AIBU to be fed up with all the Keir Starmer threads

[MissScarletInTheBallroom]

It's giving me flashbacks to 2016 when there were about 20 threads a day saying nonsense like, "AIBU to be concerned about the EU's plans to conscript everyone into an EU wide army?"

Just put a sock in it, already.

Just like people got used to Brexit and accepted that 🤭

To be more accurate, those who voted for it and are reasonably satisfied in it are collapsing in numbers, and no one, satisfied or otherwise, is going anywhere.

Clearly the government isn't going anywhere either (physically or metaphorically) though its composition has and will continue to change. But does that mean that people shouldn't criticise it? Why should it not be held to the same level of scrutiny as any other government?

I mean, if everything was going well and the country felt positive, then perhaps people would focus on other things. Blair got that. But while the government’s actions continue to negatively impact so many people I think its churlish to just stamp one's feet and say nothing’s going to change, so put up with it and shut up. All it needs is a vision and some leadership.

The state of the economy affects everyone @Tryingtokeepgoing and it’s insulting the intelligence of people who voted Labour to suggest they don’t understand that. The difference is that we know trickle down economics doesn’t work, we’ve tried that model and the gulf between the poorest and the richest has grown as a result.

I think most people have, haven't they?

Still can't for the life of me work out what the fuck it was all for though.

Yes good points, hence the contracting of the private sector and job losses being ignored by public sector. Until it hits that sector that is

I do think this will be a two-term Labour government. Predictions of Labour collapse are very wide of the mark indeed. I say that as somebody who strongly opposes Starmer and the rest of the talentless Labour shower.

But all that means is that there will be many anti-Labour threads for a long time.

It’s the price of power. Get used to it.

MN is not a WhatsApp group for Labour supporters attending their party conference.

You know, if anything I feel ever so slightly vindicated.

Because I refused to vote Labour due to their stance on women's rights, and I lost count of the number of people who told me that I had to vote Labour because the most important thing was ending 14 years of Tory misrule and that when the country was back on an even keel we could get back to fighting for women's rights.

My response to that was that I might agree with that if I could see any evidence that Labour actually had a plan to fix the country, but they didn't seem to.

So far they don't seem to be fixing the country, so I was right on that front.

But is the country on the brink of collapse? I don't think so. It survived Brexit and the Tories, it can certainly survive Keir Starmer.

It's just same shit different day, isn't it? All that's changed is which group of people are saying the sky's about to fall in and which group are saying everything will be fine and we just need to give it time.

MN is not a WhatsApp group for Labour supporters attending their party conference.

@Rummly Ha true. Although not sure about the two terms. Much of their support is already gone

@twistyizzy Interesting that you reference Morrisons - owned by a US company who paid £0 corporation tax last year - and Sainsbury’s, who have recently announced record profits over £1billion…something doesn’t add up with what they’re claiming and what their finances tell us.

I saw that they’ve also come out in support of farmers (perhaps the wealthy landowners too, who haven’t been paying inheritance tax since Thatcher) - I think they could perhaps put their money where their mouth is and pay farmers a better, fairer price for their products and work.

They could probably afford to cover increased rates of employer NI and higher wages to their employees as well. Instead they choose to announce job losses.

Sainsbury’s turnover is around £32 billion,. A one billion profit - less than 3% - is hardly extreme! If the NI increases is costing them £140 million that that’s a sixth of their profit gone.

If we (consumers) were happy to pay more for our food, as indeed they do in France, then they would be able to pay farmers more. But if Sainsbury’s put their prices up, you (the British public) would go and shop at Tesco…so that’s not really a coherent argument.

No one’s going run a business with a £32 billion turnover for a lower return than 3%. So the customer has to pay. Pay for the NI increase, pay for the minimum wage increase and pay to pay farmers more…

I can’t be bothered to dig out Morrisons accounts, but they will have been audited, they will comply with accounting standards and they will have paid tax within the tax rules. But perhaps their auditors, tax advisors and HMRC have missed something - maybe you could point the errors out to them?

I dont think they've covered themselves in glory. I do think that they should be allowed a decent length of time to sort things out.

What do you do? I mean in terms of government interacting with civil servants (I'm supposing that you are one) ?

How do the opposition and new policy makers learn to interact with the CS? This isn't meant to be cheeky but in terms of what are your expectations in terms of behaviour?

And yet, here you are - a reader, who makes comments.

Oh, the irony.

How long do you consider decent, please?

And is that period elastic, predicated on data?

An asinine comparison.

The 2023 zero tax by the private equity firm that own Morrisons was widely reported and raised this month by an MP. Receipt in The Times here: https://www.thetimes.com/article/asda-and-morrisons-pay-zero-business-tax-wdgp9g88c

Sainsbury’s record profit receipt here:
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2024/04/sainsburys-strongest-year/

My husband is a small business owner who will be hit by the rise in National Insurance for - his profits will be down, but he accepts tax has to come from somewhere and recognises that investment in public services benefits everyone (although I acknowledge not small business might be able to absorb NI costs in the same way).

Well, until the next election campaign, presumably.

Goodness me. I would tell you, but if you honestly haven't managed to work it out and retain it by now, I doubt I'd make much difference

The previous govt had 13 years...... be realistic rather than looking for defeat.

What exactly do you want?

Ah yes. Those sunlit uplands we were told about. I wouldn't know them. They go to a different school.

Isn't it weird how we've got all these threads about how shit things are right now when Brexit was supposed to make everything glorious?

3.5-4 million Labour voters, voted to leave the EU during the referendum.

Your point being?

And?

Culpability for Brexit, if you choose to call it that, has its roots on both ends of the political spectrum.