Thread 27 Starmer: He's a very clever cat

[DuncinToffee]

A nod to the Chief Mouser

Previous thread
www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5361166-thread-26-starmer-cats-rebels-and-orange-chaos?page=40&reply=145615445

A child died of measles in Liverpool, the anti vax replies to this news are horrific.

Some of us bought shares in designer baby coffins. They were inevitable in the modern age. Weirdly every shareholders pack came with 5 free social media accounts where you were encouraged to post antivax memes.

t'were a few summers ago, Like now had patio door open and was working. Became aware of right old racket of cawing from the local mob - a word I use advisedly as they do sound like machine guns.

Curiosity piqued, (and not being a cat) I went to see what was up. When I got to the door - silence.

Rinse and repeat twice more ....

I was left with the distinct impression it was a magpie version of knock down ginger (if that phrase places me in space and time).

On reflection I did wonder if maybe a cat had been prowling, and the canny corvids thought that by summoning me it would be scared off ?

Used to see loads of magpies on our front lawn - now replaced by crows. Although a neighbour said his little girls love seeing the sparrows on our lawn as they go to school. Which made me feel weirdly content. Any old bits of bread go on the law and are hoovered up within minutes.

Some birds are descended from dinosaurs so are clearly playing a long game. 😀

Our neighbours stopped using their bird table because the starlings scared their dog.

Personally I'd say that's a bad exchange.

We don 't get corvids of any kinds, just pigeons having loud sex in the tree and on our fence. The cats seem to enjoy watching.

Their mood isn't easily killed 😂

We get seagulls! Joys of living on the coast and it being flying ant season 🤣

Have seen a lot more magpies this year though.

Oh, we have plenty of seagulls. The black headed gulls in particular are like teenage yobs. Amazingly I haven't seen Mr. Big Cheese Magpie have a go at one of them. He leaves the pigeons alone, too, because he knows they'll turn round and thump him rather than flee.

There are a couple of streets in central Brum where it' seagull alley. As the contentious Mr. Fry noted on an old "QI", they don't need the sea, just cliffs. Or the artificial ones we chose to build.

People like to snark, but when one of these beasts glides 6 inches from your face, you can't help but have a "Fuck !!!!" moment.

We used to see a red kite perching on a (now demolished) shed. When it stretched it's wings .... oh ... my.... god ..

It wasn't planned, but hopefully all this wildlife chatter will have put of the ploppers 😀it should be safe to start talking politics again.

Quite interested to hear how the UK-France deal with asylum seekers will work. Especially as it seems to benefit both sides equally. If the government can get the messaging right and we do see footage of asylum seekers being returned to France it would put Farage and his call for increased immigration into focus.

The slow burn decline of James McMurdock is interesting.

I'm beginning to think the murkiness is a prerequisite for being in the party.

We often get both red kites and seagulls here - the seagulls don’t like the red kites and chase them away.

Saw seagulls chasing and attacking a male jackdaw yesterday. Great work because Mr Jack was deflecting from the nest and eventually came back. x

Since little Tennyson killed a magpie bigger than he is and dragged it through the cat flap recently, I'm wondering whether he'd take a seagull on. He's a dinky 3.4kg killing machine.

If he's not returning to Reform there should be a by election. Whatever I think of them, his constituents voted for a Reform MP, not an independent one.

I think a by election should be automatic if an MP resigns or is kicked out of their party.

Why ?

We vote for a person, not a party. MPs are representatives, not delegates.

But we don’t. We vote for a set of policies and values represented by a party and if our MP leaves that party there’s no longer the assurance that we’re getting what we voted for.

I live in Major’s old constituency. As it happens he’s a decent man and he was an excellent constituency MP but, despite both those things, he’s also a Tory and I’d never have voted for him in a million years.

Well that's the gulf between theory and practice then, isn't it ?

Personally I agree. I also think that MPs who resign the party whip should be on the hook for some of the expenses that went into getting them elected

I know some people are easily impressed by Corbyn and Sultana which probably cancels out how unimpressed I am with their faux naivete.

It should be bleeding obvious that when you throw your lot in with others, there will inevitably be areas of disagreement. Whether they are serious enough to motivate you away from those people is really a compromise between you and them. However once you have taken the plunge and accepted the security in numbers, there is a moral obligation on you to be a team player.

However, I have a feeling that MPs wondering about parliament is a symptom of the deeper malaise in UK politics, and it would be a much better use of resources to address that, rather that trying to stick band aids all over it. No matter how great the music was.

As an independent he keeps his MP salary and extras.

Well they are still representing their constituency.

The situation if you make a booking or purchase from some private company is the same. Usually, even if the company gets taken over, you don't get to cancel your order/booking. Which for a lot of ex-pat "energy suppliers" is probably a good thing. I mean just because I would never have signed with Octopus in a zillion years shouldn't impinge on their corporate rights to slowly fuck me over.

Repeatedly.

I am sure Jimmy will be busy stopping the boats regardless of which party he represents.

A Macron plot according to our old friend BoJo

I think it's much more a Starmer plot. The extra twist that it relies on the UK being in the ECHR is only something a lawyer could dream up.

So the media challenge you won't hear being put to the Tories and Reform is "won't your bollocks idea to leave the ECHR stop the UK returning migrants to France. You know, which is all you ever bang on about these days" ?

What would Reform be without the boat crossings

The media would have to do the job they are paid for.