Steve Parks
@steveparks
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Writer & speaker. Tweet about agencies, freerange work, journalism/politics, and fiction. Also at:
UK / France
Joined March 2007
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If you want to find other places to read my wittering and witter back, I keep up to date with where to find me
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£20 for a boiled egg, one piece of toast and a mug of tea?
The story of a modern London cafe...
(Read to end of thread before commenting!)
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Turkish people have a lovely phrase they casually sprinkle into conversation, after thankyous or goodbyes.
‘Sag ol’ (pronounced Sau’all) means ‘live long and prosper’ like in Star Trek.
I think it’s a very appropriate wish for our times.
Sag ol, everyone
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Our small block of flats in London had another visit from local Conservative candidates. Most people are out, but those here explained why they wouldn’t vote Tory. The candidates then recorded a video in our front garden explaining how they’d heard first hand from residents…
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P.P.S. If you want to go this wonderful little cafe, or send them love or donations, they are
@EggsBread1
, you can donate on their webpage:
and find them here:
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…about the ‘problems with Labour’, how the Labour council wasn’t solving the problems with the NHS (??!!), and concerns about Keir Starmer! They heard nothing of the sort here.
The culture of lies has permeated the conservative party now, at all levels
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Frankly, if people working at the Telegraph are not utterly embarrassed by this edition, they don’t deserve to call themselves journalists
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If you want to pay, there’s a small donation box next to where you drop off your dirty plates. But nobody sees, and nobody will notice if you can’t put anything in.
The idea is that if you can afford to put something in, maybe contribute for some other breakfasts too.
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Political analysis of the day: Sometimes it takes two flushes
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There are brilliant charities and volunteers that provide food handouts, soup kitchens, food banks and so on.
And this cafe is actually a new (to me at least) approach to that.
It is open to *everyone*, and is “Free - pay what you like, if you like”
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P.S. To clarify, you donate what you like for the breakfast. That can be nothing if you’re hard up. It can be a few quid if you’re able. Or if you realise that you’re pretty lucky in life (as I do) you can decide to donate any amount, subsidising others’ breakfast. No pressure
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And I love the idea. A whole community mixed up together, regardless of background or status, all able to chat and eat a good breakfast, regardless of means. Superb.
As they say on their sign: everybody deserves a good start to the day.
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The Daily Mail attempted a hit job today on the lovely people who volunteer as organisers of
@UKGovCamp
— but f’ed it up. The comments weren’t by a civil servant, they were by me — and they misquoted me to achieve their spin. Here’s an insight into Daily Mail ‘journalism’...
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The End
You can now safely comment without jumping to conclusions 😉
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After a media bidding war, Channel 4 announces the Great British Take Off, in which Jerry from Big Jet TV judges celebrities handling A380s in stormy weather
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So - although it’s depressing that poverty is such a problem in the UK, and our politicians would rather start fights, playing out their misguided ideologies, than look after our fellow citizens - do take heart from the fact that there are lovely people with ideas like this🥚☕️👏
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Interestingly, their leaflets go very big on promising to oppose new housing developments that the Labour council are allowing.
Perhaps they need to have a chat with ministers from, erm, the Conservative party, who keep complaining about local councillors blocking developments
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In voting, don’t seek perfection. Voting isn’t marriage, you’re not looking for ‘the one’.
Reject those furthest from your values. Vote for someone who is nearer whilst still being able to be elected.
Democracy in UK is now at a basic level: Let’s stand against extremism and lies
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But the reality is, the Conservative Party is no longer a conservative party. It’s been captured by extremists, like Republicans in the US.
They are the cause, or amplifying factor, for our current problems. They don’t represent the people.
Therefore their only option is to lie
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They then say that the new apartments will be too expensive.
It’s a good point.
So perhaps they’d have a word with, erm, Conservative ministers, who reduced requirements to provide social housing and introduced stamp duty holidays etc to keep prices artificially high?
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One day’s news in the new UK economy:
1. Toys R Us UK goes bust
2. Maplin goes bust
3. Foxton shares down as London property market falls
4. ITV profits down as UK ad market falls
5. British Gas cutting 4,000 jobs
Strong And Stable
Taking Back Control
Getting On With The Job
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The cafe is a just normal cafe, bright and welcoming on the main street people walk down to the station. Nothing to make anyone feel they are ‘other’ if they have breakfast here. In fact, it’s cool!
It’s a place to socialise, as well as eat. The founder is incredibly friendly.
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But most of all, let’s not give up on the precious democracy that others in the world are having to fight for with their lives right now.
So, however you will vote, what matters most is simply that you vote.
Thanks for reading. Vote.
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If you’ve traditionally voted Conservative, I really feel for you. You’re left with a hard choice. The only route to claim your party back is to send it a strong message that you reject the drift to extremism & lies. Vote tactically. Boris will be felled by bad results on Thurs
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Or - are they saying that, as Conservative candidates, they are against the free market, and believe local authorities should have the power to intervene to set caps on house prices?
They can’t be simultaneously against increasing housing stock, and against prices going higher
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But then there’s the shocking fact that 28% of people, in a thriving major capital city, are living in poverty, according to official definitions and statistics
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What I find bizarre is: why lie and mislead?
It should be perfectly possible for a truly conservative party to put together a compelling manifesto for our current times, and campaign honestly. People are worried about trade, economy, conflict, etc…
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“£20 for a boiled egg and soldiers?!?!” I hear you say, “what kind of hipster millennial middle-class privileged London tosh is this?”
Well... here’s the thing... like the rest of the UK, but perhaps amplified, London has a really massive problem with inequality...
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Children are most likely to be affected by poverty. 37% of children in London are living below the poverty line. This affects them in many ways, but lack of food and unhealthy food is a key problem.
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And poverty is not just about unemployment - it affects people in part-time and full-time employment, because of disparity between stagnant earnings and rising living costs. One in six people are in low-paid jobs.
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(The charity
@magic_breakfast
, run by the amazing
@MagicCarmel
, has been doing fantastic work in providing healthy energising breakfasts to schoolchildren for years now.)
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But then you get to the boiled eggs, and it’s self service!
They have an egg boiling station. You pop your egg in a little holder and then lower it into the boiler...
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This is bad. Very bad.
The UK is a long way down the road to a very bad place.
May history record and hold accountable every single person who voted with the government on this
We lost the vote in
@UKHouseofLords
on maintaining the independence of the Electoral Commission by 181 to 202. Next up compulsory voter ID
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Delicious. Love a boiled egg and soldiers.
Next up, take your plate and cutlery back, scrape the food waste into a special bin, and stack the dirty crockery ready to be washed. Pay £20. Have a chat, and then get back to your day...
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On one hand there is a finance sector where juniors can expect bonuses of five figures on top of generous salaries, and senior staff can expect bonuses of hundreds of thousands and into the millions.
In the middle there’s a whole load of people living fairly comfortably...
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So this is the cafe. Just near Wood Street overground station. It’s nothing flashy...
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...meanwhile you take a slice of bread and toast it (self service again), then you grab a mug of tea and find a seat. Time to tuck in...
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The menu is basic too. The sign outside boasts that it is ‘the smallest menu in wood street’ !
It only does boiled eggs (not eggs in any other way), toast, jam, porridge. Mix those in any way you like. It also does tea or coffee.
It doesn’t do takeaway, you have to eat in...
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Shows the power of sanctions.
Russia at bottom of growth table — with sanctions imposed on it by much of the world restricting its ability to trade.
UK second from bottom — with sanctions imposed on it by, erm, the UK government restricting its ability to trade.
Breaking news: Economic growth in the UK will grind to a halt next year with only Russia, hobbled by western sanctions, performing worse among the G20 leading economies, the OECD forecast on Wednesday
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... you can grab one of the timers to get your egg just right...
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Journalists — if you’re writing or speaking about Liz Truss’s book, it’s worth mentioning that its publisher, Biteback, is owned by major Tory donor and right-wing campaigner Lord Ashcroft. It’s a vanity right-wing propaganda outlet, not a proper publisher.
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Homelessness has spiked massively in the UK, and particularly in London
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But the problems of poverty in the UK have been rapidly growing in recent years, as highlighted by the recent UN report...
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The mantra I always drill into people is: When you see a news outlet covering a story you know something about, step back and look at how it does it. How accurate is it? How much spin does it apply? Now take that knowledge to analyse how it might cover stories outside your domain
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I really feel I shouldn’t, on having my passport checked by a Border Force agent on entry to UK, get to know how the border agent voted in the Brexit referendum, or how angry they are that remainers like me “want to have our cake and eat it” by maintaining connections with Europe
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Quick PSA as a former journo:
Today you'll see different approach to reporting from Borough market because suspect will face trial...
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So anyway, I’m happy to ‘correct' that the article was published in the Mail On Sunday, AND on the Daily Mail website 🙄😂
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It’s a concept called ‘free speech’, which the Daily Mail might find interesting. I recommend they look it up.
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But we can all take something away from this to think about: If this is the quality of some of the major news media in the UK, how do we equip citizens with the toolkit to help them analyse their news intake and sift for the reality so they are better informed?
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…and here’s the thing. Those notes are *openly published*. They have been available on the internet to anyone for 8 months. But in today’s piece the Mail hack bigs it up as “in typed conference discussion notes, uncovered by the MoS.” I guess it sounds better than ‘Googled it'
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That’s the point I made which the Mail has spun as “Left wing [civil service] staffers moaned about […] the ‘uneducated’ British public”.
I think you’ll agree, that’s quite the spin, and tremendously ironic to so innacurately and wilfully spin that in particular.
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This was a session I was in. I’m not a civil servant, I’m the CEO of a private sector company. There were other private sector people in the Zoom call too. But the Mail claims it was only “sneering civil servants and public sector workers”. Fact check fail 1.
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But we also see a pattern from certain parts of the news media. From Marcus Rashford to volunteers who give up their time to try to help improve civic society, they want you to know they might come for you. It’s a chilling effect, that stifles free speech and civic participation.
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Worth noting Robbie Gibb was previously BBC Head of Westminster, in charge of all the political output, and many current ‘stars’ there owe him their jobs... (prior to that he was at a right wing think tank). An appointment many at BBC were quietly very unhappy about
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Fact check fail 2: there was no ‘sneering' at all, whether from the public or private sector. Just a lot of caring concerned citizens, looking for how we could positively contribute to UK society.
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… our education hasn’t equipped us for this. We weren’t taught to critically analsyse the news, and sift multiple sources to get nearer to reality. We also don’t have the time. But how could education better equip citizens for this environment?
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Whether it’s low-quality journalism/churnalism, misinformation, or disinformation, citizens increasingly face a whole range of partial, spun, and innacurate information in amongst their daily news diet…
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@3djamie
@EggsBread1
😀🙏 long story short, I’m a massive fan of theirs and wanted to get more attention for their good work, and inspire others to act in their local communities. Glad to see you were ready to back them up though. We all need to support the heroes in our communities 👍
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So, in closing. The comments highlighted were made by me as a private citizen who happens to be a CEO in the private sector, not a civil servant. The event was not a civil service event. The organisers simply allowed me free speech. This story was not a story.
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Which reinforces the point I tried to make at the conference. How is anyone who sees this story in the paper or on the Mail website going to have any of the info or analysis to be able to know this story is not correct?
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In an amusing update to this. Someone from Daily Mail has contacted me with a correction. They say article published in Mail on Sunday, not Daily Mail. Suddenly, they’re sticklers for detail. But check the URL of the article. Whatever the day of the week, the issues are the same.
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I have rarely seen such a caring, constructive, and open-minded group of people as can be seen at the GovCamps. These people wouldn’t think of sneering at anyone. They’re more likely to take the blame on themselves for anything that’s not right, then take responsibility to fix
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Today,
@carolecadwalla
reports whistleblower
@shahmiruk
has been completely vindicated by the so-called ‘Taxpayers Alliance’ (founded by same guy who ran Vote Leave) admitting all liability after they sacked and smeared him for revealing illegal activity by Leave campaigns...
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@CMO_England
Do you think earlier social distancing and community testing in line with WHO guidelines might now have been a good idea after all?
Get well soon
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…and “Impartial [public] service service is very important.”
And “I think its less about left wing and right wing and more about how the system isn't working [for] most people”
Seems pretty balanced and rational to me
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Which brings me to my comments in the session which have been picked from by the Mail hack, and presented as if they’re the words of civil servants. I made the point, as a former journalist, that we have a problem with the news media (ironic, huh?)...
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Fact Check fail 3: The Mail Hack refers to everyone there as ‘left wing staffers’. We’ve already failed them on the ‘staffers’ bit, but they present no evidence for the claim that everyone was left wing. Indeed, if we look at the publicly available notes they ‘uncovered’...
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Well done PM & press. There’s an Airbnb in our block. Has been empty last few weeks. After Thursday’s headlines it got booked again, and they arrived yesterday. A group of 6 arrived at different times, then spent all night partying. They seem to think it’s all over
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So… what does the Mail think should have happened here? I’m a private sector CEO. Should the Civil Servants in the room have censored my free speech? Is that what the Mail is calling for? Should they have ‘cancelled’ me?
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@UKGovCamp
Background: UKGovCamp is a conference for anyone (really, anyone) who wants to work on improving public services and civil society. It’s usually on a Saturday, so people give up their own time. Attendees include dedicated public servants from civil services, local authorities...
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@IanDunt
@athenakugblenu
Yes! And they never specify the cup size either. A DD would produce a very different outcome to a B.
Top tip though, don’t use the lacy ones. Flour everywhere
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…they include comments such as “[society has] completely lost our sense of balance - either left wing or right wing... Research shows that polarisation has increased... Social media - drives people to fringe views to maintain influence and following.”...
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Once again the
@frontlineclub
is packed with journalists,
@Byline_Media
folk, and TV cameras for the latest revelations in the Cambridge Analytica / Trump / Brexit saga from two whistleblowers.
Follow this thread for live-tweeting coverage, and forgive my typos...
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@campbellclaret
@bbclaurak
I run a small business with 6 staff. We activated our pandemic plan on 22nd January, writing to clients and staff about the risks we anticipated, including lockdown. Advised staff then to build up 2 weeks of emergency stocks as there’d be panic buying.
No excuse for ministers
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The most recent GovCamp was in January — yes, 8 months ago, that’s how on top of the story the Daily Mail is. On the day of the conference, the discussions are open and anyone attending can contribute their thoughts. Rough notes are kept...
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@mrjamesob
All the best political interviewers right now seem to be women. Mishal Husain, Sophy Ridge, Beth Rigby, Victoria Derbyshire, Emily Maitlis.
The men just try to get a brand for being aggressive, but end up revealing less than the non-egotistical forensic questioning of these 5
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...When suspect is alive there are strong restrictions on reporting so as not to impact trial. When suspect is dead can say anything...
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Instead, the Mail simply doubled down on the spin - “ah just chuck in a load of ‘woke’ and ‘left-wing’ and imagine they were ‘sneering’ when they talked about the public and we’ll run it anyway"
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…health, blue light services, volunteer organisations and more. Plus, what the Daily Mail brushed over - there are lots of people there who work in the private sector. There’s a day of discussions, but no set agenda. The organisers have NO control over what is discussed...
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@esmewren
@carolecadwalla
@maitlis
@katierazz
Hello Esme, is the BBC going to retract the statement censuring
@maitlis
and apologise? Who authorised that statement? Rob Burley? Someone more senior? Do you agree with them or stand by her?
I think some transparency would be key here, as this looks really bad
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A few questions about what set him off. I used rights under the withdrawal agreement last year to apply for a French residency permit, to maintain EU rights for the future - so have status and paperwork that allows me in and out of France in lockdown. This was unpatriotic to him
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Rather than pull out these detailed quotes from the openly published notes that it ‘uncovered’, which would show considered balanced discussion, the Mail seeks to only pull out individual words and misrepresent them...
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…instead, the session topics are created by attendees on the day. Each topic is allocated a room (or zoom room) and if others want to join that discussion they go there. There are lots of different discussions happening at once...
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On what little they turn out to have had in a flimsy story, combined with this statement, any good journalist would realise there was nothing in this and spiked it. “Oh, so it’s not actually a civil service event?” Bin
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Of course, I’m someone who is usually in a privileged position - so this is a very small insight into the experiences of others who are more regularly at the wrong end of people in authority misusing that power. I’m sure that’s getting even worse too.
What is Britain becoming?
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It’s a week later and I’m still shaken by the abuse of authority in his display of vitriol from his little booth, trying to provoke me into an argument in a situation when he has power over me. I had to just mumble and nod and bite my tongue.
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The Mail contacted the organisers of the event yesterday, to get a statement, without providing the details of the story. The organisers sent a statement:
Dear UKGovcamp Community
We have been approached by the Mail on Sunday who are running a story about UKGovcamp 2021 & targeting a UKGovcamp Organiser.
We have been invited to return a statement to the Mail on Sunday and this is what we have sent.
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@JamesTCobbler
The Timpson brand is so trusted, it feels like a waste not to use it here. Without it, and with that design, it feels a bit like those random mobile phone repair shops that I daren't hand my phone to.
Couldn't it be "Timpson's WatchLab"?
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When BBC political editors and reporters talk about ‘sources at number ten are saying’, they are referring to their former boss who knows exactly what to feed them and how. It’s a very clear open channel between gov and BBC, and is very problematic for BBC impartiality
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Still waiting for Andrew Neil as chairman of the Spectator (in an unprecedented conflict of interest with his BBC position) to also disown this racism. However, Liddle has done this before and Neil keeps paying and publishing him, so it appears to be an implicit endorsement
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... and as he finally handed back my passport and told me that ‘this time’ he’d let me in, he finished with a threat - saying “I’ve made a note on your file and you should prepare to defend yourself in court”
Of course, an empty threat, but made in a uniform.
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@mrjamesob
Are they saying she is intelligent, strong, independent, ethically-minded and beautiful?
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@BethRigby
What?! That is absolute propaganda. Last week in evidence to Parliament the CMO was talking about social distancing, and moving to delay phase immediately. No 10 immediately squashed that. Seems he advised but has been overruled. Former health secretaries and other experts aghast
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...So media reports can't apportion blame and shld refer to 'collision' of a van with pedestrians. It's for the court to apportion blame...
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... so you'll see different approach to reporting for valid reasons, not necessarily to do with the ethnicity/religion of suspect/victims...
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From the register of interests while he was London mayor, it does seem Boris Johnson likes a trip to a certain part of Italy in the early Autumn. If only there were some clue about who he visits each time he goes there?...
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