janh5000

What is this life..? Retweets may be but are not necessarily endorsements. Views my own. @janh5000.bsky.social

[The Figen @TheFigen_]

The music of Interstellar taken to another level.

https://t.co/khaRiXSij1

[janh5000 @janh5000]

'..Back then their current leader, Rishi Sunak, led his party into the general election on a manifesto, which not just promised to ban smoking in beer gardens, but everywhere else too.' 3/

[janh5000 @janh5000]

Smoking Ban: The Conservative Party Suffers a Severe Case of Smoke-Induced Amnesia – Byline Times https://t.co/6hj6pa9E68

1/

[janh5000 @janh5000]

“This isn’t about people’s health. It’s about social control.”
Of course this will be news to anyone who is able to remember as far back into the mists of time as just last month...' 2/

[janh5000 @janh5000]

@UnpaidNotDead But it is strange, it was working fine just before ..🤔🧐

[Hannah Spanner @HelloPalendrome]

Is the technical error in the room with us now..?

[Neena Jha @DrNeenaJha]

As a GP EVERY time I refer a patient to hospital I write my name, title, place of work & contact details.

Rejections of these referrals being anonymous are completely unacceptable & dangerous.

We have no idea if it’s a doctor or not who’s even rejected the referral?

Why remain anonymous? To avoid accountability?!

[Ankit Kant @ankitkant]

Over the last week, I have had 7 referrals rejected. Every single one proudly states that the GP should manage the patient in the community.

Not a single one tells me who has made this decision.

This might seem like a little thing but from my point of view it is huge.

[Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere]

So apparently the act of sending loved ones little videos and cute pictures and funny things throughout the day is called “Pebbling” because there’s a species of penguin that likes to leave pebbles in their partners’ nests to show they care, and this is my happy thing for today

[Sacha Lord @Sacha_Lord]

Hey @MaldronHotels.

I'm being contacted by several people who booked your hotel for the Oasis concert, to say their rooms have just been cancelled and are now back up for three times the price.

I'm sure this is a "computer error"... easy to correct.

Do the right thing.

[Scott Bryan @scottygb]

Here is the montage BBC Sport aired at the end of their Olympics coverage.

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

GP supervision of physician associates (PAs) must take place immediately after each patient and before they leave the surgery, according to the @TheBMA

https://t.co/ZleSq6QdFa

[Carl Hendrick @C_Hendrick]

Liverpool's Spellow Lane library torched last night. What could be more 'patriotic' than destroying a centre which serves the local community?

[Edwin Hayward @edwinhayward]

It is absolutely ridiculous to throw out the slur that Labour want to keep children in poverty simply because they didn't lift the 2-child benefit cap within their first 18 days in office after 5,174 days in opposition.

One does not imply the other - that's a lazy, lazy argument.

Look at the full context:

1. This was a vote on the Kings Speech, the first and most high profile vote since Labour took office (and for a long time to come). A rebellion was obviously therefore going to be deeply embarrassing - and the rebels were absolutely aware of that.

2. Labour ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility. This was clear as daylight to every Labour candidate. It's not some wild swerve foisted on them after the election was won.

3. Labour are working at speed to produce a full picture of the economic situation the Tories left us in. That should be published before the summer recess. Things may look different within days. (For better or worse? We'll have to await the report.)

4. Labour have said they are reviewing concrete action to alleviate child poverty. Are the rebels claiming they're lying?

5. Senior Labour figures have indicated the 2-child benefit cap is potentially part of the wider review.

6. This was an SNP amendment. Supporting it was pure performative politics. It was never going to pass in a trillion years.

7. To come back to where we started, not voting for the amendment is not the same as seeking to keep children in poverty, wanting to keep children in poverty, planning to keep children in poverty, delighting in keeping children in poverty, or whatever other emotional framing lazy people choose to resort to instead of making a logical analytical argument.

A painful related truth: the hard Left of the party has a problem. They need to stay visible to stay relevant. It's like sharks have to keep swimming or they die. (That's a metaphor. It doesn't mean I think they're sharks. Sigh.) They therefore thrive on outrage farming just as much as those on the other extreme of politics, even though their actual political views are poles apart. One way to increase that visibility very quickly is to pick opportunities to have highly visible fights with the core party and the leadership.

That's what happened last night. Nothing more. Nothing less. No nefarious plot to keep children in poverty (or "starving" as the even more emotionally manipulative put it).

Starmer had two choices:
1) Let the rebellion go
2) Take strict action

1) would have given every group and faction within Labour the green light to start creating their own version of the ERG, Common Sense Group, or whatever they wanted to call themselves. Soon, the party would be as riven as the Tories were. Imagine herding those cats for the next 5 years!

Instead, by doing 2), Starmer called the bluff of people who knew exactly what they were doing.

Did Starmer's action indicate Labour won't lift the cap? No. It told us nothing of the sort.

Did Starmer's action indicate Labour are fine with child poverty? No. It told us nothing of the sort.

If in a few months - around the Autumn statement or shortly thereafter - Labour are still grinding their gears on child poverty without any progress, then you have the right to be aggrieved.

But 18 days into their term of office, and after all the clear signals they're trying to do the right thing as swiftly as prudence allows? Get over yourself.

[janh5000 @janh5000]

🧵🪡

[Torsten Bell @TorstenBell]

Understandably lots of debate about child poverty this morning – something we as a country should spend much more time focusing on