Hilary John Richards 💙

I believe in simple things like truth, justice, compassion, humour, & not running continual smear campaigns against the Leader of the Opposition in a democracy

[Hilary John Richards 💙 @TheUnRealHilary]

Rather than ask who started a war political commentators should ask ‘who benefits?’

[Hilary John Richards 💙 @TheUnRealHilary]

Time and again the man stays the same but the propaganda changes.

[Matt Kennard @kennardmatt]

Alastair Campbell and his boss Tony Blair increased UK weapons export licences to Putin by 550% as he destroyed Chechnya and made Grozny the most destroyed city on Earth.

We are “not going to apologise for developing a good relationship with an important world leader,” Campbell said after inviting Putin to London in 2000.

Following year, Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya was in London and went to an event at the London Press Club which Blair and Campbell also attended. 

Politkovskaya, who was publishing groundbreaking work on Russian atrocities in Chechnya, used the opportunity to question Blair as he sat at his table with his spokesman Campbell.

“The response of the Prime Minister of Great Britain to my inquiry regarding the nature of his affection for Putin was brief but comprehensive,” she wrote. 

“He replied, ‘It’s my job as Prime Minister to like Mr Putin.’ And that was that. What more was to be said?”

Politkovskaya was later murdered in a contract-style killing in 2006. Putin is believed to have ordered the hit.

The wooing of Putin was about securing business for BP - or Blair Petroleum as it was then known.

[Jim Monaghan @JimMonaghan10]

200,000 refugees from Ukraine and they pat themselves on the back. One family of 6 from Gaza makes it through the system and its a major issue at PMQs! This is blatant, rotten, racism and they dont care if you see it. Labour & Tories are fighting each other for the racist votes

[Prem Sikka @premnsikka]

Thames Water credit rating slashed to negative, administration looms.

£23bn assets need urgent repair.

Uses obsolete technology.

£15bn+ debt, borrowed to pay dividends, no new reservoir since 1989, dumps sewage in rivers.

Must be no public bailout.
https://t.co/IzcF96uaqb

[Cory Doctorow NO LONGER ON TWIT TER @doctorow]

Oh, not literally. But here's what's happened: the UK's Competitions and Markets Authority, an organisation charged with investigating and punishing tech monopolists (like Amazon) has just been turned over to Doug Gurr, the guy who used to run Amazon UK.

3/

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says Israel has cut off water and electricity to Jenin refugee camp, including to the local hospital.

A reminder that Keir Starmer has previously said he supports actions like this, which are war crimes.

[Jon Trickett MP @jon_trickett]

The elite descends on Davos for the World Economic Forum with lots to celebrate.

Billionaire wealth grew 3 times faster in 2024 than year before. The super-rich have never had it so good but the working class gets poorer.

In case it’s not obvious, these two things are connected

[simon wren-lewis @sjwrenlewis]

New post: Mediamacro melodrama
https://t.co/pOqEquBzJP
Just a week ago the UK media was speculating that Reeves was about to be sacked and who might replace her, all because of largely global movements in interest rates. How and why did the media get things so wrong?

[GET A GRIP @docrussjackson]

Money laundering in 2024 is estimated to be around £4.54 ($5.54) TRILLION.

The IMF accepts that annually, around a further £5.75 (US$7) TRILLION of public money goes to fossil fuel giants through various environmentally harmful subsidies and incentives.

https://t.co/Ot1DefFaz6

[Richard Corbett @RichardGCorbett]

Rather striking, what’s happened since the 2016 Brexit referendum…

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

Embarrassing. Reeves has a masters from LSE and so she must know that, even in terms of mainstream economics, this is drivel. Notice it is not challenged.

But it serves a purpose: it justifies the doom loop. And the doom loop means finance always wins even if the rest of us lose

[Prem Thakker @prem_thakker]

What does it tell you about the Israeli government that, in response to a long-awaited ceasefire & hostage agreement, instead of tamping down operations, they plow on right ahead in killing Palestinians?

And what does it tell you about those who unconditionally supported it?

[Steve Hall @ProfHall1955]

Are you sitting comfortably? The story so far:

1. Rachel jets over to Wall Street early 2024 to beg for serious investment from private equity to repair the Tory mess.
2. Larry and the gang say "sure, Rachel, just get the deregulation and privatisation wagon rolling and we might be interested."
3. The mess is so bad Labour win with a virtual landslide in July.
4. Labour politicians make a lot of noises about cutting public spending, deregulation and privatisation.
5. Rachel traipses round the regulatory bodies and the civil service begging them to do stuff to impress Larry and the gang. Nothing much happens.
6. Trump wins and makes very loud noises about deregulation, so Larry and the gang lose faith in Rachel and fancy a Reform/Tory alliance for faster deregulation and privatisation.
7. Larry's pals in the City dump bonds and the supine BoE hikes up interest rates. Rachel doesn't know what to do so, in desperation and following Milei, asks China for help.
8. Larry and the gang sit on their hands waiting for the perfect storm - recession, public spending cuts, Labour's demise, a Tory/Reform alliance to accelerate deregulation and privatisation, and assets to strip in the fire sale.

This can't go on.

[Steven Donziger @SDonziger]

Honored that human rights champion @KerryKennedyRFK asked President Biden to pardon me. Kerry saw Chevron’s destruction in Ecuador with me in 2008 and has been a huge supporter of the Amazon communities. ⤵️

[Grace Blakeley @graceblakeley]

It will forever be a stain on the Democratic Party that they stood in the way of a ceasefire for so long

[Nick Johnson @nickj_econ]

"The fight against right wing plutocratic populism is not like previous post-war political battles between the right and left...Instead it is a battle over whether politics addresses the real world problems voters face, or whether it is instead preoccupied with a fantasy world."

[Steve Howell @FromSteveHowell]

It's not difficult to see why 'drill, baby, drill' Trump wants to annex Canada - it has three times as much oil as the United States.

It's no coincidence either that six of the top ten countries have been invaded, bombed or sanctioned by the US.

[Hilary John Richards 💙 @TheUnRealHilary]

Carl Sagan forecasting the slide into irrationality in the West.

[GET A GRIP @docrussjackson]

“When the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

Jimmy Carter in 2015 on the role of money in American politics: "It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery."