Unfortunately a lot of young people are having their minds corroded by what they see on Tik Tok. I don't use it so I don't know if Reform/Farage are spamming it, but a lot of their shit is being regurgitated by a demographic you wouldn't associate it with.
General Election 2024
- Thread starter gavreid
- Start date
Unfortunately a lot of young people are having their minds corroded by what they see on Tik Tok. I don't use it so I don't know if Reform/Farage are spamming it, but a lot of their shit is being regurgitated by a demographic you wouldn't associate it with.
MVV
pfm Member
Depressing viewing and I can fully understand yet no one is talking about less pressing for electoral reform.
ks.234
Half way to Infinity
Once Streeting is in office the NHS is going to get smacked good and proper
paulfromcamden
Baffled
The language is awful. I don't believe he's genuinely some sort of NF neo-nazi but he really should have engaged his brain before opening his mouth. Singling out any one community was an exceptionally stupid thing to do. For a barrister he seems hopeless at this sort of thing.
One Labour councillor in Tower Hamlets has resigned and several East London candidates desperately trying to distance themselves from Starmer.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
Starting to wonder if the Graun headline writer is a PFM member
Yep. Sums them up nicely.
Finnegan
It’s shite being Scottish!
No, I don’t either. He’s just willing to court this cohort because of his pessimistic, condescending and utterly cynical opinion that all working class voters are racist and there is votes in lowering himself to this sort of filth- and under the banner of The Scum, of all the platforms he could have chosen.
This is what really baffles me. Barristers are celebrated for their command of rhetoric, ability to construct a cohesive argument, and judgement in using language. His judgement is seriously being called into question with these sorts of major gaffes.
Seanm
pfm Member
I think this is a little too generous. This was Starmer doing a strategically racist Q&A on a racist platform saying things that were substantively racist - the language isn’t really the issue. The stupid thing, the unplanned thing, was that he made it obvious and undeniable, but that’s something that only really happens when you’re doing something so awful that that you need to build in plausible deniability.
Alex S
carbon based lifeform
Looking at a few front pages, all the usual suspects believe Sunak "skewered" Starmer. The Mirror don't even bother to mention it, so they've probably gauged the mood of voters who've had enough of third rate pantomime, with Sunak shouting "Surrender" every third word and Starmer mumbling "I'm the son of a toolmaker who was head of the crown prosecution service".
Seanm
pfm Member
Same as with Nandy and Lammy: in the heat of the moment the desire to say what you know your boss wants you to say overrides caution and judgment.
tones
Tones deaf
Neither do I, as I also can't fathom how people could be fooled by Trump and Johnson. Perhaps it comes down to Roman poet Juvenal's old claim that the masses could be kept happy by "bread and circuses". Trump, Johnson and Farage are circus acts, and superficially more interesting that normal, grey politicians. I've heard people interviewed in the UK who favoured Johnson because he made them laugh.
Minio
Kind of Sort of Not really...
So Starmer has a morally defensible reason for taxing the subsistence state pension which is the lowest in Europe?
Starmer in Nottingham, last night, should be applying for the job of Sheriff in that parish.
droodzilla
pfm Member
Jonathan Ashworth's interview on the same day was even worse.
As well as saying that Bangladeshi asylum seekers should be sent home (after "processing", of course) he repeatedly said that asylum speakers were being put up in hotels for the rest of their lives - a standard far-right talking point.
Between Ashwortth and the Starmer interview, there's no doubt this was a deliberate strategy to appeal to the racist demographic.
Like Sean, I think you're being too generous to Labour. If you're on the receiving end of racism it doesn't matter much if some of it is driven by white supremacist ideology, while some of it is whipped up in the cynical pursuit of power. The end result is the same.
Catnip for Reform voters.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
Fiscal drag - tax thresholds not rising in line with inflation - mean LOTS of lower income people, of all ages, are paying more tax.
The answer is not to create special tax exceptions for OAPs (if that is what you're arguing for). The thresholds should be raised.
It's disgusting from Starmer, can't quite believe he's been so stupid.
Barristers work in a very controlled, traditional environment, they are skilled in asking questions rather than answering them, explains why he does better on PMQ. Also, no TV cameras, general public asking 'odd' questions, even the cleverest get caught out at times.
Finnegan
It’s shite being Scottish!
Johnson was a buffoon, Truss was insane, and Sunak is hopelessly incompetent. Starmer (more or less) knows what he’s doing, and he’s going to have a whopping majority to do exactly what the f*ck he likes. He has successfully courted the bosses. He has telegraphed far in advance that he’s going to be no friend of the unions. And he is dangerously authoritarian. I dread to think just how bloody awful his administration is going to be.
paulfromcamden
Baffled
Fair point.
gavreid
Pretty Words...
Metropolitan police says at least 7 officers now under investigation over election timing bets
The number of Metropolitan police officers under investigation over bets on the timing of the general election has risen to at least seven, the force has said.On Tuesday the Met said six officers were being investigated – of whom one was the close protection officer who was arrested. The other five, who were not close protection officers, had not been arrested, but were being investigated by the Gambling Commission, it said.
UK general election live: at least seven police officers under investigation over bets on timing of general election, says Metropolitan police
Force says number of officers under investigation has risen to seven, including prime minister’s protection officer who was arrested last week