UsForThem - “opaque lobbyists” with links to the far right?

[LacyEdge]

Prof Alice Roberts started an interesting Twitter thread discussing this, linking to Nafeez Ahmed’s article about U4T in Byline Times. Replies suggest UsForThem aren’t a concerned parents’ group at all and are linked with a far right funded group.

Well I never.

twitter.com/theAliceRoberts/status/1352993581414424576

[quote trulydelicious]@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow

It’s bizarre that any alternative view is now considered “far right

Exactly. Call them 'right wing' and job done = instant hate

Although I personally think the Us4Them gang sound like nutcases[/quote]
I struggle with a term for them.

I use 'New, economic Libertarian Right'.

There is a world of difference between this new lot and the old-skool 'right', or One Nation Tory lot.

They are something very different.

There probably are connections. Probably personal ones.

Typically FB groups just spin away unnoticed. Although maybe they are bigger and currently relevant which might help.

But I still think state school using professions on that list are not going to be far right extremists

Usually very centre based if I had to guess

[quote trulydelicious]@thecatfromjapan

It's a standard tactic of the New Right to find organisations and fund them, boost them, help run them

The Left do this too[/quote]
Funny you should say this. Perlstein quotes Paul Wyrich as saying he developed some of his techniques from liberal activists.
But I have to say, the Left have never managed to organise in this scale, with this kind of success.

It’s a shame you don’t understand the impact of unmitigated covid transmission in schools on both children’s education

Are you old enough to remember the bad flu of '88? That was far more deadly for children than covid (as 'flu is).
The impact on education for me was that I lost one week of school, and then had a really weird week of school when I went back, as half my class was off and so was my the other teacher in the year group, so their class was in with us (lots of absences there, too so it wasn't a tight squeeze). I don't recall the flu being fun, but the weird week kind of was. A month after the onset it was all back to normal.

and on the wider community

Asymptomatic transmission is very rare. If you have symptoms stay away from anyone vulnerable.
It's really not that hard.
Harder for those in multi-gen households, for sure, but they should be allowed to make their own decision as to whether to keep the kids in school or not.

BTW, I'm not new to MN, I've been here years.
That's just another way to lazily dismiss what I'm saying.

I just did a search for Us4Them on here to see when it really started kicking off. July/August was really when we put the nasty posters on MN together with the arsehole organisation on twitter/Facebook,

I had to keep posting a checklist for teachers to spot them so they wouldn’t engage in endless arguments with the same people under different usernames.

For posterity:

noblegiraffe 19/08/2020

There is a demented fringe group who want them open at all costs with no safety measures at all for teachers and older pupils.

Here’s a handy checklist on how to spot them:

1. They will assume that anyone arguing for the safe re-opening of schools actually wants them to remain closed

2. They will suggest that any parent unhappy with the lack of mitigation measures deregister their child

3. They will suggest that any teacher unhappy with the lack of mitigation measures resign their job

4. They will slate teachers at any opportunity.

@MarshaBradyo

But I still think state school using professions on that list are not going to be far right extremists

Usually very centre based if I had to guess

I think social media makes the mingling of 'civilians' and the New Right Libertarian cadres very easy.

They'll be used and abandoned once the ideological aim - 'everything's fine; get back to work and buying stuff, proles' - is achieved.

Asymptomatic transmission is very rare.

Well that’s not true.

And 5) They will argue it's a lot of fuss. No worse than flu.
Despite the spiralling death figures and over-run NHS clearly being linked to schools being open with pitiful 'safety' measures.
Why clearly linked? Because schools moving on-line has clearly resulted in those figures dropping.

@noblegiraffe

Asymptomatic transmission is very rare.

Well that’s not true.

Yes it is.

"Asymptomatic transmission is very rare."

I hate to jump on this current MN bandwagon of demanding sources for everything, but do you have a source for this assertion?

@MarshaBradyo

There probably are connections. Probably personal ones.

Typically FB groups just spin away unnoticed. Although maybe they are bigger and currently relevant which might help.

Have you read the article mentioned in the OP?

bylinetimes.com/2021/01/21/parents-campaign-against-school-closures-receives-pr-support-from-boris-johnson-advisor/

Lots of connections

Didn’t some of the more batshit crazy members also encourage parents to write to their schools and say in no uncertain terms that teachers were not to vaccinate (microchip) their children or imprison them if they refused to be tested.

If asymptomatic transmission were very rare, then secondary school kids wouldn’t have, by Christmas, been the most infected subset of the population despite their absence rates due to confirmed covid being well below that of teachers.

It’s pretty obvious when you think about it.

Anyone who thinks asymptomatic transmission is rare is going to have a hell of a time explaining this graph.

People only tend to get tested when they have symptoms, so it might seem asymptomatic transmission is rare but it really isn't. Dd and friends were tested at uni and her whole house tested positive despite 4 of them having zero symptoms. Of those 4, the boyfriends were tested and again, all positive despite no symptoms

@ineedaholidaynow

Didn’t some of the more batshit crazy members also encourage parents to write to their schools and say in no uncertain terms that teachers were not to vaccinate (microchip) their children or imprison them if they refused to be tested.

Omg the letter! The one that refused to have their child submit to temperature checks because it mimicked a gun being held to their head!

I don’t think it was one of their official letters though.

in Nature

I'm not posting shit. I've researched the shit out of everything, because if people are forcing measures that harm your kids, it's the right thing to do.

Um, you’ve just posted something from April. We’ve had a bit more of a pandemic since then.

Try explaining the infection rate graph with your assumption.

@noblegiraffe

If asymptomatic transmission were very rare, then secondary school kids wouldn’t have, by Christmas, been the most infected subset of the population despite their absence rates due to confirmed covid being well below that of teachers.

It’s pretty obvious when you think about it.

Anyone who thinks asymptomatic transmission is rare is going to have a hell of a time explaining this graph.

Yeah this graph says nothing about who was asymptomatic and who wasn't.

@Frodont

People only tend to get tested when they have symptoms, so it might seem asymptomatic transmission is rare but it really isn't. Dd and friends were tested at uni and her whole house tested positive despite 4 of them having zero symptoms. Of those 4, the boyfriends were tested and again, all positive despite no symptoms

Anecdote does not equal data.

Well the Welsh government used it as data, so 🤷‍♀️

Was that the new variant @Temptashun?

@mrshoho

Usforthem founders

Liz Cole
Independent marketing consultant

Molly Kingsley
Entrepreneur

Victoria Pratt
Construction Lawyer, Tennis coach

Ros Maidment
Retired paediatrician, amateur singer

Marta Kotlarek
Google Analyst, campaigner

Arabella Hastings
Marketing consultant, football coach

Dawn Fletcher
Teacher

Victoria Slatter
Campaigner

Leila Bybordi
Campaigner, designer, investor

Christine Brett
Health Economist, yoga teacher

Johannah (Jo) Bisset
Businesswoman, usforthem Scotland

Rachel Maile
Marketing Professional, community champion

What a group!

The director of Molly’s company worked at no 10 in family and education and Molly writes regularly for the Telegraph.

Entrepreneur with strong Tory connections is what you meant I guess?

The group also employees Boris’s former PR man, who also advised the hardline Tory CRG group, despite not raising enough in crowdfunding to cover a slither of his salary.

They also afforded an astroturfing campaign with said measly funds.