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

Exclusive from Helena Horton (with a bit from me): after Reform UK pledged to target renewables and solar, it turns out that Reform MP Rupert Lowe.... has solar power on his farm and his company installs batteries for renewables projects.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/13/reform-mp-rupert-lowe-hails-solar-energy-money-saver-while-party-vows-tax-sector

Yes, even in Whitehall there was a LOT of money spent on hospitality and various events. Hotel stays for staff running get togethers a.k.a "conferences" as well as the attendees, first class travel paid for, loads of free meals for everyone etc. After 2008 it all stopped.

I have just read an article on this with the quote:

The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “If we could power the National Grid from Reform hypocrisy then we’d be set for life.

( I also noted that the location is a Farm - but is the base of a racehorse trainer)

Remind me. Is he the Reform MP who isn't a convicted abuser ?

He's the former Chairman of Southampton FC. Not a convicted abuser, unlike some of them.

Thanks for that. They are such a colourful bunch it's hard to remember who is the grifter, who is the convict, who is the turncoat, and who is the immigrant.

Maybe someone could make a deck of cards to help ?

Was listening to LBC on the way home earlier, Richard Tice spouting bollocks & how reform would scrap net zero & solar power is a total con plus other nonsense, oh they would also introduce ‘Doge’ & Donald Trump is the saviour of the world apparently what finished me off was the fawning & adoration from fair few callers 🤢

"Richard Tice spouting bollocks & how reform would scrap net zero & solar power is a total con"

Re Reform and renewable energy: when I interviewed Tice in 2023 he told me proudly how he had installed solar panels and EV chargers at his industrial properties.

He claimed to be “saving more tonnes of CO2 than the whole of the House of Commons put together”.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

bsky.app/profile/rmcunliffe.bsky.social/post/3li32462co22c

If I ran a media outlet then every time Tice was on, I would ask my reporters to ask him what the weather is doing in Dubai, with a brief to follow up any answers with more questions about the weather until his time was up.

I've worked in Retail Banking since 2001 for 2 major banks. Pre and post 2008 are very different. All sorts of stuff was used as rewards for all levels of staff pre 2008, lucky to get a biro to use in the office now. Looking at nearly every managers pre 2008 expenditure with the current view would bring gasps of horror.

Oh forgot the other whopper Donald wouldn’t impose tariffs on the U.K. if Nigel was prime minister because they are such great friends, that’s the Nigel they sat watching the inauguration on top of a very tall building with his fisher price binoculars fucking fuckwits.

I think Farage - with the sense of a weasel - has picked up the instability around the binary system of Trump and Musk and decided to try to remain clear of it's orbit. Coupled with the fact that he is the main reason Reform are likely to stall in growth and it might explain why my feed appears to have enjoyed two Farage-free days.

Dh would would say the summer is just as bad (yes, he's a south coast blue team fan).

Pompey fan?

I grew up about 2 miles from Fratton Park!

Everything still feels so unsettled and on the cusp of .... something. I can't put my finger on it but I fell the world in the 2030s is going to be very different from how we know it now.

Yes, I have that feeling. Maybe something will spark in the US, which will ripple out. Plus also Ukraine and Palestine.

I am not following everything in the US too closely as it is so depressing, but is there an issue around some laws or judgements that the Orange Menace is going to attempt to defy?

I agree with you. Trump talking to Putin is literally the scariest thing to happen in my lifetime. It terrifies me.

Now here's how to do a headline;

...

In all honesty, how many people know the start and end dates of every job they've ever had. I lost my original c.v so the early part of mine is a guess, a number of the companies are no longer in business. It's a ridiculous thing to be going after and the BBC should have higher standards.

I didn't know the start and end dates of my first marriage when applying for my Irish passport. Had to get a copy of my marriage certificate.

Yes, very disappointing to listen to this as first news item on Radio 4's six o'clock news. It is not exactly ground breaking investigative journalism and sounds like an inexperienced person was working on the story who didn't, IMO, understand the differences in attitudes regarding corporate expenses in the 00s.

It all seems a waste of time when we have bigger things to worry about; petty politics that feeds the cynicism the public have about politics, further disengaging people from the democratic process, which is not what we need at the moment!

The beeb seemed to think it was more newsworthy than the guy who drove a car into a crowd in Germany.

Yes, very poor judgment.

Worth watching

“there are Neville Chamberlain’s in every generation” George Monbiot’s takedown of Matt Goodwin and the Reform party is a thing of beauty 👏 #bbcqt

https://bsky.app/profile/davemacleod.bsky.social/post/3li3tjwtxw22p

I didn't know his name but he was heads and shoulders over everyone else on that panel.
Matt Godwin was just vile, and Yvette Cooper was sounding like a tory.

Labour said they were going after the gangs, they now seem to be going after the victims. No safe and legal routes, but removing the right to citizenship. Just another tory policy. They need to get a grip.