once you label me, you negate me 💚💚💚💚💚🇬🇧
Plymouth, England
Joined November 2010
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Janner Planner retweeted
This post is based on fear. Not fear of injustice. But fear that people like @KemiBadenoch are taking away a living that rests on a narrative of grievance. A living that needs people to be defined by the past and the colour of their skin. A fear that people like Kemi offer a different liberation and equality based on merit, ambition and the content of character.
A fear that people will discover it is ok for us all to live now, understand our past but not allow our future to be defined by it.
A fear that hope and the future will win.
I have always been fascinated by a particular breed of African politicians in Europe who seem to have made it their life’s ambition to be more British than the British, more French than the French, and more hostile to Africans and immigrants than the most rabid nationalists in their adopted political circles.
You find them in Britain, France, Belgium and across Europe, particularly in countries that once colonized Africa. Many are the children of African immigrants, sometimes the first generation born in Europe, whose parents arrived in those countries as foreigners. Yet their children have somehow developed an almost religious devotion to the most reactionary interpretations of European nationalism. They speak about immigration as though their own parents descended from the heavens with citizenship certificates in their hands.
And I am not talking about Africans who happen to be conservative. I am talking about those who appear determined to prove their loyalty to their political constituencies by expressing a degree of contempt for immigrants, Africans and their own ancestral history that would embarrass even some European conservatives. The irony would be hilarious if its consequences were not so serious.
Because these politicians occupy a particularly convenient position in the racial politics of Europe. Their African ancestry gives certain political movements an opportunity to present deeply contested positions on immigration, race and colonial history through someone whose very presence is then offered as proof that racism could not possibly be involved.
It is the political equivalent of the racist who insists that he cannot be racist because he once dated a Black woman. Except that this time, instead of producing a Black girlfriend, they produce a Black politician with an African surname and a spectacular appetite for defending their ideological prejudices.
What particularly disgusts me is the historical revisionism that sometimes accompanies this performance. Imagine being so desperate to demonstrate your European patriotism that you begin defending an imperial history whose victims included people who looked like your grandparents.
And for what? To prove that you are sufficiently British? Sufficiently French? That your African ancestry has been politically disinfected to the satisfaction of your audience? I find this obsession with proving oneself more authentically European than Europeans themselves intellectually fascinating and morally disturbing.
This is the context in which I examine Kemi Badenoch’s politics. Badenoch is entitled to her conservative convictions, just as anyone else is entitled to challenge them. But her Nigerian heritage does not make her interpretation of British colonial history more credible, nor does it make her positions on race and immigration immune from criticism.
Janner Planner retweeted
Żart o kilkusekundowej karze w F1 = totally unacceptable
Przypisywanie sobie terytorium innego państwa, o które kiedyś rozpętali wojnę = normalna sprawa
Czy Argentyńczycy są głupi??
Jeremy Clarkson you have to immediately apologize with @FranColapinto and with all Argentine citizens.
Your behavior was far from the usual and required fair play spirit at sports.
Totally unacceptable. 👎🏽
Janner Planner retweeted
Go back to sleep. You’ve got another hour before you need to scroll through here and get angry.
Janner Planner retweeted
Argentina’s ability to take a joke is only paralleled by their ability to take the Falklands
Jeremy Clarkson faces backlash after suggesting F1 driver should get penalty 'for being Argentinian'
lbc.co.uk/article/jeremy-cla…
Janner Planner retweeted
Donald Trump has just posted on his own social media platform. He says Zelenskyy does not want peace and never has, because Europe keeps giving him money. He says he made the deal with Russia on diesel fuel because Russia wants to bring global prices down. At the beginning of his post, he justifies his decision. At the end, he says Ukraine has lost land territory, seas, and oceans.
This statement marks the (public) beginning of the United States' shift toward Russia. In other words, it is the public beginning of the US transitioning into an ally of Russia. Until now, all the other statements, political decisions, and scandals have either taken place behind closed doors or been publicly denied as being beneficial to Russia.
From now on, we will see a clear, openly acknowledged move toward closer relations with Russia. Trump needs to win a third term. Putin needs to win the war. Trump needs to achieve his objective to protect himself legally from everything that would follow if he lost power. Putin needs the war to continue, and preferably to win it, to physically protect himself from the death that would await him if he lost or if a just peace were reached.
Trump will not relinquish power democratically. Anyone who believes otherwise is naive. His third term could come through himself, Don Jr., or someone else in his family. Putin cannot allow the war to end because he would meet the same fate as Gaddafi.
Both are desperate, and both are being obstructed by two entities: Ukraine and the European Union. For those who have forgotten, let me remind you that Trump used to lecture us for buying Russian gas. Today, he is asking us to buy Russian gas. Trump used to accuse us of not paying enough for our own war. Today, he criticizes us for giving Ukraine money. Putin is bothered by European assistance because Europe is the last bastion of Western civilization still defending Western values. Europe, Canada, and the rest of the Coalition of the Willing, minus the United States.
The midterm elections are on November 3. Everyone is expecting a Democratic tsunami. I expect the Democrats to win the House of Representatives and the Senate to end up evenly split. But that will not change US foreign policy overnight.
Years from now, history will remind us that, starting in 2024, the United States took its first steps toward supporting the aggressor. And those who read about it, after having read, watched, or digitally experienced the horrors of Bucha, Borodyanka, Mariupol, Chernihiv, Izium, and so on, will wonder how we could all have been such idiots, how we continued to believe in the "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave" when the evidence was right in front of us, screaming in our faces.
At this moment, the United States has provided no financial aid for more than two years. Access to Starlink and StarShield is restricted. Military intelligence is provided intermittently. The ballistic missile early warning system is NOT functioning. The US has postponed the sanctions under the Graham law. The US has signed a diesel fuel deal with Russia. If it walks like betrayal and quacks like betrayal, then it is betrayal.
The European Union has an adversary in the United States, one it will soon recognize as such. Soon, when Russia does something that would have been unimaginable back in 2022 or 2023, something that will shatter confidence in NATO, Article 5, and the entire North Atlantic security architecture. It may already be too late for some Eastern European countries.
Or, in an alternative scenario, this Europe, plagued by internal divisions amplified by hundreds of thousands of Russian bots and coordinated through social media campaigns with the help of American algorithms, will manage to stay united. United for Ukraine and for its own security. In this scenario, Europe will accelerate the development of alternatives to Starlink, the F-35, American space technology, and anti-ballistic missile interceptors, and will punish social media platforms as they deserve. And then things will be much better. Romania must remain alongside the core of the European Union and positively influence this acceleration.
Ukraine is not doing badly on the battlefield. For example, Kostyantynivka was supposed to have fallen into Russian hands back in May. Chances are it will not fall before 2027, which would make the Russian conquest of Donbas impossible, considering the situation up until the summer of 2026, when the US was STILL not openly acting as Russia's partner.
If Ukraine loses the war, it will be because of the United States and because of Europe's slowness and failure to make firm decisions. And Ukraine's surrender would mean hell unleashed upon Eastern Europe and the European Union project as a whole.
Still, let us not overlook the fact that, in Trump's eyes, Ukraine once had one or more oceans. And somehow lost them.
Janner Planner retweeted
A Sky News journalist asked Zelensky the obvious, as to whether Trump was attempting to make him a “scapegoat” for his own disastrous situation, including low poll numbers, high diesel prices and the war in the Middle East.
The president paused, then smiled and replied: “That is my answer.”
Janner Planner retweeted
Russia invaded Ukraine. The first country to surrender was the United States.
Janner Planner retweeted
The President of the United States has announced, with obvious pride, that he phoned Vladimir Putin and asked him for fuel. He calls it a great success. It is the richest country on earth going cap in hand to the man who bombs Ukrainian cities every night, because diesel became expensive before an election.
For four years Europe paid more for its energy, housed millions of refugees and emptied its arsenals so that Putin would not be rewarded. Washington has now concluded that all of it matters less than a cheaper tank for a truck in Ohio, and has told Ukraine to stop hitting the refineries that pay for the war.
This used to be the country others measured themselves against. Its remaining admirers are in Moscow and Pyongyang, and it has become exactly the kind of shithole it used to sneer at.
Janner Planner retweeted
This is a masterclass in statistical lying to manufacture a constitutional grievance. You claim the Prime Minister is taking “up to £4bn from Scotland's pensioners to pay for social care in England”, but your own Deputy First Minister’s letter admits that £4bn figure is an unadjusted cash-terms extrapolation for 2049–50, nearly a quarter of a century away. Terrifying pensioners today with compounding spreadsheet projections for 24 years in the future is cynical politics. More importantly, the claim that Scottish money is going south to fund English care is completely fabricated. Social care is fully devolved. If the UK Government invests money into an English National Care Service, the Barnett formula automatically triggers massive, proportional block grant windfalls straight into Holyrood's bank account. Scotland doesn't pay for English care; Holyrood gets a cash payout because of it. The ultimate irony is that Scotland’s population is ageing faster than the rest of the UK. Scottish pensions are currently underwritten by a 68-million-strong UK tax base and an annual £25.3bn UK Treasury fiscal transfer. If Scotland were independent, facing a 10% structural deficit without a central bank, you couldn't maintain existing state pensions on Day 1, let alone in 2050. Honest John?😂
Janner Planner retweeted
🚨 WATCH: Andy Burnham takes time to compose himself over the loss of his dad, Roy
"On the day my dad died, the Scottish FM said I'd be the last PM of the United Kingdom... I relay it because I want you to know how it made me feel...
"Utterly determined to prove him wrong"
Janner Planner retweeted
Ross Greer wants a referendum, because younger Scots who missed 2014 deserve their say.
How touching.
Scots too young for the 1997 devolution vote haven't been offered a re-run. Neither have those who missed the 1979 vote. Apparently the principle that each generation must ratify every constitutional settlement applies exclusively to the one result Ross Greer doesn't like.
He also takes it as read that these younger voters would back independence. That's not an argument. It's a Green forecast dressed up as a grievance.
So, what do we get? A Holyrood debate on a question Holyrood cannot answer, citing a poll commissioned by a Pro-Indy campaign group, underpinned by a logical principle nobody applies consistently.
What a productive afternoon. 🙄🤦♂️🤡
Scottish Greens @Ross_Greer: "It is not good enough for the hundreds of thousands of younger Scots...who were not old enough to vote in the last referendum.
"They deserve their right to decide the future of this country."
Janner Planner retweeted
The SNP abstained on 2 votes that would have seen Theresa May forced by WM to negotiate for a customs union. They did as they always do; they played childish political games, a bunch of silly buggers.
SNP offer to 'work together' with Lib Dems in bid to rejoin the EU trib.al/vIclKlZ
Janner Planner retweeted
This is sad to say but true: the comments of the President of the US on Ireland are irrelevant.
1. He has lost the capacity to shock. We are all worn down. What used to shock now bores.
2. He is inconsistent. What he says one day is contradicted the next.
3. The post-Trump era has already begun. With the mid terms in November and the inevitable drain on authority on a term expired President in the last 2 years the US and the world will look to what comes next.
For all those with responsibility for politics in Northern Ireland the sensible thing to do is treat these flippant and ill informed comments with the total lack of seriousness they merit.
Nonetheless it is a sad situation we are in.
Janner Planner retweeted
In a difficult and dangerous world, a decade on from Brexit, there is a risk that Britain loses the confidence to lead and stand up for its values.
I’m not prepared to let that happen. It is more important than ever that Britain stands for something.
We have called for years for a two-state solution in the Middle East, but we must recognise that those words are meaningless unless we back them up with action.
For too long, we have been hesitant to act, fearful of being accused of being anti-Israel.
Today we are announcing carefully judged, targeted steps that are not aimed at the Israeli people, but at the unacceptable policies of the current Israeli government.
The suffering of the Palestinian people is a scar on the conscience of the world. Innocent Palestinians, including children, continue to be killed in Gaza. And there is still a humanitarian crisis, with far too little aid getting in.
The scale of destruction is hard to comprehend. More than 70,000 people lie dead - at least 20,000 of them children. Families and communities have been torn apart. Millions displaced. And the population of Gaza is now penned into just one third of the territory.
I know that people across the UK feel very deeply about this issue - and so do I.
Before I became Prime Minister, I said our country’s response had been too slow and simply not good enough. That’s why I committed to changing the government’s approach.
I will not stand by as the horrific suffering continues to grow and the prospect of a two-state solution - the best hope for peace and stability in the region - comes under attack.
More settlements have been approved under the four years of this Israeli government than in the previous 20 years. The UN has reported more than 1,500 incidents of settler violence so far this year, aimed at driving out Palestinians. And the situation is growing worse, fast.
The Israeli government has now approved 104 new settlements since it took office in December 2022, and ahead of the October elections in Israel, it is allowing tenders for the construction of the E1 mega settlement to go ahead. This would cut a swathe through the heart of the West Bank - snuffing out the hope of realising a two-state solution. It cannot be allowed to happen.
That’s why we are announcing a new package of tough measures to put pressure on the Israeli government:
First, we will ban the trade in goods with illegal settlements in Palestine.
Second, we have formally changed the view of the British government to say for the first time that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful - independent of, but in line with, the conclusion of the international court of justice.
And third, we will sanction individuals and companies that support, facilitate or profit from illegal settlements. That includes any businesses or investors that take part in the construction of the E1 settlement.
In addition, we are announcing a new package of desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza.
We are taking these steps because it is the right thing to do.
I have condemned the monstrous terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 in the strongest possible terms - and continue to condemn Hamas. However, it does not justify the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza or the West Bank.
The measures we are taking are about targeting illegal settlements and increasing the pressure on the Israeli government to change course. We are not imposing sanctions on Israel as a whole, which would punish the Israeli people, many of whom disagree with their government’s position.
The Israeli people are not responsible for the actions of their government. And nor is the Jewish community in the UK. Blaming British Jews for the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is wrong, plain and simple. And it is antisemitism, plain and simple.
I met the representatives of the Jewish community just last week. I know the fear they live with day by day. My government will stop at nothing to ensure they are safe and to stamp out antisemitism in every part of our society.
The measures we are announcing today are about protecting the only solution that could see the Israeli and Palestinian people living side by side in peace and security - something that people up and down the UK desperately want to see.
The government I lead will keep working with our partners around the world to keep that hope alive.
Janner Planner retweeted
The irony is an Argentine of European settler descent telling multi-generational Falkland Islanders—whose ancestors settled previously uninhabited islands—to "go back to London" and denying them any rights or say, while Argentina's own claim rests on inherited colonial titles rather than the clear will of the people who live there.
Janner Planner retweeted
I’m not usually one to defend Zack Polanski, but the idea he doesn’t have at least one single connection to Camden is just nonsense.
Look, here he is standing for the council there in 2015… as a Lib Dem… during the austerity coalition…
Janner Planner retweeted
A Scottish laird threw his sheep onto a beach in 1832 and left them to starve. They are still down there, still eating, and they have since evolved so far into the job that a green field would now poison them.
North Ronaldsay is the last island in Orkney before there is nothing. Three miles long, flat as a table, and windier than is strictly reasonable. The laird wanted the middle of it for cattle and crops, so out went the natives to the shore, which is a decision that reads perfectly well in an estate office and looks somewhat different when you are standing on shingle in February.
To keep them there, the islanders built a drystone dyke round the entire circumference of the island. Thirteen miles, six feet high, laid by hand, no mortar, still standing. It is a Grade A listed structure, so a wall put up to inconvenience sheep now enjoys the same legal protection as Edinburgh Castle.
Nobody expected the flock to make old bones.
They took up kelp.
There are two land mammals on this planet that live on seaweed. One is the marine iguana of the Galápagos, which has never been more than about nine feet from a film crew. The other is a small brown sheep in Orkney that nobody has heard of, working a beach in the dark.
And they did not just get by. They reorganised their entire lives around the tide. They sleep through high water and rise for the ebb, which is two hundred years of tide table written into an animal with no clock and no reason to care. Winter storms tear the kelp off the seabed and dump it up the shore, so while every other flock in Britain is going backwards on hay, the beach sheep are gaining condition in January on a crop nobody planted, watered, ploughed, sprayed or paid a penny for.
Seaweed carries almost no copper. So they evolved to hoover up every atom of it going, and that machinery has no off switch. Put one on ordinary pasture and it keeps taking copper on board at beach rates until the liver packs in. They are the most copper-sensitive mammals known to science, and a field of good Orkney grass is, to a North Ronaldsay, a slow poisoning with a lovely view.
Which leaves the arrangement completely inside out.
The wall was built to keep the sheep off the good ground.
The wall is the only thing keeping them alive.
About 2,500 of them, owned communally by a dozen or so islanders, descended from animals that were on that shore before the Vikings arrived and formed opinions about it. Every winter knocks a few more sections of dyke down. Every summer a handful of people put a few back up. Only one of those lines is heading the right way.
The kelp industry the wall was built to replace collapsed and is gone. The laird is gone. The crops are gone. Most of the islanders are gone.
The sheep he sentenced to death are out there tonight, waiting on the tide, farming the only ground in Britain that gets delivered twice a day by the sea.
