A Tory councillor just lived to regret a tweet about the NHS march [TWEETS]

Fiona Robson #OurNHS


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On Sunday 5 March, a Conservative councillor thought she was tweeting something smart about the #OurNHS demo. But Twitter reacted angrily. And it rightly called out her disgraceful comments.

And here’s to you, Mrs Robson

Fiona Robson is a councillor in Carlisle. After the #OurNHS demo, she tweeted:

Fiona Robson Tweet

But the backlash was instant. Before Robson deleted her account, over 2,000 people had commented on her post:

Jesus loves you more than you will know?

Robson’s biography on her local Conservative group’s website made her tweet all the more odd. She says:

I am a secondary school special needs teacher and a committed Christian

People replied angrily:

Hide it in the hiding place where no one ever goes

Hidden/invisible disabilities affect around 70% [pdf p.13] of the 10 million disabled people in the UK. For example, Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) affects 1.76 million people. Symptoms include:

  • Increased pain sensitivity.
  • Fatigue.
  • Muscle stiffness.
  • Difficulty sleeping.
  • Cognitive issues, or ‘Fibro-Fog‘.
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
  • Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)
  • Paresthesia.
  • Anxiety and depression.

But people living with FMS often show no outward signs of their illness. And the fluctuations in health also mean they have good and bad days. The latter, known as ‘flare-ups’, often last for weeks. So a person living with FMS may have been able to do the #OurNHS march. But would then be in agony for days afterwards.

PLEASE, Mrs Robson

Robson later apologised saying she “asked a question”. But people were unimpressed:

https://twitter.com/_RedTyneside/status/838430326418468864

And this writer thought political grime about Tory ideology may help with Robson’s understanding of the error of her ways:

But the obvious undertones were clear. As one Twitter user summed up:

You were not asking a question. You were making a judgement, & one that falls in line with your party’s appalling record.

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