Rachael Jones

[Sir Norman of Nowhere. 🏴‍☠️ @Normanjam67]

Welfare spending is not spiralling out of control, Russia has no plans to invade Western Europe, and Iran had no plans to build a nuclear weapon.
Don't believe the bullshit.

[Gyll King Post Skip Diplomacy @GyllKing]

Total spend on welfare has sat between 10.7% & 10.9% of GDP over the past decade.

It is not spiralling.
It is not out of control.

That is a lie.

We spend below average for Europe.

55% goes on one of Europe’s lowest state pensions.

But yeah.

Bombs & drones & death.

[Power to the People ☭🕊 @ProudSocialist]

The greatest tweet of all time.

[‏ً @omgsidewalks]

One annoying thing about being human right now is knowing we already have the intelligence and resources to end world hunger, fight climate change, and cure cancer, but greed and billionaires keep millions suffering instead. The wasted human potential is heartbreaking.

[Wheelie MS Advocate - #PoweredByWheels - ♿️ @WheelieFUMS]

Nobody becomes a refugee because it’s easy. People become refugees because staying is no longer safe.

Before judging those seeking safety, ask yourself one simple question:

If it were your family, what would you do?

The difference between you and a refugee is often just where you were born.

RefugeeWeek #RefugeesWelcome #HumanityFirst #ChooseLove #Community #Solidarity

[Wheelie MS Advocate - #PoweredByWheels - ♿️ @WheelieFUMS]

Helen Whately says more than 4 million people now claim PIP and that the system is "handing out cash to stay home".

There's just one problem.

PIP isn't an out-of-work benefit.

You can work and receive PIP.

You can run a business and receive PIP.

You can volunteer, study, pay tax and receive PIP.

PIP exists because disabled people face extra costs, not because they're unemployed.

What's frustrating is that buried underneath the rhetoric is a genuine point: too many disabled people aren't getting the support they need.

But support means social care, Access to Work, workplace adjustments, accessible transport and timely healthcare.

The success story being used to justify these reforms wasn't about cutting support. It was about investing in people.

So before we start talking about "ripping up" the benefits system, perhaps we should ask why disabled people are still fighting for the basics that would help many of them participate in work and society.

Disabled people are not a budget line. We're people.

#WhingingWhatelyWeekly #HelenWhately #PIP #DisabilityRights #DisabledPeople

[Michael Lorimer @MykeyLorimer]

PIP is not an out of work benefit.

PIP is not a sickness benefit.

You do not get PIP by self identifying as a Disabled person.

It is insulting to all of this that this hateful and deliberate misinformation is allowed on mainstream television.

[John McEvoy @jmcevoy_2]

I spent all day in Woolwich Crown Court yesterday for the Filton activists' sentencing hearing with my colleague @daniaakkad.

The court heard that the Terrorism Act was never intended to cover direct action protest.

It heard that all of the defendants had been cleared of violent intent and sentencing them as terrorists would mark a historic first for charges of criminal damage.

It heard that the Suffragettes, who did "a bit of smashing themselves", would have been labelled as terrorists but have now been vindicated by history.

It heard the activists' goal was to stop the supply chain of drones and weaponry to Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza.

It heard that attaching a terrorism connection to a case without it ever being heard by a jury was unconstitutional and posed a threat to the criminal justice system itself.

It heard that the "terrorism connection" has been disproportionately used against minority groups and those advocating for them while not being used for neo-Nazis and white supremacists, including the man who killed Jo Cox MP.

It heard that the law has been reinterpreted since the action took place, meaning the activists could have had no idea that what they did could have been caught up in terrorism laws at the time of the protest.

It heard that the prosecution submitted key evidence just eight days before the hearing, giving the defence no time to review it or even discuss it with their clients.

Despite all of this, Judge Jeremy Johnson, who has already tried to refer the defence's lead barrister for contempt of court and been forced to apologise for it, sentenced the defendants as terrorists.

The judgment was handed down within minutes, indicating Judge Johnson had already made his mind up before the hearing had begun.

Being in court yesterday felt akin to witnessing a colonial crime: punishing activists with terrorism offences in order to set a precedent that taking direct action to stop a UK-backed genocide will not be tolerated.

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

Healey wanted to increase defence spending by £28bn/year from
£61bn to approx £89bn. That's an increase of 40%!

It was an ABSURD ask - UK would be the fourth largest military spender in the world after US, China and Russia.

Vast amounts of that would be siphoned off by rapacious, price-gouging contractors in the most corrupt industry in the world. And none of it would help - in fact, it would mostly worsen - the biggest threat to global security, which is climate change.

The right wing press will try and present Healey's ask as eminently reasonable, but it was a ludicrous cash grab at the same time that were cutting overseas aid, climate change mitigation and welfare spending.

[‏ً @omgsidewalks]

Ngl Capitalism has always been the elephant in the room when it comes to mental illness. Living paycheck to paycheck causes anxiety. Not being able to see a doctor is stressful. Choosing between paying rent or having heat/electricity feels hopeless. Working multiple jobs and never being able to see our loved ones is depressing. Laboring for a wage is alienating. Marketing ourselves to capitalists for jobs that determine our worth as human beings is insulting. Capitalist life is a meaningless grind for most of us. It's no wonder we're all sick.

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

UK benefits are so high...

That they are the lowest in the Developed World.

[Books Behind Borders @MHTruthUltra]

Call me a raging antisemite but I just don't think the only country to ever use nuclear weapons and the only country lying about having nuclear weapons should be the ones deciding who gets nuclear weapons

[Disability Rights @TalkThatTalk_K]

Pat McFadden thinks people getting time off when sick or disabled is a problem.

I think Pat McFadden and his ilk are the problem.
Guess how much we paid for him to have a residence closer to work? £40k

Now guess how far from his original home it was?
Right next fucking door…

But he thinks fit notes are the problem…
Sure, Pat. You grifting asshole 🙄

[Double Down News @DoubleDownNews]

Israeli soldiers caught on vid raping Palestinian

Victim suffered ruptured intestine, severe injury to anus, lungs & broken ribs

Israelis rioted for right to rape, ministers defended rapist, 1 rapist became celebrity

All charges dropped

This isn't just Ben Gvir this is Israel

[David__Osland @David__Osland]

Never forget that Grenfell Tower was only fitted with cladding in the first place because a Tory council considered it to be an eyesore for the wealthier residents of Kensington & Chelsea

[𐌁𐌉Ᏽ 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌉 @OrevaZSN]

I don't think people fully understand how much 1 billion is. If your salary was $100k with no tax, it would take you 10 years to become a millionaire, but 10,000 years to reach a billion. It is unethical for one person to be hoarding this much wealth while others cannot eat.

[Saganism @Saganismm]

“There is not in Europe any such thing as a pure race. Russians have an admixture of Tartar blood, Germans are largely Slavonic, France is a mixture of Celts, Germans, and people of Mediterranean race, Italy the same with the addition of the descendants of slaves from every corner of the Empire imported by the Romans. The English are perhaps the most mixed of all. There is no evidence that there is any advantage in belonging to a pure race. The purest races now in existence are the Pygmies, the Hottentots, and the Australian aborigines; the Tasmanians, thanks to the British, who were probably even purer are now extinct. There is a special absurdity in applying racial theories to the various populations of Europe.”

— Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays, Ch. VII: An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish: A Hilarious Catalogue of Organized and Individual Stupidity

[Mukhtar @I_amMukhtar]

They got rattled by a van with a big screen saying, “Immigration Makes Britain Brilliant,” featuring the faces of people like Mo Farah and Dua Lipa.

[Muhammad Shehada @muhammadshehad2]

🚨This short film exposes the true story of Israel's creation, entirely through the words of its own founders

For decades, Israel’s lies have been carefully designed to demonize its victims. To ensure that no matter the crimes it commits, the children it slaughters, the world remains incapable of empathy for Palestinians, or at best, treats it with the same apathy that has allowed this to go on for as long as it has

On the 78th anniversary of its creation, it's time the world knew that Israel's past is not different from the brutal present the world is finally seeing

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

🧵on 'NYT rift'
1/22
A NYT article on sexual abuse against Palestinians -accurate but barely scratching the surface- is triggering hysteria in the Israeli govt not bcs of the facts, but bcs of the audience.
Apartheid Israel fears NYT readers will finally see and no longer ignore.