Two Harrogate parents have voiced their frustration with the coronavirus testing process in the week children return to school.

Both are worried that, without enough testing capacity, covid-19 will spread in schools and children could take it home to vulnerable family members.

There are no permanent testing sites in Harrogate and some people have been sent to testing facilities nearly two hours away.

One mum, who asked to remain anonymous, said she has been shielding after chemotherapy and was reluctant to send her two children back to school this term.

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• ‘Emotional’ day as children head back to school

Her youngest son went back to school on Tuesday. A couple of days later, he developed coronavirus symptoms so she tried to book him in for a test.

She tried to get a home test but none were available. She tried to book in for one of the coronavirus testing sites, but the closest was in Oldham and the earliest date available was mid-October. She said:

“The schools cannot send the classes home until they have a confirmed positive test result. If there is such a long wait for tests then a lot of the time the damage will already be done and these children could take the virus home to vulnerable family members.”

Luckily, her son’s school had ten emergency coronavirus test kits which they have used and sent off for analysis. They are still waiting for the results.

No results

Another parent, who also wanted to remain anonymous, managed to get his 16-month-old daughter booked in for a test in Leeds. Two days later, without any test result and with his daughter’s condition worsening, the father took her to hospital in Harrogate.

The hospital tested her for coronavirus and a few hours later the results came back as negative.

Both parents have written to Andrew Jones MP calling for more coronavirus testing capacity. The Stray Ferret contacted Mr Jones but did not get a response before publication.

The three MPs whose constituencies include the Harrogate district received almost £17,000 in expenses between them in the latest round of claims, which were published today.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority reveals details of MPs’ expenses every two months.

For the latest period, which covers March to the end of May, Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith claimed £4,649.21, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones claimed £4,718.82 and Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams claimed £7,497.56.

The largest sums for all three were to pay the Conservative Policy Research Unit, which is a pooled research facility for Conservative MPs. Each MP claimed in excess of £3,000 for this.

Jones’s details include four mileage claims for £96.75 each, which relate to 215-mile trips to and from London.

One claim is dated March 23, the day the country went into lockdown. Another is on March 26 – the date Parliament shut down. MPs were still expected to attend the House of Commons until then.

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Smith’s smallest claim is 77p for an item of stationery. He also claimed £575 office costs for rent. His entry on the IPSA register does not include any claims for travel.

Adams’ claims include £12 for having his constituency office window cleaned on May 11 and £493 for gas and electricity. He also submitted receipts for £3,550 accommodation costs for rent.

Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrats have accused local MP, Andrew Jones, of being “out of touch” on the government’s furlough scheme coming to an end.

It comes as the government is set to wind back the scheme and companies will have to contribute more to employees wages.

Mr Jones is reported to have said concerns over a surge in unemployment at the end of the scheme were “alarmist”.

Around 160,000 people have been on furlough in the Harrogate district and the scheme is set to finish at the end of October.

Read more:

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But local Lib Dems said that the rolling back of the scheme will put a “greater burden” on local businesses and those who need to make ends meet.

Judith Rogerson, Lib Dem parliamentary spokesperson, said:

“Our hospitality and retail sectors are under enormous pressure locally; reducing the support given by the furlough scheme will only force businesses to meet yet another significant cost.

“The furlough scheme is the only thing keeping many families across Harrogate & Knaresborough afloat, so it is completely understandable that people are hugely concerned how they will make ends meet if the government brings this support to an end before the pandemic is over. It is simply out of touch for Andrew Jones to claim that this is ‘alarmist’.

“At this time of immense stress and disruption, people need as much certainty as they can get if they are to get back on their feet. We need our MP to recognise this and be doing all he can to get residents the support they need.”

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has previously said that the furlough scheme cannot “carry on indefinitely” and that it would be “wrong to keep people trapped” in a situation where there may be no job to go back to.

Previously, the government had been paying 80% of wages of those employees on the job retention scheme up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

But, from today, the government will pay employee wages of 70% up to a cap of £2,187.50 a month and employers will pay 10%.

Next month, that will reduce to 60% up to a cap of £1,875 as companies contribute 20%.

Andrew Jones MP was approached for comment but did not respond at the time of publication.

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

Am I alone is reaching a state of desperation about the current state of our politics? Specifically, politicians who refuse blithely to accept accountability for the decisions and actions of their department and instead sacrifice the careers of civil servants tasked with implementing the policies born from politicians themselves.  Politicians who say or do, either that or what, which would have been indefensible just a few short years ago.  Politicians who seek visibility but hide when they become visible for the wrong reasons.  Politicians who do not measure up to standards set by Anthony Nolan’s “Seven Principles of Public Life.”

This week, two long-serving and, as far as we know, previously high achieving public servant lifers – Sally Collier, Chief Executive of Ofqual, the exams regulator, and Jonathan Slater, permanent secretary at the Department of Education – both lost their jobs in the aftermath of the exam grades fiasco.  The imposition of an untested grading algorithm on a cohort of lesson-hungry students stuck at home because of covid lockdown regulations was never going to end well.  But the decision to proceed with the dreaded algorithm was policy, which is always the result of a political decision and a political direction.  In short, the decision to proceed was made by some combination of the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, “Gav” as his aides call him – it seems to fit somehow – and the School’s Standards Minister Nick Gibb.  They both remain firmly in post, backed by Prime Minister BoJo for reasons surely passing understanding, while Ms Collier and Mr. Slater are dispatched to spend more time with their pensions.

Gone are the days, much lamented, when politicians resigned their posts as a matter of honour if they presided over a total horlicks in their department, or if they dropped a clanger that affected the public’s confidence – think Edwina Currie, a dozen eggs and salmonella, John Gummer stuffing burgers in his young daughter’s mouth during the Mad Cow crisis, or even Lord Lambton, caught smoking a joint in bed with a prostitute, filmed by a secret camera hidden in a Teddy Bear.  For reasons of competence, confidence or perception they all had to go.  And, looking back at them now, their crimes seem comically small when compared with the chaos precipitated by Mr. Williamson in England and (let’s not let the SNP off the hook) by John Swinney north of the border.  In 2002, Labour Education Secretary Estelle Morris resigned because “I judge my performance as not quite good enough.”  Such candour and humility feels quaintly out of step with the shameless norms of today’s politics.  But it shouldn’t be.

And at what point does the responsibility that comes with election to public office end?  Can a politician ever be considered “off duty” in respect of what they say and what they do?  I do believe politicians are entitled to a private life – their families, loves and lives outside politics should be of no interest to the public and, in my opinion, strictly “off limits” to the press.  However, assuming public office ought to bring with it the requirement of certain, higher standards of behaviour.  For example, racism, hate speech and sexism are never ok, in any circumstance.  Ergo, politicians of any party, elected to any office, can’t be afforded the luxury of drawing their own lines of distinction between the public and private realms of discourse when discussing these topics.  Whether they like it or not, in today’s hyper-connected ‘internet of things’ social media obsessed world, they are “always on.”

I’ve written in this column before about the case of Darley Parish Councillor Ernest Butler, whose unreconstructed personal views on immigration created a froideur (think tumbleweed…) among Harrogate’s chattering classes.  I won’t rehash the specifics, save to mention that his views were nonetheless deemed to fall outside the purview of the local Councillors code of conduct.  Which is to say that no means exists to make the public servant  man accountable for the unacceptable private views he expresses.  Saying you have no charter to punish the culprit simply becomes the means to inaction.  It seems to me that the answer is a radical overhaul of the code of conduct, this to recognise the contemporary realities of public life, conducted as it is, in full and transparent view for all to see and hear.

The issue here is that modern politics is as much about perception as it is about reality.  I wish this were not so but it’s not my call, nor is it the call of politicians, drawn to publicity, like moth to flame.  Our own Andrew Jones MP had a great photo op when, in December 2018, he visited Porsche specialist second-hand car dealer Gmund Cars Ltd and hailed “an amazing business.”  What he did not know is that six Porsche owners who talked to the Stray Ferret and who had placed their cars with Gmund for sale

allege that their vehicle’s ownership had been transferred without permission and did not receive a penny for the sale of cars worth over fifty grand apiece.  Gmund went into administration 6 months later in July 2019, with more than £1 million worth of cars missing.  A police investigation followed.  An “amazing” business indeed.

In his photo op, Mr Jones was pictured standing next to Gmund owner Andrew Mearns and his wife Samantha, a significant Gmund shareholder and company secretary until December 2018. Mrs Mearns is a Harrogate Borough Councillor and a case worker in Mr. Jones’ constituency office.  Not quite a Lord Lambton moment, but none too reassuring.  Councillor Mearns has made it clear she has not been questioned by the police.  Andrew Jones has kept his counsel, neither supporting publicly his Conservative colleague and office employee, nor commenting on the alleged irregularities in Gmund Cars Ltd. He does, however, have an irate constituent or two, each light to the tune both of tens of thousands of pounds and their cherished Porsche motor cars.

However we look at all of this, it makes a mockery of The Nolan Principles, to which public office holders are meant to adhere.  For the record the seven principles of public life are Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership.  Whether in Westminster or Knapping Mount, these standards seem absent lately; to the point of depressing irrelevance.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Read More:

• MP refuses to answer questions about missing Porsche car investigation 
• Harrogate MP aide and councillor at centre of £1 million Porsche investigation

Andrew Jones MP has refused to answer the Stray Ferret’s questions relating to Cllr Samantha Mearns and a police investigation into missing Porsche cars.

The Stray Ferret revealed yesterday allegations that Gmund Cars Ltd transferred ownership of more than £1 million worth of cars without the owner’s permission. The company was run by Andrew Mearns and dissolved in June 2020.

Cllr Samantha Mearns was a “person with significant control” and company secretary of Gmund Cars Ltd until December 2018. Cllr Mearns remains as an aide to Andrew Jones MP and a councillor for Harrogate Borough Council.

North Yorkshire Police is investigating the allegations and arrested a man in his fifties in July last year. He has not been charged and the force released him under investigation.

The Stray Ferret asked Andrew Jones MP if he had confidence in Cllr Mearns, when he first became aware of the allegations against Gmunds Cars Ltd and whether he had any comments to make on the investigation into Gmund Cars Ltd. Mr Jones has not responded. Harrogate Borough Council told the Stray Ferret that it will take the questions surrounding its confidence in Cllr Mearns and her involvement in Gmund Cars Ltd further.

Read more:

• Harrogate MP aide and councillor at centre of £1 million Porsche investigation
• How Harrogate council responded to a complaint about Cllr Mearns

We do know that both the council and Andrew Jones MP have received complaints about Cllr Mearns in relation to Gmund Cars Ltd.

The Stray Ferret has seen emails of a complaint put into both Andrew Jones and Harrogate Borough Council about Cllr Mearns and Gmund Cars Ltd. The complaint was made in the spring of last year.

Anthony Place wrote to Mr Jones and told him that Gmund Cars Ltd had transferred ownership of his car without his permission in March 2019  and questioned the “integrity and business practices” of Cllr Mearns.

Andrew Jones MP responded in May 2019 to say he had a conflict of interest and directed Mr Place to his own MP. Mr Jones also pointed Mr Place towards the council’s complaints procedure.

The email in May 2019 response Andrew Jones MP sent to Anthony Place.

Harrogate Borough Council’s head of legal and governance responded to Mr Place in June 2019. Jennifer Norton said that the council would not take the complaint further because Cllr Mearns was not acting in her public office duties at the time.

For more on Harrogate Borough Council’s response to Anthony Place’s complaint Read here.

The Stray Ferret can reveal that a councillor in the Harrogate district and case worker for Andrew Jones MP is at the centre of a police investigation into missing Porsches where victims lost out on a total of more than £1 million.

Gmund Cars Ltd, which was based at the Nidd Valley Business Park, has since gone into dissolution. Andrew Mearns was the owner. Conservative Cllr Samantha Mearns had “significant control” which she gave up in December 2018.

The company started in 2006 and built up a strong reputation as a place which bought and sold classic Porsche cars. The six alleged victims the Stray Ferret spoke to said it started to unravel in 2018.

Andrew Jones MP endorsed the shop as an “amazing business” on December 1, 2018 at the time when Gmund Cars Ltd allegedly started to transfer ownership of cars without the owners’ permission. There is no suggestion that Andrew Jones MP was aware of the allegations when the above picture was taken. Mrs Mearns remains as his case officer.

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The administrator’s report from June 2020 found more than £1 million in claims stacked up against the business with only £15,000 in assets.

North Yorkshire Police is investigating the allegations and arrested a man in his fifties in July last year. He has not been charged and the force released him under investigation.

The Stray Ferret has spoken to six alleged Gmund Cars Ltd victims. Some said they lost out on medical treatment, time away from work to see terminally ill parents or their entire pension pot as a result of not receiving money from the sale of their cars.

Six alleged Gmund Cars Ltd victims speak out

Matt Saphier believes that he is the earliest victim. He took his Porsche 911 valued at more than £80,000 to Gmund Cars Ltd back in May 2017.

After many months of waiting, Mr Saphier received a DVLA notice to say that his car had changed ownership in November 2018. He claims he did not give permission for the sale and Gmund Cars Ltd never sent him the money. Mrs Mearns still held her position of “significant control” in the company in that period.

Anthony Place also claims he lost out on more than £52,000. He took his Porsche 924 Carrera GT to Gmund Cars in August 2018 to be sold on a ‘Sale Or Return’ basis.

Anthony Place’s simple message: Where’s my money?

The DVLA sent Mr Place a notice in March 2019 to say his car had changed ownership but he also never received any money from the sale. After a couple months of pestering Mr Place lost his patience.

Mr Place decided to head down to Gmund Cars Ltd for an open day where more than 200 people were in attendance. He printed t-shirts, painted on the side of one of his other cars and even paid for a plane to carry a banner. The message was simple: “Where’s my £52,495 Gmund?”

He told the Stray Ferret:

“I personally feel quite battered and bruised by this. I may be able to bounce back from this loss and some of the other victims were left devastated. This car sale was supposed to fund my time off work. My plan was to go part time so I could spend some time with my terminally ill parents.”

All alleged six victims were critical of the police’s handling of the case and urged the force not to drop its investigation.

The Stray Ferret has approached both Samantha Mearns and Andrew Jones MP for a comment. Andrew Jones MP did not reply by the time of publication.

Samantha Mearns told the Stray Ferret:

“I was a shareholder in my husband’s business until December 2018.  When the business was put into administration in June 2019, allegations were made which resulted in a police investigation.  As far as I am aware the investigation has concluded with no further action being taken.  I was never interviewed in relation to any of the allegations.”

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political opinion column. It is written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party. 

In 1942 William Beveridge identified “5 giants on the road to post-war reconstruction in the United Kingdom.”  Disease was one, and, on the 5^th July 1948, the NHS became the state’s answer to it.

The NHS is a living breathing political battleground.  Blunt force rhetoric about it generates huge heat, while ideology, knowledge or nuance cast only low light.  Take the following case; the virtue-signalling phenomenon of clapping for the NHS, while failing to ensure or, at the very least, publicly confirm, the post-Brexit future of this treasured institution.

During lockdown, both Harrogate MP Andrew Jones and Ripon MP Julian Smith, together with every MP in parliament, implored us to “clap for the NHS.”  With typical political expediency, (alas) Smith and Jones embraced the NHS rainbow flag and led our constituency-based public displays of affection.  This week, both men voted against an NHS amendment (put down by Green MP Caroline Lucas and supported by the Labour Party) to the Trade Bill that, post-Brexit, will shape our international trading relationships.

The NHS amendment sought to protect the British principle of universal healthcare; it sought protections against wage cuts for NHS staff; the protection of the British medicines market from price gouging; to ensure that our confidential patient data could not be shared without our knowledge and permission.  I don’t know about you, but I have found it difficult to disagree with the NHS being protected from the avarice of Donald Trump’s America.  I challenge our district MPs to take a principled stance in relation to the NHS, rather than simply use its good name when they see a public relations opportunity at a time of crisis.

On the most important guarantor of British wellbeing, the future of the NHS, can there be a more obvious barometer of a person’s character?  In the end, holding to principle against the wishes of one’s own party machinery may well prove personally expensive.  But clapping for the NHS while voting to leave it open to profit-takers from abroad is most certainly cheap.

I know that in the age of the Cummings Tyranny, to vote against the party whip is career limiting.  And if I were in a charitable mood I would accept that the amendments above were put down by the Greens and by Labour to make political mischief; “nasty Tories won’t protect NHS,” “nasty Tories sell out NHS,” and so on.  Of course parliamentary politics is at play, yet it seems to me that the blue team isn’t playing very well.  What would it cost for Smith, Jones and colleagues to go on record, preferably in these pages, to state their views and, specifically, make plain that, even though they voted for the trade bill, they voted tactically against the opposition’s NHS ‘spoiler’ amendments in the interest of post-Brexit progress?

So much ideological tosh is talked about the NHS:  For example, the Labour Party and the British Medical Association (the doctor’s trade union) scream about the ‘privatisation’ of the NHS.  This, despite the fact that no one is charged by the NHS for visiting their GP, or for going to hospital, or for treatment.  Some services that are ‘free at the point of use’ to you and me are, in fact, provided by private companies, themselves paid directly by the NHS.  But at the last official count ,the proportion of the NHS’s overall budget paid to private healthcare providers was less than 9% and falling.

And we Tories bang on about waste and inefficiency, which does exist, but the fact of which is hardly surprising given that, since 1997, the NHS has endured 7 major structural reforms – with New Labour, the Coalition government and the Tories roughly equally culpable – and its demoralised staff don’t know whether they are coming or going.  Billions has been spent too (a good proportion of which has been in vain) on attempting to harness the power of technology to deliver better care outcomes, and to wire together a hugely fragmented healthcare delivery system, so that we can share patient information across and between care settings.

At this point I should declare an interest: The National Health Service is particularly dear to my heart; I worked in the system for several years and, for much of my adult life, have been a frequent acute customer.  In the summer of 2006, I was diagnosed with late stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the odds were very much against my survival.  I spent the next 3 months in hospital receiving brilliant care.  My chemotherapy worked, but a hospital acquired infection almost killed me.

14 years later, the consultant oncologist who saved my life remains a dear friend, a friendship we forged through political discourse; when I arrived at hospital that June, my time as Director of Communication for the Conservative Party was not yet in the distant past.  My doctor, a Professor at Imperial, was then and remains now, a die-hard socialist.  ‘Prof’ refuses on principle to see patients privately, even though with his skills and reputation he could have charged his way to millionairedom, had he been so minded.

Later, when I was discharged as an in-patient and returned to see him for quarterly out-patient check-ups in clinic, Prof would announce loudly “the Tory is back! Everyone remember to give him a hard time.”  Too civilised and sensible a man to subscribe to the view that he “could never be friends with a Tory,” what he meant was that I was to be kept honest in my views about the NHS. ‘Prof’ insists that the service is a humanity defining idea first and a set of healthcare delivery arrangements and economics second.  Do Messrs Smith and Jones?

That’s my Strayside Sunday.

Read More: 

• District’s MPs vote against protecting the NHS in post-Brexit trade bill
• Call for clarity on the future of Harrogate’s NHS Nightingale Hospital at the HCC

Why not get in touch with Paul and share your views on his column and local politics. paul@thestrayferret.co.uk

Andrew Jones, Harrogate and Knaresborough MP, has praised the new rainbow tribute to key workers above the Stray’s cabman’s shelters.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Jones revealed a private donor and local electrical firm had paid for the tribute.

He then called for a debate on how to celebrate the efforts of key workers.

“Our key workers have kept the nation going throughout lockdown and I want to see local and national celebration of that,” he said on Thursday.

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• How local bus companies can transport key workers with a government grant
• When the Harrogate district commemorated the work of key workers
• 8,000 Easter eggs donated to children of key workers in Harrogate district

The tribute to key workers in Harrogate.

In response, Harrogate & Knaresborough Liberal Democrats tweeted the MP had “made a career out of refusing our key workers the pay rise they deserve”.

They added: “Many feel unwelcome in the country they call home. But sure, we all love rainbow lights.”

Harrogate & Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones voted against offering financial support for migrant victims of domestic abuse.

Non-EU nationals with limited leave to enter or remain currently have “no recourse to public funds”, meaning they are not entitled to any financial support such as housing benefit, child benefit, tax credits or Universal Credit.

Charities say the condition is forcing some survivors to return to their abusive partners.

An amendment to the Domestic Abuse Bill yesterday intended to change this to give migrant survivors of domestic abuse a safety net if they are escaping from their abuser or trying to start a new life.

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• MPs watch: litter picking and lost car keys

• Harrogate Women’s Refuge says abused may be too scared to call for help

The rule was introduced in 2012 and critics say it forms a key part of the government’s so-called “hostile environment” for migrants coming to the UK.

Last night’s vote in the House of Commons was met with dismay from local and national charities.

Carmel Ossard, spokesperson for the Independent Domestic Abuse Service (IDAS) which runs a women’s refuge in Harrogate, told the Stray Ferret they had written to Andrew Jones asking him not to support the amendment.

She said:

“For migrant women who are faced with a choice of destitution or to remain with their abusive partner, it is not an acceptable situation and we hoped our local MPs would have supported this amendment.”

The Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants also spoke out against the vote.

It said:

“Extremely sad news. The government has chosen to continue creating a hostile environment for migrant survivors, instead of granting them the safety & protection they need.”

The Stray Ferret asked Mr Jones to explain why he voted against the amendment but he has not responded at the time of publication.

Strayside Sunday is our weekly political column written by Paul Baverstock, former Director of Communications for the Conservative Party:

In the days after Boris Johnson introduced lockdown on March 24th, I wrote in the Yorkshire Post and Stray Ferret in praise of the Prime Minister’s leadership and in praise of the substance and effectiveness of government communication at the time. 11 weeks later the PM’S moral leadership is under threat and the Government’s initial clarity of communication has been lost.

This week, hot on the heels of the credibility-sapping Cummings affair, the government has asked for, and succeeded in bringing, all members from every constituency in the land back to parliament.  Observing social distancing requirements, it took MPs 90 minutes to make their way through the queue to vote for a measure that disenfranchises any MP with an underlying health condition, or who is isolated for family reasons. This cannot be sustainable.

As parliament will soon be rehoused to make way for the pending multi-billion renovation of the Palace of Westminster, the Government should have grasped the opportunity for a continued virtual parliament, embracing technology in circumstances that make it both possible and advisable: Saving money for the taxpayer; repatriating MP’s to spend more time in their constituencies; closer and more accountable to the people they represent.  Little wonder that Harrogate and Ripon’s own ‘virtual’ MPs, Andrew Jones and Julian Smith, both voted to return to Westminster.

Now that both MPs are back in the capital, perhaps they could ask ministers for urgent clarification about the future of Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital, thankfully under-utilised for covid cases, which, from Friday past, was being used to provide CT scans for non-covid patients. In the “Before Times” Harrogate relied greatly on the income from conferences and attendees.

The NHS’s contract to use the Convention Centre ends on June 30th.  Given the centrality of the centre to Harrogate’s economic future we need urgent information from the council about the plans for it. It may well be that the Department of Health and Social Care is hedging specialist beds capacity against a covid ‘second wave’ spike. It might just be that a decision is pending. Either way, any plan to get the town’s economy back on its feet needs the Convention Centre convening again, not least to generate some proportion of the £57m economic benefit it claimed to bring to the town in 2017/18.  Even the public acknowledgement of uncertainty by Harrogate Borough Councillors Cooper and Swift is better communication than saying nothing at all and signals to the local business community that they need to make contingent plans for a much straitened economic future.

No political column this week can fail to mention the killing of George Floyd.  As of writing, the charge against Minneapolis policemen, Derek Chauvin, has been elevated to second-degree murder and the other three officers face counts of aiding and abetting murder. Mr Floyd’s death was caught on video and, thanks to social media ‘shares,’ has now been seen by millions around the globe.

On Tuesday, activists asked us all to post a “Blackout Tuesday” black disc in place of our social media profile pictures and asked that we spend our time understanding how to combat the innate and institutionalised racism that the organisers say we are all guilty of, because we were born into white privilege.  While it is undeniable that the good and, let’s face it, mostly white burghers of genteel Harrogate cannot in any way appreciate the lived experience of an urban black Minnesotan, to extrapolate from that to a blanket charge of racism is wrong headed and dangerous.

Which is a clue for those of you who’ve asked why I won’t participate in discussion on social media.  A battle of ideas fought on social media can’t possibly have the space, tolerance and reasoned discourse needed if we are to bottom out loaded subjects like race and make progress toward real equality together.

I don’t believe it is possible or even wise to attempt to substantiate reason and complexity in 280 characters or, as Twitter says ‘less’ (when of course it should say ‘fewer’).  Titbits of virtue signalling, local bores, selfie whores, moaners and the ‘let’s all pile on kicking of those who made mistakes years ago, in contexts long forgotten’, are not of interest and gladden neither heart nor soul.

I celebrate the power of social media to reveal acts of criminal violence such as the killing of George Floyd but I also denigrate its dumbing down and silencing of real public discourse.

Some things are as simple as black and white; it’s just that most things are not.  Things in the public realm are and should be difficult. Reaching agreement and achieving compromise asks the best of us, while, IMHO (sigh), social media amplifies the worst.

That’s my Strayside Sunday.