In this #COVID19 crisis, some worry about having a eugenics nutjob like Cummings in charge... Before rubbishing this as alarmist, please consider Charles Trevelyan, the Treasury official placed in charge of relief during the Irish famine in the1840s. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Downwards arrow" aria-label="Emoji: Downwards arrow">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😠" title="Angry face" aria-label="Emoji: Angry face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✊" title="Raised fist" aria-label="Emoji: Raised fist">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🦠" title="Microbe" aria-label="Emoji: Microbe"> #ToriesOut https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇪🇺" title="Flag of European Union" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of European Union">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇮🇪" title="Flag of Ireland" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Ireland">

We tend to assume that our government would *never* consciously do anything to damage its own people... Trevelyan, however, took the psychopathic view that the famine was divine intervention on the feckless poor... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Downwards arrow" aria-label="Emoji: Downwards arrow"> https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😖" title="Confounded face" aria-label="Emoji: Confounded face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✊" title="Raised fist" aria-label="Emoji: Raised fist">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇪🇺" title="Flag of European Union" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of European Union">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇮🇪" title="Flag of Ireland" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Ireland"> #history #famine #Ireland #capitalism

This was at a time when - even during the years of famine - Ireland was exporting around 300,000 tons of grain to England per annum. Fully *one million* Irish people are believed to have died due to the famine, and around two million emigrated. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😠" title="Angry face" aria-label="Emoji: Angry face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✊" title="Raised fist" aria-label="Emoji: Raised fist">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇪🇺" title="Flag of European Union" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of European Union">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇮🇪" title="Flag of Ireland" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of Ireland"> #resist #ToriesOut

But Trevelyan was more concerned about preventing disruption to commerce... Writing later about his “relief” work, he had this to say... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="⬇️" title="Downwards arrow" aria-label="Emoji: Downwards arrow">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😖" title="Confounded face" aria-label="Emoji: Confounded face"> #ToriesOut #eugenics #CummingsOut

Astonishingly, he was knighted for his work on the famine, & was later given a baronetcy, which his descendants still possess. This is a reminder that Trevelyan was NOT some rogue nutjob, but fully a part of the establishment, the one that still “governs” us... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😠" title="Angry face" aria-label="Emoji: Angry face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✊" title="Raised fist" aria-label="Emoji: Raised fist"> #ToriesOut

The fact that this lunatic, practically genocidal policy was carried out by a UK Treasury official also demonstrates the urgent need to criticise the government and hold it to account: crisis does NOT mean a free pass for bad decisions. #resist #ToriesOut #JohnsonMustGo https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🦠" title="Microbe" aria-label="Emoji: Microbe">

I came across Charles Trevelyan in this extraordinarily interesting book from @_RajPatel and @oikeios... Very highly recommended! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤓" title="Nerd face" aria-label="Emoji: Nerd face">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✊" title="Raised fist" aria-label="Emoji: Raised fist">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇪🇺" title="Flag of European Union" aria-label="Emoji: Flag of European Union"> @VersoBooks #resist #ToriesOut #COVID19 https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🦠" title="Microbe" aria-label="Emoji: Microbe">