Labour isn't working - Thread 24

[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/5454130-labour-isnt-working-thread-23?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Yes, but didn't Starmer talk about banning VPNs before? I think that was in the context of the previous legislation - you know the one that means you can't access adult content without proof of age - last I heard, Bible websites were falling foul of that. Apologies if I've got that wrong

If I'm remembering right, then it's a long thought out plan. Part of the long march I suppose. <sighs deeply>

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/labour-starmer-jury-reforms-election-klx7xwkg5

Not sure if the link will work or not. Interesting though. Calling Burnham’s bluff perhaps.

Just under 4,000 majority at the GE, with a miserable 42% turnout.

https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4128/election/422

Archive link: https://archive.ph/JgPrz

Interesting article. Labour have lost their minds on this (and so many other things, I suppose!).

Yes I heard him on the radio the other day, sounded annoyed enough for some backbencher rebellion to be on the cards.

Can you imagine if Starmer put us this much in the dark? The whole world watches Iran but we are in some NK hideousness

I think Starmer is going to enjoy a challenging Q1.

Internationally, there are enough geopolitical fires breaking out, which will require him to get off the fence and clarify where he stands - his usual doublespeak and deliberate ambiguity will not wash.

Domestically, both economic and polling data will continue to disappoint and his time value to the May elections is continuing to erode.

The human ring-binder’s days are surely numbered.

Haha at that description. Digital ID, banning X, I can only hope the backlash is so comprehensive they’re out for generations.

I don’t see equivocation about international relations generally as an issue. All governments have to do this.

Starmer’s problem is that his stupid MPs and activists want a government that supports only their favoured causes. And they threaten to undermine him if they don’t get their way. So, for example, we get the recognition of Palestine and next to nothing said about Iran. He’s terrified of his party.

With a man who’s never had any idea what to do with the job he’s craved and schemed for, those pressures produce terrible results - whether they’re domestic or foreign issues.

The eagerness from the left about clamping down on information is so bad.

Badenoch has written to Starmer to ask him to block mullah's from getting asylum in the UK. That seems pretty sensible. If he has any sense, you'd think he would get behind that.

Yes, it's their knee jerk reaction to just about everything.

You'd think hailing from a politics that leads with the empowerment of those who are left behind through structural inequality would encourage its supporters to have more access to information, discussing, mobilising and voting and yet, more and more, discussion lands on who should be shut out from the public sphere so that people they prefer can get on with the task of pretending to speak for them.

It really is something else. You can see how we could end up in an NK-like information black hole, some are all for it.

Yes, there's a real drive for absolute control of the narrative and paternalism for the greater good and a complete naivety of how that lands historically.

It's their way to emotionally soothe themselves: by blocking out any observable reality that goes against their ideology.

As Stephen Daisley says in the Telegraph:

"In the mind of the middle-class midwit, the world is divided into Good People, who believe in Being Kind, and Bad People, who say bigoted things because they’ve been brainwashed by Elon Musk and Nigel Farage.

Policies and outcomes mean nothing. What matters is maintaining their soothing intellectual safe space in which the Good People are always right and the Bad People are Russian bots. "

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/a49adc31aa156a91

The article is interesting. That the UAE have taken UK universities off it's tuition support programme due to fears of radicalisation raises huge red flags.

"Britain is so tolerant of Islamic fundamentalism that actual Islamic nations want to keep their kids away"

The Left's ideological unwillingness to see those red flags is another level of problem again.

Yes. it genuinely is "pretending to speak for them" whilst dismissing - even mocking - their actual concerns and wishes.

Very Animal Farm. And not the new 'reimagined' version.

Thanks for that article @strawberrybubblegum

Love the title: "Rory Stewart is wrong about everything, but he gets away with it because he is posh" 😂

It's such a clear and undisputable take on the situation that you expect that some people would read it shame faced.

I watched a podcast by Louise Perry, I forget which one, that suggested that our illiberal liberals have tethered themselves to indefensible positions to cement their egos as securely middle class while their bank balances wither and housing situations become precarious.

It's a cheap and easy way to other those who you can now claim to be beneath you, with their unsuitable opinions and beliefs.

So, I expect that Rory Stewart and the like, properly rich and posh darlings, do some heavy lifting to secure these narratives as a cut above the riff raff.

So much this.

I'm not sure. I constantly have this feeling that something is going to appear out of the blue.

Emerald, I often feel that, but when something does happen it’s always something I never saw coming - whether a world or nation event/catastrophe or even something at home or in the family.

Quelle surprise.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15452411/The-staggering-cost-Ed-Milibands-Net-Zero-drive-finally-revealed.html

100%

I wouldn’t wish a socialist government on any future grandchildren I may have.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is worried about that. It was practically my first thought when I heard about Iran.

What's NK that people have mentioned please?

@38thparallel I know what you mean with regards to both world events and personal events. However, I do think it's a feature of the current administration - they believe in keeping people unsettled and uneasy. There are some that say it makes people easier to govern. That's why I keep saying I don't believe that economic mess and the announcement before the budget, etc are signs of incompetence

I presume there is an academic term for this, but it's the belief that it's easier to rebuild things as you want them to be if you smash them to smithereens first. I suppose in business we now call it "disruption innovation". I know the term "managed decline" was popular in politics for a while.

perhaps Starmer hates Musk as much as he does because Musk is a bigger disruptor.

He really is a gormless prat isn’t he?

He’s the Danny Devito to his brother’s Arnold - if you can forgive the analogy.

Kemi would be better off cutting out the middle man, and going straight to his back benches…

I think NK stands for North Korea.