Is this the mother of all calling out - Katherine Birbalsingh

[DramaFatigue]

Katherine Birbalsingh has done the mother of all calling out and I can't help but sit here with my jaw on the kitchen table in awe.

She has written a 4-page open letter to Sir Kerr Starmer calling out Jess Phillip's behaviour online. Whilst I don't always agree with KB's methods of the school she runs, I do think that Jess Phillips behaviour towards her is shocking and unbefitting of someone who could be running the country. JP should resign TBH.

https://news.sky.com/story/headteacher-katharine-birbalsingh-brands-labour-mp-jess-phillips-social-media-posts-racist-and-bullying-12913139

Yes-KB was very calm and eloquent on that interview. It's easy to be calm and eloquent when you're sitting having a chat and you're not remotely challenged or asked to explain the inconsistencies in your narrative. GB News has an overt political position, by the way. Always worth remembering.

It is a fact that KB put up a tweet and people responded to it.

She has a lot of followers on Twitter - because she is a well known Head Teacher with views that some people see as controversial and was also the Government Social Mobility Tsar.

She has then posted a letter accusing JP of racism.
A letter full of inaccuracies, assumptions.
Written on school headed paper.
When challenged over the inaccuracies, she accused people of racism.
She then said she had made some mistakes in the letter.
She has not backed down, despite the mistakes.

I think JP should take action.

You don’t know what happened as you seem resolutely unwilling to find out.

You think JP shouldn’t have responded. Fine. She did. She wasn’t the only one and she didn’t cause the Twitter pile on which started long before she was involved.

What other point do you have?

I asked pp who said it was wrong what the timeline was but I don’t think they answered

KB screenshot some tweets and screenshot them in an order to back her argument.

She said the timings were correct because the screenshots show the timings.

Forgetting that the screenshot showing the tweet shows the time the tweet was written which tells a different story and narrative.

I am finding out on here. And nothing anyone has put indicates that this didn’t happen

KB put up a tweet, people responded including JP

I get you’re a bit rude too, and can’t post without insults, fine whatever 🤷‍♂️

She also says she doesn’t think JP is racist but has unconscious bias. Something she has experienced many times in her life. I believe her.

There’s a power imbalance between an MP with 630k followers and a HT. She had the chance to speak which I think is ok, even if people hate that.

At the end of the interview she offers an invitation to JP or other MPs to visit the school. Great, we don’t all have to be slinging mud at people Twitter as a job brief but learn instead.

The obvious answer the interviewer should have said when KB said "Why come after me" is that JP is a DV campaigner and didn't you recently say people should "Hold the line" and live the values they believe in?

But that would have required an interview, not a chat.

If this goes to court, I would imagine that is what a lawyer would say.

I am also not sure if she challenged the safeguarding in school - I know JP mentioned writing some DV policies and lesson plans - but did she question safeguarding at all and call the school unsafe?

Omg. 100% this.

There’s a power imbalance between an MP with 630k followers and a HT. She had the chance to speak which I think is ok, even if people hate that

KB - who was the Governments Social Mobility Tsar, who spoke as featured speaker at the National Conservative conference and who also has a lot of prominent followers on Twitter?

She has power and influence as well.

This. But RWers as in this thread will continue to bleat about bullying when their idols/ token minority hangers-on are caught out...

Translation: I have no evidence but thought I'd throw some mud and pretend it stuck.

That quote does make me smile - I have visions of meter readers demonstrating.

You keep posting as if KB is some poor obscure hardworking innocent HT unfamiliar with the ways of social media. In fact she has a whole separate career in being a right-wing poster girl, regularly courts publicity and controversy, and has very deliberately tried to stir up even more publicity via this silly open letter. The fact that it has backfired on her is a degree of poetic justice.

You could take your own advice and learn what actually happened.

KB isn’t your typical headteacher without a public profile. She chases attention and controversy. She has as high a profile as JP and until earlier this year had a role on a government task force.

token minority hangers-on

Left or right you’re showing what KB means when she talks about unconscious bias

I agree that JP has a much bigger Twitter following than KB. But 134k isn't bad for "a headmistress"....

It's very telling that, when KB wants to try to garner some sympathy, she can get a platform on right wing GB News which she knows is not going to ask her anything challenging. She would gain much more respect if she were prepared to answer some tough questions about why she claimed the Ike Turner picture was a mistake via a GIF when it blatantly wasn't, why she put up false information on the timeline clearly designed to put blame on JP for causing the pile on when she didn't, why she lied about the timing on the screenshots, why she responded to JP and no-one else, why she accused people who corrected the facts of being racist, and a few more like that.

@Leastsaidsoonestscrewed I've addressed this exact point. It's not mud throwing though of course particular demographics almost always have the same counter points. I wonder if they gather together in a convention somewhere to sort out their talking points.

She would gain much more respect if she were prepared to answer some tough questions about why she claimed the Ike Turner picture was a mistake via a GIF when it blatantly wasn't

An irrelevant detail since Katharine Birbalsingh had also stated that she didn't know the man in the photograph was Ike Turner. Did Jess Philips recognise him as Ike Turner? (JP wasn't even born when Tina Turner divorced Ike, KB was aged 5). I certainly wouldn't know who he was without being told.

I think anyone who liked Tina Turner would know and if you aren't interested in Tina Turner why would you both doing a post about her? If you make a mistake own it don't lie about "it was a gif" when it wasn't.

The initial mistake is fairly irrelevant, what is relevant is the immediate instinct to lie and shift blame to cover up her mistake rather than admit the mistake.

Which is important when she's throwing out some pretty big accusations but has managed to reveal 2 or 3 examples that call her own credibility in to question in her very own letter.

@Clavinova If you search for images of Tina Turner, you will find at least a dozen of her solo before any appear showing Ike. They also tend to be captioned. A key skill taught in successful schools is how to select and accredit sources, especially when using the Internet! But in the end, as PP have said, she doubled down and made excuses rather than hold her hands up and admit to a crass mistake. And then developed a elaborate self-justification for the pile-on that ensured.

I think anyone who liked Tina Turner would know and if you aren't interested in Tina Turner why would you both doing a post about her?

Why indeed would Jess Philips join a discussion relating to Ike Turner when she probably didn't recognise the man in the photograph as Ike Turner?

Talking about media sources is key but I’d say learning about unconscious bias is equally as important. Also I’m not sure adults are that good at conducting their jobs on
Twitter so maybe a bit of that for next group of adults.

The post on token minority in pp (and others on mn) shows what kind thing she means

Btw when KB says she’s experienced it during her life do you believe her?

"Why indeed would Jess Philips join a discussion relating to Ike Turner when she probably didn't recognise the man in the photograph as Ike Turner?"

OK. I'm not a Tina Turner fan. But I recognised Ike Turner and I know that Tina Turner was an abused women.

The point is,rather, if you ARE a fan, as KB says she is, why would you post that particular picture when there are about ten thousand others?

And if JP didn't recognise him, by the time she commented, many other people had identified him.

Yup, exactly ^^ this