The Conservative youth movement Activate have been slammed on social media after posting a vile tweet which mocked poor people who are unable to afford to pay for heating during the recent freezing weather.
Activate, whose Director and most-prominent social media contributor is Sam Ancliff – a failed Tory Councillor and ‘writer’ for the obscure pro-Tory blog The Backbencher – attempted to use the current extreme weather conditions – in which several homeless people have already frozen to death – to joke that:
As the cold settles in and the national gas supply is running low we are hearing horrific stories…
All across the country, Socialists are being forced to put their hands in their own pockets.
https://twitter.com/ActivateBritain/status/969248736953151488
Dr Rachel Clarke, a Palliative care specialist and political activist, was one of the first to respond to Activate’s despicably out of touch tweet, telling them bluntly:
When you have tried and failed to restart the heart of a pensioner – too poor to heat his home – with hypothermia, well, then you can sneer about what cold can do to Britons.
Until then, respectfully, please keep quiet.
When you have tried and failed to restart the heart of a pensioner – too poor to heat his home – with hypothermia, well, then you can sneer about what cold can do to Britons.
Until then, respectfully, please keep quiet. https://t.co/jdjIpWIKk0
— Rachel Clarke (@doctor_oxford) March 1, 2018
Another Twitter user, who referred to Activate’s infamous first few months where the Tory Youth Movement experienced a catalogue of ridiculous social media errors, replied to their latest botched attempt to relate to real people by saying:
Is this another parody account? What a disgusting tweet. When thousands don’t even have a roof over their heads. Thousands more can’t afford to put their heating on. The cold is a killer and the Conservatives will never wipe the blood from their hands.
Activate’s response to valid criticism of their tweet was to simply resort to the sort of childish name-calling that would be more familiar in a primary school playground, posting yet another pitiful attempt at a joke that said:
https://twitter.com/ActivateBritain/status/969302346302984192
Evolve Politics have contacted the Conservative Party to ascertain whether or not they endorse the views espoused in Activate’s tweets. As yet they have not responded to our request.
Many on social media responded to Activate’s accusation that those criticising their attempted joke are simply ‘snowflakes’ by referring to Activate’s ironically sensitive policy of blocking virtually anybody who dares ask them tough questions:
This is especially funny since you seem to block anyone who criticises your tweets.
— Catherine Sutherland (@cjs64) March 1, 2018
Activate blocked Evolve Politics on Twitter after we attempted to ask them legitimate questions about their operation, and huge numbers of social media users have also reported the same treatment – being blocked by the organisation both on Twitter and Facebook for the merest of offences such as criticising Tory policy or pointing out how Tory policy is actually affecting people in the real world.
However, Activate responded to questions about their policy of blocking people on Twitter by saying:
Criticising is fine, we just block those who are either blatant trolls/fake accounts or those who are abusive.
Which, as nobody at Evolve Politics has ever been abusive to Activate or any of their members in any way, their response is, of course, completely untrue.
Added to this the fact that hundreds of other social media users have had the same experience of being blocked for merely criticising the policies that they support, it seems that not only are Activate seemingly unable to respond to questions about the transparency of their operation, they also can’t legitimately claim to be a trustworthy organisation either.
And now, Activate’s despicable tweet mocking poor people suffering in the freezing weather has shown just how out of touch and callous these smarmy young Tories really are.
Activate have since responded by claiming:
We blocked them and removed them from our media list after they published utter lies repeatedly.
https://twitter.com/ActivateBritain/status/969336939873755136
Evolve Politics have challenged Activate to provide evidence of the ‘lies’ they refer to and, should they be able to provide evidence for their accusation, we have encouraged them to make a formal complaint through Evolve’s regulator, IMPRESS.
Please restate what lies we published, Sam.
Also, we are regulated by IMPRESS – if you've got any proof that we lied, we wholeheartedly endorse you making a complaint against us.
— Tom D. Rogers (@TomDRogers1) March 1, 2018
We shan’t be holding our breath.
Here’s our tweet from the evening they blocked us in November 2017.
Poor @SamAncliff couldn't answer a simple question about whether the people he used in his Activate signup graphic were real Activate members, so he decided to block us instead! Absolutely incredible. pic.twitter.com/KAoXRtvxwg
— Evolve Politics (@evolvepolitics) November 10, 2017
Become An Evolve Politics Subscriber
Your subscriptions go directly into paying our writers a standard fee for every article they produce. So if you want to help us stay truly independent, please think about subscribing. We literally couldn’t function without the support of our fantastic readers.
SubscribeOr a One-Off Donation to Evolve Politics
If you don’t want to subscribe, but still want to contribute to our project, you can make a one-off donation via the donate button below. All your donations go directly to our writers for their work in exposing injustice, inequality and unfairness.
Donate