To despair at this government??

[IllTakeACheapSeatPlease]

This shambolic government - its utter chaos, the Tories were bad but Christ this lot are on another level.
Im really worried about where we’re heading, riots breaking out everywhere, the armed forces imploding, the police untrustworthy, we’re a laughing stock on the international stage.
Id say to call an early GE but I’m not a fan or reform either. At this point - I’d take the Tories back.
WTF is going on? I’m approaching 50 and I’ve never known the country in such a state.

AIBU to think we’re literally on the edge now? And what can actually be done to save it??

I am prone to anxiety so feel free to tell me on catastrophising

Every definition of public relations you'll ever read focuses on the fact that it's a strategic communications process that manages reputation through positive relationships. You're entitled to your opinion about Starmer and Labour, but just admit you're wrong on this.

Aaaaaand another generation of voters slowly realises that socialism doesn’t work. The beat goes on.

They don’t have positive relations. You’re fixated on a journo being involved. SM has strategic comms too it just cuts out a person in delivering it. So what?

Maybe that’s Labour’s issue they don’t get that immediacy is as important if not more so on public perception.

This . I cannot fathom why anyone thought Labour would be the answer to the countries problems .

Spot on. Listening to Starmer on the delayed finalised defence budget inspired no sense of urgency. He's so out of touch with public opinion that he makes things worse each time he opens his mouth. He's a defender not a prosecutor, that's clear in his stature.

No, I'm 'fixated' on the fact that you don't understand PR and won't accept that you're wrong. If you did you'd know that it's not even just about journalists 'being involved'. It's just as much about the relationship with the owners of news outlets.

I well understand SM as a strategic communications channel too. And that's not just about churning out content either. Whoever thought it was a good idea for the Education Secretary to have a conversation with Gemma Collins and put it out there needs sacking.

Crikey now the owners of media outlets. Public perception is built on more than the press. If Labour got that they might not be so dire.

Although even your need for more spin can’t fix it for them.

Plus I don’t think you’re right

Public relations (PR) is the strategic communication process of managing an individual's or organization's reputation. It involves shaping public perception, building trust, and fostering positive relationships with stakeholders, such as customers, investors, and the general public, primarily through earned media and organic storytelling.

Yes, social media is now an essential part of modern public relations. While traditional PR once relied solely on news outlets and press releases, it has evolved into Digital PR, where social platforms are used to manage a brand's reputation and engage directly with the public in real-time

It includes the relationship with the general public, the clue is in the name. That’s by any medium.

It’s rather academic - poor PR is the least of Labour’s problems. The optics have long since been shot.

Speaking of media relations - I only see the Guardian as the remaining print which is half supporting Starmer - the rest having long since jettisoned our hapless PM.

But a lot of working people cant afford more children as so much of their money goes on paying for children of people who don't work. DH and I both work full time. We would have liked a 3rd, but decided we couldn't afford nursery whilst also paying for 2 sets of holiday childcare

They did promise lots of positives

• a review and streamlining of welfare
• more teachers
• more funding for schools
• a tightly controlled budget with no tax raises
• free breakfast clubs in every schools

However, they haven't delivered

I think when it comes to politics people can have very short memories. Labour are not perfect. Clearly. But those saying they’d have the Tories back in a heartbeat forgotten all the times they fucked this country up the arse? Really? The decimation of our health service, our education system, the police and the courts, you know, law and order? Not to mention the mess they made of immigration, lockdowns, covid contracts…

Yeah, I’d definitely want that shower of bastards in charge again 🙄

That’s not particularly surprising when 70% of the cost of the NHS is workforce costs and one group got 29% pay increases with associated on costs.

It isn't a gotcha, nor would I'm presume to know your views on that issue. I was just pointing out that a lot of people are anti scrapping the child benefit cap and anti immigration, when you really have to pick one or the other.

This will be Labour’s epitaph. It already is. Especially for Starmer who is soon out.

And there in lies the lesson . They all lie .

Why? We just heard about more NEETs caused by Labour. Most want to work.

I shudder to think how covid would have been handled under Labour. Furlough would have looked like the budget for a tea dance.

The government is not lead properly, and it shows. I am firmly on the “give a man a chance” school. And any leader will have success and failure. Okay but look at the failures and what do they say?

Welfare cuts on disability. Starmer have known, must have known that would be controversial with his MPs, that it would be emotive, and yet when the opposition came his Cabinet were scrambling to do the work which should have been done for months to get it through. Amateurish.

Mandelson - sorry to say but what kind of spine did he have? He could have said no. He didn’t. Then he affects to be horrified about matters that were in the public domain, as if the details made a difference

Healey, yesterday. A principled resignation because Starmer cannot get his chancellor to fund defence. Awful

Riots - a stern insistence on the law applying when matters are anything but. What does this achieve exactly??

Migration- has a minister in charge of that who can see the problems. Is starting to develop a policy that is sensible. His backbenchers cut up and the implication is it will be diluted

Starmer seems to think he can lead without any politics. He can’t. I don’t know if the Labour government will get any better should he be replaced. But he is NBG. Labour are deluded- Pat McFadden spoke the truth about their focus, benefits.

Did you read that before you copied and pasted it?

Rolling out school based nurseries is not a big achievement when primary school numbers are shrinking. The notice on 1B's classroom will be switched to one that says 'Nursery' (I am being a bit flippant but I imagine it has less to do with the Labour party and more to do with demographic changes).

Building solar panels over England's countryside is a terrible idea when we have so many warehouses and ugly buildings. The countryside is one of the best things about the UK.

An unspecified number of hereditary peers are still allowed to remain, so this is a bit of a non-event.

I'm sure the 'policy forum consultation to shape their ongoing platform' will be life changing for many.

I can't be bothered with the rest.

Yeah because the Tories did so well? There would have been far less corruption if Labour had been in power during covid, and at least Starmer would not have been partying whilst the rest of us were in lockdown. But let’s face it, whatever they do will be wrong for some people.

Excellent post. When he warns about riots, he should be acknowledging discontent. As with warning against thuggery in the Unite rally, nothing about the simaltaneous Palestine rally. If you're on the left with law and order, you've every reason to think Starmer is on your side. He simply doesn't know how to read opinion but fights against them by doubling down. I've never known a PM be so indecisive - well except that he does remind me of Neville chamberlain.

Whatever they do will be fine for very few people. You’re in the minority.

The PM is a leadership job, not a series of legal judgments. Voters do the judging. I do not think he understands that they did not vote for a chief lawyer.

Do you really not think years of austerity, cuts to services that give people better lives, Brexit, and wars which have pushed up fuel prices is nothing to so with the current bad public feeling? The riots seem to be about immigration and people think that if this stops they'll magically have justice from a police force that's had decades of cuts, access to health care from a system that's had the same, access to housing when there has been no investment for decades etc.
The vast majority of the UKs issues have been years in the making and the riots would have happened irrespective of who's been in government in the last couple of years. I've no idea how people thought they could turn around issues that quickly e.g. given the time it takes to train doctors, teachers, build houses etc

Those are fair points, but is Starmer navigating those well? I don’t think so. His job is difficult, yes, but he cannot do the hard politics within his party to get them to realise and prioritize these problems.

A sticking plaster government, much like the last one, but with less economic growth