Thread 30 Starmer - Magic Roundabouts

[DuncinToffee]

Pull up a chair for some friendly chit chat about politics and beyond

Taxes optional but greatly appreciated.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5395939-thread-29-starmer-paint-your-bandwagon?page=1

Totally off topic, but I had an email inviting me to pre-order a turkey for Christmas. In August! 😲

It gets earlier every year, doesn’t it?

Polling from @ Moreincommon_ on Lucy Connolly https://bsky.app/profile/luketryl.bsky.social/post/3lxjnfemdzc25

More than half think her sentence was too lenient or about right. Only a third that it was too harsh.

Only 18% think politicians should associate themselves her, while 51% think they should actively distance themselves from her.

I love Christmas, but not in August. It's mad.

This was identified as a clear issue before the election. Starmer didn’t win because he was fantastically charismatic. He won because the Conservatives were corrupted and incompetent and the Labour Party pursued a very sophisticated electoral strategy that paid off.

A year in and you can see the issue. Starmer is clearly very good at some things such as international relations and pulling those levers. But that doesn’t get you voters. And he is good using a system, ie see the response to the riots. But that’s his old job at the CPS. What he has failed at is domestic policy or at least he’s not been able to get Reeves to deal with the clear budget problems the UK has. And together neither have been able to sell the consequences of that budget to their own bench. That is more than comms. It really is.

Hiw many people replied, 'Who??'.

International relations? What has he achieved there?

I went to b and m the other day and was going to grab something for the garden - the summer Alice was full of Halloween stuff.

so o thought maybe it would be the next aisle and hoping maybe at sale price.

Nope - that had Christmas stuff in it!

Hallowe’en stuff in the shops already. And a big display of Quality Street/Celebrations tubs in Aldi on Monday - presumably for Christmas?

(I have to confess that I’ve already bought 3 Christmas presents . Despite the fact that I’ve hidden the Christmas board on MN because I think it’s always too early!)

That’s very interesting that half think her sentence was just right or too lenient.

Another example of the narrative the media lead us to believe people think is a far cry from actual public feeling.

Im forever hopeful that also applies to people voting Reform!

I agree in part. But pointing out the massive flaws in arguments posed by opposition parties and the disinformation from bad actors isnt a policy issue, its comms.

Parliamentary Party management and relationships with MPs are important aspect of comms. If Starmer had any sense he’d make Rayner responsible for that. She’s highly respected among backbenchers and is ideally suited for the role. He probably wants to look at his Whip appointments too because whoever it is now (no idea who) clearly isn’t fit for purpose.

That is exactly why it came to mind (it's just down the road from me. A few miles south and DH would have been a monkey hanger by birth. )

I don't disagree with that last part.

But comms is also about PR, it is about considering the optics of policies, how and when to implement, how to make them palatable to bank benchers and the public, having strong lines to counteract back lash etc.

For example, making slashing the WFA as one of the first policies to be introduced was a massive PR and comms disaster.

(And for the mocking pp of course I don't think comms is Labour's only problem. But it is a big one).

Ours was full of little gems like "it needs painting" though it was good to get the glaringly obvious fact that the roof was knackered in print so that we could knock money off for it.

My MP is one of the whips. I sent her an email. She never replied. So I don't think comms is her strong point 🤣

https://bylinetimes.com/2025/08/28/far-right-and-the-press-accused-of-weaponising-violence-against-women-to-fuel-hatred-of-migrants/

Far Right and the Press Accused of ‘Weaponising Violence Against Women’ to Fuel Hatred of Migrants

More than 100 women’s rights groups condemn politicians and the media for spreading false claims about migrants while failing to back calls to fund actual support for sexual violence victims

Last year, some people voted for a Turkey in July.

They duly got one…well past its sell-by date, though.

Reader comments on BBC

So ministers didn’t even bother to do a proper cost review of council mergers? Instead, Rayner’s department dusted off a four-year-old Conservative-commissioned report that the County Council Network has since binned, because it now shows the reforms could cost money rather than save a penny. The staunch socialist to lean on on a tory report is laughable. A masterclass in ineptitude and hypocrisy

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I heard that on the radio yesterday. It’s a shame it hasn’t cut through all the noise. But then it’s just women - who listens to us?

This was shared on a different thread

https://www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/100-womens-rights-groups-warn-against-racist-weaponisation-of-vawg/

Yeah, and it didn't go anywhere because apparently all those organisations aren't virulently anti trans, so their views don't count.

We are certainly going backwards in woman’s rights and children’s rights too.

I wasn’t surprised when many of the rioters were identified - not through being locals - as many weren’t - but by police databases from previous convictions of DV.

It seems protecting WAGs actually translates to keeping them to themselves for their own gain and not sharing them.

Ian Dunt on Labour not standing up to the Deform narrative;

Presumably there must be some downsides too ?