A year of Starmer What do you think?

GrannyGravy13

Maybe Keir Starmer didn’t sign due to it being reported that John Healy the Labour Shadow Defence Minister also lobbied Ministers on behalf of Lex Greensill?

This happened in May 2020, when he wrote to the Business Secretary Nadhim Zahawa.

He had at least the excuse that the steel works is in his constituency. It's common practice to lobby for businesses which employ your constituents. That's a bit different to being dishonest and Starmer must understand the difference ( well I hope he does).

GrannyGravy13

Maybe Keir Starmer didn’t sign due to it being reported that John Healy the Labour Shadow Defence Minister also lobbied Ministers on behalf of Lex Greensill?

This happened in May 2020, when he wrote to the Business Secretary Nadhim Zahawa.

I’m sure you are right.

Maybe Keir Starmer didn’t sign due to it being reported that John Healy the Labour Shadow Defence Minister also lobbied Ministers on behalf of Lex Greensill?

This happened in May 2020, when he wrote to the Business Secretary Nadhim Zahawa.

Grany that's awful. Do you suppose he asked a focus group and they told him not to?

Yes, trisher it's what he does do, ha

Grany that's awful. Do you suppose he asked a focus group and they told him not to?

varian but even Corbyn wasn't as low in public opinion as Starmer

I keep calling him 'Kier Hardie.....

These 6 party leaders have signed a letter to the Commons Speaker calling for an inquiry into Boris Johnson’s dishonesty:

Ian Blackford
Sir Ed Davey
Liz Saville Roberts
Colum Eastwood
Stephen Farry
Caroline Lucas

These party leaders refused to sign:

Sir Keir Starmer

What we are watching in real time is not just the death of Labour but the decline of social democracy in Britain, not just brazen sleaze on an almost unimaginable scale but it being utterly normalised as part of public life, and what we are about to watch is the Royal Family re-brand itself in a sea of Union Jacks and a tsunami of Anglo-British Nationalism.

Jeremy Corbyn offered a "real socialist agenda" and arguably had some charisma (his fans seemed to think so) but it did not get the Labour Party elected.

I think one of the problems is that Starmer for some reason has chosen to ignore all the good things Corbyn brought to politics and instead to attempt to be Tory-lite, in some vain hope I suppose that he will atract more support that way. The trouble is he has none of the charm and dash that Blair had and he simply isn't charismatic. Much as I hate Johnson he can obviously charm people. I wish he would stop using focus groups and instead develop a real socialist agenda which might help to rebuild the country when things get back to normal.

Is there a credible person to take over the Labour Party? Or the Conservative party come to that.

Our latest MP is youngish and gets engaged in local food banks, homeless issues and food stations, local canal clearing or woodland preservation but is perhaps a little naive. He was shocked and disgusted when his young family were heckled and jostled by anti Tory protestors.

I feel rather the same as you trisher it is very depressing.

What should Keir Starmer do???-Resign!
Thanks for the Rachael Swindon blog Grany. Can't decide if I'm pleased someone is willing to come out and say it, or depressed because it seems the LP is slowly being run into the ground.

A centrist Labour think tank just made a fool of itself on Twitter
We're crowd-sourcing ideas for what Labour should do in the next 12 months.
Tell us your ideas for what Keir Starmer and the Labour party should do in the year ahead.
Here is the form from the Fabian society

fabians.org.uk/the-next-year-of-keir/

This is a blog from Rachel Swindon A lot of bad language, but she makes her point

Labour 14 points behind the worst government in history.

rachaelswindon.blogspot.com/2021/04/sir-unelectable-fourteen-points-behind.html?spref=tw

If Starmer doesn't want to speak up about Palestine he is quite entitled to do that, but what I find unacceptable is that he should allow Jewish Labour members who do speak up to be subjected to abuse and criticism. Perhaps because he has an Israeli ex-secret service agent working for him?

And more from the bmj

blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/04/01/palestine-is-bearing-the-brunt-of-vaccination-inequalities/

Look at this for example, has any leading Labour politician brought this up I wonder? They’d be instant toast

What's happening in the Palestinian areas?
It's a different picture in the West Bank and Gaza - home to an estimated five million people and regarded as occupied territories by the international community.
Here the vaccination programme has only just got going.
Since early February there has been a sharp rise in both infections and deaths, leading the authorities to impose a lockdown in the West Bank.

trisher

The wrong type of Jews are people like Naomi Wimborne Idrissi. People who have been Labour party members for years but who have defended Palestine and condemned the oppression of its people.
Imagining this is just to do with British politics and becoming more centre left is wrong. It has much wider implications. www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/labour-antisemitism-jewish-opponents-israel-targeted

You’re right trisher. It’s been very hurtful for some ‘not the right kind of Jews’ in the way they’ve been attacked and demonised for making the mildest criticism of the Israeli government’s actions re Palestine. I’ve worked with the wrong kind of Jews’ and you can give me them any day over Riley and Oberman. Michael Rosen is one of those as well. It’s heartbreaking what continues to happen to Palestinians and warrants no mention on pain of the utmost censure.
And of course it’s not just Labour. I watched Alan Duncan being interviewed last night and he spoke of his having a Government appointment withdrawn because of lobbying against him because he was perceived as having voiced pro -Palestinian sentiments. I still think there’s a huge issue of people equating anti Semitism with criticism of the Israeli Government no matter how much people try and deny it.

The wrong type of Jews are people like Naomi Wimborne Idrissi. People who have been Labour party members for years but who have defended Palestine and condemned the oppression of its people.
Imagining this is just to do with British politics and becoming more centre left is wrong. It has much wider implications. www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/labour-antisemitism-jewish-opponents-israel-targeted

Perhaps it’s more realistic to say they’re not the kind of supporters Labour wants or needs.

Who are the wrong type of Jews ?

Corbyn praised time spent with Jewdas Sedar , their prayer ends with

‘Smash the State of Israel,and f***k the Queen, and especially
f**k Prince Phillip, burn down Parliament . Full communism .

Yes trisher What is he doing about this Starmer won't bother with Jewish Voice for Labour or their concerns, they are the wrong type of Jews

And What is a former Israeli spy doing in the British Labour Party's head office?
A failing elections campaign operative for the Israeli Labor Party, Kaplan had nonetheless been hired by Keir Starmer's UK Labour Party.

www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210130-what-is-a-former-israeli-spy-doing-in-the-british-labour-partys-head-office/?fbclid=IwAR0lmP0whqZoJyuFZoFktBFHBZBwtnJSEY_fBtojQ3Uv0rg9relcOBWwbig

Jewish Voice for Labour have soken out about racism and misogyny remaining uninvestigated morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/starmer-in-denial-over-evidence-of-racism-and-misogyny-among-labour-officials?fbclid=IwAR0amCKfIwPPUg6C7rdZbcUdTr9cCkouhfE_os7H_rUqLS9bAxkVZ8wuhm8

I was responding more to Pippa, really.

I was only trying to show what an unholy mess various parts of our government is in and how difficult it is to decide what is a good and reasonable way to solve them. It may indeed be edging on to your citizen and state discussion but I think my question was more "what (or which) capitalism is it reasonable for a left-of-centre government/person to approve of. Fairly obviously the reason the new Australian pension system looks as if it will work is because of compound interest rather than a direct government payment (without going into any detail).

You may find something of interest in An Essay on Citizenship.

This means the purpose of the welfare state is to ensure each individual within society can live as a citizen. On this analysis the welfare state’s services, benefts and taxes should be measured by their effectiveness at extending citizenship to all. If we are more divided, with some groups stigmatised or excluded, then the welfare state is failing. If we are more united, able to recognise the value that diverse people and groups bring to the whole of society, then the welfare state is succeeding.

Maizie I certainly think that people who choose not to work and contribute shouldn't expect as much as somebody who has worked for more years. I know it's a difficult one but there are plenty of people who game the system.

We're back to the JAMs. They're going to be the key to the next election and they're possibly not who people think. The people sometimes called the "traditional working class" are often home-owners and culturally conservative. The demographic make-up of the country has changed. There are very different dividing lines from when Labour last won an election ... and the Conservatives know it.