Suella Braverman and making the toxicity of the Conservatives more acceptable

 

Suella Braverman has made another speech.  The video is one that is her best/worst bits. Let me address many of her issues one by one.

Her claim to stop the boats.  This is an issue that has come into place under the Conservatives.  A decision not to stop them was made in 2021.France urged our government to open a safe and legal route for asylum seekers, they were willing to allow claims to be processed by applicants in France.  We refused.  If we had a decent system of processing applications for those in safe third nations, like we had for those refugees from Ukraine, we would not be housing loads in hotels (and other places).  This issue has been weaponised and people have a view that we are housing refugees at the expense of housing the homeless.  I do not see why this should be an either or issue.  If we can house refugees (and we should) we can house the homeless (and we should).  Processing applications quickly for those here will help, but it would be better to process them quicker for those abroad.

She then moves onto the European Convention on Human Rights.  My view on this is simple.  Do we deserve the same or less rights than those living in the EU?  If we take a holiday in Spain or France, should we have more rights there which we lose when we return home?

Next is the allegation about racism.  Yes, the Conservatives have had the first leader of a major UK political party and Prime Minister of colour.  In addition to this, they have the most ethnically representative  But look at how they categorise asylum seekers.  I would argue that Islamophobia is more of an issue with them than racism.  Sadiq Khan has faced the brunt of this, both in the current campaign and in past ones.

  

Yes, Labour cares about the planet.  Many Conservatives do as well.   It was a headline grabber to bring up grooming gangs, considering the lies she told about them before.  She then claims that PREVENT, a strategy to prevent radicalisation, should focus on extremist Muslims, again ignoring the facts on this that the Far Right is a huge threat.

She claims that politically correct critics of the Conservatives have privilege.  That is an interesting take on things considering how the Conservatives are funded! 

She brings up how patriotism is embarrassing to many on the left.  Sadly, for many it is and the right and the media that back them focus on that, not on the many on the left (including myself) who are proud of our great nation.  She is also correct about how Starmer is viewed.  Personally, I would sell the boring side of him, the man who gets the job done.  Sadly, he has allowed the Conservatives to say that he has flipped on many promises, and as those who follow my blog know, I do not like the way he threw Sadiq Khan under the ULEZ bus.

If the Conservatives do let Farage back into the party, he will help to retain the Red Wall seats that Labour need to win back.            

  

This speech shows that Labour needs to do more to fight the battles it can win, and move the battle to ground it can win on with other issues.  I do not think that Labour will have as eye catching a speech as hers next week.

House of ill (again)

The family are unwell.  Well, Leia (our dog) and I am not.  Yet.  My son has been the latest to fall to the viral illness.  My son, daughter and wife are to rest at home today and are all hoping that they should be better tomorrow.  I am hoping that I do not come down with what they have.  Yesterday, I was exhausted and did my best to recharge my batteries after vaccinating so many (I have just found out that I vaccinated the most on Saturday).  My energy levels are not back to normal, but are better than before.  I just hope that the rest of the family are feeling better soon.  We think that it is probably COVID, but they have tested negative so far, but the same happened when I was unwell when I returned from Greece.  I am negative as well, my latest test just being a few minutes ago.

On to other things, it was Leia's third birthday yesterday and she was puzzled when she was given steak as her birthday dinner.  The rest of the family have bought her toys (they do not know that I have bought her one as well).  Overall, she was spoilt for the day.  While she has to live a dog's life, I think that she has a good one, and she is as lucky to have us as owners as we are to have her.  

On a lighter note, I did get time to watch the Arsenal highlights yesterday, but it was quite one sided game, but the reason that the game was not covered in more depth was because of the loss of The Team That Rhymes With City losing to Wolves, and the loss of Liverpool to VAR along with other results being much more dramatic.  It is great that we are so high up in the table, it is annoying that the Scum are above us still.

Eddi Reader

Last night was great. My wife and I had not been to the Apex before and we loved the place. Watching music from the upper balcony was great. Both Eddi Reader and her support act were amazing. I love listening to live music, but the only downside was the ban on standing on the upper floors. We would love to listen to both in a live event again, and we may be returning to The Apex in the future as well!

Vaccinating

I have had an exhausting day at work today. I spent it vaccinating loads against COVID-19 and influenza. I worked with a fellow Arsenal fan and in the few moments that we had a break, we had a chat about Arsenal. 

I did not know that the goal celebration of Saka last weekend was the result of banter with his international teammate, James Maddison. But considering what I had been doing all day today, I thought it was an appropriate picture to post!  I had discussed the game and I predicted an Arsenal win, but I thought that Eddie Nketiah would score a hat trick, he being a good squad player to use in games like this. But it was not to be, however we did win anyway and I will hopefully watch the match tomorrow. My wife and I are to travel to Bury St Edmunds tonight to watch Eddi Reader. 

I have had the odd discussion about COVID on Twitter (or rather X) where I was wrong about someone who compared COVID to influenza. COVID19 can be compared to the Spanish Flu outbreak after The Great War. We saw lessons there about how social distancing and restrictions on movement saved lives and flattened the curve. Back then there was no immunisation campaign. Hopefully this will flatten the curve of hospital admissions this winter.

Workplace bullying

Do not worry, this is a joke title. 

Yesterday, at work, there was an urgent message left for me. I opened the envelope it was in to find a brochure. What had been done, with a jewellery brochure that had been sent to me in the post (probably because I have presents for my wife delivered there), is that some of the ladies I work with, had gone through it, put post-it notes on the pages they liked something and wrote what they wanted! I was not surprised at one of those who did it, but one of the others involved is normally very quiet and would never do anything like that! Of course I reported this to the manager who just laughed at me! 

A minister for men

This issue has come up after the recent misogyny that has made headlines.  First of all, the update.  Dan Wootton has been sacked by MailOnline, and Laurence Fox has (finally) apologised for his comments.  The failure of Dan Wootton to say Maaate to Laurence Fox is one of the reasons why we should consider having a minister for men.   

There is a lot of pressure on men to be toxic.  We see those like Andrew Tate venerated by other men, but we also see people like Russell Brand being defended by women.  When it comes to toxic behaviour in men being tolerated, it is the 'right type' of man who is able to get away with this.  While it is not with every woman, there are enough women who are attracted to bad boys which makes men see such behaviour as the right thing to do. 

As noted in the video, men have higher suicide rates, not just because men are more successful when it comes to trying to kill themselves, but it is seen as a failure for men to talk about their feelings.  Men are less likely to seek help when it comes to other health issues as well.  

There are so many things that we can do to help society become better, but that includes addressing the issues that men face, not just to their own health, but how they affect others.  Examples of this include teaching men who to act in relationships to reduce rates of domestic violence, ensuring that women do not have to fear being killed by men (or boys) due to an actual or perceived slight. And of course, reducing the numbers carrying knives full stop.

A Minister of Men would have spoken out when it came conversation on GB news about Ava Evans, though I suspect Wootton and Fox would consider the values that such a minister would promote to be too woke.  

 

#Maaate and toxic masculinity

Too many times, men have not challenged other men who have been misogynistic. We had it when Donald Trump talked in 2005, about how he would sexually assault women (the recording was released in 2016 a month before the election). We have had another blast of misogyny this week. Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox engaged in a bit of misogynistic banter, live on TV. Fox discussed the views of a female journalist, and his way of dismissing her was to say that no one, other than an incel, would shag her. Wootton, when he had the chance to say Maaate, and challenge this outburst of misogyny, laughed. 

Later, when suspended, he admitted what he did was wrong. However Fox threw him under the bus by tweeting the conversation that they had on X (the App formerly known as Twitter). 

What Wootton should have done, is to follow the advice of Sadiq Khan. He should have said Maaate, and then challenged his friend and given him the chance to apologise for what he said.

As a man, if I see sexism like that, I should speak out, if I was in the situation Wootton was in. Banter is one thing, misogyny is another. Boys are taught Toxic Masculinity as teenagers. Such teaching can be unlearned, and that requires it to be challenged.