Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

I see that in the latest u-turn from his previous ideas that Starmer has now said he backs FPTP and has no intention to do electoral reform. Completing his transition from the leadership candidate Jos backed and I was dubious about

As I too can only see  electoral reform as a distraction when Labour's possibly going to win 70% of the seats

[Josquius]

What was the context? Ambushed on it as an attempted tory attack line?
Pretty shit and unlikely to be helpful. I doubt many boomers are all that scared of democracy and it will push people who were considering it towards the greens.
Yes. Starmer is shaping up to be a massive disappointment. He will be better then the tories. But at the moment signs are he won't even match up to Blair.

[Sheilbh]

What was the context? Ambushed on it as an attempted tory attack line?

In an interview with ITV I think.

Pretty shit and unlikely to be helpful. I doubt many boomers are all that scared of democracy and it will push people who were considering it towards the greens.
Yes. Starmer is shaping up to be a massive disappointment. He will be better then the tories. But at the moment signs are he won't even match up to Blair.

All joking aside, political attacks that work are either based in reality or commonly held perceptions of reality. I think it's striking that both left and right are basically making trust-based attacks on Starmer and I think that will build because I think, fundamentally, they are kind of true.

[Sheilbh]

I see the Telegraph is reckoning with the prospect of a Labour government with quiet dignity and grace:




Not directly election related but their Waitrose has fallen headline also magnificent:


I'd love to be a fly on their wall in their editorial meetings

[Valmy]

14 years of Tories = state of moral collapse with only a tiny bit of joy left to suck.

Not sure that is going to scare me into voting Conservative there Telegraph.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Not even Waitrose is safe 

... I've never liked Starmer, even back when he was DPP I felt he had repressive instincts. Interesting that these right wing people don't seem to see that 

He is possibly our best bet to deal with all the problems they so love to constantly rehearse, even if that pisses off his own party.

[Gups]

Hard to be DPP without coming across as at least a bit repressive...

I think he has good credentials as a lawyer including representing the McLibel two for free over a long period of time.

He is a poor campaigner and I don't warm to him at all. Labour's policies are unimaginaive and timid. But what I want over the next 4-5 years is competence, probity, reasonable medium-term planning and discipline. Things like keeping ministers in place for a couple of years so they learn their jobs rather than constant shuffling for party political reason.

I'm pretty confident we are going to get this.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yes, I agree. It does make the Telegraph attack look risible; Starmer would not have been out of place in the Tory party in the 1970s. I also think there is a good chance that the competence level will soar with the new government, he has some good colleagues imo (of course with the current tory shower our bar may be too low).

The right has spent many years grumbling about civil servants thwarting them, but if you change ministers frequently then that is inevitable. It seems to be the consensus that it takes at least a year for a new minister to master his brief; so, given the very frequent changes of jobs by tory ministers, hardly any of them have been in post long enough to know what they are doing....which is exactly what it looks like. All covered many years ago in Yes minister of course.

[Josquius]

The tory leanings of the bbc at work again.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2q0rvgv25xo.amp


Headline they chose : Illegal arrivals could apply for asylum under Labour

A more factual headline I'd suggest : Labour to start actually following international law again rather than engaging in pointless performative cruelty that just makes the situation worse.

[Gups]

That's a very long headline

[Josquius]

That's a very long headline

just the first bit works out if we're being serious