Latest news with #identityPolitics
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Orwellian new banking surveillance powers offer huge potential for abuse
To what extent do you trust this, or any previous, government? It's a relevant question, given the sweeping new powers that parliament is seemingly being asked to hand over to our elected – and unelected – masters on a weekly basis. The point of the question, however, is in the fact of its being asked at all: while there has always been a healthy degree of suspicion between the governed and the government, it is hard to imagine a time when that disconnect has been greater than it is today. A civil service obsessed with identity politics of all varieties, which threatens strike action if its members are not allowed to remain at home most of the week while suffering no loss in pay, which reserves the right to complain publicly about policies being pursued by the elected government, cannot hope to retain the good will and support of the public. Yet now the government has chosen to give middle-ranking civil servants with unprecedented powers to spy on ordinary citizens' financial affairs. As revealed by The Telegraph today, a new fraud Bill will allow civil servants to demand that banks provide personal information about an individual's account without a court order, and extract funds if they 'reasonably believe' that money is owed to the taxpayer. They will also be given the power to ask for a search and entry warrant and to freeze bank accounts. We may assume the new measures can be filed under 'seemed a good idea at the time', since they were initially proposed under the previous Conservative government in response to the eye-watering levels of fraud that took place during that weird period of history defined by the Covid pandemic and lockdown. So much public money disappeared under relatively little public scrutiny or oversight that the new government feels emboldened to clamp down on potential ongoing fraud, secure in the knowledge that the public would tolerate never-before-seen investigative powers wielded by relatively junior civil servants on behalf of the public purse. And if those powers could be guaranteed to be used only against the fraudsters, there would be very little opposition to the new measures. The question is whether those powers, once granted, will not be used more and more against ordinary citizens who are merely suspected, perhaps with little evidence, of not paying enough tax or claiming too many benefits without justification. Do we really want to live in a country where citizens' bank accounts can be examined, frozen or have cash withdrawn – all without the account holder being told what is happening or why? As the legislation currently stands, sign-off by a minister, which would offer at least the appearance of some democratic accountability, would not be required before an individual's bank account is accessed and further action proposed. The powers could be wielded by any anti-fraud official with a civil service rank above 'higher executive officer' – a Whitehall middle manager – and will apply to members of the Public Sector Fraud Authority, a new government body designed to crack down on criminal fraud against public bodies. Naturally, civil liberties groups have raised concerns about the legislation. Big Brother Watch, the civil liberties campaign group, told The Telegraph that the 'dangerous new bank spying powers' would 'effectively turn banks into agents of the state, tasked with spying on everyone's bank accounts and reporting back to the Government'. There's an ugly element of arrogance in all of this, a touch of 'We are the masters now' sort of philosophy from a party that won a 170-seat Commons majority on barely a third of the popular vote. The question posed earlier as to whether you trust this or previous governments can be reframed and put to current ministers: would you trust these powers to be used fairly by ministers of another party, after the next election? In the event of a Reform-led coalition government, are you content for such unprecedented executive power over individuals' livelihoods to be in the hands of your political opponents? Fraud must be challenged and detected and its perpetrators held to account. But in doing so, the government needs to take citizens with them. At the start of this century, the Proceeds of Crime Act was opposed by many in the legal establishment who felt it would result in miscarriages of justice in the legitimate fight against organised crime. Those concerns were proved groundless thanks to the legal safeguards in the legislation. Unless similarly robust safeguards are inserted into this new legislation, ministers risk damaging further, perhaps irretrievably, the delicate and essential political contract that exists between them and their voters.
Al Jazeera
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Have identity politics changed the course of pro-Palestine protests?
He joins us to discuss his latest book on the role of identity politics in the repression of campus protests in support of Palestine. Finkelstein explores how contradictions in wokeism are being weaponised against the pro-Palestine movement — and what that means for free speech today. Phil Lavelle is a TV news correspondent at Al Jazeera.
New York Times
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Punk, Monet and Puerto Rico: New Photography From Elle Pérez
Subtle resistance to representation is on display in a handful of new shows, where some artists are refusing the notion that figuration must be their primary subject, or what is required to be successful. 'Source Notes,' Lorna Simpson's riveting new show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, highlights her shift toward painting while still emphasizing the artists' career-long interest in destabilizing expectations of Black life and the art that makes sense of it. The painter Jordan Casteel's newfound focus on florals is a dreamy drift away from her signature portraits. And one of the most fascinating new artists I found to be coyly refusing to play the game of identity politics is the New York photographer Elle Pérez, whose exhibition at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in Upper Manhattan centers the politics of personhood over the consumption of that same self. The lens lingers on physical terrain: yards, curving coastlines. The portraits included are mantle-size, which, in the cavernous space, dares you to come close and forge an intimate relationship with the work. At first glance, one could erroneously wonder if the show, comprising nearly 30 images, a slide show, a short film and a collage, is a premature retrospective. The works on display span the artist's career from 2009 to 2025 and seem to be organized semi-chronologically. But it quickly becomes clear that 'The World Is Always Again Beginning, History With the Present,' organized by Jenny Jaskey, chief curator, in collaboration with Pérez, functions as a cut section invitation into the sacred practice of process. This is a show that starts before you get to the show. The Academy is nestled in the vibrant and rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Washington Heights, near Boricua College. The elaborate iron gates of the 1923 building that welcome visitors invoke the Gilded Age and its arts patronage, a sorely needed reminder of possibility amid devastating arts defunding. As Pérez explains inside: 'This is the neighborhood that made me.' Pérez was born in 1989 in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents who were also born and raised there. (As Pérez said in a recent interview, 'My grandparents were the generation that made the jump.') Instead of traditional blocks of wall text, the artist chose to install fragments of their poetry, like those lines, which start the exhibition. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
03-06-2025
- General
- Fox News
Ex-Democratic leader warns party is 'dying' as key issues leave voters wanting 'new way forward'
Former California Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero warned Tuesday that the party she once called home is "on its last stand," accusing its members of abandoning common sense and core American values in favor of identity politics. "It is a dying party. It will go the way of the Whigs in a century past," she said while appearing on "Fox & Friends First." "The new way forward is an America-first party, the Republican Party under Donald Trump… This is really a new party, and it's one that recognizes that borders matter, citizenship matters, safety for all [matters]. We care about the content of one's character much more than we care about the color of our skin, and across the board… we are there together to say, 'Stop the nonsense. Speak common sense.'" Romero said many former Democrats – Tulsi Gabbard, Leo Terrell, RFK, Jr. and herself included – tried to be voices for reform within the party, but saw the writing on the wall and ultimately resigned themselves to leaving altogether. Her comments lambasting Democrats came after Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman bucked his party over the border and antisemitism during a Fox Nation-hosted debate with his Republican colleague Sen. Dave McCormick on Monday. "Antisemitism [is] out of control… Building tent cities on a campus and terrorizing and intimidating Jewish students – that's not free speech, and now we've lost the argument in parts of my party," he conceded. "Our party did not handle the border appropriately. Look at the numbers: 267,000, 300,000 people showing up at our border. Now that's unacceptable and that's a national security issue and that is chaos." Romero applauded the Keystone State lawmakers for showcasing a commitment to working across the aisle in a way she wishes more politicians would consider. "Sadly, Democrats are still caught in that web, the ideology of identity politics, and it [working across the aisle] has not yet taken root," she HERE TO JOIN FOX NATION "They still stand up and scream that everybody's a Nazi, everybody's racist. Or still defend open borders, deny the rampant antisemitism, and refuse to stand up for America first. But hopefully, with the Fetterman-McCormick discussion debate, I hope it really sends a message across the country that this is what the American people want – for our elected officials to grow up, to listen to each other, and work with each other for Americans."
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Blue Labour group urges ministers to ‘root out DEI' to win over Reform voters
The Labour faction influencing Downing Street's pitch to Reform UK voters has urged ministers to 'root out DEI'. An article from the Blue Labour campaign group, titled What is to be Done, calls for the government to legislate against diversity, equity and inclusion, echoing the rightwing backlash from Donald Trump and Nigel Farage. Describing itself as part of a tradition of 'conservative socialism', the caucus was founded in 2009 by the academic Maurice Glasman, now a Labour peer. It includes the MPs Dan Carden, Jonathan Brash, Jonathan Hinder and David Smith, who represent seats in the north of England. Keir Starmer's turn to the right and framing of Labour as 'the party of patriotism' mirror Blue Labour thinking. Urging the party to renew its 'covenant with the British people', Blue Labour's article said: 'We are proud of our multiracial democracy and we utterly reject divisive identity politics, which undermines the bonds of solidarity between those of different sexes, races and nationalities. 'We should legislate to root out DEI in hiring practices, sentencing decisions and wherever else we find it in our public bodies.' Earlier this week, the Guardian reported how organisations are rebranding inclusion initiatives to avoid unwanted political attention, reflecting a divergence between trade bodies and employers who believe policies designed to ensure a level playing field are good for business and society, and reactionary politicians. In February, the equalities minister, Seema Malhotra, said the government was 'absolutely committed' to diversity and inclusion, with new legislation that would compel employers with more than 250 staff to report on ethnicity and disability pay gaps progressing though parliament. Launching the consultation on the equality (race and disability) bill, which closes on 10 June, the disability minister, Stephen Timms, and Malhotra said the 'commitment to create a more equal society in which people can thrive whatever their background' was an 'essential element' of Labour's project. They added: 'The reality is far from that goal. For example, currently most ethnic minority groups earn on average less than their white British peers. Similarly, while there has been growth in employment rates for disabled people in recent years, disabled people have, on average, lower incomes than non-disabled people. While previous Labour governments introduced landmark … equality-related legislation, more still remains to be done.' However, since this year's local elections, when Reform gained a foothold in local government after seizing scores of seats from Labour, the prime minister has appeared to be trying to counter the threat from Farage by moving further to the cultural right, despite the risk of losing support from minority ethnic voters, who were more likely than white voters to support Labour in the last general election, and left-leaning voters in general. In mid-May, ministers were forced to strongly deny allegations that Starmer sounded like Enoch Powell in a speech that said Britain risked becoming an 'island of strangers', and that 'uncontrolled' migration had done 'incalculable damage', as he launched plans to curb net migration. Blue Labour calls for lower migration in the same article in which it takes aim at DEI, saying: 'Immigration is not a distraction or a culture war issue; it is the most fundamental of political questions, a cause of social fragmentation, and the basis of our broken political economy. 'We should drastically reduce immigration, reducing low-skill immigration by significantly raising salary thresholds; closing the corrupt student visa mill system; and ending the exploitation of the asylum system, if necessary prioritising domestic democratic politics over the rule of international lawyers.' In May, it emerged that net migration almost halved in 2024.
