Sideways Tree

You may not agree with me, but you will always know where you stand with me. Today in Billericay, a heckler tried to shout me down as I spoke about the normalisation of hatred towards Jews. I did not back down, because it needs to be said. British Jews are being targeted and too many people are pretending this is the same experience of other minorities. This lady implied Muslims are being similarly targeted. This is simply not true. Let's be honest about what is happening. Certain groups (in particular but not solely Islamic Extremists) are creating a climate of fear and intimidation that is normalising Jew hatred. I will never stand for that. Governments have spent too long hand-wringing, making excuses and hoping it would go away. It is time to call this what it is: a national emergency in our attitude, our urgency and our response. I will always engage with people who disagree with me. That is politics. But there is a difference between argument and intimidation. Shouting does not make a bad case good. It's done to silence others. And it certainly does not change the truth. The truth is that British Jews have been made to feel less safe in their own country. Our country. They are being singled out, threatened and harassed in ways that should shame everyone in public life. If we do not stand up now and stop this rise in antisemitism, then why bother saying "Never Again" at Holocaust Memorial Day? Because this is how it starts. I am not prepared to play along with the pretence that this is normal, or manageable, or just another example of tension between groups. It really is not. It is targeted hatred and it is getting worse. So my message is simple. Not here. Not in Britain. And not on our watch. We need to stop the hand-wringing and start doing the right thing. That means standing with British Jews openly, unapologetically and without fear.

@danielmgmoylan report him!

I don’t regard this as a politically neutral message from a senior British Ambassador.

@RobTopp1973 @pritipatel A stale, talentless, rich old white man didn't like being told what to do by a ethnic minority upstart, so he flounced out. I was semi-privy to this stuff. Priti is one of the kindest people you'll ever meet, if you are lucky enough to spend time with her.

@pritipatel Lest we forget.

Starmer is unpicking Brexit and planning another undemocratic hit job on British taxpayers by signing us up to a £1billion annual payment to the EU. Once again, this weak Prime Minister goes to the negotiating table, comes home empty-handed, having fleeced hard pressed taxpayers with his terrible judgment. thetimes.com/article/8d7711…

Has anyone worked out what the UK has gained yet from the reset? I can list a bunch of stuff the EU seems to have achieved but nothing for the UK!

Kier Starmer flew to Armenia days before a local election - and committed £2 billion of YOUR money to an EU scheme with zero mandate. Was this his call to make? He stood in front of European leaders in Armenia and admitted the UK economy is worse than forecast. Then committed Britain to a £2 billion EU loan scheme - NO vote, NO debate, NO mandate. He didn't say it would hurt families. He said it would play out with the electorate. Not people. The electorate. DAYS before local elections, a politically wounded Prime Minister is making GENERATIONAL financial commitments on your behalf. The entry fee alone is £2 billion. Total interest across the scheme could hit £17 billion. STARMER HAS TO GO 🚫

Those who want an EU re set need to answer why EU growth and EU GDP per head is lower than the UK and why the US is so much higher. Why align with the losers? Why not copy the cheap energy, lower tax policies of the US, not the high tax and dear energy of the EU?

Modern Britain in a nutshell as a lanyarded crony tries to talk down a long term public servant who’s trying to say goodbye with dignity and then scrolls through her phone when he does so.

The forensic details of Starmer’s EU payments scandal are catastrophic. Brussels wants £1 billion annually based on a Swiss-style model: Switzerland pays €375 million per year to access the single market. Applying the GDP ratio between Switzerland and the UK produces the £1 billion figure Britain would pay. But here’s what makes this an obscene betrayal: Britain’s pre-Brexit net contribution was £8-9 billion per year. We’ve already paid over £44 billion in divorce bill settlements since 2020, with another £5.7 billion still owed. Those payments will continue until 2065 - yes, 2065 - at £95 million annually for decades. Now Starmer wants to add £1 billion per year on top, described by European diplomats as “pay to play”. And for what? Access without representation. Brussels has already made clear Britain will be “blocked from making any changes or amendments to the rules, making the UK an EU rule-taker”. We’ll be paying £1 billion yearly for the privilege of following laws we have zero say in shaping. Whether you voted leave or remain, surely at least both sides thought we’d STOP paying Brussels when Leave won. Instead, Starmer is negotiating to pay them forever. This is the biggest political con in modern British history.

@OwenWntr thank you for the reply

@EX23LCL Since 2008 yes I would guess so (but don't have data to hand) because lager has risen faster than inflation and median wages have (roughly) matched inflation

This is a fun idea. The average amount of time taken to earn a pint on minimum wage has actually fallen from 32 minutes in 1999 to 25 minutes in 2024

Priceless

@SebMilbank I'm in Southwark, which has the highest rate of social housing in England. About 43% LA/HA I believe.

What struck me is how we are living in two totally different worlds, even when only living feet apart. There's a Britain, a London, that lives entirely within the belly of the state, and another for whom it barely exists except as an extractrive force.

Some local thoughts follow...So I'm reading up on my local elections, having recently moved to the area, and I'm learning that my borough (Lambeth), has one of the biggest waiting lists for council housing in London... 🧵

@RupertMyers Just last week we paid an extra £40 each to fly to Thailand with Qatar rather than BA because our last two experiences with BA were rubbish in comparison. Treated like a guest by Qatar and a burden by BA. And I'm a bloody polite traveller, honest!

I don’t think I’ll ever stop flying with British airways because I’m a patriotic sucker but their app/website are a circle of hell

hahahahhaha

There’s something tragic, in the truest sense of the word, about this. A hereditary peer, who dropped the Conservative whip and backed Labour since 1998 being shushed out of his speech, and dropped from our constitution, by the socialists he supported. And then only able to say his goodbyes because of the Conservatives opposite. The Left care nothing for anything other than their own power and dented sense of righteousness. Nothing is sacred, tradition is worthless, the past irrelevant, the future never considered. Just power and self-righteousness in the present.

This international law stuff bemuses me. Is China abiding by it? Is Russia? Don’t we have a long enough track record in human rights from Magna Carta onwards to decide our own standards. Especially since so many international law judges include those from Russia and China. Eg in the `Chagos Islands case.

Bargain.

Just so I’m clear, we’d be paying hundreds of millions more to lose some of the country’s best lawyers, doctors, businesspeople, scientists and soldiers in exchange for Tracy Brabin, Jane Dodds and the bald one who runs UKIP (probably)? Forgive me if I don’t rip your hand off.

Annual cost of UK House of Lords (756 sitting members): £143.8m Annual cost of French Senate (348 sitting members): €382.3m (£333m) Annual cost of US Senate (100 sitting members): $1.5b (£1.1b) Bargain.