David Stirrup @davidstirrup

Capitalism is a project to make a few people rich
Socialism is a project to treat everyone fairly
I never voted for barbarism & greed but that is what we have

[David Stirrup @davidstirrup @David4rds]

@EuropeanPowell The millionaires and Billionaires do not live in our world
#EpsteinFiles

[Alon Mizrahi @alon_mizrahi]

Russia is not looking to fight the West.
China is not looking to fight the West.
Islam is not looking to fight the West.
Arabs are not looking to fight the West.
Africa is not looking to fight the West.
Spanish/Portuguese speaking America is not looking to fight the West.
And they all get along reasonably well with each other.

The West is looking to fight everyone, and gets along with no one but Israel

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

❗️ Pro-Israel lobby groups have flown British MPs to Israel at least 67 times since the Gaza genocide started in October 2023.

https://t.co/EvKGwyC7FG

[Roshan M Salih @RmSalih]

There was a debate in Parliament yesterday about Israeli influence on UK politics. The debate followed a public petition signed by 117,000 people.

Well, I watched the whole debate and it was a disgrace from start to finish.

Firstly, 80 percent of the speakers were from the pro Israel side. Predictably, they called the whole debate antisemitic and kept trying to deflect attention onto other countries like Iran, Russia and China (typical Israeli hasbara tactics).

But the Israeli side did turn up and did their best to bat for their favourite genocidal state.

On the other hand, the pro Palestine side largely failed to turn up apart from the Muslim independents and Tahir Ali of Labour.

Where was Jeremy Corbyn? Where was Zarah Sultana? And many others of course. This was their chance to slam Israel on the back of a massive public petition, but they weren't even there.

With around 20% max of the speaking time, the Muslim speakers did their best but were largely buried amid an avalanche of love for a state that is mass slaughtering Palestinians.

And the result was that the petition motion was rejected.

Everyone knows that Israel exerts an overweening influence on UK politics. Everyone knows that the mainstream media, government and a huge number of MPs dance to the Israeli tune.

But according to the MPs at yesterday's debate there is absolutely nothing to see. We are all just antisemites and we should be focusing on Iran, China and Russia and not Israel.

To conclude, the 117,000 people who signed that petition have been treated with contempt, especially by the pro Palestinians who couldn't be bothered to even turn up to defend a people suffering genocide.

[The Fraud @StarmertheFraud]

Like lots of people, I don't want to pre-judge a Burnham government. But appointing Purnell - the CEO of Flint Global - as his Chief of Staff is dispiriting. It appears no lessons have been learnt.

At the most basic level this is a good governance and conflict-of-interest disaster. Burnham has appointed a CEO of lobbying and advisory firm into the heart of Number 10 - a firm that already acts as a revolving door between business and government.

It effectively means that Burnham's government operation is now conflicted whenever it deals with a matter that touches on the interests of Flint Global's clients. Flint's clients are not publicly listed but have been reported to include Amazon, Meta and Uber.

The government might look to mitigate any conflicts, but that won't cure public perception. I'm not sure anyone will be mollified by undertakings of mitigation following the revelations that Starmer was having unminuted meetings with Palantir in the company of Peter Mandelson. And if mitigations are put in place, it means that Burnham's Chief of Staff can't be involved in all sorts of key aspects of government policy.

Flint Global advises across a whole range of sectors, including on defence. This has has already produced serious questions about good governance. Only last year it was revealed by DeClassified, Democracy For Sale and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism that James Clark, who leads Flint's 'Defence Advisory Practice', was also the secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Defence Technology. That APPG was temporarily shut down after it was revealed its secretariat had been funded by a British subsidiary of Israeli arms firm Rafael. Clark was a Tory candidate in the 2024 election.

His own LinkedIn shows that Clark was a special advisor to Defence Minister Grant Shapps between October 2023 and July 2024 and that he gave 'expert advice' on 'various crisis events including... Gaza.' So he was advising Grant Shapps as the UK was giving near-unstinting support to Israel's 'plausibly genocidal' assault in the Gaza strip.

Is it fair to link Burnham and Purnell to what Shapps did on Gaza via Clark? Maybe not. But that link will be made in the mind of the public anyway, and that is always the cost of appointing figures like Purnell into government.

Can the Labour Party, for once, just appoint people who aren't lobbyists? How bare is the cupboard that this is the best option?

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

We asked Israeli president Isaac Herzog if he is a war criminal as he walked along Downing Street for a meeting with Keir Starmer last year.

The UN Commission of Inquiry has found Herzog responsible for inciting genocide against Palestinians.

[Prem Sikka @premnsikka]

Andy Burnham advisers back scrapping pension triple lock.

Full state pension, received by 35% of pensioners, is less than 50% of the minimum wage.

2m pensioners live in poverty. 100,000 die in fuel poverty.

Millions can't save enough for future pensions
https://t.co/yHng3w9oZs

[Prem Sikka @premnsikka]

Meet James Purnell. Andy Burnham's chief of staff.

He supported Iraq invasion; ex chair of Labour Friends of Israel; said that Winter Fuel Allowance and free bus passes should not be sacred; supported PFI, lie-detector tests for benefit claimants.

Next?
https://t.co/8Cnj0hIu62

[Made In England @BuyEnglishMade]

Over 70% of England's water infrastructure is owned by foreign governments, overseas pension funds and international investors.

Your water comes from the ground beneath England.

The profits leave the country.

Northumbrian Water: owned by Hong Kong and a New York investment firm.

Yorkshire Water: owned by Hong Kong and the Singapore government.

Wessex Water: owned by a Malaysian billionaire's family.

Southern Water: owned by Australian asset managers and US investors.

Thames Water: owned by Canada, Abu Dhabi, China and Australia. £20 billion in debt. Sewage in your rivers.

Only Severn Trent, United Utilities and South West Water are listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Nobody voted for this.

[Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook]

* Judge Jeremy Johnson had to rig two jury trials before he secured a criminal conviction for damage against four activists who targeted an Israeli drone factory in the UK.

* Johnson did not tell the jury he was going to sentence the four as terrorists – the first time such an "upgrade" has happened in British history.

* This week he's referred their defence barrister for contempt of court proceedings for a second time – again a British legal history first – even though the Court of Appeal rejected his previous application.

But hey, the government, police and courts' treatment of Palestine Action – the first direct action group ever to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation in British history – has been completely normal.

A link to my new article, The Plot Against Palestine Action, can be found in the reply post ⬇️

[Roshan M Salih @RmSalih]

The great Israel Parliamentary debate stitch up

I've just totaled up the amount of time each side had to speak during the parliamentary debate yesterday on Israeli influence over UK politics.

The pro-Israel side had 1 hour and 9 minutes to put forward their pro-Israel views.

The anti-Israel side had 15 minutes only to put forward their anti-Israel views.

So in effect, the pro-Israel side had 82% of the speaking time during the debate, and the anti-Israel side had 18% speaking time.

This wasn't a debate, it was a forum for Israeli hasbara and propaganda.

And it proves exactly why 117,000 people signed a petition questioning Israel's influence over UK politicians.

[Matt Kennard @kennardmatt]

If international law actually worked both of these genocidal monsters would be answering questions under oath at The Hague

[Ryan Rozbiani @RyanRozbiani]

🇨🇴 Petro Says ISRAEL Hacked Colombia's Election

President Gustavo Petro says the national registry's servers had their IP addresses changed mid-count, with results written in for polling stations by an outside hand.

He names one culprit: the only state on earth he says is capable of it. ISRAEL

The runoff:
1. Abelardo de la Espriella, far-right, Trump-endorsed lawyer

2. Iván Cepeda, leftist senator and President Gustavo Petro's chosen heir

Petro, who backs Cepeda, says the pre-count sits at 49.3 for de la Espriella and 49 for Cepeda. A dead heat, no winner declared.

He is handing the altered servers to the judges and demanding a full recount.

[Tehran Tadhg @TadhgHickey]

Imagine being Palestinian or Lebanese looking at this pure dystopian shit 😳

[Roger Gall @Shambles151]

Do UK journalists & politicians have any idea of the strength of feeling & revulsion of ordinary people - being made to be complicit in the IDF's ongoing slaughter of thousands of innocent children in Palestine & Lebanon?

[Samantha Asumadu @SamanthaAsumadu]

This is very... stark

[Greens4Palestine @Greens4P]

It’s a BIG CLUB….and you ain’t in it.

[Labi Siffre @labisiffre]

In this, The Age of Stupid, multibillionaires through the media they own, tell those struggling to make ends meet to vote for politicians and political parties who will give those multibillionaires even more power and immunity from any regulatory constraints to do whatever they want, plus permanent tax cuts (tax cuts for "the people" are temporary). Disinformation from the the far right is the new fast food and it seems at least half the world's population think it's delicious. It's poison.
[Fact check: Under the US 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), sweeping corporate tax reductions were made permanent, while the majority of individual, family, and middle-class tax provisions were written to expire.]
#billionaires #Trump #Musk #RupertMurdoch #USA #America #disinformation #TaxCuts #Corruption #FarRight #MAGA #GOP

[Iran In Hyderabad @IraninHyderabad]

Sheikh Naim Qassem: A ceasefire means Hezbollah does not fire and Israel is free to occupy anywhere! We do not want such a ceasefire.
#Lebanon

[Richard @ricwe123]

Let's be honest,the Iranian delegation's performance in Switzerland was a masterclass in psychological and diplomatic leverage.
They arrived on their own terms, made the Americans wait, refused even the symbolic gesture of a handshake, held firm to their demands, and walked away the moment they usual threats from Donald Trump entered the conversation.
In doing so, they projected confidence while exposing the American desperation and weakness.

What stands out is the Persians' sophisticated understanding of symbolism and strategy.
Every move is calculated, every gesture deliberate, as though they are several moves ahead in a chess match while their counterparts is struggling to keep up.

The result is a striking contrast: Iran is composed, disciplined, and in control, while the United States is reactive and outmaneuvered.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to deny the fact that Iran has now emerged as one of the most influential and formidable powers in the Middle East......

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

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.