Where is Keir Starmer?

[DirtyCarrots]

Does anyone else find it weird Keir Starmer isn't more visible this week? He hasn't held a press conference in days, wasn't obviously present at No. 10 after the Cobra meeting and won't recall parliament. Surely he can't have actually gone on his holiday when the UK is in meltdown?

But I maintain that people should not be exempt to the tough times just because they are old.

Most elderly people need the heating on when the temp dips. I’ve had my 86 year old dad call me up recently and say he’s had to have the fire on. If they can’t afford heating, they’ll end up sick e.g. pneumonia, chest infections, bad colds and you’ll end up with more pressure on our ambulances, GP’s and hospitals.

Thats the cost side, then there’s the moral one. It’s a malicious attack on the elderly.

By the way, they should help the disabled with winter fuel too.

I’m happy to pay more tax. Not VAT on school fees, but more income tax to pay for our vulnerable to have better conditions.

I'm not sure if people with disabilities who can't work get what is known as a cold weather payment, I know if you're on certain benefits you can get it. Not sure if you have to apply for it or whether it's given automatically.

Many disabled people also need the heat on more than those of us who are not disabled, but they have had 14 years of cuts and being told they're lazy scroungers. In an ideal world, everyone would get what they need. This isn't an ideal world. Elderly people have had the privilege of protection. Now they're going to lose that. I would like to see some better assessment of the threshold, but ultimately the playing field should be level. No vulnerable group is more deserving than another.

Most pensioners I know worked from the age of 16 with no break for college, or university. They worked a full week and had a great work ethic and not once claimed benefits. I’d say these people who built up Britain with hard work, something lost on recent generations, are more deserving.

They deserve dignity and respect in their old age.

Imagine this conversation in somewhere like Spain or Italy. It just wouldn’t happen. In the UK we just treat our elderly like shit.
I’m disgusted with Labour.

And now we live in 2024 when life is completely different. People are paid such low wages that they need benefits just to survive. Education to 18 is compulsory. It is no longer possible to roll into a manufacturing job and work your way up. And if you're insinuating that young people don't have a work ethic - don't make me laugh. You're suffering from toxic nostalgia.

By the way, are you saying that a pensioner who has worked all their life is more deserving of support than someone with a disability who has not been able to work because of being disabled? Is that the world you want to live in?

And there are plenty of pensioners who have never worked in their lives.

I'm not young, by the way. I'm 56. Some of the most awful, entitled people I have met are old - not young. Older people do not by default merit special treatment. It should be based on circumstances, not age. I am glad Labour is no longer supporting the elderly just because they are old.

He's been filmed talking about the riots. He's been at a cobra meeting. He's working.

WHERE'S FARAGE?!!!!

Yes the meeting was this evening because everyone knows he doesn't work after 5pm on a Friday!

I love reading your deep political commentary. Your analytical understanding of what is going on just shines through. I am mute with admiration.

Or alternatively: Seriously, dude? That's what you've got?