Thread 28 Starmer - Weodmonath

[DuncinToffee]

The month of Agustus we call the weed month in our language, for these grow most in this month.”

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5371734-thread-27-starmer-hes-a-very-clever-cat?page=40&reply=146154992

What is he then? I’d be fascinated to find out. I didn’t realise ‘career politician’ was a derogatory term.

I understand career politician to be someone who has made politics their whole career, rather than coming into it later after a different career.

I never said it was pejorative - funny you should assume that. You're the one who said career politicians are a bit odd!

Starmer is a lawyer, how on earth does that make him a "career politician"

He was also the son of an engineer, again true... May worked for the BoE and then in financial services....

May was put on the spot and probably thought the time she and her friends got pissed on cheap cider was a confusion too far.... i dare say she did a lot more than trample some crops.

Most PMs are involved in politics for some time, thats natural, promotion in any organisation takes time.

Starmer if anything, hasn't had much time as a backbencher, the opposite of a career politician.

It’s usually used to denote someone who went straight from university (PPE, most often) to politics without having meaningful job in the ‘real world’. I wouldn’t class DPP as not a meaningful job in the real world, but opinions may, of course, differ on that.

Career politicians generally have gone from university to a think tank or spent minimal time in work before working for a political party.

Starmer was a barrister, rose to become a QC (not a guaranteed promotion by any stretch) and was eventually appointed head of Crown Prosecution Service.

Yes, I think May responded as she did because she was put on the spot.

I stand corrected. I should have said that most politicians are a bit odd and as dull as ditchwater. 🤣🤣

I prefer it when they are dull @derxa . The duller and more ditchwater-like the better.

Re Chris Philps. I see Angela E has written him a note!

Mine is a breath of fresh air, fortunately. I hope she can navigate past the unwise decisions of some of her colleagues.

George Osborne was a career politician. As was David Cameron. @derxa

Oops forgot the tax. Here's a pic from my visit to The Big Cat Sanctuary - this is a fishing cat.

Some of the responses to my initial comment have been bloody hilarious. 🤣.

That last line

Very good response.

Meanwhile ...

I would say get your minds out of the gutter ... but already commentators are impressed with Ant's one handed typing.

It’s fascinating to me how much the Conservatives wanted/needed something more expensive and performative. Braverman dreaming of standing on the tarmac as the planes took off. Now they sit in boats pointing.

The last bit about wanting to feel safe and secure in our communities…..hate to break it to him but women have been wanting just that for quite some time. Wonder what has stopped him speaking up before now? It’s a complete mystery.

I could do with a sick emoji Jane

How long before Nige will sent Ant to Rupert?

Indeed @Saucery . If he wanted to work towards that he’d be looking at conviction rates for rape, for example. And trying to halve violence against women and girls, like the government say they want to do.

Sky News fact checked Farages claims, guess who provided the data
https://news.sky.com/story/fact-checking-farage-are-foreigners-more-likely-than-britons-to-commit-sexual-offences-13407029

One could be forgiven for thinking you were on the wind up.

That Farage stuff has been trotted out ad naseaum by a certain poster the last couple of days.Saving the Sky piece for the next time.

It’s fascinating to me how much the Conservatives wanted/needed something more expensive and performative.

A wise businessman once said to me "You can't make a million dollars if you aren't turning over at least a million dollars".

The corollary is "It's not worth embezzling unless it's an eye watering project".

If we want to talk about a productivity gap in the UK, then 20% of anything is wasted on useless but "essential" layers of troughs.

I posted this in another thread. The tumbleweed was predictable ...

A “disgusting” paedophile who was jailed for his part in the disorder at Rotherham has been handed a new jail sentence for sexually abusing a young girl.
Phillip Wood even gave the 12-year-old a sexually transmitted disease and left her covered in love bites, having filmed his sordid behaviour.
The 23-year-old was only jailed in June for his part in the disorder at the Holiday Inn Express in August last year.

https://archive.ph/iUsjs (non premium link)

Sorry couldn't do a link

Speaking on Radio 4 yesterday, Robert Cuffe, head of statistics at the BBC, said the figure relating to crime in London was “probably an exaggeration”. He explained:
The figures come from the Metropolitan police. The Centre for Migration Control got a Freedom of Information request from them, and they do indeed show that 40% of people proceeded against for sexual offences last year were foreign nationals.
“Proceeded against” – that’s charged or cautioned, not necessarily convicted.
So [Jenrick’s] wrong to say it’s 40% of crimes committed.

But there’s a more important caveat to bear in mind. Analyses like these that look at the number of crimes or charges against the share of the population – they’re missing a really important factor – age. Younger men are more likely to commit or be charged for these types of crimes, and foreign nationals are more likely to be young.
So if you did a proper analysis that really took account of those differences, the gaps would look a lot smaller.
I
’ve been talking to people in the field who don’t have an axe to grind, and they say of course it’s possible that there’s something here, these just aren’t the data to tell us.

Cuffe said the second claim, about Afghans and Eritreans being 20 times more likely to commit crimes than Britons, was much more problematic.
He explained:

For this one, I think you’re on much, much, much shakier ground, because all of the problems [with the previous figures] apply here, and some more as well.

Foreign nationals are also less likely to show up in the population stats, because, for example, the ONS don’t go to communal establishments like migrant hostels.

That’s not too big a deal if you’re looking at the share of population as a whole. But if you’re looking at just Eritreans, who account for less than 1% of these offences, or Afghans, then those differences become really, really important. If you miss a small number of people, it can have an outsized effect.

So those numbers like 20 times more likely – run a mile from those.

On the blog yesterday I also highlighted a very good Substack analysis by Emma Monk dismantling Tory claims about asylum seekers being disporportionately criminal.