Labour Leader: Keir Starmer II

[Woodface]

XR don't get everything right, some of what they do is unappealing and annoying, much of it grates with me too, but I see that mostly as a failing in me.

XR have managed to come a long way in a short time employing their methods. In a world run by big business, right wing media barons and climate change denying leaders, that's good going for a fairly amateur but committed band of activists.

Their activities don't preclude all of the methods on your list. I agree with them too

For all those opposed to their methods I would ask what level of famine, sea level rise, economic collapse etc would it take before you undertook similar actions or even thought them tame?

You might be right about motorists in this country. I must admit I am one, albeit I try to minimise my car journeys.

Ok, I don’t disagree with your position generally but I am wary of people ‘caring’ about the environment but adopting behaviour to the contrary. Not saying this applies to you, BTW.

Look at the pathetic behaviour of motorists every time a cycle lane is introduced or LTZ. Just read a piece in the Observer today with a cabbie moaning about increased traffic due to certain social distancing measures, as if people can afford to take a cab everywhere. I believe 76% of all car journeys are less than 6kms!

I’m afraid people who are part of the problem don’t realise their role in it.

 

[russel]

They are two different things.

XR have an agenda that is potentially valid but I am not sure I agree with their tactics.

The defund movement is essentially trying to pressure advertisers to pull campaigns which is a very blunt instrument. To be clear there should always be a very distinct separation between advertising & editorial.

Climate change may not kill all of humanity but it will kill a large number of people, as I see it it’s not whether it’s against the law but whether if I was a jury member I could find ER guilty and the answer, unless it was a quite obvious wanton violence, is no as it could be covered by self defence.

 

[Woodface]

Climate change may not kill all of humanity but it will kill a large number of people, as I see it it’s not whether it’s against the law but whether if I was a jury member I could find ER guilty and the answer, unless it was a quite obvious wanton violence, is no as it could be covered by self defence.

I never suggested their tactics are always illegal, that is for the court to decide. I don’t think they are violent in any way, they did seem to be tolerated last year when they closed a road in Leeds.

 

[roman]

I never suggested their tactics are always illegal, that is for the court to decide. I don’t think they are violent in any way, they did seem to be tolerated last year when they closed a road in Leeds.

Most of them make a big effort to explain their actions and apologise for any inconvenience. Whilst encountering a lot of hostility at first, this approach often helps diffuse the situation. I'm sure there is a hardcore who couldn't care less but most are 'ordinary' people drawn from all sorts of professions, ages and backgrounds.

 

[hifinutt]

i am a great admirer of Mr Starmer but the Labour party`s ability to communicate is DIRE , so far all letters and a formal complaint about a useless MP have met with deaf ears . not good really when conservative cabinet members DO respond to concerns .

 

[Tony L]

I’ll stick this one here as it really is something the opposition should be sticking right at the top of the news cycle: Yet another huge state contract goes to a Dominic Cummings-related company (Guardian). Pure corruption/kleptocracy.

 

[droodzilla]

I’ll stick this one here as it really is something the opposition should be sticking right at the top of the news cycle: Yet another huge state contract goes to a Dominic Cummings-related company (Guardian). Pure corruption/kleptocracy.

Yup. Byline Times is all over this stuff:

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/08/28/...spends-380000-on-public-polling-in-one-month/
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/09/01/government-spends-364-million-on-coveralls-delivers-just-432000/
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/09/02/government-awards-43-8-million-ppe-deal-to-dormant-firm/
etc.

I imagine Private Eye is doing similar good work.

Like you say, barely a squeak from the Labour Party (and that's being generous).

 

[monkfish]

Yup. Byline Times is all over this stuff:

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/08/28/...spends-380000-on-public-polling-in-one-month/
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/09/01/government-spends-364-million-on-coveralls-delivers-just-432000/
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/09/02/government-awards-43-8-million-ppe-deal-to-dormant-firm/
etc.

I imagine Private Eye is doing similar good work.

Like you say, barely a squeak from the Labour Party (and that's being generous).

Nothing from secret letter Starmer then.

 

[Enfield boy]

If Labour only had a strong leader they'd be 20 points ahead by now!
With all the support where appropriate and "constructive criticism" by the new leader it's a wonder the tories don't call him "Suck Here, Starmer".

 

[Woodface]

He will certainly have plenty to talk about at PMQs.

This Govt is so terrible, with so many possible lines of attack that it probably makes it more difficult to pick which areas to focus on.

A big danger is that the electorate just becomes fatigued by incompetence; they just accept it as the norm.

 

[Seanm]

Centrist pundit dufus compilation:

https://twitter.com/clientjournoexp/status/1303230282200424448?s=21

https://twitter.com/samgyimah/status/1203634491912273922?s=21

Very hard to win without these brainiacs on side - and Starmer’s got them eating out of his hand, by doing absolutely nothing. In some ways it’s really impressive.

 

[droodzilla]

Centrist pundit dufus compilation:

https://twitter.com/clientjournoexp/status/1303230282200424448?s=21

https://twitter.com/samgyimah/status/1203634491912273922?s=21

Very hard to win without these brainiacs on side - and Starmer’s got them eating out of his hand, by doing absolutely nothing. In some ways it’s really impressive.

I think Flying Rodent's take is even funnier:

https://twitter.com/flying_rodent/status/1303406355471044610

But then I've always loved the staring contest sketches.

Actually none of this is really funny. People's Vote's bullshit tactical voting advice screwed Kensington and Chelsea and left them with a shite Tory MP, when Emma Dent Coad could easily have held her seat. Tragic, given what happened there.

 

[jackbarron]

Starmer was interviewed on Channel 4 News this evening. He was asked if he was a man of principle in opposition and could he give some examples. He ignored the question for a while and finally talked about his stand against antisemitism.

Starmer's fight against antisemitism was great when it happened and about time for the Labour Party. But aside from him getting Johnson to act dumber and dumber at PMQs, Starmer really doesn't seem to have done that much since becoming leader.

There was no sense of attack in him, apart from making Johnson look like an idiot during PMQs. He wasn't inspiring at all.

Oddly enough he had a flushed face, or perhaps that was the HOC lighting.

Jack

 

[Seanm]

I think Flying Rodent's take is even funnier:

https://twitter.com/flying_rodent/status/1303406355471044610

But then I've always loved the staring contest sketches.

Actually none of this is really funny. People's Vote's bullshit tactical voting advice screwed Kensington and Chelsea and left them with a shite Tory MP, when Emma Dent Coad could easily have held her seat. Tragic, given what happened there.

100 f-ing votes. Hate them.

 

[thebigfredc]

It was probably those poison pensioners again Sean - with their nicely cut lawns and a lifetime of paying taxes/contributing to society - they are the source of all our ills.

 

[ks.234]

Looking forward to PMQ’s. Will Starmer lay into Johnson over his theft of public money to fund dormant companies and religious sects? Or will he instead expose Hancock’s lies over track and trace? Or expose the corruption of the £364m given to friends of the Tory party for 432,000 coveralls (£842.60 per overall)?

Should be fun.

 

[Tony L]

Looking forward to PMQ’s. Will Starmer lay into Johnson over his theft of public money to fund dormant companies and religious sects? Or will he instead expose Hancock’s lies over track and trace? Or expose the corruption of the £364m given to friends of the Tory party for 432,000 coveralls (£842.60 per overall)?

Should be fun.

It will be interesting. Given the above scenario Corbyn would have gone with something like “Mabel from Durham tells me her newsagent closes half an hour early on Thursday” or some such utterly irrelevant bollocks, so sadly the bar is set exceptionally low. No matter how open the goal Labour always shy away from it. I’d put money on the SNP asking something far more intelligent.

 

[monkfish]

It will be interesting. Given the above scenario Corbyn would have gone with something like “Mabel from Durham tells me her newsagent closes half an hour early on Thursday” or some such utterly irrelevant bollocks, so sadly the bar is set exceptionally low. No matter how open the goal Labour always shy away from it. I’d put money on the SNP asking something far more intelligent.

Starmer does nothing and you are still blaming or smearing Corbyn, give it a fecking rest.

 

[ks.234]

It will be interesting. Given the above scenario Corbyn would have gone with something like “Mabel from Durham tells me her newsagent closes half an hour early on Thursday” or some such utterly irrelevant bollocks, so sadly the bar is set exceptionally low. No matter how open the goal Labour always shy away from it. I’d put money on the SNP asking something far more intelligent.

To be fair, Corbyn's strategy was at least relevant, he might have used the cases of @lordsummit and my wife who can't get tested within a hundred miles to expose Hancock's lies about the average distance from a testing station being 10 miles. You might question the tactic, but it was not irrelevant. Starmer has missed many an open goal since taking over, but somehow this is now seen as shrewd and intelligent.

Anyway, Corbyn is long gone, Starmer is our man now. I hope he he's got his shooting boots on at lunchtime

 

[lordsummit]

I hope so too, he did pretty well last week. He’s managing a pretty good job of making Johnson appear foolish in my opinion anyway.