Did anyone watch Starmer being ‘interviewed’ on BBC1 ‘Breakfast’ today? Having just won 2 (further) stonking by-election wins & attempting to be anything other than triumphalist, he was subjected to at least 10 minutes of ‘yeah, but….’ ‘interviewing’ by Stayt and Munchetty. When he suggested that just over a day deciding to withdraw support from the Rochdale candidate was not really ‘a massive delay’ they simply ignored the comment and asked the same question again. How can we ever free the BBC from this rampant left wing bias?
I note that you haven’t answered the question with actual policies that would convince the public. I’m afraid that your belief in the power of conviction alone is misplaced. The reason for this is that the narrow political discourse in the Country (the Overton Window) is almost entirely set by the opinion formers of the Right through their powerful media. So you say that 75% of the Country is mildly left leaning. I think that’s probably true in respect of economics if not culture. The NHS and nationalisation of utilities always score highly. What would happen if Keir Starmer stood on a platform of nationalisation which he tied his principles too? My guess is he would be slaughtered, the plans lied about and ridiculed until the public, including many of those who like the idea, would be too afraid to vote for it. Democracy is desperately flawed and undermined in this Country. The voters are in a total spin as to what they believe (do we need a strong economy or do we hate globalist companies? Or is our ambition to trade internationally following Brexit and be globalists ourselves etc etc). Conviction politicians of the Left will get eaten alive. Those of the Right are usually basket case free-marketeers like Truss. One example of the complexity that faces us is care work. The Right seethe over immigration, but our ageing population needs carers desperately. Ok, we should train people already living here ourselves. However, the pay is so low you can earn far more walking people’s dogs during sociable hours or giving massages. So the economy supports people at work all day to have a dog, but not care for the older people who built post-war Britain. To solve the problem would involve massive spending. The Tories want to shrink the state and Labour won’t get in if it promises to spend. The remedy is painful, a rebalancing of the economy to make things like dog walking a highly taxed luxury and care work an attractive career for young Brits. We get none of this, because the Mail, Express, Telegraph and the Sun would rubbish the solutions as ‘socialist.’ The only hope I can see is a Labour Government getting in steathily and over time shifting the national discourse to rationality through good governance.
I don't think this is the right thread for this post but as Sir Keir will be the PM by the end of the year and I know he looks at this site, I thought this was the place where it was most likely to catch his eye. Anyway.... To encourage people to obey the speed limit take all the money raised by speeding fines each month and give the lot to the winner of a monthly lottery draw that only registered drivers who have not been caught speeding can enter. Not only will this provide a positive incentive not to drive too fast, it'll shut up people (like me) who think speed cameras are just another way of taxing the motorist It's a winner. You can have that one on me Sir Keir
Good shout. I’ve got another he can have which is the Sinkhole Lottery. Buy a ticket and guess where the next gaping chasm is going to open up on the UK’s roads. If you are correct you share a portion of the winnings. Another portion is retained to fix the gaping chasm.
Rumour has it Sir Kier has found his fight at last and come out swinging. Seems to have allowed the message to be put forth that Mr Speaker Hoyle would be no more after the next general election unless he called Labour's amendment on the Gaza vote. And lo and behold, it happened. Good to see him fighting fire with fire. About time but would like to see him show this side to the public a bit more, as today's thing is very much a Westminster storm in a teacup that most people won't ever notice.
SNP getting on my t!ts with their antics today. Walking out with the Tories is a disgrace. Everyone is playing politics here. Labour wants an amendment it can vote for so its MPs can stop being shouted at on the streets. It also does not want to alienate the Jewish community after it has suffered an horrific attack. You have to be so The SNP don’t want an amendment from Labour because they want to skewer Labour and divide it between Muslims and Jews. Reprehensible divisive politics. The Tories can eff off n’all with their ‘pause.’ Again, they are more interested in skewering Labour than the UK Parliament finding an accord that may unite communities.
Totally agree Clearly Hoyle has cocked up here and, whether we like them or not, has stitched up the SNP Sue Grey though has played a bliner
Whatever you think of George Galloway, winning the backing of Rochdale's muslims while dressed like a Hasidic jew does show a certain style
Labour getting its candidates together and what’s this? Christ on a bike it’s Isabel Oakeshott’s sister.
Meanwhile, after Kemi Badenoch’s seat is Issy Waite who is only 21. She’ll have a job (not something she’s had many of up until now) as professional wasp chewer Kemi has a very big majority.
Maybe, but we're not talking Hertsmere levels of 'safe seatedness' as boundary changes mean it's now got the Marxist-Leninist commune (for Essex) of Saffron Waldon:
She looks like she'll want an insta and snap wall for her social media put in Westminster No problem with any youngster going forward, but not sure how much they will contribute on select committees and working groups with a lack of experience. Still good for their pension !
It’s an age old problem as to who makes the best politicians. It’s not unreasonable to raise eyebrows at the idea that someone who has only had summer jobs could be an MP. But then Liz Truss only worked for the Oil Industry and spent her entire political life seeking to put it first. It wouldn’t do to have Westminster rammed full of the newly graduated, but maybe she’ll have drive and other experiences that bring a valuable perspective. Most likely, this is a rehearsal and she’ll only get in a few years down the line.
Given that all politicians are attention seeking narcissists - this child must be a serious pain in the ar5e. I already hate her for making me feel so ancient
Yeah, but it could be David Attenborough standing against Kemi and you’d still be furious at the cheek of anyone taking her on.
Putting this popsy into the ring to face such a formidable woman as Kemi is only going to end one way, my friend
Amazed Starmer has given the whip back to McDonald when this picture from the BBC article quite clearly shows he's wearing a wire: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2y5x311njo
Good to see Diane Abbott taking the story about the racist Tory donor who bunged £15m to their party and completely deflecting the scrutiny and grievance onto the Labour party leadership instead. Bet Rishi and the rest can't believe their luck.
Dianne has had a rough time for sure and often gets held to different standards. But her takes are sometimes bizarre, like in this instance. https://x.com/hackneyabbott/status/1768014746744181012?s=46&t=oqOMSJXE_g7J5C7kNPG9LA
Labour abandons cautious election policy to actually say something. Pledges to renationalise the railways within five years. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68889345
Rishi will now announce he's going to renationalise them by lunch time tomorrow. Take that 'Ser' Beer Korma!!!
Or announce the return of steam on all networks to please the ‘we used to be a nation of tea drinkers’ mob.
Its a huge huge challenge A couple of the contracts only run to run until 2025, a few to 2027, giving them just 2 full years to set up a new public body and take over which ever contract is coming to an end http://www.railwaycodes.org.uk/operators/franchises3.shtm The possible extension i guess are written with in the contracts, which would take Sir K outside of his first term. When this all came up in 2019, it was pointed out that the rolling stock belongs to various ROSCO companies who lease the stock to the current franchises and also hold the maintenance contracts https://www.orr.gov.uk/about/who-we...COs,before privatisation with modern vehicles. There were also lots of questions about taking over various companies pensions and employment statuses. I'm not an employment specialist by any means, but i think they have to take over all the current employment contracts, pensions, benefits etc. As much as this could make him, this could also break him as well. We need a better, more efficient and cheaper rail system, but if his not careful this could quickly become a new HS2 cash cow.
I suppose like all these things the devil's in the detail and 'renationalisation' will mean different things to different people. I suspect in the short term Labour just mean it in the sense of binning off all the private franchisees as their contracts come to an end and brining the running of the lines into public control. How that's achieved is a bit of a blank slate. Could be they just use DfT OLR Holdings Ltd... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DfT_OLR_Holdings. Or they could re-work the 'Great British Railways' idea the Tories have put forward but don't seem to have made any actual progress on.
The deadline isn’t so tight as they can probably extend those contracts for a year or two. Like @UEA_Hornet says, you can also call a lot of things ‘nationalisation’ with them only signifying moderate change, including in pay and conditions. However, what will change is the ability of shareholders to milk the system while adding minuscule value. That’s a possible win in respect of future investment. My guess is that this will be a popular policy with pee’d off commuters and younger people, the two groups who use the trains most.
As UEA says, with this the devils in the detail and will pretty much be dependent on what's in the contract. If it states a hard and fast extra X number of years, with no break clause, it will be a legal battle, which will take time to settle. There will probably be a pay off somewhere along the line, as Sir K won't want it rolling into the 2029 election. Cheltern railways are part of Arriva, https://www.arrivagroup.com/about-us/our-business, along with a couple of other franchised groups. It's a such a tangled web, which includes freight and bus services, it's going to take a huge amount of time to unravel everything. Good to hear Mick Lynch say on the radio this morning that this will give his members a fairer deal instead of profits going to shareholders. Give the bloke credit he never misses an opportunity, but surely the idea is the profits go back into the rail industry and towards other public services.
Employment contracts and pensions can be sorted, deeds of novation etc. It's not easy and to do it right and it will be costly, but not nearly as costly as getting it wrong, with resulting legal wranglings. I have little faith that government whatever flavour will be able to do it right, especially considering it will involve negotiations with the Unions who will want to write in job security and raises. Renationalisation is not a practical option in my opinion, regardless of support for it morally. Getting water tight contracts in place for when the current contracts run out, propoerly managing them with penalties and service standards, however is possible. Again this relies on the government actually being able to perform the task effectively and efficiently. Equally unlikely. If I were a betting man I'd but my money behind nothing changing. They'll spend some time and resource on renationalisation and it'll take them beyond 1 or even 2 terms in power and the cost implications will eventually mean it's kicked into touch. Better to get a handle on the current system and make sure it works properly.
Many rail workers are not well paid so a fairer deal for them is fine by me, as well as a bit of a dividend for the fare payers. There is no social utility in shareholders profiting from struggling railways.
