.

Lula is not begging. He's demanding. The blockade is not policy. It's cruelty. And the world is tired of watching.

Spread the truth. Free Cuba. Not from its leaders. From the blockade. Let the Cuban people live.

[Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf 🌏 🦣 @rahmstorf]

Ein "wissenschaftliches Alarmsignal": die neue Studie der französischen Kollegen zur Atlantikströmung #AMOC. 🌊
Hört es jemand? 😨
https://t.co/GNem4HYiyX

[Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 @MrMatthewTodd]

It’s already here.
2024 is the hottest year ever recorded on Earth and it’s going to get hotter.
https://t.co/9zsVUSaIq4

Extreme weather events are increasing all over the planet:
https://t.co/9ylG3ict7L