Oliver Maurice

Tofu-eating wokerati. Views my own.

[Oliver Maurice @olimaurice]

👏

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Powerful speech by Naturalist Chris Packham speaking alongside Zack Polanski on the subject of Climate Change,

"To the disappointment of many, football didn’t come home this summer, but to the pain and suffering of millions, climate breakdown has. And our government and media response has displayed a total dereliction of duty in a time of extreme crisis."

"As we’ve heard, in May and June there were 3,000 deaths attributed to the heat domes that have hung over the UK. Heat exhaustion, heat stroke, stress on the heart and kidneys, and of course those mental health issues that you’ve just talked about."

"In Europe, the figure is somewhere between 14,000 and 20,000 up until the end of July, and it’s expected to double by the end of this summer. So we’re looking at potentially 50,000 deaths across Europe."

"If these deaths had been the result of terrorism or a pandemic, the government would have cancelled its summer holiday, it would have held COBRA meetings, and there would be public information campaigns the likes of which we saw during COVID, designed to protect us in this time of crisis."

"And yet what do we get? We get rumours of possibly more drilling for oil and gas, and we get articles in the Telegraph which suggest that we ought to adapt to a Mediterranean climate. If that isn’t reckless and irresponsible, I don’t know what is."

"What we do need at this point is to listen to the science, not to the ongoing malevolent raft of mis- and disinformation that’s perpetuated in politics, in public life and certainly across social media."

"If we listen to the science, we see that the climate models that were devised in the 1990s have actually proved to be pretty accurate. But those who do try and transmit the information to us, people like the IPCC, which are often derided as alarmists by the right and the far right, have actually been too cautious."

"What we see, for instance, when it comes to the heatwaves, is that they are occurring more quickly and more regularly than those models suggest. We’re updating the science as it happens. What we also see is that it’s not just a lack of water which is leading to the drought, although that might seem painfully obvious. It’s actually being exacerbated by extremely high temperatures."

"And that has an impact on the environment, the environment that I care so much about and we are all dependent upon. Across the world, there have been 35,000 wildfires. In the UK, there have been 66 major wildfires. But let’s not focus on 66, because that sounds quite a small number. In one fire and rescue service, Berkshire, they’ve attended over 250 outdoor fires so far this summer. So the number of grass fires and so forth is going to be significantly higher than that."

"Drawing upon an underfunded, under-resourced organisation at the front line of dealing with a crisis that is impacting all of us. So lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed, businesses have been ruined. The clean-up cost – just look at Palisades in America – is incomprehensible. We simply can’t afford it."

"And then from my perspective, the damage to wildlife, which has got scant mention, of course, because as ever we put human interest first because they’re most immediate. And you might think, well, Chris is bound to bang on about the wildlife because he loves the birds and the bees. Yes, the birds and the bees, which form resilient ecosystems which allow us to produce the food that we eat. We have to protect nature in order to protect ourselves."

"So you might think, okay, the UK, the wildfires – they’ve all been out there on the heaths in Suffolk, they’ve been burning patches of heathland on the Isle of Wight. Not many homes have been destroyed. Well, the Ordnance Survey say that 1.8 million homes are at risk in the UK by looking at their maps and seeing which homes are adjacent to areas which have significant wildfire risk. 1.8 million homes at risk. So far, compared to Europe, we’ve just got away lightly and we’ve just been lucky."

"How many firefighting planes do you think that we’ve got in the UK? How many firefighting planes in the UK, exactly? Zero planes. Which is why, as Zack said, when that fire was burning at Dunwich, the National Trust had to hire a helicopter and pay for it to drag water out of the sea and dump it on that precious piece of habitat, because there are no firefighting planes."

"Is there a public warning system in place which will tell people when there’s a risk of wildfire so that they can be prepared to evacuate and have evacuation plans in place? Well, do you know what? There is. It’s available to the fire and rescue service, but it isn’t available to the public because it’s deemed to be unreliable. Is it unreliable, or is it just a bit too scary? We couldn’t even instigate a ban on disposable barbecues."

"Okay, there are the problems. What about the solutions? Because look, there’s no point in just pointing out the problems. What we must do at this point is offer people real and accessible opportunities to be part of a solution rather than an ongoing part of the problem."

"Well, the first thing already: we’ve got to enact far more rapidly that transition to renewable energy for energy security, to reduce the cost of energy and its volatility that we’ve seen constantly across the world this year, which is having a significant impact not just on the cost of oil, but on the cost of living and global economic stability. It would also generate jobs, as it has in those countries that have invested significantly in those industries, most notably China. Talk of drilling oil – Rosebank, Blackbird, Jackdaw – is simply madness. We’ve got to just stop oil."

"We also need a transition in the way that we eat. This is intricately important when it comes to protecting the environment, everything that lives there, and ourselves. We need a transition to a plant-based diet. It’s healthier for people. If any of you have had bacon or sausage for breakfast this morning, do you know that you’ve ingested a category A carcinogen? That’s it – as toxic as tobacco. You may not. You may have just enjoyed your sausage and bacon. Why do you not know that processed red meat is actually really bad for you?"

"Animal agriculture is responsible for 12% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. It is also the leading driver of biodiversity loss. That biodiversity, that richness of life, that resilience in those ecological communities which we use to produce our food – we’ve got to change the way that we eat and produce that food, and we’ve got to provide sufficient support for farmers through that transition. And at the moment, they’re not getting that. In fact, they’re getting less and less and their life is becoming increasingly difficult."

"We’ve got to address the mis- and disinformation, and we’ve got to do that with positive information campaigns. We’ve got to have people’s minds on the front foot so they know what’s true before they hear the lies. Then they will question the lies. Otherwise we know what happens. If you tell a lie frequently enough, it eventually becomes the truth, and that’s what we’re suffering from. We can’t afford net zero? We can’t not afford net zero. And we’re beginning to see that that’s the case."

"We’ve got to sort out the media. I’ve been fantasising this year that we could perhaps criminalise climate denial. We should certainly criminalise irresponsible journalism. I’ve highlighted the Telegraph, but I’m going to leave you with something that I read on the BBC yesterday: ‘How to survive a heatwave wedding.’ How to survive a heatwave wedding. Point number five: beware of buttercream. This popular wedding cake ingredient is likely to melt if not kept cool. Likely to melt? A bit like my patience and all of our hope."

"It’s time for bold, brave, informed leadership. And we are not getting it. We need Andy Burnham to step up before we and our only home burn down. Thank you."

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

Today, I'm delivering an urgent message to the Prime Minister: we are facing the greatest threat to this country since the Second World War.

Our safety, our food and water supply, and our way of life are at risk. It's time to act.

Here I spell out what that should look like:

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Zack Polanski, "Today I was in Oxfordshire, standing in the aftermath of the devastation caused by a wildfire. Trees reduced to charcoal, cars turned to burnt out wrecks. The smell of smoke still lingering in the air on the site of what was once a thriving local business now reduced to ash."

"Wildfires, literal scorched earth and a looming sense. And I really want everyone to hear this. This is only just the beginning. And today, as temperatures fall at the end of yet another extreme heat alert, we know that if it rains now, the soil being baked dry means it's much more likely to flood."

"These days feel exceptional. But what we are living through right now are likely some of the least extreme summer temperatures we'll experience in our lifetimes. Today I am sounding the alarm and I'm laying out a plan."

"Because last week, while a wildfire the size of 200 football pitches was raging across Suffolk, I called on, Prime Minister Burnham to act urgently to address the crisis. I suggested a COBRA meeting being the very least he could do."

"And six days later, with another heat alert just having ended, we have still heard next to nothing from the very top of government. No emergency briefings, no new plan and precious little detail about how this government will protect people from the crisis."

"It is putting lives and livelihoods at risk across the entire uk. So today I'm delivering a reality cheque. We are facing the biggest threat to this country since the Second World War."

"I'm setting out what Prime Minister Burnham can do now to tackle the crisis and I am challenging him to act with the urgency we need. You will hear today from those on the front line of this crisis and they will lay out what they have dealt with in the past few weeks."

"And to them, on behalf of the entire country, I want to say thank you. Extreme weather is now the new normal and without action, the impact on the people of this country will be unimaginably grave."

"The threats we face are three hold first, the threat to the safety of the population. Almost 3,000 people have died from the effects of extreme heat this summer. And we know that older people and those with pre existing conditions are particularly at risk from these dangerous temperatures."

"Those are the people who have been forced to stay at home for days on end, windows, curtains closed, trying to wait out the extreme heat. And these are the people who are most likely now to have grieving families whose bodies were under such intense strain and trying just to stay cool that their kidneys and their hearts could no longer cope."

"Meanwhile, wildfires have seen hundreds evacuated from their homes, while many thousands more wait anxiously with Flames on the horizon and smoke in their lungs. We've seen across Europe how bad things can get."

"Hundreds of thousands evacuated, half a million acres burned. The sheer scale of the devastation is hard to comprehend, but we need to look it in the face, because this is only a taster of what's to come if we don't act now."

"Second, we face a threat to our food and water security. Farmers are now warning we could see food shortages after flooding followed by drought has decimated crops. And despite farmers working really hard through the nights to avoid the heat, food production is grinding to a halt and our food prices are set to rise."

"Half of England is experiencing serious drought. And across the country, 8 of our water reservoirs are at risk of running dry. Privatised water companies they've failed to build a single new reservoir to since 1992, are, losing nearly 3 billion litres of water a day from leaky pipes."

"That's five times more than a nationwide host pipe ban would even save. The threat is so severe that the UK's National Risk Register warns that if we have three years of exceptionally dry weather like this, we could face water rationing."

"These aren't distant possibilities, they're very real scenarios and they are coming straight at us down the track because finally, we face a threat to our very way of life. Parents unable to take their children to the playground because the slides are so hot it could burn, their skin off."

"Temperatures so high they keep us inside for days for the sake of our health. Cities feeling like ghost towns, parks turned into deserts. We only have to look across the Channel to France and Spain to see what faces us in the years ahead."

"Europe is heating at, twice the rate of the rest of the world. Wildfires, droughts, deadly floods. The scenes we have seen play out on our TV screens are, frankly apocalyptic. And yet the response from our government is to pretend none of this is happening."

"It is an astonishing dereliction of duty from those whose very first responsibility is to keep all of us safe, and from the media. With some brilliant and notable exceptions, we have seen more clamouring for North Sea drilling in the last few weeks than actually raising the alarm on climate breakdown."

"While our country has come together, people have offered shelter to those who have had to leave their homes due to wildfires. They've checked in with older neighbours to care for those who are sick because of the heat. But the government. The government have been far, far too quiet on what is an emergency."

"So today you will hear from some of those on the front line of this crisis and Those with vital insights into how we face this threat. A doctor, a firefighter, someone who served this country in the armed forces, and someone who has dedicated his entire career to our precious nature and wildlife."

"It's experts like these that this government should be bringing to the table to design a full scale emergency response. So I want to step out from this big picture and look at some of the urgent steps that Prime Minister Burnham needs to urgently announce to protect people right now and keep us safe from what we know is coming down the track."

"In the immediate term, we need to keep people safe from extreme temperatures. That means a free accessible cool space in every local area. And financial support for households so they can heat proof their homes. Second, we need a robust wildfire prevention strategy."

"A fire service with the resources it needs to tackle blazes when they come. And that must include firefighting helicopters when needed. And not again ever seeing the shocking sight of requiring a charity to step in to contract a private firm to help fight fires."

"And this should all be funded by taxing the fossil fuel giants who are profiting from fueling these infernos. And finally, to secure our water supply, prevent droughts and protect our food system, we need to bring water back into public hands."

"Right now, money is flowing out of our hands into the pockets of shareholders, just like water is flowing out of those companies leaky pipes in the middle of a drought. Every single penny households pay for their water needs to go back into strengthening our infrastructure, building new reservoirs and protecting us from the droughts of the future."

"We know that these extreme temperatures, these deadly wildfires, are being driven by the burning of fossil fuels. The sad reality is decades of inaction of politicians allowing fossil fuel companies to profit from pumping out deadly emissions have guaranteed the extreme weather we are seeing right now."

"And we will see for the rest of our lifetimes. But there is still time to stop total breakdown. So let me speak directly to the Prime Minister. If we are to secure a livable future for our children and for our grandchildren, there can be no new drilling for oil and gas."

"On this, the, the science is crystal clear. As politicians, we have a moral responsibility to do what is right for the people we serve, even when it's not politically convenient. And I know that whatever our differences, we both care deeply about the people of this country and the future of our planet."

"So when the time comes, I hope you will have the courage to be truthful, be brave and hold firm to your party's commitment to no new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, including both Rosebank and, Jackdaw."

"Now, some will say we can't afford to make these changes. These last few weeks are showing we can't afford not to. We are facing an existential threat. People are dying. People are scared."

"It is time to act. And when we do, we won't just avoid the worst effects of climate breakdown. We will lower bills permanently, help our communities thrive, and give a grounded sense of hope for generations to come."

[Prem Sikka @premnsikka]

Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water have nearly 200 criminal convictions between them.

On 6 August 2024, Ofwat fined them £47m and £17m for sewage dumping.

Fines not paid, will not be paid. Firms claim to have invested. No penalty for abusing laws
https://t.co/WfLikuuprR

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

London is Britain’s most diverse city.

Its murder rate is at historic lows.

The far right thrive on three things: fear, hatred and lies.

Their claim that London is overwhelmed with violent disorder is an example of all three.

[We Own It @We_OwnIt]

📣URGENT More than 14,000 people have signed our petition calling on Ofwat to REJECT Thames Water's latest ridiculous proposal.

🤑Their creditors want to pollute our rivers and seas unlawfully for the next 15 years.

✍️Ofwat makes its decision in under a week. Please 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 today!

https://t.co/tkX8QieXVi

[Common Wealth @Cmmonwealth]

"You could think of this privatisation premium as a poll tax that nobody voted for."

Our Director @DantonsHead on making life's essentials affordable and ending the rip-off.

https://t.co/U8FOlnsxEg

[Fairness Foundation @fairnessfdn]

Too many people feel that our economy is rigged against them- that no matter how hard they work or what contribution they make, they can't get by.

Our new report examines how this is fuelling the rise of populist politics- and what we can do about it.

🔗https://t.co/Phwjw7HbJb

[Peter Stefanovic @PeterStefanovi2]

Reform’s plan, which it claims would net huge savings over the coming decades, would actually cost the UK about £70-90bn over the next ten years alone, new analysis of official statistics and forecasts suggests

https://t.co/DMA9aJYh42

[Common Wealth @Cmmonwealth]

Welcome to Rip-Off Britain.  

A country remade by privatisation. 

Our latest project — Who Owns Britain? — explores how a radical experiment transformed our society and shapes your life.

🧵

[Oliver Maurice @olimaurice]

This is unequivocal. The government needs to end all arms sales and implement sanctions now or risk being complicit. No more excuses.

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says https://t.co/X33ZqHjXYg

[Oliver Maurice @olimaurice]

Call on Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to take action for children in the occupied Palestinian territory now. https://t.co/aPWRZrUlOi

[Liz Webster @LizWebsterSBF]

Farage fishes with immigration bait but what he reels in is Russian-style oligarchy for Britain.

He diverts his earnings into a company called Thorn in the Side Ltd to cut his tax bill. But this is just a stopgap. If he succeeds in his bigger project, tearing up rights, leaving the ECHR, deregulating the economy, he won’t need clever accountants anymore. He and his allies will be free to re-engineer the whole tax system in their own favour.

That’s the endgame: not immigration control, but oligarchy. Ordinary people pay more, elites like Farage pay nothing. It’s not “taking back control” it’s handing control to the very few, forever.

1. The “man of the people” is a tax avoiders
👉shovels £400k GB News earnings into “Thorn in the Side Ltd”
👉pockets expenses, owns investment properties through the company.
👉draws £94k MP’s salary whilst railing against “common enemy” tax avoiders like himself.

2. The double standards.
👉defended Rayner until he spotted political advantage then demanded her resignation.
👉avoided higher stamp duty by putting his Clacton house in his partner’s name, while attacking others for smaller slip-ups.

3. The political contradiction.
👉Reform UK voters, who think they are punishing the elite, are rallying around a man who behaves exactly like the elite using loopholes, offshore trusts, and media stardom to enrich himself.
👉Meanwhile, he embraces Trump, demonises migrants, and distracts his base with culture-war rhetoric.

https://t.co/dNoCvGA84w

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

Israel committing genocide in Gaza, world's leading experts say https://t.co/3psTRc9FEF

[Oliver Maurice @olimaurice]

Prominent UK women tell rightwingers: stop linking immigration to sexual abuse | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian https://t.co/9cSZuIfkZD

[West Ham United @WestHam]

Thank you for everything, Michail ❤️

[Save the Children UK @savechildrenuk]

The children killed in Gaza had names, and favourite subjects in school. They wanted to be teachers, doctors and astronauts when they grew up - the same as children in the UK and across the world.

They were, and still are, someone's everything: their entire universe.

Children are always the first to suffer in any war. We refuse to allow their suffering to become normalised.

[Lionesses @Lionesses]

It's home, again.

[Lionesses @Lionesses]

History, written again by the #Lionesses. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏆

[Oliver Maurice @olimaurice]

😢

[NME @NME]

Ozzy Osbourne dies at the age of 76

The iconic singer played his final show with Black Sabbath less than three weeks ago https://t.co/7PrnfqtuyJ