Thread 48 Starmer : Der Teufel ist ein Eichhörnchen

[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/5516037-thread-47-starmer-vai-ficar-tudo-bem-esta-noite-rock-and-roll?page=40&reply=151989070

Checking in. Apologies I've not been contributing much recently. It's a bit mad a work.

Here is my tax. My cat wearing the cone of shame.

Hardly any mention of Farage's £5m donation or Tice's taxes

Nope.

Odd isn’t it. Given how worked up some people have been.

I know. Best to hide here, though I bet this thread gets plopped to smithereens next Thursday/Friday. We might need to agree some tactics for plop control!

Does anyone know if there are exit polls for locals/Senedd/Scottish Parliament?

The best tactic is not feeding them. Silent judging. Carrying on walking without stepping on the cracks in the pavement.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/30/kemi-badenoch-five-minutes-local-radio-sketch

Geography isn't her thing

Moving on. Anna reminded Kemi she had been a minister at a time when health and education outcomes in the north were considerably worse than in the south. Why were buses so much more expensive and infrequent in Newcastle? Kemi started talking about buses in Lincolnshire. “But Lincolnshire is nowhere near the north-east,” Foster said, sounding completely bewildered. She had clearly expected someone with a working knowledge of UK geography.

“It is near the north-east,” said Kemi. After all, Lincolnshire was quite a way from London so it might as well be near the north-east

Oh my god 😂 Buses in Newcastle are quite the sore point, today and this explains it. I think the one I was waiting for, this afternoon, must have taken a wrong turn in Grantham.

Scary

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/30/starmers-sister-in-law-feared-what-might-have-happened-in-arson-attack-court-hears

It really is. Thank God no-one was hurt.

Cowardly - setting light to property whilst people were inside and asleep.

It must have so frightening to be inside that house. Thank goodness they weren’t all asleep.

Yes. The outcome could have been so much worse. I don't think it was made clear that people were at home after the attack but it might have been that they wanted to protect their privacy.

Yes, there would have been a press pile on.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/01/men-women-candidates-may-elections-england-scotland-wales

An interesting read about gender disparity in the elections next week. It could significantly impact negatively on the lives of women in local making decisions.

On the thread wanting more business men as MP's, people are saying SAHM shouldn't qualify to stand.

And the Angela Rayner thread is a fine example what women in politics have to deal with.

Funny how the parties people claim 'know what a woman is' are fielding the fewest female candidates.

I dipped into the Angela Rayner thread and was shocked at some of the posts.

Don't know where the business men thread is and it's a beautiful day so I'm going to not read it.

I continue getting bites ‘developing’ up to about a week after the last actual bite. I know this because I visited a friend who turned out to have fleas in the house, treated my own house and the cat the instant I got home and still kept getting ‘new’ bite irritations for over a week. Fingers crossed that’s what it is.

The Rayner thread is a good example of classism and lazy stereotypes.

Women - is your responsibility to have more children and spend more time at home, oh yeah and that discounts your views on politics.

the hypocrisy.

https://bylinetimes.com/2026/05/01/i-set-up-a-fake-far-right-news-channel-to-interview-reform-uk-candidates-and-this-is-what-they-told-me/

Mumsnet really is awful at the moment. Hopefully it will calm down once the elections are over.

Dan Hodges has now written a hit piece on Rayner about her being drunk, all anonymous sources of course. The article is illustrated with all the pictures that can be found of her drinking. .

Remember this report about Johnson where he was still half cut from the night before?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/26/boris-johnson-security-evgeny-lebedev-perugia-party

And Gove out partying and also being clearly pissed in the HoC.

I am sure there are other examples.

One rule for men, another for women.

You have to wonder why Hodges hates Rayner so much.

Well given the number of sexual assaults committed in and around HofC and its estate, I rather think the issue of MPs enjoying a tipple goes far beyond Rayner having a wine and a cigarette.

Johnson enjoyed rather a lot of wine before redrafting the terms of the UK-Aus deal (redrafted to the benefit of Aus). Back of a napkin stuff and yet barely a ripple from the press.

As well as the suitcases filled with wine during Covid

Why are my thumbs pricking ?

Why does this feel like a (poorly) disguised advert for someone - say Reform - to barrel into the debate space with talk of "NHS Reform" and the option to blame shortages on their usual whipping boys ?

Am I finally succumbing to the dim groupthink of extremism with it's paranoia and permanent diagnosis of victimhood ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c202jqn3jzro