Labour Leader: Keir Starmer VII

[Kirk]

How privileged do you have to be to look at a report diagnosing racism in the Labour Party, and suggesting ways of tackling it, and say: let’s move on?

Good try. Maybe time to move on from that line of 'reasoning'?

 

[Le Baron]

Laughter can be triggered by embarrassment.

You should be laughing your head off when you read your own posts then.

 

[Seanm]

Good try. Maybe time to move on from that line of 'reasoning'?

Sure.

Lads, it’s time to move on from *all* matters that make it difficult for Kirk to make cracks about privilege and complacency.

Hope everyone gets the memo this time!

 

[Seanm]

The problem is... he can't 'borrow' any money from anyone and that's why he's not telling the truth. It's one thing to read in the paper or see it on TV, but imagine yourself there in front of him and saying: 'Keir, who are you going to borrow the money from?" and then he says "the markets Sean!" And you say: "But Keir, the markets don't lend money to government, they get it from government..." It's downhill from there.

McDonnell was aware that there was no borrowing going on, he'd already consulted with Bill Mitchell. James Meadway advised that the electorate wouldn't understand it and they decided on the 'fiscal rectitude' approach, thereby tying their own hands and giving a perfect opportunity on a plate for the press and Tories to ask about: borrowed money, taxes and spending to Zimbabwe levels.

Yeah I don’t know that that was a great idea, but in fairness it’s on the left.

 

[Le Baron]

Yeah I don’t know that that was a great idea, but in fairness it’s on the left.

It's not on the left. It's pure monetarism which never benefits the left. Arguably the thing that ended the left as a proposition for government.

 

[Kirk]

Sure.

Lads, it’s time to move on from *all* matters that make it difficult for Kirk to make cracks about privilege and complacency.

Hope everyone gets the memo this time!

Excellent, well done.

 

[Seanm]

It's not on the left. It's pure monetarism which never benefits the left. Arguably the thing that ended the left as a proposition for government.

I mean, it was the left that did it. Starmer’s just running with it.

 

[klfrs]

You should be laughing your head off when you read your own posts then.

Encore!

 

[droodzilla]

Meanwhile in Manchester:

https://twitter.com/AndyBurnhamGM/status/1551525646903427072

Good news: we’ve seen off the last legal challenge to our plans to re-regulate buse.

We’ll now power ahead with:

capped fares from Sept 22
first regulated services Sept 23
all buses in GM under public control by Dec 24
new Bee Network fully operational start of 2025

Not too shabby.

 

[Richard Lines]

The point wasn't about the amount of money (although you are being very blase about a huge amount of money) but that a one-off, massive windfall that should have transformed this country was spent on the day to day running costs predominantly on unemployment benefits, mortgage income tax relief and tax cuts.

One can even compare and contrast with Norway which had the other half of this windfall and currently has a sovereign wealth fund worth about $1.8tn.

https://www.nbim.no/en/the-fund/about-the-fund/

It has nothing to do with being blasé but as a percentage of the monies available it is "small beer" however you look at it.

Just had a quick look on one web site to see that in 2022 oil and gas revenues are 28% of Norwegian GDP (granted oil prices are high at the moment):-

There is no point of contact between the Norwegian oil and gas and the UK's - comparisons are utterly pointless.

Regards

Richard

 

[matthewr]

There is no point of contact between the Norwegian oil and gas and the UK's - comparisons are utterly pointless.

Faced with this brilliant logic I am forced to concede and slink off to the corner to weep at my own stupidity.

 

[Le Baron]

I mean, it was the left that did it. Starmer’s just running with it.

I'm not sure I understand.

 

[laughingboy]

There is no point of contact between the Norwegian oil and gas and the UK's - comparisons are utterly pointless.

You keep making the argument in terms of percentage of GDP, which is true. But the point is that Norway implemented policies

• implementing super taxes on oil, making the tax rate on oil profits 78%;
• retaining a largely state-owned oil company;
• starting an oil fund in 1990 that invested the surplus from oil taxes and exploration licences

that meant that a one-off lottery-style windfall for oil companies was used in the long term benefit of the country. UK could have done similar. It wouldn't have been as big a proportion of GDP as Norway, but it would still have been a much wiser approach than the one we adopted.

 

[ks.234]

…akin to MMT ELRs but grounded in reality….

What is an MMT ELR?

 

[droodzilla]

How privileged do you have to be to look at a report diagnosing racism in the Labour Party, and suggesting ways of tackling it, and say: let’s move on?

The context is slightly different, but James Butler hits the nail on the head in this tweet:

https://twitter.com/piercepenniless/status/1549376497043083264

For clarity, here's what the Forde report says at the start of the section about racism:

Three dimensions of our Inquiry lead us to conclude that there are serious problems of discrimination in the operations of the Party:

The undoubted overt and underlying racism and sexism apparent in some of the content of the WhatsApp messages between the Party’s most senior staff.

A significant number of replies to our Call for Evidence – mainly from ordinary Party members – spelling out their experience of discrimination – racism, islamophobia and sexism – in constituency parties and in Party processes; whilst it is not our intention to examine cases in CLPs, often the complaints were in part about the failure of Party officials at regional and national level to take such problems seriously.

Submissions from current and former members of staff describing their experience of discrimination and of lack of sensitivity to issues of racism and sexism displayed by senior management.

These are damning conclusions. Yet Starmer has made no public statement about the Forde report.

Anyone who gives a damn about racism should be demanding answers and action.

I will not "move on" and I will not vote for this racist party.

 

[Le Baron]

starting an oil fund in 1990 that invested the surplus from oil taxes and exploration licences

Ahem...

 

[droodzilla]

Anyhooo... a nice warm welcome for Keir Starmer in Liverpool:

https://twitter.com/MerseyPensioner/status/1551591122446737409

He looks like a frightened schoolboy. I almost feel sorry for him.

 

[Brian]

The context is slightly different, but James Butler hits the nail on the head in this tweet:

https://twitter.com/piercepenniless/status/1549376497043083264

For clarity, here's what the Forde report says at the start of the section about racism:

These are damning conclusions. Yet Starmer has made no public statement about the Forde report.

Anyone who gives a damn about racism should be demanding answers and action.

I will not "move on" and I will not vote for this racist party.

I will probably vote for Labour because my top priority is to beat the tories at the next GE.

 

[Tony L]

Anyhooo... a nice warm welcome for Keir Starmer in Liverpool:

https://twitter.com/MerseyPensioner/status/1551591122446737409

He looks like a frightened schoolboy. I almost feel sorry for him.

I was just going to post that. She absolutely destroyed him and all he could do is have a bouncer remove her. It is time to defund Labour.

 

[ks.234]

It is time to defund Labour.

Mmmmm. I think we need a a term of a Labour Government failure to make it clear that what we need is a real alternative for change with the means to enable that change.