This was meant to be a supporting comment, about why our political leadership is deceiving us, and they are not representing the public interest. My particular concern was over the climate emergency, but I lost motivation to finish it, as I 'd already said it so many times. I picked this example as it emerged as a false political narrative, during Rishi Sunak's period as PM, and continued virtually unchanged through Starmer's, and then Burnham's premiership. That supposedly the benefits bill was spiralling out of the control. Especially with people claiming sickness benefits for ADHD, ASD and anxiety. But as I proved in my mini-thread, this is just a bare-faced lie, because the welfare bill is not ballooning and spiralling out of control, and as a proportion of GDP, spending on it as remained, remarkably steady and consistent. With the back peddling on climate measures, and the opening up of new North Sea Oil reserves, it is less easy to pin down the deceit, simply because they are claiming it as a pragmatic move, rising fuel costs etc (a totally false argument, as it is sold onto the global market). However, this trajectory, has almost the same starting point under Sunak's Tory regime, and through 2 Labour PMs. In other words, both these agendas seem to being pushed by the same shadowy behind the scenes vested interests, and they are both premised and justified, with provably false arguments, that are specious i.e. superficially plausible, but on deeper examination, these arguments are spurious, phony and just plain false. This has being pointed out to all these governments, and they just ignore the way they have been contradicted. What this demonstrates, is that supposed government policy, being pushed as in the public interest, by 2 entirely different political parties, and 3 different Prime Ministers, is not in the public interest, and the arguments being used to justify it, are fake. That contrary to the claims that the UK's welfare bill is running out of control, that in fact it has barely changed plotted against GDP, and is amongst the lowest in Europe. So the supposed imperative to do something urgent about it, is a totally false and fake argument. Same for the need to open up new North Sea Oil and Gas Reserves. In fact the government, and its apologists (here's looking at you Dale Vince) are contradicting themselves. They are saying that Jackdaw is such a small oil and gas field, it doesn't make any overall difference. It's self-contradictory, because if is really so small and makes little overall difference, why do it. My overall point is this. This policy, is not in the public interest. There is no genuine public interest motivation for any of it. Instead it is part of a suite of economic policy, neoliberal in nature, being pushed by noisy right wing think-tanks and the right wing press. What the hell is a supposed Labour government doing, prioritizing right wing ideological policy imperatives? This applies not just to the UK government, but all global governments, that are pursuing very similar policy, by no coincidence, in line with neoliberal ideology and the wishes of right wing billionaires. Think AI and Data Centres. These are publicly unpopular. So why are governments all over, pushing a very damaging agenda onto the public, when the public do not want them? The only obvious explaination, is that governments do not represent the public or what they want, but actually governments are pushing a policy agenda onto the public, which is remarkably similar to the priorities of right wing billionaires/oligarchs. In other words, we are living in a true oligarchy, where governments march to the wishes of the oligarchs, not the public. @ZackPolanski

The 50 wealthiest families own more wealth than the poorest 34 *million* people. The problem is not a pensioner or a young person looking for a job - the problem is wealth inequality. We need a wealth tax. Now.

Excellent

🧐🤔😎 It would be a terrible pity if the UK government's ban on climate academic and Palestinian supporter Prof Andreas Malm would cause lots of people to read this essay (and subscribe to the great @tribunemagazine ). Really tragic. Like, really, sad. Double plus ungood.

Journalism exists to hold power accountable, not manufacture heroes! Celebrating Lula as the Amazon’s saviour while sidelining oil expansion, mining and ecological threats blurs the line between reporting and propaganda. The planet needs fearless scrutiny, not political PR!

Paris, it was so wonderful to see so many of you show up at yesterday’s show in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The donate link is below for anyone else who would like to contribute. Palestine, The Congo, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, Iran, Haiti. It is a devastation, to see the world in so much pain, and to imagine the world all allow these crimes against humanity to continue. We need to use our voices. We need to use our consciousness. We need to use our power. We need to be in action. Thank you @macklemore for inviting me and Fredrik Svabo along, we are both in admiration to your whole crew and team, and every local working behind the scenes. The matters of the world concerns all of us. None of us are free, until we all are free 🕊️🍃 macklemoreforpalestine.raise…

This is more than Orwellian. It might be falsely argued that Professor Andreas Malm, is a radical. But the extremist, dangerous radicals, are actually our neoliberal governments. They are so extreme, irrational and dangerous, that anyone who challenges their policy, is labelled as a dangerous radical. Ignoring the climate emergency, and genocide is about as extremist as it gets.

We've waited patiently for a plan to end neoliberalism. We won't wait anymore. We need rent controls We need a wealth tax We need *serious* cuts to energy bills Instead it's a few pence off gherkins & a payout which the experts say won't touch the sides on energy bills.

Some more views of the Marbury Barn Owl this evening. @MarburyBirds

A Barn Owl from Marbury, this evening. It was far darker than I'd have liked before it started hunting in front of me, so everything was a compromise, the shutter speed and ISO. @MarburyBirds @CornerForNature

Stupidity is also infectious and viral. When you have an immensely stupid person like Donald Trump, who has massive influence, where his followers devoutly believe in what he says. They infect their followers, and indeed the whole world with this stupidity, as we can't escape it. The same with other influential oligarchs. The tech bros are massively stupid.