Canada remembers Harris as a homesick student who loved to dance

Agence France-Presse
August 17, 2024 

In this undated yearbook photo released by the Westmount High School, US presidential candidate Kamala Harris said her favorite pastime during her teen years spent in Montreal was dancing (AFP)

Kamala Harris spent her adolescence in Montreal often pining for her California hometown, but former Canadian classmates remember the American presidential candidate as an outgoing student with a big smile, who loved dancing.

It was in 1976 at the age of 12 that the vice president and Democratic candidate in this year's US presidential race discovered the harsh, cold winters of Canada's second largest city.

Her divorced mother uprooted her and her sister Maya from their California hometown of Oakland to take a job researching cancer at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital.

"The thought of moving away from sunny California in February, in the middle of the school year, to a French-speaking foreign city covered in twelve feet of snow was distressing, to say the least," Harris recounted in her 2019 memoir.

The first woman, first African-American and first Asian-American to become vice president of the United States, Harris has said little about her years in Canada and her biography on the White House website does not even mention them.

Although she didn't speak French when she arrived in Montreal, her mother insisted on enrolling her in a French-language school. After struggling to pick up French, she transferred to a bilingual school with artistic and musical programs and then to Westmount High School, an English-language public high school, where she graduated in 1981.

- A diverse public school -

Harris was "very friendly, very outgoing. Nice to everybody," former classmate Anu Chopra Sharma told AFP, describing her friend as a bright student who took the time to help others.

"We all had a tough time with French, because we weren't native French speakers," she commented.

French is spoken by the majority in the province, but in the 1970s and 1980s tensions between English and French speakers peaked as a Quebec nationalist identity tied to the language of Moliere took shape -- marked by two failed referendums on Quebec independence.

Westmount High School, located in a wealthy and English-speaking borough of Montreal, accepted students from nearby neighborhoods and so "a lot of the kids were working class," said former art teacher Mara Rudzitis.

The student body was also ethnically diverse, drawing from Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani and Chinese immigrant communities.


- 'Always had stuff to say' -

Active and very sociable, Harris, now 59, was at the time a member of various clubs and participated in a school fashion show.

As a young girl, born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, she found sisterhood in disco dance troupes "Super Six" and "Midnight Magic," according to a school yearbook.

Old photos show Harris and fellow dancers in glittery costumes busting a move.

"She was always smiling, laughing, as you see her today. She was getting along with anybody," said her friend Dean Smith.

Rudzitis remembers a "very smart" teenager with a lot of friends, who loved learning and spending time in the art room during lunch breaks.

She was eloquent and "always had stuff to say," she added, delighted to see her former student aspire to the presidency of the United States.

It was also during her years in Canada that she decided on a career as a prosecutor, eventually working her way up to district attorney of California.

"When I was in high school, I had a best friend who I learned was being molested," Harris recounted in a September 2020 campaign video. "A big part of the reason I wanted to be a prosecutor was to protect people like her."

Her friend Wanda Kagan had stayed with Harris's family for several months after revealing she had been abused by her stepfather.

While Harris appeared to have made the best of her time in Canada, she admitted in her memoir to feeling "homesick" for the United States. "I felt this constant sense of yearning to be back home," she said.

Once she had completed her Canadian studies, she returned to the United States, where she attended Howard University from 1982, a historically black school in Washington that has been called the "Black Harvard."

Indian doctors stage nationwide strike over colleague’s murder

By AFP
August 17, 2024

Nurses in the Indian city of Chandigarh took part in a candlelight vigil to condemn the rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata - Copyright AFP -
Arunabh SAIKIA and Sailendra SIL in Kolkata

Indian doctors launched a nationwide strike Saturday, escalating protests after the “barbaric” rape and murder of their colleague that has channelled outrage at the chronic issue of violence against women.

The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied body on August 9 at a state-run hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata sparked furious protests in several cities across the country.

Many have been led by doctors and other healthcare workers, but also joined by tens of thousands of ordinary Indians demanding action.

In Kolkata, thousands held a candle-lit vigil into the early hours of Saturday morning.

“Hands that heal shouldn’t bleed,” one handwritten sign held by a protester in the eastern city read.

“Enough is enough,” another read, at a rally by doctors in the capital New Delhi.

The murdered doctor was found in the teaching hospital’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a rest during a 36-hour shift.

An autopsy confirmed sexual assault, and in a petition to the court, the victim’s parents said they suspected their daughter was gang-raped.



– ‘Struggle for justice’ –



Those in government hospitals across several states on Monday halted elective services “indefinitely”, with multiple medical unions in both government and private systems backing the strikes.

On Saturday morning, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) escalated protests with a 24-hour “nationwide withdrawal of services”, and the suspension of all non-essential procedures.

“We ask for the understanding and support of the nation in this struggle for justice for its doctors and daughters,” IMA chief R.V. Asokan said, in a statement ahead of the strike.

The IMA called the killing “barbaric”.

“The 36-hour duty shift that the victim was in and the lack of safe spaces to rest… warrant a thorough overhaul of the working and living conditions of the resident doctors,” IMA said in a statement.

Doctors are demanding the implementation of the Central Protection Act, a bill to protect healthcare workers from violence.

Members of the wider public have also marched in several cities this week, including at a candlelight midnight rally in Kolkata that coincided with the start of India’s independence day celebrations on Thursday.

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India — an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4 billion people.

For many, the gruesome nature of the hospital attack has invoked comparisons with the horrific 2012 gang rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus.

That woman became a symbol of the socially conservative country’s failure to tackle sexual violence against women.

Her death sparked huge, and at times violent, demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere.

Smartphone app helps to lower cholera risk


ByDr. Tim Sandle
August 16, 2024
DIGITAL JOURNAL 

Bangladeshi scientist Firdausi Qadri won the Ramon Magsaysay Award - 'Asia's Nobel Prize - for her work on creating more affordable cholera and typhoid vaccines - Copyright AFP/File MUNIR UZ ZAMAN

The seventh cholera pandemic, which began in 1961, continues to this day. The pandemic has annually afflicted millions and claimed tens of thousands of lives. Recognized by the World Health Organization as the longest-lasting pandemic in history, cholera spreads through contamination of household water sources by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, often from poor sanitation infrastructure.

In nations such as Bangladesh, where cholera is endemic due to high population density and inadequate access to clean water and sanitation facilities, the disease poses a significant public health risk.

Some scientists take the view that for high-risk populations, providing these areas with an early warning system for local cholera risks can be beneficial for health management. This includes measures like encouraging households to adopt safer water, sanitation, and hygiene practices, thereby reducing susceptibility to cholera infection.

Supported, in part, by NASA and administrated by Resources for the Future, Kevin Boyle and colleagues from Moravian University, Penn State, and the University of Rhode Island have assessed the feasibility of implementing a smartphone app designed to convey cholera risk forecasts to households to mitigate the threat of cholera in Bangladesh. This forms part of early warning measures.

The research is titled “Early warning systems, mobile technology, and cholera aversion: Evidence from rural Bangladesh,” and it appears in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

For the research, the team developed CholeraMap, an Android-based smartphone application that conveys cholera risk forecasts to households. The app enables users to access risk predictions – from low to medium to high – for both their community and individual home locations.

The app also offered guidance on understanding the cholera threat associated with their household locations and provided essential public health information to reduce cholera exposure

.

Boys fish in a Malawi river in February 2023 in an area highly affected by a cholera outbreak due to scarce access to clean drinking water – Copyright AFP/File Muhammad FAROOQ

This type of reporting is useful since cholera risk is seasonal, changing weather patterns make historical cholera risk predictions less dependable, indicating a need for predictive models. Environmental scientists worked on a predictive model for monthly cholera risk in Bangladesh. The researchers proceeded to investigated how to best communicate these predictions directly to vulnerable populations.

To develop the cholera threat model, the scientists utilized remote sensing data such as rainfall observations, anomalies, forecasts, temperature, and elevation as well as data on population density and past cholera incidence. This model was then calibrated for Matlab, a rural sub-district of Bangladesh.

To test out the software, the CholeraMap application was installed on the smartphones of approximately 750 households across Matlab. Another 750 households received a companion app – CholeraApp – which provided publicly available information about preventing cholera. Finally, as a control, 500 households that did not receive access to either app were tracked.

Children in Mpape community play in a waste water drainage area. This drainage was the suspected source of contamination of the well water that led to the cholera outbreak investigated by Nigeria FELTP residents in April 2014. Image – CDC Global, photo by Amibola Aman-Oloniyo – Nigeria / via Wikimedia (CC SA 2.0)

To assess the impacts of CholeraMap on household behaviours and health, the researchers conducted surveys among the participating households before and after the application’s installation. The respondents were asked about their households’ water use, sanitation and hygiene practices, recent health experiences, water security, and their experiences using CholeraMap.

The scientists discovered that households using smartphone apps decreased their dependency on surface water, a significant source of cholera transmission. Surface water serves as a crucial water source in Matlab, especially for activities such as laundry, dishwashing, and bathing. By minimizing their reliance on surface water, households using CholeraMap were lowering their risk of contracting the disease through proactive measures.

The analysis, overall, appears to demonstrate that everyday people will respond and act in their own interests when presented with better health-related information.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-science/smartphone-app-helps-to-lower-cholera-risk/article#ixzz8jEeVniim

'Dizzying conflict of interest': Taliban reportedly owes Trump building more than $200,000

David McAfee
August 17, 2024 

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 5: U.S. President Donald Trump (C), national security advisor H.R. McMaster (L), White House chief of staff John Kelly (2nd L) and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (R) attend a briefing with senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House October 5, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Mattis said this week that the U.S. and allies are "holding the line" against the Taliban in Afghanistan as forecasts of a significant offensive by the militants remain unfulfilled. (Photo by Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images)

When the Taliban took over in Afghanistan in 2021, the Middle Eastern nation stopped making payments to one of Donald Trump's buildings, leading to a potential conflict of interest if the ex-president were to win another term, a watchdog reported.

Former federal corruption prosecutor Noah Bookbinder flagged the report from watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Saturday.

"We found that Afghanistan owes Trump World Tower over $200,000, highlighting the potential national security risks and Emoluments Clause violations if Donald Trump serves in government again and fails to divest from his businesses," said Bookbinder, who serves as president of CREW.

According to the report, "The government of Afghanistan owes Donald Trump’s Trump World Tower more than $200,000, according to a property lien filed last week with the New York City Department of Finance." It continues: "The debt relates to unpaid charges for a unit in the building across the street from the United Nations, which is popular with foreign governments."

The watchdog notes that, "Afghanistan has not paid for common charges and other fees in the building since March 2022, resulting in a debt of $219,914.75." It adds that, "They do not appear to have missed payments while Trump served as president, but started to miss payments after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan."

CREW also summarizes how the country bought the unit in Trump World Tower for $4.2 million in 2009, and explains past troubles associated with the tower and its board.

"Donald Trump owns a building and controls a condo board that is owed hundreds of thousands of dollars by a foreign government as he seeks to become president again. This represents a dizzying conflict of interest. Problematic as it is for Trump to make money from foreign governments, a debt raises the possibility Trump could use the power of the presidency to pursue collection, or seek retaliation," the report concludes. "Trump’s foreign entanglements are potential Emoluments Clause violations and national security threats if he serves in government again. Afghanistan’s large debt to Trump World Tower is case in point."

Read the report here.

 UK

Learning the right lessons to rescue our struggling NHS

15th August 2024Leave a Commenton Learning the right lessons to rescue our struggling NHS

“Rather than repeating the errors of 20 years ago, Labour should show real courage, and follow the examples of Attlee and Bevan who built the NHS… rather than Alan Milburn and Paul Corrigan who wasted millions trying to turn the NHS into a market.”

By John Lister

Rachel Reeves’ theatrical revelation of the black hole in government finances last month, and announcement of the projects including hospital buildings that would be axed, with more misery to come in her autumn budget, were a sorry follow-up to Labour’s electoral triumph.

Despite a massive parliamentary majority, and a clear majority of votes cast for parties promising progressive change, it seems the new government is determined to echo the Tories’ grim commitment to austerity for most of us, while allowing the super-rich and corporations to get even richer in the hopes that this will create economic “growth”.

If they stick to this position, they will inevitably fail to deliver on the manifesto and election speech promises to fix what Wes Streeting has described as our “broken” NHS.

Despite Reeve’s antics there were plenty of advance warnings issued on the scale of underfunding of the NHS in the months running up to Labour’s first election victory since 2005.

A year ago when Labour’s Mission Statement on the NHS was published, Health Foundation policy chief Hugh Alderwick argued:

“The elephant in the room is money. Labour’s narrative is that reform will need to do “the heavy lifting” to improve the NHS […]  No amount of reform will avoid the need for substantial investment for Starmer’s Labour to make real progress.”

Any doubts that government coffers have been emptied out were dispelled by Jeremy Hunt’s spring budget, which again prioritised tax cuts and cuts in National Insurance over public services.

In March, the Health Service Journal warned that the budget squeeze meant NHS organisations were facing intense pressure to cut staffing numbers, with “horrible” conversations on service cuts taking place among NHS bosses.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) also pointed out that NHS spending (after adjustment for inflation) would be £2 billion (1.2%) lower in 2024-25 than the £168.2bn in 2023-24, the largest real terms cut in spending since the 1970s.

But the pressures are growing. The latest figures show the scale of the problems in emergency care, elective care, community services, mental health, and of course general practice, with many GPs now taking industrial action in protest at a below inflation increase in funding. To make matters worse, hospitals are crumbling for lack of maintenance and RAAC-riddled hospitals could fall down at any time. Investment is needed to repair as well as expand.

Today’s Labour politicians need to look back to learn some key lessons from history, and times when the future of the NHS has been based on vision and courage.

BMA analysis of NHS spending since 2010 (which has been below the previous long term average)  has shown a cumulative under-spend of £362 billion – a gap far larger and created much faster than the £200-267 billion ‘under-spending’ over 25 years revealed in 2001 in the report by former NatWest boss Derek Wanless for Chancellor Gordon Brown.

It was Labour’s boldness in reversing this underinvestment with ten years of increases aimed at raising spending towards European average levels – not the half-baked, expensive ‘reforms’ (which spawned a fresh growth in an otherwise irrelevant private sector) – that played the key role in turning the tide and improving the NHS from 2000.

By contrast, in 1948 it was the bold step of nationalising the post-war mish-mash of (largely bankrupt) voluntary and municipal hospitals to form the NHS that was decisive. 1,143 voluntary hospitals (90,000 beds) and 1,545 municipal hospitals (390,000 beds) were taken over by the NHS in England and Wales. This laid the basis to get hospitals working together and build a national system.

A nationalised system made it possible for the first time to plan and allocate resources where they were needed, and to create a national system of education and training for doctors and nurses, and a career structure for doctors.

But courage was also needed on funding in the first few years of the NHS. Nobody had known how much a public system was likely to cost, but promises had been made that everything would be provided free of charge.

Before the war the partial insurance system had brought an extremely low percentage (1.8%) of national wealth invested in health and welfare. On this basis in 1946 the cost of running the new NHS was estimated at £110 million per year: by the end of 1947 this estimate had increased to £179m. But the first part-year (from July 1948) cost £328 million, and the first full year £372m – more than double the 1947 estimate.

If Clement Attlee’s government had not had the courage of its convictions, and found the extra money in a time of extreme economic pressure, the NHS could have been starved of basic funding and failed from the outset, and we would never have seen its full potential.

Today’s Labour leaders have a very different view of courage. Rachel Reeves believes she is being bold by refusing to tax the super-rich, or the super-profits of energy companies or tax dodging corporations, but instead cutting back on winter fuel allowance for pensioners, and refusing to spend more on health, social care, or welfare.

Wes Streeting’s idea of courage has been to stand aloof from the trade unions and from campaigners that have battled for the past 14 years and more to defend the NHS against cutbacks and privatisation, talk mainly to the right wing press, and wheel in a few veterans of the Blair years whose ideas were expensive failures.

Streeting insists above all that the NHS does not need more funding, but does need ‘reforms,’ and that we need to sink more NHS money, not into expanding the NHS to cope with the growing caseload, but into purchasing ‘spare capacity’ from the private sector.

In reality it’s far from clear there is anything like the amount of ‘spare’ capacity he imagines, or that the private sector wants to fill its beds with less profitable NHS patients.

The Spire chain of private hospitals have openly said they are not interested: they have plenty of work. But of course, if they did take on the extra work they would need to poach more staff from the limited pool of qualified professionals – hampering the NHS.

Rather than repeating the errors of 20 years ago, Labour should show real courage, and follow the examples of Attlee and Bevan who built the NHS – and raised the money to pay for it – rather than Alan Milburn, and Paul Corrigan who wasted millions trying to turn the NHS into a market.

Labour will never have a stronger base for bold action, to get the wealthy few to pay their fair share of tax to ensure the millions can access the health care they need, and ensure a bigger, strengthened NHS contributes to a stronger economy.

---

• John Lister is a founding member of Keep Our NHS Public and co-editor of The Lowdown. You can follow him on Twitter here; read The Lowdown here; and follow Keep Our NHS Public on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 
• If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.

80'S REDUX: TRIPARTISM

UK

Rayner vows union and business ‘partnership’ after New Deal summit

Katie Neame   

14th August, 2024,

Photo: @biztradegovuk

Angela Rayner has pledged “a new era of partnership” following a meeting between the government, trade unions and business leaders to discuss Labour’s plans to strengthen workers’ rights and “make work pay”.

The deputy Prime Minister met today with representatives from organisations including the TUC, UNISON, Unite, the British Chambers of Commerce and the Confederation of British Industry, alongside Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

The Department for Business and Trade said attendees “agreed to wipe the slate clean and begin a new relationship of respect and collaboration” to help deliver on the Labour government’s mission to kickstart economic growth.

READ MORE: Sign up to our must-read daily briefing email on all things Labour

The department said the meeting covered Labour’s employment rights bill, details of which were set out in the King’s Speech last month, as well as the party’s wider ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’, the new title of its long-pledged New Deal for Working People.

Commenting on the meeting, Rayner said: “Our Plan to Make Work Pay will bring together workers and businesses, both big and small and across different industries, for the good of the economy.

“This first-of-its-kind meeting has kicked off a new era of partnership that will bring benefits to everyone across the country striving to build a better life.”

The Department for Business and Trade said “further engagement” is planned to discuss the detail of the Plan to Make Work Pay, which will see trade unions and business representatives invited to similar meetings and able to share insights through upcoming consultations.

READ MORE: King’s Speech vows ‘genuine’ living wage and flexible working ‘default’

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “For too long, the valuable insights of business and trade unions have been ignored by government, even on past decisions which have directly impacted them.

“Business and workers will always help to shape the ambitions of government including our Plan to Make Work Pay, to ensure it boosts economic growth and creates better working conditions for all.”

Meeting attendee Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said: “The government’s Plan to Make Work Pay, including the introduction of an employment rights bill within its first 100 days, can set our economy on a path towards higher growth and better living standards.

“Today’s meeting was an important chance for unions and businesses to discuss the shared gains that the government’s reforms will bring, and we look forward to continued close working as ministers implement their plans.

“Together, we can raise the floor so that every job has the pay and security that families need to thrive, workers have access to unions, and good employers are not undercut by the bad.”

READ MORE: ‘Water firms are failing us. But Labour is already working to turn things around’

Fellow attendee Jane Gratton, deputy director of public policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “It was important to be in the room today to represent the views of business, and to emphasise that the government needs to genuinely listen as it develops its plans.

“Our members are clear that their employees deserve high standards of protection, but it’s important to guard against any unintended consequences of the proposed changes.

“This will require thorough and detailed consultation with firms of all sizes. The government must take its time, engage with employers and ensure that any changes are proportionate and affordable for businesses.”

UK

Train drivers’ pay ‘good for taxpayers’ as Aslef predicts members will back deal

Tom Belger    

15th August, 2024

Mick Whelan of Aslef.

A pay deal for train drivers reached between the government and Aslef is a “good deal for the taxpayer”, a Labour minister has said as the rail union’s general secretary predicted members woukd approve the offer.

The government hailed the agreement reached late on Wednesday with Labour-affiliated union Aslef as a “major breakthrough” that end a long-running dispute, after the government stepped into talks in place of train operators.

The offer made to ASLEF is a 5 per cent pay rise for 2022/23, 4.75 per cent for 23/24, and 4.5 per cent for 24/25. The offer will now be put to ASLEF members in a referendum.

PA reports Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, said on Thursday: “There is a direct cost to the economy if the strikes continue and we need to work together in partnership with workers and trade unions and business in order to get sustainable growth back into the economy.

“So this is a good deal for the taxpayer, it’s a good deal for the economy.”

Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said it was up to members how to vote, but “from the feedback I’ve had so far when talking to my representatives, I believe this will go through”.

Whelan said last night the deal had “no strings”, and no “land grab for our terms and conditions”. Rail firms had previously proposed reforms to working practices as condition of pay deals, including “putting work and training scheduels back in the hands of employers”, iand ntroducing part-time contracts.

The union is encouraging members to back the deal.

He told LBC that unlike the last government, “Labour has come to the table, spoke to us very very quickly, wants to make the railways better for the traveling public, the taxpayer and the people who actually work within the industry, and we’ve been able to do a deal to resolve it.”

The Tories have alighted on traditional attack lines, accusing Labour of having “caved to the unions”.

LabourList approached the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operating companies, for comment, but was advised to contact the Department for Transport.

UK

‘X-odus: Labour MPs and public bodies should now swap X for other platforms’

George Peretz    

16th August, 2024

Photo: ssi77/Shutterstock.com

Anyone who has tried to use X (formerly Twitter) since it was taken over by Elon Musk will know that it has become a platform where gross abuse and race hate are tolerated, and indeed encouraged by the algorithms and, often, by Musk’s personal endorsement.

X’s refusal to control such conduct is defended by Musk in terms of ‘free speech absolutism’. But that defence is hopeless. It is inconsistent with Musk’s own conduct in removing material disliked by authoritarian rulers whom he wants to work with (such as President Erdogan in Turkey).

But it is also intellectually incoherent: the right to free speech in a democracy where everyone is entitled to have their say cannot be extended to speech intended to intimidate or drown out the speech of others.

Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow, as RH Tawney put it. X calls itself the world’s town hall, but no town hall meeting would permit speakers to be shouted down by vile and often grossly racist abuse.

Musk’s recent interference in UK politics should be the final straw

But Musk’s shameless and ignorant interference in UK politics should be the final straw. That interference extended to publicising blatantly false rumours and tropes as well as arrogantly presuming to engage in a debate on equal terms with a democratically-elected Prime Minister (an arrogance no doubt fuelled by his ability, after much sycophancy, to secure a “conversation” with a certain disgraced former US President).  

Quite rightly, the Labour government’s immediate policy response to that provocation has been restrained. Acting hastily in response to such behaviour leads to bad decision-making. It also risks inflating Musk’s self-importance: the eagle does not catch flies, as the Romans used to say.

But there is a lot that the Labour government, and Labour-led public bodies, Labour politicians and the wider Labour movement, can do now, without fanfare.

Many people are already seeking out alternatives to X

X’s power as a forum for debate in UK politics ultimately depends on what competition economists call “network effects”. The reason why people want to be on X is a perception that everyone else is on X, and the reason why X’s rivals (such as BlueSky) have found it hard to compete – even though they offer an equivalent or better service without the posturing right-wing billionaire and with far better moderation of content – is the perception that they are not “where the action is”.

But the thing about network effects is that they are powerful until, suddenly, they aren’t. If people begin to think that, actually, an alternative network is where the action is, then what was the slipping of a few isolated pebbles on a mountain slope can gather strength and turn into a landslide.  

Over the past week, there are signs that that is what is happening. In my area – law – a large number of lawyers and legal commentators have moved to BlueSky over the past week and scaled down or closed their accounts on X.

That appears to be part of a massive spike in UK sign-ups to BlueSky. A number of Labour MPs have opened or reactivated BlueSky accounts. Many political journalists and some think tanks are now engaging on BlueSky. 

Government bodies moving platform could be a tipping point

So we may be at a tipping point. What is now needed is for it to tip. All of us can do our bit. At the very least, all Labour MPs and organisations who use X should now open and use a BlueSky (and/or Threads) account and signal on X that that is what they are doing so as to encourage their followers to move.  

Most importantly, Labour-led public bodies – and UK government bodies – should do the same. A major reason why many commentators and others who need to be kept up to date with government decision-making (including me) remain on X at all is that we use it to get real-time information about UK government announcements in areas that affect our work.

If all of that material were available at the same time on another platform, many of us could and would disengage from X completely.

There is absolutely no legal reason why that could not be done tomorrow, and no legal reason either why such a decision could not be justified (if justification was asked for) on the basis that it is in the public interest to have competition to an increasingly abusive and dysfunctional platform.

Ideally, they would in due course shut down their presence on X entirely: but that is not a decision that need be taken now.

One thing all of us in the Labour Party believe is that government can and should use its power to shape the market in ways that promote the public good and break unaccountable private monopoly power.  This could be the moment when – without spending money, legislating or even taking formal regulatory action, we can do that. We should all take that opportunity, now.

George Peretz

George Peretz KC is a barrister at Monckton Chambers. He is an executive member and co-chair of the trade and EU relations group of the Society of Labour Lawyers.

Prominent NHS campaigner latest left wing figure to quit X/Twitter

Chris Jarvis

16 August, 2024

Left Foot Forward

"This place is a total mess"

NHS campaigner Julia Patterson has announced she is quitting the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Patterson is the founder of the NHS campaign group Every Doctor.

In doing so, she has become the latest figure on the left to leave or scale back use of the platform, which is facing mounting criticism under its current owner Elon Musk.

Earlier this week, the new Labour MP for St Austell and Newquay deactivated his X account, with the Guardian reporting that two Labour MPs are planning on quitting the platform.

X has come under fire as a result of allegations that changes to the platform’s algorithm now amplify extreme right wing and far-right content. This criticism has intensified in the wake of the far right riots which spread across the UK earlier this month.

Labour minister Jess Phillips told the Guardian that Elon Musk has “turned X into a megaphone for foreign adversaries and far-right fringe groups seeking to corrupt our public sphere.”

Announcing her decision to quit X, Patterson said: “This place is in a total mess” and that she “can barely see the posts of the 60,000 NHS supporters I follow.”

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward