Thread 14 Starmer - The Starmeristas Strike Back

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5224857-thread-13-starmer-facts-are-for-lefties?page=40&reply=141063174

Not to fellow posters, no. Of course we can’t be held responsible for our visitors’ behaviour.

Hasn’t she? I don’t suppose she realises it though.

Do we think Nadine Dorries was paying attention?

If accurate, it means that a few Conservative ministers are really responsible for sod all happening

Does she ever? Too busy gazing adoringly at Boris.

Morton Morland in the Times this morning.

Morten Moreland is great!

Jenrick is just filling the job he wanted all along. I don't know why the Conservatives didn't actually pick him to be leader (I lost my money on that).

That is an excellent cartoon.

really is

Friendly (thanks to the Telegraph)

Morten not Morton.
Really should know that given my longtime love of Morten Harket.

Jess Philipp's on news night was very powerful. I hope she is getting the support she needs. Sorry I have contributed I have come down with a dreadful lurgy and feel awful and need to catch up with news. I did catch the Newsagents talking to Andrew Norfolk, the journalist who broke the grooming gangs story 14 years ago. Again - its a very powerful piece. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-news-agents/id1640878689?i=1000683054586

Excellent analysis of how Badenoch is failing as leader of the opposition. Absolutely nails it.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/08/kemi-badenoch-tories-elon-musk-far-right-conservative

@Cheguevarahamster hope you feel better soon. There seems to be a lot of nasty lurgies going round.

Times article by Andrew Norfolk, hope the share token works

https://www.thetimes.com/article/3a2b0613-2b35-46fd-9c3d-01c1455e58f2?shareToken=99852776cfea07b74199d13dd0399f57

Sympathies - we've had a lurgy recently. Bloody awful especially when you are trying to juggle caring responsibilities. Rest up.

The Andrew Norfolk interview was excellent - he was given a lot of space to speak and didn't claim to talk on behalf of the victims. Very thought provoking.

Also made me I wonder whether children in social care are any better protected now than they were then. (Appreciate not all the victims were in social care at the time)

Oh, that will shut a few people up. Also nicely timed for PMQs. Badenoch is going to struggle to justify her weaponising of the issue.

Andrew Norfolk is a total hero. Such a powerful interview.

Excellent piece from George Monbiot about fact checking on social media https://skywriter.blue/pages/georgemonbiot.bsky.social/post/3lf7ld2yqgc2z

Sales of small violins to rocket

https://qz.com/teslas-unsold-parking-lots-space-orbit-view-1851526942

Thanks for the link to the Norfolk article Duncin.

"Starmer met Norfolk and they discussed how official guidelines were hampering prosecutions for a string of reasons, including a lack of coherent accounts from victims because they had been plied with drugs and alcohol.'

“I want to put the record straight on this,” Norfolk said. “It was Starmer who changed the rules to make more prosecutions possible. That happened and there was a huge increase in convictions.”

“It just seems that Elon Musk clicks his fingers, shoots his mouth off and the whole British establishment responds. I find it surprising that man wields that much power.”

I dont think Norfolk's article will make any difference to the Conservative line. Nothing he's written or said is new and it hasn't stopped them so far. It will be more important to the Conservatives to curry favour with Musk/MAGA and to compete with Lowe.

Wont be able to tune into PMQs. Will be interested in what you all think of it though.

From Best for Britain on BlueSky-

"A little insight into the hypocrisy of the Conservatives and Reform UK.
They want a national inquiry into child grooming gangs. To do it, they've suggested a change to the government's Child Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The rules say if a change is made at this stage, the whole Bill is dead.
That means no inquiry - but also no breakfast clubs. No making school uniforms cheaper. No keeping better tabs on children who fall out the system (vital after Sara Sharif).
But if there is a vote, Labour MPs will have to vote against an inquiry to save the Bill.
And you just know the right will milk that "Labour voted against an inquiry into child grooming gangs" angle for all it's worth.
The politicisation of this issue has to stop. It is disgustingly cynical.
It will end up harming children."

It's not going to stop. It's a very similar narrative to the "liberals are groomers" that occurred and poisoned US politics.

This is Reform's amendment to the Bill that will provide more protection for children. It won't go anywhere but is a wrecking amendments.

That this house declines to give a second reading to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill because the secretary of state for the Home Department has not launched a UK-wide public inquiry into grooming gangs and has not committed to updating Members of this House every quarter on the progress of the inquiry.

She won’t try. She’ll just smirk and keep doing it.

I liked the Norfolk interview and agreed with it. The part that stated not dealing with the predominantly British Pakistani element to this criminal offending was absolutely correct. If it is not dealt with, then you will get this far right narrative which is vastly more poisonous.

I would agree it needs a lot more consideration. It's not enough to say well we've changed our services and we can prosecute now. That is highly reactive. The cases when you read them are not just horrific in terms of the assaults but quite clearly a lot of these men were classified as criminally dangerous to children. That may sound obvious but the court reports show again and again the absolute lack of insight into why it would be unacceptable for to assault a young girl. Unlike other paedophile offenders they did not possess child abuse material in their thousands. Their profile is quite different and so too is the offending.