Thread 35 Starmer: Old and smelling of roses

[DuncinToffee]

Pull up a chair for some friendly chit chat about politics, cats, dogs and much more

Taxes optional but greatly appreciated.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5418471-thread-34-starmer-conference-swanwiches-and-a-deputy-leader-contest?page=40

I'm guessing that MN is receiving a large number of unwanted visitors. I had a 500 error a few minutes before having to wait to be verified as human.

A small hobby forum has had to incorporate cloudfare and scan for bots in the same way after increased scraper activity made it inaccessible most of the time due to server overload. I suspect that being virtually patted down is soon going to become a way of life on t'interwebs.

I thought I’d share this as it’s a very interesting read. I really rate the Bear’s work, I hope he hasn’t allowed optimism to get the better of him.

https://open.substack.com/pub/iratusursus/p/nigel-and-the-terrible-horrible-no?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Glad you had a good birthday @cardibach

MN is really squiffy at the moment. I haven’t had to verify my humanity yet, but if I go to a thread that’s full it tells me I need to make an account when I’m still logged in and I’ve had a pop-up telling me I need to log in in the middle of a thread (again, when I’m still logged in). Plus lots of ‘hanging’ and errors.
It’s not conducive to a pleasant browsing environment and when you do get a smooth ride you are sharing your virtual train carriage with a load of baying racists. Present company excepted, of course. I’m tired of trying to see the better side of most people with those views, in rl as well as on here.
A fresh rash of flags have gone up down my road. Colleagues have remarked on how it’s all getting a bit ‘flaggy’ where I live . Complaints to the Council go nowhere (Reform) although there is a dedicated Flag Complaints line, so I assume complaints have to be counted and declared under FOI. There’s barely a flag on private property to be seen, because racists are cowardly twats at heart. I am feeling very jaded right now, but off somewhere remote for the week, so that should help.

Loads more flags arrived around where I live too 🙄

Isn’t it horrible @itsgettingweird ? Some were cut down then a couple of weeks ago those were replaced and more added. We have ladders and long secateurs, we could cut them down, but they’ll just come back and do it again. They did this last lot at night, left all the trimming crap all over the pavement. Scum. I’m ashamed to live here.

I agree it’s not nice. Feels (because it is!) aggressive.

I’ve nothing against someone flying a flag. But it’s the whole one of every lamppost on a street.

It’s not conducive to a pleasant browsing environment and when you do get a smooth ride you are sharing your virtual train carriage with a load of baying racists

That is very well put.

Caerphilly: before and after.

And normally if a bunch of people did something in the dead of night, community Facebook would light up with ring cameras and various alarmed posters.

My three door down neighbour still has his too big for his house flag up. Nothing else around here but in nearby villages , the flags are definitely wilting.

A dedicated flag complaints line, really

Hampshire spend more than £100k on policing the protests in a month.

The select committee report on the asylum hotel shambles highlights a point I made repeatedly - the absurd gimicks pursued by the last govt like Rwanda took resources away from running the actual system properly.

https://bsky.app/profile/samfr.bsky.social/post/3m45zwzfxej2t

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/27/racist-incidents-against-uk-nurses-surge

And another racially aggraved rape

In Walsall.
Horrible.

I heard about that last night. Dreadful.

The concerned citizens should be protesting outside the head offices of Serco, Clearsprings and Mears

Archived Times article
https://archive.ph/mjJ7L

Billions ‘squandered on migrant hotels due to incompetence’

An investigation by MPs reveals that the Home Office has also failed to collect £46m it is owed from two contractors

My area realllllyyyy is t coming out of the latest well 🤦🏼‍♀️

First Braverman. Just that really. Then her deleted post when she realised it happened in her watch.

Then Paulsgrove goes to Reform.

Now a flag hotline in the county.

I just think if they put 1% of that effort into cleaning the place up and being kind to each other, this would be heaven on earth.

So by their choices they are cunts.

https://www.thepoke.com/2025/10/24/caerphilly-mans-description-of-reform-nails-why-they-lost-by-election/

Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman have bought a £10 million home on Florida's 'billionaire island'

But she can't pay back the money she owes the UK taxpayers

And where all the Russian bots are coming from...

https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-cleavage-shot-no-uk-tabloid-will

That article is truly extremely frightening.
I saw that about Mone over the weekend she certainly has no shame.
Braverman really shouldn’t be left out on her own, such a stupid stupid person along with all of those who continue to handover lord knows how many millions to Serco/Clearsprings/Mears & others yet again citing the case for why privatisation does not work apart from making a few richer than they already are it’s such complete bollocks I’m so utterly fed up & why the fuck isn’t Pochin hauled before some standards committee at the very least, as I doubt very much Farage with expel her it’s beyond unacceptable that a member of parliament expressed such views.

Farage currently got a presser on grooming gangs.

he says a lot but he doesn’t really say anything.

Which is a shame because it is a national scandal and should be addressed but it’s just being used to score political points

The first comment rather gets to the point. It's fair to say that whatever cry baby racists may want, being woke=more sales.

(This was something that the US Magamob are desperate to pretend is not the case too).

He is joined by one of the victims who wanted Jess Philips to leave the inquiry