James McAsh
@mcash
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Southwark Labour Cllr and Cabinet Member for Clean Air, Streets and Waste Primary school teacher & Lambeth NEU. Personal capacity. Socialist. 🪿🟩
London
Joined April 2008
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I am a teacher and this is my publicly stated desire to overthrow capitalism.
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🚨URGENT - Immigration raid in Evan Cooks Close, Peckham, Se15. Near Queens Road station 🚨
Currently being blocked by a big crowd.
Get down ASAP. Please RT or pass on the message.
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This happened last year. It’s rare for these things to be caught on film, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Police brutality is not an American issue, we need change here too.
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And he's out! The community triumphs!
"The people, united, will never be defeated"
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Some have replied here saying "Why didn't he move the car?" "Why didn't he let them arrest him?" You're right - this would have avoided the violence. But what you're saying here is that Black people who have committed no crimes should let the police harass them or face violence.
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Which elite private schools are planning to reopen?
❌Eton
❌Harrow
❌Winchester
❌Rugby
❌Westminster
✅State schools
If the govt thinks it’s safe to reopen, why aren’t their old schools doing it?
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Some have dismissed this as old news. I disagree: it's less than a year old and the case is still open. Right now there is more focus on police brutality than ever before - it must lead to dramatic reform. That won't happen if people think the problem isn't here in the UK. It is.
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Under government plans, vandalising a war monument will carry a longer jail sentence than:
- Racially aggravated GBH
- Attempted intercourse with a girl under 13
- Abduction
The policy is bonkers. It's a dog whistle to their far-right supporters.
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This is not just 'restraint'. Here's two examples:
At 1:40 Bentahar starts screaming "my hand". It later turned out his finger had been broke.
At 1:48 the office starts punching him, using handcuffs as knuckle-dusters.
That's not restraint.
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His name is Youness Bentahar. His case was put to the independent police complaints body. I can’t find their response, so I suspect we don’t have it yet.
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At my school's union meeting today, we agreed to disregard the June 1st deadline.
We'll prepare to reopen but only do it when it’s safe - when the
#FiveTests
are met.
The vote was unanimous.
🙋🏽♂️🙋🏽♀️ 🙋🏼 🙋🏻♂️ 🙋🏼♀️🙋🏼♂️ 🙋🏻♀️ 🙋🏻
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Mayor of Liverpool refuses to implement any more cuts.
Could this be the beginning of a serious fightback against local government cuts?
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We'll open when it's safe, and not a second before.
Proud to be one of these schools! ✊
The consensus is growing and growing!
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As part of this far-left "cult", I committed thousands of hours of unpaid work to the party, was selected as a Labour candidate in a marginal ward and took the seat off an opposition party.
These people need to show some respect for their members, volunteers and activists.
'This cult of the far-left had virtually taken over the party at all levels.'
Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson commends Sir Keir Starmer for his efforts in turning Labour around after Jeremy Corbyn.
@TomSwarbrick1
|
#SwarbrickOnSunday
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There is basically an inverse relationship between a job's pay and how important it is during the crisis.
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Southwark Council has written to every GP in the borough asking them to pledge to be a "safe surgery" for migrants.
This means ensuring that immigration status or language are not barriers to healthcare.
So far, 37 of 40 have signed up.
#PatientsNotPassports
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Doctors "have lost their lives in some cases, we need a similar commitment from the teaching profession" - Wilshaw, ex head of Ofsted
With lines like that, it's no wonder Ofsted is hated!
Thankfully we have people like
@MaryBoustedNEU
to put them right
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And if we're going to copy Denmark, let's copy this.
VP of Danish teacher union: “we were consulted so much that we felt quite safe about this. We said to our members that we think that we can actually trust the authorities and that it will be OK to go back.” (8/8)
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The only ‘unskilled’ work is being a landlord, shareholder or aristocrat, and their freedom of movement is never under attack.
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But capitalism is not the corollary to democracy. Quite the opposite. Under capitalism only a limited form of democracy is possible. Better than before - but not enough.
True democracy permeates the economy too. So that the world's resources can be used for the benefit of all.
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It's simple really. Denmark schools are opening because they made it safe to do so. The UK govt has not done the same.
We, teachers, want to go back. We miss the kids. We know that distance learning is not the same. But it needs to be safe first. (7/8)
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Jeremy Corbyn is no longer the leader of the Labour Party. Ongoing attacks on him are not about personal criticisms or any concerns about 'electability'.
These people attack him because they want to crush the left. They always did.
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A protestor is lying on the ground, covering their head with their arm.
A police officer tries to pull them to their feet. They fall to the ground again so the officer starts to beat them with a baton.
How is this acceptable?
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Police now saying he'll be released with unconditional bail.
Crowd chants back "Show, don't tell". Crowd's not leaving until we see it happen.
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The far right have found a 2015 article about a man imprisoned for horrific sex crimes. They claim he's the man who was detained in Peckham yesterday.
He's not. Different name, age and address. They just happen to both be Nigerian.
This government's policies promote racism.
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Context: govt saying resources from organisations with 'extreme views' should not be used in classrooms.
They define extreme views as including "a publicly stated desire to abolish or overthrow democracy, capitalism, or to end free and fair elections"
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The government has forced TfL to cut its free fares for children.
Many kid rely on free buses to get to school. Now it’ll cost hundreds of pounds a year.
Lots won’t be able to afford it. What happens then?
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Rightwing voices seemed very concerned about disadvantaged children when discussing schools reopening.
The same children will be hungry this summer, now that govt is scrapping school meal vouchers.
Where are those voices now?
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Teachers have won our biggest pay rise in 15 years just two months after organising mass resistance to the government’s reckless plans.
The government does not act out of kindness - it responds to strength.
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Young people aren’t following social distancing rules because they’ve just been put back in overcrowded classroom.
UK could see second spike in Covid-19 cases if young people don't follow social distancing rules, Health Secretary Matt Hancock says
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Police just started pushing people to the ground. Shouts of "you just punched a woman" directed at them
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We weren't even allowed in the staffroom during the school day.
Wouldn't have dreamt of taking alcohol in to socialise after working hours.
"I don't think at any time he thought he was breaking the law... he thought just like many teachers and nurses who after a very long shift would go back to the staff room and have a quiet drink"
Tory MP Michael Fabricant urges Boris Johnson to apologise
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My favourite part of this is where it tells the potential patient to make the 350-mile journey by foot or bike.
Just been sent this by constituent in East Dulwich who is being offered a Covid test in St Andrews. Cases are going up & testing couldn’t be more important in stopping further spread
@MattHancock
this is utterly unacceptable. When will local tests be available to my constituents?
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🚨No more than two households should meet inside🚨
*except in schools, offices, public transport, restaurants, anywhere you need to go to keep the economy running, and the profits coming in 💸💸💸
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The government wanted every primary school to open to full classes of Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 from Monday.
Out of 60 primary schools in Lambeth, ZERO are doing it.
I've never been more proud of
@LambethNEU
.
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The only candidates for Leader or Deputy not given a role in Keir Starmer’s Shadow Cabinet are the ones who didn’t sign the Board of Deputies pledge.
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Education is the only area where this government has been defeated. Led by trade unions like NEU, but involving so many others, we halted the government's reckless plans to reopen schools.
This undoubtedly saved lives.
Thanks
@RLong_Bailey
for supporting us.
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Hope I never hear anyone Labour Right complain that the left "prioritises ideological purity over winning elections".
I don't know anyone on the Labour Left who has ever tried to stop Labour winning. We now know that senior Labour right-wingers did.
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Most of the kids I teach don’t have a laptop or wifi. The govt should address that instead of issuing threats.
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Why is it an attack on freedom of speech when protestors prevent newspapers from going out for one day, but it’s not an attack on freedom of speech when billionaires can set the parameters of what can be published?
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Can’t count the number of times I’ve been told I’m too soft on the Labour Right. I always argued that while their analysis is wrong, the vast majority are decent people. Turns out that many senior figures in the party aren’t decent at all. Sad to be proven wrong.
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Yesterday was amazing. A few hours' direct action prevented a man from being deported.
There were moments when the police were getting violent and it was a little scary, but for the most part we were just sat/stood there, showing community support.
We won! We will win again!
🚨URGENT - Immigration raid in Evan Cooks Close, Peckham, Se15. Near Queens Road station 🚨
Currently being blocked by a big crowd.
Get down ASAP. Please RT or pass on the message.
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I am fascinated by the editorial line of Teen Vogue. If their market research is accurate then we're going to see interesting things from the current generation of teenage girls. Great interview with
@AyoCaesar
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@Andrew_Adonis
The government has set schools an impossible task: it will not be safe to open schools on 1st June. They are just trying to pass the buck, blaming unions if schools don't reopen and blaming schools if they reopen and it's unsafe.
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The govt has scrapped bonkers plans for all primary children to return to school before the summer.
Why? Because trade unions fought back, in alliance with parents.
Proud to be NEU. ✊
There is power in a union ✊
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Why would you open schools for youngest first? Excited 5 year olds will spread it much quicker than older children.
Ah yes, it’s not about safety. The govt just wants the parents back at work.
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The political establishment has locked the statue of Churchill in a steel box, hidden from sight. Just like they did with the history of British imperialism.
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Few London seats have changed hands but under the surface...
In 2019, there was just 1 constituency where Lab, Con or LDs were not both winner and runner-up.
In 2024, there are 29.
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I'm not at at all surprised that so many Londoners back Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.
They make our streets safer and more pleasant, and better for pedestrians and cyclists.
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30 years later and social housing has been decimated, home ownership is dropping, and rents are through the roof thanks to dodgy Buy-to-Let landlords - the main winners from Right to Buy.
Witty take downs of Benn’s aristocratic background don’t change that.
In the 1980s, Neil Kinnock and Tony Benn clashed over Labour’s response to Right to Buy
Benn: ‘These are not the tenants houses to buy. These are the communities houses'
Kinnock: ‘On the day when you start paying a mortgage or rent, you will have some authority on the subject’
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If you think the govt's plans for reopening parliament are crazy and dangerous, you should check out DfE guidance on reopening schools.
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@misteryeldarb
No it doesn’t. But I guess most people who see something like that will assume the guy was posing a threat to someone. People generally trust the police to do the right thing, even if that trust is dramatically misplaced.
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As of tomorrow, you can only meet 6 people from different households at the same time, and only then in an open space.
Unless you're in a school - in which case you can have almost three times that number crammed into a classroom.
These plans are reckless.
#FollowtheScience
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42% of London council houses sold under Right to Buy are now privately rented, at an average of 4 times the rent.
Unaffordable housing for tenants and lost revenue for councils, which could have funded new homes.
What a disaster.
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There’s a world of difference between:
- censorship, where the state restricts the ideas we can express
and
- people-powered direct action to briefly limit a billionaire’s right to speak more loudly than almost anyone else on the planet.
Bravo
#ExtinctionRebellion
👏
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In the last 2 months, the NEU has recruited
- 20,000 new members 📈
- 2000 new reps📈
If the government won’t protect you, you defend yourself - you join a trade union.
We’re stronger united!
👩🏻🏫👩🏼🏫🧑🏻🏫👨🏾🏫👨🏿🏫🧑🏼🏫👨🏿🏫👨🏻🏫👨🏼🏫🧑🏽🏫🧑🏾🏫👩🏽🏫
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Southwark Council has committed £100k to building a renters union🏠
We'll support tenants to defend their rights against unscrupulous landlords. We’ll rebalance power from capital to labour ✊
My speech at council assembly 👇
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Or alternatively, if people vote for a Labour MP, and their MP is a Labour member, they should be allowed to have a Labour MP...
I don't believe a single member of the PLP will leave to join him even in the very unlikely event there's actually any truth behind this, but I firmly believe anyone defects from their party mid-term (whoever it's to) should call a by-election accordingly.
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The Labour Party has a very serious issue of factionalism perverting any sense of natural justice.
The Labour Left is held to impossible and often arbitrary standards, while those on the party's right wing are often held to none whatsoever
3 months ago, having been shortlisted by my ward, Lambeth LCF ruled me ineligible as a candidate due to historic tweets (some before I was LP member but all supporting CLP positions) against library closures, childrens centres cuts&estate demolition. Interested to see result here
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Ben Wiedel-Kaufmann and Philip Normal were subject to *the same* candidate-vetting process, by *the same* committee, in *the same* borough.
This process managed to find tweets about one opposing library closures, but did not find the racist tweets of the other.
How can this be?
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Today I taught my pupils that sharing is good and that we should treat each other with kindness.
Another example of left wing bias in our schools!
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Oldest trick in the book. Under-fund or poorly manage a public service and then announce that the private sector can do it better. A key step towards privatisation.
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Probably a bit over the heads of the 9 year olds I teach but a great explainer for adults! 😂
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If you're a liberal then it will be abundantly clear to you, Britain has a free press. After all, everyone has the right to set up a paper and distribute it without state interference. For liberals, that's enough.
But a class analysis exposes this freedom as a sham.
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I can think of one major labour movement vote in the last decade where the result was a rightwards shift: Keir Starmer's election.
And he only won because he ran on a left-wing platform...
The real question is: why does the Labour right have so little popular support?
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I get that he wanted to emphasise that the school had followed the rules but there’s no need to undermine his staff like that.
When everyone follows the rules and things still go wrong, you either chalk it up a bad luck or you have a good look at the rules themselves.
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Great to see Keir Starmer backing the teaching unions on
- teacher assessment
- test track and trace
- govt failure to open schools safely
All in all, a blistering critique of the govt’s record on education.
My message to the Prime Minister: I don’t just want all children back at school next month, I expect them back at school.
No ifs, no buts, no equivocation.
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Early pub closures means pay cuts for precarious and underpaid bar workers.
The govt should top up their income
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I joined Labour a decade ago, spent 1000s of hours campaigning, took a Lib Dem council seat and turned it into a safe Labour ward, and am now in the Cabinet for a leading Labour Council.
But NEC member
@gsjosan
wants to "shut the door" on me 🤷♂️
What about fighting the Tories?
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Doctors: "we should not consider reopening schools". 👩⚕️
Teachers: "it is not yet safe to reopen schools" 👩🏫
Daily Mail: "it's time to open schools" 👹
Who do you trust most?
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On average we spend 221 hours a year on our daily commute.
That’s a whole month of unpaid work.
If we can work from home, why shouldn’t we?
me for
@novaramedia
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Apparently this isn't the cool leftwing thing to say: but I'm very sad that we're leaving the EU. I think it will inevitably make more closed off from the rest of the world. I think we'll suffer economically. And I think, as always, it will be the worst off who'll suffer the most
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In general, people accept rules when they're applied consistently.
Christian Wakeford described Labour as c**ts and openly supported the most appalling policies.
If he's welcomed into Labour, why not Jeremy Corbyn? Why not a member who once tweeted support for the Greens?
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These proposals would weaken our movement, narrow our debate and limit the diversity of our leadership.
I hope
#Lab21
vote them down.
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Something makes me think Mr Choudhury won’t end up the national hero that Captain Tom Moore did.
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An undemocratic farce. Maurice had support from trade unions and a big chunk of the membership.
Blocking him is a clear factional abuse of power but more than that it's an admittance of cowardice: they couldn't allow a fair contest because they knew he could win.
Last night, I was blocked from standing to be the next Labour MP for Camberwell & Peckham.
I'm gutted. The Party is saying it has no place for an anti-racist socialist like me in Parliament.
Thank you so much to all those who supported & worked on my campaign.
My statement:
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The CIA so effectively sabotaged the left that they taught every generation of leftist since to sabotage themselves
In 1944, the CIA wrote a field guide on how to sabotage something. It's now declassified, and some of the basic tips look like a description of how some businesses I know operate. Pretty crazy.
Moral of the story: think before enacting bureaucracy.
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Private schools hoard resources that could be better used elsewhere. Normally it's educational resources, this time it's medical.
Each state schools had ten tests to share amongst its students and staff. Eton tested everyone🤯
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He turned up late to the meeting and walked right past the registration desk.
When asked to sign in he instead announced to the room "I'm John McTernan and I'm here to fight trots" 😂
Update: the misogynist racist fat left won this round. A battle list, not the war.
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Who should we trust on plans to reopen schools?
We have to listen to the people who know the science.
Check out whole
#TyskySour
w/
@michaeljswalker
@AyoCaesar
@AaronBastani
here:
@novaramedia
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What's the point of the Green Party?
The Queen is the first British Monarch to celebrate a
#PlatinumJubilee
. To do any job for 70 years is an amazing achievement. To do it with such consistent dignity & selflessness is even more remarkable
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A very long picket at
#pimlicoacademy
. Solidarity with NEU members taking strike action over workload, autonomy and accountability!
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The reaction to Starmer's article today is an example of how so much is seen through Labour's internal factions.
If you compare it to what Corbyn or RLB would have written then yes, it falls short.
But ultimately it is a blistering critique of the govt, echoing union attacks.
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In four years, Goose Green has gone from a marginal ward which we only just took from the Lib Dems, to getting among the biggest Labour votes in Southwark.
Thanks for putting your faith in us! 🌹
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Matt Forde accuses Shami Chakrabarti of immaturity, for wanting poorer countries to have access to the vaccine...
...and then proceeds to crack weak jokes about the Easter bunny.
"Without AstraZenneca, I wouldn't have had two jabs… thank God for pharmaceutical companies", says comedian Matt Forde
Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti would rather listen to Biden and the Pope over vaccines "not just side with big pharma"
#politicslive
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No PPE, no social distancing, the government’s plan to reopen school doesn’t add up.
Teachers want to reopen schools. We miss the kids. But we won’t do it until it’s safe.
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The two industries Johnson named for reopening are manufacturing and construction. Two industries which make huge amounts of money for big business, and where the workers risking their lives on the ground are overwhelmingly working class. What a coincidence.
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Most papers don’t have industrial correspondents any more. If they did then maybe they’d understand the simple fact that ‘education workers’ and ‘education unions’ are, in fact, the same people.
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Today the Daily Mail dedicated an article to attacking the General Secretary of my trade union.
This paper routinely whips up hatred against migrants, travellers, and anyone who fights for progressive causes.
Solidarity
@MaryBoustedNEU
- wear their hatred as a badge of pride!
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The night before the new school year is always an odd one. Newly qualified, or a seasoned teacher, you never really know what to expect. This year, that's truer than ever.
To everyone going back tomorrow - learners and educators - good luck and solidarity!✊
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