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

'Bigot ambush' is such a good word for it! Happened to me in the office a couple of weeks ago. Not someone I would have expected it from either. She doesn't speak to me at all now, because I politely called her out on it. It was just her and me at the time - no way would she have spoken like that if the usual people had been in.

Hiya everyone.

Mad start to 2025 on Mnet. I'm hoping it will die down soon as whatever will be will be. In the UK and in the USA. We had our vote, now we wait for our politicians to deliver.

Is anyone else here worried about Smart appliances? Mine's started collecting art.

Do they come alive after midnight?

Yep.

As if it's not bad enough on the European foreigner front, it's invited some suicidal Dutch lad over!

DS2 is all Starry Night obsessed. I'll be calling Prevent in the morning.

'Bigot ambush' - amazing, stealing with pride!
I still feel bad about not responding to an appalling comment from a neighbour many years and years ago - I was so shocked I couldn't think of an answer or maybe I wouldn't have anyway as not confident in how to counter it, so excusing myself perhaps. I do hope my face spoke for me, but I'd never know as it was the one and only time he lowered himself to speak at me.
So I try hard since to say something - occasionally I succeed but I've been fully ambushed and immediately left for 'dead' so have failed.
I find it repulsive that people just assume that as a 60ish age white female I obviously am going to share their views - I wish there was a way for them to tell in advance that I definitely do not and so save their bile.

Interesting polling from Hope not Hate

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/02/reform-uk-can-win-scores-of-labour-seats-in-england-and-wales-says-study

“The polling should be a wake-up call for everyone,” he said. “Reform UK is emerging as a major political force in Britain. The idea that Reform hurts the Conservatives more than Labour is plainly nonsense. As our polling graphically shows, the vast majority of seats Reform would win if there was an election today are from Labour, as are most of the seats they would take on a swing of 3% or less.
“Strong anti-immigration views were dominant among those who voted Reform in the 2024 general election, but those who have begun to support the party since then have far more diverse views.
“This includes a sizeable group of voters who are actually quite positive towards the benefits of immigration and multiculturalism but increasingly feel the main parties have failed and it is time for something new.”

FFS Labour

Sky News

NEW: Yvette Cooper rules out a youth mobility scheme between the UK and EU:

"That's not the right starting point for us at all." Brussels is demanding one as part of the government's "reset" of relations with the bloc.

This however is good (sorry for the mirror link)

On Sunday the UK becomes the first country in the world to announce tough laws to crush the vile trade in AI-generated child sex abuse material.

Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips told The Mirror she was "shocked" that little had been done for years despite police pleas for action.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/jess-phillips-vows-crackdown-ai-34590816?

Considering that Reform are just rebranded Tories at heart I’d say it was disheartening to say the least. So all the things that have failed over the last 40 years are going to be rehashed..

I honestly don't really care about polling now.
If the polls are showing the same results in 3 years then I will begin to worry.

And yes @DuncinToffee - I think that announcement by Yvette Cooper is mind bogglingly stupid.

I have a slightly different take on what Cooper said. I don't think she is stupid either. BTW I think the idea of such a pact is good one!

The EU are absolutely delusional if they think they can get these kind of concessions by having a public discussion and public position like this pact before we even talk to them.

In negotiation terms, this is a disaster because it places domestic pressure on Starmer's government immediately. He and Cooper cannot agree it.

Awful. Why the EU has learned nothing from the referendum debacle and aggressive public positions like this I don't know.

Like every other trade negotiation they should do this privately. I think they are mad, and it means that perversely Trump will be able to make better progress because he is less overtly aggressive in trade terms.

Anyway, I hope both the EU and UK can talk without these positions by the EU fundamentally weakening Starmer's government.

OTOH - there is "normality bias" - a tendency to ignore warning signs and hope that things will be ok.

There are plenty of warning signs at the moment.

Hope you are right bombastix

I am not encouraged. In my experience the EU will not budge publicly on any of this until the very last minute. That could be years.

The EU is on the verge of a trade war with Trump, the UK must not get sucked into that,

If the EU are portrayed insisting that the UK has more migrants then this thing is dead before it even starts. That's how it will be portrayed in the media here, and btw that will also look like a net cost to the UK without any associated financial benefits for us,

The trouble is, if you show them exactly the kind of person Fartage is, they
ll probably like him even more...

https://bylinetimes.com/2025/01/30/nigel-farage-pictured-with-far-right-activists-who-posted-pride-swastikas-and-racist-rants/

This is the sort of issue that could give Reform a shoe in.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvm17dwv1vo.amp

Rightly or wrongly, some people will focus on issues like this in their region and be convinced that Reform would make it all better, just as so many Americans were, and still are, convinced they would be better off in a Trump utopia.

I'd have thought by 2029 it will be clear that the Trump Utopia is a mirage.

With the estimated COL hike of $900 just from the tariffs alone, it already is obviously a mirage. It will take more than that for the believers to lose faith, though.

Hey @pointythings I hope you are OK. I noticed you on another thread, battling away. Not sure I am allowed to specify which one, but

I'm fine, just frustrated. Benefits threads in general always go the same way - the bashers never have any answers bar 'take their money away', which has been proved not to work. And we aren't allowed to use the S-word to describe that mindset.

For some, death, really. Sad, but true.

Remember those folk who sold all their goods to be able to catch the rapture, and when it didn't materialise, sold what they had rebuilt up for the next time ?

When the whole MAGAmania hits reality, it won't be Trump and co that are blamed. It will be the DEI immigrants who despite having no vote, voted for Biden.

I wish someone could explain the press love affair with Farage to me.
Have Journos not got families of their own or something?
I just cannot fathom it at all.
I know click bait etc but he is loathsome and purely out for himself in my humble opinion.

The old adage’s of judged by the company you keep & when someone shows you who they are take notice doesn’t appear to apply for that fucker Farage.
I dunno I’m finding it very hard to keep positive, it’s like some insidious mist of evil all around us slowly choking us (I sound like I have covered myself in tin foil) I just feel so uneasy & some of the attitudes on some MN threads very very unpalatable, sorry I just feel really miserable at the moment.

@dontcallmelen I'm so sorry you feel that way, but, I hear you!
When I start feeling swamped and despondent with it all I remind myself about my mum (RIP) living through the second world war and how she said they could never have imagined a better life to come.
Hang on in . we in the UK are pretty decent and we can generally see through the bulls** t.
I hope.

Many posters are emboldened by the Trumpski;s and Faragists spouting their hate. They tend to post loads so it can feel like they are everywhere at the moment.

They will disappear at some point but in the meantime a good supply of tinfoil is useful