AIBU to feel the media is pushing Starmer out?

[Ihatethistimeline]

To feel the media is forcing Starmer out and to be annoyed by this.

They need constant drama and content and this is done at the expense of the country. Starmer is boring but things are improving despite major problems like Iran in the background.

If this were 20 years ago he’d have been safe. They are treating government like football clubs and want Burnham as they think he’s more showbiz. These foreign owner media outlets don’t care about the stability of this country, they just want headlines and drama on X to drum up more drama for headlines and opinion pieces where the media all interview each other.

The country is becoming ungovernable because them and I’m sick of it.

Tax the bloody wealthy. Tax wealth more and income less.

Why do we have undernourished children alongside billionaires avoiding tax. It’s bonkers and that is not a civilised society.

A much better question should be - why didn't the media do any interrogating of Starmer's party before it came to office, and is it going to be exactly the same with Burnham until he becomes unpopular as well?

This was posted two years ago today

Perhaps people need to stop having kids they cannot afford?

Be responsible.

Does that opinion apply to all parties? Look how many unelected prime ministers we had in the last government.

There shouldn't be a GE since that's not the system we have.

You're not a lifelong Labour supporter then, you actually only support them when they're doing exactly what you want.

Part of being in a broad church - like Labour or indeed the Tories - is supporting them even when their leadership doesn't exactly align with what you want.

"If Burnham (who I assume will become the next PM) sticks to the manifesto, nothing will change so what’s the point of changing the leader and creating unnecessary instability?"

A point I made on another thread. If he sticks to the manifesto then he can't make that many changes - or at least ones that affect the economics. Maybe some ideology ones.

If he does deviate from the manifesto, he will need to go to the country. The more significant the changes, the more pressure will come for him to hold an election.

"If he gives many of the backbenchers what they want and goes more to the left, he’ll be hounded out by the press in 5 minutes. Increasing welfare or not cutting welfare is the opposite of what the country needs."

Matching the requirements of both ideology and economics is very difficult for Labour at the moment. I am not sure where Burnham will fall on the line between realpolitik and ideology. It's a tightrope walk.

"In my personal opinion the next PM needs to go big or go home. Do what’s right for the country and not play to the media. Get the best minds in room and come up with a growth strategy and implement it"

He's probably not even got anything like a significant policy team at the moment, so this is going to take some time.

Remember that the last PM to try radical policy change was Truss, and look how that ended. In fact the most serious damage Truss did IMO was not to damage the economy (rates were heading in that direction anyway and would have got there without her intervention), but the fact that what happened to her has dissuaded any leader from making radical policy change since.

It's what happens in those two years I'm worried about. And Reform not abiding by the rules. Nigel takes his cues from his mate Donald and he's already given plenty of hints about not going quietly when his term is up.

I'm hoping that the Reform led councils we now have show clearly what level of integrity and competence we can expect from a Reform government, ie none, and voters absorb that before 2029.

Yeh it was the media that helped them in. Starmer was fine with using media clucks from partygate onwards to not do much at all.

It’s come back to bite

‘Billionaires avoiding tax’? Which billionaires? Chartered Tax Advidor here and you are spouting 100% cliched bollocks. Would you please stop? It’s tiresome and childish, and stops people listening to actual solutions made by people living in the real world, not made up fantasy magic money tree and unicorns land.

Christ! There’s one of these idiots on each and every thread like this. Just have a wee think, if there were any undertaxed billionaires (there aren’t) who would be willing to hang around the UK to be taxed more (they’re not) why didn’t Keir and RR do it???

and while I’m at it, if kids are undernourished it’s probably down to feckless parents. Parents are given enough to live off if they spend wisely. They don’t, and so they starve their kids. Giving the feckless more money doesn’t help anyone.

I will go back to a statement I have made many times.

You can't tax the rich because it becomes worthwhile to implement strategies to avoid taxation if you are rich.

You can't tax the poor because they have no money.

So the only people you can really tax is the middle. Who also conveniently have a considerable amount of wealth tied up in things that are easy for the government to identify and difficult for them to hide. ie property and private pensions.

However, going after this considerable wealth is not exactly something that is popular with the electorate.

Yes, it's time we all start growing Money Plants.

Delusional, I know.

😂

So you don’t increase taxes. You cannot increase borrowing. So you need to cut spending. Drastically.

The assumption underlying this is that life circumstances don't change. Poor health, disability, redundancy, divorce, death, all change the playing field. Children can be born into stability only for things to change. I never imagined my second child would be disabled and that it would make it so difficult to work or plan ahead. As it happens, I do work (as does dh) and we get by. But I don't pretend that others are able to do the same.

I wish they'd buy good contraceptives.

Oh, wait. Everyone else has to pay for the kids a family chooses to have, knowing very well they couldn't afford them to begin with.

Hoorah!

They have driven him out with joy. The media love the drama and endless chats about when is he going.

Now he's resigned it's, will it change anything, what do other countries think, changing our leader constantly.

The media love drama yet care nothing anout stability until they create instability.

You know Burnham is left wing Labour, right ?

What proportion of parent ma gave income protection insurance these days? I’ve always had it. My sister recently became too incapacitated to work from MS and so is receiving 75% of her previous salary from now until retirement date in 19 years time. There’s no need to be forced onto the breadline through disability / redundancy/ death. None whatsoever. Just take responsibility.

Seriously? Rather than fix the grotesque inequality - we just say that only the well off can have have a family? Really?

They get taxed on declared taxable income, not wealth. And there are numerous ways around it as you will know.

Jeff Bezos claimed 4k in child tax credit in the US in 2011 when he was worth !8 billion because his investment losses that year meant he had no taxable income.

The same happens in the UK where there are numerous loopholes so extremely wealthy people pay little or no tax because they're technically not earning taxable income in that year.

Yes, but to do anything else he’d have to be an ignorant cretin. Which he is which is why he’ll rapidly fail. And we’ll get Nigel in instead, all due to gutless, ignorant Labour fools.

And for someone born into circumstances that mean they can’t work? Or for those who can’t afford or can’t get income protection?

And. He had no income. Same thing works here. But when you make a gain not a loss, that gets taxed too.

which ‘loopholes’ do you see UK billionaires using? Interested to hear! Seeing as there are none!

This entire sorry Saga is a dark day for politics and our democracy.
The media's role should be reporting news not creating it
They have been relentless in their opposition to him from day one some say it's because of his role in the investigation into press standards in the past.
This is not the end. The billionaire owned right-wing media will treat his successor in exactly the same way until they have installed a right-wing government back in place, one whose policies serve their interests.
This country is ungovernable and unfortunately the normal man on the street is going to suffer.
Honestly, I wish I was 20 years younger and could fuck off elsewhere.