On Politics Live earlier Matthew Syed succinctly made the point that Richard Madeley was inching towards yesterday – the issue of the card-carrying communist Susan Michie, of the self-appointed “Independent” SAGE, being given frequent media platforms to smuggle in her political agenda under the guise of “science”. Michie is a committed Marxist ideologue, and central committee member of the British Communist Party. This is relevant.
Marxist analysis understands socialism itself to be a scientific method for understanding and predicting social, economic and material phenomena to derive probable outcomes and probable future developments. Her life-long ideology feeds into her work as director of UCL’s Centre for Behaviour Change. That theoretical underpinning to her ideas on behavioural change and social compliance has gone unexplored even as she has been given a position advising the government in these matters. She has spoken approvingly of the Chinese Communist dictatorship’s authoritarian methods and of her belief that restrictions in Britain should continue “forever, to some extent.” Her whole mindset is one of top-down control and diktat that is incompatible with a free and open society.
Before anyone claims that Syed is a misogynist or a right-wing Murdoch lackey – he has a very readable intellectual column in the Sunday Times – Guido would remind them that he stood as the Labour candidate in the 2001 UK general election. At the very least it is fair to discount Michie’s advice in the light of her ideological activism.
Minister of State for Security at the Home Office James Brokenshire has resigned after he found his recovery from a cancer operation to be taking longer than anticipated:
“Thank you for your kindness and support whilst I have been enduring surgery and treatment following the frustrating recurrence of my lung cancer. Throughout this period I have received outstanding treatment from our NHS at a time when it has been under such additional strain due to the Pandemic. The people who work within it are truly amazing and the care I have received from Guy’s and St Thomas’s has been second to none.
My recovery from treatment and return to full duties is, however, taking longer than anticipated. Given my responsibilities to the public, the Government and to Parliament, I have therefore concluded that it is best that I stand down from my Ministerial role and focus on restoring my health.”
Read the exchange of letters below:
Awkward scenes on Sky News this morning as presenter Niall Paterson told Lisa Nandy he’s desperate for her “to open up and give me a date”. Nandy initially seemed keen, admitting “I’m desperate to open up, not just on a personal level”. Niall blamed his flirty phrasing on a second jab side-effect…
Sir Graham says “It is a privilege to have been re-elected as Chairman of the 1922 Committee after 11 years serving the parliamentary Conservative Party. I am grateful to my colleagues for this vote of confidence”. He saw off a challenge from Heather Wheeler who, perhaps unfairly, was portrayed as the government’s patsy…
Boris nailing Starmer over Labour’s predictably ambiguous opposition to the July 19 unlocking. So far, other than calling the plans “reckless”, all Starmer’s come up with is continuing the mask mandate and ‘improving ventilation‘. So presumably he’s fine with packed theatres, concerts, and nightclubs – only the mask mandate is the “reckless” bit…
At PMQs Boris reiterated his infamous “Great Supine Protoplasmic Invertebrate Jellies” attack from his mayoral days: “We vaccinate, they vacillate; we innoculate, Mr Speaker, while they’re invertebrates!”
