Starmer and the Labour Party Really Cannot Read the Room

leader not lady, autocucumber is being freudian there.

I'm not going to rejoin Labour to help shore them up when they are espousing anti-women policies that they know will cause physical harm. I don't owe Labour anything. On the contrary, they owe us and if they are continuing with their idiocy then it's in my interests for them to be finished for good (which they are imo) and something new and better started in their place. Let them go, or, rather, drop them and move on.

You can't argue Starmer, a party lady in his 50s who has been in law and politics for decades, doesn't mean what he's saying either whether you're right or wrong, the conclusion makes him look absolutely dire.

Thanks @RhapsodyandAshe so Labour had/has was more members than any other party. Yes they do so badly in elections.

This link has a breakdown regarding party membership numbers over the past few years :
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05125/

I think his silence both ways is very telling. He's not a trustworthy man.

Today the main opposition to Johnson's governmental fuck ups is coming from Joe Biden, ffs.

it's not a single issue

But self-Id is. An ideology that men can declare themselves women - for me that's not only misogynistic, its utterly stupid.

And is that how he's going to conduct all his policies? if you declare something, despite all evidence, despite all meaning, it becomes so? That'll lead to an interesting foreign policy...

As someone said earlier, this looks like a hostage video to me. It also shows that Starmer is pretty spineless, because there is absolutely no way he wouldn’t have known just how contentious the Trans issue is and in particular SelfID.

I’m done with Labour. I stupidly thought that Starmer was one of the only adults in a room full of blue haired children, handmaidens and misogynistic men. Seems like he doesn’t have the balls to stand up to them.
Here’s hoping Labour remain in the wilderness for the foreseeable.

You know, I used to think I should stay in Labour and try to fix it from the inside, but then I thought - if someone shits in your tea, how much time do you spend trying to fish it out before you just think it's time to just bin it and get a different cup of tea?

This is the best political analogy I have ever heard.

Having said all of that - he needs to do something firm. If I were his advisor (& I'm not), I'd be telling him to make a hard-line statement saying the abuse of Rosie Duffield on social media is completely unacceptable.

The mad years of social media warriors that were a real feature of Corbyn-era populism - it's time to draw a line under that.

Can you imagine the RAGE if he made a statement in support of Rosie? They don't support him as leader as it is.

Which he might or might not open himself.

But everything else, and even possibly that, will be opened by an assistant and he will only read it or be told about it if the assistant judges that he needs to see it or be informed of its contents. If the assistant decides he doesn't, it will be answered by a staffer and filed, or ignored and binned.

Being the "star" of a hostage video doesn't say "I'll save you from the Tories" to me.

Yes, I think he will open his own letters if they are addressed in a particular way.

They will also be a physical presence, rather than disappearing at the touch of a button.

Don’t go getting your hopes up over Andy Burnham, he is a fully paid up member of the TWAW club.

If you’re worried that emails aren’t getting through, then write, addressed directly to him personally.

I'm in my fifties. Every single person older than me (sorry, kids, we vote too) that I have spoken to about this starts off with the whole "be kind and tolerant " stuff. And then when I explain how this gives license to bad actors they say "oh" and then "well, obviously not that". And then when I explain about "birthing people " and "chest feeding " in order to be kind and tolerant they say "oh" " well that's not ok".

I live in red wall suburb of Manchester. Plenty of kind tolerant open minded people here. But put their daughters, granddaughters and wives/girlfriends/sisters/mothers/friends at risk and it's going to be a No.

Labour has lost its mind. Don't give people a reason to stick to the Tories.

In the 60's early 70's young bearded men ran the debate on the left and it looks as though times haven't changed.

There are a few significant things coming together, VAWG, conflict of rights, sexual harassment of girls in schools OFSTED, DV, effects of lockdown on women. If this doesn't give us a window to make major changes, then when will the time be right.

I used to say I'd go back to Labour when they supported women's rights, but my CLP hasn't changed since the 60's either (it had a gap where it moved, but men have hunkered down again). Now I'm saying 'no thanks' because I've been in this for 50 years and nowts changed, in fact for young women now, it's worse

Same with the Labour Party. Honestly. Sitting on a high horse saying you could never vote for them anymore is frankly apathetic. Join, vote, turn internal policies around. Join every damn Party to do the same if you really care about women's rights.

I joined some time ago because I felt like this.

Today I feel gutted.

I thought Keir was 'clever'. I didn't mind that he avoided the issue because I thought he was biding his time, that he was letting it sort itself out - which it will do - in society and in courts.

But no. This changes everything for me. And yes, emboldens all the misogynists in the Labour party - and believe me, they don't need emboldening.

I'm writing my email now - and then thinking about what to do next.

There are no assurances the Labour Party could offer me about protection for single sex spaces which would persuade me to vote for them.

Years ago I celebrated with a trans friend when they received their GRC. I didn't imagine for a second we'd end up debating what a woman was but here we are so not only do I oppose self ID I think we should repeal the GRA. I have great sympathy for trans people with gender dysphoria but I have come to understand that there is always a price for women when we're kind. It is not my job to validate anyone and I think it's incredibly unhealthy to use an act of parliament to place that burden on people.

If populism is about listening to concerns which affect 51% of the population then I can get behind that, if you feel that is morally or ethically questionable then I don't know how to explain representative democracy to you.

Same with the Labour Party. Honestly. Sitting on a high horse saying you could never vote for them anymore is frankly apathetic. Join, vote, turn internal policies around. Join every damn Party to do the same if you really care about women's rights.

It's one way to do it. But it's proving difficult and women are faced with abuse working within these hostile groups. And does it achieve results?

What seems to be more successful and results in fewer personal attacks is working with sympathetic members of the HoL.

It can't have escaped anyone attention that three or four member of the HoL have put pressure on the government and really made a difference.

It maybe more beneficial for lots of women to avoid male centric party politics completely.

Same with the Labour Party. Honestly. Sitting on a high horse saying you could never vote for them anymore is frankly apathetic. Join, vote, turn internal policies around. Join every damn Party to do the same if you really care about women's rights.

I do agree with this. For me, I'm struggling financially and tbh those membership dues were really starting to sting. Giving away much needed money every month to a party who seemed to actively fighting against women's rights was just too much.
My local CLP are awful too. I've never seen so much squabbling. It felt like an expensive and exhausting battle without much hope of getting anywhere.