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

Me too.

I think sometimes we need left wingers who are 'a bit much' , rather than mealy mouthed types. Otherwise, strident and forthright speaking becomes the territory of the right while the middle left pussy foot around .

I thought George Monibut was good last night but I also thought Jackie Smith was outstanding!

Not so much what she said but how she said it!

There was a glimpse of what politicians used to be like prior to the reiteration of Politicians we have had since Theresa May!

She was confident, knew her brief & all over the issues of the moment!

She was great!

General views from Munich

• No indication that Trump team has a plan
• Broad concern over US posture in Europe becoming part of a Ukraine deal
• Fear that Trump might visit Moscow on Victory Day
• Scepticism about feasibility of European troops in Ukr, esp impact on NATO defences

The other point is that there is scepticism among many well informed officials that Putin is willing to compromise on his maximalist demands from last June. Implication is either Trump gives him everything - which Ukr & Eur couldn’t accept - or talks fail. Trump could then abandon Ukr or up pressure

https://bsky.app/profile/shashj.bsky.social/post/3li6cfv25x22y

Monbiot might not always be to everyone's taste, but it's always good to see someone not afraid to take on the far right misinformation with clarity and no fear.

She's great I think. And her face is very expressive when she is listening to the other panellists on QT!

Old expenses fraud Jackie Smith. What a brass neck she has.

Bloody hell - apparently more CSA pictures were posted on the site last night so photos are banned again.

MN really needs to sort this properly.

The MPs accepted that Smith had been told by the parliamentary authorities that it was "reasonable" to nominate the London property as her main home. In the light of the "mitigating circumstances", the MPs did not propose any punishment beyond recommending that Smith should apologise to the Commons.

Wind your neck in @Derxa. At least Labour investigate and deal with issues.

https://x.com/ITVNewsPolitics/status/1890028937209913579?t=KnrPTlaId0-gWOEd-KwfoQ&s=19
Love this.

'Do they prefer waiting lists to come down, their mortgages to come down, the economy to start working for everyone...

'Or do we want to keep a tax break for farmers? You can't have both'

Starmer reacts to farmers who held a protest at his visit earlier.

Oh, for God's sake. That is awful. We're the poor NW people left in the shit again?

There are a few threads - but apparently it was dealt with much more efficiently this time - so something has been learnt from last time. MN have responded - but as usual you have to find the response.

Copy of Becky's response below
Thank you for the reports and we are very sorry for those who’ve been affected. Our AI-based filtering system is designed to detect and hide inappropriate images but the attacker posted a link to site which contained such images. We are disabling the feature which shows image previews and have also disabled new registrations and images for now. We'll post more information as soon as there is anything else to say.

I might add that I raised an issue with MNHQ after the first attack that links could still be attached...

That must be a mistake surely.

"AI" was on the case.

Or (and I suspect I posted as such) is this yet another case of "AI" being "actually crap"

Wouldn't bother me too much, but remember, that "AI" is supposed to be running the country - that's the official strategy.

So the scumbag posted links rather than images and the preview function showed the images? They really are putting a lot of effort in to frighten and upset women, aren't they? I hope the police can track them down.

The first time this happened I thought it was probably just a pervert doing it for sick kicks. This feels more orchestrated which I think is very concerning.

I would suggest it has gone beyond mere police action. This is something I would expect "the security services" to be looking at. That's if they aren't too busy cooking up lies to tell in court that is. Right now I imagine they are a bit distracted with having to invent new ways to not apologise to abused women. Again.

It does. Very sinister.

What do you mean, Jane? Is this another case like the undercover cops?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5274545-mi5-head-has-questions-to-answer-over-neo-nazi-agent-says-victims-lawyer

Slava Ukraini

https://bsky.app/profile/newseye.bsky.social/post/3li7ijrl4722o

NEW: A moment in Munich. Zelenskyy says Russia is creating 15 new divisions of 150,000 soldiers: "Maybe these soldiers are for Ukraine. Maybe they are for you.”

He ends hoping for peace.

A long, standing ovation.

What a contrast to Vance, met with silence as he torched transatlantic relations.

I fear for a post Soviet country not armed to the teeth and with a very robust democracy. This is all about spheres of influence.

The stupidest thing yesterday was hearing Von de Leyden saying she will admit Ukraine to the EU. As if that matters at all.

The scariest thing was Vance.

The next thing will be the troops that will be needed to maintain this peace deal. I do not see the US making them available which means Art V is really nothing.

The link preview was such an obvious thing that could be easily misused.

I did it myself when we couldn't upload images.

I'll be quite happy if they get rid of the preview thing

All that money being spent on nuclear weapon - which we need to stop someone threatening to nuke us so we have them as a deterrent. Yet other countries don't have them - maybe they should get them.

Or get more conventional forces as no one is going to use nuclear weapons.

It does remind me of salami tactics. What kind of armed forces do we need, and how are we going to pay for them because no one wants tax rises or cuts to the public sector.

I was chatting to my Ukrainian refugee friend the other day.

She's just had to apply for the stent ion visa of 18 months.

She wants to go home when she can. Her 2 DC (10 and 13) want to stay in the UK. It's so tough because they don't know what they'll go back to even when war ends and she needs to consider where her boys are in their education.

Her eldest is an amazing (think top in Britain) athlete in their sport so I said to look into sports scholarships for boarding for college.

I can see why her kids want to stay. At 6 and 9 they left their country in a footwell of their car being shot at - leaving their father behind. For them returning is much scarier than for an adult in their 40's who has known a safe life there.

I wish people wouldn't forget there's so much more behind the "refugee" and "asylum seeker" than the person they choose to see because of their status.

I taught her English when she first came over. She's still studying it now privately. She wants to work etc and they don't claim benefits. (they own businesses in Ukraine so have capital). She could claim though I think as her dh is still in Ukraine? I have no problem with her doing so.

I do t understand how we've become so entangled with putting humans against each other based on circumstances beyond their control.

Vance said : "The threat that I worry that most about vis a vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China, it's not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within."

Very McCarthy-esque, but who does Vance mean? Muslim people? LGBTQ+ people? Can't be the communists as they are pally with them now. Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

Scary times.