I’m a huge fan of Sonia but boy is she wrong about what Keir should do
There is no need for him to talk about the tough decisions until he’s in power, I lived through the 2019 Australian election once already, I don’t need to do it again
Nice thorough post so sorry to be a party pooper but none of this really matters much. Britain has let itself be marched down the Long Gramscian Road for far too long now for the Starmer/Sunak Show to be anything more than legacy media 'entertainment'. (Britain led the world into the Age of Democratic Liberalism and is now leading the way out of it,)
"We set great store by our pluralist party politics and such is the obsessive media coverage of its gladiatorial contests between elected politicians - before, during and after the event - that it can appear to represent more or less the whole story of how we are governed. But there is a worm in the apple of pluralist liberal democracy. The worm is the half a century and more of progressive radicalism in the Western academy that has taken root now, not just in the Civil Service, but in most graduate-entry professional walks of life. Electoral pluralism is no match against an academia-media-managerial establishment complex." https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/carry-on-governing
Thank you for putting this together, it makes interesting reading. However, I'm afraid that it hasn't reassured me at all. There are two reasons for this, although they're linked. One is the fact that he's reneged on every one of his commitments, particularly taxing the super wealthy and the other is his focus on winning at any cost. Of course Labour need to win an election and govern, but what use is that if they're just going to give us Tory policies albeit with a bit more integrity and less corruption? I'm deeply suspicious of politicians whose prime, and in Starmer's case, seemingly sole objective is to gain power. Nick Clegg springs to mind. I didn't vote for Tony Blair in 1997 and I didn't share my friends' jubilation. I was happy that 18 years of Tory rule was over, but I was suspicious of Blair. I voted LibDem during the Blair years, I thought they were more left wing than Labour.. As far as I'm concerned, I was proved right and most of my friends thought so too. Margaret Thatcher said that Blair was her greatest achievement. Neither I, nor my friends consider ourselves to be left wing extremists, but Blair took the Labour party and consequently British politics as a whole, so far to the right that we're now seen as such. British politics has gone the way of US politics, our choice is centre right or right wing, there is no left wing party apart from the SNP. What seems to have been forgotten is that most, of not all of Corbyn's policies were actually very popular, as long as they weren't attributed to him (I'm referring to at least one poll were people were asked about such issues as renationalising the railways without being told they were Corbyn's policies where they had 60%+ approval).
At least Starmer is talking about housing, an issue I've long been concerned and passionate about. However, I'm not sure he won't back down on that either once he realizes that it's not such a politically neutral issue after all. I'm sure wealthy home owners won't be pleased if their assets diminish in value plus the fact that much of the UK's wealth lies in its hugely inflated housing market. The proof of the pudding remains to be seen. I sincerely hope that my misgivings prove to be unwarranted.
I'm totally despondent about a Starmer govt. He's lost my trust over buckling to the trans activist wing in his party, and is already talking about a beefed up and enlarged/additional race relations act. I believe the only legacy he'll leave is greater micromanagement of the British people and a plethora of quotas to be filled. As things stand, he's nowhere close to getting the vote of this disillusioned Tory.
As an American whose knowledge of British politics comes almost exclusively from podcasts, I'm glad that we are finally getting answers to the question I was asking as early as 2017: Who IS this mysterious Kirostama?
Read the Forde Report. Antisemitism was misused to get rid of Corbyn. Someone who has done the right thing for forty years doesn’t suddenly become antisemitic. Also look at how left wing Jews have been treated by Starmer. He doesn’t give a toss about Jews per se, only right wing people. Left wingers, Jews or otherwise are got rid of.
And oddly enough the media doesn’t care, just like they didn’t and don’t care about antisemitism Islamophobia and racism in the Tory parties - the official one and the B team currently calling themselves Labour.
I’m a huge fan of Sonia but boy is she wrong about what Keir should do
There is no need for him to talk about the tough decisions until he’s in power, I lived through the 2019 Australian election once already, I don’t need to do it again
This is fascinating and really worth doing. Thank you Helen. Interesting how much agreement there is among them, especially on housing as number one.
This is basically a compliation of other people whose Substacks I read. I need to get out more...
Trenendous compliment to HL to get such stimulating serious and thought provoking responses to her well-put questions.
Nice thorough post so sorry to be a party pooper but none of this really matters much. Britain has let itself be marched down the Long Gramscian Road for far too long now for the Starmer/Sunak Show to be anything more than legacy media 'entertainment'. (Britain led the world into the Age of Democratic Liberalism and is now leading the way out of it,)
"We set great store by our pluralist party politics and such is the obsessive media coverage of its gladiatorial contests between elected politicians - before, during and after the event - that it can appear to represent more or less the whole story of how we are governed. But there is a worm in the apple of pluralist liberal democracy. The worm is the half a century and more of progressive radicalism in the Western academy that has taken root now, not just in the Civil Service, but in most graduate-entry professional walks of life. Electoral pluralism is no match against an academia-media-managerial establishment complex." https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/carry-on-governing
Thank you for putting this together, it makes interesting reading. However, I'm afraid that it hasn't reassured me at all. There are two reasons for this, although they're linked. One is the fact that he's reneged on every one of his commitments, particularly taxing the super wealthy and the other is his focus on winning at any cost. Of course Labour need to win an election and govern, but what use is that if they're just going to give us Tory policies albeit with a bit more integrity and less corruption? I'm deeply suspicious of politicians whose prime, and in Starmer's case, seemingly sole objective is to gain power. Nick Clegg springs to mind. I didn't vote for Tony Blair in 1997 and I didn't share my friends' jubilation. I was happy that 18 years of Tory rule was over, but I was suspicious of Blair. I voted LibDem during the Blair years, I thought they were more left wing than Labour.. As far as I'm concerned, I was proved right and most of my friends thought so too. Margaret Thatcher said that Blair was her greatest achievement. Neither I, nor my friends consider ourselves to be left wing extremists, but Blair took the Labour party and consequently British politics as a whole, so far to the right that we're now seen as such. British politics has gone the way of US politics, our choice is centre right or right wing, there is no left wing party apart from the SNP. What seems to have been forgotten is that most, of not all of Corbyn's policies were actually very popular, as long as they weren't attributed to him (I'm referring to at least one poll were people were asked about such issues as renationalising the railways without being told they were Corbyn's policies where they had 60%+ approval).
At least Starmer is talking about housing, an issue I've long been concerned and passionate about. However, I'm not sure he won't back down on that either once he realizes that it's not such a politically neutral issue after all. I'm sure wealthy home owners won't be pleased if their assets diminish in value plus the fact that much of the UK's wealth lies in its hugely inflated housing market. The proof of the pudding remains to be seen. I sincerely hope that my misgivings prove to be unwarranted.
Great idea doing this. Thank you. Fascinating.
I'm totally despondent about a Starmer govt. He's lost my trust over buckling to the trans activist wing in his party, and is already talking about a beefed up and enlarged/additional race relations act. I believe the only legacy he'll leave is greater micromanagement of the British people and a plethora of quotas to be filled. As things stand, he's nowhere close to getting the vote of this disillusioned Tory.
As an American whose knowledge of British politics comes almost exclusively from podcasts, I'm glad that we are finally getting answers to the question I was asking as early as 2017: Who IS this mysterious Kirostama?
Yes in my back yard
Read the Forde Report. Antisemitism was misused to get rid of Corbyn. Someone who has done the right thing for forty years doesn’t suddenly become antisemitic. Also look at how left wing Jews have been treated by Starmer. He doesn’t give a toss about Jews per se, only right wing people. Left wingers, Jews or otherwise are got rid of.
And oddly enough the media doesn’t care, just like they didn’t and don’t care about antisemitism Islamophobia and racism in the Tory parties - the official one and the B team currently calling themselves Labour.