Friday, September 27, 2019
This abuse of politicians must stop
Traditionally it is the families of service personnel, police officers and other emergency services who worry about the safety of their loved ones as they go about their duties with a commitment, dedication and selflessness that is often above and beyond what is asked of them.
So when did our society get so toxic that the children of politicians feel that they have to express similar fears about the safety of their parents?
As the Guardian reports, Ellie Cooper, the remarkable daughter of Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, has tweeted a long thread about her fears for her mother. It is worth quoting them in full:
“I rarely actually tweet, especially about politics – am more of the silent retweeter – but after the chilling scenes in Parliament last night I just don’t think I can stay quiet anymore. There’s a group of young people and children that need to be spoken for.
“The language used by our Prime Minister - not a far-right populist or provocative journalist, but our Prime Minister - is just beyond words. The fact that the head of our government is actually using language that helps incite violence toward MPs is so beyond dangerous I can’t even comprehend it in a modern society. This isn’t funny any more. Whatever egotistical game Boris Johnson has been playing since he was at Eton, this isn’t entitled teenagers standing blindly by their positions in an attempt to one-up their friends anymore.
“This of rising hatred is costing people their lives.
“I was 17 when Jo Cox was murdered. I just rang my mum, who is Yvette Cooper, on my way home from school to complain about the usual things and I distinctly remember her interrupting me to say ‘An MP’s been shot.’
“I can honestly say my perspective of the world completely changed that day. Before then, my mum’s job was something that kept her working later than bedtime when I was a kid, the source of embarrassing conversations at school, the reason we travelled to and fro between Yorkshire and London every week for the first two thirds of my life.
“It was never something that could get her killed.
“I am scared.
“I am scared when I scroll through the replies to her tweets calling her a liar and a traitor.
“I am scared when our house gets fitted with panic buttons, industrial-locking doors and explosive bags to catch the mail.
“I am scared because on the 16th of June 2016, two children said goodbye to their mother before she left for her constituency to sit in surgeries and help people all day, and never saw her again. I am scared every single day that the same will happen to mine.
“Because she is trying her best to help people. To make their lives better. Even if we disagree with our politicians, when was this something we actively wanted to hurt them for?
“Of course Brexit is contentious. Of course people have strong opinions, opinions that will inevitably come into conflict when trying to work out how best to deliver an outcome that split our country in two. But what we need now is a Prime Minister who can stand up and say ‘Yes I want to deliver Brexit, but regardless of my position, this inflammatory and aggressive language needs to stop. We need to treat each other with humanity and respect.’ Boris Johnson, take a stand. It’s your job to unite the country.
“Or you will be responsible for putting other people’s lives at risk.
“Surely you can raise your head out of the sand enough to see that much?
“This whole thing has gone too far. When people start getting hurt is the moment that we should step back and ask if any of this is even worth it. All the anger and the screaming and the taking sides. The traitors and the liars and the surrendering.
“Why has this become a matter of life and death? Does someone have to die for us all to realise that we have gotten in far too deep and far too aggressively?
“The thing is, someone already has died. Do we not have the decency and compassion to see that? Can we not all just treat each other like people again?
“Because I’m terrified if we don’t that something awful is going to happen again. At this rate, that seems like the only thing that could stop us in our tracks. We need to change the way we act towards our MPs before it goes too far because if not I have no doubt it will.”
In another Guardian article female MPs tell the paper about the abuse they have received. It is worth reading if only to understand the misogynistic, racist and threatening atmosphere these MPs are having to work in.
Politicians are people too. They have families and lives in the same way as we do. They are trying to do a difficult job in extraordinarily difficult circumstances, to exercise judgement and act in a way that puts the interests of the country and their voters first. Whatever our views on Brexit, we must recognise that and seek to work within the norms of civility and respect in our dealings with them.
This abuse is not just unacceptable, it threatens to undermine our whole democratic consensus and plunge us into violent conflict. It must stop and the police must be given the tools, and act decisively to use them to bring it to an end.
Above all we must listen to the families, dial down the rhetoric on all sides and return to a more measured discourse. That applies not just to the politicians themselves but to elements of the media, who in recent weeks have acted as agitators and provocateurs. This is not how we should do business in the world's oldest democracy.
So when did our society get so toxic that the children of politicians feel that they have to express similar fears about the safety of their parents?
As the Guardian reports, Ellie Cooper, the remarkable daughter of Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, has tweeted a long thread about her fears for her mother. It is worth quoting them in full:
“I rarely actually tweet, especially about politics – am more of the silent retweeter – but after the chilling scenes in Parliament last night I just don’t think I can stay quiet anymore. There’s a group of young people and children that need to be spoken for.
“The language used by our Prime Minister - not a far-right populist or provocative journalist, but our Prime Minister - is just beyond words. The fact that the head of our government is actually using language that helps incite violence toward MPs is so beyond dangerous I can’t even comprehend it in a modern society. This isn’t funny any more. Whatever egotistical game Boris Johnson has been playing since he was at Eton, this isn’t entitled teenagers standing blindly by their positions in an attempt to one-up their friends anymore.
“This of rising hatred is costing people their lives.
“I was 17 when Jo Cox was murdered. I just rang my mum, who is Yvette Cooper, on my way home from school to complain about the usual things and I distinctly remember her interrupting me to say ‘An MP’s been shot.’
“I can honestly say my perspective of the world completely changed that day. Before then, my mum’s job was something that kept her working later than bedtime when I was a kid, the source of embarrassing conversations at school, the reason we travelled to and fro between Yorkshire and London every week for the first two thirds of my life.
“It was never something that could get her killed.
“I am scared.
“I am scared when I scroll through the replies to her tweets calling her a liar and a traitor.
“I am scared when our house gets fitted with panic buttons, industrial-locking doors and explosive bags to catch the mail.
“I am scared because on the 16th of June 2016, two children said goodbye to their mother before she left for her constituency to sit in surgeries and help people all day, and never saw her again. I am scared every single day that the same will happen to mine.
“Because she is trying her best to help people. To make their lives better. Even if we disagree with our politicians, when was this something we actively wanted to hurt them for?
“Of course Brexit is contentious. Of course people have strong opinions, opinions that will inevitably come into conflict when trying to work out how best to deliver an outcome that split our country in two. But what we need now is a Prime Minister who can stand up and say ‘Yes I want to deliver Brexit, but regardless of my position, this inflammatory and aggressive language needs to stop. We need to treat each other with humanity and respect.’ Boris Johnson, take a stand. It’s your job to unite the country.
“Or you will be responsible for putting other people’s lives at risk.
“Surely you can raise your head out of the sand enough to see that much?
“This whole thing has gone too far. When people start getting hurt is the moment that we should step back and ask if any of this is even worth it. All the anger and the screaming and the taking sides. The traitors and the liars and the surrendering.
“Why has this become a matter of life and death? Does someone have to die for us all to realise that we have gotten in far too deep and far too aggressively?
“The thing is, someone already has died. Do we not have the decency and compassion to see that? Can we not all just treat each other like people again?
“Because I’m terrified if we don’t that something awful is going to happen again. At this rate, that seems like the only thing that could stop us in our tracks. We need to change the way we act towards our MPs before it goes too far because if not I have no doubt it will.”
In another Guardian article female MPs tell the paper about the abuse they have received. It is worth reading if only to understand the misogynistic, racist and threatening atmosphere these MPs are having to work in.
Politicians are people too. They have families and lives in the same way as we do. They are trying to do a difficult job in extraordinarily difficult circumstances, to exercise judgement and act in a way that puts the interests of the country and their voters first. Whatever our views on Brexit, we must recognise that and seek to work within the norms of civility and respect in our dealings with them.
This abuse is not just unacceptable, it threatens to undermine our whole democratic consensus and plunge us into violent conflict. It must stop and the police must be given the tools, and act decisively to use them to bring it to an end.
Above all we must listen to the families, dial down the rhetoric on all sides and return to a more measured discourse. That applies not just to the politicians themselves but to elements of the media, who in recent weeks have acted as agitators and provocateurs. This is not how we should do business in the world's oldest democracy.
