Another fine mess…

Can you imagine any previous Labour leaders asking MP’s not to attend picket lines in support of trade unions?

What is currently amazing me is that the government is apparently trying to blame Labour for the present state of afairs - and what really has me open mouthed at the barefaced cheek of it is that the RW press seem to actually be running with it.

It’s all a Russian Plot…

I’ve had it with him I think. He’s on the fence about everything. I’d have more respect for him if he had a strong point of view even if I disagreed with it.

Good man Lynch. Johnson’t team don’t even know they are lying anymore, they are briefed by Number Ten on what to say, including spin and lies, and told to just keep saying it.

It’s genuinely difficult for Starmer at the moment - any hint of even cooperating with the EU will have the press hound him as wanting to reverse Brexitor re-open the wounds when Johnson “got Brexit Done”. All complete balls of course but I’ve given up expecting much truth from the mainstream British press.

However I agree - he really does need to go on the offensive more, as does his cabinet with a clear message about *something*. Maybe he should just answer any queries with “Tory Brexit isn’t working because they are hell bent on destroying the country, however I don’t know how much further damage they will do so I do not yet know what will need to be done to fix what they leave behind when Labour comes to power” - but I fear that’s too nuanced for the likes of The Sun

Mick Lynch has been a breath of fresh air in the past 48 hours - clear messaging, refusal to be pushed around, on top of the brief, calm and unflappable - a lot of Labour politicians could learn from his delivery.

Edit: I should add that I hate it when he is actually worse than useless and boxes himself into a corner - eg the recent comments about freedom of movement.

Someone on Twitter pointed out that the press will rip him a new one whatever his policies are, so he might as well just get on with it. I’m tempted to agree.

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I agree, Johnson is picking a row with everybody and Starmer is trying to avoid a row with anybody, apart from his own team that support the strike.

And this is the standard or journalism….

I wouldn’t class any of them as ‘political journalists’, two are presenters and Morgan is just a nasty self-publicist. What those three haven’t got the wit or intelligence to realise is that whilst they’re trying to publicly humiliate a trade union leader they’re increasing public support for the strikes and emboldening other trade unions to consider strike action.

One thing for sure… Mick Lynch is no Arfur Scargill and this ain’t the miners strike revisited :roll_eyes:
I see a general strike looming… even barristers are rattling the sabre - teachers, nurses - the list goes on.

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[seen on Twitter, attribution unknown]

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So, our Bill of Rights is published

And, exactly as expected it is a dilution of our rights, not an improvement.

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Objective; UK remains a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights but can ignore its findings.

Raab, or “the Turnip” as they call hm in Brussels, has been chomping at the bit over this for years.

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don’t they use turnips as cattle feed in Europe :grin:
Turnips in one end and crap from the other :grinning:

Alastair Campbell has been saying the very same thing on his Rest is Politics podcast with Rory Stewart, especially in relation to his stance on Brexit.

Like you, I agree with this approach.

Not worthy of its own thread so just tacking the latest harebrained idea from the Minister for Brexit Opportnities on here… sparkling wine in plastic bottles :man_facepalming:

“under the dishonest, unserious—and now politically wounded—Mr Johnson, Britain is at threat from rising barriers to trade, an ageing electorate and rigid planning. Britain suffers from complacency, born of centuries as a first-rank economy, and Johnsonian bluster only exacerbates it”

Myopic as usual from The Economist - it’s framed within the old economics of ‘growth is good’ - but in fact the real question for the UK (as for all modern economies) is how to increase people’s well-being in the context of degrowth. If governments don’t wake up and start to manage this process, growth will reverse anyway, but in a chaotic and destructive way.

That’s just the big question - but there are many other aporias in the article that reflect how trapped within right-wing ideology it is - for example it leaves aside the question of UK growth and immigration - we’ve had previous discussions here on SurviveFrance around the fact that if you look at this relationship, for at least the last 15 years the UK economy has only been growing because new inhabitants have been arriving. (And this in turn is, of course, related to its complete dependency on EU membership!)

If therefore there is a new anti-growth policy, will immigration be needed in the future, except in key areas.

:roll_eyes:
Isn’t there an issue with plastic ending up in the oceans?
Another “you plonker, Rodney” moment for Grease-Mugg… perhaps it was from another one of his “ask The Sun readership” forays :rofl: