Thread 44 Starmer - Knolraap en lof, schorseneren en prei.

[DuncinToffee]

Welcome to our long running thread for political discussion, general chit chat, a friendly hug and taxes in kind

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5486790-thread-43-starmer-il-ritorno-della-luce-e-la-semina-del-lathyrus-odoratus?page=40&reply=150629477

Oh those ducks! They’re gorgeous.

Mr Lewis later apologised to Mrs Badenoch on X* for “gatecrashing” the interview, adding: “Thank you for being so courteous after the interruption –* you handled it far better than I would have the other way round. I have asked my office to request a meeting, if you are available, to discuss this more calmly.”

Mrs Badenoch wrote: “Really good to debate [Lewis] this morning. We both want to see the student loan burden brought down, while Labour hike it up.”

Thank you for that cut and paste from the Telegraph. Very enlightening☺️ although you might want to credit where it is from.

My 25p Telegraph subscription is proving very useful...

While who hikes it up?
Blimey. She’s really lost her memory hasn’t she?

Mandelson has been arrested.

Further info
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cew8jde9pxqt

First daughter's student loan under Labour was a total of £9000. Second daughter's student loan under Conservative and Lib Dems coalition was a total of £28,000. Two years separate them in age.

Mandelson arrested!

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/23/peter-mandelson-arrested-on-suspicion-of-misconduct-in-public-office

Quite right too.

Good.

Agree
the sainted Kemi really does appear to have a lot of memory issues.

Give us a token on the Telegraph piece on this.

The Times recently did a lovely interview with him. Aha and dog was included in the picture.

Pretty much saying the same as the Guardian atm, placemats. I can only do so many shares a month so not really worth it. Happy to do so if they publish something more substantial.

I subscribe to The Guardian. Thinking about The Times.

Quite the contrast to when Tory supporters were "nothing to see here" about the criminality in the Tory party.

Yep!

Also

The first set of files related to Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US will be published in early March, it has been announced in the House of Commons

And Starmer has opened an investigation into Josh Simons over targeting of reporters

.

Martin Lewis was correct as this thread highlights -

The Conservatives have today said they would scrap the real interest rate charged on Plan 2 student loans saving graduates "tens of thousands of pounds".

But which graduates would financially benefit?...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

1/5

In other words, scrapping the real interest rate would benefit the highest future earning Plan 2 graduates much more than most other Plan 2 graduates.

ENDS
https://bsky.app/profile/benchu.bsky.social/post/3mfhepdj7xk22

Ds1 had 5 years at vetmed with full loan in London. Roughly because I can't be arsed to hunt for exact figures:

5x £9250 tuition loan
5x £11500 maintenence loan
Total £ 103750

That's before they add the interest.

Both daughters did excellent degrees 2:1 and first. They had grants for maintenance as I was a single parent by then. It's still cost me personally a lot of money and time.

Since this thread tends to have an international feel I thought I'd wish everyone here a very happy Eesti Iseseisvuspäev (Estonian Independence day).
For tax I offer a photo of the cat statue on DS2's street which has recently been given a scarf in the colours of the Estonian flag.
(With apologies to anyone who has already seen my similar post on one of the cat threads)

Ed Davey (trade minister during the coalition) asked this morning why he chose to tell late Labour MP Paul Flynn to keep schtum when he raised concerns over AMW as trade envoy

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/labour-mp-paul-flynn-accuses-116919

Says he "regrets using those words" (urged him to stfu BC royal wedding)