The full report from ITV News at Ten
Exposing the racist and sexist behaviour of Reform UK councillors and a candidate to be MP
I don't want to type out the racist, sexist language. Click play, but be warned, it's uncensored.
The full expose will be broadcast on October 18th at 10:20pm
My view: The comments are awful and disgusting. But what’s almost as disturbing is how familiar they sound.
This kind of racism and sexism is not confined to private chats or fringe political circles; people encounter it every day on social media.
When it’s said in person and broadcast on television, the reaction is immediate: shock, condemnation and demands for answers. But when people face the same abuse online, the response is often far quieter. Non-white Labour MPs have repeatedly described the racist abuse directed at them on social media. Their experiences should prompt more than a statement of support after each new case.
Successive Conservative governments, and now Labour, have had years to confront the way online platforms enable this behaviour. Legislation exists, but people are still left to deal with torrents of abuse while platforms profit from engagement and enforcement remains inadequate.
Why should racism and sexism be treated as intolerable when a camera captures it in a room, yet accepted as part of everyday life when it appears on a screen?
If these comments are shocking on television, they should be shocking wherever they are made.
Keir Starmer wasted two years not making online a safer space, will Andy Burnham continue his legacy, or show some leadership and take action?
One of the men in this picture is a politician currently serving 10 and a half years in prison for accepting Russian bribes. The other was his boss and doesn't think there's evidence of Russia interfering in UK politics.
If a white person born in Australia can be Australian without Aboriginal ancestry, and a white person born in America can be American without Native American ancestry, why can't a Black person born in England be English without Anglo-Saxon ancestry?
Undoubtedly Elon Musk will ensure these facts are hidden to please RT the heck out of it:
Tommy Robinson is, of course, spreading falsehoods. Real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon was not “daring to challenge the establishment”. He appears to be referring to a contempt-of-court case brought by the Daily Mail, connected with material he published about the newspaper and claims that it endangered his family and other people in Cyprus.
Congratulations to Suella Braverman for her Question Time appearance - I didn't think it was possible for her to come across as any more deranged and stupid than usual, but she somehow managed it.
#bbcqt
Reform now slipped down to FOURTH, behind the LibDems. And I’d predict this underestimates the impact of tactical voting and overestimates Reform support.