Broadcaster. Times Radio Weekend Drive (4-7pm). The Power Test. Columnist. Author. Speaker. Stand up. Ex Labour adviser. Baroness Hazarika of Coatbridge.
We are on the brink of getting our first British Asian Prime Minister. Spare a thought for us with Indian mums who are about to get absolutely rinsed about our lack of success.
Boris Johnson seems to be baffled, confused and genuinely hurt that the leader of the opposition would have the temerity to scrutinise or ask questions when more than 50k people have died. I mean the nerve of anyone who dare question him.
#PMQs
I really hope
@alexberesfordTV
gets support from team
@GMB
. He was incredibly brave & spoke for so many with dignity, grace but true grit. I genuinely hope he gets a promotion. That was a big David v Goliath moment & he spoke his truth. Can’t have been easy.
Ash. I spent almost a decade as a Labour adviser. I helped draft the Equality Act. The last piece of legislation the last Labour govt passed. You’re literally a communist. Walks like a supermodel. Fucks like someone who just helped gift the Tories a landslide victory.
I wonder if Ayesha felt the same way after Ed Miliband, who she advised, got 3% less of the vote share in 2015.
Judging by her media ubiquity I’d guess not!
Many of us this week are reflecting on how misogyny has infected society & why violence against women is at such a frightening level. Wonder where these fantasies of hating & wanting to physically punish women come from?
If your tweeting your sadness about Caroline Flack, also think about your own behaviour. When you tweet abuse & hate at people, most who you don’t even know, because it’s a laugh, or it makes your feel good for a second - just take a moment to think where that may lead.
Shame on Corbyn but also his vile cheerleaders who have peddled an indulgent ideological fantasy. & it wasn’t just Brexit. It was Corbyn. Oh, & if you bully people & tell them to fuck off & join the Tories, guess what. This project has failed so many people who can’t afford it
I am a Muslim dismayed & frightened by the Islamophobia is the Tory party championed by its leader. I am also absolutely heartbroken & appalled that anti-semitism has infected the Labour Party. You can hold both these views. It’s not the racism Olympics. We should stand together
PMQs is now an intelligent, well briefed QC versus a total bluffer. Johnson is naked (sorry) without the theatre of his backbenchers & all the noise. Tories will be desperate for a packed chamber again.
Andy Burnham is very much man of the moment. He’ll be remembered for standing up not just for Greater Manchester but for local government & regions across the country.
I feel so very sad watching this. This is the stuff we people of colour & immigrants fear people think. But we get told we’re imagining it, there’s no racism esp w Brexit... the tragedy is that so many will agree with her. And we wonder why far right hate is on the rise?
“We should completely close the borders … enough is enough”
This audience member says the number of people ’flooding in’ to the UK is costing public services too much.
#bbcqt
Thanks for tweets & messages about my brother who’s a consultant up in Glasgow who’s tested positive for CV19 & is pretty ill right now. Really drives it home what an incredible job he & his co-workers do. We’re all so worried about him but he just wants to get back to work ASAP.
And how do you think the current parliament was “stocked” genius? Oh yeah... the public voted them in. It’s called democracy. Theresa May called an election to strengthen her hand on Brexit and lost her majority. Also didn’t your viewers vote to boot you off in a recent poll?...
Parliament, stocked with 70% Remain-voting MPs, continues to do everything in its power to defy the will of the British people & stop Brexit happening.
What an absolute disgrace.
We had to tell families only one person could visit their loved one in ICU, and only once we knew they were dying, and only for an hour
Meanwhile, they drank, danced and laughed
BREAKING BBC:
"The BBC is to deliver the biggest education offer in its history across more of its platforms."
From Monday January 11th, CBBC channel will feature three-hours of primary school shows to ensure that all kids can watch programming if they don't have the internet.
People are going to have to use people’s loos for all the garden based drinking that’s about to occur. We don’t all have the bladder control of the Cummings clan.
The reaction to Stormzy being misquoted shows we’re a long way off being tolerant on race. Also what a reveal. Wonder what it is about a wildly successful, proud, non-deferential, smart, young black man these little Englanders hate so much? Can’t seem to put my finger on it...
I’m a friend & admirer of Rosie Duffield. But it’s not good she breached lockdown rules. All our lives - incl our love lives - are on hold. But she did the right thing with Starmer’s office - fessed up, said sorry & resigned as a Whip, which is a plum job. Spot the difference?
Thanks so much for all your kind messages about my brother who was ill with CV19. The good news is he’s made a full recovery & will be back in the operating theatre tomorrow doing what he loves with his fab NHS colleagues at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley. V proud of him!
This is will be of enormous comfort to all the people would have given anything for 10 minutes to say goodbye to their dying relatives but stuck to the rules which the PM made.
So, when people in an office buy a cake in the middle of the afternoon for someone else they are working in the office with and stop for ten minutes to sing happy birthday and then go back to their desks, this is now called a party?
Here’s my luke warm take. Get more women in senior positions in politics. And as important, get more women in senior positions at newspapers with real power so we can move on from this embarrassing Benny Hill crap.
Yikes. So even Henry Bolton ex UKIP leader doesn’t like the NHS migrant surcharge. He just told a shocked
@piersmorgan
on
@GMB
. How can the government be even more anti-foreigner than the bloke who ran UKIP? That’s quite an achievement.
Jeremy Corbyn killed the Labour Party. Now we must fight to revive it. My piece on how it’s time to take back control. Enough is enough. And Corbynistas, please don’t bother with a pile on. Nobody cares anymore.
Gosh. What a lovely message to all the overseas doctors, nurses & staff who came here at the request of the state & suffered lots of racism to build & service the NHS. And what’s next on this nationalistic path? Only staff who are “properly” British? Hmmm
Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey takes a tumble from a paddleboard as he takes his campaign to Windermere in the Lake District
Follow live campaign news:
Theresa May & Jeremy Corbyn at their mutual worst at her penultimate
#PMQs
. You’re racist. No you’re racist. You hate Jews. You hate Muslims. No apology or sincerity from either. Weaponising prejudice for political point scoring. Neither party is tackling its own bigotry
Johnson is very vulnerable and his Uxbridge seat could be taken. It would be poetic justice but
@joswinson
has to accept that Lib Dems can't win the seat - open letter
Not only does today’s ruling show Corbyn & his team for who they really are, it also exposes beyond doubt his outriders who screamed “smears” & abused any one who dared criticise the dear leader. They all did such damage to Labour. A reminder that cults are a really bad thing.
BAME people getting baited on tv for raising issues of racial inequality has become normalised. Watch the ever articulate
@afuahirsch
get effectively told to piss off to another country by Nick Ferrari even though she’s British. No biggie.
In a former life, when I thought you cd politely persuade people not to be racist
Their response? "If you don't like it here, LEAVE". Which I'm yet to hear said to a white British person
Racism is telling black people who have a critique of their own country, they should leave
Really strong speech from
@RachelReevesMP
. An incredibly impressive politician. As a former Bank of England economist, she knows what she’s talking about & has a command of the brief. She will sound more experienced & reassuring to business than her opposite number right now.
Dear TV executives. Instead of panic erasing stuff which most of the public, & even the creators of the shows now find a bit cringe, HIRE & COMMISSION NEW DIVERSE TALENT. It’s not that hard...
Bloody hell. This is actually pretty horrible. She’s heavily pregnant, being gaslit and bullied, having suicidal thoughts, asks for help and they say no. They run a mental health charity.... grim
BBC Radio 4: ‘If the lockdown had come earlier, some of the 980 people who died yesterday would not have been infected, would they?’
@MattHancock
: ‘We took the right measures at the right time’
I hear a lot of largely male, white commentators saying they’ve seen no evidence of racism about Meghan or any signs she’s been treated any differently from any other new female royal. Please...
What about all the families where both parents got sick? What about single parents who got sick? What about people with disabilities & health problems who have been shielding & got sick but had to manage alone? What makes Dominic Cummings & his family so exceptional?
Props to the brave women who have taken Trump on & won. E Jean Carroll. Stormy Daniels. And all the women who have fought for their reproductive rights at the ballot box.
Reflecting on the whole Megxit racism media ding dong this week... every clip that has gone viral has had a white male presenter, with white sidekicks & one woman of colour on her own getting told that she’s imagining it, baited & humiliated. Feels like we’re really evolving...
Great 1st
#PMQs
outing from
@Keir_Starmer
. Focussed, forensic, intelligent questions. Also. He looked so comfortable, can clearly think on his feet & debate properly in an effective yet grown up, courteous manner. Vital that he landed some blows. What a change!! Raab waffled.
Sturgeon is real pro. Look her body language. She’s on the attack, while getting yelled at by a really tall aggressive bloke look yet she’s leaning nonchalantly on the lectern remaining cool.
BREAKING: Jacinda Ardern has won a second term in office after her rival conceded in New Zealand's general election.
She's thanked voters "who trusted us to continue with leading New Zealand's recovery".
More on this breaking story:
I do think it’s a shame that this historic optic could have been different if Meghan had been there. Would’ve be been a significant nod to a changing Britain. The royal family lost a big asset. Having some high profile people of colour at the ceremony isn’t the same thing.
The BBC got this so spectacularly wrong here. Great piece from
@marcusryder
about the absurd, weak & dangerous ruling on
@BBCNaga
. Loved how BBC let John Humphrey say want he wanted for years but when a brown woman calls out obvious racism she gets slapped down.
BBC Editorial Complaints Unit has found
@BBCNaga
breached BBC guidelines in talking about racism & Trump. The decision is wrong & cud have serious impact on audience trust in
@BBCNews
. New blog on what they got wrong & what the BBC shud do next "
Watching Farage spew his lazy, dangerous hatred of Muslims on Sky was so depressing yet predictable. As a British, scottish, Indian Muslim I was proud to swear my oath in the Lords to my king & country on the Quran. We need some decency back in our politics not this ugly division
Thank you for all your lovely messages. What an incredible, special day spent with family & friends. Especially my amazing parents who came here as Indian Muslim immigrants & worked so very hard. It is genuinely the honour of my life to join the House of Lords as a Labour peer.
Pretty impressed with
@Keir_Starmer
so far. He’s appointed a diverse talented, progressive cabinet with experience, competence & energy. The party seems pretty happy. He will have a majority on the NEC. He has an impressive mandate. And he did it all without Unite or Momentum.
There’s a small child dressed head to toe in a tiger costume on the tube & the whole carriage is beaming at him & each other. Dressing toddlers as animals is clearly the only way to heal this divided nation.
Just showing my friend the pictures of the thugs & they made an important point. It’s a tiny number of idiots wanting to scare us. That’s not this country. We don’t want a war. We’re all too knackered. Don’t pander to a small mob of angry men. We must keep stuff in perspective.
Solid, sober, serious outing from Starmer on
#marr
. Such a relief to be able to feel some reassurance watching a Labour leader, not a sense of embarrassment. Good to have a grown up. He looked very comfortable which is a good start but he has a such mountain to climb.
This was such a bad look from Matt Hancock. Hugely patronising to a woman who knows what she’s talking about & has been serving on the frontline. And on the day we have the worst death rate in Europe. A bit of humility wouldn’t go a miss.
I will respectfully challenge the Government - I want our country to succeed.
However, I will not 'watch my tone' when dozens of NHS and care staff are dying unnecessarily.
A clip of my Q to the Health Sec today.
WOW!! This amazing news. Well done
@SamiraAhmedUK
for having the guts to bring this case & win. Not an easy feat especially for a woman of colour in the public eye. And well done to all her amazing supporters.
I remember being at the count for
@Sadiqkhan
’s 1st election victory in 2016 & it was shocking to see the Britain First candidate turn his back on him. That was a fringe party. 8 years on & we now seen that hatred & racial division at the heart of mainstream politics. It must stop
I am genuinely gobsmacked by the crassness & cruelty of this pathetic lazy jibe while Esther Ghey was actually there. What a contrast in character between Brianna’s mother & the PM. I do sometimes try to give Sunak the benefit of the doubt but my God, this was a low.
Rishi Sunak makes fun of transgender people
The same week Brianna Ghey's mother is in the chamber
It's not just the Online Safety Act, it's the British Prime Minister who is not doing enough to protect every person in our country
#PMQs
Rishi Sunak has accepted a £1,000 bet from Piers Morgan that deportation flights to Rwanda will be up and running before the General Election.
The full interview is due to be shown on the Piers Morgan Uncensored YouTube channel at 2pm and TalkTV at 8pm on Monday (5 February).
“Until the Remain side understand that it’s not all about money they will misunderstand what has gone on in this country”
– columnist Dominic Lawson says the Brexit issue is about “a lot more than money”
#Newsnight
I’m rather proud to have been part of what was a bloody brilliant episode of
@TheNewsQuiz
which had the CHEEK to make fun of the ruling party. Can you imagine that?! Time to ban all comedy which isn’t nice about the government of 13 years. You can catch it on BBC Sounds!
#KayBurley
: Is the BBC biased?
Huw Merriman: I was listening to the news quiz on Radio 4... & for 10 minutes there was a diatribe against Conservatives
KB: You understand that a news quiz is comedy & nothing to do with actual news?
Today’s
#marr
is really ramming home how terrifying geo-politics are right now. China. Russia. America. We’ve been so inward looking with our own narrow political arguments, this is a pretty grim wake up call about the future. Our next chapter is not going to be easy.
Anti-Semitic cranks attacking
@jessphillips
& threatening to leave Labour if she wins is brilliant. Thank God decent people like her stayed to fight for the soul of the party. This is now a proper battle with good people putting themselves forward to break from the past.
Thanks for all the nice messages about
@bbcquestiontime
last night 🙏🏽 Some very distressing topics. Feels like British politics has sunk to a new low this week. But… was heartening to see that the audience know right from wrong, understand racism & are not buying the BS.
Tories are cheering a man talking about shooting a black woman. This is so depressing. Politics at its worst. Why didn’t Sunak take the opportunity to apologise to Diane Abbott on behalf of the Tory party?
I’ve been at the funeral of Jack Dromey & am now watching this absolute farce in parliament. This is a real low point in modern British political history. This spectacle from the PM genuinely shames our country & democracy.
Corbyn, Johnson & Truss - all failed leaders taking to airwaves with no self-awareness, a huge victim complex & to undermine the current leader who they all despise. They should do a podcast.
“History will judge us all” Erm no... history will judge the woman who could have built bridges but disappeared into a bunker with Nick Timothy, lost her majority, won’t compromise & has COMPLETELY arsed this up to appease the ERG.
Theresa May has written to her “colleagues” ie all Tory MPs begging them to put “sacrifice” their own personal preferences in the national interest:
“History will judge us all.”
The number of lefty men on my time line criticising Swinson about austerity. I get it. But are you always going to remain stuck in the past when it suits you? Lads, we still don’t have a proper manifesto position on Brexit which will make austerity look like a walk in the park.