MP calls out Christmas Day online abuse

Messages received directly by Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash show the state of online discourse with our elected representatives

I hope you’ve had a great Christmas period so far, and Happy New Year for this evening. Thanks again for all your support in 2025, I’m truly grateful and couldn’t do this without your support.

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The next edition should be with you on Sunday.

Thanks again, and Happy New Year!

Leigh

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🚌 Nearly half of bus shelters in Redcar and Cleveland need fixing or are in poor condition. The council says it’s because funding had to be prioritised on “safety-critical highway maintenance”. The figure comes from a survey of more than 3,700 bus shelters in the region by Tees Valley Combined Authority. 68 bus shelters in Redcar and Cleveland - roughly 48% - are in need of improvement. In Stockton, the figure is 25%, meanwhile in Hartlepool it’s 18%.

🗳️ Another by-election is due in the new year for Redcar and Cleveland Council, after two were held in 2025. It comes as Jonny Neal resigns as a councillor in the Zetland ward. He was originally elected in 2023 as a Labour councillor, but quit the party to sit as an independent earlier this year. The next set of full council elections for the borough are due in May 2027.

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Hartlepool MP calls out Christmas Day abuse

Jonathan Brash MP, and the screenshots he shared of abuse.

Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash has called out perpetrators of online abuse he says was directed to him on Christmas Day, telling The Teesside Lead it “isn’t normal behaviour”.

The Labour politician shared a post on his Facebook page on Sunday showing examples of screenshots he says were sent to him through the platform on Christmas Day. They include what appear to be comments and messages sent, calling Mr Brash a “parasite”, a “crank”, and a “c*nt”. The profile pictures and names associated to the perpetrators were blocked by Mr Brash.

In his post, Brash wrote: “Somewhere along the line, social media has become a breeding ground for online radicalisation. Fake news, conspiracy theories, Russian-sponsored bots and bad-faith actors are deliberately polluting people’s minds… And it’s working.”

It’s difficult to argue that online spaces have “polluted” some people’s minds, and this is a perfect example. We probably all scrolled through our phones a little on Christmas day, but taking that extra active step to comment something, let alone something negative - let alone personal abuse - to somebody, feels completely mad to me.

There’s clearly a difference between disagreeing with somebody and going to the effort of calling them a c*nt on Christmas day.

One only has to spend a short time on a platform like Facebook to see the anger in comments, or the misdirected vitriol. In a recent post about renovating the St George Hotel at Teesside Airport, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen pre-empted the sort of comments which are commonplace by saying it wouldn’t be used to house migrants.