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

I am not happy with it and feel politically adrift. But don't hate it enough to remain on the thread.

The Labour groupies thread can be easily identified: it’s covered in pictures of cats, a lot of the posts talk about “comms” (as in “I think people would get on their knees and worship Starmer if only the government’s comms were better”), and you’ll read that everything bad in the world - from collapsed meringues to Ted Bundy - was caused by the Tories.

Watch out though: soon, probably around May, those threads’ titles will be starting with a name other than ‘Starmer’.

Hallelujah.

Not yet, maybe?

Ah, come on over to the dark side, you know you want to 😁

Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to rally an international crackdown on Elon Musk’s social media platform X have suffered a blow after Canada publicly backed away from an outright ban.

Downing Street has been discussing a coordinated response with allies to X’s AI bot, Grok, which has been used to generate fake naked images of women and children.

But despite suggestions Britain could impose an outright ban on the platform, a Canadian minister on Sunday clarified that Ottawa was not looking at such a proposal.

Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Evan Solomon, the Canadian minister for AI and digital innovation, said: “Contrary to media reports, Canada is not considering a ban of X.”

Where did the suggestion that Canada was working to ban X come from? Not from our anxiously truthful government, surely?

Looks like Canada is going to pursue the criminals who generate deep fake illegal content rather than ban the platform.

I don’t believe the UK government announced it, but it was widely reported in the MSM.

That’s a bit too sensible for some.

Yeah, I'm not sure what else the practical solution could be when you can achieve the same illegal outcomes on seemingly all the AI platforms and with old school video editing?

It’s the left getting excited about their main challenge being banned surely. But any fool will know you can’t suppress how people think, it rebounds and creates a backlash that’s even greater.

They're a bit crap at getting that.

Britain at risk of electricity rationing before general election

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/36de8a16303831da

Anyone up for a bit of energy rationing while we let our essential gas power stations age-out to satisfy the grand ambitions of Miliband and co?

October 24 and October 25 in Wales We received a pamphlet warning us that the network could fail over winter. General advice about keeping torches, and other equipment handy. How to keep warm.

I'm surprised we've held together this long. It's not about gas. Our sub stations are falling apart. We've had two big fires in England in the last year due to this. As with water privatisation means companies don't want to spend money on repairs and renewals. The national grid are doing their best.

"'Explosions' as fire breaks out in Yate substation | Gazette Series" https://www.gazetteseries.co.uk/news/25756487.explosions-fire-breaks-yate-substation/

"Power blackout following fire at sub station | The Argus" https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/25751555.power-blackout-following-fire-sub-station/

That may well be, but this particular article highlights the concern of the aging gas power stations - and how failure to maintain them spells looming trouble.

"Heathrow substation fire ‘caused by fault first identified seven years ago’ | Heathrow airport | The Guardian" https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/02/heathrow-substation-fire-caused-by-fault-first-identified-seven-years-ago#:~:text=Neso%20said%20that%20using%20forensic,caused%20it%20to%20catch%20fire.

Yes, the aging national grid is also is also under immense pressure and there are ways that we could maintain it and use ai to better balance out the grid - especially if we could utilise electric cars to act as grid batteries, which I think is a model being tested by Octopus.

But this is a different focus to the relentless drive towards net zero.

This should get the frothers frothing…Can’t say I blame the EU though, looking at Labours polling…

The EU is demanding that any future British government pays significant financial compensation if they quit a post-Brexit “reset” deal as part of negotiations with Sir Keir Starmer.

Brussels has included a termination clause that would require London to pay a high level of restitution if it chose to exit a proposed EU-UK “veterinary agreement” to remove Brexit red tape for British food and drink exporters, according to a draft text seen by the Financial Times.

EU diplomats have dubbed the stipulation a “Farage clause” that they said was designed to insure the bloc against the risk of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage becoming prime minister and making good on his threat to reverse Starmer’s attempted move closer to Brussels.

Reform has promised to overturn the deal and Farage on Sunday told the FT he would not hand over any money to Brussels under any deal signed by Starmer. “I would break it,” he said.

If true, what a ridiculous clause!

It just gives Farage the opportunity to appeal to his voter base even more. The EU will have boosted Farage’s chances and won’t get the money anyway!

It is utterly scandalous that all they care about now is making it worse for the country out of spite for Farage.

Morning all. Happy Monday.

Awful pictures and footage coming out of Iran. Hundreds confirmed dead now, no doubt thats a conservative estimate. At least it is now getting coverage on msm.

Rumour has it that a Manchester MP will step down in the next few weeks, paving the way for Andy Burnham to run in a by election. This is expected to be announced in March. The by election would happen in May. It would be easier for AB to win if the election happens at the same time as the other May elections, as the other parties will be too busy elsewhere to give it their full attention.

Starmer and Reeves were informed at a Downing St meeting in the run up to Xmas that there is a £28bn defence spending black hole. A select committee meeting later today should give more details.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c14rj11ez5mo

I wouldn’t put it past Starmer to leave a poison pill for Farage.

Yep, salting the earth. Sod the rest of us.