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Paul Embery comments on Keir Starmer

(105 Posts)
Primrose53 Fri 02-Aug-24 20:05:00

Someone mentioned Paul Embery on a thread this week but I can’t find it now. He is an author and Trade Unionist. He was discussing the overuse of the term FarRight.

Tonight he was on TV and he said “ I detect very little goodwill for Starmer and this Government. I say that as a Labour member of 30 years. This is very unlike the public mood in 1997. It does not bode well.”

That really surprised me as I have been watching him for the last year or so and he is Labour through and through and I have never heard him say anything negative about them.

Wyllow3 Sat 03-Aug-24 11:36:47

I don't think there is 2 tier policing, it's just a meme created by the Far right to try and throw oil onto the fire. Our poor police -trying their best in a whole number of different situations.

A good example of this is the Southend machete situation.

Police did take action, its wasn't ignored as you seem to suggest.

Essex Police said eight people were arrested and seven weapons seized during the incident on Tuesday evening

Appropriate response!

Galaxy Sat 03-Aug-24 11:38:52

I know I havent seen Glorianny for a while, hope she is ok.

NotSpaghetti Sat 03-Aug-24 12:04:06

Tonight he was on TV and he said “ I detect very little goodwill for Starmer and this Government. I say that as a Labour member of 30 years. This is very unlike the public mood in 1997. It does not bode well.”

Well I think this is totally irrelevant!
In 1997 I (as a left-leaning voter) I thought we'd elected a Tory when the Blair government came in. I didn't find the public mood in 1997 was SO upbeat - just relief!

My own circle had no enthusiasm for that government but they still did some good/great and worthwhile things.

Does it really matter what one man says?
The Labour government was voted into power by the electorate.

Galaxy Sat 03-Aug-24 12:07:46

Well we wouldnt discuss anyones opinion then. What does it matter what anyone says.
Of course labour were voted in, so were the Tories, people are free to comment on the approach of any political party.

NotSpaghetti Sat 03-Aug-24 12:21:51

I just meant he was one man with his own agenda, background and circle of friends etc. and it's well known that Starmer is too bland for lots of Labour.

Blair was too much of a showman and not serious or left enough for Labour all those years ago you may remember.

I'm not sure the "public mood" is much different- and that was what i thought the OP was about.

I wasn't trying to shut you (or anyone) up Galaxy.
Apologies if it sounded like that.

Galaxy Sat 03-Aug-24 12:28:25

I think that was me being snippy notspaghetti, peace😀.
I think there was a honeymoon for Blair, in my memory the first cracks came with the Bernie Ecclestone scandal. I think it's quite understandable that starmers experience will be different to Blairs, completely different world to the one Blair inherited so to speak.
I often wonder how politicians feel once they get the top job. I think Starmer was quietly very ambitious, and now he has the role, well it doesnt look much fun to me. Not that it should be fun but I sometimes i wonder how the reality compares to the ambition.

NotSpaghetti Sat 03-Aug-24 12:40:09

I see Starmer as quiety determined to make a difference - my daughter who now sits within Labour where I once sat, sees him as right-wing (for Labour) and in some ways indistinguishable from Sunak!

Probably no one is delighted to have Mr Sensible in charge to be honest... but at least he does seem to be honest and I think he will put the country first.

I think the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Urmstongran Sat 03-Aug-24 13:40:43

Well I listen to or watch GB News and Talk radio. I've noticed with their guests on both sides of the political divide, practically everyone agrees there is two tier policing! good thing about both stations is they support proper open honest debate.

Urmstongran Sat 03-Aug-24 13:47:01

The riots are not a popular uprising, but another symptom of the disease that has set in to the country. The disease being totally uncontrolled migration to a country that has finite resources to accept them. The government (both) and elites ignore the disease and just try to target the individual symptoms, in total isolation. It is the disease that we wish to see targeted. Starmer has no wish to accept the disease exists,

It is more like taking an aspirin and hoping a terminal disease will be cured. We live in a real, nasty world, not some daydreamer's scrapbook. It is time someone serious got a grip and tried some radical surgery before it gets too late.

JaneJudge Sat 03-Aug-24 13:59:55

I must be the only person who actually likes Starmer 😂

Urmstongran Sat 03-Aug-24 14:03:20

I don’t dislike him. 😊

NotSpaghetti Sat 03-Aug-24 14:08:55

I actually like him JaneJudge.

I don't find him exciting though.
I would have liked him to be a bit bolder to be honest but I think he is what we need.

NotSpaghetti Sat 03-Aug-24 14:15:28

I heard a terrific interview with him speaking to James O'Brien in 2021 - talk about underselling!

Here it is - Full Disclosure with James O'Brien on Global Player:

www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episodes/7DrdiaM/

Casdon Sat 03-Aug-24 14:15:29

I’d be confident in saying that Starmer has a good grasp of the role of policing, and the requirement on them to respond to the situation in front of them. I’m not sure many other people have, certainly the average social media commentator. I don’t hold much store by chat shows in isolation, whoever the people speaking for different parties are - you can guarantee that next week, with different representatives, the discussion takes a different direction. We need to give the new government time to position itself on these issues, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
I’ve said it before about Starmer, I don’t think he is courting personal popularity, he is trying to do the right thing by the country, and it’s a mammoth task he has ahead of him, so that’s where his focus is.

Whitewavemark2 Sat 03-Aug-24 14:19:27

Never make the mistake to believe GBNews represents what the average person thinks.

They have a definite agenda, regardless of guests.

They attract only-

0.69% of the total viewers in the U.K.

Iam64 Sat 03-Aug-24 14:35:38

Notspaghetti. I’m delighted to have Starmer as PM. I suspect I’m not alone 😀

Galaxy-thanks for mentioning Gloryannie I’d missed her on news n politics and the boxing thread

Wyllow3 Sat 03-Aug-24 14:47:41

Two tier policing is a myth to try and divide our country.

Where is the proof?

You can repeat and repeat a meme, and it doesn't make it true.

It is very divisive, designed to inflame.

Starmer is currently working with the police to divide strategies how to manage some very different and difficult situations, which call for different responses.

It would be helpful, instead of criticising the police, to criticise the thugs currently out there in cities frightening men, women and children.

It would be helpful, to ask, "what can bring us together", not "what divides us and how can we make it worse".

Mt61 Sat 03-Aug-24 14:51:58

Whitewavemark2

Starmer is not the sort of character that courts popularity - something that is difficult to understand by people who are used to the cult of personality we saw in the likes of Johnson.

Starmer is a serious politician for serious times.

He has an incredibly difficult task ahead of him both domestically and internationally, but I welcome an individual who places service above personal advantage, and the country above everything else.

As far as Embery is concerned he will be one amongst others who comments on the government. Nothing new there. Embery is culturally very conservative, GBNews are Embery are natural bedfellows.

Starmer will survive Mr Embery😄😄

Oh do you think? Some of my friends who voted labour are now regretting it now that they have lied (not going to tax this that the other) which they are going to do now after all

Whitewavemark2 Sat 03-Aug-24 14:56:11

Yes I do. I’m not sure what you think Embery can do.

He is pretty immaterial and really a pigmy amongst giants.

Primrose53 Sat 03-Aug-24 15:33:56

Whitewavemark2

Yes I do. I’m not sure what you think Embery can do.

He is pretty immaterial and really a pigmy amongst giants.

It’s not about what he can do. He is commenting on what he feels and hears amongst the Labour party members, his union work and the general public. I suspect he knows more than you or I.

Casdon Sat 03-Aug-24 15:43:01

You’re trying to make more of this than it was Primrose53, people aren’t biting because they understand the context.

Wyllow3 Sat 03-Aug-24 15:54:49

Yup. Non issue/hot air.

Galaxy Sat 03-Aug-24 16:12:19

It's not a non issue to me, I am interested in what Embry says, if people arent that's great.

Cossy Sat 03-Aug-24 16:12:35

I too like Starmer. Clearly I voted Labour, I don’t regret it and look very closely at taxation, the pledge was was not to increase certain personal taxes.

I’m still being pragmatic and patient.

How anyone can accuse Labour of lying within this govt is a tad hilarious given the lies we were fed by the previous govt!

Doodledog Sat 03-Aug-24 16:34:59

I think that Starmer is the best we could have hoped for. I also think that he is fully aware of what he's up against, from the agitators and influencers down to the thugs on the streets. He's dealt with terrorists and criminal gangs before, and he can do it again.

Nobody I know who voted Labour has suggested that they regret it - it's far too early in the day for that. I've seen a couple of people posting discontented memes on FB about the WFP, but as neither of them bothered to vote and are simply repeating someone else's cliches, I don't see them as much of a barometer.