Victoria Neumark

Writer, teacher, editor: wot larks, eh? Views my own -- but you are welcome to share them

[Prez @PrezLives2022]

Trumps 10 billion BBC lawsuit is about to implode. The BBC has just subpoenaed 47 different agencies including Trumps financial records and suddenly he has something to hide. This would be his second straight 10 billion dollar failure. The man can’t even sue correctly.

[Aboo Hafsah @AbuHafsah1]

The girl who stabbed 3 pupils in a Manchester school today was Russian.

The teacher who saved the rest of the pupils and was stabbed himself was Mr. Abdulla.

[Shambo of Luxembourg @BradfemlyWalsh]

Why has the BBC got incels writing its headlines? This huge man, already a known stalker, grabbed this young woman by the hair, tried to sit on her, said gross things and tried to force her to kiss him, for 15 minutes until stopped. He absolutely does deserve this sentence.

[nazir afzal @nazirafzal]

Black people are
9 times more likely to be stopped & 7 times more likely to die following police restraint
Twice as likely to be arrested on SAME EVIDENCE
There have been 800+UK Chief Constables,1 was Black
There is a Race issue in Policing & it ain’t the one being protested over

[Lee Broadbent @leembroad]

The death of Henry Nowak is a tragedy in every sense, and the public reaction to the body‑worn video is completely understandable. It is painful to watch. It is painful for officers to watch. And it is painful for Henry’s family to know that his final moments were chaotic, confused and shaped by a lie told by the man who killed him.

But if we are going to talk about this case, and especially where/if politicians make highly charged statements, I believe it’s important to stay anchored to what was actually established in court.

The judge was clear that the responsibility for Henry’s death lies solely with the man who stabbed him. The fatal wound to his chest was described as “catastrophic” and “unsurvivable”, and the pathologist confirmed that no medical intervention, immediate or otherwise, could have saved Henry. That does not erase the distressing nature of the footage, it does not mitigate the seemingly dispassionate response of the officers in attendance, but it does matter when we are trying to understand what happened and what could or could not have changed the outcome.

It is also a matter of record that the officers were responding to a 999 call in which the offender falsely claimed he had been the victim of a racist attack and insisted no weapon had been used. That deception shaped the first few minutes on scene.

The IOPC has been involved from the outset, and the officers have remained as witnesses throughout. This is an important distinction, as those familiar with post incident procedures can tell you. If there was a shred of doubt or suspicion that the officers actions at the time, when balanced against the information known at the time and their reasonable held beliefs, amounted to potential misconduct, the IOPC must at the earliest opportunity review their status. The IOPC have confirmed that the officers status remains unchanged. That indicates that the officers initial decisions/actions have already been assessed against the information known at the time and is unlikely to now change and amount to misconduct.

None of this means the initial assessment was correct. It wasn’t. The officers misread the situation, and the body‑worn video shows that plainly. But policing is full of moments where decisions are made in seconds, under pressure, with incomplete or misleading information. Sometimes those decisions are right. Sometimes they are not. And sometimes…as in this case…the consequences are unbearably tragic even when the mistake does not change the final outcome.

What we cannot/should not do is turn this into a proxy battle in a wider culture war. Henry’s family have asked that his death is not used to fuel division, hate or to propagate political agendas.

It is possible to hold two truths at once:
that the initial response was flawed, sloppy even…and the investigation needs to establish how policy, procedure and relied information impacted those decisions and events; and that despite the officers clear mistakes and compassion fatigue, they did not cause Henry’s death, nor could they have prevented it.

Policing is at its worst when it becomes defensive, but it is also at its worst when it becomes a canvas onto which people project their own political battles and/or bitterness. This case, if it is to be a turning point, deserves better than that.

We can demand accountability without abandoning fairness. We can acknowledge mistakes without inventing motives. And we can talk honestly about the pressures and imperfections of frontline policing without turning every tragedy into a referendum on the entire profession.

That balance is difficult. But, to my mind, it is the only way we avoid repeating the same cycles of outrage, distortion, division and defensiveness that have done so much damage to public trust… and to the people who still turn up, every day, to do a job that is getting harder by the day.

[nazir afzal @nazirafzal]

NO he won’t be “out in just over 20 years” - that’s the minimum term before he can apply for parole

N0 he didn’t get a lighter sentence because of the knife - he has deliberately cut out the bit that says he got a LONGER sentence

If he was still a solicitor he’d get struck off

[Emily Wilding Davison🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 @Wommando]

"Look back in courage" the judge tells the girls - including one who had told the court she wanted to die.

No. When these girls look back, they’ll remember the pain. The violence. The terror. The humiliation. The sound of their rapists laughing while their lives were destroyed.

And playing behind it all like a sickening backing track: a judge delivering sympathy and praise to their vile attackers - before watching them walk free out of court.

If there was one thing that could have offered the smallest fraction of "comfort" to these girls - it was justice. And there was none here.

[🌱 🍉 @HomoSocialist]

We are such a miserable fucking nation. Let kids have free travel during the holidays to see their mates, go into town, go swimming, cinema etc.

Our taxes also pay for pensioners to keep warm, shall we stop that as well?

[jezz @JezziiB]

How come women no longer want to be housewives? (I was ask this question by a coworker?
My response: Because if you give a man the power to feed you, then you give a man the power to starve you.

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

This should destroy Nigel Farage’s entire political argument.

Net migration has collapsed from 944,000 to around 204,000, yet voters still think it’s rising because Reform and Farage have spent years feeding Britain hysteria instead of facts.

Asylum seekers are only about 9% of immigration, not the “invasion” constantly screamed about.

The NHS was broken by underfunding.
Housing was broken by austerity.
Wages were crushed by corporate greed.

Migrants were the distraction. Not the cause.

[Romina @allefuerallee]

🆘 DON’T LOOK AWAY 🆘

The Islamic regime is going to hang Diana Taherabadi because she participated in the January protests.

She’s only 16.
This is pure barbarism.
Share this before they kill her.

#IranMassacre
#StopExecutionsInIran

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

Tesco are making £4bn a year in profit.

About 50% of their staff are on Universal Credit.

Why don't we crackdown on this unneeded benefit for billionaires?

[🇬🇧King 🇬🇧 @King0243_PJC]

🚨 SHOCKING — These are the exact same Reform activists who flood X every day screaming, lecturing, and telling everyone how Britain should be run…

Yet 24 hours after getting elected in Kirklees, they stand up in full council and admit:

“I don’t understand the Constitution…
I don’t understand standing orders…
I don’t understand what an amendment is.”

Then they whine it’s “not democratic” they might vote on things they don’t understand

This is the terrifying danger of populist rage politics: loud online warriors with ZERO clue how to actually govern.

Handing real power to people who don’t even know where to start is how countries collapse.
Watch this embarrassment 👇👇👇👇CC: @LesTrumpeter

[Sonia Sodha @soniasodha]

It’s extraordinary that the BBC consistently platforms men upset they have to use gender neutral toilets instead of women’s toilets over the female rape survivors who have been unable to access a female-only support group, in relation to the EHRC guidance. It says it all, really.

[Diana Alastair💚🤍💜 ⚢ ❌❌✡️ @sappholives83]

ITV is filming a drama about Queen Elizabeth I that will portray her as a trans-identifying man who hid his sex and became queen. She will be played by a trans-identifying man, of course.

I am so tired of this sh!t. Any historical woman who stepped outside of the narrow gender roles men tried to force upon her gets transed, and this particular idea is even more insulting to women than portraying Elizabeth as a woman who secretly identified as a man.

Almost as insulting is the stupidity level of the entire premise. Had Elizabeth been born male, she’d have been Henry VIII’s immediate successor, Anne Boleyn wouldn’t have lost her head, and Jane Seymour would never have wed Henry or produced Edward. We’d also have avoided Bloody Mary. There would have been absolutely no reason to hide a male child’s sex from a king who so desperately wanted a male heir that he broke from the Church in an effort to secure one.

https://t.co/dPwoYpkHUz

[Cherry @Cherryopenmind]

Unfortunately, my school teacher is no longer with us to grade this piece through her golden rule of journalism: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

So, let us walk through Laura Kuenssberg's article together and scan it the way she taught me to.

WHO
The article relies heavily on an army of anonymous faces. 'An ally tells me', 'one cabinet minister', 'another minister', 'one source'. This is not verified reporting. It is Westminster gossip and unnamed sources. If sources have no names, they have no skin in the game and no accountability.

WHAT
We are told the race to replace the Prime Minister is officially on. But what has actually happened? One MP resigned from government and another wants to re-enter parliament. Everything else, the timelines, the coronation plots, is speculative drama, gossip, and unnamed sources designed for clicks.

WHERE
The setting is entirely inside the Westminster bubble. An article about such a momentous topic that will affect the lives of millions of citizens contains absolutely no mention of them. There is no word on how the stock market is already reacting or how this uncertainty will impact the entire country and every single citizen.

WHEN
The piece talks about a leadership contest over the summer, yet the author admits this timetable is miles away from being confirmed. A real journalist would know the rules, laws, and procedures, and would offer at least two alternative timelines, including the very real possibility that none of this happens at all.

WHY
We are told Starmer is being pushed because he is a 'slow decision-maker'. This reduces national governance to a personality contest. Why is there no mention of the GDP growth, the many advancements the government announced just last week, or the clear progress made on their manifesto? A proper journalist would look at these undeniable results and search for the deeper, hidden motives of the people challenging the PM.

The Verdict
My teacher would have given this a 2/10. It is a theatre review masquerading as news.

The author lists major issues on the PM's desk, help with energy bills, defense spending, social media safety for children, and so much more. Yet, these crucial issues are treated as mere background decoration for party infighting.

The fact that this comes from the BBC is what should worry us the most.

A broadcaster that built its global reputation on honest, investigative journalism now relies on writers who treat politics like a soap opera.

Between these narratives, figures like Robbie Gibb with questionable political motives, and an Ofcom regulator that does everything except its job, civic trust is being destroyed.

Laura Kuenssberg can go hand in hand with Chris Mason.

We are left to wonder why the two of them are doing this and what their motives are, especially regarding the BBC, which we pay for.

We deserve real facts, not orchestrated drama.

#BBCNews #LauraKuenssberg #ChrisMason #Ofcom #UKPolitics #Journalism #VotersFirst #Decency

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

Mick Lynch "Nigel Farage is a racist."

RT if Mick is right.

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

And not a word on the front pages, and pretty much a news blackout on the broadcast media. We are getting into Reverse Pravda mode when it comes to the wrongdoing of @reformparty_uk … anyone would think the media was biased to the right !!!

[kieron murphy @kieronmurphy5]

Hey @BBCNews I’ve just watched your 10pm show..lots of gossip from @ChrisMasonBBC about @UKLabour but nothing about the £5m bribe Farage illegally concealed or Tice’s tax dodging or Jenrick’s illegal funding…why are you protecting @reformparty_uk ?

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

Hasn’t whined about needing a ballroom to feel safe