Tories
Israeli media: Israel ‘totally defeated’ – and terrified of Iran
Source close to discussions about Iran says millions would be fleeing Israel if they knew what was being said
Israeli media are often far more honest about what their country is doing – and what is going on in it – than western ‘mainstream’ media are about the same issues. While UK ‘msm’ still maintain the lie that Hamas ‘beheaded babies’ and raped women on 7 October, Israeli media sometimes freely discuss the truth – and frequently and openly write about the ‘immense’ numbers of Israelis killed that day by the Israeli military.
And now, Israeli media are discussing two further truths that will not be aired by UK broadcasters or printed by UK papers.
First, Haaretz – one of Israel’s major dailies – has splashed a headline concluding that Israel has lost – totally lost – the ‘war’, the genocide, it has been raining down on the innocent civilians of Gaza. Lost so badly that Israel cannot be secure – and will not either regain by force the captives taken by Hamas, or end its pariah status:
And second, journalists with sources close to the Israeli regime’s discussions about Iran – which yesterday achieved a measured but compelling attack on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of Iran’s consulate in Damascus – are saying openly that those discussions are so terrifying that if the Israeli populace knew what was being said, millions of them would be flooding Israel’s main international airport to try to get out of the country:
The UK government, opposition and media are incorrigibly dishonest about Israel’s genocide and its terrible consequences for the millions of innocents in Gaza and the West Bank – and the ruination of both Israel’s and the West’s always-thin pretence as democratic, humane and law-abiding. But the truth is out there – and will percolate through.
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Exclusive: Unite bans anti-racist documentary – after first offering to support
‘Resistance Street’ film premieres in London this week – but not in Unite buildings, against the wishes of Unite officers and reps
The Unite union has continued its trend under general secretary Sharon Graham of banning left-wing films and books by blocking showings on its premises of a new documentary by Richard David – despite its equalities directors first offering maximum help.
‘On Resistance Street’ trailer
The film was shot over a two year period in England, Belfast and New York and features renowned musicians, bands, writers and commentators looking at the role music plays in the fight against Fascism and racism. Siobhan Endean, Unite’s equalities director, initially responded to David’s approach:
Thank you for your email that you sent to our Executive Council. My role is working in the field of equalities within unite and I would be very keen to help you as much as I can. You asked for an email address for our general secretary it is [redacted] I would also be very grateful if you could share a link to your film, and I will see what can be done to support the film.
However, within a short time this willingness to help was withdrawn, prompting the film’s creators to write directly to Sharon Graham:
Dear Sharon,
I am writing to you as the writer-director of the new British feature-length documentary ‘ON RESISTANCE STREET’, which received its sold-out international premiere in Belfast, at the Queen’s Film Theatre on October 19th 2023.The film was a two year independent production, shot in England, Belfast and New York. It is an in-depth examination of the role which music has played historically in the fight against Fascism, racism, bigotry and Right Wing ideology.
As such it contains contributions from a wide array of musicians, Trade Union leaders, activists, authors, historians and commentators. These include members of The Sex Pistols, Steel Pulse, Aswad, Stiff Little Fingers, The Levellers, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, The Defects and The Outcasts. There are also contributions from contemporary British artists such as the East London based Grime Star Lady Shocker, who performs individually but is also a founder member of the
ground-breaking ‘Female All-stars’ Grime collective.Other contributors include: Matt Wrack FBU Leader, Weyman Bennett, national co-ordinator of ‘Stand Up to Racism’, Chris Salewicz, biographer of Joe Strummer and Bob Marley, Anti-Fascist author and historian Rick Blackman, feminist historian and author Louise Raw, Clash ‘Rude Boy’ movie star Ray Gange, leading female Black Lives Matter activist Chantelle Lunt, Terri Hooley, founder of ‘Good Vibrations Records in Belfast, Mexico City Trade Union leader Fernando Luna, New York State Union organiser Dan Gniewekei and others.
The film also shows as to how a new Trade Union, was created in Mexico City, with between 3-400 members, this after a year of online video call consultations, between British, American and Mexican members of an online Clash fans group named ‘Clash Fans Against The Right’. The members involved were full-time Union officers in their own countries. That group was founded by myself and Robin Banks, in direct response to Boris Johnson’s ludicrous and deeply cynical claim that The Clash were one of his ”Two favourite bands”, that obscene announcement contained inside an official Conservative Party political broadcast in November 2019.That social media group has since evolved into a real life Anti-Racism organisation named ‘Resistance Street’, which has staged live music events in London, Liverpool, New York and Belfast over the last two years. These events also featured many political speakers including Trade Union leaders like Matt Wrack. In its third section, ‘On Resistance Street’ traces that evolution and shows how social media can be harnessed and utilised powerfully on behalf of the Left, when people pool their intellectual and creative strengths.
The film was produced by myself and Robin, the lifelong friend of The Clash’s Mick Jones, who was immortalised in the band’s song ”Stay Free”. A song written by Mick himself and about their friendship. Robin and I were both friends of the late Joe Strummer, whose lyrics and quotes appear at various stages of the film.
This letter is sent in direct conjunction with a recent proposal which originated via friends of mine who are Unite Officers and Shop Stewards in Southampton, the city in which UK production was based. This followed another sold-out Southern regional premiere screening at Solent University Film Theatre on November 17th. The proposal was that there would be a special screening of the film for Unite members, Anti-Racism activists and other members of Trade Unions at the Unite-The Union HQ in Southampton.
I have personally attended previous Anti-Racism documentary screenings at the HQ, which were well supported and successfully received, audience-wise. Secondly, it was proposed that following that initial event, this could act as springboard for a series of special screenings in Unite HQ’s across the country.
Both Robin and myself were only too delighted at this proposal, given it had always been our hope that special political screenings could materialise via agreements with Trade Unions.
Many people who have seen ORS, have commented on its in-depth educational value. The film not only chronicles music’s role in this battle as stated, but charts the entire drift towards the political Right in America, Europe and Britain, as we confront the present. As such, the ascendancy of Trump, the Brexit campaign and the British and European Far Right are all documented, with emphasis on the now alarming authoritarian stances of the current Conservative government in Britain.
We emphasise that given our own political convictions formed over a lifetime, we were absolutely perfectly happy to see this screening and the proposed series across the country, take place with us making not a single PENNY of profit from it all.
We have now been informed that this proposal is not possible, in direct relation to a relatively recent motion passed by the Unite-The Union National Executive.
As you are well aware, that motion has forbidden the screening of any documentary films in Unite-The Union buildings, unless they are specifically to do with working conditions, wage disputes and industrial relations.The officers and Shop Stewards concerned were truly shocked by this motion. So are we. Firstly, such films are few and far between and are only likely to be made if they were commissioned by Unions individually or the TUC.
Secondly and more importantly, this decision was taken without consultation of your regional political education officers, general membership or indeed the Unite-The Union Community section. As such, we believe this amounts to a Stalinist-style decision and one which stands directly at odds with the overall principles and history of Anti-Fascism and Anti-Racism in Britain.
It is a decision which consequently denies workers/members the opportunity to watch a film like this inside a recognised Union environment. It is a decision which raises serious questions concerning your Union’s commitment to Anti-Racism in general and which constitutes a gross act of cultural censorship.
Working class cultural activism and creativity should be an absolutely integral part of any genuine political education programmes. Particularly when it is based inside energies challenging racism in Britain.
The Shop Stewards and officers all voiced that belief and it is one we share and endorse completely. We are of course aware of the furore caused via screenings or potential screenings of the Jeremy Corbyn film ‘The Big Lie’.
We shall not comment further on that, other than to say until we hear differently, we have to assume that this motion was passed as a knee-jerk, supposedly politically expedient reaction, to all that. If you are of the view that there are other bona-fide reasons behind the motion, we would very much like to hear what they are.
In light of all this, we are now requesting the following:
- That your National Executive convenes to formally re-assess this decision.
- That in doing so, the Executive democratically consults fully with your regional political education officers and only reaches a final decision after such consultations.
If this does not happen, we believe it makes an utter mockery of their supposed role and programmes. We also believe strongly that there should be further extended consultations with appropriate representatives of Unite The Union-In The Community, this also on a regional basis.
It is our conviction that the current decision cuts right to the heart of supposed ‘democracy’, as related to fundamental ethics and principles of Trade Unionism within ‘Unite-The Union’. We believe this decision should be reversed. We believe that these matters will attract widespread attention and public interest within the public domain. With that in mind, we request a formal response from yourself at the earliest possible point.
In Solidarity.
Richard David
Robin Banks
The pair received a response from Sarah Carpenter, Unite’s newly-promoted (without proper process, according to union insiders) ‘Executive head of operations’. The reply, while anodyne in its language, confirmed that Unite has no intention of reversing its ban – and did not address any of the makers’ concerns about the political motivations behind it:
Dear Richard and Robin,
Thank you for your letter which you sent to the General Secretary on 18 December. The GS is currently involved in industrial disputes and has asked me to respond.
Your letter rightly refers to a decision made by the union’s Executive Committee (made up of lay members, elected democratically by and from the wider membership), which was debated and agreed by them at their meeting in September 2023. This decision was ‘That Unite should not use its premises or resources to show or promote any external films or other content that does not relate to our industrial agenda to support the pay, terms and conditions of our members and/or support existing Unite policies. In this context the Union should be especially careful to avoid appearing to endorse any material which causes unnecessary offence to members.’
This would mean that we cannot show any films unless there is a clear link to our industrial agenda. The film you have produced looks fascinating and I am pleased to see that you have found venues where this can be shown. However, from the information you have sent I do not see that there is a link to our industrial agenda, and so we are not able to use Unite premises or resources to show or promote this film.
Carpenter has been accused, acting on Sharon Graham’s behalf, of threatening a soon-to-retire regional official with the loss of his pension bonus if he did not cool his support for the people of Palestine against Israel’s genocide – and of cancelling showings and readings of films and books showing the pro-Israel lobby’s sabotage of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour party and exposing abuse by Starmer’s Labour toward left-wing party members.
Sharon Graham has been alleged by Unite insiders to have:
- banned Unite officials and national banners from pro-Gaza protests
- banned and smeared films and books exposing the ‘Labour antisemitism’ scam
- placed an official under investigation who refused to cancel a Palestine solidarity fringe event at Labour’s 2023 annual conference
- told her chief of staff to threaten a soon-to-retire official with the loss of a pension bonus if he did not soften his support for Palestinians
Her supporters also prevented debate and votes on Gaza at a March meeting of the union’s elected executive.
Apart from the issue of Gaza, her tenure as Unite boss has also been marked by a string of other allegations – which neither she nor the union has denied – including destruction of evidence against her husband in threat, misogyny and bullying complaints brought by union employees. She is also embroiled in both an employment tribunal for discrimination and a defamation lawsuit brought by Irish union legend Brendan Ogle for the union’s treatment of him and comments made about him by Graham and her close ally Tony Woodhouse.
‘On Resistance Street’ will receive its London premiere at The Gate Picturehouse Cinema in Notting Hill on
Wednesday April 17th. That will be followed by a short theatrical run across Britain. The film will then feature in a wide number of national and international Film festivals.
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Video: friend of Israel Hodge says ‘very few dare’ in Labour to support Palestine
Newly-uncovered video from Labour’s last conference shows shocking comment – and Hodge falsely claiming fellow right-winger Luciana Berger needed ‘police protection’ to move around 2018 conference
A Times Radio video clip reveals right-wing Labour MP Margaret Hodge – who has continued to accept funds from Labour Friends of Israel to visit the country even during Israel’s genocide of Palestinians – telling interviewer John Pienaar that ‘very very few’ people within the Labour party ‘are daring to express support’ for Palestinians.
The clip, which does not appear to have been circulated before now, was posted by Steve Powers after he found it couched in a much longer video from the Murdoch station. Hodge then goes on to repeat the long-debunked claim, still (of course) widely circulated by right-wingers and the so-called ‘mainstream’ media, that former Labour/Tinge party/LibDem MP Luciana Berger needed a police escort to ‘get around’ the 2018 party conference, the last one she had attended before deserting the party:
Merseyside Police confirmed at the time that there was no special police detail for Berger, whom Keir Starmer has welcomed back into the party despite her efforts to prevent a Labour victory in 2019.
But even more damning is the arrogance of the claim – no doubt accurate under Starmer’s Stalinist, pro-genocide regime – just as Israel was preparing to launch its genocide, that ‘very very few’ would now ‘dare’ to show support for Palestinians.
Within the rotting shell that now passes for Labour, that may be correct – but the millions marching every weekend for freedom for Palestinians and an end to Israel’s war crimes make clear that Starmer’s Labour, like the blue version of the Tories, is utterly out of touch with the three quarters of the UK public who despise the murderousness that has killed and maimed more than 100,000 civilians, mostly women and children, and the apartheid states’s contempt for international law and want the genocide to end.
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In pictures: Liverpool turns out in force for Gaza
Large gathering dominates famous station frontage as crowd chants for an end to Israel’s genocide
Hundreds turned out on Easter Saturday to demonstrate at Liverpool’s famous Lime Street Station today to demand an end to Israel’s genocide and war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The first real spring day did justice to the banners and flags and the large crowd was supplemented by passers-by as shoppers paused to find out more and then join in:
Liverpool Community Independents leader Alan Gibbons is a stalwart of the Gaza protests
Liverpool women hold ‘babies’ to symbolise Israel’s slaughter of Gaza’s children
The protest came in a week where a growing number of countries reinstated their support for the UN’s Gaza relief agency UNRWA – and as Ireland, the ancestral home of so many scousers, announced that it would formally join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.
According to human rights agency Euro Med Monitor, Israel has already killed well over 40,000 civilians in Gaza, mostly women and children, and has wounded and maimed at least twice that number, with the death toll now accelerating even further as the famine imposed by Israel on Gaza’s two million plus inhabitants bites. Israel continues to flout international law and is now ignoring the International Court of Justice’s orders to allow immediate, unfettered, mass access of humanitarian aid and has blocked UNRWA’s access to distribute and deliver, while allowing far-right Israeli groups to block shipments and using starvation as a weapon.
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Leading medics publicly accuse RCP of misleading docs about non-doctor ‘associates’
Open letter to Royal College of Physicians officers cites false claims, failure to declare conflicts of interest and disregard for patient safety
Twenty-nine Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have accused the RCP’s leading officers of misleading doctors and hiding conflicts of interest in an attempt to persuade them and other RCP Fellows into voting down a key motion, tabled at last week’s RCP Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), calling for a slow-down in the expansion of ‘physician associate’ (PA) roles pushed by the government, which ninety percent of doctors believe are endangering patients.
Last week, Skwawkbox covered the extraordinary scenes at, and outraged reaction to, the EGM and the conduct of the RCP panel as it refused to engage with doctors’ questions and misleadingly presented statistics to inflate support for the way in which the government is (ab)using PA roles, which do not have a medical degree, to replace fully-trained doctors – and to excuse the RCP’s continued support for the government’s programme. The RCP was exposed as having a huge financial interest in the programme.
The Fellows, senior doctors and medical professors, sent their letter to the RCP expressing concern at the ‘terrible harm’ the RCP leadership has done to the College’s reputation and detailing the issues with the way the EGM was run and data were presented by the RCP panel in the debate – and the way in which the College mishandled the need to come clean after the issues were exposed, failing to let doctors know before the close of the vote on the five motions that they had been misled. The motions, including the fifth one that the RCP board had urged doctors to reject, passed overwhelmingly:
STATEMENT OF CONCERN
The events of the last week have done terrible harm to the reputation of the College and the trust that its members and the wider public have in the leadership of the organisation.
Prior to the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on 13th March 2024 to discuss issues around Physician Associates (PAs), members of the College who are not eligible to vote on the motions were surveyed. Their views were important to inform Fellows voting on the EGM motions about the impact of PAs on patient care and doctors’ training. It has become apparent that the Senior Officers of the College presented selected survey data at the EGM on 13th March, that in our opinion was manipulated in a way that can only have been intended to mislead fellows of the college.
Of note, the Deputy Registrar who presented the survey data, but who we understand did not prepare the slides, resigned from their post immediately after the EGM.
Following the EGM, multiple formal written requests were made to the CEO and Senior Officers to release the survey data. The CEO and Senior Officers refused for 5 days to release the survey results, only doing so after sustained public and direct pressure and multiple written requests. PRCP also cited the same misleading, manipulated survey data in an email to Members and Fellows of the College after the EGM.
The survey results were published on the RCP website at 9am on Monday 18th March, but no attempts were made during the voting period which ended on 20th March, to directly inform members or Fellows of the College that the data presented at the EGM were misleading, although PRCP emailed members on related matters.
During this time, Fellows voted on the 5 motions presented at the EGM, and they were doing so informed in part by the misleading information presented to them at that meeting.
The 5 motions presented at the EGM have been approved by a substantial majority of the Fellows of the College including Motion 5, which the Senior Officers had advised Fellows to vote against, despite the patient safety concerns raised in relation to PA scope and practice.
Discussions at the EGM and events leading up to and following the meeting raise serious concerns about the conduct, governance, and performance of the RCP, especially in relation to patient safety.
These concerns include but are not limited to a number of issues over several years:
- Apparent failure of the RCP to adequately monitor the role and scope of PAs since the College agreed to house the Faculty of PAs (FPA) in 2015
- Apparent failure to communicate clear parameters and scope for PAs from 2015 to March 2024, including failure to clearly communicate that PAs are not doctors and PAs must not replace doctors.
- Apparent failure to respond to the concerns of the RCP Training Committee in relation to PAs raised in 2015 and subsequently with regard to loss of training opportunities for doctors and patient safety.
- Apparent failure to respond to patient safety concerns raised by Fellows of the RCP with Senior Officers during 2023.
- Providing false assurance from 2015 onwards to Members and Fellows of RCP and the wider public that PAs were safely working in their intended scope of practice.
- Apparent failure to acknowledge that PAs in substantial numbers are and were working outside the intended scope despite being provided with evidence that this was the case.
- Apparent failure to acknowledge that PAs are and were working in place of doctors in General Practice, and that PA locum agencies were facilitating this using NHS ARSS funding despite being provided with evidence that this was the case.
- Apparent failure to acknowledge that PAs in substantial numbers are and were working in place of doctors on medical rotas in hospitals.
- Apparent failure to act on evidence ]Provided by DAUK and the BMA that PAs are and were systematically replacing doctors in General Practice and hospitals.
- Apparent failure to work collaboratively with NHS England, the FPA and GMC to ensure that PA Schools educate and communicate with PAs in line with their agreed scope, including but not limited to the principle that PAs are not doctors and must not replace doctors.
- Apparent failure to adequately monitor and analyse the performance of PAs in clinical practice to determine patient safety, performance, clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness.
- Apparent failure of Senior Officers to act on patient safety concerns raised by Members and Fellows and the wideir public because of the potential financial impact on the College.
- Apparent failure of the Senior Officers to fully declare their Conflicts of Interest.
- Apparent failure of the Senior Officers to adequately determine the Conflicts of Interest of the FPA leadership team.
- Apparent failure of the Senior Officers and CEO to act in accordance with the RCP Code of Conduct.
- Apparent failure of the Senior Officers to act in accordance with GMC Good Medical Practice.
This non-exhaustive list highlights that the Senior Officers and CEO have failed on multiple accounts to adhere to the RCP Code of Conduct.
Whilst, given the time pressures, there must be an immediate action plan to ensure that PAs are working within their scope of practice and not in place of doctors, there is a parallel urgent need for an independent review of the Senior Officers with a particular focus on governance and probity.
Dr Asif Qasim FRCP
Professor Alexander Ford FRCP
Professor Charlotte Bolton FRCP
Professor Trisha Greenhalgh OBE FRCP
Professor Martin McKee CBE FRCP
Dr Dagan Lonsdale FRCP
Professor Shah Ebrahim FRCP
Dr Taryn Youngstein FRCP
Professor Nick Hopkinson FRCP
Dr Vinoda Sharma FRCP
Dr Barry Monk FRCP
Dr John Stephens FRCP
Dr Arjun Ghosh FRCP
Dr Scot Garg FRCP
Dr Shrilla Banerjee FRCP
Professor Liz Lightstone FRCP
Professor Mamas Mamas FRCP
Professor Raanan Gillon FRCP
Dr David Nicholl FRCP
Dr Animesh Singh FRCP
Professor Jim Nolan FRCP
Dr Philip Pearson FRCP
Dr David Cohen FRCP
Professor Shahrad Taheri FRCP
Dr Rajiv Sankaranarayanan FRCP
Dr Nasser Khan FRCP
Dr Kevin O’Kane FRCP
Dr Zoe Wyrko FRCP
Dr Muhammad Ahsan FRCP23rd March 2024
The use of PAs, which is considered by nine out of ten doctors to be dangerous to patients and confuses many patients, who do not realise that they have not been seen and treated by a fully-qualified medic, is being pushed by the government as a way of ‘downskilling’ the NHS, reducing costs and allowing increased profits for private providers, under the guise of the so-called ‘NHS Workforce Plan’ as part of the ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICS) project.
ICS, formerly called ‘Accountable Care Organisations’ (ACOs) after the US system it copied, were renamed after awareness began to spread that ACOs were a system for withholding care from patients and that care providers were incentivised to cut care because they receive a share of the ‘savings’. The system remained the same, but the rebranding disguised the reality.
The government used a ‘statutory instrument’ (SI) to pass these changes, avoiding proper parliamentary scrutiny, but both the Tories and Keir Starmer’s Labour support these and other measures to cheapen the NHS for private involvement and only independent MP Claudia Webbe spoke against them during the brief SI debate. Green peer Natalie Bennett’s motion in the House of Lords to attempt to kill the instrument was defeated by the Tories with the help of Labour peers.
Some of the signatories, such as Keele University Professor Mamas A Mamas, have added a demand for a full investigation into the actions of the RCP leadership – and ‘urgent action’ to prevent the government’s push for physician associates to operate beyond safe boundaries:
Despite the government’s attempt to keep this cost-cutting, care-degrading manoeuvre below the radar, it is rapidly becoming a major public issue – yet both Labour and the Tories are committed to continuing it, despite the avoidable deaths among patients that it has already caused.
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Exclusive: whistleblower accuses Labour W Mids PCC of refusing to act on abuse allegations
No response from Simon Foster’s press office to Elaina Cohen’s allegations – also covered up by Keir Starmer
A former MP’s staffer who blew the whistle on alleged abuse of Muslim domestic violence victims has accused West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster of ‘refus[ing] to investigate’ the failure of the force’s then-Chief Constable to act on evidence of the abuse – and that Foster and the current Chief Constable ‘disregarding’ further allegations, from a separate source, about the same alleged perpetrator.
Elaina Cohen, who used to work for Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood and took him successfully to an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal when she lost her job after making protected disclosures about the abuse, first made the allegations against Foster during submissions to the tribunal, which Skwawkbox attended on behalf of its readers. Evidence given under oath to the tribunal by one of the victims of the ‘sadistic’ abuse, threats and blackmail she suffered was not disputed by Mahmood or his legal team.
And in an email today to Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden, a Keir Starmer front-bencher, seen by Skwawkbox, Cohen wrote that:
Evidence already in the public domain shows Simon Foster has steadfastly refused to investigate why former West Midlands Chief Constable Thompson abandoned multiple victims when presented with evidenced abuse perpetrated by a Labour member working in a parliamentary office of a Labour MP.
An email from [Tory West Midlands Mayor] Andy Street states when he has the authority of a PCC he will seek justice for these women…
…an opposition party councillor has made representation to Simon Foster and Chief Constable Guildford with further allegations about the same perpetrator and was also disregarded.
I believe this information questions Simon Foster’s suitability to be a candidate.
Skwawkbox contacted Mr Foster’s press office for contact this morning, but received only an automated acknowledgement in reply.
Labour leader Keir Starmer and his general secretary David Evans also covered up the abuse, taking no action despite repeated warnings and appeals from Ms Cohen. They also did not act on Ms Cohen’s complaints of the antisemitism she suffered – or on complaints from Muslim women councillors in Birmingham about bullying, misogyny and threats at the hands of local party right-wingers.
Despite this appalling record, Starmer has continued to boast that he will be a ‘champion’ for victims of domestic abuse. Simon Foster has also promised to act to protect women:
Foster, who is standing for re-election, has just won a legal battle to prevent his PCC role being absorbed by Tory metro mayor Andy Street, but Elaina Cohen told Skwawkbox of her dissatisfaction with both Foster and his party boss:
I remain disappointed that Sir Keir Starmer refuses to acknowledge or act upon my protected disclosures and whilst I would support an independent office of a PCC I would question political appointments based on my own experience. In my opinion the cover-up of criminal abuse of vulnerable women is just as abhorrent as racism as a candidate issue.
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Video: EGM leak reveals RCP ‘refusing to answer patient safety questions’ and more
Clips from 2-hour leaked extraordinary general meeting appear to show Royal College of Physicians avoiding scrutiny – but making damning admission of financial conflict of interests in government’s expansion of ‘non-doctor-doctor’ roles
A leaked video of the entire ‘extraordinary general meeting’ (EGM) of the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), called by doctors to try to force a slow-down in the roll-out of the government’s expansion of the use of non-medically-trained staff in ‘doctor’ roles, has revealed comments and obfuscation that have led medical professionals to call for the resignation of senior RCP officers. One has already resigned.
A number of patients have already died avoidably because of errors by ‘physician associates’ (PA), who have only two years’ training compared the seven-plus years completed by doctors. A Doctors’ Association UK survey has found ‘deeply disturbing’ abuse of the PA role in NHS trusts.
Keele University cardiology Professor Mamas A Mamas wrote of the leaked video:
The ‘PlatinumPizza’ Twitter/X account has posted a number of excerpts from the EGM video highlighting what it feels are the most noteworthy evasions and obfuscations. The first two reveal that, while the RCP claims that PAs must complete national exams, a freedom of information request revealed that this can be bypassed – and that the RCP, which criticised a far more comprehensive survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) as biased, in fact skews the results of its own small survey to present a falsely positive outlook:
Next, Dr Read tries to present the results of the survey. It's important to remember that Dr Read has since resigned from his post following the EGM.
Somehow, they've managed to mess-up even a basic Likert scale survey and clustered the neutrals with the positives! pic.twitter.com/G2DRpdegBx— platinumpizza
(@Xeon4f145d96s1) March 17, 2024
Doctors participating in the EGM also raised the issue of the fact that PAs are paid more than the junior doctors who often have to supervise them (and can be held to blame if a PA screws up) – but the RCP said it was ‘not a union’ and not interested in getting involved in pay issues:
Next, slightly sped-up, @DrOKaneAgain eviscerates the survey and its results. An insinuation about the BMA survey being "biased" and "leading" is raised. This comes after the RCP tries to pawn off its results by aggregating positive with neutral, as @doctor_oxford shared with us. pic.twitter.com/MefdfOmxT4
— platinumpizza
Next, the first of two posts about the RCP’s prioritisation of its finances above what nine out of ten doctors feels is a grave threat to patient safety:
Back to it, this clip talks about the fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities the RCP have. Although not shown in this particular clip (I'll include it in the thread later), mentions of millions in reparations/ law-suits/ class actions is made. pic.twitter.com/OYLBQtN5VO
— platinumpizza
And then the second, which shows the RCP’s treasurer admitting/warning that the RCP could stand to lose millions if the PA expansion is halted or even slowed down – and the RCP apparently disagreeing with the RCP of a short while below about being a ‘union’, at least when it comes to ensuring PAs have jobs:
I know you are all waiting to hear the millions the RCP might be forced to pay up…so this clip is just that!
Will someone think about the pensions?! pic.twitter.com/s8JD70ooXs— platinumpizza
And, adding farce to the ‘contempt’ of which doctors accused the RCP after the meeting, the panel refuses to say what additional benefit a PA brings to a ‘multi-disciplinary team’ that is not already present in the mix – rounded off by a clip of a doctor warning of the dangers of pressing ahead with the whole damaging system:
And lastly, in what can only be described as an epic season finale, @DrAsifQasim drops an absolute banger.
"i am deeply concerned we will take a patient safety hit if we do not act" pic.twitter.com/LaqIozrAEV— platinumpizza
And in a clip not included in the thread but created by Skwawkbox, one of the movers of the motion for the expansion to be slowed down until it can be shown to be safe for patients explains why it is so important for voting members of the RCP to support it, despite the RCP management’s recommendation to reject it and plough on:
Other discussions during the meeting included the panel failing to explain how it was going to ‘hold the government to account’ for the safe functioning of the system, as it had claimed it would – and treating the mere inclusion of any extra doctors in the government’s ‘long-term workforce plan’ as an achievement by the RCP.
The use of PAs, which is considered by nine out of ten doctors to be dangerous to patients and confuses many patients, who do not realise that they have not been seen and treated by a fully-qualified medic, is being pushed by the government as a way of ‘downskilling’ the NHS, reducing costs and allowing increased profits for private providers, under the guise of the so-called ‘NHS Workforce Plan’ as part of the ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICS) project.
ICS, formerly called ‘Accountable Care Organisations’ (ACOs) after the US system it copied, were renamed after awareness began to spread that ACOs were a system for withholding care from patients and that care providers were incentivised to cut care because they receive a share of the ‘savings’. The system remained the same, but the rebranding disguised the reality.
The government used a ‘statutory instrument’ (SI) to pass these changes, avoiding proper parliamentary scrutiny, but both the Tories and Keir Starmer’s Labour support these and other measures to cheapen the NHS for private involvement and only independent MP Claudia Webbe spoke against them during the brief SI debate. Green peer Natalie Bennett’s motion in the House of Lords to attempt to kill the instrument was defeated by the Tories with the help of Labour peers.
Watch the full RCP meeting here.
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Video: hundreds turn out in heavy rain to support Abbott
And C4 News coverage exposes Starmer’s Labour just as racist as Tories
Hundreds gathered despite heavy rain on Friday night in noisy support for Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott, who remains suspended by the Labour party despite foul racism both by a top Tory donor and by Labour staff and MPs:
And Channel 4 News coverage of the demo, unusually when Keir Starmer generally receives the softest handling from the so-called ‘mainstream’ media, highlighted the Labour right’s racism toward Ms Abbott – Britain’s first Black woman MP and the UK’s most abused – as much as that of the Tories, including comments by Martine Forde KC, the barrister appointed by Starmer to investigate the right’s disgusting behaviour revealed in a leaked Labour report and ignored ever since:
Solidarity with Diane Abbott – but she is better outside Starmer’s racist party than within it.
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Doctors’ Association survey finds ‘deeply disturbing’ misuse of govt’s non-doctor roles
Danger to patients and conflicts of interest as government continues to push for expanded use of ‘associate’ roles – with help from the Royal College of Physicians
A survey by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has revealed ‘deeply disturbing’ ‘scope creep’ in which – as warned by the British Medical Association (BMA) and others – ‘physician associates’ (PAs), who are not qualified as physicians, are being used and acting as doctors.
A statement by the group warns that PA are not only overstepping the boundaries in which they are meant to operate, but also being used by NHS trusts and health companies to fill positions that require fully-qualified doctors:
PAs are overstepping boundaries, putting patient safety at risk, and impacting doctors’ training. This is shocking in itself, but made far worse by recent events at the Royal College of Physicians… Doctors at Torbay report PAs being used as “middle grades” – clear scope creep.
According to a doctor recruitment agency:
Doctors in speciality training programmes are known as Middle Grade doctors. Junior Middle Grade doctors are trainees who have completed their foundation training and are now in the early years of their speciality training. They are: ST1/ST2: ST stands for Specialty Training.
According to survey responses from doctors at Torbay and South Devon NHS Trust, as well as being used as ‘middle grade’ doctors and putting patients at risk by acting outside their competencies, PAs:
- work without adequate supervision
- consent inappropriately
- participate in unsafe clinical activity
- treated severe infective colitis with antibiotics and steroids simultaneously
According to NHS Scotland, steroids “shouldn’t be used if you have an ongoing widespread infection. This is because they could make it more severe.”
The DAUK also linked the survey results to this week’s fiasco at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), where attendees of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) regarding concerns about PAs linked the behaviour of the RCP’s panel, which was accused of ‘contempt’, shutting down discussion and even filibustering, to the RCP’s financial conflict of interest in the millions of pounds it reportedly makes from administering PA examinations.
The RCP is hiding their full survey data from FRCP and Council until after the EGM vote. This lack of transparency is unacceptable…
The RCP Registrar, who sets RCP professional standards, works at this Trust. (Important note: there is no indication she was involved in this case [of steroid/antibiotic administration].)
Doctors at Torbay report PAs being used as “middle grades” – clear scope creep. Yet the Registrar, whose job is to “create consensus” & uphold standards, has been involved in withholding critical data that potentially sways the EGM vote. This is not leadership.
The Registrar’s own job description emphasises “accountability for clinical and professional affairs” and “…setting and maintaining professional standards.” How can the Registrar fulfil these duties, ensuring patient safety and upholding standards, when those very standards are being violated in their own Trust? This is an untenable conflict of interest.
In our view, the Registrar has failed in their core responsibility for transparency and integrity of RCP decision-making. We call for their resignation to restore trust in the RCP. The RCP’s position on PAs is currently compromised.
The statement concludes with a call on all voting members of the RCP to vote to support all the motions tabled at the EGM calling for a rethink on the issue of PAs:
Lastly, we are asking that Fellows vote in favour of all five motions as presented, to ensure that a safe revaluation of the PA role can be conducted to ensure patient safety and to ensure continued viable training of the medical profession moving forward.
The use of PAs, which is considered by nine out of ten doctors to be dangerous to patients and confuses many patients, who do not realise that they have not been seen and treated by a fully-qualified medic, is being pushed by the government as a way of ‘downskilling’ the NHS, reducing costs and allowing increased profits for private providers, under the guise of the so-called ‘NHS Workforce Plan’ as part of the ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICS) project.
ICS, formerly called ‘Accountable Care Organisations’ (ACOs) after the US system it copied, were renamed after awareness began to spread that ACOs were a system for withholding care from patients and that care providers were incentivised to cut care because they receive a share of the ‘savings’. The system remained the same, but the rebranding disguised the reality.
The government used a ‘statutory instrument’ (SI) to pass these changes, avoiding proper parliamentary scrutiny, but both the Tories and Keir Starmer’s Labour support these and other measures to cheapen the NHS for private involvement and only independent MP Claudia Webbe spoke against them during the brief SI debate. Green peer Natalie Bennett’s motion in the House of Lords to attempt to kill the instrument was defeated by the Tories with the help of Labour peers.
At least two people have already died avoidably because of misdiagnosis by PAs. Emily Chesterton, 30, who didn’t realise she wasn’t seeing a doctor, was treated for a calf strain when she had a deep vein thrombosis that led to a lethal embolism. Ben Peters, 25, was sent home from A&E with a ‘panic attack’ that was really a serious heart condition. A doctor’s Twitter/X thread includes details of others said to have died because of issues around PAs.
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Former MP Smith quits Labour after suspension for refusing to vote for cuts
Labour under control freak Starmer has no respect or inclusivity, says former Crewe and Nantwich MP Laura Smith, who also cites Starmer’s Gaza stance as a driver for her decision
Former Crewe and Nantwich MP Laura Smith has quit the Labour party with a blistering attack on Labour’s lack of standards and inclusivity under Keir Starmer, after being suspended from the Cheshire East council Labour group for refusing to vote in support of a package of swingeing Tory cuts.
In a public statement about her decision to resign, Smith said that she:
entered mainstream politics back in 2017 after years of activism in social justice
movements after growing up in a family of trade union and socialist values. I stuffed
leaflets In the Labour Party envelopes and served tea and biscuits at the meetings of the local group as a child, and some of my earliest memories were of Saturdays spent In the car with my dad as he drove Gwyneth Dunwoody, the MP at the time around the constituency. I knew my core values from a very early age and I knew from the feeling in the pit of my stomach that my fight was always going to be equality and social justice. I experienced many things growing up that further shaped my beliefs and that feeling only grew as I became an adult.Being supported by my local Labour party and then becoming an MP representing my home towns was something that I couldn’t ever have Imagined. As someone from a challenging background and always struggling to make ends meet, it wasn’t a future that I felt was possible. But it did happen In a whirlwind of political change and hope for an alternative in the snap general election of 2017. I was elevated into a position where I felt that I could make a difference and my motivation was always the same. Those same values that I had harboured since being a little girl.
That two and half years in Parliament was an experience that I will always cherish and struggle with, in equal measures. The stark reality of our political system is one that I cannot pretend hasn’t made me more cynical, less hopeful for a real alternative and unfortunately more worried for the future. When I was elected, I hoped that I could prove to young girls and women who had been just like me that their voices could be heard, that they could make a difference and that they could be the changemakers and creators of a better world. The sad reality is that the system itself hampers the opportunity for real progress.
I would love to say that politics is a safe space for women. It isn’t. I would desperately like to say that debate and conflict is healthy and respectful. It’s not. I wish I could say that the old tropes that politics is a dirty corrupt business were untrue. But sadly it is. And that is from the top of our system all the way down to local politics.
More than anything I would like to say that the Labour Party itself sets a standard of
inclusivity and respect but that would be untruthful in my experience. It has become a place where to have a thought in your head that differs to the Labour leadership and the officials behind the scenes is an offence that can lead to suspension or even expulsion. At a local level it is a space where judgment is felt because as a full-time working mother juggling multiple caring responsibilities as well as often working Saturdays, you can’t sit in meeting after meeting or knock on doors in your rare free hours. I have heard the tutting and watched the finger wagging and listened to the comments and I think that it unfortunately remains the case that to be valued in the party you need to have lots and lots of free time. Naturally that means being either retired, not have caring responsibilities, being healthy both physically and mentally, and more often then not financially secure. Equality right? This Is before even
touching on the factional aspects that rage through the party, manifesting Itself through bullying, belittling, a culture of fear and a general lack of respect.I am not perfect. I don’t have all of the answers. But one thing I am not is a hypocrite. It is for that reason, and after much consideration, I have decided to resign my membership of the UK Labour Party, rather than appeal my recent suspension letter by the local labour group at Cheshire East Council. I was suspended for not voting In line with the whip, but as I stated at the council meeting on the 27th of February I cannot support an austerity budget that places local councillors as the punching bag tor a Tory Government determined to destroy public services. This has not been an easy decision, but it is on balance the right one for me.
The reasons that I have stated combined with the position the Labour Party leadership is taking on international policy as well as domestic issues is now completely at odds with my personal beliefs and unfortunately, I feel that an alternative voice is no longer respected within the party structures. I would like to thank the great many friends that I have within the party who I hope will continue to value and respect me as I value and respect them. I will continue to serve my ward of Crewe South as an independent socialist councillor on the political values that I have always openly and honestly shared and was elected on.
I remain dedicated to fighting for true equality and Justice for the people in this country who quite simply are not receiving anywhere near the service and quality of life that they deserve. There is a complete void of honesty, decency, ambition and leadership from those with the true power to change things. Talk is cheap and the dishonesty that I have encountered on a daily basis in politics is something that I simply could not have imagined.
Bravery is required in desperate times, and democracy can only really work when fear and desire for power is not the driving force behind people’s motivations. It is our actions that define who we are and we owe it to ourselves to be true. I will be true to the little girl I once was and not allow my voice to be erased and my opinions silenced.
Smith was re-elected last year as councillor for Crewe South and will continue to serve, but as an independent.
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