The best tactic to create difficulties for Labour over votes for 16 and 17-year-olds would be to add an amendment making it for UK and Irish citizens only.
I would remove the vote for Irish citizens as well. Not because I have anything against them but because it is daft to have a system where citizens of a foreign country (who are not UK citizens) can vote in our national elections.
Ireland isn't really a foreign country. We should aim to reintegrate it as much as possible.
A good first step would be to simplify its administration into just 1 jurisdiction headquartered in Dublin.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
I am not disappointed, he's doing about as well as I thought he would. I just can't generate the "twattish hysteria" about the thing he's done, like Chagos, that so inflames the aging gammons on here. I still like him though because he defended the McLibel Two.
there's clearly been a well funded big push from our billionnaire friends on social media to generate some hysterical 'worst ever' stylings about Starmer. I imagine if Tony Blair had won an election in 2024 rather than 1997 he'd be getting the same treatment.
No, because Blair had much more political talent, especially the ability to engage with people who disagreed with him.
Trump: Moscow's Man in the White House: Dispatches
Drawing upon interviews from former US intelligence officials and White House insiders, this documentary highlights the factors apparently underpinning Donald Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin. Is it unchecked admiration for a fellow authoritarian, a bold geopolitical gambit to divide Russia and China - or could the American president really be a recruited Russian asset?
Channel 4, 9pm.
The 3rd option is unlikely but not quite as unlikely as the 2nd. So I'll go for the 1st.
My own current view is that any of them are possible; however, I favour the fact he is an elderly man, and for all of his adult life the Soviet Union was the big, bad enemy, to be feared. And like many, he equated the USSR with Russia. Russia was big. Russia was powerful. Russia was to be respected. And Putin is a man who wants a strong Russia, in the same way that Trump wants a strong America. Trump believes that is also to be respected.
I'm unsure any actual strategic thinking goes on in Trump's head - though it might in those that surround him. He strikes me as someone who goes on gut feel from decision to decision, and he may well have run his businesses like that as well.
If that's right, we can overanalyse what he is 'thinking', and only hope to influence his gut feelings. As Melania may well have done wrt Ukraine...
I think that Melania thing was bullshit but otherwise yes pretty much.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
Do you want him to ignore his manifesto commitment?
Considering he broke his commitments already when he raised NICs, that is moot.
No, he didn't. We all knew they were going up precisely because it's the one thing Labour hadn't promised to leave alone.
Employers NICs are a direct tax on employees wages, no different to fuel duty or alcohol duty being a direct tax on those goods.
It's indirect because it doesn't necessarily fully translate to a reduction in wages, most obviously for minimum wage workers because their wages cannot go any lower. At the top end, the vast majority of it will be passed onto lower wages though, except in the public sector.
It probably primarily translates to reduced employment at the bottom end of the labour market, though a further tightening due to lower immigration could mitigate that. All eyes on vacancies, though there is an ongoing post-COVID trend that predates the NICs change so you're looking for a change in that trend rather than absolute numbers.
Productivity figures are going to look good though!
Its direct in the same way as duties are. To argue that its not because the effects filter through to adjusted wages or lower employment is as delusional as arguing increasing alcohol duty isn't a direct tax on alcohol because firms like to have round number prices so it might not get passed on.
It's direct on employers and indirect on employees (via employer behaviour).
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
I am not disappointed, he's doing about as well as I thought he would. I just can't generate the "twattish hysteria" about the thing he's done, like Chagos, that so inflames the aging gammons on here. I still like him though because he defended the McLibel Two.
there's clearly been a well funded big push from our billionnaire friends on social media to generate some hysterical 'worst ever' stylings about Starmer. I imagine if Tony Blair had won an election in 2024 rather than 1997 he'd be getting the same treatment.
Yeah, got to be big tech social media conspiracy and definitely not that Starmer just isn’t very good and can’t even use his massive majority to get good things done.
When people were slagging off Rishi, Truss, Boris, May, Cameron do you think this was also generated by shadowy foreigners or maybe just people finding them to be crap?
Its the modern media world.
What would the Eighties have been like with Social Media and 24 hour rolling news, through mass factory closures, inflation, sky high interest rates, the Miners Strike, the Falklands war, the Brixton and Toxteth riots, AIDS epidemic, Section 28, the Cold War etc
It would have been mayhem. Anyone thinking it is "Broken Britain" now and thinking those were idyllic* years hasn't got a clue.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
I am not disappointed, he's doing about as well as I thought he would. I just can't generate the "twattish hysteria" about the thing he's done, like Chagos, that so inflames the aging gammons on here. I still like him though because he defended the McLibel Two.
there's clearly been a well funded big push from our billionnaire friends on social media to generate some hysterical 'worst ever' stylings about Starmer. I imagine if Tony Blair had won an election in 2024 rather than 1997 he'd be getting the same treatment.
No, because Blair had much more political talent, especially the ability to engage with people who disagreed with him.
30 years ago it was possible to keep control of the news agenda. That is no longer possible.
How on earth can it take 10 years to start running a through train from the UK to Germany?
And somehow this is being celebrated.
This is a joke right? Oh god, no, its another agreement to explore getting an agreement for trains to run in next 10 years....shakes head.
Even the e-gates, isn't all UK e-passport holders can, its a small subset will be able to with everybody at some unspecified point in the future. This is trivial stuff to agree.
OK. If you think it’s that simple, answer this - what font should be used for the label on the door of the toilet in the staff area of the sales kiosk for the tickets?
The best tactic to create difficulties for Labour over votes for 16 and 17-year-olds would be to add an amendment making it for UK and Irish citizens only.
I would remove the vote for Irish citizens as well. Not because I have anything against them but because it is daft to have a system where citizens of a foreign country (who are not UK citizens) can vote in our national elections.
Ireland isn't really a foreign country. We should aim to reintegrate it as much as possible.
A good first step would be to simplify its administration into just 1 jurisdiction headquartered in Dublin.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
I am not disappointed, he's doing about as well as I thought he would. I just can't generate the "twattish hysteria" about the thing he's done, like Chagos, that so inflames the aging gammons on here. I still like him though because he defended the McLibel Two.
there's clearly been a well funded big push from our billionnaire friends on social media to generate some hysterical 'worst ever' stylings about Starmer. I imagine if Tony Blair had won an election in 2024 rather than 1997 he'd be getting the same treatment.
No, because Blair had much more political talent, especially the ability to engage with people who disagreed with him.
nah it would have been like that week of fuel protests forever and ever and ever
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
I am not disappointed, he's doing about as well as I thought he would. I just can't generate the "twattish hysteria" about the thing he's done, like Chagos, that so inflames the aging gammons on here. I still like him though because he defended the McLibel Two.
there's clearly been a well funded big push from our billionnaire friends on social media to generate some hysterical 'worst ever' stylings about Starmer. I imagine if Tony Blair had won an election in 2024 rather than 1997 he'd be getting the same treatment.
No, because Blair had much more political talent, especially the ability to engage with people who disagreed with him.
30 years ago it was possible to keep control of the news agenda. That is no longer possible.
The best tactic to create difficulties for Labour over votes for 16 and 17-year-olds would be to add an amendment making it for UK and Irish citizens only.
I would remove the vote for Irish citizens as well. Not because I have anything against them but because it is daft to have a system where citizens of a foreign country (who are not UK citizens) can vote in our national elections.
Ireland isn't really a foreign country. We should aim to reintegrate it as much as possible.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
I am not disappointed, he's doing about as well as I thought he would. I just can't generate the "twattish hysteria" about the thing he's done, like Chagos, that so inflames the aging gammons on here. I still like him though because he defended the McLibel Two.
there's clearly been a well funded big push from our billionnaire friends on social media to generate some hysterical 'worst ever' stylings about Starmer. I imagine if Tony Blair had won an election in 2024 rather than 1997 he'd be getting the same treatment.
No, because Blair had much more political talent, especially the ability to engage with people who disagreed with him.
30 years ago it was possible to keep control of the news agenda. That is no longer possible.
It was worse though in a way for Blair, there were the largely naturally Tory supporting Press, Sky News who were obvs Murdoch owned and the Beeb who had to be vaguely neutral. He had to win them over and keep them onside and he pretty much nailed it.
He didn’t have online warriors clogging up twitter and Facebook pushing his lines, the Tory print media is a lot less powerful now, Sky is not right wing, the Beeb is just weird.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
The thing about Sunak is separating early Sunak (who did do some reasonable stabilisation and undoing some of the worst damage of his predecessors) from pre-election Sunak (who went mad trying to buy votes and- much worse- salted and awful lot of ground for his successor.)
Early Sunak was a bit hapless (and I'd still put Starmer a bit ahead of him), late Sunak was actually pretty malign. The fiasco revealed over the last couple of days is just another example of him leaving a mess for someone else to clean up.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
Is he really better than Johnson?
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
The best tactic to create difficulties for Labour over votes for 16 and 17-year-olds would be to add an amendment making it for UK and Irish citizens only.
I would remove the vote for Irish citizens as well. Not because I have anything against them but because it is daft to have a system where citizens of a foreign country (who are not UK citizens) can vote in our national elections.
Ireland isn't really a foreign country. We should aim to reintegrate it as much as possible.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
I'm mainly disappointed that people are disappointed. Although we can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy disappointment.
The healthy type comes from having high standards for our political leaders. The unhealthy type from having delusional expectations of what is realistically possible.
It's only the unhealthy disappointment I find disappointing. As for "worst PM ever!" that's just a silly thing to say.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
Is he really better than Johnson?
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
I find that assertion to be baseless. Boris' private travails were a constant source of media copy. Starmer's (should there be any) have been kept out of the media completely.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
I'm mainly disappointed that people are disappointed. Although we can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy disappointment.
The healthy type comes from having high standards for our political leaders. The unhealthy type from having delusional expectations of what is realistically possible.
It's only the unhealthy disappointment I find disappointing. As for "worst PM ever!" that's just a silly thing to say.
There is not an endless number of Prime Ministers. It's quite logical that there must be a worst one.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
I'm mainly disappointed that people are disappointed. Although we can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy disappointment.
The healthy type comes from having high standards for our political leaders. The unhealthy type from having delusional expectations of what is realistically possible.
It's only the unhealthy disappointment I find disappointing. As for "worst PM ever!" that's just a silly thing to say.
There is not an endless number of Prime Ministers. It's quite logical that there must be a worst one.
Yes. I wonder who she is.
Your disappointment is of the unhealthy variety btw (since I suppose you were wondering).
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Starmer had no choice but he is in danger of losing control of his party
The suspensions yesterday were a mistake. The reality is that picking out a bare few of the usual suspects was never going to restore his authority, it simply made him look weak by leaving so many alone. And now this. A party with a very comfortable majority is becoming ungovernable and the hard decisions have simply been deferred, not taken.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
I'm mainly disappointed that people are disappointed. Although we can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy disappointment.
The healthy type comes from having high standards for our political leaders. The unhealthy type from having delusional expectations of what is realistically possible.
It's only the unhealthy disappointment I find disappointing. As for "worst PM ever!" that's just a silly thing to say.
There is not an endless number of Prime Ministers. It's quite logical that there must be a worst one.
Yes. I wonder who she is.
Your disappointment is of the unhealthy variety btw (since I suppose you were wondering).
Ruth Chepngetich, the women's marathon world record holder, has been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for a banned substance.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
I agree. Unedifying spectacle.
I just don’t see how her comments can be viewed as anti-Semitic.
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Labour should have stood their ground here and let the BMA shoot themselves in the foot . The public are more likely to give the strikers the middle finger this time rather than tooting their horns in support . I supported the first strikes but now they just look delusional and greedy .
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Yes, I would generally agree and I too am nowhere near a fan. I suppose if I am playing devil’s advocate there is a wider issue in that in the same interview I understand she said stood by what she said initially, which given that led to her first suspension means it is quite hard for Labour to treat it differently.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
The best tactic to create difficulties for Labour over votes for 16 and 17-year-olds would be to add an amendment making it for UK and Irish citizens only.
I would remove the vote for Irish citizens as well. Not because I have anything against them but because it is daft to have a system where citizens of a foreign country (who are not UK citizens) can vote in our national elections.
Ireland isn't really a foreign country. We should aim to reintegrate it as much as possible.
It is a foreign country and should be treated as such, just as they treat us as one.
Our relationship with Ireland is laden with guilt and history but it is past time we came to terms with it and recognised them as a modern European country. This sort of nonsense and the Common Travel Area have had their time.
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Mouths stuffed with Gold part 94.
Write them down over x years served. Say 10 years. With the write down back loaded - so much more is written down in the last few years.
I’ve been arguing that we should do this for teachers, doctors and some other skills, for quite a while.
Oh, and while the people in question are teaching, doctoring etc, repayments and interest frozen. So they see nothing coming out of their pay while in post.
The best tactic to create difficulties for Labour over votes for 16 and 17-year-olds would be to add an amendment making it for UK and Irish citizens only.
I would remove the vote for Irish citizens as well. Not because I have anything against them but because it is daft to have a system where citizens of a foreign country (who are not UK citizens) can vote in our national elections.
Ireland isn't really a foreign country. We should aim to reintegrate it as much as possible.
It is a foreign country and should be treated as such, just as they treat us as one.
Our relationship with Ireland is laden with guilt and history but it is past time we came to terms with it and recognised them as a modern European country. This sort of nonsense and the Common Travel Area have had their time.
I have less of an issue with the CTA, since its reciprocal.
They recognise us as a foreign country whom they have a Common Travel Area with. We should do the same with them.
Not sure why debt forgiveness is supposed to induce doctors not to go abroad. If you go abroad and don't come back, the student loans company can't do much.
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Mouths stuffed with Gold part 94.
Write them down over x years served. Say 10 years. With the write down back loaded - so much more is written down in the last few years.
I’ve been arguing that we should do this for teachers, doctors and some other skills, for quite a while.
Oh, and while the people in question are teaching, doctoring etc, repayments and interest frozen. So they see nothing coming out of their pay while in post.
As suggested by Merryn Somerset-Webb on QT last year, conditional on them committing to the NHS for a period of time.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
To imply that Abbott said antisemitism is not a real form of racism is a dick move.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
Starmer had no choice but he is in danger of losing control of his party
The suspensions yesterday were a mistake. The reality is that picking out a bare few of the usual suspects was never going to restore his authority, it simply made him look weak by leaving so many alone. And now this. A party with a very comfortable majority is becoming ungovernable and the hard decisions have simply been deferred, not taken.
The topical question is, how many more will have to be expelled, before Wes actually stands some chance of inheriting the top job?
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Mouths stuffed with Gold part 94.
Write them down over x years served. Say 10 years. With the write down back loaded - so much more is written down in the last few years.
I’ve been arguing that we should do this for teachers, doctors and some other skills, for quite a while.
Oh, and while the people in question are teaching, doctoring etc, repayments and interest frozen. So they see nothing coming out of their pay while in post.
As suggested by Merryn Somerset-Webb on QT last year, conditional on them committing to the NHS for a period of time.
That’s the point of the progressive writedown.
Human Rights legislation stops you actually binding people to jobs.
By backloading it to, to most of it is write down in years 8, 9 and 10 you encourage people to stay.
Not sure why debt forgiveness is supposed to induce doctors not to go abroad. If you go abroad and don't come back, the student loans company can't do much.
It really is something that should be addressed. It is far too easy for people to just default on ever repaying them.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
That's literally what she said: "they are not all their lives subject to racism"
She was wrong. They are subject to racism all their lives.
She denied any suffering by Jews was racism and claimed it was merely "similar to racism" and not actually racism.
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Mouths stuffed with Gold part 94.
Write them down over x years served. Say 10 years. With the write down back loaded - so much more is written down in the last few years.
I’ve been arguing that we should do this for teachers, doctors and some other skills, for quite a while.
Oh, and while the people in question are teaching, doctoring etc, repayments and interest frozen. So they see nothing coming out of their pay while in post.
As suggested by Merryn Somerset-Webb on QT last year, conditional on them committing to the NHS for a period of time.
That’s the point of the progressive writedown.
Human Rights legislation stops you actually binding people to jobs.
By backloading it to, to most of it is write down in years 8, 9 and 10 you encourage people to stay.
If this is Streeting's compromise it's ok actually to my mind.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
I'm mainly disappointed that people are disappointed. Although we can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy disappointment.
The healthy type comes from having high standards for our political leaders. The unhealthy type from having delusional expectations of what is realistically possible.
It's only the unhealthy disappointment I find disappointing. As for "worst PM ever!" that's just a silly thing to say.
There is not an endless number of Prime Ministers. It's quite logical that there must be a worst one.
Yes. I wonder who she is.
Your disappointment is of the unhealthy variety btw (since I suppose you were wondering).
I'm not disappointed, I knew he would be a God-awful Prime Minister. His utter ineptitude at running a party and a media operation have been very pleasant surprises - I thought he'd be an efficient at country-wrecking. He actually turns every cause he touches to shit.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
To imply that Abbott said antisemitism is not a real form of racism is a dick move.
No need to imply it, its explicitly what she said.
She said its similar to racism, but not really racism.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"they are not all their lives subject to racism"
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
To imply that Abbott said antisemitism is not a real form of racism is a dick move.
No need to imply it, its explicitly what she said.
She said its similar to racism, but not really racism.
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Labour should have stood their ground here and let the BMA shoot themselves in the foot . The public are more likely to give the strikers the middle finger this time rather than tooting their horns in support . I supported the first strikes but now they just look delusional and greedy .
I think that's correct - this time they do not have public support.
They are not a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very special case.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
Is he really better than Johnson?
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
I find that assertion to be baseless. Boris' private travails were a constant source of media copy. Starmer's (should there be any) have been kept out of the media completely.
Boris's marriages and affairs
1987 married Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1992 started affair with Marina Wheeler
1993 divorced Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1993 married Marina Wheeler
2000 started affair with Petronella Wyatt
2004 ended affair with Petronella Wyatt
2006 may have had affair with Anna Fazackerley (unconfirmed)
2008/9 had affair with Helen Macintyre
2009 may have had affair with unknown person (unconfirmed)
2012 started affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2016 ended affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2018 started affair with Carrie Symonds
2018 Marina Wheeler initiated divorce proceedings
2020 divorced Marina Wheeler
2021 married Carrie Symonds
I would be very surprised if Starmer was worse.
Frankly, I think Marina Wheeler should have cut Boris's nuts off. At least four, possibly six, mistresses during his marriage to Wheeler is really not on.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
There are obviously different perceived forms of racism. I’ve even seen victimy types on here say that being called an English **** in a Glasgow pub is racist against the English, and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t because of the gammony hue of their faces.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"they are not all their lives subject to racism"
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
Skin colour is not something you can miss. I think that’s the point she’s making . I don’t believe she’s anti-Semitic and I wish there was the same hysteria over the actions of Netenyahu and his bunch of genocidal maniacs .
Aaron Rupar @atrupar · 4m Leavitt: "Recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand. This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent hand-shaking and the use of aspirin."
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
Is he really better than Johnson?
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
I find that assertion to be baseless. Boris' private travails were a constant source of media copy. Starmer's (should there be any) have been kept out of the media completely.
Boris's marriages and affairs
1987 married Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1992 started affair with Marina Wheeler
1993 divorced Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1993 married Marina Wheeler
2000 started affair with Petronella Wyatt
2004 ended affair with Petronella Wyatt
2006 may have had affair with Anna Fazackerley (unconfirmed)
2008/9 had affair with Helen Macintyre
2009 may have had affair with unknown person (unconfirmed)
2012 started affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2016 ended affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2018 started affair with Carrie Symonds
2018 Marina Wheeler initiated divorce proceedings
2020 divorced Marina Wheeler
2021 married Carrie Symonds
I would be very surprised if Starmer was worse.
Frankly, I think Marina Wheeler should have cut Boris's nuts off. At least four, possibly six, mistresses during his marriage to Wheeler is really not on.
Marina Wheeler can hardly have been that surprised when she started off as the side piece. When a man marries his mistress it creates a vacancy. No doubt, there will be further lines in due course.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"they are not all their lives subject to racism"
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
Skin colour is not something you can miss. I think that’s the point she’s making . I don’t believe she’s anti-Semitic and I wish there was the same hysteria over the actions of Netenyahu and his bunch of genocidal maniacs .
So people beaten up because they're Jewish aren't subject to racism because they're white?
She absolutely is antisemitic and should be expelled from the Party. The fact that you can't criticise an antisemite without trying to link it to Netanyahu is alarming too. You should take a good look in the mirror.
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
I think if he goes that route, there should be a quid pro quo of eg 10-20 years' service in the NHS being required for the full benefit, and a notional amount written off per annum triggered at the end.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
Is he really better than Johnson?
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
I find that assertion to be baseless. Boris' private travails were a constant source of media copy. Starmer's (should there be any) have been kept out of the media completely.
Boris's marriages and affairs
1987 married Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1992 started affair with Marina Wheeler
1993 divorced Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1993 married Marina Wheeler
2000 started affair with Petronella Wyatt
2004 ended affair with Petronella Wyatt
2006 may have had affair with Anna Fazackerley (unconfirmed)
2008/9 had affair with Helen Macintyre
2009 may have had affair with unknown person (unconfirmed)
2012 started affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2016 ended affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2018 started affair with Carrie Symonds
2018 Marina Wheeler initiated divorce proceedings
2020 divorced Marina Wheeler
2021 married Carrie Symonds
I would be very surprised if Starmer was worse.
Frankly, I think Marina Wheeler should have cut Boris's nuts off. At least four, possibly six, mistresses during his marriage to Wheeler is really not on.
"I have not had an affair with Petronella. It is complete balderdash. It is an inverted pyramid of piffle. It is all completely untrue and ludicrous conjecture. I am amazed people can write this drivel." - Boris, 2004.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
Is he really better than Johnson?
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
I find that assertion to be baseless. Boris' private travails were a constant source of media copy. Starmer's (should there be any) have been kept out of the media completely.
Boris's marriages and affairs
1987 married Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1992 started affair with Marina Wheeler
1993 divorced Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1993 married Marina Wheeler
2000 started affair with Petronella Wyatt
2004 ended affair with Petronella Wyatt
2006 may have had affair with Anna Fazackerley (unconfirmed)
2008/9 had affair with Helen Macintyre
2009 may have had affair with unknown person (unconfirmed)
2012 started affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2016 ended affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2018 started affair with Carrie Symonds
2018 Marina Wheeler initiated divorce proceedings
2020 divorced Marina Wheeler
2021 married Carrie Symonds
I would be very surprised if Starmer was worse.
Frankly, I think Marina Wheeler should have cut Boris's nuts off. At least four, possibly six, mistresses during his marriage to Wheeler is really not on.
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Mouths stuffed with Gold part 94.
Write them down over x years served. Say 10 years. With the write down back loaded - so much more is written down in the last few years.
I’ve been arguing that we should do this for teachers, doctors and some other skills, for quite a while.
Oh, and while the people in question are teaching, doctoring etc, repayments and interest frozen. So they see nothing coming out of their pay while in post.
As suggested by Merryn Somerset-Webb on QT last year, conditional on them committing to the NHS for a period of time.
That’s the point of the progressive writedown.
Human Rights legislation stops you actually binding people to jobs.
By backloading it to, to most of it is write down in years 8, 9 and 10 you encourage people to stay.
If this is Streeting's compromise it's ok actually to my mind.
I think this and some movement on other issues like ability to take leave (on some rotations this is assigned, with no choice, a real problem for 2 doctors on different rotas. It can even prevent a couple fixing a date for a wedding), rotations, training expenses etc would go a long way to ending the strikes.
Worth noting that a substantial number of Resident Doctors trained overseas, so are not paying back loans via PAYE.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
I'm mainly disappointed that people are disappointed. Although we can differentiate between healthy and unhealthy disappointment.
The healthy type comes from having high standards for our political leaders. The unhealthy type from having delusional expectations of what is realistically possible.
It's only the unhealthy disappointment I find disappointing. As for "worst PM ever!" that's just a silly thing to say.
There is not an endless number of Prime Ministers. It's quite logical that there must be a worst one.
Yes. I wonder who she is.
Your disappointment is of the unhealthy variety btw (since I suppose you were wondering).
She is Theresa May.
While Truss is the shortest-serving one.
David Cameron was our worst Prime Minister since Lord North, as I may have mentioned before. But then, well, Boris was sui generis, and then Liz Truss was sui generis in a different way, and with Starmer it is too early, and if you are not careful there are so many caveats and footnotes that the whole thing is meaningless.
On thread, the focus on 16-17 year olds is a distraction from the main point. The aspect of today's government statement that will have the most impact on electoral outcomes is the commitment to completely overhaul the UK's failed system of electoral registration.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"they are not all their lives subject to racism"
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
Skin colour is not something you can miss. I think that’s the point she’s making . I don’t believe she’s anti-Semitic and I wish there was the same hysteria over the actions of Netenyahu and his bunch of genocidal maniacs .
So people beaten up because they're Jewish aren't subject to racism because they're white?
She absolutely is antisemitic and should be expelled from the Party. The fact that you can't criticise an antisemite without trying to link it to Netanyahu is alarming too. You should take a good look in the mirror.
Until Jews distance themselves from Netanyahu they can’t complain if they are the victims of anti-Israeli racism. A reminder. Being anti Netanyahu and anti his behaviour towards Palestinians, whether In Gaza or the West Bank is not being antisemitic, anymore than being anti Hitler was being anti all Germans, or being anti Trump is being anti all Americans.
On thread, the focus on 16-17 year olds is a distraction from the main point. The aspect of today's government statement that will have the most impact on electoral outcomes is the commitment to completely overhaul the UK's failed system of electoral registration.
How has it failed, and how will it have an impact?
Registering to vote is quick and easy in this country, easily done online. I've done it many times in recent years when moving homes, it takes just a couple of minutes and can be done online.
Anyone who can't be arsed to register, won't be arsed to vote either.
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"they are not all their lives subject to racism"
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
Skin colour is not something you can miss. I think that’s the point she’s making . I don’t believe she’s anti-Semitic and I wish there was the same hysteria over the actions of Netenyahu and his bunch of genocidal maniacs .
So people beaten up because they're Jewish aren't subject to racism because they're white?
She absolutely is antisemitic and should be expelled from the Party. The fact that you can't criticise an antisemite without trying to link it to Netanyahu is alarming too. You should take a good look in the mirror.
I think her point is that, if you are black, it is hard to disguise you are black. Therefore you are potentially subject to racism whenever you go out, because you cannot easily disguise being black.
I think this is a really poor point, badly made, for several reasons. Firstly, it ignores racism or prejudice against other groups who have visible differences: say, Asians, or the disabled. She believes the prejudice she has suffered from for decades is more important than other forms of prejudice, and is casting around for reasons to support her belief.
Secondly, why should someone disguise themselves in order to not suffer from prejudice? A devout Jew should be able to wear their kippah if they choose, with no comment. A devout Muslim should be able to wear an Abaya or Hijab without being spat at. A Hindu should be able to wear a Sari without comment (except for how lovely they look).
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"they are not all their lives subject to racism"
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
Skin colour is not something you can miss. I think that’s the point she’s making . I don’t believe she’s anti-Semitic and I wish there was the same hysteria over the actions of Netenyahu and his bunch of genocidal maniacs .
So people beaten up because they're Jewish aren't subject to racism because they're white?
She absolutely is antisemitic and should be expelled from the Party. The fact that you can't criticise an antisemite without trying to link it to Netanyahu is alarming too. You should take a good look in the mirror.
Until Jews distance themselves from Netanyahu they can’t complain if they are the victims of anti-Israeli racism. A reminder. Being anti Netanyahu and anti his behaviour towards Palestinians, whether In Gaza or the West Bank is not being antisemitic, anymore than being anti Hitler was being anti all Germans, or being anti Trump is being anti all Americans.
Bullshit, anyone subject to racism absolutely can complain about it.
Being anti-Netanyahu is not racist, you're right.
Being anti-Jewish because you dislike Netanyahu is racism.
Being racist against Jews because you dislike Netanyahu is racism.
Jews are no more obliged to distance themselves from Netanyahu before they can complain about being the victim of racism, than Muslims are obliged to distance themselves from Al'Qaeda or the Mullahs or the House of Saud or anyone else you dislike who is Muslim before they can.
On thread, the focus on 16-17 year olds is a distraction from the main point. The aspect of today's government statement that will have the most impact on electoral outcomes is the commitment to completely overhaul the UK's failed system of electoral registration.
How has it failed, and how will it have an impact?
Registering to vote is quick and easy in this country, easily done online. I've done it many times in recent years when moving homes, it takes just a couple of minutes and can be done online.
Anyone who can't be arsed to register, won't be arsed to vote either.
On thread, the focus on 16-17 year olds is a distraction from the main point. The aspect of today's government statement that will have the most impact on electoral outcomes is the commitment to completely overhaul the UK's failed system of electoral registration.
How has it failed, and how will it have an impact?
Registering to vote is quick and easy in this country, easily done online. I've done it many times in recent years when moving homes, it takes just a couple of minutes and can be done online.
Anyone who can't be arsed to register, won't be arsed to vote either.
Pull up the tailgate Jack. I'm all right.
Not just me, anyone. Registering is quick and easy.
What more do you want?
Who is disenfranchised when it takes about 2 minutes to register?
She has a point though that there’s a difference given a black person is easily identifiable , she was stating the obvious . And she wasn’t being anti-Semitic. I’m not a fan of hers but really the pearl clutching over her comments by some in the media and Labour is ridiculous.
Jews are identifiable too, especially if they're wearing a kippah.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
Even if that’s a reasonable point that doesn’t equate to anti -Semitism. At this rate saying you don’t like knishes will have you accused of being anti-Semitic .
She denied Jews are subjected to racism.
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
She didn’t say that . She said it’s different for black people, not that Jews didn’t suffer .
She said Jews aren't subject to racism.
She said in her BBC interview that racism re skin colour isn’t the same as other forms of racism . You can disagree with her comments but where did she say Jews didn’t suffer .
"they are not all their lives subject to racism"
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
Skin colour is not something you can miss. I think that’s the point she’s making . I don’t believe she’s anti-Semitic and I wish there was the same hysteria over the actions of Netenyahu and his bunch of genocidal maniacs .
So people beaten up because they're Jewish aren't subject to racism because they're white?
She absolutely is antisemitic and should be expelled from the Party. The fact that you can't criticise an antisemite without trying to link it to Netanyahu is alarming too. You should take a good look in the mirror.
Until Jews distance themselves from Netanyahu they can’t complain if they are the victims of anti-Israeli racism. (Snip)
That's quite an incredibly wrong-headed comment.
If a Jew gets wishes to not get assaulted on the street because of Netanyahu, how are they supposed to signal their lack of support for Netanyahu?
I guess all Muslims should have been assaulted after 9/11 unless they showed they did not support bin Laden ?
New trailer for Tron:Ares is out. I don't like the vibe, but it may be the equivalent to Alien:Romulus - not great, but perfectly serviceable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhxQsKK7avQ
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
Mouths stuffed with Gold part 94.
Write them down over x years served. Say 10 years. With the write down back loaded - so much more is written down in the last few years.
I’ve been arguing that we should do this for teachers, doctors and some other skills, for quite a while.
Oh, and while the people in question are teaching, doctoring etc, repayments and interest frozen. So they see nothing coming out of their pay while in post.
As suggested by Merryn Somerset-Webb on QT last year, conditional on them committing to the NHS for a period of time.
That’s the point of the progressive writedown.
Human Rights legislation stops you actually binding people to jobs.
By backloading it to, to most of it is write down in years 8, 9 and 10 you encourage people to stay.
If this is Streeting's compromise it's ok actually to my mind.
I think this and some movement on other issues like ability to take leave (on some rotations this is assigned, with no choice, a real problem for 2 doctors on different rotas. It can even prevent a couple fixing a date for a wedding), rotations, training expenses etc would go a long way to ending the strikes.
Worth noting that a substantial number of Resident Doctors trained overseas, so are not paying back loans via PAYE.
Wait till they hear assembly line workers have to put their hands up for permission to go to the toilet (although they've all been replaced by robots in China now).
But yes, that and some other bureaucratic problems around junior doctors such as late notification of new jobs could easily be solved given the will.
"Corbyn most popular politician" - Has Starmer thought this through?
No. He never thinks anything through
Also Big Nigel is right in that vid. Reform are ALREADY in 2nd place with the kids. If Reform focus on those voters they could easily come first - Farage has more TikTok followers than all other UK pols combined. Starmer is such a fucking hapless stupid dork
FPT I said this:
Starmer is horribly bad at every single aspect of politics. Strategic, tactical, retail. He cannot orate and he has zero ideas, he doesn't understand party management and he is a terrlble negotiator, his charisma is negative and he's awful on TV
Setting aside Liz Truss (as being sui generis) he is without question the worst prime minister of my lifetime - in terms of the skillset he brings to the job. He has NO skillset
Quite extraordinary then, that he became leader of his party, and then Prime Minister, having persuaded you to vote for his party.
I simply cannot account for how this complete nullity, a politician of such outstanding awfulness that he makes even Liz Truss almost look good, had you fooled.
Recall the alternatives
Also, I agree with @SeanT, the brilliant Spectator writer, when he wrote on this subject. There were tentative reasons for some timid hope that Starmer might be OK, at first
Are we allowed to link to the Spec? Not sure. If we are then I shall
I think every single one of us has been disappointed by Starmer. Whatever our expectations - whether we thought he'd be great, good, ok-ish, perhaps not that bad, bad, terrible, the worst prime minister ever - he's managed to undershoot everyone's expectations.
Disappointed specifically by Starmer's lack of leadership, given he almost unique amongst recent prime ministers had a track record of running a major operation before becoming PM, apparently quite successfully.
Nevertheless he is factors better than: Johnson Truss Badenoch Farage Corbyn
And somewhat better than Sunak, albeit with some worrying similarities.
Is he really better than Johnson?
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
I find that assertion to be baseless. Boris' private travails were a constant source of media copy. Starmer's (should there be any) have been kept out of the media completely.
Boris's marriages and affairs
1987 married Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1992 started affair with Marina Wheeler
1993 divorced Allegra Mostyn-Owen
1993 married Marina Wheeler
2000 started affair with Petronella Wyatt
2004 ended affair with Petronella Wyatt
2006 may have had affair with Anna Fazackerley (unconfirmed)
2008/9 had affair with Helen Macintyre
2009 may have had affair with unknown person (unconfirmed)
2012 started affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2016 ended affair with Jennifer Arcuri
2018 started affair with Carrie Symonds
2018 Marina Wheeler initiated divorce proceedings
2020 divorced Marina Wheeler
2021 married Carrie Symonds
I would be very surprised if Starmer was worse.
Frankly, I think Marina Wheeler should have cut Boris's nuts off. At least four, possibly six, mistresses during his marriage to Wheeler is really not on.
"I have not had an affair with Petronella. It is complete balderdash. It is an inverted pyramid of piffle. It is all completely untrue and ludicrous conjecture. I am amazed people can write this drivel." - Boris, 2004.
"She added: "Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don't know.
"You don't know unless you stop to speak to them or you're in a meeting with them.
"But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they're black. They are different types of racism."
Asked if she believed she had done anything wrong or had said something in her Observer letter that she did not believe in, she said: "I just think that it's silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.
"I just... I don't know why people would say that.""
New trailer for Tron:Ares is out. I don't like the vibe, but it may be the equivalent to Alien:Romulus - not great, but perfectly serviceable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhxQsKK7avQ
Visually, that should looks really good on a big cinema screen, and particularly IMAX. My questions would be on plot and characterisation, but we won't know that until it's released.
I fear, as with many such things, the fans have expectations that the producers will find hard to meet. Worse, fans will have *different* expectations that will be impossible to reconcile.
I am reminded that the worst thing about Star Wars are the Star Wars fans... Or Star Trek. Or Doctor Who...
"She added: "Clearly, there must be a difference between racism which is about colour and other types of racism because you can see a Traveller or a Jewish person walking down the street, you don't know.
"You don't know unless you stop to speak to them or you're in a meeting with them.
"But if you see a black person walking down the street, you see straight away that they're black. They are different types of racism."
Asked if she believed she had done anything wrong or had said something in her Observer letter that she did not believe in, she said: "I just think that it's silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.
"I just... I don't know why people would say that.""
Comments
What would the Eighties have been like with Social Media and 24 hour rolling news, through mass factory closures, inflation, sky high interest rates, the Miners Strike, the Falklands war, the Brixton and Toxteth riots, AIDS epidemic, Section 28, the Cold War etc
It would have been mayhem. Anyone thinking it is "Broken Britain" now and thinking those were idyllic* years hasn't got a clue.
* though I had a great time!
Section 2: Republic of Ireland not a foreign country.
(1) It is hereby declared that, notwithstanding that the Republic of Ireland is not part of His Majesty’s dominions, the Republic of Ireland is not a foreign country for the purposes of any law in force in any part of the United Kingdom or in any colony, protectorate or United Kingdom trust territory, whether by virtue of a rule of law or of an Act of Parliament or any other enactment or instrument whatsoever, whether passed or made before or after the passing of this Act, and references in any Act of Parliament, other enactment or instrument whatsoever, whether passed or made before or after the passing of this Act, to foreigners, aliens, foreign countries, and foreign or foreign-built ships or aircraft shall be construed accordingly.
- Ireland Act 1949I, Chapter 41 12 13 and 14 Geo 6, section 2(1), see https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/41/section/2
He didn’t have online warriors clogging up twitter and Facebook pushing his lines, the Tory print media is a lot less powerful now, Sky is not right wing, the Beeb is just weird.
Early Sunak was a bit hapless (and I'd still put Starmer a bit ahead of him), late Sunak was actually pretty malign. The fiasco revealed over the last couple of days is just another example of him leaving a mess for someone else to clean up.
Starmer is definitely better than Johnson in his personal life, especially in his marriage. However Johnson did achieve most of what he set out to do, being only defeated by his large personal defects. Starmer's only triumph to date is the Assisted Dying Bill, and there's no sense of a coherent thrust to his Government, being instead a collection of eyecatching policies.
In fairness to Starmer he will probably last a full term and may still win 2028/9, whereas Johnson self-destructed early. But in a head-to-head, Starmer isn't in the lead at T+1yr.
It is a foreign country and should be treated as such, just as they treat us as one.
The healthy type comes from having high standards for our political leaders. The unhealthy type from having delusional expectations of what is realistically possible.
It's only the unhealthy disappointment I find disappointing. As for "worst PM ever!" that's just a silly thing to say.
It feels a bit contrived though - i wonder if HMS grandpa is launching shortly?
Your disappointment is of the unhealthy variety btw (since I suppose you were wondering).
Wes Streeting considers writing off part of doctors’ student debts to avert strike
While Truss is the shortest-serving one.
But yes, I would generally agree with you.
To imply that's somehow not a real form of racism is disgraceful.
I’ve been arguing that we should do this for teachers, doctors and some other skills, for quite a while.
Oh, and while the people in question are teaching, doctoring etc, repayments and interest frozen. So they see nothing coming out of their pay while in post.
They recognise us as a foreign country whom they have a Common Travel Area with. We should do the same with them.
“What do we want?”
“Afghan style £400,000 housing support”
“When do we want it?”
“We can’t tell you as it’s subject to a super injunction.”
Saying that Jews aren't subject to racism absolutely is antisemitic.
As well as being categorically wrong.
Human Rights legislation stops you actually binding people to jobs.
By backloading it to, to most of it is write down in years 8, 9 and 10 you encourage people to stay.
That's literally what she said: "they are not all their lives subject to racism"
She was wrong. They are subject to racism all their lives.
She denied any suffering by Jews was racism and claimed it was merely "similar to racism" and not actually racism.
She said its similar to racism, but not really racism.
Bullshit, yes they are. She never recognised racism against Jews as racism, merely "similar to" racism, which she linked solely to skin colour.
They are not a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very special case.
- 1987 married Allegra Mostyn-Owen
- 1992 started affair with Marina Wheeler
- 1993 divorced Allegra Mostyn-Owen
- 1993 married Marina Wheeler
- 2000 started affair with Petronella Wyatt
- 2004 ended affair with Petronella Wyatt
- 2006 may have had affair with Anna Fazackerley (unconfirmed)
- 2008/9 had affair with Helen Macintyre
- 2009 may have had affair with unknown person (unconfirmed)
- 2012 started affair with Jennifer Arcuri
- 2016 ended affair with Jennifer Arcuri
- 2018 started affair with Carrie Symonds
- 2018 Marina Wheeler initiated divorce proceedings
- 2020 divorced Marina Wheeler
- 2021 married Carrie Symonds
I would be very surprised if Starmer was worse.Frankly, I think Marina Wheeler should have cut Boris's nuts off. At least four, possibly six, mistresses during his marriage to Wheeler is really not on.
Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
·
4m
Leavitt: "Recent photos of the president have shown minor bruising on the back of his hand. This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent hand-shaking and the use of aspirin."
She absolutely is antisemitic and should be expelled from the Party. The fact that you can't criticise an antisemite without trying to link it to Netanyahu is alarming too. You should take a good look in the mirror.
Marina Wheeler does not.
Worth noting that a substantial number of Resident Doctors trained overseas, so are not paying back loans via PAYE.
https://x.com/CrimeLdn/status/1945900926314709025
Nonce trotters is I believe a term for that combo.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/17/essex-police-warn-against-violence-as-far-right-exploit-asylum-hotel-tensions
But the answer is David Cameron.
Registering to vote is quick and easy in this country, easily done online. I've done it many times in recent years when moving homes, it takes just a couple of minutes and can be done online.
Anyone who can't be arsed to register, won't be arsed to vote either.
I think this is a really poor point, badly made, for several reasons. Firstly, it ignores racism or prejudice against other groups who have visible differences: say, Asians, or the disabled. She believes the prejudice she has suffered from for decades is more important than other forms of prejudice, and is casting around for reasons to support her belief.
Secondly, why should someone disguise themselves in order to not suffer from prejudice? A devout Jew should be able to wear their kippah if they choose, with no comment. A devout Muslim should be able to wear an Abaya or Hijab without being spat at. A Hindu should be able to wear a Sari without comment (except for how lovely they look).
Bullshit, anyone subject to racism absolutely can complain about it.
Being anti-Netanyahu is not racist, you're right.
Being anti-Jewish because you dislike Netanyahu is racism.
Being racist against Jews because you dislike Netanyahu is racism.
Jews are no more obliged to distance themselves from Netanyahu before they can complain about being the victim of racism, than Muslims are obliged to distance themselves from Al'Qaeda or the Mullahs or the House of Saud or anyone else you dislike who is Muslim before they can.
What more do you want?
Who is disenfranchised when it takes about 2 minutes to register?
If a Jew gets wishes to not get assaulted on the street because of Netanyahu, how are they supposed to signal their lack of support for Netanyahu?
I guess all Muslims should have been assaulted after 9/11 unless they showed they did not support bin Laden ?
But yes, that and some other bureaucratic problems around junior doctors such as late notification of new jobs could easily be solved given the will.
The votes for 16-17 stuff is meaningless. Government itself is struggling for legitimacy. Maybe none of will have the right to vote in 20 years time.
A total shit.
I fear, as with many such things, the fans have expectations that the producers will find hard to meet. Worse, fans will have *different* expectations that will be impossible to reconcile.
I am reminded that the worst thing about Star Wars are the Star Wars fans... Or Star Trek. Or Doctor Who...