Thread 41 Starmer : "Alban Arthan" the returning of the light

[DuncinToffee]

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Welcome to 2026 for political discussion, general chat and taxes in kind.

Does anyone think Trump will back down? A few days ago he was about to sort out Iran, but found an excuse not to. Will the same happen here?

I refer you to the time Farage appeared before US congress saying they should tariff the UK until he is PM (I paraphrase ...)

Great how Farage is going to school the US in ‘friendships’ - does he actually think they will listen to him?

He's Trumps BFF, surely ?

He’ll have forgotten what he said in a couple of days. Starmer thanked Badenoch for endorsing his approach this morning.

I didn’t say they couldn’t say it. Just that I think less of them for saying it right now.

I think many decent Republicans are holding their heads in shame.

Trump is nothing but vengeful (Marjory Wallace...) but as my GP said to me when my Mum started to suffer from Dementia "Do you want to be a Conspirator or an Antagoniser?"

I sincerely hope that people, whilst agreeing with him, are doing the exact opposite.

I lived through 35 years of the Cold war, the idea that our new enemy is the USA is beyond belief...

I agree. I think Starmer hit the right note today. He said that setting tariffs against allies is the wrong thing to do. So, criticising Trump. Plus also of course the under current of that is that if Trump ceases to be an ally then all bets are off.

Yes. Davey et all have interpreted ‘tariffs help nobody’ as him saying he won’t do any when from reading the full text (I didn’t see it so I read it) he’s clearly talking about Trump’s tariffs.

Well I had thought so, then I saw him lurking uninvited apparently at the inauguration I think - he didn’t get to see Trump but made some shoddy reason up about that?
Still he’s always going to be an amoeba on a flea on a dog to Trump like everyone is essentially - and implying trump is wrong will downgrade to a bacteria I guess?
Showing my age with this reference!

Trump doubling down on tariffs, refuses to rule out military action....

Unfortunately, he wont be forgetting any of this.

I think he will either delay imposition or do it for a limited range of goods.

He is really angry with Norway and obviously as a kid he needs to now show them ‘f* peace’
Trouble with this I think is that it’s a big story that he keeps getting asked about, so it’s staying in his pea brain front and centre - I think he may feel obliged to follow through on this. Other tariffs weren’t such big news, even Iran has disappeared off main events, so I think he TACOs partly as he genuinely forgets, partly as whilst it may be more pragmatic a path, he thinks no one notices anyway.
He needs a shiny new toy really.

I'm not surprised at Polanski ( not a fan of his and slightly incredulous that he is leader of the Greens) but will admit to being really disappointed in Davey's response.
I feel that it is quite naive for party leaders to be speaking out in such an unsupportive way, seemingly oblivious to the diplomatic tightrope our PM is walking .
Country first.

Trumps really angry with Norway so he threatens Greenland/Denmark.

But we don't have decades. I know what you mean. It's just I think what is happening isn't 100% in the UKs control so the only way to gain some control is be honest about it. If we can't replace certain capabilities quickly then basically we need to work out how to do without those capabilities.
Even if America was our friend and the special relationship was real, they are behaving so irratically and incompetently that those capabilities would be damaged anyway.

I don't think Starmer needs to do a Love Actually. For Ukraine's sake stretching out the diplomatic pretense is probably worth it. So long as behind all that they are actually preparing.

I think they are in a different position to the prime minister though. If we were a few weeks from an election they had a credible chance of winning that would be different. But in their position where they are not needing to do immediate diplomacy there is less reason not to be blunt. If they weren't it would make me trust them less. Eg Farage's complete inability to ever criticise Trump is very suss. It makes it quite obvious where his loyalties are. It would be really depressing if all the opposition parties were singing to the same tune.

I wouldn’t mind bluntness @persephonia - but saying Starmer ruled out retaliatory tarrifs is just not true.

Fair
Starmer should also point out that tarifs are a tax on UK consumers. It's what makes Trump's tarif mania so stupid, but it also means if the UK retaliate in kind we are potentially hurting UK businesses and consumers more..
The problem is it's hard to think of any economic sanction the UK/EU could do to hurt the US that doesn't pale into insignificance compared to the damage Trump himself is wreaking on the US.

You can't even joke about Canada/the British destroying the white house again like the last time America attacked it's northern neighbours. Because Trump is literally doing that already.

I think this is the one time when all the opposition parties should be singing to the same tune. If not now, when?

I don't like Badenoch at all but I was very pleased to see her support Starmer in this latest fracas. Very disappointed in Davey's response, I thought better of him. Farage disappoints me just by existing.

To lighten the mood - who is the new sheriff in town 😂
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/19/who-said-it-the-robert-jenrick-memo-david-brent-the-office-ricky-gervais

I got 12/16

I could have written that @LittleBowSheep.

Is it just me, or has all the Starmer hate/Reform love-in gone quiet now real people appear to be posting again ?

Or is the underlying fact no matter where you are on the UK political spectrum, you are not in any way behind Trump ? Liz "barking" Truss excepted.

The Trump love amongst some regular posters has waned, that is for sure. They really thought he was going to do something to help Iran.

That's a shame. Maybe they should have done some reading and thinking. Hard I know. But not impossible.

I wonder how long before a narrative that voting for (say Reform) in the UK is looking to bring Trumpism to the UK is a credible campaigning strategy ? Rather than an incentive to vote (say Reform) ?