Labour isn't working - Thread 10

[TheNuthatch]

A chat thread for those who don't like this Labour government.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

Previous thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5411817-labour-isnt-working-thread-9?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

A little story (true, honest!)
Some years ago, a few days before the big day, I was in M&S getting the christmas gear in. I'd ordered some of it, but I still needed some other bits. It was pretty busy and there was a frisson of panic in the air. I thought I'd have a look at the accompaniments to see what was on offer this year and maybe buy instead make my own. Well, I rounded the corner, and I kid you not, two women, one mid thirties, the other pushing fifty, both defintely should know better had hold of each end the last pack of a variety pack of stuffing balls and pigs in blankets. Shouting and screaming about who had it first pulling this way and that when the inevitable happened and the lid split, discharging the contents hither and yon. I was utterly mesmerised, stuffing balls and pigs in blankets all over the place. It then got physical when the older woman slapped the younger shouted something about ruined christmas and turned on her heel to leave. Unfortunately, she stepped on a stuffing ball, her foot slid from under her and she landed on her backside in the middle of the aisle. The younger woman saw an opportunity and stuck the boot in as she went past in in tears.
Me and several other shoppers were rooted to the spot in disbelief. After a few seconds, one turned to the rest of us and asked " did that really just happen?" Some poor assistent was passing with a cleaning cart and said" yep, there's at least one fight before Christmas."

Oh OK, I stand corrected, thank you. Google told me it was a breed.
They are lovely ❤️.

🤣🤣

😂😂 brilliant.
I would definitely get physical if anyone tried grabbing my pigs and balls.

I love that @upseedaisee i always think Christmas supermarkets really bring out the worst in some people…

i saw a fight queuing outside m&s in Covid times between two well dressed middle aged women - over whether one was social distancing enough from the other!

it was funny but at the time a bit scary as they were both screeching and trying to engage the rest of the queue…who were all desperately trying to ignore it!

😂😂🙈 And this is why the human race has no hope. Well that, and the fact we don’t even spell phonetic with an f.

Yep, never have understood why we have the ph thing when F is perfectly accetable😁

That is so funny, what a great story. Wasn’t there a thing in Mad Men where a ham supplier staged a fight. I think yours is the real deal though 😬

On the Christmas shopping were Ocado to the core although I’m not 100% if we’ll be at home. I’d better get on this as we might be and have no order.

Ikr it is obsessive. I suppose they think he might be successful.

Because, in the absence of having a good plan of how we can manage this emerging financial cluster fuck and increasing tension in our social fabric, it's easier to create the illusion of doing something by slinging shit at Farage and reform voters.

That might earn them approval from the converted and provide a safe spot of opinion cohesion among their members but it fails to a) deal with Reform's growing popularity b) hold the actual government to account c) demonstrate any policy competence to steer us to a better outcome.

Someone on the last thread mentioned the advantage of an MP who is out and about, talking to the electorate.

Reminds me of a couple I spoke to who met Farage some time ago, in UKIP days IIRC. He was having a cigarette outside a restaurant and they stopped to chat. They conversed for some minutes and afterwards came away thinking how interesting and engaging he was. As they reflected, they realised that he had hardly said a thing, but had managed to draw opinions on all sorts of topics out of them. This is how a politician looks to be in touch with the public.

So many complain of people 'following Farage', or 'doing what he says', whereas the truth is he finds out what people are thinking/wanting/worried about and then offers to represent them.

But I seriously doubt that more than a handful of people in the UK have an opinion on gun laws, far less badger Reform with it, so goodness knows why Davey came up with that.

His haters accuse him of being thick etc but i believe he is incredibly astute. When asked who they would rather go to a pub with ie Farage Vs Starmer the majority asked said Farage. He is personable, knows how to engage people etc.
Agree or disagree with his politics but the reason he has been constantly underestimated has enabled him. Whether he can keep the momentum for another 3 years is to be seen but he is a smart operator.

I think maybe this is because Farage has come to politics without running the media training gauntlet. This device that politicians have been taught, well, ever since 'spin' in the Blair years - to speak without saying anything at all makes, them seem slippy and untrustworthy. Even when people hate Farage, they don't tend to accuse him of being inauthentic.

I'm amazed at how much more human and likeable MPs seems and how much more articulate they are when they shift out of politics, or even just move over to the Lords and they are unshackled from the speaking without speaking chains.

I agree to an extent.

But being a ‘good sort’ or ‘a bit of a laugh’ is a luxury for politicians who are nowhere near power or who have never had it before. Nick Clegg’s a good example. Remember “I agree with Nick” in 2010? Clegg lost all credibility very quickly in government and lost his seat in the end (to a subsequently disgraced Labour fool).

I have no doubt that Farage and Reform would prove hopeless in making necessary change. You need hard nosed bastards for that: Tories.

I'm not disagreeing with that. Just the juxtaposition of Starmer Vs Farage when engaging with people is night and day

In a juxtaposition of Inspector Clouseau and Starmer, Clouseau wins every time.

It’s not difficult to show up our PM as a hopeless idiot with a nasal voice like a bit-part Dalek.

This is very true.

I still think my rabbit would be a better PM than Starmer

Oooo.... I've just found my people.... Can I join?? I think I may have commented way back, but lost the thread, as it were.

There are some lovely sheep in the field opposite, not ours, but very welcome. I go and chat every day. The cat however is not impressed as it is his mouse field

I am in a constituency which regularly switches between Cons and Libs, both MPs and councils. Also we recently had redrawn boundaries which further muddied the waters. Next is the new Unitary authorities, which will no doubt change the demographics again, but never to Labour, or Reform. Thank God.

However, we now have a slew of LD's, never doing anything useful, and I'm very sad we (my little bit of Surrey), missed out on being in Jeremy Hunts new constituency, as he is a fantastic local representative. In fact, we are all canvassing him for various issues, as the borders are so tight, and our LD MP is awful.

Hopefully we'll swing back to Cons next time.

There's a huge difference between Starmer and Farage when dealing with the press too.
Starmer stands there, sour faced and evasive. He avoids criticism by only taking a few questions from more friendly journos, who he knows want to stay in his good books.
Farage will take questions from everyone in the room, friend or foe. They all then have a small clip to report on their own outlet. Its very clever.

Welcome (again?) 😄

The sheep, can anyone tell me what they are??

@HostaCentral Welcome 😁

@derxa May be able to help with the sheep ID? Do you have a pic?

I saw a clip from LBC news call in with Farage. A caller was asking him Q re:the house tax thing. Farage answered very clearly with 1 word answers ie "yes" or "no", at the end of the call the caller said "OK fair enough" 🤣 I can't recall anyone saying that to a Labour MP in a phone in?? Farage right attempt to distract or evade the Q, he answered them unequivocally and in a very matter of fact manner. He won the caller over. Instead of getting into politicisn flim flam it was a lesson in mastering public Q.
Starmer could never have handled that in the same way

https://x.com/LBC/status/1970762628025721126?t=s96LIiotl5eJWwkC4OBSTw&s=19

Contrition 🤣
Id give them three Our Fathers 😆