Journalist/Filmaker/ Trainer. Lives in Greenwich. From up North. Biological Scientist. Trees, Birds and averting climate crisis my thing. Ebike on quiet roads.
Joined August 2011
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Kate Middleton retweeted
A war is coming to the West Bank
Yesterday Palestinian resistance fighters conducted a surgical strike against Israeli occupation soldiers, fully in accordance with international law.
In response, Israeli government immediately announced that they will do war crimes and started doing war crimes.
All the Palestinian villages in the West Bank are under siege, the city of Hebron is under siege. IDF is demolishing house after house, raiding family after family. They said they want to turn Hebron into Rafah.
More than 250 families were kicked out into the streets with nothing. People slept on the street last night.
The Israeli election is in 3 days, and the Netanyahu-Smotrich government is going to use this to start a war in the West Bank.
The only way to stop this is pressure from all directions. We know it works. International pressure worked for the besieged house in Qusra, which still belongs to the Palestinians because of the all-around attention. It can work for Hebron too.
But it will require EVERYONE reading this doing everything they can to stop this. Call your representative, hold a demonstration, organise direct action against the occupation’s assets abroad. Keep attention on the West Bank.
ACT NOW.
Kate Middleton retweeted
This is what Google's AI expansion looks like on the ground 🤬
Forests destroyed, topsoil stripped and brown runoff reportedly flowing into a local stream, all before environmental impact assessments were completed. Finnish authorities had to step in and order work to stop.
So much for Google's green credentials. Its sustainability advertising means very little when the reality is this. Corporate hypocrisy at its finest.
Kate Middleton retweeted
The reality of the "independent" review telling every school in England to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism: its author, Sir David Bell, was being paid by a government agency while he wrote it, and a pro-Israel charity has listed him on its council for ten years.
The government told the public he was "independent of Government" and had "no conflict of interest". Neither is true.
What we found:
- Bell was paid £20,000 a year as vice-chair of Skills England, a government agency, in a seat the Department for Education gave him. He held it until August, through most of the review.
- The Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East has listed him on its council since at least 2016. Its website says its one firm policy is opposing boycotts of Israel. It gives talks on Israel in schools, which is exactly what his review was asked to judge.
- In 2005, as chief inspector of schools, he singled out Muslim schools as a challenge to "our coherence as a nation". The chairman of the Association of Muslim Schools called it Islamophobia, and his own inspectors said he had presented a personal view as inspection evidence.
Then we followed the money:
- The department's £1.3 million antisemitism training contract had one bidder, according to the tender record. It went to Palace Yard, a company set up in 2022 by the former Labour MP Natascha Engel.
- That contract says all its training must use the IHRA definition "as a foundation". It was signed eight months before Bell was appointed. His review then recommended IHRA.
- Two of the people who advised Bell, from Partnerships for Jewish Schools and the Antisemitism Policy Trust, now sit on the group putting his recommendations into practice.
- The Union of Jewish Students, also on that group, holds a contract worth almost £1 million to train universities. Its own policies include "UJS to advocate for Israel within UK Policy and International Law".
- UK Lawyers for Israel* (UKLFI) and the Campaign Against Antisemitism* (CAA) both say the review adopted their recommendations.
*For context, UKLFI once justified the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli occupation as "good for obesity". Both these groups have staunchly defended Israel throughout its perpetration of a genocide in Gaza, and regularly conflate Jewish people with the apartheid state.
This matters because the review decides how every school treats what pupils and teachers say about Israel, and the IHRA definition it recommends treats some criticism of Israel as antisemitic. A review with that power should come from someone with no pay from government and no tie to a pro-Israel charity. Bell had both. The government put one in a footnote and left the other out.
We mapped every link, each with its source, explaining just how far this review is from "independent": newscord.org/editorials/davi…
Kate Middleton retweeted
“This is a decade in the making; a decade of watching and learning; a decade where the left has realised that the loudest voices shouting about antisemitism care about it the least, because they've treated it recklessly and promiscuously, for grotesque short-term political advantage and to defend the slaughter of innocents.”
Absolutely scorching stuff from Paul below.
Read it all.
This whole exchange with Owen Jones really is very poor considering that this is the Chief Political commentator in the FT.
Its particularly insulting if you know the context of how the phrase "hierarchy of racism" gained currency on the broader Labour-ish left in the UK. I think it betrays a real ignorance of a long and storied topic.
So some history...
The term "hierarchy of racism" was most prominently included in the Forde Report. The Report was the result of an investigation headed by Martin Forde KC, a well-respected black barrister with a long history in tackling issues like the Windrush scandal. Forde'sc investigation was supported by a panel of grandee appointed by the Labour Party NEC - the likes of Baroness Ruth Lister, so hardly a bevy of radicals.
Forde was tasked with investigating a series of issues filtering the released of the "Leaked Report." Very very very long story short, Forde was asked to investigate how issues of racism, antisemitism, hyper-factionalism and misconduct intertwined in the vicious battle for the Labour Party in the Corbyn years.
Forde ended his report (endorsed by all the other members of the Forde Committee) by noting that some staff believed that there was a "perception" of a "hierarchy of racism" in the Labour Party, with antisemitism treated more seriously and given more time than other forms of discrimination.
The Party's own response to Forde confirmed, over and over, that Forde was right. Indeed, the Party treated Forde disgracefully.
He was briefed against in the media.
He was blocked from speaking to the Committee convened to consider the report and its recommendations.
When he became concerned his report was not being taken seriously, he gave an interview to the media - and the Party, outrageously, tried to gag him with legal threats.
There are many ugly stories in The Fraud, but it still fills me with fury to think about how atrociously the Starmer and the McSweeney project treated Forde.
Most people think Forde was thrown under the bus because he called out right-wing factionalism. But the real "sin" of the Forde Report was that it criticised the Party's antisemitism training delivered by the (pro-Israel) Jewish Labour Movement for being top-down, didactic and limited (a comment made by another member of his committee who insisted it be included - not Forde himself, although most people don't know that). The Report suggested that an anti-Zionist group, JVL, be allowed to deliver training to complement the JLM training.
And for this Forde was ridiculed. Numerous commentators, including one from JLM, wrote articles attacking the Forde Report, accusing Forde straying into places he was not supposed to go.
By 2025, Forde had changed his tune. He said the there wasn't a "perception" of a hierarchy of racism in Labour - it simply just did operate a hierarchy of racism in how seriously it treated different types of discrimination, and had disgraced itself by how often it had mistreated prominent black and brown politicians like Diane Abbott and Apsama Begum.
Really, the examples of the hierarchy are overwhelming.
I write in the Fraud of how Starmer's team directly intervened in antisemitism complaints handling to kick out members accused - often wrongly - of antisemitism. It brought in new, deeply unfair rules like retrospective proscription as a mechanism to expel individuals like Ken Loach who could never be found guilty of antisemitism but were still unpalatable to Jewish communal organisations. It was through this mechanism that huge numbers of Jewish members were eventually expelled.
Compare that to when the conflict in Gaza begins. Dozens of Muslim councillors resign in fury. An unnamed senior source says Labour is "shaking off the fleas." The Labour Muslim Network (LMN) writes to the leadership asking for a meeting and a way forward to address wide-spread anger. The response? Morgan McSweeney texts a WhatsApp group that LMN are not good faith actors. /1
Kate Middleton retweeted
This whole exchange with Owen Jones really is very poor considering that this is the Chief Political commentator in the FT.
Its particularly insulting if you know the context of how the phrase "hierarchy of racism" gained currency on the broader Labour-ish left in the UK. I think it betrays a real ignorance of a long and storied topic.
So some history...
The term "hierarchy of racism" was most prominently included in the Forde Report. The Report was the result of an investigation headed by Martin Forde KC, a well-respected black barrister with a long history in tackling issues like the Windrush scandal. Forde'sc investigation was supported by a panel of grandee appointed by the Labour Party NEC - the likes of Baroness Ruth Lister, so hardly a bevy of radicals.
Forde was tasked with investigating a series of issues filtering the released of the "Leaked Report." Very very very long story short, Forde was asked to investigate how issues of racism, antisemitism, hyper-factionalism and misconduct intertwined in the vicious battle for the Labour Party in the Corbyn years.
Forde ended his report (endorsed by all the other members of the Forde Committee) by noting that some staff believed that there was a "perception" of a "hierarchy of racism" in the Labour Party, with antisemitism treated more seriously and given more time than other forms of discrimination.
The Party's own response to Forde confirmed, over and over, that Forde was right. Indeed, the Party treated Forde disgracefully.
He was briefed against in the media.
He was blocked from speaking to the Committee convened to consider the report and its recommendations.
When he became concerned his report was not being taken seriously, he gave an interview to the media - and the Party, outrageously, tried to gag him with legal threats.
There are many ugly stories in The Fraud, but it still fills me with fury to think about how atrociously the Starmer and the McSweeney project treated Forde.
Most people think Forde was thrown under the bus because he called out right-wing factionalism. But the real "sin" of the Forde Report was that it criticised the Party's antisemitism training delivered by the (pro-Israel) Jewish Labour Movement for being top-down, didactic and limited (a comment made by another member of his committee who insisted it be included - not Forde himself, although most people don't know that). The Report suggested that an anti-Zionist group, JVL, be allowed to deliver training to complement the JLM training.
And for this Forde was ridiculed. Numerous commentators, including one from JLM, wrote articles attacking the Forde Report, accusing Forde straying into places he was not supposed to go.
By 2025, Forde had changed his tune. He said the there wasn't a "perception" of a hierarchy of racism in Labour - it simply just did operate a hierarchy of racism in how seriously it treated different types of discrimination, and had disgraced itself by how often it had mistreated prominent black and brown politicians like Diane Abbott and Apsama Begum.
Really, the examples of the hierarchy are overwhelming.
I write in the Fraud of how Starmer's team directly intervened in antisemitism complaints handling to kick out members accused - often wrongly - of antisemitism. It brought in new, deeply unfair rules like retrospective proscription as a mechanism to expel individuals like Ken Loach who could never be found guilty of antisemitism but were still unpalatable to Jewish communal organisations. It was through this mechanism that huge numbers of Jewish members were eventually expelled.
Compare that to when the conflict in Gaza begins. Dozens of Muslim councillors resign in fury. An unnamed senior source says Labour is "shaking off the fleas." The Labour Muslim Network (LMN) writes to the leadership asking for a meeting and a way forward to address wide-spread anger. The response? Morgan McSweeney texts a WhatsApp group that LMN are not good faith actors. /1
Kate Middleton retweeted
The Israeli embassy spokesman calls me an idiot.
Alex, you represent a state that's slaughtered over 21,000 children.
Your prime minister is wanted by the ICC for war crimes.
If condemning that makes me an idiot, what does defending it for a living make you?
I have generally valued the intellectual integrity of your publications. Although I disagree with much of what appears in the New Statesman, I remain an avid reader because I believe in understanding opposing views and broadening my perspective.
But publishing this piece about Owen Jones is an insult to your readers’ intelligence. Let us not kid ourselves, Owen Jones is an Idiot. Giving him the credibility of your publication is an editorial failure.
Your readers deserve serious arguments, even provocative ones. This falls well below that standard.
Do better.
Kate Middleton retweeted
The Bell report on antisemitism in schools "is politically biased, drawing inappropriate conclusions from flawed data. It will stifle debate and foster mistrust."
Important statement from Jewish Voice for Liberation.
jewishvoiceforliberation.org…
Kate Middleton retweeted
The govt (Lucy Powell) is talking about Holocaust Education in schools. I've written four books for children/young people on this and made a video with photos, maps and documents. I'll be interested to see if the official Holocaust Education bodies carry on ignoring these.
Kate Middleton retweeted
Worse still, locals report wolves invading villages. With their habitat gone, where else are they supposed to go?
This is what Google's AI expansion looks like on the ground 🤬
Forests destroyed, topsoil stripped and brown runoff reportedly flowing into a local stream, all before environmental impact assessments were completed. Finnish authorities had to step in and order work to stop.
So much for Google's green credentials. Its sustainability advertising means very little when the reality is this. Corporate hypocrisy at its finest.
Kate Middleton retweeted
Just like the old East India Company, these robber baron companies, presided over as they are by unaccountable oligarchs, are more powerful than Sovereign states. They have contempt for us.
Google illegally cleared an estimated 250,000 trees across 330 hectares of forest in Muhos, northern Finland, to prepare for a new AI data center before completing mandatory environmental impact assessments
And another 150,000 trees felled at Otanmäki
theguardian.com/environment/…
Kate Middleton retweeted
The BBC have not reported this from Bell's Report.
Please RT this until they do inform the public of this.
"Anti-Jewish attitudes are typically less prevalent and have remained more stable, whereas anti-Israel sentiments are more prevalent and have been increasing'
Thank you.
Kate Middleton retweeted
🚨 UPDATE: The hypocrisy gets even worse.
"Sir" David Bell, the very man behind the government's antisemitism in schools report, was accused of Islamophobia back in 2005 for singling out Muslim faith schools.
As the then head of Ofsted, he warned that religious segregation could threaten social cohesion and questioned whether Muslim schools were adequately preparing children to respect other cultures.
Fast-forward 21 years...
We're now discussing a Jewish school's published commitment to preparing pupils to become "positive advocates for Israel", while Bell's new report goes far beyond political impartiality, proposing measures to silence legitimate criticism of Israel, presenting genocide as a matter of competing political perspectives, and sanitising the actions of the Israeli state under the guise of tackling antisemitism.
If Muslim schools teaching a particular worldview raised concerns about social cohesion, why shouldn't schools explicitly preparing children to advocate for the State of Israel face the same scrutiny?
Especially when Israel are carrying out a genocide in Gaza!!
This isn't about Jewish or Muslim children. It's about the political indoctrination of ANY child, and the equally dangerous prospect of using education as a vehicle for state propaganda, suppressing legitimate criticism and sanitising atrocities.
It has absolutely NO place in our children's education, no matter which religion, ideology or state it seeks to serve.
If this is seriously where we're at, we may as well stop calling it the Department of Education, and call it what it is: the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.
#GazaGenocide #FreePalestine
@NEUnion @educationgovuk @andyburnham
theguardian.com/education/20……
Kate Middleton retweeted
I'm not going to name the school, but the @BBC's coverage of the antisemitism in schools report featured interviews with children from a Jewish school.
Here's the rub, though.
The school's own published curriculum explicitly teaches Zionism, celebrates the establishment of Israel and describes preparing pupils to become "positive advocates for Israel" at university.
It even references bringing in organisations such as StandWithUs to prepare pupils for that advocacy.
Now, let me be absolutely clear. There is nothing wrong with teaching Jewish history, culture or identity. And antisemitism must be challenged wherever it exists.
But when children are actively encouraged to advocate for a particular state, rather than critically examine its history, policies and actions, surely we have to question whether this is education or ideological conditioning?
And here's the staggering hypocrisy.
We're being told that schools must exercise political impartiality when discussing Palestine, while a school can openly describe preparing children to advocate for Israel.
Political impartiality cannot be a principle applied selectively, depending on which side of a conflict children are encouraged to support.
And the BBC has a responsibility to scrutinise that distinction, not simply present children's views without examining the educational environment in which those views have developed.
Children deserve an education that teaches them how to think, not what to think.
@NEUnion @educationgovuk
Kate Middleton retweeted
👇
I'm not going to name the school, but the @BBC's coverage of the antisemitism in schools report featured interviews with children from a Jewish school.
Here's the rub, though.
The school's own published curriculum explicitly teaches Zionism, celebrates the establishment of Israel and describes preparing pupils to become "positive advocates for Israel" at university.
It even references bringing in organisations such as StandWithUs to prepare pupils for that advocacy.
Now, let me be absolutely clear. There is nothing wrong with teaching Jewish history, culture or identity. And antisemitism must be challenged wherever it exists.
But when children are actively encouraged to advocate for a particular state, rather than critically examine its history, policies and actions, surely we have to question whether this is education or ideological conditioning?
And here's the staggering hypocrisy.
We're being told that schools must exercise political impartiality when discussing Palestine, while a school can openly describe preparing children to advocate for Israel.
Political impartiality cannot be a principle applied selectively, depending on which side of a conflict children are encouraged to support.
And the BBC has a responsibility to scrutinise that distinction, not simply present children's views without examining the educational environment in which those views have developed.
Children deserve an education that teaches them how to think, not what to think.
@NEUnion @educationgovuk
Kate Middleton retweeted
and the report's recommendations are about suppressing pro-Palestinian sentiment and boosting pro-Israel sentiment
Kate Middleton retweeted
Perhaps the most stark and revealing (accidental?) admission in the David Bell 'antisemitism in UK schools report. Antisemitic attitudes aren't increasing, only anti-Israel ones are. That's what most of this is about.
From the horse's mouth:
assets.publishing.service.go…
Kate Middleton retweeted
Richard Sanders investigation link youtube.com/watch?v=6pEiZYoR…
