Can you name one current political figure you admire?

[MockBatter]

Preferably in this country (UK) but could be international. One person who seems inspiring, hard working, well intentioned, pioneering or any other characteristic you admire.

Totally agree, I thought of the two of them as well. Incredible women.

Arnold Schwarzanegger (sorry for any spelling errors)

Oh agreed. I've always loved Arnie. Living the American Dream!

Jess Philips.

Andy Burnham

David Lammy. He is great!

I would have though it was unlikely too-but there you go…..

Silly answer for a silly comment (made by you).

Rupert Lowe.
Actually run businesses and his employees respect him.
No time at all for those who’ve only ever moved from student politics to’policy’ to MPs
Or the thick, crass chippy ‘useful idiots’ like Prescott/Lammy/Rayner who are despised by the Blair/Starmer types and only there to appease the union paymasters.

Mauritius is a strategic military position. We needed to secure it and stop arguing over it for decades like we have been.
train drivers love a strike which costs the economy a fortune.
closing the non dom tax loop hole is sensible.
farmers have 2-3 million pounds worth of tax relief, I feel for those who don’t have time to plan for wealth management planning. long term it will close the clarkson loop hole. Other family business are not afforded the same generous allowance. Even those that provide food for the nation like butchers bakers etc.
the national insurance hike was putting it back to where the imf said Tory’s should have left it. They should never have reduced it in the first place. The imf issued multiple warnings about reducing it.

Chagos (I think you mean) is an utter mystery and will indebt our descendants for billions for no discernable reason. We've actually paid billions for a China aligned country to take control of one of our most important strategic assets. Why? So Keir Starmer can look good to international human rights lawyers. Even though the human rights of the Chagossians were ignored. And the rights of the UK tax payers.

Train drivers will still strike despite being given a huge pay rise in return for no improvement in working practices. This means the state worker pension liability which is the main thing screwing this country down is increased. Well done Labour.

Closing the "non dom loophole" means a loss of UK tax revenue as the non doms go elsewhere. Obviously. RR has belated realised this but sadly too late.

No it won't close the "Clarkson loophole". It will mean that British farmland is sold to vast internationals like Blackrock to be covered with solar panels. It will also lead to the suicides of farmers and the end of the family farm and decrease food security in an uncertain world where we are likely to be at war in the near future. Well done Labour.

I think you mean Employers National Insurance rather than National Insurance? A tax on employers and an expansion of employee rights and benefits simply leads to less employees unfortunately. And more people on benefits especially the young.

Well done Labour.

...for the worst.
I guess you can say the same about Trump. Or Putin. Both remarkable but not forces for good.

Emmanuel Macron
Jess Philips

Ed Davey, Dame Tanni Grey - Thompson and Angela Raynor.

LOL’ing at those of you who’ve said Streeting - you’ve been suckered in. Have worked adjacent to him/his team, luckily never directly reported to him.

I liked and respected Sturgeon for a long time even though I live in the South. I didn’t agree with her but I liked her manner and straight talking and then …… not sure of the outcome but she was accused of doing different things that were unsavoury.

I did also admire Teresa May for a while I didn’t agree with the vote (leave) and she was very pragmatic and trying to sort out a &&&@ show and then after a while I didn’t.

I can’t think of anyone current. In the EU merkel seemed straight talking and respectful.

I was using the same terms you were

Corbyn
Diane Abbott
Jess Phillips
Ed Davey

No. The payment is to Mauritius relating to the Chagos Islands. Mauritius isn't in a strategic military position (as far as I am aware).

I didn't use the term National Insurance in my initial post which you then did. Employers NI and NI are two different things.

Just wondering if you’ve ever glanced at David Lammy’s CV!

No one expected things to be fixed in a year, but Labour have actually made things worse.

No

I wonder whether they have actually made things worse, but I have a suspicion that noone would have done a better job in such a short time. It takes a while to turn things around, and lets face it they're new in government. But they are totally more professional than the last lot. And a much better representative on the world stage. After the embarassments of Liz Truss and Boris, hopefully that is a given.

I don’t think they have made things worse. And I do think a lot of people did expect things to be fixed in a year

The changes to employers NIC has caused job losses and badly affected retail and hospitality industries. The changes to workers' rights will make things worse for those industries. Not the right way to grow the economy which is what is really needed.

I think you're right, but it really takes a while. If I think about my own company and how long it takes for things to change, I can see how long it takes to change things in a country.

I do think that Keir unfortunately suffers from a lack of charisma, and the communications about what they are working on have not been good. Whereas NF is very good at the PR and the persuasive agitation. All empty words, but people want to believe it, just like they wanted to believe in Brexit and a return to the days of Great Britain. But times have changed, we no longer head an empire and some people just need to get with the programme and recognise that the world is different now.