To think we don’t know how lucky we are under Starmer.

[SevenYellowHammers]

Russia have a mad despot who is responsible for the deaths of Russians and Ukrainians and has caused untold damage on the world’s environment and economy. But he’s still in power.

The USA have a mad despot who’s causing deaths worldwide and has started a war he can’t win causing untold damage to the world’s economy and environment. But he’s still in power.

Israel have a mad despot who is committing genocide and putting Jewish people at risk across the world. But he’s still in power.

In the UK, we have a dull bloke who’s doing his best to stand up to the mad despots while not leading us into war. And we’re all trying to get rid of him.

There was a good interview with Rishi Sunak (I think former PMs are always interesting to hear from, except Liz Truss) in which he pointed out that the small boats crisis has been running for longer than the Second World War. He admitted that he was wrong to say that he would "stop the boats" because in essence neither he nor any other PM had the power to do so. They were being frustrated in all their efforts by the law courts and the web of international obligations and treaties we have signed up to and wish to uphold.

Starmer is the wrong bloke to deal with this, probably, because he's a great believer in international law and won't challenge it. But any PM is being forced to drink poison every day at present while they lack the ability to stop small-boat migrants. It's impossible to overstate how much the general public hate these guys. They don't think any of them are genuine asylum seekers but are all chancers, cheats and criminals who wouldn't be allowed into any safe, developed country via a legitimate route.

I don't think Labour will do anything about this because Starmer is too entrenched in the idea that the law is always right and any alternative leader would be crowned by the Labour left who are mostly concerned with appearing virtuous. But stop the small boats and you have taken the first step towards having a calm and rational conversation about immigration which will put Reform at a disadvantage. Don't stop the small boats, we are getting Farage as PM in 2029.

Yes I agree and I’m a very angry labour voter. They are being run by the backbenches and Starmer who I think is about as good as they can currently offer biggest weakness is not having a hold on his party.

If his challengers really think the country wants to move further to the left they are absolutely insane and by departing the edges of the centre, they are handing the country to the right.

Starmer is a good one.

If his challengers really think the country wants to move further to the left they are absolutely insane and by departing the edges of the centre, they are handing the country to the right.

And this!

It would absolutely guarantee a Reform/ Conservative coalition. Which is perhaps why everyone wants it.

Fair point but what I was trying to point out was that Starmer’s getting more vitriol than the other three nutters combined. Moreover, those three nut jobs are making Starmer’s job well near impossible!

I don’t disbelieve you but I haven’t seen that about Batman before, do you have a link? I don’t want to google for obvious reasons

Didn't Labour come second?

Agree about social media. I think traditional media does very little to radicalise people these days.

^ This

Second? By which metric? Seats gained or lost?

I’m agree, I don’t think he’s a bad person at all. But he is out of his depth.

Yes, I like this sort of thing. Would also like to see the Post Office wrongdoers actually held to account, they all seem to have gotten away with it.

I agree. I think there still is some small hope for Labour in that the Greens are drawing away the Corbynite hippies and the Muslim bloc who are becoming increasingly difficult to appease. With those factions gone, a leader like Blair who wants to appeal to normal people has a chance to emerge. But probably not until they have tried being more left wing in the manner of stubborn small children who purposely soil themselves in an attempt to get what they want.

British Steel was renationalised last year as far as I know.

Things really aren't that bad 😕 😫

I thought it was total number of seats won - am I wrong? Labour have more council seats than the Tories, the Lib Dems and obviously the Greens. Happy to be corrected - all the results on the news channels tend to focus on how many a party has lost, but if they had loads to start with, in the wake of Opposition hope and the Tories' party gate furore, that doesn't mean they did so badly.

"free school breakfast clubs"
"free childcare rollout"

People need to stop calling these things FREE. They are not FREE.

They are another expense added to the ever increasing tab of the UK tax payer. Refer also to the scrapping of the two child benefit cap - also picked up by the tax payer.

He's not great but this media obsession with removing him is just stupid, they are determined to paint this picture that the government is utter chaos and in disarray and it's just not. It's just your bog-standard boring, rubbish government... I don't actually think most of the public is calling for him to go, it's just media owners wanting to flex their muscle and undermine the government because they'd prefer Reform or Tories.

So, who do you think then?

Give some names of decent, honest, balanced, experienced politicians who could step in tomorrow and do a better job getting us out of the mess that the UK is in.

No-one springing to my mind yet!

I think it’s literally any old rubbish for clicks. Basically Britain is a dull country. Good. Who wants it to be exciting? Mostly power hungry oddballs who want the public seething. Get you emotional and then they have grip on you.

Think of it as an investment into kids born into deprivation through no fault of their own - if we invest in them while they’re young, ensuring they have safe housing, enough food, good health, a sound education then it drastically improves their life chances as adults, which benefits us all.

Starmer has less than 24 hours.

This. People seem to expect to wake up the day after an election and find everything exactly how they want it. The right wingers have tried to seize on this saying they'd introduce <insert populist idea> immediately. People cheer this on rather than thinking through the consequences of abolishing due process and debate.

So, let me get this straight - we should be grateful because we don't have a mass murdering despotic crackpot heading our government?

That's one low fucking bar you've got there, OP.