Thread 17: Starmer: Treading softly.

[DuncinToffee]

Lettuce pray

Keep it civil

Cat, dog, flowers tax much appreciated

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5257111-thread-16-starmer-mad-world?page=40

Are you using the app or a Web browser? I posted usi g Chrome on an android phone.

Web browser. It seems to work now. BBC News - 'No cat ban in Scotland', John Swinney confirms
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0m1g8p4yy0o

tariffs confirmed delayed. Trudeau promised a bunch of border spending that Canada had already announced well before today, plus $200m for organized crime task force and designating the Mexican cartels as terrorist entities

https://bsky.app/profile/gerritd.bsky.social/post/3lhcj76xtjs2o

And a loss of goodwill in Canada towards the USA and other countries will start seeing the USA as an unreliable trading partner and will develop opportunities to trade with other countries instead of the USA

Trudeau cleverly played the trick that our last government employed so freely - announce, re-announce and give it a while then announce again.

Which, in fairness, was straight from the playbook of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Starmer is swiftly becoming a master of it too.

Seriously

"Asked for additional commnet on Trump’s call with Trudeau, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “Canada is bending the knee, just like Mexico.”

I hope they allow photos in time for our next thread. Perhaps they could have some kind of system that only allows photos of cats, dogs and flowers.

Smart? I guess crashing economies so he can raise his bank balance with "certain currencies" could be considered smart - but not for the supposed leader of a country.

That you admire him spells volumes...

Trump is smart because he gets what he wants. That does not mean I agree with his policies. But he is largely getting what he needs politically. Economically too, he will be rewarding his corporate backers.

Honestly. This thread. If you point that Donald Trump is an operator, then apparently that means you admire him. Actually, it means he shouldn't be underestimated.

Trump does not care about being regarded as an unreliable trading partner. Lots of short term disruption for his own personal gain. Big tick for him. He calculates the US markets will be largely unaffected after today.

What other concessions will he get? The month period is so Canada and Mexico can offer him more stuff.

He is too big to ignore or patronise; pointing his ability is not an endorsement of his personality but a recognition of his skill. The UK and the EU had better get used to this.

Trump does not care about being regarded as an unreliable trading partner

This. He has enough deranged people in his inner circle cheering him on, and enough crazy MAGA fans when he goes out and about all telling him he's wonderful. That's what a narcissist like Trump needs. Other countries may boo him but that's because they hate the free world and are probably communist.

Yes. He does not care. This is a guy who literally broke the multilateral trading system by not appointing US reps to the WTO's Appellate Body. So you can't use it.

Interesting that Joe Biden didn't change that either. When it comes to trade, the perception in the US is that multilateralism is just a way to get concessions about of the US.

I wouldn't be whooping about what Canada managed to do. Trump wants a concession on entering the Canadian banking market. The issue of borders is tiny there. I thought Trudeau's statement was more about shoring himself up than any diplomatic triumph. Trump just deferred it.

Discussing Trump as he actually is instead of saying oh you like him or you sound like a Reform voter is necessary to navigate what is a challenging time for lots of countries. The UK is doing okay. I assume that Trump wants to reopen trade talks. He will get that from us.

I agree more with this take on Trump

What we are seeing again is an Apprentice presidency.

All cliff hangers and big decisions and shitty pointless tasks.

Only with real lives and global economies being affected rather than contestants in a game.

https://bsky.app/profile/ottoenglish.bsky.social/post/3lhcn3emvvk2e

He's a massive narcissist imo and expecting him to act otherwise is not realistic. In such situations you have to be highly pragmatic and work out what leverage you have yourself. Its a kind of gangster big man politics which we've forgotten about in Europe

Its a kind of gangster big man politics which we've forgotten about in Europe

The orange Tony Soprano?

MN is really odd at the moment. Well odder than normal. There seem to be a few posters who want to see the end of the site after what happened.

Maybe this is the cause?

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/universe-end-quantum-machine-b2691796.html

Well that would solve everyone's problems.

Justine just wrote this update:

"It's also pretty clear from what we can see behind the scenes that there is an ongoing, coordinated effort from trolls to further inflame these discussions, and cause as much disruption as possible"

I thought so!

No kidding

Not just ‘these discussions’. Everywhere.

We've been saying this for months!

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I think that we have been fighting hard to keep our little corner of the Internet sane (not helped by mnhq), and those photos plus the coordinated attacks about closing the site, are a way to shut us down.

Maybe mnhq will start taking our reports and concerns seriously.

My money is on an aggressive sales pitch from a shady "AI" vendor.

You read my mind.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I think that we have been fighting hard to keep our little corner of the Internet sane (not helped by mnhq), and those photos plus the coordinated attacks about closing the site, are a way to shut us down.

Not just that. Exposing anyone who will be identified as clicking on the threads as now potentially being in possession of CSA images. Which will allow a midnight knock and all IT equipment to be seized. Plus a trawl of MN user logs "just in case", cheered on by the "smoke/fire" contingent.

Another no shit Sherlock moment.

Can we ignore that warning now?