To wish Sir Keir and his wife would not hold hands when working

[BeaQuiet]

They've arrived in Washington DC on official business clutching hands like the Macrons, the Obamas and the Sussexes.

AiBU to find it a bit cringey?

And before anyone asks, yes I do have bigger things to worry about but I fancy a chat.

The people governing will of course be more in the spotlight on SM

It’s not hard to get.

Blair was the last PM but we didn’t have SM then so posters thinking they’ll be able to mop up all the slightly off message stuff wrt Labour are going to have a busy time.

And as I've said repeatedly it is cringe when any leaders do it when on official business. I repeat any leader for those struggling to keep up.

'Vitriolic crap' because imo he looks terrifed of his own shadow? Hmm let's see you must've missed the actual vitriolic crap about Theresa May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak? Are we to play nicely now Starmer is PM? .

What off message stuff?

I think you'll find that Gordon Brown was the last Labour Prime Minister, from 2007-2010 - and we very much did have social media then! Mumsnet, for a start. Facebook launched in 2004 and Twitter in 2006.

Mn was mostly light stuff back then

SM has grown as a media influence hugely, see any media storm that snowballs

Social media is used very differently now though, compared to how it was when Brown was PM.

To @pikkumyy77 and @cardibach I say “chill out guys, we won, just enjoy it for a while”.

Mn was mostly light stuff back then

I take it you weren't on MN then!

I enjoy these discussions! They aren’t hard work at all. Its a thread at mumsnet. OP asked for opinions and she got them. Not only is it not cringe, it is perfectly normal for world leaders to represent domestic harmony and tranquility, bourgeois virtues, on the world stage.

Yep I know when I joined.

The media plus SM loop is far more effective now

In any case the pp who doesn’t want this type of thread appearing will find it hard to control

For light relief and taking the long view, will this be remembered like an even more shocking event over a hundred years ago in another American city?

I've been on MN since 2002

I used to be able to go to lunch and then read all the new posts when I came back

There was plenty of hard hitting discussion back then, in amongst solid advice and "light" stuff.

What there was a lot more of were threads starting on one topic and then morphing into a discussion about something completely different

It was part of the joy of Mumsnet

I joined in 2006 and I can assure you that among the light stuff there was also some very hard-hitting stuff - especially when it came to politics. Back in the day when we were courted by prime ministers!

I have been here about the same time I remember it slightly differently. The biscuit thing was Brown though?

That is a long time ago

SM has grown hugely with users and content since then

Vitriolic crap because he looks self assured and confident and anyone without a massive bias would see that. Sunak and May did too. Johnson was chaotic. I disliked them all to various degrees but I didn’t go round posting nonsense like they look ‘terrified’ because they behaved in a perfectly normal way. Could you post one of the pictures of him that have made you think he looks terrified so I can understand your perspective?
Saying you think any leader is ‘cringe’ if holding hands is a bit odd to be honest, but given you’ve felt this for so long it’s even odder that you are only making a big deal of it now Starmer has done it.

@Janiie i just found this - could you tell me which ones you think he looks terrified (or even mildly perturbed) in please? Brace yourself for cringe though as he’s holding his wife’s hand in one and standing awfully close to her in another.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/gallery/2024/jul/11/keir-starmer-washington-in-pictures

'Could you post one of the pictures of him that have made you think he looks terrified so I can understand your perspective?'

Just Google him. Every appearance he looks awkward, faux grinning, not confident or comfortable in his own skin. I'm not an Angela Rayner or a Reeves fan but they ooze self confidence. Maybe there's a body coach expert in No. 10 who can give him some tips?

Yep. Cringe with a capital C.

I used to get 8 weeks off to spend with my husband as he worked abroad

Is it not better that an employer comes and goes with people rather than people having to resign and they are lost from the system?

My friend d is a consultant , she has three months off every year to visit her family in Malaysia, it was either that or she left the NHS and went private

Now @Janiie be honest, you would hold Boris hand if you got the chance

Now that is cringe!

🤣🤣🤣

Ah, so it's just your opinion. They do say that opinions are like anal orifices in that we all have one.

It just goes to show how much of it is down to prejudice the eye of the beholder.

I'm no Starmer supporter (I'm on record as saying I'll never ever vote for him) but I have to say I've been impressed at how confident and self-assured he's appeared ever since he won the election.

Oh my siiiiiides all the lolz!

Lovely and very relevant. We haven't heard that one before have we.