[thread]

On the UK "will not hesitate" to tighten border

For the record

Months the UK "hesitated"

January 2020
February 2020
March 2020
April 2020
May 2020
June 2020
July 2020
August 2020
September 2020
October 2020
November 2020
December 2020
January 2021
February 2021
Priti Patel

Is eager to divulge internal debate held in cabinet to bolster her reputation & get a boost for Tory leadership post Boris

“On ‘should we have closed our borders earlier?’ the answer is yes, I was an advocate [of] closing them last March.”

https://t.co/A9hjkH5Wc4
So this is going to be a really simple thread

I have a larger thread on Priti Patel

Which we will come to at the last

But I want to focus on

“On ‘should we have closed our borders earlier?’ the answer is yes, I was an advocate [of] closing them last March.”
So I would ask of Priti

What evidence did you have that informed your advocacy?

Did you have (to borrow a phrase) an "absolute burden of proof"?

Was it just a hunch or belief?

Were you trying to "do-good" so to speak?

https://t.co/poqt44gLOU
Now if I was Home Secretary

In March 2020

As a pandemic was raging out of control and resulting in a panicked delayed and late lock down

I would be marshalling and arguing

All my skills

All the evidence or views I held

To persuade my colleagues of my case
And behind that would come the fact

That I am the British Home Secretary

One of the senior offices of state in Her Majesty's Government

And the weight of that office behind marshalled behind that argument
If I had clearly failed to persuade your cabinet colleagues

In a room full of people who wanted to "take back control" of our borders

IF I had managed to fluff up persuading them that in the midst of a public health emergency they had allowed to "ramp up" out of control
I did not manage to persuade

I would take a lesson from that

On the evidence I brought

On the hunch I brought

And on how I marshalled my arguments and persuade people
And if I failed in March 2020

I would be eternally vigilant

As the UK death toll went from ..... well you know the numbers there through Spring of 2020

To where we are now
I would be keeping an eye on other countries that did similar travel restrictions

And how they fared with those

Of course - its no simple direct analogy - every country has a panoply of measures they choose to follow in containing coronavirus
To borrow a phrase

I would take notes

Boris Johnson 17/4/2020

"I’ve been comparing notes & talking to leaders around the 🌍, & I can tell you that 🇬🇧 is leading a growing global campaign amongst friends & allies"
And over the course of the virus progression

I would be revisiting that decision back in March 2020

And reminding my cabinet colleagues of the growing strength of concern and basis for travel restrictions
I would be refining and preparing the plans and detail of how to implement travel restrictions

So that should that day come when I do win the argument

The Home Office is ready to go

It has a plan

It is oven ready (again to borrow a phrase)
Here we are in February 2021

https://t.co/j17jVgNRup
See also

https://t.co/EcMiSse8zn
See also

https://t.co/kLr2ubDbZm
See also

https://t.co/sayEF9YD2d
Now I remember the days where Conservative's used to get annoyed at a Home Secretary for getting a number wrong

https://t.co/ncVb1JKNQx
See also:

https://t.co/F0T5sMLj84
On police funding - here's also a thread on the priorities of the "People's Government"

Yes the one who cut police funding for a decade

Denied the consequences

Blocked their local police federation

And now want your gratitude

https://t.co/lXPhNLn3zv
They also weaponise other topics

A reminder: they told the police to shut up and stop crying wolf

https://t.co/Vro5bFrQNw
Anyway sorry back to Priti

it is the headline

gets it "wrong for second time in three days"

https://t.co/Z6Hq9RKO9k
So to end with two threads

One on Priti Patel

https://t.co/P0ZGYvj9vj
And two more general questions

Priti Patel said Boris Johnson was "ahead of the curve"

Ask her to explain

1. What absolute burden of proof does she have for that claim?
2. What would the UK had looked like if we were "behind the curve"?

https://t.co/7Hew6TrEgL
@threadreaderapp unroll please

More from ScottishPanda

[thread] on the utter state of this


So really simple questions

And there are so so many

Why are concerns over race, gender and sexuality put into air quotes e.g. "fashionable"?

Is "fashionable" meant as a derogatory?

Who are you selling this shite to when you write it this way?

When did the government become "too focused" on race, gender and sexuality issues?

Define "too focused" ?

Will now "pivot" - what you mean from today 17th December 2020?

Why could you not focus on "poverty and levelling up" at the same time as equality issues since some of these issues go hand in in hand after all?

Who and what are you "levelling up" from?
[THREAD]

Beware the "baying mob"

Beware the "revisionist purge"

There must always be a culture war

There is a statue that needs protection from a "baying mob"

As they piss/spaff on her every time they walk past https://t.co/RiIkJVdOtp


Thatcher

“Britain does not renounce Treaties.

Indeed, to do so would damage our own integrity as well as international relations.“

Anyone remember "in a very specific and limited way"
Or lying to Queen to unlawfully prorogue

More from Society

This is a piece I've been thinking about for a long time. One of the most dominant policy ideas in Washington is that policy should, always and everywhere, move parents into paid labor. But what if that's wrong?

My reporting here convinced me that there's no large effect in either direction on labor force participation from child allowances. Canada has a bigger one than either Romney or Biden are considering, and more labor force participation among women.

But what if that wasn't true?

Forcing parents into low-wage, often exploitative, jobs by threatening them and their children with poverty may be counted as a success by some policymakers, but it’s a sign of a society that doesn’t value the most essential forms of labor.

The problem is in the very language we use. If I left my job as a New York Times columnist to care for my 2-year-old son, I’d be described as leaving the labor force. But as much as I adore him, there is no doubt I’d be working harder. I wouldn't have stopped working!

I tried to render conservative objections here fairly. I appreciate that @swinshi talked with me, and I'm sorry I couldn't include everything he said. I'll say I believe I used his strongest arguments, not more speculative ones, in the piece.

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