To like Keir Starmer?

[Emmanuelll]

Unlike Tony Blair, he comes from a working class background - his siblings would still call themselves working class.

As a very bright lawyer, he could have sought a path which made him rich quickly but instead chose human rights which isn’t an easy route to take and he’s defended ‘the little guy’ against corporations. He’s also anti-death penalty.

Ok, he’s a Sir, and I’ve heard people (perhaps not unreasonably) question why the leader of the Labour Party would have a title like that. But he earned it through work for the criminal justice system.

On the face of it, it seems as though he deserves a chance.

I would much rather have him as PM than a former Bullingdon club member who used to burn money in front of homeless people for the fun of it.

We can say no to the US and should have done with the illegal war in Iraq

It is none of his business.

Of couse it is. We're expected to suck off the US on their whim

But actually, we're allowed to tell them to fuck off

Weirdly fixated on the leader of the only country to have used nuclear weapons on a rival country, when that leader refuses to stand down against the interests of his own country.

Ok.

lol at people pretending to be shocked that PM declined to cause a massive international incident and sow division with our main ally when unity in NATO has rarely been more important.

Be fair, there’s only one.

That poster would also be having a go if Starmer had decided to do that.

I’ve developed a bit of a crush 😳

True. World class idiocy though

This. A world leader really can't make that kind of comment about another, democratically elected world leader.

The wonder here is that you've clearly no idea how daft you sound.

It's really odd having no scandals and bullshit culture wars headlines. Anyone else feeling the same?

It's also weird having cabinet ministers that want to achieve things too.

I'm enjoying the Tory media being very desperate too. They seem very irrelevant now.

It is like night and day the difference. It's just such a shame they have come in to run the house after the Tories have burnt the house down.

We keep being told - rightly - that Labour’s just got in, so it’s wrong to expect any successes by now.

By the same token - rightly - Labour hasn’t had a chance to fuck up, bicker or be caught out.

I get that many on MN support Labour. But a bit of common sense and a bit less sycophancy are in order.

I feel weirdly more relieved than I thought. Relief we have a good Labour leader, a good leader, a good party. I liked Rishi but nothing scares me more than a Conservative government with a large share of the votes.

I think an interesting time will be April when they announce the new budget.

I prefer to give them a chance but it’s only been just over a week

I think some stuff won’t go away and might increase, so we’ll see how they deal with that

I think really that it reflects more on just how bad the Conservatives were; poor communication, highly reactive on things which didn’t warrant it but extremely slow on matters were there was a need (water, prisons).

They were largely strategically stupid; lost their ability to plan. Very noticeable since 2019 where there was this huge decline in the quality of the cabinet and decision making.

Look at what Labour are doing; chumming up with the Civil Service, get in experts, unroll their plans.

By contrast, the Conservatives came in 2019, told the Civil Service they were part of the swamp that needed draining, picked fights with the judiciary, spend time trying land punches on the BBC. In reality these three things are very effective tools to get what you want as a government, and maybe someone thought it would work to have a go at shaking them up, but combined with bad comms and a series of really lightweight leaders it was a clear disaster. They lost because they spent most of their time fighting the system as they saw it, a waste of energy.

I agree Labour have not done anything yet. Really they are setting the narrative.

Apologies to the last 40 or so posters. I haven't read your comments, although I am sure there's a lot to read, but I rushed ahead. I read a comment in ToL online this morning which resonated. He said he was formerly in insurance, and suggested that the problem with getting the UK to buy into supplementary health insurance and care (the Euro model) was that people conflated it with the US.

The real difference is that the pricing of insurance is based on community risk which levels out across a population in European models, rather than as individual risks per USA. So insurance companies are not allowed to pick and choose who they will insure but have to accept everyone at the same price. And at that point, the insurance companies can steer people needing tests or treatment to the most efficient providers, without wondering whether they are publicly funded or private or charity ventures. So there is a choice (closest, fastest, flashiest etc) to be efficient. A very good friend grew old and died in France, and the care provided was a million miles above the standard my DMIL received in Devon.

I get that many on MN support Labour. But a bit of common sense and a bit less sycophancy are in order.

Gosh, the only sycophancy I have seen comes from Reform voters. The other day I saw one, fawning over Jacob RM. 🤮 I refuse to believe that man is a real person. Surely he's somehow escaped from a Dickensian novel?

It’s astonishing. Some of us have waited in growing misery for over a decade for this. Sat through the results of three general elections only to be thoroughly depressed by the result and we’re not even allowed to enjoy the sheer relief of having an adult government at long last without accusations of sycophancy. Of course we like our new government - we voted for it and we’ve waited a long time.

@Emmanuelll , fairly centrist here. A bit stiff upper lip, pull your socks up and get on with it, but I like so far what I have seen of Keir Starmer. I also thought Sunak did well to calm the shitstorm he inherited. And I thought that was acknowledged at the handover.

@papyrophile @blossomtoes I totally agree with both your comments.

I'm just relieved the grown-ups are back in charge. Having normal politics again tears me up just thinking about it. Oh, Q.T. on Thursday was normal again. It hasn't been that for at least 8 years

I'm very happy with what I'm seeing. We managed to pull off a hell of a win even with the right lying media.

The truth always comes out eventually, and the people rose up and said enough.

Very good use of tactical voting, too. When anyone says the vote for Labour was low, quote these figures. 38% voted right wing (Tories/Reform) and 55.90% left wing/tactical voting. Breakdown below

I presume the 6% not in those figures are spoilt ballots

I'm not a labour sycophant. It's just an observation. I have voted for all three major parties at some point, and yes I did vote Labour this time as a tactical vote (my MP got in by just 18 votes) and i know a very good Labour Councillor who campaigns on SEN, so as a parent with a SEN child, that swung it for me.

I actually wanted to vote Lib Dems because of their carer's rights and housing policies, but it would have been a waste of a vote and had helped the Tories get in in my previously very Tory area. That was the last thing I wanted because the Tories have been utterly shite for 14 years. Oh, and common sense would say don't vote for more shite if you've had 14 years of it. 😂

You sound a bit bitter to be honest. I don't think Labour are going to be amazing as they have been handed a mountain of shit. I'm just relieved we haven't got deranged panto villains like Braverman in positions of power.

I was very happy to see a focus on solar energy in the Observer today, but not sure why they can't add panels to existing buildings in city centres where the need for power must be pretty high? Looking out over the rooftops of central London, there are hardly any that I can see. I can understand why covering agricultural land in solar panels is unpopular, but would anyone object to them of roofs of office blocks?

Aren’t both going to happen? That retrofitting buildings will be part of it, with loosened regulations to enable it?

Not sure why there is so much angst about solar farms. Presumably the farmers will do well out of it (and they do need income) and it helps with our net zero ambitions. My hope is that we embrace the changeover that is coming very rapidly, ie electric vehicles, all the infrastructure needed to support them, and for our own energy security (Ukraine is a strong lesson).