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

I'm guessing they are doing them in alphabetical order. As per an unrepeatable joke from the 80s I recall (the politically correct plane crash ...)

@SerendipityJane I posted previously saying I though Lammy was pretty good on the global stage (he went to Harvard dontcha know) and a certain poster came out spewing vitriol at me.
I feel you may be seen as too intimidating to suffer the same way ! (You scare me off at times, ha ha!)
I would like to see more people acknowledging how much work this Labour government put in, long before they took office.
I'm not altogether a cat person @cardibach but your cat Perdy is beautiful and seems very accomplished!

I don't mean to scare - and believe it or not I try to ensure I don't deliberately offend where it's not warranted. It's when people tell me what I should think or do that I'll bear my teeth (I hope ....). Especially if their direction comes not from their own workings out (in which case I may be persuaded - isn't that what debate is for ?) but because they are parroting slogans.

Anyway, there is a school of thought that Labours comms are so bad because - well because how could they not be ? The media is never going to allow them to speak for themselves, so why invest resources ?

As they say, the proof of the pudding etc. If in 3-4 years time the unreported actions of the government have actually improved peoples lives then it should act as a counter to the numbnuts.

Sadly the US experiment doesn't support that. We can only hope the UKs parameters lead to a different outcome.

That's being charitable. However the absolute unforced omnishambles of winter fuel and PIP/DLA does rather point to Hanlons Razor doing it's work as usual.

I am always interested in what you have to say @SerendipityJane .

Meanwhile, with a minute to spare, look wot I done.

The bot wasn't keen on using the name "Nigel Farage". As it replied "but I can’t create or use a real person’s name in a way that could imply genuine commercial activity or endorsement."

I then explained a bit about Reform (shades of having to explain the history of the East India Company to make a cup of tea ...) and got it to skim the blurb on their website and it was more than happy to agree that "N. Farage" would sell survival gear like these.

Here's the accompanying text. The bot invented the tweak of payment terms based on the Reform website and the bit about salt spray patina. 😀

Title: Reform Binoculars – Optimised for “Spotting Small Boats” – Collector’s Edition
Photos:
(📸 Main image: binoculars with a small boat image photoshopped onto the larger lens)
Description:
Introducing the Reform Binoculars, the must-have optical aid for anyone with an interest in “spotting small boats” at great distance. Whether it’s a lone dinghy on a calm sea or an inflatable braving the English Channel, our patented Selective Vessel Visualisation technology makes them stand out like a sore thumb.

• 🔭 Precision optics calibrated for Channel waters.
• 🚤 Enhanced Boat Recognition Mode (EBRM) preloaded.
• 🌊 Tested in the wild by seasoned “maritime enthusiasts.”
• 📦 Includes protective case and a laminated “Channel Crossing Size Guide.”

Condition: Lightly used, with occasional salt spray patina for authenticity. Starting Price: 10 guineas Vendor: N. Farage Imports & Curiosities Ltd. Postage: Buyer pays shipping (preferably in sterling, doubloons, or mackerel).

Oh my God, a now deceased friend of ours told that joke at an annual cricket dinner circa 1993. It was the first time I had met him. He was called Barry, if that's an excuse. RIP, Barry.

🤣🤣🤣 fix the typo and it is perfect!

No, it did say cult ...😀

On a very serious note (it's so nice to be able to type the truth and know it will remain hidden forever), the text that was generated was all the work of the bot. I just said :

Can you create a fake eBay listing for "Reform Binoculars", where the image shows they have a picture of a small boat on the larger lens and extolling their advantages in "spotting small boats". The starting price should be 10 guineas and the vendor "N. Farage industries unlimited".

All else was the "creation" of the chatbot. It dug into it's "learning" and that is what it produced.

So - as with the picture of the pedalo - what is it learning about Farage, Reform and their elk ?

Way too much focus on a 'political' group that's ensuring the police bill rises this week. Meanwhile Fraser Nelson has written a great piece in the Times about how the UK is far from broken and lawless.

See the joke I heard was one of these ones that uses a "magic word" (actually quite a few 😱). But it actually had an incredibly subtle core of philosophy about the power dynamic inherent in nomenclature.

And I heard some variants which demonstrated that clearly some people had realised that and tweaked it to mess around with audience expectations.

A bit less worrying news about the asylum hotel protests

Calls for a "huge nationwide wave" of protests in last 48 hours saw about 300 people attend one locally-organised protest in Nuneaton (serious charges in local case) + 19 protests range from 6 peoole (Wolverhampton) with about four more reaching 100-200 people (Altrincham,Canary Wharf)

Total < 2000

https://bsky.app/profile/sundersays.bsky.social/post/3lvzts3ywnc2w

Ah, they'll say the MSM is lying.

Jenrick is already inciting more hatred in the DM.

They can say it as much as they like. The facts don’t care. And in the ned actual numbers are what count.

Very true cardi.

So true this

https://bsky.app/profile/youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com/post/3lvyrfbxjvc2q

if I ever go properly "screaming about nothing in particular in the street" mad it will be due to having spent too much time having read about the opinions of men who have absolutely never cared about women's rights for one moment in their lives but decided to pretend just for the sake of racism

every single woman I've brought it up with at some point has been sexually assaulted before, myself included, and not a single one of these men has ever cared about the reality of that, but now it's maybe looking like some black and brown men are moving to Britain and oh, suddenly women are people?

With the twist that they are being enabled by women.

Jenrick can fuck right off.

Has he ever actively campaigned about VAWG before?

Of course not. He’s doing it now because it’s politically expedient. I’m just waiting to hear he’s defected to Reform.

I see our newly resident all-asylum-seekers-are-rapists-especially-Afghans poster is still spewing forth.

Maybe it's honest Bob!

Reform are said to be trying hard to play down Tory defections. It makes them look too much like Tory#2.0 which makes it much harder to sell to people coming from the centre.

Also there will be the rule in hell or serve in heaven dimension for Jenrick to wrestle with. As things stand he's probably a shoe-in to be party leader for the Tories before 2026. In Reform there is no chance of being leader. Even if Farage stepped aside.

The main problem with being leader of the Tory party is the party itself is doomed. Rather than maintain the centre - which kept it alive for two centuries - Boris Johnson happened. And having lost the moderate base, you won't get it back.

Labours election victory wasn't some weird aberration - it's what happens when non extremists want a change of government without heads on spikes.

If you want a story in a single sentence, then why are Reform - who bleated on about how unfair life was in parliamentary elections - nowhere to be seen when electoral reform is being discussed ?

Little Tennyson had a teaspoon of cottage cheese.

Completely misread the post, sorry 😬

I should have clarified resident on MN but not on this thread. Hopefully they won't ever pay us a visit.

I know who you mean, history is not his forte

He has visited in the past, probably left a bad TripAdvisor review