We need to wake up to the incredibly serious implications of the President of the United States actively promoting the far right racist and Islamophobe Katie Hopkins.

For those (particularly US people) who are meeting her for the first time, some things you need to know (thread) She started out as a harmless attention-seeking reality TV star. But in 2015 she saw an opening around the emerging alt right ‘White people in Europe are being replaced’ movement.

She uses language which is common to students of genocide. Eg cockroaches in Rwanda

1/ This is getting even more interesting - now @skwawkbox is positively reporting the collective action against an 100k-followers pro Corbyn (unofficial) FB page which has been posting antisemitic content

https://twitter.com/PeoplesMomentum/status/1049328100629254144

2/ Here is a quote from the SB post. Is this the first SB post (ever?) which doesn't deny or attempt to underplay the Labour antisemitism problem? Please do let me know if I am wrong and I will add to this thread.

This is interesting. The largest Corbyn FB group (facebook.com/JeremyCorbyn4P… 300k followers)) has put out a warning for people who follow another huge pro-Corbyn group (facebook.com/BritainIsThePe… 100k followers) that it is antisemitic

https://twitter.com/JeremyCorbyn4PM/status/1048591062393135104

The warning is clearly coordinated (which is good, and I don't mean this as a criticism) with various key movers and shakers such as Momentum and Owen Jones sharing it. The comments are interesting...

This is a thoughtful and balanced piece by @robertsharp59 on the NUJ decision to rescind its invitation to Kerry-Anne Mendoza. This point particularly pertinent robertsharp.co.uk/2018/09/27/the… I'm still a bit torn about The Canary, and if I am 100% honest feel somewhat stung by (what I saw as) being targeted by the editor unjustifiably, so don't 100% trust my instincts. I can see the double standards point as it is clearly a tabloid but is it worse than e.g. The Sun...

I accept this criticism. I am no world expert on Israel Palestine and have never held myself out to be one. I have a reasonable understanding of how things are in the UK. I also don't think that the IHRA definition and CM are connected in any real way.

https://twitter.com/siinjiim/status/1047504161280020481

The IHRA definition is an imperfect attempt to explain how speech over Israel-Palestine can sometimes drift into antisemitism. No modern understanding of antisemitism can be without that. But it requires a highly sensitive and education-focussed framework to work within.

Oh my goodness. I hadn't heard of 'Canary Mission' before this but just checked it out and it is a chilling, actually quite terrifying, US site branding hundreds of students and professors 'racists' their views on Israel Palestine forward.com/news/411355/re… Some of the stuff there (I'm not going to link to it) is genuine racism but much is just strongly held and entirely legitimate political opinions about Israel Palestine. And the fact that it would be funded by Jewish charity (see above) is really awful.

Michael Mansfield QC has withdrawn his support for 'Labour Against the Witch Hunt' after I brought some of its Twitter activity to his attention nexuschambers.com/nexus/michael-… More info, including the antisemitic tweets, in this thread

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/1045221451723411457

This really is a milestone. How many Supreme Courts on earth have sat with a female majority? The UK Supreme Court is still 9-3 male-female overall but since it often sits with a 5 Justice bench this could be a regular thing

https://twitter.com/behindthegown/status/1047027243430625281

I think that the @UKSupremeCourt has been a great innovation since it was set up in 2009. It was the first UK court to livestream hearings, produce regular judgment summaries, have a public-facing attitude. People were suspicious about the effect of letting the light in

I realise that in our polarised times it seems anathema. But Conservatives were instrumental in building Europe's human rights framework. Churchill was Council of Europe's cheerleader, David Maxwell Fyfe chaired the European Convention on Human Rights drafting committee

https://twitter.com/ysabauw/status/1046385720225607680

There have been plenty of liberally-minded Conservatives over the years. To build a sustainable liberal and progressive state you need to form a coalition of progressive voices from both sides of the aisle. It is destructive to make human rights about party politics.

1/ Having reflected on Kavanaugh's hearing, a few things are clear to me now, based on experience of legal strategy and witnesses:
(a) Kavanaugh may not remember the incident but *at the least* he is pretty sure it could have happened based on what he knows about his younger days 2/
(b) Kavanaugh knows that he used to drink heavily and sometimes black out. He can't admit that because, combined with Ford's convincing testimony, it would lead most people to believe her memory is correct, and know that he can't gainsay her

1/ I have read the report and have tried to do so with an open mind. I think some of what is says is interesting - the media are not always accurate in reporting about antisemitism. But, I have some concerns.

https://twitter.com/Quickieleaks/status/1045506354868350977

2/ My primary concern is that this is a report which relies on highly contentious assumptions about the nature of antisemitism and the facts behind the crisis. It has, therefore, to be impeccably independent and impartial to be treated seriously.

I'm sorry to have to tweet this about a luminary of the human rights Bar but it appears that in his defence of Ken Livingstone Michael Mansfield QC may be slid into an antisemitic trope (that Jews see Israel as their government) thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/t… Mansfield is a sponsor of "Labour Against the Witch Hunt", which as far as I can tell entirely denies the antisemitism issue in Labour. It's website refers repeatedly to the "false anti-Semitism smear", they want the Labour Compliance Unit to be shut down labouragainstthewitchhunt.org/about/

I have discovered a new thing on Twitter - people searching for pictures of Luciana Berger at conference where a policeman isn't present, contacting (apparently) Merseyside Police to ask if they have provided protection, claiming the original Daily Mail photograph was misleading It was widely reported, by Labour friendly and unfriendly newspapers, that Berger was escorted when she arrived by two policemen, one in plain clothes. I have no idea what the arrangements are for the rest of conference. The photos are indisputable metro.co.uk/2018/09/24/jew…

The lack of empathy here is just extraordinary. Why can’t Corbyn just say: “I’m sorry to see @lucianaberger needs police protection, we are doing all we can do ensure she is safe” rather than denying there are any threats? Is he suggesting it’s for show?! He just comes across as so stubborn and ostrich-like. He’ll never escape criticisms of his leadership on this issue unless he is more open and empathetic. Demonstrates no insight at all. It’s infuriating really.

Now tide has shifted to saying I didn't respond to black people. I turned off notifications from Canary editor's tweets. I have set out, in detail, my thoughts. I'm not deliberately ignoring people, but when you get 100s of similar tweets, it's not possible to respond to all I keep promising to say no more on this, and I really need to do that. I am not ignoring concerns, but I do think that they are unfair and ignore what I have said. This was all about me asking that people don't try to use Windrush as a way of answering Labour antisemitism.

1/ Just want to talk about something that has been happening since last night. I am not sure if talking about it will make it any better - knowing Twitter, it will probably make it worse. But here goes. 2/ Yesterday morning I tweeted about Jeremy Corbyn on the #Marr show on antisemitism. I have been commenting on this issue for many weeks, as many of you know. I don't think my comments in this instance were unfair although reasonable people might disagree

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1/status/1043815614769442816

OMG woke up to a pile on (hundreds of tweets calling me a racist) after the Canary editor misrepresented one of my tweets. I'm distraught.

I tweeted that people keep (illigitametly) citing Windrush to me as if it's an answer to Labour antisemitism. Now, apparently, I am a racist I shouldn't be surprised. There are thousands of people out there who are convinced Labour antisemitism doesn't exist and is a Tory slur, that Corbyn has done nothing wrong. It's hurtful, personally, but it's where we have got to and Corbyn himself encourages it.

12 whole minutes (from 40:40) of #Marr questioning Jeremy Corbyn on antisemitism. No really expression of remorse, apology or empathy - all are absolutely crucial to resolving the antisemitism issue bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod… Corbyn won’t even accept, after all that has happened, that the mural of Jews sitting on the backs of the oppressed is antisemitic. For people who say this issue is about being able to criticise Israel, it’s not. It’s about insight and empathy and Corbyn hasn’t shown either #marr

1/ "Orban row also highlights the quandary Britain finds itself in as it re-calibrates its interests. It is no longer able to choose who its friends are."

A thread showing depriortiatisation of human rights in UK foreign policy *not* caused by Brexit. It's longstanding policy

https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1041662204288925696

2/ In April 2016 (pre-Brexit) the Home Affairs Select Committee's annual report was significantly critical of "perception that the FCO has become more hesitant in promoting and defending international human rights" publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cm…

1/ I found this interview interesting and illuminating on the Palestinian perspective on the IHRA. It’s sensitive and well chaired by @OwenJones84

https://twitter.com/owenjones84/status/1040572601222029313

2/ I’m not sure I agree with the conclusions, though in fact I’m not sure there are any specific ones - I think the concerns over the two examples referred to are important and I am going to think some more about what the right answer is.

Very important new judgment on what looks like a further overspend by Vote Leave (£620k) - the High Court ruled (dpglaw.co.uk/wp-content/upl…) that the Electoral Commission interpreted the law wrongly, particularly what counts as "referendum expenses" under the 2015 EU Referendum Act

https://twitter.com/dpg_law/status/1040536149633191942

👆This further supports the @UKEUchallenge case that there was serious and significant unlawful conduct in the EU Referendum which renders the result undemocratic and illegitimate crowdjustice.com/case/ukineucha…