Thursday 29th October 2020
Posted: Thu 29 Oct, 2020 7:00 am
Morning all.
So that's Watford...in Hertfordshire.Shaun Bailey
@ShaunBaileyUK
London isn’t just Westminster and the square mile. So I met @dean4watford yesterday to discuss the Metropolitan Line extension.@SadiqKhan has mothballed it. Despite it being fully funded by @BorisJohnson.@SadiqKhan
is failing to manage the TfL that Londoners deserve.
I certainly hope it's the case that Labour's record on dealing with sexual harassment complaints is as good as implied but can't help but wonder if this could potentially be a whole new can of worms. I hope not, but certainly I found Labour to be quite amateurish as an organisation when I was a member, with poor data privacy compliance in particular, but very much in an unintentional, accidental way. Obviously this doesn't excuse the failings regarding anti-Semitism complaints but for me the context within which those failings occurred is more grey than is presented here and that has implications going forward as the lesson that needs to be learnt from this is that all voices need to be properly listened to. Women weren't always listened to over sexual harassment, my point being that it would be naive to think that if Labour just sorts its approach to anti-Semitism all would be perfect, as achieving equality is an ongoing and complex process.The EHRC said its analysis “points to a culture within the Party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it.”
This is in direct contrast to the comprehensive guidance and training in place to handle sexual harassment complaints that demonstrates the Party’s ability to act decisively when it needs to, indicating that antisemitism could have been tackled more effectively.
Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot
Level 1:
At a media briefing, EHRC is highlighting a general lack of cooperation from Labour HQ last year after the investigation was opened. Said they faced "very disappointing obstructions" to their work.
10:35 AM · Oct 29, 2020·
I'm sure the usual suspects that were bleating about Starmer being weak and how he wouldn't do anything will rush to comment on this, right?Asked about Corbyn’s response to the report, Starmer told reporters he would “look carefully” at his predecessor’s comments. Two hours later, the party suspended Corbyn and withdrew the Labour whip.
A Labour spokesman said: “In light of his comments made today and his failure to retract them subsequently, the Labour party has suspended Jeremy Corbyn pending investigation. He has also had the whip removed from the parliamentary Labour party.”
In his opening statement, Starmer said those who denied the problem of antisemitism should be “nowhere near” Labour. Questioned about Corbyn’s response, he said: “I’ll look carefully at what Jeremy Corbyn has said in full.
“But I’ve said a moment ago, and I’ll say it again: those who deny there is a problem are part of the problem. Those who pretend it is exaggerated or factional are part of the problem.”
On the face of it, it's hard to disagree with any of what Corbyn said.One antisemite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media.
That combination hurt Jewish people and must never be repeated. My sincere hope is that relations with Jewish communities can be rebuilt and those fears overcome. While I do not accept all of its findings, I trust its recommendations will be swiftly implemented to help move on from this period.
They're not pretending, that's the problem.Those who pretend it is exaggerated
Also agree keeping quiet would have been better.gilsey wrote:The whole thing is too depressing for words.
The G trots out the old story about Berger needing police protection at conference, which I thought had been comprehensively debunked at the time.
BBC talking to Hodge and Smeeth.
Leaders office interfering in the process! shock! horror!, no mention that they were interfering to speed things up.
They just can't stop.
Entirely agree that JC should have kept quiet today.
simon wren-lewis
@sjwrenlewis
I'm puzzled. It is a fact that many of Labour's political opponents deliberately exaggerate the extent of antisemitism in the Labour party. By stating that fact, does that mean I cannot be a member of the Labour party? Cannot help but think this is a major mistake by Starmer.
Not sure this is a very good test, given that such credible allegations don't seem to be investigated by the tories, ever.George Peretz QC
@GeorgePeretzQC
Replying to
@RickVictory67
A good test to apply is “what would I say if a (ex) leader of a right wing political party’s response to credible allegations of racial or sexual harassment in their party was ‘it’s all overstated by those socialists’”?
successful contractors – like Ayanda which received a £252m contract for supplying facemasks most of which were unusable – were guided through the process by the Cabinet Office.
Lucy Powell MP
@LucyMPowell
With respect, do one.
Benjamin Butterworth
@benjaminbutter
Exclusive: BBC staff have been banned from attending LGBT pride events and told they could be suspended if they breach the new rules. David Jordan, the head of editorial policy and standards, took the decision on Wednesday.
It's actually taking her report (amongst others) as a basis and looking to see what has happened since.Complaint handling and process
• In 2016, the Chakrabarti report recommended, in relation to antisemitism complaints, that the Labour Party should adopt a ‘readily accessible complaints procedure explaining with sufficient clarity how and to whom complaints are to be made’. The Labour Party has not published a comprehensive antisemitism complaints procedure in line with this recommendation. See Chapter 6.
• The Chakrabarti report highlighted the importance of recording the identity of complainants. It recommended that genuine aftercare should be given to individuals, as well as updates on how the complaint is progressing. The Labour Party has not implemented this process adequately. See Chapter 6.
• The Chakrabarti report noted the importance of making sure that respondents are clearly informed about the allegations made against them, unless there are exceptional reasons for not doing so. We found no evidence of a clear policy from the Labour Party outlining the rights of respondents in line with this recommendation. See Chapter 6.
It's because the BBC are so completely left wing.RogerOThornhill wrote:Not sure how they can make this stick - even if they apply it only to staff working on news & politics.
Benjamin Butterworth
@benjaminbutter
Exclusive: BBC staff have been banned from attending LGBT pride events and told they could be suspended if they breach the new rules. David Jordan, the head of editorial policy and standards, took the decision on Wednesday.
I've been continuing to play the simulation on 270 to win. On my 'every state I've ever seen turn blue' map the only things Trump has left are North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Nebraska District 3.gilsey wrote:I like fivethirtyeight's winding path to victory.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/20 ... id=rrpromo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
adam wrote:I think that Starmer will bow to every demand made about this, regardless of where it's coming from, and then they'll move on to attacking him again.
I thank you.RogerOThornhill wrote:Gove being Gove has decided that Starmer has "questions to answer".
'hiccup'Seventeen attendees of Donald Trump’s rally in Tampa, Florida today had to be taken to the hospital for intense heat, according to NBC News.
Hundreds of supporters, many not wearing masks, attended the packed rally in 87-degree heat. At one point during the rally, a fire truck sprayed water onto the crowd in an attempt to cool down attendees, NBC reported. Many of the supporters had been waiting for hours to hear Trump speak.
This is the second hiccup the Trump campaign has experienced at its rallies week. In Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday night, hundreds of Trump supporters were stuck in freezing weather waiting for buses that were supposed to take them out of the airfield where the rally was held. Seven people were taken to the hospital that night suffering varying conditions.